The U.S. men's national team returns to action in a week and it will provide us our first glimpse of the next cycle under head coach Bob Bradley.
Will Bradley start trying new things, which he seemed to suggest in his comments after his re-hiring? Will we see a move away from the 4-4-2? Will we get a glimpse of Stuart Holden in a central midfield role? Will we see Jermaine Jones start?
So what starting lineup and formation will see Bradley trot out against Poland on Oct. 9th? Here is one potential starting squad:
PROJECTED USMNT LINEUP vs. POLAND
—————Dempsey———Altidore—————–
Bedoya——————————————–Holden
——————Bradley——–Edu———————-
Spector—-Bocanegra———Onyewu—–Cherundolo
———————–Howard—————————–
Yep, this squad would be lined up in a 4-4-2, and it doesn't include Jermaine Jones. While I do think Jones is good enough to start for the USA, you wonder whether he would get the starting nod in his first match.
Now, if Bradley is serious about trying new things, and he's going to consider a new system, then a 4-2-3-1 makes sense. If so, we could see the same starting lineup, only lined up this way:
————————-Altidore————————-
——Dempsey———Holden————–Bedoya—–
——————Bradley——–Edu———————-
Spector—-Bocanegra———Onyewu—–Cherundolo
———————–Howard—————————–
So what lineup and formation would I like to see Bradley trot out?
———————–Altidore—————————
————-Dempsey———Holden——————
——Jones————Edu———–Bradley———-
Lichaj——Bocanegra—-Onyewu——-Cherundolo
————————Howard————————–
Are we really likely to see a Christmas tree formation featuring Jones, Edu and Michael Bradley together? Probably not, but I'd love to see it used to see if it could work. Jones and Bradley can both get forward and the system could also benefit players like Benny Feilhaber and Jose Torres, who have good attacking qualities. I also have Lichaj in the starting lineup. Sure, Spector is more likely, but I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting to see Lichaj play, and Spector isn't exactly in good form at West Ham.
Now it's your turn. What lineup would you like to see the USA use against Poland? Which formation would you be interested in seeing?
Share your thoughts below.
Object to the idea of Feilhaber as “super sub”. I think this is a self fulfilling prophecy. I haven’t researched it, I’ve just watched the games. Maybe someone could tell me how many 90 minute USMT games he’s actually played. Virtually everybody “drops in and out” or “gets lost” at some point in a 90 minute soccer game.
Ives has it right. 4-2-3-1. Allows more midfielders on the field, which result means more posesion. Jones/edu/or bradley in the middle. Demsey(sub b.shea) and holden(sub bedoya)on the wings and feilhaber in the middle. Jozy up top. Best overall formation 4-3-3. With posesion mids(torres/holden/feilhaber and 1 def mid jones/edu/bradley) and donovan and dempsey on the wings(that would be scary!) and jozy up top.
Who the hell else was there? Klinsmann? He’s just someone who has no good tactical understanding, but is more tactically flexible than Bradley. He doesn’t understand the actual tactics he’s employing.
HA! Win. If I were being serious, I would suggest the arrowhead. But death spear is clearly better.
no contempt here, just a rational argument for letting someone else in our midfield pool step up and be given a chance, but sure, dismiss it all with a “hater” label…
if you actually watched Cal Ripken play then you know that he was a below average player for the last 2-3 years… that’s a terrible counterpoint…
Also, how are you able to watch every USMNT practice to know that Bradley works the hardest out of the entire team?
Jones plays more at the center then the wings even though he can play at the wing position, however I doubt Bradley will start him or any of the new guys. I can’t see to watch Onyewu start because he hasn’t play a real football game back since the world cup game against Slovenia. I wouldn’t be surprise to see Spector play on LB. I see Bradley and Edu starting at center and I see Holden and Feilhaber at the wings. And at Forwards, I see Dempsey and Altidore. Our Backline could be Dolo, Goodson, Onyewu, Bocanegra, but I doubt that Onyewu would start and it seems to me Bradley would like to see Spector start at LB.
