Transmogrified Tiger

as I was saying

every Mbappe goal I see is like 'well yeah not sure how you keep him from doing that' and for France it happens every game

Weah played pretty well overall, but in the 55 minutes of play that Gio had this World Cup, he created a LOT of chances. You and I didn't watch the same games. I'm with Wolf, Gio was more dangerous as a 9 when he got the ball wide than the other strikers, but he wasn't a part of any clear cut chances, he benefitted from game state, and wasn't very attentive defensively/as a presser. On a different note, it seems like the expectation is less that US Soccer will make a decision on Berhalter but rather that he's gonna move back into the club game thanks to mutual interest: https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/three-takeaways-as-usa-suffer-world-cup-exit-against-netherlands Whatever the reason, if they are looking for a new manager, they can afford to take their time a bit and find the right person, though I am intrigued that Pellegrino Matarazzo is currently available. For those unfamiliar, he's New Jersey born and played college soccer before moving to the lower levels of Italy and Germany as a player, then moving up the German coaching ranks(he's close with Nagelsmann and was his assistant at Hoffenheim). As a manager he got Stuttgart promoted back into the Bundesliga and had a strong initial campaign, then struggled with an injury ridden team last year and got sacked after a bad start this year.

One being 28 and the other 35 is a big reason. Eflin's excellent turn as a reliever probably means a team like the Rays(who signed him) believe in their ability to minimize his shortcomings relative to a guy like Gibson too, who is more of an end of the rotation innings eater.

Mostly echoing, but for me the biggest things are: - Can a striker make the leap? Sargent seems to have stopped his career's free fall and is still only 22, Pepi is scoring goals in the Eredivisie and is still 19, maybe Balogun is the next recruiting win? Dike(also only 22) gets healthy and starts scoring for fun again? - MMA depth, those 3 are great and will continue to improve(especially Musah) but we can't be one knock from being unable to control the last 30 minutes of games. Maybe this becomes Reyna but I think it's a struggle to see him as an engine room guy, and frankly he's a gifted enough attacker that he's not gonna get forced there at the club level. Maybe Pomykal finally stays healthy and gets a European move or just levels up in the way Acosta did between cycles? Does Malik Tillman get a chance to be that guy for club or country? Can Jack McGlynn become enough of a defender to complement his passing? Is Aidan Morris able to be an Aldi-brand Adams level ball winner? Maybe Busio, Tessman, or Bassett get their careers back on track? Maybe Johnny Cardoso becomes a thing? - Can we get a top class CB pairing? CCV's improvement(he'll be under 30 next cycle) gives some hope plus Robinson and Richards seem like a good pairing now that just weren't healthy. McKenzie, EPB, and Trusty will all be in their primes at the end of the next cycle too. - Outside back depth. RB seems in decent hands between Dest, Scally, and some youngsters(Reynolds, Che), but left backs, especially left footed left backs, are more scarce. Robinson can hopefully keep improving and he's a perfectly fine baseline, but you hope someone like Vines, Tolkin, or Jonathan Gomez(if he commits) can make it possible to at least sub off Robinson for freshness. - What recruiting wins can they get? Berhalter did an excellent job this cycle at creating the culture that players wanted to be a part of, and if it had been a random international coach I shudder to think of how the tournament would have gone without one or more of Dest, Robinson, or Musah. I mentioned Balogun above, but what others that we have no idea about now(like Dest, Robinson, or Musah) could play a part in this cycle?

not strong enough up top to create the lion's share of chances not clinical enough to win via ruthlessness not deep enough to outlast a team of this caliber after 3 high intensity games

lollllllll Haji you picked a great time for the luckiest touch of your life

alright, let's do it

We're mostly just getting off crosses, which against the Dutch back 3 with Ferreira as striker is going to be an uphill battle(to our credit, we're targeting the top of the box a lot where there's space). Need to get the ball to the end line to create cutback angles and/or work harder to get it into zone 14. Ferreira's first touch let him down when we tried to do the latter, so I wonder if Gio comes on for him since we need 2.

Jedi if you are sprinting into the box with the ball and defenders are running out of your way to track runners maybe consider kicking the bejeezus out of the ball at the goal

of all the ways to concede, a beautiful 10 pass build out is less frustrating than a set piece or an individual error I guess

oh man he was actually onside, I didn't even let myself hope in realtime

The Brewers are the ones sending cash? I kinda get it for them, but that's a pretty big coaching/development bet on fixing Winker and Toro.

