Post-match: USMNT vs Russia: Second Viewing Analysis

Discussion in 'USA Men: News & Analysis' started by Ironkick14, Nov 15, 2012.

  1. Real Corona

    Real Corona Member+

    Jan 19, 2008
    Colorado
    Club:
    FC Metalist Kharkiv
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    In the 2011 season Shea started out on fire but from about August onward he faded significantly.
     
  2. CDM76

    CDM76 Member+

    May 9, 2006
    Socal
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm way too late with this but I did finally get through watching the match a second time and figured I'd throw out my not-very-valuable observations:

    First 8 min were actually pretty solid for the US. Obviously, there was a real shock after the awkward turnover from Williams that led to the opening goal. That led to about 10 minutes of recovery.

    2nd Half: Jones’ & Bradley’s roles seem more clearly defined with Jones working higher up the field in more of an attacking capacity. Good goals from the run of play.

    The reality of friendly is it's not really about the result. It's about the players.

    Gomez: playing on the wing takes away his greatest asset for the US, the high energy tireless pressing defense on the opposing center backs. I like Herc but he's up top or on the bench.

    Gatt: Defended well. Was covering back for Chandler early in the match. A couple of good tackles against Koklorov. Nice speed and power. Never real seen him play other than highlights and he's very strong on the ball. Good run into the PA 22'. Nice first touch on flighted ball from JJ with outside of his right foot to flip the ball over the defender but takes an elbow to the mouth from defender when he tries to cut around him. Very nice run to goal line 28' on a Bradley cross-field chip. Headed back towards Jozy at the 6 to win a corner. Excellent technique to bring down a difficult ball in the 39' near the left touch. Ball was lost on another chip attempt by Bradley. Gatt recovers the ball with a solid charge on the right touch line. Clever little drop off/take over for Bradley right on the left touch 51’. Excellent debut.

    Fabian: Beaten early on the wing. Very nice attacking run at 23' onto 30 yd through ball from Bradley. Crossed on the ground to Gatt who got left on an island (6 defenders closer than nearest teammate) and lost possession. Beaten again on the wing (1-2) 26'. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled he's our left back. We need him but I didn't see anything new and he's more dynamic on attack when combining with someone like Shea. He really had nothing to play off of in Gomez and his defense was not stellar.

    Jozy: Winning balls with his head early. Dropping the ball into good spaces. Great bring down with chest to flick the ball over a defender with his foot to Bradley at 20'. Received flighted ball from Jones with chest to drop it and crush a swerving shot just inside the post about 4 ft over the crossbar. Beautiful piece of skill and technique 38'. Jozy chests the ball down and makes a 2nd touch pass 48’. Hustled back and pressed on defense. And for those who complained he didn't use his head, by my count: Headed balls won & controlled: 9

    Cameron: Awkward give away around the 10' mark. Excellent run to cut out through ball 19'. Recovered Goodson's 35' hospital ball free kick with quickness and power. Not as good as against Mexico but still a solid performance.

    Jones: Sweet ball to the corner in the 31'. Chandler runs onto it and first times a cross right to the middle of the 6. Cross well defended but pretty play. Gets a little too fancy with an attempt to slot a ball through with the outside of his foot resulting in a counter 33'. Nice flighted pass to Jozy in the middle of the field about 25 yds from goal 38'. Beats a couple of Russians before losing the ball 47’ 2nd half. Gatt in right spot and gets a shot on goal easily saved. I still tend to think of Jermaine as a defense first CM but he was a key player in transition to attack. If he'd just slow down a bit and read his teammates before going on those intense foraging runs, he could add so much more to this team.

    Bradley: started to pick apart the Russian defense with chipped balls into space around the 30' mark. Chips: 4 Michael has become a force. Even his yellow was a thoughtful professional foul with Danny trailing and the back line looking vulnerable. His goal was technical genius.

    Williams: bad free kick: Jozy actually clipped Danny's leg before Danny kicked the ball. It looked like Danny could have held up and not made contact but I think that's part of why the ball was so weak. Not sure a well struck ball on the same line wouldn't have still been intercepted but the contact might have changed the intended trajectory of the ball as well as the pace. Lost ball in 24' but chased back and won it right back drawing a foul. Awkward clearance attempt leads to a Russian shot on goal 32' Nice bit of skill to dribble out of trouble 54’ reminded me why I want this kid to make it as the first choice DM. Wish we could have seen him play without that horrible turnover.

