Someone on here described him as a freelancing american football player...I think I will elevate that a bit and compare him to a knuckleball pitch in baseball. It has no idea where it's going, can hit the batter, ump, catchers mitt, strike, ball, homer, single, ground out...but what it wont do is telegraph itself.
He and Bradley seemed to have the freedom to move up (with Williams designated cover) at their discretion. Frankly I thought it worked quite well. If we get better wingers than a novice greenhorn Gatt and an out of position jet lagged Gomez, that formation could work quite well.
I don't believe anyone would classify JJ play v Russia as "terrific". I certainly would not. Howard was terrific, Bradley was very good, and Jones was good. In any case in which of those 2 groups group do you put the coach of the USMNT. He sounds like a super fan and not a "knowledgeable" poster. "We are pleased that we have great leaders like Tim Howard, Jermaine Jones, Michael Bradley… I think they are role models for the younger players so they grow around them. Geoff Cameron is becoming a very important player. I think you saw Jozy Altidore today was a handful. He gets a big, big compliment for his performance.” If Jones freelances and works poorly with his teammates would the USMNT head coach single him out after the Russia match as a model for the younger players.
Hey man, I was just pointing out that opinions differ and that's about it. I am pretty ambivalent about Junior.
Pretty odd way to point out differing opinions when you classify one set of them as "knowledgeable" and the other as having a severe bias.
The basement line was classic! I saw all that. It's interesting. From now on I am calling JJ ... Captain Chaos!
And u are neither interesting or knowledgeable, and incredibly bias!!! U are mod...it's just assumed.
1. Read your post again, certainly he was lauded, but he was not "singled out". 2. We have heard JK express platitudes in the direction of Chris Wondolowski, Jose Francisco Torres and Joe Corona among others. Certainly, if one is a player or fan, they are nice to hear. It has been pointed out on occasion that JK says a lot of things, which often, might be upon further reflection misconstrued. 3. I liked what Sam said above, I thought Jones played fine, but I thought he was unusually adept at creating havoc in the Russian midfield. There are times, still, where I believe he is a bit out of control and does not have his priorities (thinking what's best for the team) entirely in order. 4. A couple of posters made a note of Bradley's difficult opportunity prior to his nice goal. I thought Jones had an opportunity later that was much clearer cut and he played it with a bit too much eagerness. 5. He is an interesting variable for us to have on our team. I am hopeful that he will settle in more. To a certain extent, he still reminds me of the new kid in school trying to prove himself. And I wish him only the best, he adds a dimension of nastiness and bite that this team can use.
So now we will have a 4 page debate on whether he was "lauded" or "singled out". Tell you what you win, he was lauded. He was also "lauded" here in the Pre-match: They can train alongside guys like Timmy Howard, Jermaine Jones and Carlos Bocanegra and say ‘I want to get to this level.’ It’s also really an opportunity for them to come in, get accepted right away and show what they can do. Maybe they will even get some minutes in the game against Russia http://www.ussoccer.com/News/Mens-N...nal-Team-Roster-Announcement-Quote-Sheet.aspx Now that that is out of the way lets get back to the central point. JJ is not freelancing as some "knowledgeable" posters have suggested, he is playing exactly as Klinsmann wants him to. JK did a very smart thing when he brought a BL outcast JJ into CC2012 and made Jones captain, much to the outrage of most in the press and on BS. JK changed JJ from a ronin to samurai retained to Lord Klinsmann.
This phrase makes me think that Jones is our Pepe. Klinsmann probably will keep playing Bradley and Jones together because they both provide excellent high line pressure and they have decent transitioning skills. My main beef with Jones is that his dribbling skills are not at the level of Bradley's and that makes him susceptible to some pressing himself. However, replacing Mix or Adu for Jones would kill our high line.
Entertaining game overall. After the first 20 minutes, despite Ian Dark's comments, I thought the US played well. Sure, we allowed a few many good chances for Russia, but we also gifted them with two goals on brain farts. Offensively, I would like to have had a few more good chances, but we were playing in Russia against a team who hasn't been scored upon in the last four games. My biggest concern was the continued key mistakes which can kill us in qualification. A slighter concern was the step back that Williams took in this game. Hopefully, it was just a one off. Also, this was one of the poorer defensive games from Johnson. No need to repeat the good stuff with Bradley and Howard. I thought Chandler did fine at right back. I had not seen Gatt play before. I can see why people like his potential. He appears to have a good soccer brain (positioning and movement). I don't think that he is ready for a full time slot, but definately Gold Cup and continued looks... Nice to end the year on a positive note (assuming a tie is positive!)...
There really is nothing to "buy" or not "buy" with respect to that argument. Whitbread's injuries have been plentiful and frequent enough that it has had an impact on his call ups. He was looked at for the Olympic team in 2004 and missed due to injury. His club career while at Milwall in League One was beset by injuries. When he was called up he had to withdraw due to injury. On subsequent international breaks when he might have otherwise been called, he was out injured. Jones was out for a single injury for an extensive, single period of time. I am not opposed to looking at Whitbread, However, when building a team and developing players, I would lean towards focusing on players without such question marks.
