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Soccer Saturday: Your Running Commentary

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain of Arsenal and James McArthur of Wigan Athletic

Photo by Matt West / ISIPhotos.com

By JUSTIN FERGUSON

Arsenal might be out of contention for the English Premier League title this season, but the Gunners are still two cup wins away from ending their long trophy drought.

Arsene Wenger’s squad will go for the first of those wins Saturday as Arsenal faces Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup Semifinals. Wigan Athletic are the defending champions of England’s longest-running competition after defeating Manchester City at Wembley Stadium last year, and the Championship-level club is back in the hunt for a repeat after defeating Man City in the quarterfinals this season. Although they have had a slide in their form recently, Arsenal are favored to win the cup this season with Hull City and Sheffield United remaining in the field.

Elsewhere in England, Tim Howard and Everton continue their hunt for a Champions League spot with a road match against Sunderland, who have a lot of work to do in order to avoid relegation this season. The biggest relegation matchup in the EPL on Saturday will be between Norwich City and Fulham, who are on either side of the drop zone in England’s top division.

Perhaps the most high-profile match of the day can be found in Germany, where Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich take on rivals Borussia Dortmund at the Allianz Arena. In Spain, El Clasico rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid look to pile the pressure on first-place Atletico Madrid in the La Liga race before they face off in the Copa del Rey Final next week.

If you will be watching today’s action, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.

Enjoy the action. (Today’s TV schedule is after the jump):

9:30am – Borussia Monchengladbach vs. Stuttgart – GOLTV USA

10:00am – West Bromwich Albion vs. Tottenham Hotspur – NBC Sports Live Extra

10:00am – Celta de Vigo vs. Real Sociedad – beIN Sports en Espanol

10:07am – Crystal Palace vs. Aston Villa – NBC Sports Live Extra

10:07am – Fulham vs. Norwich City – NBCSN

10:07am – Southampton vs. Cardiff City- NBC Sports Live Extra

10:07am – Stoke City vs. Newcastle United – NBC Sports Live Extra

10:07am – Sunderland vs. Everton – NBC Sports Live Extra

11:00am – Lille vs. Valenciennes – beIN Sports Play

12:00pm – Villareal vs. Levante – beIN Sports en Espanol

12:07pm – Wigan Athletic vs. Arsenal – Fox Deportes

12:30pm – Bayern Munich vs. Borussia Dortmund  – GOLTV

2:00pm – Grenada vs. Barcelona – beIN Sports USA

2:00pm – Ajaccio vs. Bordeaux – Univision Deportes

2:45 – Roma vs. Atalanta – beIN Sports Play

4:00pm – Real Madrid vs. Almeria – beIN Sports USA

4:00pm – Philadelphia Union vs. Real Salt Lake – Univision Deportes

4:00pm – Montreal Impact vs. Chicago Fire – Direct Kick

4:00pm – Toronto FC vs. Colorado Rapids – Direct Kick

5:00pm – New England Revolution vs. Houston Dynamo – Direct Kick

6:00 pm – Veracruz vs. Pumas UNAM – Univision Deportes

6:00 pm – Cruz Azul vs. Pachuca – Univision

7:30pm – DC United vs. New York Red Bulls- Direct Kick

8:00 pm – Tigres UANL vs. Tijuana – Univision Deportes

8:30pm – FC Dallas vs. Seattle Sounders – Direct Kick

10:00pm – Chiapas vs. Monterrey – Univision Deportes

10:30pm – Portland Timbers vs. Chivas USA – Direct Kick

10:30pm – LA Galaxy vs. Vancouver Whitecaps – Direct Kick

Comments

  1. Talking about #9 options for the USNT, probably too late to get a look, but Kenny Cooper looks dialed in these days, amd that’s coming from a Portland fan. I liked him when he was with us, looked even better with a good team in NY, and so far so good with Seattle. Prime age of 29, 6’3″, strong on the ball, good hold-up play, better with his head than Altidore, mobile and works hard on both sides of the ball. Two goals and an assist in — I think — about 270 minutes of total playing time so far. I never watched Cooper and thought he gave less than his all for the team.

    Reply
    • I’m watching him right now vs Dallas. He might be out of position but… he is letting Yedlin get eating up by Castillo and Diaz. I wouldn’t bring him in.

