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Jun 10, 2021
12:34:39pm
2018grad All-American
Regarding getting our best guys on the field: it’s just not possible
IMO, 4 of our best 7 guys FOR THE NATIONAL TEAM are wingers.

Pulisic
Adams
Brooks
Reyna
Mckennie
Weah
Aaronson

Premise 1: none of these will play fullback (duh), and I don’t think any of the 4 attackers here are particularly suited to being a 9. Weah might be able to do it, but he’s the only one IMO.

Premise 2: Adams thrives when he is a single 6 that flies around the field disrupting play. Putting him in a double pivot is wasting some of his defensive expertise.

So if we are trying to get as many of the top 4 attackers on the pitch, we could play

GK
LB, Brooks, CB, RB
Adams
Mckennie + attacker
2 of our attackers
Striker

This hinges on the ability of one of the four to play midfield with Mckennie, and to do it more effectively than our current options. IMO none of those 4 guys is a better midfielder than Musah. Especially considering that our defense is not particularly good at defense (Brooks is a better distributor than defender, Dest, Robinson). From what I’ve seen of Reyna he seems like perhaps the most suited for it, but I haven’t seen him do it successfully at BVB. Even if listed in the midfield, when I watch him he seems much farther forward.

In sum:
Unless Weah can play 9, only 2 of our 4 wingers can start at a given time.

More than likely they won’t all be healthy at the same time, but I expect to see rotation among the four, with some great substitution options.
This message has been modified
Originally posted on Jun 10, 2021 at 12:34:39pm
Message modified by 2018grad on Jun 10, 2021 at 12:35:22pm
2018grad
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2018grad
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Apr 6, 2017
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Jun 14, 2023
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Related Threads Topic: thoughts on USMNT 1)Aaronson looked really good--I didn't know he was that good (Incentivize, Jun 10, 2021 at 8:28am)

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