JK says a lot of things, and to me that sounded a lot like saying LD was his first call up in case of injury. Its the kind of throw away comment he makes a lot that is really about getting whoever is asking the question to move onto something else. Later on he said that none of the outside backs playing in MLS were national team quality. Personally I don't see why he doesn't give Rogers a runout, and to me a January camp was the best time to do so. Think about how much time JK spent on Brad Evans in the last cycle. Rogers is quicker than Evans and is showing himself to be at least as good a defender. Sure, he has limits to his game. He doesn't have the top gear that great outside backs have in the international game, and his crossing is hit or miss (but better than Yedlin's). But from what I've seen of him over the last two seasons he's good enough to be on the depth chart in a spot where none of the current candidates have really laid claim the to job.
Rogers shot himself in the foot when he noted JK failed to support him when he came out. Rogers questioned why that support was lacking when previously in his career JK was a mentor of sorts. JK has a history of retaliation when his players criticize him in public. I view it as one of his most consistent behaviors, in fact.
Shea v Rogers has a very simple explanation. JK called up both Shea and Rogers in the beginning of his tenure. Both played as attacking wide players. Shea was overall the best attacking presence during Klinsmanns first 7 matches leading the team in chances created by a factor of almost 2 and providing the assists on the first 2 goals for Klinsmann. Rogers was overall poor and was awful in the final 3rd missing several chances to deliver the ball. The highlights v CR perfectly illustrates the contrast. Fast forward to the present. Shea with consistent playing time is getting back to the form he showed that got him an EPL contract. Rogers is still poor at delivering the ball in the final 3rd. In Klinsamnn's system the FB need to be very good 2 way players and need to contribute in the final 3rd.
For those interested: So let’s say this now: Shea is playing at reviving himself at Orlando City. He’s only played two matches in the purple, so we can’t yet make any grand pronouncements about his improvement. We can’t do anything, in fact, but meagerly point to a few moments and figures. But at least based on the glimpses we managed to steal of Shea over the past couple years in England, this is an improvement. A marked one, mind you, in a league that isn’t any easier than where he was before. http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/the91stminute2015/03/the-mls-grinder-the-walking-shea/
Probably not, but we may see the infamous 4-4-3. Shea is not a defender, putting him there so we can improve our attacking flank play makes my brain hurt.
I don't know about you but Shea looks good back there. That was a World Class RB that had nothing today vs the Brekken.
This is kind of why I never understood people identifying Shea as some kind of player with no offensive talent but insane speed - basically a midfield version of Robbie Findley. He showed that he had plenty of skill and the problem was that Juergen ran the kid into the ground physically. Turned out the kid had turf toe as well. Now hes got good playing time, he seems to be getting his mojo back.
But, it is mostly due to (at least in my opinion) Shea being utilized in a position that he can become a star in. Real Madrid wanted to recruit him as a defender. Also is this the first time a LB has scored 2 goals in a calendar year for the USMNT? (CB/LB players not included) Or has a USMNT LB ever scored 2 goals in 2 straight games while playing the position?
So...all those coaching critiques suggesting Klinsmann overly favored Brek in spite of his limited English accomplishments and playing time we are to now ignore. Fine. Instead, to ensure consistency in it always being Klinsmann's fault, we now suspect him..of stepping on Brek's toe? : ) Or maybe....Klinsmann is playing the long game to develop and evaluate the talent pool for 2018. And has calculated Brek has some uncommon qualities worth nurturing for maybe helping USMNT down the road. Including as you noted some offensive skills which we can see from his USMNT goals generally being of good quality.
The way I see it, Rogers and Shea have opposite issues: Rogers is the better technician; Shea is far more lethal instinctively in the final third. I'm not sure much has changed for either of them in that respect. The concern about Shea is still whatever he's doing when he's not in the final 3rd, which is mitigated a bit by moving him to LB (or using him as a sub).
NearPost, you're better than that. Shea didn't have turf toe, he had what FCD incorrectly diagnosed as turf toe but was actually a broken bone in his foot, requiring surgery, suffered on Vancouver's turf nonetheless in April, and he tried to push through it. It had nothing to do with Jurgen. FCD played him on that misdiagnosed foot from April through Sept. Jurgen only played him three times for the NT in 2012 during that stretch before going to Stoke, and all three were sub appearances.
I understand that my post was actually quite over aggressive in blaming Klinsmann. I do believe him participating in U.S. friendlies and the MLS season as well as trials at Tottenham had a part to play in his fitness issues. I actually didn't know that whole misdiagnosis thing. Thanks for setting me straight, jond. ( and for the slight compliment )
I thought of one way it's Klinsmann's fault. You could blame JK for pushing Shea to Europe, which didn't work out for him, cutting him from the national team, and adding him back after he returned to MLS. But I'm not seriously trying to pin Brek's struggles on JK. Shea is his own man and ultimately responsible for his decisions.
Anyways, back to Brek... He seems to have mostly acclimated to the left back role internationally, which bodes quite well for us in the long run. I wonder how he would look with someone like Jermaine Jones on the left side of midfield/left side of a diamond. Jones did a great job of covering Beasley when he played there against Ghana and Nigeria. His athleticism and explosiveness ( if he can retain it post surgery) also makes him a genuine offensive threat, and he will cut inside to allow space for Shea on the overlap of course. I get the feeling our fullback pool isn't sturdy enough to handle most top international defenses. If anything, we may end up playing a shape similar to what we did in our last three games of the last World Cup, where we went from the diamond to a more 4-2-3-1 shape that helped us cover the wide areas better with Cristiano Ronaldo lurking about. The personnel was a bit out of wack for a few reasons, but the overall tactic was spot on, as we were solid through the middle and out wide for most of the game. The midfield was capable of narrowing up whenever Ronaldo or trouble in general was brewing in the middle, or stretching out and shuttling to the flanks whenever cover was required in that zone.
Jurgen was pissed Shea went to Stoke without talking to him first and appeared against the move, so even there I don't see Jurgen coming into play. "Players make their own decisions and they have to deal with the consequences of that and by 'consequences' I mean with the situation they are facing," Klinsmann said. "Brek Shea badly, badly wanted to go to Stoke City and now he's not playing there, at all. He's not even in the [matchday squad] at all and he has to deal with that. He never really discussed it with us. I discussed it with [MLS vice president] Todd Durbin, but he badly, badly wanted that move. It is now what it is. It's not helping us if he's not in their first 18." Shea talked about it after he signed with Orl, that he wanted Europe so badly he jumped at the first offer and didn't weigh the situation well enough.
Our fullback pool is composed of: Johnson, Chandler, Yedlin, Shea, Ream, Lichaj, and Garza. That's a pretty good pool.
Guy makes a lot of big plays in a USMNT jersey for someone who gets as much (often deserved) stick as he does. I wouldn't be surprised if he starts doing it in some big games eventually.
The guy I think would pair extremely well with Shea on the left as a LM, given his touch, vision and preference to tuck in centrally, is Nagbe. Hopefully late this year. Nagbe as the pivot with Shea's forays forward would be a new dimension to our squad.