Jones, Johnson, Williams: Where do they Fit?

Excellent analysis, and I suspect JK's success will depend on his choices in these two spots. I couldn't help comparing Bradley to Johnson and Williams as I watched the Hoffenheim match today. Both appear more athletic and skilled than Bradley, but Bradley has a huge advantage in work rate and a slight advantage in field vision to the Hoffenheim pair. Both Williams and Johnson show, to my eye, at least as much grit as Bradley. At the moment, I would prefer Johnson to either Bradley, Edu or Torres at the 8, and in the DM spot, Jones to to any other candidate, though I would like to see more of Williams. Because Johnson is so athletic and versatile, I think he'll be tried at left back, freeing Chandler to play on the right, and Edu or Bradley to play the 8.

If Torres, and especially Holden, show they've recovered from their injuries everything will be,thankfully, in a state of flux.

 

[LINEUP-4-4-2]Donovan,Dempsey,Shea,Jones,Torres,Johnson,Chandler,Onyewu,Gonzalez,Cherundolo,Howard[/LINEUP-4-4-2]

Altidore for Johnson/Shea
Williams for Torres
Bradley for Jones if losing

 

Jones, Williams, Johnson, Brooks, etc. are not German-Americans but American-Germans.

No?

 

I just don't see Williams being a 6, to me he didn't show the "bite" to be a very good DM. Maybe he was given instructions to contain rather than dispose the opponent. I still need to see Johnson play. maybe I'll get a link to the Hoffenheim game and have a better assessment.

 

No need to make it more complicated than what it is. Williams and Johnson look to have settled in as deep mids in 4231 with Williams in more of holding role and Johnson getting forward along the flanks and sending in long diagonals.

Jones is of course a holding player.

Holden within Klinsmann's diamond can play all of the positions adroitly. At EPL level he's typically used as an 8 but has played as as a 6 as well.

Bradley plays on the right side of a tight diamond in Chievo and given past defensive performances of his teams this looks to be his best position.

Edu has played mostly as an 8 throughout his club career but is now being used as a 6. Can play either position well.

Torres. Not sure he is true 90 minute player at international level to be honest.

Kljestan looks to have settled in at deep mid in 4231.

Diskerud is an attacking mid in 442.

If one is being realistic about the situation there's a lot of depth at the central positions; some of these chaps are simply going to be riding pine or be tangential parts of the team.

 

Agreed. Fabian Johnson is quite a capable winger. Given our lack of depth at this position, I think he'll settle in there. Edu really isn't good enough IMO to start. He should be in the fold, but the SPL isn't giving him quality opposition against which he can build his skills.

I agree about Torres. I don't think he's a 90 minute player at the international level. Kljestan isn't quite good enough defensively to play a 6 at the international level, but he can play a decent 8.

I would rank them as follows:

6's:
Jones
Holden
Williams
Edu
Bradley

8's:
Holden
Johnson
Kljestan
Bradley
Torres
Mix (he is capable of playing here)
Edu

 

I still don't trust Jones. His performances for the US in the past has been extreme hit or miss. He seemed to wander in some games, only paying attention in spurts. He has been in and out of his club team for a variety of reasons, whether it be injury or coaching decision. He has to earn a spot back on the team.

Johnson will be a right midfield/winger most likely. He will try to unseat Donovan over the coming cycle. He could also fill in on the left side, and or challenge Shea for that spot.

Williams will battle in the middle with Jones, Edu, Beckerman, Bradley and all the others for playing time. From what I've seen he can play either position in the center that and he seems to have the passing and distributing abilities that are above average. Long term I think he could be play either spot.

If Klinsmann really thinks Williams is a right midfield, well then he is completely nuts. I don't think that's a long term thing, at least I hope not.

 

Johnson plays on the left for his club, so I think he will be battling Shea for that spot. I don't think Shea has locked that position down.
Williams is more of DM, but I don't think anybody here has seen enough of him on the wing to determine if he has the ability to play there or not.

 

Because he doesn't really play on the wing. It's not his position. It'd be like saying, well we haven't seen enough of Dempsey at defensive midfield, so we don't know if he can play there or not.

From what I've seen of Johnson in a few games he has played on the right but occasionally drifts around, which this article seems to say is the norm.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2011/08/25/mystery-man-johnson-versatile-cog-us-team

Either way it doesn't matter. He seems to be able to play both, which is always a good problem to have.

I also think Josh Gatt is close to being ready to be brought into the main team. Over the course of the cycle I think we will have some decent depth to mess around with on the outside with Gatt, Johnson, Donovan and Shea all pushing each other for playing time.

 

We didn't have a single right midfielder in the roster for the last 2 games (Donovan injured a few days before the games), that's why Klinsmann played Williams there.