      Reply
  2. When people say the US has no shot of getting out of the group in the World Cup I find it kind of silly. You have so many players hitting the wall after a full season without a break. Completely new and different team dynamics, now living together for a month . Then add travel, red cards, conditions players aren’t use to and its just 3 matches. Not saying the US will get out of the group, but I think Brazil is going to have lots of surprise results.

    Reply
    • Messi has a yellow for whining about the officiating even though the ref has overlooked two clear penalties committed by Barca.

      Reply
      • Yeah, the joke is “No Penalty, No Goal.” Barca are having a hard time scoring. I think Tata tied to expand beyond the Tiki Taka early in the season with longer balls, crosses, etc. But, seems the players balked at some point and now there is no cohesion amongst the team. Barca often has no shape at all when teams crowd them on the ball. Now, Xavi is aging. Realistically, Barca haven’t been the same since David Villa broke his leg. Turn and face the strange…

      • Just mismanagement by the board. Oh sure the on field stuff hasn’t worked but the real problems are off the field.

    • There is 5 games left, including a couple tricky games for Everton. If you think this race for 4th is over you are beyond naive

      Reply
  3. Fabianksi just came up huge in the shootout, saved the first two and Arsenal didn’t miss, they’re through to the finals.

    Reply
  4. Arsenal vs Wigan is going to pens. If Sanogo could convert a chance this wouldn’t be happening, he had numerous chances which he just failed miserably at. They hit the post a couple of times to, including in the second part of extra time.

    Reply
  5. 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

    Jurgen Klopp schooled Pep Guardiola and the FC Bayern A-Team to the tune of 3-0 in a packed Allianz Arena in Munich that was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. No theatrics for the camera today from Pep on the sidelines. And in the last minute of the game a frustrated Rafinha actually running his fingernails down the face of Mhkitarian and getting a red which the Bayern players felt was not justified, they were bad-mouthing Mhkitarian after the game.

    No doubt Real Madrid scouts were busy taking notes on the Dortmund tactics.

    🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

    Reply
      • It was absolutely fricking amazing. And Lewandowski started the game on the bench, only came on in the second half when Dortmund already was up 3-0 and Mario Gotze was pitifully bad, sort of like sending Bayern a message: You can have em.

  6. Mertesacker gave away the penalty and now hes equalized in the 82nd minute. It took until like the 80th minute for Arsenal to do anything at all, then they hit the post and forced a really nice save

    Reply
  7. Arsenal just gave away a clear penalty, they are playing horrid. If they crash out of the FA cup the season will completely fall apart

    Reply
  8. We have so many Yanks abroad. Can you guys post about some of the others? I know the main focus is how Altidore is doing for the Sunderland U21 team, however would be nice to hear about others.

    Reply
  9. could Jozy score in the Bundesliga?

    Yanks flop all the time. It’s hard and it sucks. Donovan flopped in Germany on 3 different occasions. Jozy has flopped in England twice. McBride flopped in 2 Bundesliga. Eddie Johnson flopped in England. Clint Mathis flopped in Germany (mostly due to his ego)

    it happens people

    the only thing as of now Jozy is the best striker we have.

    Reply
  10. People saying Jozy should have gone to Germany or Italy. If no team offers anything then he’s not going anywhere. Sunderland were the only ones and he’s stuck with them lololol

    Reply
    • Sunderland offered AZ 13 million USD. I believe the German and Italian clubs interested didn’t offer anything over 5/6 million so AZ sold him and Jozy felt it was good. Thought he was ready. Plus the money helped AZ. Perhaps it’d been better if they waited, hoping Jozy would score 20-25 goals next season and score in the WC and get sold for 20 million USD.

      but let’s be honest. AMERICAN bias. Not many clubs will want a US goal scorer. Look at Dempsey. 23 goals in 2011-12 for Fulham and his best offer was Spurs at the very last minute.

