In the Turkey game two games prior to the World Cup, he pulled off a fantastic switch to Bocanegra on the left flank that, along with a stud performance, had pretty much everyone saying "Torres, or bust" as far as the starting lineup was concerned. One game I remember in which Torres played exactly how I'd really like to see him play was actually Juergen's first game. When moved into the central midfield next to Beckerman in the second half, he charged forward, played direct passes, while not abandoning his smoother, calming ones, and caused Mexico all kinds of issues. Had Donovan laid him off a better pass, he probably would have found the back of the net in the second half.
A switch isn't difficult, Pirlo makes precise long forward passes. That was a wishful thinking. At a national team level Torres is a bust.
My reasoning is similar to what NearPost says. With the premise that Klinsmann values Torres and really wants him in his starting XI, I think it is the best way to do it. His strength seems to be his distribution, but I'm not impressed with him upfield. He may not play like Pirlo, but with Klinsmann's personnel preferences he'll get protected defensively while being put in a position to distribute unhindered.
Torres's best position is as an 8. People putting him at LW or the 10 are getting to be hopeful beyond belief. He is not good, nor has he ever been good in an advanced role. The biggest knocks on him have always been he gets knocked off the ball too easily, doesn't add width,can't send in crosses, is a defensive liability and suffers when it comes to creativity in the final 3rd. So why, exactly, does that give so many the illusion he should be played in an advanced role, either on LW where he's had little to no success in his recent opportunities, or as a 10, where he'll get knocked off the ball, can't find the game and has never been able to produce the passes in the final third which is in a 10's job description and one of his main duties? Torres is beginning to become a myth upon many. There's nothing he's done which says he can have success in an advanced position, fails when he's had opportunities, yet many sit here and say, well let's try it again. He's an 8. Far too weak defensively to be a 6. MB is our best 8, which means Torres is best suited as a super sub type 8. Problem is JK would rather play Jones/Edu as 8's, MB/Beckerman as 6's, and has his mid field rotation/lineups so screwy that he makes it almost impossible to play Torres in a role which suits him best. You want to use Torres effectively, then start Jones as the DMid and MB as the 8, and bring Torres on as a sub either for MB, or move MB elsewhere, either back as the 6 and sub off Jones, or out to the wing where he's had more success than Torres ever has. Really, our DMid depth chart should look like Jones/Beckerman/Edu/MB(can flip Beckerman/Edu) and our 8 depth chart MB/Torres/Jones MB has done much better under JK as an 8 than a 6 But as long as Jones isn't playing DMid, MB is playing more as a DMid than an 8 role which he's much better suited for for the NT, Edu keeps playing as an 8 instead of a 6, and JK would rather play Beckerman as the 6 over Jones/Edu, it will be damn near impossible to play Torres in a role he excels in.
our current A team starting 3 man midfield has 6:Edu, 8:MB, and 10:Jones. That is how we played the 5 game tournament with the exception of v Brazil where Edu and MB switched. IMO early in JK's tenure, Torres as a #8 was ok v Mexico, great v CR and poor v Belgium. His match v Scotland where he played as an AML in a 4-3-2-1 may have been his best overall match under JK. MB has played 10 matches under JK. IMO, Italy was his best match #10: Mexico #8: Honduras, Ecuador, Slovenia, Scotland, Canada, A&B, Guatemala #6: Italy, Brazil JJ plays the most attacking of the 3 man midfield because JK feels he is the most dynamic 2 way CM (with the pass and run) in the pool. Why should he play JJ as destroyer and lose that high tempo attack when Edu serves as a slightly better pure #6?
Looks like the "madness" is spreading. Jones is playing a RCM for Schalke in a 4-3-1-2 v Hannover . Neustaedter is playing the DCM! http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/...fstellung_hannover-96-58_fc-schalke-04-2.html
I think the question needs to be asked as to whether Jermaine Jones is enough of an attacking threat. He's a physical menace, and can definitely handle the ball pretty well, especially for someone who gets in on tackles as well as he can. He sprays around some great passes and spreads play nicely. However, he can sometimes overdo it and kill attacks. He lacks the unpredictability on the dribble that you'd want out of an attacking midfielder/10. He also looks very uncomfortable drifting wide, which he seems to be asked to do by Juergen. Jones definitely provides a thrust out of the central midfield, but it's way too... raw. He's very energetic and the willingness to get forward helps, but we need a more sophisticated attacking midfielder in the central midfield. I think guys like Chris Pontius, Brad Davis, Sacha Kljestan, and Mikkel Diskerud deserve chances at that attacking role out of the central midfield. They all fit into a central midfield role where they're asked to provide spark going forward but do a fair amount of work defensively.
One of the reasons I love Jones and think it's a terrible idea to scratch him off the starting XI is because he introduces a style of play we don't get out of any other player. After the thrashing we suffered at the hands of Brazil JK talked about that grittiness that US doesn't possess. We need the JJ's to do the toe stepping or the hard tackles (think Neymar and scissor slides) that may produce a yellow but slows an offensive threat down. Do we want to admit that we want those players? Probably not, but it's something small that goes a long way. JJ has a bit of room for improvement. I think he's better in the back than going forward but he's proven himself capable of assisting on the attack. He had a great ball in this weekend to Huntelaar. Granted, I could rack up some assists if I was serving the ball in to him.
It's really nothing new. Better than the Torres-Xavi comparisons we had to deal with on here for years Jesus.