Wow, glad i missed this downward spiral of a thread. That said im happy Aris won. What does this show? It shows that Adu at 20 is still somewhat playing for an established team at 20 and is on a Europa Caliber team and is splitting time with Former French internationals, players from Marseille,etc. In USANT retrospect, if Bob thinks thats worse than fighting for a spot in MLS or if he thinks Findley or Even EJ could do more than Adu.......well thats gonna suck, because we could be using a roster spot in June for somebody who does play well when he sees the pitch in a US shirt.
Where do finesse players go to learn to play the game, do you think? I guess I'm just pessimistic....Freddy was scoring & setting up goals and the team wasn't giving goals up when he was on the field. In the rest of the soccer universe, that's a good thing and will get you more time on the field. Not less. Freddy, for whatever unexplained reason, seems to be on a different track than the standard one. A player that can only be played in the most rare of circumstances -- a game which doesn't mean much, where there's no physical play, where the pitch is perfect -- just isn't going to get anywhere fast. As we've seen.
No, but playing on an MLS team is better than this. What has freddy adu done the last two years to earn himself a spot on the USMNT World cup team?
Whaoo, i thought you did not want Adu coming back to MLS in December and that things should not be given to him and he should stay in europe and earn his place? Changing your thoughts much?
The problem is you have no respect for these leagues, teams or players. Toni Calvo could well turn out to have a better career than any American ever. And so can Freddy. Just not on your imaginary timeline.
Cool, Thanks! CAM spot is not one that Cuper uses. He likes to use 2 def. mids in the middle like BB for the Nat team. He is played as a left winger and Calvo as a right winger. They both pinch in and act as a play maker sometimes when needed, Cuper gives them that freedom. Right now, Adu needs to just keep at it, playing time will come back. All it took was 1 bad game for Adu and Meriem took over as a starter. Same can happen with Meriem, but he seems to be playing pretty dcent right now. Yes, but people have to realize that Freddy most likely isnt going to be included in this WC roster. I'd be super suprised to see him make it, even if he was getting playing time right now. With him not being included for the Holland match, gave you an idea at who BB was looking at to bring with him to the WC. Its the truth. Meriem is a player with age and experience, and he is playing over adu because of that. He needs to really mess up big time in order for Adu to start starting over him, or Adu needs to do some serious work when he gets playing time next, to show Cuper he is worth playing over Meriem. It sucks, as Nacho Garcia is one of my fav. players, but Cuper thinks Prittas is better then him, and instead uses Nacho as a sub. He got unlucky with injury and Prittas showing good form during his time away from the field, which caused him to be looked over, and used as a sub now. I hope he works hard, and shows himself again as the best player to start next to Nafti. Exactly! Good post.
Who says he isn't learning the game? He should be learning right where he is now. But you don't play someone in this kind of match just for the sake of his education - unless the team and coach can afford that kind of luxury. And yes, Freddy has been on a different track than the standard one since year one with DC United. Unfortunately.
The best way to quote other threads is to go to that thread, hit the quote button, and then cut and paste the quote including the html tags into this one. The things I don't get,and I think I have lots of company, is what about his two goals, two assists, and reportably decent defense in his actual games showed he is not ready???
See, that's not the story we were told. We were told that there was a gapping hole at left MF and Adu was being brought in to start. We were even told that he was more likely to see PT than EJ. And nothing about his actual play should have changed that. Most players do not lose starting positions for one bad half. This is why people are pissed off.....
Yes, that was the case in the beginning. That Ian Daly kid was playing where Adu was before he came. He wasnt really all that great, Javito played there too, and both were not good options. As soon as Adu started showing up a tad', it lookedl ike he was a out and out starter....... that is until they signed Meriem on a Free, who has a quality resume, French Caps, and times at many great clubs, and was aobut to go to a team in teh EPL before signing for Aris. He started getting minutes in competition with Adu, Adu had a bad game, in return Meriem has been playing well and is giving Adu a hard time for PT because of this. Things have changed with the Arrival of Meriem since Adu came to the club. He will need to prove in practice and in the 20-30mins he'll get as a sub to prove he deserves to be a starter. Cuper must be happy, because its good to have competition for all positions on the field.
Serious question. Isn't the signing of a player like Meriem a sign that Cuper was thinking ,"hey,I don't know if this Adu kid's going to be a consistent enough starter?" Why else would a manger do this?You sign to fill weaknesses.
Sounds pretty accurate...but I don't remember the timing. Did Freddy get an opportunity to back out of the Aris deal after Meriem was signed? Or did he sign expecting playing time, only to find that he hadn't been told the whole story?
The only thing spiralling downward is Adu's Euro career. Seems like a fun kid but just doesn't bring enough to the table to be anything other than an occasional one-play wonder.
I mean i dont think there was any backout clause based on PT. I mean this is nothing out of the blue. Thats what really has me scratching my head here reading posters comments. This happens ALL the time! Good coaches like to have great second string players for each positions to keep up healthy competition for PT. Freddy was good, but to keep things good for the club and safe he signed meriem who was a hidden gem signed on a free transfer. No transfer fee, and a trialing at EPL clubs means he still is pretty good at 30 and can be a good investment like Nafti. You guys gotta see the bigger picture. Follow Aris and get to know whats going on. The Aris posters give us all the facts, translate for us, get us all the news. Just keep up with it and you'll find out alot more about Adu's situation overall! Anyways, Im not worried. Adu will get time, and will give Meriem a good run for his money. Truthfully I hope Meriem falls off a tad' so adu can show, but its Meriem's position to lose.
I just looked through this thread after sitting in 3 hours of traffic and all I can say is I am so glad I chose to go skiing this morning. Glad Aris won. Too bad EJ and Freddy had no impact.
^There's a theory that Freddy Adu and his handlers are a bunch of clueless dweebs who couldn't negotiate their way out of a paper bag. That's what I'm wondering about here....at the beginning, there was all this talk about how badly Aris needed Freddy and how there was a spot waiting for him. So now that doesn't appear to be true. Options are: a) the idea that Freddy would walk onto the field was a BS YA fiction (and therefore Freddy went into Aris expecting this to happen), or b) that was the original plan but Freddy hasn't lived up to expectations (because they were expecting 2 goals/game or something), c) Freddy and his handlers have blundered into another deal where they thought Freddy would get to play, where the club just wanted him to round out the practice squad, or d) something else. I'm curious as to whether we're at a, b, c or d.
Maybe Freddy is at a club where he fits in well with the style of play (unlike Monaco), has a manager who knows what to do with him and how to manage teams, has good players (unlike Belenenses) now has competition that will force him to up his game. Adu has shown improvement, Cuper has shown he will play Freddy, Freddy has played well most of the opportunities he got and, like most 20 year olds, has shown he is inconsistent. Most managers in Cuper's position (i.e. fighting tooth and nail for a spot in Europe) would do what he has done...go with the experienced, consistent, solid veteran over the less consistent but prone to brilliance kid...as a starter at least. But once the game starts with Freddy on the bench, the demands of the game determine who sees the field. It happens all over the world and for the rest of the season the only things that are going to change the current situation are; 1) injury to Meriem, 2) a poor run of form that knocks Aris out of Europe (not probably, mathematically) or 3) Freddy getting chances and making the most of them to the extent he forces Cuper's hand...and Freddy played well, but not brilliantly. Barring those, a good season for Freddy is sub appearances (he's only missed 3 games now) and a shot over the summer at winning the starting job. If you're not convinced of Meriem's pedigree, take a look at his bio http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camel_Meriem