To me, Convey looked like an A-Team player on a B-Team -- which is what he was. I honestly though the best we could do, under the conditions, was come home with a point. But even our A-Team has managed that only once at Saprissa, if ever. I'm not sure of our record there, but it's not exactly a source of pride, of that I'm sure. I am surprised that we didn't manage at least one goal. Well, we did, but it was called back. That's to be expected down there: you have to score 2 to make 1 count.
Pardon me if this point has been made already. Dear Bruce, If you put enough players in positions where they've shown their effectiveness is minimized, your team will fail. Please get that through your fvcking head. Regards, Bobby Convey, DaMarcus Beasley, Chris Albright, and Eddie Pope P.S. Eddie just wanted to clarify that his "out of place" position was anywhere near the national team.
Arena Sampsoned it. His record when we trail at half is unreal. He is afraid to take it to teams. And he simply struggles to make the most of our player pool. As great as our run was, we won only two games in the last WC. With time to integrate younger players (who said the WC is a young man's game?), Arena is trotting out absurd formations with players of familiarity. I am not saying "Fire Arena". But he has some serious problems and is far from perfect, especially since he seems not to accept that he should make adjustments to his style. Again, we won only 2 games in the last WC. Before we deify him, let's be honest. He is a good coach, but he is not immune to criticism. Oh, and poor little Taylor. Twellman was the better of the bads up top. For some reason Arena thinks that since Twellman is under 6' he needs to be paired with someone over 6'. The end result of that was obvious. Twellman, of whom I am not the biggest fan, does deserve some sympathy since Arena consistently fails to pair him with a quick combination style forward or forward who lives for off the ball runs. Twellman and Ching were comical as they kept running into the exact same spots.
Agreed. I would fault him for the first goal as well. Why would he come that far out when Gooch was forcing the forward wide. I don't think a 120 lb Costa Rican is going to muscle Gooch to the inside so he can get a better shot. Tim had already come flying out and was caught in no man's land. Looked very similar to some crap goals he allowed at ManU. Just let your defenders do their best and stay out of their freakin way. You stop the ball if the guy gets past them.
What an absolutely disappointing, embarassing game. I don't care if we're playing our B team, our C team or any combination thereof...we should not be losing 3-0 to anybody. Kind of makes me sick. There was no leadership out there at all. From anybody. Zero. Zilch. Nothing. We're down 2-0 and I really expected somebody - SOMEBODY - to step up and play and make a difference. And nobody did that. I thought these guys were supposed to be fighting for a spot on our WC team, trying to prove to Bruce that they belong. I thought Boca and Beasley were the absolute worst players on the pitch. You want to talk about invisible - Beas was invisible.* Hard to even know he was out there. And Boca...please. Make all the excuses you want for the guy, but he has not developed since moving to Fulham. He has not. There were two players who even seemed like they were trying at all, and that's Convey and Twellman. Yeah, I thought Twellman, given the situation and what he had to work with, was our most dangerous player. And Convey was trying. But that was awful. I wanted Boca pulled at halftime and put Spector out there. Pull Beas at halftime and throw Martino in there. Bruce gets an F on this one. He blew it big time. *I find it hilarious that Beas is not getting more flack on these boards. Why, had Donovan put in that kind of a performance - he'd be getting crucified, burned at the stake, adjectives such as "no heart," "invisible," "disappeared." But of course, since Beas went to Europe...he gets a pass. Hilarious. It's also hilarious that one poster in particular, who usually is leading the rallying cry for Donovan being overrated, disappearing, invisible, should be benched...has made one post on this thread and it was about the announcers! He's usually all to eager to critique and throw in his player ratings, with Donovan getting the lowest and possibly even a negative number, pointing out how Donovan is the worst player on the pitch and, since he's the most hyped player, etc., more is expected out of him and it is thus justifiable to criticize him more...and yet he's silent on Beasley's and everyone else's performance. Funny. As OneArmSteve pointed out, nobody makes a one-person impact more than Donovan does on this team; even when he's playing poorly, he still manages to create something and he prevents us from looking completely like crap, which is how we looked last night.
These posts just about sum up my feelings. WTF? Why did he play DMB in the middle of the field in the pouring rain on field turf in CR with a hurt hamstring. Albright out on the right wing also baffles me. If it was so we could try the 3-5-2 maybe that is a hint we shouldn't play a 3-5-2. If it was because Arena thinks he has the best skills for that position well that defiantly baffles me. For that matter 99% of his system/player selection/lack of halftime changes/use of subs in this game has left me seriously confused. Arena Has: A) Lost his mind. B) Needs to check his ego, i.e. thinking he can conjure up a mastermind system and just plug players in. This isn't the NFL and we don't have the Denver Broncos running game. C)Said, "WTF lets just get this over with so I can go eat some doughnuts." D)Said, "The guys are getting a little too cocky lets knock their egos down a peg or two." E) All of the above.
