Bruce probably wont make any major changes until post T&T but I wish we could see how Cameron does at DM instead of Bradley with Miazga filling his role at CB. I feel like with the rest of our best Defense (from the Copa) we could stay in the chase for a R16 spot no matter the group. Bradley has strengths but at times Cameron(who plays CB) seems even more a forward passer than Bradley. Add on the fact that putting Cameron at DM means no more last man mistakes from him.
I always liked the idea of Cameron at D-mid, but the way we got owned in the Belgium match... I'll never shake that. In that role, he's not Kyle Beckerman 2014. Who was a little too old.
Thanks for this link. I missed wherever it was posted before, but some really good analysis of our spacing issues. I particularly liked when the comments on midfield said, "the players positioning looks random." Yup. Oh, but I would say that point #4 is actually the lesser problem by far. If you play poorly all over the field and don't work as a unit and use space well, you're not going to get enough chances bearing down on goal for it to matter much.
Remember , Arena said Klinsmann's selections were fine, he just didn't play them the right way. Managing a WC team thru the cycle entails hitting a moving target and US Soccer doesn't have that technique down yet because they are too fixated on economic issues. Arena is already looking past summer 2018. The last chance to get outstanding talent on the proving grounds was the Gold Cup. The suits are already bashing their erstwhile easy assumption that Wood and Jozy should play together up top - the 2 blob American forward formation. Now what? Bash the old guys who are headed into retirement anyway. Cheap shots.
I used to call Klinsmann's diamond the 2 blob forward American 442. I've enlarged the description to "The American 2 blob forward formation with 1 rhinoceros dmid assisted by the Gump twins. "
Covers more ground than most of our players when it comes to stopping counters. Good addition to have in the box on set pieces. Otherwise, not much more that I don't see Cameron or someone else having difficulty replacing. I always thought having Jones/Bradley in the midfield was an ugly combo. It neutered the opposition attacks and neutered our attacks also.
Here's an excerpt: "The USA’s national team was quite disappointing in Honduras. They did not have any organization in their positioning nor quality in the decisions with the ball. In everything that matters to play the game well, the quality presented was too low. And even considering the decisions with the ball require both talent and intelligence, the defensive positioning should be way more developed. The soccer in the United States is still far from the European reality." Ouch. It would be interesting to see what the writer would say when comparing that USMNT team's play against Honduras to the Toronto squad with Bradley playing with Delgado in mid and 3cb's, two of whom are American and throw in Jozy and Morrow and Bono (gk) as well. I suppose they would say "yeah, but Toronto is in Canada."
Utterly pointless rant that missed all the main reasons the US is where it is. You want to critique old players that are over the hill and the best player (at 18) the US has ever produced in order to get your name in the headlines? Sure, do it. But don't have any illusions about how badly you missed the mark. You want to critique US Soccer? How about critiquing the guys at the top that have completely failed to ID talent, ID coaches, and failed to improve US soccer (and let it slide backwards in fact) over the past 8-10 years. Who hired Jurgen? Who had to the great idea to try and make him a 2x cycle coach? Who failed to create a development and scouting program that has the US relying on German scouts to ID our best player? US soccer and its execs. That's who. This rant is actually counter-productive because it puts the heat on the still too young or over the hill or mis-used players rather than aiming it at the top of US Soccer where it should be.
Even if true, a woefully inadequate resume for a NT CM. He covers more ground because he's usually chasing players who blew past him. Any Bradley/pick one combo is ugly. Arena's inexplicable allegiance to Bradley will be his undoing when the NT continues to lose the midfield and, as a result, don't qualify or get hammered in WC.
I haven't seen an ABMOD reference on this board since maybe 2003. Wow. Ankle Biting Midget Of Death, for those playing at home. The US team needs a midfield destroyer. That destroyer has been Jermaine Jones for a number of years, but he's now past his sell by date. The next level down is probably Danny Williams. I think the Panama game screams for Danny Williams, Jermaine or no Jermaine.
this is exactly what im worried about most....arena riding this horse as long as he can......i wish he wasnt even the wc coach for russia...but im guessing he wants to go another full cycle if he can......would be horrible.
If Bruce told Michael Bradley he wanted to enroll him in the Weapon X program for the next 6 months, MB would sprint there. Not, you know, quickly... but that's what we need, really. Isn't it right up there in Canada somewhere?
Michael Bradley isn't a destroyer (#6). He isn't a distributor (#10). He's a tweener. He's a #8. Jermaine Jones is a destroyer, but old. Danny Williams, 28, and now playing in the EPL with Huddersfield Town is the closest thing to destroyer in the pool not named Jermaine.
Michael Bradley channels Tywin Lannister in his response to Alexi Lalas: "Part of being an athlete, a competitor is understanding that everybody has an opinion, especially in the world today," Bradley told SportsNet on Wednesday. "Everybody has a platform to fire off a hot take whenever they want. It’s life. You’re in the wrong business if that throws you off. “You use it in the right ways, you use it as motivation. You make sure you don’t forget who the [people] along the way are who had a lot to say. One of the recent [sayings] that I’ve seen that I like is, ‘The lion doesn’t care about the opinion of the sheep.’ I’ll leave it at that. ... It’s pretty fitting.” https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2017...-bradley-unfazed-alexi-lalas-pointed-comments Let's hope Bradley and the rest of the team's leaders can channel some of that Lannister ruthlessness on the field in October.
What struck me was the lack of urgency. Going back to 2010, I was working in London at the time. After the England game, once my English coworkers decided to start speaking with me again (some refused to speak to me for 4 days) all noted that the team was better than the sum of its parts. Going player by player, they decided that only Tim Howard would have started for England, though I also held out for Donovan. We also decided that Bradley might make the bench. Not even Dempsey was thought to be good enough, even by my Fulham supporting coworker who loved Dempsey. That spark is now missing. And I do not want to hear about field conditions. That is life in CONCACAF and as my wife put it, conditions in Harrisson were perfect. They spent most of the game in Honduras down 1-0 and other than Pulisic no one really seemed bothered by that. We are one bad bounce away from not qualifying and someone better step up Yes Lalas can be an ass at times but he was right.
He has. Although it's likely our next coach will come from MLS whose season doesn't end until early December, and there's usually a FIFA international date the October/November after the WC.That would be a convenient time for the send-off game for Dempsey/Howard/Beasley and assuming we qualify and don't completely embarrass ourselves in Russia I'd have no issue with letting our next coach stay with his club through the end of the MLS season and using that game as a send-off for Bruce as well.