Formation and Selection Thread

[CanadianSwede]

I wouldn't start Edgar over De Jong for the simple fact that De Jong is playing on a regular basis first team football. What if we moved McKenna and Stalteri to CB's and had Klukowski and De Jong playing on the wings? Klukowski was for me the stand out player against South Africa so I would agree that it would be best if he remained in his natural position such as follows:

-------------Friend----------------

DeRo-----JDG---------Atiba------Radz

--------------Imhoff-----------------

Kluko------Stalteri----Mckenna------De Jong

Lars

[jonovision]

I'm fairly certain that De Jong is a strictly left-sided (left-footed) player. I don't think he's an option at RB.

[youllneverwalkalone]

Come June, nobody will be playing regularly in the first team.

[loyola]

If Hainault got called for the Iceland, CR and SA games and Edgar wasn't (except as an injury cover in Iceland and didn't see the field) I just don't see how DM could start him at CB. It's not like he's having a breakout year, he's not even seing the field.

Hainault is clearly ahead of Edgar at CB.

I agree that CB is clearly unsettled and we'll need to find the right pairing before the group stage.

Other positions that could change are Right winger, left back, stiker and goalkeeper. I think Imhoff, JDG, DeRo, Atiba, Mckenna (even if I'm not to sure of his abilities) and Stalteri are lock at their position.

[youllneverwalkalone]

I don't recall if Hainault and McKenna have played together. I would not put those two together because they have similiar limitations and are a similar risk for cards/penalties in CONCACAF. Edgar is a little quicker, and a little more disciplined -IMO. You're probably correct though that Mitchell currently rates Hainault above Edgar. I wonder why? Looks like every U-20 is in DM's doghouse right now.

[loyola]

I don't think they are in the doghouse, apart from Johnson none is seing quality playing time at a good enough level for being a contender for a spot on our MNT. And I don't think Johnson is much more than a depth guy for our team.

Hainault has already a couple of years as a starter in a pretty decent league and 10 caps with the MNT. BTW, I'm not sure about your rating of the speed of Hainault and Edgar as none looks really speedy or really slow. But I'm pretty sure DM knows better than us, having coached both guys.

[youllneverwalkalone]

Do you think playing in the Czech league is more impressive than being the captain of an EPL reserve side? Just curious. I'm not down on Hainault at all. I think he's great. If Tam came back, that would be my pair. I do think Andre is a card risk in Central America though. The officials got a real good look at his elbows in the Gold Cup. I'm sure opposition managers will remind them if they didn't.

[loyola]

I think playing first team football in a decent league is more impressive than playing reserve for an EPL side. Edgar has said it, we've said it, he needs to be loan to a CCC or a League 1 team. I'm not a Czech League expert but I feel like it's certainly at approx. the same level as the CCC and I'm pretty sure Sparta Praha could be a last 10 EPL team. So Hainault is currently a back up for that kind of team (similar situation as Edgar) but with more pro and MNT experience.

[Guest Jeffery S.]

Edgar is nowhere near our squad right now. He was god-awful in the WC last summer, I was not at all impressed by him. And he sure as hell is not going to handle our rival's strikers, he can't help our passing game, he does not have the experience vs. serious opposition.

Way better to have Hastings and McKenna there, or Kluka who at least plays on one of the better teams in a decent league and has consistently been able to win back a starting spot from rivals at Bruges.

I personally think that not one of the players at last summer's WYC should have anything to do with our WC qualifying campaign.

As for those pegging Tam for the back line, if you have seen him play for AEK you will know he is very similar to Julian. For me he'd be a great sub for Julian or may even complement him. I am amazed the CSA has not been able to sort out his situation with FIFA, they are so frigging useless it's incredible.

[Grizzly]

quote:Originally posted by youllneverwalkalone

Do you think playing in the Czech league is more impressive than being the captain of an EPL reserve side?

The answer is a clear yes. It may not be more impressive as an indication of where they will be in 5 years but as an indication of where they are NOW playing in the Czech league is definitely more impressive. I think it probably wouldn't be that hard to put together a fairly long list of former EPL reserve team captains who never had solid careers at the CCC or Czech division level let alone EPL (hopefully Edgar will not be one of them). I like Edgar and think he is unfairly criticized for the U-20 solely because of the team he plays for. He is a CB and it seems like people were expecting Maradonna runs from him. He was pretty solid through the tournament despite having to constantly cover the errors of the others in our very shaky backline. Don't forget his CB partner was probably the worst player on the team. However, Hainaul's career is more advanced at this point.

