Bergin's got an article up about Nowak's reaction to the Chicago match; http://ussocceruk.com/news/?CatTypeId=2&ContentId=1571 Basically says that he's confident that we'll start scoring goals again soon. This quote caught my attention though; "Right now, we have to try to find the best combination - Jaime (Moreno) with Freddy (Adu), or Jamie with Ronald (Cerritos), I don't know. We have to realize that we can not stop right now; we have to keep working on it, and making this better." Does this mean Nowak's planning on benching Alecko? Or is he just blowing smoke keeping opposing teams guessing as to the lineup that they'll face? Cherno
Yeah, that caught my eye too. It certainly sounds like he isn't pleased with Alecko's lack of scoring, esp. given the number of chances he's had. That said, I wouldn't put it past him to try to confuse our opponents!
i dont understand why he doesn't like esky.... this isn't the first time he has expressed displeasure with him
He must hate American youth in favor of foreigners - Cerritos, Adu (naturalized American), and Moreno.
I think he's pushing esky to produce more. He wouldn't keep starting him if he were completely dissatisfied. Esky is getting his share of chances, but he needs to start scoring on some of them.
i dont know that pulling him every match after 50-60 minutes is exactly pushing him. It looks more to me that he can't wait to get him off the field. I think its also a slight indictment against ronald and Adu that they can't displace him just yet. I'm not saying its the wrong move to make... actually, yes i am. it seems to me that we lose more than we gain when freddy comes on for esky. it seems to be a general consensus on the boards that adu should sub in for jaime when he (inevitably) gets tired. I see alot of good things in esky's game and reasons to leave him on the field, but nowak seems like he cant wait to get him off, and now he doesn't want to start him, and i dont think its just for the sake of getting Freddy the start. I'm just curious as to what about esky's game nowak doesn't like?
Except if Nowak were just sitting there on the bench itching to pull Esky, I don't think he'd start him. I think it might be time to try the grand experiment. Starting forwards: Esky, Fred Then sub in Jaime at min. 60 if the kid can't go 90. Try this for a couple of games and see if Jaime's tricks can get to a fatigued defense. I think he could be deadly coming off the bench knowing he can go all out for 30 min.
Cantankerous, I think you're on to something. I have a feeling that Esky could turn out to be not so much a great striker as a great partner--the sort of forward who can open up space, make strong runs, hold off defenders, etc. I'm not saying he's there yet, but I just have a feeling. I have to admit, I'm biased towards Esky, and I don't really have a good, clear reason why. I just like the kid, and still think he's going to turn out to be a good MLS player.
My take on the Esky situation is that between the two of them, Alecko and Moreno, Moreno is clearly the more productive one. That doesn't mean that Alecko is doing a bad job, he's just not finishing (or even creating) chances as well as he would need too. Moreno on the other hand isn't really scoring goals, but he's been a bigger part of creating the attack. If Cerritos goes in and starts finishing those shots that Alecko has put into the side of the net or couldn't quite get his toe on, then that's who we'd go with... The same goes for Freddy, although, from what I've seen of Freddy is that he's more of a Moreno type of player... or at least wants to be.
That's kinda what I had in mind. Other players on our team who might fill that particular role are Cerritos, Martins, and Quaranta. I think Martins is the strongest (physically) of the three, and it's a shame he and Q1 are hurt. On the other hand, by the time they are ready, Freddy will be more seasoned and better able to use his teammates. To use an analogy to the Nats, we could use a big strong target forward in the mold of a McBride, and now, Casey. Just do me a favor and nobody mention Niall Quinn!