That's what should happen, as Fabian plays much more LB for his club, and people blow the Shea at LB tiny stretch years ago out of proportion. Who'd you rather have at LB for our NT? A guy who plays there most weekends in the Bund, or a guy who plays LW/striker in MLS? What you describe is exactly what happened with Chandler/Shea, where every time Chandler made a run Shea dropped back and covered for him. They linked up very well and would spring one another for runs down the line a few times each game. No reason to think Fabian and Shea can't do the same. I think JK thinks the same, as he brought in Orozco a couple mins before Shea, moved Fabian to LB, and then brought Shea in at LW, and we'll probably see more of it in Sept.
You are describing a switching LB scheme. The MNT under JK tends to play an integrating scheme. The LB charges forward, the AML/LM partners or integrates in, the weak side RB drops back in line with the #6 and the #6 has primary responsibility to cover the hole left by the LB.
I don't think LB is an option. We have Johnson and Shea isn't making a move overseas anytime soon. He won't play LB in MLS. Shea will never be that ultra skillful guy. He is just going to have to read the the game much better than he currently is if he wants succeed with the national team.
Yeah he wasn't ready, no end product in the final third. Shea struggles with his passing and still reacts instead of anticipating. One run vs. Mexico doesn't make him ready to be in the starting lineup. I'm willing to bet even JK thought he wasn't quite ready for that. But it was necessary since Donovan was absent. He's played his way back into the 18 though. EDIT: to be more specific about his passing, it's his short combination passing that needs work. His runs have always been above MLS level and his crossing has always been good. I'd like to see him get a goal with the US.. While I don't think he's ready to start it's very likely(hopefully) he will be by 2014.
No end product in the final third? You are not making any sense. He produced more scoring chances than any other player in the first 10 matches, more than the next best 2 combined!
Then against Mex he created the goal, then another of our top 3-4 opportunities with that cross to Boyd in the box. So two of our top four opportunities? Eventhough he can't dribble, cross or take guys 1v1? Yet we keep hearing Torres or Beasley should be our LW, although in that same period they don't come near to the opportunities Brek has created. Most who keep finding a way to knock down Brek, where of course he does have his faults, but don't seem to recognize the opportunities he creates compared to others, while others get a free pass. Truth is he's our only LW who prefers to stay wide, and can send in accurate crosses. The opportunities created prove that. People can continue to blindly knock him, but every other person put in at LW aside from Brek has just not produced near the opportunities, not to mention they don't even stay wide and just tend to clog the attack, yet most still prefer the other options. I don't think many understand the need for width and crossing in an attack, especially one which lacks creativity through the middle. We sorely needed width and crossing from the left in the recent 5 game stretch, and not a single LW who lined up in those 5 games did that. Brek then comes in and does it twice in 12 mins. He has his faults, but seems to get bashed much more than the alternatives who simply don't create.
That's not true. The guys is far from a finished product. Don't push him too much, too soon. That's what's gotten to him, too much stuff going on and not being able to handle the spotlight. I wasn't hating on Shea, it's called criticism. He's not ready to start, not yet.
Shea's MORE ready to start now than either Beasley or Torres. In fact, JFT has proven he's the one whose not ready to start, "not yet" at least. Don't even get me started on Beasley.
I feel Dempsey or Donovan will occupy LW still. I'd like for Dempsey to eventually play underneath the striker.
http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/bl...-us-team-statistical-leaders-jurgen-klinsmann "• Most chances created -- Brek Shea (4): Some would argue Shea has been the best American player under Klinsmann. Shea has created more chances for his teammates than any other player and has had at least one chance created in all three matches." Stat as of 10/07/11 http://espn.go.com/espn/next2012/st...s-usa-midfielder-brek-shea-next-espn-magazine "Under U.S. men's coach Jurgen Klinsmann, Shea has created a team-leading 9 scoring chances in 7 matches" Stat as of 12/29/11 http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/bl...e-numbers-usa-clash-venezuela-five-aside-blog "• Of those 19 players, Brek Shea looks like the leading candidate to start for the United States during this qualifying cycle. In the seven games of the Jurgen Klinsmann era, Shea leads the team with nine chances created. That number may not seem impressive, but no other player has more than four, by both Michael Bradley and Donovan. Admittedly, Shea has the advantage of being one of three players to appear in all seven games under Klinsmann, along with Tim Howard and Carlos Bocanegra, so he played many more minutes (445) than Bradley (232) and Donovan (180)." Stat as of 1/21/12
First, where did I say you were hating on him? Second, who's the LW you want to start instead who creates near the opportunities? I'm more than willing to listen to arguments, but Torres and Beasley have had opportunities lately and have not done what Brek did last summer, or against Mex. Clint is better towards goal and doesn't provide width or crossing. Pontius hasn't suited up, and while I like him, A) JK said they weren't competing for the same position and B) Pontius doesn't stay wide either and cuts in every chance he gets. Right now Fabian is our LB, and until Chandler is cap tied to us AND Lichaj is brought in and given a few chances, moving Fabian to LW isn't an option. I;d prefer Fabian/Chandler as the wingbacks anyway, and we'd need Lichaj in addition to both to move Fabian to LW imo. So who is it who's nailed down this LW spot, even though it was one of, if not our weakest spot during the 5 game stretch in May/June which got little production, while Shea at LW last summer created more opportunities than anyone, and against Mex(aside from Timmy), had the largest impact on the game.
I didn't see it in person, but the reaction in the media, his team captain's reaction to it, Hyndman's quotes about it, plus the kicking the ball at the referee incident all pointed to tantrum and meltdown. Whatever, it seems like it's old news, and it should be. Hope he permanently puts this period behind him.
eh, well he's been moving inside and switching with Donovan. more like ---------Gomez----- Dempsey--------Donovan -------CM-----CM ---------DM------- As for chance creation what do you mean by that? Assists? Creating opportunites right? Fabian Johnson has impressed me more. I think one game has people jumping the gun to start Shea. He will prob be starting by the World Cup though.
The problem is he has no suitors. No Short Corners wrote that no one is knocking - present tense. So all of you who want him to go to Europe need to wait until he has suitors. He will be in MLS for another year. I have no problem with that. Play well next year, then get sold. He'll be heading into his prime.
Very good point on his short passing game. What I've seen of him is mostly taking players on and crossing/dribbling, exactly what he demonstrated Wednesday. Any FCD fans can enlighten us on if he does combination passing well? Haven't seen it myself, but I don't watch him week in week out.
He works well with Ferreira and Benitez. FCD missing Ferreira hurt a lot but also moving him away from Benitez or playing LW with Loyd or Rodriguez didn't work as well. Loyd kicks every pass down the line right footed and it curls out of bounds. Rodriguez wants to dribble too much at left back. IMHO the biggest problem was his hustle. He was a beast last year and the year before storming offensively and defensively. Hope that returns too.
His captain that did the same thing and tweeted about it too, what a couple of weeks earlier? Yeah he's one to criticize Shea.
One of my criticisms of Shea is related to his combination play. He has good natural creativity but he sometimes fails at playing simple to maintain possession. He's high risk/high reward a little too often. I think he's slowly improving on this but when he had his hot streak this was one of the main things I noticed as a weakness to his game.
When Shea gets to be Team Captain after years of work, he can do it. As a 22 year old starting his game and trying to break into the big time, no. I don't understand why people don't get this. It's an absolute double standard, but tough.
you can't criticize a teammate for doing the exact same thing you just did. That makes you a hypocrite and definitely not someone who should be captaining the team.
Besides DF and Perez, Dallas doesn't play many combination type passes. At least those are the only guys that are notably good at it. Most of it is just long ball.