US-Poland, 2nd viewing

[superdave]

I rewatched the match, and paid special attention to the, for want of a better word, controversial aspects of the match.

1. Zavagnin. He had lots of detractors, some supporters. My take was, he wasn't bad. He just wasn't involved enough. His passing is nice...not as nice as Mastroenni's, but I think back to the days of Armas. KZ didn't break up enough plays, tho. My sense was his positioning wasn't as good as it could have been. But in his defense, let's face it, Poland didn't threaten us much. And I don't know the "insider" aspects of how the defense organizes itself, but our organization clearly improved when Mastro came in.

2. Landon. Landon played central mid like Reyna, but like the way Reyna would if he were as aggressive with the Nats as he is with his club teams. By that I mean, Landon seemed to play as if his main job was to get the ball from an area of the field with high defensive pressure to an area of the field with low defensive pressure. As such, he wasn't trying to make the play that led to a shot. He was trying to make the play that led to the play that led to a shot. So if the guy he passed it to had space, but didn't make a play, Landon "failed."

DMB, we all agree, didn't play well. On 2nd viewing, Steve C.'s defense was still great, but his attacking play was just average. I remember one particular play where Landon quickly and brilliantly switched fields, and Steve C. had an acre of space. But he left the ball behind!

Now, on the one hand, Landon performed the role I described extremely well. If other players had done more of what they are capable of, Landon's ratings here would have been really good. OTOH, Landon caught a touch of Reyna-itis when playing like Reyna. (Reyna-itis is a disease in which a player isn't selfish enough, given his talent.) Landon passed up too many chances to make the play that led to a shot himself. He's still learning, but dammit, he has only a couple of months to figure it out. Like a basketball point guard who specializes in the drive and dish, he needs to also have the willingness to drive and FINISH. HIMSELF. That's what he needs to work on, if he's going to be a central attacking mid. He needs to move the dial a couple of notches toward "I'll take care of this myself."

Finally, I think alot of fans here have unfair expectations of Landon. They see highlight reels of guys like Ronaldinho and wonder why Landon doesn't do that 5 times a match. Why doesn't he? BECAUSE IT'S HARD AS HELL TO DO. Those fans want him to move the dial 8 or 10 notches, not realizing that it's impossible at that level of soccer to run through the middle of the defense a half dozen times in a match.

3. Eddie Johnson. I was kinda sorta defending him, but my 2nd view has me worried. Maybe he made runs off the screen that helped his teammates. I dunno. But he didn't hustle enough. I remember one specific play where Landon hit a very nice through ball, and I expected Eddie to hit the nitrous oxide gear that he used to (and may still) have. Instead, he just kept running at the same speed, and nothing happened. A burst of speed would have put him 1v1 with the keeper; instead, the keeper collected it. Similar to KZ, it wasn't that what he did was bad, it was that he didn't do enough of it.

Something I don't recall seeing anyone discuss was the number of times a US player beat his man with the dribble, but then lost the ball to the next man, either because the ball got too far out in front, or because, well, it's damn hard to beat two guys in a row with the dribble. We need to do a better job of supporting our good dribblers, like Steve C., Dempsey, Landon, and Convey, so that when they create an advantage by beating a man, they have a passing option.

[BenfromUSA]

pretty good analysis...

no possession, no flow, long balls to no one, poor work rate, bad 1v1 defending and organization from the mids, and bad fitness = a garbage game.

Johnson and twellman: invisible the whole game, couldn't win 50/50's, hafto give them a little bit of a free pass because the US played long balls most of the game.

Donovan: disappeared, never was a serious threat to score or to assist.

Zavagnin: I think he was just a bit overwhelmed, but he never assumed the responsibilities of the d-mid role, but rather just floated behind the play during his time on the pitch.

Beasley: Useless unless he has his killer instinct, no desire to be on the pitch from him whatsoever.

Dempsey: shakey early on... got a little better but not much. benefitted from having the threat of Steve C. on his side.

