Ali Ahmed

[Obinna]

36 minutes ago, CanadaFan123 said:

I think it could work but I also think we should explore using Piette as a ball winning anchor in front of the backline. Let Kone (or Ahmed) and Eustaquio do their thing. No need to overthink a midfield 3 to try to find a perfect mix - throw in the unsexy role player. 

I like this idea. Piette is great at breaking things up and can break lines with his passing. Kone and Staq can roam and make late runs into the box. I think Piette can struggle when he has too much ground to cover, but that shouldn't be the case in a midfield 3. 

....but it then means Larin is probably dropping to the bench, no? Davies-David-Buchanan....Kone-Piette-Staq?

Or, I suppose Buchanan and Davies play as wingbacks, with a David-Larin partnership in front of Kone-Piette-Staq, but then we are surely dropping Johnston to the bench, or maybe we are playing him at RCB in a back 3, which means we need to lean on Vitoria as the anchor?

IF we play a back 4 instead, and want a midfield 3, AND want Piette to anchor it, who are we dropping?

Conversely, we could let Eustaquio and Kone play as double pivots with David playing in front of them. Larin leads the line and Davies-Buchanan as the wingers. Johnston and Laryea the fullbacks, maybe Adekugbe. Let David roam and find the game, I am thinking.

Maybe David goes missing in the biggest games because he gets isolated. The one exception was the USA victory in Hamilton, but that was a game without Davies and Staq, so David was forced to come deep, relieve pressure, and make things happen. I'd like to see that happen by design, not by necessity. 

[CanadaFan123]

37 minutes ago, Obinna said:

I like this idea. Piette is great at breaking things up and can break lines with his passing. Kone and Staq can roam and make late runs into the box. I think Piette can struggle when he has too much ground to cover, but that shouldn't be the case in a midfield 3. 

....but it then means Larin is probably dropping to the bench, no? Davies-David-Buchanan....Kone-Piette-Staq?

Or, I suppose Buchanan and Davies play as wingbacks, with a David-Larin partnership in front of Kone-Piette-Staq, but then we are surely dropping Johnston to the bench, or maybe we are playing him at RCB in a back 3, which means we need to lean on Vitoria as the anchor?

IF we play a back 4 instead, and want a midfield 3, AND want Piette to anchor it, who are we dropping?

Conversely, we could let Eustaquio and Kone play as double pivots with David playing in front of them. Larin leads the line and Davies-Buchanan as the wingers. Johnston and Laryea the fullbacks, maybe Adekugbe. Let David roam and find the game, I am thinking.

Maybe David goes missing in the biggest games because he gets isolated. The one exception was the USA victory in Hamilton, but that was a game without Davies and Staq, so David was forced to come deep, relieve pressure, and make things happen. I'd like to see that happen by design, not by necessity. 

Originally I had the idea that we would be in a 4-3-3 but a 3-5-2 could work too and would absolutely accommodate Johnston as well with Piette as DM. Also gets Davies a little higher up the pitch with some more cover. I have the same 11 for both examples:

—————David—————

Larin————————Buchanan

—————Kone-Stache———-

——————-Piette——————

Davies—Cornelius-Miller—AJ

 

————-David—Larin—————

———-Kone—Eustaquio————

Davies——-Piette———-Buchanan

——Miller—-Cornelius—Johnston—-

 

Piette can be an excellent option for us IMO. Even better if we can find another DM for some depth. 

Edited February 13 by CanadaFan123

[Watchmen]

2 hours ago, Obinna said:

Ahmed covers every blade of… er, let’s say “grass”… in an old-fashioned, box-to-box ball-winner kind of way, and has more than enough skill on the ball to make that matter in the final third. Vancouver were just straight-up better with him out there last year. So, a full-time starter with serious interest from European teams.

 

So.....Am I to understand the interest from Serie A clubs and from Sporting Lisbon was not "serious".....or perhaps Doyle just wasn't aware he was getting European interest already?

I think that's the interest he's talking about. He's not saying this season will generate the interest, he's saying the interest is already there.

[Ottawafan]

2 hours ago, Obinna said:

I like this idea. Piette is great at breaking things up and can break lines with his passing. Kone and Staq can roam and make late runs into the box. I think Piette can struggle when he has too much ground to cover, but that shouldn't be the case in a midfield 3. 

....but it then means Larin is probably dropping to the bench, no? Davies-David-Buchanan....Kone-Piette-Staq?

Or, I suppose Buchanan and Davies play as wingbacks, with a David-Larin partnership in front of Kone-Piette-Staq, but then we are surely dropping Johnston to the bench, or maybe we are playing him at RCB in a back 3, which means we need to lean on Vitoria as the anchor?

