Copa America Centenario

[FuFuLamePoo]

Also, Michael Bradley really hasn't been the same since he came back to MLS.  He was one of the brightest young MF's in Europe not too long ago.

[pantherphan96]

Despite the loss pretty encouraging performance. Lack of decisiveness in the final 3rd is still the Achilles heel of this team. Orozco is a fuging idiot and I hope he doesn't see first-team action again for this team.

[FuFuLamePoo]

18 hours ago, Promethean Forerunner said:

???

I wouldn't have called him one of the best young MFs in Europe. He was average. Maybe even decent, but he wasn't on my Top 30 list. Bradley is one of the best for US but compared to the rest of the world...? I don't see it.

He was fantastic in the Bundesliga and Eredivisie.  Had some damn good outings in Serie A too.  That wasn't coincidence, moving to MLS is looking like a career-ruiner for him right now.  But Nagbe should be starting over him now.  Not sure Bradley passed the ball forwards once tonight, when Nagbe gets it he instantly looks upfield.  Nagbe and Jones should be the CM pairing for WCQ's.  

His finishing is far from perfect but I still really like Wood.  He works so hard he just able to work his way into positions to get chances.  I think him and JMo can be a damn good pairing up top in a few years, with Pulisic's pace out wide.

Also: Colombians = pussies

[Ja Rhule]

41 minutes ago, pantherphan96 said:

Despite the loss pretty encouraging performance. Lack of decisiveness in the final 3rd is still the Achilles heel of this team. Orozco is a fuging idiot and I hope he doesn't see first-team action again for this team.

He's an idiot but to his defense head butting is prohibited by FIFA and penalized by straight red.  He was head butted right before the shove.

[pantherphan96]

8 minutes ago, ARSEN said:

He's an idiot but to his defense head butting is prohibited by FIFA and penalized by straight red.  He was head butted right before the shove.

I saw and Arias was sent off as well but its still a dumb thing to do within 5 feet of the ref. Would have been nice to have that 11 on 10 advantage for the last 4-5 minutes of the game. Plus the ref didn't add on any extra time even though they wasted about a minute after the red cards. Could have used that as well.

[pantherphan96]

15 minutes ago, FuFuLamePoo said:

He was fantastic in the Bundesliga and Eredivisie.  Had some damn good outings in Serie A too.  That wasn't coincidence, moving to MLS is looking like a career-ruiner for him right now.  But Nagbe should be starting over him now.  Not sure Bradley passed the ball forwards once tonight, when Nagbe gets it he instantly looks upfield.  Nagbe and Jones should be the CM pairing for WCQ's.  

His finishing is far from perfect but I still really like Wood.  He works so hard he just able to work his way into positions to get chances.  I think him and JMo can be a damn good pairing up top in a few years, with Pulisic's pace out wide.

Also: Colombians = pussies

I love Wood's work rate and I would much rather have him up front than Altidore who would just hold up play and lose possession. Wood makes fantastic runs and plays very well with Dempsey. Really disappointed in Bradley the last few games, very wasteful and negative with possession. Really would have liked to see him removed in favor of Pulisic/Nagbe earlier. Same deal with Zardes.

[FuFuLamePoo]

29 minutes ago, pantherphan96 said:

I love Wood's work rate and I would much rather have him up front than Altidore who would just hold up play and lose possession. Wood makes fantastic runs and plays very well with Dempsey. Really disappointed in Bradley the last few games, very wasteful and negative with possession. Really would have liked to see him removed in favor of Pulisic/Nagbe earlier. Same deal with Zardes.

I think Altidore faces too much criticism for someone who's scored some very important goals for the NT, but I do agree at this point.  Especially when you consider how often Altidore gets hurt.  He's a good player and great finisher when fit, but Wood's skills simply bring more to the table.  That's where I have to give JK credit.  Wood was very, very bad his first few games with the NT.  And was awful in the German second division.  I had no idea why he continued getting chances, but JK clearly saw something in him and now he's arguably our best attacking player.  And again I'm really excited to see what he and Morris could potentially do on the same front line, both work very hard.

I've been one of Zardes harshest critics, but I'll hand it to him he had a good tournament.  He plays extremely hard and, kinda like Wood, just makes things happen with his work rate even though he may lack in technical skill at times.  I'd bet a pretty large sum of money he'll be starting in almost all the qualifiers and in Russia as long as he's healthy.  I don't see anyone coming along that's gonna be better at what he does between now and then.

[pantherphan96]

3 minutes ago, FuFuLamePoo said:

I think Altidore faces too much criticism for someone who's scored some very important goals for the NT, but I do agree at this point.  Especially when you consider how often Altidore gets hurt.  He's a good player and great finisher when fit, but Wood's skills simply bring more to the table.  That's where I have to give JK credit.  Wood was very, very bad his first few games with the NT.  And was awful in the German second division.  I had no idea why he continued getting chances, but JK clearly saw something in him and now he's arguably our best attacking player.  And again I'm really excited to see what he and Morris could potentially do on the same front line, both work very hard.

I've been one of Zardes harshest critics, but I'll hand it to him he had a good tournament.  He plays extremely hard and, kinda like Wood, just makes things happen with his work rate even though he may lack in technical skill at times.  I'd bet a pretty large sum of money he'll be starting in almost all the qualifiers and in Russia as long as he's healthy.  I don't see anyone coming along that's gonna be better at what he does between now and then.