[gkhs]

---------------------Lars

Stalteri-----McKenna-------Brennan---Klukowski

---------------------Imhof

----------Hutchinson-------de Guzman

Radzinski----------------------------De Rosario

---------------------Friend

A Gerba

I Hume

I Nakajima-Farran

T Nsaliwa

O Occean

P Onstad

A Serioux

Last Cuts

P Bernier

A Hainault

R Hastings

A Jazic

G Sutton

J Simpson

Good Options

M de Jong

D Edgar

OK Options

K Harmse

C Pozniak

M Nash

J Peters

W Johnson

K Stamatopoulos

C Gbeke

Anybody else would be a bit of an emergency choice.

[Soju]

---------------------Lars--------------------

Stalteri-----McKenna-------Hastings----Brennan/deJong

---------------------Imhof-------------------

----------de Guzman-------Hutchinson---------

Radzinski----------------------------De Rosario

---------------------Friend-------------------

I think Hastings has CONCACAF forwards figured out better than most of our players and should start at CB.

[themodelcitizen]

Home formation:

<center>

Hirsch

Stalteri - McKenna - Hainault - Kluko

de Guzman - Hutchinson

Hume - DeRosario - Radzinski

Friend

</center>

Away formation:

<center>

Hirsch

Stalteri - McKenna - Hainault - Kluko

Imhof

De Guzman - Hutchinson

Hume ------------- DeRosario

Friend

</center>

Obviously it can be switched in-game with a substitution of Radz/Hume for Imhof. At home I think DeRo needs to be the attacking fulcrum, and that the exact formation/personnel will change depending on the situation, but I feel that if the duo of Guzzy and Hutch cover for each other, then sacrificing Imhof for an attacking player may be necessary to go all-out in attack.

Other substitutes:

Stamatopoulos

Brennan

Edgar

Hastings

Bernier

Josh Simpson

Gerba

Occean

[loyola]

I can understand some are reluctant to give Onstad the starting spot but can't understand why he doesn't make it to the bench instead of Sutton or Stama.

[masster]

quote:Originally posted by loyola

I can understand some are reluctant to give Onstad the starting spot but can't understand why he doesn't make it to the bench instead of Sutton or Stama.

Agree 100%. I don't care if he is 60 years old. He is our #2. Sutton stinks and is no where close to being international quality.

[CanadianSwede]

^I am with you on that one loyola. I would agree that for the time being Onstad should be placed above Stama and Sutton.

[Scottie]

I think it would be a good idea to carry Begovic or Wagenaar as injury cover instead of Stama or Sutton. Better to have our hopeful future starters in the squad than a guy who isn't good enough to be #1 and never will be. But only as injury cover, as the #1 and 2 are pretty cemented right now.

[Toronto MB]

Yes, we all know Hastings isn't going to emerge as a newfound prodigy on the back-end, but am I the only one recalling how solid he was the Gold Cup.

Go back and watch some of the footage on YouTube and you will see that he consistantly puts in rock solid tackles, plays well positionally and seems to pride himself on playing with a lot of character.

Historically, we have knocked his dsitribution, but with Brennan to his left, Imhoff, JDG and Atiba in front of him, he just has to lay it off once he's won it.

He was the better than Hainault IMO and Kluka doesn't seem sturdy enough on ground or in the air to be our CB.

And it's not like playing 90 mins week in and week out is not worthy of acknowledgement either.

[CanadianSwede]

One thing that is nice is that we are actually arguing over who should play meaning that in a lot of positions we have some depth.

[BearcatSA]

quote:Originally posted by Toronto MB

Yes, we all know Hastings isn't going to emerge as a newfound prodigy on the back-end, but am I the only one recalling how solid he was the Gold Cup.

Go back and watch some of the footage on YouTube and you will see that he consistantly puts in rock solid tackles, plays well positionally and seems to pride himself on playing with a lot of character.