    Howard: played keeper like Tim Howard. Solid, commanding, kept a clean sheet. Another in the history of great American goalkeepers.

    Chandler: didn't have many memorable moments. Really didn't seem to have any idea how to combine with Gatt. Hope he's committed. Defensively pretty solid once he stopped drifting into the central midfield.

    Goodson: Unpressured give away 21'. Attempts to top Danny's free kick mistake by playing the ball almost directly to the feet of a Russian on a restart 35'. Flubs an unpressured pass attempt 37'. Needs to be the 4th choice CB (at best).

    Agudelo: looks so much better in a US shirt than for his club(s). The pass down the line to Jozy that led to Jones' missed shot was awesome. The header back to Bradley a thing of beauty. I like him better as a late game attacking sub than Corona.

    Mix: loved the goal. Deserves consideration for some Hex matches. Definitely should be a core member of the GC13 squad.

    Kljestan: the idea of the knockdown header was good but it got driven into the ground creating an awkward ball to Michael to play. Typical cynical trip late in the game because of lack of pace to recover almost hurt the side a lot. Sacha's good depth. Deserves a role in GC13.

    Edu: really wanted to see him come on to replace Boca. Getting stripped of the ball in the defensive third while dribbling for no apparent purpose reminded me of why I like Danny Williams. As reminded by Foolishness, delivered a nice lofted ball that led to Michael's goal.

    Boca: should have been given the game off

    Boyd: nice knock down header for Mix' goal. Probably behind EJ on the depth chart but another player who should be a key member of GC13.
     
    Mr Martin, Namdynamo, Marko72 and 4 others repped this.
  3. Foolishness

    Foolishness Member+

    Aug 15, 2012
    Great post, just needs to add Edu's ball into Agudelo that set up the Bradley goal. It was a beautiful ball in.
     
    CDM76 repped this.
  4. fingersave

    fingersave Member

    Sep 28, 2009
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Yeah, I understand. I watched every FCD game that season and I don't remember any significant fade.

    You're going to have to be more specific.
     
  5. diablodelsol

    diablodelsol Member+

    Jan 10, 2001
    New Jersey
    Your inability to draw concrete conclusions from incomplete, or non-existant, information severely limits your potential as a BS poster.

    You will have reached your full potential when you can write a 100o word post that starts with, "I didn't actually see the match, but from what I can tell from .....".
     
    Real Corona repped this.
  6. Real Corona

    Real Corona Member+

    Jan 19, 2008
    Colorado
    Club:
    FC Metalist Kharkiv
    Nat'l Team:
    United States


    August-October 2011: 2 goal 9 games

    March- July 9 goals 22 games

    From March-July he was subbed off one time and missed one game entirely in 23 of FC Dallas' games. From August-October he missed two games and was subbed off twice in only 11 FC Dallas games.
     
  7. nobody

    nobody Member+

    Jun 20, 2000
    Clean sheet means a shut-out, he gave up 2. Not saying he was bad, just figured I would point that out.
     
    CDM76 repped this.
  8. Bookmesir

    Bookmesir Member

    Oct 14, 2012
    Club:
    FC Aarau
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Well done and thanks for the time-of-game notations.:thumbsup:

    What stood out for me, regarding Jones' forays, was that the team needs to respond as they are occurring. But these are very hard to predict as they are typically a product of his self-determination and tenacity, and not from Jones being sprung by good ball movement.
    Hopefully, with Dempsey's ability to anticipate added to the mix, we may get more production from these types of sequences by Jones.
    Is it plausible to consider Jones at LM, or at least consider him as a CM in the trio who has been given the instruction to concentrate offensively supporting and contributing on the left flank? I know this is essentially what we saw from JJ in the middle 20 minutes of the second half.But I don't know if this was by design (on half-time advice from JK), or Jones finding himself and the ball more on this side of the field.
     
  9. TheNearPost

    TheNearPost Member+

    May 21, 2010
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    I think you're right about Jones and his role on the left. This also isn't the first game that he's done so. When in a trio with Bradley and X Defensive Midfielder, he seems to be the guy designated to get forward first and move to one of the flanks. Against Scotland, he moved to the right quite a bit ( check his work on Donovan's second goal), and this allowed Landon further inside. Towards the end of the game, he and Donovan seemed to switch almost permanently for a good 5 minutes. He seemed to be on the right flank quite a lot against Guatemala, and it was reported that he was in fact the right midfielder for that game.