I don’t see Bedoya starting at LM. He is more comfortable playing at RM. Plus, I don’t see him starting period. I beleive Feilhaber will start at left with Holden at right. I can see Goodson starting at CB and puting Bocanegra at LB, but I think Bradley would like to either start Spector or Lichaj at LB even though those players perfer to play at RB.
—————Dempsey———Altidore—————
Feilhabe—————————————-Holden
——————Bradley——–Edu——————
Spector—-Bocanegra———Onyewu———Cherundolo
———————–Howard————————-
I see us starting in a 4-2-3-1:
—————Jozy—————
Dempsey——Holden——Feilhaber
——–Bradley—–Edu————
Boca—–Gooch—–Goodson—-dolo
————–Timmy—————–
2nd have subs:
Spector for Boca/Gooch
Lichaj for Dolo
Jones for Bradley or Edu
Johnson for Jozy
Bedoya for Benny/Dempsey
Guzan for Tim
It’s great when M.Bradley gets foward–he’s dangerous, but is his distribution good enough to play in the middle of the second line?
Perhaps he could grow into the role, but that’s only going to happen if that’s unconditionally the direction we’re going in.
Word, except i’d like to see Guzan instead of Timmy.
depth, extra look, provide a smoother transition for shea to the nats, fill out a roster, and also dont forget that pearce was playing alot of midfield early on in the season…… plenty of reasons but it is still just a hunch
Also the Olympics
I like how the MB and BB haters now disguise their contempt with lame qualifying statements.
This is basically the same argument that everyone had about Cal Ripken playing all those baseball games.
Whatever happened to winning a job? Just because the USMNT is a soccer team doesn’t mean you have to introduce soccer mom “everyone gets to play” philosophy into it.
I thought it was a good thing to want to play every minute for your country and when you consider who Bradley has had for competition all these years it’s not a surprise.
Did you ever consider that if MB is always the best guy in practice, then how can you justify to the other players playing someone else? You can’t tell from outside but it seems to me Bradley is just about the fiercest competitor in the US player pool.
If I’m BB I thank god my son is so consistent and so crazy to play leaving me with one less lineup question to answer.
And if you are a US competitor for Bradley’s spot and want it so bad then tear it up at your club team and then , when you get to camp, blow them all away at practice and take the job. If you can’t do that then
sit down and shut up.
Holden seems to be taking that approach to heart.
1) still depressed that Bradley is our coach for another 4 years. I wanted some proven winner. Anyways…
2) will Gooch ever play a match for Milan?
3) If you played significant minutes in a CL game this week, you get to start. Jones, Edu, Altidore.
This is a GREAT lineup. I would swap Stu and Benny because Stu is a better crosser, but otherwise, this is what we should see. the Bedoya for Benny sub would just push Holden inside and we could see how he does int he middle, too.
FWIW, Pearce isn’t available for the Poland game anyway. He won’t be with the team until the Colombia match
Then why call up his teamate Pearce, also a left back?
Wow Ives. That first lineup kinda made me go from being really excited about this game, to not at all excited. Lol
This guy is 23 years old has bounced around and managed, as a winger, to get about 93 pro games and score 4 goals. He seems to have “journeyman” written all over him.
I haven’t seen him play. Care to tell me who in the current US player pool he should replace? Who is he better than? Why do you think he is a no brainer?
i dont think that line up will work cuz of one main flaw: McBride is way toooo old to play that lone striker role :]
Jozy is much better at holding the ball than he used to be. He did quite well at the world cup and drew tons of fouls and yellow cards on the opposition.
tnnelson, you are right on the money! I will also add that the USMNT lost the possession battle to Slovenia and Algeria and Ghana. All three teams played formations that had 5 players at midfield against our 4. There’s no shame in having less possession when playing Spain or Brazil, but we should dominate possession against the likes of Slovenia and Algeria. In fact, when BB made solid adjustments to take off one of the strikers to add an extra player to midfield, the ball possession improved immediately, the team started to look much more dangerous and scored against their opponents. BB made the right adjustments, but he picked the wrong formation against all 3 teams to start the game, putting the midfield at a numerical disadvantage in each game. And against Ghana, this caught up with the team and they ran out of gas in the overtime, because BB had to use his subs too early for tactical reasons.
