Re: Roster for Mex Where he is supposed to be, on DC United's bench. Davies hasn't scored in a long time and most of his goals have come from the PK spot.
Re: Roster for Mex Didn't even start last game for DC. Hasn't been lighting it up. Let him stay there and continue to regain form. My thoughts: overall, pretty decent roster. Some guys I'd have thought would get a call (Feilhaber, Diskerud, Bedoya, Gomez) didn't and some I'd hoped wouldn't did (Ream) Still, with the timing, start of Euro schedules, I can see why the choices were made. I'd expect some of the MLS/Mexican contingent that didn't get selected this time, to be there for the Costa Rica match (Gomez, Feilhaber, Wondo, Cameron/Gonzo/Marshall/Rogers/Davis + maybe even DeMerit) and the rest of Euro's for Belgium (Jozy, Dempsey, Guzan, Mix, Bedoya, Kljestan, Spector, + maybe even Gatt at this rate). A couple thoughts on the roster as a whole. First, lots of versatility. Almost every field player can play two spots/rolls, if not more. The only real pigeon hole guys are Dolo (RB), Goodson & Ream (CB), and Buddle (CF). But everyone else can play multiples: Bocanegra (CB/LB), Chandler (RB/RM+LB?), Pearce (CB/LB/RB), Fiscal (CB/LB), Castillo (LB/LM); Clark (DM/CB/CM), Edu (DM/CM/CB), Bradley (DM/CM), Jones (DM/CM), Beckerman (DM/CM), Torres (LCM, CAM. LM), Shea (anywhere); Donovan (RM, RW, WF, CAM), Adu (CAM/WF/LM/LW), Beasley (LM, LW, LB?). I'm surprised at all the CM's, but if we play a midfield triangle (4-1-4-1 or 4-2-3-1) JK will need to know who can play which roles in it, and there are really 4 distinct ones; straight DM (1 in the 4-1-4-1), twin DM/CM's in the 4-2-3-1, twin CM/AM's in the 4-1-4-1, and the CAM in the 4-2-3-1. Point being, I think guys like Bedoya, Kljestan, Diskerud, and Feilhaber will all get their chances to play soon. Torres, Adu, and LD can all play the CAM role if needed, that's plenty for one game. Sucks that Chandler may be out injured, I hope not. It's going to be really interesting to see where JK looks at people, my shot: ------------Howard------------- Dolo---Goodson---Boca---Pearce -------------Jones------------- Donovan--Bradley--Torres--Shea -------------Buddle-------------- LB is the big ? mark. Boca could start there, but I think JK will want to see if a Goodson/Boca CB pairing will work going forward, and build around the CB's. LB could be anyone (Pearce, Orozco, Castillo, even DMB or Shea). I'll go with Pearce to start. Maybe Beasley over Shea. If we go 4-5-1, Adu could start with Jr and Jones behind him. If we go 4-4-2, I'd expect it to be Jones/Jr in the middle, and Agudelo or Adu pairing Buddle.
Skimming over this thread there are some interesting line ups thrown out there but I think what I would like to see is this: -------------------Howard----------------- Dolo--------Boca--------Goodson-----Peirce Chandler---Jones------Beckerman----Shea ------------------Donovan------- ------------------Buddle-------- Then sub in Clark at CB, Beasley at LM, Pull Dolo move chandler back, move donovan right and put adu in the withdrawn spot.
Re: Roster for Mex As I read the sentence, I thought Meitreya was saying Bradley was the fastest player on the side....
Happy to see Beasley get a shot here. Watched his game against Pachuca last weekend and he looked very good; he looked fast as hell...as in like he used to...but he also appeared more bulked up (maybe he's been enjoying some of that hormone-tainted beef they are becoming famous for south of the border). In any event, and independent of any latin-style leaning on the part of Klinsmann, I think Beasley's inclusion here is fully merited and I think he'll show very well.
Re: Roster for Mex I believe I've expressed my opinion very clearly. The general consensus on these boards as of 9 hours ago was that Clark was crap, Buddle was crap, Beckerman was good for MLS but not the Nats, Beasley was washed up, Bradley only played due to nepotism. Now that JK has called up Clark, Buddle, and Beasley, we're all now told to "relax" or "they fit his system" or "he has to call up players that are currently in the rotation (even though none of them are currently in the rotation)" or "he doesn't have a clue who's in our pool because he's only been on the job a week (which is utter crap.) Whereas when Bob called them up they were crap players and Bob would have been an incompetent, sweat wearing, bald, robotic, emotionless, kitten-killing fool. JK is not judged harshly for calling up the same players that Bob was judged harshly for calling up. Instead, excuses are made. That's my point.
