Holes in the line up

Well if you are talking about the guys that Arena has played in the friendlies after the W.C., then I'd say we have lots of holes. I think the flank defenders and mids aren't the greatest.

We've got Convey on the left and crap on the right. Beasley can't cross or head the ball, but he can defend and create on the dribble. I'd like a more dominant and well rounded player at the right mid spot. Donovan might be a better option there instead of Klein. Klein and Beasley are o.k., but I'd like better players at those positions.

 

Left Back, Target Forward (when McBride eventually hang em up), Right sided Midifielder. Other than that I think we're pretty solid all around, with either average to above average players. My biggest concern is the right sided midfielder. so far, we have absolutly zilch there. (and yes that means Olsen and Klein)

 

I think Beas is fine at left mid since he's young and with a decent work ethic can get better at the things that he needs to improve.

Holes
Rmid--Olsen's got a long ways to go to come back to his old form.
LB---Still no one that can contribute to the offense and defend equally as well

 

i think people are underestimating Klein. he's only to get better. i'm not sure he'll ever be WC 2006 class, but he'll be close.

right back to me is a position of serious deficiency. i'd like to see suarez get a run out, but i guess bruce sees him as more of a crentral mid, where even garcia is ahead of him. i suppose mulrooney can play some right back too.

the question of attacking mid hasn't exactly been answered yet either, though both donovan and/or convey may work into the spot.

 

We don't actually need a true A-Mid. It's not like Arena wants to funnel the offense through a single point. Our L-Mids, C-Mids, and R-Mids all play Attackind midfield. We just need someone in the middle who can control the flow up the middle and around him. We have 3 players who can do that. Reyna, O'Brien, and Convey. Donovan can NOT do this. Asking Donovan to hold is like asking Chris Armas to attack, its just not in their make-up.

 

Our biggest hole is lack of creativity and pressure on offense. We rely too much on the counter attack.

 

right on, red card

also, my two cents ... i'm more sold on Klein than DMB at this point. Olsen is done (yeah!) ....

but red card is right. we rely a lot on counterattacks, which is fine. but we need the playmaker .....

 

R-mid: Remember that Klein is only just back (fully back) from his knee injury - I think he's shown enough to merit a year's look, at the very least. He's not world class yet, but I think he's shown flashes, and the tremendous fitness the U.S. game plan requires, so he deserves a shot. Not sure about Olsen - he's tough as hell, but may have lost 1/4 step, and he's not as durable as Klein.

R-back is obviously a huge hole (assuming 4 at the back instead of 3). Cherundolo, Garcia, Suarez - none screams out to start every day.

L-mid - I like Lewis and Beas, but I'm concerned about Beas' health. He recovers well now, but figure two more years of beatings, and it's unclear how fit he'll be in 2005-06. I love Convey - although I see him more in the middle, he's a lefty, and might be really good on the left, even better than Beas.

Other than that, we're deeper than ever.

 

As compared with recent history, I really don't think our national team has any real holes. Weak-spots, yes, but at least now we have a sizable pool from which viable candidates will inevitably emerge. Remember the recent WC run-up? Everybody was freaking out about both outside back spots. Turns out, outside back was a strength of the team. And I bet it will be again by WC 06.

R-mid: Long term-how about Quaranta?

RB: No obvious choice, but one should emerge from an athletic group. My money's on Gooch.

LB: By '06, Chris Gbandi just might make this position one of the team's strengths.

 

If JOB comes back for the Japan game that would help to solidify the left back position, or the central mf, wherever Bruce puts him.

 

How can we have holes when we have Adu! Oh wait, this thread is an actual REAL discussion?

I honestly don't know how I feel about the team over the next few years. I mean, some of the possibilities send shivers down my spine. There is just so much potential coming up (and I'm not talking about Adu). Plus, we have some young people who already have experience, like Donovan, DMB, Mastroeni.

Unfortunately, I'd feel a lot safer if I thought anyone was a lock at any position. I think JOB is a lock to be on the field, but I'm not certain where. Same goes for Donovan. I just wish we had someone who you could say - he's our XXX now and he'll be our XXX 4 years from now. That would make the team so much easier to build around, but then again I love dreaming of the endless possibilities with our many multi-poistional players. I'm not too sure many other countries have the flexibility that we do.

 

... just after midfielders, central defenders, keepers, and strikers.

