AZpiration is everything --Jozy in Alkmaar

it was a pretty fair criticism, jozy often looks awkward on the field, and his imperfect first touch is perfect fodder for the dutch analysts to lambaste him

 

Yup and rightly so. 30 goals mean squat without more information.

For example, this season Bas Dost at Heerenveen is probably going to end up this seasons top scorer at around 30 goals...and he is still a very limited, mediocre striker at best.*

Break down his goals scoring and you will see that he scores a lot of 2-0 or 3-0 and rarely decisive goals. Heerenveen lost most of it's matches again other top 6 teams with Dost being invisible. Also one needs to realize he had the best service in the league with two dedicated true wingers feeding him crosses. His interaction in play has been very limited.

That is the price of fielding a poacher, you play most of the game with 10 men. In Dutch attack based football that is a liability few teams can afford. Therefor strikers that can take part in team play and can create chances themselves are rated higher.

Apply this to Jozy, his goalscoring record is less important than how he plays. Does he hold the ball well or lose possession a lot? Does he make the team play better? Can he create chances on his own, or does he need service. Did he set up others for scoring. Does he miss many chances. Does he mark his man when on defense. How important were his goals for the end result, etc, etc.

At the start of the seaon he was a fairly weak link in the team, but he has improved immensely during the season. Debate has been mainly on his rate of improvement, which lagged behind expectations for a while. Currently Jozy has been praised more by the pundits. His work rate and hold up play against tough opposition have been noticed.



*(Fortunately for Heerenveen, there are many clubs that have too much money and too little time for proper scouting. I expect Dost to make a nice transfer soon to a mid-table EPL team based on his goal scoring record. Where he will fail due to lack of service and people will rant on the Eredivisie being a easy scoring league.)

 

What he said. You have to play a complete game to be admired in Holland. Jozy is getting there, and becoming a much better player for the effort. It's all good.

 

They expect the best - they're fans who post on soccer boards.

Of course they have unrealistic expectations.

This has been and continues to be a great season for Jozy. We'll beyond my own expectations for sure. This was a good move.

 

Wow great post.

Also another Jolazo today.

 

Jozy scored again today, AZ blew a lead after Jozy was subbed out after 65 minutes. Lost 3-2

 

Alfonso Alves version 2.0

Alves also had his breakout season with Heerenveen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_Alves

 

Yup, he was there with Bradley. Where is he now, Saudi Arabia?

 

As did Sulimani - who is not doing too badly at Ajax. Samaras was a bit earlier - never caught on at City, but has emerged as a good contributor at Celtic.

Dost is 22. I would not write him off to lightly. He may not be van Persie or RVN next year, but he is young, playing for a perennially overachieving side that has a good eye for strikers.

Scoring at 'veen is not gaurentee of future results, but Dost's pace is blistering, even without the 4 or 5 PK goals.

 

Villarreal must be feeling pretty silly, no? Pay a fortune for Jozy. Never give him a real run of games. Ship him out. Watch him score 20 goals for his new team as you get relegated.

 

I doubt Villarreal gets relegated, but I agree with your general point.

 

It was really just terrible goal keeping. AZ's keeper definitely caused 2 goals and probably should have saved the other.

To be fair Villarreal gave Jozy plenty of chances with other clubs. When Jozy first arrived it was apparent he was a work in progress so he was loaned to a 2nd division club to get playing time but he couldn't get any minutes. He was then loaned to Hull City and was given plenty of chances to prove himself but he failed on a pretty poor team. Villarreal again tried loaning him out this time to Bursaspor where he played better but still underachieved. Then he was given some time at Villarreal but he was clearly not as good as the strikers in front of him so Villarreal decided to cut their loses and sold him. Jozy is now doing well in a worse league. I doubt there is much regret.

 

Unless AZ eventually sell him on for a tidy sum, I'm sure there is quite a good bit of regret. About $8.5 million or whatever it comes down to in regret.

 

I know the Eredvisie isn't as strong as La Liga (at least not at the top), but I have to think he could've been useful for a team that's hovering near the bottom of the table. His physical presence would pose a tricky match-up problem for the Spanish teams.

