So why did Conor Wickham score with Sunderland's crappy service, but Jozy couldn't? Yet Jozy has no issues scoring with the US in 4132 system?
Hey now. Flash Gordon also assisted a very vital game winning goal scored by another MLS representative, Eddie Johnson, against Antigua & Barbuda To be totally honest it's quite hilarious that Juergen preaches a philosophy that has been cracked wide open by the very personnel he uses. Even DeAndre Yedlin showed himself to be quite useful at the World Cup. I know Juergen doesn't HATE the MLS but he, and various others, are intent on speaking on how important it is to be playing in competitive leagues overseas when our squads needs were filled quite capably by a bunch of players who were plying their trade right here in the land of the free and the home of the brave *cue national anthem* Sorry, didn't mean to turn this into a MLS vs All thing. Doubtful, but I definitely feel you on the Dolo withdrawals. Probably our best player in South Africa. I wonder why captaincy wasn't given to him more often, honestly...
You have to wonder how the World Cup had gone for us had Jozy's not ended 20-some-odd minutes in to the whole thing. He already had a chance that he maybe should have buried. Even if the system itself was flawed, Jozy's production might have rectified such an issue. Germany's defense (which I remember being noted as shaky pre-tournament) might have been troubled more, and we would have had a much better response to Belgium's defense being quite sturdy (although would we really be talking about that if Wondolowski had.... never mind).
I think that Poyet made some changes to the starting eleven when Wickham came in which produced some better overall football and thus created more chances for Wickham. Though, to his credit, he took them well. Also, are there any strikers out there that don't play better in a 2 forward system?
Every forward works better when they have support, and support that knows how to handle a ball. If your plan in a lone striker system consists of ACTUALLY leaving your striker bereft of any kind of back-up, then the problem is not your striker. It's all a matter of what kind of players you have that dictate these things.
I'm just gonna wait til he gets called up to judge what his ceiling/level is. People go on and on about his age but he is only a 2nd year pro, he still has room to grow and American fans should know that as much as anyone.
Sarvas, Juninho, Ishizaki, and the outside backs have all assisted Zardes this season, probably just as much as Keane and Donovan. 14 of Zardes 15 goals are here to view: http://www.lagalaxy.com/blog/beat/2...s-homegrown-player-single-season-goal-scoring
Wondo 2014: 12/58 = 20.7% 2013: 11/101 = 10.9% 2012: 27/127 = 21.3% 2011: 16/109 = 14.7% 2010: 18/68 = 26.5% Any good pk numbers?
I am suggesting we have an actual competition for spots instead of Klinsmann manipulating the situation and saying there is a competition while doing something else. Why is Chandler called in to play starting left back when he lost the competition for rb to Fabian Johnson and Yedlin and we know he doesnt play left back well? We could have played Ream and Garza at left back in Prague. Therefore, hearing him say he will bring the Prague guys who scored 0 goals to play Ecuador when we could try somebody else in a competition just seems like more of the same with Klinsi.
i like Zardes i also believe that having Donovan and Keane really helps him i feel like he benefits off of them but i guess u still have to be there, and make the right runs, and finish i love his work rate thats the main thing that pisses me off about Altidore if you are scoring goals regularly, then you can have a low work rate if you are not scoring goals, you better b busting ur ace to try and create something for yourself or teamates i dont like team usa playing with 1 F 2 or 3 up top is my preference
I think we would've seen a much different dynamic had Jozy Altidore remained healthy. Our entire system at the World Cup was predicated on a target forward who could hold the ball up, and Jozy Altidore was the only player on our 23-man roster who fit that mold. When Altidore went down, we lost a key cog in our ability to maintain possession, and the subsequent personnel shifts had reverberations throughout the squad. It forced our best attacking player (Clint Dempsey) into an island up top in an unnatural role, limiting his effectiveness and time on the ball. It forced our best two-way midfielder (Michael Bradley) into an unnatural role that saw him become stretched too thin - essentially asked to be a creator in the attacking end with only one attacking player in front of him, and one of our defensive midfielders on the other side of the field. It's no coincidence that Michael Bradley again covered the most ground per game at the World Cup, and I think an understated talking point within the sea of criticism of Bradley's play at the World Cup is the extent to which he was forced into a difficult role after Altidore's injury.
