Since it looks like we finally have two dangerous strikers now, and better depth at the position in years past, it begs the question. Should we go back to the empty bucket? I will say Bunkering Bob was a tactical genius at the time man.
With the depth that it appears we have right now and, by the looks of it a top-flight striker in the prime of his career, I still think Altidore and Dempsey up top are our best options with Dempsey right behind Altidore. Bob Bradley did the best he could with what he had at the time. When he did go more offensive in the 2011 Gold Cup final against Mexico he got roasted for it.
My whole thing is that, how are we gonna put all our dangerous players on the field and tactically put them in situations to succeed? The only reason why I said maybe we should go back to the empty bucket is because we had a lot of our success in that counterattacking formation, Donovan, Dempsey, Bradley & Jozy have a familiarity with it; plus we looked really good in the second half of the Bosnia match once we had switched to a 442.
Right, you still build from the back and our defense right now is still somewhat of a question-mark. Our defense is not the strength of this team and if you had to grade out the 4 units, GK'er-Defense-Midfield-Forwards, Defense is the weakest imo. I'm not sure that I trust an Omar Gonzalez back there without being escorted by a central-midfielder.
Ehh. I wouldn't worry about defense too much come Brazil. We always have defense questions come WC time only for defense to not do too bad in the big dance. Plus we have a keeper that has the ability to sit on his head if need be. Brooks looked shaky in Bosnia but battling with one of the best strikers in the world showed me, all he needs a season in the Bundesliga and he'll be ready for Brazil. I hope Gonzalez plays abroad this upcoming season because I think a CB pairing of two 6'4" guys could really be good for the defense.
I could care less what height they are. Matt Besler is probably our best CB right now and he's 5-11. You seem to be overrating our defense and GK'er. I don't think Tim Howard has the ability anymore to be a "stand on your head" GK'er. We needed him to do that in 2010 because our CB's were so mediocre and he got roasted by Ghana. Brad Guzan certainly has that ability but I don't see Klinsmann switching unless Howard is replaced by Robles at Everton. And Gonzalez ain't playing abroad this upcoming season, he just got dp'ed by the Galaxy.
I think we are often already playing effectively a 4-2-2-2. Bedoya and Shea have been the only two flank midfielders who stuck primarily to the wings. When Corona plays RM or Fabian Johnson plays LM or Torres plays LM, they all tucked inside a lot. For example, Corona's two goals in the Gold Cup came from nearly dead center at the top of the box and FJ's assist to Jozy vs Bosnia also came from dead center. When EJ plays left or right mid, he's making runs into the box all the time. And if Dempsey or Donovan ever play the outside midfield roles, you know they will tuck inside whenever they see opportunities and space. JK may not call it a 4-2-2-2, but the US players have often interpreted the game along those lines.
He had 2 or 3 "stand on your head" saves against Bosnia (including the point-blank reflex save that led to their first goal--no way you can fault him for giving up a rebound on it, either) and wasn't at fault for any of the goals. I think Howard is a better GK than Guzan individually, but I think the defense--especially the younger guys--plays better in front of Guzan. Which one is a better situation overall for the team? I'm really not sure, but I'm comfortable with either guy. GK is the least of our concerns. As for formation....there really isn't a significant difference between 4-4-2 as we play it and 4-2-3-1. The only real difference is how far back into midfield the second striker drops, and assuming it's either Dempsey or Donovan that's no real difference at all. Personally I'd like to see Deuce in that role (since he's too good of a goal scorer to put on the wing and I'm not sure he still has the wheels to play there) with Donovan and one of AJ/Bedoya/Mixx/Corona/FJ/Zusi/Shea on the wings.
How much less could you care? Sorry, apologies to all, but misuse of "beg the question" and "I couldn't care less" are two of my biggest pet peeves.
Yes we all know it's well documented that Deuce is more effective closer to goal and not on the wings. Again guys. The key is to get all of our dangerous players on the field at once. We don't have the luxury as some of these elite national teams do by having between 15-20 world class players. So we need to get all our talented players on the field at the same time.
What I really miss about that beautiful Bucket of old is those wonderful matches where we hold possession for about 30% of the time, chase like rabid 1001 dalmations those pesky opponents with the ball at their feet, and make occasionally magnificent Goochian or Bocanegran blasts of 60 or 70 yards through the lower atmosphere while our keeper saves 20-30 shots and we lose only 2-1, or even tie 1-1 or 0-0....... The USMNT just ain't what it used to be.
I agree, but then who takes his place as second striker/AM?? Probably not Donovan--while he also plays better centrally, there's less of a dropoff moving him to the wing IMO than there is with Deuce. Maybe AJ, but he's also a candidate to play the wing.
That's why I'm suggesting we change formation. Most elite teams have world class talent that are tactically superior so it doesn't matter what formation you put them in because they'll still perform. We don't have that luxury so we might just have to find a formation to accommodate us instead of the other way around.
I think the main difference between the bucket and what we're using now is that we have a hybrid attacking midfield/second striker, and a dedicated #6 defensive midfielder guarding the defense. Jones and Bradley have learned to work together a lot better. We also apply ball pressure high up the pitch. Offensively, however, I don't think we're THAT different, especially once we got wide players that could actually attack competently. We do keep the ball a lot better and a lot more willingly, and we also have the ability to change pace quite well now, so that's a major help. Still, we're the attack seems to remain that our wide players get into advance, sometimes narrow positions. The second striker joins the lone striker and makes it 2v2 up top. Having Dempsey in that hybrid striker/midfielder role helps a lot because he's just individually quite a handful. He's particularly adept at drawing a central midfielder and a centerback, to him and giving Jozy space in the box like we saw on the first goal against Germany. So, for me, we're seeing a lot of the principles of the bucket come full circle and really complete this system that Juergen has implemented. Good combination of Juergen bringing new concepts and confidence, but also adapting to the pool.