Call me crazy...but am I the only one who thinks Jones would make a pretty good CB? He's definitely got the frame and he's shown he can be a tenacious defender. He's strong on the ball and would instantly improve our distribution out of the back line. Also...while he may not be the fastest midfielder in the world he's got better pace than Boca and would else improve our overall speed on the back line. We've successfully converted Cameron to a CB despite the fact he plays D mid for his club...we also experimented with Edu there....why not Jones?
Gotcha. I don't expect Juergen to play a flat 4-4-2 ever, though, which might be kind of sad. If he wants to play a more possession-based style, I can understand not using the 4-4-2, but we might look good in it if he gave it a proper chance. I personally would love to see us use the diamond. Or for us to continue with the off-kilter 4-2-3-1 where we have one of our wide men as a forward. It has become ridiculously clear we look good with two strikers working the channels and occupying the whole backline. One of these two shapes, I think:
My biggest concern is that he never stays in position. Like ever. He'd roam all over the place. I'm not a Jones hater, but his need to be all over sometimes drives me nuts.
In FIFA Jones' in game defensive stats are much better than any of our other CBs so I play him back there. He's an absolute beast back there. Better tackling, marking, and speed stats than any of our other CBs. Unfortunately FIFA isn't real life. I don't think Jones likes to sit back and play defense all of the time and he seems to really enjoy having more of an offensive presence for the national team than he does for his club. I don't know if he could be convinced to take up a more defensive role even if it would be to the benefit of the team. If it wasn't for his positional discipline, he has all the tools to be a relatively phenomenal #6 for the team.
OK. Sorry I misinterpreted what you were saying. For the record, I'm in favor of a more offensive option in that formation, but I don't see anyone really close to being at top level yet. Like I said in my original post, Holden getting healthy and playing well again would be a challenge, but all the other "more" offensive guys either haven't proved themselves yet at a high level (Diskerud, Zusi), have had chances and not caught JKs eye (Kljestan, Torres), or aren't in particulalry good form and have attitude issues (Feilhaber). All the alternatives you or I can come up with are, at best, a while off on the horizon. In the meantime, I'd get used to Jones and Bradley together as dual 8s if we go in that formation. Only way one gets bumped is if Dempsey/Donovan get moved to a #10, but then we need someone to step up on the wing, which hasn't happened either.
I think its safe to say that its at JK's instruction that Jones moves somewhat freely. JK has also been known to tactically switch midfielders and wingers from one side of the field to the other.
Now compare his work rate with Herc's. Sometimes, I don't think it's actually work rate with Jozy. It's him recognizing situations where he has to put pressure as part of the box or track back to fill a gap once possession is lost.
I think there are one or two other posters who have also suggested Jones to CB. But our numbers are few. And I totally understand the concerns. He doesn't play CB for his club, even though he has had some games there as a fill-in over the years. His heading ability may be weak (but Edu's isn't?). JK would have to keep JJ on a tight leash, focused and disciplined. But there are positive aspects, too. He's a serious, highly experienced Bundesliga professional. He has played some CB before, and his German coaches have trusted him in that role. He has very good vision and delivers a terrific long ball. His foot skills are better than any CB in the US pool. He is a take-charge type player and could be a perfect back line leader for the other three German-Americans who may be starting at the World Cup (Johnson and Chandler as wing backs and Williams at DM). He's still in his playing prime and should still be in good physical and mental shape 19 months from now at the WC. Could be a nice complimentary player to the taller Cameron. And, it ends the redundant issue at the #8 with Bradley, while still using one of our top all-around pros. It would not surprise me if a test of Jones at CB underwhelmed and had to be stopped after a few matches. But it also wouldn't surprise me if it worked out very nicely, better than the Edu experiment because Jones is flat out better than Edu, better than aging Boca, better than maxed-out Goodson, better than hobbled Onyewu, better than newbies like Besler, Hedges, or Okugo (oh, a former DM!). Jones would NOT be my top CB experiment. My top choice would be Gonzo next to Cameron. But if Gonzo doesn't work out, my next choice would be Jones.
Great post. Completely agree. Gonzo is the biggest reason the LA Galaxy are so dominant right now. He has been impeccable and his movement forward and passing is getting better and better.
No, but it will keep me from having to much fun and hurting someone's feelings. I tried killing off the Adu thread a few days ago and thought I had done it....how naive of me. It's like I see a huge giant playpen over there with those half a dozen posters and it would be so easy... ...but I'm trying. I'm really trying. In a nutshell. I think JK could have done more. Think he dropped the ball by not understanding the pool or our comp. Made some assumptions on health. Has had bad luck with injuries, call up times for certain players. Put it all together and we are where we are. JJ makes sense as a stop gap attempt for me a d u explained it nicely.
Don't need to go into to much detail cause its been said but yes jones would be interesting to see at cb, yes he would have to remain positionally disciplined which is hard for him, but if edu can get a friendly there why not jones. I'd give him a game but then again this isn't fifa and you can't just put players wherever you want to. To sum it up I wouldn't call for JK's head if jones started at cb for one game as an experiment
Jones has only played the #6 once for JK, a 34 minute replacement for Williams in the mud pit at A&B. JJ was only 80% hampered by a leg injury but he put in a superb shift. His deep distribution was similar to what Schalke fans have seen in past years, 25 of 28 passes made with the majority >20M quick field switches. Of the 28 passes attempted only 3 were backwards. Of the 3 passes he missed 2 were long shots into the box, 1 a 25M ground through ball that just missed a Dolo run on goal by a foot. He did pick up a yellow on an iffy handball call on a 50/50 header challenge.
I'm not as worried with him there against a a&b as I am against better teams that we'd see in the World Cup
Now I remember not sure if he actually played the "6" because it wasn't a 1-1 sub for Williams, I believe Edu moved down to the "6" when Jones came in and his performance was nowhere near a superb shift. If I remember correctly he was so tired that he missed a kicked and fell down and hurt himself.
Your memory is clearly faulty. JJ came in as a sub for Williams at the 56 min mark. Edu was not in and did not get in that A&B match. He was an unused sub. That sounds like an interesting dream you had.