"It wasn't Freddy's fault! He was OK, but everyone else stinks!" I think I've read this story before. Watching him live makes me want to drink bleach. That's how frustrating he is to watch.
Freddy Adu is the dude at the bar who hits on a beautiful chick, has a great convo, laughs for hours with her, and then at the end of the night freezes up and lets her walk away without getting her number. Except he lays on the floor with his hands up when she walks away...
I think that's unfair to Blustar, who's been a good poster for longer than this forum's existed, and who wasn't saying anything controversial. Truth is that he's right--Freddy's a great player if the ball cycles through him. He's not all that impressive when he's asked to play a marginal role, or if he has to find the ball. There are lots of players like that in the world. Sometimes they find the right situation at the right level with the right team. Sometimes they don't. I watched Freddy dominate, and I mean dominate, at the U20 WC in Canada in person. I've seen him be excellent with the USMNT. But in a weird way he's an elite level role player. He's really really great at one particular role, and nothing special in most others. It's totally possible that it's not worth it for the Union to build their system around Freddy (though this particular system hasn't exactly worked wonders). You don't have to choose between "making excuses" for players and acknowledging that their skill sets are suited for particular situations.
I'm not as down on the team as all of you seem to be. I thought the guys fought hard tonight but had a few lapses on defense and as usual didn't capitalize on there chances. After watching the replay it looks like MacMath was to blame for the 2nd and 3rd goals. Some observations: -Sheanon hustled his butt off all night, ran back a few times almost the length of the field to break up plays and was dangerous on offense creating some chances with his seemingly improved dribbling and crosses. Great effort, he left everything on the field. -Marfan made some things happen, most of the time he did a good job of orchestrating the offense and found the right balls to get us forward. He got loose a couple times and missed the net or had good looking shots blocked at the last second. One of the more complete games he's played in awhile. I would still like to see him take on players down the flank when he gets the chance. Defenders in the league are terrified of him and he has the moves to open things up, but has deferred to just pass back to the middle lately instead. -Keon did a good job holding up play in the middle of the field and also making good decisions with the ball, but that wasn't his position. He also got a few nice looking shots off that didnt miss the mark by much. He needed to be more dangerous playing as a forward tough, which isn't really his strength. There were a couple times when he decided not to make what looked like obvious runs and great passes were wasted that he could have run onto to. I don't see why you play him up top when last year and parts of this season he seemed most effective as an outside midfielder. -Soumare had a up and down debut, he did a good job early getting some key blocks and distributed the ball well when he looked up but he got beat pretty good on the 1st goal. He also looked to be communicating well as I saw him directing the offsides line a few times and pointing our defenders who to take. His lack of foot speed almost cost us 2 more goals and he was a non-factor on set pieces both offensively and defensively. Not sure if the knee injury is still bothering him or cost him speed, but the video footage I watched of him from last year he looked a lot faster. I was expecting more out of him to be honest. -Gaddis started out good and made some good runs up field but was pretty brutal on defense especially positioning wise. He pushed up the field too much, not taking into account where Sheanon was and overall was not in the right spot most of the time. On the 1st goal he foolishly ran up towards midfield to press another guys instead of watching his man and that forced Soumare to come out and deal with it which ended up costing us. Reminds me of what Garfan went though last year being too aggressive. -Hoffman despite getting the goal was pretty bad. He did a good job holding up play with his back to the net a few times, and besides the run he made to get the goal he made 0 other good runs. He just kind of stood around all game while he was in there, not bringing any danger to our attack. -MacMath continues to be shaky. I couldn't tell what happened on their 2nd goal while I was there, but after watching the replays he has to get the blame for that as well as the 3rd one. The official replay doesn't give a good angle on the 3rd but it looks like he got caught cheating across the net and beat high shortside. He's gotta be better. Despite the fact that we picked him high in the draft if he continues to flounder down the stretch they need to consider a replacement or at least an open competition for next year. He's given up some bad goals the past 2 months or so. -As far as Hackworth is concerned, I say keep him. He needs to be able to shape the roster into players that fit "his system" rather than plugging all these "versatile" guys with no real positions that Peter brought in and get a full preseason to implement what he's trying to do. The team has played a better and more entertaining brand of soccer since he took over. I've agreed with most of his lineups since he was brought on and hes made some good decisions from the sidelines with his instincts on when and who to bring on and off so far. The season is over though. I would like to see longer looks and/or full 90's out of these other guys down the stretch (Josue, Hoffman, Torres, Gaddis, Pfeffer, Perlaza, Greg Jordan, Chase and Konopka). Maybe rotate one or two in each game and if they play well let them play another one.
