Well, I agree that the attack is lifeless, but I don't think Howard made anymore saves(six) than are expected of a GK in a given match.
Yea, did anyone really expect us to win this game? I thought we played fine, all things considered. France is one of the top 5-6 teams in the world. We aren't. Their roster is stocked with players from elite clubs. Ours isn't. We played pretty well, but didn't quite have the cutting edge going forward. I don't blame that on Jozy or Clint. They're two of our top 3-4 players right now. We just don't have enough midfielders who are confident and effective in possession. I'm glad that Jozy played well. He really looked like he could hold his own out there against the likes of Rami and Koscielny, which is a great sign for his development. If he keeps playing at this level he will be our best player come 2014.
Who is clearly better than them? Spain, Germany, Brazil, Netherlands... That's about it. I know they sucked at the last WC, but that doesn't change the fact that their roster is stacked. Samir Nasri didn't even make their last WC squad. If he were an American, he'd be the best field player we've ever produced. Kinda puts it into perspective.
I missed them. How did they play yesterday? Regardless if they are top 10 or Luxombourg - the US offense looks absolutely lost and pathetic. France may be top 5 or 10 or 15, but they should not be so good that we can't get a decent shot on goal. Scary good Albania was able to score on them. Scary good Belarus beat and tied them. edit: I see ArsenalMetro already addressed this.
I think we are a top 10 team. We have a potential and talented players in the team and once we will have found the good system it will be great. We are also unbeaten since 16 matchs. We will be among the top 4 in Euro I firmly believe. For the americain team, you played a bit like Luxembourg, same tactics than them , parking the bus to try to steal a 0-0. To be realist, none of the americain players would have been a starter for France and very very few could have make the list. There was a big gap in technique and talent on the field and 1-0 is nothing to be ashamed about. This is the way you played wich was disappointing as I thought Klinsmann would try to boost up beyond these kind of tactics. Anyway, you are a solid team.
For talent you have to think France are back in the discussion for contenders for top 5. Blanc has them playing like a champion. Italy doesnt usually beat Luxy or F.Islands by more than 3,only the Germans like to run up the score for the most part. Dempsey was not good. He held the ball too long and as a #10 should have coordinated his teammates better on the field. After the 4th time he held the ball too long because no one made the run he just has to pull them aside and say, hey, make a move when I have the ball in this position. At this point it is safe to say they are thinking too much in the final third and not playing.With Jozy, Shea, Williams you have three guys 22 or younger. I guess the bet is that in 3 years they will be hitting their prime. The other thing that is getting missed is that France played quite a few players behind the ball and was structurally similar to the US, they just had more quality on the wings and better service.
Just finished watching...stupid work. Read through most of the thread. One thing that jumped out to me was the US didn't play poorly at all. There seems to be a sense of dread on the board that we weren't creating chances. I didn't see it that way. The French were very disruptive with the way they were fouling the heck out of Dempsey et al, and the the only player to really shrug it off was Jozy, who is a beast. Played at a neutral stadium, I think the officiating would have been a little tighter and the French were lucky to not be playing with some yellow cards, especially Diarra with his elbow into Dempsey's face early in the match. If that guy had to back off on his aggressive play, that would change some of the dynamic. It is tough to attack when a lenient ref is letting the French defense get away with obvious hacking fouls while Ribery is going down with minimal contact. But what can you expect playing at the Stade de France in front of a pretty full house? That said, Danny Williams and Brek Shea were absent last night. They need to buck it up and shrug off some of the fouling or at least expect it and try to create some space either behind or get rid of the ball sooner (you can add Chandler to that list as well in his attacking). The one player that looked good as a sub was Edson Buddle. I would love to see him get a run with Jozy up top.
Officiating was fair/light both ways. Non-friendly refereeing may have seen Edu yellow or red carded for his slide tackle in the first half. Ref instead gave him a very stern warning. Wasn't crazy about Goodson a couple of times either. A lot of us would like to see Jozy receive a little help up top.
