Andrulis wants to start all 3...

Possibly go with a 4-3-3 with McBride, Cunny, and Buddle up top, Martino, Garcia, West/Paule in the Middle, and Denton, Clark, Dunseth, and Heijduk in the back. God that's a good looking team.

 

Considering that our strength has been controlling the ball through the midfield, altering our midfield scheme just to get all three forwards in the game would be stupid.

 

Mais has been a rock...and his play has allowed Martino a lot of freedom.

Jeff and Buddle are gonna have to reconcile the fact that on good teams, good players often sit.


Of course, Buddle did play out on the wing in the A-League.

 

Andulis's favorite formation is the 4-3-3. Just look at last year to prove that. How many times did he trot out that formation when he didn't have the mids or the defense for it? However, he's not going to change what is working. He may change some parts here and there to keep players fresh, but overall things will stay the same until it doesn't work anymore.

 

I thought he used the 4-3-3 to get McBride, Buddle and Cunni into the match at the same time.

It wasn't very effective.

My big concern is how long Cunni will accept coming off the bench.

 

How long will Cunny accept coming of the bench?

As long as he is scoring goals and getting assists that's how long. It's amazing how those two things will remedy not getting starts.

 

For the record...

Mais sucks and Hejduk swallows.

 

I agree that you don't want to fix what aint broken. But my suggestion is only if, IF, Andrulis wants to get all three into the game at once.

Personally, I don't think he should try. I could have sworn last year that he attempted to do that and the results were sketchy. But on paper, that formation looks fearsome.

 

Last year we played a 4-3-3 cause we had no midfield and we'd just launch the ball forward hoping Cunningham could get control of it and score.

Now we have a midfield that dominates possesion. We are playing brilliantly. Why change?

 

As an outside fan looking in I'm jealous. First because your team is playing so great (granted only three games in). Second because you're actually setting here discussing how to get all your talent on the field.

I will say something I pointed out over and over during the Wizards 2000 championship run is that we played the same formation with almost the same players every game. Only when Molnar went to Euro 2000 did it change. Your manager should keep things the way they are and work Buddle and Cunningham on in a rotation.

 

Absolutely. The game is won and lost in the midfield, and so far this season our midfield play has been as good or better than any I can remember ever seeing in MLS. Messing with it would be, IMHO, just plain dumb.

Strikers get hurt. All the time. Cunny is coming off an injury now, just as Buddle comes up lame. There'll be plenty of PT for everybody. And if everybody is healthy at once, well gee, we're undefeated so far this seaon bringing Jeff off the bench. It works out.

Changing what is working is not the kind of thing you expect to see from Greg. I hope he goes and lays down until the feeling goes away.

 

Fitz must have sent him subliminal messages recently. Quick, somebody check the locker room laundry bin and the lockers... find Fitz and ship him to China!

As for starting all 3, I don't see why we can't just keep starting 2 and bringing in the 3rd as a sub. I would think this would allow you to keep these guys a bit fresher throughout the season. Also, I would think you would want to have the team used to seeing various combinations, because this summer we don't know yet who all will be gone on call-ups. We need to be ready to play with different guys in the line-up and keep our consistency.

 

One thing to think about re late game sub...

We're most likely gonna lose McBride for the Confed cup and Gold Cup. Why not sub him off late in the game instead of one of the other two. Would give the other two and the team time to get used to playing w/o McBride.

 

Exactly!

The "soul brothers" front line needs some time playing together before McBride is gone for a stint.

 

Racist. Who says they have souls?

Would this be a time to try out Ritch?

 

soul brothers? did he just say soul brothers??? did you hear that somewhere or come up with that one all by yourself?

 

I'm pretty sure Crew players have playing without McBride down pat.

 

Yeah, I think Zak said it first, or at least somebody at the V-Army tailgate did. That is where I heard it... no offense intended, but I am German, so I guess I'm automatically racist now? Damn it!

 

Last year Greg tried the 4-3-3 early in the season and found out that we lost most midfield battles, had no service for the 3 forwards, and that we sucked. Late in the year, he put in Buddle as a middie/forward after Westie was injured. Offensively Buddle played more as a third forward but he tracked back as a wing player should. But we didn't have Paule and what seems to be a very healthy Maze in the lineup.

I would stay with the 4-4-2 that's working and, if changes are needed, probably look at a 3-5-2 before even considering the 4-3-3. We have much more depth in midfield that needs to see PT (Walsh, Oughton and West) than we have up top (Ritch).

 

Please refrain from masked swearing in this forum. Thank you.

 

Don't be so certain you won't lose Buddle for the Confed and Gold Cup's too. Hell, you SHOULD lose Martino as well. The price of having talent...