Bobby Convey

It's alleged that he has an attitude problem.

 

doesn't he do that already?

 

Bruce has a misguided loyalty to Armas or else Armas wouldn't see the pitch. Both Bobby and Pablo M are more dynamic players

 

18 players on gameday roster. Eleven starters. Three subs. Four guys do nothing. Happens to everyone, all the time.

This indicates to me that you have an attitude problem. It indicates nothing about Convey's attitude.

 

Anything to get Armas on the pitch for Germany '06!

I recognize Armas for his service to the Fire, but there really are better options in midfield for the national team these days...

 

Naked pictures of the Bruce and a goat. He stole them from Jovan Kirovski, who oddly enough was inteligent enough to have made copies beforehand.

 

He plays left back, because Bruce wants to find ways to get him on the field and we are thin at left back. For Convey to go to the midfield he would more likely push Beasley or Donovan out in a creative/attacking rold, as opposed to moving Armas out in a holding/defensive role. Bruce likes to have a midfield destroyer (Armas, Mastro, Zavag) and that is not Convey's game. Convey is becoming more valuable to the USMNT because he can play as a LB and both central and wide mid, just not a pure d-mid.

 

If the national team is to progress, midfielders need to be more of a scoring threat. Frank Lampard plays holding midfielder in England's diamond midfield but still has the quality to score England's only goal against France.. would we ever think about getting something like that consistently from Armas.

 

Now that is funny. I think drace hit the nail on the head.

 

Frank Lampard plays a holding-mid in the flat 4-4-2 not a d-mid in a diamond 4-4-2 or box 4-2-2-2. There is a difference in roles. I agree that Armas is lacking, especially offensively, I was just pointing out that Bruce has a preference to have a strong ball winner in his midfield. IMO Bruce will always have a Armas, Masto, Zavag, or Mulrooney type in the midfield.

 

We're still waiting for a guy that can play a hard tackling role and bring some offense as well. Right now, it's a trade off. Putting Convey in there instead of Armas makes us really soft in the middle.

With a four man midfield, we have more of a need for a defensive minded guy to round things out with Beasley and Donovan currently giving us planty of attack from the middle while Claudio spreads the ball around well and comes forward when the space opens up. With those three, the only thing we lack is some bite and grit, which is where Armas or Pablo, or whoever else gets the fourth spot comes in. Convey can't provide that.

If he wants to get on the field for 2006, it looks like left back is gonna be his best shot.

 

Lampard is an offense minded midfielder. it's why England moved out the diamond, to get him on the field at the same time as gerrard and scholes (outside, opposite beckham).
But I'd disagree with your point. the bulldog in the middle who wins balls, starts the ball into attack but thinks defensively is a massively valuable player. Davids, Makelele, keane, geremi, even Viera fills that role.
I prefer Pablo in that role, or Reyna. But BA isn't an idiot.
He likes something about the way Armas plays, so he plays him.

 

in regards to convey being soft...i dont know. he seems to have developed a harder edge to him on the field. ive seen him play mor phsycial alot for club, country as of late. good for bobby, seriosuly. he needs to show that tenacity and tough tackling because if he keeps it up he CAN play sentral mid with reyna for us. hes skilled to attavck as well, we all know that, he can be our lampard if you will. i know different formations, ya whatever, but you get what im syaing. havin attakcing options throughout the midfield, always a good call.




forza inter

 

I think the answer to why Bobby at left back has been pretty well stated above. Bruce wants to get him onto the field. We have been thin at left back. Etc.

Open question for me is why Vanney started instead of Convey last Sunday. My guess is that Vanney's form in training may have been better. Vanney's performance in the Grenada match was certainly a notch above where it had been for the Nats previously.

Would be great if Convey could get the start this Sunday and rack up another cap to qualify toward an English work permit for the Premiere League. If he developed into a top flight left back, it would add a powerful new dimension to the USMNT.

And finally, on the Lampard thing, I know it's off topic, but for those who care...

