In the 73rd (approx) minute of today's game against DC United, Eddie Gaven pulled a move off the dribble that defies description and belief. All I can say is that it involved a 360 spin, beating 4 defenders and ended when he was bodychecked to the ground to prevent him from dribbling into the box by himself. He troubled DC all day off the dribble. We saw this out of him in Finland as well with him drawing two penalties. What we've also seen is that other than good size and speed, he hasn't really showed off a lot else. Ocassionally sharp with the passing, occassionally not. Despite his size has not been impressive in the air. Hasn't looked strong defensively. So the question is: you have a tall, quick 16 year old player who looks enormously talented off the dribble but the rest of his game isn't at that level. What is the procedure from here? Where does he play? What can and do you teach him? How valuable can such a player become? Bradley seems to like him in the A-Mid role and that's where he was today filling in for Guevara (suspended). I'm sure a lot of coaches have seen his size and quickness and wanted him to play target forward, but I haven't seen him be an aerial threat at all yet. He might be useful on a wing, but that usually requires defense in our systems and that appears to be a weakness in his game. So is it a very odd looking A-Mid then? If you didn't see the game but have a tape of it or something, watch it as Gaven was impressive.
Well if you have the FIFA 2003 video game? The "special move" they gave Zidane in the game? _That's_ the move.
I was there, I saw it. It was one of those moves that makes you go 'Ohhhhh!', even if it was a player from the opposing team. Good body check, too.
I was in the press box yesterday, and pretty much every person let out an ohh. He somehow spun past three guys and then cut it right past either Nelsen or Prideaux at the top of the 18 where he was bodychecked. Gaven had a very good game, he showed great distribution and was very strong on the ball, something you wouldnt expect from a pretty lanky kid against seasoned pros. He also pulled a great dummy move on Prideaux to go by him in the first half, and again was hammered. Judging from yesterdays game, it's good that the rest of the Metros trust him enough to give him the ball that much, and it bodes well for his future.
The answer to both of these is because he's a 16 year old learning to play against full-grown men. According to the Metros website he is 6' 0" and 145 pounds. That's 5 inches taller, but only 8 pounds heavier than Beasley's listing at the Fire website. Give him more time to play with and learn from the more skilled and technically advanced defenders and give him more time to develope physically as he grows and starts hitting the weights and both of your points will fade.
in my opinion he was by far the best player in the field for both teams, he was the inspiration to his teamates.
Answers: --Up top or in the hole (though he is versatile and can play standard mid role) --Everything and everything. The upside is huge. --Extremely valuable.
This was the point I was making. He showed the same things in Finland that he showed the other day. It's official: Eddie Gaven is awfully good on the dribble. He drew two penalties off the dribble in Finland. (I also thought he played well in the first game against Korea and then struggled after). The problem was that he was kind of playing D-Mid along with Szetela and he had defensive responsibilities, and his defensive game was found seriously wanting. So you almost have to (for now at least) keep him up at A-Mid to take advantage of his biggest strength and avoid his weaknesses. He reminds me a bit of Kirovski, but he's quicker and I ain't never seen Kirovski bust a move like Gaven did the other night. The thing is that other than an occassioanl nice pass (both in MLS and Finland), I haven't seen him do much of anything else (good finish in his first MLS goal not withstanding). So I guess the development challenge here is to fill out the rest of Gaven's game as he gets older. Maybe Bradley will have him work with Guevara on playmaking skills. With his dribbling skills, if he can learn how to slice and dice defenses with his passing, he could turn out to be an absolute monster number 10.
In the center of the field - sure. But not on the flank. In his time there for the Metros he's made a strong argument that right midfield is an option for him. Actually he's more like Stewart, but with better ball skills and size. He's also capable of playing a through ball, which Earnie lacks. Another comparison would be a bigger, right-footed Convey. Not Kirovski, though. He's put in a number of good crosses from the flank, and is more tactically astute than any 17 year old I've ever seen (Convey included). He doesn't get caught out of position, and he doesn't give balls away uselessly. If he plays as a 10 it can only be in a 3-5-2 behind the forwards - I feel he's too high risk to play there in a 4-4-2. I think it's moot, though, as I have a suspicion he'll eventually prove that right midfield is where he belongs. And FYI, he was nursing an ankle injury in Finland which is why he didn't show well. Since his recovery he's certainly proved for the Metros why he was so highly rated as a youth player.
