#yeah sure one individual mistake leading to one out of the four goals scored led to us losing

[svkhky]

if you even think of putting this loss on the shoulders of a 17-year-old boy there’s not a nasty enough word to describe you

[junker-town]

The USMNT finally has a vision

Gregg Berhalter brings his tight philosophy from the Columbus Crew to the USMNT. Just one big problem: America doesn’t have a Federico Higuaín.

By the time the MLS playoffs rolled around in November, Gregg Berhalter had already been declared the next United States men’s national team head coach by the American soccer rumor mill. Fans tuned into the Columbus Crew’s playoff games to get a glimpse of how the USMNT might play in the future. And while we got to see what made Berhalter’s Crew a great MLS team, we also saw what he’ll be missing in his new job: Federico Higuaín.

Higuaín was Columbus’ hero in the knockout stage, scoring two goals against D.C. United. He sat the first half against the New York Red Bulls four days later, and when he came off the bench, he created this goal.

Just. PURE. That pass from Milton, tho #CrewSC | #ClaimGlory | #CLBvRBNY | 1-0 pic.twitter.com/BGwbNhRALE

— Columbus Crew SC (@ColumbusCrewSC) November 4, 2018

What American man can do that with any regularity?

There was a lot to like about Berhalter’s Crew. They kept the ball very well, often building slowly from the back, but also consistently looked for opportunities to play direct passes that beat defenders. They used the entire pitch, with wide players and central midfielders who were all equally capable of creating scoring chances. They had a good defensive shape and a well-defined pressing strategy. If Berhalter is a good coach, he can instill those principles into the USMNT.

But those principles worked as well as they did because of the talents of Higuaín — a sensational playmaking central attacking midfielder, commonly referred to as a No. 10. So how is Berhalter supposed to build a better, more attractive USMNT without a player like him? There are no obvious solutions to this problem, but plenty of potentially good ones.

The USMNT has always been on the hunt for a real No. 10

Berhalter, 45, is an adaptable coach. He played a much more conservative style as manager of Hammarby in Sweden, and had no problem setting up his Crew team to play direct when opponents gave them space to do so. But if U.S. Soccer wanted a coach to grind out results with his players’ excellent fitness and athleticism, they would have hired someone else.

It’s also clear from its recent hires that U.S. Soccer would like to move in a different direction. New chief sport development director Nico Romeijn, formerly of the Dutch FA, was one of the key figures in hiring Dutch-American general manager Earnie Stewart. He went on to hire Berhalter, who says he got most of his ideas about how the game should be played from the Netherlands. The USMNT wants to play stylishly like the Dutch do, with the ball on the ground.

“We want to use the ball to disorganize the opponent to create goal-scoring opportunities,” Berhalter told me in October.

The Crew succeeded at that by building their attack around Higuaín. One problem: there’s never been an Higuaín in the U.S. player pool.

Creative forward Joe Max-Moore filled the central attacking midfield role well when needed in the 1990s, as did smooth passing central midfielder Tab Ramos around the same time, then Claudio Reyna into the 2000s. The following generation fielded some other very good players in that role — second strikers Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan, most notably — but none of them was ever a true playmaking central attacking midfielder.

Most recently, that responsibility has fallen on a couple of young players — Christian Pulisic, who only plays wide for his club team, and Julian Green, who has been an effective defensive No. 10, but not much of a playmaker. There are a few promising attacking midfielders in the youth ranks, but none plays regular top division soccer at the moment.

What makes Higuaín so important to the Crew’s style?

To understand the problem that Berhalter is solving for, we need to talk about exactly what Higuaín meant to his system in Columbus.

This is Higuaín’s first highlight of the season, 11 minutes into the season opener. One day, an American man will show this kind of technique and movement with regularity (three sobbing emojis).

Higuaín can also create a ton of space for his teammates with nothing more than his dangerous reputation. Teams are often so scared of letting him get any time on the ball that they’ll chase him anywhere on the pitch. It’s not uncommon to see a midfielder close down aggressively on Higuaín, opening up huge space for one of his teammates to attack.

