Again, once again, PLEASE understand:we're just not that good USA v ES [R]

Yeah and more importantly, we did great in a hostile Poland. Maybe its because we are only as good as our competition and this Confed Cup will prove that.

 

I agree about Orozco and Bradley is at fault for not getting depth at CB.

I hope Jozy gets onto the pitch but I didn't think Ching played poorly. He can hold the ball well and can even create for a forward. Donovan is fine where he is. RM is Dempsey's position.

I wouldn't bench Beasley until Rogers is developed. I would love for there to be other options besides Beasley but as of now, the options aren't there. Beasley will improve as he is working himself back with Rangers. I still believe he can regain his form that made him a good player in the Champions League. I agree Rogers needs to start making the camps but he isn't ready yet and remains a talented work in progress. Bob needs to really develop depth on the left and Rogers would be a good project. Convey is a long long way off so you are wrong there.

Holden needs a good stretch of starting in the MLS before we can even begin thinking he is ready for the national team. This season he has a bigger role with Houston, so lets see if he can handle that first.

Our biggest problems with the NT remain finding depth at CBs and getting Pearce off the field. Spector getting healthy can hopefully help that. Sasha Kljestan is just too inconsistent but we have other CM's that force Bradley's hand. I think Sasha can still improve over the next year, however.

 

"Originally Posted by Bolo View Post
Here is my problem.... this analysis isn't the case. Other than his rookie year when he was a child, he started 95% of available games from age 15.5-18 years old before departing MLS.

More accurate would be to ask, what keeps him off the field for the last year (second half of last year, first half of this year) while playing for in Europe. Once you couch the question in reality it becomes a different question.

Now if we are asking this question, I think the answer is simple. Freddy is not a wing, he does not possess the pace. Freddy was not good enough to displace Rui in Benifca or Park in Monaco. If you watch the substitution patterns, both Costa and Park play (engine) full games, the wings (tires, doing all the running) get substituted out. If Adu can't fill the wing position he's limited to the underneath forward or CAM position. That position is usually filled by the most soccer savvy player on the teams. Adu is loosing those fights. If he wins those fights in the future, he will play.

Regarding the USMNT, Adu still does not possess the pace to play the wing. This means, unless LD moves outside ADU is a man without a position.

What I would like to see tried in the offensive side..

--------------------Jozy------------------------
--------------------ADU------------------------
Landon-----Torres---------Bradley--------Clint


Until Adu can convince BB that his ability is worth moving LD outside he's not going to play."




Been the lineup and everyone should know it by now too.

If I can give Bob Bradley any credit other than raising a Bundesliga level footballer in his son, it's that the man is not stupid. He did graduate from Princeton. I'm assuming he's a quick study. He may simply be biding his time and following the classic formula laid down by il Bruce of qualifying with the veterans and then throwing in the kids for the Confed Cup and World Cup which is universally aknowledged as a young man's game... IMO we've got to believe that's where we're going with these shenanigans.

The goal right now is to qualify no questions asked and we did just escape with a point away to El Salvador... even the best teams on the planet love to escape with a point away in the worst conditions... no questions asked.

Yes I agree our front four should be :

---------Altidore
Donovan--Adu---Dempsey

And when that foursome puts the ball on the ground and plays balls into the channels no defense on the planet should be able to hold down that combination of speed and skill for 90 mins.


This has to be where we're heading. And what I expect to see at the Confed Cup.

 

I don't know if the whole team bottled themselves up. I think the a players not on their game affected everyone. Sasha certainly stunk and I think that affected more people. Beasley (rusty) and Pearce (bad) really took away the whole left side of the field. Coach Bob really has not done a good job at getting more CBs into the system. Califf is a joke.

If Torres at CM, Spector at LB, and anyone other than Califf start, we have a completely different game. Not everyone was scared or not agressive but some key players were off. The good news is that we have other options at most places. No back up to Beasley remains a problem and Bob needs to address that.

