I remember when it was announced that M. Vasquez was going to be an assistant, most of BS members complained. I can now see why, if, he indeed has the coach's ear. I think JK needs to rethink this selection and bring in someone who will be "helpful" not someone who may or may not have an agenda of his own.
that whiteboard picture if true is ugly. lets put our right sided attack on the shoulders of the smallest/almost oldest player on our team. that will work. williams was never tucked in against france, he never had the ball on the inside in the final third, and like the stats show, never completed a forward pass in the final third. if the picture is true then all of williams's quotes about preferring the inside are false. JK is basically giving him the CM position next to edu if the whiteboard is right.
Please tell me why it matters what Klinsmann's whiteboard looked like before the game? Everyone here has seen that diagram. It's not some new piece of material that you've stumbled upon. It's actually from the Honduras game. The fact of the matter is that Williams regularly pushes out to the touchline and is caught in 1-v-1 situations in a more advanced attacking position than Cherundolo. You can call him a CM, RCM, CDM, RDM... call him whatever you want and then write it on a whiteboard. Semantics won't change his actual field positioning over the course of the game. And it won't change the fact that he's out of position.
based on the picture dempsey was out of position for a lot of the match as well. playing a defensive role. that diagram has no back arrows for him, full attacking mid. looks like williams is supposed to push up into space next to dempsey in the attack, i would be curious to know how many times the ball was passed between the two
http://www.mlssoccer.com/sites/all/...sMTUyODUmZmlsdGVycz0xJnpvbmU9NjUsMiw5OSwxMDA= This is the entire team's completed passes in the final third against France. You'll notice a distinct lack of forward/incisive passing. (The ones from the touch line are throw-ins). The other thing to look at here is the heat maps of Beckerman, Edu and Williams. Beckerman and Edu played almost exactly the same positions, except Beckerman was a little to Edu's left. If anything, Beckerman got forward a bit more than Edu did. Williams was to the right and positioned slightly forward, but only slightly. His center of gravity was just about at the center line, and near the right touch line. Dempsey's was actually pretty close to exactly how that picture is drawn, if you adjust the opponent to France instead of Honduras and figure they're all just a bit further back. Dempsey's center of gravity was at the top of the center circle and just beyond. Shea was the most advanced. He probably was positioned in the right spot to try to get some threat going, his teammates just executed fairly poorly when they tried to get him the ball. Compared to the picture above, put Kyle where Maurice was in that picture, Maurice level with him but directly behind Dempsey, Danny nearly as wide as Brek on the other side, but behind the dashed line where Shea and Dempsey are above it (in this game, the 'dashed line' is not far in front of the center line).
Very asymmetric on defense. Both Beckerman and Edu were mostly on the left. Altidore was helping exclusively on the left. It shows that Chandler, Boca and Shea were totally outplayed and needed all help they could get. Despite France having Ribery on the opposite side. That's also where the goal come from as well as an identical shot that Howard managed to stop.
It was definitely stacked to the left overall. Chandler being the left back, you have to wonder whether he was the biggest 'culprit' or whether we were overly worried about him, because it gave the other guys a lack of room to breathe. Shea especially, you see how self-contradictory his job was out there. He was trying to position himself to be the most attack-oriented mid on the field, but he was getting pulled back a lot.
Chandler had a horrible game. The idea that he is a left back savior is very suspicious. And then Jones for Beckerman. Jones is playing mostly on the right and we are done.
Because folks claim Williams is played as a right winger. Yes and in the last three games this has been the system. One deep left winger (complete fail vs. France), one "right midfielder", one open operational zone on the right for players to dive into. Precisely. And it won't change the fact that he's not a right winger, and is not played as a right winger.
Regardless of where you think Williams plays, he shouldn't be getting more than sub minutes with the USMNT until he establishes himself as a starter at any position with his club for more than a month.
I'm not sure what to say here, but in contradistinction to the Honduras diagram, Williams was on the right touch line in this one, at least as much as Shea was on the left one. Williams was positioned slightly further back, but still not as far back as Beckerman or Edu.
Call it whatever want. He's occupying the space that most closely resembles something in between right winger and right mid. It's not so crazy for that position to be referred to as right wing. That picture you decided to post as some kind of evidence to support that he's not a right winger has absolutely no relevance. I could grab a piece of paper right now and right down that he was a sweeper all game. Won't change the fact that he pushed forward and dropped back on the right side as much as Brek was doing on the left.
Again: Klinsmann. Did. Not. Play. Him. As. A. Right winger. That is why the image is relevant. If you would claim he played as a sweeper, I'd show you the same image.
You do realize the game wasn't played on that whiteboard, right? Those lines on the board aren't the actual players. The lines were actually made using a dry-erase whiteboard marker. Klinsmann may not have Played. Him. As. A. Right. Winger. But Danny Williams most certainly played himself as a right winger.
Well I'm still waiting on your picture. So yes it's all we have; A Jurgen Klinsmann Original Whiteboard Photograph by Alex Hoyt.
Hold on a sec. How do you know the outcome of the game if France doesn't have their players on that whiteboard picture?
The fact of the matter is that Williams' movement and positioning resembled a right winger/midfielder. The argument you make that Klinsmann intended him to be otherwise only serves to bring up more question marks.