Is Mauricio Pochet’s style too slow for the USMNT? – Blogging Sole

If something rises to 2-1 defeat of the USMNT to Turkey last week, it will be either Jack mcglynnthe first goal with the team, or the unfortunate moment when Johnny Cardoso Hidden the ball Arda Güleris Shin and for the purpose of his team.

But the most illustrative moment of the exhibition match occurred for a few seconds before the ball exceeds goalkeeper Matt Freese and through the goal line.

Alex Freeman had just won the ball Juventus‘ Kenan Yildiz Just outside the USMNT penalty area. He moved the ball to Cardoso, who had the opportunity to play a quick, long and forward pass in tons of space on the left side of the field. Türkiye had just lost possession, so he had not yet moved in his defensive form. Instead, Cardoso hesitated and then played a safe pass to Chris Richards. As it happened, American manager Mauricio Pochettino threw his hands in the air, jumped, turned around and shouted something towards the bench. A few seconds later, Freese took out the ball from his net.

Although the objective itself is a bizarre game – somewhat unlucky that the ball was deviated in the first place, an entirely bad luck that it deflected in such a way of turning in the lateral net – the whole possession was a microcosm of the biggest problem of the team under Pochettino: it plays too slowly. While most of the Modern USMNT era was characterized by constant and hectic overactivity, the last two months have turned too far in the other direction.

Pocsettino knows it; He addressed the post-match part, reacting in the moment, and he made similar comments after the 1-0 defeat Panama In the semi-finals of the League of Nations. But if the team is going to run the World Cup next summer, they will have to find a way to run his players.

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Why the Pochettino USMNT is the slowest recorded

Pochettino has only managed nine American games so far, and the general rule of the club football of clubs is that we should wait 10 games before drawing conclusions. But only three of these games were competitive, while a fourth, the third place in the nations match, was what we will call “partially competitive”. Add the fact that the lists and programs have been considerably different in almost all international breaks, and it is still too early to say something final at a distance.

The biggest difference between Pochettino’s mandate and the Gregg Berhalter era which preceded it, however, seems to be the structure in possession. The latter had somewhat rigid position lines for the place where everyone should be, while the first gave the players’ license to solve the defensive problems by themselves.

“The way we press (under Pochettino) is much more aggressive, especially from a goal kicks,” said the midfielder Luca de la Torre said to ESPN after the turkey match. “There is the intention of playing in the half of the other team. And there is probably more freedom with Pocsettino in terms of playing players to find open solutions.”

Midfielder Malik Tillman echoes the last point of the torre. “He gives us offensive players a lot of freedom to move on the field to find the right spaces,” said the PSV striker. “With Gregg, there was much more concentration on being in the same spaces.”

Again, it is still too early to say which approach is the most effective, or if one is even more effective than the other. And although the strict position guidelines provide integrated fundamentals that the team can play immediately, the more relational style should theoretically take longer to develop, because players must understand the inherent trends of the other. The free flow approach could improve over time – or it might be impossible to establish due to the constantly evolving staff and the limited playing time offered in the international game.

Perhaps also, which is why the team has struggled to move the ball at high speed so far under Pochettino. It is difficult to make decisions when you don’t know where your teammates will be.

Stats Percipt has complete data for USMNT matches dating back to 2010. And among managers who have been in charge for at least five games, the Pochettino team ranks:

– speed it moves the balloon up: 1.03 meters per second
– The number of goods he has per game: 82.1

The first is quite simple – literally, how quickly do you move the ball towards the goal of the opposition? The latter represents, roughly, the amount of chaos you want your matches to have. For example: Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool played with high possession games where the ball was constantly changing hands, while Pep Guardiola Manchester City Last rank in the Premier league For possessions per match almost every season. By way of comparison: the Berhalter teams moved to 1.34 meters per second and have an average of 87.8 possessions per match.

This does not mean that the slower approach cannot work; Obviously, it can. The city of Pep has won everything while playing more slowly than everyone, while Mikel Arteta Arsenal Play very slowly, and they finished second in the Premier League for three consecutive seasons. In general, European football has become more methodical and less eventful for each passing season.

At the same time, the three best world teams at the moment – PSG, Liverpool and Barcelona – All of them tend to play faster and kiss more chaos than the most popular at the highest level of the game. And most of the best USMNT players will play better in this way.

Why the USMNT Player Pool wants to run

When it works, the slower approach removes the ball from your opponents, prevents the type of counter-attacks of odd numbers to which Barcelona of Hansi Flick is frequently confronted and creates a low volume of high quality chances.

Defensively, the team was very good under Pochettino. The loss against Panama had nothing to do with a dysfunctional defense. The USMNT has conceded three shots in total for 0.1 goals expected – if you could guarantee that the Americans would do it with every match of the World Cup next summer, so I would tell you to bet on them to win the tournament right now.

No, the problem against Panama – and more broadly – was that the USMNT created a low volume of low quality opportunities. If you are not going to take more risks and try more shots, then you must be able to generate better photos with the few strokes you take. In the nine pocket matches, however, the United States has attempted 10.4 shots per game – less than in any management mandate other than the provisional passage of Dave Sarachan between Jurgen Klinsmann and Gregg Berhalter. But they also generated only five shots in total of at least one third of an expected objective. For comparison, the Berhalter teams were on average 1.6 per game.

These are every 94 strokes at Pocsettino, sized by the expected value of the attempt:

In the end, the slower approach simply does not really seem to adapt to many best USMNT players. In attack, Folarin Balogun Had his season in small groups while playing in a heavy approach in transition under Will always in Reims. Both Christian Pulisic And Timothy Weah are at their best when they are able to run on unstable defenses. And at PSV, both Ricardo Pepi And Malik Tillman succeeded in Peter Bosz and his wide open tactics.

In the midfield, all Tyler Adams“ The best seasons came for chaos hugs in Bournemouth, Leeds and RB Leipzig. Weston McKennie Continue to flourish despite the relatively conservative tactics of Juventus, but I think that is largely due to the fact that his managers realize that they must find a way to embrace the risks it removes from the ball. And at this stage of his career, Yunus MusahThe most precious competence is its ability to unravel the pressure and create moments of transition for its team.

Even at the back, Antonee Robinson is one of the most athletic rear on the open field … worldwide. Chris Richards plays for a former manager of Red Bull to Oliver Glasner to Crystal Palace. Sergiño Dest is probably the only first choice player who seems completely comfortable in this home and patient approach – and he has not yet played a game for Pocsettino.

Now there is a potential cheat code – adjustment parts – here. Without them, Arsenal would be a challenger from the first four and a champions League also rather than a reigning challenger and a European semi-finalist. If you can methodically create chances from parts, you can afford to play a low -risk and slower style. In addition, if you scored the opening goal of a set game, then the defense must soften, which facilitates the attack.

Although the United States has hired the coach of the famous Gianni Vio play, we still haven’t seen it yet. For all the possession that the USMNT had under Pochettino – 60.4%, more than under any other manager – he only tried 1.6 pieces per game, the least under any manager.

So, during the first nine games in the era Pochettino, we seem to have a coach who says he wants his team to play faster and a group of players who thrive at a higher tempo. However, in a way, they had a hard time getting out of first speed. Perhaps Poch’s public frustrations do not correspond to what he says to his team to do. Maybe these players need more strict positions. Or it could simply be early growth pain.

The wider challenge for this summer, with the limited list CupAnd next summer at the World Cup, it is that the USMNT finds a way to begin to constantly generate quality of quality to the goal. And except a certain development on the front of the room, the way to get there must find an answer to what seems to be a simple question: how to make all your runners start again?