Some of you guys are being too hard on Jozy. True he is more of a finisher that needs a nice amount of service, however he puts himself in good position to receive that service, not everyone can do that. Chicharito is not great with the ball at his feet nor creating himself, however positioning and off the ball running he is one of the best in the world, that alone gives him a chance to score at any given moment on the pitch. Now I'm not saying Jozy is the same as Chicharito, but he has traits that are not in abundance and should be given a better look by Jurgen.
But JK teams are averaging 3 shots on goal a game. 11 shots total in the 18 or so months he has been in charge. The manager needs to see that he preferred style is not leading to enough chances to be successful.
I think the issue is that we don't have a creative player in the mix, at the moment. Landon Donovan is out of the side, and I would hazard a guess off the top of my head that most of Jozy's positive involvements that have created points for the U.S. have had something to do with Landon. Clint Dempsey can be creative, but usually prefers to create for himself. Jermaine Jones and Michael Bradley are quality footballers as well, but these are players that are muddled in the midfield battle and, therefore, not in a position to create, most of the time. We need somebody aside from them who can deliver the range of passes that Landon could. Diskerud, Adu, Kljestan, or somebody need to be fast tracked into a starting role, because the U.S. is missing a creative element from it's sides, and with Landon missing the March qualifiers, we may not be getting it back for a while.
Altidore's decline started while Donovan was still in the side. He's gotten 90 minutes on the trot. He's not a finisher; he's a big dude with some ball skills and a powerful shot.
We all have different definitions floating around. Finisher, poacher, striker. Can someone set the definitions so that we are all using the same terminology?
Maybe one of the problems for Jozy is having to play our weird, contorted 433 where Dempsey is a wing, but not really, and they end up on top of each other. If we drop DW as the 6 and go with 2 dmids, in a proper 4231 with two wings like, say, Donovan plus Eddie or Shea, we might see Jozy get better spacing for his type of game. Dempsey wasnt all bad playing his own special brand of 10 for Spurs when he had the right lineup around him which was not often (and hardly noticed in the hullaballoo surrounding his early games at Spurs). At Fullham he was asked to score goals, not play 10.
"Powerful shot" works for me. People talk about service for Jozy lacking but I think, with a powerful shot, what Jozy needs is good spacing. Jozy's Guadeloupe goal - now, that is what I would call spacing. Clear the launch pad, Jozy is winding up for a shot. Of course, a goal scorer always has to score in different ways or he will be stopped. Look at the variety in Dempsey's Arsenal.
I'm just thinking in terms of the distinguishing characteristics of a player. Finishers make excellent runs for days. They're great at playing without the ball. They read the developing plays, get into position, and pull the trigger. They're not necessarily and probably aren't fast or have great dribbling technique. In basketball the player would be called a 'pure shooter'. Altidore's game is getting the ball at his feet and making a move. His scoring is light on making good runs(without the ball) to finish off attacking movements. He's not a clever, young center forward like Christian Benteke either. In terms of tactical understanding he's got a ways to go to get to that level. He's at his best posting up in isolation or playing 1-2s with a speedy partner.
Can you give a suggestion as to who he, in your opinion, would be best compared to in terms of similarities? His body fits the mold of a guy who really should be a target. Big, strong, fast and very athletic. He seems to have great power in his shots. He should thrive a a lone target forward playing off to a late runner from the midfield (eg. his knock down to MB against Slovenia), but he doesn't tend to produce in that fashion regularly for the USNT. He is a mystery to me.
to make this claim you would have to be suggesting that Jozy is receiving the ball in dangerous positions, take his chance and miss. I would think his performance at AZ (despite your take on defensive pressure) shows he can in fact finish. You claim his decline started to occur even with Donovan, but i'd argue his "decline" started when Bob and JK started trying the 4-3-3 or 4-5-1. Jozy has always worked better with a strike partner, but when we play a 4-3-3 our midfield generally get overworked and exposed, therefore, we have fewer chances IMO. Personally i think the 4-4-2 has always suited our players better, b/c quite frankly, it's utilized a hell of a lot more then other formations in the youth levels (from my experiences, but is not a guarantee). We are a team LOADED with CM's, so much so that we try to place Williams, Kljestan, Torres and Zusi out wide (at times). I guess that's saying much more that our depth in actual wingers have declined. We still have some though.