 

I agree with a lot of this. Like you, I think Johnson will drift towards an attacking position on the wing with the US, or possibly to left back. He's useful at too many positions of need for us to wind up centrally, given the multitude of alternatives.

Edu does play as an 8 for Rangers, but haven't we seen enough of him in that role for the US? On the NT level, using him like that is simply not putting him in a position to succeed. For NT purposes, let's leave him in the pool of 6s. There are too many superior alternatives for two-way mids.

Mix -- I've tuned in to a few Stabæk matches and every time he was playing as an 8. There's a popular perception that he's more of a 10 and I wouldn't necessarily discount his ability to play there. However, listing him as an 8 is absolutely not something you need to "justify".

Williams seems to be a natural d-mid, but he also played well in a somewhat more advanced position against Bayern a few weeks ago. While it's likely that he'll figure as a 6 for us long-term, I'd still keep an open mind.

Feilhaber has slipped down the depth chart in the eyes of many (and Klinsmann, it would seem). But he's playing well in MLS despite having an unimaginably poor supporting cast. With Holden and Torres out, he deserves consideration, at least.


Lastly, the forgotten man: Alejandro Bedoya. Most of us have never seen him as an 8 because most of us didn't watch Örebro matches (myself included). But that's what he's done for most of his career. Admittedly, his NT future probably depends a lot on how he's used at Rangers and that's still an open question. Having not seen much of him in that role, I can't say whether he really belongs in the conversation with the plethora of options, but I thought I'd throw this out there.

 

Yep, I wouldn't expect this experiment to continue. LD had to withdraw, Dempsey's presence was required centrally, Johnson was injured, Pontius was injured, and Robbie Rogers had an acute case of being Robbie Rogers. Klinsmann has decided that Josh Gatt isn't ready.

There weren't many options.

 

1. I think the work Berckerman's done is grossly underrated around here. He was much better than Edu as a 6 against Belgium and has yet to have a bad defensive game. He's had a number of good ones. Having said that I'm all for competition. The last thing I'd want is the ChosenPlayer +1 crap we had in the last cycle. So yes, run out Jones and Williams and see what they can do. And let the best man win.

2. The #8 is crazy deep. Johnson CAN play there, but we don't need him to. So he'll be tried on the wings. I expect Torres is the incumbent with Bradley, Kljestan, Feilhaber, and ultimately Holden (let's hope) challenging. Again, let the best man win.

Johnson will play on one of the wings. And we need the depth, even if he doesn't push for an immediate starting place.

 

LOL, I'm a Schalke fan, I think if anyone knows where Jones is at, it's me

I'm almost certain he's earned his starting role back. At this point, he's made it quite clear that he's the best 6 on the roster. He's controlled the midfield quite nicely over the last 3 weeks, and the team has conceded only 4 goals in the last 5 games. We'll see tomorrow morning if he gets the start against Bayer.

I suppose that I agree with your assessment of his USMNT team performances. He really hasn't been consistent. Hopefully consistency at the club level for all of these guys will lead to consistency at the international level.

 

Just to be clear you mean Schalke?

 

Beckerman totally slipped my mind. I'm not a huge fan, but I agree that he has not gotten his due.

Jones, Beckerman, Edu, Williams. We can ride the form of the hot hand.

 

Beckerman is limited. He's slow, he is average in his distribution, not a tremendous tackler, but he does he job right. He gets in good position, he funnels the attack away from dangerous areas. He has done his job fairly well so far.

 

Beckerman has been playing well. He and central midfield haven't been the problem for the US.

But wow! Williams, Johnson, Jones, and Bradley have all started in central midfield over the past two days.

But as I posted earlier some of these players are just going to be fringe parts of the program given the central midfield depth.

Saw Johnson play and he looks a legit flanker.

 

To me it's really about who can establish chemistry in the center midfield. We have a lot of CM options that have the potential to work if things go correctly, but Klinsmann's job will be pairing together the best options.

I think that this would be a good line up to field against France if everyone is available:

---------Altidore---------
------Dempsey-----------
Shea-------------Donovan
------Jones-Williams------
Johnson----------Chandler
-----Gonzalez-Onyewu----
--------Howard-----------

 

Not sure how much experience Johnson has as a full back. Doesn't look to have pace or bite for the position.

 

Everyone thinks Johnson is a left back, but he has about as much experience playing there as Brek Shea. Actually he I think he has less.

 

I think just one match.

 

Brek has actually put together some solid performances at left back.

But if the full team is together I could certainly see Johnson sitting. Hopefully Shea gets moved back when he goes abroad.

 

He has more experience than Brek Shea at LB. Probably 20-25 pro matches. He had several stints at LB while at 1860 Munich, although he spent more time overall at other positions (RB, RM, LM all in healthy amounts). He made a few starts at LB at Wolfsburg and none at all so far at Hoffenheim.

He certainly isn't primarily an LB, but it would be erroneous to say he has no experience there.