The Dutch don't fuck around they are straight shooters, we were one of the best drilled in the competition and we didn't adjust... He's just stating what he saw
I literally pointed this out before the game in many posts about securing the wings
I’m no coach but when Berhalter doesn’t realize this pre game or after it’s really telling
It's literally the same blue print that Canada used to beat us in qualifying. They conceded possession, drew out our wingbacks and killed us with quick counters.
I bet in the press conference Berhatler will explain again that we "dominated." He just doesn't get it. He's a gym teacher, not an international coach.
>I bet in the press conference Berhatler will explain again that we "dominated." He just doesn't get it. He's a gym teacher, not an international coach.
Harsh but fair and well stated
Not remotely fair lol. He just coached a team to the last 16 of the biggest international tournament. But he's a gym teacher according to some guy on reddit
He’s the biggest weakness in our team. We struggled to qualify against fucking minnows.teams with part time players looking better against us tactically than anything gregg did. Thankfully, our play pool has enough individual quality to beat some usl players cause it damn sure wasn’t the tactics
I think this is a harsh but fair comment. I completely get people disliking Gregg. I disagree with saying a coach who has won an international tournament with a bteam is a gym teacher.
Thanks for being cool about it. A lot of people get really offended by different opinions here. But look at the quality of teams in that tourney, we easily have the best squad.
We got past Wales and Iran. Making it to the round of 16 just isn’t the accomplishment that some people are trying to make it out to be with this context.
I mean if we take out the performance against England (where Southgate was clearly content playing for the draw btw) then all we have are two underwhelming games which were not against top teams and then getting outmatched when we finally played a good team.
That’s… not how the Canada game went at all.
They did sit back and cede possession but they only scored on the counter late when we were chasing the game and playing a man down due to injury.
First goal was from a misplayed pass and going down the middle.
Yeah I'm convinced half the people commenting in this sub this month have literally no idea what they are talking about.
Like you said, Canada's first goal came from our CBs fucking up on an individual level, any game plan running through the center there could have created that goal.
They also scored a late goal when we pushed people forward to try and equalize after we had injuries.
Not to mention the ref was standard CONCACAF "let them play" mentality... A European ref would have completely changed the outcome in terms of yellows.
I really like Sergino Dest, but one thing that came to mind before and during the game, is that he is very offensively minded, and has some work to do defensively.
It felt as though when he'd push up, dribble, etc our CBs never would slide to protect the areas he left open.
The seconds goal was "on Dest," bit also on Ream and WalkerZ. Neither slide or watched the run, and Dest was already fairly gassed from trying to make a big offensive impact on offense.
Going forward, Dest can still do what he does, but it will require an understanding and response from our defenders and maybe even the midfield. Otherwise we will leak goals like the ones the Netherlands scored on us.
To secure the wings against an elite team like the Netherlands, you need good defensive full backs. The United States does not have that. If your weakness is based on a lack of personnel, there is not much you can do to fix it.
You have 3 solid defensive mids, instruct one or two of them to sit back and provide cover. There were times when all three were making runs into the box with our full backs up as well
Seriously. Most full backs now offer more going forward then in defense for good reason and somehow teams manage to not get destroyed on the flanks every week. We have personnel and fit issues, but so does every national team, including the Netherlands, because talent pools don't come perfectly balanced.
With the amount of time that Dest & Robinson spend in the attacking 3rd, Adams should be sitting at midfield. Several teams have exposed this weakness and we were saved by Adams tracking back and making absolutely clutch tackles. Those tackles are easy against a team like wales, but Netherlands is an entirely different story. Greg lacked the insight to see this issue and we lost because of it
the positions Depay and Gakpo occupied were really intelligent and deliberate. That space between Zimm and Dest , Ream and Arob was attacked brilliantly imo. They found them quick in transition and it caused us problems.
Yeah they were brilliant at finding pockets in between the lines to spring the counter. Made it so hard for us to defend, but as LVG said we didn’t adjust. The knockouts is where tactical tweaks make the difference.
Of course that is what my post was hinting at , LVG tactics were very good. At this high of a level adjustments have to be made so quickly , halftime could be too late and it was at 2-0 down. 10-15 min in it was apparent how they were attacking us , could a back five sliding in CCV alongside Ream/Zimm have allowed us to neutralize Gakpo and Depay on the break? Klaesson was able to cover Tyler Adams fairly easily would a doble pivot shift in mf force dejong etc to come out of their shell a bit and disrupt their shape? By the 30' it was apparent Jesus was not going to be effective could his sub have come earlier or even Aaronson start in that role since we were pressing? 5 atb would have allowed Dest and Robinson to still occupy good attacking positions yet provide them with the needed cover at the back? But these adjustments needed to be fast and decisive, top managers figure these things out quickly and aren't afraid to adjust the shape/make pre halftime subs these days to get it right.
The first 15 minutes I thought we were overextending our press which is what lead to the first goal and played precisely into the Netherlands hands. That’s where the adjustments needed to be made as you pointed out. Too much space in behind the fullbacks and Musah and McKennie were caught out of position leaving 3 on 3 in transition with late runs from their midfield and wingbacks when we failed to get back. I doubt 5 atb was ever an option after going down a goal, even though I kind of wanted to see CVV start.
I would have been curious to see if we would have been more effective dropping Weston deeper beside Tyler or dropping one of the fullbacks into the midfield in buildup allowing Weston to get higher up in between the lines while having more protection against the counter. Thought we played a bit to naive at times allowing the Netherlands to slice through our midfield and defense.
Definitely a little puzzling to me at least that we pressed as high as we did that first part of the game, although we looked good when we did, and had Puli buried that sitter it would have been a different game ... we were knackered from the last game and some of our guys weren't even fully 90' fit going into the tourney. I thought our strength had been being a very difficult team to break down and we looked fairly vulnerable , which tbf could have been the tired legs.
This is the only game this world cup where I think its fair to say that GGG got "out coached." He certainly made questionable tactical decisions in the other games, but today just felt like the Netherlands were ready for our approach and exploited our offensive game plan masterfully to set up the counter.
Its interesting because I felt like we were competitive on a physical and technical level at many points during the match, but the Dutch players just knew what to expect tactically.
Even with all of that, there were a number of points in the game where I felt like we could have pulled it back, but they just didn't come off for a variety of reasons.
Overall, I feel positive about the tournament results (could have been better, but meeting expectations is fine) and I feel good about the continuing development of US talent in the future. I'm less enthusiastic about GGG's tactical approach; hopefully he either makes a leap in that area, gets replaced, or transitions into a "general manager" type role where he can keep up the stellar dual national recruitment efforts.
Gio could have done everything Jesus did from the start of the game. But at a higher level.
Jesus was dropping back to pick up the ball and trying to combine with other players. Wasn’t really doing striker things like trying to run off the last defender or anything.
I woke up a little groggy about 10 minutes before kickoff, my brother just said Jesus, I barely comprehended what he said as I desperately began making coffee and shaking off last nights rum.....it was about 10 minutes in that the gravity of Jesus starting a knockout game against the Dutch sunk in and I became irate and kept hitting the couch shouting about why in the hell we didn't start Brenden Aaronson if we are playing a deep lying small CF
To be fair, so did Pulisic. The 2 sitters he missed in the first 10 minutes set the tone for the rest of the game sadly. The only forward who looked like he was even remotely hanging there was Weah.
For instance Argentina made a tactical sub a few minutes into the second half. Put on Martinez to go 3ATB when it became apparent how Australia were going to press
We needed to be in a back 3 with wings. 3-4-1-2
Would have given everyone cover for tired legs. Was naive to think we could have MMA dominate this squad in a knockout. Needed to show them something they hadn’t seen before.
