Agreed. Former players aren't on the team and, while they're entitled to their opinions, those opinions are no more worthwhile than anybody else who isn't part of the team.
I personally don't GAF about all the silly babbling about post-game demeanor or the team's attitude. Many times, across multiple sports, I've seen repeat championship teams play like crap in group stages of tournaments, just to ramp things up as they get into the elimination rounds, peaking in the finals. Hopefully that's the case here. We'll see.
The team struggled in midfield again, although less on defense and more on offense compared to the prior game. At least they corrected several mistakes that really hurt them in the first half of the prior game (much better first touch, bit better positional play, almost no diving in by first defenders, better third defender play).
But the mids are still playing too unidirectionally with the ball. They're still too slow to drop and switch the ball, demonstrating poor composure with the ball at times, which is unusual to see at this level. Team-wide support play, especially when under pressure, was not great again. Just a general lack of movement away from the ball.
A new wrinkle this game is the backs being disorganized even when they had the luxury of numbers up situations. Need to fix that.
A troubling ongoing theme with this USWNT team, from last game to this one, is a tendency to lose proper shape in small-group defending. By which I mean, while defending, you often see 3-4 US players in a straight line horizontally across the field in the middle third of the field. It's a really bad thing 'cause it means one pass can beat 4 defenders instantly, putting them all behind the ball and scrambling to recover. The team needs to see that in video and work on maintaining proper depth while moving on defense.
Another thing that occurred too often was the US was slow to transition to attacking play after gaining possession at the back. That happened more in the first half, seemed to be addressed at halftime. Not sure if that was deliberate (i.e. coached) or energy or what. But it allowed Portugal to press a bit too easily, IMO.
I don't know this coach and haven't seen enough games to judge. But all these issues are extremely coachable with players at this level. Poor support play is often an energy thing, so energy was probably a factor again, as it was in the first half against the Dutch. But it also looked like the US midfield players are uncomfortable in their roles or are maybe unused to working together. I don't know the team well enough to say that's the case; just that it appeared that way. Maybe the coach is asking them to play a style they aren't comfortable doing. Maybe not.
