In the World Cup, the chances for scoring are relatively few and far between and it is important that we capitalize on ANY chance that we have and at least put it on frame. One good finish vs. one wayward shot can be the difference between winning and losing. Over the years our finishing overall really has not been too good. There are some players like Donovan that finish very well, and there are others that make you scratch your head at the lack of quality in the finish. It is time for our forwards to concentrate on each chance and hit it with confidence and purpose. Not every shot has to be a blast -- sometimes you trade a little power for precision -- and the moment dictates which type of shot is warranted and most effective. But in this run up to the Cup, our players need to tighten up this area of our game in order to have a reasonable chance of advancing. I'm hoping that our game vs. Holland today is the first step in improving our finishing ...
If I were a D-Bag, I would tell you that you need to change your username from Captain10 to Captain obvious. I am not a D-bag, so I won't say it. You are certainly right though and that is the concern that people have with Ching/Casey and some of our other forwards. Jozy has certainly flashed good finishing skills, but is still more potential then substance in that regard, as evidenced by his one EPL goal in months over there. I think this is ultimatly why we see Dempsey start up top in the WC. The more important thing to look at in the Holland match in this regard may not actually be the finishing of our forwards today, but rather Holden's/Beasley's and I guess Bedoya's, (giant longshot), play on the wing. Can someone competently handle Dempsey's role in the MF allowing us to push him up top? We talk a lot about hold up play, wearing down the defense, applying defensive pressure from the top, killing off games, drawing fouls, etc. All of these are certainly useful skills for a forward, but they are complimentary skills, the #1 concern for any forward is finishing chances.
Lack of finishing has been our bane for years. I agree with what sXe says. But I believe Clint doesn't play striker for Fulham and scores anyway.
Clint does indeed play up to for Fulham sometimes. I'd maintain that it is the finishers that make the finishing. Thus, what needs to improve is our finishers.
I'd say many teams we play against have problems finishing as well. Which explains why we get outshot by a 3 to 1 ratio but still win. I think of opponents such as Spain and Mexico. Hell, Honduras and el Salvador (in the hex) probably would have beaten us if not for some terrible finishing as well. But agreed, I think of Sanneh against Germany in particular where you think "if THAT had just gone in..."
Our biggest weaknesses in order: 1. Possession. 2. Left back. 3. Finishing. There will be teams at the World Cup who have bigger problems in finishing and/or specific positions (LB, CB, etc.) department. Finishing will not be our biggest problem. Creating enough quality chances could be.
I guess you just "obviously" did ... Ironic, eh? The point of the matter is that our players need to become more proficient at striking the ball with the outside of the foot to curve around the keeper, striking it with a slicing instep to curve it the other way, chipping the keeper or driving the ball. Of course, we need better success at making quick (and correct) decisions. It seems all we ever do is hit the ball with the instep whether it makes sense in the context of the play or not. There are many subtleties that can make a great difference in determining a better success rate but, at least for now, we should just start with getting the shots on target. Let's see how proficient our shooting is today ... and use that as a baseline.
you should have titled the thread "NEWSFLASH!!! : Finishing Needs to Improve", or "We need to score more goals then our opponents"
My comment was meant in jest, sorry I didn't make it more clear. I gave you some positive rep for your post.
I'm going to disagree a bit. The last few years against the good teams we have finished and scored quite well considering how few chances we have gotten per game. It's in finishing vs lousy teams who play overly defensive is where we waste a high % of our chances.
Learning how to strike the ball is not learned in your 20's. Perhaps the consistancy is improved, but nothing more.
The only way our finishing is going to significantly improve before June is if Torres, Rooney, Drogba, or Luis Fabiano change citizenship. (Yes, I know they're Cup-tied - just making a point.) I'm with Lloyd. Our finishing has actually been pretty good against top teams (2 vs Spain, Brazil, and Mexico here without getting a lot of chances in any of those games). I'm also with Koko, at least on the first point. We have to be able to possess the ball. If we can't, we won't make it out of our group. Most coaches say "we need to finish better". I know - I'm one of them. But it misses the point. Finishing is hard to do well, and it's usually not the problem. Controlling the ball enough in the attacking third to create good chances is the real attacking problem the US has.
