This team is terrible. Boring and terrible. Jozy should no longer be a starter. Same with Zardes. Bradley's passing not good enough. We're stuck with Klinsmann through 2018. More boring soccer, filled with excuses from our leader when we lose. Excuses and scapegoating.
As long as we continue to try to run the offense through Michael Bradley, games like that will happen. Michael can be a dynamic offensive force on the field, but not controlling the tempo. That's not his game- he makes smart runs from the midfield without the ball and pops up in the right places at the right time. He can occasionally lead a good break, but not consistently. More than anything poor that JK is doing (and, let's face it, he's doing a lot poorly these days), we are struggling to replace Landon Donovan. No surprise that we are struggling- most teams have a problem replacing the best player that ever played for them. We will get on with it eventually, but it still hasn't happened. That game was dull. Thinking about Landon's former place on the team was really the only interesting thing for me during the whole match. Oh, and once again thinking that Zelalem should have been on the field for the US. Not because he's ready (because he's not), but because the team didn't have any idea what to do with the ball against a bunker and counter team like T&T last night. His defense would have been bad, but we needed someone that has talent at directing an attack when given possession and time on the ball.
Defensively, I thought we were pretty good. Ream struggled with Joevin Jones' pace, but managed not to give up anything too dangerous. Offense was almost completely lacking. We had a grand total of two long-range shots on goal: Jones fed Johnson in the first half, and Bradley laid it off for Jones in the second. None of the forwards managed a shot on target: Zardes was 0/3, Altidore 0/1, Wood 0/0. Bradley and Jones seem to be receiving most of the criticism, but I thought the wingers were the biggest problem: Johnson was poor, and Yedlin disappeared. Bradley was 66/76 passing (87%), Jones 53/63 (84%), Johnson 33/47 (70%), Yedlin 20/27 (74%), and Nagbe 16/19 (84%) in 22 minutes. Among the forwards, Altidore was 24/28 passing (86%), Zardes 20/25 (80%), and Wood only 4/4 in 15 minutes.
Agree about Zardes... Bradley is being asked to things offensively that is not in his skill set. He is one of our better players but needs a more dedicated playmaker in front of him. I blame the tactics. I am an "Altidore-hater" but that was his best performance in many, many games.
Here's what I'm most disappointed with: T/T sat back the entire game and we could do nothing with all that possession. Forget about finishing the chances, we barely created any chances. We are better than that and top teams go on the road and get 3 points.
Something nobody will read, but I think bears mentioning. JK was not at fault for this. There was a Dempsey decision that may or may not have mattered and then JK said how do we play? I like the idea he brought in the line up a lot actually. It wasn't working though because players were just not performing as mentioned over and over in this thread. Frankly if even one of out Zardes, Bradley, and Yedlin was playing better we likely win and if 2 were playing better we likely win in a convincing manner even if the scoreline was a close 1-0. JK tried to fix this at halftime and I think what he did helped. We were better in the second half with Bradley higher and Jones deeper, but it was not enough. I think his two subs were good and probably should have both happened at the 60 minute mark, but I can see him thinking we were doing better and give it time to work. Yes he could have used the third sub as well. I don't think this was a bad game overall for JK in preparation and adjustments and while I think he could have been slightly better in both, he put the team in positions to win before and during the game, but the players didn't execute. Again, Bradley, Yedlin, Zardes just didn't get it done.
The Mexico game in April 2014, when Green debuted, Donovan was essentially dropped at half, and Bradley was played higher in midfield to press was the genesis of this problematic midfield. It pretty much worked the first half of that game, against Nigeria, kinda Portugal and not really any other time. Quintessential Bradley for me was the snow classico. I was at the game and his control from a holding position was unbelievable. Great touch, no mistakes, on basically ice. He's being played out of position. It's that simple and that stupid. And Jones gets in his way.
I agree. The only time T and T looked really dangerous was in the first 20 seconds. We hit the woodwork 3 times and Zardes misstimed and whiffed on an easy header. We were on the road and had 2/3 possession. Some of us need a dose of reality....It may not have been pretty but we dont have ANY even championship-level strikers in our pool. The closest is Dempsey. What do people expect ?
I was thinking about the same thing too and I think the problem the current group has is that there are no attacking mids and no defensive mids screaming out to be playing. Zelalem could fit in right now in a 4-5-1 with attacking wide midfielders if we can find a younger holding midfielder to play behind him and just put Bradley or Nagbe next to him. He is as ready as Yedlin and Zardes are for this level of play. We'll get to the hex, but the question of building for the cup is still there. Bradley is off...Jones isn't a starter for Russia...its a big question.
Very true. Of course, JK's problems replacing Landon can be attributed to him repeatedly trying to replace him with defensive minded players while refusing to even call in CAMs.
