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Sep 29, 2013 22:24
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quote:i wouldnt say villa's midfield is much better than sunderlands, yet christian benteke scored quite a bit last year. i happen to think jozy is on par talent wise with benteke lol this person is loving retarded
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Sep 29, 2013 23:25
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Paolo Di Canio is out at Sunderland. Fans on Wearside are doing the appropriate gnashing of teeth as their fascist dictator-in-miniature heads to a lower division somewhere to learn the nuance of tactical discipline and faithful drilling. Another year, another blown-up Premier League project. Here, the conversation has inevitably turned to Jozy Altidore, who now appears dangerously close to a reprise of his Hull City situation from 2009. Far from the warm glow of AZ, he now appears to be the tip of the spear for a team tactically adrift while they blindly bash their way forward through overgrown thickets. Like working your way back up the grain of the jetwash of a 747. When you pick through Jozy’s few appearances in the red stripes this year, the returns aren’t particularly flattering. This has less to do with Jozy’s form (which is clearly still benefitting from the residual impact of his tactical renaissance in the Netherlands) and more to do with his general directives. He’s rarely asked to be more than a big body, though he does his best to distribute in the absence of much interplay. So, importantly, it should be said that while Sunderland is easy prey, it’s far too early to take the chisel to his individual form. Indeed, Jozy had a legitimate goal wiped off against Arsenal and had his dangerous moments as a sub in Sunderland’s embarrassing 3-0 loss to West Brom last weekend. But the tactical tide has been working against Jozy’s maturation since he arrived in Sunderland, which we’ll take a look at today. Sunderland’s overall attacking strategy in its first five games under Di Canio in 2013 was a jumbled mess, the tactical equivalent of a shoulder shrug and an index finger pointed blindly forward. In games where they owned possession they failed to capitalize, and in games where they did not, they lost all semblance of rigidity and simply bashed the ball forward. Unfortunately for Jozy, this digs the dagger directly into the fleshy part of his ability to get meaningful touches. Because there haven’t been many to spread around. The Black Cats out-worked Fulham in their first game of the season and still lost 1-0, which seemed to break Di Canio’s resolve. Sunderland won the possession battle 57-43 and had 149 passes in the attacking third to just 65 for Fulham. But they were aimless and wayward as Di Canio bizarrely blitzed nearly his entire complement of midfielders forward. So even though Sunderland bossed possession, those moments weren’t particularly valuable and were rarely dangerous. As you can see with Jozy’s distribution map below, he too often was forced to prod possession at the edge of the attacking third and was pushed out wide by Sunderland’s ineptitude in the middle of the field. During Jozy’s nearly two-year-long period in the goal desert with the USMNT, this was his troubling MO, so it’s not particularly good to see him lapse back into this pattern, fleeting as it may be. He’d swing unhinged from touchline to touchline in an effort to throw the jumper cables onto his flagging distribution team. When that failed (as it inevitably did), Jozy found himself yards outside the box when the attacking movement reached critical mass. He was often simply not where he needed to be.  Sunderland’s second game against Southampton was shambolic tactically, saved only by a (somewhat lucky) header by mini mite Giaccherini in the second minute to rescue an eventual 1-1 draw. Otherwise, Southampton utterly unraveled Sunderland’s attempts to do much of anything. While the Saints passed ribbons around their confused opponents, Sunderland simply bombed passes toward the corner flags and completely cut out the center of the field. Sunderland completed an anemic 167 passes and kept the ball 35 percent of the time. Jozy interjected where he could by holding the ball up and making runs, but as the somewhat embarrassing influence map shows, his meager footprint was perhaps one of the team’s lone flickering lights dancing in the darkness.  And so it’s gone. Arsenal, Crystal Palace and West Brom losses went similarly. Early, Di Canio attempted to stick Jozy up top by himself and run midfielder Sessengnon up behind him, but that created miles of space in the midfield that was easily exploitable. Again, Di Canio threw out the idea of organized defending in favor of a press far too high upfield and a wanton disregard for measured passing. Put together, those two foibles are a death sentence. With Sessegnon gone to West Brom (he showed Di Canio a glimpse of what he could do when deployed correctly when he scored in the Brummies’ 3-0 win over Sunderland last weekend) Di Canio switched to a 4-4-2 with Steven Fletcher pairing with Jozy and, finally, Fabio Borini up top. This too was a spectacular failure, as the central midfield of Ki and Gardner was completely overrun. If there is good news here, it is that Di Canio’s feckless tactical blundering is no longer a worry, and Sunderland is almost sure to add some much-need iron to its defending. The issue now becomes whether Jozy can do two things; keep his name in the good graces of a coach that presumably had little to do with his signing, and find a place in Kevin Ball’s setup. Ball, it should be said, has only had one