Coaches are questioned in Europe, too. I think the point is that Cuper has achieved success with his methods - at least relative success for a club like Aris - and so, by and large, they put their faith in him. The guy is paid to make the difficult decisions. As was said, Adu started the last 2 games and was average. Nothing special really. He was just okay. Cuper doesn't see Adu as a regular starter, but is prepared to give him some chances when the situation is right. He's a loan player, after all. Cuper didn't bring him to Aris to be the team's star player.
You of course are right.... I mixed and matched my Patriots/Colts story. I would disagree, after the loss I did hear about the idea that they lost their air of invulnerability (silly as that sounds), even from ex-players. I'm not saying the criticism are legitimate, I'm saying that no coach receives the.... "we don't question him" treatment here, that was the larger point.
And my point was that no matter what level of success you achieve here in the US you still get second guessed. My bigger point was please don't take it as an affront to your team or manager.
Like most here, I am dissapointed not to see Adu today, but the way I see it, if Adu wants to play, he needs to show that he's BETTER than the other options period. There are many things going on, both on and off the field, that we the general public don't have access to so our guesses are accurate as the guy flipping burgers big D. Hopefully, after a whole summer with the team, he can work his way onto the starting lineup. If not, eeeeeeehhhh....mnothing ore to say.
Other teams don't wait for their new players to just become better by osmosis, they assume that the players need practice and experience. Freddy should go somewhere where he can get practice and experience. It's hard for me to keep up with Aris....my understanding is that this was a prestigious but meaningless game. So the coach played mostly starters, but lost. If the coach had been interested in how Freddy would stack up against better opponents, this sounds like a situation to try that out. Sounds like he's not too interested then....
Yeah with Campora out with cards and some others too, there was no one left and he still found a way to leave him off the field, very reminiscent of Monaco. The whole team has to be injured or out on cards for him to see the field and then he'll still put in Aravidis or whoever. I guess he's just not good enough to play with the first team. Very sad... I still say he needs to move again, he needs to find a squad that will let him get better, he can't get better riding the pine. He needs game experience like no other player. Oh well, I guess we play the waiting game.
I agree with this post, except I FYP, one word. Unfortunately, while we wait, the bus for SA is loading. I'm guessing Freddy is not going to board, sad.
*facepalm* At his current form, Freddy is lucky to be getting as much playing time as he is for Aris. It will come, but he needs to dig deeper in his efforts and learning. The only move left for Freddy is MLS, and he'd still sit some games there. Be patient.
Why can't it be as simple as he is a young unproven pro with potential. He hasn't played much in 2 years and came into a solid team with a good coach in the middle of the year and hasn't worked himself in yet. They got him on an 18 month loan and he will have a whole offseason to work himself onto the field like evey other pro soccer player has to (or should).
Wow, that entire sequence was unbelievable starting with Olympiakos getting the throw-in vs Aris being awarded a free kick. And then to get a weak PK out of it. Yikes!
It was a derby and sounded very important to supporters from that sense. Does Freddy have the mentality needed for a derby?
just another frustrating day at the Adu office. it's hard to see him getting time in the playoffs or the Cup final if he can't get into a game like this, derby or no. the saga continues...
I should have been more specific. The only move left for Adu where he would be guaranteed to start 85% or more of his games is MLS. Really, I rank the leagues thus: LaLiga (people disagree on the top 2, I know) EPL Italia Bundesliga (Starts to get hazy, the following three are close) French Dutch Portugese (gettting really hazy) maybe then Greece and Scotland, and after that it I rate MLS as good as any of them. Beckham recently stood up for MLS on the world scene and praised its athletes. The league gets better every season. Sure, he could go play in Mexico, or Uruguay, but are they really any better than MLS? Europe is where it's at, because of the Champs League. I'm not even saying it's time for him to move. He needs to buckle down here, and make next year his springboard. I'm just saying, if he gets little playing time next season, I don't see a better option than MLS for him.
People may say that MLS is Adu's next move because it is the only league he have ever had sustained success in.
Yup, i think Adu is done for the year. Regardless in the Greek Cup im going to cheer on Aris like all f***ing hell and hope EJ gets the game winner! Its time to look for the summer. Get busy in the summer, get aggressive, give Cuper what he wants, and make the spot his.....win the shirt thats what he has to do. This is it, this is where Freddy finally establishes himself, i can feel it. Someone send him a copy of 300 for him to watch before he goes to bed and wakes up to pump him up just to be safe. if not....your right i think its back to MLS. No other teams showed interest in him last transfer window except for Cadiz, who are probably gonna drop back down to the Spanish 3rd division. Needless to say, this is the better situation of the two.
Pretty much....so for someone who's seen his games. Was he better in the first few games, or the last few games?
Alas, he's not a normal 20 year-old (21 when the new season starts)-- the guy is a six/seven-year pro. And overlooking that fact is also overlooking one of the two underlying, root problems with his career (the other being his out-of-proportion hype). Either way, for a player like Adu-- a supremely skilled kid-- he should be progressing as a pro at this stage, not being found out as someone who still needs to go back a few steps and re-learn the game. All the issues that have been raised about Adu over the years-- he's a defensive liability, is average physically (in fitness, speed, and strength), is inconsistent, struggles to do the little things right, often runs down blind alleys, is a luxury player at best but not good enough to build a team around-- are roaring back via coaches quotes, Wahl's article, etc. I find it amazing-- not directing this at anyone quoted above necessarily-- that so many people still are invested in convincing themselves that this guy's career hasn't been a disappointing slide that needs a mental and tactical reboot in order to rescue it.
People make this argument occasionally and I don't know that it makes sense. Your average good player at 20 is considered very young, and usually they have been working in the youth ranks of a pro team for 6-7 years if not longer. And what came "roaring back" to us in that article was just the opposite of what you're saying. That those players who spent that time with the emphasis on their development are *further* along than Adu, because he went into senior pro teams so early. Senior pro teams are not for development, they are for winning. So it makes more sense that Adu is not your normal 20 year old, developmentally he is actually *younger*.
It's very simple. Cuper brought Adu to Aris to be a back-up player. You don't bring in a loan player halfway through the season to be your star man. Given Adu's lack of experience, the plan was probably always to give him a few chances when possible, and if he shone, he would get more time. But he hasn't shone apart from a couple of goals, and you need more than goals to make a player. Cuper doesn't care for Adu's YouTube clips or performances with the U-20's. Senior coaches don't place a lot of importance on U-20 games or Olympics games (most countries don't even send a team to the Olympics). Cuper sees what he sees, and if he honestly thought Adu could tear it up in central midfield, he would put him there. But he doesn't think that. Neither does Bob Bradley. I don't expect to see Adu play much in the playoffs. I think the best he can hope for is a strong pre-season (playing well in friendlies and such) and then maybe some more opportunities next season. He's a loan player who was brought in to use as back-up and Cuper doesn't see him as anything more just yet.
Talk about presumptuous..... Your comments are in direct contradiction to the Aris posters familiar with the situation. They have stated numerous times Adu was brought in to compete for the left side starting spot. Meriem wasn't on the team when Adu was brought in so your revisionist history of the motivations for Adu's signing is questionable at best. A much more fair minded summary would be; Cuper brought Adu in to compete and his playing time or lack of is a reflection of how well he has performed in training and games, as assessed by Cuper. It's just *that* simple..