Time for Freddy to start?

[BudWiser]

Should Nowak start Freddy Adu

[Claymore]

No.

At this point, I'm not even sure he deserves playing time. Sure, he does great for being 14 yrs old, but he still looks lost out there.

[AllAboutHenry]

pecking order....

moreno, eskadarian, cerritos, gross...adu

[IMOX77]

No.

At this point, I'm not even sure he deserves playing time. Sure, he does great for being 14 yrs old, but he still looks lost out there.
I think you guys should give him a chance. He is not going to devolp playing 20 mins a game. In LA, his best game he had a fresh start from the begining of the half. What are your forwards doing anyway? Moreno can not last more than 55 mins and that probably will not change because of his back.

Freddy has never played at this speed and needs to get enough time in the games to start to adjust and Nowak is not letting him do that

Maybee the league should have told Freddy's mom that he is not going to devolp under Nowak and should have been sent to Bob Bradley in NY, who knows how to use, challenge and devolp his young players.

[pokemoncards]

the later freddy comes in the worse he does. If he starts and is allowed to get into the flow of the game, you will see him beating defenders, setting other players up to score, and possibly scoring himself. He does not have the experience yet to be able to come in three quarters through the game and make an impact

[Eismahn]

I don't disagree with Nowak's decisions so much regarding to playing time- as with the timing involved. If we continue to go ahead with the "let Freddy Play" experiment, the team has enough talent to produce results in the second half. So let him have the first to develop, and see what happens.
It's frustrating to see this on paper, and be withheld from seeing it unfold out on the field. That being said, it's still enjoyable soccer the team is playing, and better still to see Freddy play at so early a stage in his career. We'll all be able to marvel at how "we saw him play way back when..."

[jason1551]

If starting Freddy saves us from wasting a sub on him, then fine.

[Section106]

If Nowak is going to play him every match anyway, I say start the young man. He obviously needs to get invovled with the match from the start to match the speed of play. Coming off the bench is hard enough and without a store of veteran experience, Adu is undoubtedly being placed behind the eightball in terms of added pressure. Start him, let him find his way and reserve our veteran talent for later in the match when defenders are tired and more easily exposed.

[vincero]

I am for starting him in the next game. I believe Freddy is a finisher, maybe the best on the team, and would score given the plethora of chances missed by others. It would also be nice to see him in while the other players are fresh and can cover for some of his defensive lapses as well as make runs freeing up space. If they can score a few in the first 60 it makes it easier to sub in midfield help when the starters are flagging and prevent the 2nd half collapses and offensive subs.

The only caveat is Freddy may not make the runs or plays necessary while he is in to create the many chances DC has failed to put away. Weighing Eskedarian vs Adu Isay give Freddy a shot.

[CHICO13]

I am for starting him in the next game. I believe Freddy is a finisher, maybe the best on the team, and would score given the plethora of chances missed by others.
Weak Sauce...
And just for grins tell me who would create those chances for Freddy if you were to sit one of them down? Sitting in the first row of 135 tonight I saw our attack go straight to hell once Jaime went out and Freddy came in.

[C. Ronaldo7]

Not yet

[todda74]

You start Freddy if he is the best choice at forward. After the first game no he wasn't, after the second game no, after last weeks game probably not but after tonight's game I don't know. Esky had 2 really good shots that forced hard saves from the goalie. Moreno I don't think had a shot but he held the ball well and distributed pretty good. How about leaving both of them in and going with a 3-4-3?
Freddy should not start just because he is Freddy. If he can score goals for the team then he should start. I do think though that bringing him in always in the second half does not let him get into the flow of the game as easily as he would if he were starting.

[nick]

NO!

Freddy is not ready. The team's level of play visibly diminishes once he comes in. Based on what I have seen so far I don't think he even deserves to play let alone start.

Again, don't get me wrong he is a tremendous 14 year player, but thats what he is a kid. He can play up to u-17 and even u-20 but that's his limit. Thats an incredible achievement but it doesn't help United, infact its clearly hurting the team finding a spot for him.

It time to seperate the hype from the facts of his play.

[pokemoncards]

he created more chances than anyone else today, which is amazing considering he only played for 20 minutes

[Wallydrag]

I can't put a lot of blame on Freddy today. The midfield sucked it up in the second. They weren't really all there in the first, but in the second it was worse. You would see Bobby wide open several times put it took too long to get the ball to him.

The possession game and pacing that we saw in the 1st half of the game against the Metros (which I agree with Waldo was the best I've seen them play in a long, long while) wasn't totally absent. Granted, it's hard to get any kind of a rhythm when Chicago was fouling all the time, but DC didn't adapt. They kept trying to go through them instead of around them.

I sat let Freddy start and let him play at the same speed as everyone else and get into the flow from the start. The 1st half is obviously the best half for the midfield so let's see what he can do with it. Neither of the forwards today really did much. They really haven't for a while. All the offense has really come from the midfield.

Try it. If it doesn't work then that's that and at least people will quit asking about it.

