Best XI

[The Beaver]

1 hour ago, Obinna said:

This is very likely imo

Oh, and Rusty will start instead of Oso! (All kidding aside, I suspect we WILL see Russell in this game, perhaps as a sub for Piette at the hour mark. I think Herdman wants to see what Teibert can do.)

[Blackjack15]

With Scott Arfield being questionable for the game, who replaces him? 

 

Edited October 16, 2018 by Thomas

[badname22]

Has anybody's lineup idea changed due to the Dominica game?

[BrennanFan]

Teibert should be tried at right back. He covered well for Millar at times today. Herdman obviously likes him. He has all the tools to fill in for us there, at least for the Gold Cup. I don't see any of the other right back options distinguishing themselves before then.

[Keegan]

1 minute ago, BrennanFan said:

Teibert should be tried at right back. He covered well for Millar at times today. Herdman obviously likes him. He has all the tools to fill in for us there, at least for the Gold Cup. I don't see any of the other right back options distinguishing themselves before then.

Except he’s deathly afraid of his right foot.. Teibert is an off the bench midfielder, that’s it I’m afraid for Canada.  If he starts we’re in trouble.

[SkuseisLoose]

We need proper right and left backs so hopefully brault guillard and levis/de Jong 

[PopePouri]

3 hours ago, badname22 said:

Has anybody's lineup idea changed due to the Dominica game?

ZBG for Millar. 

[Obinna]

8 hours ago, PopePouri said:

ZBG for Millar. 

Not taking anything away from Millar, but I like what I saw from ZBG.

And with Gohdino also playing RB, I feel much better about this sector of the field.

Bonus that Millar has, we'll say, potential to be a good player there, even though I like his ceiling as a winger or number 9.

Easy to forget Cordova can play there also.

On the left, De Jong can give us a few more years, and we have Adekugbe and Morgan also.

Considering the options, it's interesting that Davies and Millar continue in these roles.

I mean, one could argue they have higher ceilings than anyone else in those spots, even though their best positions are higher up the pitch, but while that may be better for the team overall, it must mean John intends to continue with both at FB for the long haul.

I know, it's hard to make such statements after 2 games, but 2 in a row you know? The first can always be chalked up to experimentation, but the more we see it the less we can call it an experiment, if that makes sense.

[michaeltfc91]

Borjan

ZBJ     James     Cornelius      Davies

Hoilett     Hutchinson     Arfield    Osorio

Cavallini        David

Bench - Larin, Tabla, Millar, Piette, De Jong, Henry, Busti

[Obinna]

24 minutes ago, michaeltfc91 said:

Borjan

ZBJ     James     Cornelius      Davies

Hoilett     Hutchinson     Arfield    Osorio

Cavallini        David

Bench - Larin, Tabla, Millar, Piette, De Jong, Henry, Busti

That bench is solid.

[SkuseisLoose]

I think we need to stop playing Davies at left back. He’s not a good defender really and he tries to make up for that with speed. I would rather have adekugbe or de Jong there and have Davies at LM 

[jonovision]

13 hours ago, Keegan said:

Except he’s deathly afraid of his right foot.. Teibert is an off the bench midfielder, that’s it I’m afraid for Canada.  If he starts we’re in trouble.

Depends on the opponent. If we're playing someone with a guy who needs to be man-marked/pressed into oblivion, Rusty's a better option than most. If we want to pile up the goals, different story.

[apbsmith]

I personally feel the past two games had alot to do with the offensive talent rolled out based on our opponent. Will be interesting Herdman's tactic vs stronger opposition.

[apbsmith]

I can't help but resist after last night's game. This is my "outside the box thinking" , I'm happy with all of these!

Made 4 lineups based on opponents. Soft-Mid-Hard Tier opponent.

This is as of today! of course always subject to change!

Notes: ZBG could be replaced with Cornelius. Piette will eventually be our mainstay #6. Can Hutch play LB?

 

Soft to Mid tier opponent:  3-4-3 (looking at this again, could work at Home vs hard opponent but put Cornelius in over ZBG vs top opponent)

 

 

Mid tier opponent: 3-5-2 (hybrid)

 

Away - High Tier opponent: 4-2-3-1 (triangle mid)

 

Home - High Tier Opponent  4-1-2-2-1 / 4-1-4-1 (flip the midfield triangle to include  a CM over DM, OSO for more offense)

 

 

Edited October 17, 2018 by apbsmith

[Keegan]

Were people really that impressed by ZBG?  I was sitting right down that sideline and while he didn’t look bad there wasn’t really anything that popped out to say he’s a starter for Canada. 

Curious what others saw?  I think Cordova or Godinho would have done just as well if not better coming into that match.

[Kent]

It's hard to chose between Cavallini, Larin, and David. Matchday 1 they each get 2 goals. Matchday 2 they each get 1 goal. Nice to see that we have options. Let's see if they can keep scoring next summer and beyond.

