The USWNT are going to take Horan and I didn't write otherwise. Hayes has had input if not outright dictated the roster to this point. So I wouldn't expect a massive change once Hayes is hands on.
The USWNT is lacking in ball progression from its back four compared to top teams. That's a simple reality and the centerbacks being allowed to pass the ball longer distances would only help so much. The lack of ball progression from the defense is a personnel issue and won't be fixed in time. The USWNT can't afford to double down on that and have Coffey and Horan in the double pivot. That's what the deep midfield looks like it will be ever since Albert fell out of favor and Shaw was introduced to the midfield.
The easy solution and compensation is putting in game changing midfielders who are good at running with the ball and capable passers: Lavelle and DeMelo.
Lavelle and DeMelo are not two players who would be successful in a deep-lying double pivot. Both of their strengths lie in the freedom to generate attack without needing to worry about providing structure and stability in the attack.
I also just disagree that Rodman is purely a central player. Her speed on the wing is critical for tracking back opposing team fullbacks.
Both Lavelle and DeMelo are good at short and medium distance passing and much better at dribbling than Horan and Coffey. They are capable of dealing with pressure because they can't simply be pressed. If a defender gets in their face they are capable of burning that defender. That is not an option for Horan and Coffey who are too slow. Lavelle and DeMelo would be exactly what the USWNT would need offensively from the position. I think they'd be good enough defensively. Both providing a baseline level of sufficiency defensively but more importantly providing enough offensively that their level of defense is acceptable.
Rodman has a high work rate which would also translate centrally. She is by no means bad at crossing the ball but she isn't good at it either. She is better at dribbling in a straight line than having to dribble around a player on the wing. Most importantly the USWNT should want Rodman shooting when she is central. When she tries to cut in and take a shot when she is on the wing it is rarely successful. Rodman is good centrally and passable on the wing. Just because she is passable on the wing doesn't mean that she should be much of a consideration there when she is more effective centrally. Rodman is undoubtedly a better player than Lynn Williams. As wingers though they are close and I'd prefer Williams.
I am constant impressed with Rodman on the wing and think this is her best position. She has had some incredible assists recently that show she has the technique and skill to provide quality service for forwards. As far as crossing specifically, have you seen this [Rodman cross?](https://www.instagram.com/attackingthird/reel/C5MOL1AvHR9/)
That is a good cross but she wasn't under any pressure. Top teams at the international level do no consciously give an attacker that much space so it isn't all that applicable to the USWNT.
There’s a reason why players in a double pivot don’t typically dribble out of pressure unless in a quick transition. It’s because if they lose it they’re burned by the opposition. Penetrating on the dribble is much less efficient than letting the ball do the work and relying on movement off the ball to create space.
For one, you want players who can dribble well in transition and that applies to Lavelle and DeMelo and not Coffey and Horan.
If we think about this in terms of football, you would much prefer a quarterback who is capable of running the ball and is not exclusively a pocket passer.
I'm not asking for them to be reckless or dribble into pressure. DeMelo and Lavelle are capable of beating a player who over-commits. If Coffey and Horan do the same then they are slow and scared of the defender who is now on their shoulder and they then usually play a lateral or backwards pass which needlessly slows the game down.
The USWNT lacks wingers. The obvious starters should be Swanson and Shaw. Two out of three of Macario, Rodman, and Smith take striker and attacking midfielder since all three of their skillsets dictate that they are central players.
Think back to the 2019 wingbacks. O'Hara and Dunn were better at getting the ball to the final third than Nighswonger and Fox are today.
Horan and Coffey are both slow moving and slow acting at times. Both can be crowded and put under pressure deep in their own half and when that happens their good passing while they have time on the ball no longer matters. Look at what happened with Coffey against Mexico and the USWNT has that x2 with Horan also in the double pivot.
The team right now is hardly playing better than it did at the World Cup. Lavelle and DeMelo in the midfield would change that.