Exactly, I'll still go on being a Reyna hater. LOL We do obviously need more players that can hold the ball under pressure and distribute.
i agree totally. Who is going to be our speed, attack player off the bench? It used to be Cobi Jones or Stewart. They are both done with International ball. I was never a huge fan of those guys at the time, but we miss them I think. Someone like Adu can come on for 20 minutes and at least look like a threat. Ching? That guy doesn't belong in a US uniform any more than I do.
one thing that concerns me is the dropoff in quality from our A team to our B and C players. What was Pope doing out there?
Beaz has just come of some Champions and Dutch league games, where he played very well. Today was just not his day. He looks really tired. I don't think he should be crucified, though. He ususally is one of the most consistenly excellent perfomers in the NATS. Lay off the guy.
I skipped from page 9 to the end because I got tired of reading it. Sometimes, you just get your ass kicked. Things will be alright, trust me.
no speed up front! no speed up front! no speed up front! no speed up front! no speed up front! i used to say that bruce NEVER plays two slow guys up front. he ALWAYS plays a (slower) holder/header of the ball like mcbride, and a speed guy like gam, cunningham, etc. i guess i was wrong!! the tico defenders had little to worry about on the front line, the midfield, or the back line. they almost played as if we weren't there. i agree with another poster's warning!!! - after 2006, we are toast!!!! on the evidence of this game .... WE MAY NOT QUALIFY FOR 2010!!!!!!!!!
this has probably been said, but I didn't like all the longballs that howard sent out of bounds or that just gave CR the ball
forward needs good suplyers (who can give a great passes) and goalie needs good defenders infront of him.
This post puzzles me. It was plain to me we were playing a 3-5-2 with wingbacks. Granted, it was a lopsided 3-5-2, but a 3-5-2 nonetheless. So how was Albright out of position? And it that role, he's a waaaay better choice than Martino. Finally, one of Albright's "problems" was Frankie's problem against Holland...no help in front of him.
Neither one should be in the rotation of the top 3 strikers. But Eddie Pope missed his man to set up the first goal. Tim Howard looked poor. Bocanegra is too slow. Quaranta sucked. Eddie Lewis and Convey looked good. Onyewu had a bad header to set up the third goal.
I think Arena is the main one to blame for this. First of all, unless he is going to pull a Sampson and try to change the way the team plays in the few months before the tournament, you know that the US is going to play a 4-4-2... so, if you are trying to use a game to test players, you should see how they fit into that system... Furthermore, if you look at the skill set of the players on the field they don't come close to matching a 3-5-2... What do you need to play a 3-5-2? Ideally, you need: 1. 3 centerback-types, at least 2 of whom are excellent man markers (think Onyewu with a little more speed or Pope when he was still Eddie Pope)... you also need a covering back who is fast and plays angles and channels extremely well... 2. 2 flank players who can contribute both on defense and offense... balance is needed to prevent the other team from simply overloading one side on defense... (think DMB... only maybe a better crosser) 3. 2 holding midfielders who are also very good at distribution from the back (think Claudio Reyna with better forward distribution or maybe John O'Brien) 4. one attacking midfielder who can create space for himself; who can run at defenses when needed; who can hold the ball up when needed (to allow the flanks time to get forward); and who can change points of attack (possibly LD or Tab Ramos in the old days)... 5. one forward who is a good outlet for the defense when they are under pressure and who can hold up the ball when there are insufficient numbers forward (think a Brian McBride-type) and who usually has the skill to distribut to the midfielders or their running mate up top (only going back to the defenders as a last resort)... 6. one forward who scares the defense with speed to make the opponents nervous when they try to hold a high line (think a Josh Wolff when he was still Josh Wolff)... It is possible that, when the full national team is available, there are individuals who meet all of the requriements but the team that was put on the field was just horrible in matching requirements... 1. Boca couldn't mark his grandmother one on one (I think he is a good central defender in a 4 back, but he can't even mark as a flank defender when you have the touchline and the byline for help)... Onyewu is a reasonable man marker but only when the other team doesn't have a lot of speed (unless he is allowed to get physical, in which case he will smother a forward)... as soon as the ref started calling minor contact fouls, I knew our defense was in deep trouble... Pope is either too old or too injured to be anything other than cover (and I don't think he did that particularly well last night)... 2. While Mastro is often an adequate holding midfielder, his distribution is suspect, at best and in a 3-5-2 the holding center midfielders need to cover the width of the field (which is why you need 2 of them)... 3. We didn't have an attacking central midfielder. Neither Convey nor Beasley filled the role (and certainly didn't even when taken together)... Convey only looked good when he slid out to the left (which is where he belongs, IMO)... 