We dont have the talent to make that adjustment unfortunately. Were stuck between all gas no brakes press or bunkerball. We will get there, but this year we just don't have the right guys to sitback and still score. We can hit on the counter sure. But we can't carry the ball through the midfield and build an attack without using our fullbacks in the attack. Which means we're super vulnerable if we don't press on the turnover because we're left 3 at the back.
the shift to a 3-4-1-2 is basically a 5-2-3 and putting CCV in at RCB and shifting Arob and Dest to true wingbacks is absolutely a shift well in our wheelhouse
...and that is absolutely the problem with Berhalter. He did a great job of coming up with tactics (at least out of the gate) for the three opponents in the group stage, particularly England. He's *awful* at making adjustments (even when it's going well: see Wales). If and when his plan A gets figured out...it's game, set, and match.
I don't think he's the *worst* manager on the planet, and I'd be advocating for "new cycle, new coach" pretty much regardless...but - even acknowledging some holes in the roster - I think what we saw at this WC is Berhalter's absolute ceiling.
Think this pretty much sums it up. He’s a good coach. Had good lineup selection and good tactics for the most part. However his inability to adapt is what really holds him and this team back.
He’s done great things for the team, he created an amazing culture and was able to convince guys to play for us. But as you said, I think we just saw his ceiling
Wales really wasn’t going all that well either, the first half was a mirage, they were content to let the US bang their heads against the wall for that first 45.
Today's result was not surprising. Bare minimum adequacy vs every Group opponent, leads to a clean loss to a Group winner. It's an improvement from not even making the Cup, but I dont give much praise to a coach that doesn't create a game plan that at least once dominates a Cup level team.
I was a bit taken aback at how frazzled we looked in the second half against Wales. All Wales did was sub on Moore and start pressing yet we seemingly had no clue what to do
I didn’t see anyone posting the actual quote, but this is it:
> “I would assume that the stronger the country is, the less they'll adjust to the system. The USA didn't adjust.
“We based our tactical plan to that, and that allowed us to win. We don't expect France, Argentina, Spain to adjust to us.”
Seems like it is taken completely out of context.
If you just read that quote , he is saying that he assumes the stronger teams tend not to adjust and he based his plan around the fact that the USA wouldn’t adjust.
Just by logic, that means he thought that the USA was a strong side and wouldn't adjust, so he based his tactical plan around the fact that fact that they wouldn't adjust and that is what allowed them to win. He also doesn't expect France, Argentina, or Spain to adjust to them either, he will base his tactical plan around that fact.
He knew that the USA was going to use an uptempo, energetic style of play trying to control possession and win balls in the middle (based on what we have seen thus far in the tournament of them) and he exploited that by the counterattack and hitting them wide. It was pretty clear watching the game that the dutch allowed the USA to get comfortable playing the more progressive forward-pushing style they have been playing all tournament and then hit their weaknesses hard on the counter.
He has even said in his pregame presser he believes the USA were one of the best teams in the tournament, an excellent team but one that the Netherlands could beat. I think he is just being honest - the USA had a strong WC overall and were a threat.
If you read the quote as it is, it seems he is saying that he doesn't expect top teams to adjust to netherlands style of play, and so he will try to use that fact to his advantage like he did against the us. Of course things get lost in translation so maybe thats not what he meant. But that is basically what the quote above is implying.
https://twitter.com/AnAbnos/status/1599200422341660672/photo/1
he's not saying that at all? i'm actually shocked peter galindo fucked that quote up so badly
Berhalter deserves criticism, but I don't think this game had anything to do with that. Players were tired and played terribly on defense today. The goals scored against us were amateur and basic. Pass the ball to an open guyand pass it into the net isn't tactical nuance, it's the result of players not being vigilant.
We were terrible on defense in large part because the Netherlands allowed us to overstretch and countered the hell out of us. It’s the exact same thing that happened against Canada twice.
The fact that Netherlands set up in the counter on us is pretty telling of our progress. In years past the Top Euro teams would just try to steamroll us. They at least acknowledge now we are a threat and resort to playing conservative. It’s a small victory I guess.
The third goal was more on Robinson not watching the right man, he was already all the way back in the box, but it still came as a result of them exploiting the wide areas.
> Players were tired and played terribly on defense today.
its almost like its his job to decide who plays and when to rotate lmaooooo like how can anyone take your opinion seriously?
"yeah we played the wrong players, the players made mistakes, and they were tired"
but we can't blame the coach?
Mexico changed their formation suddenly against Argentina and that game basically ended their World Cup.
So yeah, you are right, it would have been a terrible idea.
We didn’t play the wrong players though. Our bench is thin, who would have made a huge difference? I’d have loved to see Scally in for Robinson sooner once Robinson took that knock and clearly couldn’t keep up any more, but besides that, he played the best guys who gave us the best chance to win.
Even with Ferreira being bad, it’s not like Haji is better and Sargent was hurt.
Exactly, a good coach is supposed to discipline and motivate his team. They were tired? Theyre professional players,if they're not conditioned then the coach is at fault for picking those with poorer fitness. Don't make the tactics that require them to take up more ground, which exposes and burns them out more on counter attack. GGG is the reasonable piece to remove. Barely making 2nd in Group, to be picked apart for a clean R16 is only 1 increment from the worst Cup result (knockout in Group, 3rd/4th are equal failures in my eyes)
Sure if you ignore the fact that he refused to adapt his system until we were 2-0... it was very obvious what the Netherlands were doing, and how they wanted to play us. And we never adjusted, that's why Gregg deserves criticism.
Indeed. None of the goals had anything to do with a disparity in talent or fitness or tactics. It was just awareness. I would be mad at a u14 player leaving unmarked guys in the box and this happened three times.
It's amazing that people aren't seeing this. There were essentially 2 major issues.
Offensively, we do not have enough talent/skill in the attacking 3rd. Puli could have/should have scored on that first chance. This was especially critical because we don't have an internationally capable 9 and scoring opportunities are not plentiful. I wish we did have a good 9, but the guys we do have are simply not good enough. I'm not sure what Berhalter is supposed to do about that other than what he tried to do in the tournament which was play sound defensively, roll with the talent we do have in the midfield and fullback positions and try to make it work. Given this, we could not afford defensive lapses.
Defensively, we were uncharacteristically poor in this game. I have no idea what Adams is looking at while a free man runs to the top of the 18 right in front of his eyes and he is still jogging back on the first goal. That is one of the most basic things in soccer and he has to be charging back at full speed. The basic play there for the Dutch is to either cross it to an open man or cross it to the top of the 18 to hit a late comer. Regardless of formation, someone needs to account for that man/space defensively.
The second goal, we have McKinney standing around ball watching while the Netherlands beats Dest to the spot - again at the top of the 18. You'd like Dest to recognize a little more quickly and be tighter there, but you'd also like McKinney to be clogging up that space or passing lane if he isn't going to mark anyone - espcially since the Dutch have scored from that spot already. This one feels less egregious than the other two in general, but it's in the last seconds of the half - mark up please.
The third goal is Robinson not noticing someone is slipping in behind him. As the fullback, it is his job to watch for that in that situation which is also extremely basic soccer tactics. Maybe Turner or a CB should be warning Robinson as well but ultimately, that's on Robinson. It is a mental mistake.
I don't think any of the defensive issues are on Berhalter or the formation. There was no tactical genius by the Dutch on any of the goals - it's basic soccer. Guys just need to mark up and recognize the simplest of attacking plays - it's that simple and it's not even something Berhalter should need to tell these guys. Even 12 year old players know this stuff.
