Zimmerman should sit the bench

3,181 Views | 38 Replies | Last: 1 yr ago by Strangely Attractive
TheCurl84
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AG
Prove me wrong.


That guy is awful. And stupid.
themissinglink
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Eh, not a great game from him, but he's fine. Overrated by Gregg though. Starting to be exposed by top level competition. Some time in a European league would be good for him.
PatAg
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He is fine, and the players that could replace him are injured
akm91
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Rather have Zimmerman than Long starting next to Ream. I'm not sure CCV is as dominant in the air as Zimmerman.
JW
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probably the best option unfortunately. getting exposed by the moment though.
Ghost of Andrew Eaton
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Did Brooks sleep with Greggg's wife?
If you say you hate the state of politics in this nation and you don't get involved in it, you obviously don't hate the state of politics in this nation.
Pahdz
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No he's just not that good anymore
themissinglink
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Agreed. I can make the case for CCV in certain match ups, but against a team like England that is really good on set pieces and Harry MaGuire, Zimmerman is the right call.
Gordo14
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I mean CB has had the most unfortunate set of injuries. I think Zimmerman is the best we have left.
oh no
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Miles Robinson injured. Chris Richards injured. Mark McKenzie not selected in favor of Ream. John Brooks long fallen out of favor by Greggg. Miazga never been selected by Greggg.

The 26 selected on the Qatar roster has 4 CBs: Zimmerman and Long who prefer the right side and Ream and CCV who prefer the left side.

Zimmerman was a main feature for usmnt during qualifying. Long was not good playing on the left side during the two September friendlies for WC warm ups and had previously been out a long time due to significant injury.

I don't think there's any question Zimmerman's pen vs Wales was a mistake and he was too ambitious on some long balls vs England when he could have played it safer for the build out, but I'd argue he's the best option we have right now and will play every minute of every match in Qatar.
MookieBlaylock
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I like his hair

He stays
OhLongJohnson
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Zimmerman has been surprisingly decent the last two games. Besides that penalty on Bale, he's been a solid candidate in defense. For the first time in a long time the USA team brings up the ball from their own half and doesn't rely on their CB's to just kick the ball upfield.
Ghost of Andrew Eaton
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I thought Zimmerman was "steady Eddie" today. Not great but good enough. I did cheer when he blew Kane up.
If you say you hate the state of politics in this nation and you don't get involved in it, you obviously don't hate the state of politics in this nation.
Ghost of Andrew Eaton
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Pahdz said:

No he's just not that good anymore


He's better than Long and some others we've trotted out.
If you say you hate the state of politics in this nation and you don't get involved in it, you obviously don't hate the state of politics in this nation.
fig96
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You're wrong. He's the second best healthy centerback we have right now, and he was fairly solid vs England.

Dumb tackle in the Wales match but every defender does that occasionally.
Furlock Bones
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Is this a joke thread?
jeffk
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I love WC on TexAgs.
Furlock Bones
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He made a bad mistake against Wales no doubt. But he was properly good against England. Everyone is pointing to the long passes he tried to make that got intercepted. That was clearly a plan by GGG. Even the commentators mentioned it.
birdman
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Defensively he was good in both games. Horribly dumb penalty in Wales but was solid otherwise.

Americans wanted to be aggressive out of the back. That's not his strong suit. Even if you had Beckenbauer on the team, there are going to be some bad passes from backline. It's a high risk, high reward tactic that we did all game.

England is one of the favorites in the tournament. They had zero goals. Zimmerman was doing something right.

And I'm still not sure who you would replace him with.
LouisHerbertWong
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AG
Dumb challenge on Bale. Great block on Kane. Everything else has been below average. He just looks uncomfortable on the pitch and has been sloppy with his passes. Hell, even Lalas said he's a liability after the England match. The fact that he's our best CB option speaks volumes. Ream, on the other hand, has been the man on defense thus far. Hopefully Zimmerman keeps his composure Tuesday and doesn't cost us again.
Kampfers
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Zimmerman was never a questioned starter coming in to the WC. He was a rock during qualifiers once he took the position. Unfortunately, our preferred pairings with Zimmerman were injured prior to the WC. Both of those guys (Robinson & Richards) make a better partner for Zimmerman because they can cover for his lack of speed.

