Yes, when healthy, Geoff is the guy. But he's not always going to be healthy and can't protect a back line and win balls alone. IMO, Roldan should already have 4 caps and been a candidate for last night's match. Acosta was an option in a double-pivot. Longer-term, Gooch is a good ball winner, S. Davis is good all-around but needs to takeover as the #1 with mighty Red Bull, Canouse might ascend to the role but isn't there yet, and EPB intrigues me as a stay at home 6 because of his range, aggression, and passing; plus we are fine at CB without him. In a 3-man midfield, Sacha is doing a nice job right now at least if the game isn't stretched, Lletget of course I like and could actually play at his proper position, and Nagbe finally deserves some starts but that would have to happen under the new manager. CM was neglected, along with multiple other positions, for a few years, and the last year and a half we've suffered for it outside a 3-game stretch in Centenario where guys played with mega chips on their shoulders because they were being rightly criticized. How about just them and the manager are consistently better or they have nothing to be miffed about and it's just going to be a house of cards.
"We're ok at central midfield with...Bradley...? Not nearly. Perhaps you haven't seen a USMNT game in the last year or so? He's become a back passing pylon nearly invisible except for passing errors against any skilled midfield. Lletget, Nagbe, hell try anyone else next Tuesday.
For both club and country, MB has done well when played in a flattened central midfield, which could be the deep '2' in 4231, the duo in a flat 442, or the trio in TFC 352.
Last time I saw him play well was prior to Gold Cup 2015 in the European friendlies. I think he could be good again if he had to fight for his position and/or stuck to one role/position. I do think JK asks to much of him but he has been stinking up our midfield which skews the play all around him.
Over the last half year, our crop of young central midfielders has really started to step up. Reminded me of this thread. Kellyn Acosta, Cristian Roldan, Will Trapp, Emerson Hyndman of the recently completed U23 cycle. [CMs like Caleb Stanko, Fatai Alashe, Matt Polster, etc. are also in that group, but as of right now are a step behind). Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie of the current U20 cycle are really advancing rapidly, with Adams starting for NYRB yesterday as an 18 year old. McKennie started a Schalke first team friendly this past week. Erik Palmer-Brown had a virtuoso performance in defensive midfield for the US U20s, and that might be a position we see him in more (named player of the tournament). Things are really looking up in this part of the field.
Time to pass the baton is now in central midfield. Bradley is still only 29, so he'll continue to be involved (although not as "automatic starter.") TIme to send Jones out to pasture. Jones last callup should be to the next set of qualifiers, as Arena probably will want experience at the Azteca.
Acosta is the answer to this question. He's not a pure defensive destroyer like Beckerman, but then neither are Jones or Bradley. Eventually I think we see a Arena midfield four of Acosta behind Zardes-Pulisic-Johnson in the games we are attacking for 3 points. But I think that may be a long time coming as Bradley seems to be every coach's favourite player.
I agree with the set up you are outligning, but I think Cameron is well ahead of Acosta as a pure DM like that, of course it would all depend on Bradley getting out of the way and I have given up on that. Additionally, Johnson will play on the left. I don't see how Zardes gets back into this team, Bruce seems to value attackers with skill, rather than "hard work" and "nasty energy".
I've longed for Cameron at DM for a while now. But I just don't see how it's possible. The guy is an automatic starter at centerback and the options behind him aren't that close. Though to be fair, Bruce is a loyal guy and that means we may see Gonzalez more than any of us would like - and why I think Zardes will be given a shot on the wing at some point. Bruce likes Bruce guys - thus Lleget coming from nowhere to be a starter in qualifying. I'm not saying that's a bad decision, just that Bruce is fiercely loyal to his old players.
I see Acosta as the "next" Jones. Definitely not an exact replacement and I don't think he covers as much ground as Jones did (that's a good and bad thing) but he plays a similar role.