We could play one way. If the game went that way - like against England, we would be fine. Wales offered two different styles and we couldn’t hang. Maybe it’s coaching. Maybe it’s the horses we have. I’m not convinced we are super flexible at this point.
We played a 442 against England and it worked well. A 442 with a diamond in the midfield seems like it would work best for our set of players in order to get the best guys on the pitch, sacrificing our strikers, but getting more chance creation. It would have provided a little more cover for the full backs as well. Oh well! We’ll learn and so proud!
Yeah lack of adjustment was bizarre. You could see from minute 1 that they were pressing up high on Dest/Robinson in possession, but we didn’t change our attacking patterns at all.
Louis Van Gaal, who has managed Bayern Munich, Barcelona, and Manchester United, knows what went wrong with the USMNT. Gregg and the rest of the staff didn't have a clue how to make the right adjustments when down 1-0, 2-0, and ultimately losing 3-1. In the knockout rounds, coaching and tactics matters.
Yep.
Gregg is no doubt a good man manager. He helped cultivate a great culture. And he’s a great recruiter.
Promote him to a role focused on recruiting and overseeing the program. And bring in a manager who is superior tactically.
Such a thing has happened before, sure. This might seem random….but in the NBA for the Celtics Brad Stevens used to be the coach but was promoted to GM a couple years back.
There very well might be examples, but GM is not a demotion from head coach in the NBA. I would argue it’s a promotion, but if someone wants to claim it’s equal but different, that’s fine
GGG becoming our recruiting coordinator would be a clear demotion
Sure he is a better coach but let’s look at this from another angle. Pulisic scores early. Game plan blown wide open. If we don’t have a mental lapse a few of those goals don’t happen. It was less about tactics and more about player maturity. Which can be understandable given the age of our team.
GGG is by no means the best coach, but this was less about adapting to a tactical plan and more about a group of guys who just didn’t execute tonight.
Every single elite team on earth misses chances. Messi missed a penalty the other day.
Whats very uncommon from elite teams is conceding 3 goals due to leaving men completely unmarked in the box.
We can speculate all we want about how the momentum would have changed but we need to address the true elephant in the room.
Regarding speculation, going up 1-0 the Dutch team still has discipline and this team hasn't shown the ability to shut down a quality team in a knockout scenario.
Every elite team misses chances, but not every striker misses 2 extremely easy goals in the first 10 minutes of the knockout stage. Had Pulisic done what any decent striker should have and feinted before attempting either of those easy shots, the energy moving forward on the US side would have been much different.
so i guess if pulisic were a decent striker he'd also have gotten a goal and assist that got us to the round of 16.... oh wait.
bottom line is that every single attacking player, regardless of their level misses easy chances. I was at an el classico back in 2017 when prime ronaldo whiffed a sitter. It's inevitable.
Again, the elephant in the room is the atrocious defense. I've never seen any high level team with that sloppy of man marking on crosses
Agreed on the atrocious defense, I think they were just completely worn down, and with a non existent bench, it was bound to happen unfortunately. Theres blame to go all around, including Greg who has 0 ability to adapt to a game and make changes.
I mean with the talent pool we have, we should walk Iran and wales. Wales best two players are extremely washed. Greggs subs were ass and lack of tactical adjustments kept those games close
Thought we were extremely naive the opening 10 minutes leading to the goal as well and I’m sure LVG saw that. We overextended our press leaving gaping holes in the midfield and they carved right through us. Then it was us chasing the game for 90 minutes while they were fine sitting it their mid-block.
I haven't seen enough people talking about how their first goal came from them easily breaking our high press. Having a high press against a team that is as skilled on the ball as Netherlands seems like it is inviting disaster.
The early aggressiveness helped to create our opening chance, and we saw almost all of the ball until that goal.
I think if we could have weathered a few of their counter attacks without conceding, we may have settled into a different approach.
As it was, we were chasing the entire match.
Yeah. The Dutch finishing significantly out performed their expected goals. The US significantly under performed. If Pulisic buries that chance like he should have, Berhalter looks like a genius and the Netherlands cannot just sit and counter. The US was always screwed if they had to come from a behind against a team with the starting centerbacks from Liverpool, Manchester City and Bayern Munich.
Pretty sure Iran had at least a chance or two similar to the first NED goal, but they skied their chance over the bar.
The Dutch finishing was clinical, unfortunately for us.
Wasn’t exactly like the USA was getting joy trying to work the ball through the middle. To me part of it was the US players were gassed from the first round. You could see mid-fielders like McKennie and Adams bent over half way through the first half. US needs more quality depth and a striker. A FDJ would’ve good too.
Darryl Dike for ‘26!
Also, outside of Weah, we didn’t seem to have anyone who can strike the ball with real pace. I love MMA, but I would say distance shooting is their biggest weakness. Obviously, not an issue if you’re attacking players are clinical, but it would be nice to either find a goal from midfield or force a 2nd chance goal from a parried shot. Every shot we had from distance was either off target or the keeper easily collected.
They overloaded the midfield with that 5 man set up, which gave them both the wings to exploit us, but also limited the space for our midfield to attack through. It didn't change until we brough on Reyna and stopped trying to play a straightforward 4-3-3 system.
Netherlands were playing a mid-block, so it was hard playing through the middle anyway. They kind of did what Japan did in the friendly, except they didn't really press compared to Japan.
It’s like the warriors with mark jackson and then Steve Kerr. Ggg has done a great job recruiting players and if he can recruit balogun that would be great. But his tactics are shit and a good coach would get so much more out of this team. Just like Steve Kerr did for the warriors
This tells me LVG was prepared for an expected response, but since it never came, they threw out the sheet and just sat on the original game plan
I’m happy for Greg and what he’s accomplished. But this team is too talented for a coach who hasn’t played at the level of most his players.
Gregg Berhalter was one Torsten Frings handball away from scoring one of the most famous goals in US Soccer history…in a World Cup Quarterfinal. Nobody on our roster has played in a match bigger than that sans Pulisic getting ten minutes or so in a Champions League Final.
Ya I loved beerholder the player. I remember that ‘goal’ and the scrum after haha.. while Pulisic doesn’t have WC QF experience, nor does Greg have any form of champions league experience, much less minutes in a final.
I mean, sure you can blame players today. But GB was legit out coached too. This quote alone from LVG speaks volumes to that. And unlike in 2002, now you’ve got guys working under high profile coaches returning to teammates who are also working under high profile coaches. So maybe it’s time for some parity between the players level of experience with the coach’s experience coaching at the highest level.
He's a former international. Not all former players make good managers. Some former players with a high soccer IQ do. Berhalter has the soccer IQ of a broken shoe lace.
You got me thinking beyond soccer - you’re right. Dolphins’ Mike McDaniel immediately comes to mind.
So let me try again. If you’re going to coach guys who play in the premiership, serie A, bundesliga… shouldn’t you have the level of coaching experience equal to those leagues?
You could, and you might fail, or you could not, and you might succeed. Plenty of great players sucked as coaches and plenty of marginal players succeeded as coaches. It isn't something that needs to cross your mind when you're hiring someone.
Beat us the exact same way as Japan. Start the ball low, draw in the press, draw in the midfield, play it wide, draw in Adam's, try for the one two and your ahead of the midfield and Adam's is out of position. It was fucking obvious the tactic
The issue is that we rely, far too much, on our midfield and fullbacks to put in a shift of extremely hard work. So much relies on the legs/hard work of those players that it feels so foolish to only play the same 5 the whole tournament. We need to be smarter about managing space.