      Jozy will score. His agent needs to find a club in France or Italy. Guaranteed to score

      Reply
      • Oh god, american bias huh?
        And you made it seem like spurs was his only offer. He had offers from liverpool and schalke. And did you ser clint at Tottenham? Yeah he scored some important goals but in so many matches he looked awful, the one i especially remember was when he played Lazio in the Europa. Do you honestly think clint could cut it with a better club?
        And jozy is not guaranteed to score in any other country. He is Guaranteed to score FOR ANY TEAM THAT GIVES HIM GOOD SERVICE. THE COUNTRY DOES NOT MATTER

      • I believe Dempsey could have played with the likes of Roma and Sevilla and Lyon and BMG.

        Basically big clubs akin to Spurs. Not CL teams but teams that were 1 or 2 spots away from it. and you know it’s true.

        sure there is American bias.

      • Every club you mentioned is hardly a step up from spurs.
        And people are making america bias to be something much bigger than it actually is. If the US loses a game with some ref decisions against them, people will say Americam bias. If an American dosent get bought by a big prestigous club, american bias. If an american is benched in favor of another guy, more chants of american bias. Some people will use it as an excuse for just about everything.

      • I am tired of this myth about Dempsey playing awful for Spurs. He scored twice in 2 games against Man U, twice in the semi-final at Basel, and had as many goals in his 29 games that year as Neymar had in his first 32 games for Barcelona. and Dempsey came in with no pre-season and battled several injuries during the season so that about a half dozen of his appearances were as subs due to fitness issues as a result of injuries and no pre-season. I guess some people don’t care about actual facts.

      • One add–in his first game against Lazio he had a headed goal called back for offsides and replays showed clearly he was on-side. I think I missed their second game against Lazio, so I don’t know what you are talking about, the first or second game? His goal that was disallowed was the only one scored in the game as it ended 0-0.

      • Dempsey was also in his late 20s at the time of the transfer. Tottenham paid around 11 million for the transfer and a 3yr/22million dollar contract. Talk about American bias. Dempsey should have sued.

      • NATO,

        American bias? That exists but there are lots of other biases in play as well.

        When Sunderland bought Jozy they paid somewhere between 10-12 million. The same year Swansea bought Wilfried Bony , the Ivory Coast striker , and the man who beat out Jozy for the scoring crown in Holland, they paid 12 million.

        Bony had a longer track record of success in Europe and was arguably more proven yet the valuations were fairly close.

        So far Bony has 20 goals across all competitions for Swansea.

        In Dempsey’s case, it was more likely age bias.

        2012 was great but given his age what were the chances of him repeating it? And his “tweener” status probably made him more difficult to sell.

        He is a midfielder who is an unremarkable midfielder except that he scores a ton of clutch goals. If he scored half as many goals as he has would any of you even know who he was? Are you buying an attacking midfielder? Or a striker?

        The US built around Deuce because even though he is an anomaly, because beggars can’t be choosers.

        And Seattle bought him largely for off the field reasons. You saw that Spurs had real difficulty figuring out how to get the best out of him and at his age were more interested in moving on to younger options.

        You can bet that if Deuce had been 25 after his big year he would have had a lot more options.

  11. Anyone know what did Gooch do today? At fault for any goals? Assist on any?

    I think Gooch could be a strategic pick for the WC roster. If only to play the hard man with Germany or Portugal and send a message early. But that alone is probably not enough to justify giving him a spot.

    Reply
  12. If only poyet realized that the only reason borini ever scored was because Jozy was drawing two defenders. All armchair managers can see this. I think his “injury” sounds a bit well timed no? After that beat down by spurs (who scraped out a draw at WBA today) can’t keep justifying leaving strikers with the u21s. Can’t wait to see Jozy in Germany. Maybe with fab at mgladbach?

    Reply
  13. Let’s hope City lose some points to see everton go up to the top 3 #COYB
    Also, the tigres/tj game is gonna be one heck of a match. Torres is on fire.

    Reply
      • He’s not in the 11
        G
        1 Manuel Neuer – – – – – – – – – –
        D
        4 Dante – – – – – – – – – –
        D
        8 Javi Martínez – – – – – – – – – –
        D
        13 Rafinha – – – – – – – – – –
        D
        27 David Alaba – – – – – – – – – –
        M
        7 Franck Ribéry – – – – – – – – – –
        M
        10 Arjen Robben – – – – – – – – – –
        M
        19 Mario Götze – – – – – – – – – –
        M
        21 Philipp Lahm – – – – – – – – – –
        M
        31 Bastian Schweinsteiger – – – – – – – – – –
        F
        9 Mario Mandzukic

  14. Crystal Palace is the word this year! Most fun team in EPL to watch. Never give up, never say die! Tony Pulis will be Manager of the Year!

