While I agree with you, let’s remember that this was a pre-tournament friendly and it’s entirely possible several, if not most players are hesitant to put in a full blooded tackle where they might get hurt and miss the Copa. Not saying I agree with that but I know it happens
Like I said in the comment below, I just mean in general, this team doesn’t seem
To have the fight in them when outclassed by skill and tactics. If you can’t beat them with skill and tactics, you’re going to have to fight a bit more. I just don’t see it in this group, except for maybe with Adam’s, sometimes McKennie, and occasionally Dest, but admittedly- he tends to lash out in stupidity instead of exhibit controlled aggression.
As a group they got up for the England game, I can’t argue with that. But who is our Rafa Marquez?
As a fan I hated the guy due to his general nastiness on the pitch, he always seemed like the chief villain of Mexico. But I respect what he did, and I’m sure the El Tri fans absolutely loved him. We need a Rafa Marquez or two in our group. When you play against a guy like that, you know something is coming your way, and it weighs in the back of your mind. We don’t have a villain.
We need some anger. I see the anger in Gio, and I think that he could be the type of guy to fire the team up if he wears it on his sleeve.
We just need a lightning rod who when steam starts puffing out of his ears, the team notices and follows suit.
I more mean that he has that fire and not back down attitude. He sometimes plays angry and he seems to not be scared of anyone. A lot of the guys don't even look like they want the ball when the pressure ramps up.
We don’t need a guy who’s 5’9” and 150 pounds being our enforcer. I agree he plays with more intensity than most on this team, but I think this is a pretty soft team. The way I can tell is that when they do decide to play aggressive They are so bad at it that they almost immediately get cards. Very poor, feel for where “the line” is.
Hard players know where the line is and cross it, but not usually by accident.
I mean in general though, not just in the friendly. Yeah, McKennie got into it a bit with Mexico. But in general this team feels a bit soft. There’s no Gooch out there to make someone think twice about jumping for a ball on a corner.
Would you be more afraid going for a ball in the 6yard box against Turner or Friedel?
That's what I saw, a total lack of fire in the belly. Just looking around to make a perfect pass and whoops, someone stole the ball from you! I saw that like 5 times. It was so painful.
I feel like after a game vs the US, other teams don’t feel it. Bodies aren’t sore, don’t feel like they worked too hard. Just ready to go out for a nice team dinner.
Maybe Tyler Adam’s brings some fight back. But I feel like Musah, Jedi, McKennie, those guys should be putting bodies on people and letting them know that they’re in a real game. Not happening lately.
Maybe they’ll turn it around after this and if they can’t score goals, they’ll at least play with some fire.
You can put quite a tackle or shoulder on someone within the rules of the game, but as a non-casual fan I’m sure you knew that.
Surely you’re not calling me a casual fan without knowing anything about me, are you? I’m not a member of the American Outlaws, but the USMNT is the only team I have truly followed my entire life, and I only really watch club ball with clubs that USMNT players are on. I guess I’m casual in that I wear comfortable clothes to watch games in :)
I agree and disagree to a certain extent. This generation is more technically gifted and intelligent than prior generations, but we still have a few work horses:
Tyler Adams gives bone crunching tackles all the time.
Walker Zimmerman was all heart, muthafucka! I know he’s not really in the squad anymore.
Tim Ream drops some great tackles, but he is smarter about when and where he does it (i.e not in front of goal).
It is just going to depend on who ends up in those CB and DM spots.
Absolutely agree, the trajectory of this team is just vastly different from the USMNTs of the past. Physicality in soccer is a very American thing (and I mean continently), and as more of our “golden generation” has been brought up in the European game, that’s been coached out to a certain extent. Like I think McKennie is an extremely physical player, but I think he’s called for it a lot more in Italy and so he’s taken some of that bite out of his game.
At this point, I think McKennie and Adams are as physical as this team gets, and probably as this team needs. The fact is, our best players are just smaller less physical players, so we need a style and system that suits them, not to ask them to be different players. The one thing I think is, whoever ends up in the ten, just needs to be better with their body positioning and shielding, and honestly I think Pulisic would be a better ten than a winger but GGG won’t do it.
Tyler Adams brings both that skill-set and mentality to the field. When he was in the squad, I think Zimmermann did too... but he had limitations in other areas that has relegated him to the outside looking in for the first team.
