The Nations League window has come and gone and so has our opportunity to watch the full strength team. This is not to say that the Gold Cup won’t be interesting. Depth is important and I’d bet a player or two from that roster will push his way into the full team come September (looking your way, Mr. Richards).
One interesting storyline from June though is that Tyler Adams now seems to be generally accepted by the fanbase as the most irreplaceable player in the USMNT pool. The other candidates for the title would be John Brooks, Christian Pulisic, and maaaybe Weston McKennie. Of those three, I’d argue that only Brooks has a solid case. Weah/Aaronson aren’t Pulisic, but either one of them can be dangerous in the half spaces. Weston carried the team against Mexico, but a Lletget/Musah pairing at the #8 would be alright.
Who are the candidates to take Brooks’ position? It’s likely one of McKenzie, Richards, or Ream. None of those options fills me with confidence, but I still think they are at least viable possibilities.
That brings us to Adams. If Tyler can’t go the alternatives are: Yuiell, Acosta, a three man backline, or someone who hasn’t played for the national team. Not great, Bob.
Adams hasn’t gotten a ton of time with the USMNT yet, but he did play 40 some odd minutes against Mexico and 62 against Costa Rica. I re-watched those two performances to see what it is that he did for the team during his time on the field.
What Does Tyler Adams Bring?
I wanted to just write DEFENSE here, but that felt too generic. I will attempt to break down what it is I think he does so well on the defensive side of the ball.
Defends Multiple Players
Adams has great short area burst and he uses it to his advantage in multiple situations. One of them is “jumping” from one attacker to another in defense. Check this out:
Watch how many times in a game he is able to pressure two opposing players in quick succession. Reggie Cannon’s goal against Costa Rica comes from another example:
No playmaker in the world can be as good as a good counterpressing
— HalfSpaces (@blharreld) June 21, 2021
~Klopp
Tyler Adams Exhibit A: pic.twitter.com/xgWz7gnspT
The way Adams uses that quickness to get from one man to the next appears to surprise opponents and makes him a really nice fit for counter-pressing teams like RB Leipzig. This attribute also is much more apparent when he plays in the midfield than when he plays RB/CM/whatever. Here’s hoping we see a lot of it under Jesse Marsch with Leipzig in the upcoming season.
Getting a Piece
Whether it’s due to his quickness, eye-foot coordination, good timing, etc. Tyler gets his feet on the ball a lot. When you are playing defense chaos is your friend. If you can get a toe on the ball it may just start a counter for your team. If you have watched the USMNT play Mexico you may have noticed that sometimes we have a hard time getting the ball back (heavy understatement). Adams came on in the 82nd minute and got his foot on the ball twice in less than a minute. Here’s an example:
It didn’t end up turning into anything, but there’s another timeline out there where Pulisic got away down the line and a nice counter develops. The next time you watch Adams play pay attention to how often he touches the ball when the opponent is in possession.
Half Space Defender
Half-spaces is a trendy term in soccer and have been for a couple years now. Some people might even try to take advantage of that and use it somehow.🤣 Anyhow, if you are unfamiliar with the term here’s a visual aid:
That zone is frequently taken advantage of by attacking teams to create dangerous scoring chances. Tyler Adams is really good at defending this area of the field. He takes away cutbacks, hassles players in this space, and generally does a great job clogging up this valuable piece of attacking territory.
Field Coverage
If your American football team has a shut corner it means you don’t have to use multiple defenders to cover a large area of the field. Your defense can now devote extra defenders to attacking the quarterback, covering a different receiver, etc.
Adams covers so much space that it means other players don’t have to, or they can be used elsewhere in some other function (pressing, attacking, etc.). I know this clip is towards the end of a match where he came in as a sub, but still – look how much ground he covers:
He’s just to the right of the center circle when the ball turns over, but he makes it all the way back to the left edge of the box to help Acosta out with Lainez. Sure he fouls him, but that’s a lot better than what happened to Ream when he got left on an island out there.
Here he is pressed up way past midfield, but gets back to take away Herrera as an outlet in the Mexican attack. This sort of range is so valuable defensively and is a physical/mental skill in Tyler’s tool box.
What About Possession?
Adams isn’t a superb possession player…but neither is any other #6 in the USMNT player pool. He’s not bad at it, but he’s not Thiago/Jorginho/Busquets manning the pivot. He knows where to go with the ball and moves it quickly. Of American players that I’ve watched, only Michael Bradley is definitely a better passer than Adams and Bradley isn’t a viable option anymore. Adams’ defensive gifts are what sets him apart, but he does bring abilities to the table in possession as well.
He Wants the Ball
Watching Adams play the #6 vs other players in the pool is interesting. Adams is directing traffic constantly and asking for the ball all over the place. This is not to say that other players don’t want the ball, but they sure don’t visibly demand it the way Adams does.
He always has his arms out motioning for the ball. Sometimes when he doesn’t even seem to be open. Love the confidence.
Awareness
Adams combines well and sees the next pass when the US has the ball. It seems like a basic thing, but there aren’t a ton of guys that look for it frequently. When Adams passes the ball he frequently springs forward/sideways looking for combination play. This awareness of where players and space are shows up defensively in spotting danger, but it also manifests offensively in knowing where to move.
Tyler Adams doesn’t touch the ball in this clip, but he could see the play developing and gets into a good spot to receive the ball if Musah/Dike had combined a little better.
So is Adams’ the USMNT’s Most Indispensable Player?
Yes. End of article.
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He may have just been extra amped up to get in the game, but I did notice he was overpursuing an opponent on the ball a couple of times. It led to him basically running himself out of position 4-5 times around our box. He’s so good in every other facet I’d forgive it, and I can’t remember if I saw him do that in other games or not.