Or maybe not without but with a seriously degraded version of himself riding pine behind other potential strikers? With this form difficult to measure on woefully poor Sunderland team and with increasingly positive front players such as Boyd, AJ, et al coming into form on solid teams is it perhaps time to consider the reality that it's not "Altidore + player" but perhaps "no altidore"?
Well for one thing we've been starting both Altidore and AJ in recent games. Boyd plays in a far worse club than Altidore does, and really hasn't done much for our NT, while Altidore has played great for the most part. I'm not against giving other players look and benching Altidore though, as I don't think giftwrapping a job for anyone is very conducive to the success of a squad, especially with a coach like Klinsmann who preaches competition. But I think for the NT at least Altidore the last several matches has played well enough to give him the benefit of the doubt, at least until his NT form drops off
100% without a doubt. Jozy is in a bad spot right now but come USMNT time, he is your best chance at winning. He is the only striker in the pool that has the ability to play and succeed against the best defenders in the world.
Like in the EPL? But that aside, you are right, he is our best forward so it will be him+10 no doubt about that.
We haven't had a good debate on how sucky Jozy is in a long time. I long for the days of Gomez, Eddie Johnson, Wondo and Gordon. That was front line power.
He's getting games. I watched the cup match against Chelsea today. He played rather well for the service received and set up S'land's first goal. The man is fighting hard the jersey. There isn't much at center forward for the US behind Altidore and Eddie Johnson at the moment. Hopefully Agudelo finds his feet in Europe.
He needs someone to play off him when moving forward. In the USMNT, Mix, Donovan, Fabian, or AJ may provide that one.
I'd be OK with benching Jozy at the World Cup if he isn't in good form with his club team, but Jozy is a very good player and will be a big part of the USMNT for probably another ten years. He is in a really unfortunate club-team situation, but he will get a move eventually, and will be back to scoring goals
A player can be a good player with severe limitations. The question then becomes how well he fits in to the team's plans. Does the team cover up/compensate for his limitations because the team needs his good qualities or does it decide it cannot afford that route
Basically you are saying he is on the team because he does not have to start every game, if i read you correctly.
I've been one of his bigger defenders as I think he's recieved unfair criticism at times on here but with the arrival of AJ and Boyd's progress combined with Jozys struggling club form how can we not consider it. I'm not saying he losses his starting spot but he's got compition now that he hasn't had in the past.
Well he's struggling with that in the EPL right now. With AJ here now Jozy shouldn't be a lock starter anymore but should be given the benefit of the doubt till his form dips for the USA. He has competition tho.
Klinnsman benched Jozy when his career was on the line in a must-win game. With a new 4 year contract I think he doesnt have to do that and will concentrate on burnishing his popularity.
Dempsey has to play somewhere in the center of the field to get anything out of him. If you push him to a flank you will get even less out of him. The best part of his game is when the ball is up Dempsey is up and then he is dangerous. If it takes him too long to be up in front of our attacking goal. Then he s not dangerous.
on Eddie Johnson what I liked about his game was he was able to control long on the ground passes to him. Then distribute the ball to others in a back support position. We need a guy that can do that.
Altidore keeps his spot as much because we don't have another of his type as much as his overall quality. We don't really have any other big, strong battling forwards who can play as a target and still be mobile and score goals. It's the combination of attributes he brings that makes him the most logical player to lead the line for us. I'm still not sold on Jozy as a star to be honest; I think he still has some flaws that keep him from getting to another level. But really, the other options don't look very appealing for his role. I like AJ a lot, but he's a slender skilled player and he's not going to get in there and bang and fight for the ball like Jozy. AJ needs to be facing goal. Boyd may develop into that kind of player in the next few years, but he's not there yet. He's been fairly pitiful for the US as far as trying to actually produce any end product, success in a mediocre Austrian league notwithstanding. Maybe Aguedelo could get there, but he's running out of time and his failure to get a move to Stoke is going to hurt his chances significantly unless he can get something worked out to go elsewhere in January and get on a good run. Wondo's been mediocre, MLS guys like Magee are still waiting to even get a shot. Eddie Johnson has been productive and probably backs Jozy up, but I doubt he beats him out for the top spot even though he is one of the few guys we have who also combine speed and power. It's very hard to see Jozy not starting in Brazil bar a total collapse or a very surprising run by someone else. It's easy to say Jozy is struggling with his club, replace him with someone on form. But, start looking for a guy playing his role at the same level and you come up empty. You have to start coming through players in lesser leagues or players who bring a different approach to the game. We simply don't have another like for like player to switch out with anywhere near his quality at this point.
Altidore can get hot again. I am hoping it is in May during our sendoff friendlies and it carries into June and July.