Okay, so Convey now has assists off of corners in two of the last three USMNT matches (Canada and Jamaica). Clearly, he's got skillz at this. I know it's not likely, but I for one am hoping that Etch steps aside and lets Bobby take his fair share of the corners (and set pieces) this year. Anyone else think this should but won't happen? Anyone disagree?
It should also be mentioned that Arena got out of experimentation-mode in this game and played Convey at a-mid. Ray are you watching? Bocanegra was the left back (and had a goal- he had Convey's corner) and an assist (to Klein for the second goal). First time the US has played Donovan at forward, Convey at a-mid and Beasley at left wing in the same game. First of many...
Nobody ever listens, heh. I've been calling for Convey to at least take the left corners for the past two seasons. His accuracty with crosses is incredible. His ability to get off accurate crosses while marked during the run of play is uncanny. But we just haven't had a target forward to finish. IMHO, if we had a finisher or two among our 5 primary attacking players, Convey would get a lot of assists that way. Also, this is one of the main reasons that the European scouts covet him as a winger. Man, I cannot wait to see that game. -Tron
That is exactly what I have been screaming to happen for a long time now. Ahhhhh, it's a relief to see that he FINALLY got his chance. -Tron
I thought it was in the team charter that all corners and free kicks must be taken by Etch. Or at least is seemed that way. Absolutely, other players should be mixing up the set pieces. I don't have a problem with Bruce moving Bobby all over the field. Sure he's not an out and out defender, but he's not even 20 and he had to defend against a darn good Argie. I would think he's learned some defensive lessons that will round him out as a player.
Definitely, he's learning lessons that will serve him well no matter where he plays on the field but I like him for the middle
OK, Let's say that Hudson gives into progress and puts Convey at A-Mid (I'm keeping my fingers crossed)... who picks up on the L Wing? Assuming that Olsen is just sore (which is my guess and they want to get it checked out before the season) and he stays on the right, who get's the right. I'd really like to see us play a 3-5-2 with Convey at A Mid
Stewart can play wide right (and with Reyes behind him he wouldn't even need to back track as hard as some) with Olsen on the left. Barclay can sub in as well as others. If we pick up DiGi, then he would be on the left with Benny on the right, and Stewie somewhere in the middle.
Here's my hopeful depth chart for both wings: right wing Olsen Kovalenko/Barclay/Quaranta Stewart Alegria Reyes left wing Convey- who WILL be in the middle. Thus: Digi Olsen Alegria -I just don't see Quintinilla on either wing. Alegria, though also slow, does try on defense. -I just don't see Namoff on the team, though I'd look at him for the right wing spot. -I want Stewart to be in the center of the field if possible, so I'd want to try Dema and Q1 or Devin on the wing before turning to Earnie. -I have no idea who's better at right wing between Dema, devin, and Q1.
I don't think Convey did a good job as the A-mid last night. He did, however, play a good game as an H-mid, too bad we needed him to be more attacking. He looks like he has taken too many lessons from Etch about hanging out around the defenders. Convey was excellent at going back to get the ball and build the attack, unfortunately, that wasn't his role last night. It showed that there was no link between the midfielders and forwards because Convey was playing so deep. It was like Convey was playing the middle of a 3-5-2 instead of playing the #10 role in a 4-4-2. There's nothing wrong with that, I think its the role he is best at. But it showed last night that he isn't ready to "run the show" all by himself. I thought he played well, it was just too bad that he played a different role than the one he was supposed to.
Glad you folks got to see the game. There's no Spanish language stations up here in Vermont, just French (from Montreal). With Etch, Stewart, Dema and Benny I don't think we have to worry that Convey will have to "run the show" all by himself. It more likely to be a flowing type of attack and midfield with Convey being one cog of several, and I hope he's a cog in the middle since I think he operates best there. He's not going to be in the mold of the old Etch since he doesn't play like that, but I think he's going to shine this year.
I don't think you understood how the game played out. Bobby made a great run out of his central position to open up the left side, and his excellent cross from the by line created the corner from which he delivered the ball for Bocanegra to head home. Klein's goal came 30 seconds later. After that the tactics made us play a more defensive game, and essentially we were playing a 4-5-1 with Landon in the A-mid role and Mathis out on an island. I think that was a conscious direction from the bench. Let's see how we hold a lead in an away match.
And in the last ten minutes our offense consisted of hoofing it to Cunningham, which is never a good strategy.
Sometimes a defender falls down...and it's all she wrote. Maybe Cunningham should go to the Cobi Jones School of Time Wasting (not to be confused with Cobi Jones' School of How to Get Sodomized by Mexicans)
I thought Convey had an awesome game last night. Could he have been better? Sure. But taking into consideration his age and the fact that he was playing IN Jamaica against a pretty rugged Jamaican team, I still thought he was one of the standouts for the USMT last night. Amazing! I'll be the first to admit that I often thought Convey was too young, too small, too inexperienced to be starting for DCU the past couple years. It was especially hard to watch given that the team was losing so much. But I think its obvious that Convey has benefitted massively from the experience with DCU (and the U-20s, etc. I was already looking forward to seeing him with United this season. Now I'm beginning to think he could be a serious contributor to the USMT sooner than I would expected. Big congrats BC. Keep it up.