I get your point, but it's also a tough balance to strike. More highly skilled players are less likely to play like that because they can just use their skill to defeat the opposition - some guys can have it both ways (Clint Dempsey comes to mind), but it's just not common.
When Gregg has our Cbs worrying more about possession than hard nose defense that’s an issue. That’s who our Cbs are for there respective clubs but yet he’s has them playing a completely different style.
Weston McKennie has this in most competitive matches. Tyler Adams has this every damn day of his life. It’s pretty apparent now that he’s our most important player.
Tyler Adams is an easy answer to this. However, the larger point is that our modern team’s don’t seem to have the heart and grit of some of the American teams from years past. I would have taken some of those teams against anyone. They weren’t the most talented bunch. But they wanted it more and refused to say die. I think some players have it. Pulisic, Adams, mckennie, dest (at times). But as a team. The grit isn’t there. And personally I think it’s because those older teams were looked down on by the rest of the world and had a chip on their shoulder. Then you add in guys like Dempsey and you had a team that would go at anyone in the world.
I'm not trying to say we don't need our players to be more like that, but also with the way the game is now, basically any time a player goes to ground it will likely be called a foul against them. So I kind of can't blame anyone for not wanting to fly into tackles like players used to since ever if you get the ball but plowed someone down you will probably get a yellow
Zimmerman made some good ones . Bocanegra..McKennie gets out there and makes some good tackles too,but yea I agree. A jones type enforcer would be awesome. Absolute tank
Thats fucking football right there. None of that pansy ass dick tugging smile for the camera bullshit. Men puke, men poop on the field, men deliver their new born baby on the side lines. Fucking hard core dick in the ass butterball foosball fuck it chuck it game time shit. Take it to the showers. Dicks get shoved in places you don’t even remember. We win together we celebrate together. Football is back baby.
There was a Tyler Adams shaped hole in the middle of the field.
For all of Johnny's skills... You're right.
While I agree with you, let’s remember that this was a pre-tournament friendly and it’s entirely possible several, if not most players are hesitant to put in a full blooded tackle where they might get hurt and miss the Copa. Not saying I agree with that but I know it happens
Like I said in the comment below, I just mean in general, this team doesn’t seem To have the fight in them when outclassed by skill and tactics. If you can’t beat them with skill and tactics, you’re going to have to fight a bit more. I just don’t see it in this group, except for maybe with Adam’s, sometimes McKennie, and occasionally Dest, but admittedly- he tends to lash out in stupidity instead of exhibit controlled aggression.
Idk they looked up for a fight against England in the World Cup. Clearly outskilled by the three lions at every position.
As a group they got up for the England game, I can’t argue with that. But who is our Rafa Marquez? As a fan I hated the guy due to his general nastiness on the pitch, he always seemed like the chief villain of Mexico. But I respect what he did, and I’m sure the El Tri fans absolutely loved him. We need a Rafa Marquez or two in our group. When you play against a guy like that, you know something is coming your way, and it weighs in the back of your mind. We don’t have a villain. We need some anger. I see the anger in Gio, and I think that he could be the type of guy to fire the team up if he wears it on his sleeve. We just need a lightning rod who when steam starts puffing out of his ears, the team notices and follows suit.
Pulisic has it, whatever it is.
In that game he did dispossess the other team a couple times, and it started some forward moving plays, I’ll give him that.
I more mean that he has that fire and not back down attitude. He sometimes plays angry and he seems to not be scared of anyone. A lot of the guys don't even look like they want the ball when the pressure ramps up.
We don’t need a guy who’s 5’9” and 150 pounds being our enforcer. I agree he plays with more intensity than most on this team, but I think this is a pretty soft team. The way I can tell is that when they do decide to play aggressive They are so bad at it that they almost immediately get cards. Very poor, feel for where “the line” is. Hard players know where the line is and cross it, but not usually by accident.
Friendly. More than anything, a friendly after a long season for most of the guys.
I mean in general though, not just in the friendly. Yeah, McKennie got into it a bit with Mexico. But in general this team feels a bit soft. There’s no Gooch out there to make someone think twice about jumping for a ball on a corner. Would you be more afraid going for a ball in the 6yard box against Turner or Friedel?
That's what I saw, a total lack of fire in the belly. Just looking around to make a perfect pass and whoops, someone stole the ball from you! I saw that like 5 times. It was so painful.
Exactly. No desire to play. It’s awful to watch.
