CP and McKennie went 120 minutes against Jamaica. Tyler Adams is working his way back from injury, Yunus will be on the Ramadan diet, though the match begins just after sundown. Which of these four do you start against Mexico if you were the manager?
Only goal is to win the game. CP and McKennie are the top 2 starters. I'd also start Musah along with Johnny Football.
I believe that as long as we have Gregg in charge who starts does not matter much at all. When you put players in positions to fail, which Gregg does a lot, we should not be surprised when they do what they are set up to do. While it is possible, in spite of being limited by the "plan," for players to excel. It is much harder for individuals to shine when they are limited by what the coach wants. So, yes I would start all our best players and play them until they get obviously tired. Even though we get production from our players from time to time the fact is that the USA national team almost always underperforms and this is particularly true when we play the nearly dead minnows like Jamaica or T&T. We have, generally less bad play against the CONCACAF "biggies" (If there was ever an oxymoron in soccer that is it) Mexico and Canada than we do against the rest of CONCACAF. I just want to watch and hope against hope that we do not play stupidly and/or embarrass ourselves.
What I would do: 1) Feed Musah a light meal and hydrate him just after sundown. Bring him on as a sub in the second half. 2) Start Adams. Play him 60 or whatever his time limit is. He looked good against Jamaica. 3) Start Reyna. I think he can go 90. He went 75 plus extra time against Jamaica. 4) Start CP. Keep a close eye on how he's doing in the second half. But basically ride him as long as possible. 5) Ditto for McKennie.
I would not "bash" Gregg if I thought that he was not 90-95% of the problem we have with scoring. He has made things too complicated and players have to think before acting rather than doing what their clubs and earlier training has taught them. But apparently Gregg likes slow plodding soccer so he must be good. Besides his decisions and choices are so stupidly bad that he makes an easy target.
I 100% think you must prepare for extra time and PKs, rather than ‘start your best 11 and see what happens.’ Pulisic is the only difficult one. I would leave him in reserve, let Aaronson burn some minutes, then bring Pulisic in for the entire second half (if trailing) or at 60’ (if even/ahead) to close things out (with a winning goal or successful PK). I think there is about 0% chance that CP doesn’t start - he would have to suggest it, as GB is incapable of doing so. Start Adams and sub him out at his time limit, ideally at halftime, then Johnny. I would go Musah, then sub in McKennie, but that’s another minority view, I’m sure. Not all criticism is bashing. I’ll criticize GB until someone new starts taking our corner kicks (or CP somehow improves greatly in that regard).
The only reason to not start your best is if you have a player who you don't think can even go 45 minutes. Then I can see it. Otherwise you are taking a defeatist approach.
I wouldn’t object if he didn’t start either Tyler or CP, or if he limited both to 45 min. I trust Johnny. And while we struggle without CP, he has played a TON of minutes this year and in the last 72 hrs. Wes always seems indestructible to me. I don’t know much about the body and Ramadan fasting. But Yunus seemed off on Thursday.
If you are only taking about being exhausted. We have a guy who has had to fight through injuries. Plus, we are playing a team that has no problem dishing out the nasty side of the game. And he has been a target of theirs for a long time. It would suck to see him not be able to finish a great year, definitely the best ever for a Yank in Italy.
GK Turner RB Dest CB Miles CB Richards LB Jedi (Scally) MF Adams (Johnny) MF McKennie RM Weah (Musah) AM Gio (Aaronson) LM Pulisic FW Wright (Pepi)
Valid perspective for sure. But if you are worried about Puli getting hacked and injured then you'd never play him against Mexico. Maybe the damn referees will do their freaking job.....for once.....
This being CONCACAF I believe there is zero chance of that. Any ref that actually called fouls would quickly be relegated to U10 or so. We hold 10 year olds to higher standards than we do the so called adults playing soccer so they need better refs.
i start the starters other than adams. i have no problem with johnny for musah. there are no other big questions. puli starts, weah starts, dest starts, jedi starts, 2 of miles, richards and ream start, turner starts, balo starts (cause gregg).
Nobody cares. This is not a Berhalter thread, it's pretty specific. If you insist on going on and on with that crap please at least take it somewhere more relevant.
i think fitness may dictate the subs, more than usual anyways. wright for puli, tillman for reyna (possibly weah, though aaronsons more likely there). musah and johnny split one spot whoever starts. adams coming on at some point is likely, probably for wes. so i think we may not see tactical subs (pepi for balo, in particular). a defender needing to be replaced could throw a real wrench into things...but yeah, i think "we" are focusing a little too much on the wrong end of the game. its pretty remarkable that gregg finally makes moves before the 80th minute these days- thats a pretty big change. he rotates his starters even less.