TheNearPostWith neither of Donovan or Dempsey targets, this system would have to be based mostly on movement. Dempsey will play in a false nine role, dropping into the midfield and drifting wide, which will either drag centerbacks out of position and create holes in the backline to be exploited by the midfield and the rest of the attack, or puts him in space to receive the ball, allowing the USA to pass the ball around their opponents in the midfield easier. Donovan will try to make runs that exploit the space that Dempsey may create in the backline, but will also drift out to the left where he can receive the ball and then cut in on his stronger right as he likes to do.
Adu will be given a right winger-ish position, allowed to drift either to the flank or into the hole where he can create. Feilhaber has a similar role to what he played at the World Cup - shuttling between left and central midfield. Jones plays a box-to-box role all too familiar to him, while Bradley sits in a holding role he has played for the USA and Monchengladbach before, dropping between the centerbacks while they spread wide and allow the fullbacks higher up the pitch.
This sort of system could immediately solve a few problems. First off, the USA's forwards, while still young and promising, haven't quite got the dependability that you find in Donovan and Dempsey, who are no strangers to having to finish in top level football. Second, Donovan and Dempsey are getting up there in years - they'll be 32 and 31 respectively by the 2014 World Cup. We probably won't be able to keep asking to cover as much ground as they were in wide midfield positions. Finally, the two have good chemistry. Allowing them to work off of eachother and create space for one another could be dangerous.
02.08.2011
nvrCould work. Both have shown they are capable of creating things up front. However, it would be better if one of them paired up with a tall forward or a proper striker. It's a shame Altidore did not improve his game in recent years.
04.08.2011
pandaldinhoKlinsmann needs to deploy a 4-2-3-1. What is more, he needs to create a style - an identity - from which all US football can be based on.
The USMNT won't be as good as Mexico for a while. But in the mean time, JK should take the system Bradley was using before his end and add the clichéd German efficiency we saw in 2006.
Settling on a target man is integral to this. But none more important than the need to find the appropriate double-pivot. We're most likely to see what you're proposing, but with Jones-Bradley much more disciplined.
First of all, this system needs to be defined for the short-term. But this will, hopefully for the Americans, breed a successful identity.
Also, more Mix Diskerud please.
04.08.2011