    It looks like this in my mind:

    [​IMG]

    This is partly why I would like to see Landon used in that 3rd advanced central midfield role. It could suit him. He just needs guys ahead of him in the correct spots. Dempsey gives the U.S. the attacking pivot to link play and move off of. We could see Donovan in the front three though, which would make more sense if our opponent is a bit more talented offensively in the midfield.
     
  10. TheHoustonHoyaFan

    Oct 14, 2011
    Houston
    Club:
    FC Schalke 04
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    JJ is no more a LM (AML) than Williams is a RM (AMR). The role JJ played v Russia is the same role JK has told him to play in the strong 3 midfield since May. JJ and MB play twin box-to-box CMs with JJ playing slightly more advanced and slightly more aggressive, a false #10 of sorts. One JK area of complaint from the beginning is still both CMs' (but more so MB, dropping back to take the ball off the feet of the defenders). We saw some of this in the last 3 matches and it needs to be corrected.

    "We’ve got to find the midfielders playing in more forward positions and not having midfielders, as I mentioned at halftime, coming back and picking up behind. I told Michael [Bradley] and Jermaine [Jones] to ask for the balls further up because we need the ball further up in their half"

    http://www.ussoccer.com/News/Mens-N...uote-Sheet-US-MNT-vs-Antigua-and-Barbuda.aspx

    The intent is that both JJ and MB play high press/high pressure to win the ball high in the opponents half. The scheme worked very well v Scotland and even got 4-5 TOs v Russia.
     
  11. TheNearPost

    TheNearPost Member+

    May 21, 2010
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    Right, but I think Jones is trusted a bit more to make things happen when he drives down the flanks. Jones' sheer power is useful anywhere, and it did create a chance for Michael Bradley/Sacha Kljestan.

    I'm not saying he's an ideal left midfielder. He's not really even a left midfielder in that scheme. He's a central midfielder that can sometimes drift wide left, allowing the left winger to actually play more central.
     
  12. CDM76

    CDM76 Member+

    May 9, 2006
    Socal
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Wow, talk about a brain cramp. :oops:

    Meant to say he kept things tidy (no spilled balls or muffed clearances). My wife was busy telling me about her day at work and I'm the world's worst multitasker.
     
  13. swedust

    swedust Member+

    Aug 30, 2004
    I realize I am late to this thread, but since I did go back and watch it again, I had one overall main impression: I now see Klinsmann's scheme as truly viable for the USMNT we actually have.

    When I consider the factors surrounding the game...

    -- no LD or CD
    -- away in Europe against a very solid side (allowed no goals in WCQ group play)
    -- no prep time
    -- early, unforseeable injury to Bocanegra
    -- sub-par showings from a couple players (in other words, not a lightning-in-a-bottle team performance (hello, Austria))
    -- a first-cap player in the starting 11

    ...and we still got two goals from the run of play without giving up any (from the run of play, I mean), the second viewing showed that what I felt as I was watching in real time was accurate: we actually played that team (in that venue, under those circumstances) toe-to-toe for 90+ minutes with very few shaky passages.

    I'm not drinking the Cool-Aid yet, but I've got a glass in my hand....
     
    the Next Level repped this.
  14. SPA2TACU5

    SPA2TACU5 Member+

    Jul 27, 2001
    ATX
    Good post.
    Of course it doesn't help having guys like the Goodson and Boca in the backline.
     
  15. TheNearPost

    TheNearPost Member+

    May 21, 2010
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    I think that Edu generally helps in this sense because even though he's not that great on the ball ( his chip to Agudelo aside), he has a ery good habit of dropping between the centerbacks, allowing them to spread, then allowing the fullbacks forward, and then cycling the ball.

    In other words, Edu goes through the motions of a defensive midfielder that is good on the ball, without actually being that great on the ball. If he could just get to France. I think that country is just perfect for him.
     