If I remember correctly he was the one who made the great thru ball in the open cup game that put Andrzej Juskowiak in on goal for the red card play(I could be wrong). It's exciting to think that he is only 16.
Gaven OK, help me out here. The question is to find a position for a player who is - 1) Tall but weak & physically soft 2) Positionally and tactically astute 3) Good dribbler 4) Indifferent passer 5) Indifferent defender And in the U17 World Cup he plays ... defensive midfield? No wonder he drew poor reviews.
I definitely think the most important thing to remember is that he's 16. In my opinion he's showing more potential than any of the other young U-17/U-20 prospects we’ve had in MLS of the last few years. He is still very young though and needs to have the right people developing him, hopefully Bob and Mo can be those people.
Bradley seems..... Come on.... the problem is obvious, the kid have the ball control skills but lack the ok from the coach to be more aggressive. What are we expecting from Bradley anyway, we are overdue for a coach revamp on MLS I hope the lack of action on this department does not send the league to the cementery ....
Re: Re: Eddie Gaven [R] DCU v Metro 9/28 Dude. Gaven is currently the youngest player in MLS. A lot of Metrostars fans were questioning Bob's decision to start Gaven in the game prior to this one. Already, Gaven has seriously stepped up, and played excellent. Bob Bradley has, probably, the best record of developing players of any coach in MLS, and probably one of the best of any coach in North America. Gaven is pretty clearly getting a great deal of opportunity and experience, at a very young age, because he is playing for Bradley and the Metrostars. What exactly could Bradley have done to prevent you from complaining about him? Because, frankly, it seems to me that you have decided that every single MLS coach is worthless, and needs to be replaced, despite the fact that you don't really have any concrete suggestions about who to replace them with.
Re: Re: Re: Eddie Gaven [R] DCU v Metro 9/28 Bradley is the best ?? That is the scary part of the deal ....Dude, there not mistery on the coach situation, in the last 4 years many coaches have been rotated and it seems that we are not making any improvements and MLS is in a precary position about the quality of play . Hey, even Mexicans are replacing their coaches and these taco eaters have a long tradition of soccer . Perhaps many coaches like Bradley are good for player development, well thats is a good job for them but how long do you want to wait to transform MLS on the best league on the planet with the "not too bad " attitude ??
Re: Re: Re: Eddie Gaven [R] DCU v Metro 9/28 whip's problem is that Bradley is white. I suggest you don't pay attention to him - after all, he was the one who shouted endlessly about Arena being a disaster before, during and after the World Cup. I'd venture there's not a person on this entire board who understands soccer less than whip.
I wouldnt say hes weak in the air. Not powerful, but ive noticed some very nice flick ons to teammates in his time with metro.
It seems like the one thing you can conclude is that 16-17 years old is too young to be drawing too many conclusions about a soccer player's future. Most of the BS posters said Gaven did not show all that well in Finland, without seeing that he played mostly a DMid role on a team that played a lot of boom-ball out of the back, thereby not getting a lot of touches on the ball. Same with Paul Gardner, who trashed the U17s and said that Ellinger's midfielders were just athletic and without skill. With the MetroStars, he has been playing a more attacking mid role on a team that plays more real soccer, so he his getting a lot of balls at his feet where he can attack off the dribble and make creative passes. As for being "weak" physically or defensively or not good in the air, again seems like people are drawing too many conclusions - obviously a 16-year old kid is not going to match up physically yet against 20-30 year old men. People that are knocking Bob Bradley have no idea what they are talking about. So far he has done a good job putting Gaven in the AMid or forward position which makes sense for him at this time.
From the glimpses I caught, Gaven was rock-solid against San Jose today and was even voted MOTM. He had a sweet one-touch through-ball assist to Guevara on the first goal and set up another one on the break for Woly, who missed. He dribbled into the heart of the SJ defense a few times and was unfortunate not to pick up some fouls at the edge of the area. Everytime I saw him with the ball at his feet, (which was hard, since I was chasing my 2-year-old around the livingroom), he looked to be in control and have ideas. I also saw him go up and win some head balls and take some very hard challenges and still hang onto the ball.