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I'm devoting most of my attention to the Clasico, though.
I see your Bale and raise you a Suarez
Villas-Boas needs to bring Joe Jordan back as a consultant to, on an occasional basis, scream at Bale to knock that s**t off. Embarrassing.
No this point does not really have a point.
Bale's was also awful.
Sandro takes the Scotty Parker 360 move TO THE MAXX! (Yes, I had to look up what "tekkers" means.)
WTF? Klinsmann really has a blind spot when it comes to Altidore. Even if you just have him on the bench to start having an in form goal scorer available as a just in case is a pretty useful thing. If we're 1-1 or God forbid 0-1 at A&B on Friday night and our big move is to bring on Brek Shea I'm not going to be particularly delighted.
Goal scorers are a different breed. And I know Altidore isn't Van Persie or Messi but he's the best pure striker the US has. Like I said, I don't need him starting but I don't know why you wouldn't want him available. Does this mean Wondolowski (who had a hat trick over the weekend) gets called up? I'll take Altidore over Wondo.
Agreed. The starters should be Altidore and Boyd, or if you want to put Dempsey or Donovan (generally speaking, Donovan probably won't be fit for the game) up top instead of Boyd, fine. Gomez should be on the bench as a super sub, which he's made a career out of. No other forwards should be on the team for a qualifier. Instead we've seen Alan freaking Gordon get called up. It appears that Eddie Johnson will be called up for this month. He's had a hell of a season but instead of Jozy? No way. If Chris Wondolowski, who is the American version of Andrew Cole, is the starter for a WCQ, that's even worse. Klinsmann makes being in form such a big deal and Jozy is in as good a form as anyone. Ridiculous if true, and it appears to be.
God, I want to steal that for my new screen name.
This murder has been getting a significant amount of attention here because of its locus (on a well- traveled street in a "good" Manhattan neighborhood) and the sheer violence of the fatal attack (a number of passers by reportedly thought it was some kind of early Halloween prank).
The victim has now been identified as a Liverpool native who was a coach in Red Bulls' youth system.
More here.
All this kerfuffle aside 4 points gets us through pretty much. I know "no road game in CONCACAF" etc....but if we can't get something at Antigua & Barbuda we probably don't deserve to go to Brazil.
What's the negative about Andrew Cole? I don't really know much about him but he seems to pop up anytime someone talks about the history of the EPL as having been quite the goal scorer. I know he was with ManU for awhile, was he sort of a "lucky to be here" kind of guy who just got set up by superior teammates?
187 EPL goals, 2nd all time. 15 caps. Or, if you prefer, Darrent Bent and his 122 EPL goals and 13 caps. Wondo's a great MLS goal scorer but he's not an international caliber player. Nothing to be ashamed of, but he doesn't deserve a spot over Altidore. But it's okay, Alan Gordon got one instead.
It's not really explicitly a negative, but Cole is, fairly or not, often cited as an archetype of the "Any schmuck can score a shedload if you make him the focal point of the attack and put it on a plate for him fifteen times a game" sort of striker. For a more contemporary example, cf. Darren Bent at Charlton and, so far this season, Fernando Torres at Chelsea.
EDIT: Coke to the District Attorney for the Bent comparison.
Klejstan's inclusion is also surprising. He's been playing only sporadically for Anderlecht and didn't get off the bench in their loss to Standard yesterday.
Howard
Johnson - Boca - Cameron - Dolo
Shea - Dempsey - Bradley - Jones - Williams - Kljestan
It's like what I've always wanted to do with a Football Manager except I like to try a 3-1-6.
Barcamerica?
Overall, I know he hasn't scored a lot of goals recently for the US but, in my opinion, that's largely due to (1) sporadic playing time, including being used off the bench and(2) terrible midfield play/offensive play in general. Having watched some AZ matches this year, I think Altidore is somewhat of a square peg trying to fit into the USMNT's round hole.