Just got home, a few thoughts: That was disappointing............. Freddy Adu: Might as well get this out of the way. Had a decent cross that led to our goal. Some good corner kicks too. Other then that............ he killed far too many forward movements. He slowed play up when he should have pushed forward. He played into the defense's hands (i.e. double teams). He needs to go Keon Daniel: Aside from his first minute header (should have buried that), and one first half sequence on defense that generated appreciation from TRE...........useless. EVERYONE knows he has no left foot. He looks uncomfortable as a forward. His first touch is brutal, It's like he's wearing cinder blocks instead of cleats! MacMath: Aye............ that third goal.......... all him. Period. He anticipated (and then played) a cross, and Rolfe just flat out beat him with a shot. Second goal got caught in no man's land. Two.....dare I say, Seitzien goals? Did well on 1 V 1 after the third goal though. He's a nice kid, and that might be the issue. He doesn't talk at all on the field, or organize his defense. It might be time to bring in a veteran to push him/mentor him. Soumare: Yeah he got beat bad on the first goal. Then the other three defenders compounded that by not paying attention. Thought he played ok. Would like to see him paired with Valdes. Dude takes up a lot of space on corner kicks, and was marked by two defenders in the first half. Pretty sure he's the one that knocked the Sh!t out of Pause in the first half too. Defense: We cannot, and have never been able to defend set pieces, or take an affective set piece for that matter. The marking on the second goal was non-existent, and then MacMath hesitated and got caught in no man's land to make matters even worse. This needs to improve. Unfortunately until we are able to actually execute set pieces on Offense, it's going to be difficult to practice defending them properly. Carroll: I'm a big fan, but he was off of his game tonight. I'd like to see Okugo start in his place for a game or two, so we know what we have. Farfans: Thought they played ok tonight. The effort was there. Hoppenote: First touch is brutal. Dribbles with his head down, and seldom looks up. Teams have film on him now, so he's going to have to adapt his game accordingly. Martinez: Would have liked to have seen him start up top instead of Daniel. Yes he got called off sides, but at least he was putting pressure on the D. Hoffman: Didn't think he was terrible. He's a rookie, so he was muscled off the ball a lot, and also took to long at times to make decisions (rookie mistakes). Made some dangerous runs. Looked like he got a touch on the goal, at least from the replay on the big board. Happened right in front of me and it appeared that Annibaba knocked in, but the replay showed in the stadium showed Hoffman with a slight touch on it. Offense: Can't score if we don't SHOOT the F'N ball!!!! It should be said that we did create a lot of dangerous situations for Chicago, but unfortunately.......... we couldn't generate enough real chances. Lots of half chances though, some decent buildup at times. They way Hackworth wants to play..............Ruiz would fit in real well. This team is in serious need of a goal scorer. In case anyone was wondering Torres, Lopez and Perlazza were watching the match from the Stadium club deck tonight. Very disappointing........ I'd like to see this lineup next week: Harrisson Williams - Soumare - Valdes - Gaddis G Farfan - Okugo - Lahoud Pajoy - McInnerny - M Farfan
Those two perfect crosses (one a free kick) must have been torturous. It's a true shame he wasn't more successful with the 1v1s. We all know that attacking players are expected to win more 1v1s than they lose.
What's the deal with Torres? I'd like to see this lineup next week: MacMath Williams - Soumare - Valdes - Gaddis G Farfan - Okugo - Carrol Pajoy - McInnerny - M Farfan Subs: Adu, Hopenott, Torres/Daniel
Clearly everybody is having the same thought. We need better players, Can we get Califf back but keep Valdez as captain? Keep Williams. As much as Le Toux drove mevnuts can we take him back too and have Hoppenot off the bench? Keep Freddy but pay him a lot less? I'd keep Jack Mac, but we need a second poacher. Keep Torres, and actually play him. I don't know about MacMath. Keon's good for running around in circles with the ball, which can be useful. Okugo is stellar, but I wanted to start shouting "everybody tie your shoes" today. Gomez isn't bad as a bench player. I could lose the rest.
just got home (2 hrs).... I get so mad when the team doesn't play well. If we lose we lose. But tonight was a disgrace. Broke my heart watching that match. I get so mad but I find myself watching the game or at the game the following week each time, they got me hooked. I know we will have a nice sized group going next week to DC. If the team plays like they did tonight they owe us traveling support steak dinners.
