Sorry. I was under the mistaken impression you were simply asking a question as opposed to advocating a specific viewpoint. My bad. Guess I didn't read carefully enough... Don't have the links handy, but I wondered that same thing myself (about his benching at the end of last year) and did find stuff related to salary back then too (no quotes from Hack, supposedly off-the-record leaks that ultimately panned out), at which point I said, "Oh yeah, that's right, I forgot about that". I also found stuff - not sure I believe it; in fact, I probably don't - that say Philly even offered to extend his contract if he'd restructure it. It's not revisionist history, imho, and it is appropriate, imho. But I could be wrong. You could be right. (And yes, I've read all those quotes. And then some.) For me, it's a combination of three things: disappointing play, disappointing attitude, and wages. All three are relevant, to me.
Absolutely, we're both on the exact same ground, here. The thing, I might offer, having read and for the most part enjoyed, Freddy Adu threads through the years, a year from now someone will insist the Union released Freddy because of his salary, the Philadelphia economy, the meteor that hit Russia, Jurgen Klinsmann, the coach of Egypt or some combination (I am sure I left out a few) of the above. And I would continue to offer this, as someone who hopes Freddy makes it. At some point, I hope the tough love works. Certainly, there have been a number of wake up calls, moments of clarity, etc. that he has chosen to ignore.
So someone can just say Adu is a baller and not provide an answer to a legitimate question? Obviously he has no credibility.
I agree that some advocates of Adu are beyond reason... however it really is best to let it go at this point rather than posting the same thing about Adu not being able to find a club over and over and over again. It just escalates the irrationality of the debate.
1) Playing as a 10, you don't need speed. Freddy has never done poorly as a 10, so why would his speed, height, strength, etc. affect him now? 2) I thought he definitely stood out over most people on the Union. Him, Jac Mac, Farfan, and the defense. 3 and 4) That article is basically saying that Adu had better offensive numbers per 90 when played out of position than Farfan and Farfan was far better at defending, which is basically my point. He does make a good point that at Farfan's salary he is way more valuable than Freddy. This is why the Union are letting Freddy go. I also find it amusing that Union fans think that Freddy does too many step overs and dribbles too much, when Farfan had lower successful dribbles than Freddy had higher unsuccessful dribbles. Good article though, thanks for showing me it.
Thanks for answering. I don't really think the length of time matters at all, it's more do they actually produce when called up? The answer is yes for Freddy and no for Shea. If you would like to explain why having seven years as a pro vs. 30 months is an advantage I'd be more than willing to listen. Keep in mind Shea has played more minutes than Freddy has on the USMNT. So you think it was Feilhaber who played a part in that game-winning goal against Algeria? Nope he didn't touch the ball. He couldn't create a goal when it mattered. And looking good or playing well doesn't do it for me. You have to create goals. period. Feilhaber did have the goal vs. Mexico in the GC in 2007 so I'll give him that though. Freddy also saved the game for us in the semifinals against Panama in the GC and was involved in both goals to take the 2-0 lead against Mexico in a 90% Mexican Rose Bowl crowd. Feilhaber was involved in one of the goals against Spain. I agree with you though. I like Feilhaber too. But JK is giving Feilhaber chances even though he had a terrible year. He isn't giving Freddy any.
Those stats are not quite right and some like key passes are way off. It lists a total of 4 key passes and 1.1 per appearance! Here is analysis in a thread done last August. At that point Freddy already had 13 key passes and MFarfan 12. See thread for better formatting!
Many of the users posting against Freddy are also big bob Bradley fans. All adu ever did for bob was make an impact. For the U23's Freddy was the lone bright spot. He nearly Single handedly overcame Caleb porters extreme inexperience. Hackworth literally plays Keon Daniels a man who may be many things but he is no football player. Hackworth is a glorified ayso coach. He plays a simple 4-2-3-1 with freddy floating in that center spot with two guys behind him and things happen. I can't believe someone made the business decision to invest in the hackworths of the world. Mediocrity.
Not that you care, but you're my favorite poster. Stats obviously don't mean everything. But they do mean something. Normally we all simply discount the ones that don't say what we like and give extra credence to the ones that do. But sometimes they can shock your brain out of an error-laden state and make you reassess. (Those are my favorite. Followed by the type I have confirm whatever I already believe. ) Whatever stats are worth, I like looking at 'em. Especially when aggregated and presented in an easy-to-compare format, and super-duper especially when they're stats I don't have access to. So thanks.
He seems to not like Roger Torres too much either (actions speaking louder than words and all). My guess is that he wouldn't like Joe Gyau either, and maybe not even Josh Gatt. He doesn't seem to like players that run at people and freelance. I mean, yeah, Marfan does some of this too, but he always seems to be a more cohesive part of the greater offensive whole, while these other guys are kind of like SWP at Man City or Drenthe at Everton, just kind of chaotic at times in ways that scare the crap out of the defense, but also scare certain types of managers too (whether they're effective or not).
