I understand what you're thinking but don't let Torres position that far up field fool you, he's not an attacking player. He's a linking player. He job is to link the team from defense to attack, to make the pass to get players into a more favorable attacking position.
usmnt defence is very slow, but that all klismas has.for players that dont deserved to be in the team are goodson, castillo US soccer is in bad moment there is not talent look at mexico is the last two years they have won u 17 world cup u 20 3th plce gold cup , panaamericanos gol Tulon tournament.
Just as a heads up, people won't like it when you go into another teams forum and drop names of trophies your team has won. Friendly info for you.
Torres reminds me of Claudio Reyna circa 1998. Decent skill, always getting muscled off the ball. No thanks.
Edu reminds me of me right now, no skill, no touch, no vision and always getting muscled off the ball.
Funny, I'm surprised they are not asking for all players to be removed, they played pretty poorly as a team so why not remove all of them. Instead let just find one guy we did not like and open a new thread! Everybody get over it, game is done and Jurgen doesn't care what all of us think. He is going to play his best 11, not BigSoccer best 11 so get over it.
This is bad scouting and coaching by the staff. Torres rarely(if ever) goes forward for Pachuca. So it shouldn't shock people that he doesn't like to go forward. That should not be expected of him in the national team. Castillo is a better option at Left Midfield than Torres will ever be.
Yeah, he plays like a deep playmaker, but for that role he'd need a DM to shield him. That isn't how we've been playing. We could out of a diamond, or him as part of a 3 man mid in the 433. I like him and his skillset, he's just not being used right.
Silly. Torres has been a bright spot and has created a long of good chances. Here's what still needs to be proven. Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan playing together. Individually they're great. But they've hardly lived up to their combined hype. They're not even looking for one another.
I'm going to disagree with you guys on this one. Here is my take: In JK's system, the stars of the wing offense and defense are the outside backs. In this system, the wide forwards (Torres and Donovan) are the facilitators. Offensively, they play as pivots, combining with the interior players, and releasing the wide players into space. Essentially, they act just like a CM, where they have to play 360 degrees, with emphasis on combo play and superior movement. Both primary strengths of LD and Torres. The LB/RB is more often the guy sending in crosses and getting down the line. The LB/RB is also the primary defender. So Torres and LD are "shielded" by the LB/RB, much in the way that a DM would function. So, yes, Castillo is a better option at LM than Torres. Which is why, in this system, they are both exactly where they should be. This is also why Johnson and Cherundolo have also looked good - they are great 2 way players. Donovan obviously offers more flexibility, with more attacking mindset and ability to make plays at high speed. What upset this balance, is the switch to 442, and Dempsey replacing Edu. So now you have less players for Torres and LD to combine with further upfield (since Bradley and Jones had to cover more ground and couldn't/didn't get forward as much). Then Dempsey roamed, and LD and Torres also hugged the touchline more, which is not optimal for either. All resulting in fairly static play. So the coaching staff has yet to get the combo right, with a full selection of players. But I don't think it is a misuse of Torres. in fact, i think it is a pretty brilliant way to integrate his unique skill set into the team. But they also need to know when to sit him, as he doesn't fit in all tactical situations.
Torres is not a left winger. We've known this for some time. I like to think Klinsmann knows it too. For him to be successful on the left side of the 4-3-3, I think he needs a left back that's good at getting forward and overlapping, plus space that he can tuck into towards the center to link up. He had both against Scotland and did very well. I'm not sure how many games that's likely to be the case, either due to the opponents' tactics or Dempsey's tendencies. My own preference would be for him to play further back in the the 3 man midfield next to Bradley, in front of a DM.
Unless you have two box-to-box center mids (which very few teams have any more), you're going to need a DMid regardless of whether your playmaker lies deep or plays advanced up the field. Right?
it is a team game fellas. it takes all 11. people keep talking about wingers and this and that. it always takes all 11.
Awesome assessment. Let's compare the Scotland game against Canada. Against Scotland JFT knew his role - the one he referred to earlier in the week: passes go through him in the center. He did exactly that, and Bradley, Jones and LD played beautifully off those passes. We put Clint in and he roamed all over the place. At one point he and Bradley were making the same runs - in another he was Mike's passing outlet way back at our own 30. Then he'd get up the pitch and JFT and him would make the same run. ARGH. It wasn't all Clint's fault of course, but our positional discipline just went to pot. It looked like LD was given express directions to stay out wide, so he did. Which meant JFT and LD were isolated on the wings. Add tired legs into this - hey look, a 0-0 draw! Really surprised this wasn't adjusted at the half. I like Ant0n's suggestion that Torres and Deuce should have flipped. We had enough of a defensive presence against Canada that this could have happened. All of this is to say that I don't believe the original premise. JFT looked fantastic against Scotland for a reason. It's not just because that team was bad. He has a role with this team, we need to figure it out.
Yeah, you need a Dm regardless. Jones is my preference because he allows Bradley to run box to box, and he's better on the ball than Edu. I hate the idea of Bradley sitting back wasting away. He's shown over the last few games that we're better as a team with him running forward. I think Torres can be the other CM. He's not going to go box to box, I'm not sure he needs to. If you want he and Dempsey on the field at the same time, I think this is how it's got to be. Some thing like lb-----cb------cb-----rb ---------Jones------------- ----Torres----Bradley Dono------------Dempsey -----------CF------------
Yeah, that's how I expected us to be aligned when we took the field against Canada. (Except woth the right back on the right and the left back on the left. )
You and Spursfan pretty much have the answer. This isn't really a problem with Torres, because even Bradley looked poor out there. Against Canada. The issue was player fatigue, pure and simple. Klinsi is trying to get the team into road shape, but I think he made a mistake by bringing 23 players and executing this sequence as if it was a tournament. It is not. In a World Cup, the team will have a centralized basecamp and travel time is not really that much of a factor. This is qualification- Travel time will be a big issue, and it's almost paramount that players get rotated. It's common practice for the US in qualification to make roster tweaks or changes. Klinsi needs to figure this out. So, I completely disagree with the premise of this thread. Torres is a weapon, and I agree that he is not a 10 shirt. But I am not going to throw him on the bench because he played a 3rd game on the road tired, especially after trying to press Brazil in the last match. What really should have happened was Torres seeing the bench and Feilhaber/Adu/Diskerud getting called in to give players a rest. Even rest Bradley for most of the game. Even if this was a 5 game tournament like the World Cup, there would be more squad rotation that what Klinsi implemented.
I think Wessoman has a point but why rotate? We are going to have to learn to play well when tired. to have that extra boost when the legs feel like they cant move anymore. thats where we are headed. also mentally how to play when you are physically and mentally tired.