He score a lot for the team. 34 times IIRC, but then there is a group that seems set on poor mouthing those goals. @Suyuntuy I watched a lot of those miserable games at Sunderland. Jozy was bad and the team was bad but they also continually put him out there for the things he did do for the team. It was not coincidence that even when he seemed furthest from scoring a goal, the manager went to him when he was looking to hold on to a draw. The man was fighting relegation and firing and he kept calling Jozy's number. Was he a fool, a masochist or did he realize that even a low-on-confidence Jozy made his crap Sunderland team more likely to steal a point?
I didn't realize that we qualified for the WC in the EPL? If that was the case, I might care about his Sunderland performance from 2 years ago. On a more serious note, are you saying his presence doesn't command defensive respect? What game have you ever seen him play where the CBs weren't worried about his presence? Even if he was an unknown, a man of his physical gifts demands attention. He is bigger and faster than most CBs that he plays against.
If the complaint is that Altidore's minutes against decent international are insufficient to judge his effectiveness then one can obviously avail one's self of his time in La Liga and the EPL.
In the big games that truly matter, it's our midfielders who score. Which is rather typical for a team that plays our style. The defenders cover our forwards well, since we don't do speed changes like the top teams. So, it's the AMs and CMs who come through and find the hole. Even Dempsey has been scoring from a retreated position, behind Jozy, Wood, Wondo or Morris. What forward do we have who has been scoring consistently against the better teams in games that matter? Bobby Wood has the Mexico goal, and maybe the goal he scored against an already defeated Tico team. Johannsson had the goal against a Panama that was sending even the keeper forward trying to score. Wondo has only scored against Cuba. Morris had his moment of glory against Mexico. Zardes's was that tap-in versus Ecuador in Copa. That's pretty much it. Time to face it: we're not the sort of team where our forwards get the support to score when facing decent rivals in games that matter. Those goals come from midfield or from the fullbacks: Dempsey, Bradley, Jones, and an assortment of guys with 1 or 2 goals like that each: Mix, Zusi, Cameron, Orozco, etc.
Bobby Wood has done nicely for the team in competitive matches against decent sides. 2 goals and a drawn pk.
And a good thing because he's the guy we're going to have count on to replace Dempsey, if the great old guy can't come back.
isn't most of the reason being Jozy draws the attention of the defenders while a Dempsey or a Bradley can stroll through midfield to pinch a goal. Or even Jozy shots force the goalkeeper to a rebound which Dempsey or someone else would tap in
While this may be somewhat true, the mistake would be then conclude that our forwards aren't contributing to those goals. Which may be true in some cases, but is clearly untrue in many. LD's epic Algeria goal came of a clever throw from Howard, a good move wide by Jozy, a pretty decent centering pass (that, while too tight for a charging Demps to finish, was slide-ruled through defenders and close enough for Demps to play before the keeper could). The rebound off that shot was put in by LD trailing the play perfectly. If Jozy makes the wrong run, or shoots rather than passes, that play ends differently. Same with the headed knockdown from the WC. For all the stick JA gets for his play in the air, that was a strong aerial challenge. Wood, likewise, seems to have a knack for opening up defenses. He is faster and quicker than Jozy, so he is probably going to get more chances on goal - and, I'm going to bet, more goals per minute than Jozy does going forward (if Wood plays regularly.) Whether the team as a whole will get more goals per minute with Wood on the field over Jozy, I'm not so sure.
Almost never... Truly matter, that's a lot of quibbling that I'm not willing to do. They all count in competitive games. Am I the only one that has watched us have to sweat out games against Antigua, Haiti El Salvador etc... Over the years. It's crazy to discount goals in those games when we have had to steal goals through the likes of Eddie Johnson and Bornstein and Zusi. A lot of this discussion smacks of champagne taste on a beer budget.
Never implied that. Our forwards draw the defenders away and are responsible for leaving the openings. We just don't have clinical finishers, not among the forwards. For years, the bulk of our goals in games that matter against strong rivals came from Donovan, Dempsey, Bradley, Eddie Johnson & Jones, basically.
"Games that matter" = competitive games, games that are not friendlies, games in Qualifiers, World Cups, Confederation Cups, Gold Cups and Copas America. "Elite rival" = any team in the Top 10. "Strong rival" = any team in the Top 40, a team likely to be in the WC, or that just was in a WC. "Decent rival" = Hex-quality CONCACAF team.
That's fine--I agree he's solid against middling CONCACAF competition. But he has been simply not been up to the task in our competitive matches against competition at or above our level.
Occupying defenders is a basic task of a striker as is scoring goals. Forwards who can't score get shipped out of town. This happened to Altidore at Sunderland. Dempsey and Wood are the forwards who have shown an ability to score in competitive matches against decent sides.
I don't know. Another 1 goal in 6 matches tournament for Wood will probably see the Bigsoccer commentariat turn on Wood and rip him just like Altidore, especially if Wood hits an 1860 style cold spell at the club level.
We got used to having D&D score/assist/create most everything in offense for years. Those two guys were phenomenal for our NT, and anyone who knows of soccer realizes how good they were. Donovan is recognized as a bona fide legend already, in several lists compiled outside the USA. But we've moved past that somehow in the preceding years. Still not enough, up to Copa we've depended on Dempsey. Let's see if we can fly without those two, finally.
What does that have to do with whether Jozy has been up to the task? I'm actually looking forward to seeing how Jozy plays paired with Bobby Wood. I think it is clear that Dempsey and Jozy did not complement each other. Both are generally static players. Jozy needs to receive the ball, but Dempsey does not create chances for others. Wood's frenetic pace will give us something closer to the Jozy/Davies combination, and should open up space for ALtidore.
Altidore sits tied with Landon Donovan for second all-time on the MNT’s World Cup Qualifying goals list with 13. Altidore and Donovan sit one goal behind first-place Clint Dempsey at 14. http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/201...ster-for-semifinal-round-world-cup-qualifiers According to Face Book. Josmer will have the armband on Friday.
Context. If you think he is unsatisfactory then I would have to imagine that you don't think much of many other parts of the team.
True but to be fair he played for a garbage team who couldn't provide any of their strikers to score. Connor wickham was 1 of their bright spots and he only scored like 6 league goals.