Williams isn't a LB, he is a CDM. I hope Jurgen realized that when we played two strikers, two wingers, and two defending mids, we created chances. Too bad that was in the 80th. I think we should be playing 2 strikers, 2 wingers, a defending mid, and an attacking mid. I don't understand why Jurgen continues to play 3 defending mids.
I really am just not a fan of Edu in the #8 role at all. The fact that we don't have Donovan, as well as the fact that he's being replaced by Williams, has highlighted that we've lacked serious creativity, drive, and inspiration from that central midfield zone. It boggles my mind that Sacha Kljestan wasn't called in. He's a tireless, box-to-box runner that brings the bite on defense but is also creative enough to have an impact on the attack. He's in great form these days, and the guy is practically across the street from France. Jermaine Jones as well is someone that can play the box-to-box creator role. How guys like these and Benny Feilhaber and Mikkel Diskerud lose out to Maurice Edu is beyond me. The point is that we're not creating any chances. This article about Danny Williams' ineffective passing actually makes me happy because I know we've got at least one option better than him in Landon Donovan, and there really isn't much Jurgen can do about Landon's absence from this squad. However, Jurgen is killing us by playing someone in the #8 role who can't contribute going forward. We can't count on Donovan and Dempsey forever.
We actually were playing an attacking midfielder and a defensive midfielder. Dempsey was right in front of Jones, and we were getting places. However, Dempsey isn't really suited for defending that deep in the midfield. Pushing him wide like Bob Bradley did might make a bit more sense, but you have to wonder how long Landon and Clint could handle that kind of workload. They'd both be an improvement over Danny Williams there though, that's for sure. I think the 4-4-1-1/4-2-3-1 shape makes sense right now, but I don't like the central midfield pairing we've got behind Dempsey. Scratch that, I'm just not a fan of Edu being our more advanced central midfielder. He's not offensively gifted, and I honestly think some of the rockets he had in the SPL had people thinking otherwise.
Big Soccer regularly gets their hopes up for players like Williams. Certainly, I wish him and our team the very best. The key is to lower expectations and view these people realistically. Certainly, he is being played away from a position which might be considered his best. I have been unimpressed. A theory or possibility presented a couple of games ago, perhaps against Belguim was that he was serving as someone who created space for Cherundolo on the right side and providing a defensive presence, as a third central midfielder (or a similar role). Regardless, the impression I am left with after watching him play for several matches (and yes, I know he was on the field against Bayern Munich) is that he currently lacks some of the necessities to be anything more than a role player at this point in his career. Again, I hope that I am wrong. It is a mystery to me why he is getting so much playing time. I would say the same thing for Edu. I agree with the posters who say he is being played out of position. My big question is "Why are we playing this formation when we do not have players who are performing well at the 8 and rw positions?". What exactly is going on?
This! If Edu and Beckerman do not contribute the attack with meaningful numbers and quality of attacking passes, things will not get better despite improvement by Williams. In other words, I do not accept that Williams was the primary problem. It's bigger than that. Personally, I think Klinsmann is sacrificing an enormous contribution to the attack for the sake of supposed improvement in defense by relying on Edu and Beckerman rather than the one guy who has figured in a huge percentage of the US goals over the last several years--Mike Bradley.
Every coach has their blind spots, and right now I'd say JK's most glaring are his overrating of Edu and underrating of Bradley. (Even more so of course would be Williams as a winger, but... I'm still hoping that was a hair-brained experiment that Klinsmann now sees is a hair-brained experiment. But I really, really doubt he sees Edu as the #8 as such a hair-brained experiment. I think that's really how he rates the players.)
Agreed. The biggest mysteries of JK's term so far are why he keeps playing Edu as a #8 and Williams as a winger. Boggles the mind. At least he dropped Castillo, which suggested JK has the ability to learn and adapt. But these two repeated mistakes, plus the repeated callups for Rogers and Orozco, really make me concerned about how JK actually sees and analyzes the game. Einstein's definition of insanity...
Except the best 25 minutes the USMNT has played to date was the 25 minutes Rogers played against Mexico. Watch your replay and tell me I am wrong.
Except the best 25 minutes the USMNT has played to date was the 25 minutes Rogers played against Mexico. Watch your replay and tell me I am wrong. Highlights here: http://www.soccer-blogger.com/2011/...ights-goals-2011-friendly-video-philadelphia/
Michael Bradley is not a #8, and never will be. At least, he has not performed well in that role for the US when he was paired with Jones.
In order to complete a forward pass in the final third, we would have to have off-the-ball movement. Currently, we have none.
