BUY Howard: TH: "whos this Brad Guzan guy, and what threat does he pose to me?" Altidore: Ching, EJ, Twellman, you have just been erased Feilhaber: Bold? not entirely, see the way the game changed when he came in? Stock rose exponentially today despite euro club situation Gooch: He's baaaaaccckkk, and he will smash you stock rose by default Spector: right back, left back, whatever, should have been there, no excuses. Holden/Alvarez/Rogers: WANTED compotent outside mids for depth Bornstein: If a bigsoccer poster say something bad to you from here on out, i will kill them HOLD Donovan Bradley Clark Adu Bocanegra Dempsey Edu Lewis: say thank you bobby convey SELL Convey: you were that bad, and you may become the first example of a player playing in europe that will be ommitted despite getting first team minutes Twellman: just to make the point clear, he is FOR SURE gone THROW FLAMING OBJECTS AT Moor Corrales
I started laughing after convey got his first touches, got stuffed hard, fell down, and caused a fast break for Mexico. He goes at defenders with the speed of a dinosaur in quicksand. I hate how he seems to actually think he's good.
Pretty much agree. I do find it interesting that everybody's been writing off Benny as surplus, when I've said all along his talents in the middle of pitch are unique on our squad. (I do give M Bradley a little leeway for not distributing well do to a lost Convey, a double-teamed Donovan, and an ineffective Altidore off-the-ball, but most of all Pardo and Torrado, particularly Torrado outplayed him tonight.) Clark never even looked once up the field once he'd win the ball. My strong suspicion is that he was instructed to play laterally, and let Mike do the passing. But Mike was getting beaten to the punch by Torrado. All this said, Feilhaber isn't a dawg on defense, that much has been noted and is true, and he needs to get his club situation in order. He could be much more than he is right now. Re: Altidore... He looks good on the ball. Very good. He can finish, he can create his own space, he likes the 1-2 and looks for his teammates in the box if they're in a good position. But he gets open even less than EJ. At this point, I'd say they're pretty close to level. I think Jozy wins that battle in the end, but give EJ a year in England. Not six months, but a year (remember it took Clint a half-season with Fulham). He might make it competitive between them by the time the Hex rolls around. Spector... his absence was felt today, wasn't it?
We have such a lack of depth at forward, that we haven't seen the last of any of these guys. Especially Eddie Johnson. His move to England might just reignite his career. I hope it does. That guys's still young and has talent. Jozy has more potential and more of a ceiling. I'd give Jozy a long and extended run on games. Ching is probably done anyway, regardless of Jozy. At the next cup he's be what? 33? Older and not as talented as the rest. Twellman will be hanging on by a thread, but not erased yet. As long as he keeps having great MLS seasons he'll keep getting called in. I'd love to see a combination of Jozy and Landon up top. Landon slightly withdrawn to use his playmaking abilities. Seriously dangerous. And of course I'm also interested in Adu in that withdrawn forward role.
Stock Watch? Well, the Dow dropped 65 points today and the NASDAQ 30.82. [/really corny joke] I tend to doubt it. At least up until tonight, I would have still pencilled Brian Ching in as our best pure striker. He's still a viable option as a target in the short term and likely will remain so throughout qualification.
What about BUY: Mexico HOLD: USA. Mexico looked like a far better team out there, and saying that it was because we had out of season MLS players out there is not a valid excuse. Mexico has young and talented players, who are making names for top teams. Us, not so much.
Dude this is not the first time we've been outshone by Mexican technical ability on the field. Yet we still win. Get over it.
Are you really sure Moor's performance justified wasting a depleting energy source? Not once, but twice burned on a set play? What's it take to mark an opponent's player, the same player? Barring improvement of epically unforeseen proportions, may Drew Moor return to Frisco, TX forever and Ramiro Carrales return to SK Brann in Norway until hell freezes over and never again be seen in our nation's Red, White, and Blue. They were THAT #*)@&^$ bad!
In Moor's defense- he did send in that beautiful cross.. but that was just about it.. Convey's stock just did a double reverse split.. I can't believe how bad he's been the past month.. He should go watch Rocky III and get the Eye of the Tiger back..
The first thing that hit me was, "How is Benny not even on the bench at Derby?" It's not as if they are fighting for the title. OK, perhaps he is not Ronaldinho or Lampard, but he's not bad. Moor and Corrales were definite weak spots. Moor can cross, but at RB he's got to be able to defend first. Apart from the goals, he did look out of position quite often. Watching him made me think Dolo and Spector are locks. While Donovan was not spectacular, he did pop up in a lot of places on the pitch and stop a Mexico attack. As frustrating as we are watching him waste his talent in MLS (or at least not try to reach his potential), he's clearly a cut above and a type of calming influence on the pitch. His skill, speed, and positioning make him our most valuable player. He's the one guy the Mexicans respect. Adu was quiet for most of his time (the game looked a little too fast for him initially), but his play at the end was fantastic - he took the ball down, backtracked a little to maintain posession, then attacked, drawing the defender from the other MNT player and made it through the gap before he was fouled. I would have preferred to see him get more minutes, but it did not work out that way. Bradley was a disappointment. He ran down a lot of stuff, but his distribution was not great. He's clearly able to keep pace with a fast game. Howard looked pretty good. I don't think he could do much on the goals.
I will agree that Moor sucked at set pieces, and he probably shouldn't start. But, it was his first start against mexico and nerves just got a hold of him, also I don't think he played that bad(except for the goals)on defense, and he got into the attack pretty well. But I wouldn't mind not seeing him.
Buy (not including guys who are already locks like Dempsey): Altidore Feilhaber (he showed why his skill set is unique enough to keep considering him even as he rusts) Gooch (based on this game, he is not the first place to look in an attempt to upgrade the defense) Sell Corrales Moor Clark (if he can't work in better harmony with Bradley, he won't play much) Convey Bocanegra (this where I would start if we want to try somebody who might upgrade central defense, especially since Bocanegra is not playing for his side AND he might be needed on the left.