DM touches the ball a lot. Lloyd should not play any other position than a striker. She has a good shot, that free kick today was really good from a distance. She is strong, and she can obviously win matchups in the box. Now, obviously this decision should've been done long ago. Now i's too late.
I completely agree with you. Tony made the comment tonight that Lloyd sitting back & Brian going forward would have been preferred, because it would have suited both players in both personality & skill sit. I'm all about player combinations and who works with who are where, and the above is, without a doubt, the best scenario. There is another side, oft over looked side of the player combination coin. Personalities. The problem is that Morgan Brian is young and trying to earn the respect of her older and more entitled peers. I made the comment in an earlier post that I wasn't sure if Jill Ellis planned on having the two "6's" having specific roles of attack and defense. No matter how the team tactical video session might have played out, when your Morgan Brian and somebody like Carli Lloyd tells you "ignore all that, I'm going forward, your sitting back" you say "yes, ma'am" & "can I get you any more sparkling water?" ... I mean it probably wasn't as obnoxious a scenario like that (it might have even been an unspoken understanding), but you have to admit that Carli Lloyd wouldn't be able to tell Lauren Holiday what to do as much as she would be able to with Morgan Brian.
I thought Morgan B. played very well. Krieger was very good. Much better passing. Lloyd is dynamic, but needs to realize that she gets caught in possession way to often. German has noticed. Arod's miss was almost unforgivable, but her pressuring was outstanding. Ellis was forced to make changes so she only gets partial credit. Someone explain the third sub to me please.
Nah, it was better because we actually had some width. O'hara played on the touchline, and Heath seems to stay wider playing left than she did right.
Your confusing "providing width" with "being out wide" . . . two different concepts. Heath was wide a lot tonight, but I thought her width was !@#$. She was also too slow, held on to the ball long, and probably turned the ball over more than everybody except maybe Lloyd. I did like KO's play tonight, she hustled her butt off in a way that not even the speedster Press can do. It's too different kind of speeds there.
How can Colombia going down a player in the 47th be the cause of them not having a shot until the 84th? What's your excuse for the other 47 minutes? Maybe you need to take off your anti-USA glasses for a sec? Just a thought.
Please. She is better coming from deep. She is fiesty but not strong or fast enough to hold up play and she CAN score but she is not a better natural goalscorer than our forwards. We need her in the attacking midfield.
No, I'm not. Staying wide, even though she was inconsistent in her effectiveness with it, kept her from clogging up the middle in the ungodly way she did last game!!! But, you are confusing your with you're...
I echo the statements on Kling. JJ and Broon are getting all the attention, but Kling is quietly having a strong tournament. And to think most of us wanted her permanently benched.
What allowed the the midfield to be better tonight in was that they were able to maintain possession for longer stretches of time. They kept possession longer by playing the ball on the ground to the feet of running players. They were able to play to the feet of advancing players... because they pressed China's back line into turnovers. I don't know that we will be able to press Germany so far up the pitch, without leaving us open to counterattack
I still think Becky S. is a better pure defender than Julie Johnston, just Julie brings more to the overall game though than Becky. But I bet you Hope likes Becky more
In regards to Wambach sub. I too was confused to begin with. But I think biggest risk to us was set piece from China - they weren't challenging our box too much to that point. HencecAbby defense in box is nice to have late. Oh and I was very surprised at the total anti-US or pro-China cheering from the Canadians in the stands - even counting how long Hipe had the ball at one point late. They forgot that once she put the ball down it was live and time didn't matter - but it was telling.