brief stint as a head man, ironically in the same seat he’s in now. He was Sunderland’s caretaker in 2006 after Mick McCarthy was sacked and lost seven of his 10 games in charge. His option was, obviously, not extended, and he walked back down the steps to the club’s academy. It’s an incredibly small sample size, and it’s hard to borrow from it, but Ball’s reputation as a bruising center back and central defensive midfielder (his nickname? ‘The Hatchet’) does not bode well for a possession-oriented Sunderland. And it’s hard to see this adding much to Jozy’s oeuvre though, again, that’s to be determined over the next seven months. How this all effects Jozy’s national team situation is still crystalizing. Jozy’s recent run of form with the USMNT is without precedent, and it’s obvious his soaring tenure with AZ did much to improve his positional awareness and goal-scoring prowess. This is unlike his Hull situation in a couple ways, none more important than that he has a better foundation now from which to build. He cannot be torn down to the studs as he was during his last Premiership tenure. Everything from his close-range finishing to his ability to stay tethered to the goalmouth is better now. Which is not to say that it cannot regress under the wrong auspices. Still, it has to be acknowledged that this is not ideal, and it’s not clear that a solution is rising above the horizon. As we’re beginning to understand with MLS’ rise in prominence, this will continue to stoke the idea that a step up in league competition isn’t a catch-all solution. Acknowledging hindsight to be what it is, we can freely admit that he might have stayed at AZ all along. Americans are the worst.
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Sep 29, 2013 23:56
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After the soviet post (which i liked), I thought you had written that and got more and more worried as I read along. That person cares about Jozy almost as much as some of the people in this thread.
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Sep 30, 2013 00:02
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Where is jozy on those maps idgi
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Sep 30, 2013 01:00
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Pissflaps posted:Where is jozy on those maps idgi I think he's all the arrows. None of which go into the net
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Sep 30, 2013 01:10
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One would assume he's one of the two black triangles.
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Sep 30, 2013 01:36
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Dunban posted:One would assume he's one of the two black triangles. Wow, no need for racism like this. Enjoy your ban
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Sep 30, 2013 01:40
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I was imagining the little triangles as tiny campsites where Jozy would sit on his rear end for a while then move somewhere else for a nap
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Sep 30, 2013 01:48
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Jozy found himself yards outside the box when the attacking movement reached critical mass.
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Sep 30, 2013 01:56
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lol guys try to keep up we don't even know who jozy altidore is anymore we're all talking about the new "it" guy Aron Johansson
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Sep 30, 2013 02:04
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80085 posted:lol guys try to keep up we don't even know who jozy altidore is anymore we're all talking about the new "it" guy Aron Johansson He doesn't play in the Premier League though, which is kind of the point of TRP's fascination with Josmer
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Sep 30, 2013 02:56
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T. Finninho posted:He doesn't play in the Premier League though, which is kind of the point of TRP's fascination with Josmer He will next year. He is currently following the Jozy path of playing in the Dutch league, scoring a ton of goals then having a Premier League team spend way too much money for him. He is even on the same dutch team that Jozy was on.
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Sep 30, 2013 03:32
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80085 posted:He will next year. He is currently following the Jozy path of playing in the Dutch league, scoring a ton of goals then having a Premier League team spend way too much money for him. He is even on the same dutch team that Jozy was on. Is he as poo poo as Jozy?
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Sep 30, 2013 03:45
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Gigi Galli posted:Is he as poo poo as Jozy? He's american and plays for AZ Alkmaar. Draw your own conclusions
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Sep 30, 2013 03:56
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Crunkjuice posted:He's american and plays for AZ Alkmaar. Draw your own conclusions I think you'll actually find that he's an Icelander in skin and hair.
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Sep 30, 2013 04:09
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80085 posted:lol guys try to keep up we don't even know who jozy altidore is anymore we're all talking about the new "it" guy Aron Johansson they'll be fuming about this in the Icelandic Men's National Team Non-competitive megathread. what a traitor!