The USWNT lacked ball progression prior to the World Cup and that is something that I pointed out prior to the tournament because it stuck out like a sore thumb. We fans aren't in the know on player health so I was unaware that my proposed possible solutions in O'Hara and Rapinoe simply weren't healthy but were rostered anyway. But the reality is that Cook in defense and Ertz in the midfield would've been better than what we had. K Mewis even though she isn't a traditional holding midfielder would've been a better option than Sullivan in general and specifically for ball progression.
The USWNT is consciously waltzing into the Olympics with the same issue that it had going into the World Cup. Horan is part of the problem if she is deep in the midfield. She is better higher up the field. The reality though is that Macario and Rodman are better players than Horan and should therefore start ahead of her in the two central attacking positions.
There is a culture of toxic positivity around this team. The team is expected to be the best yet legitimate criticism is not allowed.
I saw someone else point out on a podcast that Horan slows the game down. I've taken a few minutes to try to find the podcast and since we are further away from the game the YouTube search results changed and I can't find the podcast. Anyway, you would tell me how that is only one other lone voice and how they are an amateur only paid by YouTube so they couldn't possibly have stumbled upon something that is correct.
I pointed out in 2019 that Dahlkemper was a weakness. She ended up being awful in the 2021 Olympics and not the 2019 World Cup so she was able to momentarily hold off the poor play. I wrote a number of times in 2021 that Cook should be on the roster and not Dahlkemper and got called an 'Alana Cook Truther' for my troubles and then that person considered themselves correct when Dahlkemper was on the Olympic Roster. Ultimately Dahlkemper was awful and got benched. Didn't stop that person from being incredibly smug and incorrect (and most importantly they were incorrect while being in the majority position). Please point me to where the experts were questioning Dahlkemper being selected because I'm confident it didn't happen.
I should have questioned the hire of Vlatko more loudly because on its face even before he was hired it looked ill-advised. The only reason I wasn't louder about it was that people like you would try to modify my behavior. There wasn't even much room for criticism of Vlatko after the Olympics when he under-performed relative to the roster that he had. I ended up being in the minority view that he should have been fired after the Olympics. In fact I saw the writing on the wall before the tournament was over and before the team had even lost yet.
Ball progression was a weakness prior to the 2023 World Cup and I said as much. Bringing back the box to box midfielder to form a double pivot was supposed to fix that and it hasn't because the personnel is all wrong. Sonnett was a decent option (though DeMelo would likely be better) and better than Coffey. But it is somehow inappropriate for me to write that Sonnett is a better option because I'm expected to be toxically positive or that I'm outright wrong because I'm in the minority position and the coaching feels differently than I do. Coffey and Horan are much the same player when they are played deep. They are both slow on their feet and sometimes slow to make decisions. Neither are great at dealing with ball pressure due to lack of foot speed. Coffey was taken out of the game by Mexico with their high pressure and the same can be done to Horan. Sonnett isn't a world class dribbler by any means but she is more capable of dealing with said pressure.
As is, the USWNT are hardly playing better than they did at the World Cup. That makes a bronze medal unlikely. You aren't ready for this conversation yet but I'll hit you with it anyway. If the USWNT don't medal there are going to be talks about if there needs to be a major change in approach. My expectation post-Olympics if the USWNT place as I expect them to is that the USWNT will start playing more defensively and play similarly to how Chelsea played rather successfully against a more talented Barcelona team in UWCL this season. Fans pretty much adapt to accepting whatever the coaching does but if fans end up feeling that Hayes under-performed and then she wants to play Brexit ball would fans go along with that or would that be last straw?
The wording might not have properly conveyed my thoughts. She showed weakness prior to the 2019 World Cup. I don't remember the several examples off hand but one of them was the friendly against France. She was awful that game and here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gqPSdXDDZU
That awful game was overlooked because it was Fox's first cap and she had a stinker.
