Optimum Formation / Combinations

[Pegasus]

Assume everyone is healthy. What formation gets the best players on the field and who are those players? For me I choose the box midfield and -

________McBride_________Johnson______

______Beasley____________Donovan_____

_______O'Brien___________Reyna________

Lewis_______________________Cherundolo
________Gibbs__________Gooch_________

_______________Keller_________________

[tbgh]

Hopefully Johnson will be up to speed come June, but for right now he's not in my best 11. Same thing for Gibbs. Consequently, to get the best 11 you have to put Donovan as a withdrawn forward, but I don't really expect to see him there much.

____________Keller_______________
_______Gooch____Pope___________
Cherundolo____________Lewis______
____________Maestro_____________
Dempsey______________Convey____
____________Reyna______________
___________Donovan_____________
___________McBride______________

The good thing about a formation like this is Dempsey, Donovan, and DMB (if he's in at LM) can all make runs and take turns playing as a withdrawn type forward. You can also really control some tempo by pulling LD back to the midfield and making it a 4-5-1.

Once again, I don't expect to see this, but I think these are the best 11 RIGHT NOW and this is the only way I see to put them on the field together.

[Pegasus]

I guess my intention was to project if everyone is at optimum health and form (I know never happen). Yours is fine for now but things will change. One change in yours for me though is DMB for Convey. One mediocre game does not make me forget what he has done in big games for the US. Now if it becomes a trend then sure. Same for any player.

[Scoobs]

US lacks the personnel and experience for a box(4-2-2-2)

[ElRoss425]

I agree with Pegasus. When everyone's healthy those are our best players and probably our best formation.

[Scoobs]

bease isn't an a-mid.

o'brien isn't a d-mid.

[Pegasus]

bease isn't an a-mid.

o'brien isn't a d-mid.

BTW, they have played a box before with Beasley and Landon in those spots. O'Brien doesn't have to be a d-mid there since he is not by himself. It is more of a two way mid with Reyna and IMO those are our best two way mids. Need more bite then Mastroeni gets inserted. Need a specific formation for an opponent then adjust as necessary. Other formations remove players I think should be on the field. Some times the dropoff is very slight and others more marked. Just my opinion.

[FuzzyForeigner]

i am a fan of the 4-4-2 to start off. Then go to a 4-3-3
but then again I think we still have Mc Bride, Convey, Howard, Dunivant, Zavagnin, Johnson, Conrad, UGH! its a difficult choice...i dont envy Arena.


______________Twellman________________
___________________Donovan___________
Dempsey____________________Beasley
______________Reyna__________________
______________Mastroeni_______________

Lewis_______________________Cherundolo
________Pope_________Gooch__________

_______________Keller_________________

[Eleven Bravo]

What i like:
Forwards: 1 Target forward and 1 speed forward

Midfield: midfield is the hardest one to organize but i like the diamond most. the problem is that Donovan may have to push up to forward and that doesn't give us another pure AM. we might have to go with a flat 3 and drop one man back as a defensive midfield if he plays forward. the thing i like about the diamond is it gives the WB more freedom to venture forward and allows our outside mids to pinch in.but the bad thing is that it neutralizes Beasley. Beasley isn't a good Left-Inside Mid but Convey is.

Defense: 2 Wingbacks and 2 Central defenders.

My favorite Line-up with Donovan as Forward:
-----------McBride--Donovan------------
-------Convey--Reyna--Dempsey--------
Lewis-----------Mastro--------------Dolo
-------------CB------Onyewu-----------

My favorite Line-up with Donovan as AM:
----------McBride--EJ/Wolff----------
-------------Donovan----------------
--------Convey-----Reyna/Dempsey
--------------Reyna/Mastro----------
same backline

Trying to get best talent on the field:
--------------McBride--Donovan----------------
Beasley-----------------------Dempsey---------
--------------Convey--------------------------
--------------------------Reyna---------------
---------Boca------------------------------Dolo
-----------------CB----Onyewu---------------
--------------------Keller---------------------

[robchap628]

I'm going with the 4-4-2 in a box midfield with:

-----------------KK
Dolo-----Gooch------Gibbs-----Lewis

--------Reyna----------Mastro

---------LD---------------DMB

---------EJ--------------BMB


I think this is how the US needs to start the match, especially against the Czech's and Italians, Mastro and Reyna are our best shot at maintaining possession, Mastro is the true d-mid and stays back while Reyna pushes up. Reyna could either move up to right or center to help with the attack, personally I wouldn't mind seeing LD slide right to the point where we'd have our midfield looking like this:

-------Mastro
LD-----Reyna-----DMB

I think Reyna is better at holding the ball in the middle of the field than Donovan and Donovan serves us best outside. I also like the box midfield becasue it allows Dolo and Lewis to come up and contribute. They're both very effective on the wings and add anotherdimension to our attack. Convey comes in off the bench for Mastro if we're losing and need to get the attack going.

Gooch is lock, If Gibbs is healthy he is too. Boca's a quality back up and may even start, he looks a lot better when lining up next to Gooch then he does Zak Knight. With Dolo and Lewis playing fullback, we may have one of the strongest back lines in the tournament.