To my observation, we tend to finish well when we create situations that make finishing pretty easy-- break away goals and set pieces. We don't finish well in traffic and against packed defenses. Pretty obvious stuff-- we aren't superstars in front of the goal so we have to play tactics that give us better chances of scoring. To Bob's credit, I think we do that-- it explains why we press a lot and don't drop off into the pretty zone marking systems that possessions teams use. We are trying to create turn-overs in unexpected positions so that we can pounce on the counter- get players into space where they have room and time to take good shots. I think our finishing is fine--what's going to be more important is whether our tactics are successful. To that end, it's vital for the USA to not surrender early goals. While we have been able to claw our way back into games against CONCACAF opposition, we won't be able to do that consistently against WCF opposition. If Slovenia gets an early lead, we'll spend the rest of the match trying to score against 10 men. That's not something we do well. Our strength on set pieces gives us a fighting chance, but it's still not something that I would relish.
I don't disagree with your list...but I think part of our problem with possession begins with the coach. Bob refuses to change tactics depending on who is available to him. I think part of our problem with possession starts with him. "Players make plays," I know. However, he continually asks players to do things they are not accustomed to doing to fit the system. If you want to play with two DMs today, fine. Start Mike and Edu. If you want Torres to start, don't expect him to be a DM...he's not. He is also a poor manager of his bench. I said this when he was hired, but I was hoping he would improve with experience. He hasn't. His substitutes are almost always delayed too long, and it is not uncommon for him to leave players on the pitch who either are tired or are having poor games when he does decide to substitute.
i would say Need some damn play makers who aren't afraid and play with some balls and finish some damn plays! Don't think we are good finishers against good teams because of the CONFED CUP, can we just throw that please, i am sure if we played spain tomorrow they thrash us at least 3-0!!! What we really lack is AGRESSIVENESS!!! The last 5 minutes when we attacked we looked great! It's not like Hollands defense was super tough the whole game...
Boca made the same terrible play I've seen him make from the CB spot for years. A hospital ball to the LB which resulted in a dangerous counter. When he wasn't doing that he was kicking the ball up the field to no one in particular. That is not a coaching problem. That is a skill level problem. He is. That's how he is deployed for Pachuca. I agree with this. However, when the Dutch sub in a guy who plays a Real Madrid and you've got Heath Pearce on your bench it must be pretty depressing. I'd hesitate to make that sub too.
I agree with you on Bocanegra. He has never been good distributing out of the back, because he resorts to the long ball much too often. When I was speaking about Bob's tactics, though, my problem is not with how he deploys our back line. As for Torres, he does not play DM for Pachuca. I have seen him play some at LM, but most of the time he plays as a holding midfielder or a box-to-box CM. He has much more freedom to move around the pitch and often gets forward to help with the attack. He is pretty good at recognizing where holes are when teams counter, as I have seen him drop back to cover defensively on both sides of the pitch. While he definitely has defensive responsibilities for Pachuca, he does not play as a DM for them.
A lot needs to improve, but I think creating chances is the biggest issue. We create VERY few chances and typically rely on set pieces against average teams. Issues: 1. Creating chances 2. Possession 3. Coaching (which is part of the reason for #1 and #2) 4. LB 5. Finishing
Holding mid...Dmid...meh. The U.S. CM's have the freedom to join in the attack...when we are able to build the attack...which we didn't for most of the match. No doubt it's defense first for Bob, but the idea that he has these guys chained inside their own half is a myth. Even the other night you saw all the CM's venturing into the attack while another balanced them in cover. But come on. We were playing the Dutch away. They have one of THE BEST offenses on the planet. What did we expect?
As I believe you have pointed out eventually through this thread, more important than us working on finishing is us working on creating chances. Can't score if you don't shoot. Of course, you can't shoot if you don't have possession, but if we go down that route, we'll dig up so many areas of need that this thread will spin out of control. Moral of the story, we're not very good.
What is good? The Dutch admittedly are a good attacking team and play 11-man defense all the time (they say), but they did not create that many chances against us (a somewhat depleted second tier team). We may never know, but if Holden hadn't been recklessly injured, it looked that even with Donovan taken out of the game, that many more opportunities would have been created and that even horrific international finishers like Findley may have bagged one. The same for Johnson. Yes, we are not a first tier team but we are good sometimes. We've always been challenged to consistently bring it. Have you never noticed that outstanding strikers anywhere 9/10 times strike the ball directly to the keeper? There are very few strikers anywhere who consistently aim for the net corners or chip it ably over the keeper's body or limbs. I predicted we'd score on a set-piece (just forgot that Beasley can take a good one) and that's where the gold lies for us just now. We can get better and better at that. That's the most positive I can be about the USMNT.
Truth, but only in comparison to real contenders and dark horses for the cup. We deserve to be at the World Cup. England might make us look like fools but we'll be in the other two games.