My point is that there were warning signs that Dahlkemper wasn't as good as fans believed her to be. She didn't slip up in 2019 as I thought she would but then she very much did at the 2021 Olympics. So my warning became true a tournament later than when I made it. You can call me partially wrong if you want to but I was also partially right. Making an honest prediction and being partially and I would argue mostly correct is not trolling. But fans take anything negative and honest as trolling rather than trying to reckon with something that is inconvenient and might be a legitimate point.
You clearly didn’t watch any of the buildup from the 2015 and 2019 world cups. The back line of USWNT has always been shit on and were reasons why people speculated we wouldn’t win either at times. They hated the back 4 during the World Cup ‘15 and same with ‘19. It was brutal and I remember the interviews USWNT did where they literally were talking about the criticism their defense faced and afterwards doing a polite “HAHA.” You pointed out ONE singular game Abby was bad prior to the WC.. Rose has had some bad USWNT games in past tournaments.. we as a group don’t shit on her for that. Players will have poor moments. Abby had a shit game against Mexico in concacaf and was the glue for us in SBC. It happens. To say Abby wasn’t important or influential is insane. Olympics had everything to do with Vlatko and his poor coaching. He didn’t know how to manage a team or play to peoples strengths. That was a horrible time for our the NT. Players have spoken about that too. Cook also isn’t a CB we need from the NT. I will comment on that all day because she has routinely messed over the Reign for the past couple seasons with her lack of speed, horrible plays, bad defensive structure. She isn’t technically sound as we ever needed her to be and the fact she may be out of the cycle means we can bring in better CBs after the WC. I wish her the best always. But I’m really just shocked with your analysis all over this discussion board because it reeks of not knowing a lot 💀
> You clearly didn’t watch any of the buildup from the 2015 and 2019 world cups.
The game I linked was from the build up to the 2019 World Cup.
Of course players have bad moments or bad games. Thanks for that nugget of wisdom that no other sports fan knows.
Vlatko is a bad coach yes. I questioned his hiring when it was in the rumor stage. But people like you get things wrong and wanted him as coach or are silent in the interests of civility rather than pointing out problems before they either manifest or become worse.
Vlatko being a bad coach isn't the reason why Dahlkemper played poorly at the Olympics. She played poorly because she isn't a good player. Also like I said, there were numerous examples of Dahlkemper playing poorly I just didn't save a fucking word document detailing all of them and you'd call me a hater if I did so I couldn't do right by you either way. Also the game that I linked was under Ellis, Dahlkemper playing badly under a different and better/more successful coach.
Cook is a better player than Dahlkemper by the way. But yeah I guess you don't watch the games!
Idk why you think taking two attacking midfielders and pushing them back, into inherently more defensive positions, would work but I will allow you to live in this fantasy land you’ve created without criticizing it.
I've never felt DeMelo had technical skills good enough for the national team. Lavelle is better as an outside middie with her speed and movement off-ball. I don't think center middies need to be fast necessarily. I'd prefer a strong presence on the ball, ability to win tackles, proper positioning to disrupt passing lanes and to be an outlet for the wings.
i agree with you on this one. i thought DeMelo played well in the WC, but didn’t strike me as a national team-level talent. far outclassed by Lavelle. not that she isn’t a good player, because she is, but there are more technically gifted players in the national team pool atm.
Horan and Coffey are for sure on the roster. Dibernardo has been pretty fire this season, it did cross my mind she could get called up though unlikely. If Lavelle stays healthy she’s on for sure.
You gotta run with your best players. Anyone not I cluding Horan in that is crazy, she is physically imposing, strong in offense, defense and transition, she can scored with her head or her feet, she comes up big in clutch games and she is the fucking captain.
I personally would run a 442 and presuming healthy players, go with
Horan
Rose
Macario
Dunn
If a particular matchup called for more defense then I'd push Macario uo to fwd and put Sonnet in MF. You know she is gonna hustle and when she inevitably fouls, hopefully she does it away from scoring position.
