We've got Stewart, Olsen, Reyes, Cerritos and Nelsen, all with international experience, so Convey won't be surrounded by total crap. On another topic, I don't think anyone has mentioned it but it sounds like both of Convey's goals against Panama came from putting away loose balls in the box. This didn't happen last year, because the ball was never bouncing around in the box - it was always bouncing around in the midfield (at best). It's good to see he can get those opportunistic goals since, as MG points out, he won't have Donovan setting him up when he plays for DCU.
I guess maybe I'm quick to judge our team... as Funkfoot points out, we've got lots of experience on the team. However, even with the experience, I do worry about the lack of speed we seem to possess. As for the quick passes, I think that Kenobi points out well, that when Marco was at the top of his game, we didn't need that type of play. If Convey is given the reigns as Nowak has hinted, then people around him will no doubt adopt the fast and precise style of play that Convey, DeMarcus, and Donovan (and the others around him right now)seem to do so well at. Another aspect is that Freddy's got some speed and some good foot work. If he can get himself into the line-up either at wing or as a forward, then that should bode for that same type of attack. (In fact, it might be best for Freddy so that he isn't a target as often.) But even with the speculation and assumptions, Bobby's confidence has to be surging right now and that's much better than we've seen from him in a long time. He now knows what should be expected from him, and that will go a long way for him this season (for whichever league he plays for).
Past USMNT Youth Team results may not always be indicitive of future MLS performance. I hope he does break out, i'm done with him having potential to be great, this year he needs to just BE GREAT.
Ever since I knew that Hudson and Etcheverry and Stoichkov would be gone, I had predicted that DC United would win MLS Cup 2004. And be the best team in the league. My other prediction was that the MLS MVP would be split between Donovan and Convey. In Convey, DC United will have the best Attacking Midfielder in America. He's easily better than Kyle Martino, Eddie Gaven, and more talented than the reigning MLS MVP. His biggest compitiion for that title would be Amado Guevara (IMHO). But yea, you DC United fans have something good to look forward to this upcoming season.
This is definitely a wait and see type of thing.. Convey right now is flying high and playing the best soccer of his young life.. With that being said, he still hasn't proven it at the MLS level.. There's definitely been glimpses from Bobby, but to be fair to Bobby, playing in the shadow of Marco is not and was not the ideal situation for him.. I would have loved to have seen our current Bobby playing alongside Marco back in 97' or 98', it could have been downright scary.. As it happens though, we got Bobby while Marco was definitely on the express elevator down and it affected his play.. I'm not blaming this on Marco because Bobby had ample opportunity to impress, but impressing from the left side of midfield when central midfield is your preferred and better position isn't always easy to do, especially when you consider the stranglehold that Marco's influence had on this team.. I certainly expect better results from both Bobby and United this season due to the fact that they can now play a quicker and faster brand of soccer, something that just couldn't be done while Marco was still playing.. It's wait and see time.. By the way, anybody heard from Sormun lately? I wonder how he feels about Bobby now? Probably still the same I would bet...
Just where will Bobby be playing this year? A-mid or left wing? Does anybody know? I think Bobby will be more effective as an a-mid than on left wing. Granted attacking mid will be a lot for him to handle. If Bobby plays a-mid, where's Stewart go? I'm still wondering how Stewart will be used.
I love DCU as much as the next guy, but we have to stop providing built in excuses for Convey with DCU. He has not performed at a high level for his club team yet. Period. If BS posters and commentators are going to anoint him as a great player, then we have to hold him responsible for poor play on the field. We can't continue to say "yeah, he's great, but unless he has X number of great players around him, he can't perform." that's crazy. Great players MAKE the guys around them play better. Stewart, Olsen and Dema aren't exactly chopped liver. I hope Bobby lights it up for us this year, but if he doesn't, I'm not gonna blame it on everyone else but him.
I think it would be assanine for Nowak to put Bobby out on the left.. I'm kind of in the minority here when I say that I would really like to see this team play a 3-5-2 with Convey and Stewart supporting the two strikers with Dema playing in behind them.. Also, you could move Earnie into one of the forward positions and put two defensive midfielders behind Convey (Dema and Namoff) as well.. Scenario #1 (3-5-2) ------------ Forward --- Forward ----------------- --------------- Convey -- Stewart --------------- Olsen ------------- Dema ------------------ Reyes Scenario #2 (3-5-2) --------------- Stewart --- Forward ------------- --------------------- Convey -------------------- Olsen -------- Namoff --- Dema ---------- Reyes Scenario #3 (4-4-2) --------------- Stewart ---- Forward ------------- Namoff ------- Convey --- Dema ---------- Olsen Scenario #4 (4-4-2) ------------ Forward ---- Forward ---------------- Olsen -------- Convey --- Dema -------- Stewart I think there are many ways to go but putting Convey in the middle is the most important move to make.. In the absence of Convey ( qualifiers, injury, suspension, whatever) we could slip Earnie Stewart into his position as he played Bobby's position in Holland for years and with the National Team occasionally, though it's obvious that Earnie doesn't possess the same skills that Convey does..
