Formation and Selection Thread

[BrennanFan]

Defence:

Lately, Klukowski has been playing Central Defence at Bruges.

This has been Bruges recent formation:

___________Stijnen___________

___Maertens_Klukowski_Priske___

____________________________

Leko_Englebert_Geraerts_Simaeys

____________________________

____Chavez_Djokic_Sterchele____

Memo to Dale: Klukowski for starting CB. He is skilled, quick, and a seasoned pro. With McKenna now being used at striker with Koln, this should be a no-brainer.

Stalteri--Klukowski--Serioux/Hastings/Hainault/Brennan--Brennan/deJong/Jazic

[jonovision]

I don't know how recently Brugge (Bruges) made the switch, but they have been doing a lot more losing lately than they are used to. I hope that isn't the fault of a shaky Klukowski at CB.

[Toronto MB]

Unfortunately the Estonia match didn't bring ANY clarity to the matter but things seem pretty clear with the exception of CB and LB. Here are my estimations of how this group compares to the best in CONCACAF.

Here's how I see the WCQ player pool. (25 players)

GK - 5/10: 1.Hirschfeld 2.Onstad 3.Stamatopoulos

RB - 7/10: 1.Stalteri 2.Nsaliwa 3. Serioux

CB - 4/10: 1.McKenna 2.Hainault/Hastings 3.Nsaliwa/Brennan/Klukowski/Serioux

LB - 9/10: 1.Brennan/Klukowski/Jazic/DeJong (any 1 could start IMO)

DM - 9/10: 1.DeGuzman 2.Nsaliwa 3.Imhof 4. Serioux/Bernier

CAM - 10/10: 1. DeGuzman 2.Hutchinson

Wing L/R - 7/10: 1. DeRosario 2.Radzinski 3. Hume 4.Nakijima/Simpson

STR. - 7/10: 1.Radzinski/DeRosario 2. Hume 3. Gerba

CF 7/10: 1. Friend 2.Occean 3. Gerba

(sans Nsaliwa) in form that looks like either:

------------Hirschfeld-------------

Stalteri-McKenna--Hastings-Brennan

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

------Hutchinson---DeGuzman---------

Radzinski------------------DeRosario

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

or

------------Hirschfeld-------------

Stalteri-McKenna--Hastings-Brennan

------Hutchinson-DeGuzman----------

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

---------Radzinski-----------------

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

[nolando]

wow, Toronto MB - lots of work there - i agree with lots of it - including most of your starting 11

but...definitely wouldnt say that our LBs are 9/10...what we have there are four slightly above average players who happen to be very closely matched in terms of overall skill - the fact that there are four of them in the running for me just hilights the fact that we dont have one top class guy there, a guy who would start in one of the top european leagues, for example

6/10 at best - a real wildcard come WCQ.

strikers...we have a terrible goals from strikers rate and pretty much always have...our midfield may strike terror into the hearts of some CONCACAF sides but our strikers (and here i should note that im considering Radz as a de facto MF for Canada) are almost laughable or largely unknown quantities by comparison. Yes, Friend rips up the B2, and many speculate he may do the same in B1 (i beg to differ), but it is still B2, and he still rarely does the job for Canada. OO and Gerba again are still total wildcards in my opinion. Compared the best CONCACAF sides our strikes might earn a generous 5/10.

and i actually think that our keeping should be much less suspect than some other positions. Since old but steady Onstad appears to have agreed to stand in for us in a pinch we should be a 7/10 or so, regardless of whether or not Hirsch starts regularly at club level - even Stama could step up and should at least by a lateral move - not costing us a win in any case

I am still eager to see Brennan (LCB) next to Hastings (RCB) in the two CB slots as some have talked me into considering...it sounds better each time I see Hainault make a dodgey play back there - if only someone would talk Mitch into the same plan - i dont want to start Hainault and Hastings together if we can help it

Serioux seems more and more like a really valuable guy to have as a benchman. He might be the MNT's Pozniak and serves more use than a Simpson or a Bernier who can really only play one position well.

[gkhs]

quote:Originally posted by Toronto MB

Unfortunately the Estonia match didn't bring ANY clarity to the matter but things seem pretty clear with the exception of CB and LB.

I think the Estonia match did bring clarity...it made clear that the CB situation isn't clear.

