I believe this is a free preview so ill post it. http://insider.espn.go.com/sports/s...s-soccer-exclusive-interview-jurgen-klinsmann Highlights: Thinks Altidore can do better and has not been happy with his work rate. Why so many defensive midfielders? Because they are some of our best players. Eric Lichaj isn't a left back option. At least not one that's going to approach Fabian, who is staying there. Bradley and Jones are 8s, not 6s Those were the big highlights I saw.
Nothing really original, but if he's complaining about Bocanegra, Edu and Dempsey not being in match shape for Kingston then why did he play two of them?
Such a leader. Ten million dollars well spent. What a snotty thing to supposedly say at the beginning at every practice to a group of adults. Is he not aware that several guys on the team have been to multiple World Cups? He's not coaching Qatar.
He said that he is aware of Johannssen but didn't say if he actually called him or not. If he did why didn't he just say it.
The whole Lichaj thing is BS. I am not as big a fan of his as some, but, he is clearly better than Castillo. The crap that one player cannot be integrated into the team with one week of practice is pathetic.
Jozy can do more. I'd agree with Jurgen there. He does at times tend to coast. HOWEVER, Jurgen can also do a hell of a lot more to get more production from Jozy than stacking three DMids out there and cutting off the attack. Basically, he's blasting Jozy for his work rate, and wants Jozy's work rate to make up for his poor tactics and roster selections. Because Jurgen won't put Jozy out there with an offensively competent mid field, he wants Jozy to work even harder to make up for it. This guy is unbelievable. You know Jurgen, if it wasn't for the FK from Gomez in Columbus, he too wouldn't have contributed anything in the two Jamaica games as he too was cut off by your incompetent mid field selections, and without that FK I highly doubt Gomez's work rate meant a whole lot in those two games. Gomez's FK doesn't make up for the fact that he was also stranded up top and barely did anything in the run of play. For being an ex-striker, Jurgens use of our strikers is borderline asinine. I think I'd rather have Verbeek coaching our NT.
Saw this linked next to an ESPN article a little bit ago... ...but then when I clicked to his profile it was wasn't there. Do we know of any situations at Alkmaar that this would be related to? Strange for him to say something like this and delete it the same afternoon his under-fire NT coach criticized his play in the press.
If a new player can't be integrated, then why did he call three Earthquakes into the Mex friendly, with Wondo being the only one with a realistic shot at making an appearance? He could have just as easily introduced Lichaj to his program and not played him. Yet he decided instead to waste those spots on SJ players not named Wondo, who don't have nearly as much to offer our program heading towards the WC as Lichaj.
My guess would be because it was a friendly. I can completely understand leaving him off the mexico roster while he was in a battle for playing time. For the Jamaica games he hadn't been playing consistently yet. Personally i would like to see Lichaj called in for the October qualifiers but i doubt it will happen. Now if he is still starting consistently and isn't called into the November friendlies i will not be happy camper.
I was struck by this quote: Klinsmann: "It's been a challenge having four or five defensive-minded midfielders. That's why we often end up playing three of them, because they're good. But they aren't playmakers. They're not going to get in the box and win you a penalty. I knew that Danny's best role was as a No. 6. That's where he broke though over the last year in the Bundesliga. So while you're trying to find the best guy for every position, when you have very good players who play similar roles you have to improvise. I'd rather have three high-end wingers instead of five quality No. 6's." [laughs]
On the one hand I'm encouraged by that quote because it means that Klinsmann is seeing the same problem all of us (or at least most of us) are seeing -- namely that the defensive minded midfielders he's been fielding three or four at a time don't offer a tremendous amount on offense. On the other hand, I'm concerned that he seems to think it's a problem without a solution.
What's the solution? We don't have the reliable ball-handlers. Our creative types are playing at far lower levels than the types Klinsmann is putting out there.
But he hasn't tried to feature any to see if the "second best" selections were good enough for a given role. I mean, while I don't rate Adu among the top half a dozen candidates for the "skilled" spots, at least, he has had some success at it. And there are some other "skilled" MLS players too - Pontius, Rolfe, Feilhaber, Davis, Zizzo, Mapp. Finally, a coach can juggle the formation and spacing if the chosen formation is insufficient for the task at hand. He can try 3-in-the-back - he did try this in Munich with Bayern - or whatever else he and MV can conjure up. PS. Altidore has just signed off on WC'14. Not a smart move. (although, he does have a bone to grind)
One possible solution is to experiment with some of the guys playing at far lower levels to see whether striking more of a balance between defensive and offensive minded players at the expense of fielding our 11 most overall talented players might actually pay some dividends. Klinsmann seems to share your position, and it's certainly a defensible one, but there's the other side to that argument.
It's just that Klinsmann does have a point. On his midfield options and also on now not being the time to experiment with long shots.
I'm guessing that's related to Jozy's tweet that he's since deleted? Or is there more here you might know about? I do get the sense Jozy is less than thrilled to be playing for JK. Actually, I get that impression from Landon too.
Jozy yes, but Landon I don't know, isn't he friends with Landon via California connections? I think everyone else see him as a useful resource to be honest. Look at all these players trying to get to CL clubs.