Post USA MEX thoughts part 2

I will take a different approach and briefly comment on each players effectiveness.
Bob Bradley - Overall I was not disappointed by his line-up or his substitutions. However I feel that are main weaknesses were winning balls in the middle of the field and maintaining possession in the attacking third. I think the answer to this is another body in the central midfield.
Howard - Superb as usual. Bocanegra - shaky at times but always manages to be in the right place when somebody else screws up. Onyewu - Scored a goal on a great header and didn't do anything stupid. Maybe he'll play a bit more consistently this year. Drew Moor - looks great on the ball and going foreword but blew it twice on defensive set pieces. Churundalo has this spot locked anyways. Ramirio Corrales - looked decent at times but questionable for the most part. We have to find somebody else to play left back. Convey - not his best game. Ricardo Clark - Doesn't have enough presence to cover the ground we need covered by our central midfielder. He played ok but didn't seem to win enough balls or have any success going foreword. Bradley - played better than Clark in most regards but still isn't holding down the center of the field like we need him to. We've yet to replace Mastroeni as that predator at defensive center midfield. Donovan - got more involved as the game went on and was one of our stronger players on the attack, but having him out on the right wing left Drew Moor often overwhelmed on that side of defense. Altidore - didn't see much of the ball early but did well to get onto the end of some passes when they came. The goal seemed simple enough but how many times have we seen that chance blown by Twellman/Ching/Johnson/etc.? Dempsey - saw a bit more of the ball and was able to hold onto possession under pressure better than I've seen him do in a while. I still think he may be better suited on the wing, but great individual effort on the no-goal.
Subs: Feilhaber - played surprisingly well for not ever seeing the field or even the bench for Derby. Adu- didn't do much at first but to see him taking on 3 Mexicans with the success of a Messi or Ronaldo... ridiculous. Lewis - played well. Edu - didn't see much time but looked decent.

My conclusion is that we need to try a 3-5-2. One more body in the middle will help us win loose balls and keep possession. We also need to move Donovan to a position with no defensive responsibilities. That floating center attacker is ideal. Also we need to try and fit Adu in as a starter.

USA-Mexico:Post-Match Thoughts

Firstly I need to credit Bob Bradley on a well-managed game overall. I was very happy with his subsitutions, and they were all timely. The one weak spot on field for the US was Ramirio Corrales, I wasn't sure why he was out there. The US played well, they played strong and tight defensively and moved the ball very well a number of times offensively. Both US goals were fantastic. Dempsey was very effective and probably our best player on the field (who was ever so barely offsides right before he scored). Tim Howard was great as well as Bocanegra defensively. Michael Bradley played well in the first half but started to fade in the second, though Feilhaber came in for him and played great. Altidore was mediocre (yet far more effective than Twellman) until he scored on an impressive header - shout out to Moor for the nice cross, although he needs some more defensive work. The game itself provided all of the emotion and intensity that this rivalry always does. USA-Mexico games are always a lot of fun. The refs seemed to favor Mexico but not to a drastic extreme. And Coach Bradley rose to the occassion, for that we can give him credit, but I'm still not willing to take back all the mean things I've said about him. His coaching has been inconsistent and he has made bad decisions along the way. He won back a life-line with me today. But we will see if he can continue to move this team forward.

My USA lineup for 2/6 vs Mexico

Kind of a 3-5-2

  

    Altidore         Bradley

        Donovan

Convey      Dempsey

        Edu    Feilhaber

Onyewu     Bocanegra

     Parkhurst

        Howard

USA VS MEXICO roster

The roster:

Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Tim Howard (Everton, England)

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham, England), Ramiro Corrales (Brann, Norway), Drew Moor (Dallas), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liege, Belgium), Michael Parkhurst (New England), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock, Germany), Eddie Robinson (Houston)

Midfielders: Freddy Adu (Benfica, Portugal), Michael Bradley (Heerenveen, Netherlands), Ricardo Clark (Houston), Bobby Convey (Reading, England), Brian Davis (Houston), Maurice Edu (Toronto), Benny Feilhaber (Derby, England), Stuart Holden (Houston), Eddie Lewis (Derby, England)

Forwards: Jozy Altidore (New York), Clint Dempsey (Fulham, England), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles), Pat Noonan (Aalesund, Norway)

As soon as I get a chance I'll come up with a lineup out of these players. A lot of solid choices, lets see what Bob Bradley can come up with.