Unless CD9 pulls off a miracle recovery... i see us going with a 4-5-1 In my ideal situation, I see the midfield flanked by Donovan and Dempsey with Holden sitting underneath Jozy in the Iniesta-like role. Bradley and Jones are assigned to stay home as the D-mids, but bradley often gets up and Dempsey/Donovan turns into a striker, with it morphing into a 4-1-3-2. I feel like we'd light it up with this formation...especially with sparkplugs such as Feilhaber, Torres, Gomez, and Buddle coming off the bench. Gotta sort out the back line tho...
DeLa Garza is only 22 or so. Maybe he can grow. I know he's not NT quality at this point, but maybe he deserves a chance. I wouldn't include JJ in any plans until he actually plays a game with the USMNT. Oh and Diskerud is an up-and-coming option in front. Don't forget the kid.
I moved some posts to the Bob Bradley thread, so you can continue that discussion over there. https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1530981 Please keep this thread on topic, thanks.
Spector is a wild card. He could be huge or a non factor. He needs to make a move to find more first team min
I disagree, Spector is always a huge factor. Whether that impact is positive or negative is the issue. I don't think he ever has "meh" games. Just "OMG ewwww!" or "OMG wow!" games.
I'm sure that Ponce is loyal enough to Chivas that he wouldn't do it. But, crap, economically, that could be a great move by Ponce. If he's really that good, and Chivas voids his contract, that'd put him in line for a very large "transfer fee." Kid could potentially put a lot of money in his pocket by playing for the U.S. I guess he'd have to wait until he's on Euro club radars to pull that move, as MFL teams might consider him "untouchable." But, if his career trajectory reaches "escape velocity" from the MFL, and the kid wanted to put some serious coin in the bank, he's be banging down Bradley's door, trying to get a call up.
I think Lichaj is the most probable option to upgrade the LB position. We are really at a strange point in player development. We have the best young and proven midfield talent we have ever had. All of these guys are either proven vets are very solid young talents: Donovan, Dempsey, Bradley, Holden, Torres, Clark, Jones, Diskerud and Feilhaber. Then there are wildcards like Shea, Leggit, Kleistjan, etc. Underneath that. We are exceedingly weak up top with Jozy, who much as I love him, is still unproven in my mind. Buddle and Gomez are meh and getting older, CD9 is a longshot to recover the form he had before in my mind, Findley is...Findley and we really don't have any true young talent here either. I think someone, at least one, from the midfield pool needs to move up to striker and start playing there from the begining of the cycle. I think Dempsey is the obvious choice and although age may be a factor, if he does slow down it would be less of a factor at F than in the MF. I think the CBs will sort themselves out through the cycle, Gooch will be better, Gonzalez could be awesome and we will have the usual workmanlike depth behind them. As I said above, I think Lichaj could be the answer at LB, but regardless it looks to me like the fullbacks may be thin and a problem no matter what. 'Dolo is old, Spector is beyond inconsistent, as someone else said Pearce is the LB version of Twellman, Lichaj is young and unproven, Wynne makes Bornstein look like a technical wizard, etc. In essence I think the fullbacks are the biggest questions and I have no real answers. The other big question mark is the formation and tactics. Is Bob wedded to the 4-4-2, with the wings pinched in and the speed/hold-up pairing up top? If so, I don't see that we have the peices to really fit that system. A 4-5-1, 4-2-3-1, or any other MF heavy formation makes sense, but until I see some willingness to play it, I don't think there is any point speculating about it. My $0.02 anyway...