JJ was decent, Williams was as well, Bradley was good for the most part, few giveaways, Edu did a good job cleaning things up, Zusi was meh, Klesjian was pathetically horrendous.
Bradley was ok. Jones was bad. Williams very bad. Edu was alright. Zusi did nothing and Sasha didn't do anything.
Saying Bradley was OK could only be in comparing him to everyone around him. He was bad, everyone else was pathetic.
Bradley was AWFUL, I have no idea what game people were watching from him, saying he was ok. His service was 6th grade AYSO quality all match, he had several giveaways and looked like a chicken with its head chopped off trying to play defense. Jones didn't do anything besides his amazing pass on the goal. Williams was getting smoked left and right, Edu was ok. Zusi....did he even play? Total ghost. Sasha....same thing, barely even noticed he was on the field. Midfield was pathetic, I'd give the group a collective D and it's only that high because Jones had a wunderassist.
Bradley was awful. Really surprising. Williams was worse. Jones was infuriating, and bad on balance. Sacha was unbelieveably awful. EJ has no idea how to play midfield and he was the best midfielder. He was still bad.
Edu was pretty good I thought. Closed down a lot of attackers and covered a lot of ground. Slowed down counters and kept possession.
Overall a gassed midfield. Worst one was Williams, but none of our 3 CMs really did a good job at tracking back. There were multiple times Honduras were on the counter and we had no midfield to even slow them down. Against a better team we would have gotten punished even worse. Edu>Williams Bradley and Jones need to be rested and come out with some fire in their bellies for our next qualifiers.
Williams was pretty bad. We desperately needed an attacking mid from the start but Jurgen loves to go 3 defending mids no matter what.
Clearly, the problem was that we did not have enough central midfielders out there. Jurgen realizes this and will make the following adjustments for the next game: What are you talking about? There's plenty of width out there!
Newsflash: 3 DM's still doesn't work. Who the the hell does our tactics, Andreas Herzog? Cause Klinsmann admitted he lets his assistants do that.
Remember that one time we looked good against Scotland or something? It was the exception that proved the rule. The midfield manages both not to create opportunities and to expose the defense. In some ways, this is perhaps remarkable. How can they do both!? But they do. With aplomb!
The midfield wasn't as bad as I think some people are suggesting, and it did create a few chances that we couldn't capitalize, but I still don't think it's the type of midfield that can get solid results consistently and flow/rotate effectively... Bradley was horrible the first half, almost as bad as Chandler, but he picked up the pace and quality in the second half though still not even average for him. I'd rate him a 5 overall on a 6-average rating, and that's generous. Williams was ok, but nothing special and left the CB's out to dry too many times. Jones was the best CM today though nothing special, but I feel that if Bradley and Williams would have been at least decent today he would have looked much better. I still strongly believe with an attacking combo of Dempsey-Altidore-winger the best CM trio at the moment would be Torres-Bradley-Jones....with all three being able to rotate with the flow... --------Bradley--------- Torres---------------- -------------Jones-----
Bradley and Zusi were the only ones who played their positions. - Bradley had more than his fair share of turnovers but he initiated a lot of the attack. - Zusi kept width (which stretched the D, the few times it applied). - Edu nor Williams played their #6 role. - Idk what JJ was trying to do today. Polarize the fanbase, perhaps. - Kljestan was disappointing but I don't think he normally plays LM, does he? - EJ did well on the wing for a bit. Got inside the 18 a couple times. - Dempsey was up and down. Had trouble seeing his teammates, it felt like.
Williams. No touch. At all. Piss poor all-around. Jones - was exhausted at like minute 5. I didn't think this game start time and weather would be that big a deal. But I was waaay wrong. Everyone, but especially our Germans, were dead tired. Jet-lag. Humidity. Whatever it was, we may have to rethink our rosters going forward depending on the schedule, which I'm now forced to take a detailed look at. Beautiful assist by Jones on the goal. JJ, had an up and down game, but just didn't have the lungs to be fully impactful. Bradley - Somewhat like Jones. I'd say he worked harder, maybe he is just fitter. But he too, was jogging, not putting pressure on the ball. Was the best thing we had as to linking the game together, but it was average at best, and at times terrible. Both goals his lack of pressure were contributors to the loss. Johnson - A decent effort. The one cross he put onto Jozy's run was nice. Did get back on D O.K. as well. Still, really a role player, I think, and should not be a key cog. Zusi - Nice hand ball. Didn't help in any way. Kljestan - Middling effort. Not much to say. Edu - Was definitely a step up from Williams. Honestly, may have been our most confident looking player out there. That is FRIGHTENING.
The best thing Klinsmann had done was keep a #6 that stayed st home. In this game, our #6 was out of position almost the whole game. We were right back to letting the other side get time and space in front of our defense. Yes, Williams and Edu are more athletic than Beckerman, but they fail to do that job properly.
Williams was far too simplistic and didnt do enough dirty work that his position entails. Edu was the only midfielder I would compliment and he should have started over Williams. Bradley has to be better. His passing was nowhere near where it should be from him. At least Jones provided the ball to Dempsey. Bradley cant have matches like this. We are going to be leaning on him a lot in this hex. This cant happen.