I don't think it can be disputed that Altidore has been a bit disappointing in call ups for Klinsmann but he is so obviously the most talented player up front for us that I think you need him even as an "oh ####\" option. It's like making that 25th man on a playoff roster Billy Hamilton instead of Jayson Nix (someone got traded somewhere). Yeah, Nix can do some things but Hamilton can massively impact a game in a single moment.
If we're in a situation where we are desperately trying to get a late goal Altidore doesn't need to be part of any kind of concerted attack, you just hope his pure physical tools allow him to make an individual effort to change the game. The other guys up front aren't capable of that. Altidore doesn't need to play 90 minutes but if we're in dire straits late in the game he could be our sultan of swing (see what I did there? #oldguyreference).
He said in an interview a few weeks ago that Jozy gets space in Holland that he doesn't get on the international level. And today he said "Jozy can do much, much better. The reason why he's not coming in is mainly about his performances at Jamaica and at home [last month], also in training. Also certain things that went on through the May-June camp." (link) Hey Jurgen, that's because the lineups you put out there can't get him the ball.
And of course Kyle Beckermann is on the roster.
Thanks for the link, although it doesn't seem sufficiently different enough from FM12 for me to want to buy it.
More Klinsmann facepalming, on Jozy Altidore:
"I have more trust for these upcoming games in Eddie Johnson and Alan Gordon"
Two guys who have never played for JK. But he's got faith. WTF.
JK talks and acts like a guy that has a world-class reputation behind him as a coach, when in fact he has been unable to stick at any head coaching gig. Yea he had a good run with Germany in '06, but his time with Bayern was not successful and he has done nothing his time with the USMNT to convince me he's the right man for the job.
His obsession with Beckerman and Jones is puzzling at best, and his beef with Altidore is petty. Yea, if I was leading the 5th or 6th best league in Europe in goals and my coach kept calling in guys like E. Johnson and Gomez and OMG Alan Freaking Gordon ahead of me, I'd probably go on twitter too and defend myself.
The US is struggling to score goals and he leaves off the most talented (albeit a head case at times) striker we've ever produced to send a message. Great time to send a message, when we are struggling mightily even to get to the hex.
The underlying shot numbers indicate that they are dominating the flow of play but are woefully incapable of putting the ball on target. They have the worst accuracy (SOT/Shot Tot) of any team in the league, even though they are about average in percentage of shots in the box.
They seem to be unable to figure out the last piece of the attack.
Preaching to the choir, but that's how you get them to sing. His time with Germany wasn't as impressive as it seems: as the host nation he never had to go through qualification and they got an easy draw in group play. In the knockout stages they did about what you'd expect. And then of course at Bayern he lasted about as long as Villas-Boas did at Chelsea. His resume is at best "okay" and Sunil Gulati (owner of an even more unimpressive resume) chased him for years. When Kilnsmann eventually goes, Gulati has to as well.
Bale's dive was pathetic in a different way--I thought he was afraid of making contact with Guzan so he "bailed" way too early on the play and made himself look ridiculous. He didn't do any of that grasping his shin as if he'd broke it routine he does when he commits to a dive. Speaking of Guzan...he looked solid for Villa. Looks like we'll be all right after the WC when Howard, inevitably, retires from international soccer.
I also have no idea what Klinsmann is up to with the team selection. The idea that Jozy is good enough to be the best striker in Holland but isn't good enough to play against the behemoths of CONCACAF becuause it's INTERNATIONAL SOCCER is just too ridiculous.
Check your language settings. I have Comcast (not Chicago) and only get the "Spanish" version of beIN, but I can get the English audio if I change the setting from "default" to English. I might have the word default wrong, but if you go into your audio settings, you'll see it. Comcast has beIN with Spanish being the primary language. Change that and you're probably going to be ok. It was for El Clasico. Most of beIN's programming has had English audio as an option, although there have been a couple of times while flipping that Spanish seemed to be the only option.
Or if you have a SAP button on your remote (which I don't think Comcast has) try that.
But David Conn says they're competent now!