I've binned a personal attack and the replies to it that followed. Remember we have a zero tolerance policy for personal attacks in this forum.
Re: Roster for Mex And just as clearly avoided my counterpoints... In order: In certain situations, no, maybe, maybe, no. Again. Find more specifics, it's easy to find one part of a group contradicting the other, and lump them together into an "abstract hypocrite", i.e. straw man. Not a very good one. Calm down, now try reading this again (assuming you did the first time):
Me too, but it's smart to leave him off, considering this is a high-profile match against Mexico. Gatt will have to wait for Belgium, just like Diskerud.
Re: Roster for Mex I think he's going for certain skills and looking into the future over who's better now and possibly has peaked already.. Just by your example of Wondo lol...really? really?..dude come on, be serious
Re: Roster for Mex If gelling means not making the bench this week then I guess he's gelling as well as he has on every other team he's been on in Europe. Im predicting a slow fade to black for Jozy under Klinsmann. My biggest interest will be in seeing how Mikey makes out. Dont see him as an automatic starter or a 90 minute player anymore. I wonder if Klinsmann is going to invite him a few times and then start decreasing his minutes? Would be too harsh to leave him off from day one. A slow change is the PC way to go.
Re: Roster for Mex It's a meaningless cash grab friendly at an utterly idiotic time. Is it possible for BigSoccer to just let this line up slide without hysterical over-analysis in every direction? No? All right then.
Re: Roster for Mex The point you are bending over backwards to avoid, in your attempt to lash out at Klinsi and phantom posters, to defend BB's choices, is that it is a new regime. Why get a new one if he is limited by either BB's player evaluations, or God Forbid, ours? Let me give you an example: I think Findley is crap, and I think BB should have realized he was crap after his first couple of games, and dropped him at least by Ghana. One of the reasons he was crap, is that BB played him as if he was Davies, like for like, and he could not handle that role. Perhaps Klinsi will call him up and try him in a different role, and he will succeed. I doubt it, but Klinsi gets a pass for the call up, and will get criticized by me, not if he fails but if he then KEEPS calling him up.
he's questionable for his club game Saturday, not doubtful. Our game is Wednesday. I'll wait for the doom and gloom until he's ruled out.
Re: Roster for Mex -----------------Agudelo------------- -Donovan---------Torres-----Chandler- ----------Jones---------Edu---------- ---------------------------Cherundolo -Castillo--Bocanegra---Goodson------- -----------------Howard-------------- I think we should experiment with different CM combinations. Start off with Jones/Edu, then pull Edu for Clark at the 30 minute mark (Jones/Clark), then pull Jones for Bradley at the 60 minute mark (Bradley/Clark). Subs: Clark for Edu (30') Ream for Bocanegra (HT) Shea for Donovan (HT) Jones for Bradley (60') Adu in at RM for Cherundolo; Chandler to RB (60') 6th sub saved in case of injury or other emergency (Castillo pulling a Bornstein, etc.) If no such situation arises, replace Agudelo with Buddle at 80' Beckerman, Orozco and Beasley are just roster filler, but Beasley could come in at LM if something goes wrong with Shea. While it would be nice to see him play, Hamid is just there to see 'The Gloved Rage' in action... with as many ?s as we have on the field, we should not waste a halftime sub on net. If Chandler can't go, put Donovan on the right and give Shea a full 90 on the left.
Re: Roster for Mex "You must spread some reputation around etc. etc." Let's wait at least three games before throwing any players on the dustbin.
Only because its a meaningless cash grab friendly that shouldn't have even been scheduled is there reason to not criticize these callups. If Bob Bradley had called up this squad the same people that are defending it now would be going ballistic.
Re: Roster for Mex My lineup ------------------Agudelo----------- --------------------Adu-------------- Shea-----Torres-------Jones--Donovan Castillo----Boca------Goodson--Cherundolo -------------Howard--------------
It's like you people aren't even bothering to read the refutation of this logic If Bob showed up at the training ground we would also go ballistic, are we hypocrites for not going ballistic when JK does the same?
Disagree. If Bob had called up this squad, it would've been welcomed by some as a needed change of a pace. Confusing by others, for it's non-Bobness.