USMNT: Gregg Berhalter talks a smarter game than he walks

USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter spoke intelligently at the Seattle Sounders Soccer Analytics Conference. He often does talk a smart game, but he rarely backs it up.

Communication is an important skill for a coach to have. You might have the best ideas in the world, but if you cannot successfully communicate them to your players, what use are they?

Gregg Berhalter is a superb communicator. He speaks clearly, works constructively with his players, is excellent with the media and in press conferences. He talks an excellent game. And it helps that he is an extremely progressive and intelligent coach.

This week, the U.S. Men’s National Team head coach again showed off his communication skills as he presented at the Seattle Sounders Soccer Analytics Conference. He was supreme, providing terrific insight and clarity. Here is one answer during the Q&A section.

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“You have your tactical objectives that you want to achieve, but you also know that the loads of training are going to be very important for optimizing performance on matchday. So you’re going to have to make sacrifices,” Berhalter said in response to a question on how he uses data to manage the physical loads of the players. “When you have a player coming into camp who’s had a tremendous [fitness] load the week before and who’s travelled eight hours — for example on a plane and there’s a six-hour time difference or greater than that — you’re going to have to make concessions.”

It is an excellent answer, and it shows just how aware and cerebral Berhalter is. He understands his role as the head coach in the modern game, is in touch with analytics, recognises the importance of tactical, physical, technical, mental work with the players and his coaches.

Consider this piece he conducted with mlssoccer.com upon his arrival as the new USMNT head coach. Berhalter speaks at length about the tactical tendencies of his Columbus Crew team from the 2018 season, including what he wants his players to do in possession, out of possession, and how decides when to change the system.

“I think it’s weighing how much we can hurt them versus how much they can hurt us. And if that ratio gets out of whack, then we’ll change,” Berhalter said when asked when he decides to change the tactical approach of his team in a particular match. “If we feel like we can hurt them more often than they can hurt us, then we’ll continue to do what we’re doing.”

It is a very clear, concise, sensible, and intelligent answer, as much of what he says in this piece is. But what he talks has been very different from what he has actually enacted with the USMNT ever since.

This very instance, for example, is not what Berhalter has done since taking at the helm. The USMNT have been stubbornly steadfast to his philosophy, even to the detriment of particular matches. The pair of 3-0 defeats to Venezuela and Mexico are chief examples of this. Similarly, just ask Atlanta United and Miles Robinson whether Berhalter has not overloaded his players while on international duty.

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This, then, is where the juxtaposition arises. Berhalter speaks so clearly, succinctly and intelligently. He paints the picture of being an aware, focused, studious, and progressive coach. And yet, when it comes to the results on the pitch, he is lacking. He talks the talk but he does not walk the walk, and it has left the USMNT in trouble.

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