Beasley's Positioning (R)

you answered your own question - beasley was on the right because lewis was on the left, and bruce wanted to have both of them on the pitch at the same time - it was a good idea in concept - lewis and beasley are currently are two best outside midfielders, so try to get both of them on the field at the same time - lewis has been much more accurate with his crossing so he stays on the left - beasley's crossing has been so-so, so moving him to the right hopefully wouldn't be that detrimental - again, it was a nice idea in concept, but i agree with you completely that beasley looked somewhat lost on the right - he scored a nice goal with the benefit of not being marked, but he just didn't look comfortable - and there was a noticeable jump in his game when he shifted back to the left side at the end of the game - a nice experiment, but it didn't work - maybe beasley needs more time on the right, but i'm skeptical - between beasley and lewis on the left, i vote beasley (although they have different skills so it might depend on who we are playing)

 

Its clear that the idea was to try and get both of our best outside mids in the game at the same time. In my opinion (only got to see the first half) it worked out o.k. Whil DMB was a little hesitent at times he still made some really sweet mazy runs off the ball. The Eurosport commentators were going crazy over him calling him a garunteed future star etc. Even without the goal- which was an excellent cross by Landon, DMB had the best American performance

 

Beasley

Because Bruce listened to me that his best midfield lineup was Lewis on the left and DMB on the right, since those have been our most effective midfielders and DMB has a decent right foot.

Thanks, Bruce. Always appreciate it when you take my tips. Doesn't happen often enough.

 

Right back

Any one ever given any thought to playing DMB as a defender in the Roberto Carlos mold? Arena always talks about how great a defender he is. Give DMB the freedom to make runs and open up the other d. Only thing is, he really needs to learn how to cross before he is going to the get big $ transfer to Europe.

 

Re: Right back

Yeah, I think both Arena and Bob Bradley have suggested DMB might eventually land at back ... left, not right, however.

 

Re: Beasley

But it was our worst midfield performance since Germany in Rostock. Was it your idea to play Califf and Frankie together out there too?

 

Re: Re: Beasley

No, it wasn't.

But Bruce stopped listening to me on defensive matters after I told him that Goose was his rock during World Cup Qualifiers, and not to listen to Goose's critics before the '02 Cup.

OK, so defense isn't my thing.

 

Hold up, JohnR. I've got the patent on "Lewis on the left, DMB on the right" in my hands right here. I'm calling an infringement lawyer.

DaMarcus played OK, not great yesterday. Lewis was mediocre.

Now there's another combination that I want to see - Landon assuming the Earnie Stewart role. Landon didn't get a lot of touches on the ball yesterday, and the reason why is because the midfield struggled to link up with the forwards in front of them. I want to see our best player get more involved - and the EarnieGoal role could be a beautiful fit for Landon.

 

Re: Beasley

John - I like your contributions most of the time, but Beasley unequivocally does not have a decent right foot. He does have one, and its better than my left, but it is not decent.

There's no doubt though that Bruce is struggling with the same Lewis-DMB debate raging on BigSoccer. He said so ... and added Convey to the mix in his comments on how we have a curious wealth of left-footed midfielders.

 

Why couldn't Eddie move back? Run DMB can be very dangerous on the wing, and I'm afraid he would just get outmuscled on the back line. If I'm devising an attack against Beasley at left back, I move out my target forward and have him flick ball after ball into the path of mids making runs down the middle. Beasley wouldn't be able to stop any of them.

 

Eddie is the only good crosser we have. He should be the mid with RunDMB overlapping at will.

Also with my original post of suggesting DMB play a Roberto Carlos role I don't mean he start tomorrow. Experiment with him at the Gold Cup and we still have 3 years before the next WC. 3 years in the weight room will do him some good.

 

Why do we see this so clearly, and Bruce doesn't?

 

He wanted both Lewis and Beasily in the same game.

I thought Beasily played a good game. Didn't he beat people when he moved in side from the right. I think Arena thought that will allow him to shoot with the left foot.

 

Check this out Lewis beats the first defender, then dribbles inside from the left flank. At the same time the two up top players seeing Lewis move inside clear space for him by moving to the left flank. While that is happening Beasily moves with out the ball from the right flank to the near post. Then Lewis makes and on the ground pass to Beasily. That forces the keeper to move commit to Beasilys side, and Beasily shots just inside his far post with his good left foot, and scores. A wing to wing pass for a goal.

So do you like that?

Richie

 

I suppose if we're playing the Washington Generals, this would work.

 

This why I like to post here. Everyone really knows the game.

Richie