US Lineup & Formation I’d Like To See Tonight

This post is purely wishful thinking as USMNT’s head coach, Bob Bradley, likes Jonathan Spector & Jonathan Bornstein at the fullback spots but here is the lineup I’d like to see us put out against the Albiceleste tonight, assuming we continue with that en vogue 4-5-1 without the ball, 4-3-3 with the ball formation:

Tim Howard

Eric Lichaj —– Oguchi Onyewu ——- Jay DeMerit —– Carlos Bocanegra

Jermaine Jones
Michael Bradley ————————- Maurice Edu

Clint Dempsey —————————————————————– Landon Donovan

Jozy Altidore 

With this formation even though Dempsey & Donovan are listed as more wide players, I like them at those withdrawn striker / attacking-mid positions rather than out & out strikers alongside Altidore as I feel it plays more to their strengths of running from deep & from the outside positions & gives the US more attacking impetus & better connection with the midfield, though in practice too often we revert to bypassing the midfield with the long ball for my tastes.

But a midfield triumvirate of Jones-Bradley-Edu with Jermaine Jones at a defensive-mid spot also solidifies the midfield as it allows Michael Bradley more freedom to roam forward which better suits his game.  I know a lot of people don’t like Baby Bradley & think it’s a case of nepotism with him in the side but I think the games he’s played poorly in, it’s been the games where he’s had more of the box-to-box responsibilities & too often he has left too much space behind when he’s made forward runs.  But with Jones at the DM spot, I think that would better suit both Bradley’s game & the US’ allowing Bradley to roam forward more without having to worry as much over his defensive duties.  Although to be fair to Bradley, when he did stay more at home such as in last summer’s World Cup, Bradley’s performances drew rave reviews from many pundits & at one point in the tournament was deemed one of the best midfielders in the competition.

As I mentioned previously, Bradley tends to like Spector & Bornstein at the fullbacks but I’d like to see Lichaj & Bocanegra there.  I’m a big fan of Lichaj & though he’s been pushed out of the current Aston Villa lineup by young Spurs’ loanee, Kyle Walker, he’s been performing pretty well on his own loan spell at Championship side, Leeds United.  I like Lichaj because not since the early days of Eddie Lewis & Frankie Hejduk have we had a young fullback that has the skills to go forward without looking a bit out of place.  Carlos Bocanegra generally plays better in the center of defense but he is much, much better defensively than Jonathan Bornstein & even though he lacks a bit of pace, Bornstein’s pace doesn’t really mean much when he gets torched on the flanks as often as he does.  And I’ve long preferred the DeMerit-Onyewu partnership in the heart of defense.  Plus, with Boca at LB, it gives us 3 defenders that are very good in the air.

Up top, Jozy Altidore is another player that there is a love/hate relationship with fans with not a lot of fans having an opinion in the middle on the striker.  You either like Jozy, or you don’t.  Much is often made about Jozy’s lack of goalscoring prowess at club level, but his record in a US shirt is actually a bit impressive with 10 goals in 32 appearances with several of the goals being well-taken goals not just open net tap-ins.  Anyway, I like Jozy’s strength & athleticism up top though he does still loaf & lollygag too often in matches.  Juan Agudelo is too young right now to be given regular starts at international level & I’m not just a big fan of Edson Buddle though he has played well for the national side when called upon with 2 goals in 6 appearances for the Yanks.

So, there it is, the lineup I’d like to see, but likely won’t tonight versus Argentina.