Wha!??! If this is really what is going on, then we are utterly screwed. We had a winning mentality for the last 10 years.
Don't we realize that "when" we start producing top level players, we will certainly have a new coach and a totally new system? Just asking.
As you noted, he has to hold the ball. He's got to wait for the wing players to get upfield to support him. Right now, the wings are very uninvolved w/ the O. When Demps or Jozy receives the ball, it reminds me of an old Helen Reddy song: You and me against the world, sometimes if feels like you and me against the world .....
I would be fine with that, have proposed it many times before. My main thing is to try Dempsey @ the 8. At the wing, Jozy could do what he does best: go at defenders. I guess you could put Dono in the hole, Jozy on the wing. Fine by me.
all decent ideas but may not be necessary. this team will look totally different with a real linking MF in the center of the park. people complain that the wings werent involved, the strikers were isolated....these are not the causes of our problems, but rather they are all effects of not having someone in central MF to link play from front-to-back and left-to-right.
The high level of a France exposes how many of our pool of players do not play at the same level, with the exceptions of Howard, Dempsey, etc--very impressed by Altidore's improvement, which shows me that it's not so much the players' capabilities we're talking about but what they're used to. JK knows this, I have to believe, and will address it. Somehow.
I agree with this to an extent. But as I also noted 1. He is the leader of this team. He needs to lead on the pitch and guide some of these new kids. I didnt get the sense he was calling them out properly. 2. He had some open options and went selfish on some plays. He was a step or two slow tonight.
I guess everybody here has watched: http://www.mlssoccer.com/video/2011/11/10/jurgen-klinsmann-interview-part-1 http://www.mlssoccer.com/video/2011/11/10/jurgen-klinsmann-interview-part-2 http://www.mlssoccer.com/video/2011/11/11/jurgen-klinsmann-interview-part-3 While Klinsmann makes sense, at times I get the impression he's talking about the USMNT back in 1996. He's talking about a very long-term approach, about mentality, empowerment, MLS and diet. It's evident that he's no tactician. His philosophy is sound in that sense: no matter how many plans you make, the team in front of you is different each time and the players are the ones who make the decisions on the field. Also, his point about soccer not being like other American sports that are more stop-and-go is good: you cannot make on-the-fly overarching tactical/strategic adjustments during a game, or even if you can make them, it will still depend on the players. BUT in the back of my head it keeps nagging me. Wouldn't an actual tactician had been better as a coach, and JK better as the man behind youth programs and such? Because, even with the shallow pool, the mentality part was already doing fine. Empowerment, mentality, phylosophy, etc. sound like empty buzzwords for a team that has already beaten or tied some of the best.
it was his cross, one of what, 4 all match that dempsey should have at least put on frame, went for the pass to nowhere. he has the best 1. pace 2. cross of all our players on the left. A great guy to have on the bench. He can still make an impact.
Just to keep things in perspective, Gooch is as good as any CB we've ever had, and when healthy, probably better. Dempsey and Dolo fall within that 10 year period and Dempsey already is in the top 10 of the best US players ever. Jozy is still developing and McBride didn't really show until his late 20's so let's see what Jozy and Shea are like in 2-4 years. Let's see what Holden can do if he comes back from injury but he was certainly on track to be up there with Ramos, Cobi Jones and possibly Reyna. There are younger players like Zusi and Omar who haven't been given the chance but who could eventually slot in, maybe by 2014, and fill the holes. As far as Beasley...well, his cross to Dempsey (right on his head) created the only real scoring opportunity and Beasley is good for at least one of those a game and that is why he should be on the team, subbing for Shea for now. Beasley got little or no distribution and THAT was/is the problem with this team. We do not have a true #10 and Dempsey is not it. I think he pairs well with Altidore UP TOP in a 4-4-2 which is the formation we should use and NEVER, NEVER, EVER again use the 4-5-1. And Donovan is simply going to have to be that #10 because there is no one else at this point, though again, I can see Zusi stepping into that role.