It's time to stop playing Freddy out of position

I think that everyone needs to keep Adu's age in mind. He is still only 22 years old. It was only a few years ago that Deuce was driving me crazy with his reckless 1 v 1 attacking and resulting turnovers every game. Now he is unquestionably our best offensive scorer in his late 20's. To say Adu's will never be anything but a super sub is taking things a bit to far. In 5 years it is very realistic to see a 27 year old Adu's in the role that Dempsey currently playing and maybe even doing as well.

The problem with Freddy Adu is that there is very little grey area when people talk about him. He is either the answer or a failure. The truth is we still don't know , but he has definitely progressed.

These discussions about adu are getting boring. The guy is just not good enough for the senior team; he’s too short and week to play in the center and to slow to play in the wing. He had a good tournament with the u 23 playing against kids but the senior team is a different level.

You're talking about 2 positions that would be filled by Donovan, Dempsey, and/or Johnson, all of which are stronger players than Freddy.

idk, seems like shea has been on the left for the usa more than anyone

Because Klinsmann has never been able to have both Dempsey and Donovan start in a single game yet (for a myriad of reasons). Start both of them, and its harder to find a place for Shea.

Shea was top 3 in MLS MVP voting last year as a 21 year old. Freddy didn't actually play that much (or well) in MLS last season in Philly. That's why Shea's been getting more opportunities with the USMNT recently than Freddy.

If Freddy starts excelling on a more frequent basis in MLS, he'll earn more USMNT callups.

Freddy's problem his entire career has been a lack of consistency. He'll play a great game for a US youth team or the USMNT, get everybody on these boards all excited...........then disappear for 4 months. Then have a great appearance in club football followed by months of nothingness. If he wants to play more for the USMNT, he needs to be playing at a high level more consistently for the Union.

If he wants to play at a high level more consistently for the Union, then he needs a full year with NO youth team or USMNT call-ups. Otherwise the Union should trade him away and get somebody who will, you know, actually be available for practices and games.

If the full team is available then realistically the attacking 3 in Klinsmann's 4231 are Chandler, Donovan, Dempsey. If Chandler takes over Cherundolo's spot then a berth in the attack would be opened. There'd still be quite a bit competition for that spot however.

I do agree spending as much with the Union and helping to drive a winning performance is more important for his Nats future than getting more caps in May.

Well...........Freddy has played his last youth game. So we don't need to worry about that.

It'll be the USMNT or nothing from here on out.

1. Often the full team is not available so we've seen JK starting Shea, Buddle, Rogers, Williams as attacking players (or if you wish non-attacking players in attacking roles) at various times. Freddy is a good alternative to have in those situations.

2. Having a couple guys who can change the game on the bench is also a good thing. Freddy is certainly a candidate for that kind of role.

3. As you noted someday Cherundolo will yield his place in the lineup. And sadly, someday that will happen with Donovan and Dempsey as well. Freddy, Agudelo, Boyd, Shea, Sapong are the guys who will be fighting to be their replacement. Personally, I'd move Shea to left back and Johnson back to an attacking role, but that is a different conversation and already has been brought up in other threads.

Or Dempsey, Donovan, and Johnson. The Johnson v Chandler argument is obviously one that involves implications over fullback as much as the attack, and I don't know if we all know that we can be sure which is which.

I'm speaking near-term, not long-term. Longer-term, Chandler will be taking Cherundolo's spot.

How did you become a mod? This is the most garbage stuff I've read. Are you serious? Argentina, Brazil, Juventus, Portugal, Mexico, Spain, Greece, need I say more. If anything Adu proved he can do this to anyone. You and Skevrules dude need a reality check.

It was an awful post, I don't say that to you much so don't take it for more than what it was. Still, awful post.

Unfortunately, you really need more than this. I can do this type of cherry picking over 5 years in favor of Jonathan Bornstein, for example.

He did it when he played them which is all you can ask for.

Well looking at what he mentioned:

A U-20 World Cup match 2007
4 starts and 15 subs with Benfica, mostly in 2007
Two US friendlies in 2008
A Monaco friendly in 2009
11 starts, 2 subs and 12 DNPs with Aris in early 2010
Gold Cup Final 2011

This whole thread is based on an invalid premise, since Nowak plays Adu on the right for Philadelphia when he plays him. But Adu's task right now is finally locking down a spot in the starting XI for Philly, not worrying about the US.

All of them outside of Brazil was at the SR level for club or country. I rarely use the rep system so you are okay.

How the hell did I get dragged into this?!