If you keep your eyes trained on Higuaín during a Crew match, it’s clear that he’s a vocal and demonstrative leader. Higuaín looks like a traffic cop, but one who commands the respect of a general. He will clap and give thumbs up in response to passes that weren’t intended for him, or point where he wants a pass to go or a teammate to run. And other players follow his lead on when to press aggressively or fall back into shape.

Berhalter can’t manufacture that. There’s no tactical solution for not having any players with Higuaín’s reputation or experience.

What Berhalter probably can solve for, though, is Higuaín’s final third contributions. Defenders will close down on any junk player who is central and 25 yards from goal, so if Berhalter can get the ball into that area, he can draw defenders out of position. Goals and assists won’t be that hard to replace either — this is where Christian Pulisic is 1,000 times better than anyone who’s ever played for the Crew.

What other stuff does the Crew do that might work for the USMNT?

Here’s the long version of the goal from the beginning of this story. Watch all of the dope stuff that the non-Higuaín people do!

We are strictly about that switching play, line splitting, and defender attracting action. pic.twitter.com/DTTpOlW5se

— Noah (@EriksensationaI) November 4, 2018

There are some hard passes here, yes. Central midfielder Artur and left back Milton Valenzuela are probably a bit better at long passes than any of their American counterparts. But this build-up is mostly about good coaching. The Crew’s players know how they want to move the ball from back to front, and everyone makes good individual decisions about where to move and who to pass to. The structure and decision-making in this move are much more important than anyone’s talent, right up until the ball reaches Higuaín. There are even a couple of sloppy touches that the Crew don’t get punished for because they’re making all the right choices.

Berhalter’s commitment to playing out of the back has led defenders who were once pretty average with their feet to get really good. This very nice and somewhat terrifying exchange is typical of the Crew.

thinking about the usmnt trying to do this stresses me out pic.twitter.com/K1VSNhOqVN

— Kimberly McCauley (@lgbtqfc) January 21, 2019

The U.S. men’s national team does not have silky-skilled center backs, but neither do the Crew, really. Watching American defenders try to play like this might scare even the most ardent of Pep Guardiola stans into screaming “HOOF IT,” but your anxiety will soon pass. Berhalter is, if nothing else, good at coaching the spacing and decision making necessary for playing the ball out of the back.

Once they get the ball forward, the Crew are really good at moving the ball inside and out to draw defenders out of position and create tap-ins for their center forward. This is a bit tougher to accomplish without a central attacking midfielder who picks perfect passes out wide, but the USMNT also has better wide options than the Crew. The most common source of USMNT goals during the Berhalter era is likely to be Pulisic runs to the byline, and cutbacks for a Josh Sargent (or Gyasi Zardes) finish from six yards.

Does all that sound exciting? WELL, HOW’S THIS FOR EXCITEMENT?

This — a line of two black-shirted forwards ahead of four black-shirted midfielders, waiting for the opponent to cross midfield rather than pressuring the ball — is the defining image of the 2018 Columbus Crew. Sure, they had 57 percent possession — good for second in MLS — but the other 43 percent of the time, they looked like this. If you watched more than one Crew match, this image is burned into your brain. The Crew were better at building up slowly through the middle than counter-attacking quickly, and they didn’t have great athletes to press high up the pitch, so they sat in this shape a lot and waited for opponents to cross midfield before aggressing.

Boring, right? Well, the USMNT has better athletes and worse deep passing than the Crew, so it appears that Berhalter’s USMNT is going to do something a little different.

Something for #USMNT fans to ponder. pic.twitter.com/fEBUU8ErPU

— Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) January 15, 2019

Hell yeah. Pressing after losing possession might be a huge part of the solution to the Higuaín problem.

How is Berhalter’s USMNT going to play?

I have a theory — and I swear I had it before I watched this Behind The Crest video that the above screenshot came from — that Berhalter’s USMNT will play with a more aggressive, higher press instead of the Crew’s middle-block defense. It would make sense for a lot of reasons:

1. The USMNT has fewer players suited for build-up from the back than the Crew, so it should be more effective for them to start most attacks from higher up the pitch.