IF we play a back 4 instead, and want a midfield 3, AND want Piette to anchor it, who are we dropping?

Conversely, we could let Eustaquio and Kone play as double pivots with David playing in front of them. Larin leads the line and Davies-Buchanan as the wingers. Johnston and Laryea the fullbacks, maybe Adekugbe. Let David roam and find the game, I am thinking.

Maybe David goes missing in the biggest games because he gets isolated. The one exception was the USA victory in Hamilton, but that was a game without Davies and Staq, so David was forced to come deep, relieve pressure, and make things happen. I'd like to see that happen by design, not by necessity. 

I find Piette struggles when he

1. Has the ball

2. Has to go forward

 

[BearcatSA]

1 hour ago, CanadaFan123 said:

Piette can be an excellent option for us IMO. Even better if we can find another DM for some depth. 

I definitely think we need his type of player to play a more stay-at-home, d-mid role to complement and allow Eustaquio and Koné to be more box to box.

 

[Bigandy]

1 hour ago, BearcatSA said:

I definitely think we need his type of player to play a more stay-at-home, d-mid role to complement and allow Eustaquio and Koné to be more box to box.

 

I 100% agree. 

Bombito is the perfect profile for this role..... It's just a shame that bombito is yet to show that he is able to play at a high enough level in this role. 

[Kadenge]

We do need a ball winning DM but one that can play through a high press, which requires skill on the ball.  Bombito would be the ideal candidate if he plays there for his club this season. He has pace, height and ability on the ball.

[BearcatSA]

11 minutes ago, Bigandy said:

I 100% agree. 

Bombito is the perfect profile for this role..... It's just a shame that bombito is yet to show that he is able to play at a high enough level in this role. 

You can see that the Herdman staff saw the need and tried him out.  I would have more confidence with him getting looks in that role with the NT if he was playing in that position regularly at club level instead of the back line.

 

[BearcatSA]

1 minute ago, Kadenge said:

We do need a ball winning DM but one that can play through a high press, which requires skill on the ball.  Bombito would be the ideal candidate if he plays there for his club this season. He has pace, height and ability on the ball.

He has to show it in that role at club level first.

[Bigandy]

15 minutes ago, BearcatSA said:

You can see that the Herdman staff saw the need and tried him out.  I would have more confidence with him getting looks in that role with the NT if he was playing in that position regularly at club level instead of the back line.

 

A lot of people crucified herdman for looking at bombito this way. However, our youth prospects at CB are higher ceiling than any CDM's. Bombito is not clearly ahead of any of our other mls CB's. Therefore it makes sense to try bombito out in this role. Very little to lose and alot to gain with this experiment. 

[Obinna]

49 minutes ago, Bigandy said:

A lot of people crucified herdman for looking at bombito this way. However, our youth prospects at CB are higher ceiling than any CDM's. Bombito is not clearly ahead of any of our other mls CB's. Therefore it makes sense to try bombito out in this role. Very little to lose and alot to gain with this experiment. 

I remember our back and forth on Bombito. For me (and probably others), it was mostly down to running this experimenting at the Gold Cup, rather than a friendly. A big part of my frusturation was that results were mixed in game 1, but then in game 3 he went back to Bombito at CDM and he was even worse, to the point he got pulled before halftime, against Cuba, in a must-win game.

Now that time (and emotion) has passed, I can look at the game against USA, where he actually did quite well, and say that I am open to seeing him get another chance in the position. Why not? He does have that upside and our prospects at CB appear to be better (somewhat).

BUT I don't want it to be gifted. I want it to be earned by virtue of his club play. A big part of that would ideally be him actually playing the position in Colorado. Also, I don't want to see this in the Copa America, if we get there. Time to experiment is friendlies, not tournaments we are trying to win. 

Edited February 13 by Obinna

[BearcatSA]

1 hour ago, Obinna said:

Now that time (and emotion) has passed, I can look at the game against USA, where he actually did quite well, 

He was certainly better relative to what he showed in the earlier outings but after watching really closely on the pvr the individual plays in which he was involved, he made a really nice back tracking play to cut out a potentially dangerous cross while the rest of his touches on the ball (which weren't many, as I talled on my sheet at the time) were safe.

I remember looking at Fotmob following the match and, fwiw, for his 60 minutes of the game he was rated higher than his replacement, Fraser his final 60.

I just think he needs a lot of club minutes in that spot to really develop the feel and instincts for the role.  He clearly has the physicals in terms of speed, height, and range.