I was impressed with bobby convey's flare, but it might just have been the crap performance by the rest that made him look so good in his sub role.

[Dr Jay]

Something I don't recall seeing anyone discuss was the number of times a US player beat his man with the dribble, but then lost the ball to the next man, either because the ball got too far out in front, or because, well, it's damn hard to beat two guys in a row with the dribble.

One other explanation for this is the field. It was really, really bad.

Stevie C. said in the post game interview that the snow actually helped the field play better...that's how bad it was.

[asdf2]

pretty good analysis...

no possession, no flow, long balls to no one, poor work rate, bad 1v1 defending and organization from the mids, and bad fitness = a garbage game.

Johnson and twellman: invisible the whole game, couldn't win 50/50's, hafto give them a little bit of a free pass because the US played long balls most of the game.

Donovan: disappeared, never was a serious threat to score or to assist.

Zavagnin: I think he was just a bit overwhelmed, but he never assumed the responsibilities of the d-mid role, but rather just floated behind the play during his time on the pitch.

Beasley: Useless unless he has his killer instinct, no desire to be on the pitch from him whatsoever.

Dempsey: shakey early on... got a little better but not much. benefitted from having the threat of Steve C. on his side.

I was impressed with bobby convey's flare, but it might just have been the crap performance by the rest that made him look so good in his sub role.

Just a quick reminder that we won the game. Vs. a Euro opponent that is a World Cup team with a full roster playing close to home we flew in 1/2 our guys for a Wednesday match on a crappy pitch and shut them out and beat them.

I don't want to throw a parade or anything but let's not be too negative either.

[sidefootsitter]

... Landon passed up too many chances to make the play that led to a shot himself. He's still learning, but dammit, he has only a couple of months to figure it out. Like a basketball point guard who specializes in the drive and dish, he needs to also have the willingness to drive and FINISH. HIMSELF. That's what he needs to work on, if he's going to be a central attacking mid. He needs to move the dial a couple of notches toward "I'll take care of this myself."... Since Bruce pretty much put all his eggs into the Landon basket, it behooves Mr. Arena to run drills where Donovan has to take his marker off the dribble and shoot on goal.

However, if Bruce just runs these 5-on-5s with 2 goals, the field will be too crowded, even for a decent dribbler.

Finally, I think alot of fans here have unfair expectations of Landon. They see highlight reels of guys like Ronaldinho and wonder why Landon doesn't do that 5 times a match. Why doesn't he? BECAUSE IT'S HARD AS HELL TO DO. Those fans want him to move the dial 8 or 10 notches, not realizing that it's impossible at that level of soccer to run through the middle of the defense a half dozen times in a match. It's a lot less difficult with his speed in the sense that he doesn't have to run a maze-type pattern that a slower attacker would and can just toe-poke a ball into space and run around his marker.

However, Donovan's began to run too upright, which exposes the ball too much, and too straight, which makes it difficult for him to break sharply to either side. He runs like one would run track instead of a slalom.

He also doesn't sell any of his moves well nor shield his body with arms, hips and knees.

Basically, he has no dribbling fundamentals at this point. All he can do is to run forward into an empty space. Bruce has to correct it and fast.

[JohnR]

Landon has been playing like Reyna for a while now with USMNT. Flick a quick pass away from pressure, as you you put it. He does this rapidly and cleanly.

If Landon is tracking back nicely so as to become more involved, and picks his spots where to attack offensively, he's more effective in this role than Reyna can be because Landon covers more ground and is so clearly a better player in the final third of the field.

But Claudio will get stuck in more defensively, and of course is more skilled at holding the ball in traffic. Landon kinda has to play fast, because he's pretty quickly dispossessed in a crowd.

Like many others, I'm interested to see how Landon and Reyna sort out their on-field roles given that Landon is so many ways (also, free kicks) has moved into Reyna's slot.

[jgildea8]

DMB looked like he had nothing to prove, and that he was not the least bit interested in being thrown around on a frozen pitch, and testing his hamstring by sprinting in freezing temperatures.
I am not excusing it, but it is just an observation.