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  15. coming into the game, Sunderland knew its best shot at survival was based on a maximum of 9 points from 6 games (3 at home against teams at the bottom of the table, 3 away at Man utd, Man City and chelse) and then what happens at home with Everton.

    Everton goes up 1-0 on an own goal by Wes Brown.

    Reply
  16. So everyone knows by now that jozy is listed as out injured right? We don’t know for sure he wouldn’t have been left out anyway, but he was ruled out of this match a day or two ago. Lots of fantasy sites had already reported this last night.

    Reply
    • I am a huge fan of the Gooch, but it doesn’t appear that he is JK’s type of player. He is a big, immoveable center back who takes up space and clears the ball. JK seems to like a quicker player who can pass the ball out of the back.

      If Gooch had a little more flexibility to play outside as well as center, I think his chances would be better.

      Reply
      • I had the same thought and took a quick look at how he is doing at Bolton, but I don’t know that JK thinks highly of Ream either.

        Isn’t our centerback pool: Besler/Gonzo, then Goodson. Who is the 4th?

      • Cameron would like to play inside, but he plays outside for Stoke and i think that is where JK likes to play him as well. In a pinch – i.e. injury or everybody gets a red card, I guess Cameron would be the utility player to play center back

      • ream has had a shot with the nats and it was a disaster. slow, and poor senseof positioning. that said,he may have improved his positioning.

    • Thinking about our CB pool just gives me migraines. I have a gut feeling it will be our undoing at the WC. Besler isn’t as solid as Boca was 4-5 years ago, and Gonzo and Goodson aren’t even close. Both those two have huge, easily exploitable issues in their game. I think Gooch is too slow for International competition at this point, but if not, it feels too late for him to get a chance to prove himself.

      Reply
      • Nice all around AMP One.
        I also think It wouldn’t hurt to kick the tires on Chris Schuler, in a camp?.

  17. why oh why

    why did AZ sell Jozy to Sunderland? Was it because they offered 13 million dollars?

    They’d sell Iceman if Celtic offered them 10 million (obviously they wouldn’t but thats the point)

    I think Jozy should have gone to Italy or Germany but remember EPL clubs have so much cash. Jozy makes 3.3 million dollars a year at a relegation club now. Only CL clubs in Italy and Germany could afford to pay him that. all about the $$$

    Jozy is a decent scorer. Give him a clear chance and he will get a shot on goal. He may not be a world class striker but he isn’t pitiful. Some guys can’t score in England but I bet he’d go on a goal scoring run in Italy or Germany. IMO

    Reply
    • A money grab, for Jozy and AZ both. AZ is all about selling players for a profit, and rightfully so, given their current position in the global soccer landscape.

      I wouldn’t blame his lack of form on playing in England, as opposed to playing in Italy or Germany. He and his club are the only ones who carry that burden.

      Reply
  18. why did AZ sell Jozy to Sunderland? Was it because they offered 13 million dollars?

    They’d sell Iceman if Celtic offered them 10 million (obviously they wouldn’t but thats the point)

    I think Jozy should have gone to Italy or Germany but remember EPL clubs have so much cash. Jozy makes 3.3 million dollars a year at a relegation club now. Only CL clubs in Italy and Germany could afford to pay him that. all about the $$$

    Jozy is a decent scorer. Give him a clear chance and he will get a shot on goal. He may not be a world class striker but he isn’t pitiful. Some guys can’t score in England but I bet he’d go on a goal scoring run in Italy or Germany. IMO

    Reply
    • Sunderland was the highest bidder…Jozy had no choice but to work out personal contract terms with sunderland….what would’ve been nice is if jozy was able to object to the bid but it seems like he didn’t….plus we don’t know what pressure az put on jozy to come to terms with sunderland….remember this is still a business….

      Reply
    • One example, Diego Forlan was an absolute bust at Man U, with all kinds of supporting talent. He went to another league (was it La Liga?) and starred and then was maybe the best player at the next WC, so you never know. Some leagues/teams’/styles fit some players better than others. I have said since Day 1 that Jozy should be in the Bundesliga, maybe a mid-table team would do.