2. The USMNT has better athletes and fitter players than the Crew, so they can actually win the ball if they press aggressively, while the Crew probably would have wound up chasing shadows. The player pictured in the screenshot above, Kellyn Acosta, is among those perfect for applying pressure.

3. If you can force mistakes and win the ball high up the pitch, with the defense scrambling and very few players behind the ball, you don’t need a superstar No. 10 to control the game or create chances.

So, Berhalter will likely want to win the ball up high on the pitch while maintaining most of the other principles from his Crew teams, mitigating the absence of a No. 10 who is dominant for that level. He’s got a few ways he could set up his team to accomplish those things.

Formations do not equal tactics, of course. There’s so much more to a coach’s philosophy than the initial shape displayed on the lineup card. But the formation that Berhalter uses is going to tell us a lot about what he wants to accomplish, and what he thinks his personnel is capable of.

Option 1: Play the same 4-2-3-1 with the best Higuaín replacement he can find

Pros: Christian Pulisic is far and away the USMNT’s best player, and this gets him the most opportunities to get on the ball and make plays. Josh Sargent has shown the ability to play as an isolated lone striker, but getting an attacking midfielder close to him might benefit him a lot early in his career (he’s only 18 years old). Berhalter’s teams have always played some variation of this shape, so these players will certainly be well-drilled.

Cons: It demands a lot of discipline from Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie when the team might be better served by making their youthful legs run a lot. There’s little playmaking ability in this setup, and it’s tough to see how the ball is ever going to get to Pulisic in a dangerous area if the team doesn’t create turnovers.

Option 2: Adjust to a 4-3-3 and let your runners run

Pros: This requires less discipline and allows Adams and McKennie (or whomever plays those more advanced central midfield roles) to mess people up more often. If Berhalter wants to win the ball up the pitch, this formation should let them pressure aggressively with five players while the other five hold shape. Pulisic might not get on the ball as often, but he’ll be playing the role he’s used to at the club level. Playing someone like Wil Trapp in a true No. 6 defensive midfield role instead of using the double pivot from Berhalter’s preferred formation could make the play-out-of-the-back learning curve a bit more gradual, too.

Cons: The USMNT won’t be able to create much if they aren’t winning the ball high up the pitch, since there’s not much in the way of midfield playmaking without anyone in the No. 10 role and runners in central midfield. Failure to win the ball high could also lead to Sargent getting isolated. When Trapp has played this role for interim manager Dave Sarachan, rather than as part of a double pivot like in Option 1, he has struggled.

Option 3: Control midfield and optimize personnel with a 3-5-2

Pros: Outside of Pulisic, winger might be the shallowest area of the USMNT player pool. The team has plenty of good defenders, midfielders, and strikers. Why not find a way to get all the good players onto the pitch in roles they like? This setup allows the USMNT to spread some of the Higuaín duties around to a second striker and an attacking midfielder, rather than relying on one guy to fill the role or abandoning it altogether. The American fullbacks are all much better going forward than they are defensively, too, making them good fits for attacking roles in a back three setup.

Cons: Unless your outside center backs, advanced central midfielders, and strikers are well-drilled and have great chemistry, you won’t be taking advantage of wide areas that much. Creating a square ball or cutback from a winger to a striker is the primary means of chance creation in Berhalter’s system, so it seems unlikely he’d turn to this. He’d have to be really confident in his ability to coach a system that’s radically different than his previous one.

Option 4: RUN THE DANG 4-4-2

Pros: Listen, this is America. Enough with the fancy crap. We have some hard working dudes who know how to play a classic two-striker system. If you don’t have playmakers, getting two strikers on who can play off each other is a really good idea. There’s a reason that Bob Bradley and Jürgen Klinsmann both defaulted to this when they were otherwise stumped. These players are good at it and know how to play it.

Cons: Berhalter wants to control the possession battle and build up from the back through midfield — two things that are really difficult to do in a 4-4-2. It’s not impossible, not by any stretch, but you need elite players and even more elite chemistry. Unless your midfielders and second striker are all-world, you can’t control a game like this.

