re: Donovan: Does he have a point or sour grapes?

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The Donovan question is tough. Assuming that Jk thought Davis could legitimately hold his own against Germany, Donovan replaces Chandler? Max? Zusi? That question gets tougher after seeing how it all played out. No one was calling for zysi or max to be dropped prior

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You couldn't leave Zusi off before tee WC, which is why I said after his performance. He just looked like he was in over his head and couldn't keep his composure on the ball.

The real question is Davis over Donovan. I don't know if there's a knowledgeable fan on this board that can make a logical a argument for it.

Just to be clear here, Donovan's point is that we were not set up to attack enough and "go for it" against Belgium.

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Because I would have said let’s go for it. I want a chance to go for it and try to win the game.”

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He's sure enough of that to criticize the coach publicly over it.

And yet:
Zonal Marking

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USA midfield very open

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The game was played at great pace, with both teams attempting to play high up the pitch and dominate.

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It’s difficult to remember another side at this World Cup leaving their defence so open throughout the game

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Klinsmann throwing on Chris Wondolowski in place of Zusi was a staggeringly bold move in such an open game

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USA afforded them so many counter-attacking opportunities

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Jurgen can definitely be criticized for his tactics against Belgium, but not because they weren't aggressive enough. If anything, he put too much faith in his players and asked them to "go for it" too much. The plan seemed to be that they would either win or go out in a ball of flames.

So Landon's wrong (just like everyone who mistook last-ditch defending and heroic goalkeeping for "bunkering") anyway.

He basically seems to have learned nothing from all of this.

Was going to reply but

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uway

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Sums it up well.

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Donovan at 27 wasn't good enough to counter-attack his way to beating Ghana. He is certainly not good enough now to single-handedly beat Belgium or Germany.

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Pretty solid point too.

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That Cameron shank was totally about tactics.

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I do love how people continue to harp on this.

I guess nobody saw Van Buyten (one of the better defenders in Europe over the last 15 years) shithit a clearance in extra time that ballooned from the 6 all the way to the 18.

I particularly liked the guy who was appalled and thought it shouldn't even happen in a U15 game.

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I guess nobody saw Van Buyten (one of the better defenders in Europe over the last 15 years) shithit a clearance in extra time that ballooned from the 6 all the way to the 18.

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Coincidence that Jurgen coached him at Bayern?

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Coincidence that Jurgen coached him at Bayern?

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The team that drew Germany and had beaten Donovan-led US teams in two straight World Cups.

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This transitive property shite doesn't hold water even when talking about 4 teams in the same group in the same tournament, it damn sure doesn't hold water when referring to 2006.

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Like scoring 3 goals in 11 matches in MLS this year? That guy totally would have given us more goals in this tournament.

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There's a lot more to it than just scoring, but come on, you already knew that. He's created a ton of chances in MLS this year and has always excelled in that role for us. As Sheep said, the things he does well are the things we were lacking throughout the tournament. There's no way to spin that being a good decision, especially when Brad Davis is the replacement.

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Never mind that we equaled our goal total from 2010 when he was in his prime and playing against much lesser competition.

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Transitive property again; totally invalid and irrelevant. Probably not a good point to use anyway since he scored the goals that helped us advance out of that group.

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Yep, in a World Cup where team spirit, motivation, and fitness were going to mean everything to our chances of advancing, it was MONUMENTALLY stupid to leave off a player who chose not to participate in early qualifying, publicly declared his intentions NOT to practice hard, and showed up out of shape and form to the final pre-camp friendly (according to Sheep, Broski, etc. Do I need to link those posts again from the Mexico friendly, or will you just be honest and admit/accept that he was fat in the spring?).

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Literally all of this has been de-bunked so many times that there's just no damn point in rehashing it.

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Donovan at 27 wasn't good enough to counter-attack his way to beating Ghana.He is certainly not good enough now to single-handedly beat Belgium or Germany

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This is terrible logic. Why are you insisting on this transitive nonsense when it makes no sense at all?

Nobody is saying he would have taken down the Germans or Belgians by himself. We're saying he would have given us a better chance to win than other players that we did bring. It's not 1 v. 11, it's not all about what he can do alone, but more as a functioning piece of a cohesive unit.

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shithit

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Will be using in the future.