re: Things we learned from the send off series

quote:

---

I assume Bradley tries to read Jones on that kind of play and hangs back a bit.

---

I'd have to go back and rewatch it, but I think that on that play, Bradley dropped deep and JJ moved into the space that he vacated.

JJ and Bedoya looked like they had a good grasp of how to play in line with Beckerman vs. Davis and Zusi w/Jones or even when Zusi came on later in the Nigeria game.

quote:

---

I'm not convinced it was a Christmas tree just because it happened to look like one at one point and then someone grabbed a screenshot.

---

Well, I think that that's what the team called it, and then, someone posted a screenshot in the comments of the article.

I didn't think that our shape looked a whole lot different that what it was supposed to look like in the Turkey and AZ games, especially going forward. Though, either Altidore or Dempsey dropped even with Bradley in defense, which I guess looks a lot like what they said we were playing.

I think that our biggest improvement was here:

quote:

---

“We talked beforehand about Kyle sitting deep in front of the defenders, Jermaine being tilted to his left and Alejandro tilted to his right, and I think the understanding between the three of them was very good,” attacking midfielder Michael Bradley said. “Defensively we were able to close space down and make it hard on them in their attacking third.”

---

vs. Davis-Jones-Zusi. Beckerman obviously plays in something similar at RSL, and I think that it does a good job of harnessing, rather than suppressing, JJ's insanity.

@ezride25: the 4-2-3-1 was just ESPN's interpretation of the list of names they were given. I don't think that the team released the formation prior to the game.

Ultimately, I'd like to know what that 3/5 man, whichever you prefer, backline was all about during the last ten minutes.

thenry