McBride needs to be there, he's good at holding the ball and good in the air. Lewis or Dolo will connect with him for a goal or two and his ability to hang on to the ball and make good passes compliments LD and Beasley well. I know a lot people aren't to big on EJ lately but I still am. We've seen what he can do, he just needs to get back in form and regain his confidence (given it was a toe injury that shouldn't be to hard). Plus EJ plays best next to McBride, they work well together.

I know I'm going to get killed for this, but I'm still not completely sold on Twellman or Dempsey. They're both locks on my final 23, but have a long way to go to proving worthy of any serious PT in the WC. I can't see why so many BS'ers already have them penciled in as starters.

[NebUSA]

--------------McBride--Donovan----------------
Convey----------------------------Beasley------
-----------Dempsey-----------------------------
--------------------------Reyna---------------
--Lewis------------------------------------Dolo
-----------------CB----Onyewu---------------
--------------------Keller---------------------

Convey, Dempsey, and Beasley could all rotate throughout the game keeping the defense on thier toes.

Johnson has not proven himself against top quality teams.
Donovan is best up top running at the defense with his speed, plays well off of BMB.
Convey is in such good form, that we need him on the field, by far the most improved player on the MNT.
Reyna will knock the rust off and continue to return to form, looked good today. He doesn't slow us down only adds value with his control of the ball.
Lewis has proven himself at LB, hope we see him there against Germany.



I'm hoping Johnson continues to improve and pushes the rest of the attacking players to improve as well.

[forza inter]

US lacks the personnel and experience for a box(4-2-2-2)


i SERIOUSLY disagree. we play some of our best ball in a box 4-2-2-2. that actually is my preferred setup when job, reyna are both available. hell even when they arent but most of our a roster is. in fact any combo of convey/dmb/donovan/dempsey (argueably our 4 dangerous attacking players in midfield) could all fluroush in the 2 free attacking mid roles. i would have no issues seeing us use it more often.


forza inter

[hollistonrevsfan]

--------------------Keller----------------------
-------------------------------------------------
Cherundolo---Pope------Oneuyu--------Lewis
-------------------------------------------------
---------------O'Brien/Maestroeni-------------
Dempsey------------------------Convey/DMB
--------------------Reyna----------------------
-------------------------------------------------
----------Donovan--------McBride------------

Man, those lines are tough for ADD (I can never get them straight enough)

Pope has just taken Boca's spot for me. I've always thought DMB was a bit overrated so I have no problem with Convery recent rise. Finally, I put Donovan at forward because I'd much rather have Dempsey/Reyna/maybe JOB on the field over Johnson right now.

[sidefootsitter]

Based upon recent play and subject to revision:

A box may look like this (standard back-4)

---Reyna-----O'Brien----

-Dempsey-------Convey-

----Wolff---McBride----

a 4-5-1 will see Wolff out for Donovan who'll drop between Dempsey and Convey and could be a formation against top offensive teams like Czechia and Italy.

[littlerockant]

Mine will definitely be different but I've seen beasley score lots of goals with the national team and for his club team he plays more as a forward. so I'd play him as forward and bring ej/twellman/wolff off the bench . this way we'll get convey on the field since I do think he deserves to start also obrien and reyna can play as traditional two way mids. the slash is because you never know about obriens health

---------------------Keller---------
-------dolo-----Gibbs------gooch------lewis
donovan----Reyna---obrien/mastroeni-------convey
-----------mcbride--------DmB

[sidefootsitter]

Mine will definitely be different but I've seen beasley score lots of goals with the national team and for his club team he plays more as a forward... In a 4-3-3, not 4-2-2 ... and he's been so out-of-favor lately, he's barely been getting off the bench at PSV.

[Alan S]

I'm assuming the Reyna is back in form, and the JOB will
not get enough playing time after 2 years of injury to
even be on the roster.

Given Beasley's bad form recently, I've moved him to
the forward spot, since I think he would be more effective
there than Donovan. I think Beasley has played forward for
PVS and his speed would complement McBride as
a target forward.

I'd like to have Dempsey on the field but we need Maestro
as d-min and Reyna for his ability to hold the ball in mid-field.


____________Keller_______________
_______Oneuyu____Pope___________
Cherundolo____________Lewis______
_______Maestro____Reyna________
Donovan______________Convey____
_______McBride____Beasley________

[sidefootsitter]

... Given Beasley's bad form recently, I've moved him to the forward spot, since I think he would be more effective there than Donovan. Have you seen his finishing lately?

[Alan S]

Have you seen his finishing lately?

I am assuming an improvement in form from Beasley. If he does not improve then it would be Eddie Johnson there first, and next Twellman.

[littlerockant]

DMB's finishing isn't just THAT bad, true i don't catch many PSv games (if you do on what channel btw) but I don't remember it ever being that bad with the nats, plus on yanks abroad they recap every game and he always gets into the game if he doesn't start. So it's not as if he's not playing consistently. Also, we all know he'll start, he's a stalwart with the team so why not get he and convey and lewis on the same side and rampage defenses. He's a better fit there than anyone else right now and if either he or convey doesn't play well they can bring a forward off the bench to replace either him or convey and they can do a straight switch for him or sub convey and move beasley back to convey's spot