I want to leave most of the discussion to you guys, but I think he doesn't look uncomfortable out there. He's yet to go up against a truly good fullback of course. There are times when he lacks the movement required from that position, like when Juergen was yelling at him " I need you HERE, Eddie!", but there are other times when he shows good movement into the channels, hence his involvement in the second goal. Either way, I would say Eddie is fully back in the mix.
I noticed it created problems for Guatemala when he switched sides with zusi. His best plays came from the right in my opinion. The one issue I had was that he would always try to play the ball back in off the touchline with his right foot even when he was on the left. This creates issues with touch control and the passes end up curling the wrong way sometimes. I really think that natural lefties are better on the left side. Righties are better in the middle and on the right. That being said I think he has been great and integral for our sweet escape from this stage of WCQ.
I say no. Eddie Johnson is a striker, not a winger or even a wide forward. He isn't an exceptional crosser of the ball (tonight's assist notwithstanding), I don't think he has a good understanding of positioning for that role, he lacks the work rate, and he isn't a big contributor defensively. I will amend my last statement by mentioning that Johnson did show great effort to track back and win a ball to break up an Antigua & Barbuda counterattack on Friday, which I appreciated. I don't mean to sound negative in this post about Eddie. I just think his skills are best utilized up front. Closer to the box, using his heading ability to be a receiver of crosses, and running the channels between central defenders to latch onto through balls. Those are his strengths.
That whole deal of playing a player on their off foot is a tactic that has been long-used to get winger players with a good shot a chance to shoot. David Villa was great as a left midfielder for Spain at the World Cup and scored a fantastic goal against Honduras cutting in off the flank.
he is barely passable on the right wing and terrible on the left wing. the only thing he does that is decent is kick the ball off opponents for a corner. but his dribbling and end product getting the ball into the box is mostly crap ... he does just that bit to much to take a potentially threatening play and turn it into a useless play. that has always been his MO and it still is. he isn't NT quality ... he is a fine flat track bully against the rubbish likes of A&B and Guatemala ... but if he is playing in the HEX against the likes of Honduras, Costa Rica or Mexico or Zeus forbid in the WC against truly world class players the USMNT is in serious trouble. EJ is a nice MLS calibre player ... which doesn't make him good enough for the NT imho ... the only MLS that should be on the USMNT are the one or two best players in MLS (perhaps like LD who have come back from success abroad but still have it) or the occasional up and comer who hasn't mad a move to Europe yet but is defiitely on the way. outside of that if there are anymore journeyman MLSers on the USMNT roster it is just a sign of how utterly shite our player pool is and not how good MLS is. it is fine to hav a NT made up of players that started in MLS but then quickly moved to better leagues because their talet was undeniable but it is not fine to have to rely on good MLS (meaning mediocre to bad on the NT scale) players in our pool ... that is sooo 2000 .... we are supposed to be progressing as a soccer nationnot standing still.
TheNearPost Fair enough. but being a lefty myself I was always deeply uncomfortable with playing off foot. I would turn the ball over much more often with a bad touch or pass and felt like there was an invisible wall restricting my play. I was a rec league nobody though so maybe I am off the reservation in terms of my thinking here.
Verdict is still out but what I do like about Eddie is he seems to be hustling for the team more than ever now. I really like what I am seeing from him, he is not playing selfish, he is not disappearing, he is mixing it up and trying to push it forward. He missed a golden opportunity in front of goal tonight but that can happen to the best in the world from time to time, still, he should have scored on that one.
I see what he's saying about David Villa. He's suggesting similar roles, not necessarily that they're similar players. This isn't necessarily my starting XI, but I wouldn't mind seeing something like this: I think of it more as a 4-3-3 with Dempsey as the false 9 than as a 4-4-2 diamond. Width provided by EJ, Gomez, FJ, Cherundolo, and Donovan. EJ and Gomez crash the back post. Dempsey can drop into the midfield to find the ball, and Donovan can drift wide as the opportunity presents itself. In addition to more than adequate width, we'd also have plenty of presence in the middle of the field with the midfield 3 plus Dempsey. I wouldn't be against plugging Altidore in or trying a new CB for Bocanegra, but I think a lineup like this would be flexible and play to our strengths. Even if you don't see Eddie Johnson as starting XI material, you have to acknowledge that his emergence is bringing new and valuable qualities to our forward pool, namely speed and aerial ability.
I thought he did better this time around. I like the fact he is not afraid to go at defenders, we needed someone to do that. he is a work in progress from the wing. continue with the experiment.
And in form Brek Shea deserves a mention here, as long as we're bring up JFT. Not that I'm saying Shea is IN form, I'm just saying when he is - he belongs in the convo.