[aloyol]

17 minutes ago, Kent said:

It's hard to chose between Cavallini, Larin, and David. Matchday 1 they each get 2 goals. Matchday 2 they each get 1 goal. Nice to see that we have options. Let's see if they can keep scoring next summer and beyond.

One thing is clear in my mind, those goals scored against Dominica and USVI count for almost nothing in my evaluation of a player. If the goals were Larin 5 and Cavallini/David one each, it wouldn't mean Larin should be our starter IMO.

When GC approach next summer, I would go with who's the most in form striker at the club level. It's probably the best measure of their abilities against stronger opponents.

But I agree with your point, it's very nice to have options and players will have to fight for playing time, which is always healthy for a team.

[Keegan]

1 hour ago, aloyol said:

One thing is clear in my mind, those goals scored against Dominica and USVI count for almost nothing in my evaluation of a player. If the goals were Larin 5 and Cavallini/David one each, it wouldn't mean Larin should be our starter IMO.

When GC approach next summer, I would go with who's the most in form striker at the club level. It's probably the best measure of their abilities against stronger opponents.

But I agree with your point, it's very nice to have options and players will have to fight for playing time, which is always healthy for a team.

Or evaluate them on the next two games plus friendlies.  The next teams actually have some guys at decent levels so it’ll be a good test.

[Obinna]

1 hour ago, Keegan said:

Were people really that impressed by ZBG?  I was sitting right down that sideline and while he didn’t look bad there wasn’t really anything that popped out to say he’s a starter for Canada. 

Curious what others saw?  I think Cordova or Godinho would have done just as well if not better coming into that match.

Exactly. That's what leaves me impressed. ZBG is looking like another option who can fight for minutes. That's a great thing.

Suddenly our RB spot is looking promising.

Also, I didn't know he is the captain of Lyon ll. That's pretty impressive and gives me hope that if he can't find minutes with the first team, he has what it takes to catch on elsewhere in France's top tier.

[El Diego]

I'm most interested to see when we start playing real full backs. These 2-5-3 formations against shit teams are hilarious, but they don't show you anything.

[Kadenge]

2 hours ago, Keegan said:

Were people really that impressed by ZBG?  I was sitting right down that sideline and while he didn’t look bad there wasn’t really anything that popped out to say he’s a starter for Canada. 

Curious what others saw?  I think Cordova or Godinho would have done just as well if not better coming into that match.

Its premature to assess any of those three. Don't think they have played 45mins for the senior team. Cordova played in the Aspire tournament and did well but so did ZBG for the U20s in the Concacaf WC qualifiers. Godinho had a cameo vs NZ and also looked good..competition finally at RB.

[Kadenge]

7 minutes ago, El Diego said:

I'm most interested to see when we start playing real full backs. These 2-5-3 formations against shit teams are hilarious, but they don't show you anything.

Agreed but these 2 games have been all about marketing the CMNT to the casual fan. ...brand image...young exciting players, scoring lots of goals..the future is bright..get on board and support us. Intergrate the young players while keeping the senior leaders around. I suspect that the next games will see some rotation in the squad and hope that Adekugbe is there. 

[Ansem]

Everyone forgetting about Godinho ?

[kacbru]

4 hours ago, Keegan said:

Or evaluate them on the next two games plus friendlies.  The next teams actually have some guys at decent levels so it’ll be a good test.

There's some real dissonance on this board.  Elsewhere, people are talking about winning the Gold Cup, qualifying for 2022, etc. and here we are talking about how well players showed against Dominica, worrying about goal differential and how St. Kitts and Nevis should be a good test.

I'm guilty of it too, but both of these things can not be true!

[Keegan]

14 minutes ago, kacbru said:

There's some real dissonance on this board.  Elsewhere, people are talking about winning the Gold Cup, qualifying for 2022, etc. and here we are talking about how well players showed against Dominica, worrying about goal differential and how St. Kitts and Nevis should be a good test.

I'm guilty of it too, but both of these things can not be true!

In this game, yes those two can be true!  Any half decent squad in this region will be decent at home.  St Kitts is a half decent squad, certainly better than Belize imo who we struggled against on the road in 2015 and would have lost against if not for  a late Borjan stop. The USA needed injury time to beat Antigua away in 2014 qualifying.  

This is a trip up match where, let’s face it, many of these young guys have never played a concacaf away match.  Look at St Kitts squad, they can put out an XI of mostly full time pros, we are coming off facing two teams with a combined total of 2 full time professionals, Dominica had a 44 year old on their backline who played in the csl in 1995.  

St Kitts has a starting championship midfielder, Atiba Harris and a couple other players who looked decent from what I saw.  Should we expect to beat them?  Of course, but this won’t be a cake walk.