Micah Richards has laid into USA trio Yunus Musah, Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie for their ‘naive’ World Cup performance against the Netherlands.
All three players started for Gregg Berhalter’s USMNT and despite Haji Wright netting an audacious flick, the Americans came unstuck and were well beaten 3-1 thanks to goals from Memphis Depay, Daley Blind and Denzel Dumfries.
Speaking about the trio, and Adams in particular, Richards said: “After the way they’ve played, with high energy, you think they’d make it that sort of game. But it wasn’t meant to be.
“I think the USA have been very naive. Naïve is the word I would probably use, trying to press too high, leaving gaps in behind.”
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The former Man City full-back added: “From a defensive point of view, we bigged them up before the game – Musah, Adams and McKennie. But they’re just, again, naïve in trying to press. They’re out of position and then they are running backwards instead of already being in these positions.
“You see Memphis Depay here, he’s run away from Adams. We’ve been talking about how good they have been in reading situations. But it’s just that split second, they switch off and the Dutch have really hurt them.”