What a lot of people seem to miss is that when Dempsey and Donovan play in the 4-4-2 as mdifielders, it ofen winds up as a 4-2-4 which is why BB likes the two defensive midfielders.
U-17 and U-20 World Cup
“He is probably the single most technically gifted player that the US has”
I’m not sure what you mean by technically gifted but there are quite a few other US players who are his equal in terms of skill and technique.
Where he has excelled for the US is as a 20-35 minute all purpose midfield sub, either coming on to settle down a disorganized midfield or provide an injection of offense with his passing. It’s something he does better than just about any other US player at this time.
What I wouldn’t do is give him 90 minutes. He seems to just run out of gas or lose interest after a while. Or maybe the other side just figures him out. Or maybe he’s not that fit. Whatever the reason, I’ve seen most of his USMNT games and this seems to be where he will stay for now unless someone invents the soccer equivalent of Viagra and gives it to him.
Not his fault they were relegated last year. It’s not like he didn’t try to leave in the summer either. just had no takers at bigger clubs. the kid is gifted, but i agree that he drifts in and out of games. if he is not being used in a CAM role or on the wing then your not getting the most out of the player. he is not a true CM, he is never going to be a ball winner in the center of the park, but he has on the ball skills that are top notch when put in the right place on the field. plus he is brazilian, that has gotta count for at least a good first touch.
Um if friendlies aren’t the place to test out youth – when is?
And the first rounds of the Gold Cup are jokes for us. Our inability to trust youth will continually shoot us in the foot.
so what? Howard is our best goalie, but Guzan still gets to play in friendlies…
and why not find out if someone else could do better? We’re not exactly talking about Roy Keane, or Xavi, or Zidane here…
how about Jones-Edu? or Jones-Holden? or Edu-Holden?
each of them is getting heavy minutes in either Champs League/ Bundesliga or EPL…
aren’t these friendlies about deepening the potential pool of contributors?
after 4000 minutes, we know what Bradley does on the field for USMNT… let’s give someone else a run… and if the team really falls apart and absolutely cannot function without Bradley, put him in for the 2nd half…
Don’t understand the love affair with Bedoya on this site. He’s done absolutely nothing for the US and his season hasn’t exactly been stellar.
On top of that, the proposed formation includes Spector who doesn’t even make the bench for West Ham anymore and Gooch who hasn’t played since the World Cup. Bit confusing.
Maka, I agree with you regarding our full backs. Christmas tree formation is a relatively narrow formation and is heavily dependent upon the full backs to provide width. Nobody considers our full-backs (particularly on the left) to be a position of strength. We also lack a creative playmaker in the middle. AC Milan was successful with this formation because they had Pirlo, who was a great in finding Shevchenko and other attacking players with his precise passing from the deep midfield. Nothing against Michael Bradley, but I just don’t see him being able to play the same role as Pirlo did for AC Milan. I think that 4-2-3-1 formation suits our personnel much better. I also agree with SBI’s picks for that formation except I would have given a chance to Lichaj as a left back over Spector, who is not getting any playing time for his club. It is too risky to start two players (Gooch and Spector) who are not getting playing time on the same backline. Lichaj is a nice prospect, let’s give him a chance. And I am not sure that Bedoya has done enough to deserve a start – he looked quite indecisive in a friendly against Brazil.
Gooch seemed to be in the form of his life during the summer of 09. But, when he went over to Milan he only got 30 minutes total of playing time before getting injured with the National team.
Hey Ives, is there any chance you could repost the roster on this post? Just a thought. Nice Q&A the other night btw.
Would you have Jones as a CAM?
If you do, I certainly disagree. In that case, I would have Feilhaber in the CAM role. Or switch Holden to CAM and move Benny out right.