 

right now, the quality of our defenders (save boca, sanneh and pope) is really poor. sanneh is getting older and seemed to have lost the form he showed in the world cup. pope is a given to be injured for stretches over the next year or so. outside of those three the passing from the defense is piss poor. the reason we rely so much on the counterattack is that we don't have defenders skilled enough to play a possession buildup type game.

the other glaring weakness to me is right mid. as much as i love ben olsen, he hasn't proven that he's back yet. awhile ago there was a thread about landon being moved there and employing him the way arsenal uses freddie ljungberg. i still think this is an intriguing idea and maybe even a better position for landon. he's fast, he'd have more space for the quick passing game he likes to play, and would still be very much an attacker.

the striker situation will work itself out. over the next year it will be pretty nebulous because there's so much young potential that hasn't been proven yet.

 

...so outside back was a weakness?

 

You hit the nail on the proverbial head. We've got to find some defenders who can do something besides boot the ball downfield---we've already found one in Bocanegra IMHO, and Kelly Gray will probably be in the mix also. RB will be between Cherundolo and Onyewu, LB is still up in the air.

 

I agree that I would like to be able to say that a player has the position locked for a couple of years. I'd also like for Arena to play players in their natural positions. I don't necessarily think that having all these multi-positional player is a good thing. I'd rather have our players played where they play for their club -- with very little variance -- and see how much better we play without players having to learn a new position on the National Team.

And eagleterp, IMO Sanneh is DONE! He played very well in the World Cup, but I think he's very much out of form and too old to be considered for national duty anymore.

 

I still believe we should play with O'Brien at left back. He has all the qualities (save blazing speed) that the national team needs at left back. We have more options in midfield than at outside back. In a 4-4-2 a left side of O'Brien-Lewis or O'Brien-Beasley looks pretty good to me going forward and defending.

Right back is more of a concern to me. Sanneh can obviously play the position in Arena's system, as the WC showed, but he may not be at that level three years from now. Onyewu is a great prospect, but that's all he is right now. Klein at right back is intriguing, but that's would be a long-term project not a solid plan.

Chris Gbandi may change my thinking, but he has to play some actual pro games first.

 

i wouldn't rule him out of the early parts of qualifying especially if we haven't found a solid replacement yet. that of course depends upon him rediscovering his form. i too have serious doubts about whether he can do so, but if he does, i expect to see him.

i do agree that he will be phased out as the cycle progresses along with others in his age group like mcbride, moore, and cobi.

 

I thin Gbandi is a left-sided player, more than a right-sided player. Which is good in the long-run and might make you rethink the JOB at left back thing. But for right now, I agree 100% that JOB should get a look at left back, as his contributions to Ajax's offense from that position yesterday were very significant.

 

Q

Holes in the lineup -

Target forward - I am not counting on McBride being available in 06. And every target forward prospect we have behind him is still very much a prospect. TT has been a disappointment internationally, not unexpectedly so.

Depth in midfield - It might always be a problem, but especially at AMid, our talent runs thin quickly. JOB (injury prone), Convey, Reyna (injury prone), and ... Everyone else has failed to impress recently.

Outside backs - Cherundolo on the right will continue to get long looks. Behind him, Arena is obviously intrigued by Sasha, he has never shown any indication that he will try Klein at RB, but we'll see. Left back could be Boca's. Behind him we are again very, very thin and may have to platoon an out of position player for cover as we did in 02.

Keep in mind that as qualifying draws closer and closer, players who do not advance out of the "prospects" category will fail to see the light of day. Gbandi, Casey, Johnson, Quaranta, etc have a shorter time period than they might believe to step up and make a case for themselves.

 

I'd look to see JOB move to left back to provide both solid defense and outstanding skill and attacking from that position.

For right back, how about Reyna -- he played there once in J/K. Put him there and again, we have tons of skill, attacking ability and an all around oustanding player.

Pope / Boca / Grey lock down the central defending spots providing skill, size and speed.

I think that with all the young guns that are coming up in the midfield, veterans like JOB & Reyna may get moved to defensive positions. In addition to some of the guys that have already been tried in the midfield like Convey, we also have the young guns on the U20 team that just now turned pro and by the end of this year may be ready to contribute to the senior team.

I guess I'd say that my biggest concern is a replacement for McBride.

HOWEVER -- and this is a huge however -- a replacement for McBride as a target forward that can REALLY hold the ball up is much less necessary with a defense that can possess the ball. If you look at Reyna, Pope, Boca and JOB across the back, having a target forward that can receive the ball and hold it up to relieve the pressure on the defense and midfield becomes much less important. With a defense that can possess, you can go with two forwards that are much more attacking oriented strikers.

 

Reyna played right wingback in a 3-5-2 in Japan/Korea 2002, though the positionis similar enough in terms of responsibilities to an outside back in a 4-4-2 that it is possible. Your basic point that outside backs who were better with the ball would have significant benefits for the offense is a very good one though.

P.S. Kelley Gray is a classic example of a "prospect" who has to, as Nutmeg puts it, step it up very quickly to be a realistic option.