The EJ apologists on here make me insane. The guy is gutless. He has zero balls. He's afraid. I don't know how else to say it. He back passes EVERY TIME he touches the ball. Even on breakaways he burns everyone until he hits the box and then he slows down, moves outside, turns around and looks for a back pass. DAMMIT! RUN TO THE GOAL AND SHOOT!!!! I DON'T CARE IF YOU MISS IT, MAYBE WE'LL GET A CORNER?!?! MAYBE YOU'LL AT LEAST LOOK LIKE YOU HAVE BALLS?!?! Damn it's so frustrating watching these guys.
Yeah, when the guy with blazing speed pulls up to dish it back to the outside mid every time he sees a defender closing in, that's a problem. On the upside, it could be easily fixed. When Twellman dons the US jersey he plays like a 12-year-old (Twelveman?). And what's up w/Keller? Rough stuff.
Wow, GAM has become the most polarizing thingy since the GWOT. After reading BS post game feeding frenzies, I went back and watched it again trying so find what I missed. Guess what? EJ STILL had a good game...
It was quality when he had four US players in the box and an open path to cross, but opted to send it back to midfield.
I have given up hope. EJ had a good game for EJ. That is all that can be said. Looked dangerous a couple of times, but wasted a couple of great opportunities and never got a good shot off. Twellman linked up great, but cannot finish at the international level to save his life. Scuffed about 3 great chances inside the box. Mapp should have scored on the break or gotten the ball to EJ. Moore missed a point blank header. Klejstan wiffed on a point blank header. I just dont see any answers from anybody. I still think Ching has a leg up beceause he at least reads Donovan well. That is the best that can be said any of the forwards we have.
Felt like I was watching my Arsenal play... mulitude of lovely runs, intricate passing, "dancing" inside the 18, double-digit scoring chances only to have piss poor finishing to leave us with 1 freakin' goal
The Rorschach Test I just went through to re-watch EJ's first half (too tired to do the second now, will later if there's demand for it). Here's what I saw: 2' Challenges for a long-ball, loses it. 2' Great flick to Twellman, makes a run too, but TT loses possession 3' Olsen calls off a loose ball, then feeds him; terrible pass back almost gives it away (Bornstein recovers) 3' Holds a pass forward and drops it off to an onrushing midfielder well 4' Takes a pass, makes a lateral run across drawing 3 defenders, dishes it off 5' Some defensive pressure to no avail 5' Keeps in a bad goal kick with a flick, but loses possession 6' A nice take and lateral pass to switch 7' Pass to him is offline; doesn't move for it (could be considered "lazy" or just told not to press defensively; had no chance to reach the ball) 8' Beaten to a high ball by defender 9' Takes a tough pass up the line, not cleanly; doubled and drops it back to keep possession 11' Takes a long clearance OK, is tackled but to a US player 11' Doesn't return a ball to TT in lots of space, dropping it off instead 11' Almost immediately afterwards, sprints forward and just misses a good cross by Moor 13' Challenges on a long GK but loses to defender on high ball 14' Takes a long pass from Moor well with the outside of his foot, turns his man, but slips in the process and loses footing 16' Defensive pressure, almost makes a tackle 17' Heel flick to TT almost comes off 18' Takes a long pass from Olsen, cuts in and lofts a terrible cross to nobody (although Olsen "draws a penalty" with a late run) 20' Chests down a pass but is stripped; provides good defensive pressure on the resulting cross 23' Takes a long pass with two on him tight, and drops it back to the D line 24' Beats one man with a skill move and wins corner off covering CB 25' Attempts off-balance half-volley and skies it over 26' Another heel flick is to nobody in particular 27' Good square ball to Olsen keeps attacking momentum 32' Good give and go, but gives up on overhit return pass; defensive error almost lets him in - if he'd been going full speed, probably sets up a break 33' Great layoff and run, then even better pass to Bornstein for a shot on goal that should have been buried 34' Appears to be fouled on the outside; told to get up by ref 35' Takes a pass and is quickly doubled, drops it right back 36' Challenges for a GK but loses out on high ball 37' Takes a nice through ball, keeps possession when no runners appear 38' Makes a nice run and Olsen attempts Route 1, but it's cut out 38' In good position for a layoff, but TT's poor trap prevents the chance and ball is played outside beyond him 39' Attempted flick to bring in Moor is too soft, cleared out by Paraguay for a US throw 42' Almost reached by another long pass, cleared out 42' Double teamed and tackled cleanly So, for the first half, I have 36 plays that he's involved in (not all of them with a touch), which resulted in him mostly holding possession, tackled a couple of times, with a few good flicks or efforts at them and a few other good square balls. He is doubled about half the time that the ball is played to him, more when it's to his feet, which could be either defensive attention, lack of good forward runs, bad service, or some combination. He makes a couple disappointing passes, but a couple very good ones; at least two runs not made at full bore that could have been half chances with more effort, and at least two runs made well but squandered by others. What shape do you see in the ink?
For all the raving about EJ, he still only has 1 goal in both tournaments combined, and that was a complete gift tap in from Donovan. How that is great, I dont know. While Twellman appearantly can't score to save his life, at least he does have a couple of assists to add to his goal. Tonight, EJ gifted Twellman a great chance at the top of the box...he scuffed it. Twellman gifted EJ a one-on-one break with the keeper, he slowed it up, got tracked down from behind and didnt even get a shot to the goal.
