It might be that Bover was simply THAT good in preseason. Sam's prior injury may also have been worse than we thought.
That is why my theory, that Petke at the end will get forced to make the move of Barca to the front, because Lloyd look like he can recuperate of his old injuries and play the game any more and Izquierdo for me, I don't think that he is ready to be a starter just yet, now, everything can change if they sign Raphina, who can take the LW giving the chance to send Miller packing and move Juninho at the Right and living Barca at RB.... But the way things are right now, isn't any other way for Petke to do the line-up that playing Barca as a RW.... Is Rumored that Dominguez (Raphina) is sign all ready with the team and if so, Miller is a goner filling at the same time the empty LW position, because with Miller there is as good as empty, liberating at the same time Juninho to play as a RW....Now, if you hear Juninho what he say in his interviews, that he was offer two years contract but that only sign for one, for me isn't any other thing that him saying: "I don't fill like if I can play even the whole first year before giving up my career", so, if Lloyd don't recuperate at all, we are in a big problem and Barca have to come to the rescued....
If Bover doesn't live up to his potential, Sam is injured, and we don't sign anyone else in the upcoming weeks, yeah its definitely possible Barklage will play there. That's a lot of if's though, and I'm confused as to why Rafinha has anything to do with Miller being sent packing. Miller has been used at the starting LB, they don't even play the same position, not to mention Espindola will 100% be our starting LW.
At that point it's a no brainer. UNLESS Petke goes: ------Henry-Espindola Lade-----Cahill-------Juninho -------------Dax Pearce-Olave-Hulk-Barklage -----------Robles
If Miller finds his way in to the starting lineup we lose.. If he's rotting like the bench(like he should) we'll get a good result It's that simple
Since we haven't picked up anyone credible to be in midfield, it is too easy to predict we will have the same problems we have been having for many seasons---a lack of connection between the mid and the forwards, resulting in lack of opportunities and difficulty scoring. In the absence of talented players in the middle,the pressure is then going to fall on the wings to try and get the ball to the forwards. The pressure will also be on the forwards to try and create many of their own opportunities with little to no help. We've seen this phenomenon of the solitary forward against the entire defense inside the box way too many times over the years. If we could as a team learn to accompany the play and try to play give and go inside the box it would result in a lot of improvement in number of scoring chances even if we don't have the midfield figured out just yet.
Isn't that what Juninho is for? Why don't you think he can perform that job as well as Beckham did for LA? Unless you're in the boat that Juninho will only last 3 games before his legs literally explode from old age. You could see in the preseason games how accurate he is playing balls over the top of the defense to our wingers, unfortunately most of the times in those games he was playing those balls to Martinez... I cannot stress enough how much I hope he never sees the field this year.
You make a fair point--the reason why I said what i did, is that I am not convinced that Juninho is a true #10. He is a deadly free kick taker (like becks) and I fear that before the season is over he will turn into more of a free roaming guy on the field that will look for opportunities that may present themselves. I'm not saying Juninho isn't talented (saying that would be crazy)--but I don't think he is the guy that will put the team on his shoulders and set up the offensive play and make the killer through balls like Valderrama or Etcheverry did to feed their strikers. Red Bull before tried to take a player that wasn't really a CAM and get him to act as a distributor. When he was contracted Rafa was supposed to be more than just a defender--he was supposed to distribute the ball from his back position with his "vision and understanding of the game." I think we are all still stinging from how well that experiment turned out.... Listen as a fan of this team, I hope it works out, but we've been stung so many times that he is going to have to show me.
This is kind of how I'm thinking of it, that Juninho will be what Rafa was supposed to be. Deep lying playmakers can be just as effective as your traditional #10's (Beckham is a good example), but you also need some help from the wings, guys who can bring the ball up field on the dribble and cause havoc. By the end of last season we had none of that because of transfers and injuries, no strong distributors in the center and nobody on the wing to bring the ball into the opposing half. I'm confident that Juninho, Espindola, and Sam can handle those duties far better than Tainio, Lindpere, and Solli could.
From that interview with Petke it sounds like the offense is going to have a different look this season. If they looked too static last year it's because those were the instructions from Backe. Petke wants a more free flowing and interchanging offense. More unpredictable. However, there are obviously going to be concerns stemming from the roster overhaul. It takes players a long time to get used to each other. The success (or lackthereof) this year will be based on how quickly these guys learn to play with each other and how strong we are defensively.
Ok surely this can't actually be the case but the match notes have the starting back four as Miller-Digao-Olave-Kimura... Digao, really? Is he even fit after showing up so late to preseason?
That would mean that Miller and Digao outplayed Pearce and Hulk and that Kimura either outplayed Barklage or Barklage outplayed all the other RM options. I find this very VERY unlikely.
I saw somewhere, which is likely the case, that the match notes are just based on the starting lineup from the last preseason game where Digao started. Probably not anything to worry about.
I wouldn't trust the match notes at all. However I do expect the back line to be Kimura - Olave - Pearce - Miller just based off of what we saw in the preseason. It's a given that Dax, Juninho, Cahill, Henry, and Espindola will start. Based on the the Petke quotes I think Bover (or the artist formerly known as Izquiedro) will start wide right. And we will see some sort of a 4-5-1 with it turning into a 4-3-3 while attacking.
In Brazil, broadcast on ESPN+. Unfortunately now I have a problem with the tv subscription and have to see in internet. NYRB 2-1
Correct. He was never a CAM playing close to 1 or 2 forwards, an authentic #10. To perform this function, need to know dribble and go on the area, things usually Juninho don't makes. However, he is very talented and maybe I can play more advanced in MLS.