Donovan looking increasingly likely to be Striker

Have to agree with you.

I think Landon and McBride are going to be up front. And we better hope that they are healthy enough to play every minute. I can't imagine having to stick Wolff or EJ in there. I don't even think its worth it to take Ching or Twellman. Though if I had to pick four forwards I'd go with McBride, Wolff, EJ and Ching, but I wouldn't feel comfortable giving any playing time to any of those guys other than McBride.

Is our forward situation really this terrible? This is freaking depressing!

 

Donovan is an attacking midfielder, I think he is much more limited at forward.

I think beasley should partner up front with McBride, he is speedy, good with the ball, relatively smart, makes good runs, his finishing has imporved, and I think he and McBride could click well together. I think eddie johnson is among the worst players on the squad actually.


--Dempsey--Reyna--O'Brien--
----------Donovan----------

-------McBride-Beasley-----

 

Not singling you out... Has anyone seen Landon play up top? He is so much more dangerous as an attacking midfielder or even out on the wing than when he has his back to goal.

 

I think if you give up on any of the forwards, we should play the Dutch 4-3-3 with Beasley and Donovan flanking McBride and a midfield of Reyna, Mastro, and O'Brien (hopefully).

 

I don't see how EJ doesn't start. Depending on the team playing McBride every minute may not be necessary.

 

me too.

 

agreed,,,,,he is more creative getting the ball in the midfield,,,,,to have him receiving the ball would limit his ability to see what is going on,,,,,he is a midfielder. Last night should not even be considered when it comes to the WC. EJ getting service from landon, Reyna, Lewis, Dempsey, McBride etc will be so much more effective then he was with Olsen, noonan and the cast he had last night....Same goes with Wolff and Twellman. Forget about last night

 

But we are so horribly lacking good forwards that he might have to go there. That's why an awesome run by EJ was so exciting. McBride is a threat there but I think the general consensus is that we have only a few world-beaters or players with that potential and most are in the back half of the field. Putting Donovan up front is just what you have to do when you've got Michael Jordan and CBA players on your team. If Adu had developed enough (a possibility at least) it could have made that move less disappointing. Who's the favorite to replace him as CAM, if we play with a CAM? Zavagnin or something?

It's like moving your best player from QB to running back when you know the recievers are just gonna drop his passes, just to make sure he'll get some yards.

 

i like the 4-3-3 too. it might actually work...

 

...................................keller
..........Cherundolo.........gooch............Gibbs
......................Reyna.............Pablo
Dempsey........JOB...................Lando.............Beaser
..............................McBride
why not steal a page from Sampson?
This might just be the way to have the best players on the field at once

 

So McBride, who hasn't scored a goal that counted since the first week of February is our lock, but EJ, who has scored in both national team games and regular club games more recently is on the bench because ....................... hmmmmmm. Right. When McBride scores a goal outside of a blizzard goal that apparently doesn't count now, we'll talk. Until then, he is at 10 weeks and counting without putting the ball in the back of the net. And I don't want to hear about how he does the little things, but just isn't scoring. If we are worried about EJ, we should be worried doubly about McBride, as he's older and seems to me to be totally out of gas at this stage of the season. And neither Donovan or McBride is a better pure finisher than EJ.

 

how about something more like
...........cher.........gibbs...........gooch...........lewis
..........dempsey..............Reyna..............JOB
......................landon.............beaser
...............................McBride

 

I psuedo-agree, however I think we will go with a 4-5-1.

-------Defenders
Dolo-------------------
---Reyna----Mastro
------------------Obrien
----Donovan--Beasley
----------McBride

No true RM because Cherundolo and Donovan and Reyna will all take that side.
However, as I've said before, our formation/personal will be extremely dependent on the situation/opponent.

 

not to be a wise guy or anything but exactly how many Reading games have you seen to base this on? I don;t have access to the colaship so I have no way of knowing,,,,I am just going buy MLS play,,,,Dempsey has been a far better player in MLS than Convey ever was......at least I think so

 

I like that too... I guess my only concern is that a solo McBride might not be effective. I really think that McBride needs someone up there to work with him... The lineup you've presented though could work just like a 4-3-3 in reality.

in any event, it looks like we are going to have to rely on both landon and demarcus to help brian out. frankly, ej and wolff are in slumps and ching and twellman have disappointed...

 

I sort of think that Convey is better than Dempsey too... but that's based just on his performance in the Germany debacle. I'm sure they will both get quality minutes. No way Bruce is going to run out a tired midfielder against Ghana... so frankly the Convey v. Dempsey discussion is kind of moot...

 

National team games count too. Convey has been tearing it up since last summer for the USA as well as being generally hailed as one of the best players in the Cola. It's a good problem to have when you have good players that can't get a spot. If I was Beasley i'd be quite worried by both of their development.

 

cool,,,,,I only see clips on skysorts news,,,,besides Demps is more a center/right sided player and convey are more leftsided so I guess its a moot point

 

anyone given any thought to starting convey or beasley alongside mcbride? that way we can keep donovan in the midfield?...