The obvious answer to me is a 3-5-2. GK: whoever LWB: Saief CB: Brooks CB: Miazga CB: CCV? RWB: Yedlin CM: Adams CM: McKennie CAM (free role): Pulisic ST: Altidore ST: Sargent/Wood/AJ/Weah/whoever Because our player pool is in such a state of flux, this could change a lot, but anything other than this right now feels wrong.
It's an interesting idea but I don't know if Saief has enough bite to play LWB against good sides. Adams isn't good enough on the ball for him to work well in that middle role as well. I think we'd be better off moving him to LWB. Dropping one of the 2 ST (Jozy ideally) and moving Saief into a CAM or LW role. 3-4-2-1 or 3-4-3. Then insert someone else in the CM.
We don't play a competitive game for a year, so I'm good with finding out whether they can manage. Adams isn't a wingback though, and his future isn't there either. I'm not sure why people are hellbent on shoehorning him into that position.
Saief did well at wingback in UCL, including against Tottenham. Adams is an RB, RWB, D-mid. Currently, RB and RWB are his stronger positions. The team tends to do better with 2 strikers or 3 forwards. Dempsey could make 4231 and even 4141 work. I'm not sure if another forward could, however.
The harsh reality is as he is now. He isn't good enough to be a CM in a system that wants to play good soccer. He isn't good enough on the ball and he can't make quick decisions. CM is a position where you shouldn't see a player thinking but rather doing. He doesn't know what do when under pressure. Could he improve there... yes. Will he... I don't know. For now he's best suited as a Wingback because he has good speed, endurance, and with the line on one side he won't have as much to think about. He also played well there for Reb Bull last year when used there so it isn't so random position to him.
One thing people should be aware of is that Jozy doesn't handle crosses well. Last game against America was typical. The crossed ball blows past Jozy but the wb (352)Morgan is there to stick the ball in to goal. Adams would have been the natural for that wb spot but he wants to play cmid. I believe he is good at scoring crosses and scored one against xolos iirc. I believe one of his scores last year was a volley off a cross.
I can calling in Jozy from time to time but I don't see him as the leader of this new breed of striker. Maybe it is me but after such a disaster there needs to be a gutting of the key players that make up the spine of the team. Fringe players can buy into the new system but the core guys unless they were shackled by the previous coach have to go.
@feyenoordsoccerfan would you mind confirming how many holdovers from the failed campaign are the Dutch keeping? @ITALIA1982 How many are Italy holding onto from theirs?
When I go thru the list, considering also age, few guys from the Trinidad debacle survive but one of them is Jozy because a) we don't have any other classic back to goal 9's and b) Jozy has developed a good passing game and c) plays in a 352 system and d) scores goals e) occupies cb's very well around the 18 yd line f) is at an ideal age for a striker (27) - just to name a few things. Imagine you are the 9 and they give you wood as the partner uptop - a guy who isn't scoring and doesn't play hold up - and one cmid who never does anything in Nagbe and another cmid in Arriola who is a winger, not a cmid and a 6 who cant pass on the ground and a formation that keeps the fullbacks defending to get a crucial point on the road in the final game of the hex. A striker has to score goals or he is not a striker. Hwvr, he has the right to claim that he isn't getting the ball in the situations he requires. He doesn't have a problem at Toronto. I don't know who you would put in cf instead of Jozy. I've got Jozy at the 9 in the "come at me bro" shirt.
That is a very good argument. I forgot that a striker needs good service and if he is not getting good service it is tough to score. I thought Jozy didn't make the most of his scoring chances and doesn't move enough into good space to score and as you pointed out isn't as dominant in the air as a guy his size should be. However, he is the best option as of now. I wish we had more options.
Aha. Well, the first reason for failure was the coaching approach by Hiddink, unfortunately continued by Blind. The second reason was the aging of the stars while refreshment in the ranks werenot available. We said goodbye to Sneijders, Kuyt, Robben, van Persie but from a pov of age and diminishing fitness, not because of loss of soccer quality or the failure of qualification. AFAIK no player that was acting in the failed campaigns is definitively written off because of the contribution to it. But new players were added because of their better quality compared to the ones not selected. For instance in the defense we just have a stupendous range of world class players of young age rising. So it's more a taking over by better talents than a "punishment" for a bad campaign. One player that was responsible for a disastrous loss (and victim of a disastrous decision by the coach to field him in the first place) is de Ligt. He however is one of the building blocks of the new team. So no, there's no blame game concerning players. It would be a foolish way to act to do so, as you must consider a player's possible contribution to the team, not what went wrong in a campaign.
