Landon Donovan: Best Position?

February 25th, 2006 | by: Daryl |

Most seem to accept Landon Donovan as the USA’s star player, and I’m not going to argue. This in mind, what is the man’s best position?

Ray Hudson suggested this week that he’d love to see a “dynamic duo” of DaMarcus Beasly wide left and Donovan wide right. Interesting, but why confine our biggest talent to the wing?

He could play as a forward, but again I feel like isolating him up front restricts the influence he can exert on a game.

Donovan himself seems to prefer playing as a withdrawn forward, where he can get creative without the defensive reponsibilities of being a central midfielder.

Finally, there’s the option of playing him in central midfield, probably alongside a more defensive midfielder (eg Claudio Reyna).

I think it all depends on the situation. If we’re being aggressive I’d like to see two up top (say McBride and Johnson) with Donovan in central midfield alongside Reyna. But say we’re hanging on to a slender lead against Italy (could happen) then we could go just one up top (a target forward like McBride), with two defensive central mids (Reyna and O’Brien) and Donovan ever so slightly ahead of them.

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Josué

I think that Donovan’s best position is that of an attacking midfielder, or how you put it withdrawn forward. I think the system will work best if he is behind forwards like mcbride, johnson or twellman and in front of Claudio Reyna who would play more of a facilitator role.
johnman

Lando has to be in the center that is for sure. We are too deep at forward to waste Landon up there. Central Attacking midfield is our best bet. Twellman and Johnson at starting forwards.
joel

i’m not convinced that we’re so deep at fwd. i mean, i know our midfielders are all banged up right now, but if everyone is healthy, that part of the field looks strongest. i’m sold on mcbride… and pretty much sold on johnson. is twellman a lock to start matches in germany? i’m not sold. i think guys like o’brien and reyna and yes, dempsey, will be able to get the ball up to donovan, who will be playing like a CAM, if not an outright fwd.
Fridel The Wall

Donovan needs to be a forward because he refuses to play defense while at midfield. No doubt, he has some serious skill up top, but with his “i’ll be right there” attitude the U,S, can not afford to trust him with somewhat defensive position.