  16. Sam Hamwich

    Sam Hamwich Member+

    Jul 11, 2006
    For the Nats anyway, I would rather have Gomez play the role Jozy did and vice-versa. I think of Henry playing wide at Barcelona and although it was kind of a train wreck, it might be where Jozy belongs until his feet and touch and finishing find themselves on the same pitch.
     
    RalleeMonkey repped this.
  17. TheNearPost

    TheNearPost Member+

    May 21, 2010
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    I agree. Jozy always floats out to the left in particular, and he loves cutting back onto that stronger foot before he blazes one. Moreover, Jozy's 1v1 skills are pretty impressive. I think Gomez should stay wide right with Jozy on the opposite flank and Dempsey as our central striker/false nine, drawing the centerbacks attention and making room for Altidore and Gomez to make diagonal runs in behind the defense while Donovan charges from central midfield. Or something similar to that.
     
    Sam Hamwich repped this.
  18. Sam Hamwich

    Sam Hamwich Member+

    Jul 11, 2006
    And here is the million dollar question that I am sure JK is asking himself: Do I hogtie my system to meet Dempsey's needs or do I build the team around a team concept?

    Donovan is fast and pliable enough to play inside any game plan. Dempsey? He has anchored himself to a central role that looks to set up players, make late runs and lets face it chew on the ball a couple times before he does something with it.

    Zidane was very effective at this because he would hold it up, occupy two players, opening a space which he would pass into. Clint can do this, but there was only one Zidane.
     
  19. Sam Hamwich

    Sam Hamwich Member+

    Jul 11, 2006
    I havent heard that particular set up before, mainly because Gomez is not particularly fast, but if we are able to put Jozy, Gomez and Dempsey in forward positions and the ball coming in from say an FJ or Chandler cross, then something good might just happen.
     
  20. Sam Hamwich

    Sam Hamwich Member+

    Jul 11, 2006
    I'll get on this wagon now. The second Brek hits the pitch against mexico every single mexican player is focused on kicking him, stomping him, elbowing him, spitting on him. It's really a sight to see and it is because they recognize his formidable physical gifts. They simply cant find a player of his physical caliber. But mentally he seems to revel in the 12 year old skater role.
     
  21. fingersave

    fingersave Member

    Sep 28, 2009
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States

    He was not ineffective in those games. Just because a wing player is not scoring goals doesn't mean he is not playing well. He was still scoring goals at a good rate for a winger over that period.
     
  22. fingersave

    fingersave Member

    Sep 28, 2009
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    For whatever reason, he obviously enjoys playing Mexico. Not unlike Landon in that regard. He seems to see past his meekness when he plays Mexico.
     
  23. TheNearPost

    TheNearPost Member+

    May 21, 2010
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    Add in the intelligence that he shows in some of his runs and Gomez is fast enough. He gets from A to B sufficiently quickly.

    I've been a pretty big fan of seeing this set up, or something close to it. I think we saw a pretty similar shape to this against Antigua & Barbuda when we had Donovan and Gomez as the wide forwards with Dempsey the central striker/false nine.

    I honestly think it would work.

    [​IMG]

    If we want to be more defensive, Jones plays as the most advanced central midfielder and we push Donovan into the front three on the right side. If not, Donovan plays as the most advanced central midfielder and we play Gomez.

    I also just don't see another long-term way of using Dempsey. I understand that he's good as the second forward, and as a left midfielder, but he's not the hardest worker so he can kill us in midfield. This is perfect for him because he's got a free role that won't leave us lacking on defense, aside from pressing the centerbacks.
     
  24. TheNearPost

    TheNearPost Member+

    May 21, 2010
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    That was definitely refreshing and entertaining to see some random blonde kid off the bench giving the Mexicans a 'tude. I honestly think it's something he has in him. When he's confident, he's brazen. And when he' brazen, he's something else to watch.
     
  25. Sam Hamwich

    Sam Hamwich Member+

    Jul 11, 2006
    My only problem with this set up is how deficient we would be possessing the ball in the midfield. Say Ghana plays a 5 man midfield. We have only Bradley and Williams forced to defend what amounts to 6 players. Neither Jozy, Dempsey or Gomez are known for their ability to pass out of tight spaces. Against this team I would overload the midfield, send out pressuring triangles and put my 6 attackers against your 4 defenders. I would win the midfield. If you go over the top, I am not overly concerned as I have 4 men back against 3.
     
    wimsherfan repped this.

Share This Page