I've seen a number of contrasting views on Andy Williams and his departure from our beloved Chicago Fire. Personally this day is exactly the way I hoped/thought it would go for us. Williams salary number isn't huge, but by no means is it small either. Regardless if he was making minimum I think I'd want an upgrade on him anyways. I think the biggest problem last year was offensive consistency. Too often Ralph was denyed service (which I think was a significant contributor to his Sophmore slump) by horrendous midfield play. I think Williams is one of the streakiest players in MLS history and thats just not what we need on our team right now. No one will doubt Williams' ability to play a top level game, we've all seen it from time to time. There were games where he would simply takeover and show that he was a different level then the majority of people on the field. My problem with Williams is that for every one of those games there were seemingly 3 where you wondered if he was on the field and 2 where he would put out an indifferent performance. I think the Fire need consistency in the middle of the pitch right now. Not flashes of spectacular play. Look, there is a reason he has been on the number of teams which he has been, and there is also a reason whenever he leaves one there is always another waiting to pick him up. He is one of the enigmas of the MLS, a truly inconsistent player, and there is always one team willing to pick him up in the hopes that he will put it all together for them. I for one don't think he'll ever put it all together, and for all he gives he also takes away a lot from a team. His defensive abilities are weak to say the least, and I think his work rate in the games where he disappears is poor. I won't miss Andy Williams, although I think he played a very important role in our 2003 season. But he has run stale here like he did in so many other places. Long live the reign of Craig Capano....or a SI if someone interests PW.
I think he is one of those players that we think will be easy to upgrade/replace until we actually try to do it. He is a streaky player, but over the course of a season there is more upside than downside. This year, the rest of the team was just so poor that we just felt the downside more.
I think part of the reason that Williams has been all over the league is his former status as a Senior International. Granted some of the psychology stuff that you mention is a factor, but at this point in his career - I doubt that he is quite as crazy as he might have been earlier (regarding getting along with people and sulking). Andy also has had a big distraction in the form of Nat team duties - which will obviously not be as demanding the next few years. If I were you, I would be sad to see him go, because he is one of the few difference-makers that you have had going for you this season. Sure Ralph can score from deeper positions on occasion, but you never know when or where Andy is going to let loose from. And while Ante scores from deeper positions - he is starting to lose his remaining athleticism and still gets injured a bunch (if he is even on your team next season). Some of your younger players are stepping up a bit and may end up doing a workmanlike job in midfield. Kelly Gray was almost an animal at times towards the end of the year and may be the logical successor to Jesse Marsch - as he seems to be better when he is in play all over the field rather than stuck at a defender position where he goes into brain freeze at times. But where is your attacking creativity going to come from in midfield? Is Mapp going to be enough from his outside position (shades of Bobby Convey here)? Is Capano really good enough on the ball and is he able to make those tricky weighted passes that Andy made so often? Ya'll had a great attack in '03, but Ralph and Razov also spoiled a lot of shots. This year, you rarely had Herron, Dipsy and Ralph all firing on all cylinders at once (let alone Razov) - and Ralph in particular simply was not as consistent. I think that these factors are a bigger reason why Andy Williams might not have been as effective. By the same token, Williams rarely succeeds (at least at the club level) when he is the obvious #10. Even in '03, he was able to drift, play on the right side and play off the ball a lot more - since Armas and Beasley spent so much "face time" over the ball. Andy Williams doesn't like the constant battles over the ball that he is sure to get as THE MAN PULLING THE STRINGS for Real Salt Lake. For that reason, I think he is very effective - but more as a complementary player than as the first option.
We lost a really good player today. He was always underappreciated by the fans, but there is a reason that he was taken when he was. I'd feel a lot better about this knowing that we have a solid replacement coming, and I don't mean Thiago Gaucho. Thiago didn't impress me nearly enough in the hall of fame game. He may end up being a good player, but he is FAR from the attacking midfield savior for which many are hoping. If Thiago is our replacement for Williams when next season starts, I'm gonna feel really let down.
Which is why I wanted to see us get help and keep him. You can never be too deep in creative mids. Maybe Capano can do the job, but Williams was the only mid who could hold onto the ball and create and he rarely gave the ball away.
Williams was great. How could you deny the goal where jaqua chested it out and he ran on to it perfectly? a great attacking mid and he will (SHOULD) be missed.
Andy Williams is the Keith Van Horn of MLS...good player, but not great, and never quite a good fit for the team he is currently on. I like a lot of the comments made above, especially those that place Williams as a great complimentary player rather than a great "lead man" type of player, and yes, you can always improve from a player like that. I'll miss Andy drinking a beer in Milwaukee at the 2003 Open Cup game though (he was injured and was in line in front of us for a beer during the weather stoppage), but I do think we can do better.
