Karl, I don't see how you can make the above statement, especially when on this particular board. Bruce has certainly been in the development business over the past couple of years, and looks to continue that in the future. He capped LD before he had even made a professional start; there's Beasley, and Albright was not a one-off cap, he kept getting invited back to camp despite zero production. When TT gets called in, as he surely will, he'll have exactly one year of experience (yes, I'm discounting his German experience to make a point); are you saying he's the finished article? Most of our player pool are not capable of coming in "READY to play the way they need to play, and when told to play, they should understand and execute immediately", they don't have the necessary experience in different styles of play. Bruce needs to DEVELOP that in the players. I'm not saying Bruce is wrong, I think he has to take on some of the development burden because we don't have a very large pool of experienced, developed players.
You are right when you say a guy like Twellman isn't the "finished article," -- though he's a lot further along than his experience level would suggest -- but when you talk about the National team, I think you need to make the distinction between "experimentation" and "development." In other words, a national team coach needs to ask himself, "Will this not-fully-formed player be useful to me and how can I deploy him to maximize his virtues and minimize his weaknesses?" He might also say, "Is there time enough to fix a weakness or two?" But there is NO way has the time to get a player to improve his game to some much higher level, or to extract long-term potential. So, looking at the players you mentioned: LD was already a phenom, with speed and skill and cunning. Yes, it took him a little bit of time to get comfortable in a Nat team kit, but it didn't take long, and though I respect Bruce, I don't think he did any special development with him to get him there. Albright was an Arena blind spot. Maybe he let him hang on too long, but the important thing is that with Albright he DID cast him aside. The vision was clouded for a while, but it became clear in time. On Beasley, I would disagree with you completely. He WAS internationally ready by the Fall of '01, before he was capped for the final qualifier. I know, I saw him a LOT. I even started a thread on him that some may recall -- Top 10 Reasons Why DMB will Make the Roster. It was Bob Bradley who got him ready, working diligently on improving his defense, which heretofore had been a key shortcoming in his game.
I disagree about Bruce. He's always been a very pragmatic coach who makes players play Arena ball. Unless you're Marco. But even before the '96 season started, I thought DC United was stacked. He was given Etcheverry AND Harkes for example, as well as the supposed Bolivian wunderkind up front Bruce was surprisingly allowed to trade for Jaime Moreno. The point is he had at least as much talent as every other competitor, probably more. Such was the case with UVA, once he got that recruiting ball really rolling. With the momentum of championships it was unstoppable. Of course his teams played with more flair. There's no enforced parity in international soccer. No league office is gonna help Bruce out, and he can't really swoop in for players France is trying to recruit. With a disadvantaged talent pool his response was pragmatic -- play Route 1 against Portugal. Flash back to the Indiana/UVA final -- 1994 I think. The teams were probably equal strength, if not UVA was better. But Bruce feared Brian Maisonneuve. Instead of using the nations top talent to match Indiana's free-flowing attack, Bruce changed UVA's game entirely that match. Damian Silvera dropped back and was laying tackles all over the ground. It was all physical, pressure, hitting, tackling -- pretty cynical play. I think the winning goal came from big awkward target man AJ Wood. And the championship went to Bruce. That's my view and yet it's partly why I felt strongly that Bruce was the right coach after Sampson. He has a Spartan bedrock which is good to build on.
Why they don't see it I'll never know. Maybe they don't see him play enough, but I've watched nearly every match he's played for the past 7 years and it's obvious to me that he's gotten much better with the ball at his feet. Any more, the only way to take the ball from him when he has it on his feet in league play is to kick his legs out from under him (which is a surprisingly effective tactic thanks to the low standard of officiating in MLS). Now, he's not going to beat people on the dribble, but he's quite good at settling the ball and holding it up under pressure. He's getting pretty good at turning towards goal, too, where he can then pass the ball and make a run towards goal. McBride's first touch is light-years better than Cunningham's.
