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El Clasico Showdown
10 Dec
The Weekend: Follow Along With Live Commentary
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The Shin Guardian 
Posted by dth on 2011/12/10 at 8:19 AM
Hey, that Nani fella is pretty good!
Too bad Ashley Young is injured–I prefer him to Valencia for this team when healthy.
Posted by dth on 2011/12/10 at 8:33 AM
Sometimes a good old fashioned beatdown is the most entertaining brand of soccer. Like today: basically it’s fun to watch United have fun.
Posted by GeorgeCross [@BhasViswanathan] on 2011/12/10 at 9:37 AM
It takes something special to leave Tim Howard rooted to the spot. Wow. What a finish by Van Persie – technique, accuracy and power.
Posted by John henry on 2011/12/10 at 10:34 AM
Great finish and excellent technique. Loved how he kept his head down through the stroke. He’s been brilliant!
Posted by Justin on 2011/12/10 at 10:26 AM
2 assists from Fabian Johnson today playing Left Back for hoffenheim….. he looked very good. If Shea can regain his mid-year form on the left and donovan plays on the right, johnson would look mighty nice at LB
Posted by dth on 2011/12/10 at 10:49 AM
Would have the positive knock-on effect of sliding Chandler to his more natural RB spot.
Posted by Kevin on 2011/12/10 at 11:07 AM
I can’t help but want Chandler and Donovan overlapping on the right side. That’s a bitch to defend. No one else notice that parallel to Bayern Munich, klinnsmann just happened to manage them.
Posted by Alex on 2011/12/10 at 1:29 PM
In my dreamland, Clint plays a narrow right and Landon plays the CAM/SS role (seems to be playing there more for the Galaxy). And with the motor of Chandler at RWB, Clint has so much freedom to play narrower. Seems to play more aggressive when cutting inside
Posted by Berniebernier on 2011/12/10 at 4:13 PM
After the Slovenia game I have no idea what the USMNT best line-up is. The 4-4-2 diamond makes it tough for someone like Torres. It also left our defense exposed (first time with 1 DM) which makes it hard to put someone like Fabian at left back. Interestingly Altidore was playing the second striker so it’s not a perfect swap of Buddle for Landon.
While I don’t think it’s defensive enough I would like to see:
Howard
Chandler—- Cameron?—-Gooch— Fabian j
—————-Bradley
Donovan————————Shea
—————-Dempsey
———Agudelo———Altidore
I would like to see Boyd or Wooten take agudelos spot but I don’t think they are ready. Oddly I would like Donovan up top but I am not sure who plays right midfield which is odd because we used to have too many MFs
Posted by Antonio H. on 2011/12/11 at 7:42 AM
Tje Diamond against Slovenia was offset. Bradley was playing the role that Torres would fit into, tucking in on either side and essentially acting as a DLP. Although when Torres gets healthy I’m not sure who starts between the two if MB performs like that.
Posted by Berniebernier on 2011/12/11 at 1:04 PM
I assume Bradley will eventually take over Beckermans role. That may not be a good assumption but….
What do you ean by offset? I know Bradley was narrow but not sure DLP is.
Posted by Antonio H. on 2011/12/11 at 8:13 PM
Well if you eyeball Bradley’s positioning throughout the match vs that of Johnson’s, its Johnson playing as a winger on the left side, while the former is in an outside central midfield position on the right. MB was tasked with spraying the longballs and switching field, kind of like a DLP…except he was more advanced….(lol?).
I’d prefer Jones in the Beckerman role if we run a single DM formation. He just brings more quality Imo.
Posted by Crow on 2011/12/10 at 2:13 PM
What is Fabian Johnson “regular” position- it seems like he is somewhere different every week- RW, LW, CM/CF, RB, LB. What is his natural foot?
Posted by jwrandolph on 2011/12/11 at 5:26 AM
I think he’s Tim Howard’s obvious long-term replacement
Posted by Ufficio on 2011/12/11 at 7:11 PM
Both were beautiful balls – and played with his left foot, as well.
It’s nice to have some reasonable options and left back.
