There's this big perception around here that we need a big striker like Jozy to successfully replace him....How about a more dynamic and smaller striker... By only considering big/physical striker to replace Jozy, you will have to disqualify 90% of the players in the USMNT pool...Sometimes, I feel this is being used as an excuse to keep Jozy's spot in the starting 11 safe. Maybe the system should change a bit....Jozy doesn't even play like a big physical styled striker who would win you the majority of his aerial battles. If it's up to me, I'd tried Wood there and play a much fluid game with a lot of movement coming from the striker...Kind of like Barca plays with Suarez or Messi playing as the main striker. Football as a whole is also moving away from the big lumbering hold up striker for much quicker and smaller striker that can easily play in the midfield and be comfortable.
I understand that...but his main game is being dinamic and using his quickness and movement to pull defenders out of their comfort zone...and then beating them with pace when they come out too far from the box. I think if you're shorter than 6 foot and look much slimmer than Jozy, many people on here will disqualify you to replace him... There's this sense around here that we need a big target striker guy out there to hold up play...Our current guy can't even do that job properly anyway..so frankly, we just do not have a strong hold up play/target striker in our pool. And to be honest, I want the USMNT to move away from this type of football with the big lumbering striker...I want to see fluidity and possession brand football...Someone like Jozy hurts us from doing that because he's too big and his movement is affected by his size. If we fire Klinsmann, my hope is it would be for a coach that emphasize this brand of football and the technical side of it...That would mean phasing out the Altidores in our pool...Anyone with below average first touch should stay home and work on it I would call up Feilhaber and Lee Nguyen and try to incorporate them in a 3 midfield formation...I would try to bring 2 wingers that can keep possession and are pacey....and I would use Wood as the main striker to drop deep sometimes and keep possession and use his pace and creativity to create shot for himself or other..Woods has already shown he can create space for himself and have shown more creativity than Jozy. Feilhaber and Lee looks above average in MLS for keeping possession and create shots..I'll put them as the 2 most advance CM with Bradley as the defensive/deep lying mid behind Feilhaber and Lee...so my hope is with such a team, possession football would be a bit better. I'm undecided with the 2 wing-strikers in a 4-3-3 that would support Wood as the central striker.
Deja vu all over again... Not picking on you specifically, but your quote brought back flashbacks about the criticisms thrown at Bob Bradley. If only we had a European/foreign coach who understood a more polished, technical style... such a coach would raise the US game above what Hard-Workin' Bob could ever do. That's what we heard on the forums constantly for years. And so we get Klinsmann, but he pushes Feilhaber out the door, cuts the most dynamic and creatively technical US player ever in Donovan, doubles down on Mike Bradley running 90 minutes game after game, and talks constantly about hunger and fitness. Clearly, there is no guarantee a new coach does things the way folks dream about. Not sure the dream coach is out there. Not sure the dream player pool is either. Jozy did very well at AZ under Verbeek and is the US's 5th all-time scorer. He's only 25, which is a lot more helpful heading into 2018 than Dempsey's age 32. Too soon to give up on him. The National Team coach needs to be willing to work with the player pool that exists.
I will agree that JK is a fool anyday but not for sending Jozy home. He was stinking the place up during the group stage. Sending Jozy home was the only good thing JK did. Bringing in Gordon was a fool move and a poor preliminary roster left JK few options. Juan A was a possibility but he's playing mostly outside half for club. JK needs a solid Plan B when it comes to Jozy. He may never pull out of this funk and we need more options. Maybe Morris of maybe other forwards should be given a chance. Davies has a lot of upside these days and Finlay is apso producing in MLS.
We can only speculate on that. So far Boyd has yet to score in his 12 caps. And all his success up until now has come in either Austria or the German lower divisions, so we don't know how that's going to translate to the international level, or if it will at all.
It's insane thinking back to the 2011 Confederations Cup, and how sure we all were that Jozy was the next big thing for US soccer. Man, did he thrive off Davies. Shame how that turned out. I've been a Jozy supporter through thick and then, but I'm not an idiot. This is the first time where I've really, truly believed the US at least has to look elsewhere, even if the transition is a trial basis or temporary.
I have high hopes for him. How many of our forwards would have tried to turn and shoot here only to lose the ball? Instead Boyd sends it back post before the defenders close in on him and hopes somebody else is doing their job. Just a smart play. Plus he just has raw athleticism. Bradley had a first row view of it here, twice.
Morris, Rubin, Green are 3 I have really high hopes for as far as young players go. I haven't seen enough of Novakovich but I hear he's an excellent player.
I can't believe anyone is now calling for Wood to be our main striker. He had two great goals recently, but up until then the vast majority of U.S. fans were wondering why he kept getting called up at all, as he had looked completely ordinary to outright bad in all his previous games and had done jack at the club level as well. I certainly hope things pan out for him with his club this year and that he continues to grow and produce for the USNT over the coming years, but you're a fool and will be hugely disappointed if you think his last 2 games mean he's suddenly ready right now to be the answer for the U.S.
The problem with Wood in his earlier caps was his finishing. The runs he was making and his workrate were excellent. He started scoring goals for his club team after he was loaned out last year and subsequently started scoring for us. I think he deserves more looks, but I don't think anyone thinks he's "the answer".
It's a shame Boyd is too old for Olympic qualifying. We cannot rely on Dempsey in 2018 and need to find alternatives to him and possibly Jozy. With qualifying starting soon that is going to be hard, so the Olympics offer a great opportunity for some others to stake a claim that they should at least get a chance. As for Boyd he needs to stay healthy and put in a stellar season. He's only a year younger than Jozy and is 2 years older than Agudelo.
The #9's job is to relieve pressure, help his team advance up the field in possession, and score. We need that because we don't have a midfield and backline capable of doing that on its own. Who is capable of doing that at the international level? That requires physical qualities that eliminates types of players (AJ, Wondo, Green, Wood, Rubin) from one role on the field. Others will need a partner to carry some of that load (Dwyer, Morris, JacMac, Zardes).
Agree with this...Even before his 2 goals against Germany and Holland, I liked the way Wood played..The only problem was his finishing but everything else looks above average......He may not be the answer, but he's at least worth a longer look instead of trotting out Jozy in every match...We know what we're getting from Jozy which is not enough...We're not sure yet from Wood since he hasn't played much. From the little I've seen from Wood, I'm confident enough to say he has better touch, pace and creativity than Jozy...He's more likely to create something out of nothing.....Regardless of whether Wood is the answer, we all agree Jozy position should no longer be a lock...It's time to give other strikers stronger looks...That includes Boyd too...We haven't seen enough of him to make a conclusion Jozy is better than him.
Do you think Wood will be effective against the average international side we play competitively, say Costa Rica, as our furthest forward player for 70 minutes? What is he doing to be effective for our team?
How do those runs occupy defenders relieving pressure on the rest of the team and help the team advance the ball up the field? In what situations? What does he do after the run? Runs require space and passers, the less space the better the passers.
Jozy runs hot and cold. We have all seen this before in the past. He happened to hit this tournament in a cold phase. You can talk about showing him the national team door if we have a lot viable alternatives at the position, but we don't. When he is on his game, which is, admittedly, frustratingly intermittent, he can torment any backline you throw at him. You don't throw away a 25 year old player.
He may run hot and cold, but the times where he was "hot" how did he scored? was it tap-ins? uncontested headers? blown coverage? allowed to make his patent inside move? I can't remember the last time he has impressed me with his scoring.
Altidore just had a stinker with Toronto. If he can't pick t up the rest of this month he won't start in the friendlies in September.