Tea Light in the Dark Universe: Bobby Wood at Hamburg

Me too but, to be honest, I doubt Bobby would give a rat's ass. As I said, he's never shown much interest in what other people think and in most respects it's very hard to blame him. Most of his pro career has been spent at two of Germany's most dysfunctional clubs - 1860 and HSV. You don't make it in pro sports without an unusual degree of determination as well as a very thick skin. Based on PMs exchanged with one of the 1860 posters about 5 years ago, to have survived there you can exchange determination for pig-headed and thick skin for asshole. The only clubs he's seemed to have had no problems at were Union Berlin and Aue. Not surprisingly, they're said to be well-run clubs.

I don't think he'll take a cut until the the financial situation in German football becomes critical and cuts are agreed between the leagues and the player's union - and that's coming: 50% deferrals have just been agreed in Ligue 1 - and ratified by the DFB and FIFA. Even then, he won't agree until the very last minute and he'll make sure to at lest get a Bosman out of it.

 

why is it that we just can't keep a consistent goalscoring forward? we've Dempsey, McBride and Altidore and the latter did it in a mid-tier league while the other 2 did so on a sorta relegation fodder/midtable club.

talented forwards like Wynalda, Moore, Mathis, Wolff, Casey, Cooper, EJ, Davies all tried and failed. Sure they could succeed in second divisions or mid-tier leagues but in the big leagues. I had hoped Wood would deliver. Many games he just seemed let down by his clubmates.

 

The reality is consistent goals-scoring forwards on top teams are fairly rare, but still...

My "hunch" is that since we tend to have "less per capita" "special" players in the US, the "most special" end up in midfield given a wider range of tasks. So we have fewer "special" talents focussed 100% on goal scoring.

But why our foreign born/grown players don't dish up a world class forward (other than if they were world-class their country-of-birth/growth would grab them). I dunno. Probably back to world class forwards are a rare bird.

 

hell i'd be content if Wood was continually scoring 5-7 BL goals a season. We don't even have that for another year or 2 when SArgent should be showing his consistency

 

I still think Wood's knee did him in, either psychologically, physically or a bit of both. Love to see what he does in a less-competitive environment, but I'm not optimistic.

 

Just a couple of issues, Davies was derailed. He had the makings of a real player. Swagger, pace, ego, tailor made for a good #9.

You can't blame all of his teammates over the years for his lack of production. You can certainly look at a season where someone is playing with a historically bad team and say that a poor season of production could be down to lack of any service or the ball always being in the other end, but he's been poor for years. It ain't his teammates.

 

You're right about his lack of production which, in terms of goals, has never been high. Even in the junior leagues and the RLs at 1860 he didn't break double figures for a season/season equivalent: his numbers are a goal every 6.5 games in the Junioren and every 3.8 games in the RLs. In fact, the only time he's ever broken double figures was in BL 2, with 3 goals and an assist in 9 games at Aue and 17 goals in his single season at Union Berlin. And the direct assist numbers haven't been any good either. At. All.

Even so, clubs persisted with him so it's fair to assume that goalscoring was never uppermost in anyone's minds when they signed him. Presumably, they saw him as an outlet player who would relieve pressure stretch and harry defences while the midfield could move 20+ metres up the field. Since his production hasn't dropped that much, his loss of favour must stem from declines in other areas of performance.

 

The American system emphasizes size, strength, speed, and stamina. The four Ss that make you win youth tournaments. Vision/intelligence is far down the list: at the U20 level and below, a smart player is not going to be too useful to win games in which brawn is what matters most.

Many of the great goalscorers in the game are not particularly impressive physically: they're short, not specially fast, and look like they'd break if hit right. Guys like Ben Yedder or Kun Aguero would never make it through the early development system in the USA.

 

Aguero has thighs like tree trunks and certainly more than quick.

 

Too small to make it through the youth system, he'd have been put as a fullback or winger at best.

Hopefully things are changing.

 

He would have been more likely recruited as a college running back than for anyone to stick him at fullback on a club team. Goal scorers are not difficult to notice even for US club coaches. “Uh, who is this guy I keep putting on the wing running through the opposition and scoring? Why won’t he stay on the touchline!” While Aguero may not be tall, he was no frail flower and was playing Primera in Argentina when he was 15.

 

I think it may often be the opposite: in US development we too often used to build from the middle, even the back, so "smarter" players with "smarter" feet become CM's/AM's, even "stoppers" who could distribute/get forward. In a good number of cases I saw "back in the day" only guys who are really selfish or sure they were destined to be strikers held out if they were also very skilled. Most programs wanted them in midfield.

But perhaps it has changed now.

 

More than quick, definitely, but is he really fast in the blazing speedster sense? All the great players have an exceptionally quick change of gears to get them a yard or so over 10-20 metres and Aguerro has that in abundance, but i don't recall him burning past defenders over 30 yards like a Michael Owen speedster does.

Then again, his soccer IQ may be so developed that he doesn't need to use the afterburners. City's game doesn't give him much scope for it anyway.

 

Not a blazer at the highest of levels but fast enough to get him to the highest of levels which means he was generally smoking people while working his way up from youth. And, like you say, defenses generally aren’t going to leave much space behind them against Man City.

 

I'm very happy to take even odds that Gio Reyna scores at least 5 BL goals in at least one of the next two seasons.

 

Of course Pulisic was quite small. So this principle, as you allege, is not universal.

 

Ah, but Puli is a winger. We're talking strikers.

 

I never saw him play club in PA, but I recall some folks talking about him as an AM. Was CP a winger in his US development?

 

my fav of his BL goals

 

D.C. United has ended its pursuit of U.S. intl F Bobby Wood, two people tell me. He remains in Germany with Hamburg. #dcu #usmnt #mls

— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) May 12, 2020

 

Dieter Hecking lässt "11 gegen 11" mit gemischten Mannschaften spielen. Wood, Ewerton und Ambrosius trainieren auf dem Nebenplatz. #HSV pic.twitter.com/Nr5ChlyYx4

— BILD Hamburger SV (@BILD_HSV) May 13, 2020

 

"Dieter Hecking plays "11 against 11" play with mixed teams. Wood, Ewerton and Ambrosius are training nearby."

Not good. Not good at all.

 

Maybe safer for Bobby, though.

 

With Cincy and now DC United falling through, wonder if it's the $$ or something else screwing the pooch on these moves.

 

It's the $$$. None of these moves got to rhe medical stage IIRC, so the issue is that Bobby isn't going to take a haircut on what he's owed and noboddy in MLS can/will match what he's on, while HSV aren't willing to offer a sufficiently generous payoff to make the deal(s) happen