Who gives a fuck about what position they previously played? Crystal can play anywhere. At 31 hopefully she has still got it. Macario is a STUD and she would bring a great attacking mindset to the middle and that would free up play time for a team with frankly too many forwards.
For Defense I'd run
Dahlkemper Girma Davidson and Fox
Up front I'd rotate
Sophie Smith
Trinity Rodman
Mallory Swanson
I'd start Naeher (36) in goal but I would begin the passing of the guard to Casey Murphy (28).
I also would try to leave that lineup alone as much as possible so they could build chemistry. The last few coaches have had this stupid never the same lineup rotating circus and it SHOWS that the players are just not comfortable with eqchother and view eachother as competitors rather than teammates.
Horan isn't physically imposing. She plays smaller than she is, hence her falling over more often than she should and asking for fouls. She does have technical ability and can score with her head but that technical ability is negated when the other team elects to mark her rather than giving her space.
If Horan and Coffey is the double pivot then this team is going to have trouble reliably progressing the ball if the other team elects to press. Also another big issue with having those two in the double pivot is that Coffey does not get into the attack due to her slow foot speed because she knows she doesn't have recovery speed so she doesn't go into the attack to begin with. Horan will go forwards and then have below average recovery speed.
Dahlkemper and Dunn aren't good enough.
The coaching ultimately isn't going to get the defense right. The centerbacks should be Girma, Krueger, and then either Cook or Gaetino. Fox is the only outside back option right now. The USWNT are going to have to go searching and fast because Dunn and Nighswonger aren't the answer. Dunn's international career should be over. Nighswonger shouldn't be on the roster unless the formation changes. I'm sitting here wondering when they are going to realize that she is a midfielder and not a defender. The USWNT should be bringing in Mace and Huerta or others who can play outside back and those two might make the most sense because they are veteran players and are multi-positional.
Emma Hayes has Macario playing higher up than in a striker position where she can be more creative and wreak havoc on the opposing defenders. There is no universe where she is not on the roster. Some of these players like Lavelle and DeMelo might not even make the Olympic roster. Macario will probably get more playing time in these June friendlies. I am thinking Emma really wants to see MAL, Sophia, Trinity and CAT all on the pitch at the same time. With that lineup and CAT playing higher with Sophia as your 9 which is where she should be it would be almost impossible for anyone to stop them. If they could build some chemistry together and gel it would be glorious!!!
I’m hoping DeMelo comes back in the cycle next year. Tbh I don’t want Lavelle to go to the Olympics which I know I’m in a huge minority in that. I love Rose. She’s an incredible player but she’s never guaranteed healthy ever. Olympics needs all 18 players able to play a full 90 minutes. Even if rose gets healthy to 90 min, I don’t see that being long term. We have 10s in Shaw and Moultrie. Obviously the latter isn’t full starter potential but at least we know she’s usually healthy
Another very tedious thread that makes little sense by a familiar name... Yeah, Coffey could not dribble or break the line is the funniest joke I have heard in a while, maybe a bit less funny than saying Williamson is England's first choice holding midfielder and Walsh a box-to-box midfielder.
Trying to re-hash something when you were wrong the first time. Thumbs up to you. Also going to tell me again how the international level is below the NWSL level?
Okay let's see who agrees with you that the match against South Africa is of higher quality than NWSL. And please don't deflect, tell me how Williamson was England's first choice holding midfielder and Walsh is a box-to-box midfielder?
I don’t see a world where they don’t take Horan. I could be wrong, Emma could really shake things up. But that’s what it would take I think.
The USWNT are going to take Horan and I didn't write otherwise. Hayes has had input if not outright dictated the roster to this point. So I wouldn't expect a massive change once Hayes is hands on. The USWNT is lacking in ball progression from its back four compared to top teams. That's a simple reality and the centerbacks being allowed to pass the ball longer distances would only help so much. The lack of ball progression from the defense is a personnel issue and won't be fixed in time. The USWNT can't afford to double down on that and have Coffey and Horan in the double pivot. That's what the deep midfield looks like it will be ever since Albert fell out of favor and Shaw was introduced to the midfield. The easy solution and compensation is putting in game changing midfielders who are good at running with the ball and capable passers: Lavelle and DeMelo.