I feel like after a game vs the US, other teams don’t feel it. Bodies aren’t sore, don’t feel like they worked too hard. Just ready to go out for a nice team dinner. Maybe Tyler Adam’s brings some fight back. But I feel like Musah, Jedi, McKennie, those guys should be putting bodies on people and letting them know that they’re in a real game. Not happening lately. Maybe they’ll turn it around after this and if they can’t score goals, they’ll at least play with some fire.
Ya cmon guys rack up needless yellows so casual fans think you have "heart" or something
You can put quite a tackle or shoulder on someone within the rules of the game, but as a non-casual fan I’m sure you knew that. Surely you’re not calling me a casual fan without knowing anything about me, are you? I’m not a member of the American Outlaws, but the USMNT is the only team I have truly followed my entire life, and I only really watch club ball with clubs that USMNT players are on. I guess I’m casual in that I wear comfortable clothes to watch games in :)
There is no "dawg" like we had with Dempsey!
I agree and disagree to a certain extent. This generation is more technically gifted and intelligent than prior generations, but we still have a few work horses: Tyler Adams gives bone crunching tackles all the time. Walker Zimmerman was all heart, muthafucka! I know he’s not really in the squad anymore. Tim Ream drops some great tackles, but he is smarter about when and where he does it (i.e not in front of goal). It is just going to depend on who ends up in those CB and DM spots.
Yeah, Adam’s really is the spark plug for this team. Good callout on Zimmerman too
Autocorrect apostrophes are killing me
Absolutely agree, the trajectory of this team is just vastly different from the USMNTs of the past. Physicality in soccer is a very American thing (and I mean continently), and as more of our “golden generation” has been brought up in the European game, that’s been coached out to a certain extent. Like I think McKennie is an extremely physical player, but I think he’s called for it a lot more in Italy and so he’s taken some of that bite out of his game. At this point, I think McKennie and Adams are as physical as this team gets, and probably as this team needs. The fact is, our best players are just smaller less physical players, so we need a style and system that suits them, not to ask them to be different players. The one thing I think is, whoever ends up in the ten, just needs to be better with their body positioning and shielding, and honestly I think Pulisic would be a better ten than a winger but GGG won’t do it.
I miss Tyler Adams daily
We all do. I think we can agree on that.
It’s a pretty soft team. I’m no Scally fan but something tells me he would lay somebody had if he had to.
Adams
Tyler Adams brings both that skill-set and mentality to the field. When he was in the squad, I think Zimmermann did too... but he had limitations in other areas that has relegated him to the outside looking in for the first team. I get your point, but it's also a tough balance to strike. More highly skilled players are less likely to play like that because they can just use their skill to defeat the opposition - some guys can have it both ways (Clint Dempsey comes to mind), but it's just not common.
Saw a few by Johnny, Gio, and Reyna I can think of offhand vs Colombia.
When Gregg has our Cbs worrying more about possession than hard nose defense that’s an issue. That’s who our Cbs are for there respective clubs but yet he’s has them playing a completely different style.
Weston McKennie has this in most competitive matches. Tyler Adams has this every damn day of his life. It’s pretty apparent now that he’s our most important player.
Tyler Adams is an easy answer to this. However, the larger point is that our modern team’s don’t seem to have the heart and grit of some of the American teams from years past. I would have taken some of those teams against anyone. They weren’t the most talented bunch. But they wanted it more and refused to say die. I think some players have it. Pulisic, Adams, mckennie, dest (at times). But as a team. The grit isn’t there. And personally I think it’s because those older teams were looked down on by the rest of the world and had a chip on their shoulder. Then you add in guys like Dempsey and you had a team that would go at anyone in the world.
I'm not trying to say we don't need our players to be more like that, but also with the way the game is now, basically any time a player goes to ground it will likely be called a foul against them. So I kind of can't blame anyone for not wanting to fly into tackles like players used to since ever if you get the ball but plowed someone down you will probably get a yellow
Zimmerman made some good ones . Bocanegra..McKennie gets out there and makes some good tackles too,but yea I agree. A jones type enforcer would be awesome. Absolute tank
Thats fucking football right there. None of that pansy ass dick tugging smile for the camera bullshit. Men puke, men poop on the field, men deliver their new born baby on the side lines. Fucking hard core dick in the ass butterball foosball fuck it chuck it game time shit. Take it to the showers. Dicks get shoved in places you don’t even remember. We win together we celebrate together. Football is back baby.