[DutchFootballRulez]

I agree w/ letting Adu start to get it out of the way, however; next we have San Jose in that Broom Closet of Stadium out there , so unless we get a ref very protective of Freddy, he may get knocked off the ball far too much.

I want to see Esky actually go a full 90 or at least 85. My word. I also believe Gros should be allowed to start again, on the left, he has 2 assists is that the team lead? Let's try Adu + Esky up top w/ Moreno on depending on how Adu does in the first half.

[vincero]

Weak Sauce...
And just for grins tell me who would create those chances for Freddy if you were to sit one of them down? Sitting in the first row of 135 tonight I saw our attack go straight to hell once Jaime went out and Freddy came in.

If you would be kind enough to take time to read a whole post before commenting, that was a concern of mine as well.

"sit one of them down"- Are you talking about starters? I agree Jaime is the most creative person on the field and do not believe he should be subbed if not exhausted or requesting to come out. I know from reading other posts that many would not want a Jaime and Freddy pairing ,but I dont think Jaime and Freddy are mutually exclusive. Let's see how Freddy can benefit from that service and fresh supportive cast.

Are you saying that Eskadarian is definitively creating chances for others. His poor first touch only hides his weak possesion skills and questionable passing. He has been on the field up front for approx. 215 min with a dominant offensive side and has scored one goal. I appreciate his tenacity but he is not getting the job done.

[Sempuukyaku]

NO!

Freddy is not ready. The team's level of play visibly diminishes once he comes in. Based on what I have seen so far I don't think he even deserves to play let alone start.

Again, don't get me wrong he is a tremendous 14 year player, but thats what he is a kid. He can play up to u-17 and even u-20 but that's his limit. Thats an incredible achievement but it doesn't help United, infact its clearly hurting the team finding a spot for him.

It time to seperate the hype from the facts of his play.

LAME LAME LAME

The last two matches, your midfield stated crumbling apart and your attack dissapearing before Freddy even came into the match. The score was 1-0 BEFORE Freddy came in today, and the score was 2-1 BEFORE Freddy came in last week. Don't go blaming it on Freddy when the team is already sucking it up before he even comes in. Your team (with the exception of Convey and Stewart) simply isn't fit enough to play a full 90 minutes, period. Once the second half comes you guys start playing uninspired football and already start running out of gas. Personally I think Freddy can play a full 90 minutes, but at least give him the opportunity to have a full half of playing time.

He whooped ass against LA when he had a full half of playing time, and would probably whoop ass again if he had a full half of playing time. Also, notice that every game that Freddy has played that he starts to get into the pace of the match after a good 10-15 minutes of play, which he really doesn't get much of because he's subbed in so late.

[nick]

[QUOTE=Sempuukyaku]LAME LAME LAME

The last two matches, your midfield stated crumbling apart and your attack dissapearing before Freddy even came into the match. The score was 1-0 BEFORE Freddy came in today, and the score was 2-1 BEFORE Freddy came in last week. Don't go blaming it on Freddy when the team is already sucking it up before he even comes in. Your team (with the exception of Convey and Stewart) simply isn't fit enough to play a full 90 minutes, period. Once the second half comes you guys start playing uninspired football and already start running out of gas. Personally I think Freddy can play a full 90 minutes, but at least give him the opportunity to have a full half of playing time.
[QUOTE]

I really wonder how much of Freddy you have actually seen if you really expect him to start for DCU. Given the way he is playing he is no higher than 4 on the depth chart for forwards. And once Quaranta comes back he could very easily drop to 5th. Yet here you are demanding that the 4th or 5th guy should START! Gimme a break and go back to the rabids forum.

I am not blaming the breakdown in United's play on Freddy at all. That is actually a different thread. What I am saying is that at his current stage of development his is not up to the task of having a sufficient impact on the United's play to raise DC's game.

I believe Freddy will be a special player, but he is not there yet. This is PRO ball and the objective is to win; its not to babysit players. The difficulty for Nowark is that his is still a young kid that you obviously can't treat in the same way you could an adult and that's the dilemma. One the one hand you can you can't give him significant minutes if hes not having a positive impact and on the other you have to get him minutes to develop and build his confidence.

If this were any other player who has performed like he has to date, there wouldn't even be any discussion on having more playing time let alone starting.

[IMOX77]

I really wonder how much of Freddy you have actually seen if you really expect him to start for DCU. Given the way he is playing he is no higher than 4 on the depth chart for forwards. And once Quaranta comes back he could very easily drop to 5th. Yet here you are demanding that the 4th or 5th guy should START! Gimme a break and go back to the rabids forum.

Freddy was the one that kicked Santino out of the starting lineup for the under-20's. What have your forwards done that deserves this kind of statement. We all know what Jaimie did before he blew out his back and no one will ever see it agian. He is not 90min player!! Why cant you people understand that? Give Freddy a chance to start and you will see what he brings. This is not a regualr player this is a 14year old that has to adjust to the speed and timing. Sooner he does the more succees your team will have.

And why the hell is Bobby trying not to pass Freddy the ball?