I don't think Goodson has gone abroad and improved his game, unless the implication was he was a terrible MLS centerback and is now a mediocre one. He's been bad in Denmark.
I wasnt even frustrated with the play either. Personally, I dont ask much from fullbacks so if they make an iffy pass after a run like he had, it's whatever. I just pretty much shrugged that play off. Its not something I would judge either of them on.
Yup. His post is interesting on many levels. I'm surprised he didn't find a way to fit Adu's name in there somehow.
You know what really annoys me about our shaky defense? Is that most of the goals we give up are cheap and come from mental lapses/mistakes. If our defense is going to suck, give up some golazos at least.
He's doing great from where he's at. I think any desire to move him is from a misconception that he is playing a defensive only position. He's a bigger threat from where he is playing and he's performing well in that role. He's also locking down that LB while allowing for another attacking player such as Gatt, Shea, Dempsey, Donovan, or Zusi get on the field.
The bad: - Goodson. - Bradley + Jones again. - Altidore's confidence. Just play, kid. The good: - Bradley. - Agudelo. Welcome back. - Kljestan. As always, underrated stuff out there.
Poor players are prone to mental mistakes. Poor coaching is usually responsible from goals on set plays. Nothing has changed....it is about the CB's. Has been since this cycle started.
But the mental side of the game is about as important as the physical side in that position...so if they didn't have mental lapses they wouldn't be considered shaky at all.
I'd say generally if you give up golazos it's less on the defense sucking and more on the attackers making an excellent play.
Team needs to play a much more up-tempo style in order to succeed. Ironically, the over-emphasis on possession is causing alot of the defensive issues (individual deficiencies aside) in that players are sitting too close together simply trying to maintain the ball while leaving tons of space for opponents to run into whenever they turn over the ball. A generally more up-tempo approach will improve spacing and defensive positioning provided proper use of the wingbacks. As for invidual performances Howard and Bradley a cut above. And kudos to Jermaine Jones, too; say what you will about his temperment and consistency, but he goes balls-out every time he plays for the Stars and Stripes, and his commitment to the cause is unquestioned.
No matter how you end up analyzing individual players, I think this friendly was probably more revealing in process than the Mexico one, or the Italy one even.
Good Lord... the USA moves the ball through the midfield with no authority and at a snail's pace and Jozy is terrible???? It amazes me that most US Fans only account for the team's performance in the defensive third or the final third but never the quicksand play through 33% of the playing field. Our main problem is that we are far too pedestrian in the middle of the field! For all the bashing defensive players are getting I fail to see how Chandler is not being included in the conversation - he is really not that strong defensively and his crosses were very poor.
My thoughts on the game: Attack: Not very good for stretches of the game, but they played significantly better the last 5 minutes of the first half and the entire second half. Herc didn't seem like he did much, and Jozy should have done better, but he DID have a nice pass to JJ, and he didn't have too much service (as to be expected when facing a Russian team of this caliber and in this kind of form). Midfield: Bradley = awesome, Williams = awful. JJ seemed to get a little better when he went on the offensive around the 65th minute. Gatt was pretty meh, though he played in the half that we were getting dominated in. Agudelo was pretty dang good, and he had that assist. Kljestan was okay. I don't mind his headed ball back across, though I would have liked him to shoot it. Mix had that late goal. Not bad for 5 minutes or so of work! Defense: How can some people think that Cameron played a bad game? He looked WAAAAY better than Goodson (admittedly, that isn't hard to do considering that Goodson looked like crap...), and I think that he had the best game out of all of the defenders. Goodson looked shaky on the ball and he had a bunch of bad passes, but Cameron played the opposite in my opinion. He was solid with the ball at his feet and he actually was able to make some passes. IMO, best defender on the pitch this game. Of course, that doesn't include Howard!
This is a very good post, and I think is one part of Klinsmann's philosophy that is hurting the team in the short run. Possession for possession's sake is not always the best option.
Boca is done. Gooch is done. Goodson sucks. I fully believe that Boca would have made another mistake if he was left in Cameron was actually managing Kokorin well. He actually is thinking fast enough and can perform it on most occasions. Klinsi has really put himself in a corner with this CB situation.
Chandler didn't have too many chances to cross the ball really. The ones he did get off were pretty bad, but they were all from tough angles and the Russians were very good at closing him down. I'd chalk that up more to good Russian defense today than Chandler not being a good crosser.
I forgot about Shea. How could I! Anyhow with Shea in there it would be Agudelo, Mix, Shea, Adu, Boyd, Gatt, Corona.
I agree with your analysis. Just curious, whether it was clear [I was watching sporadically on espn3] that Williams was asked to play the 6 role shielding the defense. It seemed on twitter and elsehwere pre game that people were suggesting he was lined up to one side.
Yes, he needed to impregnate more American women back in 1990. This is entirely Klinsy's fault. Either he did not do enough american women or he allowed his sperm count to drop too low! It was obvious that the USA would lack international quality defenders and it is all on him.
I really don't think thats the philosophy but the execution. The ball seems to stick to Jones feet more than most.
re-watching some of the stuff, there were a couple dumb plays Goodson made that annoyed me. The biggest one was in the 2nd half when FJ is too far up the field and Cameron loses the ball. Cameron does his job and runs to cover while Goodson runs back as well instead of stepping up. Howard made a nice save on this play, but Goodson not rotating bugged me. He did that a couple times where he wouldn't rotate.
Thank you. People act like every shot would just roll through any other goalie. Howard's fine. But he didn't keep us in this game. He made routine saves. Maybe one save he made with his legs after the penalty goal was more than routine. You can also say he was lucky not to give up a penalty on a play where he slid with his legs instead of putting his hands toward the ball and his kicking game was crap, the breakaway he gets a pass on but it did go in near post without much pace and I'll never fault the goalie on a PK. Overall an average outing for him.