Fair question. Let me answer briefly as I have to run. What I have liked: 1. Focus on defense in terms of organization and team spacing. 2. Implementation of a dedicated 6 vs. the double 8. 3. Putting more quickness on the field. That includes Orozco and Castillo. It does not bother me he is trying options. And Castillo is very much still in the picture. He is injured or he would be in camp. 4. Seeing past the resumes to put in Beckerman, where I think he has been good. What I have not liked: 1. Williams on the right. I understand they wanted defensive support for Ribery. It ended up being a defensive liability because Williams is so inept in the attack. 2. Goodson. No excuse in my mind for him getting call ups. Cameron should have already been called in. 3. Exclusion of Kljestan. I do not understand it. Anderlecht is a good team. Kljestan is a big part of what they are doing. Something is fishy there, and I suspect there is a personality issue involved. What I am waiting to make up my mind on: 1. The slow integration of attacking players into the team. Again, I understand why the staff is taking it slowly. They want to have a solid system, based on sound defense, to bleed players into. They will not take a shot gun approach to player integration. That makes sense to me. But the US is at a point where a 4th real attacker can be added. Starting Johnson would alleviate my concerns somewhat. 2. Messing with Donovan's role. That is the biggest long-term concern to me. This team still depends on an effective Donovan. Overall, no final judgments from me. I like the building from the base approach, but I want to see some steps taken in other areas of the system.
And of course, there is a catch. My rating of Klinsi's current group of RMs: 1. Clint Dempsey 2. Fabian Johnson 3. DaMarcus Beasley 4. Tim Chandler 5. Brek Shea 6. Robbie Rogers 7. Daniel Williams Obviously, Rogers can move up due to some of these players starting in other positions.
Most of Bradley's club success has been in an 8 type role (his best form for a Gladbach was probably at 8 with Galasek as a 6, he struggled more in a dual 8 set up with Marx, he usually plays box to box with Chievo with 6 and another box to box player, and played an advanced role at Heerenveen). Being an 8 requires a good all around game, not just passing or running or defense or attacking, but a little of everything, which is something Bradley is good at compared to someone like Torres or Edu who are good at particular skills but have weaker all around games. Bradley has never actually played 8 with Jones at 6. Bob used his pulley system where they both basically 8s and Klinsmann has only used them together with Beckerman on the field. I don't know why Klinsmann hasn't tried the obvious thing and try to them together at 6 and 8, given they are the most of accomplished and well rounded players of our CMs, you'd think he'd try them together first, to see how they do and experiment after with other players afterwards.
JK's worse than BB. At least BB only tried Edu at attacking mid twice. Isn't it amazing what those guys try. Bielsa anyone?
Klinsmann is trying to fit square pegs into round holes. Playing with 4 defensive mids and expecting a coherent attack is asking too much from players playing out of position.
OK, Klinnsman should realize from here on out that if he's going to play this formation he has to have a true linking/#8 midfielder on the field. Feihaber, Torres, Holden, Zusi(haven't watched KC enough to truly weigh in on that), Kljestan, etc, one of those needs to be on the field. Teams that can take away our wing play are going to play well against us if we don't play a good #8 b/c that leaves us looking like we did today with Altidore and Dempsey being the only offensive threats.
I don't think it's fair to write Williams off. Can anyone here imagine if Maurice Edu or Kyle Beckerman tried to play right wing for this team? Of course he looks terrible. Try putting Landon Donovan at fullback or Chandler at striker, why not? Williams skill set is not to be a right winger. I've seen him play in the center in the Bundesliga and he is a good player. Second coming of Bastian Schweinsteiger, probably not, but he is a good player for this team. He is not, in any way, a right winger. I just don't get the idea behind it at all. I've seen the chalkboard, but the team doesn't play like the chalkboard says. If the goal was to play an off balanced 4-3-3 with three solid defensive midfielders okay, but Williams is being tasked with being an attacking force down the right side and it's not his game. I'll forgive Klinsmann this one because France is a top team and having a more defensive shape is understandable. But if we put Williams out right again over Fabian Johnson against SLovenia, I will lose it.
There is some weird buzz going around among US soccer fans that Beasley is amazing right now... like he's playing brilliantly down in Mexico or something.
Well from what I've heard he has done quite well in Mexico, but from what I've seen of him with the US team he's been very average.
Well as a pacy, direct winger, he's a somewhat unique player within Mexican soccer that I'm sure a lot of teams aren't very good at dealing with. At the international level he's not going to be that much of a force anymore. Good depth for a couple more years, nothing more.