"Maurice Edu Optimistic Of Starting Chances"

Wish he would just start for our National Team.

 

Over who? 2010 is probably not in his realm to start, unless there are injuries of course. 2014 seems more of a safe bet to see Edu in the starting eleven.

 

over boca

 

Actually guys, before we bash moytoy12, hear him out, because I am slowly converting to this camp of breaking up the boca/gooch pairing.

In short, Edu already has a lot of National Team experience, but I really think we need a new defender besides Bocanegra--Marshall, Parkhurst, and Edu all snap to mind. (Orozco, Sturgis and others may be too new) I CAN see a lineup where Edu pairs with Onyewu in the central defense, thus sliding Bocanegra to LB.

I think Edu really has a genuine chance of more playing time with both Club and Country if he plays more as a defender who can go forward on counters.

 

This has some merit. If everyone agrees that Pearce is not the answer at LB, then the next logical best player for the position is Boca. Bornstein hasn't proven to be better, Beasley is obviously not yet ready (if he ever will be), Spector has limited experience there (plays mostly RB for club). Boca is starting at LB for his club and doing well.

The downside to playing Boca at LB is that he doesn't add an offensive threat as BB looks for out of his outside backs. But if we play Donovan at LM, then I think that we would have enough offense from the left side to be successful, and Boca would provide solid defensive cover to limit the defensive responsibilities for Donovan.

As for Edu to be the best option to pair with Gooch, he does add skill to the position while still providing size and defensive bite. I have always thought that Spector would be a good partner for Gooch in CD, but he needs to stay healthy for awhile first.

 

This has a lot of merit except, Boca is the one player on this team who Bob will play despite his warts. Say what you want about young Bradley, or Beasley, or even Hedjuk. Bradley is flat out the best at his position at this point. Beas and Hedjuk are there basically for a lack of real competition. Boca is Bob's captain. It will take a super huge effort on Edu (or Parkhurst or Marshall) to unseat him.

I am in the camp the Boca makes this team worse rather than better.

 

Is that Boca as a CD or LB? or either?

 

I want to see a CB step up and take the spot from him, captain or not.

He does not have the speed to play LB the way the US uses the LB as an attacking player, but since that position is such a mess, I would give him a chance to win that position.

 

I agree that he's not good enough skill-wise or speed to play the way BB is looking for. But I think that we might be better off having an unbalanced formation where the right side works this way with Dolo, and Dempsey helping out a bit on defense. While the left side has a more dedicated defender in Boca and more pure offensive player in Donovan, thus reducing the need for Boca to produce and Donovan to defend.

The main reason for this is that the other options at LB having proven to be good enough. If we had a more complete player for the position, then I wouldn't be suggesting Boca.

 

I'm not convinced our center back depth is bad enough that we need to convert a midfielder to fill the role. We'd undoubtedly give Parkhurst, Marshall, Spector and company a shot if we didn't have confidence in either Gooch or Boca. Right now, I don't see a problem with those two. How many games has the US lost this cycle when the two started together in the back? Not during qualifying I know that. I believe the answer is @Spain, @England, @Sweden, and at home to Brazil. And the real problem against the first three was that we didn't look remotely capable of scoring.

For those that have forgotten, Carlos Bocanegra is.........the Captain of the USMNT. It's kind of unlikely that they're going to dump him. And he's not the kind of left back that fits into the US system. Bradley really wants the fullbacks to attack like we've seen Frankie do over the last couple of games.

Sometimes I think people on BS try to overthink things. We got a central midfielder that's not playing any club football, and we want to convert him to a center back to play for the US. Will......never........happen.

 

Have you watched much of the LIbertadores? It's by and large crap up until the late knockout stages. Right now the clubs are playing Bolivian, Peruvian, and Venezuelan teams. Sure it's nice to be in that competition, but it's nowhere near the level some people think it is. The Mexican club schedule provides better competition.

I've watched quite a bit of Orozco at San Luis. I'm unconvinced he's an improvement over what we've got. But we should give him another look just to find out.

