Jason De Vos on The Score

[Grizzly]

quote:Originally posted by Ed

How is it that you remember de Vos being so superior to McKenna four years ago? McKenna didn't even play in qualifying until the last game (the only one we won). You say my opinion is both biased and ridiculous?

I don't want to slam de Vos too much as he was excellent for Canada in the past, but his prime days are behind him. To suggest that he is playing at the highest level of any Cdn center back is certainly displaying bias on your part. To each his own.

You might also keep in mind that I haven't stated anything about McKenna as first choice centre back, before you go off on a tirade. However, he has been playing in the Bundesliga 1 and now with a huge German club (Ipswich is at a higher level than Koeln? - that is your opinion not mine) with a very good shot a promotion back to Bundelisliga 1, to slag him endlessly as you do gets a bit tiresome.

Where did I say I was comparing how they played in the last WCQ? I am comparing how DeVos played 4 years ago and earlier with how McKenna has played at CB since then. As I stated I don't know if DeVos is in the same form as earlier but judging from reports of his play for Ipswich he is.

McKenna's national team performances in the past 4 years have been mediocre and inconsistent. I really don't think I am alone in this opinion. I think the general range of opinions on him goes from he is too slow and poor skilled to be our starting CB to he should be our starting CB but really needs to pick up his game. I don't think many if any would give him an evaluation that our WCQ campaign will be fine if keeps on playing like he has been. Add to this that he has played very poorly for Cologne this year with the exception of the last 4 games before the break in which he played quite well. You don't have to take my opinion on that you can look at his Kicker ratings or read any number of FCK fan forums. Kicker released their list of the 17 best Centre Backs in the 2nd Bundesliga and McKenna did not even make this list (http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/2bundesliga/startseite/artikel/169226). Remember he is playing in the 2nd Bundesliga and on one of the top teams (next to the 2nd best CB in the 2BL according to Kicker) at that so he should be performing much better. Nor was his performance in South Africa very inspiring either.

Yes I am aware Daum made him captain in the last month before the break but the reason for this was the mystery of FCK fan forums this year. Posters did not understand how he could be named captain when he was playing so poorly. Theories ranged from Daum was once again doing drugs or having psychological problems to Daum was trying to motivate McKenna to play better (in which case it worked because he has played better since being named captain).

In regards to his first Bundesliga time with Cottbus, he did better than I expected in the 1st Bundesliga but a lot of that had to do with the defensive tactics employed by the team. Cottbus played everyone back and crowded the backfield as much as possible to negate the technical superiority of the teams they were playing against. Teams had little room to move and pass and were forced to loft the ball into the box thus playing to McKenna's strength of heading the ball out and not exposing his weaknesses of lack of speed and ball handling skill. I think it is very telling that with low budget but overachieving Cottbus being ripe for being raided his teammates were raided by mid-table Bundesliga teams while a 2nd Bundesliga team took McKenna. The mid-table Bundesliga teams knew that if they open up the backfield to play any sort of offensive style tactic that McKenna's deficiencies would be exposed. I highly doubt that we will be playing a tactical formation similar to Cottbus in our WCQ campaign.

Regarding me being biased in saying the Championship is better than the 2nd Bundesliga that is hardly the case. I have hardly any interest in English soccer yet have teams that I support in the top 4 tiers of German soccer and follow them quite closely. Yet if anyone thinks that the German leagues are at the playing level of the English ones they are living in a dream world. I have never ever even heard a German claim this. Yes the German leagues develop talent better both their own and foreign talent but we are talking about actual league playing level not whether they are good at developing youth players. The EPL is clearly superior to the Bundesliga and I think the gap widens the further down the tiers you go. Spain may have an argument that their league is equal or better than the English leagues but Germany does not. The English leagues are entirely focused on winning by playing the best players they can buy regardless of age or nationality. This win today at all cost attitude is what makes them such poor development leagues but raises the competitive level of the league.

I am not particularly happy with any of the solutions for CB. They all have their drawbacks and it is certainly a weak spot on the team. That is why everyone who is a legitimate candidate for the position including McKenna should be given a shot at earning a spot, especially the one guy playing at the highest level who plays this position for his club. If DeVos is absolutely hated by the rest of the players I could accept this as a reason for not calling him but we are not sure how unpopular he is and with whom. To not call him because he is too old (he just turned 34 this week and there are many good players at this age) when he is still playing well at a high level is simply stupid. Ed you accuse me of bias but I am not saying McKenna shouldn't be given a chance at becoming starting CB while you are stating that DeVos shouldn't be given the same chance. Sounds like you are following a similar selection philosophy to Yallop who I thought you weren't very fond of. I think at this point we can't ignore anyone who is a possible CB starter and we need to call them all and have a fair competition for the spot.

[Grizzly]

quote:Originally posted by Ed

3. Nik Ledgerwood - scarcely mentioned in any formation threads, he looks to be ready for a busy 2nd half in Germany as 1860 try to get back in the promotion hunt. He was captain of our U20's 3 years ago and one of our best in Holland.

The reason he is hardly mentioned is that he is off the radar because he gets injured so much. I like what I have seen of him but if he is going to have any sort of pro and national team career he needs to actually have a full season without missing half of the year with a major injury.

Another guy we haven't mentioned as a CB possibility in this thread is Serioux although his red card potential is a bit worrying.

[Scottie]

quote:Originally posted by Grizzly

Another guy we haven't mentioned as a CB possibility in this thread is Serioux although his red card potential is a bit worrying.

He did play quite well at CB against CR. Take from that what you will as it was only one match.

[Soju]

In defence of Hastings: He hasn't played himself out of the team yet (I'm starting to become a broken record on this point). Hainault was the really sketchy of the two in Gold Cup remember he was letting everyone and their dog kick Onstad and had a couple sketchy back passes (although so did Paul). If we're considering Hainault based on what he did in Gold Cup surely we can consider his more competent and experienced partner at least until age becomes an issue.

I think trying Klukowski as a CB more is smart because we have to get a 90 minute look at De Jong ASAP and see if he meets the hype.

In defence of Serioux: Come on yawl, don't give up on our secret weapon! Those throw ins can punish teams and Adrian always steps up for Canada. He was our best player against Portugal way back when and a beast against Austria. Solid against CR recently. Why exclude someone who's had all around good performances for us because of their club play? If the team brings out the best in the player then perhaps Canada brings out the best in Serioux.

Hutchinson as a CB? Remove him from the triforce of power (DeRo/Hutch/DeGuz) and that would bring our entire midfield back to square one. We'd might as well put Stalteri, Brennan and Hastings in mid too and give Holger a call.

[BearcatSA]

quote:Originally posted by Scottie

He did play quite well at CB against CR. Take from that what you will as it was only one match.

I too still have some concerns over discipline issues, especially in WCQ away ties, but I thought he did fine against CR with their goal coming from Hainault reacting too slowly to the diagonal run. It appears that Dallas had more success with Serioux as one of their two defensive holding mids during the latter part of the 2007 season, so I'm not sure he will get as much of a run at CB in the future. However, the fact that he can be slotted into multiple spots serves in his favour for MNT selection: squad players who are club starters in MLS and can fill a utilty role are invaluable during WCQ.