Jozy Altidore started and played 90 minutes for Villarreal in their 2-0 loss to Dinamo Zagreb in Europa League action in Croatia.
Altidore didn't have any clear-cut scoring chances, but he did draw a handful of free kicks and was one of Villarreal's more active players.
What did you think of Altidore's performance today? Encouraged by him getting a Europa League start on the road? Eager to see him get some minutes in La Liga action?
Share your thoughts below.
Jozy’s actually getting paying time for his club.
Clearly, the staff at Villareal see potential. At the moment, he is playing behind Rossi and Nilmar, so he is only going to see secondary minutes. there’s no shame in that. Damn, I wish I could have my name in a sentence with Rossi and Nilmar! And it is no secrete Rossi wants to go to Italy — badly. Jozy needs to train hard and hang in there. If he can be the number three guy this year, then there is a good chance he starts next to Nilmar next year.
Senna got sent off in the 75th.
I’m tired of hearing he didn’t score but drew a few fouls.
agreed. his touch was on and off too. homeboy needs more games.
He who should not be named…lol
+1 people are impatient in the US and want instant gratification. I hope he doesn’t see the pitch much so he realizes he has to work his tail off to get a starting spot. We will see if he is lazy then (like Adu who expects/ed to start or wants out), or decides to refine his skills on and off the ball. He is young enough to give him time.
It is good that he got to play, but “he got several free kicks” is not really cutting it anymore. He needs to be scoring!
Can’t argue these statements at all. Well said tybz.
Wise comments indeed from you SoccerSage. We can all point to his age, we can point to his lack of experience, we can talk about his growth and maturity (or lack thereof depending on your perspective) and we can talk about his scoring rate. Yes, these are all very important things. Extremely important character traits for a striker. But I think the key for Jozy is that Villarreal have seen enough progress to include him in the squad. And Jozy wants to prove himself and call a club home. I think SoccerSage says it best in his last statement… some more playing time AND continued training. And if Jozy can feel comfortable enough in his surroundings and make it his job to work for it over the next few months, we’ll see some solid progress in a year’s time.
I agree that Jozy needs to improve, but to read too much into his failure to score in this game is a mistake. Its only his 3rd appearance of the season (2nd start), and Villarreal were absolutely torn apart. Give him a few weeks/months to settle in, get some minutes under his belt and hopefully find some rhythm/confidence. After all the moving around he’s done he needs some stability…lets just hope his club is willing to be a little patient.
This is not as uncommon as people make it out to be. His situation is similar to Stefano Okaka Chuka. Chuka is a similar age to Altidore and physique. Like Altidore Chuka is not getting a ton of action at Roma like Altidore at Villarreal. They both got loaned out to an EPL team(yes I know Chuka scored more goals in fewer games)The majopr difference is Chuka is not asked to be his national team’s #1 striker Altidore is.
He was on the cover of FIFA at some point…for whatever reason. The club probably thought that he must be worth something if he’s on the cover with Ronaldinho.
Strikers need to score goals. It’s their job. He didn’t score today, so I don’t think there is much to praise him for.
I like him as a player but he needs to start producing at some point.
Jozy still 20 calm dwn he dint get sub out for a reason m9ore games. And we all should be wishing andcareing more about sacha more yanks who play good in europe more they start respecting our players.
Nearly every player on the USMNT has to work on their off the ball movement.
Are Ponce and Ruelas future USMNT players?
Not super impressed. Drawing fouls is his only area of excellence. He seems to expect fouls too much, and forgets about scoring goals. Playing scared? Lacking confidence? Not sure.
Between Europa league and the friendly games he already scored 3-4 goals for Villareal this season. I would not try to draw too many conclusions from his failure to score in this game. None of his teammates scored. I did not see the game, but didn’t the team have to play one man down in the second half?
There are plenty of current quality strikers around the world who were either at the same level or worse than Altidore at 20 years old. Look at Drogba. He spend ages 20-24 at Le Mans, scoring only 12 goals in that stretch. It wasn’t until he was 25 that he started to put away double digit goals a season.
So chill out with the Jozy sucks comments. He may not pan out, but no one can make that determination at this point in his career.
And honestly the same thing goes for Freddy Adu. All sports are littered with athletes who revive their careers. So try not to write someone off until it’s a foregone conclusion.
“He’s never going to score twenty goals in a season”
Jozy is just TWENTY YEARS OLD! He has a ton of time to develop. Luca Toni didn’t score 20 goals in a season until he was 27. Sure, I agree with you that he doesn’t need to score 20 in a season to be a good striker, but I think it is still very possible that he turns into a 20 goal per season stud.
Fredy Adu 2.0…….Prove me wrong Jozy.
