After a hot start in his first season in the Netherlands, it appears that Jozy Altidore is going to have to fight for his place in AZ Alkmaar's starting lineup.
According to reports out of the Netherlands, AZ manager Gertjan Verbeek has elected to bench Altidore ahead of Thursday's UEFA Europa League match against Austria Wien.
The timing of the benching seems peculiar considering that Altidore had done plenty of damage in the Europa League. He scored four goals in AZ's last three Europa games, including a brace in a qualifier against Aalesund and single goals in group matches against Malmo and Metalist Kharkiv.
Verbeek, however, reportedly favors Charlison Benschop, who came on for Altidore during the weekend's draw with Ajax and made an impact despite not scoring. It remains to be seen whether this benching is temporary or more of a long-term indication of where Verbeek thinks Altidore stands in his pecking order.
What do you think of this development?
Share your thoughts below.
Disagree – from the game announcer on Saturday: “From the announcer, “Jozy Altidore has worked and worked to make things difficult for the central defenders of Ajax.”
+1 – Benschop actually missed TWO sitters. One where he beat the keeper but failed to put enough on the finish to beat a backtracking defender. Another where the ball fortituously fell to him off a set piece.
AZ also lost their lead when Jozy went out, so it can’t be something ON the field.
Not true. Even the announcers said he worked like crazy that game.
Jozy has been playing well, some poor touches, but some nice runs also. In the two games I watched Jozy has made space for others more often than striking himself. The two best opportunities for either striker were Benschop’s glaring misses. The fact that Jozy’s rarely plays the entire 90 may be the determining factor.
Source?
Jozy Altidore = Rorschach test.
Did anybody actually read the “article”? It was a 94-word blurb on a Dutch Web site. A completely cursory glance reveals that NuSport seems to trade in rumors (stories about Wayne Rooney after his red card, Van Nistelrooy transfer speculation). So NuSport could be the Netherlands’ CNN or it’s New York Post.
The translation I read made a little sense, but the coach — to me — came off as defensive, explaining why he was sitting — not “benching” — a reliable scorer, while pointing out that Charlison Benschop (who happens to be Dutch; conspiracists take note!) had missed two easy chances for goals. It should also be noted that Vienna, AZ’s next opponent, is ranked 101 by UEFA, and AZ is 59 or something.
If you see in that information that Jozy is a potsmoker with no work ethic who needs a lot of sleep, well, who am I to argue with you? Me, I see a buttterfly, a happy, happy butterfly.
if you translate the linked article, sounds like the coach has a problem with jozy. specifically the coach says there are ‘other things’ that he won’t elaborate on. jozy needs to wake up and be more mature but since he is only 21, sadly there will be more incidents. hopefully he’ll figure it out….
Cap Jozy!
oh wait… just got carried away with the usual knee-jerk fan reactions.
I agree, let Jozy fight a little. But it’s different…Deuce was benched every time because Fulham got a new coach every year, not “for not apparent reason”.
The take on Altidore, at least oversees, is that he can become lackadaisical, on and off the field. I have seen him become invisible many times for USMNT. He is frequently out of position and he has NOT have the knack for playing a lone striker, this despite having the physical attributes for a great one.
I imagine it must be quite frustrating for club coaches. While it is easy to get motivated for USMNT matches, playing focused club matches and staying focused in training dies not seem to be Altidore’s forte right now.
Benching usually wakes players up, especially when they think that their playing and scoring, is enough.
AZ is a good Dutch team with good/great players, all falling over themselves to get a chance to play or get noticed. Unfortunately for Altidore his notice seems to be negative after great starts.
But he is young a will (hopefully) learn.
not aimed at MDC, but it wouldn’t let me post any other way.
he definitely has a reputation for lazy training habits. it’s why people have passed him on the pecking order before. if the u.s. had any other options that were as gifted as he were they’d be playing, but we don’t. so we have to afford to play players without the best training habits.
He showed up late for a video session of Rapid Vienna. Unprofessional
I see…And you know this how…?
Over the weekend Rooney, Nani and Chicharito all were on the bench in an important match against Liverpool. It happens in Europe. Let the manager manage and let the players work for their spots. This isn’t MLS people…Even LD didn’t start every game @ Everton and Clint doesn’t start every game @ Fulham.
More off the pitch things is right. Verbeek’s said that the only way Jozy prepares for games is sleep and he showed up to the pre-game video analysis session for the Austria Vienna game late.
oh yeah and FIRE JURGEN
EVERYONE PANIC EVERYONE PANIC!
maybe he got busted smoking some pot…not that he does smoke, but just sayin’
I’m really excited that Jozy seems to be finding his form this season, but I think people are getting a little carried away. I know he’s done well in the Europa, but he’s got 3 goals after 9 rounds for the first place team in a high-scoring league. It’s good, but not amazing. He has a teammate with twice as many goals…I’m not saying he should be benched, and maybe he’s just being rested, but I do think we’re getting a little carried away when talking about how hot he is this season.
Only reason he’s getting lambasted and people are panicking is because of his history (really other than Adu who takes more criticism?).