So blame it on the coaches? All of the coaches in club soccer throughout the world don't want to sign Freddy. It is a conspiracy? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Your sense of humor is so funny. Let's see. I guess Freddy can't play for Egypt, right. Peter Nowak isn't coaching. I guess Portland with Caleb Porter is Freddy's only shot. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Fwiw, courtesy of Philadelphia's Z-Man, comes this bit of mostly unrelated info that might provide a bit of perspective for those wondering about what it takes to move unwanted players on big salaries these days. (Makes it seem not so surprising that the perfect triad of acceptability from Freddy's, Philly's, and some 3rd team's POV w/ regard to offers hasn't happened as quickly as some thought.) No idea how much of Joseph's wages Seattle agreed to pick up in order to get all these goodies. (All of it?) Btw, given Goff's latest info (Freddy exploring Mexican interest), I still find it a bit ironic that players like Joseph and Freddy would have an easier time (as non-Mexicans) joining a Mexican team in Mexico than joining an MLS side in LA.
Didn't Freddy say prior to going to Philadelphia that he was ready to quit soccer? I wonder what made him go to them -- Peter Novak (who was fired) or a chance at the NT (didn't happen ever) or something else? I watched part of a couple of Union games, and they were the kind of MLS team that made you wonder where their salary money went. (DC United was the same way a few years ago.) I said this before -- but NY just didn't get Henry, they got Henry and Tim Cahill and a few other expensive players. If you can't make an MLS team with Thierry Henry, it's a bit much to expect to be able to make one with just Freddy and some newbies. I just wonder if Philadelphia made some other promises that they didn't keep besides the position that they played Freddy in. I've always been amazed at how clueless Freddy seems to be about the organizations he goes to work for -- didn't he know what the team would be like? Other players just don't seem to wind up in Monaco working for a coach who makes it a point NOT to play him. Other than that -- something has got to be horribly wrong....injury, attitude, ability, whatever.
As a non-Union fan who started watching them when they signed Freddy, I found them to be an interesting team. An interesting fan base too. I was shocked at how poor a side they looked at first, in terms of passing, reading the game, movement off the ball, etc. No sense of fluidity or elegance or technical class at all. I didn't expect these things. But I didn't expect a pure void either. It was 2 CDMs much of the time (100% of the time on the road) and a team that, like Piotr, was kind of gritty. I found myself thinking a lot of that Sunderland side Reyna joined. Lots of effort but, man, no recognition of where to move, where passes should go or might come from, etc. Just a piss-poor match, it seemed to me, for Freddy. Then Hack took over and what-do-you-know, they were fun to watch. Like the Bad News Bears learned to play some ball. You could tell that the FO hadn't done the best job assembling talent, but they seemed to punch above their weight and look fairly entertaining while doing so. Then regression to that damn mean happened. Whatever increase in urgency or focus - or whatever - was brought about by the abrupt purge of all things Nowak dissipated. And it looked kind of like amateurs being coached by an amateur on a team w/ amateurs in the FO. Philly's fans were, imho, far too nice to Freddy at first. (Don't worry, they made up for that at the end. ) Altogether, I found myself rooting for them and their team, hoping for the best but sure not expecting it... I don't know anything about broken promises from or to Freddy other than him clearly thinking he was going to finally get his shot to be a #10 that pulls the strings. Pretty sure this is why he picked Philly in the first place. He planned to take advantage of Nowak's promise and impress JK, who told him to find a team that would make him their clear focal point or forget about the NT. Personally, I thought Torres looked better than Freddy that first year. Of course, he had the advantage of experience w/ his teammates, and it later came out that Freddy (Nowak loved his secrets) was playing hurt. I was surprised that fans were so lenient w/ Freddy, that Torres didn't seem to be rated a bit more highly, and that Freddy (guess I'm as naive and stupidly trusting as he seems to be) never really got a run of games as that position he was told he'd play. It wouldn't surprise me if Nowak simply changed his mind. Who knows... The only thing I know is that Hack doesn't heart Freddy.
Not true. Corona & Boyd made more of an impact than Freddy for the U23's, but to be fair Porter did play him out of position on the right wing.
Valderrama was a much better player in the MLS in the Adu. I watched both, weak or not, Carlos was better but let's not act like Valderrama wasn't established either. He was already an international legend, Adu is more like a name Euros seem to tag to a soccer video game in Europe.
I haven't been a good poster over the last couple of months but let's not be fooled. Adu can play. His issue is other things. His contracts seem to hurt him more than anything. It's like he refuses to go prove himself. Take less, obvious not for some bum team like the Union but for a solid team who has the pieces and is willing to play you in your role. He did in it Turkey was shined. Clearly I would much prefer him to do it on a bigger stage this go around but he needs to look out for his career, not his checkbook.
You are a good poster, we always don't agree but I have to say this is an excellent post. Either way, Adu is living a...
Ehh, Corona and Boyd scored more but I don't think I'd say that had a bigger impact. The team ran through Freddy.