He looked pretty good there in the premier league. Defending on the wing is different than defending in the middle
Lichaj has always played LB when he's played for us, right? At GC he looked like he had no idea how to hold a line. He was playing people onside repeatedly. Maybe that's because he's not used to being on the left?
Well, I guess that ain't the source of the problem. Whatever was causing it, dude looked like he'd never heard of "offside."
i simply think we don't need him for these two games. If this was the World Cup then ok...you bring in the big guns and don't take any chances working new players into the mix. But we are in qualifying now...there will be plenty of time for us to use Gooch. the worst thing is that we rush his recovery and he never fully heals. Plus, we have solid back-ups that are ready for their turn.
Yes, it's not important but I think the comment you were replying to originally talked about Torres being "possession" player and I didn't point that out, sry.
Howard Rimando Guzan Boca Onyewu Goodson Ream Whitbread Cameron Chandler Dolo Lichaj Johnson Bradley Jones Edu Williams Torres Beasley Altidore Dempsey Donovan Gomez
Maybe pre-Klinsmann? Torres was the possession star during JK's first 3 matches (Mexico, CR, and Belgium) before he got hurt and was one of the players most singled out for praise by Klinsmann. Torres has completed the most passes in a match in the Klinsmann era, 75 of 86 attempted v CR. In fact he and Edu together made 135 of 152 v CR. Torres' possession ability could be key in our Q battles against bunkered teams.
The key to your comment is "v. CR". Down the road we come up against, say, Germany, Brazil, Spain, and they come after Torres and you can flip the light switch and say goodnight.
Way to move the goal posts. First you say Torres is not a possession player now you are talking about v. Germany, Brazil, and Spain? I'm not worried about those likely top 5 teams yet. I'm worried about a bunkering Antigua, Guatemala, and Jamaica in round3 of the WCQs. Then I'll worry about CR (who like us got a bye to round3) that you so easily dismissed in round4 if we get there.
All the possession in the world isn't going to mean anything unless we start creating more chances in front of net. I don't care how we do it, but we need to start creating more chances. If Torres is the solution to that...great.
Certainly a solution worth exploring. One thing that'll undoubtedly help us will be finally getting Donovan and Dempsey on the field at the same time. It's been a while............... OH LA LA.........AC Milan style Christmas tree formation!!! ------------Altidore------------ -------Donovan---Dempsey ----Torres---Jones---Bradley--- Chandler---Boca---Onyewu--Cherundolo ------------Howard--------------
I like the idea of Torres v Guatemala. I believe he provides that ability to break down a bunker team...whereas i believe that Jones, Edu, Bradley, and Williams (plus Beckerman, Clark, and Larentowicz) are used to hold a team back. my line-up v Guatemala: ------------Altidore---Gomez------------ -----Dempsey--------------Donovan---- -----------------Torres----------------- -----------------Bradley----------------- Johnson---------------------------Cherundolo ----------Bocanegra--Goodson---------- -----------------Howard--------------- Strategy: utilize Torres to open up the game while Bradley provides supportive cover. FB's provide width while Dempsey and Donovan pinch in behind the two forwards. This leave us very open to a counter (which puts a great emphasis on the FB's and Bradley for cover), but we should be able to break the defensive bunker that Guatemala is likely to implement.
I understand. Hwvr, the USMNT is not a league team where players know each other very well. Say you use Torres against the "bunkering" teams and worry about others later. The problem is that the players you sub in later haven't played with each other a lot. This is precisely the mistake that American managers make a lot as the team progresses into the WC. That is why I was keen on getting Klinsi in. When the crunch comes he will be unlikely to switch Donovan left and Beasley right, or put Bornstein in the game, or suddenly finding out that Belgians overrun the center so Torres needs to be out left, etc. The players have to play the team on the field, for sure, but the manager has to be thinking way ahead. The more new people we play in these games the better because we may as well find out their strengths and weaknesses now than try to figure them out in the knock out in '14 and get a big surprise.
You can replace Chandler with Fabian Johnson if you'd like. Cherundolo will be starting for the squad. He's a captain of the team in 6th place in the Bundesliga. Very undervalued by some on here. If you start with the notion that Dolo's in the squad.........it becomes more difficult to have both Chandler and Johnson out there. You can do it. You can push one to the midfield, and push Dempsey closer to goal. We'll just have to see if that's what JK does.
It's also not a crime to have a good player on the bench. Something we've historically struggled to have.
That's quite a defensive spot for Torres. Why not just put Fabian there? Then, when Chandler goes forward, Fabian covers. Or do you think Torres should do that?
Torres has played as a defensive midfielder for his club for years. He's also naturally left footed (I think).
From my perspective iif we are going to play this type of formation, I would want to arrange it very differently. Jones needs to start as the 6 for this team in any set up imo. Torres would be competing with Bradley as the more advanced CM in the 8 role for me and I would go with Bradley. Gomez would be on the bench and Dempsey would be the second striker and I would put Chandler at RM and Donovan on the left. In essence I completely disagree with Having Jones and Chandler on the bench for the likes of Torres and Gomez.
Amen, Amen. The hope is that the return of LD brings the team up a level. There is a lot of excitement about the creativity and fluidity that our attacking spear will provide based on what Johnson brought to the Slovenia game .............Altidore............. Johnson..Dempsey..Donovan The Johnson-Dempsey-Donovan trio behind Altidore can interchange, morph, and find the game while hopefully any 2 of {Bradley,Edu,Jones,Williams,Torres} can still absolutely boss the midfield. At least that's the theory.
Yes..........he is. As his ussoccer profile indicates: http://www.ussoccer.com/Teams/MNT/T/Jose-Francisco-Torres.aspx A quick and crafty midfielder, Torres brings quick feet and effective passing to the U.S. midfield. Able to play either centrally or as a wide midfielder, the left-footed Torres had his dream come true when he started against Slovenia in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Torres actually has played on the left on occasion with Pachuca, and looked really good doing it. I remember a game in the Copa Libertadores a few years ago when he was fantastic in that position. 2009? Whether it would work for the USMNT is another matter. Didn't Bradley have him on the left side of midfield for our ill-fated WCQ in Costa Rica last cycle?