Klinsmann's Whiteboards

Some food for thought.

For anyone who's missed it ("Behind the Crest: The 23", May 2012):


And the one dating back from Oct. 2011:

I was hoping someone would post these up. I was trying to figure out a few things:

1) I hope these aren't rankings, cause seeing Clarence Goodson on top of Gooch makes me shudder. Same goes for Castillo over Fabian. Plus, Kyle is listed at the top of the dmids, and he didn't play yesterday. Juan is "ranked" ahead of Wondo and he went home. So, not quite sure of the set up.

2) Uh - Landon has no back up now. Literally. Is he playing all 90 of all 5 games? That's disaster waiting to happen. I'm sure that's not the case, but there's literally no one else listed at RM now with cuts. Theoretically, Herculez spells him there at some point.

3) Interesting that Clint is in two positions, and Landon's stationary. Think RM is Landon's home for good.

4) Anyone else feeling the need for Lichaj on the right? Yeah, me too.

5) I love that we have access to charts like these.

Wasn't there a third one in the Behind the Crest video? Couldn't really make out what it was?

Yes, it was far away from the screen, so I couldn't see it either.

Beckerman played against Scotland

My bad, I meant start.

I wouldn't read much into this. It looks like they were just setting up multiple different scenarios (formations) and making sure they could fill all the positions. I seriously doubt that's a depth chart.
You want to be able to switch up your tactics in game or adjust your tactics for different opponents so you always think about that kind of stuff before you make a roster.

Klinsi said that he wanted this to be a 5 game tournament for the players. Well, it's also a 5 game tournament for the coaches. They're practicing for the Gold Cup next year and the World cup the year after that by having a larger squad and designing a robust 23 man tournament roster.

They wouldn't have shown those white on youtube if they had significant tactical information

Just based on yesterday, its not a depth chart

Actually last game didn't prove that. Most nations put out a mix of their subs and their starters in the first friendly before the main games. This way the coach figures out who starts and who deserves to be subbed on. For all we know, Jurgen put out a mix of starters and subs that ended up working amazingly well. The brazil match will probably have Jurgen's best XI.

Something tells me that if Klinsmann decides to go with the 4-4-2 shown on the right, he isn't going to be recalling Graham Zusi and starting him over Landon Donovan against Brazil. Or starting Edgar Castillo over Fabian Johnson -- a player Klinsmann himself has called the best LB in the Bundesliga over the past three months.

I think he tried to say that he was one of the best LB in the Bundesliga not the best LB in the Bundesliga.

I realize these seem to be names thrown on the board in hypothetical scenarios, but is anyone else surprised to see Michael Bradley second on the left in the diamond 4-4-2?

No I definitely agree with you. I am just saying Jurgen may potentially start some players over some others. Like maybe he rates Beckerman higher than Jones or Edu (hopefully not). That is just an example. I don't know what that crazy German is thinking.

He said that initially. But after the Scotland match he went all the way with his praise.

http://www.ussoccer.com/News/Mens-N...Postmatch-Quote-Sheet-US-MNT-vs-Scotland.aspx

I seriously doubt it. They were just making sure they have enough players to fill every position.

As for the first, yeah, if Landon's going to in fact make his home permanently on the right for Klinsmann's side, then I want Cherundolo's back-up/successor to be a guy who can bring the nasty so Donovan can spend the majority of his energy being Donovan. That's Lichaj.

As for the second, I honestly don't really believe them totally. At least not literally. Zusi was ahead of Donovan on the right in a 442. (Really? Is there really a single formation in which you would pick Graham Zusi over Landon Donovan?) Castillo was ahead of Johnson in both formations. Mo was ahead of Bradley. Goodson (I've championed him late last cycle but who is my pick thus far as the worst regular starter we've had since the days of Bornstein and Pearce) was ahead of Gooch. Something's weird. I don't think that was his literal depth chart.

As I just said, yes, and I don't think it's meant to be taken literally. Someone said they think the staff was double-checking to see if there was adequate cover everywhere before making the cuts, and that at least would make some sense.

Position is relative. Whenever Clint plays behind the striker(s) in the NT, his characteristics are his runs forward to the left. So whether second striker or attacking mid, his area of movement is the same.

Mandon doesn't need no stinkin' backups.

There was, but I didn't think it was as interesting. Anyway, here it is:

Well, if there was any doubt as to the role that Klinsi had in mind for Parkhurst it's been dispelled now: he views him as a right back - not a central defender - and he looks to be 2nd choice behind Cherundolo.

Yes, hard to imagine Bob ever letting this happen.

I know that 4-3-1-2 with Clint in the hole was too much for him.

Well, if Gulati ever runs into issues with JK, he won't be able to use one of Hoeness's complaints.
Analog is the surer bet given the compressed time and potential of multitude of changes in pre-game and half-time talks.

Kudos to JK and the team for looking like a team that knew what it was doing against Scotland.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/s...oeness-delighted-with-frugal-heynckes?cc=5901

Bayern Munich doesn't have the money for computers and fancy Powerpoint presentations...

He plays there, more often on the right, for Chievo.

That makes a ton of sense. Though "Mandon" - love the typo - ended up with no cover.