A man who causes this much debate clearly needs his own N&A thread. I have seen people questioning his speed in other threads. Am I crazy? I have never, ever thought that was a problem for him. I don't see him as a pure speedster but he as clearly fast enough to keep defenses worried.
I suspect you were referring to me. My opinion is that he has average speed. Not slow, not fast. I don't know if defenses are worried about his speed. I think they are more worried about his goal scoring instincts, which are very good. I consider him to be a glorified, and better Wondo.
Wondo's game is all about poaching and about making runs off the ball. Altidore is a ball-to-feet forward, who has struggled in the tactical aspects of the game. His poaching instincts have also been poor. Both players have struggled with the first touch, though Jozy seems to be improving there, as well in tactical understanding.
You are not the only one questioning his speed. I'm not even joking when I'm asking if I am off. It never occurred to me that he doesn't have plus speed. I can't find anything outside of internet criticism on that score. I have watched games and gone back over highlights and he seems to often run past backs.
That has always been my impression. I have noticed that in the rush to pile on criticism, some people didn't want to be fair about something as simple as that. Jozy may be really putting it all together according to Doyle. http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2016/...tos-jozy-altidore-may-be-best-form-his-career
He's talking about the full package, defense, holdup etc... Jozy is playing like the number 9 everybody always wanted him to be.
If he plays like this for 30 games in a row, the MLS will have to beat back the suitors. The thing is, he may be happy closer to home, he spent enough time abroad to know the deal.
No team in Europe is going to pay him what he's getting at Toronto. Jozy is national team quality when healthy. I say this as a person not too fond of his recent play for the national team. We can't leave a guy off the roster with his abilities and goalscoring history. We're not that deep lol. I wouldn't start him though. He has to earn it back from Wood. Hope Klinsmann doesn't make the mistake of pairing Dempsey and Jozy together. They don't compliment each other well.
Well, I just mean, they aren't "close" to him now. What's a slightly longer flight to a millionaire (which I mention only because Jozy won't be too inconvenienced by the cost of trans-Atlantic flights) when he's already lived over there before, and could still benefit from a few years in Europe?
Wood played ok. He scored one goal in Copa, he doesn't own the spot IMO. Jozy was scoring the last run of games he played for USMNT, people have a serious recency bias.
Does he see the value in Europe? He makes millions in the same time zone as his mother. He regularly plays road games really short flights from the family. I don't have any idea what he thinks but I can easily see advantages of being in Toronto vs Germany or England.
he knows his NT career probably isn't on the line so he probably sees no problem with continuing in Toronto. Shame as I feel he knows it himself he's too good for MLS but 4.5 million is more than double what he'd make anywhere else. Which I can't blame him for. though id love to see him in France or Italy planting a flag for Yanks
In the Copa, Wood scored a goal and drew a pk. He also scored a goal against Mexico in the Concacaf Cup. His past 2 years record against the better teams equals Altidore's career against the better teams.
At the 2009 CC Jozy had the 37th highest top speed, in line with Villa, Torres, and Luis Fabiano. I think his 2010 numbers are in line with that as well but stupid FIFA moved the stats.
I can't get too into that better team argument. We have needed almost all the goals. If you go back and look at his goals, a lot of them were openers well into those must win games. Somebody had to score against the so called minnows, and it's not like we are regularly killing those guys, with Jozy scoring #4-5. more often we are sweating the results and Jozy scores in minute 35 to ease the tension.
Mexico, Spain, Turkey, Poland, Germany, Bosnia, Nigeria, Colombia, Chile, Denmark, and Iceland are the only decent countries he has scored against. Sorry Peru, Slovenia, and Honduras.