Concerned DC United Fan

On Adu, he needs a lot of improvement, The kid has loads of natural ability, but needs to learn to play with the big boys.

Gros it the MAN in my book. The guy can flat out play the game. Best signing United has made this year.

 

no you are the only genius to have seen this. those of us who have watched every match haven't seen him at all. we have even ignored the numerous threads on this board about Gros or the interview with him on the Barra website. we are such clueless fans we didn't noticed an unheraled guy break into the line up, play close to all-star level and generally breakout. not even the numerous articles about him in the local papers has woken us up to this fact.

man i wish the stupid questions just came from non-dcu fans...

 

I think that as the years go by, we'll see Adu drop back to the midfield. But with as yound and small as he is, he's better off developing some as a forward.

And there must be 39 threads about Gros. I don't think I can say anything else about him that will add anything new, other than when I ran into an MLS official last week we got to talking about United, and he mentioned that he liked Gros as a player, and for his attitude. The kid is going to go far.

 

From watching Adu play forward, withdrawn striker and outside mid I'd say his best position is withdrawn striker. His ball skills and lack of size make him more of a threat when running at defenders. Freddy does disappear at times and makes mistakes but he is after all only 15 years old. I just helped with a youth team made up 13, 14, & 15 year olds and Freddy is a god compared to most kids. I think most fans have lost some perspective when they see Freddy play. I for one am amazed at the level of play Freddy has acheived this season. He will only get better, and stronger and more confident. Some say MLS is bad for his development and I say that's a Eurosnob myth. This league is the main reason the USMNT is currently ranked 7th in the world. First team football in a competitive league beats lanquishing in some euro reserve system, IMO.

And as far as the original poster's contention that the position move will help Freddy make the transition to international football, he is already in the USNT system and is on Rongen's U-20's.

 

Maybe you- and so many other folks here- should notice that it is now standard practice by opposing teams to directly attack Gros. They do this because Gros is so often out of position defensively that our left side has become a freeway for other teams' to threaten our goal. If Ray Hudson were still coachbbving this team, Gros would be benched because of his awful defense.

 

The USMNT's weak spot seems to me on the right wing so in the long run that could help. But let's face it Adu isn't ready for the national team. Right now it seems like he is just going to have to fit in where we have cracks.

 

DID you notice he was playing LEFTBACK on that open sided goal last night?

Rongen noticed and as he stated it was hardly fair since he is not accustomed to the position.

I'll take these rokkie mistakes from him. If our "vets" were worth half a $hit Gros would have 10 assists by now.

 

Did you notice that ursula wasn't only talking about last night's game? Disagree with ursula for all I care. But at least disagree with what he actually wrote, not with what you imagine he wrote.

 

With all due respect, this statement is off-base.

Are you basing this statement on watching DCU games on TV (keeping in mind how MLS broadcasts focus in so close to the action), or have you seen the team in person this year?

Based on my observations of seeing Gros play in person, and having the luxury of seeing the players on the entire pitch, I strongly disagree with any statement that Gros is consistently out of position at all. In any event, I'll wait to hear it from Piotr's mouth if that's the case.

Anyone who saw the Forest game in particular knows that Gros is a stud of a two-way player.

 

With all due-respect, you're eliding the basic question that ursula brings up. He claims that "it is now standard practice by opposing teams to directly attack Gros." And he offers an explanation for that based on what he's seen. You claim his explanation is wrong, but you you haven't actually addressed the phenomenon that ursula identies: that Gros may be a defensive liability that other teams exploit. If ursula is right, and teams really are attacking where Gros is, then what's your explanation? Or do you disagree that this has now become standard practice?

I don't have a pony in this race, but I've got no patience for chest-thumping, and convulsive gushing about players. I've got no patience for convulsive bashing either, I might add. But I haven't really noticed what ursula brings up either way. So I'm wondering if he's onto something (and we can argue about explanations), or if his perception is just plain wrong.

Well?

 

i think as an opposing manager i'd attack Gros on the wing before attacking stewart or convey who have usually played the opposite wing. while gros is not inept at defense he certainly doesn't defend the wing as well as the other two at this point in his career.

the midfield schema peter usually deploys tends to encourage attacking play on the wings and the real strength of our defense is up the middle.

i can't really say whether or not the majority of attacks have come against his side but it certainly makes sense. our midfield is pretty clogged, our backline is slow and our scheme depends on a tremendous amount of running on the wings. both stewart and convey excel at coming back to defend, something that i don't think josh is as good at yet.

 

I'm with Skip on this one as I noted this particular flaw with Gros a few weeks ago on the radio show..

While Gros is performing way above expectations offensively, his defensive game needs a ton of work.. Gros has gotten caught upfield way too many times this season and it has led to severe counter attacks down his flank.. The recent away match at KC and the home match against Forest were two direct examples of this..

 

Well, I'm sorry my initial post was so dismissive, but when Skip says that if Hudson were coach would bench Gros because of his "awful defense," that's simply crazy. There is no way that Josh Gros would be on the bench if Ray Hudson was coaching... Gros ain't no "McDonald's footballer"

First of all, as R&B notes, teams generally attack our wings not the center, for the obvious reason that Carrol and Nelsen make it more difficult to attack us in the center than on the wings. It's the flipside of Nowak's offensive system.

I personally haven't noticed teams attacking us consistently from the right as opposed to the left. I think it depends a lot on the particular match and who the opposing personnel is. Obviously, Dallas is always going to attack you on the right because O'Brien is clearly their most dominant offensive threat. Should Gros have played more defensively against them? Well, considering that Carrol and Ara, who have little offensive capabilities, were both in the midfield, I'd imagine Nowak wanted Gros to be aggressive and for those guys to both stop counters, since it's their full-time responsibility.

Does Gros tend to get more upfield than Stewart? Definitely, perhaps in large part because Stewart is rarely able to beat the opposing defense one-on-one on his side, so it's never really an issue. But just because you are upfield more doesn't necessarily mean you are out of position. Convey used to make the same exact runs back when he played more out wide during past years. It is the responsibility of the other players to cover vacated positions, that is Nowak's system.

So my point is simply that I don't think Gros is making hopeful, over-ambitious runs that are leaving us exposed; he's simply the point of attack for us on many occassions which leaves him further upfield. If a counter comes on the right, Carrol, Dema or Olsen should be stepping up to stop it. No player can be everywhere at once.

I will note that once he loses possession, he certainly runs his arse off getting back... almost in that Milton Reyes crazy out-of-control manner. This is something you aren't going to pick up on TV.

I'm not saying all this because I'm a huge Gros backer. If we still had Convey and Stewart, Josh would rightfully be coming off the bench still. But I personally wouldn't want him to lose his offensive aggressiveness... that seems to me to be his most valuable quality.

So the bottom line is that Gros is not "awful" at defense, he's simply more often than not the point of attack for us offensively others should be stepping up behind him when he moves forward.

Chris: I'm puzzled why you would choose the Forest match as an example of Gros being caught out of position. I seem to remember him playing pretty well on both sides of the ball... maybe I am forgetting something. (There goal was certainly not scored from his wing.)

 

Sometimes Gros does get caught too far forward..but that's because of how he attacks. Gros hustles..but when he gets down the left or right, he works to create tap-ins, I.E. dribble into the box and turn in back at the 6. Or he cuts inside to shoot. When the attacks screw up. They counter down his side and force him to chase back.

If Gros wanted to..he could minimize the counter options by putting everyball far post or..just shooting himself. Its not his fault that when he attacks..we can't convert or do enough to maintain possession, force corners..