Too many people jump to conclusions so easily. Just because a name is dropped doesn't mean someone is saying they are similar players, at the same level, etc. Its often times used to illustrate a point. The guys point was pretty easy to grasp. About right footed players playing on the wing so they can cut in and shoot with their preferred foot. It looks something like this btw. Remember Kljestan doing that quite a bit with Chivas USA. See other players do it all the time too. That curling kick to the far post after cutting inside to their preferred foot. The fact I used Kljestan doesn't make the point any less valid. And the point wasn't specifically about EJ either. It was about players playing on the opposite side of their preferred foot.
uh ... yeah but one of the people in the example was a highly talented, world class, multi-skilled soccer player and the other was EJ because you can put a very talented player out of position or on their off foot side and they can excel is irrelevant to EJ being able to do so because EJ barely has the talent to play his natural position.
I love that fans are still stupid enough that this sort of thing still gets to them. I'm comparing the roles. Not the players. Why the hell does this kind of shit even have to be explained still? Jesus.
No actually he didn't. He said Villa is an example of a winger playing inverted(on the side of their weaker foot) The point was simple its not unusual to have a winger on their off foot
OleGunnar just has a thing for EJ. Hates him with a passion. https://www.bigsoccer.com/community/...n-picked-by-mtl-traded-to-sea.1803862/page-24 Start there for his more recent remarks. And then there are these fabulous posts from early in the year, lol. https://www.bigsoccer.com/community/...l-traded-to-sea.1803862/page-10#post-25180511 https://www.bigsoccer.com/community/...l-traded-to-sea.1803862/page-11#post-25182123 https://www.bigsoccer.com/community/...l-traded-to-sea.1803862/page-12#post-25182167 and keep reading for more classic EJ hate
As I'm beginning to find out... If I knew that I was dealing with someone who didn't even rate EJ then I probably wouldn't have bothered. Either way, we'll have to wait a little bit longer to see him against some better opponents. Isn't Eddie Johnson ambidextrous anyways?
that's right .... everybody jump on that EJ bandwagon ... it is weird, i have this strange sense of deja vu ... like i've somehow been here before ... EJ bullying crap CONCACAF competition ... everybody declaring him the next US soccer saviour ... oh the speed ... sure he doesn't have much touch, or skill or soccer IQ but look at him run ... he's so fast ... and he scored some goals against some minnows ... pack up this bandwagon and ride baby ... what could possibly go wrong. i promise not to laugh when your EJ bandwagon ends up on fire in a ditch ... again.
The post of mine that you quoted specifically said " We'll have to wait until we see him against some better opponents"... How is that, or anything anybody has been saying in this post even close to the declaration of Eddie Johnson as "the savior of U.S. Soccer"?
same when I say I think Jurgen is ok. he has his faults and problems but we have to wait and see how it pans out to really know and people go f@cking insane and think I love Jurgen and hate Bob...which is the weirdest since I think Bob is the best coach in USMNT history. ANyway.... On EJ I think he is serviceable but ultimately other players will replace him by 2014.
I think the way Klinsy is going is away from the traditional dutch forward system with 2 true wingers supplying a big strong target forward. It appears our formation is evolving to still a three forward system that is very fluid but primarily two true forwards who are both responsible for providing width to open up the hole for the withdrawn center forward to sneak in. I believe this system will benefit us greatly because it fits dempsey like a glove giving him the ability to sneak around and because of the fact we don't have a true target forward like a mcbride.
Yes and no. When this team is healthy, I don't see Johnson starting on the wing. Donovan would replace Johnson. This was Guatemala with no interest in attacking for a half.....................they're not a team in the top 50 of the FIFA rankings. If we're starting Eddie Johnson on the wing against Russia in November I'd be shocked. Saying that, Eddie's clearly made himself an option to be named to these rosters. He can play up top and on the wing. He played better last night than say...............Brek Shea has in some of his appearances over over the past 6 months. I'd take him on the wing over somebody like Torres, who's not suited to that role. The key as was mentioned above is to keep Dempsey doing what's doing, while figuring out how to build the team around that. If Dempsey works better with Johnson and Gomez than Shea and Altidore..............then that's what we should do.
EJ has certainly played himself onto the extended roster. But if I'm testing natural forwards as wingers or wing midfielders, then I'd rather see Wondolowski and Pontius given a run out in this kind of role. Wondo and Pontius have better footskills and better soccer brains, plus good work rates and are good scorers. Both have played as wide attacking wing/mids professionally with some success. It's actually kind of funny that Wondo has been in multiple camps and seen some bits of game time under JK, but always as a pure forward (sometimes solo), never as a wide attacking midfielder, a role he has played many times in MLS. Yet, a true classic forward like EJ makes his return to the Nat's and starts his first two games as a wing midfielder. In any case, I'm happy for EJ and he's earned additional callups. I'd just prefer him battling for the 3d or 4th striker spot rather than as an attacking wing midfielder.