[ElRoss425]

I don't know where to begin with some of you guys. It's amazing how often you watch soccer yet have no idea what you are talking about. Landon has no dribbling fundamentals? sidefootsitter, that has to be one of the worst things I've heard anyone pull out of their ass on these boards. Landon is the best A-mid in US soccer history but somewhere along the way somebody forgot to teach him how to dribble. Were you saying that in '02 when he nutmegged the German defender and nearly scored? That statement was absolutely ludicrous.

Also, JohnR, as for sorting out Landon and Claudio's roles. I think you sorted them out in your post. The roles they take when they are both on the field are completely different than when one is gone, b/c the other has to take up the slack. If Claudio's there we can allow Landon to run at goal more and Claudio can sit back, defend, and distribute. Just because Landon has had to take over some of Claudio's duties that doesn't mean Arena can't clarify their roles when both are available.

[Martin Fischer]

Very good analysis superdave, I would rep you if I could. John R's point about Reyna's superior ability to hold the ball in traffic is a good one too.

[superdave]

Landon has no dribbling fundamentals? sidefootsitter, that has to be one of the worst things I've heard anyone pull out of their ass on these boards.
Sidefoot has a pathological hatred of Landon. Actually, he seems to have a pathological hatred for just about every MLSer. Put him on ignore, and your life will be much calmer.

I don't know what he wrote, I gave up on him in the last day or two. But whatever it is I'm sure he's written worse.

When Landon returned last year, he tried to hang the nickname "Million Dollar Baby" on him until I called him on it.

I alternate between thinking sfs is a collection of biases and prejudices that rule him, and thinking that he doesn't really understand the sport. Then I realized I don't care.

[ursula]

I'll rep him for ya Martin. Excellent post SD.

A question about Zavagnin. It seemed to me and many others that Mastroeni improved the play when he came in as you confirm. But did Zavagnin's play improve from 1st to 2nd half? It seemed the team as a whole was better positioned/ more cohesive a the start of the second half. Is that observation correct?

Very good points on LD.

I do think the ground adversely affected our dribbling as Dr Jay says above.

[JohnR]

However, Donovan's began to run too upright, which exposes the ball too much, and too straight, which makes it difficult for him to break sharply to either side.

I don't believe that your generalization about posture & dribbling effectiveness is correct, since Cristiano Ronaldo dribbles while carrying himself with a rigidly upright posture, and he is of course magnificent.

However, I agree that Landon is not a great 1v1 dribbler in the classic sense of a winger receiving the ball while stationary, then taking on a stationary defender. He's very good in open space, uses his speed to great advantage, is able to keep the ball close to him while moving very rapidly. That's his game ... blow by a guy, or make a deft pass while moving a high speed, then receive the ball in return. Pass & move.

[superdave]

I just want to say, now that it's 24 hours later, that the Reyna pass to Sinclair is EXACTLY what I'm talking about. In MLS Reyna would have gotten a 2ndary assist, and it would have been exactly the kind of pass that makes 2ndary assists a useful stat. (I HATE HATE HATE that MLS has adopted the NHL standard of giving it automatically; now the 2ndary assist obscures rather than illuminates. But I digress.)

And the fact that it was not a mere switching of fields, that it was an aggressive pass moving the ball, what, 40 yards forward, that's the difference between Reyna with his clubs and Landon with the Nats, on the one hand, and Reyna with the Nats, on the other. IMO, with the Nats, Reyna doesn't look for that pass. Arena's a great coach, but one of his weaknesses, IMO, is that he's put shackles on Reyna.

Anyway, that's the kind of play Landon was trying to make all game against Poland...not make the assist, but make the pass that makes the assist possible. Again, I think he passed up some chances to make the assist himself, and needs to tighten up his decision making.

'
A question about Zavagnin. It seemed to me and many others that Mastroeni improved the play when he came in as you confirm. But did Zavagnin's play improve from 1st to 2nd half? It seemed the team as a whole was better positioned/ more cohesive a the start of the second half. Is that observation correct?

