Experience means nothing if those players are awful. Bocanegra has been on the decline for a couple of years now and it seems that he has finally had it. Onyewu is no where near the player he used to be and that is showing with his club situation. Lichaj hasn't even made the Villa bench in the last month. Johnson hasn't played anything other than left back all year and Adu is without a club. Experience is a good thing to have, but not when the experienced players are by far worse than the current players. Cameron and Gonzalez are clearly the best center backs the United States currently has. Yes they were not perfect in the last match but that was because it was their first time playing with one another and they had very little time to practice together. I think Jurgen should stick with those two because they have a lot of promise. For these matches, I'd like to see: Pretty much have Shea and Dempsey roaming around under Altidore trying to create some opportunities. Shea and Zusi are the only players that I was hesitant putting in. Shea could easily be switched with someone like Gomez, Johnson, or Donovan in the future. Zusi also could be switched with another attacking mid but Jurgen will go with Williams as always.
I was, but somehow I left out Adu. Perhaps someone limited the discussion to players whom Klinsy had played before?
USA 1 Costa Rica 4. The sign of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results!. First goal will come from the right side as Chandler attempts to add width. 2 goals from mistakes by the center backs the final goal will be a penalty in the box as a frustrated Howard takes down Costa Rican Campbell in the box. Costa Rica celebrating as fans boo! Chants of Klinssman OUT can he heard in the stands.
Holy shit...You're a psychic? Like a real psychic? You already know the result? That is amazing. Somehow we will concede more goals at home to a worse team. Your futuristic vision is crazy but at least we know now.
I think we see Edu for Zusi with Jones pushed forward and Shea will be on the left with Demps on the right but more inside I would think.
Our typical Klinsy formation: ------E. Johnson-----Dempsey-----Altidore--------------- ------------------Bradley------Jones------------------------ --------------------------Edu-------------------------------- F. Johnson------------------------------------------Chandler -------------------Gonzalez----Cameron------------------- ---------------------------Howard--------------------------- Bench: Guzan, Bocanegra, Parkhurst, Williams, Zusi, Shea, Gomez Klinsy's 4-5-1 formation: -----------------------Altidore----------------------------- -----------------------Dempsey--------------------------- Shea------------------Bradley-------------------------Zusi -------------------------Edu------------------------------- F. Johnson----------------------------------------Chandler ----------------Gonzalez-------Cameron------------------ --------------------------Howard--------------------------- Bench: Guzan, Parkhurst, Bocanegra, Jones, Kljestan, Gomez, Johnson The Diamond: -----------------E. Johnson-------Altidore------------------- ----------------------------Dempsey-------------------------- ----------------Bradley--------------------Jones-------------- -------------------------------Edu----------------------------- F. Johnson---------------------------------------------Chandler --------------------Gonzalez------Cameron------------------ ------------------------------Howard-------------------------- Bench: Guzan, Parkhurst, Bocanegra, Williams, Zusi, Shea, Gomez If we were to a Bob 4-4-2 ----------E. Johnson-----Altidore------------ ----Dempsey---------------------Zusi-------- -------------Bradley-----Jones--------------- F. Johnson----------------------------Chandler ------------Gonzalez-----Cameron---------- ---------------------Howard------------------ Bench: Guzan, Parkhurst, Bocanegra, Edu, Kljestan, Shea, Gomez or an atypical 3-5-2 (which is really another way to look at Klinsy's 4-1-2-1-2 formation) -----------------E. Johnson-----Altidore------------------ ---------------------------Dempsey------------------------ F. Johnson------Bradley------------Jones-----------Chandler ------------------------------Edu---------------------------- ----------------Gonzalez--------------Cameron------------- ------------------------------Howard------------------------- Bench: Guzan, Castillo, Bocanegra, Williams, Zusi, Shea, Gomez or standard Dutch 4-3-3 -----------E. Johnson------Altidore------Gomez---------------- -----------------------------Dempsey----------------------------- --------------------Bradley-------------Edu----------------------- F. Johnson------------------------------------------------Chandler ----------------------Gonzalez---------Cameron------------------ ---------------------------------Howard---------------------------- Bench: Guzan, Parkhurst, Bocanegra, Jones, Kljestan, Zusi, Shea then, you have your woah... what are you doing line-up, but there is speed there. --------------------------E. Johnson-------------------- Shea----------------------Dempsey----------------F. Johnson -------------------Bradley---------Jones---------------- Castillo-----------------------------------------Chandler ---------------Gonzalez---------Cameron------------ -------------------------Howard----------------------- Bench: Guzan, Parkhurst, Bocanegra, Edu, Zusi, Gomez, Altidore **** Ultimately, what I see is the problem with all of these line-ups is a few things: (1) We have to stick with our backline. Klinsy made the mistake of pulling off the band aid probably too soon... and definitely did not prepare well enough to rip the band aid off... but he did against Honduras. there's no going back now. It would be bad coaching to do otherwise. (2) The truth is that Bradley and Jones do not play well together. They're too similar. And although I am not advocating for his inclusion; the best we could see from Bradley is by having a destroyer like Ricardo Clark in the mix. Let's hope that either Edu or Williams will bring their A-game (3) Altidore and Dempsey are two best forwards... but like how Bradley and Jones are our two best midfielders; I do not know if they are a good pair. Worse, Dempsey is our best player, but I do not know if he is the type player you build a team around. He's more of a wild card player that will sneak a result out for you than a Zidane-type that will make everyone around him better. (4) Shea is our only true winger; and I think he's sadly overrated. There's also Gatt too. Zusi is more of a Holden/Dempsey mix to me. He's a high energy player who also has a lot of creativity and a wicked shot; on the downside, he's not particularly athletically gifted and he's not the greatest defensively either. The fact is that we have got talent; but we are still going to have to go through some growing pains before we hit our stride. Hopefully, it won't be too late, but do not expect us to come out and dominate Costa Rica.