Your opinion seems to only held by you. All of his coaches seem to think Adu is nothing special. He couldn't even start for a MLS club last year. Once Adu has a full season where he puts up the numbers like Shea did last year then you can tell me that Adu is better than Shea. I predict an okay season for Adu because he just isn't as good as you paint him out to be.

Also randomly listing nations/teams where Adu had an isolated incident does nothing to help your argument. I could say Bornstein is a good LB from listing some games where he made a good play, but that doesn't mean he is good. Know the difference.

One of Adu's problems was that he'd play well against a team like Argentina.........then disappear for 4 months...........then play well against Spain............and disappear for 4 months.............then play well against Mexico.........and disappear for 4 months. If the pattern holds he'll have just played well for the US U23's, but then do nothing of note for the Union for the next 4 months. Then people will wonder why he's not on WCQ rosters........

Players don't earn callups based on a good substitute appearance against Spain years ago. That's utterly meaningless to Jurgen Klinsmann. What he wants to see is Freddy playing well NOW for the Union. With Freddy's stop-start club football existence, it's been hard for him to put a string of games together that demonstrate to the USMNT how good he is. People can say he played well for Aris. Sure, but he only played 9 league games for Aris.......some of them not starts. Others say he played well for Rizespor. Sure, but he only played 11 games for Rizespor .......some of them not starts. So people can make little YouTube highlights of those few appearances, but that's not a lot to go on in the grand scheme of things. He's had moments for the Union.....................but he's only played in 12 league games for the Union. Some of those not starts. We need to see more!!!!!!

I mean, Freddy was on trial at a club in the relegation zone of Bundesliga II (Ingolstadt) last year. They decided not to sign him because they said he wasn't match fit enough to help them. That's what the USMNT staff has seen over the last couple of years too. He has talent, but his lack of games has made it difficult for the USMNT staff to pick him.

This topic is about the national team, not MLS play. Adu has played significantly better than Shea ever has for both youth and senior national teams in the past

Yep, Freddy near term is a back up, and contrary to BS opinion we don't have depth in Dempseys position, because most likely Donovan will be on the field at the same time.

Looking at the popular US formation (4,2,3,1)

1rst Team:
Forward: Jozy
Wings: F Johnson, Donovan
Supporting Striker: Dempsey

2nd Team:
Forward: Buddle
Wings: Shea, Bradley?
Supporting Striker: Adu (Buddle?)

3rd Team:
Forward: Gomez?, Boyd?
Wings: Bedoya?, Rogers?, Beasley?, Gatt?, Corona?, Convey?
Supporting Striker:

We have many creative center mids (Holden, Klejstan, Bradley, Williams, Torres, etc) that play behind Dempsey, but we lack depth in Dempsey SS spot.

Maybe Holden, Klejstan, Torress and Gatt could be Dempseys backup... or I like Rolf as a back up for this position... but they all have issues.

Holden is a creatve CM not a SS, and we all know he is injured.
Gatt is young and plays on the wings I think.
Klejstan might work, but hasn't done that great when given oppurtunities with the NATS,.
Rolf is a winger, and has not been called up.
Torress plays similar to Holden as a creative CM not a SS.

The formation I think Adu loses out in is the 442 diamond. There are way to many players that are better Wingers and Midfielders; and there are better Strikers as well, espically when Dempsy is included as a Striker.

Interesting way of looking at things. I will take a slightly different tack and list depth by position. This highlights the fact that many of our attacking players are quite versatile and can play several positions. I will also use the tem wide attacking player (WAP) rather than wing, because several who can play a wide attacking role are in fact not wingers.

So here is how I see the depth chart:

Forward: Altidore, Buddle, Agudelo, Boyd, Sapong, Bunbury
Supporting Striker: Dempsey, Donovan, Agudelo, Adu, Gomez, Wondo
WAP: Donovan, Dempsey, Johnson, Chandler, Shea, Adu, Agudelo, Beasley, Rogers, Gatt

Then there is the complicating factor that JK has used players who are really central mids as wide players or even supporting striker. So far he's done this with Bradley, Torres, Williams, Feilhaber, Zusi and Kljestan. I suspect he would be open to doing this with Mix and Holden.

Except of course callups are often based on who's playing better at the time in club ball.

We can argue around in circles and circles, but one thing is undeniable. Brek Shea has played in every game under Jurgen Klinsmann. Freddy Adu has played in none. How do we analyze that? It was because Brek had a great season in MLS, finishing 3rd in MVP voting. So he got a chance to show Klinsmann what he can do with the senior team. (He hasn't really taken advantage of the opportunity)

If Freddy plays well with the Union this season, he'll get callups. Simple as that. If he doesn't...........he won't. It's up to him.