I dont know whats with BA, he needs someone smarter/stronger to replace Gibbs. How about Chicago Fire’s Jim Curtin 6-4 205lbs, or Watford’s Jay DeMerit 6-0 190lbs???

I keep hearing good comments on Landon’s game v. Morocco but I thought it was terrible. If he’s in the middle then he needs to anchor the team, not get caught out on the wing dribbling the ball out of bounds.

McBride

Convey-Donovan-Beasley

O’B-Pablo

Lewis-Pope-Gooch-Cherundolo

I think Donovan should be in the middle of the field floating around instead of held to one side. Once Reyna returns he is interchangeable with either O’Brien or Pablo. Also think Dempsey needs to see some time at outside right whether it’s tomorrow or the next one. Basically some combination of Convey, Beasley and Dempsey wide. Pretty similar to Bossimo I think.

Scathing critique in your first post … but laced with enough sarcasm (humor) for us to enjoy it.

Let me tweak your formation just a little. My preference would be:
McBride
Beasley-Donovan
Convey-O’Brien-Dempsey
Lewis-Bocanegra-Onyewu-Cherondolo

I think that O’Brien’s vision and passing touch can be better taken advantage of from the middle of the pitch.

Also, because Donovan seems to want to try to perfect pass too much, I think that he’d be great at feeding McBride the crosses he needs. McBride was, after all, the Fulham Player of the Year for a reason, and it wasn’t his dribbling skills.

Also, I don’t like Gibbs in the middle. I think that we need stiffer central defenders against the likes of Italy and Czech Rep.

I think that’s as close to a perfect formation as we can get for the next match. I’m really interested in seeing O’Brien and Convey combining on the same side. I think there’ll be fireworks from the left.

Also, Gibbs in the middle is my preference, but I have a hunch we’ll be seeing either Conrad or Bocanegra on Friday partnering Gooch. I believe Arena knows what he’s getting with Pope and will be resting him. I don’t think Gibbs impressed on the left, but it was probably just a stop-gap allowing Lewis some rest too.

Happy to concede that your clean sheet is still intact (while I probably just took Eto’o down just outside the box).

The 3-5-2 was a shambles. So was the 4-2-1-3. But it’s too early to give up on the fundamental principle: our best attacking formation puts two wingers flanking McBride. So until we see the best two wingers there – Convey and Beasley – let’s not have a knee-jerk reversion to a 4-4-2 that leaves some of out best players on the bench.

I’d love to see this formation on Friday for the first half.

Convey-McBride-Beasley
O’Brien-Donovan-Dempsey
Lewis-Gibbs-Gooch-Dolo

In fact, I’m a little pissed started Wolff on the right wing. Everyone can see that’s a lost cause and that he needs to see if it’s DMB or maybe Dempsey. The set piece goal from DMB on the right against Mexico keeps replaying in my mind…

I also didn’t like hearing that Arena gave donovan the “honor” of telling his friend he made the team. I just don’t like the idea of the captains close friend getting the last spot over someone who i think is clearly a better player. Taylor could get into a game and get lucky and score ching would need a miracle or atleast something that would end up as a scandal.

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