Albright can play LB

[cyberthoth]

I will probably get flamed for this but Albright can play Left Back....and IMHO should play there against Mexico.

Seriously...that's where he played in the midweek friendly against Tecos in Nashville Tuesday night. He consistently beat defenders off the dribble...and (most importantly) sent in several dangerous crosses with his left foot. He was perhaps the most impressive player on the pitch for LA. At the least Tecos had no answer for him.

I know most of us do not envision Albright anywhere on the field...but seriously...he made a believer out of me this week.

[peledre]

Are you sure it was Left Back and not Right Back?

[Martin Fischer]

Albright has played on the left side of midfield for both the Galaxy and the USMNT. Left back is no problem. Hejduk obviously can play on the left too though.

[forza inter]

this is news to me. i had no idea he could play on the left. well ya learn new things everyday.




forza inter

[Bruce S]

this is news to me. i had no idea he could play on the left. well ya learn new things everyday.




forza inter
it is worth remembering that at one time Tony Sanneh was a mediocre striker.Just because someone is not a good striker does not mean they won't be successsful somewhere else.

[cyberthoth]

Are you sure it was Left Back and not Right Back?

yeah I'm sure...they had Tyrone Marshall at right back. Albright played entirely on the left....behind some kid named Gardner??? who played left wing.

[The Cadaver]

yeah I'm sure...they had Tyrone Marshall at right back. Albright played entirely on the left....behind some kid named Gardner??? who played left wing.

Strange if true. A complete flip-flop of their club positions. CA has been right back all three games, and Marshall, a natural left-footer, has been on the left unless he had to be moved to left central back because of injuries. Even then for LAG Ricky Lewis was on the left and CA on the right.

Couldn't see the Nashville game from LA - no TV - so it would really be interesting if Sigi was experimenting that much.

[sregis]

i've no doubt albright can play in the back, but the real question is should he? we're talking about international soccer here. let's get real.

[sch2383]

Anybody else still shudder when they see USMNT and Chris Albirght in the same sentence?

[Cantankerous]

I will probably get flamed for this but Albright can play Left Back....and IMHO should play there against Mexico.

[snip]

I know most of us do not envision Albright anywhere on the field...but seriously...he made a believer out of me this week.
I have no problem trying forwards at defensive positions, esp. if they have speed and show a good workrate, which Chris has always done. I don't know if he's done enough to stick there, although he's only been placed in that position a few times.

I'd have to hope that with all the players we have in the pool that we could come up with more natural defenders. I'm not sure how to define that. It's just that people like Albright might succeed, but will do so because they can run forever, and not because they have an innate understanding of defensive positioning. (Hejduk, anyone?) Compare him to someone like Llamosa. I know they play in different positions, but Carlos might have had the best central man-marking instincts of any US defender I've seen since Balboa. And he never ran a whole lot. He always seemed to be in the right place.

Then again, I was aghast at the Sanneh experiment, and was only made a believer after he completely neutralized Zenden at Foxboro before WC 2002. (Remember, I'd had the pleasure of watching Tony up close and personal for years at DC. Not for nothing was his nickname 'Feet of Stone'. And that was from his fans!)

[Pabmeister]

Anybody else still shudder when they see USMNT and Chris Albirght in the same sentence?

I do, ever since I saw him play in the back during January's game against Denmark... *shudder*

[Ghost]

Anybody else still shudder when they see USMNT and Chris Albirght in the same sentence?

Oh yeah. I shudder everytime I think about a 6'1, really fast, decently skilled, hustling, good-on-defense player getting a shot at the hole that is our right back position. Especially when he's shown promise.

Let's face it, Albright shoul have made this move in his teens. Let's see if he can do it now. An let's hope that he can do it now.

[Shaster]

You guys have to understand: the reason Albright plays in right back for Galaxy because it is recommended by Bruce Arena. When I watched Albrigh's game with NATS, I found there are some of things about his game:

1. Albright is fast, but he normally runs with ball in a straight line. He can do some cut back, but is not tricky with his feet and cannot do those special turns (a must for back to goal forwards). But as the right back, he can see the space well, and he can run straight to the corner with the ball to do a cross, or he can run into box to have a shoot at the goal.

2. Albright is adquate on air with his head. Which means it is a good defense quality just like McBride has.

3. Albright can hussle but will run out of gas due to the lack of decision making when not to hussle. As a forward, he will be tired very soon because he run back and forth. As a defender, he may only have half field to cover.

So this is good for Albright to be a right back.

[Bruce S]

You guys have to understand: the reason Albright plays in right back for Galaxy because it is recommended by Bruce Arena. When I watched Albrigh's game with NATS, I found there are some of things about his game:

1. Albright is fast, but he normally runs with ball in a straight line. He can do some cut back, but is not tricky with his feet and cannot do those special turns (a must for back to goal forwards). But as the right back, he can see the space well, and he can run straight to the corner with the ball to do a cross, or he can run into box to have a shoot at the goal.