They call me bruce, co mountain guy and 6 ft leprechaun repped you. Here is Klinsi's view http://americansoccernow.com/articles/klinsmann-unveils-detailed-new-approach-to-gameplay Extract Klinsmann also touched upon a shift he sees in global soccer: Teams are becoming more well-rounded in that all of the players on the field are expected to be two-way players—helping both offensively and defensively. He noted that this was apparent at the last World Cup and he specifically noted that the Netherlands and Mexico were returning to more traditional 3-5-2 formations and that even Manchester United under Louis van Gal are becoming more conservative. Prior to the U.S. national team’s friendly against Nigeria just before the World Cup, Klinsmann said that talk of formations did not really matter and that what was really important was how the team connected with each other. He elaborated on this today, and it offered a glimpse as to what he might emphasize among U.S. youth teams and the full national team when it reconvenes next month. “A lot of teams are becoming a little more conservative,” Klinsmann said. “The trend overall is that everybody attacks and defends as a unit. No matter what system you play, at the end the day you have to have strikers who are able to high pressure. You need to have defenders who step it high up and shift the game into the opponent’s half. You need to have goalkeepers being able to play out of the back and be technically gifted and not just bang the ball long and cause turnover after turnover. Those overall trends have been happening for the last few years.” "If your No. 10 or your forward doesn’t want to put people under pressure or doesn’t want to work defensively, it will be more difficult for them because you can’t afford just to have eight or nine guys work and have one or two guys not doing all that work.
If the league has brought in lots of good attacking talent but the goals-per-game average has stayed flat, wouldn't that tend to indicate that the defending has improved as well, and therefore the overall quality of play? That's certainly what I've seen over the last 5-7 years. I agree with your other point that you can't easily make comparisons between generations. However, I don't think 7 years is long enough to constitute a generational change in style of play (like you'd have in the time between Pele's heyday and Maradona's, for example), so the quality of the league does matter here and is comparable. I am not using league strength (or perceived league strength) as the indicator of Zardes' quality compared to Altidore, however, so I hope people on here don't get confused and rant at me, but I do think that Zardes' MLS is harder than Jozy's was.
Well, considering I don't listen to any public statements JK makes because they are nearly completely useless, I'm going to have to stick with my original assessment, which is that Zardes isn't anywhere near as good as Jozy is, and his ceiling isn't as high. JK's public statements need to be taken with very large grains of salt. YMMV.
Considering that Jozy's ceiling and his level of play are far apart, and there are no signs that he will ever get any closer to that ceiling, there will be a plenty of better players with lower ceiling than Jozy. And it seems that Zardes is one of them.
Well Altidore didn't exactly pick up the goal production after the changes. He was still getting time. Henry in his prime. Torres in his prime. Drogba in his prime. Patrick Mullins does very well, as does Agudelo.
You are giving too much weight to Jozy's club performances. He's been very good for the NT. And even if Jozy doesn't close the gap on level-versus-ceiling, his level is already solid enough that I have a hard time seeing Zardes get there, considering Zardes is not as strong, and not as fast. The one thing Gyasi has going for him are his runs; they're very intelligent as others have pointed out. That's the one area in Jozy's game that really could stand to improve, but it's not enough to make one say "Zardes is going to be better than Jozy is". Bear in mind that Zardes is only 2 years younger than Jozy; if you're going to question Jozy's ability to improve beyond the level he's currently at, then Zardes may not improve much more either.
Altidore has thus far proven himself an accomplished striker at mid-tier Euro level. That's below a Brian McBride and a Clint Dempsey and about the level of an EJ who had success in Greece. Zardes can certainly reach that level.
In no way will a FORWARD ever be considered a 2-way position regardless of what comes out of JK's mouth.
Zardes not as fast?? Lol Gyasi is definitely faster he's got speed to actually stretch defenses in addition he is great in the air scoring many goals off of headers this season. I think it's disingenuous to put a ceiling on Zardes already. The fact that he's scored so many goals this season and keeps improving attests to his ability. Albeit with Donovan/Keane but you should know American players coming out of college are late bloomers, so he has ways to go until he hits his peak
Yeah, there's a difference between "I want my forward applying pressure upfield to harass defenders and generate turnovers" and "I want my forward tracking back to the defensive third and playing defense". The former is normal, and Jozy does that. The latter is dumb.
1. Zardes is faster than Jozy. 2. Despite of being close in age they are at different points of their trajectory. Jozy is what he is. That's not bad, he is the best American forward by a wide margin, partially because there are no other forwards period. Zardes is seemingly improving from week to week. Something what was his weakness a couple months ago becoming his strength. I'm pretty hopeful that he will surpass Jozy pretty soon.
This isn't some earth shattering surprise, but there's a tendency here to overreact to small sample sizes in uncapped or low-capped players. Zardes has had a 2 month stretch here where he's been very, very good. He had 2 goals on 16 shots in the first 3 months of the season. He has 13 on 40 shots in the 2 months thereafter, but the 5 most recent goals have come against absolute garbage teams with terrible defenses. He deserves a look in the January camp for certain, but I think you're overreaching when you start talking about "surpassing Jozy soon". For all any of us know, he could revert back to the Zardes of 2013 and the first 3 months of 2014. Let's see him show come more consistency over a longer period of time than 14 games before we crown him.
I know it's trendy to say this. But it ignores the fact that so many players, especially Americans, have blossomed later in their careers than where Jozy is now.