I think Doyle is at least like 95% right here. We went in with a squad that is not as elite as many fans think, gave each team a different look that set our best guys up to make plays, and for the most part they just didn't execute. If they had, we would have run away with the group and GGG is immediately heralded as the greatest coach in USMNT history.
The biggest thing for me is what he says about the Athletic article by John Muller. In my lifetime I've only ever seen the USMNT play bunker and counter at the World Cup. This was the first time they've ever looked like a modern team. That LVG misquote drives me nuts because it was actually a legendary coach praising GGG's tactics through the tournament so far.
I'm not sure what some people expect of GGG. Is the team supposed to look like peak Brazil out there? Losing to the Netherlands in the knockout stage is not underperforming, that's spot on for the roster we have.
I disagree. The reason we didnt execute wasnt because berhalter did not have good enough talent. He didnt execute because of poor judgement and unable to adapt to the talent you have on the squad.
He decides for a weird reason to bench his best player and then is shock as to why he doesnt take it well. The way he mishandled reyna was an epic failure. With a talent like Reyna, he needed to start every game.
Berhalter knew for years that he had a bottleneck in the wings and no central forwards in the pool. He should have tried reyna, pulisic or weah at central forward in friendlies or qualifications. Experimenting for the first time against the Netherlands in the knock out round is just setting someone up for failure. That is what he did with reyna when he never played forward.
Player selection has been another issue. Hudson has already done a better job in selecting players than berhalter. The squad that was called up for the nations league is already a superior squad thatn what we took to the world cup (the only big loss is adams)
In the world cup, USA had the most crosses in the box. Where was our target striker? Oh yeah... they were left off the squad.
In the world cup, why didnt our most athletic defenders play? Berhalter perfer passing ability over defensive ability. Oh yeah, we dont have good passing defenders.
People will point out we got a tie against england but forget to mentioned that they were in terrible form entering the world cup. Before the world cup, they didnt win a game for almost a year.
We are lucky that we were in a weak group or else we would have never made it out of the group stage due to berhalter.