Do my eyes deceive me or do we suddenly have a young left back? Quite an amazing development. I'll be happy to see his name against Antiga and then he is officially ours, no Chandler shinannigans. Just keep him healthy and we have an actual left back for 2 cycles, never thought I would be able to say that.
The only thing that disappointed me about this kid tonight was that we didn't get the ball to him more often. Whenever we found him with space to dribble, he seemed to be dangerous. He seems to just ooze a certain confidence and swagger in the way he plays. I was pretty impressed with when he actually dribbled past three or so players early on, then he came in off the flank with the ball in the second half. Him and Chandler manning the wing back position is a pretty scary thought.
Don't worry he's already tied to us. He made his one time switch a while back. No German National option for him.
There's also Castillo (who was good defensively in his brief run) and Justin Morrow. Left back's not going to be a weakness for us again for a while. But our central defenders make pee run down my leg.
It just feels like a lot of attacking talent is being wasted by putting him at LB. Just about every time he gets forward he finds a good pass or gets fouled. He cuts inside and navigates the channels as good as anyone on the team. Johnson's impressed me much more than Shea ever has out on the left wing. I know he's been playing LB for his club and generally it's not the best idea to be playing people out of the position they play year round, but I can't help but feel this way. Guy looks comfortable anywhere he's been put on that left side. With that being said, if this 4-3-2-1/4-3-3, whatever you want to call it, is the formation for the future there wouldn't be room up there unless Dempsey plays up top so LB may be the best fit for the team. Either way, it's nice to be having this type of "problem" for a change.
i don't know...i think there's a lot of freedom for him in that 4-3-3 formation to bombard the wings. it would be amazing if we could get Chandler back so he can terrorize the right side too as Cherundolo's understudy and have Lichaj as Johnson's understudy.
Guy plays left back at club level. We have a gaping hole at left back. We have an overly crowded midfield with plenty of attackers. We have long relied on our outside backs for attacking width so he gets plenty of chances to bomb forward. I have trouble seeing how this is not a perfect fit.
We have plenty of guys who can play left mid in a 4-4-2 or 4-3-3. No one else can come close to his play at left back. He's only been playing the position for a couple of months, can't wait to see how good he is in the thick of qualifying. He's the left version of Cherundolo. It's his for the next decade.
Johnson and Lichaj should be our LB and RBs going forward. Forget Chandler. I don't care if he commits himself to USA anymore. He cannot skip all our qualifiers and most of our games then just expect to be starting in the world cup.
Chandler is better than Lichaj at RB but I do agree that Timmy has to play in WCQ if he wants to be a part of the WC team.
[quote="TheNearPost, post: 25763655, member: 170254"is kid tonight was that we didn't get the ball to him more often. Whenever we found him with space to dribble, he seemed to be dangerous. He seems to just ooze a certain confidence and swagger in the way he plays. ]The only thing that disappointed me about thI was pretty impressed with when he actually dribbled past three or so players early on, then he came in off the flank with the ball in the second half. Him and Chandler manning the wing back position is a pretty scary thought.[/quote] This what you see when an Attacking winger plays as an outside back. Thing though is that before his Hoffenhiem coaching change he was rising as an Attacker. His true impact on the game (see Slovenia game) is being limited for the betterment of the team. Its why i wish a true Left Back comes to the scene with the next year because you will see a player who is explosively tricky and creative on the attacking scene for the USMNT in Fabulous Johnson
No your eyes have not deceived you...Fabian is our starting left back ( especially since I think Chandler bit the hand that feeds him ) Don't have any concerns, he is solid.
Chandler's future wouldn't have been on LB anyways once Dolo has nothing left on the tank probably by early 2014 Chandler would take over for him.
The system Klinnsman wants to play would call for him getting forward quite a bit, but when we start playing better opponents his attacking chances are going to get fewer. Johnson's been one of our best attacking players over the last few games and in my opinion one of the best this teams seen in awhile, so it's hard to not make a case against moving him further from goal. He's quick and technically good on the ball, but what I see that separates him from past players that we've seen is that he's able to read the game quickly and he knows exactly when and what to do with the ball. It's been rare for this team to get a player that is great at both. The team has a need at LB and he's started to play it for his club so that appears to be the way he's headed on the national team. It's still extremely early in his NT career so we'll have plenty of time to get to see him showcase his talents further. For him to virtually come out of nowhere, cement his spot in the starting lineup, and have people discussing if he should be playing defense or on the attack is really just a testament to how good he is. I'm just happy to have him on the team.
Is bubble rap a sub-genre of hip hop that Johnson is into? Because I'll happily pony up for the latest fresh single!
I'm watching Fabian Johnson in the last couple of matches we played... what a stud... When he gets the ball from the left side he always makes things happen, either he dribbles through a million players while maintaining possession or he hits a cross.
Klinsmann imo is making a mistake by not putting lichaj at LB. Lichaj is such a strong defender. Fabian johnson is not. With fabian you really just get the sense he's a creative attacking winger playing out of position at LB. Sure his coach at hoffenhiem now plays him there. But, a sudden coaching change at his club and he could suddenly be right back to playing an attacking role. Will klinsmann keep there at LB the whole time?........