After the Venezuela friendly he improved with every match, culminating with a place on the Gold Cup XI (I believe?) as well as knocking Landycakes on his ass with a textbook shoulder charge. Even though he regularly plays left back at club level, his string of appearences at CB with the MNT makes me feel comfortable with him in that spot.

My line up, for now, is similar to others mentioned here, with Hirschfeld in goal, a backline of the now regularly playing Diesel, McKenna, Hastings, and Klukowski, and a midfield/striker combo of DeGuzman, Hutchinson, Imhoff, DeRosario, Radz, and Friend (Radz could be pushed up into a more central attacking role with Friend for a more offensive dimension, as needed).

I would like to see Imhoff start ahead of Bernier vs Estonia. I am coming around to the conclusion that though I think Bernier isn't as bad as his performance vs SA, he's not as good as his play vs CR, so I think we need to go with the "in form" player in Imhoff.

[Sam]

With the Estonia roster out does anyone see any changes with this??

[Sam]

Wendsday solidified the fact that we need to play a 4-1-4-1 or 4-2-3-1 with at least one defensive midfielder. We were caught out on the counter attack too often and our fullbacks were given no flexibility going forward. And IMO Imhof was very poor defensively and Bernier should retain his starting position.

[BrennanFan]

I think the u23 tourney and estonia showed that hainault is not ready. no way is he on par with brennan, serioux or hastings. let him do his thing at sparta and maybe he will be ready for the hex. no more callups (for the time being) please.

johnson should be considered, and should at least see the field once or twice this cycle to get experience for 2014.

Nakajima has proved to be a sure callup and is IMO our best winger off the bench.

I want to see occean and friend each get a full game in against panama and haiti. friend should not be given the spot based on club form alone. im glad that mitchell started gerba over him, things like that will stop friend from getting a big head as scoring 14+ goals at a big club can easily do to a guy.

the reality is that we have not won a game in almost a year (martinique and viejle dont count). the next 2 friendlies will be crucial to our confidence going into qualifying.

[loyola]

quote:Originally posted by BrennanFan

I think the u23 tourney and estonia showed that hainault is not ready. no way is he on par with brennan, serioux or hastings. let him do his thing at sparta and maybe he will be ready for the hex. no more callups (for the time being) please.

johnson should be considered, and should at least see the field once or twice this cycle to get experience for 2014.

Nakajima has proved to be a sure callup and is IMO our best winger off the bench.

I want to see occean and friend each get a full game in against panama and haiti. friend should not be given the spot based on club form alone. im glad that mitchell started gerba over him, things like that will stop friend from getting a big head as scoring 14+ goals at a big club can easily do to a guy.

the reality is that we have not won a game in almost a year (martinique and viejle dont count). the next 2 friendlies will be crucial to our confidence going into qualifying.

Not that I disagree with you because I would like to see Occean start a game for us but I hope you do realize that Gerba started over Friend because Rob played a full 90 for his club on monday (48 hours prior to the game). I,m pretty confident that Rob would've started if it wasn't for that monday game.

[BrennanFan]

quote:Originally posted by loyola

Not that I disagree with you because I would like to see Occean start a game for us but I hope you do realize that Gerba started over Friend because Rob played a full 90 for his club on monday (48 hours prior to the game). I,m pretty confident that Rob would've started if it wasn't for that monday game.

didnt they each get a half against estonia? if friend was the clear first choice, i would think he wouldve seen the pitch first.

even if the injury was a reason to start gerba, there is nothing to indicate that it was the only reason.

hart started friend over gerba at the gold cup. mitchell started gerba over friend against costa rica, and this past game is a toss up as to who is favoured. logic dictates that friend should be first choice, but then again i truly feel his success at gladbach is about him fitting perfectly with their system, which is very different from what we play. gerba might fit better with our style ie being a hybrid target / hume-ish type of forward.

im also thinking that gerba is being promoted/asked for by the influential players on the team (de Rosario, deGuz and Stalteri), and that Friend is an outsider. De Rosario especially has shown to be a strong minded character perfectly willing to put his coach in his place (like when he said he might consider playing forward for Houston... for 5 minutes at the end of the game, maybe). If the inmates were running the asylum at the Gold Cup, they are unlikely to fall back into place just because mitchell is in charge. he is just a weak a puppet coach as hart was. and thus ends my baseless conjecture on the inner workings of the national team.