He did. However (if memory serves) that was in a 4-4-2 set up not the 4-3-2-1 outlined above which I think would suit him better. Also, the entire team was terrible that day, Costa Rica was very good, and Beasley and Mastroeni did him no favors. It was also his 1st (2nd?) cap so he was much less experienced back then. Point being, if I had to win a game today he wouldn't be in my starting 11. However, I see no problem using that christmas tree formation with him at left defensive mid at the moment. We should still be experimenting right now.
Looks like Chandler has gone back to RB for Nur. Lets get this guy back at AML for the USMNT! [ame="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xq2a0r_www-todayfoot-com-ho-3-0-ha-11-04-2012_sport"]www.todayfoot.com Ho 3-0 Ha 11/04/2012 - Vidéo Dailymotion@@AMEPARAM@@http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/video@@AMEPARAM@@video[/ame]
tks for the vid. Johnson is sharp with the decisions even if he doesn't have the strongest leg in the business. I like Fabian at midleft in the 4231 and would love to see how Shea would play in the middle of the field if Fabian takes the left spot.
He's a big part for sure. Half? I think you're being overly dramatic. We can create chances without him. However, when he's on the field the QUALITY of those chances is much better.
It may be hard to put a number on it but when you realise that LD is the US leader in assists with 47 in 138 caps and the #2 active player is DMB with 13 in 96 caps his big partis clear. Add in his 46 goals and it means that LD contributes a goal or an assist in 2 out of every 3 games USMNT he plays in. Given that we average IIRC 1.3 goals per game, half the offense is not a bad SWAG!
Yes, but my post was pointing out that we simply needed to start creating more chances. The other guys not named Donovan are very capable of that. They are not as capable as him in terms of soccer Jesus vision and execution.
Thanks for posting the stat. It looks like I was more than right and wasn't just "overly dramatic", which I already knew. Donovan not only add goals and assists, he makes Dempsey and the whole team even better. 1+1=3 when Dempsey and Donovan are together.
Those stats are obviously from "years gone by" when it did seem at times like Donovan was an ENORMOUS part of our offense. Arena famously said right after WC06 that Donovan was our best forward, best winger, and best attack-minded central midfielder. And few on these boards disagreed with him. Of course, I think he said it right after LD scored a fantastic hat-trick against Ecuador. There was a time when we had an atrocious goal-scoring record in games Donovan didn't play in. But times are a'changin. We didn't need Donovan on the roster to beat Italy in Genoa.........now did we?
No, but it was a friendly so take it with a grain of salt. Donovan is obviously a massive (as Backe would say) player for the USMNT. My point (and yours I think) was that we are capable of creating chances without him. More importantly we should learn how to do that better. He's not a young pup anymore and has had a rough injury spell to start this cycle. We're getting to the point where we shouldn't lean so heavily on him.
Of course, if we look at the totals in US matches since June 27, 2010: Assists + PKs (2) won 3 – Agudelo (1 PK), Bradley 2 – Donovan, Jones 1 – Adu, Altidore, Bunbury, Dempsey, Diskerud, Holden, F Johnson (PK), Orozco, Shea So Donovan might have gotten 1-2 more if he hadn't missed so many matches. Either way, it looks like sometime soon the US better be ready to deal with a no Donovan+Dempsey situation.
I know it might've gotten lost in the win, but we really didn't have much attack in Italy at all. We worked one really good chance and Dempsey finished it. That's it.
eek... No way would i want Shea in the middle. His thought process is way too slow and it would take away from his main attribute: speed.
FCD has tried Shea at left back, left mid, right mid, center mid (sparingly), and forward over the years.................and by far he's had the most success on the left wing. I don't know why people keep trying to move Shea from where he's obviously been the most successful. If he's not good enough for the USMNT, then he's not good enough for the USMNT.
Well, in the 4-2-3-1, if Shea were the middle of the three, he could look for a channel and turn up field using his speed to run straight, left, right, or cross the field and use pace to let Dempsey or Altidore fill in behind him. Speed running down the touch line has its place but how dangerous is it really? Remember, we are talking about going against top internationals eventually as the stakes get bigger, not league play. When I look at ----------Jozy----------- --Shea-Dempsey-Donovan coming at me, I'm guessing that both Jozy and Demps stay in the middle and Shea runs straight down the left. The only guy who looks dangerous is Donovan. Bradley and Edu will stay home with Dolo. Fabian or Timmy at LB might show up eventually on the left side but otherwise it's pretty much figured out. How tough to defend is that?
We don't create many chances against good teams in general. We haven't created many chances against anyone so far in the JK era.
And going back to the point about LD being a large part of our offense, and I would add Dempsey being the other large part, we have not had both of them on the field much in the JK era.
Even with them both, in the past, we have struggled to create many chances against teams the caliber of Italy.
And I'd say that lacking Donovan has had quite a bit to do with exactly that. We do get the ball into some dangerous places now and again, but the final ball is usually just not up to par.
Against the best teams in the world we struggle to create chances in general. With or without Donovan. Example: We struggled against Italy without him and we struggled against Brazil and Spain (Confeds Cup) with him. The difference is that our finishing was superb in the Confeds Cup.
And the quality of the chances in the Confed Cup were better than what we've been seeing recently (apart from the one against Italy and the Slovenia match in general).