Agreed. I've been a big Jozy defender in the past and I felt awful for him getting injured during the WC when he was on a run of solid performances for the national team. Jozy still is a good striker when he is scoring and decisive in front of goal, but Wood and Dempsey work a lot better together than Jozy and Dempsey ever did. Zardes is such a frustrating player because you can't fault his effort and his willingness to track back and defend, but his touch is just so awful. Same with his decision making in the final third. But like you said, there isn't anyone else that can perform much better for us at the moment, though I would like to see more of the younger players.

[FuFuLamePoo]

13 minutes ago, pantherphan96 said:

Agreed. I've been a big Jozy defender in the past and I felt awful for him getting injured during the WC when he was on a run of solid performances for the national team. Jozy still is a good striker when he is scoring and decisive in front of goal, but Wood and Dempsey work a lot better together than Jozy and Dempsey ever did. Zardes is such a frustrating player because you can't fault his effort and his willingness to track back and defend, but his touch is just so awful. Same with his decision making in the final third. But like you said, there isn't anyone else that can perform much better for us at the moment, though I would like to see more of the younger players.

Yep, Jozy seems to primarily be effective when he's the sole guy up top, and we don't have the personnel to play a formation to suite that right now.  Pulisic and Nagbe showed tonight they should have gotten much more burn this tournament, they deserve starts soon but who knows with our coach.  

What do you think about Yedlin?  There's no denying his pace, but he still plays scared a lot and his crosses just aren't good enough.  He's still absolutely the RB to build around going forwards, but he hasn't improved some of his game like I was hoping.  LB is where I think we can make improvements.  It wasn't a great tournament for Fabian, but I think he's better as a WM for us.  Villafana and Lichaj both deserve chances there.  Next game this would be my starting lineup:

----------------------------------------Guzan---------------------------------------------

Yedlin-------------Brooks------------------------------Cameron-------------Lichaj

--------------------------Nagbe-------------------------Jones--------------------------

Pulisic-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Zardes

------------------------Dempsey--------------Wood------------------------------------

And again I think Morris has a very bright future, he and Wood could be very dangerous up top when ever Dempsey begins showing real signs of slowing down.

E: Also in this lineup Nagbe would obviously be playing further up, almost in the role of a traditional #10 with Jones cleaning up behind him.  I know Jones is getting old but I still have no doubts he's our best overall midfielder.

2E: Actually I'm starting Zardes over Fab here.  Fab had a bad tournament, still probably one of our best players but I think Lichaj and Villafana are better LEFT BACKS.

[pantherphan96]

23 minutes ago, FuFuLamePoo said:

Yep, Jozy seems to primarily be effective when he's the sole guy up top, and we don't have the personnel to play a formation to suite that right now.  Pulisic and Nagbe showed tonight they should have gotten much more burn this tournament, they deserve starts soon but who knows with our coach.  

What do you think about Yedlin?  There's no denying his pace, but he still plays scared a lot and his crosses just aren't good enough.  He's still absolutely the RB to build around going forwards, but he hasn't improved some of his game like I was hoping.  LB is where I think we can make improvements.  It wasn't a great tournament for Fabian, but I think he's better as a WM for us.  Villafana and Lichaj both deserve chances there.  Next game this would be my starting lineup:

----------------------------------------Guzan---------------------------------------------

Yedlin-------------Brooks------------------------------Cameron-------------Lichaj

--------------------------Nagbe-------------------------Jones--------------------------

Pulisic-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Zardes

------------------------Dempsey--------------Wood------------------------------------

And again I think Morris has a very bright future, he and Wood could be very dangerous up top when ever Dempsey begins showing real signs of slowing down.

E: Also in this lineup Nagbe would obviously be playing further up, almost in the role of a traditional #10 with Jones cleaning up behind him.  I know Jones is getting old but I still have no doubts he's our best overall midfielder.

2E: Actually I'm starting Zardes over Fab here.  Fab had a bad tournament, still probably one of our best players but I think Lichaj and Villafana are better LEFT BACKS.

I'm willing to deal with Yedlin's growing pains because I love what he brings in terms of raw pace and willingness to attack. LB has been a problem for a long time now, and for the time being I think we are gonna have to live with Johnson there. But if JK were to make a change, while Lichaj and Villafana are interesting options, I would give the nod to Ream.

The only players I would absolutely pencil into the starting XI would be Dempsey, Wood, Yedlin, Brooks, Cameron, and for now Jones. I certainly wouldn't mind a XI with both Pulisic and Nagbe though. If it were a competitive game I would prefer Johnson over Zardes at LM, with Gyasi being the first choice off the bench.

[pantherphan96]

Also would love to see more of Zelalem, Gil, Arriola, and Hyndman going forward.

[FuFuLamePoo]

9 minutes ago, pantherphan96 said:

Also would love to see more of Zelalem, Gil, Arriola, and Hyndman going forward.

You probably saw but Hyndman just signed with Bournemouth, hopefully he'll play well there.  I really like him and think he could really burst onto the national team scene soon.  Zelalem was disappointing for Rangers last year but he's still so young, he showed a lot in the U-20 world cup last summer.  Also definitely a good prospect for us going forwards.

[pantherphan96]

15 minutes ago, FuFuLamePoo said:

You probably saw but Hyndman just signed with Bournemouth, hopefully he'll play well there.  I really like him and think he could really burst onto the national team scene soon.  Zelalem was disappointing for Rangers last year but he's still so young, he showed a lot in the U-20 world cup last summer.  Also definitely a good prospect for us going forwards.

Still holding out hope for Julian Green to get consistent playing time even if its in the 2nd tier of Bundesliga.

[pantherphan96]

One thing that must be said is that during JK's tenure the young prospects look a LOT better and more plentiful then it ever seemed under Bradley. Not sure how much of that is Klinsmann's doing necessarily, but nonetheless it's encouraging.