Man in the hole!!

[superdave]

Just an observation.

We've been bitching about the way Bradley plays his twin central mids too deep, too defensively. The dreaded empty bucket, or DEB.

Against Spain in the first half, and against Argentina, we used Adu and then Donovan as a #10 behind a lone striker, and in front of twin deep mids.

And it worked a hell of alot better than any of the 4-4-2s we've been playing. The key thing going forward is, the US needs to play a highly technical, attacking mid, in the hole behind the striker. That allows better link from back to front without sacrificing defense in the midfield.

Thoughts?

[sidefootsitter]

The deep mids themselves pushed up a lot further as well.

The half-court play was still exceedingly slow but they did run some quick counters in the 2nd half.

[OWN(yewu)ED]

swear to god we made two posts just now with the exact same thing in mind at the same time lol. thats awesome. I guess what you are saying is 5 man midfield??

[ghazi]

I see it as the 4-2-3-1 that teams like Liverpool use to great effect this season. We also saw Spain use it at times, and even the Dutch have shifted from their historic 4-3-3 to this tactic recently.

Against the monster teams we played in our last 3 games if we didnt play the bucket, we woulda kicked the bucket, so to speak.

I dont mind the formation at all, because the biggest problem is not the formation, but the attitude and technical issues our players showed in their first two games.

[luftmensch]

Agree, and I don't think it was accidental that we did better with just one d-ish mid when Mastro was booted out. Less clutter, perhaps? And I'm not blaming anything on Mastro, thought he had a pretty darn good game, just don't think we need two of them.

And yes, they were getting forward more all game, Bradley & Edu in particular. Hard to tell if that was by coach's direction or if we were just playing with more balls.

[Eleven Bravo]

i agree. i think our only options for this really are Adu, Donovan, and Dempsey. Adu would be my first option pushing Donovan up to the 2F position and Dempsey to the RM, FW, or bench.

...possibly Kljestan (might be better for us as a winger instead), Alvarez (if he becomes a more complete player), Szetela (if he gets more PT and develops properly), Gaven (if he gets his act together), Nguyen (same as Gaven), Feilhaber (if he comes back from injury and plays for a team where he can start), Convey (if he comes back from injury ever), Noonan (same as Gaven & Nguyen) or Mapp (Same as Gaven, Noonan, & Nguyen) could fill this role too.

[OWN(yewu)ED]

I see it as the 4-2-3-1 that teams like Liverpool use to great effect this season. We also saw Spain use it at times, and even the Dutch have shifted from their historic 4-3-3 to this tactic recently.

Against the monster teams we played in our last 3 games if we didnt play the bucket, we woulda kicked the bucket, so to speak.

I dont mind the formation at all, because the biggest problem is not the formation, but the attitude and technical issues our players showed in their first two games.

exactly, i think we found the new sexy formation of the USMNT

-------------------Howard-----------------

---------------X-----------X--------------
Dolo--------------------------------Pearce

-------------Edu----------Bradley-----------------

Kljestan----------------------------------Donovan
---------------------Adu--------------------------

--------------------Jozy--------------------------

I find it absolutely amazing that in just one game our center defensive picks are completely up in the air, locked in 4 picks on offense through playing (Edu, Kljestan, Donovan, Adu all played magnificently together). And Jozy locking himself more with each passing game that EJ plays. Amazing :)

[miked9]

I think it's interesting that 2 years ago, people were decrying the 4-5-1 as a universally 'defensive' formation. Now, it's a 4-4-2 with wingbacks that is the enemy.

I think it was more a matter of personnel than formation.

[Lloyd Heilbrunn]

Against bloody Barbados at home there is zero reason not to play two forwards( EJ & LD?) and a true AM (Adu), in front of a DM (Take your pick, but I'd lean toward Mastro).

Let's see if BB is flexible enough to do so...

[Elninho]

I see it as the 4-2-3-1 that teams like Liverpool use to great effect this season. We also saw Spain use it at times, and even the Dutch have shifted from their historic 4-3-3 to this tactic recently.

Against the monster teams we played in our last 3 games if we didnt play the bucket, we woulda kicked the bucket, so to speak.

I dont mind the formation at all, because the biggest problem is not the formation, but the attitude and technical issues our players showed in their first two games.

Formations are mostly semantics, anyway... while there is a real difference between 4-2-3-1 and 4-2-2-2 (one high forward vs. two high forwards), the 4-2-3-1 is really a reworking of the 4-3-3. Think of it as a 4-3-3 with two deep mids and a central playmaker, and the wing forwards listed as midfielders.