http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/28/AR2005062801402.html Here's a quote I loooooooove:
Look does anybody see that from this article Peter Nowak is happy that things didn`t go so well for Freddy in Holland.Peter is jealous of Freddy and by him saying that nothing will be guaranteed to Freddy what the hell does he mean by that.Freddy played well in the U-17`S and the last U-20 world cup but ever since he signed to play for DC and under Peter`s stewardship he has lost his confidence and the fearlessness with which he attacked opposing teams.Damn you Peter.You should be ashamed of yourself for Freddy`s lost of spark.
Look, the only reason that Freddy didn't do well in Holland is that Jamie and Gomez didn't pass him the ball there either.
Adu needs a spank more than he needs a spark. Nobody, especially an undersized, over-hyped "prodigy" is bigger than the game. As a DCU and USMNT fan, I hope he pans out. But Nowak is 100% correct in bringing Adu along slowly. He needs to earn his time on the field. There are a ton of games coming up in July and August, and he'll get plenty of minutes. If he plays well, he'll get plenty more. Simple as that.
I hate to do this... it's just feeding the troll... But I can't help myself this morning. It means that he's the coach, and on this team you earn your time by playing within his system and for the good of the entire team. It means nobody gets a pass based on reputation of the cricket-chirp of your personal "supporters." Show him you will leave it all on the field, even in practice or reserve games (ESPECIALLY in practice and reserve games) and he'll put you in where you'll help the team, provided there's no one better than you in that position right now. Nowaks doing just fine with Freddy's development. He's a terrific spark off the bench running at tired defenses. He's improving in his total play (defense and off-the-ball). He has terrific skills in select areas and is being coached to work on his total game to become that more complete player he will need to be to succeed and contribute for the next twenty years, good Lord willing and the creek don't rise. Not bad for a sixteen year old. And jealous? Please.
People please,Nowak makes it look as if Freddy is not a team player but he is.In the U-20 tournament he didn`t play selfish.He gave good passes to team mates who couldn`t convert.Playing with DC he play`s nice through balls to Moreno,Gomez and the rest but on the contrary these guy`s wouldn`t pass to him or even acknowledge when he makes nice runs for the ball.Adu is a valuable talent and a team player and this negative rap from Peter leaves much to be desired especially when Peter is on record to have singled him out after a loss and gave him a bad rap.
The more and more i read about Freddy, the more I think needs to be lifted off of his shoulders. It seems like people expected him to come into this tournament and light everybody up. score a bunch of goals and make a bunch of assists. I think he is capable of these things, but some perspective is needed, i think. (1) he is 16 going up against the best 20yr olds every other nation can put together (2) he played in a "sorta" left sided midfielder role, instead of his more effective role in the *center* behind the FWs, or even as a withdrawn FW (3) he played with less talent than all of the other "ones to watch" in this tournament. Gaven didn't show up either which would have taken some pressure off of freddy and opened up room for him. I don't think its a small point that none of the pros did well under schmid. Look at who Messi had to play with, the Nigerian and Dutch kids also had teammates who could play well enuff to take pressure off of them OR when the defense surrounds the "star" they can punish the defense. We had neither option. (4) Even for as "poorly" as he played, he drew 2 penalties, scored on one of them and had 1 (or2?) assists It was definitely a forgettable tournament, but doesn't need to be the end of the world. He can continue on from here. He has a bright future ahead of him and can play an integral role in our journey to another championship. But people really, really need to stop expecting him to be the savior for US soccer RIGHT NOW and temper expectations with reality
i totally agree with you. So far he hasn't earned playing time. I dont think he ever will, he is undersized and that will not change he isnt getting any taller so there is no room for more weight (i dont care how old he is). He will continued to get knocked of the ball and be ineffective. That is the reality.
So how is a spank going to help him grow, gain weight, or in any way become more effective? "I have met the enemy and it is us," or something like that. Perhaps those who come to watch the game because of the media hype about Freddy alone help convince sponsors to give him more money because he's an attraction to a larger audience. It's a cycle that results in unrealistic expectations that no one can meet. If we're going to dish out spankings, we should start with self flagellation (and preserve a knock or two for reporters who continue the cycle by focusing on him, when there are so many stories that get unreported, like how we match up against Chicago).