I watched the game late last night after reading the comments and like Zoidberger I was mildly amused. So here are my impressions. * In the first half Russia was really, really good in the midfield. Excellent precise passes, good movement, very top notch stuff. A lot like France a year ago maybe a bit better. * Goodson wasn't half as bad as I thought he'd be. He was serviceable at this level. * Cameron is all grown up now. He didn't need any hand holding from Boca. * Gatt was nervous but he had a sense of where he needed to go both in defense and offense. He lacked confidence in his skills to make the most of his chances. * So to sum up the first half, the US didn't look half bad except for the 1 minute of stupidity that led to the goal. We had a decent amount of possession in that first half - 43%. We were able to build up some plays and bring some amount of pressure to their goal. So maybe a Jones/Bradley duo isn't too bad after all. * The good thing about not having Donovan play is that we are no longer dependent on him - we can play a competitive game without him. Once he is in, though, I expect that we will have an upgrade in offensive capability. * At the half, Lalas was trying to be upset at the US and then he came up with two totally lame examples of how poorly we played. What's up with him and TT? * In the second half, it was a whole different game mostly because we had a whole different set of players. Very chaotic in this half. A lot more chances for both. * Howard was really good in the second half but with Guzan playing Russia would have gotten maybe an extra goal so I don't know what game TT is looking at. * Embarrassing moment for Goodson in the penalty but still a serviceable game. I'm not sure I can think of any other CB that would have been hands down better. Maybe Omar? * The US goals show the one advantage that we have over Russia. We can switch our game plan and get results. * Let's never, ever say that Bradley is a DM again, or even a defensive minded CM. He is a beast at both defense and offense. How many clutch goals does he need to score before we understand that?
This was more of a backhanded slap/compliment to both sections. In this case, I would say most of the experts have it partially wrong and most of the 'super' fans have it partially right. I am particularly ambivalent on Captain Chaos, but as he plays for Kaptain Karma, I have just one thing to say: "Captain, I said what?" "...Captain, I said what-chu-want?" (rep for knowing the song...)
Good point, but I would put it a different way: Michael Bradley knows his dribbling limitations (not his strength) so concentrates on passing, movement, finishing. No one has informed Jones that he is not Bernd Schneider.
Failing to see the gravity of the situation. He has been sitting on the problem for a long time, and now goes into three big qualifying games with no clear starting tandem. He failed to call in young CBs (particularly Gonzalez) in the first matches of his tenure, instead settling for a retread like Orozco-Fiscal. To be fair he did finally settle on Ream, who turned out to be a bust, and the obvious next in line Gonzo got injured, but since then, JK hasn't had any new ideas, and lucked into Cameron making it in the EPL. We are painfully thin at the CB, and he should have been using past friendlies to blood guys like Besler, or even give Jones or Williams a shot there (yes, things are potentially that dire). He doesn't seem to realize that Boca and Goodson are major holes back there. Boca is getting too old and slow, and he has been playing well below his professional level this year. Goodson falls down way to easily. If we struggle in the early stages of the Hex it will be because of our CBs. JK did too little, too late. Bradley was aware of the problem, and was attempting to blood as many as possible CBs in the first months of his second term. Look, it has been obvious that JK has made some mistakes, and hasn't necessarily always had this team flying. He seems to be working out many of those kinks, and we are starting to play in patches like we can, and we used to. Things are looking up. I believe somewhere in there, JK might be a good coach, but we are in a very dire situation with our CBs, which tend to be a very important position. We have to hope at this point that Boca can hold on for 6 more months, or that Onyewu resurrects. It isn't all JK's fault, but at the end of the day, he has to shoulder some of the blame.
The point is, the Hex is not a time to start developing players. We need players who are ready now. Of the untested CB options, Whitbread has to be near the top of that list. I'm not saying don't give Gonzalez or Besler a shot next summer. But we need CB's who will be ready in February and March of next year. Whitbread is the most seasoned of anyone who has yet to be tried out. For all his injuries, Whitbread has still managed to play 153 games throughout his career. For comparison sake: Boca: 340 games total Borchers: 274 DeMerit: 237 Chad Marshall: 218 Parkhurst: 216 Onyewu: 203 Pearce: 198 Goodson: 192 Whitbread: 153 Orozco: 135 Cameron: 127 Besler: 102 Gonzalez: 101 George John: 95 Ream: 77 The point is, he's still more experienced than Besler, Gonzalez or even Cameron and Ream.
We certainly are not. Which is why JK has played Edu there. We are painfully thin, Boca is too old, and Goodson is a black hole, after that and the quality that is Cameron, we have nothing. But, JK had to know this was an issue, yet, he just hasn't tried much here. Besler is worth a shot. So is John, who yes, has struggled, but do we really believe that Boca and Goodson aren't also struggling? Lots of people are talking about Okugo. I will through this out, JK called in Morales and Boyd, both with almost no pro-pedigree, yet guys who have been starting for several seasons in MLS simply aren't good enough? The logic simply doesn't hold, especially when you look at the reality. The guy I would really like to see here, and who we could have tried here a few times, is Williams, because he sometimes plays CB for Hoffenheim. JK has options, he needs to try them.
I dunno how universal that is. When I see German ex-nationals commenting on the current team they are very supportive of the newer generation. Maybe it's easier to praise when you are a legend for the team and have won the WC, as opposed to a washed up "coulda been a contender" and a guy from the stone age of the team who raised it from total obscurity all the way to niche status on pure sweat and determination
That's not a very reassuring stat. In seven seasons Whitbread has played only 52 more games than Omar Gonzalez in 3. (Gonzalez himself missed almost an entire season due to an ACL injury)
It is quite fascinating that Omar who was not even on the roster for GC2011 6 weeks earlier suddenly became a must call on Aug 4 for JK's first match. For the first 5 matches of his tenure JK called in and tested Boca, Gooch, Ream, and Goodson. Orozco was a stretch try as a quick CB who could play the ball out the backline. Gooch came back and had very very strong matches v Honduras and Ecuador before he had another knee injury which sidelined him JK called in Cameron, John, and Omar among others at CC2012, Jan 2012 which was 5+ months before Cameron signed at Stoke. Cam has been brought along every since.
I didn't read all 23 pages, but did anyone else hear the commentator, I forget which one, mention that Omar would of been in this camp/friendly had LA not been in the playoffs still? Did JK mention this somewhere, or just speculation?