4. We had no balance on the flanks... Lewis is a good flank 4-4-2 player, but was caught upfield regularly... he was playing the position like it was a 4-4-2... Convey was often occupying space that Lewis should have been working in and Lewis was not interchanging to come inside when it happened... and what happened to the right flank? at least there was a little balance over there when Q came in... 5. For whatever reason, Twellman and Ching could not even play the "big man" role between them (I would have though that each would be capable)... there was often no outlet for clearances and you could count the number of head balls that we won off of clearances on a single hand (or so it seemed)... there was certainly no capability to hold the ball up and distribute to midfielders going forward... the only way we were allowed to get the ball forward was by playing the ball all the way back to our defenders while the entire Costa Rica team got behind the ball... we were then trying to work the ball through the entire CR team (leading to several periods of prolonged possession in the middle of the field, but very little penetration)... 6. We had no speed in attack... the CR team held a very high line when we regained the ball (which I suspect is the reason they were able to cut out balls so efficiently when our defenders tried to distribute)... there was no one on the field that frightened the defenders... the two who could have (Beasley and Convey) were too busy trying to make a small amount of room for themselves in the midfield or (in the case of Convey) going wide... I think that this team was set up to fail last night, with players being asked to perform roles that were not suited for them... While I understand the rationale for having a team that can switch between different formations and strategies, there is a reason why teams play in one perferred style 90% of the time... it is almost always necessary to change the players in order to change the style and it is a skill to match the players to the formation... I give Arena a D- for performance (certainly worse than the grade of any one player)... I have been a consistant advocate of Arena as a coach but his tactics last night (which were worse than those in Azteca, IMO) make me wonder whether he is a coach who can win "on the road"... While Korea was pretty neutral ground, Germany will not be... I hope that we get many opportunities to play there before next June because there are a lot of lessons that need to be learned and not much time to do it... The memory of Sampson before our last Euro debacle are all too fresh, and my PTSD from that debacle was clearly reactivated by last night's performance... Rand
You figured it out all by yourself. Hahneman's vastly a better player than Albright, but he's unlikely to get a minute in Germany, while Albright is. It seems some people don't realize an international team isn't a club team. Sometimes, you have surpluses at one position and deficits at another. And you can't sell your surplus in order to buy for your deficit. You have to make do. And for the love of God...why do people keep saying Albright was a right mid? I mean, in a technical sense he was, but calling someone a right mid usually means a wing a 4-4-2. He was a wingback in a 3-5-2, which is quite different. He has alot more defensive responsibilities. And given the lopsided, asymmetrical version of the 3-5-2 we played, he was more "back" and less "wing" than is the norm in that tactic. I noticed from time to time how Pablo was shading left. If I do something wrong and decide to punish myself by rewatching the match, that's one thing I'll look out for, if Pablo really was on the left alot more than the right, or he just made more plays on the left than the right due to Albright doing more on D than Lewis.
That's my take as well. But, this is Big Soccer , each loss is the end of the sport in this country. I remember some of our other efforts in Saprissa. You know, where the ball is in our end 80% of the game, and we're fighting tooth and nail to keep it out of our net. We possesed the ball much better last night and had a number of forays into their box. We took the game to them for longer strecthes. Twellman had a legitimate goal called back again. In my mind, the guy has two goals for the USMNT. But, the Ticos did a very good defensive job. They scored on a cluster**********, and two rockets. It's not like they were peppering Howard all night. You got to hand it to them. They have shooters. Since the demise of Clint Mathis, we're not really a threat to score from outside the box.
Not to be mean, but you flatout don't understand the 3-5-2. You probably need to start a thread asking about it in another forum. You're not the only one, btw. Y'all need to watch DC, or re-watch our Mexico WC match, or something. There's an extraordinary number of bad posts that are bad because people don't get what we were doing last night. It's getting on my nerves.
To be fair, he would be getting a lot of flack if anyone here thought he was a central attacking midfielder or holding midfielder (both roles he was put into last night)... everyone (including his Dutch coach) except Bruce Arena (I guess) believes he is a flank player who is better on the left than the right... I think that is why he is getting a pass (although I don't doubt that the respect he has earned by playing well for a big club in important competitions in Europe has contributed to leniency in evaluation)... Rand
That's my big complaint. I don't know what we learned, except that Beasley can't play in the middle (but how the f' could Bruce not already know that???), that Pope is past it, that Albright can defend well even if isolated somewhat, and Convey can play OK in the middle (in an emergency.) But of those 4 things, most savvy BS posters already knew the first two cold.