Some things that I'd like to see emphasized: 1) Playing with four real attacking players (in lieu of Williams and Torres in quasi-attacking roles). Within the context of the current roster we have these options for the next two matches: Dempsey, Donovan, Altidore, Gomez, Wondo, Boyd. We also have the option of playing Castillo or Fabian Johnson in an attacking role. I view both as instinctive attacking players. 2) Shield our vulnerable centerbacks with two deep-lying center mids. But choose those center mids for their passing range so that they can provide some rhythm and play-making from a deep compact position. Based on these criteria I would go with Bradley and Torres. 3) Accelerate the use of younger defenders who show potential to contribute to a more fluid build-up from the back. It is increasingly apparent we're going to need Cameron, Ream, Lichaj and maybe some others by 2014. Use every reasonable opportunity to test them. Within this strategic framework lots of tweaks are possible. Depending upon the opponent, game situation and his midfield partner there should still be some scope for Michael to make those runs forward. It might be more limited than in the past in most circumstances, but we don't give up this weapon. Depending upon similar considerations, there will be games when we want a more robust physical presence in the middle. I'm ok with Edu replacing Torres at times. At times we will also want to go with those of our attacking players who can combine good attacking ability with a high workrate and good defensive chops. So there are lots of tweaks possible within this framework. But we need to recognize our need to shield the centerbacks. From this follows the need for compact disciplined play from the center mids. From this follows the need for enough real attacking players since we don't want the center mids or outside backs bombing forward recklessly.
Jurgen needs to blood Ream, Gonzalez, and Lichaj. These are our future top defensemen. Cameron deserves a shout especially if he transfers to Europe. Maybe for the friendly in November start Gonzalez and Ream instead of Boca and ???. It's obvious the defense needs an overhaul pretty soon.
Disagree with the second point. One thing that I think has become clear through the matches we've played under Klinsmann is that one positive change that he's made has come with playing a single dedicated d-mid in front of the cb's. That has come at times in the form of a 4-1-3-1-1, 4-1-4-1, and 4-3-3, but regardless of how its been played, having a single d-mid has simplified and solidified things in front of our defense. Edu would seem to be the obvious choice in that role, despite his obvious limitations in control and distribution. Playing with Edu (or perhaps Jones or Williams) in front of our cb's frees up our other cm's to link play, make runs away from the ball, and get forward into the attack. I'd rather have an attacking trio of Donovan, Dempsey, and Altidore supported by two competent 2-way cm's from Bradley, Jones, Torres, Holden, etc., with a single d-mid behind; than to force one of those cm's to sit deeper and take away the dynamism that our attack should have.
It's time to stop over thinking this shit. 1. Get a DM. A real one. One who wants to do the simple, dirty, tough work a DM does. And quit f#cking around with it. Edu worked. Use him. Would also like to see Williams. 2. Fix the back line. Emphasize skill over size. Consider Jones. Cameron made one mistake on a broken play. Boca and Onyewu looked far worse. 3. Stop being creative with the other CM's. Sorry. I know we have a lot of them. Some must sit. 4. Attack more. Which means you need more natural attackers.
Yup. We have enough decent options in terms of attacking players. When we start playing 3 or 4 holding mids, it comes at the expense of the attackers. The Scotland game was a mirage. The success we had largely reflected the poor effort and poor team they put out there.
Gomez plays wide on the right side of midfield for his team, so the best thing to do is run him out as a lone forward for two games. Trust me, I'm German.
Modest proposal: use an old-school Brazilian free-form 4-2-4, with Bradley and Jones as mids and Torres, Dempsey, Donovan, and Altidore/Gomez floating around as wings/forwards. One of the mids stays home in front of the CBs, the other moves forward with the attack. I believe that in the old 4-2-4, the fullbacks even overlapped to help with the attack (which is what Klinsmann wants), correct?
I wouldn't consider what we saw yesterday to be anything close to free-form (besides Clint Dempsey repeatedly falling back to get the ball at his feet), and the commentators pointed out how little the fullbacks overlapped for much of the game. Compared to what we saw vs Scotland, it was a rigid structure. I'm talking full-on Torres, Donovan and Dempsey may end up as forwards with Altidore acting as a "mid" fluidity up front.
That's a hypothetical possibility for what may happen. They'd be four players who float around on the pitch to wherever, whether that's forward, midfield, left, right, or center. You know, fluidity. Free form. If you need explanation of what free-form soccer is, google it.
Well, #3 is going to be tricky with the player pool we have for these next two games. But if I'm understanding you correctly, we might try: ------------- Jozy ------------ ----------Dempsey ---------- -- LD ---------------- Gomez* ---- Torres ---- Bradley ----- LB ---- CB ---- CB ------ RB Sounds good to me. *I have not watched him with his club team in Mexico but I believe I have read here on BS that Herc is deployed in this spot.
The only problem would be that Klinsmann ran out of time for more experimenting, it now or never for him.
we look better in a 4-3-3. we just do. we should dominate. i think we win the first two WCQ. I really do.
Yes. But Gomez has indicated that while he has played wide for club this year, he is more comfortable as a 10. So I would put him there and use Donovan and Dempsey wide. Although Dempsey's playing time at forward has been going up with Fulham in recent seasons, he still played a lot of midfield this past season.
Not really. He's still playing around with stuff like Altidore on the left against Canada. I know Antigua is officially a qualifier, but it is going to be a 4-0 or better scoreline. Besides the lineup proposed by Swedust is hardly a radical experiment. Certainly it has more players playing positions they are familiar and comfortable with. No Altidore wide. No Torres wide. No Williams wide. No Edu in an advanced attacking role. All "experiments" JK has tried that have far less plausibility than what we are looking at here.
The 5 attackers are: Johnson, Dempsey, Gomez (Jozy), Donovan, Dolo The 5 defenders are: Bradley, Edu, Jones,Boca, Cameron(Goodson) In a 433, the offence comes by virtue of having 3 central mids who keep the play in the opponents half with defensive play while the wing fwds&backs provide the width to cross the ball into the attacking zones to the other attacking players. The fact that a mid could get into the action only adds to the flexibility of the attack. Playing the ball up the sides makes counter attacks less likely to succeed so the offence has defence built in. It's just a trigonometric fact. However, you can't have mids giving the ball away or not playing defence and the CB's have to be fast. Basically, 3 very good mids and two fast CBs are a must. I suppose the two backs who would qualify for this type of play at the moment would be Cameron and Boca. The 3 mids are Bradley, Edu, JJ, because they play the best defence. Edu has to learn to pass accurately. Johnson and Dolo are the wingbacks. Donovan can play wide right but we have nobody at wide left forward. I would just line up Dempsey at left wing and have Johnson be the guy to play wide. This is where the tweaking has to come in. Jozy and Gomez would share the box.
Imo a touchline runner like Williams who can lock down his side defensively is invaluable against an elite team. I would have loved to seen him on Marcelo's side allowing Donovan to move the US left in the Brazil match for example. Major tactical change I'd like to see Klinsmann make moving forward is in the use of the attack-oriented wide players(when not using a diamond of course). The wide players with the possible exception of Torres hew to the touchline. This can be confirmed from match chalkboards. Donovan really needed to cut inside against Brazil and Canada in order for the US to create something from midfield. Torres, Edu, Bradley, and Jones are not attacking midfielders, so a player like Donovan needs to act like an interior rather than a touchline player.