Please guys what would you say the teams stength and weknesses are ? Spann is a offensivly skiled right back, but who is used as an def option in that position ? Is it Cyd Gray ? Who is the teams central defensive midfielder? Will Latapy play from start in WC ? Wil you guys play 4-4-2 or 4-5-1 in WC ? What position will Yorke play in WC ? You guys don't have any left footed left winger ? BIG THANX!!!!!!!!!
It'd be stupid to reduce our strengths to Birchall and Yorke. Those are effectively two of our most important midfield players and sure starters, but you can't neglect Stern John (14 goals in qualifying including clutch goals against Panama, Guatemala and Mexico) nor the central defense pair of Marvin Andrews or Dennis Lawrence, especially when they climb up to attack corners, nor the central roaming defensive midfielder, Aurthis Otis Seaton Whitley who destroyed mexico's midfield . The formation would depend on Beenhakker's tactics. I expect to start 4 5 1 against Sweden and then change against the others in relation to the result/performance. The last 3 matches would suggest that Latapy would come on as a super sub, but Don Leo might just spring a surprise in one of the two latter matches. Yorke will play the same position he's played all hex (attacking midfielder) As for the left footed left winger, we're working on it
New Fulham signing Tony Warner is now officially a part of the Soca Warriors World Cup effort. Might help relieve some of the question marks in the goalkeeping department, but creates an even bigger one. Who will start? Kelvin Jack, Shaka Hislop, Clayton Ince, Tony Warner
From what I've seen of T&T since Beenhakker took over, it seems like their strength is being organized in the back and not panicing regardless of what the score is. This seemed to happen during the hex, however this seemed to fall apart somewhat during the Bahrain series and they looked nervous and seemed to fall back on the individual play of a couple of players. Hopefully in the WC we'll see the T&T that kept it close vs USA and beat Mexico and not the one that struggled to get past a Bahrain team that was really not that good.
I think as someone already mentioned it here Leo has given the team some sense of defensive stability. I think Yorke is an experienced player that has played at the most competitive level (Ch. League, EPL), and that could turn out to be a plus for the team. However, in a WC, you cannot hope to succeed by putting the team's weight on one player's shoulders, specially considering Yorke's age and the fact that I think he is looking for a club to play with for the two month gap between now and the WC start (the Australian league, in which he was playing, just ended). I think the team may lack experience, not just at international level but in terms of their individual players. Most of them play in the English 2nd, or 3rd divs. However, this could be also classified as an x factor as not everyone will know much about them. I agree with someone who said that their CBs are really dangerous going forward for headers on set pieces. Metro
Strengths: - Very strong on the counter attack, pacy and skillful wingers - Strong in the air on set pieces when Marvin Andrews and Lawrence come up. Yorke is also known for being a good finisher in the air - Birchall has lethal shots from range and is a great ball winner - Yorke can control the midfield and has great distribution - Russell Latapy is a true super sub, has the ability to dribble and score like no other on the team - The team does not drop their heads when being a goal down, or down to 10 men. The team has a lot of character. - Stern John, if he's in the mood, can be an amazing finisher. Has some defying runs which can put him behind the defenders Weaknesses: - Stern John, if he's in the mood , can waste the easiest of opportunities as well as find himself offside from hanging back too much - The midfield without Yorke is really questionable - While Carlos Edwards is pacy and has dribbling abilities to rival Latapy, his distribution can be very poor - Defense, as always, is very questionable. Lawrence has improved tremendously in the last year, but Andrews is liable to make one or two serious mistakes per game which would result in goals against good teams. Both Andrews and Lawrence have the tendency to allow the ball to bounce in the area with strikers around. - Left back position is really suspect and to answer the initial questions Cyd Gray has been a good right back for us so far. He has, however, not been tested against real high level opposition yet. Birchall probably fills this role the most often. Whittley also has played this role well in the WCQ. Unlikely Unknown at this point. 4-5-1 was used in the WCQs, but in the last friendly, Beenhakker has tried throwing another striker upfront. Roaming midfielder Colin Samuel showed a lot of promise in the friendly against Iceland