Whatever he does, Berhalter needs to get it right quickly — games of consequence are coming right up

It might seem like Berhalter has a lot of time, with the World Cup not coming until 2022, but he’ll have just four friendlies with all players available for selection before the 2019 Gold Cup this summer, and World Cup qualification isn’t far away after that. The addition of the CONCACAF Nations League to the calendar should be a welcome change for Berhalter, who will get three more competitive games between Gold Cup and the start of World Cup qualifying than any of his predecessors did.

Matches against Panama on January 27 and Costa Rica on February 2 will give us some idea of what Berhalter is thinking, but we won’t be able to draw any serious conclusions about the future of the USMNT until he gets his hands on his European-based players for friendlies against Ecuador and Chile in March.

His third game with a full squad will be against Mexico and the man a lot of American fans wanted to take over the USMNT, former Atlanta United manager Gerardo Martino. It will be played in Arlington, Texas, on June 11 in front of a heavily El Tri-leaning crowd of 75,000. The game will be called a friendly, but let’s be real, it won’t feel anything like a friendly.

The realistic best-case scenario is that Berhalter hits the ground running and gets his team playing the way he wants very quickly. They go on to win the Gold Cup and qualify for the World Cup comfortably. He’s more qualified than Bruce Arena and Bob Bradley were when they took the job, and his attention to tactical detail utterly dwarfs Jürgen Klinsmann’s. It wouldn’t be the least bit shocking if he’s an instant, roaring success.

It’s also pretty easy to envision a world where Berhalter’s ideals don’t fit the USMNT, and the Americans struggle to qualify out of CONCACAF like they did in 2017. He’s taking over a team at the height of a lost generation problem, and he’s faced with the task of turning teenagers into the focal points of a senior national team very quickly. There are plenty of good coaches who would fail in the same situation.

But that’s all a long way off. Step one for Berhalter: Solve the Higuaín problem, and from there, the rest might fall into place.

[yahoo-puck-daddy-blog]

What We Learned: Are we really going to blame Connor McDavid for Oilers' problems?

Connor McDavid’s play is the least of Edmonton’s worries. (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

I felt like I must have hit my head or something.

Surely only a person whose cognitive functions are not operating at 100 percent could see “The Oilers lost 6-3 to Dallas” and then also imagine they saw a bunch of Edmonton media types saying Connor McDavid — the best player in the world, reigning MVP, etc. etc. etc. — had to do better.

Especially because I checked the box score multiple times, just to put myself through a sort of de facto concussion protocol, and it turns out he scored a goal and had two more assists. By my math, and granted I might be a head trauma patient, that means he was in on all three of Edmonton’s goals while almost everyone else on the team was in on zero goals.

The argument, from what I can tell, is that while, sure, McDavid had three points including a power play and short-handed primary assist, he also turned the puck over a few times and that led directly to some Dallas goals. In fact, McDavid was on the ice for Dallas’s second, third, fourth and fifth goals. It’s not ideal, to be sure, but what people don’t understand — and probably don’t want to because it would in some way challenge how they’ve perceived the sport for decades — is that sometimes bad stuff happens to good players because they’re trying to do things most guys couldn’t even imagine themselves doing.

McDavid was in an especially precarious position when it came to feeling like he needed to do everything himself because this was the first game pretty much all season in which Todd McLellan shuffled Leon Draisaitl onto his own line as a means of theoretically spreading out the offense. After all, the Oilers, for all the expectation that they could be an elite offensive team, are 29th in the league in scoring. And that’s despite the fact that McDavid is on pace for another 100-plus point season. If McLellan felt like he’d put too many eggs in one basket on the top line, it’s tough to blame him.

McDavid has 25 points in 20 games. The next-closest guy on the oilers in total points is Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, another guy the Edmonton media has lately been trying to run out of town, with 15 in 20. Draisaitl has 14 in 16. No one else has more than 12.

So when the lines got juggled, McDavid played most of the game with Drake Caggiula (who by the way was the forward who got torched for a couple of those goals against) and Patrick Maroon. If this starts to sound a lot like a few years ago, when Sidney Crosby was being criticized for not being able to get a couple of lower-end middle-six guys to score 70-plus a year, there’s probably a good reason for that. Because when McDavid doesn’t feel like he has a ton of help, yeah he’s gonna freelance a bit.