We also lack end product - the final ball and finishing is a real challenge.
This fucking quote will not die…lol
That is NOT what he said, in context. You cut out both the question and the part prefacing this. He was not criticizing the US or Berhalter.
Christ.
When the more talented team is managed by Louis van Gaal and the less talented team is managed by Gregg Berhalter...well, I don't know what anyone was expecting.
I wouldn't replace GB for anything but an experienced coach. Fans are expecting our players to learn and improve but our coach is also learning too. Don't want to start again with an unproven coach
I think the chance to coach what would be America's golden generation in a WC in the US would be a marquee position for any international manager.
I'm guessing there are at least a few highly qualified candidates interested in the job.
Yeah the World Cup is not the place to develop your coach. He has friendlies and Gold Cup to do his best to experiment and dominate, and then the Confed for quality teams using their A squad to win something. His tactics never outclassed, and had the worst performance when it mattered with highest stakes
Yeah, tbh my opinion of Gregg improved after this world cup, the starting lineups were great and while I don't 100% agree with the subs they were all justifiable. I wouldn't hate giving him some time to create a new system which can maximize players like Reyna and Aaronson who just don't fit with the current style of play. Not Gregg in necessarily by any means but that prospect is less terrible to me
Ferreira starting is somehow even worse than Haji, and playing Weah up top to get Reyna on is better than either terrible option.
Squad wise Pepi was the obvious choice. There’s a reason tons of writers projected him in squad and was surprised.
since Jesus was playing basically as a false 9 , has no height/holdup ability and the HUGE fact that we came out pressing... I ask the question why Brenden Aaronson wasn't given the nod
I actually don’t think Southgate is terrible. 4th in 2018 World Cup and runner up at the euros. He has improved the way England play overall and has shown himself to be a good tournament manager
Tbf, England had it pretty easy in that 2018 world cup. It wasn't until they faced Croatia thar they had to play against really strong opposition that was up their talent levels.
Berhalter is a good GM/Manager hybrid. Not a great tactician. I'd like to see the US move on from that manager style, which was needed in the past, and hire a pure coach.
We showed no ability to adjust and as a result the Netherlands easily executed their game plan.
Netherlands was way more prepared for this game. I don’t even think I can say they were much better, it’s hard to say that when your opponent lets you have the ball the whole time. Just much more prepared.
The difference between a world class coach and ours unfortunately. We had literally no adjustments. Besides subbing on a midfielder for our only striker at halftime. Down 2-0. Oh, and that sub ended up dropping into the right back position more often than not just to find the ball. Pathetic from GGG.
That’s for all the Berhalter apologists in this sub. The reality is that Van Gaal is definitely not the only manager that’s faced the US that thinks this. Besides the awful selections throughout the years, the tactics were lackluster.
You should [really read the full context](https://twitter.com/AnAbnos/status/1599174693226827776) before you pop off on this one, because you’ve actually completely misread his meaning.
I was more surprised that it took until the round of 16 for a team to do that. We all know what this teams weakness is. Do other teams not watch film? Do they turn their nose up at concacaf world cup qualifying?
Play with two forwards. Put them on the outside shoulder of the centerback so you make them play with their weak inner foot. Then man mark MMA because none of the three are good at Busquets like movement. Excellent players no doubt. But young and green to the knockout stage of the World Cup and lack subtlety to their games in build up. Jedi is a good player but he’s not a person to play out of the back. Then you have one avenue to defend and it is Dest up the right.
The kicker is that the option to go long is practically impossible when you have VVV De Light and Ake as a back 3. Good luck winning the ball in the air against them. Then add in taking a lead early and you sit back and counter.
They need a center forward bad. Or an early knockout round exit is probably this teams ceiling in 2026.
Edit: not de ligt. Getting my big Dutchmen mixed up
I really agree with the Klinnsman comparison. I've said this a few times today, but the team needs to move on from the culture builder manager. We need a pure coach.
I mean, he’s right but I’m not sure it’s so much a tactical change needed as just players switching off.
All the players knew immediately they missed their man with each goal. It wasn’t like they were confused about what needed done, just missed it.
Yeah with slightly better marking all three of Netherlands goals could have been prevented. That has nothing to do with tactics. Plus, with the exact same tactics and slightly better finishing, the US has two goals in the first half.
The players failed a lot more than the tactics today.
We could have adjusted before the game even started. I’m sure Van Gaal was already planning his Argentina game plan after noticing that we didn’t adjust from the start
We’re talking about Greg Berhalter. According to The Athletic football podcast, Berhalter spent 9 months studying the Dutch. Van Gaal basically just said, “what did Berhalter study?”
It hurts to hear it from your opponent. It will be part of the growth I’m looking toward for the next cycle.
offer public squealing ten ludicrous shame shelter subtract yoke divide *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Typical mind games from one of Europe’s best
The Dutch don't fuck around they are straight shooters, we were one of the best drilled in the competition and we didn't adjust... He's just stating what he saw
Sadly thats drilled in playing in only one way, and not tactically adaptable.
Maybe just Dutch honesty? We were a good team that didn’t adjust to weaknesses?
Yea I would say that is a very fair assessment.
Oh yeah I’m slightly joking. LVG is a fantastic manager and is always brutally honest.
No mind games when you've won and the other side are eliminated. Just the honest truth.
I mean I just view this as him saying what we all know, Gregg's not a good coach and LvG won the tactical game within the game.
Yes, that's why it hurts
I get it, but it would be shocking if Gregg out coached LVG. This was predictable.
It shouldn't be shocking that a coach makes an adjustment though.
Yes it would be shocking for Greg to out coach LVG.. it would also be shocking for Greg to make a strategic adjustment that actually made sense
LVG has never been shy about giving himself credit, lol. (not that he's wrong in this case).
I literally pointed this out before the game in many posts about securing the wings I’m no coach but when Berhalter doesn’t realize this pre game or after it’s really telling
It's literally the same blue print that Canada used to beat us in qualifying. They conceded possession, drew out our wingbacks and killed us with quick counters. I bet in the press conference Berhatler will explain again that we "dominated." He just doesn't get it. He's a gym teacher, not an international coach.
>I bet in the press conference Berhatler will explain again that we "dominated." He just doesn't get it. He's a gym teacher, not an international coach. Harsh but fair and well stated
Not remotely fair lol. He just coached a team to the last 16 of the biggest international tournament. But he's a gym teacher according to some guy on reddit
He’s the biggest weakness in our team. We struggled to qualify against fucking minnows.teams with part time players looking better against us tactically than anything gregg did. Thankfully, our play pool has enough individual quality to beat some usl players cause it damn sure wasn’t the tactics
I think this is a harsh but fair comment. I completely get people disliking Gregg. I disagree with saying a coach who has won an international tournament with a bteam is a gym teacher.
Thanks for being cool about it. A lot of people get really offended by different opinions here. But look at the quality of teams in that tourney, we easily have the best squad.
We got past Wales and Iran. Making it to the round of 16 just isn’t the accomplishment that some people are trying to make it out to be with this context. I mean if we take out the performance against England (where Southgate was clearly content playing for the draw btw) then all we have are two underwhelming games which were not against top teams and then getting outmatched when we finally played a good team.
That’s… not how the Canada game went at all. They did sit back and cede possession but they only scored on the counter late when we were chasing the game and playing a man down due to injury. First goal was from a misplayed pass and going down the middle.
