Fabian Johnson is significantly better than Castillo, Lichaj, or anyone else you want to put there. T.Chandler is not a declared starter. I see him as a co-starter with Cherundolo but the key is one is 33 and the other is 22. And none of us know when the body starts to break down due to age. We need as many good players as possible for depth.
If I were the coach, Cherundolo would still be my starter at his position. His age will catch up with sooner or later, so it's nice to have a capable young seemingly ready to step in. Chandler is still learning things as a defender that we take for granted when watching Cherundolo, whom I count as one of the most underrated players in USMNT history, at least as far as fan perception is concerned.
Pretty good post, the only thing I would say is when looking at your points from a Klinsie point of view, I would say this: 1. Goodson is a good back up but not my starter, which is why...I had him on the bench. He was not helped today by freelancing FJ, pisspoor danny williams, but he could have been better. 2. Jones, unlike many of my other attacking options does exactly what I tell him to: he attacks the match and keeps up the high work rate / high pressure all match. Yes, his final 3rd play was poor, but he is the only one pushing the message consistently. 3. Maurice was not placed as a traditional #8, he was placed as a ball winning, high pressure midfielder. Once the ball was won, he was supposed to quickly outlet or play back for possession. Unfortunately, his time in Scotland made him half a second slower on the go. Oh well. 4.MIkkel is a defensive lightweight put in there at the end to get a goal before he was exposed. 5. Jozy suffered out there for the team. He missed his few opportunities, but he never stopped fighting. 6.Sacha did nothing to catch my eye...again.
Just curious, but do you watch Mix in Norway???? Because I didn't see anything conducive to judge his defensive abilities in this game, plus I thought he looked like a solid box to box who had some nice attacking abilities while watching Olympic qualifying. But like I said, I don't watch him in Norway, but from my limited perspective I've thought he's looked fine defensively in all the games I've seen him play in.
1. Fair enough. 2. He's the only one doing so because he's the only one who has had the chance. If we were going to go with a 4-3-3, and you knew what Jones offered to you, why not test a guy like Sacha Kljestan or Mikkel Diskerud in that role? Actually learn something new about your player pool? 3. Again, I'm not really sure that other central midfield options couldn't have been used as high pressing options. 4. If we've got Michael Bradley and Danny Williams/Maurice Edu already in our central midfield, why the hell do we need another guy who is a tough-tackler? I'm not saying we put a creme puff there, but for the love of god, how much defensive cover do you need in your central midfield, especially in that of a team that is trying to play "proactive" soccer? 5. Agreed. Still needs better service in my mind. 6. He didn't do anything amazing or crazy, but he kept the momentum going for the U.S., especially after the first goal. He'll need to do more for sure, but for now, he's a good option off the bench, and excellent should somebody get injured.
Don't forget the bonehead give away that should have been an easy Russian breakaway. Unfortunately he does that once a match when sharp. Defensive sub late. Little ball responsibility. That's the way to use him at this level. All else is asking for trouble.
Maybe it's just what any coach would put up in Russia. WCQ 2010, gameday 9 of 10, 1.5 spots, the table before: 1. Germany 8 games, 22 points 2. Russia 8, 21 3. some team with few points Russia vs. Germany, Germany: 4-3-1-2 with Rolfes DM, Ballack and Schweinsteiger CM, Özil behind Klose/Podolski. Ballack and Schweinsteiger rarely crossed the center line. 7 defensive players, a few passers among them, only 3 players attacked. Result: 0-1, the first Russian home defeat in the history of the WC and qualifying. Regarded as an achievement in Germany. You don't expect to overrun Russia in Russia; nobody ever did. It was only an A/B team friendly, but it sounds strange to me to complain that the team wasn't built to dominate Russia at home.
I haven't watched the game yet, but from what I'm reading in this thread so far goes something like this.... Jurgen was justified in dropping Jozy because he doesn't work hard enough without the ball. But when he plays in a game and tirelessly works hard while enduring a lack of service, he isn't getting involved enough. Not surprising for BigSoccer. Can't wait to get home from work and watch the game.
I don't think Stu is ever coming back. Perhaps I'm remembering things wrong, but wasn't he supposed to be back on the field with Bolton sometime last month. As far as I know, we haven't even heard any word that he is even training with the first team, let alone getting close to game action. I feat that Stu is CD9 part 2. The kid ain't never coming back.