And yes, it resulted in three points, but also four goals against. That’ll happen sometimes and it’s not pretty. But it’s also so rare that devoting any of your time or energy wondering how Connor McDavid can “fix” something in his game while the rest of the roster crumbles around him and Draisaitl is well and truly idiotic.

Can McDavid improve defensively? Sure, but he’s also 20 years old, and it’s the same crap you’ve heard for years about Erik Karlsson and P.K. Subban, isn’t it? If he’s “focused more on defense” in a way that is apparent to the rank and file, that probably comes at the expense of his production, and at that point, we get a lot of takes along the lines of, “Aren’t they paying McDavid to score 100-plus every year?”

Maybe a lot of people would trade 100 points from McDavid while the team sucks, for 80 if the team were good. But that’s not how it works. If McDavid isn’t on pace for 100-plus again, this Oilers team is dead last in the league.

I’ve said it a million times, but creative, high-skill players need the puck on their tape to make their teams go. And when they have the puck on their tape, they will try to do things that no one else can do. And most of the time, it’s going to work. And when it doesn’t, they’re going to look bad not only because it results in a goal or even a high-danger chance, but because we expect them to never screw up.

Put it this way: If McDavid tries the move that led to the second Stars goal 100 times, how many of those end up as a turnover that results in a goal against? And how many result in getting the puck in deep, as intended?

Now let’s say Milan Lucic tries that same carry-in 100 times. How many of those result in a turnover and goal against? How many lead to Oilers zone time?

You and I and everyone else understand fundamentally that any given McDavid carry-in is far more likely to lead to positives than not only with Lucic (who by the way almost never gets criticized in the Edmonton media despite being an expensive, slow, low-scoring bust of an investment), but literally any other player in the world. This isn’t a “defense” problem with McDavid, it’s an “every play is a gamble and sometimes even the best gamblers lose” problem.

Plus, this criticism is also a major dodge of the Oilers’ real issue, which is obviously the fact that their fourth-highest scorers are tied for 156th in points per game.

The Oilers have 29 goals in the 439:28 McDavid has been on the ice this season, across all situations. That means they have 21 in 501:18 when he’s not on the ice. Let’s run the numbers on that real quick: That’s 3.96 goals for per 60 when McDavid is on (very good), and 1.62 when he’s off (inconceivably pathetic).

So honestly, it doesn’t make the slightest bit of sense that anyone looks at what’s going on with the Oilers either holistically or in the case of this one individual game and says, “Seems to me that the problem with the team is … the guy who could end up being a top-5 forward of all time.”

And this isn’t a difficult illness to diagnose. If it looks like a thinned-out forward group, that’s only because it is, and all the blame for that lies squarely at Peter Chiarelli’s feet. Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle are now plying their trades elsewhere, having been dealt for guys who are currently playing like garbage. Adam Larsson has just three points and middling underlying numbers among any regular defenseman on the team, while Ryan Strome has eight points and sits 10th among regular Oiler forwards in possession.

Moreover, that Lucic contract looks like a disaster already. Moreover, Kris Russell has been terrible. These are the guys the Edmonton media, and many old-school hockey guys stanned for, and any smart person could have told you was going to end in tears. The fact that it’s already starting with both these guys is a bit of a surprise, but not so much of one that anyone should be in any way appalled.

So much of what Edmonton does runs through Connor McDavid — who by the way has a 60.7 CF% right now despite only playing top competition, while the Oilers are just 51 percent without him — that it’s easy to sit in judgment when he does something wrong, and in this particular game, he definitely did some things wrong. But the fact that the knives were out from people eager to criticize him for what, his second or third bad game of the year, while half the guys on the roster have had the majority of their games come in way worse than “three goals for and four against” without any real criticism of either those players themselves or the, ahem, savior GM who acquired them.

The Oilers’ problems are very apparent, but anyone who ever tries to even vaguely imply they start anywhere — especially anywhere related to McDavid — besides the front office has an agenda. Or, I guess, a brain injury.