I was at that game. I remember Chris Armas sitting in a lawn chair on the sideline after he was subbed out and his wife made him watch the kids.
That's right, I forgot about that one! After he left the game he was in one of the white deck chairs and it's true, he really was made to baby-sit by his wife. While in uniform.
Yeah seriously, does anyone know anything about Thiago Gaucho other than his name and that he's Brazillian? What team did he play for last? I googled him and: 1. The only places you find him mentioned in are articles about the Fire taking a look at him 2. Those articles provide no information whatsoever about him Does he really exist or is he just a fictional character? Maybe he's some Brazillian virtuoso attacking midfielder with unearthly skills who's never played professionally and was discovered by Fire scouts on the beaches of Copacabana?
There is more info about him and his past at Section8chicago.com, and he played for the Fire in their hall of fame game against the Metros. Like I said, he may end up being a good player, but he certainly wasn't very impressive in that game. There is no reason to think that he would be nearly as good as Saragosa from the Galaxy. I don't see him as being much, if any imporvement over Williams.
I'm wondering if anyone except me has noticed this. Yes a lot of teams gotten rid of Andy Williams but have any of the teams that he played have gone on and won MLS cup. If so let me know. Those are Columbus, Miami, New England, New York and we will wait and see on the Fire.
Andy, when he decided to play was very good, the problem was he only played 1 out of every 3 or 4 games.I wouldn't have minded if the fire had kept him, especially since next year he won't be an SI but we hopefully can get a better and more consistent player to take his place.
A better question would be if any of those teams won a MLS Cup WITH Andy Williams than without. I'm with Zach on this one, AW is a good, good player when he's on. There are times this season where he and Damani delivered the goods. There are also times when they did not. As Liam put it when he was brought in, he's a Rent-A-10. But the Fire have had two allocations for quite some time now, with AW on the list to be taken, you have to be thinking that the Fire have a plan in place to get someone long-term in the near future and spend one of the three allocations we currently have. Now that the salary cap issues have been clarified somewhat with the loss of Countess, we should see some movement before training begins.
i think its pretty funny that you spend the whole time saying how great andy williams is as an attacking mid, then admit that he can't even do the job on his own. well, maybe we want somebody who can do the job on our own. you ever think of that? and there's alot i could argue with you about, but i'm just gonna sum it up in one point, you say "Is Capano really good enough on the ball and is he able to make those tricky weighted passes that Andy made so often?" now, those lobs, are you talking about the 8 or 9 times a game where he would try to lob the defense from 25 yards out, and it was either picked up by the goalie or ran out of bounds for a goal kick, or are you talking about the 1 time in 4 games where he made a great pass from 40 yards away. and the "good enough on the ball" part. do you mean how andy williams would often time dribble and dribble...and dribble some more, right into the defense? he could hold onto the ball, but he wasn't good at beating guys on the dribble. and capano, by the way, has definitly shown he's great with the ball at his feet. by the way, i think those lobs were really the only thing he ever did to try to get the forwards the ball in '04. but hey, thanks for thinking you know more about our team then us.
It comes down to this: Dave and Wilt must have determined they needed a more consistent player at attacking midfield and must have someone in mind. Unless we get a better player at this position we have no chance of winning the cup.
I will miss Andy Williams to some extent. He had the talent, lacked the consitency. If he could have been at his best all the time, he would have been a true force. The ability is there. He also seemed like a pretty good guy and I fealt like he had finally found a home in Chicago where the fans would get behind him instead of be against him like in so many other of his 'stops'. But I am not that sad to see him go. As Fanaddict pointed out, Dave and Peter must have a good idea of what they plan to do at the a-mid position and I'm very interested to find out what it is. It's a position we really need to be strong and it hasn't been since Nowak left. So as hard as it is to say goodbye to a player I generally liked, the anticipation of a new future makes me happy.
True - the player's feelings are not the primary concern. But I must admit that this is one of the reasons AW's loss bothers me. I would rather see us fill our jerseys with players who want to be here. It is in our best interest to have players committed to the club. God forbid MLS winds up like every other professional sport where the players could care less were they play, and the fans have to learn new faces everytime they buy a ticket. Plus, it would make sense that a player with a devotion to the club will give more consistent effort - wether the effort was there from Andy, only he will ever know for sure - but the results didn't come. But any time a player makes unsolicited public statments, as Andy did, that they love Chicago, want to raise their family here, and want to stay in red - We should be sad when it doesn't work out.