 

Except if we bring this:

GK: Howard, Guzan, pick one
Fullbacks: Spector, Pearce, Szetela, Cherundolo
Centerbacks: Edu, Giibbs, Gooch, Califf/(pick one)
Midfield: Feilhaber, Torres, Bradley, Mastro
Forwards: Donovan, Beasley, Adu, Rogers, Dempsey, Altidore, Cooper, Buddle


And start this:

---------Altidore
Donovan--Adu--Dempsey
----Feilhaber--Bradley
Spector--Edu--Gibbs--Szetela


Then we're now playing on the rest of the world's level see. And that's when we stop playing soccer start playing football and start taking names in the World Cup. And that's the level that we should be progressing to. That should be simple and easy too. I'm tired of watching us waste our time with negative tactics and bad ballers, especially in defense. It's about time that we moved on.

 

Go back and watch the chemistry between Feilhaber and Bradley vs. Brasil. Easily the game where the United States has looked best in the past 2 years. We've never been able to interplay like that in any third of the field since then. And Feilhaber has consistently shown more than any other central midfielder we have the ability to play the final ball into the channel behind interntational defenses most often. Hopefully he'll soon start earning a paycheck for it in Denmark.


Gibbs has the abilility to put any central forward in his back pocket for 90 mins and let them out at the end of the game. That's a talent you simply do not let go of. You can sub Gibbs for Gooch if you want, but Gibbs is the much better centerback.

And I've said it before Szetela is our prototype RB. We'll be attacking down the right side of the field. Dempsey and Szetela running at you with the ball and making runs off each other and combining down that side of the field is a scary prospect for any defense.


All posted from another thread.

 

After seeing Donovan's one run where he blew up the right side because he had space; then I'd say CD's position is in the center Donovan's out wide. Clint tried to initiate the change late but I don't think it ever came from LD.

Jeremiah White and Jamal Johnson? Hello!!
Hell; Danny Szetela? All of these guys are getting more playing time then Beasley and yet their asked to stay home? Why exactly?

As said earlier; Frank Simek's injury woes have really hurt the NT because he at his age of 24 has all the abilities to make him better then Wynne.

 

I agree with you on Holden, this year in MLS is a very big year for him.
I like convey because he can cross but thats my opinion.
Colin Clark needs a look because he has good technical ability

 

This. The "problem" with being the clear power in the confederation is that sometimes, the 2nd and 3rd tier will bring their A++ game at home, and you can't do much but hold on. At least this is a road game ... Is Portugal a terrible side because of:

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/europe/matches/round=250471/match=300040503/report.html

or

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/europe/matches/round=250471/match=300040510/report.html

 

Repped. I love it, and you seem to be the only person that agrees with my views on things, some big changes need to be made and some risks need to be taken, it's time to let the boys loose and play free flowing attacking soccer. Let the veterans who can't recieve a 5 yard pass efficiently go.

 

Spector's just not that good either!

 

Across the board our Euro based players weren't up to the challenge of a highly motivated ES side playing at home. Is that so surprising given the demands of club football these guys deal with day in and day out AND then have to fly half way round the world some of them to play at short notice (recuperation and jet-lag wise) after months of consistent competition and travel? They may be pros but they can't always bring their A games under such circumstances. As coach, Bradley's got to make the call as to who can put in the big effort needed for such a game. It's enough to know that your "best" players aren't always the "best" on any given day. That's why team depth and overall experience can go a long way in these qualifiers. We badly missed Gooch and Howard's toughness. I'm certain we'll see a much better performance on Wednesday.

 

Hmmm. You seem to contradict yourself here. If you want my vote, I'm siding with the second personality.

Compared to El Salvador, yeah... we are that good. This match showing/result was far less than we are capable of. Pretty simple, really: they mostly stunk on Saturday night. That does happen, but let's not go all hara-kari on our overall expectations from it.

To me, that's worse than saying "that guy sucked" or "the coach sucked". Because, well... some of 'em kinda did.

 

Are you joking? Seriously, I don't know.

Szetela isn't a right back.

Gibbs hasn't been a good player in about 5 years thanks to injury.

Feilhaber hasn't started a game for club/country in almost a year and half. Benny also hasn't played more than 20 professional clubs games in his whole career (6 club starts with the rest being garbage time) and he's not even that young anymore at 24. You think he's ready?