What We Learned

Anaheim Ducks: Cam Fowler has been out for a few weeks, but he’s almost back now and that’s good for the Ducks. Man, they need the help.

Arizona Coyotes: Oh yeah, Anthony Duclair was supposed to be good this year. Huh.

Boston Bruins: Say it with me, gang: Goalie controversy.

Buffalo Sabres: I dunno about you, but it seems like the Sabres might be very bad.

Calgary Flames: Feels like Sean Monahan should have had a few hat tricks before this one, but that’s life I guess.

Carolina Hurricanes: Let’s not all look at once but the Hurricanes have points in six of their last seven games, and won four of them in regulation. Could mean good news for December.

Chicago Blackhawks: Two teams that have a very real chance of missing the playoffs this year in another stupid outdoor game. Cool. Great.

Colorado Avalanche: All future Avs/Preds games will be henceforth known as “The Girard Bowl.”

Columbus Blue Jackets: Really not sure how I feel about this Cam Atkinson extension. The money isn’t out of control, but do you really want to sign Cam Atkinson until he’s 35?

Dallas Stars: This should result in like a 10-game suspension. Really dirty play.

Detroit Red Wings: You don’t say.

Edmonton Oilers: It’s almost like, I don’t know, Chiarelli screwed up the freest lunch in the history of hockey.

Florida Panthers: Thank god Dale Tallon is back to fix this team after it made so many mistakes in his absence.

Los Angeles Kings: Playing the Panthers is a great way to not worry about a losing streak any more.

Minnesota Wild: Hey, it happens.

Montreal Canadiens: This is really and truly incredible. The Habs might soon choose to rebuild, but a 30-plus expensive defenseman like Shea Weber is untouchable? But he also hasn’t wanted to trade roster players for futures? What a world.

Nashville Predators: Pekka Rinne is, inexplicably, having himself a season.

New Jersey Devils: There’s a really good Curb episode about this.

New York Islanders: This is a very good little win for the Islanders.

New York Rangers: What year do you suppose this column was written in?

Ottawa Senators: The Senators can’t win at home. That’s where you’re supposed to win. They give you last change and everything.

Philadelphia Flyers: How many times are we gonna let Radko Gudas try to murder someone? Twelve strikes and you’re out, buddy!

Pittsburgh Penguins: This Crosby guy sucks!

San Jose Sharks: The Sharks can’t catch a break on goal reviews but hey, that’s why they have goal reviews and get them right almost all the time. My suggestion? Try scoring or preventing goals legally.

St. Louis Blues: I wonder how the Flyers feel like that Brayden Schenn trade is working out for them.

Tampa Bay Lightning: Yeah, this has to be the best team in the league. Even when they lose, they’re scary as hell.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Not sure why you wouldn’t keep Matthews and Marner together. Their skills seem perfectly suited to each others’ games.

Vancouver Canucks: Remember when people thought the Canucks were good or something? That was a weird couple of weeks.

Vegas Golden Knights: Ah, finally, the Golden Knights have an AHL goalie again.

Washington Capitals: Alex Ovechkin took a puck in the face but he was fine but it was scary but don’t worry about it.

Winnipeg Jets: My big rowdy boy is at it again.

Play of the weekend

This USHL goalie is living his absolute best life.

When you're the goalie and you score a goal, you get all the celebrations out of the way.#GoalieGoal pic.twitter.com/riZFAAhcd1

— Sioux Falls Stampede (@sfstampede) November 19, 2017

Gold Star Award

Connor McDavid, I support you when no one else will.

Minus of the Weekend

Marc Bergevin is not having a good 18 months!

Perfect HFBoards Trade Proposal of the Year

User “Myers888” has it all figured out.

Kane (50%) & signed
 Chad Johnson
, Jake McCabe, 
2nd 

for 

Sam Bennett, 
Brodie, 
Eddie Lack

Signoff

Well Seymour, I made it, despite your directions.

—

Ryan Lambert is a Puck Daddy columnist. His email is here and his Twitter is here.

(All stats via Corsica unless otherwise noted.)

More NHL coverage on Yahoo Sports