I think Zardes definitely has a role to play on this team. Maybe not a starter when everyone is healthy and available but a big, fast grinder who can finish and can play multiple positions? He's absolutely going to be in the mix as a situational/depth guy.
He's one half of our best CB pairing. Gonzo is so questionable back there I would take Geoff and Jon at CB and Beckerman at DM today before Allowing Gonzo to continue to start next to Brooks with Geoff in the 6. That's just desperation to keep Gonzo on the bench because he is a liability when paired with Brooks. He should not be our starter point blank and the difference between Cameron and MB is not big enough to justify taking him out of where we need him the most. If we can make Birnbaum work back there or even Besler again then ok, play Cameron at DM.
No, thats not true. Not one of our two best CB's, nor part of our best CB pairing. Our best CB pairing is Besler and Gonzalez. For years, that pairing has been excellent. Brooks and Cameron pairing wasn't even that good at Copa America. Check the results against good teams. The best CB is Besler, but I'd like to try out Besler and Brooks, our best CB and our CB with the most potential on the current NT. Thats not a slight on Cameron, his best position has always been CM. I think people also have to accept that Gonzalez will be a NT starter until Arena is gone, most likely, because Arena coached him with LAG. Thats part of the problem with Arena. Get ready for Zardes, Gonzalez, Lletget to all be starters. And maybe one (or possibly all) would deserve to be starters, depending on the situation, but with Arena, I think they are starters, regardless of if the other options are better. Please don't bring Beckerman up. He's done, not needed. We have much better options.
Bradley is our DM this cycle. He's not perfect but he frankly has more class than the Beckman/Maestroeni/Armas of the world we've trotted out there over the last decade and a half. Kitchen or Williams should back him up. I personally think our more attack oriented CM will eventually be Hyndman and that will make for the best CM pairing we've had since Reyna/Obrien. Until that day, Llegett will do an adequate job.
For quite a while, but especially under Klinsmann................Cameron was this era's Jonathan Spector. He was a high level CB, RB, and DMid. But he wasn't Klinsmann's first choice in any of the positions. I remember some interview Cameron gave when he described how frustrated he was with his role. Well, he didn't actually know what his role was. As we'll recall, Klinsmann viewed the RCB and LCB roles as two different positions. So in theory Cameron wasn't competing with Brooks and Besler for playing time. He was competing with Omar, Birnbaum, etc. We also have to remember that when it comes to central midfield, Klinsmann was all over the damn place. He'd play games with Diskerud as the DMID and Bradley as a #10. WTF. Cameron didn't fit into that mess, and he doesn't have the mobility that Klinsmann was looking for with his fullbacks (Yedlin, Chandler, Johnson, Beasley, etc. all had that pace to bomb up the wings). What I'm basically saying is that Cameron's role under Klinsmann was as a RCB only. Arena will probably be more flexible.
I was just wondering about Kitchen--is he still in the picture? I don't follow Yanks Abroad enough to be in the know on how the Scottish adventure is going. EDIT: I just went and caught up on his thread. So...he probably needs to change clubs at this point.
Exactly. Zardes is way to useful as a swiss army knife for us to not be at least a bench guy but personally I think he makes a fine shuttler, wingback or winger. GIFSoup
And this is why the Gold Cup this year is the perfect opportunity to bleed in all of the could maybe be national team ready youth. I don't care who's next to Brooks, be it Hedges, Miazga, Zimmerman, CCV, Glad, etc. Just so long as it ends up with Cameron as our DM.
Bruce said the objective is to win. He is not going to be playing youth. This is Bruce and he isn't changing. I am ok with that to be honest. I support the team but I realize that we won't have the pieces to really do something in the world cup for at least another full cycle so let him take his favorites, get us a respectable result, give Dempsey and a couple others their swan song if they deserve it at that point and then we can have some real turnover in the proceeding two to three years. My excitement for the youth is tied into the U20 and U17 WCs right now.