Early in Jk's tenure I noted that Jozy did all those things well, however, when you are isolated around 4 defenders and perhaps even a CM, it's tough to produce. I personally feel Jozy does much better finding holes in the back line and running off of another striker. He did that with JPA, Davies, etc... Still as a target striker, i think he's improved greatly and has shown he's capable of playing that style. Now we simply need to find someone to work with him. It has to be Dempsey, because if you put him as a AM, he'll likely turn into a 3rd striker in the end.
I agree, Jozy's national team heyday seemed to be when paired with Charlie Davies or, less so, with Robbie Findley. I think he does need a strike partner. Not a lot of teams are playing with two up front lately though. Much more you see 4-5-1 or 4-3-2-1. Spanish influence I suppose, even a 4-6-0. It's hard to see a second striker that we currently have to pair with Jozy. Gomez maybe, but I'd love to see us produce another Charlie Davies type. Ol CD9, we miss ye.
The difference with USA, in the third video, if Jozy makes that pass to Dempsey, he does not get the ball back.
That goal looked a lot like the goals LD and Keane made for the Galaxy last season. I'd love to see Landon start up top with Jozy.
Not as clear here but ~ 28min into the match (1:25) of the highlight MB makes a good pass to start a transition attack to Deuce. If Deuce immediately chips to Jozy he could send Jozy in 1v1 with a CB. Instead he Deuce dribbles laterally losing the quick attack chance. Deuce back passes to Jones who has the vision to 1 touch hit a 30yd cross field ball to restart the transition attack! At AZ Jozy gets sent through when those situations occur.
Herc Gomez doesn't get service either, when played he drops back into the midfield to receive the ball. In the past Jozy has had issues with his workrate and off the ball movement. Those issues have become smaller, he's improved those while in the Netherlands. I'm afraid some of the issues fall on Klinsmann, he needs to find a way for more attacking soccer, you know, like he promised. Can't do that with no wingers and 3 defensive minded midfielders in a 4-3-3. I should add, that Davies with his speed and dribbling opened up space for Jozy, they complimented each other very well. Dempsey-Jozy and Gomez-Jozy won't replicate that.
Jozy did very well during JK's first 10 or so matches especially when we had Shea and Rodgers/Williams wide right. Since we play CR next it is a good time to revisit our friendly match and Jozys very good performance. If only Rodgers could deliver the ball on time. Transition attack. "Increase the speed and tempo as we move up the field!"
Is it too soon to make a "Rodgers has a habit to hold onto balls" joke? Edit: Just so it's clear, I have nothing but love and respect for Robbie Rogers and a shit ton of pride in the response from the USMNT.
Let's face it. Jozy will end up being a pretty good club striker and yet crappy NT striker. Look at Fernando Torres. Solid stats for all his clubs (ignore time at Chelsea) and pretty bad to average stats with Spain. His scoring rate is 1 in 3 for Spain, he should have loads more considering all his chances Though to be fair he has always scored when they really needed him. Maybe the same with Jozy. He may not score all year but will suddenly score a hat trick in a WC match against Peru. I won't be mad
I think the main issue is that Clint Dempsey, brilliant as he is, isn't really a combination play kind of guy. Generally speaking, he tries to be the last guy to receive the ball before it's put in it's place. This makes the Altidore-Dempsey partnership a little less than ideal. Altidore can be a target, but he also likes to have somebody that he can move off of. He flourished for the New York Red Bulls when playing off of Juan Pablo Angel, and occasionally John Wolyniec. In fact, I feel like that may be the reason he's so unused to the target role. He performed quite well against Trinidad and Tobago playing off of Brian Ching, and had another blinder against Costa Rica with Conor Casey as his partner. But anyways, I would say that while Jozy needs to learn to play with players playing off of him, he's quite useful playing off a main point as well, and he needs to have somebody who can interchange with him. I actually feel like the guy who would be great for this role is Landon Donovan. His expertise in short, quick exchanges would be useful. Donovan also shows good movement himself, so it should be a two way relationship. The one game that saw these two as a partnership was against Italy in the opening game of the Confederations Cup, if I'm not mistaken. Donovan had himself a good game, completing 100% of his passes, while Altidore, despite eventually fading, drew a penalty and looked dangerous overall for at least 45 minutes. I would like to see it like one of these, maybe: