This thread solidifies one thing: Susaeta is not Taylor Twellman. Bradley had a poor first half. As did Jones. Stasha continues to shine under situations in which no heavy pressure is applied. The stories of this match are: Jozy's world class talent, Bradley's passing, managing of the match against Bosnia's second half subs Cameron's lack of experience as a CB, FJ's midfield ability, Evans as a viable right back, and you heard it here first, Castillos ability to change a match with blazing quickness and audacity. I still hope for a 'pull-y' system at left back/leftmid, castillo and FJ. Castillo has such brilliant physical gifts and FJ is without a doubt our most subtle offensive player....maybe ever.
our dominance in possession and passing in the first half counter your bradley argument. the team played pretty well in the first half. unlucky on the two goals.
While we got the ball forward, we were VERY meek trying to break into the box. Very little in the way of threatening (possibly in part due to the fouls before the box). Mix's run was the most dangerous look we had on goal.
If most would agree Bradley was exceptional in the second half, what was he in the first? It is a complicated set of variables, but the fact is, he did not have the impact against the first string bosnian midfield and defensive 4 that he did against the substitutes at those positions. Correct?
Oh c'mon. 22 minutes of play and you have him clinically finishing goals? I mean, maybe yes over time, but really. It's a bit much.
Expecting goals is a bit much, but It's not a stretch to say that decisions would have been made quicker if Johannsson was in those positions that EJ got himself into. EJ took to long on the ball. No end product on the wing for him.
So if he is better in the 2nd half and "exceptional", it means he was BAD in the 1st? Life is not a set of extremes. I am anything but a Bradley butt-kisser, but he was very good in the 1st half. The notion that the US as a whole was bad in that half and we did very little against BiH is completely false. There was the Mixx move that should have been a pk, there was an early ball across the box that a more confident striker than EJ probably would have hammered home, and there was the ball to Altidore at the back post that he unselfishly (and foolishly) passed off to EJ instead of taking what was clearly a great scoring opportunity. On the flip side there was an offside goal that counted for our opposition. We dominated the ball in the first half. We had large chunks of the run of play. I think that too many people here are commenting on the score and not on the actual flow of the game. yes, we were losing at half. But we weren't getting beaten into submission and all of our players didn't suck in the 1st half. Michael Bradley played well throughout.
He put a long ball behind the defense right on Jozy's foot in the first half. Jozy had a good look at goal, but elected to pull it back to EJ instead (and EJ checked his run, so the ball was meekly turned over). I wouldn't say it should have been a goal, necessarily, but it should have tested Bosnia more.
Yep...not only that, but Bradley is happy to run decoys all day and waste the other teams time and energy marking him while the play flows a different way... The beauty of ego free players...
Let's see whom Jozy scores on in the EPL. There will be no second string talent in Brazil like there was for the 2nd half in Bosnia. Not raining on Jozy's parade - the guy is 23 for gosh sakes - but my money is on Dempsey when the chips are down until I see Jozy put one past Chelsea or ManCity. You have been pounding the table for Castillo and JK has stayed with him so I guess he has something. I worry about reliability/consistency/mental strength. Hwvr, if you want more Castillo, why not put Fab on the right behind Dono and adjust their relative positioning? Dono isnt curling around Marcelo to the 6m box anymore but sly fox Fab might and he would be looking at an enfilade of Jozy, Dempsey, Aron, Donovan and Bradley - that is some guns.
Just a thought on the whole Jones/Bradley dynamic. And a bit of keyboard psychoanalysis from yours truly. Jones has the best club pedigree on our team. Period. Bar none. He's been a mainstay on a CL level team that advances out of group nearly every time they are in. The only other guys on our roster who has done it even once are Howard (bungled play vs. Porto and shipped to Everton) and Beasley with PSV (long ago). I think that he regards himself as a guy who needs to make things happen for us to be effective, BECAUSE he's the guy with the best pedigree at club. Now, since he's joined, Bradley has really gotten a lot better during his time with Roma. Dempsey was awful good at Fulham pretty darn good at Spurs. LD is LD. And now we are seeing Jozy go bananas. Point being, I think if Bradley has a real good year, and Roma can qualify for CL, I think Jones will be more comfortable deferring on offense more to Mike. There is no way he's going to do it to just anyone, only a guy who has proven he can do it at the highest level. I think Mike is that guy. Plus, with Jozy, Clint, LD, and FJ/Bacon all in the mix in attack, we don't need as much from him offensively. I think this will all get worked out in the coming year. Jones is class. And he's got a mean streak we may need come Brazil. Let's let this thing play out. MB and JJ are too good not to figure it out. And before we do crush him for making overly aggressive passes, do remember, as was pointed out earlier, he did help create three glorious chances in that game.
I haven't seen any of Jones with Schalke, but I've often wondered if he plays more disciplined or within a tighter role for his club than with us. If so it could be that Jones is simply trying to play to the directive of our coaching staff to try and make things happen and be more dynamic. Unfortunately that too often comes across as erratic or forcing things that backfire. He clearly has the talent to make good things happen, but I still get the sense that the style he plays with for us also tends to unbalance the flow of our play enough that its kind of a roll of the dice with him. Is there actually an alternate version of Jones' game where he plays within himself or within a tighter role and picks his spots better?
Very solid analysis, and I think you were spot on about our wing play, that was our main key to success. In the second half, Klinsmann came out in an almost 4-2-4 formation, where we applied a lot of pressure on the flanks through F. Johnson and Bedoya, stretching the Bosnian's midfield, leaving acres of space in the middle for Bradley to work, which then lead to that perfect over the top ball to Altidore on his goal. Our second goal then came from service by F. Johnson on the left wing, and we have a tied ball game. Add to that increased pressure and a higher tempo applied by the US, which the Bosnian's struggled to keep up with, and the game became much more open, almost frantic e.g. Altidore's goal on the free kick. The US was also able to get a good handle on Pjanic too, with plenty of pressure he was constantly forced to drop back to try and get some touches, and I felt this was also one of the major keys to success.
LOL. If you dont see the difference between EJ and Aron already....Aron was embarrassing defenders with his touch. Eddie has the step over kick it ahead 3 yards and run past a guy move...thats it. Aron (that touch where he tipped it straight up) and let the ball drop to his foot...oh dear me...I came... He then had a shot on target immediately. not a great shot but challenged the keeper. Im sorry Aron is so far ahead of EJ in so many ways it isnt even funny.
My initial impression if the kid is that he is a quicker thinker than EJ and can improvise more/quicker. Both are traits of a player with a more developed "soccer brain" IMO. Anxious to see more of him.
Only criticism I have for Johannsson comes at the 5 minute mark. http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=U...feature=player_detailpage&v=ATJxoShmW64&t=301 Very impressive by beating those two defenders. I know good strikers need to be selfish at times, but he forced a shot from a difficult angle when a 10 yard square ball would've left Fabian with an easy tap in to take the lead.
He did something with it. Just watching the early EJ moves was like watching paint dry. IM DONE with EJ after seeing Aron who will have growing pains. hes younger. hes not as big and strong but hes quick and seems to be able to fight off players. I likey.
Also I have never seen Jozy clap so much for a US player...it was like every minute Aron was doing something he applauded. just so happy....
Former teammates, and I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that Jozy had been pulling for Aron to join him with the US. At least on paper, configured any of a number of different ways, a front 4 combo of Jozy, Dempsey, Donovan, and Johannsson could be very, very potent in Brazil next summer. The thought of those guys playing in front of Michael Bradley has me very excited.
Don't mean to keep on ragging on Jones, but whatever the conditions or reasons, he seems to be the first one gassed when he's in a US uniform.
90 minutes in heated Bundesliga match on Sunday compared to 90 minutes in a friendly on saturday? Come on I know Bradley is the man but no need to mislead...