It makes sense, agreed. However, you can see where putting Bobby in the middle makes for a few awkward lineups. Scenario #1 involved 2 attacking mids, which worked w/Etch and Convey, but may not work w/Stewart and Convey. And do we have the time to experiment w/that unusual formation? Scenario #2 and #3 has Stewart as forward. Then where do you put Adu if he starts? At forward? You'd have to bench Cerritos, a big-salary Salvadoran striker. Scenario #4 pushes Olsen out to left wing (you have him there in other scenarios), away from his natural right wing position, in order to get Stewart out to right wing, which I suppose is an unnatural position for Stewart (just what is Stewart's natural position anwyays?) Under your scenarios Adu has to start at forward (assuming he does start) because that's the only place there's room. And Cerritos must be benched if there's only 1 forward spot, as I said earlier. Add in the fact that we're trying to pick up another forward-say Moreno-and then what can be done w/this team is just mindboggling.....I suppose Moreno could play at forward and Cerritos and Adu could come in as late subs, or maybe Moreno could come in as a late sub I said Stewart is like the odd guy out w/Convey starting at amid-because w/out Stewart starting the lineup can I think be much more easily formulated. Sorry if this is hard to follow! It's hard to figure out.
BudWiser, I know you're down on Earnie Stewart but to suggest he doesn't even make the starting X1 is mindblowing to say the least! Did Earnie play particularly well last season? No, not really, but being pulled in 7 different directions by a clueless coaching staff and playing in a new league tends to do that to players.. I fully expect Earnie to start and play with this team.. I don't see how putting Convey in the middle makes for any awkward lineups.. Ben Olsen, though he has played most of his career as a right mid, is more than capable of playing on the left side as well.. Remember, he played the entire Olympic tournament as our left midfielder and did well despite his ankle injury he was carrying throughout the games.. I think the key reason why United looked so bad at the end of the season was a clear lack of defined roles for players.. From game to game, and sometimes even half to half, no less than 3 or 4 midfield/strikers were changing positions.. Even the defense was affected at times (Nelsen moving up to play defensive midfield).. All that instability led to a disastrous showing at the end of the year culminated by our humiliating exit at the hands of the Chicago Fire, who basically gave us a blueprint in how to play successful soccer in this league nowadays.. I think mapping out early in the pre-season defined roles for key players (Bobby - attacking mid; Earnie - withdrawn forward or holding/attacking mid alongside Bobby; Ben - left or right mid; Namoff and Dema - defensive midfielders and so forth) will help this team to solidify.. Additionally, when any of our players misses time (suspension, call-up, injury), the backup clearly knows what he has to do.. It sucked going into matches last season not knowing where players were going to play from game to game.. It's really hard to win that way.. Look at the teams that have been relatively successful the past few seasons in MLS (Chicago, San Jose, Kansas City), what they all have in common is that they rarely if ever change formations, they stay the course and plug players into the system, not changing the system to fit the players (Marco).. Nowadays, it's about the system.. As for Adu, I simply don't know where he will play.. In all likelyhood I see him as a forward in this league.. His ability to get behind players and use his skill will be better served up top rather than on the outside left where he will have to defend from time to time and also, he will be farther from the goal.. The closer this kid is to the goal, the better this team can be IMHO.. The mere fact that I didn't even mention him in my proposed lineups tells me that he shouldn't be counted on that much to get this team going.. Anything we get from him (outside of the obvious PR) will be pure gravy..
well said! Wow... very well said!! I have hated convey for the past 4 seasons (as we have not made the playoffs since he joined **03 does not count the team made the playoff without him!) but now that he is doing better I hope I can get it past his 4 years of *#*#*#*# and be proud to here some one refer to convey as a D.C United player!
I was down on him last year, open to how he'll do this year. Didn't mean to be mindblowing-I'm not saying he doesn't make the starting XI! I expect him to start throughout the year. Because I don't expect him to be traded. How Stewart ends up playing this year (as well as Convey-the subject of this thread-)-I think is hard to determine-and like for all the players, depends on how the midfield/forward lineup mess is formulated, and how they play together I don't it's not just a matter of get rid of Diablo increases the speed in the midfield and suddenly everything will work like clockwork
If my memory serves me correctly, Stewart has done pretty well for the NATs out on the wing. I think that were DCU could play him - IMHO. Where ever they play him, I have Nowak keeps him in a single romle cosistently. He didn;t seem to do to well under Hudson's shuffling. Anyone know what position he played at NAC in Holland?
Nowak indicated at his hiring press conference that Convey will be looked at as a central attacking midfielder first. With Martins out, I wouldn't be shocked at all to see Stewart as a forward for the first part of the season (considering his competition or lack thereof). I'd like to see him play on the left but with license to roam a bit, for the simple fact that we have no left-sided players. I'm against playing Olsen out there, though if we must, we must. If we played a 352, I'd rather play Reyes out there and keep Olsen on the right (though I think this doesn't serve either of them very well...they're both suited for a 442). Left midfield is this team's biggest hole with Convey coming inside, because we don't have anyone who's played there as anything more than a stopgap measure.
Who's fault was it that Stewart wasn't exactly lighting up the scoreboard last season as a "forward?"
I don't know if he will or not, but the way he is getting noticed right now across the world he may not be in MLS much longer! What do Totti & Convey have in common? They are both making European headlines! See here: MARCA I don't know how long Convey's "up to the minute highlight" will last. Totti is there because there are rumors that he might be going to Real Madrid. Is Real Madrid in Bobby's future?
You're reading entirely too much into that headline. I mean, c'mon! There's not even a story with that headline - it's the running news ticker at the top of the page. It's nothing really important. To read Real Madrid into that defies all reasonable interpretation.
I was just having fun with that there in the last sentence. I am happy that Convey made the running news ticker. The European leagues are starting to wise up to the American soccer player and that is a good thing, specially for Convey.