Embolo had a huge chance a few minutes after the 3rd goal too

The Swiss just got about .8 xG and didn't score in the first 30 seconds

So yesterday a favored team from the Iberian peninsula lost to an Asian side which meant that the Asian side went through at the expense of a group favorite and 2010 semifinalist. And today we are now one South Korea goal away from.....a favored team from the Iberian peninsula losing to an Asian side which means that the Asian side goes through at the expense of a group favorite and 2010 semifinalist.

The Swanson talk and the related worry about how good his bat might be got me looking at where they could raise the offense's floor, and I took another look at Josh Bell. I'm not gonna go all in on him but I think there's an increasing number of cases where he's a smart addition. - He can produce. Outside an anomalous 2020(I swear, every player I look at had an anomalous 2020 in one direction or the other), his wRC+ in recent seasons is 123, 119, 135. He raises the floor for the offense, which is very much needed given the lack of a lineup anchor. - He's very well rounded. In recent years he's hit well from both sides of the plate and does so with strong BB/K, Steamer says 11.6 BB%/17.6 K% for 2023. That's not only a net positive on its own, but his presence means you can go after a riskier profile with other additions or not have to worry about R/L imbalance as much. Bonus note: I know folks worry about his lack of fly balls, but he makes so much contact that I think this is overblown. Case in point, on a per 650 PA basis, the difference in number of LD+FB between Bell and Kyle Schwarber(an *extreme* FB producer) last year was less than one per week. - He doesn't inhibit other moves much. Bell doesn't require a QO, shouldn't get a contract long enough for Jed to be antsy about giving out other long term contracts, and his likely AAV is in the range that if you aren't getting Bellinger the main sacrifice you're making is him v. a similar cost SP(which we are increasingly seeing as bad deals). That means that he still fits in an offseason where you get e.g. a SS, Senga, and Vazquez as more primary hole fillers. - He does have risk. The biggest for me is that he's a post-30 1B, and that profile is filled with players who were productive right up until the moment they fell off the cliff and were never useful(never mind worth their contract) again. You hope that Bell's well rounded profile helps hedge against this(and Freeman/Goldschmidt/Rizzo offer some optimism that profile is improving after the Pujols/Fielder era), but his peaks and valleys within seasons and lack of elite fitness are not great harbingers.

Someone who knows more than me tell me why this would or wouldn't work. I don't think it would be dramatically worse than playing Wright, again assuming Gio's health(I think Matt Doyle pointed out he wasn't exactly running hard in his one appearance so far, so seems like a big assumption). Where I think this has the chance to go poorly is the Netherlands are gonna be in a 3 back setup, and while having Gio or Ferreira pull out CBs by dropping in can help disorganize the shape, it also means the striker's runs are gonna need to be very good to get on the end of any crosses. Gio's a smart player but he doesn't have the reps in that role to be in sync with who might be giving him service or to stay a step ahead of guys like Van Dijk or De Ligt.

Just ftr: not necessary for a competitive 2023 given the nearer to $100 million than not they'd have to spend to even push up against. All the more excuse to go get more than just a SS Correct, you're the one creating an odd strawman of the Cubs being terrified of using resources while being linked to nearly half the QO FA(all 3 SS + Bassitt) as well as names requiring 8 figures like Senga, Bellinger, Abreu before he signed, etc.

So the ultra conservative Braves might go over in a very technical way, the Rays are kicking the tires on multiple QO’d players, but it’s inconceivable the Cubs might do more than sign a SS and fill out with fringe players The Cubs are linked to several QO'd players too(plus the Rays interest in DeGrom was so strong they signed Eflin 24 hours later), and yes they're very unlikely to go over the CBT threshold this year

Defensively he went from a previous career high of +5 RAA to +15, which was 2nd in MLB across all positions last year. UZR says he was +2 last year and has one year better than that in his career, while DRS is more optimistic(+8 last year, +21 in 2020) Offensively he matched his career high from 2020 with a 116 wRC+, and the main difference between those seasons and the rest of his career is a .350 BABIP. IsoP, BB/K, batted ball, HR/FB, plate discipline, none of it noticeably different than other seasons where he was a league average hitter.

How do these announcers repeatedly not know the tiebreakers. I understood it a bit for Mexico's group because who has the live yellow card count handy, but knowing that Spain is comfortably through on GD unless CR wins is easy stuff.

it cracks me up that a bunker & counter team plays Joel Campbell up top who perpetually plays like it's his second 90 minutes of the day