[Obinna]

6 minutes ago, BearcatSA said:

He was certainly better relative to what he showed in the earlier outings but after watching really closely on the pvr the individual plays in which he was involved, he made a really nice back tracking play to cut out a potentially dangerous cross while the rest of his touches on the ball (which weren't many, as I talled on my sheet at the time) were safe.

I remember looking at Fotmob following the match and, fwiw, for his 60 minutes of the game he was rated higher than his replacement, Fraser his final 60.

I just think he needs a lot of club minutes in that spot to really develop the feel and instincts for the role.  He clearly has the physicals in terms of speed, height, and range.

For sure. Getting minutes in that spot with club is key. No complaints from me if he's playing there regularly for Colorado. That's the place for him to get a feel for the role, not the national team and certainly in a non-friendly scenario. 

[costarg]

7 hours ago, Ottawafan said:

I find Piette struggles when he

1. Has the ball

2. Has to go forward

 

Well ya.  Piette is a pitbull, ball winner and hard-nosed play breaker.  If he also had the ball control and play making abilities he'd be playing in a top 5 league.  Nobody is saying he's a top 10 player for CANMNT, but he does play a role we've been severely lacking the past little while. 

Honestly, we don't need a DM to do it all, Kone, Stache, Davies and Tajon should and would all be near enough to him to hand off and move the ball up.

[Obinna]

52 minutes ago, costarg said:

Well ya.  Piette is a pitbull, ball winner and hard-nosed play breaker.  If he also had the ball control and play making abilities he'd be playing in a top 5 league.  Nobody is saying he's a top 10 player for CANMNT, but he does play a role we've been severely lacking the past little while. 

Honestly, we don't need a DM to do it all, Kone, Stache, Davies and Tajon should and would all be near enough to him to hand off and move the ball up.

And even with all that said, I find he's actually pretty good at passing the ball through the lines. Elite? No, but decent enough at it, if not underrated. 

[Bigandy]

16 hours ago, Obinna said:

I remember our back and forth on Bombito. For me (and probably others), it was mostly down to running this experimenting at the Gold Cup, rather than a friendly. A big part of my frusturation was that results were mixed in game 1, but then in game 3 he went back to Bombito at CDM and he was even worse, to the point he got pulled before halftime, against Cuba, in a must-win game.

Now that time (and emotion) has passed, I can look at the game against USA, where he actually did quite well, and say that I am open to seeing him get another chance in the position. Why not? He does have that upside and our prospects at CB appear to be better (somewhat).

BUT I don't want it to be gifted. I want it to be earned by virtue of his club play. A big part of that would ideally be him actually playing the position in Colorado. Also, I don't want to see this in the Copa America, if we get there. Time to experiment is friendlies, not tournaments we are trying to win. 

100% agree with all of this. 

Having said this, what constitutes earning it? Is it the best ability of a CMNT player eligible in that position? 
If so, theres a case he earned that CDM spot at the gold cup (mostly by lack of options). 

Choiniere is more of an 8. 
Saliba has a shout but it probably isnt clear 
zouhir? paton? smith? 

If bombito becomes a top quality starter at CDM, I have no issues with him playing CDM at copa. It's unlikely but a breakout year could be the exact thing we need for CMNT. 

[InglewoodJack]

Bombito having a breakout year especially this year, with this Colorado team, would be huge. I don’t know how he breaks in as a starting CDM given who else they have, but if he manages to hold down a starting spot somewhere, I think he’d be pretty close to getting called in on merit and not potential. The rapids have a squad this year. 

[Obinna]

44 minutes ago, Bigandy said:

100% agree with all of this. 

Having said this, what constitutes earning it? Is it the best ability of a CMNT player eligible in that position? 
If so, theres a case he earned that CDM spot at the gold cup (mostly by lack of options). 

Choiniere is more of an 8. 
Saliba has a shout but it probably isnt clear 
zouhir? paton? smith? 

If bombito becomes a top quality starter at CDM, I have no issues with him playing CDM at copa. It's unlikely but a breakout year could be the exact thing we need for CMNT. 

Everyone's threshold is different, I am sure. For me to be okay with Bombito being our starting CDM at Copa (should we get there), he'd basically have to be a locked in starter for Colorado in that position AND he'd have to be catching league wide attention. Not saying he must be an Allstar, but he's a young player so if he's breaking out he'll catch some buzz around the league for being a solid CDM, and that'd be enough for me. I want to see a sample size at club level to feel comfortable. 

