Lee is not especially versatile positionally, he pretty much has to play centrally off of a #9. Nagbe can play at the 8, 10, 7, or 11 spots. Feilhaber and Kljestan can both play in the deeper 8/10 spot or as side mids in a diamond/3 CM. He's also a little bit less of a possession creator than those other 3. Furthermore, he's competing with AJ, Juan, and Jozy to some degree as they can all occupy the SS role.
Interesting he sees Nagbe as a 10, but maybe Bruce sees something we don't? The consistent critique of Nagbe is lack of killer instinct, but I also just don't think he's much of a chance-creator beside that. For instance, Bruce left a much better and incisive passer at home in Lee Nguyen, who generates almost double the key passes of Nagbe and is perpetually in the top 10 in assists. I've never seen Nagbe exhibit the vision and diversity of passing that SK, Benny and Nguyen have, let alone Valeri, the guy that players the role at his club. Perhaps I'm wrong. Maybe BA thinks he has a way of motivating him.
From what I have seen, Nguyen must play paired with a dominating force in the middle to be successful. In MLS, he was at his best with Dax and Jones doing all of the hard work in the middle. My guess is that Arena doesn't believe he has enough (if any) attacking advantage over Kljestan, Feilhaber or Nagbe that would justify losing their relatively strong play. I don't think it is any coincidence that Nguyen's best season was with both Jones and McCarty taking care of the defensive duties.
Kemp is a solid defender and is good going forward. Has a fantastic left footed cross/shot too. Was always sort of surprised he was never considered, considering how bad our LB situation is.
Thanks, I don't know what I was thinking. Brain Fart... I didn't mean Scott Caldwell. Somehow I was thinking that Jones, McCarty and Nguyen played together on the Revs. Of course Dax is on RB. I still feel that Lee relied heavily on Jones' workrate. One way to stop Nguyen was to stop Jones. If I remember, the Revs season really took off when Jones joined the club with Lee also dominating some of the offensive statistical categories.
Nguyen's MVP caliber year relied on a lot of unsustainable production. It was an extended hot streak with a lot of mid and long range shots that went in. His xG has been between 7.46 and 8.45 the past 3 years.
Nguyen had Jones setting the table for him in '14. Still, Lee's yearly assist total has double since that year. He didn't show anything in his caps, however..
He had a bad season. I think they would play better without him. He slows down attacks too much, and he's not that talented that he needs to be in the team.
Nguyen's last few months did not earn him a spot at this camp: the exclusion is justified. But to look on the other side of the coin: the moribund tactics of the Jay Heaps brain trust made it very simple for opposing teams -- having already seen how the Revs functioned -- to disconnect him from his team's other attacking threats (such as they were). If he fights hard to get back in the mix, there's the Gold Cup. To his credit (and the former manager's) I thought he did respond well to JK's critiques to get back into consideration before.
I agree about Heaps. I've been saying it for years, and people thought I was joking. His tactics are terrible. I don't know why they kept him. Not only did Heaps hold back Nguyen, he held back Agudelo for years (and probably Rowe and Farrell), refusing to start him as a central striker. He would say things like Bunbury was better suited for the central striker position because he was faster and more of a threat to run in behind the defense, even though he's an inferior footballer.
I do think that was the biggest criteria, if you were a relatively a new player. It was about what you did in the games that he was the few games he was in attendance for. Zimmerman, for example, won WhoScored's man of the match when playing the Galaxy later in the season. Another viable candidate, Campbell, was just short of a 7 in the lone match he played against them. He mentioned Roldan during his MLS playoffs' pre-game interview, but then he played a non-descript match then and the final. That was the final impression he left. If you looked at Bruce's roster and integration last year, you can tell he did little extra scouting of the league or elsewhere. Most of his scouting assessments looked like they were from the last decade.
He more mentioned him as a 10 as a throw-in. In fact, I think in the first Q&A he went out of his way to say Nagbe wasn't really a 10. He views him as a deeper lying player or wide midfielder. That's an assessment I actually agree with and it sounds like you kind of do as well. He could be the most advanced central midfielder in a 433 where we're playing a much stronger opponent where he's going to start deeper, pick up the ball, and then drive at them over long distances, relying on the attacking wingers for more the final creation. He's fine to good there so long as there are 3 more attacking players ahead of him. It's another way besides a 442 to attack on the counter. I think he provides you that option, is versatile in general, technical and athletic, which are reasons to value him and think he can possibly be a starter for the team in most lineups going forward. I think Feilhaber's and Kljestan's killer passing from a more advanced position, better ball pressure, size, and recent translation to the nt level makes Nguyen pretty obsolete for our purposes. And I think not calling him up means that he's going to get Hedged out of the mix pretty much entirely. He's 30 and this is a camp with a lot of quantity, so it's not like they'll get to him as he develops/shows more, or there's more opportunities for a player in his situation in the future. Disappointed he didn't mention Lletget in terms of 10 options, but of course he rarely used him in that role in LA. Thought maybe the viewpoint could have changed with different personnel at his disposal on the national team. He's not an 8 internationally. Doesn't have the defense, ability to cover the distance, and stamina. He might be able to help if he's utilized at attacking wide mid. I was kind of ironically disappointed on this front when Arena was hired, because even though he was his club coach, that meant not using him in near the ideal way, and he's not going to instruct him to take off the muscle. Oddly enough, Klinsmann would have been good for him, if he ever called him up. Jozy took off significant muscle around January camp and I think it ended up paying dividends.