Edu isn't a CB despite playing there for 3 games at the U23 level. That doesn't make someone ready to take over a CB position for a team serious about qualifying and playing in the World Cup.

Your squad wouldn't even qualify for the World Cup and no serious manager, unless he was on incredible amounts of hallucinogenic drugs, would even think about your ideas.

 

You must spread some reputation around before giving it to bshredder again.

 

Again, Bradley makes this weakness larger than it needs to be. We have RBs more technical than Frankie. We have forwards more technical than Ching. We have CBs more technical than Califf and Boca. We have LMs more technical than Beasley.

He's probably expecting ties.

 

close to what i was about to post, so....

qft!

plus, spector isn't a left back and hasn't even played there in a pinch for a while. even for his hammers who tend to plug him in where needed - but not at left back.

 

Hmmm. We had one of the oldest teams in Germany. IIRC, we were the 3rd oldest. We started McBride as a lone forward. We started Pope in central defense. We started Eddie Lewis at LB. We were ooooold.

 

Arena danced with who he trusted. He also centered that team around 3 kids under the age of 25 in the midfield. Donovan, Beasley, And Convey. everyone else was support.

I doubt Arena cared about the average age of his team either in 02 or 06.

 

Why???

Szetela is getting nothing more than garbage time in Serie B

Johnson plays in League One. My team Millwall is in League One and I have been to many League One games when I lived over there. Believe me, it's not a league you want to have national team players at.

White is a decent player but at right mid we do have better options. I think the Danish Superliga is a good league for a younger player but White is in his prime and he's probably as good as he ever is going to get. We would be better trying to work with younger players like Holden or Zizzo than try to get White into the player pool.

 

I can tell you it is not because you have some profound topic to discuss. Its simple, your thread and title are basicly a negative challenge to people and saying we are not as good as we think is going to get more hits and generate more emotion.

Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled pompus banter.

 

More then Beasley. Garbage time is time and experienced learned. More importantly he is still contracted to Santander and Racing is highly looking to bring this kid back.

You must of missed my post that MLS is at League 2 level and more importantly has players who are good enough for higher dreams. JJ is that player along with your boy Zak. The league does hurt when it comes to competition but if your a good player then you can make it work. Carlos Edwards proved that years ago with his devotion to Luton Town and now he's in the Prem. So too did Steve Finnigan. Your just comming up with overused excuses to prove your point and negate mine; that Beasley shoudn't be their. You also continue to abuse Califf but in reality for a guy who couldn't hear played great and had the distribution that Boca lacked.

No offense but Zizzo? Is it because he's in the Bundesliga? White is a great player and has atleast one more cycle in him. More importantly and overlooked quality is his speed which is incredible and the Danish league has some great talent in it. Mohammed Zidane was one special player their. Plus Fall from Senegal is World Class and when a team from Holland or even the Premiership picks him up, watch out.

By the way, besides aforementioned players here; who do we have at RM?

 

And this thread continues in its comedy. Karl was confronted with real, live screwups that Bob made. Mistakes that contributed to a disappointing result. And he takes a pass because he just doesn't want to admit sunshine might not beam out of Bob's ass. And he's kind of afraid to engage in real debate.

Remember when nobody else could replace Armas and Reyna in our central midfield? Karl didn't have a lot to say when O'brien and Mastroeni served him a steaming cup of STFU soup then, too.

Which is odd... I don't recall the, "see, we're just not that good thread!" after we thumped Mexico. Maybe that's because Karl had spent months saying Mexico was entering a "golden age" and we just might not ever, ever be able to beat them again. More soup for Karl.


Bob made some dumbass choices in player selection and deployment. And a third rate coach took a less than A-league side to the brink of a win against Bob's team. Then again, Bob spent his last few years watching other coaches like Kinnear win championships while he was at home watching with Armas. Maybe they shared a bowl of Karl's soup.

 

If short, quick, technical guys like El Salvador can run circles around us, what is going to happen when we play big, quick, technical, guys like Honduras and Costa Rica?