A few points on USA vs Ecuador and Honduras

1. I find it a little bit funny that, apart from the Mexico match, the USA has been doing the antithesis of the Bob Bradley era - starting very promisingly, even dominating, before giving up a goal. Three of the four goals the USA has conceded in the Klinsmann era have been in the second half, and two of those three in the last 22.5 minutes ( the "second half of the second half"). Now, to be fair to Klinsmann, I doubt that Carlos Bocanegra would have had as big a mental lapse as Tim Ream did last night. Substitutions inevitably just about always ruin international friendlies, which is partly why Bob Bradley would frequently make half, or even less than half of his substitutions during certain friendlies, using certain friendlies to test his actual tactics, and then using others to test the mettle and merit of players( January friendlies).

2. Oguchi Onyewu had a great game. There isn't much other way of putting that. However, my (biggest) surprise comes from the fact that he had such a great game against the type of attack he is rumoured to struggle against - pacy strikers, tricky wingers, and a counter attacking side that's good in transitions. His positional sense was great, his aerial dominance was evident, and he's playing with a confidence and belief in himself that we haven't seen in a while. The center back spot seems his to lose

3. There is a serious lack of creativity in the central midfield right now. And I'll tell you something else - the solution is not Jose Torres ( or whining about what Stuey Holden would do). Torres may spray the ball around smartly to keep possession, but he lacks the attacking drive. By that, I mean that he's not really trying to make a direct impact on the attack. What the USA could really use is a defensive midfielder who can get in tackles AND spray the ball around in an intelligent manner that helps set tempo and keep possession. I would say that the player best suited for this position is Michael Bradley. He has been playing the role for Chievo Verona, and played it for Borussia Moenchengladbach. He's generally quite good at switching the point of attack ( although some people give him a lot of flack for passing the ball from side to side way too much), and presents a better passing range than some like to admit. As far as the player in front of him, again, it needs to be someone who can provide real drive into the attack. Benny Feilhaber could do well in such a role, as he presents an ability to both spray the ball around intelligently, and unlock defenses, either by skill or by vision. Sacha Kljestan is playing pretty well in Belgium these days, and he has better overall mobility than Feilhaber. He provides the running , stamina, work rate, and tackling of a box-to-box midfielder, and the creativity of an attacking midfielder. That being said, his passing isn't as precise as Feilhaber's. He seems to constantly look for the defense-splitting pass.

4. Timothy Chandler is definitely settling in at left fullback. Not much else to say. He seems to be growing in confidence on both sides of the ball.

5. Altidore has grown a lot as a player at AZA. His hold-up play, his work rate, his aerial ability, and his overall ball-handling have improved. Moreover, he seems confident.

6. I liked Edson Buddle last night, and I continue to question why he's all of a sudden on the outside looking in. He made some good things happen last night simply with solid hold-up play and decision-making. To me, he's like Brian Ching/Conor Casey who can finish on the international level ( no offense to either player - I'm fans of both). I don't think he should be starting, but I do think he should be at least the back up option as a target striker.

Overall, I think the USA does have quite a few positives to take from these two matches, or at least a big one. Apart from getting his first win as manager of the USA, Juergen Klinsmann seems to have found a tactic/formation that works for this side after the first three games. The 4-1-4-1, due to it's numerical superiority in the central midfield, offered great possession and organization, but left the USA looking rigid and predictable in the final third, with none of the central midfielders getting the freedom to roam or create, and none really in a good position to create chances and channel the attack. In this new formation, which looks like a 4-4-1-1/4-2-3-1, Dempsey can roam underneath Altidore to find space to create from, or even join him up top at times. Essentially, the 4-4-1-1/4-2-3-1 is better than the 4-1-4-1/4-3-3 at having players in dangerous spaces to make things happen. We saw a lot of times, particularly against Costa Rica, where the USA's attack would be slowed down because they didn't have options or ideas in the final third. Against Honduras and Ecuador, the USA had Clint Dempsey in the hole to receive the ball, which helped link the midfield and attack. Moreover, Dempsey is in a good position to support Altidore right off the bat. Generally, I'd like to see the formation posted above given a shot. Bradley in a deep-lying/ holding distributive role and Kljestan shuttling to and fro the "3" and the "2" in the 4-2-3-1.