Great job Bradley, now the MNT is known for two things: 1) Goalies and 2) Back passing. Bradley is trying to play EJ as a distributing mid...freakin' laughable. We'll give Arena control, but not Klinnsman?
Not really sure why EJ was playing as a SS or wide MF. Dude still actually has a lot of potential. He needs to find his confidence. Now he is a player that does need to go to Europe or even South America. A good stint out of the country will help improve him A TON but sadly I think he maybe an MLSer for life. The MLS really screwed him by not letting him go to Benfica.
I just find it hard to praise EJ's solid effort when i see him purposely stop running after several balls that were there for the taking. At one point he got sprung, and simply had to touch the ball past the last defender and zoom onto goal. Instead, he slowed down, then sped up again, only to lose the ball that was there for the taking with the defense in shambles. UGH!!! Get this kid to play some Winning Eleven on PS2. Make Grown Ass Man a Grown Ass Gamer. He'll learn the tricks of the trade.
Although I think that this was one of his better games, EJ generally played like he always does - a few highs, but lots of lows. BS posters are always going to pull their hair out over him because his soccer skills are never going to match his athleticism. However, he is going to continue to get run out there because he is the only forward that we have that is a potential threat at the international level. Twellman and Ching are not international level forwards and every minute they play is a waste of an opportunity to find someone better. Neither is ever going to score a goal against a quality team (other than on a fluke), whereas at least EJ holds out the slight possibility of being able to do so.
why is everybody blaming johnson for passing back if he makes a center whos he gonna pass it to if he makes good runs to get on the inside just so someone wont finish it like bornstein did if only he knew where clark was at every time so he can make more of those runs and let clark take some shots after all those misses im not surprised he passed it back hes not gonna turn into robinho all of a sudden and win a game by himself
twellman is the best finsher the usa has besides donovan, now if we could just get the ball to him more often. i dont understand why he never has the ball. i hate to say this but we should play(start) the young guys(davies and nguyan) on thursday, we have nothing to lose since were already knocked out of the tournament
Its time to put twellman out to pasture. He can not get anything on his shots and looks to lay off everytime he is in a dangerous position. I would much rather see what some of the new kids have then waste more minutes on twellman when we laready now that at best he should be a sub against lowly concacaf teams.
Someone earlier on suggested Johnson for a super sub role. No! You want this type of player to, I don't know, be able to score?!?!? Actually, the things he did well are the things you want out of a starter, tracking back, winning balls, doing a few things in addition to shooting. I actually thought we played reasonably well, our finishing is really atrocious.
On how you fix the problem of not finishing chances: “You don’t. It’s the nature of the game. Some games you get five shots and five goals, others you get 20 shots and one goal. I don’t think it’s about that. I think it’s about learning how to manage games.” - Taylor Twellman ---------------------------------------------------- No, Taylor. It's only the nature of the game for non-elite strikers. Perhaps at this point in your career you feel you can't improve. My personal opinion is that finishing and composure in front of goal can be improved - but thinking like Taylor does, apparently it isn't a skill that the USA needs to work on. Look, scoring any one of those 10 chances tonight helps us 'manage the game'. Making contact with the ball in a scoring position isn't good enough at this level. On frame, and not right at the keeper. If the keeper makes a great or even just a decent save (eg Clark's long range shot on frame that was saved) - then, and ONLY then, can you say that it is the nature of the game if you don't score. While it's frustrating, you can understand if Moor had a mental frozen moment and didn't convert his first shot on goal in his career for the USA - Taylor and Johnson have no such excuse for not getting the ball on frame. They are just poor strikers. Taylor's a garbage man and that will never change.
i dont understand why doesnt twellman play the same way he does with the revs, if he did that hed be the best striker the usa has. instead hed rather pass or when he actually does decide to shoot he messes up. iam a fan of the guy but he needs to chill out and play a nats game like he would a club game, we need the man shooting(hes the best scorer next to donovan)
I think there was alot more positive than that. We had at least 3 chances that most International players would have scored on 9 out of 10 times. And we scored on none. In addition, we created at least 8 other chances that were legitimate scoring chances. With "average" International finishing, we win 4-3. Our offense is creating. Our forwards, mids and defenders (Mr. Moor, please stay after practice for some additional heading work) are just putting them away.
If Twellman were and amid, you'd say he had a great game. He worked as a target well, created for the midfield, had an assist. Trouble was, when it came to shooting, he hit the defenders more than he hit the net. As an isolated game, I thought he looked really good. His passing has improved tremendously and he is holding the ball better. He didn't miss any "sitters", like say, Moor, Kjelstan and EJ did, but he should have done better with some of his chances. I thought EJ also had a good game (for him). He passed positively sometimes and made some nice runs. That run in the first half where he ran between two defenders and just nicked the ball into the goalie was tremendous. He was so close to having a terrific run there. Nevertheless, he still back passes when he has room to turn and is afraid to take people on 1 v 1.
If McBride had put in the performance EJ did last night - people would be singing his praises. Won headers, made nice passes, showed for the ball, maintained possession, made good runs (learned his Donovan lesson and was in position for the Mapp pass that never came). Speaking of McBride - I was impressed with how many headers TT didn't get - is he just too short/vertically challenged for target forward (not to mention too slow)?
well speed doesnt matter for a target(his speed ist bad for a target) but i like to see him be a compliment, he may not have speed but he does have one of the best shots in the usa(next to donovan). it would free up his shotting if he doesnt have to be a target as well. he would be further away from the defensive line were he could really use his shooting abilty to test the goalie