Maybe it's the slowmo, but it doesn't look especially stompy to me. He neither retracts the leg before lowering it or transfers the weight from his other leg (since he is hopping), so I don't see much force behind it. I'm sure it still hurt Suarez just from the studs, but Suarez's reaction doesn't look genuine either. Who reacts to pain by clutching their chest and waving their hand in the air other than a woman from Victorian England on the fainting couch?
Suarez sells it like a professional wrestler, of course, but that's what every single footballer in the world would do after being stomped in the chest. I don't think it's fair to complain about making a meal of a completely dirty play.
I thought the "what, lil' ole me?" routine from Huth was from the tie-up with Suarez before the stomp. His arms are in the air and he's looking at the ref before he stands on Suarez, in fact it might be why he stomps on Suarez (if it were an accident), because he's already given up on the play and not paying attention when Suarez goes down.
That or it was pre-mediated enough that he was already trying to play it off before he did it.
And let's not kid ourselves; Huth absolutely is a dirty player. He is one of the serial perps of Stoke's special brand of goalkeeper mugging on corners and other dead ball deliveries into the box. Huth comes off as a very intelligent and congenial guy off the pitch, but in no way, shape, or form is he not a dirty player on the pitch.
I do this, too (out in Colorado).
However, it would be good if Comcast would add the English language channel, they show slightly different programming. The Spanish-language version is not showing Friday's Antigua-USMNT WCQ live, for example. (Replay is in the middle of the night, Bolivia-Peru and Argentina-Uruguay are showing live while the US game is going on.)
But since this whole discussion is a thinly-veiled anti-Stokeite slur to distract Spurs Think Factory from Bale's shameful dive, I'll move on.
I like Stoke a lot but I have to agree with Mattbert on Huth in general, he's a pretty dirty player. As a rule the Stoke boys seem pretty willing to get physical.
Suarez acting like he got shot does him no favors though.
I have to agree with 158 and 159 -- not a stomp per se (parsing words, perhaps), but Huth easily could have lunged a bit further to avoid stepping on him. How he got away with that as well as this subsequent challenge without a yellow is a joke.
Admittedly cheap humor, but I LOL'd.
It went from pretty good to great at the scene where he's watching Bambi slip on the ice.
The subsequent challenge, for me, was worse than the stomp. I think Stoke uses the mass quantity of hard challenges and grabs to get away with their physical play. They challenge the referee to start sending players off which the refs are reluctant to do. It's how Stoke beat Spurs last year, too, when they basically mugged Spurs on every set piece. I think, at this point, it's up to the refs to call the game more tightly. From Stoke's perspective, if they continually get away with something then how can it be against the rules? The first time they're down to 9 men for a half they'll rethink their strategy.
That's how the Bad Boy era Detroit Pistons operated. Foul on every play, they can't call them all.
At first I thought they meant 4.124% but were using the continental custom of a comma instead of a period and so I couldn't understand the angst. But, no, that's really 4,124%! (Obviously that's an extreme case but these short term loan outfits have always been loansharkish. Rent-to-own is another scam but that's for another day...)
Obviously Pullis is making self serving statements, every manager does. But I have always been fully on board with post-match penalties for egregious dives or fouls missed by the ref. I mean is there anybody who doesn't want less diving in the game?
The thing is diving is incredibly hard to judge at real speed in game conditions for referees, but really easy to spot with help of cameras. 3 games is probably too much though. But a guaranteed yellow card every time, maybe increased penalties for repeat offenders, and players will stop doing it.
Wait, what's that you say? Northern Rock? Oh, piffle. Wonga is far more predatory and unethical than that!
Wait, what's that you say? Northern Rock? Oh, piffle. Wonga is far more predatory and unethical than that!
Or...Barclays!, those fine Iran-money laundering and LIBOR manipulating rascals or Standard Chartered, etc. I thought of that and all the gambling outfits, too, which aren't exactly in the habit of donating money to the poor and stupid. Wonga sounds predatory but between the kind of people who buy English soccer teams and the outfits that sponsor them...I mean, blech.
I find Pulis to be particularly hypocritical, given his embrace of other forms of gamesmenship (Crouch's hand ball being the best recent example).