USA vs Argentina tactical analysis

The graphic on top shows the USA first half shape, and the graphic on the bottom shows the USA's second half shape. The first half was the USA's attempt to stifle Argentina's central trio with one of their own., but Messi dropping deep created a 4v3 imbalance in the center in favor of Argentina. This was why Argentina were so rampant in the first half. Since the USA wasn't wasn't going to allow Messi roam unmarked, they let one of Argentina's central midielders free, specifically, Esteban Cambiasso the man who got the goal. Offensively, the USA was poor because with them sitting so deep, the only outball they had in their transition play was Jozy Altidore, who was outnumbered 2-4vs1.

The second half saw the USA switch to the 4-4-2/4-2-2-2 that they're comfortable with and have had success with. Playing a two-forward system immediately gave he USA more support for the attack. More importantly, the Altidore, Agudelo, and Chandler's movement into high and wide areas either stretched Argentina and created gaps for Donovan and Dempsey to exploit, or provided an outball in transition play. It was particularly dangerous for Altidore and Agudelo to get wide because Argentina's fullbacks had the tendency to get forward a lot, leaving gaps in the fullback zones. Chandler's forays into the attack were dangerous as well due to the fact that the wide players in Argentina's front three were not instructed to/interested in defend/defense.

Perhaps most important of all was the fact that the USA could sit deep( limit the space in behind the defence), narrow( limit the space in the center) and compact( limit the space in between the lines of defence, midfield, and attack) without worrying about not having any attacking punch. This is why this works so well against possession teams - It threatens them on the counter, exploits spaces they leave open, and closes down the spaces they love to work in.

I'm back!...Again!...

Listen baby....I know I said I'd post more frequently.....I know.....I know....I KNOW.....Well what the hell do you want me to do? Is it so bad that I want to get into a good college? Well thanks for the vote of confidence, glad you're not the Dean of Admissions at UNC...Oh, don't cry...you know I didn't mean it....Listen, I've got another tactical analysis for you and I think you'll really enjoy this one.......I know I said that last time - that was different! I was young and stupid!......That was the day I started this blog?......whoops.....Well here you go!



Bradley's 4-4-1-1/4-2-3-1/4-3-3/4-2-1-3?

It seems that Bob Bradley has a new found interest in a five-man midfield, one that a lot of fans felt came a bit too late.....like 45 minutes too late.....three times....Either way, there is a wealth of midfield talent to take advantage of and I spent a lot of time trying to find a way to utilize it, and by that I mean I've been looking at various other tactically based soccer sites that happened to have been offering an analysis on any of the USA's matches and compiling them to find a possible solution to this incredibly happy problem. The main thing I noticed against Slovenia, Algeria, Ghana, Poland, and Colombia had to be the interesting role of Benny Feilhaber and Stuart Holden. They were said to have played on the wings in a 4-2-3-1/4-4-1-1, yet there were times when they were deep in the central midfield, just in front of Bradley and Edu/Jones. The USA's penalty against Ghana started on a sequence when Benny Feilhaber made a pass from the center of the park into Donovan, who flicked onto Dempsey before he was taken down in the box. The USA's first goal against Poland started when Holden came inside from the left, combining with Bradley and Jones respectively before the latter played a fantastic ball to spring Altidore. There was even a sequence against Colombia in which Holden found himself smack in the middle of the park and started scurrying back to his conventional wide right role when he realized the USA's passing was going to end up needing an outlet in that spot. Another telling moment happened in the Ghana game, this time with the USA out of possession. Feilhaber, Bradley, and Edu all three team stripped a Ghanaian player in the middle of the park who had dwelt to long on the ball. In short the USA switched to a 4-3-3/4-2-1-3ish shape with one of their wide players drifting between the right and central midfield. This kind of allowed Dempsey, and indeed Donovan to drift around the attack without losing the numbers battle in the middle. Moreover, Dempsey and Donovan were given permission to stay higher up the field out of possession, with the more defensively apt trio of Bradley, Edu, and Feilhaber covering for them in the World Cup.

I think the general set up of having Holden, Bradley, and Jones cover all the ground and do the yeoman's work while the slowly-but-surely-aging attacking midfielders Donovan and Dempsey push higher up makes sense. It allows Holden to play wide and put in his trade mark crosses, while also coming inside to play the box-to-box/linking role he seems to do well in for Bolton. Donovan can play his favored left midfield role, while Dempsey is in a role his club frequently puts him in, occasionally moving wide right on defense to maybe pin back the fullbacks the same way Charlie Davies did against Sergio Ramos. Essentially, it's a central trio that's right-of-centre shuttling across the pitch.

Edit: Check out the cheap visual image at the top.