Set pieces were ok. We had some good opportunities in the run of play. its too bad we couldnt clear the ball better from the hoofing.
I have no idea what the "instructions" are, but Michael's possession stats (especially attempts) are inflated because...either he is insisting on getting the ball a lot off the defenders' feet...or he's being instructed to do so by the coaches...or players on the U.S. are looking to give him the ball a lot. If you go through the stats since he's moved into the lineup at Slovenia, he's completing on average about 20 more passes than the next U.S. player, so either he's being told to get the ball...he wants the ball...or his teammates want him to have the ball. I did not think he was great last night. Just decent. But I also appreciate how difficult it is to play "perfect" in these games. There are going to be turnovers, so I appreciate all the collective resolve and determination it takes from 11 players in these games.
I think bradley has it right. I mean I thought our players werent bad at all. they clogged the middle. it makes it tough. we would have benefited from a healthy in form jozy who had us look much more dangerous once he came on.
Well, in his 25 minutes he was involved in more serious scoring opportunities than Gomez was in 65 minutes. However, he definitely looked like a guy whose last professional start was a month ago, and his failure to play through and receive MB's nice pass late in the game was embarrasing. And don't take this as a criticism of Gomez. I think Gomez was the most pleasant surprise of the last month for the US. He was overdue for a shot with the US team, and he proved he belonged. But last night was his least effective game. ************************ On topic: To possess better, especially late in a game, a team needs some reliable wide players to spread the field in midfield and backs who can control the ball and pass well. This roster lacked wide midfielders (a problem pointed out 5 weeks ago by many), and we all know our CBs are below-average ball-handlers and passers. Think about how many times we TRIED to play the ball around among the backs, but even under slight pressure by Guatemala's forwards, our backs chose to drop to Howard, and Howard hit far more long kicks than in any other match under Klinsy. Also, Torres would be a terrific 2nd half sub in CENTRAL midfield to help improve possession and ball-movement, but he wasn't available, and JK didn't seem interested in using Torres as a 2nd half CM option in any case. The other thing is that you need players who move faster off the ball, but I agree with many posters that JK's fitness/training fetish and underutilized/thin bench left much of the team's core players with tired legs, especially after the 60th minute of games. I can't think of any game recently where the US looked good over the last 20-30 minutes. The squad was worn down. In September and October JK won't have enough time to wear down his players. And hopefully he will select a more balanced, useful roster that provides some help off the bench. Those factors should help improve possession late in games.
A slippery wet field, an opponent that's allowed and committed to playing extraordinarily physical with little repercussions (I actually thought the ref did a decent job) with the "high" of playing at home. And we've never been a possession team. Maybe we could've taken the air out of the ball a bit better but we're just not Romania toying with the US circa 1990 up 1-0. Put this game in the US on a sunny June afternoon with the same ref and our possession would have been noticeably better.
No, no, no. Neither Edu or Beckerman are worthy of starting imo. Jones is the best 6 we have, Jones is probably the best 6 we have ever had, he is a borderline world class 6 for friggin sakes. He needs to be played as a 6 and then we need the most forward of the three CM's to be a Donovan/Sacha/Torres/Dempsey/Adu/Holden, Etc. type. This refusal to play Jones as a 6 by both JK and Bradley is the strangest, most incomprehensible personnel decision to me. So many other pieces could fall into place if we make this one logical, simple and specific move imo.
Beckerman was a good sub for Edu, just too late. Edu can complete good forward passes, but too many go awry. Kyle can't make a dangerous pass to save his life, but he's very, very tidy with possession. He's the right call to come in, but I think he came in too late in the 6. Other than that, we needed some possession-oriented width. That would be Johnson in the midfield (so a Lichaj/Castillo-for-Jones switch that moved Johnson up to left wing) or a Feilhaber. Neither of those substitution options where there (and, clearly, JK doesn't rate Parkhurst at LB). That said, I think (objectively) that we were better in possession trying to kill off this match than the USA has been in the past. This isn't a snap-your-fingers and it's done restructuring. Give it time.
