Friday, September 9, 2011

My Mind On....USA Men's Soccer

So it's been 3 games under Mr. Klinsman, it's very hard to make a judgement after such a short period. I just want to share what I've seen and some of the things that can easily be fixed. The first thing I like about Klinsman is that the players seem a little more at ease in terms of being creative. One of my biggest pet peeves was that the US never tried to atttack a player 1v1, never saw an attacking player on the US GO AT the opposing defense. My biggest issue thus far, the FORMATION!!! For the type of talent that is now in the player pool, this formation is hindering the offense. Switching to a 4-4-2 would boost the attack and keep the field balance at all times. In all 3 games the US was vulnerable to counter attacks, not by a slim margin either. Every opponent was able to easily thwart the United State's attack and take advantage numbers wise on the counter attack. In the 4-5-1, the midfielders get sucked too far forward when attacking and the defense is at the opposing teams mercy. As I have mentioned before, talent is not the issue here. The influx of young talent has been apparent thru these 3 games, Torres looks to be the type of center attacking midfielder(distributor) the US has always lacked. Edu looks to be a very gifted 2 way player in the middle of the field, the only thing different between his club role and national team role is his freedom. In club play he is given more freedom to attack and force pressure on the defense, for the national team he has been reduced to being the holding midfielder pretty much playing the role of an added defender. Agudelo has great energy and is truly a force in the box, he also has that ability to win 1v1 battles. Shea is another one of the kids I'm a fan of, I see him being a good wing player until he gains enough wait to do damage in the box. I don't think some of the last regime's players fit this regime though. It was only one game, but Dempsey looked significantly better than Donavan in this scheme. Dempsey is much more comfortable on the ball and creating chances for his teammates. One of the things that I think would give the US the type of offense that could contend with some of better countries in the world, pairing Agudelo with Altidore. We have yet to see them in the game together let alone up top together, i think of the attention the demand when being the lone striker up top and it boggles my mind as to why they aren't paired together. Think of the damage the could cause up front as a pair, but maybe Klinsman is just waiting to make that happen. Once again, it's only 3 game there are many more games before we can pass a fair judgement on the Klinsman regime. Thanks for reading some of my thoughts, make sure you give me your feedback!!

No comments:

Post a Comment