      Reply
  19. You all are delusional if you think Jozy being dropped from Sunderland’s 18 means he’s not going to Brazil. Klinsi’s got his back, and we don’t have any other strikers who can fill the number 9 role Klinsi wants to use up top. We have other strikers in much better form, but they can’t fill that role in the same way. Jozy is not only going to Brazil, but he’s going to start all three matches (hopefully more). We can wring our hands all we want – the decision has already been made.

    Reply
    • Jozy is definitely on the plane. People who are trying to say otherwise are neophytes, trolls, or things worse.

      Jozy starting all three games is becoming a serious issue of concern. 10, 9, and 8 are probably best filled by Lando, Demps, and MB. We will take it a game at a time with Jozy, but unless Jozy proves something concretely in these next three games (and training), I would place the over/under on his WC group starts at 1.

      Reply
      • I agree that Jozy not getting minutes is concerning. The problem is that an out-of-form Jozy in the 9 role is a better option for the team than any other players who are in form but playing out of position. Given the strength of our group, we’re likely going to be under the gun frequently and pinned back in our own half. So we’ll need a strong, hold-up striker to hold the ball and distribute with his back to goal. This isn’t even close to where Dempsey’s strength lies, so he’s not right for job (and has looked out-of-sorts played in that spot for the USMNT before). EJ is really the only guy (maybe Boyd) who is a like-for-like replacement for what Jozy can offer, but he’s probably in worse form than Jozy at the moment.

        I would definitely take you up on those odds. Barring injury, Klinsi starts Jozy every match.

      • I think we almost have the same ideas here.

        If we play one striker, I agree with your philosophy 100%.

        But, if we are playing some version of a 4-4-2 or 4-3-3, I feel Jozy’s unique abilities become much less important. MB has shown he plays his best soccer in the classic no. 8 role, which isn’t really allowed for in one striker formations.

        I don’t think EJ or Boyd factor into our starting 11 at all.

        If Jozy does nothing to disconfirm his poor club form over the next three USMNT matches, I think JK will lean even further to a “two up top” mentality, where Jozy isn’t as necessary.

  20. been trying to compare wickham to altidore, only difference I can see is Wickham hustles slightly more to apply defensive pressure, which hasn’t resulted in anything positive. And offensively I don’t see any major difference. So it seems to me that Jozy’s relegation to the reserves can’t be based purely on performance

    Reply
    • I have a new theory: Poyet has been instructed by Argentina’s FA to psychologically ruin Altidore’s confidence because their projections have the US playing Argentina in the knock-out rounds in Brazil?

      Huh? anyone? huh?

      Reply
      • Haha, thank you! I can’t imagine a better response to the thread.

        I have come to the conclusion that we will never know about that flight. When it comes to the battle for political/social power, people are worse in real life than they are on “Survivor”.
        They could find the whole plane, and the bodies, and it has been so long since it was missing, I’d think of the show “LOST”, and that it could have all been planted there for mysterious reasons.

        I have to admit to everyone–all 30 people who read this–perhaps belatedly, that I am a little bit of a conspiracy theorist. To me 9/11 was to some extent manufactured by our government.
        It’s strange that people seem to think our war on Iraq was wrongly influenced, without acknowledging the steps we took to get there–Afghanistan and 9/11–as calculated.

        (I now realize I should probably not wax on about these kind of things on a soccer blog.)

  21. You pay the money Sunderland did for a 30 goal striker from the Dutch League, you need them to score goals. Especially now in a relegation battle, Poyet has to think first of keeping clean sheets rather than scoring goals. Sunderland won’t catch any complaints from me if they try to offload Jozy in the summer. I have to say, I didn’t like this move when he made it. Thought it was bad timing one year from a World Cup to move out of Holland. He should’ve stayed, scored boatloads of goals to keep his confidence up going into Brazil. Now he can’t get in the 18 and is probably questioning his status as a USMNT starter because a striker without confidence and who doesn’t score is basically leaving his team playing with 10 players. l love the Premier league as much as the next guy but I feel sometimes that American players become infatuated with the idea of playing there as opposed to other leagues like Bradley did and Bedoya, Johannson, Mixx, and Boyd are doing. Just one mans opinion. Any thoughts?