2. Albright is adquate on air with his head. Which means it is a good defense quality just like McBride has.

3. Albright can hussle but will run out of gas due to the lack of decision making when not to hussle. As a forward, he will be tired very soon because he run back and forth. As a defender, he may only have half field to cover.

So this is good for Albright to be a right back.
I agree.He is a big guy who is fast and has good skills for a defender.As I recall, the reason he flopped at striker is that every single one of his shots was over the bar!! That means he may be a poor striker but it does NOT mean the guy can't play.Remember that this was a guy that MLS was bidding against Bayern Munich for. I am all for trying him out.He is more agile than Sanneh was and that experiment, in the end,worked out OK.

[DigitalTron]

I agree Shaster. Albright's problem as a forward wasn't getting open, it was finishing. He is good at getting to the ball in the air, and sending it in the correct general area, but just not precise enough to put it in the net, so he'll do well in the air defensively. He can cross, which is sorely missing in US fullbacks. He is fast and physical and has the basic defensive skills to excel there. But, there will be a transition period.

The USMNT has three huge gaps, one at target forward, and the other two at the fullback positions. I think Chris can provide solid minutes at right back in a manner similar to what Tony Sanneh gave us in the last World Cup. Given MLS's lack of aerial attack and the dominance of aerial attacks internationally, we need some more size in the team defensively, and Albright has the tools to be that guy. While I rate guys like Donovan, Convey, Beasley and O'Brien very highly, none is particularly big or strong, and that weakness will be exploited. I am encouraged by Albrights progress thus far, and look forward to seeing him develop as a right back.
-Digital

[Treetaliano]

is not tricky with his feet and cannot do those special turns (a must for back to goal forwards).

Guess you missed his slalom last year thru the Colorado Rapids then...

[pasoccerdave]

Albright is fast, but he normally runs with ball in a straight line. He can do some cut back, but is not tricky with his feet and cannot do those special turns (a must for back to goal forwards).

So this is good for Albright to be a right back.

Excellent analysis. I love Albright for his enthusiasm for the game. In all the times I watched him play, he struck me as a kid who excelled at the youth level, able to succeed via speed and speed alone, and as a result never learned how to adapt his game. Once he hit MLS, he found his equals in a stride for stride race, and simply had no Plan B to fall back on. As a defender, he does not need to be the same type of creator, looking to beat players. His job is to interfere and stop plays from happening. "Less creative" speed works well here.

We have seen this type of experiment succeed before - witness Peter Vermes, a MNT forward who became a good defender.

[Ghost]

Another factor that people overlook when pondering the Albright experiment --- the kid is tall. 6'1, IIRC In the 2002 WC, in the first couple games, we had on the field, typically, a 6'1 or 6'2 Sanneh, a 6'1 or 6'2 Pope and a 6'1 McBride. Then we started getting shorter and shorter. Everyone else was basically a variable of 5-8 or 5-9.On the backline were Sanneh, Pope, an allegedly 5'10 unathletic Agoos, and a 5'8, 5'9 Hejduk. We had a pretty runty midfield, too. So not so surprisingly, we had a lot of trouble defending crosses on set pieces.Was it four or five of the seven goals against us that were scored that way? Notice that it got better once we inserted Berhalter. But then we hit Germany, and, again, our players were really short in comparison.Their playmaker was Michael Ballack, all 6'3 of him. He breaks through and scores the game-winning goal. On a header. On a set piece.

I remember the consternation here at the selections of Dunseth and McCarty, in particular, for the first friendly after the Cup. What was Arena doing? Well, he was signaling that he would build a taller, more physical team so that it could compete with Germany, or another rugged European team like that in a 2006 WC planned for that continent. That may be the right strategy or it may not, but that's what Bruce thought we needed to do IMO.

That's why Albright, besides his speed, is so appealing. A backline of Albright-Pope-Gibbs-Boca, gives us four players above 6'1, and it's at least as fast a backline as the 2002 version. Add to that Casey/McBride. If Johnson or Buddle emerges as the "speed" forward and if a 6'0 Gaven emerges on the right wing, that would give us up to three non-backline guys in the 6-0ish, 6-1,-6-2 range. Think of a lineup of Howard-Albright-Pope-Gibbs-Boca-Reyna-LD-Gaven-DMB-EJ-Casey. That's eight guys over 6'0. That's a team that isn't going to get beat to a lot of headballs. And it's got, by American standards, good skill, too.

That's not to say that I think we should overwhelmingly consider height. I'm not saying we don't start a Wolff because an EJ is taller. But it is to say that height is a nice benefit, and you need some on the field, no matter how much you might like to see 11 Maradonas running around.The improved height on this team would let us feel more comfortable with a greater number of smaller skill players in the midfield. Hopefully that would help our midfield creativity. If for instance we played Cherundolo and Vanney, who is, what, 5'10, and not exactly a leaper, would we feel as comfortable with a smaller midfield? I don't think so.

And that's why I wish Chris the best of luck at his new position. I've criticized BA a lot here, but I agree with him that we're going to need size to beat European teams on the European continent.So I've been 100 percent behind the Albright experiment. I hope it works.