Way too much logic and intelligence put in that response. However, it appears that the USA can learn lots about moving forward from established world powers.
Saief playing wingback for Anderlecht may help solve the problem at LB. Play 3 in the back like below. 3-4-3 ------------------Altidore--------------------- ---Johansson-------------------Pulisic------ Saief-----Mckennie--Adams------Yedlin -------Brooks----Miazga----CCV--------- --------------------Steffen-------------------- Or 3-5-2 with an extra CM ------------Altidore------Pulisic------------ ------------------Mckennie------------------- Saief------Adams-----Delgado------Yedlin -------Brooks----Miazga----CCV--------- --------------------Steffen--------------------
I like the general idea. Let me just say CCV is good in the box but not great when he gets dragged out of it like a rcb would. You need scoring out of the wb's. Yedlin doesn't score. Adams isn't a good dmid but has a great game along the touch line. I see it as an unfinished puzzle. ----------------------Altidore9----Pulisic ----adams---McKennie--------------Delgado---? -------------------------------Trapp -------------------Brooks---CCV-----Miazga ---------------------------------gk: ? Altidore has developed a good hold up game so yeah, he's our best 9. Pulisic is Pulisic. Adams can play up and down that touch line but hasn't had a coach who can explain the potential of the position. McKennie and Delgado complement each other because Delgado is great as a pivot 8 in the middle third and McKennie is somebody who can play the 10 or the 6 dmid with equal capacity but hesitates a bit in the middle third. It would help a lot if Vanney would overcome Delgado's performance anxiety in the box. He should be able to score the ball. He has the vision and quick mind to pass the ball into the back of the net. I put Trapp in as the 6 because he isn't worse than anyone else and passes better than anyone else. maybe somebody else shows up to take his spot but so far I haven't seen it. I just don't know what our best combination is in the back 3 yet. Brooks is there if healthy. Miazga has convinced me he is for real at international level with senior team but is that because he proved to be best at lcb? Dunno.
Chandler or Yedlin will do at RWB. Even if Yedlin doesn't score he just covers so much ground that we can't ignore him there. Especially if we're playing a better team than ours. I'd try out EPB at CCB because he is more mobile and better on the ball then CCV. I'd drop the extra CM and put Saief or AJ at LW.
This is a very good point. I have thought about CCV at RCB because he plays there in a 4 man line but he does seem a better defender 25 from goal in the middle of the field. If the FB is caught upfield and he has to stop the ball out wide he is not as comfy. This also concerns me as in Concacaf most teams keep the ball on the ground and less in the air. So if we play 3CBs then CCV has to play middle but then who of Mizaga or Brooks plays right? I guess Mizaga as he played a bit of RCB with the Red Bulls before being sold.
With the Red Bulls he played almost exclusively on the right side. Though I might well have missed the odd match, I cannot recall any games where he was the left-sided partner.
I am a RB fan but don't get to watch a lot of their games unless on ESPN or Fox so I tried to hedge and say a bit because I didn't watch the msg games enough to know for sure.
The natural RCB candidates aren't among the top proven defenders in the pool. I'm thinking of players like Parker, Farrell, Nerwinski, Anibaba. Perhaps EPB. Of course, there'll be plenty of camps in which these players can be evaluated.
As I understand it (Feyernood could confirm) Miazga only played left cb at Vitesse because the captain of the team played rcb. AS it turned out, he might be better at left cb after all. Chalk one up for Klinsmann's "put them out of their comfort zone theory".
b.t.w., I watched Schalke's win over Augsburg Saturday (the other option was Pulisic at Dortmund v Mainz, so, no brainer for me). Schalke played straight 343 with McKennie and Goretzka at cmid. This works best for players who are double dmids. Schalke's 3142(with Meyer at the 1) was better for McKennie because it enabled him to show off his offense more. With our lack of forwards and surplus of mids we would likely want to go 3142 variation.
True. Or as my Ghanaian country men say some people are not Lcb or RCb, they are just footballers. But it does show well about Mizaga. I think he will be this next cycle's Cameron as in critical to whether we win or lose. I think our record without GC this cycle by injury and coaching stupidity was at least 0-4. I think Mizaga should ask to be sold to German or French club, he is ready for the next level.