I’ve been struggling to wrap my mind around how things will work when Beckham is finally healthy, and this is the only thing I can visualize as actually getting somewhere. 4-4-2 with him in the center midfield doesn’t do it (a good offense would slice through us like a hot knife through butter), and neither does Frank’s original plan 4-3-3. (How many times did they try 4-3-3 without Beckham before they realized that it sucked? Once? Twice maybe?) I think your 4-5-1 plays to the team’s best assets.

And re: Albright. I’m hearing a song in my head along the lines of, “Don’t it always seem to go/that you don’t know what you got till it’s gone…”

Ahem. See: SuperLiga, Dallas-Galaxy, 3rd goal. You can’t direct a ball to a forward’s head much more accurately than that one.

But then again, I’ll be the first to admit that it’s difficult for me to apply my critical thinking skills to anybody playing leftback. The position makes me happy. I cannot help it.

Jazic and Albright both help in the attack, though Jazic’s crosses are rarely anthing to write home about. He does do a good job on overlapping runs. Albright has the same capability, though his crosses are better. I didn’t realize how good he was til he got injured and there was basically no one to replace him.

Can LD play central attackind midfielder or he likes to be on the top? I saw him coming back to take a ball very often so he can be connection between halfbacks and strikers. What’s his natural position?
Juzic and Albright do they help in attack?

LA has usually gone with a 4-4-2 with two d-mids and two wingers. In practice this is more like a 4-4-1-1 with LD playing withdrawn and running off of Pavon or Gordon.

In some cases LD play right wing with Pavon and Buddle/Glinton/Gordon up top.

The thing is, right now the best players for LA are midfielders and the defense is shaky. Harden in the center of the back line is showing flashes of utter crap and Roberts on the right is getting beaten like a drum kit.

So a 4-5-1 puts the best players on the field while also shoring up the questionable defense. I’d also be open to a 3-5-2, but I don’t think we have the outside speed to pull that off. It would get all of our best attackers on the field, though: Martino, LD, Beckham, Gordon, Pavon, plus Klein and Jones if needed.

Ultimately I’m okay with 4-4-2 as well, but if Beckham really plays center mid, then I don’t know how the defense is going to deal. Because if that’s teh case then I’d want this:

Healthy:
Pavon – Gordon
Martino – Gray/Harmse – Beckham – Donovan
Jazic – Harden – Xavier – Albright

I’m just worried that only one d-mid is going to cost us.

Gordon
Donovan – Vagenas – Kirk
Grey – Harmse
Jazic – Harden – Xavier – Klein

Stack the middle with 5 defensive minded player and pray for inspired wing play. Could be persuaded to move Klein up to wing and bring in Roberts. I mean, if we’re going to score 6 times, what’s the problem?

Healthy:

Gordon/Pavon depending on form
Martino – Goldenballs – Donovan
Grey – Harmse
Jazic – Harden – Xavier – Albright

Jones in for Harmse in the last 30, pushing Donovan into withdrawn striker. Pavon for Gordon (or vice versa) in the last 30 if necessary or if you want to go, umm, balls out, then Pavon/Gordon for Grey. But that’s a last, late-game option since it leaves us with no d-mids.

Thoughts? (I’d really like another option at centerback other than Harden. Love the guy, but he’s a rookie and he’s never played this many games and he’s still got a lot to learn.) But I’m open to any suggestions.

Roberts gets burned like cheap toast all day long and doesn’t make up for it with good positioning. If you want to see a slow guy do good positioning take a look at Michael Parkhurst. Guy’s a centerback who has committed fewer than 10 fouls ALL SEASON!

Xavier can do one bad game. I’ve seen him save our bacon so many times I can almost forget Ty Harden is starting alongside him. Now I love Ty as a gamer, but he’s NOT Michael Parkhurst or Bobby Boswell or even Clarence Goodson.

In short, despite having Harmse coming back and Grey in form, defense is still shaky.

The real question is, once Beckham is fully fit, do we still play 4-4-2 or do we go 4-5-1?