Posted by Crow on 2011/12/10 at 2:03 PM
wow
Posted by Rainer Wolfcastle on 2011/12/11 at 9:53 AM
Tough day for Deuce.
Posted by dth on 2011/12/11 at 12:39 PM
Anelka…to Shanghai?: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/dec/11/shanghai-shenhua-agreed-terms-nicolas-anelka
Didn’t see a really big, internationally-known market going after Anelka anyway. (Houston, for example, is big but doesn’t have the international reputation LA and NY have.)
Posted by dth on 2011/12/11 at 2:59 PM
Watched the first half of the College Cup final. Was annoyed at the physicality throughout: Charlotte went with brutish, late tackles a lot of the time and were praised for it throughout by Taylor Twellman and given a pass for it by the referee. I hope Twellman never complains about a skills deficit on the part of the U.S. players in the future, because this is the exact kind of game that gets tolerated too often in the lower levels, resulting in the skilled players getting filtered out.
Posted by Cory on 2011/12/11 at 8:36 PM
Jeremy Gunn, the Charlotte head coach, has stated that last year they played a bit more attractively and this year a decided to be more…efficient. He’s a very good coach and his team at Fort Lewis played nice soccer based around possession. I would imagine that when he is able to attract top players then his teams will be a bit easier on the eyes.
Posted by dth on 2011/12/11 at 10:04 PM
Well, there’s “efficient”, “pragmatic”–but then there’s what I saw on the field, which shouldn’t’ve been tolerated.
Posted by EFG on 2011/12/12 at 7:02 AM
Entertaining match, but not necessarily a great one. I felt the officiating was horrible, but if you are going to win a National Championship, can’t ask for a better goal than what was scored.
Posted by GeorgeCross [@BhasViswanathan] on 2011/12/11 at 3:08 PM
Did anybody read Freidel’s comments about Donovan taking the “easy way out” by staying in MLS? Very surprised to hear one American player criticise another…
Posted by Jared on 2011/12/11 at 3:39 PM
Have you heard Friedel speak lately? I’m not sure he’s American anymore.
Seriously, though I heard the comments and was a bit surprised. I haven’t read the full comments but I heard it was more a comparison between Dempsey and Donovan regarding how they got to their standing at the top of the American game. I think there are quite a few people both in the game and as fans that would agree with Friedel. I think he took the easy way out as a young player when he left Leverkusen. After that I’m not sure he had the freedom to move. MLS was never going to sell him without a huge transfer fee that was never going to come because he’s an American.
Posted by Rainer Wolfcastle on 2011/12/11 at 6:06 PM
Well, there was the 4-year extension he signed with the Galaxy in 2009. I think that’s when he made his decision. He would have known that a European deal was always going to be difficult to arrange after that, and he must have been OK with it.
As much as American soccer fans would love to see how he would fare against top European competition, you can hardly blame him for the path he took. He’s the first American soccer superstar, a marketable commodity in US sports and not just in soccer, and the face of MLS. I think he’s done a lot more for the American game than Dempsey, for example. And he’s gotten to do it all from the comfort of home.
Posted by Ufficio on 2011/12/11 at 6:10 PM
Wasn’t his contract expiring when he signed the extension in 2009?
Either way, I’m not one to criticize him for staying in MLS. It’s his life to live.
Posted by Antonio H. on 2011/12/12 at 5:39 AM
Question for you GeorgeCross on another note: why isnt Micah Richards being considered for the England RB role? Glen Johnson has come back to form but i’d still prefer the former.
Posted by GeorgeCross [@BhasViswanathan] on 2011/12/12 at 5:43 PM
I am not 100% sure to be honest. Richards has been in fine form this season, and I feel he warrants a place in the squad, if not the first XI. But there is something that Capello / Baldini has seen and that they don’t like. Does Richards have defensive / positioning faults? Yes, absolutely. But are they worse than Johnson or Walker? Not in my opinion. And I’d rather have Richard’s as RB than Smalling or Jones – they do an admiral job as cover, but I have no clue why Capello prefers them / has an issue with Richards.