Excellent point. I’ve been all excited about playing with the attack possibilities, but you’re right: first order of business is figuring out how to solidify the defense.
I would go with something looking like this:
————————Altidore———————-
Bedoya——————Dempsey—————–Holden
—————–Jones———–Bradley————–
Lichaj———Bocanegra——Onyewu——–Cherundolo
————————Howard————————
The main thing here is the movement of Bedoya, Dempsey and Holden. Bedoya uses his pace to stretch the defense so that when the USA gets players in support we create a lot of 2v1 situations where we can just combine around these defenders. Dempsey’s intelligent movement between lines can either make good passing routes for Bradley and Jones to pass into, or drag away a defensive midfielder tracking him so that someone like Holden or Bedoya could take that space right behind Altidore.
A good example of a pacy striker stretching the defense was Davies’ work on the first goal against Spain. It pulled the Spanish defense apart and when he got support in the form of Dempsey, they just combined right around Puyol and Pique, with Altidore dealing with Capdevilla and finishing.
Dempsey did a great job of drawing away a defensive midfielder on the first goal against Turkey. Notice how the defensive midfielder is way out of position. That’s because he’s tracking Dempsey, who had been taking up positions in the hole quite a few times that half. That time, however, Dempsey moved to the left and it allowed Findley to drop into that space and play the inch-perfect pass for Landon.
I really want to see Brek Shea get an extended look, but it won’t happen, and rightfully so.
Just my opinion though.
You tend to get a ton of playing time when you are the best guy at your position.
Lady Liberty’s Spear of Freedom
USA USA USA
Ives,
By no means am I one to imply that MB only plays because of his dad, he has without a doubt proven his worth, BUT do you realize that he’s played every single minute of every game that he’s been called up for under BB? (unless he got sent off, of course)
Not once has he been taken out for underperformance or tactical reasons, or just to give someone else a chance in a friendly…. just an observation…
on that note, how about Jones-Bradley and then Jones-Edu in the 2nd half?
love it
Johnson Altidore
Feilhaber Jones Bradley Holden
Lichaj Bocanegra Onyewu Spector
Guzan
It seems like Bob’s main goal here is to tinker with the defense, since he brought a full 8 Defenders and only 10 players to fill out the mid/striker positions. He probably wants to keep a mostly experienced team out there while he tinkers, so he can see how things will eventually gel with the first team. Perhaps this is why Howard was called as well…to add stability/experience to the defense while Bob experiments with the back 4? Having said that, I’d like to see some kind of 4-3-2-1 as well, but it will probably depend on whether finding a new formation is the goal for these 2 friendlies.
the 2 Europa league games he has played he was a left back and looked damn good if you ask me
i disagree. i think Dempsey could play at Milan, as well as a fully healthy, in-form Gooch(which he clearly has not been since the injury). i also think if Altidore gets his things in order and develops his raw talent into what he can be, he will be able to play on any team in Europe in 4-8 years time
i fully expect to see shea deployed as a LB in philly….. just a hunch I have
i just don’t think our striker pool is deep enough to make the same mistakes we made last cycle by always playing a 2 striker system.
we should play to our strengths. we have an abundance of talent in the midfield, especially in the center, so why put 2 center mids out there when we can put 3? we need to get with the rest of the world and get away from a 4-2-2 or some variation of it.
i would love to see a 4-5-1/4-3-3 formation where the wingers move up and form a 4-3-3 when we have possession and they move back and get level with the center mid to form a 4-2-3-1 type of formation when we don’t have the ball. that is how we can be most effective with our talent pool
Can Brek Shea play left back? I know FC Dallas would have no use for him there but, it would really help us if he could.
death for who?
+1. Why can so many people not get this? The priority now is not to start all 18-year olds to get them ready for WC 2014. The priority is to win next year’s Gold Cup.
Players like Boca and Dolo will be useful to help us win the GC 2011, and that is why they are still getting caps. The youth will be mixed in, so be patient.