The complaint that Altidore can't play alone up top is irrelevant. Bobby Wood is perfectly comfortable doing that, and he's the better striker anyway, so the 4-5-1 DM (or 4-1-2-2-1, or 4-1-2-3, or whatever you want to call it) is still the best way to get the most out of this squad. Pulisic plays on the wing at his club, so it makes sense to keep him their for country as well. Nagbe is fine to play opposite, so long as he's allowed freedom to drift inside where his holding play is more useful to those around him. This also allows Yedlin to overlap with his devastating pace. Feilhaber is the only option at the 10, until Hyndman can be incorporated in less meaningful games. I don't see whatever it is everyone else sees in Kljestan. Lletget impressed in January camp enough to earn the fill-in role for the timeless Jones, who's missing because of suspension. Bradley's form has not been great, but he's been less mistake prone back in his natural 6 position, and I think with some confidence he can still get back to his pre-2014 form. At any rate, Perry Kitchen hasn't done enough to overtake him at the 6... yet. The backline is obvious. It doesn't make sense to move Johnson further up the pitch with Pulisic in the team and any other option at LB being... uninspiring, at best. Maybe Lichaj can take over there eventually, but he's not done enough just yet. Goalkeeper is unusually tricky... Howard, Guzan, and Rimando are all lacking meaningful recent minutes. So is Horvath, obviously, but all things being equal I think its time to start the future. Tim Howard was also a young green backup for a European club when he took over as the first choice, and that seemed to work out okay.
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Cake
about 7 years
The complaint that Altidore can't play alone up top is irrelevant. Bobby Wood is perfectly comfortable doing that, and he's the better striker anyway, so the 4-5-1 DM (or 4-1-2-2-1, or 4-1-2-3, or whatever you want to call it) is still the best way to get the most out of this squad. Pulisic plays on the wing at his club, so it makes sense to keep him their for country as well. Nagbe is fine to play opposite, so long as he's allowed freedom to drift inside where his holding play is more useful to those around him. This also allows Yedlin to overlap with his devastating pace. Feilhaber is the only option at the 10, until Hyndman can be incorporated in less meaningful games. I don't see whatever it is everyone else sees in Kljestan. Lletget impressed in January camp enough to earn the fill-in role for the timeless Jones, who's missing because of suspension. Bradley's form has not been great, but he's been less mistake prone back in his natural 6 position, and I think with some confidence he can still get back to his pre-2014 form. At any rate, Perry Kitchen hasn't done enough to overtake him at the 6... yet. The backline is obvious. It doesn't make sense to move Johnson further up the pitch with Pulisic in the team and any other option at LB being... uninspiring, at best. Maybe Lichaj can take over there eventually, but he's not done enough just yet. Goalkeeper is unusually tricky... Howard, Guzan, and Rimando are all lacking meaningful recent minutes. So is Horvath, obviously, but all things being equal I think its time to start the future. Tim Howard was also a young green backup for a European club when he took over as the first choice, and that seemed to work out okay.