Benny Feilhaber: we screwed the pooch badly with him this cycle

Benny is a good player. Bob doesn't recognize good soccer or good players. What a shame.

 

He was very impressive this WC.

I didn't think he had it in him, tbh.

Hopefullly he continues that for his club team, now

 

Though I may have to take issue with a point here or there, since I first saw him play I have always felt Feilhaber was the key to this team's future success - so sure, we screwed the pooch by not using him enough, and playing him on the wing where he has less influence on the proceedings.

 

I thought he played a lot under Bob Bradley when he is not hurt, not always starting, but always seem to be part of the team. A lot of people here even question why he was getting called so much when his form was not that great. Anyway, hope he is able to find a new team in a better league.

 

During the telecast , the English PBP Adrian Heeley asked Harkes "Why doesn't Feilhaber start? " . Harkes said "I don't know" with a tone implying he believed Feilhaber should be a starter. Harkes discussed how at the U20 WC when Feilhaber played , Harkes was an assistant coach. Feilhaber had been named as one of the top 11 players in the tournament. Harkes obviously believes Feilhaber is not only a starter but is someone who was essential for the team to be better organized when it had possession.

 

Fielhaber's form hasn't always been so great, in fact going into the WC there were very few people on BS who were saying he should be playing alot, let alone starting. Torres was the man of the moment.

Its all 20/20 hindsight the love of Benny.

 

"We"

could we just change it to BOB

 

Benny hasn't always been a world beater for the Men's national team. He can play hot and cold. Let's see what he can do coming out of this WC at club level. He'll be 29 for the next WC, not too late to make a splash.

 

Let the revisionist history begin!

The US greatly benefited from Feilhaber's quality play this Cup. But that does not change the fact that he was injured and/or sucked for a large portion of the cycle -- including getting benched for his club down the stretch just this past spring.

Bradley gave Feilhaber chance after chance and it paid off in the end. If anything Benny is lucky that his program showed so much faith in him when times were tough.

 

That is very true! But what about form during the WC? Benny could have started while starting Dempsey up top...a lot of it really all leads back to Findley...

 

Feilhaber has screwed his own pooch with lousy club play.

 

Exactly...he couldn't be counted on. I was actually surprised he made the squad, but the light seemed to go on for him once the real games started. Hopefully he continues this play wherever he transfers to and makes it hard not to select him.

 

Was he screwing a pooch while he had a long-term knee injury and long spells on the bench of f'ing Derby County (blame Bob for him making that move) and some not great play this past season? He had a lot of ups and downs since Ecuador.

 

The only real problem with Feilhaber in the past, has been injury problems... and he is no good when he is not 100% match fit, which has been the problem both this and past seasons... He was recovering from an injury when AGF Aarhus sigend him from Derby, while he was playing in the 2008 Summer Olympics.... But he had not really recovered and the knee injury quickly returned to haunt him, keeping him out ½ a season.... He was fully fit and looked very good at the start of this past season (when he also was doing well at the FIFA Confederations Cup ), but then he got injured once more in the winter break, so that he did not become real match fit before it was too late to be any good for his club team...
.

 

This...

And this...

Bob didn't learn from the earlier games in the tournament. We played better w/ Dempsey in behind Altidore and Benny in midfield. Seemed Bob wanted that as his second half or late game option, but we weren't going to keep digging ourselves out of these holes forever.

 

Ceres and a few other of the calmer heads around here have it right-- Benny was not always ready to play over the last four years. He's been up and down (as young players often are) and has struggled when not fit. In fact, I'll wager everything I own that if we go back in time and put in a BS poll that asks "If Bob moves Dempsey up top to start, who should play in the midfield in his place" the run-away winner would have been . . . Stu Holden.

Benny played great, very far above expectations, but don't kid yourselves that you saw that coming. Anyway, he's definately one for the list for next cycle. The key for Benny now is landing a new job this summer (hopefully in Spain).

 

For me, it always seems that Benny plays better off the bench anyway. At least in the last year or more.

 

Read through this thread if you want to see what the BigSoccer consensus was on Benny less than a month before the World Cup.

https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1427232

The main debate in that thread is about whether Benny should even be on the roster; hardly anyone was debating whether he should be starting.

 

All very true, but once the actual games were played his form had clearly turned around, and for all the talk of Findley's speed opening up opponents we played our best in a 4-3-2-1. Someone should have noticed.

 

So much revisionist history here

he was played often at CM and was average to poor

he actually played CM against Turkey (started) and was hauled off after 45 minutes for lack of impact

if anything, Bradley gave him all the chances in the world to step in (he practically gave him the starting CM spot origionally) and Benny didn't impress consistently enough... Stop re-writing the past

 

This is true for me too

he takes way too many unnecessary risks to start a match and be trusted

 

Sorry but you are plain wrong.

Benny was injured a lot during the last cycle, and or playing horribly at Derby.

Bob kept him in the fold and used him when he was available.

He was a revelation this tournament, and Bob used him for a good portion of the biggest tournament in the world.

The problem is that he just didn't fit in as well with the need to keep Dempsey in the midfield. Had Davies been on the squad at full health, Benny would have seen even less of the field.

You can't blame Bob for everything, and you can't make stuff up to blame him for.

This thread is stupid.

 

Yes, benny was the main reason we should have won against slovenia, we did so well vs. Algeria, and looked dangerous vs. Ghana, had he only finished some chances!!!!


I really would LOOOOOVE to see Feilhaber paired in the middle with Torres. Feilhaber plays EXACTLY like Damian Manso of Pachuca and Torres feeds off that energy of his foreward runs from the left wing side on Pachuca.


It would be interesting to see them paired in the middle, or Torres on the left somehow... although thats donovans spot.

What do you guys think?

Feilhaber was disgusting though, he won back my respect x10s over.