There is no doubt Pulis is full of crap. But don't ask me to take sides in a Stoke vs Luis Suarez fight. Just don't do it, man. Suarez' problem is that with the biting, race-baiting, Scott Parker cheap-shotting, Jack Rodwell sending offing, world cup handballing and so on, no one wants to give him the benefit of the doubt anymore. I think all that stuff are part of what make him as great a player as he is--he's just one of those guys who needs to be on that edge to be brilliant--but he and LFC can't have it both ways. He can't be an asshat and play the victim card. They may as well just embrace Suarez for who he is. He's going to dive, he's going to get under the skin of the opposition and occasionally he's going to suffer payback for it. From the standpoint of entertainment, it's not really such a bad thing to have a mischief maker like Suarez around. I find him a guilty pleasure when he's not playing against Spurs. When he's playing against Spurs he is, of course, a giant turd.
4,124% is a bargain!
I'm joking, I'm joking. Not trying to OT the OT thread.
After last year Stoke and Pulis can smell deeply of my dirty ass. Against Stoke, I hope Bale has his diving goggles on, but other than that game Bale needs to knock it off. I think a lot of Spurs fans are starting to get frustrated with it. He can save that crap for when he gets to Madrid.
Eric Wynalda ?@Wynalda11
Who else thinks villas boas and friedel story isn't over? Where does friedel go? There is no way he can stay there now? Who wants him? Go!
I don't know why Friedel would leave anyway. I just think Wynalda is full of crap and has been on Villas-Boas' back since he got hired. He and Warren Barton, both. Watching them post-game after the win at Old Trafford was a lot of fun.
Guess who, in preseason.
The story isn't over? When did it start? The only story is the one you and your jackanape buddies in the press have invented in your own heads. Find something else to talk about, you lazy knobs.
I don't see why not, it works for hockey. It is basically a required roster position these days. Have some skill, but not enough to be a top-line player? And have some size and grit but not enough to be a banger? Congratulations, you're a Pest™! Which is basically the same role Suarez plays, racism optional.
FSG could market Luis to the Chowdaheads as the Uruguyan Brad Marchand.
So that's cleared up then.
While I love the game, I would say pretty much 95% of top flight footballers in the world. Slow-mo replays are hysterical for basically any play due to the histrionics.
With that said Suarez is a pretty unlikable lad.
That's the MO for more than a handful of college basketball teams as well, with Duke being the primary example. The plan is to get some physical players who make lack a bit of quickness and knock the hell out of the opposition knowing the chances of an official calling even 50% of the actual fouls is pretty slim.
Apparently Angel Villa Llona isn't paying attention during the FIFA executive committee meetings. You don't deny the existence of racist acts. You simply state that there is nothing systematic and whatever acts may have taken place cannot reflect poorly on the president himself.
I'm not sure who gets the nod between Bocanegra, Cameron, and Goodson, but I'm guessing the lineup might look something like this:
-------------------- GomezDempsey
------------------- Bradley ---------- Zusi
-------------- Jones --- Williams
Johnson --- Bocanegra --- Cameron --- Cherundolo
For a team that really has to get 3 points against Antigua & Barbuda, I'm not loving the looks of that lineup.
I'd like to see Klinsmann take out either Jermaine Jones or Danny Williams and put Alan Gordon or Eddie Johnson up top but I can't see him benching either. Frankly I'm worried that he'll put Danny Williams in Zusi's spot and still inexplicably find a way to keep Beckerman in the starting XI.
[edit] To be clear, I'm not in love with Zusi or either of the Gordon/Johnson possibilities but I'm guessing they are the most likely to make it into the starting lineup and be able to contribute to a goal on the road.
I think Fabian Johnson could play higher up as a winger. I really hope we don't see Bradley/Jones/Williams or Beckerman all together. That is just too negative.
Dammit Pardew, financing a transfer spree with payday loans is not the solution to Newcastles's problem. Read the fine print!
He could, but Edgar Castillo just got hurt so Johnson has to start at LB.