Enough has been said about Adu today. Soumare was absolutely dreadful. He was easily beat on the first two goals and was beat repeatedly during the second half. His height did not make an impact on the game as we saw yet another set piece failure. The other players on the team would not pass to him because he looked so shaky. He should have been benched at halftime. It's hard to imagine Albright could have done much worse. It's just one appearance, but the results from that reserve game against Montreal may not have been an anomaly. I'd rather Okugo stay at CB but it doesn't really matter at this point. We're toast. Don't like to quote myself, but this game had loss written all over it. I guess I can take some consolation from accurately guessing the scoreline.
No, but it makes sense as this match exposed pretty much every Union weakness. Can't score a goal? Check. Can't defend (or score on) set pieces? Check. No ideas in the final third? Check. Questionable goalkeeping? Check.
If we had a dollar for everytime the Union allowed a goal in the last five minutes in a half, we could buy a real LB. however I do like having the Farfans on the field at the same time.
The team was terrible tonight but some of you guys are being really really tough on Hoffman, the kid has been hurt most of the season of course he is going to be rusty. But beyond that for the most part I agree with everything else.
I got 50% off an All-Star Jersey prior to the game starting...unfortunately that was the peak of the evening's excitement. Carroll looked bad, but I don't blame him. Knowing how thin we were for this game, Gaddis & Williams should never have been moving up as often as they were. On both of the goals Carroll was pretty much playing CB, while Soumare was out covering the wings. Carroll is NOT a CB, nor should he be asked to play that role, and Soumare IS a CB and should not be out as far as he was (we saw how that ended). As much as I love Hack, I think he planned poorly for this match with the ranks as depleted as they were. I'm hoping we continue to see the young guys get minutes now that the season is done. Would like to see Hoffman, Hoppenot, & Martinez starting together with fresh legs, just to see how far they could stretch a defense. As for Soumare? I think we'll get a better sense of his abilities when Valdes is back there giving him his orders.
I don't have a problem with Hoffman starting, but why was he starting at CF? I've only ever seen him on the wings, and I thought that he was a winger. I'm sure that he probably played a reserve match or two as a CF, but he just looked lost out there. Also, he was dominated physically by the Chicago defenders. McInerney is usually physically abused by opposing defenders as well, but he seems to be able to find more opportunities. I figured that Concrete Feet Pajoy would've started as a CF. Also, count me in on seeing more youngsters play. Let's see if we can get Hernandez, McLaughlin, Jordan, and Witkowski out there. Let's see what these guys can do in some real MLS matches. We might find a few diamonds that we can take into next season. I know I'll be in the minority on this one, but why not put Perlaza and Lopez out there. If any of them do anything worth a damn, we can try to offload them by trade. We're already near the bottom of the table. How much worse could things get? Let's take some chances!!
You know. The guy we used the LeToux money to sign permanently, and has been noticeably absent in the Hackworth plan. Is there anything that has happened this season that has been remotely positive?
someone needs to tell freddy adu he is not Messi and that this team is not barcelona. this east-west, tic-tac-toe shit does not work. what has worked is long balls and north-south play. okugo/soumare-dreadful, could have easily been 4 or 5 goals to 1 Macmath- bonehead mistakes with great random saves gaddis-runs his ass off and played OK williams- good runs no big mistakes Caroll- give this guy a break already Farfan- has delusions of grandeur, got not good enough to be our go too AM Garfan- enough!! Daniel-mistake after mistake Adu- please get injured already Hoffman-has no business playing let alone starting Hop- our only real birght spot from last night Pajoy- WASTE OF SPACE Martinez- no real impact
Ummm.....................wasn't Gaddis "marking" Friedrich on the second goal? The first goal, he got beat to the endline by McDonald, but what was the rest of the defense doing when the ball was crossed into the box? We had three guys standing around not paying attention. That goal could have and should have been stopped by one of those three, and Soumare should have done better on preventing the cross in the first place. Of course he was beat. We were pressing for goals and playing a 3 man backline, while also pressed up high. He didn't play as bad you want to believe he did.
I actually thought Soumare wasn't too bad. He wasn't perfect, but late in the game, he blocked two shots when Chicago was countering, but he was pretty much alone back there with Carroll, who we all know isn't a CB. There were often times where Okugo was pushing way up high, even to the point that he looked like a wide midfielder sometimes, and that left Soumare and Carroll all alone on the backline. It was obvious that Valdes was missed in this game, but Soumare wasn't as bad as most people were making him out to be. Also, the guy doesn't get a little slack for this being his first full 90 after a knee injury?