I happened to be in England during their recent friendly against Japan and saw the match on TV. For that game, Sven ran a diamond midfield, with Lampard at d-mid, Scholes at a-mid, Gerrard on the left wing (acknowledged by everyone as playing out of position), and Beckham on the right. It was the first time those four had been on the field together, and the thinking was that the diamond formation would get as much out of the particular talent as possible. Turns out England's midfield really sucked against Japan in that game, and Sven has deployed other tactics since.

 

The one thing I don't like about Arena is I believe he does play favorites. Armas and Richie Williams are both muckers and Arena loves(d) them both. I really wonder if they remind him of himself when he was a player? Never saw him play but I'm guessing he was a "blue collar" mucjker, much like them. He certainly doesn't look like a speed player and I can't believe he was a skill player so that leaves a mucker.

 

I think that most everyone is right on regarding Convey.

1. Convey to left back is BA's way of attempting to get him on the field because we were thin at LB and we had DMB, JOB, Reyna, Armas, Mastro, Donovan as all potential midfielders.

2. Starting Vanney over Convey in the home leg was an interesting decision. I would have thought we would have been more offensive with our lineup and would have seen Convey instead of Vanney. That being said, Vanney scored one hell of an important goal and is much much much better defensively.

3. Armas does have pictures, which were provided to him by Jovan who obviously kept copies for himself. He originally received these pictures from Richie ABMOD Williams. This has been documented and discussed several times.

4. Like previous Armas threads have mentioned, Armas clearly brings some grit and defensive bite that the team otherwise lacks. He clearly has a role right now in qualifying. I wouldn't have started him in midfield in the home leg, but I will be happy to see him in midfield on the away leg in Grenada. He will help our defense. I think if Mastro was there, he might have started in place of Armas, but I thought that having a box midfield of Convey and Donovan up top and Reyna and DMB behind them makes a lot of offensive sense for the home leg.

 

Arena was a keeper. Can a keeper be a mucker?

 

My take is that Vanney started because Vanney is better in the sense of bringing more defensive experience and greater patience on the defensive side of the field. I really like Convey's style, but will criticize him for pressing forward too fast and too hard at times. The result is that he regularly runs beyond any supporting attack only to lose the ball. This not only stifles that particular attacking opportunity, it also leaves the defense in the lurch. Vanney, while pressing forward at times, seems much wiser regarding when it should be done. I suspect BA is trying to give Convey the opportunity to balance his strong desire to push forward, with the need to defend in place wisely. I also would like to see him get the next start.

 

A really crappy one can, sure.

 

To answer the original question:

- Hes behind Lewis and DMB at left mid.
- The confed cup showed that he really isnt ready to hand CM duties. Even the U20 WC showed that, as Rongen ended up having to add 2 holding mids at the expense of a forward to stabalize the midfield.
- There is less depth at LB then in many other places.

 

I think you're absolutely right here as to why Vanney started at LB instead of Convey. Convey still has that helter-skelter style of playing, and that's not what we needed in a WCQ. It's interesting to note that in the most recent interview with Arena (at the US soccer site) that he remarks about how it's harder to get the younger players to understand the magnitude of World Cup Qualifying, the difficulties, etc. Still, I look for Bobby to get more playing time, perhaps a start, in the game Sunday.

 

I think you are getting near a point that those who don't like Armas and Williams are missing. Bruce feels that you need a player dedicated to killing opposing attacks, and that's what those two bring to the game.

If we lived in a dream world, these players could also start attacks, make killer passes, and shoot from 35. But when choosing from players living in the real world, these two have been good options for this position.

However, this job is not a fan favorite. It's hard to see when a ball doesn't go to an opponent because he's marked, or to appreciate the positioning of defenders to cut off the most dangerous likely attacks. Also, it can be frustrating to fans when the parts of their game that are not the strongest, like moving the ball up on attack, are so much more visible.

When your opponent just moves up the field and it's nobody's fault, chances are you're missing the 'mucker.' Arena knows this, and will always try to have one or two clogging up the middle in the back.