I can play this game. Sasha wasn't called or played because he simply wasn't good enough. No reason to call him in or play him. JK knows he just can't cut it... ...until he did. Sasha always had good brains, decent skill and a good motor, but this last few years has really made him move and think much more quickly than I have seen him before. I think this is a case where the fairy dust worked.
Holden is a huge question mark. I believe he tweeted months ago that late October was his target, well... it's November. Holden is such a good person and professional off the field, it's hard not to pull for him. But yes, don't count on him coming back, it's a total uncertainty.
Maybe. The last I've heard, he's no longer on any kind of specific timetable. He'll come back when he comes back (when, and if). The way his injury has been described, with where on the bone the break occurred, it's not one that many doctors and physios have much experience with. In a recent interview he said something to the effect of "I think my injury is a case study." He's optimistic and I'm glad for it, but I don't know how optimistic we should be. My view is that I hope it all works out and we'll keep the porch light on for him. But I'm not for staying up waiting any more.
Agree 100%. But I wonder if his choices were: stay home or watch the match from the bench, what would he choose? Right now, he's our best CM other than Bradley, but a pretty wide margin. Despite Sacha's good game, and Zusi's development, and Mix. But when/if Holden gets healthy, that could change the whole dynamic. For me, Bradley was the best field player tonight for the USA, by a wide margin. But if I had to pick a #2, it would be Jones. As to the questions of why we saw Boca/Cameron and Bradley/Jones tonight, and have so often lately, I think the answer is simple. These are the best players we have at those positions and we need to try to get them working as effectively together as possible before the Hex starts. If we play 4-1-4-1 with dual 8s, right now, you can pencil in Jones and Bradley unless something drastic happens. Like Holden being healthy or Jones agreeing to stay home all the time.
That's fair. Thanks for the educational post. That being said, I'm still disappointed that Juergen started in Russia with an approach that didn't look like we would learn anything new. I don't think it would have been the biggest stretch to include a guy like Mikkel Diskerud or Sacha Kljestan as the central midfielder in place of Jermaine Jones so we could see a different midfield combination. I imagine he wanted to just hold the fort down until he could creep some substitutions in and get looks at players then, but I still wish we had gotten a longer look at a guy like Diskerud, who has been doing well for his club team. It's an understandable approach, but still disappointing. I don't mind if we get our butts handed to us by Russia. I just think it's best to learn knew things in these friendlies. That's the important part.
That doesn't matter now. Most of our U23s are playing for the USMNT and today they helped the team get a result against Russia. We are definitely not in a decline.
I was only able to watch the second half. Clarence Goodson is just flat-out terrible. I still can't believe he's been an A-team back-up for us for such a long time. Seemed like Jurgen really unleashed Mikey and Jermaine and held Fabian and Chandler back. Was Russia rampant up the wings or something in the first half? Because that was an awful lot of space Jurgen/Jermaine/Bradley ceded in the middle of the pitch. My second-half ratings: GK Howard - 9 Vintage. LB Johnson - 4 Tons of give-aways overshadow the sublime run and ball to Altidore CB Cameron - 6 Was pleasantly anonymous CB Goodson - 3 Seemed like whichever Russian Clarence marked was able to take him on and look dangerous. Let's not even mention the bigger errors. RB Chandler - 5 Didn't look comfortable in attack DM Daniel Williams - 5 Nothing special as far as reading an attack. CM Jermaine Jones - 6.5 I'll just assume that Klinsmann wants him to run like that. If I do, I can't fault Jermaine for anything more than his simple lack of final-third quality. The man was relentless. CM Michael Bradley - 9 Teamed with Jones to fuel the entire second-half attack for 30 minutes. Golazo. LW Hercules Gomez - 5 Really not much going on. But consistently shows more technicality than he gets credit for. RW Joshua Gatt - 5 If he can prove to be a defensive asset, he could develop into a good piece for the Nats. CF Jozy Altidore - 4.5 Worked hard but there are limitations. CF Juan Agudelo - 6.5 Has always shown that he does good things when he isn't dribbling. MF Maurice Edu - 4.5 That dribble-into-nowhere give-away was unforgivable Too little to rate: CF Terrence Boyd - Lively and useful as always MF Sasha Kljestan - Nothing bad MF Mix Diskerud - I've never worried about his technicality. But unlike many other posters, I don't think he's a "10". Not enough short-area quickness or top-level technicality. He's a finesse "8" in my opinion, a more enterprising version of Jose Torres.