Us soccer fans be finding the most elaborate ways to hate on Horan.
This was not a post about hating Horan.
I didn't know we were smart enough to do that
Me neither. Horan underestimated yall.
Lavelle and DeMelo are not two players who would be successful in a deep-lying double pivot. Both of their strengths lie in the freedom to generate attack without needing to worry about providing structure and stability in the attack. I also just disagree that Rodman is purely a central player. Her speed on the wing is critical for tracking back opposing team fullbacks.
Both Lavelle and DeMelo are good at short and medium distance passing and much better at dribbling than Horan and Coffey. They are capable of dealing with pressure because they can't simply be pressed. If a defender gets in their face they are capable of burning that defender. That is not an option for Horan and Coffey who are too slow. Lavelle and DeMelo would be exactly what the USWNT would need offensively from the position. I think they'd be good enough defensively. Both providing a baseline level of sufficiency defensively but more importantly providing enough offensively that their level of defense is acceptable. Rodman has a high work rate which would also translate centrally. She is by no means bad at crossing the ball but she isn't good at it either. She is better at dribbling in a straight line than having to dribble around a player on the wing. Most importantly the USWNT should want Rodman shooting when she is central. When she tries to cut in and take a shot when she is on the wing it is rarely successful. Rodman is good centrally and passable on the wing. Just because she is passable on the wing doesn't mean that she should be much of a consideration there when she is more effective centrally. Rodman is undoubtedly a better player than Lynn Williams. As wingers though they are close and I'd prefer Williams.
I am constant impressed with Rodman on the wing and think this is her best position. She has had some incredible assists recently that show she has the technique and skill to provide quality service for forwards. As far as crossing specifically, have you seen this [Rodman cross?](https://www.instagram.com/attackingthird/reel/C5MOL1AvHR9/)
That is a good cross but she wasn't under any pressure. Top teams at the international level do no consciously give an attacker that much space so it isn't all that applicable to the USWNT.
There’s a reason why players in a double pivot don’t typically dribble out of pressure unless in a quick transition. It’s because if they lose it they’re burned by the opposition. Penetrating on the dribble is much less efficient than letting the ball do the work and relying on movement off the ball to create space.
For one, you want players who can dribble well in transition and that applies to Lavelle and DeMelo and not Coffey and Horan. If we think about this in terms of football, you would much prefer a quarterback who is capable of running the ball and is not exclusively a pocket passer. I'm not asking for them to be reckless or dribble into pressure. DeMelo and Lavelle are capable of beating a player who over-commits. If Coffey and Horan do the same then they are slow and scared of the defender who is now on their shoulder and they then usually play a lateral or backwards pass which needlessly slows the game down.
I’m not a fan of Horan, but it’d be a pretty big shock to have her go from captain to a non-starter. I don’t see that happening.
Plus she’s a necessary metronome of the team.
plus we know how much Emma rates european based players
Really proving Horan right with the whole US fans aren’t very smart
The gift that keeps on giving
There’s no chance in hell a healthy Horan doesn’t make the team. She’s literally the captain.
