sluggo said:
We basically agree on everything. Gozo can't go back because the season is almost over, but it is funny. I would call "solid" the players you called "average." They did their job. Musah was playing in the Reyna 8/10 role in the first half as Mathis and Tillman were wings. His passing was off and Berhalter came in so he got moved to wing, I think. The center backs allowed very few opportunities even if they did not provide much offensively. That is their first job. I am just speculating but Dest's injury may have messed him up mentally. He is no longer dangerous.
Yeah, for the Gozo transfer, I guess I meant in the January transfer window, could he transfer back to RSL for the one-time sprint season as MLS realigns their schedule? In the meantime, Gozo should just play for Crystal Palace's U-23s. Since I have been watching him for RSL, my immediate first impression was just "above average MLS player" and unfortunately, nothing has swayed my opinion in the positive direction. I think Palace made a mistake, and so did Gozo for grossly overestimating his own talent and going there. I think he's likely better than he has shown and may improve quite a bit, but the Premier League (or even say, Ligue 1 or La Liga) is not the place for him right now and may never be. By contrast, I think Albert, who is younger, has a higher probability of getting to that level eventually. Of course, Albert too needs a transfer or loan from Dortmund in January so he can get consistent playing time, maybe to the Dutch Eredivisie?
On Musah/Reyna - yes the formation and lineup was weird. Reyna was basically dropping back to play the "8" in the first half to Raines' (very ineffectual) "6" against the press. Reyna was the only one who could do anything in the pivot, which is why Canada kept fouling him. I think that last yellow card Reyna got before coming off was kind of him knowing that since this was his fourth start, he was on a minute count and coming off at half, so if you're going to kick and shove me all half (and the ref is basically not going to do anything about it, yellow card-wise), then here's a little something back. The player, who I've seen nicknamed
Pistachio, so that's what I'll call him, was the same one who fractured his leg a dirty challenge in a different US-Canada match a few years back. So I actually did not mind Gio's yellow at all.
So yeah, maybe Musah was playing the middle "10", but it looked more like Tillman was, with Albert on the left and Musah on the right which... right attacking middie is not where Musah belongs, IMO. As it was, some of his passes made him look like he was playing for Canada. And of course, Berhalter coming in for Reyna at halftime just poured gasoline on the fire of how the US "dealt" with Canada's press.
And speaking of formations, Trusty playing left back and not left center back was kind of a disaster. Canada seemed to key their press off when Trusty got the ball, hemming him in on that side. They couldn't do that with Freeman on the other side. And to add to that, I think Trusty got concussed by Jonathan David's dirty blindside hit. That would have been a penalty for a safety hitting a wide receiver. Edited to add: Ha! I just listened to the part in the Total Soccer podcast where they said almost all the same things! LOL. =)
To circle back to something good, like I said, Freeman was man of the match, with Reyna being runner up and Ellis honorable mention, especially for gutting it out while injured and scoring. But it is looking to me like Pochettino, while realizing that Freeman's can play center back, is committing to play him as an aggressive and sometimes attacking right fullback, and Freeman is doing well in the role. Better than Jedi Robinson, really. I just don't know who the hell his backup any more (or ARob's unless Peyton Miller grows into that role). Who are the backup fullbacks? Dest? Weah? Scally? Arfsten? Bleh. (And until today, I would not have said "Bleh" for Dest, just that his defense isn't great, but now apparently, neither is his offense). Anyway, this was supposed to be positive - yay Alex Freeman!
