Agreed. Villareal plays great football, with great players like Senna, Nihat, Cazorla, Capedavilla,and now Nozy. They play CL, so there a great option. I think I vested my interest in them as well.
Man, I tell you what, If the ball movement was better, Jozy was in some decent spots and never got service. He started a break at the beginning of stoppage time and Pires just got selfish. For those who couldn't see, this was the most impressive things Jozy did: 1) Beat both LB and RB on the touch line with nice moves. Set up Carzorla for a sitter early in the first half which he shanked. 2) Had a wicked volley that the goal keeper should have done better on, but almost scored. It was an odd angle and outside the box, excellent shot. 3) In stoppage time he refused to get muscled off the ball, and kept possession. Overall, I think this was a great debut. The crowd was behind him the entire time. Had a couple of mistakes, but nothing really glaring. He has certainly shown that he is a European caliber quality player, and that he is not lacking confidence that he can play at this level. Great stuff, unfortunately, he's still got to work his way up the depth chart.
Very impressive performance by Jozy. Was it perfect? Nope. But it sure as hell was promising. The confidence, the quick touches, the ability to make effective runs, and using his physical traits showed there is much to look forward to. This is exactly how he needs to be broken into Villarreal. Nihat, Franco, Rossi, and Jozy can be a very good combination of strikers. I actually had my reservations about his debut. I honestly thought he might be a little lost or a step behind due to nerves and inexperience. He squashed those expectations. Like I said, not a perfect performance, but a damn good display and something to build on. This makes up for a lackluster Y-A weekend! BTW, Jozy will certainly benefit, like no other Yank, from a superior midfield. Senna is the leader. That SOB pops up everywhere in a matter of seconds.
Had a phone call and come back in the 60th minute and go wait is that jozy lol. Then he tries taking a guy on and gets stuffed and was like damn guess he cant pull that move against la liga. But from there on in he was either solid or great and played really well for a debut. Light years ahead of any other yank abroad debut in terms of performance and opponent although dempseys back heel deserves some recognition. Now hopefully he continues getting his chances and maybe gets some CL time. edit- he needs to work on his runs into space and movement he was clogging up passing lanes and although balls could of and should of been played to him exires he should be making it a lil easier for his teammates to play him the ball on those breaks. Besides that id rate from what i saw 8/10- strength determination hustle and skill. He will become one of the best in the world
at the same time, and perhaps a result of the great deal of time Villareal (and many Spanish clubs) create by playing the ball on the ground.... they really should be able to exploit JOzy's strength in the air (ie heading balls in) a bit more ..which i assume might be at least on par if not a stronger part of his game when compared to Guille/Llorente.. IF the team finds a way to make use of this as well as they did using Alti today in other respects... well, they'll certainly find a way to find JOzy even more useful...
I think that some of you are underrating Franco. He's a very good creator and excellent in linking up play, even if he's not quite a pichichi style striker. I would expect Franco to still be ahead of Jozy... Llorente, on the other hand, did little of value on the field while Jozy contributed some very positive play. One factor that I had initially not taken into account was that Llorente, as the senior striker on the field, drew a LOT more attention from the defenders than Altidore did when he first came on. Then the defenders shifted over to Altidore and we saw Jozy's play drop significantly as a result. Taking that into account, I still believe that Jozy's sheer dynamism will have him scaling ahead of Llorente in due time.
If I am a Villarreal fan, I am thrilled with what I saw. Anytime you make the step up from a league like MLS to La Liga you always wonder about the transition. On your debut, you worry about the nerves. Jozy did what any reasonable fan hopes their new, young, hyped striker does: shows he belongs on the field. By any measure, Jozy did that. At no point was he a liability or not deserving to be part of the 11 that played the last 45 minutes of the match.
Don't forget guys, since his club must play MAnU....next weekend JOzy will once again have a shot at significant minutes..... and ditto for the weekend after that , which like today will come 3 days or so before another CL group match.... Add to that the fact that GOlTv shows Copa del Rey matches as well ,with jozy likely to play good minutes....and this kid should have plenty of chances to cement a starting spot or at least present his case to do so .....
You are right right that Deportivo after the first 15 minutes figured out they need to mark Jozy more than Llorrente , but Jozy still had good debut. (Not great as some are saying here) Franco is a good player and Llorrent on the other hand still sucks. P.s That was Nihat who was picking his nose
I noted this as well -- not hating on him, but it just seemed that he and his teammates are not yet at the point where they understood each other well enough to keep this from happening. But overall it was a smashing debut.
That was a great debut. To think he won't be 19 for another 2 months and he's playing like that in La Liga. I was also very impressed with the way Villarreal played - they have an excellent midfield. I know it was just one game but Jozy already seems to have improved with the ball at his feet. He did have a couple bad touches just to remind you he's only 18.
very impressive debut for altidore. he is just so fast and strong, and obviously i knew that from having watched him play many times, but still, it was startling when he would effortlessly accelerate away from other players. he looked to be the quickest and fastest player on the pitch. assuming his mental understanding of the game can develop (which it should being at villarreal), he should become an absolute beast of a player. can we please send more americans to la liga? the skill level is unrivaled and it would be great if our young players could play in that environment day in and day out. plus, as a supporter, its just sooooooooooooo much nicer to watch than the epl or spl.
I'm just happy that he's in the squad and in consideration for minutes already at this juncture in his career. He has much to learn, this is true, but overall you can't be disappointed with his showing. He just looked confident out there. I was also very happy that the crowd really seemed to get behind him.
Very nicely stated. Jozy got the job done this weekend, goal or no. Re: the Rossi - Jozy partnership... I'm not sure that would be as good on the field as it would be on paper. Rossi is a very selfish player and usually elects to take shots himself. He usually makes them too... I've rarely seen any strike partner of his shine when he's on the field. Just something to think about.
I'd rather see them in Serie A. That's where the most intelligent players play, and the skill level is not so far off of that of La Liga.
I agree with this too... they had him open a few times, but the crosses was poor... in saying that, I think Jozy is equally adept at playing it on the ground too (as shown today)
Villarreal's never played with a beanpole. They've never had to. I doubt that'll be changing anytime soon, as for all of Jozy's aerial power, Rossi's pretty much the only good crosser on the team... and he's a supporting striker Odd, odd team, Villarreal.
Absolutely. Strangely enough, I prefer football to headball as well But the naivete of the league as a whole, particularly in defense, is a bit hard to stomach at times.
I found it strange that forwards for Depor would just let Villarreal defenders dribble the ball around in the box. Even in MLS there is more pressure put on in that situation. But obviously this was much nicer to watch than MLS.
Good point. Just a different style of play that many people seem to enjoy, although I prefer the Serie A myself... where strikers have to outmaneuver and outthink some very sophisticated defensive play from all parts of the pitch.
Nihat - Rossi worked last year, Rossi had 3 assist on Nihat's goals....so Rossi Jozy can work too.............
Based on Villareal today (and a lot of what i've seen before), i'd rather have attacking Americans play in La Liga. Serie is great for smart defenders and midfielders, but not as good in the attack I think.