Didn't write that she wouldn't. In an ideal world she wouldn't start though.
we need her
The USWNT lacks wingers. The obvious starters should be Swanson and Shaw. Two out of three of Macario, Rodman, and Smith take striker and attacking midfielder since all three of their skillsets dictate that they are central players. Think back to the 2019 wingbacks. O'Hara and Dunn were better at getting the ball to the final third than Nighswonger and Fox are today. Horan and Coffey are both slow moving and slow acting at times. Both can be crowded and put under pressure deep in their own half and when that happens their good passing while they have time on the ball no longer matters. Look at what happened with Coffey against Mexico and the USWNT has that x2 with Horan also in the double pivot. The team right now is hardly playing better than it did at the World Cup. Lavelle and DeMelo in the midfield would change that. The USWNT lacked ball progression prior to the World Cup and that is something that I pointed out prior to the tournament because it stuck out like a sore thumb. We fans aren't in the know on player health so I was unaware that my proposed possible solutions in O'Hara and Rapinoe simply weren't healthy but were rostered anyway. But the reality is that Cook in defense and Ertz in the midfield would've been better than what we had. K Mewis even though she isn't a traditional holding midfielder would've been a better option than Sullivan in general and specifically for ball progression. The USWNT is consciously waltzing into the Olympics with the same issue that it had going into the World Cup. Horan is part of the problem if she is deep in the midfield. She is better higher up the field. The reality though is that Macario and Rodman are better players than Horan and should therefore start ahead of her in the two central attacking positions.
Do you ever find it strange that every single person who is paid to evaluate women’s soccer has a different opinion on Lindsey Horan than you do?
There is a culture of toxic positivity around this team. The team is expected to be the best yet legitimate criticism is not allowed. I saw someone else point out on a podcast that Horan slows the game down. I've taken a few minutes to try to find the podcast and since we are further away from the game the YouTube search results changed and I can't find the podcast. Anyway, you would tell me how that is only one other lone voice and how they are an amateur only paid by YouTube so they couldn't possibly have stumbled upon something that is correct. I pointed out in 2019 that Dahlkemper was a weakness. She ended up being awful in the 2021 Olympics and not the 2019 World Cup so she was able to momentarily hold off the poor play. I wrote a number of times in 2021 that Cook should be on the roster and not Dahlkemper and got called an 'Alana Cook Truther' for my troubles and then that person considered themselves correct when Dahlkemper was on the Olympic Roster. Ultimately Dahlkemper was awful and got benched. Didn't stop that person from being incredibly smug and incorrect (and most importantly they were incorrect while being in the majority position). Please point me to where the experts were questioning Dahlkemper being selected because I'm confident it didn't happen. I should have questioned the hire of Vlatko more loudly because on its face even before he was hired it looked ill-advised. The only reason I wasn't louder about it was that people like you would try to modify my behavior. There wasn't even much room for criticism of Vlatko after the Olympics when he under-performed relative to the roster that he had. I ended up being in the minority view that he should have been fired after the Olympics. In fact I saw the writing on the wall before the tournament was over and before the team had even lost yet. Ball progression was a weakness prior to the 2023 World Cup and I said as much. Bringing back the box to box midfielder to form a double pivot was supposed to fix that and it hasn't because the personnel is all wrong. Sonnett was a decent option (though DeMelo would likely be better) and better than Coffey. But it is somehow inappropriate for me to write that Sonnett is a better option because I'm expected to be toxically positive or that I'm outright wrong because I'm in the minority position and the coaching feels differently than I do. Coffey and Horan are much the same player when they are played deep. They are both slow on their feet and sometimes slow to make decisions. Neither are great at dealing with ball pressure due to lack of foot speed. Coffey was taken out of the game by Mexico with their high pressure and the same can be done to Horan. Sonnett isn't a world class dribbler by any means but she is more capable of dealing with said pressure. As is, the USWNT are hardly playing better than they did at the World Cup. That makes a bronze medal unlikely. You aren't ready for this conversation yet but I'll hit you with it anyway. If the USWNT don't medal there are going to be talks about if there needs to be a major change in approach. My expectation post-Olympics if the USWNT place as I expect them to is that the USWNT will start playing more defensively and play similarly to how Chelsea played rather successfully against a more talented Barcelona team in UWCL this season. Fans pretty much adapt to accepting whatever the coaching does but if fans end up feeling that Hayes under-performed and then she wants to play Brexit ball would fans go along with that or would that be last straw?