It is not "instructions". I think it is a combination of options 2 and 3. A point from JK's A&B half time talk. He made the same point re Dempsey v Canada " We’ve got to find the midfielders playing in more forward positions and not having midfielders, as I mentioned at halftime, coming back and picking up behind. I told Michael [Bradley] and Jermaine [Jones] to ask for the balls further up because we need the ball further up in their half"
Our midfield triangle has been Edu-Bradley-Jones for most of these games. Jones is decent with the ball, but it's a no-brainer that out of those three, you pick Mike to touch the ball the most. When (if?) Jones moves back to take Edu's slot and either Torres or Holden (if he ever returns to form) is inserted into that triangle, these stats should change.
next time we play guatemala end of october, all our euro players will have 6-8 week of action, plus mls guys will still be in form more concerned with jamaica matches and our guys just enterting their seasons training and playing in aztevca, being the prep witht the formula winning at home drawing on the road, usa and jamaica have dome so, but i think the jamica draw at AB wll end up hurting them
The A&B game was strange, because the US had the ball almost the entire game. Michael completed 90 of 99 passes in that game as the opponent sat back waiting...
Edu was 70 of 76 and Jones was 50 of 65. That just bolsters Klinsmann's complaint about his 2 CMs. If your opponent is just sitting back there is no need for your 2 CMs to drop back to take the ball off the defenders' feet or be in a flat line with the DM. The 2 CMs needed to be more involved in the attack either making runs at the opponents or making off ball runs to give options for passes. MB and to a lesser extent Jones needs to be more aggressive, attack more, and take more risks when Edu is playing the dedicated #6. Their number of passes and accuracy will go down but the team's overall effectiveness will go up.
Was Jones a CM? I thought he played more forward and as a RM. Kinda like this: ------------- Gomez ----------- ----LD ----- Demps ---- JJ --- ---------- MB ------------------ ----------------- Edu ----------
Watching the Euro tournament drives home the point that we build up out of the back in a very primitive way. The better Euro teams do not have their midfielders drop deep to take the ball off the defenders' feet the way we do. Rather the mids try to find a passing lane that allows the defenders to move the ball past the other teams' first line of defense. This is obviously much preferable to what we are doing because it gets the ball past that first line of defense and creates a much more dynamic situation for the mid when he gets the ball. The passing lanes are often quite narrow. This requires the defender to make an accurate pass and also one often hit with some pace. In turn, the mids need a good receiving touch to handle those passes. The fact that our mids drop back so often to take the ball off the defenders' feet mainly reflects a lack of confidence in our ability to execute those crisper harder passes. There is another subtle difference in how the passing angles are created. We rely more on movement by the mids. The better Euro teams rely more on the defenders working the ball back and forth, either by dribbling with it or passing it among themselves. Obviously, every team relies on a combination of those two things to create passing lanes, but we rely much more on movement by the mids. I think if we had Ream and Cameron as our centerbacks, we would look more like the better Euro teams. I think there are some advantages toward shifting the responsibility for creating passing angles to the backs. One is they can see more of the field. Another is that the mids can maintain better spacing with this approach.
This could help a little, but I think more help will come from possession oriented CBs, and the biggest help will come from a keeper that can play with his feet. This is not Howards game. So many times the US had possession and passed it back to the D & then to Howard, and Howard launches it in the air. The US has a lot of good shot blockers as keepers, but we lack a well rounded shot blocker that can also pass with his feet.
The conversation you quoted was on the A&B match where Jones and MB played CMs to Edu's DM. I agree that v Guatemala we played a 4-2-3-1 with JJ at AMR.
Which makes me wonder if all the complaints about the trio of JJ, Edu, and Bradley are off the mark. What if it was an injury issue? If that was the plan.. then JK simply did not have anyone better than Jones to put in an AMR role. Torres was hurt. It makes me wonder if they wished they had called up a more attacking oriented player for the roster. I can't fault how JK does his rosters. He goes off of his depth chart which is going to be based on a plan and system and approach before any matches are played. Its quite possible that the same need for another attacking mid became apparent to the coachign staff as their current pre-match/ pre tourney plans needed to be adapted. It could be we see a very differetn depth chart for the next set of qualifers?
I'll take your word for it. I really don't think Jermaine has been defensive at all. I'll keep watching.
This. Well said. If we want to use possession effectively, we need 11 guys that can possess the ball. Not 8, not 9. 11. That's the biggest reason why guys like Edu, Bocanegra, and Onyewu need to be phased out during this cycle. These guys have some ability and good qualities, but they really decrease the effectiveness of our possession-based style of play by making us one-dimensional and predictable playing out of the back. Give me Ream, Cameron, and/or Goodson at CB, and Jones at DM. Edu as a defensive sub if needed, and Boca for depth. I'm not saying we trot this out for our next game, but we need to head in this direction.
I think the gold cup in 2013 will be an exciting tournament for us. albeit without mexico since they will be playing confederations it will be good experience for us. I think that tournament will show us some new faces in the side. one season gone with ream and others playing more games and getting more experience will open up some avenues.