When someone points out to me a twenty year old US National Team forward who was scoring in every three games for a top 5 club in the top flight of Spain, Italy, Germany or England then I’ll start worrying about Jozy…
Re: Ruelas:
http://sport.stv.tv/football/scottish-premier/celtic/197728-celtic-to-take-mexican-prospect-on-loan/
Nursing an injury…
2 different positions that require 2 different “engines”. Im not saying Jozy is right or wrong. A better comparison would be to compare his engine to Findley
if there is one thing that Jozy is very consistent at is drawing fouls. I guess that says something good about his game…
some of the better forwards the US produced were still in college at Jozy’s age. (mathis , mcbride)
I was disappointed in Jozy’s play today, but to be fair, Villarreal were poor. Apart from Marcos Senna, much of the squad seemed uncomfortable with their surroundings. I think Altidore lacks the assertive mentality that many top strikers exhibit. Surrounded by quick, clever passers, I expect him to hold the ball better and exploit the space behind defenders who play high and deny him space to turn. Some of this is tactical, but he seems to hide from the ball on occassion and rely on obvious diagnol runs. With more playing time and continued training in a very competitive environment, the best is yet to come from Mr. Altidore.
100% agree…watching him trot off the ball when his wingers have the ball frustrates the daylights out of me… if he had half the engine that Stuart Holden has he might be starting every match…
How many American forwards have had scoring droughts in Europe? All of them. Charlie Davies had a huge 1 in his first season in Sweden. I’m even sure McBride had those as well.
Face it. Jozy is in exploration territory. He’s accomplished quite a deal at age 20 and he has no other US striker or player to look to for advice in regards to La Liga play. Even if he scores 5 goals this season, that’s a success
Off subject, Ruelas loaned to Celtic for the rest of the season? BBC has an article about it, Ives, any info?
I just call him Voldemort.
Off the ball movement? What off the ball movement? Gotta love the Jozy shuffle….. He seems to think his role is to stand in one place and draw defenders to him.
Did he score?
No?
Then I’m not impressed. His scoring drought is a big, big problem for a forward.
aliens would make for a solid news story. why did they buy him anyway? It’s not exactly he was a hit in MLS and same internationally though he was very good in the Olympics.
We all want Jozy to succeed. He has the talent and skill to become the greatest American striker but of course he will have lots of adversity along the way. He’s the first US outfield player to play in La Liga and for a top5 club, no less. He has to fight day in and day out for even making the bench. He could have scored today or many others but he will make up for it. I believe in the guy. He’s only 20 but so far he;s had 1 full season in the EPL, played at the Olympics, started in the Confed Cup, played in the WC.
He will succeed. Even if he turns out like McBride that won’t be bad. McBride had decent stats for an aging striker. Jozy has age on his side so he should do swell. Look at him to blow up at the next Gold Cup. Hat tricks galore.
Off the ball runs are not done during games. They are perfected in practice. You get on the practice pitch and take freekicks, take cornerkicks make off the ball runs. Anticipate player and ball movements all in practice. If Altidore is not doing this, there is no amount of playing time that would improve that rather his consistency with it in practice and perfecting it game time.
Who is this other player you speak of? Oh, you must be referring to _____. That’s all I know him as.
what happened to sacha? didn’t make the 18 for Anderlecht today? is he hurt? abducted by aliens?
Encouraging, but he needs to score goals eventually or else he is not going to get much playing time. He does the little things(drawing fouls and smart passes), but now he needs to do the bigger things (scoring goals and assists) as well.
He looked like he needs some more minutes to sharpen up, and like dena said, his movement off the ball needs to be better. However, I think he played reasonable well considering how awful the team looked as a whole (service was very poor). He had some nice holdup play in the second half and one good chance to shoot, but his touch let him down.
Jozy tends to be decent 1v1. The problem is when he thinks his dribbling skills are good enough to beat two defenders. He’s neither fast enough nor a good enough dribbler to pull it off, and he inevitably loses the ball.
He absolutely HAS to work on his off-the-ball movement. Until he gets the idea that he can beat people with his dribbling OUT of his head, he’s not going to start consistently for any team in Europe.
altidore should come back to nyrb and play with and learn from henry.
I couldn’t watch the game. Did he look like he’s improved from seasons past?
He had one move in the second half that I thought was going to be a goal, but his touch was a little too heavy. He skinned his defender though.
+1 The only way that’s going to improve is with consistent playing time. But you’re absolutely right.
I watched the first seventy minutes. Altidore was solid enough, if not spectacular. He’s never going to score twenty goals in a season, but he can definitely contribute and be a solid starter for a side like Villarreal. He just needs minutes.
How did he stack up against Villarreal’s other strikers during the match?
Villarreal as a whole were pretty poor but Jozy didnt do much to stand out either. His off the ball movement is still a big issue. The difference between he and Rossi’s OTB movement is very noticeable.