    Reply
    • I agree that the PL is probably over hyped in a lot of our player’s heads, but the PL is arguably the best league in the world, and if it isn’t at the moment, it was for a long time, so I doubt it’s just American players that have this problem of becoming infatuated.

      It’s been thoroughly confirmed that Jozy made a really bad move. Many like yourself, saw the tribulations coming before he ever stepped on the pitch for the Black Cats. I also saw the ominous clouds over the horizon and was weary of Sunderland. I am still not 100 on why they think he isn’t worthy of being on the squad, because their actions lately probably decrease his value even more for this upcoming transfer window.

      Hopefully other current and potential USMNT players take a good lesson or two out of watching this all go down.

      Reply
    • I think that Poyet has shown that he has not been a much better option than DiCanio. He had Sunderland playing better vfor maybe 3 games, but other than that they have not improved. When they absolutely need victories, he continues to play for draws. You are wrong when you say that you should play for draws to avoid relegation. Sunderland is so far behind, their only hope is to win about 3 games out of the last 4. I would not base any judgment of Jozy on Poyet’s decisions.

      Reply
  22. Hasn’t Jozy been among the assist leaders for Sunderland in spite of his lack of goals? They miss his ability to set up others when he’s not playing. As far as what’s happening behind the scenes–his relations with Poyet and his teammates–the fully story won’t likely come out until he leaves Sunderland at the end of the season. I still haven’t seen a really good analysis of what went wrong for him this season–how much is a result of his own limitations as a striker, and how much is playing for a terrible team with no creative force in the middle.

    In any case, is presents a real problem for Klinsmann. It sounds like he’s fully behind Jozy as his starting striker but it’s hard to see him going from where he is now–not even making the bench–to starting against Ghana, Portugal and Germany. If I were Klinsmann, I’d be giving serious thought to having Dempsey up front with Donovan playing the hole, where he plays for Galaxy.

    Reply
    • Fully agree. I can’t wait to hear what Jozy and the lads there have to say about his time at Sunderland. I love Jozy, and think his club form doesn’t necessarily equal his form for country, but I’m very nervous at this point, and starting Dempsey and Donovan at 9 and 10 respectively, has always been an interesting option.

      Reply
    • I don’t like Dempsey up front. It just doesn’t seem to work quite like you think it would. I think Clint doesn’t get enough space in that position.

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      • I think if we are playing Clint, which we should, it is better to have him up front. He is less effective on the wing or in the hole. That said, I would have serious issues if we had to start him up top also. I don’t like the habit he’s formed for showing to the ball. He likes to sit in defensive line gaps with his back to the goal, and make moves after he gets the ball at his feet. It sounds like a 10, but he plays like a Carmelo Anthony a lot of the time; shutting down offensive rhythm by holding the ball too long, looking for his shot over the best pass, and generally trying to be the hero. It’s rare to be a hero like that in International soccer, you have to be one of the few great ones, with unique skill and genius. I love Clint, I think we need to have him on the pitch to win, but I am confounded when it comes to where to play him with this team.

      • I think most agree that there’s no consensus on where to play Deuce. But a few points to consider:
        – When playing in the hole with the usmnt, a lot of times when he’s dropped further to get involved, it’s because we’ve had almost zero midfield play, and almost never had a full squad to choose from. That takes him further from the striker and away from where he’s strongest, but in a lot of these games lately it’s been the only way he’s been involved.
        – We’ve seen Deuce much more recently with Seattle, where Sigi has played him a little deeper most times, and since that’s our most recent and most common analysis of him, we assume that he’s been slowing down the usmnt attack…. but in reality were judging his club performance much more
        – Because… when he plays the 10 for the usmnt, he plays more as a withdrawn forward than a playmaker, but again, our midfield has sucked so bad the last few games (except Mexico first half) he’s had to drop, where he’s not as effective
        – Just remember when we got hot last year, we had most of the team available, and we never talked about Deuce slowing the attack or trying to do too much

      • Good stuff on the enigma of Deuce’s wild.
        Quick take is he’s kinda, sorta, a number 10?,
        which is where he probably should play.
        The key here is the left flank, and that is where I think Green, offers some real potential to unlock Deuce, and Jozy, from the the left side.
        Just go get some Green jello for Deuce, and Jozy.