I would like it if all three didn't start. I'd go with a 4-1-4-1:
----------------Gomez---------------
--Dempsey--Bradley--Kljestan--Zusi--
----------------Williams------------
Johnson-Bocanegra-Cameron-Cherundolo
Williams is best as a DM. Bradley and Klestan are the best central distributors on the roster. Put them where they can best excel.
Agreed. But I'd assume Castillo would replace him at left back and don't think Klinsmann is considering that to be an option.
And agreed on the "too negative" but that seems to be par for the course these days.
[edit] Just saw DA's post. Didn't realize Castillo was hurt.
I don't think three points against A&B is an absolute must though it makes life a hell of a lot easier. If Jamaica beats Guatemala then a draw at A&B allows the US to go through with a draw against Guatemala. If Guatemala beats Jamaica or Jamaica and Guatemala draw then we are looking at a must win against Guatemala.
If we DRAW at A&B and;
Jamaica beat Guatemala THEN US win over Guatemala and we're through (Jamaica 13, US 11, Guatemala 7 - all assuming Jamaica beats A&B)
Jamaica beat Guatemala THEN US draw with Guatemala and we're through (Jamaica 13, US 9, Guatemala 8)
Guatemala beat Jamaica THEN US win over Guatemala and we're through (US 11, Guatemala 10, Jamaica 10)
Guatemala beat Jamaica THEN US draw with Guatemala and we're OUT (Guatemala 11, Jamaica 10, US 9)
Guatemala draw Jamaica THEN US win over Guatemala and we're through (US 11, Jamaica 11, Guatemala 8)
Guatemala draw Jamaica THEN US draw with Guatemala and it's tiebreakers (Jamaica 11, Guatemala 8, US 8) (tiebreakers will be clearer with final scores Friday night)
LOSE at A&B and it gets a bit more exciting but tiebreakers become the issue then;
Jamaica beat Guatemala THEN US win over Guatemala and we're through (Jamaica 13, US 10, Guatemala 7)
Jamaica beat Guatemala THEN US draw with Guatemala and it's tiebreakers (Jamaica 13, US 8, Guatemala 8)
Guatemala beat Jamaica THEN US win over Guatemala and it's tiebreakers (US 10, Guatemala 10, Jamaica 10)
Guatemala beat Jamaica THEN US draw with Guatemala and we're OUT (Guatemala 11, Jamaica 10, US 8)
Guatemala draw Jamaica THEN US win over Guatemala and we're through (US 10, Jamaica 11, Guatemala 8)
Guatemala draw Jamaica THEN US draw with Guatemala and we're OUT (Jamaica 11, Guatemala 8, US 7)
I think I've got that all right. A win at A&B puts us in a situation where the worst case is a tiebreaker scenario with a loss so that's ideal but if I got my options right 6 of the 12 possible result combos put us through and 3 of the other 6 combos get us to tiebreakers. A loss to Guatemala is the disaster scenario. My fear with a win or a draw is we try to park the bus against Guatemala or they simply are hungrier than us and put us up against it.
And I'm kicking myself. I'm not there now, but I'm from Kansas City and chose not to go to the Guatemala game because I figured it would be too much of a pain to get out of enough work to go to a Tuesday night game. I figured it wasn't worth taking that much vacation time for what was going to be a meaningless game. Oops.
I agree that Klinsmann probably won't bench Jones. I doubt he'll play Kljestan. And he certainly won't play a 4-1-4-1. But a boy can dream.
Technical must, no, but if they don't win Klinsmann's got some explaining to do. I'm sure he'd say something about how tough CONCACAF is. They've got to get 4 points this week. Anything less is unacceptable. This isn't Canada or Costa Rica. Not advancing is not an option.
Call in Jose Torres to play left back again!
I agree but I think 4 points is quite doable even with a draw at A&B. I think we should expect to win at home against Guatemala. While we don't dominate the region I think we should expect to get three points in every non-Mexico home game. At the same time if we win at A&B but then lose against Guatemala we're probably in a dicey situation. That's why I'm not too worried about the A&B game.
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