We absolutely need a faster CB to pair with McKenna or Hastings, and Hainault should not be a first choice selection. Brennan, Serioux or Kluko need to move into the middle with McKenna or Hastings (or Hainault).

[nolando]

quote:Originally posted by gkhs

I think the Estonia match did bring clarity...it made clear that the CB situation isn't clear.

We absolutely need a faster CB to pair with McKenna or Hastings, and Hainault should not be a first choice selection. Brennan, Serioux or Kluko need to move into the middle with McKenna and Hastings (or Hainault).

??? you're proposing three in the middle at CB ???

[gkhs]

quote:Originally posted by nolando

??? you're proposing three in the middle at CB ???

Fixed my post.

[gkhs]

After seeing Radz play in a central position (technically as a withdrawn striker) - without much success - I wondered if they might try something like this in midfield:

Nakajima-Ferran----------------------------Radzinski

-------------De Rosario----------------Hutchinson

--------------------------de Guzman

I went into greater detail here:

http://untothedogs.blogspot.com/2008/04/canadas-conundrum-where-does-de-guzman.html

[canso]

If I was in charge I'd play an all Scots strike partnership, big man Mckenna with wee Iain Hume, and line up a classic 4-4-2 with lots of crosses. Big hair and lots of flair in the midfield, Hastings as captain. Radz, Stalteri,Brennan and DeRo dumped for the youth movement and to clear the bench of big egos and hot tempers.

Now that would be a team to support!

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

--Hainault---Hastings--

Edgar-----------Klukowksi

----Attiba---DeGuz---

Issey/JP-----------Simpson

---Hume----McKenna----

[villus]

quote:Originally posted by canso

If I was in charge I'd play an all Scots strike partnership, big man Mckenna with wee Iain Hume, and line up a classic 4-4-2 with lots of crosses. Big hair and lots of flair in the midfield, Hastings as captain. Radz, Stalteri,Brennan and DeRo dumped for the youth movement and to clear the bench of big egos and hot tempers.

Now that would be a team to support!

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

--Hainault---Hastings--

Edgar-----------Klukowksi

----Attiba---DeGuz---

Issey/JP-----------Simpson

---Hume----McKenna----

ummmmm no

[Guest Ed]

Thought Sutton put himself back into National team consideration with his first performance of the season. Looked very good against DCU.

Harmse's foul was a straight red in any decently reffed league. I am starting to lean towards the 'thug' label, which I was laughing at earlier this year. No room at the inn for Kevin Harmse.

Brennan can put the ball in the box. However, who would you sit in his stead?

[Sam]

The Estonia game has really brought up the question of how do we stop the counter attack??? We looked disgusting defending counter attacks

and aside from the goals Estonia scored it could have certainly been more. First off the easiest way to stop the counter would be to take the emphasis off being a quick midfield oriented team, but because of the quality of our midfield and the exciting style that comes with the way we play no one wants to see this happen. As a quick passing midfield, we need attacking fullbacks. Right now it looks like Stalteri and De Jong will be the men to fill those positions, even though I'd prefer Brennan. It was partly because of these attacking fullbacks that we conceded the two goals though, so we need cover. It will either come in the shape of a Defensive midfielder like Bernier or Imhof in a 4-1-4-1 or Hutchinson and De Guzman in a 4-2-3-1. I have already expressed that I believe a 4-1-4-1 is much more effective.

quote:Originally posted by leafdolfan

[br]If Bernier stays in the proper position and De Ro and Hume are moving forward it gives our fullbacks more license to move forward. We know both Stalteri and Brennan, who are most likely going to be our starting fullbacks for WCQ, have expirience as outside midfielders. This means thay can make overlapping runs so even if De Ro and/or Hume are in a bad position or cannot get into a position quick enough where they can support Friend our fullbacks are a second option.

The point of playing a 4-1-4-1 is to try and play the ball through the Defensive Midfielder who in our case is Bernier so we can counter quicker. We were in the position several times during the Gold Cup where our back four was passing the ball around and couldn't find a way to progress the ball forward and speed up our attack. So the Defensive Midfield role acts as someone who who our back four can dump the ball too and start up our attack. From the point where the "Beriner type" player gets the ball the ball should be immediately sent outside to a player with speed

So anyways I think that the next camp should be focusing on making sure we can defend against the counter attack, against much more skilled teams than Estonia.