Perhaps it's time to use Brooks and Morales as the central pair already, flanked by Johnson and Chandler, with Williams and Jones covering. Those six may develop better chemistry, coming all from the same system.
The trouble that I see with this debate is that Klinsmann realistically rolled out what many would consider to be our best 11 vs Honduras, but something was clearly off. Some of our best players, specifically Jones and Bradley, didn't perform even close to their level, or close to how they had been performing for their clubs in weeks past. Obviously you can take into account things like climate and the fact that our many of our players just got finished with games over the weekend, but the fact of the matter is Klinsmann did not do a good job at getting our best 11 to play an an acceptable level given the conditions. He probably ran them too hard in the couple of practices prior to the game if I were to give an honest guess. As far as changes go, the biggest change that needs to be made for Costa Rica is the pre-game routine. Obviously we can debate things like insert Gomez for Altidore, or Edu for Williams, but these questions aren't the real problem. If Klinsmann figures out a way to make our starting 11 play to their potential then we should be fine. If he doesn't, and we subsequently lose the game, than I agree that he needs to be fired.
JK has many options for these next two fixtures, considering: Edu showed good form last outing and is kickin it for his new club in Turkey. Dono will likely be well recuperated for a slot off the bench, in any case. Jones doing well in CL Bradley doing well at Roma Shea is definitely back and in form and with Gatt and EJ, in addition to Dono, we have width to spare in the attacking half. Cameron is showing a lot of flexibility at Stoke everywhere except.....drum roll...cb where JK insists on playing him out of position. Jozy, Demps and Boyd all scoring goals in Europe. This is the most talented bunch we have ever had. It certainly will be interesting to see what changes JK makes for March.
CB is one of his natural positions so TP is the one playing Cameron out of position. Tony had Geoff playing CAM yesterday in the first half against Fulham.
4-2-2-2 Dempsey and Jozy up top Shea and Zusi on the wings Bradley and Jones as two CDMs FJ and chandler as wing backs The only real question now is who will start at cb. I like edu and cameron there but neither play there for club.
-----------Cuevas-----------Altidore--------Agudelo---------- ---------------F. Johnson------------------Dempsey-------- ------------------------------Torrres-------------------------- -------------------------------Bradley------------------------- ----------Castillo-----------Gonzalez---------Cameron----- -------------------------------Howard-------------------------
A 3-man back line with Castillo as one of the 3 CBs will never happen in a million years. Agudelo has shown no reason to start him in such a big match. The other 9 players are all possible, but Torres is unlikely as a starter (10% chance?) and Fabian Johnson isn't likely to suddenly switch to midfield under Klinsi, either.
IF healthy and in-form, this is what I want to see: HowardChandler - Gonzalez - Cameron - JohnsonJones - BradleyJohnson - Dempsey - SheaAltidore - Beasley or Gatt (one or the other should be called up) for either Shea or Zusi around 60' if the game is a draw or we're trailing- Boyd or Gomez for Zusi if we need goals- Edu if we have the lead Bench:GuzanBeslerBocanegraBeasleyEduZusiBoyd Danny Williams hasn't played well the last few games for the nats and has been dropped to the bench for Hoffenheim, even was an unused sub his most recent game, so I think it's time to let him regain his form with his club and go with Edu.
Mario, of your back 6 players, none can pass well "out of the back". I would suggest adding Besler for this purpose. He has that skill. We need to drop one cb but I would not drop Gonzo because we need his goals on set pieces. Either we drop Cameron or one of the fullbacks and move Cameron to fullback. I would prefer moving Cameron to his "narural"position, but that is just me. Also, I wud point out that Besler and Gonzo had 2 weeks of camp together and played together against Canada in January.
Boca has been in the bench for the second straight week, if this continues I think we might have already seen Boca play his last game with the USMNT.