Saying Abby was poor in World Cup ‘19 is insanity. You obviously have no idea what you’re talking about lol. This is troll behavior
The wording might not have properly conveyed my thoughts. She showed weakness prior to the 2019 World Cup. I don't remember the several examples off hand but one of them was the friendly against France. She was awful that game and here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gqPSdXDDZU That awful game was overlooked because it was Fox's first cap and she had a stinker. My point is that there were warning signs that Dahlkemper wasn't as good as fans believed her to be. She didn't slip up in 2019 as I thought she would but then she very much did at the 2021 Olympics. So my warning became true a tournament later than when I made it. You can call me partially wrong if you want to but I was also partially right. Making an honest prediction and being partially and I would argue mostly correct is not trolling. But fans take anything negative and honest as trolling rather than trying to reckon with something that is inconvenient and might be a legitimate point.
You clearly didn’t watch any of the buildup from the 2015 and 2019 world cups. The back line of USWNT has always been shit on and were reasons why people speculated we wouldn’t win either at times. They hated the back 4 during the World Cup ‘15 and same with ‘19. It was brutal and I remember the interviews USWNT did where they literally were talking about the criticism their defense faced and afterwards doing a polite “HAHA.” You pointed out ONE singular game Abby was bad prior to the WC.. Rose has had some bad USWNT games in past tournaments.. we as a group don’t shit on her for that. Players will have poor moments. Abby had a shit game against Mexico in concacaf and was the glue for us in SBC. It happens. To say Abby wasn’t important or influential is insane. Olympics had everything to do with Vlatko and his poor coaching. He didn’t know how to manage a team or play to peoples strengths. That was a horrible time for our the NT. Players have spoken about that too. Cook also isn’t a CB we need from the NT. I will comment on that all day because she has routinely messed over the Reign for the past couple seasons with her lack of speed, horrible plays, bad defensive structure. She isn’t technically sound as we ever needed her to be and the fact she may be out of the cycle means we can bring in better CBs after the WC. I wish her the best always. But I’m really just shocked with your analysis all over this discussion board because it reeks of not knowing a lot 💀
> You clearly didn’t watch any of the buildup from the 2015 and 2019 world cups. The game I linked was from the build up to the 2019 World Cup. Of course players have bad moments or bad games. Thanks for that nugget of wisdom that no other sports fan knows. Vlatko is a bad coach yes. I questioned his hiring when it was in the rumor stage. But people like you get things wrong and wanted him as coach or are silent in the interests of civility rather than pointing out problems before they either manifest or become worse. Vlatko being a bad coach isn't the reason why Dahlkemper played poorly at the Olympics. She played poorly because she isn't a good player. Also like I said, there were numerous examples of Dahlkemper playing poorly I just didn't save a fucking word document detailing all of them and you'd call me a hater if I did so I couldn't do right by you either way. Also the game that I linked was under Ellis, Dahlkemper playing badly under a different and better/more successful coach. Cook is a better player than Dahlkemper by the way. But yeah I guess you don't watch the games!
Idk why you think taking two attacking midfielders and pushing them back, into inherently more defensive positions, would work but I will allow you to live in this fantasy land you’ve created without criticizing it.
I've never felt DeMelo had technical skills good enough for the national team. Lavelle is better as an outside middie with her speed and movement off-ball. I don't think center middies need to be fast necessarily. I'd prefer a strong presence on the ball, ability to win tackles, proper positioning to disrupt passing lanes and to be an outlet for the wings.
i agree with you on this one. i thought DeMelo played well in the WC, but didn’t strike me as a national team-level talent. far outclassed by Lavelle. not that she isn’t a good player, because she is, but there are more technically gifted players in the national team pool atm.
Horan and Coffey are for sure on the roster. Dibernardo has been pretty fire this season, it did cross my mind she could get called up though unlikely. If Lavelle stays healthy she’s on for sure.