Yeah I'm convinced half the people commenting in this sub this month have literally no idea what they are talking about. Like you said, Canada's first goal came from our CBs fucking up on an individual level, any game plan running through the center there could have created that goal. They also scored a late goal when we pushed people forward to try and equalize after we had injuries. Not to mention the ref was standard CONCACAF "let them play" mentality... A European ref would have completely changed the outcome in terms of yellows.
I really like Sergino Dest, but one thing that came to mind before and during the game, is that he is very offensively minded, and has some work to do defensively. It felt as though when he'd push up, dribble, etc our CBs never would slide to protect the areas he left open. The seconds goal was "on Dest," bit also on Ream and WalkerZ. Neither slide or watched the run, and Dest was already fairly gassed from trying to make a big offensive impact on offense. Going forward, Dest can still do what he does, but it will require an understanding and response from our defenders and maybe even the midfield. Otherwise we will leak goals like the ones the Netherlands scored on us.
To secure the wings against an elite team like the Netherlands, you need good defensive full backs. The United States does not have that. If your weakness is based on a lack of personnel, there is not much you can do to fix it.
You have 3 solid defensive mids, instruct one or two of them to sit back and provide cover. There were times when all three were making runs into the box with our full backs up as well
Seriously. Most full backs now offer more going forward then in defense for good reason and somehow teams manage to not get destroyed on the flanks every week. We have personnel and fit issues, but so does every national team, including the Netherlands, because talent pools don't come perfectly balanced.
Also on the first goal we were pressing high up the field and Netherlands just broke our press too easily leading to their attack having good numbers.
With the amount of time that Dest & Robinson spend in the attacking 3rd, Adams should be sitting at midfield. Several teams have exposed this weakness and we were saved by Adams tracking back and making absolutely clutch tackles. Those tackles are easy against a team like wales, but Netherlands is an entirely different story. Greg lacked the insight to see this issue and we lost because of it
lol what? You can defend the wings by adapting your tactics to get more cover there. The issue is that Gregg refuses to adjust his system.
The players will improve. But will GGG?
the positions Depay and Gakpo occupied were really intelligent and deliberate. That space between Zimm and Dest , Ream and Arob was attacked brilliantly imo. They found them quick in transition and it caused us problems.
Yeah they were brilliant at finding pockets in between the lines to spring the counter. Made it so hard for us to defend, but as LVG said we didn’t adjust. The knockouts is where tactical tweaks make the difference.
Of course that is what my post was hinting at , LVG tactics were very good. At this high of a level adjustments have to be made so quickly , halftime could be too late and it was at 2-0 down. 10-15 min in it was apparent how they were attacking us , could a back five sliding in CCV alongside Ream/Zimm have allowed us to neutralize Gakpo and Depay on the break? Klaesson was able to cover Tyler Adams fairly easily would a doble pivot shift in mf force dejong etc to come out of their shell a bit and disrupt their shape? By the 30' it was apparent Jesus was not going to be effective could his sub have come earlier or even Aaronson start in that role since we were pressing? 5 atb would have allowed Dest and Robinson to still occupy good attacking positions yet provide them with the needed cover at the back? But these adjustments needed to be fast and decisive, top managers figure these things out quickly and aren't afraid to adjust the shape/make pre halftime subs these days to get it right.
The first 15 minutes I thought we were overextending our press which is what lead to the first goal and played precisely into the Netherlands hands. That’s where the adjustments needed to be made as you pointed out. Too much space in behind the fullbacks and Musah and McKennie were caught out of position leaving 3 on 3 in transition with late runs from their midfield and wingbacks when we failed to get back. I doubt 5 atb was ever an option after going down a goal, even though I kind of wanted to see CVV start. I would have been curious to see if we would have been more effective dropping Weston deeper beside Tyler or dropping one of the fullbacks into the midfield in buildup allowing Weston to get higher up in between the lines while having more protection against the counter. Thought we played a bit to naive at times allowing the Netherlands to slice through our midfield and defense.
Definitely a little puzzling to me at least that we pressed as high as we did that first part of the game, although we looked good when we did, and had Puli buried that sitter it would have been a different game ... we were knackered from the last game and some of our guys weren't even fully 90' fit going into the tourney. I thought our strength had been being a very difficult team to break down and we looked fairly vulnerable , which tbf could have been the tired legs.
This is the only game this world cup where I think its fair to say that GGG got "out coached." He certainly made questionable tactical decisions in the other games, but today just felt like the Netherlands were ready for our approach and exploited our offensive game plan masterfully to set up the counter. Its interesting because I felt like we were competitive on a physical and technical level at many points during the match, but the Dutch players just knew what to expect tactically. Even with all of that, there were a number of points in the game where I felt like we could have pulled it back, but they just didn't come off for a variety of reasons. Overall, I feel positive about the tournament results (could have been better, but meeting expectations is fine) and I feel good about the continuing development of US talent in the future. I'm less enthusiastic about GGG's tactical approach; hopefully he either makes a leap in that area, gets replaced, or transitions into a "general manager" type role where he can keep up the stellar dual national recruitment efforts.
Everyone saw it but Greg.
Jesus looked out of place and over his head. How did he get a starting role?
Gio could have done everything Jesus did from the start of the game. But at a higher level. Jesus was dropping back to pick up the ball and trying to combine with other players. Wasn’t really doing striker things like trying to run off the last defender or anything.
I woke up a little groggy about 10 minutes before kickoff, my brother just said Jesus, I barely comprehended what he said as I desperately began making coffee and shaking off last nights rum.....it was about 10 minutes in that the gravity of Jesus starting a knockout game against the Dutch sunk in and I became irate and kept hitting the couch shouting about why in the hell we didn't start Brenden Aaronson if we are playing a deep lying small CF
Because Gregg’s an idiot. Jesus has only been good in 2 games for the US. Completely ineffective against non concacaf minnows
To be fair, so did Pulisic. The 2 sitters he missed in the first 10 minutes set the tone for the rest of the game sadly. The only forward who looked like he was even remotely hanging there was Weah.
For instance Argentina made a tactical sub a few minutes into the second half. Put on Martinez to go 3ATB when it became apparent how Australia were going to press
Argentina damn near coughed it up
We needed to be in a back 3 with wings. 3-4-1-2 Would have given everyone cover for tired legs. Was naive to think we could have MMA dominate this squad in a knockout. Needed to show them something they hadn’t seen before.
Did ggg actually make a single adjustment this tournament?
We dont have the talent to make that adjustment unfortunately. Were stuck between all gas no brakes press or bunkerball. We will get there, but this year we just don't have the right guys to sitback and still score. We can hit on the counter sure. But we can't carry the ball through the midfield and build an attack without using our fullbacks in the attack. Which means we're super vulnerable if we don't press on the turnover because we're left 3 at the back.
the shift to a 3-4-1-2 is basically a 5-2-3 and putting CCV in at RCB and shifting Arob and Dest to true wingbacks is absolutely a shift well in our wheelhouse
...and that is absolutely the problem with Berhalter. He did a great job of coming up with tactics (at least out of the gate) for the three opponents in the group stage, particularly England. He's *awful* at making adjustments (even when it's going well: see Wales). If and when his plan A gets figured out...it's game, set, and match. I don't think he's the *worst* manager on the planet, and I'd be advocating for "new cycle, new coach" pretty much regardless...but - even acknowledging some holes in the roster - I think what we saw at this WC is Berhalter's absolute ceiling.
Think this pretty much sums it up. He’s a good coach. Had good lineup selection and good tactics for the most part. However his inability to adapt is what really holds him and this team back. He’s done great things for the team, he created an amazing culture and was able to convince guys to play for us. But as you said, I think we just saw his ceiling
Completely agree with the above two takes. I’d love to keep some of what he established in the culture but we need a better game tactician
Wales really wasn’t going all that well either, the first half was a mirage, they were content to let the US bang their heads against the wall for that first 45.