I expect us to be able o handle mid level Caribbean teams with ease. What championship level striker was on the pitch for T&T? Heck, there best players are the ones trying to break into MLS. Yet somehow, our roster of MLS stars helped by a few superior european players are from a lesser player pool? Stop blaming the quality of the players. Could JK have led Germany to a victory over T&T? Sure, but that's not his job, and honestly, anybody could have led the current German team to a win last night. If it requires a huge player talent advantage for JK to win consistently, then he's in the wrong job. My biggest concern from last night was the quote from the pregame interview where JK was asked about the risk of not selecting Dempsey. His response was that he wasn't concerned about any ramifications from the decisions he makes. If that's the case, he and Sunil need to be booted ASAP.
T&T were happy to allow possession, but JK had started 2 fullbacks in wide mid roles. He never adjusted by especially moving Yedlin the more defensive minded of the pairing. FJ's moving to leftback struck me as more of a move to shore up that spot as Ream was having difficulties with Jones. JK was making sure the team didn't get embarrassed. 7 current and former Serie A, EPL, and B1 players in the starting lineup and JK was still too scared to adjust the team into a more aggressive attacking stance. Zardes needs to stay in midfield until he again starts to get major minutes at forward at club level. This is actually one of the best all-around competitive matches I've seen Altidore play against a decent side. He really took responsibility for running the game in the attacking third.
Wood plays at B1 level. Jozy who did extremely well in the Eredivisie is a C'ship level forward. It's somewhat puzzling JK didn't go with those two up top.
This is some of the problem. OK we had 2/3 possession and created how much? 2 cross bars and Zardes missing. Not good enough in creation opportunities.
It's been a long time since Fabian played LB for club, so his assignment at LM was perfectly normal, that is where he plays for club. Yedlin just recently started to play RB for club and the jury still out on him, for us he mostly plays RM, the few times that he has played RB for us he was so-so. So I don't have a problem with JK putting them there, same thing for our fullbacks, Reem played more than a year as LB for Reading and Orozco has played RB for us in the past. Ream also knocked-heads with Jones, so maybe that compounded his substitution. I just have a problem with the way JK has this team playing.
I think tactically the team was designed to keep a clean sheet and try to grab a goal. You've got 4 CBs playing back, so you aren't getting much attacking support from the fullbacks. The crucial piece missing was an attacking presence in the center of midfield. Bradley / Jones in the midfield just doesn't work to create chances through the center of the field, so then you've got to rely on your wingers. That works when your wingers are Donovan and Dempsey, not so much when your wingers are Johnson / Yedlin. Yes, that's Johnson's natural position, but he hasn't played there much with this team, and it showed. Yedlin's not a good winger, and IMO, he shouldn't be starting. He's really just not good enough offensively to fill that role. He's good when you can take advantage of tired legs. He also has a tendency to disappear starting around minute 60 because he can't sprint the way he does for 90 minutes. Then you're left with Jozy and Zardes up top, and without decent support from anyone, they have to drop back to receive the ball and that's not where you want them. Also, Zardes was really bad last night. Offensively, this team is pathetic right now and they aren't set up to score goals from the run of play. It's really, really bad.
Oh boy, how long have you been watching soccer? Jones is not trying to break into the MLS, MLS is trying to get him into the MLS. Jones was a very good Premier League forward and would destroy the MLS if he ever came.
Yes it was. Mexico is playing just ok, they got two goals from individual plays. Mexico can play better which is the scary part.
It was interesting that when Nagbe came on everyone was clearly trying to get him the ball, and he did a good job getting into position for that to happen. Promising that klinsy directed that at least. I think once we get Nagbe on a decent field we'll see it work out well.
I don't have too much of a problem with Bradley, he tries. The one I have a problem with is Jozy, he requires to be spoon fed to be any good. In the St. V. game people were saying that he was great, a reporter even gave him MOTM! for what? a blown coverage and a deflection? The real Jozy was exposed again in the T&T game, again he was never in a position to score, getting caught not only offside but looking slow while doing it. He trapped well but then he proceeded to give the ball away. If it wasn't for his 2 excellent crosses he would have been battling for worst player of the game, which Zardes won, hands down.
With respect to the full team, the most fluid attacking performance in a competitive match under JK was the 2-0 victory against Panama in WCQing. The midfield that day consisted of Johnson, Cameron, Bradley, and Johnson. The midfield that day was flat, but Cameron wasn't a true 8 who likes to frequently surge forward in the manner of a Jones. It seems Bradley has never really done that well in 2-man central midfields when paired with a true 8. Some time ago, he had the shin bone issue which hasn't re-emerged. He had two groin surgeries this year, but has since come through several round of grueling international matches without problems. That' s not much of a history. In terms of pace, strength, size, and lungs, he is a freak of an athlete. Nagbe's more centralized positioning helped Jones and Bradley. In the US' flat 442, having at least one wide-mid who naturally drifts inside is a necessity. -------------Altidore------ ----johnson----jones---bradley---nagbe-- --------------------deep-mid----- or ---------------------altidore ---------------------nagbe------- ---johnson----bradley----jones----zardes-- ?????