This exemplifies to me, everything that makes Freddy Adu's professional life so incredibly difficult. If he should have an off-game or not win a starting role, let's blame the coach. If he didn't star and dominate games, well than he's being dragged down. He's an incredible talent so we need to start him whether he deserves it or not, whether he's earned it or not, whether it helps the team or not. And to get better he just needs to play. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. 1. Freddy was okay for the U20s. He's a teenager (barely 16) and the vast majority of 16's go through tremendous ups and downs emotionally--and that's just before breakfast! One of the realities of very young players (and I"m a youth coach) is that just don't show up every day. You can have good kids, hard workers, with talent, who love to play and some days they're on planet 10 or their touch has deserted them. 2. It's so incredibly unfair to argue that the only thing keeping Adu from being really good is a lack of playing time. What an absolutely incredibly unfair pressure to put on the kid. He's got a ton of stuff to learn. It doesn't just happen by rolling a ball out on the field and saying "go at it kid." Given that he plays regularly in a key role (A-mid) for his club side, plays reserve minutes, plays for the U20 side, has recently played for the U17 side, will probably be part of the Olympic team, getting PT and minutes isn't a problem for him. Getting exposure to different coaches isn't a problem for him. In fact, if we are to use guys like Arena and Bradley as benchmarks for the best developers of young Americans and how they do it, than Nowak is spot-on: look for opportunities to spot the kid where he can succeed, give him a specific role, don't ask too much of him, make sure he's well acclimated before he's blooded, try to minimize the pressure the kid faces, don't play just to give minutes. 3. Nowak's to blame for this? Let's see, Freddy Adu looks to be a much improved player this year over last year. He's smarter, makes better touches on the ball, integrates into the team better, tracks back better, doesn't make as many stupid fouls (with and without the ball). But hey--maybe I'm delusional. Except Freddy says the same thing--about how he's much improved as a player this year and he's doing almost everything better. And actually, he looked better playing for Nowak than he did playing for Schmid. Maybe the tentativeness and poor integration had more to do with Schmid than Nowak? Or maybe b/c he's a new 16 playing against 19 and 20's? Or maybe b/c the entire USA attack looked tentative and poorly integrated? 4. As I read the article, it sounds like typical Nowak. He's a "tough-love" kind of guy who always looks for the positive on something. Like, after a club loss "this will remind the guys of what we need to work on" or with fixture congestion "no-one will be able to complain about not getting minutes" or after an injury "this will give so-and-so a chance to prove he deserves to start." That's Nowak for you. Freddy gets called out publicly by his coach (Schmid) and Nowak says basically "this wasn't a loss for Freddy, it's a learning opportunity."
I think JoeW just made the best case for the Adu-haters to just calm down. This isn't a sprint, and it's also great that he's on a team that can win without him, so that he can develop without the pressure of carrying every game on his shoulders. He's got enough pressure, what with the expectations of the media and those who have very, very short attention spans. Nowak is doing a fine job with Adu.
Okay, so I'm having trouble getting where so many people (granted, most are not on this board) have a problem with Freddy's 'attitude'... Does somebody with an attitude change his game as much as Freddy has over the past year? Has he not accepted a supporting role with the team? While the coach of the U-20's has pointed fingers everywhere except at himself, has Adu said anything other than "I played poorly." And the thing is, I don't think he did play all that poorly, not nearly as poorly as Gaven, and he basically played out of position so Gaven could suck for 4 whole games. How tempting must if be for Freddy to say, "you want me to impact the game? Put me in the middle of it..." Nowak...he's got 4 more months to get out of Freddy this year. A little prodding can be expected. But Sigi may very well neve coach Freddy again, his parting words are bush league.
I don't think this is the kid, or the era, for this kind of coaching. He needs something like this: http://www.positivecoach.org/subcontent.aspx?SecID=95 Freddy is ebulliant, visionary, and brilliant. The coaches need to change to fit Freddy, not change Freddy to fit the system. Nowak is like the teacher who sees Thomas Edison as "addled."
