Post-match: USA vs. Brazil - June 12, 2024

I hear what you're saying. I just think it is a tough spot we end up in playing against mostly mediocre to poor teams regularly, although more of them actually do try to attack us in the end than we generally predict around here. Our last qualifying campaign featured plenty of losses and games where the opposition took the game to us, so maybe we overestimate how superior we really are. Either way, just as defending a weak team yields little in the way of prepping to defend a team with a lot of quality, attacking a weak team doesn't yield many great solutions for scoring against a better opponent either. I don't think anyone has come up with a truly satisfactory way to deal with this issue outside of trying to get as many games as possible against better teams, which is why it's great we had these friendlies and are playing in Copa.

 

I'm still trying to figure out wether you're serious or just being disingenuous for engagement farming. Or maybe you're just a parody acct?
I suspect its farming, and you're probably paid to do this and run a number of accounts on here probably as controlled opposition to both sides of the narratives, but for the sake of those who aren't as far down the hare's den, and actually come on to BS for real analysis and discussion....

Here:

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Please show me a highlight reel, or even the numbers for another winger/AM similar to this one at a similar level in our pool. I'll wait...but just to help you out, the ONLY OTHER attackers who can boast playing like this at this level are Christian Pulisic and Gio Reyna.

 

Malik has one career CL goal contribution, an assist against Lens. This season he was at .08 npxG and .10 xA per 90 in the CL. Both those are very low for an attacker. In the Eredivisie he was at .38 and .49, respectively. Those are outstanding. Opta only has him with 6 of 19 goal contributions in the league against the top 2-4.

https://fbref.com/en/players/a5420709/intl_cup/Malik-Tillman-International-Cup-Stats

 

Eredivisie is not a great league to judge young attacking talent but it is better than the Austrian and Swiss leagues.

Malik's chances of establishing himself with a top half of the table team in a big 4 league are pretty good.

Malik's probable peak: regular on a top half of table team in a Big 4 league

Brenden's probable peak: regular on a bottom half of table team in a Big 4 league

Malik will have the more significant national team career

 

The general consensus is that 45-60 went well for us, why do you not agree?

 

Says you. Aaronson says he's fine at Leeds because that is the bargaining position his club wants to start from. You wanted him/club to say "we're desperate?"

 

Those teams performed horribly against us and we didn’t create that many chances, we just were very clinical.

 

I guess you don't know what leading and lagging indicator means.

Anyway, Weston McKennie has 11 goals in 53 appearances for USA including the record fast hat trick v. Cuba so let's say 8 in 52 or 1 goal every 6 1/2 games. Brenden has 8 goals in 41 games for USA or 1 in every 5 appearances which are mainly subs.

Now parse those numbers if you like. They are from wiki so maybe need some updating.

You could try goals per 90'. Let me know what you find

 

Bold claim.

Malik has been a disaster for the usmnt so far.

Aaronson has provided far more to the program.

 

I don't think it is an especially bold call.

 

On the Colombia goal after Cardoso got tackled, Malik seemed to be about where he was on the Jamaica goal in NL earlier this year. I don't like to go into too deep an analysis when the data comes from seeing less than half the pitch on a tv screen but Malik would not be anywhere near my team for fear of contagion. My guess is that Berhalter would have prefered Malik's brother but his relationship with Earnie was more valuable. Thanks but no thanks.

 

I think the tactical approach of our opponents in WCQ was heavily influenced by our disappointing prior cycle. The aura was gone. CRC absolutely should have shut up shop against us after scoring and especially after we equalized. They weren’t exactly open but they weren’t playing their tight, disciplined counter game. Maybe they thought without Pulisic and Reyna that we couldn’t hurt them. Jamaica also could have played tighter in our home game but that’s kind of more expected.

Canada took the optimal strategic approach to us. Play a little deeper version of a midblock and deny easy access to the final third and the center of the field.

A real minnow provides little positive value. A weaker team that’s well organized without crippling athletic shortcomings still poses a question that must be solved. Unfortunately the commitment and organization of weaker teams varies and especially in friendlies.

