Hi all, since we have legitimate Nats now - thought it good to resurrect a separate thread for the Nats and our Revs instead of squeezing into the Thoughts thread - mods, sound okay? US play Panama today at 4pm. Jones definitely playing, hopefully Lee gets a full 90. Also, for those wondering if Farrell (or Tierney for those dreamers) will get looks at a Nats camp - here is what Klinsmann thinks. http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...reason-usmnts-3-man-backline-vs-chile-lack-ou "That's why we played a 3-5-2 in Chile because we don't have pretty much any fullbacks coming out of MLS on the level that we expect them to be.”
I see that both Lee and JJ are starting today. JJ at CB. I lose more faith in JK on a daily basis. Between his constant complaining about the players; which by the way he selects, and his insistent on JJ being a CB, I'm not high on our future chances.
Lee did not start - came on in the 78 min or so. JJ starts at CB in a 4 man back line. Adrian and Taylor discuss in first 10 min of game. They say they asked Jurgen if it is a problem if JJ plays midfield for Revolution. Jurgen says absolutely not - that Jones has a great opportunity with the Nats for this move to CB if he wants to embrace it.
I wish Twellman had asked JK why he doesnt have Lee on the same fast track like he has the likes of Shea, Yedlin, Wood ... and others he thinks are all wonderful. The Lee I see in the Nat uniform is not the Lee we see in a Rev uniform and I hope the Nat version does not come back to Rev Land. He looks like a player that is scared to make a mistake. All he does is dump it off, mostly backwards instead of trying to do something with it. He wasn't brought into camp for his back passing skills. I dont know what they have done to him in that camp but he didnt look like a MVP finalist.
Yes, the "starting" line-up that they showed during the women's game wasn't close to who actually started.
Wood can't start in the Bundesliga II and Yedlin was picked to the WC after playing like 15 professional games, and you ask how they were fast-tracked?
Wood hadn't been getting much playing time with 1860 Munich lately and that's why he moved but was with the team and getting playing time for a number of years. Yedlin was picked to the WC after having a great rookie season and showing loads of potential. His selection was certainly justified with his outstanding performace at the WC. Just because they're getting called up at a young age does not necessarily mean fast-tracked. They both deserved the call-ups they were getting. P.S. Wood may not deserve call-ups for now but I bet he'll still get called in due to lack of options overseas.
I actually watched the women's game on DVR later - and they did show what they thought "might" be the starting lineup. So they were just guessing. (Or Jurgen saw what they said, and since he loves to eff with the media - changed it to be different - haha) That game was a head-scratcher for me. I am still uneasy about this Jones and CB role and how it will impact the Revs and how he plays. The next 3 US games are close together(2 in Europe) and Jurgen will probably bring his strongest teams. Here is the schedule - how much will Jones (and Lee) be impacted with the start of the MLS season and travel? How early will Jurgen request these players? Will the Jones at CB continue? Sat Mar 21: Revs home against Montreal Wed Mar 25: US Nats at Denmark Sat Mar 28: Revs home against San Jose Tue Mar 31: US Nats at Switzerland Sat Apr 4: Revs away to Colorado Sat Apr 11: Revs home against Columbus Wed Apr 15: Revs home against Chicago AND US Nats against Mexico in San Antonio, Texas Will also be interesting to see how Heaps deals with this. Remember - before Jones and Lee's breakout year, Heaps never had to deal with Nats players missing significant amount of time. No guarantee Lee keeps getting called up based on his playing time in the last 3 games, so maybe it is just Jones we will lose.
I actually thought JJ looked much better this time around. He also helped start up a couple of counters. Much more solid performance. He had a great pass in the Chile game that the forward just wasn't able to do anything with. I think he's been better than what you're implying.
USMNT Player Rankings: Michael Bradley gets the plaudits as a familiar formation brings out Yanks' best February 8, 2015 Greg Seltzer MLSsoccer.com
IMO, Nguyen has looked as good as anyone can, given little 10 minute cameos. His 45 minutes against Chile were wasted by poor tactics - "let's put on a #10 and then forget about trying to possess the ball." Other than that, he just gets 10 minutes here or 15 minutes there.
I think what Cannons means is the Lee seems to be playing scared out there. Like if he turned it over, he'd be benched or something. I also didnt think he did anything wrong but also didnt do much to impress. I feel very sorry for him as I KNOW he brings so much more to the table then we've seen in these two games. I really hope his lack of minutes is not an indication that JK is passing on him. If JK wasn't such an idiot, he would have moved Dempsey up top when Altidore went down, and dropped Lee in behind him. Putting him on late and then out wide was a waste of his talent. Lets hope we see the usual Lee in MLS and not the scared puppy we saw yesterday.
The more I think about it, the more I agree with your worries. A couple of people have commented/joked about the poor advice Juan has received; maybe JJ also needs to look in the mirror. I know athletes are basically self delusional about their longevity, but really, a 38 year old CB in the WC. Not on a successful team. Our best CB over the last 2 decades has been Bocanegra and he was done at 36. I'm starting to feel that JK is leading him along for some reason. I don't expect anything from JJ past this season, nor do I think I want anything. But I do expect to see the borderline out of control JJ for the full season. I sure hope Russia 2018 is not on the front burner for JJ and he tries to save himself for it.
not to defend the bizarre JJ-->CB conversion dream by Klinsmann, but Mario Yepes just played in the WC for Colombia at age 39.
You are correct! I should know better, I'm always arguing that everything is a bell curve with outliers. I should have said not usually on a successful team.
Yup. The ability to function at the hight level well past the average is not uncommon. Heck I'm 78 and can still out perform most of you beer drinking, cigar smoking couch potato's
He definitely did, although it was against a less-sophisticated opponent. Good progress though. I thought Shea looked quite good - among the best US players in this game. He's got the size/strength to play LB and the speed and crossing ability to be a big threat overlapping. One of the more intriguing Klinsmann experiments IMO. I'm not sure what's bizarre about it. A mature, enthusiastic and intelligent player who is pretty well equipped for a position change. And, Klinsmann is only trying to add another option here. It's way too early to be speculating about what a 2018 back line will look like.
Center back is one of our strongest positions. JJ is much more valuable as a37 yr old as a sixtieth minute game changer midfielder.
Im thinking the JK must not be that thrilled with big Omar if he is trying so hard to mold Jones into that position.
At 58 I still play basketball with a group of "over 30" individuals. I can attest first hand that when on occasion a 20 something plays with us that even the guys in their 30's comment on how much faster and quicker the 20 year old are. Just saying, not completely ruling out the possibility for the old guys.
It's the only position in which we have starters in both the EPL and the Bundesliga. Geoff Cameron, John Anthony Brooks, Besler, Matt Hedges (untested so far but I think he'll be very good), Tim Ream, Orozco Fiscal, and now Birnbaum as well. And plus Cameron Carter-Vickers looks like he'll be very good as well. All of those guys will be 33 years old or younger, JJ's current age. Why try to shoehorn a older midfielder into that crowded spot?
All those guys are varying degrees of options, but at this point none are close to a sure thing at the international level. Cameron is closest but never plays CB at Stoke, it appears RB or DM are his options. Brooks could very well become a solid starting option, but he's been inconsistent thus far. Jones will not be able to play CM at 37. CB is his only option if he wants to play in another World Cup. He can get away with losing a step at CB, not the case in a midfield position.