Maybe it was in response to Marco's inconsistency, but Carry Talley built his MLS career on long balls up the line to Roy Lassiter, skipping the midfield completely with that pragmatic "early ball" Bruce loves so much. And was AJ Wood good to have around 'cause he was a poacher? [/i] I think the other major difference between our views is that I think McBride has a lot of subtle talent with his feet that many others don't see. [/QUOTE] AJ Wood could occasionally surprise you too. : ) McBride doesn't bring that subtle talent to the field as often as Cunnigham, that's for sure. McBride has a lot of games where it looks like he has no relationship with the ball whatsoever. But he follows a simple Arena rule that Jeff perhaps does not: You may not always be on form but you can always rely on your work.
Noah, in my opininion, just because long balls were played to Lassiter does not make him a target man. Look at how Lassiter received (thankfully past tense) the ball -- he much preferred to get it facing goal. McBride's best work is done with back to goal. Completetly different skills and tactical plays. To bring it back to the original point, classifying Lassiter as a target man to argue that Arena always uses one is completetly wrong in my opinion. As for Arena using the "early" ball, sure he does this. But keep in mind that DCU was the best in the league at possession in those years, so DCU could not have been using it that much. The slow buildup was much more representative of DCU's play in those years. And, I am not sure that AJ Wood was even with DCU during the Arena years, and, if so, he didn't play enough to matter. Disagree, as McBride has more skill on the ball than Cunningham, though Cunningham may have more flair. Why Cunningham is better at beating defenders off the dribble is that he combines speed with a good level of skill, while McBride can't beat people off the dribble because even when he beats them on skill they can catch-up to him. As to McBride "having no relationship to the ball", I have seen games where he doesn't get many touches. But when he does, he has a high percentage of quality touches, even considering that he is usually getting the crap beaten out of him.
For the record, you're right. I got carried away and started to confuse Route 1 with the use of a target man. But there's not such a huge tactical difference when that man plays a lot of lone ranger. Get Frankie or Carry or Tony or Eddie or Brad to boot the ball up. McBride is a stationary target, Lassiter a moving one. As for the rest, yeah we disagree. But one thing I think everyone should recognize is that Brian gets banged around a lot not because he's so great but because that's the way he plays. He doesn't nip into spaces and he's rarely long gone before the defender arrives. If he gets there on time it's an instant before the defender and then he uses his body while he controls the ball. McBride looks for tussles and toss-ups because he often wins them, that's a basic part of his game.
This is generally true (though I believe McBride plays a LOT better than you think he does) but I think your view of the end product is slightly askew. I think he's not out to win the physical challenges per se but to hold the ball in the context of physical challenges. As a result, the defense has to adjust, set up approprate cover to the pressure exerted on McBride, and start marking. Then McBride's teammates can make runs and show for the combination play, and otherwise advance the ball productively once he lays it off.
ehh we're close enough on this one. Sometimes he looks for an ugly situation to win the ball and do the things you say - or at least make life tougher on the opponent. I credit him for all the above.
Outstanding for a couple of games (one really) is not necessarily the same as "outstanding World Cup."
Let's make some more accurate and precise distinctions here.... He is on the 23-man roster for a meaningless friendly...he is NOT, at least not yet, "in the mix." Probability of being "in the mix?" Low to very low.
Well it's no surprise to anybody that he's included in this 23. But it is "the mix." Of course it doesn't mean he'll play in qualifiers. I just thought it was funny.
Yeah, I was hoping for Ralston as well, just to piss Keller off. I still don't see how Cunningham can ever get minutes with the talent we now have. Still, if you're Cunningham, you've got like being called up. At the very least, it means Arena hasn't made up his mind.
Very true. Very true. It's crucial that every player get a fair shot. Based on Ralston's club performance, there is no other rational choice but to play him.
This is funny. Based on the fact that Arena has worked closely with Cunningham in the 1st Korea game, then in the Gold Cup, and he has still been called into this camp, I would say that regardless of what certain people around here might think, JC is definitely in Arena's mix. Then again, JC was among the leaders in MLS points this past year, and was also named to the Best 11 team, so maybe Bruce is just being "fair." Hehehe.