[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

It does seem like Vlatko is just shoehorning players into his system instead of playing to the talent's strengths.

I guess Morgan is fine, but fine is not cutting it against this level of competition. She's not special anymore and unless you have a way to give her a ton of help, it's just not going to cut it. I'd probably give Rodman or someone else a shot at the position to see what they can do. Maybe some more athleticism will open things up.

Another weird thing about this team is they have either old, washed-up players or very young, inexperienced players. Not a lot of players in the middle like Lavelle. Have to wonder why Ashley Hatch and Sam Coffey didn't make the squad. They even seem to fit Vlatko's system.

I'd probably just let the young players sink or swim. Throw Thompson to the wolves and see if her freak athleticism can create something. Morgan gave it a shot but you're not beating Sweden or Japan with her. Dragging Rapinoe's corpse out seems like a bad move. Maybe some external factors don't allow that though.

Neither Hatch nor Coffey have done it with the national team. The fact that Morgan is back shows the lack of confidence he has in them. It may still be a little early for Coffey but Hatch was on that first new core squad at the end of 2021. He dropped the likes of Morgan, Rapinoe, Dunn etc. from that squad. Hatch started both games and scored in both games. She has played in 15 matches since, started 3 and scoring 3 goals. First, Macario took her place and then when Macario got injured, Morgan took her spot at halftime of the very next match. It is reminiscent of when Germany dropped the likes of Muller, Hummels to bring a new core and then had to bring the old guys back because the results were not going well. He has played Rodman and Smith threw the middle before so it is not completely foreign. I would probably have them up from with Williams and see if they can attack with all out pace. Unfortunately, I have zero confidence that is a tactical shift Vlatko can comfortably make. I fear he will continue to play how he plays.