Does it look to anyone else like Convey has gotten significantly bigger / thicker over the offseason? Not that he's a big guy but he at least doesn't look smaller than everyone else...of course that could be because he was around Landon and Damarcus.
I've been noticing that, too. It seems that each year he gets a little more solid-looking. The military-style crew cut he's now sporting also adds to it. Compare the difference between 2001 Bobby and what you saw last night.
I didn't see a 4-5-1 lineup anywhere. Donovan and Mathis were still floating around up top doing nothing. Watch the tape, look at where Bobby receives the ball, he is back next to (or behind) Mastroeni most times when he is developing the play. My point, and maybe I wasn't clear about this, is that he is much better suited in that role, as an H-Mid than he is as an A-mid. I thought Convey played well as an H-mid, even though that wasn't what his assignment was last night. The U.S. offense looked impotent last night, and that was due, IMO, in part, to Bobby getting the ball too far back in front of the backline. It is the EXACT same situation we had last year at DC with Etch hanging back so far. But when Bobby and Etch were in the midfield together at the end of the season, things ran quite well. Donovan was NOT coming back and playing an A-mid role, Mathis was doing absolutely nothing productive. Convey isn't ready (yet) to be the lone attacking midfielder. He performs much better when he is paired with someone else to overlap and feed off of.
I thought Convey struggled against Jamaica. His debut in the center was remeniscent of Donovan's debut there. He did some nice things in spurts, but he looked a little lost much of the time and rarely strung together more than 30 seconds of sustained good play. His defending was poor, and his passing was spotty. Major kudos for the corner and other set piece plays, but as the field general he took his lumps IMHO. He showed great promise, but the jump up in speed of play and the lack of familiarity with both his teammates and role really hindered him. You must crawl before you walk, and walk before you run. I'll chalk this one up as Convey crawling, and occasionally standing up. Considering the variables, I'd say it was a successful day, but not a one of his best. Convey showed some strides at showing for the ball, but he needs to continue to develop in that department. One thing I think he needs to work on is holding the ball. He has the ability but he is so used to making quick combinations that he seemed to force passes too often. He'd play a square or back pass rather than confidently dribbling into space. Often the player to whom he passed was closer marked than himself, so those I'd class as poor decisions. He looked a bit nervous, and that's certainly understandable, but in time I think he'll gain the confidence to do the things he's capable of doing, rather than rushing a risky pass. My assessment on Convey has been that he has silky effortless dribbling without a large amount of flair, exceptional vision, wonderful timing, excellent anticipation, tremendous crossing and short passing accuracy, mediocre medium passing game, and poor long passing game. His defending on the wing has become decent, but his positional defending in the center is quite poor still. He needs to work on all of these areas. Despite this overly gloomy assessment, I truly think he is well on his way to becoming one of the best US central midfielders I have ever seen. But, there is still a long road ahead. Hopefully, both Arena and Hudson will allow Convey to continue to develop in the center of the park. Donovan has now shown he can play the central attacking midfield position, and I think with several more games under his belt there, Convey will too. -Tron
Tron, How much of Convey's problems last night would you say were down to the fact that Cartman, I mean, Mathis wouldn't move his fat, lazy ass. I can't think of a single time I saw him run after getting the ball in midfield and passing it to Convey.
On the right wing I agree with Skip, although I'd move Reyes up ahead of Stewart. On the left though, I'd say Convey, DiGi (if we get him, which I'd say is doubtful), Dema, Eliseo (in a 442), Carroll, Woodstock, Alegria. But I think Alegria is questionable until he's cleared to return here to play. With his past visa problems and the new more stringent US policies, I wouldn't say it's assured that he'll be able to return. Let's cross our fingers he can. I agree with Skip that Hudson looks to be squeezing Namoff out. That's too bad, because I think he could fill in at left winger wonderfully. He doesn't have Convey's crossing ability, but he's strong in possession, strong going forward, strong defensively in midfield winning balls, and fairly responsible with the ball. Everybody keeps talking about Earnie in midfield, but I doubt we'll see it, because we absolutely need his finishing up top. If Stewart does drift back into midfield officially, I would expect it to be at central attacking midfielder rather than winger. If he plays winger he'll likely have permission to roam all over the field, which isn't really a winger. -Tron
Amen to that. I that Mathis was absolutely pathetic. It looks like his fame has gotten to his head. He looks heavy and sluggish, like a slob. He was horrible. Continuously yapping his mouth at the ref. I believe I saw a captain's armband on him?? Give me a break. I'm glad this is the DC boards so we don't have to get any crap from Metro fans about this Mastroeni seemed too slow to play in the midfield About Convey he had a decent game for his age and level of USNT team experience at center midfield. He seemed to spend a lot of time at holding midfield, closer to the back which is not best for him he's better off near the front. He's best breaking down defensive lines-remember that pass where he almost scored amazing ability to go through the heart of the d. Corner was EXCELLENT he should take the corners instead of Etch the corners are harder and bend well. Convey did well to run back and help the d, may even too well/too much. Blaaa blaa blaa I could go on. Point is this is GREAT experience and MUST be used by the USNT coaches to TEACH Convey how to best play the position by going over the videotape. If the coaches TRULY know the game, the WILL know how to teach the kid