He must not have impressed the brass much during his time there. Then again, training is not the same as games, and Villarreal never gave him much of a chance. My recollection is that he rarely got games, and when he did, it was rarely as a starter. Wikipedia says he only played in 9 La Liga matches for them. That's nothing.

I just don't get the philosophy. If you're going to overpay dearly for a player, wouldn't you at least give him a lot of opportunities to prove his worth? Say what you will about Liverpool's horrible transfer business. At least they put those guys like Henderson, Carroll, and Downing out on the field and gave them a chance to show what they can do.

Just seems that Villarreal didn't give Jozy much of an opportunity and weren't very patient with him, which looks like a mistake considering his age and the fact that many American players don't peak until mid-late 20s.

 

Not sure I agree with this assessment. Xerez never gave him a shot because they were winning and pushing for promotion; Hull was a disaster and starved him for service; and he did well enough at Bursaspor that the team made an offer to buy. He hardly covered himself in glory before getting to AZ and he definitely had (and has) holes in his game. But it was until he got to AZ that he found a club that (1) recognized his ability, (2) had an incentive to play him from the start, and (3) had the willingness to actually work with him on what they expected from him.



On a totally separate note, why on earth do people keep insisting that Altidore has poor technique and/or touch? I know he's not exactly a prototypical Barcelona midfielder, but he's actually pretty good on the ball.

 

1 - And don't forget that Bursa played him on right wing.

2 - It's quite baffling. Frankly, I think people say it simply to justify their over-criticism. If one admits he his now properly doing #9 hold-up work, there's next to nothing for them to truly say.

 

Also when he does have a bad touch, it's a really bad and obvious one, so it sticks in the mind more. I remember he had a few (about 2 games ago?) where he received the ball with his back to the goal and with his first touch booted it 20 yards back toward his own goal, once resulting in a turnover. Not sure if it was on purpose or a bad touch, but those kinds of plays are more memorable than the boring ones where he holds up the ball well.

 

1. They're not getting relegated (hopefully).

2. They put a pretty big sell-on clause on Jozy, so they want him to do well.

 

That's a great philosophy...overpay dearly for a player and then compound the mistake by playing him repeatedly even after you've concluded he isn't up to La Liga standard (and isn't going to be in the immediate future). No, Jozy didn't get a full season worth of league starts to prove his worth at Villarreal, but he made 20 appearances for the club in various competitions, along with a full season in the PL and a dozen matches in Turkey. Jozy had his chances and Villarreal had ample time/opportunity to decide if he could help them in the near future. They came to the conclusion he couldn't. I find it hard to be particularly critical of Villarreal in this case.

 

there is no way that a poor first touch results in the ball going 20 yards away from you. That doesn't happen in the over 30 co-ed league I play in. If it went that far away then it was an attempt at a pass.

 

Jozy is quite the journey-man. Hoping after a few years at AZ, he heads to a club in Italy.

 

I'll keep this in my back pocket for when you defend Ruiz in another thread.


Seriously, 20 appearances is definitely not enough. Though, I don't think that was the main issue. Villarreal really did not use (when they rarely did) him as center forward.

I'll say it; Altidore has the talent to be a top 4 league striker. He really did not get the time at Villarreal.

 

What does Bryan Ruiz have to do with this? And are you sure you're not confusing me with another poster as I haven't been much of a defender of Bryan Ruiz.

 

That's fairly obvious, AZ easily ranks above most mid-table teams in the top 4 leagues. It's hard to guess what level Altidore could ultimately reach.

Altidore doesn't have the natural talent and technical skill of a perfect power striker like Ronaldo (R9), but strikers can reach a high level even purely on physical prowess and cunning. It's all going to depend on what he learns and shows in the next few years. Some CL experience and a good showing at WC2014 would do wonders for his stock.

 

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgLbvuBzLeQ"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgLbvuBzLeQ[/ame]

i see jozy leaving in 2 years and going to EPL or La liga.