He looks like a great forward. His only weakness, IMO, is his speed. He seems as slow as Jeff Agoos, but, then again, I've only seen him play two or three times. How do you guys feel?
I don't think he quite that slow. In fact, for his size he seems to have in close quickness. Hey, Brian McBride is not the paceiest forward either. Maybe with so much speed on the Crew roster, he looks a wee bit slow by comparison.
actually, I think you are wrong about that. He is known for being fairly speedy for a big guy.He is not Landon fast but I think he is a bit faster than our other big forward McBride. He is fast enough that he played outside midfield quite a bit for the Crew I believe- that is a speed position. He does tend to hold the ball alot and that may make him appear slow but I think his foot speed is actually above average. Crew fans care to comment?
His face looks chubby, actually his face makes him look like he is 12. I think he is listed at about 170, which is a good wieght for a person his height.
chubby? if you call him chubby then i would hate to see who you would call fat. the kids face is a little 'weighty' looking but he carries a good weight for his size, if you met him in person you certainly would not call him chubby...he just had that childish 'chubby' face. he is a solid looking kid, and he is quick...there is not any slowness in him, he is quicker than mcbride, mathis and kirovski all put together...
Thanks Fidlerre. As I've said, I've only seen him play a few times. He did look great yesterday. I think what gave me the impression that he was slow was that he always had a defender attached to him, which slowed him down. Looks like he might be in the mix for the next target forward for the nats.
I saw Buddle in action for the first time Sat. Impressive! The guy has subtle speed. He takes shortcuts through people using his size/weight to displace them. He's not another McBride, certainly. He brings different skills to the table. He was fed very nicely by an extraordinarily helpful Mr. Martino. Equally impressive. Good things are coming out of Columbus.
My thoughts...in basketball terms, he has no speed, but he's quick. I seriously question whether a Buddle-McBride pairing can work, because they don't have any ability to get behind a competent defense. It'll be interesting. But I think Buddle's lack of speed isn't important for the Nats, so long as he has that in-close quickness, and we can pair him with someone who will make the defense fear playing the offside trap too far up the field.
The thing about Buddle that I don't think anyone else in the US camp comes close to is his ability to simply hold the ball by sheer strength. He was shrugging guys off left and right while controlling the ball. On the speed thing, I think it's hard to tell how fast he is since most of the camera time he got was when he was in close quarters. He seemed to have enough speed to get to the ball though. There seems to be a bias on these boards that suggests to me that a lot of posters see tall players and read their movements as slow. Some of those guys are, but some of them simply cover more ground with longer strides. I'd love to see Buddle on a break away to see what kind of speed he really has.
Agreed. Does anyone remember how many posters used to get on here and say that Tony Sanneh was slow? A lot. IT's hard to tell sometimes.
Buddle is a serious talent. What makes him unique is his physical strength combined with his strength on the ball. His speed is deceptive ala Sanneh. He takes those long strides. On top of that, he is an impressive finisher. If it were not for Hartmann's brilliance, he would have had a hattrick. He will be a handful for any international defender for years to come.
Imagine Buddle and Donavon paired up for a game or a half. That pairing would give the backline fits.
an asset I don't think he's chubby, but he isn't a stick. There were several plays where he cut through a few defenders and stayed with the ball. On plays where guys like DMB would have fallen, Buddle's strength and center of gravity helped him stay up.
Pairing ...ahh SCH you must referring to the olympic trials. Can't wait to see how this twosome develops over the next 15 months. I'd think that if it's a successful combo that would carry over to the wc qualifiers as well.
Re: Pairing I would imagine it would be the pairing of choice for the next few years (until Freddy can force his way onto the field).
No, he's not slow. But he is selective about when he uses his speed. He beat the Quakes defense a couple times last year with sudden burst in the or near the box. As others pointed out, he is strong, big, has great ball skills. He can back into a play with sheer muscle, then make a quick move that makes space for a shot or cross. I am one of his biggest fans.<P>But Saturday was not one of his better games, IMO. He seemed a bit lazy at times--TOO selective about using his speed. Maybe it was because it was early in the year and he needs to work his way up to full effort. But the fact is I have been far more impressed with him in other games.
So you are saying he is in the 99% of the league who can beat Jeff Agoos in a foot race? A bold stance Just kidding I think Buddle had a very solid game and paried well with McBride. He does have the speed to get behind defenses. Like someone said earlier he does not have a quick turnover rate because he takes such long strides which makes him appear slow on TV. Buddle can definitely run though. I think he is going to have a battle on his hands for the spot up top next to Donovan for the olympic trials with Ed Johnson, Conor Casey, and Santino Quaranta all battling for the spot as well.
I also watched him for the first time and noticed several things: 1) Either the LA sucks or the Crew is very good cause the Crew penetrated at will 2) What a difference between the international game and the MLS. The MLS looked like kids out there. 3) He looked good against LA, had a few nice passes and flicks but overall, nothing special 4) He and McBride will never pair for the nats. Too slow an attack, we'd never score All in all, I think he's too much the same as McHead. He could sub for McHead and may take over for McHead when his time ends but I can't see them both on the field at the same time. Even when Cunningham came on, he was dropped back to make room for the speed. He was strong on the ball and that may be his biggest asset
A HAT TRICK???????? This need to be follow very close, I really hope he is aware that the spot light is on him
Re: Re: Pairing I don't really get it...Diego Armando Maradona was playing pro at 14, what is the problem with MLS? if the kid have what is needed to play on a pro league, what they are waiting for? Hey just few minutes on a game ain't gona hurt nobody....
have to agree w/ a poster on another thread who commented that buddle's size and presence on the ball was very reminiscent of aldolfo valencia.