For the others you mention, I would imagine that Smith is too far away, but Zouhir and Saliba have a chance to impress. I do think Saliba is more likely to make our squad. They are both 8s though, as is Paton, who could also make the team in the summer. Choniere is probably top of the list out of all these guys and for me Ahmed is probably ahead of Choniere, but that's a personal preference and if someone argued the reverse that's fine by me. I expect both to make it anyways. 

[Bigandy]

4 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Everyone's threshold is different, I am sure. For me to be okay with Bombito being our starting CDM at Copa (should we get there), he'd basically have to be a locked in starter for Colorado in that position AND he'd have to be catching league wide attention. Not saying he must be an Allstar, but he's a young player so if he's breaking out he'll catch some buzz around the league for being a solid CDM, and that'd be enough for me. I want to see a sample size at club level to feel comfortable. 

For the others you mention, I would imagine that Smith is too far away, but Zouhir and Saliba have a chance to impress. I do think Saliba is more likely to make our squad. They are both 8s though, as is Paton, who could also make the team in the summer. Choniere is probably top of the list out of all these guys and for me Ahmed is probably ahead of Choniere, but that's a personal preference and if someone argued the reverse that's fine by me. I expect both to make it anyways. 

Ive come to this same conclusion....which essentially means we wont be playing with a true DM anytime soon.... staq and kone will play the double pivot and we hope ali/david/oso another player can occupy the attacking mid spot. 

 

However, that threshold is much much lower for a gold cup squad which is why I was happy to see bombito get minutes. 

[Obinna]

Just now, Bigandy said:

However, that threshold is much much lower for a gold cup squad which is why I was happy to see bombito get minutes. 

Makes sense. It was a breath of fresh air to see something different (Bombito at CDM...on his debut). The Gold Cup was being treated as a throw away tournament as well, or at least it seemed to be based on the roster selection, so it made that experiment a little more palatable.

In retrospect calling a B team was positive. We saw Ahmed break out, Millar get his first Canada goal, Schaffleburg get his first Canada goal, and Nelson added his 2nd goal for Canada. All of these guys will be around for multiple cycles, so good to see them get that experience. And the way we pushed the USA B/C team to the limit has to be seen as a positive, even though we ultimately got knocked out in the QF, which was a regression from the previous tournament. 

[Bigandy]

10 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Makes sense. It was a breath of fresh air to see something different (Bombito at CDM...on his debut). The Gold Cup was being treated as a throw away tournament as well, or at least it seemed to be based on the roster selection, so it made that experiment a little more palatable.

In retrospect calling a B team was positive. We saw Ahmed break out, Millar get his first Canada goal, Schaffleburg get his first Canada goal, and Nelson added his 2nd goal for Canada. All of these guys will be around for multiple cycles, so good to see them get that experience. And the way we pushed the USA B/C team to the limit has to be seen as a positive, even though we ultimately got knocked out in the QF, which was a regression from the previous tournament. 

in fairness, we called the best players available with choiniere the only exception and it wouldve been cool to see theo. All our top euro guys were unavailable. 

[Ottawafan]

11 hours ago, Obinna said:

And even with all that said, I find he's actually pretty good at passing the ball through the lines. Elite? No, but decent enough at it, if not underrated. 

I don't see that.  All I remember was him warming up on the sidelines in the Morocco game thinking please do not sub him in!!

[Obinna]

24 minutes ago, Ottawafan said:

I don't see that.  All I remember was him warming up on the sidelines in the Morocco game thinking please do not sub him in!!

Oh trust me, I get it. Against the top teams he certainly looks limited. In our region I think he's fine against most teams. Even against Mexico or the USA I wouldn't be too scared to use him. 

[Kadenge]

If we want to go with a DM, the solution may be to play Staq, who played as a #6, prior to his move to Porto, and then have Kone and  one of Ahmed, Choiniere, Saliba in front of him. I don't think we  give up much in ball progression/passing/creativity with any of those 3 younger players and Kone is playing as the most advanced mid at Watford in the games I watched. Staq would protect the back 4.

[Bigandy]

3 minutes ago, Kadenge said:

If we want to go with a DM, the solution may be to play Staq, who played as a #6, prior to his move to Porto, and then have Kone and  one of Ahmed, Choiniere, Saliba in front of him. I don't think we  give up much in ball progression/passing/creativity with any of those 3 younger players and Kone is playing as the most advanced mid at Watford in the games I watched. Staq would protect the back 4.

This has to be the solution in the short term. I think ahmed compliments staq and kone the best. choiniere and kone feel more like "runners" where the ball progression comes from dribbling and they run into space to receive. Ahmed, although similar, has a bit more of a creative interplay, penetrating passes.