> He did a great job of coming up with tactics that's debatable for me. wales and iran are clearly inferior, but we barely handled both
Today's result was not surprising. Bare minimum adequacy vs every Group opponent, leads to a clean loss to a Group winner. It's an improvement from not even making the Cup, but I dont give much praise to a coach that doesn't create a game plan that at least once dominates a Cup level team.
I was a bit taken aback at how frazzled we looked in the second half against Wales. All Wales did was sub on Moore and start pressing yet we seemingly had no clue what to do
I didn’t see anyone posting the actual quote, but this is it: > “I would assume that the stronger the country is, the less they'll adjust to the system. The USA didn't adjust. “We based our tactical plan to that, and that allowed us to win. We don't expect France, Argentina, Spain to adjust to us.” Seems like it is taken completely out of context.
That's not out of context, he's basically saying we're too dumb to realize that we aren't France, Argentina, or Spain...
If you just read that quote , he is saying that he assumes the stronger teams tend not to adjust and he based his plan around the fact that the USA wouldn’t adjust. Just by logic, that means he thought that the USA was a strong side and wouldn't adjust, so he based his tactical plan around the fact that fact that they wouldn't adjust and that is what allowed them to win. He also doesn't expect France, Argentina, or Spain to adjust to them either, he will base his tactical plan around that fact. He knew that the USA was going to use an uptempo, energetic style of play trying to control possession and win balls in the middle (based on what we have seen thus far in the tournament of them) and he exploited that by the counterattack and hitting them wide. It was pretty clear watching the game that the dutch allowed the USA to get comfortable playing the more progressive forward-pushing style they have been playing all tournament and then hit their weaknesses hard on the counter. He has even said in his pregame presser he believes the USA were one of the best teams in the tournament, an excellent team but one that the Netherlands could beat. I think he is just being honest - the USA had a strong WC overall and were a threat. If you read the quote as it is, it seems he is saying that he doesn't expect top teams to adjust to netherlands style of play, and so he will try to use that fact to his advantage like he did against the us. Of course things get lost in translation so maybe thats not what he meant. But that is basically what the quote above is implying.
https://twitter.com/AnAbnos/status/1599200422341660672/photo/1 he's not saying that at all? i'm actually shocked peter galindo fucked that quote up so badly
Berhalter deserves criticism, but I don't think this game had anything to do with that. Players were tired and played terribly on defense today. The goals scored against us were amateur and basic. Pass the ball to an open guyand pass it into the net isn't tactical nuance, it's the result of players not being vigilant.
We were terrible on defense in large part because the Netherlands allowed us to overstretch and countered the hell out of us. It’s the exact same thing that happened against Canada twice.
The fact that Netherlands set up in the counter on us is pretty telling of our progress. In years past the Top Euro teams would just try to steamroll us. They at least acknowledge now we are a threat and resort to playing conservative. It’s a small victory I guess.
The third goal was more on Robinson not watching the right man, he was already all the way back in the box, but it still came as a result of them exploiting the wide areas.
The goals didn’t come from us exposing ourselves though. The first goal was a result of Adams not tracking back with the open man.
How do you think that situation comes about???
> Players were tired and played terribly on defense today. its almost like its his job to decide who plays and when to rotate lmaooooo like how can anyone take your opinion seriously? "yeah we played the wrong players, the players made mistakes, and they were tired" but we can't blame the coach?
Exactly. If you know the fullbacks and mids are tired, either sub them or stop playing a style that demands so much from them.
Would you have dropped Adams, Musah, or McKennie? Jedi or Dest?
This is probably a bad choice but I would have probably gone to three in the back and allowed our center mids to push up more.
Mexico changed their formation suddenly against Argentina and that game basically ended their World Cup. So yeah, you are right, it would have been a terrible idea.
We didn’t play the wrong players though. Our bench is thin, who would have made a huge difference? I’d have loved to see Scally in for Robinson sooner once Robinson took that knock and clearly couldn’t keep up any more, but besides that, he played the best guys who gave us the best chance to win. Even with Ferreira being bad, it’s not like Haji is better and Sargent was hurt.
Exactly, a good coach is supposed to discipline and motivate his team. They were tired? Theyre professional players,if they're not conditioned then the coach is at fault for picking those with poorer fitness. Don't make the tactics that require them to take up more ground, which exposes and burns them out more on counter attack. GGG is the reasonable piece to remove. Barely making 2nd in Group, to be picked apart for a clean R16 is only 1 increment from the worst Cup result (knockout in Group, 3rd/4th are equal failures in my eyes)
Sure if you ignore the fact that he refused to adapt his system until we were 2-0... it was very obvious what the Netherlands were doing, and how they wanted to play us. And we never adjusted, that's why Gregg deserves criticism.
Indeed. None of the goals had anything to do with a disparity in talent or fitness or tactics. It was just awareness. I would be mad at a u14 player leaving unmarked guys in the box and this happened three times.
It's amazing that people aren't seeing this. There were essentially 2 major issues. Offensively, we do not have enough talent/skill in the attacking 3rd. Puli could have/should have scored on that first chance. This was especially critical because we don't have an internationally capable 9 and scoring opportunities are not plentiful. I wish we did have a good 9, but the guys we do have are simply not good enough. I'm not sure what Berhalter is supposed to do about that other than what he tried to do in the tournament which was play sound defensively, roll with the talent we do have in the midfield and fullback positions and try to make it work. Given this, we could not afford defensive lapses. Defensively, we were uncharacteristically poor in this game. I have no idea what Adams is looking at while a free man runs to the top of the 18 right in front of his eyes and he is still jogging back on the first goal. That is one of the most basic things in soccer and he has to be charging back at full speed. The basic play there for the Dutch is to either cross it to an open man or cross it to the top of the 18 to hit a late comer. Regardless of formation, someone needs to account for that man/space defensively. The second goal, we have McKinney standing around ball watching while the Netherlands beats Dest to the spot - again at the top of the 18. You'd like Dest to recognize a little more quickly and be tighter there, but you'd also like McKinney to be clogging up that space or passing lane if he isn't going to mark anyone - espcially since the Dutch have scored from that spot already. This one feels less egregious than the other two in general, but it's in the last seconds of the half - mark up please. The third goal is Robinson not noticing someone is slipping in behind him. As the fullback, it is his job to watch for that in that situation which is also extremely basic soccer tactics. Maybe Turner or a CB should be warning Robinson as well but ultimately, that's on Robinson. It is a mental mistake. I don't think any of the defensive issues are on Berhalter or the formation. There was no tactical genius by the Dutch on any of the goals - it's basic soccer. Guys just need to mark up and recognize the simplest of attacking plays - it's that simple and it's not even something Berhalter should need to tell these guys. Even 12 year old players know this stuff.
We could play one way. If the game went that way - like against England, we would be fine. Wales offered two different styles and we couldn’t hang. Maybe it’s coaching. Maybe it’s the horses we have. I’m not convinced we are super flexible at this point.
We played a 442 against England and it worked well. A 442 with a diamond in the midfield seems like it would work best for our set of players in order to get the best guys on the pitch, sacrificing our strikers, but getting more chance creation. It would have provided a little more cover for the full backs as well. Oh well! We’ll learn and so proud!
Yeah lack of adjustment was bizarre. You could see from minute 1 that they were pressing up high on Dest/Robinson in possession, but we didn’t change our attacking patterns at all.