You're making some very big (and I think erroneous) assumptions here. 1. You assume Nowak doesn't have high regard for Adu. Wrong. Nowak doesn't broadcast to everyone how much he potential he sees in Freddy all the time--for good reason. It's called keeping a level head for Adu. But in a range of forums (for instance, in talking to the Polish press) he's talked about how Adu can be one of the great ones and how he's a tremendous talent. Adu doesn't need to hear every day about how he's the next great player. In fact, he'd probably benefit from a lot less of that--less pressure, less ego stroking. 2. I don't think Adu is upset b/c of how Nowak coaches him. I think he's upset b/c: --he's 16 and kids this age go through tremendous mood swings and as part of the growing up process, question authority and challenge the rules. --he's not starting. And he's not starting b/c he has great skills but isn't as good of a team player as the other person who's the A-mid (Gomez) and he has too many holes in his game to start anywhere else without hurting the team and putting even more pressure on Adu. --but Nowak doesn't critize him publicly. Nowak doesn't yell at him repeatedly. Nowak certainly praises him (publicly, in practice and in private). 3. If you watch Nowak, I mean really watch him in practice, he's an amazingly positive coach. He is very focused on detail, he doesn't mince words privately, he has high standards. But to Nowak, EVERYTHING has a positive twist to it. He doesn't criticize people publicly, only in private. Sigi just tore Freddy a new one in public forums, almost blaming him individually for the loss to Italy. You've got to figure that Adu would be down. And Nowak's response is not to pile on, instead it's to effectively say, "we learn from everything, this is a positive thing for Freddy, he'll be a better player b/c of it." If you just lost to a team you were supposed to beat handily and you were self-admittedly not on the field mentally, what more could your coach say that would fit with your mindset of being positive? 4. I don't think Nowak is seeking to chance Adu to fit the system (other than he's expecting Adu to be a team player). Nowak has tried Adu in a variety of roles to find one he's comfortable with and is a good fit for him--rather than force him to be a left mid or forward. What Nowak has pushed him on is to be more complete as a player (don't pick up silly cards for diving or retaliating, help out on defense, cover your defensive zone, don't stand around--move off the ball, communicate with teammates, attack the weaknesses of the defense rather than dribble into traffic, be a part of the team). Aren't the things I've just listed elements that we'd expect of ANY decent (let along great and visionary) player? Isn't it Nowak's responsibility to help develop those elements in Adu? Give Adu a break. And give Nowak a break. Sometimes Adu is going to suck out there--he's 16, a boy playing a man's game against pros. Don't expect him to be great just yet. And Nowak is carefully bringing him along--trying to shield him from some of the media glare, keep him on the right path, never calling him out publicly, encouraging him, trying to give him a clear role and a chance to succeed. That's about as good a plan I can think of for succeeding with ANY prodigy in ANY endeavor.
I kind of doubt TOTC was being serious. The link is to a site that promotes a kinder, gentler form of coaching for youth sports. Not professional. Correct me if I'm wrong, TOTC. I thought it was just a very good joke. But then I haven't done any research on his (her, its?) previous posts.
"I think he learned one thing: This is a team sport," Nowak said. "You have to be part of every team you play with. . . . He was part of a team that didn't succeed [in the Netherlands]. He realized how important it is to be part of the D.C. United team, to have success with your club first before you have success at the international level." I agree with Ursula, this quote is spot on. Right now Feddy is getting close to the age where you won't see international games based on talent alone. Getting a call-up can depend a lot on your performace with your club. (I know he could still play the YWC again, but time flies fast.) Right now Freddy has to look at his YWC performance, take notes of where he can improve, put that behind him and focus in being the best he can for DCU. Hopefully this is what Nowak will try to get Freddy to do. By chance Freddy could have another opportunity to show his best against Chicago with Benny and Quaranta gone and Eski recovering. Whether or not he starts he has to focus on just improving his play and being a part of the DCU team. I think if he does well in that those aspects the other successess will follow. I think Freddy is a good player and I hope he can move forward. Freddy cannot let the YWC be a defining moment. As fans, I don't think we can make the YWC a defining moment for Freddy. A missed opportunity, yes, but I don't think this needs to be the point where his career hinges. Yet is seems too many people want to hang the success or failure of Freddy at this point. If some BS poster here think Nowak is being hard on Freddy, then they should look at how cut-throat the world of pro soccer can be. No coach is just going to hand any player a starting spot. Nowak is right, nothing will be granted to Freddy, in fact nothing will be granted to anyone on DCU for that matter.
Oh. I missed that. I peeked at the look but didn't really read it. Is there an icon for "feels goofy"?
Well said. I can't think of a better team for Freddy to start his career at. On top of the fact that he in his hometown, he won a championship in his first year, and scored a few highlight reel goals. He's got all of the hardest monkeys off his back before he turned 16! What if he would have been with the worst team in the league last year? Or with a coach that would have given him even less playing time than Novak has so far? I hope that Freddy is a person who views the glass half full rather than half empty. IMO, his glass is half full.
"I think he learned one thing: This is a team sport," Nowak said. So you don't think this is public criticism, which strongly implies Freddy is not a team player????