Former USMNT skipper Tyler Adams’ takes on ex-US coach Gregg Berhalter have been seesawing lately. Before USMNT’s Copa America washout, Adams hailed Berhalter for leading a “successful” camp during the team’s CONCACAF Nations League win. Post-Copa, Adams thinks the US needs a “ruthless,” Premier League-experienced coach, moving forward. However, former USMNT star Tony Meola is raising eyebrows over Adams’ fancies about the new coach. Meola wonders why Adams, whose duty is to play, is speaking at length about a coach’s mentality.

Meola dismantled the Bournemouth FC star while speaking on the Sirius XM FC podcast. “Part of my problem with Tyler Adams’ quote is that he was one of the guys touting how this kumbaya has been going for the last couple of years. Now everybody gets along and the manager treats us like men… Who cares? Your job is to go and play,” said Tony Meola.

The former US goalie also disapproved of Adams demanding more ruthlessness from Gregg Berhalter’s successor. “Now all of a sudden, you need a manager to come in and be ruthless? We’ve needed that for a while,” Tony Meola added. Thereafter, Meola iterated that a players job was to play. He observed, players don’t need leadership committees to set schedules for them. Seeing the US veteran’s comments, a fan wrote on X that Tyler Adams was being “hypocritical,” and was also a supporter of Gregg Berhalter, back in the day.

Anyhow, Adams seems keener than the US Soccer Foundation to find a new coach for the USMNT. Citing that the next FIFA World Cup is on the doorstep, the ace midfielder suggested the USMNT cater to a Premier League style of hiring coaches.

Ruthlessness is just one of the many qualities Tyler Adams fancies in the next USMNT coach. He also wants the same person to boast a tremendous experience. “I don’t think we have a huge amount of time if everyone wants to focus on the goal is 2026 World Cup and we want the best result possible then you have to get someone who’s gotten results,” Tyler Adams said in a recent interview. Besides, he appreciated PL clubs’ strategy of putting immense pressure on coaches to get the best results.

“You see it in the Premier League all the time when managers gets sacked after three games, four games, the best way to get results is bringing someone in and having someone that you know what they’re going to do,” the 25-year-old midfielder added. As of now, there’s no solid update on who is going to be Berhalter’s successor. Former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp and Hoffenheim boss Pellegrino Matarazzo rejected US Soccer’s offer. Meanwhile, Gareth Southgate and Thierry Henry, among others remain linked to the USMNT coaching job.