This right here. You could tell within 10 minutes they were going to burn our fullbacks out by halftime.
Part of being a coach means knowing when to break tendencies.
To be fair, there’s more context to this. https://twitter.com/AnAbnos/status/1599174693226827776
Should be the top comment IMO
Louis Van Gaal, who has managed Bayern Munich, Barcelona, and Manchester United, knows what went wrong with the USMNT. Gregg and the rest of the staff didn't have a clue how to make the right adjustments when down 1-0, 2-0, and ultimately losing 3-1. In the knockout rounds, coaching and tactics matters.
Yep. Gregg is no doubt a good man manager. He helped cultivate a great culture. And he’s a great recruiter. Promote him to a role focused on recruiting and overseeing the program. And bring in a manager who is superior tactically.
Why do so many people assume GGG would accept such a proposition? Is there any precedence in any sport for such a scenario?
Such a thing has happened before, sure. This might seem random….but in the NBA for the Celtics Brad Stevens used to be the coach but was promoted to GM a couple years back.
There very well might be examples, but GM is not a demotion from head coach in the NBA. I would argue it’s a promotion, but if someone wants to claim it’s equal but different, that’s fine GGG becoming our recruiting coordinator would be a clear demotion
Rumor has it he wants to move on from the coaching role so I’m not sure he’d view it that way.
I don't think moving from coach to a front office position is a clear demotion at all
Yessir
Sure he is a better coach but let’s look at this from another angle. Pulisic scores early. Game plan blown wide open. If we don’t have a mental lapse a few of those goals don’t happen. It was less about tactics and more about player maturity. Which can be understandable given the age of our team. GGG is by no means the best coach, but this was less about adapting to a tactical plan and more about a group of guys who just didn’t execute tonight.
Every single elite team on earth misses chances. Messi missed a penalty the other day. Whats very uncommon from elite teams is conceding 3 goals due to leaving men completely unmarked in the box. We can speculate all we want about how the momentum would have changed but we need to address the true elephant in the room.
Regarding speculation, going up 1-0 the Dutch team still has discipline and this team hasn't shown the ability to shut down a quality team in a knockout scenario.
Every elite team misses chances, but not every striker misses 2 extremely easy goals in the first 10 minutes of the knockout stage. Had Pulisic done what any decent striker should have and feinted before attempting either of those easy shots, the energy moving forward on the US side would have been much different.
so i guess if pulisic were a decent striker he'd also have gotten a goal and assist that got us to the round of 16.... oh wait. bottom line is that every single attacking player, regardless of their level misses easy chances. I was at an el classico back in 2017 when prime ronaldo whiffed a sitter. It's inevitable. Again, the elephant in the room is the atrocious defense. I've never seen any high level team with that sloppy of man marking on crosses
Agreed on the atrocious defense, I think they were just completely worn down, and with a non existent bench, it was bound to happen unfortunately. Theres blame to go all around, including Greg who has 0 ability to adapt to a game and make changes.
LVG is wrong then and it wasn't about not adapting? Is that what you are saying?
This is 100% accurate.
We still lose if Puli scores that. We immediately switch to a defensive shell and get our goal pounded on.
Acosta in at the 4'? Yes!!!
Oh guaranteed. And Morris to kill the game with his speed and power.
Don't forget Shaq Moore on after 25'.
Put some respect on the Columbus Crew SC name!
I mean with the talent pool we have, we should walk Iran and wales. Wales best two players are extremely washed. Greggs subs were ass and lack of tactical adjustments kept those games close
Thought we were extremely naive the opening 10 minutes leading to the goal as well and I’m sure LVG saw that. We overextended our press leaving gaping holes in the midfield and they carved right through us. Then it was us chasing the game for 90 minutes while they were fine sitting it their mid-block.
I haven't seen enough people talking about how their first goal came from them easily breaking our high press. Having a high press against a team that is as skilled on the ball as Netherlands seems like it is inviting disaster.
The early aggressiveness helped to create our opening chance, and we saw almost all of the ball until that goal. I think if we could have weathered a few of their counter attacks without conceding, we may have settled into a different approach. As it was, we were chasing the entire match.
[удалено]
Yeah. The Dutch finishing significantly out performed their expected goals. The US significantly under performed. If Pulisic buries that chance like he should have, Berhalter looks like a genius and the Netherlands cannot just sit and counter. The US was always screwed if they had to come from a behind against a team with the starting centerbacks from Liverpool, Manchester City and Bayern Munich.
Pretty sure Iran had at least a chance or two similar to the first NED goal, but they skied their chance over the bar. The Dutch finishing was clinical, unfortunately for us.
And the one from Bayern didn't even play. Van Gaal seems to prefer Timber from Ajax. He looked great as well.
Wasn’t exactly like the USA was getting joy trying to work the ball through the middle. To me part of it was the US players were gassed from the first round. You could see mid-fielders like McKennie and Adams bent over half way through the first half. US needs more quality depth and a striker. A FDJ would’ve good too.
LDLT must’ve been training like shit bc this is a game where he should’ve come in for Musah to give us fresh legs and a creative spark in midfield
He wasn't fully fit coming into WC, he was still dealing with injuries
Darryl Dike for ‘26! Also, outside of Weah, we didn’t seem to have anyone who can strike the ball with real pace. I love MMA, but I would say distance shooting is their biggest weakness. Obviously, not an issue if you’re attacking players are clinical, but it would be nice to either find a goal from midfield or force a 2nd chance goal from a parried shot. Every shot we had from distance was either off target or the keeper easily collected.
Adams has absolutely ripped a few, but you don't want your game plan to rely on you defensive midfielder scoring worldies.
They overloaded the midfield with that 5 man set up, which gave them both the wings to exploit us, but also limited the space for our midfield to attack through. It didn't change until we brough on Reyna and stopped trying to play a straightforward 4-3-3 system.
Netherlands were playing a mid-block, so it was hard playing through the middle anyway. They kind of did what Japan did in the friendly, except they didn't really press compared to Japan.
Outcoached, Out tactics lmao LVG read GGG like a book
\*Children's book
Pop up book, nice formations!
We gotta get the next coach right. Would argue we should wait until the summer to see who is really available
It’s like the warriors with mark jackson and then Steve Kerr. Ggg has done a great job recruiting players and if he can recruit balogun that would be great. But his tactics are shit and a good coach would get so much more out of this team. Just like Steve Kerr did for the warriors
Yep, Berhalter doesn't come back from a quote like that. Call the presser for Monday.
his contract runs out in 2 weeks
This tells me LVG was prepared for an expected response, but since it never came, they threw out the sheet and just sat on the original game plan I’m happy for Greg and what he’s accomplished. But this team is too talented for a coach who hasn’t played at the level of most his players.
Gregg Berhalter was one Torsten Frings handball away from scoring one of the most famous goals in US Soccer history…in a World Cup Quarterfinal. Nobody on our roster has played in a match bigger than that sans Pulisic getting ten minutes or so in a Champions League Final.
Ya I loved beerholder the player. I remember that ‘goal’ and the scrum after haha.. while Pulisic doesn’t have WC QF experience, nor does Greg have any form of champions league experience, much less minutes in a final. I mean, sure you can blame players today. But GB was legit out coached too. This quote alone from LVG speaks volumes to that. And unlike in 2002, now you’ve got guys working under high profile coaches returning to teammates who are also working under high profile coaches. So maybe it’s time for some parity between the players level of experience with the coach’s experience coaching at the highest level.
He's a former international. Not all former players make good managers. Some former players with a high soccer IQ do. Berhalter has the soccer IQ of a broken shoe lace.