So I watched the game in a bar and wasn't able to comment on this board during the game but here goes my impression. This match was always going to be one that play us in form. China is the right combination of good enough defensively and in the midfield but lacks potency going forward. So throughout the match you never got the feeling they were a threat. This game was mostly about the US showing the first time watchers that yes we can play well. Here are some random thoughts: - Our defense was solid but than again they really haven't been tested. - Flank play returned to the US mostly due to the hard work on Ohara who I thought had a good game. Heath I "think" had a good game but can't remember. - The pace of the game picked up in most parts due to Arod speed and movement. - Finishing from our forwards is still godawful. For our striking corps, Arod gives you the best combination of speed, movement and hold up play. Too bad she needs 10 chances to convert 1. But a this point I take her than the other because they are all not scoring right now. - Lloyd have to do better in the middle. Goal aside she was our worst player out there at how easily she got dispossessed or just plain give the ball away. That will be our downfall in the next game. Watching HOW she gets dispossessed is interesting because she is mostly being muscled of the ball which should never happen for a player like her. It all comes down to her using the wrong technique. When she sees contact coming, instead of pausing and absorbing the contact with your body while protecting the ball, she instead tries to continue playing and either misplace the ball due to the contact or get run over because she loses her footing. - From the very first kick Alex Morgan was never in this game and should have been subbed of earlier for either Leroux or Press. For the German game, we CAN NOT replicate what France does in the midfield but we can do other things that come close. Namely playing with more bodies in the middle. Sacrifice a forward as they are not scoring and no need to have 2 of them out there for twice the misses. So I'll go with something like: Solo Kling -- Sauerbrunn -- Johnston -- Krieger ----------------- Brian ------------------ ------ Holiday ---------- Lloyd ---------- Rapinoe ------------------------------- Ohara ------------ Morgan/Press/Arod ------------- - Have Rapinoe, Ohara and Lloyd be the primary aggressors when we lose possession. Replace either with Heath/HAO in the second half if needed. - Keep Brian on as the link between the defense and offense as Lloyd and Holiday have failed to embrace that role which contributes to our midfield disfunction.
OHara was a revelation. Was she perfect? Not by a long shot. But she made a difference. Wore the left back out. Pushed the pace. Hard. Outstanding. Baby Horse tries to do too much. Beat a defender and then dish. Don't try and slalom through half the defense. Get her to simplify her game a bit and she'll be on that wing for another cycle at least. Terrific game as well. AW was a mystery; wandered around like it was the first five minutes instead of the last, like she was trying to find service space or something. But the biggest question is just why the hell she was in there. Up a goal, five to go and you put in your old, slow target? For what? If you make a sub up top you put in a ball holder or a digger, someone who will run her ass off pressuring the ball, just non-stop harassment up there. I love me some Abby, but that was just about the last situation I can think of where I'd insert a lumbering, slow target to wander around. Ellis basically went down to ten players for the last five minutes.
They're going to have quite a decision on their hands when they do central defenders for the Best XI at the end of the tournament: Renard, Houghton, Sauerbrunn...
What I like about your proposed lineup is that it accounts for Ellis as coach. She is highly unlikely to not start both Holiday and Lloyd for this game and you designed a work around.
Knowing she is coming off injury, I still find Alex Morgan's play underwhelming. Has few moves to create space for herself, seems unable to get the half chances that great strikers threaten the keeper with, not particularly explosive. Good player, more of a role player for me.
I'll add one more observation. Heath is like a speed bump for this side. Ball movement dies when she receives it.
I wonder what O'Hara's condition is. She obviously got whacked in the face. Press was fully warmed up and had just gone to sit next to Ellis, apparently about to go in. But, Ellis let O'Hara come off the field, get tended to while the team played a player down for a few minutes, and then put Press in for O'Hara. I wonder if that was the initially planned substitution or if Ellis decided O'Hara couldn't keep playing and subbed her out. I also think the lineup for the game may leave Germany not knowing who or how the US is going to play against them. We've seen at least two very different looks from the US over the course of the WWC.
Not sure she got a quality ball in 90 minutes. She got frustrated and was coming back into midfield to try and get a sniff. For every five of Amy Rodriguez's steps, she takes one. Stunningly explosive. She's one of those athletes you could watch run all day long. Playing against the U.S. if she was on the bench you'd cross yourselves and kiss the sky.