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Sep 30, 2013 04:14
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I think we all want a calm Jozy Altidore
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Sep 30, 2013 04:18
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quote:“I think from Jozy’s point of view he wants to score goals," Ball said. Wow, cutting insight there from Ball. It's a wonder no team has hired him as full manager yet.
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Sep 30, 2013 04:21
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Lamont Cranston posted:I think you'll actually find that he's an Icelander in skin and hair. But Jozy was born in jersey to hatian parents. Are you saying Jozy is not American? Why does ones nationality have anything to do with race? Aron was born in alabama and is an american citizen Crunkjuice fucked around with this message at 06:15 on Sep 30, 2013 |
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Sep 30, 2013 06:11
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Has Jozy scored yet ?
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Sep 30, 2013 06:17
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jooky posted:Has Jozy scored yet ? No.
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Sep 30, 2013 08:24
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quote:i wouldnt say villa's midfield is much better than sunderlands, yet christian benteke scored quite a bit last year. i happen to think jozy is on par talent wise with benteke Im dyin over here lads, lmao.
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Sep 30, 2013 08:45
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I also happen to think jozy is on par talent wise with benteke.
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Sep 30, 2013 09:21
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Pissflaps posted:I also happen to think jozy is on par talent wise with benteke. How could you possibly think this
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Sep 30, 2013 10:36
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Pissflaps posted:I also happen to think jozy is on par talent wise with benteke. What sort of "talents" are you referring to?
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Sep 30, 2013 10:39
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Destroy My Sweater posted:What sort of "talents" are you referring to? Probably garbageman-related ones.
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Sep 30, 2013 11:28
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Benteke is a big lad he could pick up a bin or two even with Jozy in them
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Sep 30, 2013 12:22
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Benteke would destroy Jozy, Jozy is a wasteman and would just run away knowing a domination was in its way
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Sep 30, 2013 13:09
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Benteke has destroyed defenders. The only way Jozy could harm any defender is if they trip over a steaming pile of Jozy when he inevitably falls over again.
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Sep 30, 2013 13:33
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It's amusing reading the contributions from Americans on the Sunderland message board about Jozy. It's also informative to read a quote from a Hull City fan on the subject on the same board: quote:As Jozy joined us so did an influx of (welcome) American fans. My wife is American; my kids have US passports so I could hardly be classed as anti-American but it is particularly interesting how culturally the US fans will often follow a player rather than a team. When Jozy left, so did they (in fact you have one or two familiar types on your boards now). The point being that they don’t see a fault in their player, rather they see faults in the team he plays for and other players. And granted the way you have started it would be easy to draw parallels between you this season and us 3 years ago (but I suspect with a decent manager and a bit of luck on injuries that will change). so at least it's not just here that this happens.
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Sep 30, 2013 13:37
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He scored a goal for Hull. At the moment, that's infinitely better than his performance for Sunderland
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Sep 30, 2013 16:18
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tbp posted:He scored a goal for Hull. At the moment, that's infinitely better than his performance for Sunderland maybe his service was better at Hull give me six hours to run some numbers in excel about zone 14 conversions per ninety minutes
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Sep 30, 2013 16:22
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Jozys reply to ephex on twitter shows he wont let trolls get him down imo.
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Sep 30, 2013 18:20
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did jozy score any cup goals at hull?
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Sep 30, 2013 18:42
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Taff posted:Jozys reply to ephex on twitter shows he wont let trolls get him down imo. ephex insisted Jozy blocked him for it but I saw the reply with my very own eyes earlier today. I don't know who to believe
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Sep 30, 2013 18:43
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I am beginning to feel bad for Jozy, i only don't like his coddling "fans" but he seems to be a nice guy with real feelings.
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Sep 30, 2013 18:50
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vaginal culture posted:I am beginning to feel bad for Jozy, i only don't like his coddling "fans" but he seems to be a nice guy with real feelings. He's rude
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Sep 30, 2013 18:57
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vaginal culture posted:I am beginning to feel bad for Jozy, i only don't like his coddling "fans" but he seems to be a nice guy with real feelings. I have a sneaking suspicion that this is not true genuine feelings tom, it's just you feeling a twinge of pity on him because you share the same passport.
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Sep 30, 2013 19:02
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oh em gee bee ess posted:I have a sneaking suspicion that this is not true genuine feelings tom, it's just you feeling a twinge of pity on him because you share the same passport. I would hate to be trolled and cyberbullied just because I'm bad at my job (which i am)
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Sep 30, 2013 19:03
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