If we need Nagbe to carry the team, it would be a bad idea. However, it can be very beautiful if he combines with an attacking player with creativity or killer instinct. See his game with Valeri, Dempsey and Pulisic.
Nagbe's ability to keep the ball, ride a challenge or two, and calm everyone the heck down buys us a good 10% more possession during the game I'd guess. So yeah he's not lethal in the final third but he brings a lot to the party. In games where we want to use the ball ... he has to start.
Really surprised CRC didn't pressure the US more. They gave us all kinds of time to set up and knock it about. The few times they attacked over the top they had success. The few times they were direct on the ground they were effective. Given the US lack of clinical finishing, I thought they could have sprung forward more early on, pressured our backline and attacked... Villafana is at his best defending on the attack. Unsung hero today. Defense was rarely tested, but when it was, it generally failed. I mean Gonzo of course. One on one he was anxious.
Except that Besler didn't give up a goal and we didn't lose the match. That's usually Ream's special contribution to the team.
Costa Rica at their best are one of the most organized defensive teams in international soccer. So we saw a pretty tactical game where Bruce came out with a plan and we gained an advantage and then later in the first half their adjustments made it a stalemate. It took Clint, a planned sub, to break that because he is a player with the class to operate between the lines, create, and finish. You beat set defenses by playing in the gaps they leave, force them to rotate and play into the space before it closes. Clint, Nagbe, and, to a lesser degree, Jozy are the only guys we have on this roster who can do that. Arriola and Morris are the guys who stretch the defense and run through the gaps. Pulisic does all of those things.
I never fail to chuckle at this Nagbe heat map. Perfect for tonight ============= https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C3bqVnxWAAQL67I.jpg
You said Clint "broke" that because 'he is a player with the class to operate between the lines, create, and finish". Are you saying Nagbe and Acosta cannot do that? OK, in that case we need to find players who can. I nominate Dax and Zardes. Start them against Mexico and let's win this thing. I watched a half of Chi v NYCFC today - it was all I could stomach with that horrendous pitch - but it struck me how much they missed Dax. They were playing Juninho instead but it wasn't the same. I was impressed with Bradley tonight. Give him Dax and Zardes to operate with instead of total failures Acosta and Nagbe and we/ve got a trophy.
Our best sequence of the night, Jozy's goal, came when a) Nagbe received the ball deep, in our half. b) Nagbe fed Clint where the ACM/SS occupies space and allows actual talent to do what talent does. c) Clint danced, then fed a ball to Jozy which only he and Pulisic can both create and play. d) Jozy takes his chance 1v1 with the GK and Morris stays out of the way. Which leads me to the conclusion, well I already had it but this further supports it: a) Nagbe is a deeper lying CM, a transitional 8, a guy who connects to the attack but is not part of the attack. You want him collecting in the middle 3rd, getting by his first marker and then getting to our attackers. Good lord, keep him the hell off the wing when the A team gets together as a guy like Saief is an actual winger, or Fabian. b) Clint needs to operate in that 10/ACM/SS pocket. So does Pulisic. Hence why I suggest a 3-4-2-1 with Clint and Pulisic as the dual 10's. Sounds sexy. c) See b. Get our skilled attackers in the central pockets and allow them to make magic. d) Morris isn't good in possession and doesn't read or make runs well so generally better if he just stands in the corner. I don't see him as an A team candidate.
That's pretty funny. And maybe true. But I still think Nagbe is going to be a great piece for us over the next few years. His ability to dribble, ride defenders, it's something else. It may not always produce goals cause of the graphic you showed, but it will sometimes, and that will be enough.
One play that bothered me to no end: Dempsey with the ball charging at the defense chooses to lay it off to an overlapping zardes... He puts the ball at zardes's feet. The ball is nicely waited. Does Zardes shoot? Does he cross? Does the cut it back to open up the far post shot? does he play it back? Does he hold it up? No. He takes 4 middling touches. Ends up losing it. Accomplishes nothing. To me that is not a mentally capable player. If he had done something and failed. OK. But he did nothing. Completely mentally unprepared.
My post when I saw the lineup in the pbp thread #15 I figured Nagbe and Acosta could not deliver. I knew who would get the blame. So now Nagbe is the "deep" lying midfielder. i.o.w. the guy who cant play. Just what we needed . A Pirlo who cant pass . Somebody who does, essentially , nothing.
You ever play chess? Sometimes you maneuver pieces around the board specifically 1. so that nothing happens and 2. so that you are in a good position when it finally does. Bruce hoped for the best, put his guys in a position to win, then played his ace (deuce) at the end. All very calculated. Whether it was to your or my liking...it's what happened. Fact.
I disagree with most of the adjectives you used. Maybe that's it? He's quick-thinking, combines well, dribbles well, and doesn't shoot. He drew at least 3-4 fouls around the box where advantage was called. He's not a defensive monster, but he wasn't asked to be a Zardes/Bedoya-type midfielder. He was entitled to try and attack, and if he's not getting back on defense every single time, that's not his job.
That's how they played in the WC? I don't know why everyone was so enamored with Costa Rica, as if they weren't a defensive, well-drilled 5-3-2 looking to counter in every game. That's their bread and butter. They've got good, skilled guys in the midfield and up top with Carlos Ruiz, Joel Campbell, Venegas, and Borges, and a world-class goalkeeper in Keylor Navas. But they sure as hell were no Brazil. When they try to get away from their identity, they get thrashed. Which is what happened when much-maligned Jurgen Klinsmann's team took them to the woodshed in the Copa America.
Not exactly. To say "there was zero service. Morris and Jozy did nothing. there was no midfield. Nagbe and Acosta and Arriola did nothing," is to express opinions. We're all glad about that the fact that the team scored shortly after Dempsey came on, but that fact does not evidence the "correctness" of the quoted opinions.
This was his first goal in over a year. The frustration and criticism has been deserved. Great to see him score one tonight though. If he scores on Wednesday I'll eat Jozy nipples every day for a year straight.