We are stacked at midfield - who should we convert to defender?

Half of BS has Edu starting at Center back for EVERY GAME so there is your answer

I have a wild idea of seeing Convey at left back....

 

The conversion to back should happen much earlier in a player's career. I can't prove it, but I honestly believe that much of Bornstein's inconsistency at LB is because he did not start playing there until after his college career. Over many years players develop instincts at their respective positions. I suspect that because his LB instincts are not hardwired in him, he sometimes over-commits, or otherwise finds himself out of position.

 

we should put DB back there.....o wait oops......Bradley is such a ************ up....
correction* was such a ***** up

 

Who is this 'we' we keep talking about? 'Cause as I see it, I have little to no influence over whether Rangers makes Edu play a position entirely different from what they brought him over to play, and neither do you, and that's the only 'we' in the room.

 

Edu to CB? No thanks, he had a strong WC as DM and a good season would set him on his way to becoming #1 choice at that spot. I wouldn't want to play any of our players in a position they do not play at the club level.

However, Bobby Convey at left back is an interesting idea. He's played there in MLS and done a good job. The only problem I can see is that he isn't that fast.

 

Holden at right back. He's pretty quick; has very good stamina; usually defends with tenacity; and is arguably the best crosser of the ball on the team.

Cherundolo will be too old by '14, and Spector seems out of form. Meanwhile, Holden, one of our most talented players has been relegated to the bench, which seems like a complete waste of talent. Thoughts?

 

An equally good question would be who can we convert from midfield to forward?

 

To answer your question about who to convert to striker

Deuce, who has experience at Fulham playing as a single striker in a 4-5-1 formation.

In another thread, I proposed this 4-2-3-1 formation.

GK

Dolo--Boca--JD--JB

Edu--Bradley
Holden---Feilhaber--LD
Deuce

Deuce has better touch, finishing ability, and instincts than any of our strikers. I feel that formation above would have produced more goals for us at this tournament.

 

If the US is still playing Bobby Convey ANYWHERE on the field, we are screwed.....

 

I like that. You could even put Holden on there for Edu or Bradley and put Torres in the offensive mid spot. That is pretty much how Holland plays.

 

If we get a new coach, the chances are pretty slim of seeing an Edu/Bradley pairing in the center of the midfield. If we keep Bob, yes but you'd have to hire someone with a similar philosophy to get that kind of combo and I can't imagine them going through the selection process and coming to that decision.

 

I've been wondering about that possibility for a long time now. I would love to think that we could have a right back as capable with the ball as Holden...

 

Holden has natural vision that few players on our team have, why would you put him in the back? The kid's a piano player not a drummer.

 

He played as a RB for the Dynamo for a couple of games about 2 years ago...it worked but it wasn't as pretty as one would have expected.

 

We haven't stacked anywhere, not even at the goalie position.

 

Regarding Edu... I wish he would leave Glasglow and move to better league. If he could get time in the EPL and play against better competion I think he could raise his game to a whole new level.

 

At other places in the rest of the world, the players are happy to be at a pro academy, get first class training, and a chance of a future pro career. No serious academy kid would tell his coach where it doesn't want to play, or they could go home.

The solution here is that they get used to play different positions. A good soccer teacher will play a boy at different positions, even if he has a pretty good idea what the boy can become, but it helps to understand the roles of your team mates, and playing at different positions improves the vision. You will get a better understanding of what the others will do, if you've played at their positions for some time; and, of course, you will develop a more rounded game.

But the answer to the question of this thread is - probably none. A NT coach can't convert a player to a new position he never plays at his club.

 

I guess Dunga kind of did that with Bastos, but then again he is an extremely talented player, on an extremely talented team. Im not sure if any player on the US could make that change so smoothly giving the different situations.

In regards to the midfield. I'd like to see a midfield 3 including Bradley, Edu, and one of Benny or Torres. It seems the US played the best when Bradley, Edu, and Benny were on the field, why not continue that and see if it works over an extended stretch of games

 

I think one could also argue that Brazil are playing rather a back-3, and he's a wingback for his country; not that different from his midfield role in France. Dunga doesn't want him to play like Bocanegra.

 

We'll be fine at forward. Jozy and CD will be in their primes. Add a few up and comers for bench support and we're golden. Defense is our biggest concern. Gooch may still be able to go at 32, but Boca and Dolo are out.

 

I would like to see Robbie Rogers give LB a shot. His shooting and crossing hasn't gotten any better, but his defense has.

 

Since most of the team transition to the 1 striker game, surrounded by a 1-3 offense mids, I guess the game with classic LB and RB is obsolete. See Brasil, who plays Bastos and Maicon, who are more midfielders than defenders. Cherundolo adapted great to the job of being an unconventional RB, due to his great ball skills.

 

The pool continues to scream 4-3-3/4-3-2-1/4-1-4-1/et cetera.

The problem this cycle was that we tried a lame-o version of a 4-3-3, in which we tried to get width from midfield instead of the, you know, wings (among several other ridiculous issues) at CR and got killed. From that point, Bob decided it must be an inferior formation.