Well, we got the early goal, so it's hard to say why we were better organized in the 2nd half even before Pablo came on.

[NBlue]

3. Eddie Johnson. I was kinda sorta defending him, but my 2nd view has me worried. Maybe he made runs off the screen that helped his teammates. I dunno. But he didn't hustle enough. I remember one specific play where Landon hit a very nice through ball, and I expected Eddie to hit the nitrous oxide gear that he used to (and may still) have. Instead, he just kept running at the same speed, and nothing happened. A burst of speed would have put him 1v1 with the keeper; instead, the keeper collected it. Similar to KZ, it wasn't that what he did was bad, it was that he didn't do enough of it.



My bother-in-law and I also remarked on the play you are speaking of -- it looked like Eddie was stuck in third gear whereas we're used to seeing him kicking it into fifth in that type of situation. Hard to tell whether it was the very questionable footing on that pitch, the cold or the lack of fitness that caused his failure to beat the Polish player to the ball but I was suprised he didn't.

The play that concerned me more was the thru ball Landon put in to him on the right side of the goal -- it seemed to take him a while to get to hit and then he hit in a poor shot into the side of the net while Taylor Twellman was wide open about 8 feet directly in front of the goal (TT looked more than a bit frustrated afterwards).

In my mind, those were the two most dangerous opportunities Eddie had and he failed to take advantage of either. Then again, he clearly is not fully recovered from the injury yet and he was playing in conditions that we certainly not condusive to his skillset. Like everyone else, I'm just hoping that Eddie will round into form though the MLS season and be back to the old GAM again by the time the world cup gets here. We can only wait, watch and hope for the best . . .

[Teleturn]

I agree things improved with Mastroeni, but his play (understandably rusty) concerns me a bit.

He was very agressive about harassing players on the ball, but just about every challenge was a body grabbing, hands-on mugging that I worry could rightfully be called illegal by a stricter ref. It's not the Joga Bonito IMO.

Other opinions?

[Celo's Bicycle]

The play that concerned me more was the thru ball Landon put in to him on the right side of the goal -- it seemed to take him a while to get to hit and then he hit in a poor shot into the side of the net while Taylor Twellman was wide open about 8 feet directly in front of the goal (TT looked more than a bit frustrated afterwards).


Agree that play was really disappointing. He didn't seem to have any idea where he was, or that Twellman was available.

[BenfromUSA]

Just a quick reminder that we won the game. Vs. a Euro opponent that is a World Cup team with a full roster playing close to home we flew in 1/2 our guys for a Wednesday match on a crappy pitch and shut them out and beat them.

I don't want to throw a parade or anything but let's not be too negative either.

you're right but we all know we would have been shredded against a good team, which poland was not.

[SamsArmySam]

I agree things improved with Mastroeni, but his play (understandably rusty) concerns me a bit.

He was very agressive about harassing players on the ball, but just about every challenge was a body grabbing, hands-on mugging that I worry could rightfully be called illegal by a stricter ref. It's not the Joga Bonito IMO.

Other opinions?
When has an Arena defensive mid -- or even a Brazilian one, for that matter -- ever played the Joga Bonito?

[ursula]

you're right but we all know we would have been shredded against a good team, which poland was not.

Care to explain how Poland was not a good team?

[Dave216J]

Agree that play was really disappointing. He didn't seem to have any idea where he was, or that Twellman was available.

That play really surprised me, and I watched it a few times. Seemed like a physical thing to me - I don't think he was trying to shoot, I think he was trying to cross it. He looks up and sees Twellman, and he seems to be trying to wrap his foot around the ball to pass with the instep rather than shooting it, and just shanked it because he couldn't reach the right spot in time. Good on the mental score; on the physical score, amazing that he couldn't accelerate up to that ball. Also, he should have realized he had more time, and if he couldn't hit it first time, stopped it and crossed with the left.

Hopefully this is all just rust, and cold weather...