I feel confident that Ibra can play any style he puts his mind too. Physically he's a bit slower then Antuna but he's better than Antuna in near every other category. (And I like Antuna, don't get me wrong.)
This view that we can't have a great possession team with a non-pressuring striker is a gross exaggeration. Yes, a non-active striker will have some effect and Antuna's endless running helped us. But there are also many great possession teams all over the world with forwards who do little other than score. Ronaldo often would go long stretches avoiding any semblance of defensive work, only pressuring when it suited him. Madrid still had some of the best possession stats in the world. And many of you EPL fans can probably think of many examples of top teams with no-D forwards. And while he played midfield Messi is another example. I've watched games where he spends half the game slowly walking around the pitch, playing little to no defense for long stretches, only to go into furious action and productive action at select moments during the match. In fact under Pep Barcelona's possession game was never built on pressuring all over the field. Depending on the situation/opponent Barca often would drop back and wait until their opponents crossed midline before picking them up. The key to their possession is what they did in small areas of the field. When they had the ball they relied 95% on an endless reign of 5-10 yard passes. Not only bc they are easier to complete but more bc the short passing style ensured that when a turnover occurred there were always 3 or 4 Barca within a few yards who would instantly swarm the opponent before he could get his head up. Think localized beehives rather than a flock of geese all flying in formation. And its also a mistake to think that our superior possession game against Minnesota was most due to Ibra not being on the field. There were many factors that went into it: a) Minnesota played a very low pressure game and left us a lot more space and time than Chicago did. b) But that's minor compared to how massive the midfield/forward lineup has changed since that first game when Ibra last played: Against Chicago: -----------Carrasco ----JDS------------- ---Alles-----------Cuello---------Antuna ----------------------Ibra-------------------- Against Minn: -------Lletget-----JDS------ Corona----- -------Pontius--Antuna-----Boateng That Minn lineup would always have more possession, Ibra or no Ibra. The personnel change alone would guarantee that. Experienced tandem Lletget + JDS >>> Carrasco and JDS National teamer Corona>>>>>>> college draftee Cuello Pontius possession >>> Allesandrini possession. Pontius is much more of a possession valuing, passing oriented player, while Allesandrini was all about high reward but turnover prone 1v1 dribbling. Add in the fact that Antuna has had time to settle in AND moved further up the field where he has more room and less defensive reponsibility. Corona is now handling the defensive responsibilities and 50-50 battles that Antuna was struggling with in the first game. Look its fine if some of you don't want Ibra despite him having the highest offensive production per 90m in the 23 year history of MLS. I strongly disagree because I think he was our best player last season and it wasn't close. But opinions differ. But at least when making your evaluation don't make the mistake of comparing apples to oranges. Our midfield personnel is now 100% better in possession that the one Zlatan played with two weeks ago.
I wish I could double rep this post. Anybody that thinks a team with Zlatlan will fall off for possession has cleary not followed the man's career in Serie A. Schelotto is clearly building a team that will be good with or without Zlatlan. But to be absolutely most effective with Ibra on the pitch. When he is in the game he is going to get doubled leaving open the rest of our attack and God help you if you don't pay attention to an Ibra that is getting consistent service. Yes he is slower but his overall style of play remains and is still potent. I basically said it earlier in the thread that if Zlatlan was in this game, we still win, but would have scored more goals in the first half. We win this game by 5 or 6 goals had he been there as he almost certainly gets a brace in this match up. Zlatlan Explained We haven't even seen the best lineup that GBS can trot out. Very soon we are going to witness Llegett---Ibra---Pontius --- Corona---JDS---Romain or Llegett---Ibra---Romain --- Corona---JDS---Antuna And this is with a Juninho, Boateng, and Efrain as subs,...and all this is BEFORE the summer window when we can add as we still have the cash to do so!! Our future is bright people.
yeahhhhhhh!!!!!! I didn't get a chance to come in here and post earlier, but what a joy of a game! (except for the nail biting last 15 minutes). We pulled that out (which we wouldn't have done last year), and the team looked downright awesome in the first half. I thought Bingham's gaff also changed the flow of the game, so not sure what would have happened had he saved that shot. I also wanted to point out the game that Antuna had - his movement made a huge difference to the game. Yes, I want Zlatan back, but Antuna was good! Lletget should be riding high going into the USMNT game, so looking forward to seeing him there. He looks back to being confident. We looked calm, cool and collected for a good portion of the game. It's been so long! I also immediately thought of tiki taco.
Looking at the Opta Chart, the amount of ground Lletget, Corona and JDS cover in the middle is downright impressive. The Loons couldn't wrest control for a reason, we had the ball!! Seriously, the coverage is WOW. And very very balanced.
Exactly. Didn't have time to post, but if we had possession with Antuna as a pressuring false 9 we can work something out with Ibra, a true 9, even if he's not pressuring (which he actually doesn't mind doing if he thinks it will lead directly to a goal).
ESPN+ does archive the match and you can watch it in its entirety but I think territory blackouts apply. The MLS app has the condensed matches. They are hard to find (the app is not good). When you open the app scroll all the way down and they will be there.
I don't want to make too many conclusions about outplaying MINN at home, especially when we conceded soft goals the few times we did give up possession. We should be able to possess the ball if we choose to so it's good that we did, but we don't have to always, especially with Zlatan. We can play fairly direct with him and that gives us another dimension besides just working the ball up with possession. The bigger issue, for me, is what happens when we don't have possession or lose it suddenly, which is more likely if we do choose to play direct at times. The real test is facing a team like ATL, NYRB, LAFC or SKC that have quality midfields and press a little more aggressively.
Even with Zlatan we need to play a possession game. Only direct play I want to see are crosses from the wings into the box. Our biggest problems against ATL and LAFC will likely be our outside backs getting beaten. Of course that will be true of any team that attacks with speed down the wings. I don't remember SKC playing that way and I haven't watched NYRB this season.
I just mean those teams press from the front aggressively. It's one thing to possess the ball against MIN at home, but those teams press have better players that press aggressively. If MIN can score on us from a turnover in bad areas, teams that like to press early definitely will. Weak links like Skuntank are going to swarmed. Which is why I don't think we always need to possess the ball. If we're playing away to Crew or ATL, for instance, I'd be perfectly happy bypassing those very good midfields and passing directly to the head, chest or feet of the best target forward in the league. You mentioned Real Madrid's possession stats -- they don't always play that way either. They've been famously confounding Bayern the last few years, most recently just last year, by absorbing pressure and counter-attacking by playing long to Benzema. In fact, Benzema has been the Bayern-Killer -- his excellent hold-up play, passing, drives, and technique make him, probably, the best striker in the world at springing the counter. He's deadly in the box and when he drops deep he's a terror. This is how I'd use Zlatan when he's reintegrated, which is how I think Dom used him toward the end of last year. It gives us the dimension of possession and slowing the game down, but also the ability to cut right through you, which is what Landon brought to tiki-taco. (Sidenote, the argument over whether Benzema or Zlatan is the better striker is a good one; Benzema has had a much better CL career. Maybe someone to target after Zlatan departs?) Additionally Madrid have something we lack -- a true DM. They have one of the best DMs in the world in Casemiro (notably missing on yellow cards from Brazil's QF loss to Belgium in the World Cup), so they can absorb pressure from the best teams like Bayern. I feel we are missing that. Our team gets cut up when it doesn't have the ball.