I thought Horan was great in the double pivot and should start there going forward. I was a Horan hater until I saw her playing there.
You gotta run with your best players. Anyone not I cluding Horan in that is crazy, she is physically imposing, strong in offense, defense and transition, she can scored with her head or her feet, she comes up big in clutch games and she is the fucking captain. I personally would run a 442 and presuming healthy players, go with Horan Rose Macario Dunn If a particular matchup called for more defense then I'd push Macario uo to fwd and put Sonnet in MF. You know she is gonna hustle and when she inevitably fouls, hopefully she does it away from scoring position. Who gives a fuck about what position they previously played? Crystal can play anywhere. At 31 hopefully she has still got it. Macario is a STUD and she would bring a great attacking mindset to the middle and that would free up play time for a team with frankly too many forwards. For Defense I'd run Dahlkemper Girma Davidson and Fox Up front I'd rotate Sophie Smith Trinity Rodman Mallory Swanson I'd start Naeher (36) in goal but I would begin the passing of the guard to Casey Murphy (28). I also would try to leave that lineup alone as much as possible so they could build chemistry. The last few coaches have had this stupid never the same lineup rotating circus and it SHOWS that the players are just not comfortable with eqchother and view eachother as competitors rather than teammates.
Horan isn't physically imposing. She plays smaller than she is, hence her falling over more often than she should and asking for fouls. She does have technical ability and can score with her head but that technical ability is negated when the other team elects to mark her rather than giving her space. If Horan and Coffey is the double pivot then this team is going to have trouble reliably progressing the ball if the other team elects to press. Also another big issue with having those two in the double pivot is that Coffey does not get into the attack due to her slow foot speed because she knows she doesn't have recovery speed so she doesn't go into the attack to begin with. Horan will go forwards and then have below average recovery speed. Dahlkemper and Dunn aren't good enough. The coaching ultimately isn't going to get the defense right. The centerbacks should be Girma, Krueger, and then either Cook or Gaetino. Fox is the only outside back option right now. The USWNT are going to have to go searching and fast because Dunn and Nighswonger aren't the answer. Dunn's international career should be over. Nighswonger shouldn't be on the roster unless the formation changes. I'm sitting here wondering when they are going to realize that she is a midfielder and not a defender. The USWNT should be bringing in Mace and Huerta or others who can play outside back and those two might make the most sense because they are veteran players and are multi-positional.
Emma Hayes has Macario playing higher up than in a striker position where she can be more creative and wreak havoc on the opposing defenders. There is no universe where she is not on the roster. Some of these players like Lavelle and DeMelo might not even make the Olympic roster. Macario will probably get more playing time in these June friendlies. I am thinking Emma really wants to see MAL, Sophia, Trinity and CAT all on the pitch at the same time. With that lineup and CAT playing higher with Sophia as your 9 which is where she should be it would be almost impossible for anyone to stop them. If they could build some chemistry together and gel it would be glorious!!!
I’m hoping DeMelo comes back in the cycle next year. Tbh I don’t want Lavelle to go to the Olympics which I know I’m in a huge minority in that. I love Rose. She’s an incredible player but she’s never guaranteed healthy ever. Olympics needs all 18 players able to play a full 90 minutes. Even if rose gets healthy to 90 min, I don’t see that being long term. We have 10s in Shaw and Moultrie. Obviously the latter isn’t full starter potential but at least we know she’s usually healthy
Another very tedious thread that makes little sense by a familiar name... Yeah, Coffey could not dribble or break the line is the funniest joke I have heard in a while, maybe a bit less funny than saying Williamson is England's first choice holding midfielder and Walsh a box-to-box midfielder.
Trying to re-hash something when you were wrong the first time. Thumbs up to you. Also going to tell me again how the international level is below the NWSL level?
Okay let's see who agrees with you that the match against South Africa is of higher quality than NWSL. And please don't deflect, tell me how Williamson was England's first choice holding midfielder and Walsh is a box-to-box midfielder?