If we took Zimmerman out, we'd probably never win a header again (slight exaggeration). He cleans up just about everything at the back. I was a little iffy on the partnership with Ream but they have been good so far.

Yes, the PK conceded against Wales was bad. But frankly it shouldn't have mattered - we can't solely blame him for the draw any more than we can blame our attack for not potting a second goal when we had Wales under immense pressure in the first half, and then virtually disappearing the second Wales upped their pressure on the ball after the break. And the CB partnership has been good otherwise. We've conceded 1 goal so far, it hasn't required a herculean effort from the GK a la Timmy vs Belgium either.

As jeffk implies, it's obvious this is the first time a lot of people have watched the USMNT.
Pahdz
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It's no secret that the current state of our CB pool is not great, and then you add in the injuries it's even worse. We forget that we're also missing Miles Robinson who was a key cog in both the Nations League and Gold Cup title runs
jeffk
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And I'm sorry to come across as condescending, but we have the Saudi Arabian CB basically handing Lewy his first WC goal and folks apparently watching Zimm play and thinking he's somehow below average or a liability who needs benching. Is he perfect? Of course not, but we've allowed a single goal through two games against good attacking Euro teams so far (granted that one goal was due to his poor challenge).

CB is a tough position and even the best in the world have a blunder or two. (Take this from a guy who watches VVD at Liverpool weekly.) Some of the strongest anti-American bias I see during the WC is from American fans.
StinkyPinky
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AG
You're wrong. If he should then he would, but he's not so he's not. There.
AG@RICE
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I can't understand why this thread exists. The time stamp on the OP is AFTER the England game. I could understand the negativity after the Wales game, but that England squad is loaded with some the greatest attacking talent in the world. We held them to 3 shots on target and 3 total corners. Our defensive organization was EXCELLENT. Our defense is not the problem.
MookieBlaylock
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AG
They watched Alexi Lalas segment that showed 3 bad passes and nothing he did positive

Shocker
deadbq03
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Ghost of Andrew Eaton said:

Did Brooks sleep with Greggg's wife?
Brooks is a barely-plays backup for Benfica.

People need to stop talking about him as if he's a legit option. He's nowhere near his prime form, which is sad given his age.
TXAggie2011
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AG@RICE said:

I can't understand why this thread exists. The time stamp on the OP is AFTER the England game. I could understand the negativity after the Wales game, but that England squad is loaded with some the greatest attacking talent in the world. We held them to 3 shots on target and 3 total corners. Our defensive organization was EXCELLENT. Our defense is not the problem.


Yeah, I thought Zimmerman played fairly well yesterday. Ream was all-around better but lots of English pissed about Zim's block of Kane's early shoulda-been-a-goal shot and otherwise really frustrated that their front 3 made little impact on the match

Zimmerman obviously made a terrible mistake against Wales but we're going on 2/2 shut outs during the run of play.

And not sure it's correct to change the back 4 going into a match against an Iran team that's going to focus on moments of American defensive disorganization
Gordo14
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Good news, Zimmerman is out today
jeffk
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AG
OP is Gregg confirmed
Dre_00
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Oh man if this goes south OP is going to get Berhaltered.
LeonardSkinner
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Dre_00 said:

Oh man if this goes south OP is going to get Berhaltered.

Berhalter should get OP'd.


Honestly, both would be appropriate.
oh no
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zimmerman several header clearances to seal the match!
Strangely Attractive
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I don't blame Zimmerman but when we swapped him in for Weah and switched to a defensive formation, we went from dominating possession to defending an NHL power play. Asking to lose IMO.
TheMasterplan
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oh no said:

zimmerman several header clearances to seal the match!
He did well in those headers. Great closeout of the match by him.
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