 

Class A conspiracy theory.

 

Malik blew the same type of cover rotation on both those goals. Against Jamaica he needed to cover the near post cut back zone and didn’t properly fill that space, causing problems behind him. On this goal against Colombia Johnny was covering the near post cut back zone and Malik should have covered the PK spot cut back zone. Instead he came over too far and stayed stacked near the near post side of the top of the box.

 

I was kind of hoping for a loan to Serie A or mid table in Spain for Malik. He has improved year over year and that kind of move would have required him to take another big step.

 

Yawn.

The numbers don't lie. Aaronson is quite ordinary, no matter how to pick nits to find an individual play. 5G + 5A are his career high numbers. In Austria. For the richest team in that MLS-y level league.


And look, if you want to fap and fawn over each and every player, and whip out the pompons for each and every player, that's your right. But, this is USA Men N&A, and I've been more than fair to him,

 

Sure: A lagging indicator is that Leeds thought he could be EPL-caliber, but he was not. Or Berlin thought that he could be Bundesliga-caliber, but he was not.

A leading indicator would be him dropping down a level or two to play in the Championship going forward. Here's hoping he can [snicker] improve on his 2G + 2A performance this past season by doing so.

...to include that AWESOME goal against mighty Oman. At home. After Oman had flown ~19 hours or so to get to the US.

Long will that legendary strike live on in our minds as fans, amirite?

If not, ya got that JUGGERNAUT, Grenada, against whom BA hit a mighty strike. Almost MYTHICAL in nature.

 

Hopefully, this coming season is his last one in the Eredivisie. It just lacks the defensive intensity you see in the top 4 leagues. Malik's a little on the lackadaisical side and that is best trained out of him in a league where the defensive intensity is high.

 

So other than outing yourself as disingenuous by design, what else can you provide to the discussion?

Who do you have starting over Aaronson in AM attack? Now please provide their stats for club and country. I’ll wait.

 

What, exactly is/was "disingenuous" about what I [and some outfit called "The Athletic"] mentioned about Aaronson?

 

How DARE you "bash" Aaronson?

 

You say that his only quality is he “works hard”, and you also said there were others ahead of him. And your tone was very condescending and dismissive, but without providing any information and ignoring any that was presented to you in order to keep your bias.
I’m ok with that being your role in this forum, but I asked for evidence for your claims for the sake of all who read this. You haven’t given any.

 

And if you read The Athletic story, they largely agree.

And we've covered this:

He's an AMF/Fwd, whose career high in G/A are [snciker] 5G, 5A in MLS, and again in an MLS-y level Austrian Bundesliga. [NOTE: These are rather pedestrian numbers, for an AMF/Fwd.]

The Athletic story has you covered, as does his Fbref page. [Snicker] 2G/2A for a Bundesliga relegation battler. We've covered this.

You may not like it, but the facts are clear on this player.

 

And I don't think his brother would have done that which is why I wonder if Gregg might not have prefered Timmy over Malik. Besides the relationship with Earnie, which MaxOps says is a conspiracy, I'm guessing LAFC would love to have Timmy back for July 4 Derby and other games for club and there's the issues that the peanut gallery around here would go ballistic if a Euro were sent home in lieu of his MLS brother. You'd see postings of Gregg in a clown suit in social media. @bsky22 would have a heart attack.

 

I never argued his stats were GOOD. The lack of inflated stats could be due to being on relegation battlers that usually have trouble scoring (hence getting relegated), or because he just isn’t good at making the most of those chances. The games I saw of him in the EPL and Bund showed otherwise, and if he was on a team with a decent attack we could be having a different argument.
My argument is who in the USMNT pool has better stats at that level. You keep ignoring this simple question because the answer doesn’t align with your bias. Puli, Gio, and BA have the best attacking numbers at this level.

I can’t read the article because it’s by subscription. What do I care about some article written before he had even gone to Leeds? Why is that so important to you and why is the writer’s opinion, on an opinion piece, carry so much weight? I’ll trust randoms on social media before I trust MSM.