 

Double post

 

usa center backs..

gooch and bocanegra A team..

califf and demerit next in line..

then parkhurst and spector

after that a host of other, who probably won't even get gold cup looks...

expecting some one outside the top 6 to emerge isn't likely to happen..

sheer numbers..

add in novices will be very risky in matches which count...

as to edu, he's got more chance playing with MB in midfield..

 

I haven't seen Edu play a competitive match for awhile. I thought he looked like a solid defensive midfielder last time I saw him. I hope he starts against Hibs and Motherwell in that role. I'll probably be able to tell a lot about his development after those two matches.

I am not that convinced with M. Bradley as a defensive midfielder but I'd have to look at Edu to see if he would be any better.

 

This is truly where the problem lies. No one can beat out Califf?

 

There are other options other than Danny. He just isn't good enough, period.

 

i suspect the gold cup center backs will emerge and put califf on the outs for the 2nd part of the hex...

perhaps parkhurst, more so than others...

i like spector in the middle too, but his concussion needs to clear up..

marshall ahd the past history which took quite a while to get resolved, but again, past history and recurrence is so problematic...

if usa is playing in azteca, i'd be happy with a parkhurst type out there..

but if usa is facing honduras, parkhurst and costly is a bad match-up...

mixing and matching the back-up center backs is what i'd expect..

gold cup should be key, seeing who plays, who performs, and who eneters the 2nd half of the hex as an option

 

I think the point is to try to get as many of our technically skilled players on the field at the same time. Given the sheer numbers we have in the middle, it may be the case that Maurice Edu, irrespective of how he develops and improves, might not see the field for the nats. So if he has the athletic ability and playing IQ to play CB, it makes sense to me to try him there.

As to our current pool of center backs, Bradley’s top choices all seem to be of the same variety: physical guys with size who are good in the air and positionally sound but- none of whom seem to possess much skill on the ball and the ability to contribute offensively [other than on set pieces] other than to hoof the ball down the field. Edu is calm and poised on the ball and a good passer. I have no idea whether he has the ability to do the other things necessary to make himself a good defender. At least as far as the Olympics were concerned, someone thought it a worthwhile experiment and IMHO I do not think he played badly.

So, why are people so against this? And don’t national teams of even the soccer powers often play players out of their club positions for such reasons?

For whatever reason, Bob likes Califf ahead of guys like Demerit, Spector, Parkhurst and Jimmy Conrad, which I do not get. At the end of the day, with the exception of Parkhurst and Spector, the others strike me as of a similar variety. Like others, I wouldn't mind seeing more of Orozco.

 

Edu did play center back in the olympics, but that is not his preferred position. He was brought into Rangers to play in the midfield ( although his versatility must have been a plus with Smith looking at him ).

Just a little bit ago there was a lot of praise for the Gooch-Boca pairing in the center . Boca plays left back at Rennes, but in a system where the full backs dont get forward in the way Bob Bradley wants us to.

If we play LD on the left, and Boca behind him, LD will be on the offensive alone, which could leave LD out to dry.

I dont think pearce or beasley are the answer at left back. I hope Spector can stay healthy long enough to play for the national team consistently.

 

He's been inconsistent. He did a decent job in our match against Argentina last summer holding Messi, Aguero, and company. If you're not going to give a player consistent playing time with a squad, and only use him twice a year, the guy will always be inconsistent. Centerback's the kind of position where you really need to have solid, almost intuitive relationship, with your fellow defenders and goalkeeper. That was the problem against El Salvador. Missing your starting goalkeeper and key centerback led to errors that were exposed by our opponents.

He was the captain of the Danish champions last season, so obviously has some qualities that are useful.

 

Edu was exposed time and again at the Olympics. The fact that we weren't punished by it was a minor miracle. We put him there out of sheer necessity due to injuries to guys like Spector and Subotic's decision (well in Nowak's mind anyway. There were other CB options that he didn't use for whatever reason).

 

Except that experience counts a LOT for a CB. Look at average ages-- there's a reason that defenders tend to be older.

Edu is a good prospect at center (defensive) mid. Let's see if he can force his way onto the field there. As Mikey gets more freedom to move forward, the needed qualities of his partner become more defensive. That's not Sacha's strong point. Pablo is better there now, but he has obvious limits and is ripe for someone to displace in the next 8 months. There's Edu's chance.