I’m sure there was probably some dropoff in his play, but he’s put a lot of minutes and mileage on in the past couple weeks. If a game or two off the bench gives him some rest, and some extra motivation that’s great.
Now if he finds himself not on the field regularly that’s when people should start to worry.
Agree. People overreacting by implying he’s “too comfortable” or “must be some off the field stuff”. Really, get a grip. With weekley league games, a league title to fight for, Europa and league cups being on the bench instead of starting is not that big a deal. It is not uncommon for teams in multiple competions to bench players for some of the games. Even Wayne Rooney doesn’t play every game for Man Unite.
This is Europe. You gotta fight for your spot. Think how many times Deuce got benched for no apparent reason only to battle back and regain his place in the starting 11.
Well put, Sir.
I’ve watched AZ’s last couple games to see Jozy play and he has been poor. It isn’t surprising to see him lose his starting position, especially considering his recent trend of second half substitutions.
Couple that with only a couple goals across all competitions over the past month and a half and you have the current situation.
I thought it was playing, not starting, that mattered.
I watched the Ajax game, and thought Altidore was crap. Really did not play well at all, IMHO.
Also, I don’t think it’s that accurate to say he is “hot”. Two goals across all competitions in the last month and a half isn’t “hot”.
Look, Jozy has been substituted in just about every game he’s played for AZ. So not starting shouldn’t be a complete shock.
Seems most probable. +1
That’s strange…Benschop missed an absolute sitter last game, which Jozy would have nailed home. So, reading up on the dutch press, apparently Verbeek has a problem with how Jozy trains. He said something to the effect that the only that Jozy does to get ready for the game is sleep. The former Hull manager said something similar, saying that Jozy was lazy in training and only going at half speed.
Also, I came across another article in Voetball International that complained that Jozy doesn’t know how to fit into the system and that he shouldn’t start. So, maybe that’s why. In retrospect, Verbeek didn’t want Jozy to start for a month or two at the beginning of the season exactly for that reason, though pound for pound Jozy is probably better than Benschop, but a trainer is going to prefer the guy who knows what he is doing I guess
Hope this lights a fire in Altidore to always be hungry and fight for his spot….Glass half full!
didn’t we read this story before? Looks like Atidore needs to impress against better teams.
perhaps this will put Klinnsman’s “you must be starting for your club team” mandate to test.
I don’t know. I think if i read the article which was linked to correctly then Jozy spit on the Swedish chef of the muppets and the coach had to bench him for PR purposes.
“ALKMAAR – Jozy Altidore zit donderdag op de bank bij AZ dat het thuis opneemt tegen Austria Wien in de Europa League. Coach Gertjan Verbeek is ontevreden over de Amerikaanse spits. Charlison Benschop krijgt de voorkeur. ”
This just looks like basic squad rotation. Even the best strikers in the world don’t start every single game for their team.
Seems like a bit of an over-reaction… maybe they are just mixing it up, to keep everyone sharp…
He is just being rested. Very common for teams who are trying establish a new place in the league, shooting for the league title to want to make sure they get their best out of the starters they have, who may need a rest and sacrificing very little to do it is a no-brainer. He did just come back from international duty, a midweek game last week, were others did not.
This is typical. Every time I start to get excited about Jozy he takes a step backward. He Seems to be playing well though. I’m very disappointed. Hopefully he’ll dig in and fight to get his spot back.
I translated the comments from the article and they seem to think that it might be an “attitude” or off the field problem. Who knows.
Oh how things turn so quickly. I did watch the match versus Ajax and I must day Jozy was a bit slow. He did a great job in pulling the defense away from the wingers, but still looked two steps slow. Lost too many possessions. Maybe the friendlies took some gas away.
Maybe he just needs rest. He’s played a lot lately
Talk about blowing things out of proportion. Look at how many players Harry Redknapp “benched” for Tottenham’s last Europa League game. He’s played a lot of football on two continents recently. Give him a game off or two to recharge the batteries. It’s a long season. AZ will compete for multiple trophies. Everyone relax
retaliation for Klinnsmann bringing him in for both our last games.
I agree!
Could be rest and also could be an indication of how hes been practicing. Could be more into this that we dont know.
I’m sure this has to do with jozy getting a little TOO comfortable there. While he’s been scoring goals, he still needs to remember that every day is a fight for his position, perhaps Verbeek is reminding him of that.
We’re missing something here… seems unusual based on Jozy’s form thus far. Perhaps an incident at training or late for a meeting? Or maybe just a rest and no big deal. Either way, there’s more detail that will shed clearer light on this one…
Dude is out of his mind to take a player out of the lineup who’s as hot as Jozy.
Well this sucks, but hey lets see him fight even harder and win his spot back. Good luck!
This doesn’t make much sense. Even though Jozy didn’t score in the Ajax tilt, he made a dummy run that set up AZ’s second goal and drew a foul right outside the box. Unless he needs some rest, Altidore needs to be in the lineup getting game time!
Um, yeah. That doesn’t make much sense to me given Jozy’s track record thus far. Maybe off the pitch things?