looking at the positional map
by plaid_pants (2017-01-30 14:12:36)

In reply to: It's really hard to tell.  posted by NDMike2001

Post Reply Return to Clark's Pitch

First off, I didn't watch the game. But I have been trying to develop my skill of interpreting what happened by looking at distribution maps of games.

Bradley looks like he is playing the role he evolved into at Toronto. He sits deep and owns the middle. His distribution map looks good, though probably it was unexciting to watch. We should start thinking of Bradley as a better Beckerman playing the Beckerman role. He is the time keeper, like a metronome keeping things moving like clockwork. Simple and ever present.

Klejstan, who many said looked rusty, has a pretty decent distribution map. He is all over the place as a #10 should. Klejstan being a good #10 means that Bradley is pushed farther back like a good #6. This makes tactical sense looking at the map.

Nagbe carves out a nice place for himself on the left. His map makes it look like he was a presnece enough that Klejstan and Bradley respected his right to have that space over there.

The real problem is Jones and Bedoya. Jones is all over the place and Bedoya's distribution map is nowhere to be found. Either Bedoya is covering for Jones' lack of positional discipline, thus making his role on the right dissapear, or Jones is compensating for Bedoya's lack of support in attack.

Jones' map tends to drift to the advanced center and towards the left, not so much on the right, so I am going to guess it is Bedoya covering for Jones. If this has been going on for a while, it makes sense why I don't natuaraly gravitate towards liking Bedoya and yet the coaches do. Bedoya is spending his time covering for the mistakes of others instead of carving out his own space.

So why not get rid of Jones and Bedoya. We need a true center midfielder who is willing to just hold his space as a link and not roam all over the place. Dax McCarty? Emerson Hyndman? Perry Kitchen? Bedoya himself and find a new right winger? Does Pusilic play right or left? Can Nagbe play the other side?

If Bruce Arena is better than Klinsmann tactically, I predict we will see experimentation with the exact purpose of trying to figure out this one deficiency.





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