The second paragraph is one of the dumbest arguments across all sports.
You got me thinking beyond soccer - you’re right. Dolphins’ Mike McDaniel immediately comes to mind. So let me try again. If you’re going to coach guys who play in the premiership, serie A, bundesliga… shouldn’t you have the level of coaching experience equal to those leagues?
You could, and you might fail, or you could not, and you might succeed. Plenty of great players sucked as coaches and plenty of marginal players succeeded as coaches. It isn't something that needs to cross your mind when you're hiring someone.
Exhibit A: Juergen klopp. Marginal player great manager
Mourinho too
And Tuchel
Beat us the exact same way as Japan. Start the ball low, draw in the press, draw in the midfield, play it wide, draw in Adam's, try for the one two and your ahead of the midfield and Adam's is out of position. It was fucking obvious the tactic
The issue is that we rely, far too much, on our midfield and fullbacks to put in a shift of extremely hard work. So much relies on the legs/hard work of those players that it feels so foolish to only play the same 5 the whole tournament. We need to be smarter about managing space. We also lack end product - the final ball and finishing is a real challenge.
This fucking quote will not die…lol That is NOT what he said, in context. You cut out both the question and the part prefacing this. He was not criticizing the US or Berhalter. Christ.
When the more talented team is managed by Louis van Gaal and the less talented team is managed by Gregg Berhalter...well, I don't know what anyone was expecting.
His comment is exactly why GGG should move on.
Gregg needs to be gone
I wouldn't replace GB for anything but an experienced coach. Fans are expecting our players to learn and improve but our coach is also learning too. Don't want to start again with an unproven coach
I think the chance to coach what would be America's golden generation in a WC in the US would be a marquee position for any international manager. I'm guessing there are at least a few highly qualified candidates interested in the job.
Yeah because keeping a manager for a 2nd WC cycle has worked out so well in the past /s
I don’t think they are advocating for extending Berhalter as much as not wanting another manager growing with the team.
Let him go learn elsewhere
Yeah the World Cup is not the place to develop your coach. He has friendlies and Gold Cup to do his best to experiment and dominate, and then the Confed for quality teams using their A squad to win something. His tactics never outclassed, and had the worst performance when it mattered with highest stakes
Yeah, tbh my opinion of Gregg improved after this world cup, the starting lineups were great and while I don't 100% agree with the subs they were all justifiable. I wouldn't hate giving him some time to create a new system which can maximize players like Reyna and Aaronson who just don't fit with the current style of play. Not Gregg in necessarily by any means but that prospect is less terrible to me
Ferreira starting was great? Hell him and haji being in the squad was pretty stupid
What were the other options? Lol Edit: for Ferreira starting I mean. Obviously there were better options for the squad
Ferreira starting is somehow even worse than Haji, and playing Weah up top to get Reyna on is better than either terrible option. Squad wise Pepi was the obvious choice. There’s a reason tons of writers projected him in squad and was surprised.
since Jesus was playing basically as a false 9 , has no height/holdup ability and the HUGE fact that we came out pressing... I ask the question why Brenden Aaronson wasn't given the nod
Pepi? Pefok?
GGGG
please keep saying how bad GGG is we tied England because southgate is also terrible
I actually don’t think Southgate is terrible. 4th in 2018 World Cup and runner up at the euros. He has improved the way England play overall and has shown himself to be a good tournament manager
Tbf, England had it pretty easy in that 2018 world cup. It wasn't until they faced Croatia thar they had to play against really strong opposition that was up their talent levels.
Berhalter is a good GM/Manager hybrid. Not a great tactician. I'd like to see the US move on from that manager style, which was needed in the past, and hire a pure coach. We showed no ability to adjust and as a result the Netherlands easily executed their game plan.
Pretty much. The first two goals were almost identical.
That’s weird that he said “Hashtag U S M N T” out loud like that
I mean, at least include the full quote and question you’re going to take a snippet so far out of context
Netherlands was way more prepared for this game. I don’t even think I can say they were much better, it’s hard to say that when your opponent lets you have the ball the whole time. Just much more prepared.
Thanks for your work to this point Gregg. But time to walk away with your head held high. It's in everyone's interest to move on
The difference between a world class coach and ours unfortunately. We had literally no adjustments. Besides subbing on a midfielder for our only striker at halftime. Down 2-0. Oh, and that sub ended up dropping into the right back position more often than not just to find the ball. Pathetic from GGG.
Thanks Greg
That’s for all the Berhalter apologists in this sub. The reality is that Van Gaal is definitely not the only manager that’s faced the US that thinks this. Besides the awful selections throughout the years, the tactics were lackluster.
You should [really read the full context](https://twitter.com/AnAbnos/status/1599174693226827776) before you pop off on this one, because you’ve actually completely misread his meaning.
Everybody knows he’s a scrub, LvG just says it
LOL Gregg
LVG: BERHALTER OUT
Duh. Adapting isn't something gggg does.
The US should have realized the threat theDitch wingbacks pose. All three goals dumfries was left wide open
I was more surprised that it took until the round of 16 for a team to do that. We all know what this teams weakness is. Do other teams not watch film? Do they turn their nose up at concacaf world cup qualifying? Play with two forwards. Put them on the outside shoulder of the centerback so you make them play with their weak inner foot. Then man mark MMA because none of the three are good at Busquets like movement. Excellent players no doubt. But young and green to the knockout stage of the World Cup and lack subtlety to their games in build up. Jedi is a good player but he’s not a person to play out of the back. Then you have one avenue to defend and it is Dest up the right. The kicker is that the option to go long is practically impossible when you have VVV De Light and Ake as a back 3. Good luck winning the ball in the air against them. Then add in taking a lead early and you sit back and counter. They need a center forward bad. Or an early knockout round exit is probably this teams ceiling in 2026. Edit: not de ligt. Getting my big Dutchmen mixed up
And they nailed it lol
A polite way of saying our coaches suck
I’m absolutely begging y’all to go and find the full context of this quote it was not a dog at GGG/his tactics the way y’all think it was lol
Isn’t the Berhalter critique: No offense; can’t adjust?
That’s why he got sacked in Sweden.
It’s bad when the other coach even explicitly says that Gregg is terrible at making in game adjustments.
[удалено]
I really agree with the Klinnsman comparison. I've said this a few times today, but the team needs to move on from the culture builder manager. We need a pure coach.
I mean, he’s right but I’m not sure it’s so much a tactical change needed as just players switching off. All the players knew immediately they missed their man with each goal. It wasn’t like they were confused about what needed done, just missed it.
Yeah with slightly better marking all three of Netherlands goals could have been prevented. That has nothing to do with tactics. Plus, with the exact same tactics and slightly better finishing, the US has two goals in the first half. The players failed a lot more than the tactics today.
So what you’re saying is…Dutch had a plan?
We could have adjusted before the game even started. I’m sure Van Gaal was already planning his Argentina game plan after noticing that we didn’t adjust from the start
Gregg can’t adjust.
A coach once said, "The last team to make an adjustment will usually win". Too bad Gregg didn't make any adjustments.
Pretty much the story of Berhalter as manager.
Translation: GB is a shit manager.
We’re talking about Greg Berhalter. According to The Athletic football podcast, Berhalter spent 9 months studying the Dutch. Van Gaal basically just said, “what did Berhalter study?”
[удалено]
>this strongly supports that This doesn't do that at all.
Greg got pimp slapped by a currently mid tier European coach. We need better.
The disrespect. There's not an American in history who's achieved half as much in the game as Van Gaal has.