That's basically Chris Tierney. We've had a bunch of this type of left back in MLS. I'm not quite sure why Kemp was the one selected. Not that I have a problem with it. We do need somebody to pick from the pack. There's an organizational malaise in New England. It comes from the very, very top. There's no sense of urgency whatsoever. With some of the newer Eastern Conference teams that do have that urgency coming into the league (Orlando, seemingly Atlanta, etc.), NE isn't going to go anywhere without a culture change. They're still operating like its 2005-era MLS. I will say this, though. When one looks at Lee Nguyen's resume, he basically had one stupendous season in 2014. [He was a journeyman prior to that, even spending 4 years in the Vietnamese league.] That was the 20 goal season across all competitions. Note that he didn't actually have many assists that season. One gets to the point where they wonder if the real Lee Nguyen is what we've seen the rest of the time, and there was just one stupendous season. If my choice is to take three of Kljestan, Feilhaber, Nagbe, and Nguyen..........................I leave Nguyen out too. That's not to say Nguyen isn't a good player worthy of consideration. I just think that Kljestan and Feilhaber are more impactful players, and Nagbe has a higher upside for the future. In fact, if I added another player to that group for friendlies I'd look for a younger player. At some point soon the kids from the U20s are gonna start breaking thru (the Josh Perez' and Gedion Zelalem's of the pool.) Kljestan, Feilhaber, and Nguyen are all the wrong side of 30. And while they all have gas in the tank, we do need to groom some guys other than Lletget/Nagbe.
Heaps thinks like a basketball coach which is what he should be coaching. Nguyen's time was 2014 when he could have stepped in for Altidore in Brazil - instead of Johannsson who was carrying a knock. The nats don't really need him now like they did in 2014. The only problem back then was that JK had too many iou's and faves to find room for Nguyen.
Jones was clearly the catalyst on both sides of the ball for the Revs in '14. His dynamic bossing of the midfield allowed MVLee to receive the ball further up the field, often in combination play in transition and overload where Lee is especially deadly. What was missed by most fans and pundits was the synergy between Caldwell and Jones. Caldwell was the platform that allowed Jermaine to be Jermaine by reading where JJ was going to flex and overload and seamlessly compensating. To JJ's credit, he recognized Scott's contributions and started a public campaign to get him called to the USMNT! IMO, Caldwell is the best small American #6 in the league and 3rd behind Alonso and Chara.
His xA has gone from 4 something to 7 something. Anecdotally it seemed like he has been looking to set up guys more instead of setting up the shot. Jones created a lot of chaos and drew a lot of attention but he only played 613 minutes, Lee's hot streak included at least 2000 minutes without Jermaine.
No doubt. The last two seasons his assists have been 10 per year. Ten assists last year was good. [Same number as Kaka.] That was the 3rd most assists for a USMNT-eligible player..............behind only Kljestan and Feilhaber. [Justin Meram had 13, but no longer USMNT-eligible.] I just don't see him being the present or the future if those two, plus the younger guys Lletget/Nagbe, are in the mix. That's not to say I don't think he's a good player. He is. Caldwell is deserving of a lot more attention on these boards.......................
The math is very clear in 2014: Lee had 11G in the 15 matches Jones played or .73 GPM Lee had 9Gs in the 22 matches before Jones or .41 GPM https://mlsgb.com/2014/12/14/can-jermaine-jones-help-new-england-revolution-to-dominate-mls-in-2015/
Why do you say that? You guys don't think Bruce Arena only watched other MLS players when they played against his team, do you? My critique of Lletget at 10 is the same as Nagbe: I don't see that Lletget has the vision or passing ability to consistently open up the game for his team. He didn't get a ton of outings there for LA, granted, but he's had plenty of opportunity to show himself as that kind of player and hasn't necessarily. OTOH, Lletget consistently shows at all positions that he, like Nagbe, is a good dribbler. Still, not all dribbles are created equal. Lletget sucks players toward him with his dribbling, because he's excellent in close control; he doesn't tear teams apart with his dribbles as you'd expect from a trequartista. He's more Riquelme, Xavi, Busquets than Messi, CR7, Robben (or Donovan, Pulisic for us). Nagbe doesn't excel at those slashing runs either, but he's at least got the athleticism to shift into that 2nd gear at times and cut apart a midfield Jermaine Jones swashbuckling style. At least, that's my assessment/observations, others may vary, but that's not one Bruce got wrong IMO. For me, Lletget looks good as a finesse 8/6. Particularly his ability to twist away and switch the field reminds me of Busquets, if he's not nearly as good a pure passer. I think he'd do okay in a diamond against the right kind of opponent, someone we expect to control the midfield against.
3/11 of those goals came with Jones off the field in 2 games. So that's 8 in 15* with Jones on the field and 12 in 24* without him. *like most soccer statistics this should be adjusted on a per minute or 90 minute basis as there is overlap in these two denominators.
Can you please enlighten me on Nagbe? I specifically sought out Timbers games to watch or record last year based on BigSoccer hype, and I have been left wanting. Seriously.
I don't know that I would go that far, but I don't think he's USMNT worthy based on his MLS play and his national team play so far. I would love to have to change my opinion if he comes through in the next few months!