        In other news.
        How bout Beckerman, and Edu, making a case to both be on that plane. I always felt they both should be there even if they have to sit on each others lap on the flight.
        Becks, is just too solid, despite whatever limitations God gave him.
        As for Edu, He is versatile enough he can fill any position on the back line when needed.
        And I dare say one of the 3 best aerial players on the team.
        Nice header to wrest a point and save a sunny day in Philly.

      • Yeah, Edu and Beckerman have to be making it tough on JK. I don’t see how he brings both right now, and think in the end, the nod will go to Beckerman.

        Edu is a real asset to us as well, for the reasons you pointed out, and his experience. I would’ve liked to see him get time playing CB with Besler. I guess I still want to see it, even though normally I wouldn’t want to shake up a CB pair this close to the WC. Our back line isn’t a set unit anyway, with Besler looking like the closest thing to a lock.

        It’ll be interesting to see how JK tinkers in these last three friendlies.

  23. I’ll say it. If Jozy hasn’t played a competitive match for other than a u21 team for months before the World Cup, He may well get dropped from the 23. His lack of fitness will be difficult to overcome in only the send off series.

    Reply
    • I needed to be said. I don’t think JK will leave Jozy off the WC roster, but the fact we’re evening discussing the possibility 2 months before before kick off is disturbing.

      Reply
      • This is the danger in a move in the year before a World Cup. If you aren’t playing for your new team, whether you are surplus to the team, getting used to a new league, or playing with 22 other crap players, if you aren’t playing you hurt your chances to make the national team.

  24. This reminds me of Hull. While his play rarely stood out, the stats showed the team gained the majority of points when he was in the game. Yet down the stretch when they needed wins he was dropped entirely. He has started or been a 25 plus minute sub in 5 of Sundrlands 6 wins. Yet when they need 3 points he’s note even on the bench.

    Reply
  25. Best hope for Jozy is MLS loan, gets back in form, scores some goals in the cup and gets a decent transfer to mid table Ligue 1, Bundesliga, or Serie A.

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  26. Without Jozy, I don’t have to waste my time with Sunderland. Will turn over to BeInSport which has Burnley vs. Middlesborough. Burnley is one of three going up to the Premiership. It will probably be a better game than the Sunderland one anyway.

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  27. throughout the season, many have commented something along the lines of the following:

    Jozy is just not on the same page as his teammates or
    Sunderland seem to refuse to pass the ball to Jozy

    He has now not been selected for the squad in the last 2 epl matches. Do we have any evidence that perhaps Jozy is not liked by his teammates at Sunderland?
    Does he have a reputation with the USMNt or his past clubs at not being a team player?

    Regardless,Jozy has now tried the epl twice; both times with poor clubs, and stuggled mightily. maybe the epl is just not suited to his ability or style of play.

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      • usually, if a team is trying to stay up, they will use a core group of players who will give blood and sweat to grab the desparate points to avoid relegation. I didn’t know why jozy would not be considered loyal to the Mackem cause.

      • He never looks like he is trying. It’s a body language thing rather than a proper effort thing. He is also probably tired of the abuse. That wears on you.

      • I think we need to ask ourselves, how would a much better player, say Suarez, do on this team? I think he’d have less than 10 goals. Also, I think Jozy might go back to AZ

    • I think Sunderland has already accepted their fate and they know Jozy won’t be there next year so they probably feel like they should play the guys that will sink with the boat.

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    • Well there goes my Altiday…now what am going to obsess over for the rest of the morning? Too bad we don’t have any other players worthy of attention playing in Europe. Suppose ill have to bury myself in the rigors of being a mediocre MLS Fantasy manager where no one of consequence plays.

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    • Got to be a personality or training issue w Poyet at this point, right? Team has been much worse without him in the lineup yet Gus refuses to even put him in with the subs. Doesn’t seem like Poyet has much interest in staying up. He’d rather start from scratch in the Championship. He also apparently has an out in his contract if the team is relegated. Can’t imagine he’d deliberately tank the season but worth mentioning.

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      • He actually has an out in his contract only if the team ISN’T relegated. Which I find odd, sad, and a little bit hilarious

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