Sorry to point out the turd in the punchbowl, but I just have to cut through all the Freddy hype. Apart from his goal that came from a Metros backline screwup, Freddy was pretty much useless on the field. He ran to the wrong places (something he's improved at, but needs to improve a lot more) he was dispossessed far too easily, didn't make the incisive pass that opened the defense, and didn't get stuck in to help his teammates in trouble. Don't get me wrong, I'm very, very excited by what I think this kid will become. I'm just afraid that he's being put into the game because of external pressures, and not because he adds appreciably to the quality of the team right now. Before everyone jumps on me, let me say the following. Nowak is in a tough spot. He has to deal with the marketing hype. He has to get Freddy some PT in order to let him mature and get experience. He has to find the right combination of forwards. I also know that physically, Freddy is relatively frail, and cannot play like Nelsen or Petke. However, to stand back and refuse to dig out a ball when his teammate is surrounded, is inexcusable. Mostly, though, our speed of play and speed of thought, our trademark this year, dropped when Freddy came on. OK, I have my asbestos undies on. Fire away.
he had a bad game and yet, he still scored! Did you see the game last week?He created many dangerous situations
I think weak is too strong But have noticed our team declines with Freddy on the field. Esky and Jaime seem much more eager to assist their teammates with defensive responsibilities. United is at a -2 goal differential with him on the field. Granted there are circumstances, like playing with a lead in the first game that contribute to that, but without a willingness to help out we are handicapped as a team with him on the field. I think MLS has started to try to reel in the pressure. Take a look at the preview pane for this week's game
He had a far, far better match vs. LA than he did vs. Metros. Maybe that has to do with being in front of his home fans. I think it will take half a season before he stops making rookie mistakes. (That's high praise from me; it took Bobby two years to do that.)
Everybody point & laugh at the troll. I'm ashamed for actually replying to this asinine post. I'm gonna have to take a shower after writing this. Seriously, you couldnt be any more wrong. The only way you could say Freddy was weak was if you expected a 14 year old to score 3 goals in each of the 30+ minutes that Nowak gives him to play. If anything, this game showed that Nowak was an idiot for not starting Adu sooner, & that people like Kornheiser were proven right. If Freddy was weak, then the entire MLS is a bunch of talentless hacks. If freddy is frail, then guys like Beasly & Vaca shouldnt even be in MLS since they are 5 years older than Adu & even smaller than he is.
I don't post just to troll for responses. Yeah, that must be it. You got me. Did you even read what I wrote? Let's not get into a pissing contest, but if you judge productivity by just the number of goals, you flat out don't know the game. I'm sorry. I didn't know I was talking to an expert. Go back and watch the match again. How many attacks fizzled out because of Freddy's positioning? How many attacks failed because Freddy lost the ball? How much slower did the match get when he came in? I'll reiterate that I think Freddy is not pulling his weight right now. The problem is that he needs to get the work so he can improve. If you think that yesterday's match was a great one for him, OK. You're probably going to be thrilled out of your mind when he actually starts producing. Actually, all your post proves is that you 're watching the match through rose-colored glasses, and are allowing the scoring of a mostly-lucky goal to affect your judgement. Beasley and Vaca get the crap knocked out of them game after game. They're able to withstand it better because they're older. Being frail is not necessarily a weakness if your game adjusts for it. You obviously read my initial post as an attack on Freddy. It wasn't. I think he could become a great player. He very obviously isn't there yet.
Isn't that how they determine the winner? Some, but the same can be said for Esky. The speed of the match had more to do with the Metros controlling the game, than Freddy slowing it down. The cross getting through may have been lucky, but the speed of his reaction and pure finish shouldn't be discounted. No other forward on DCU would have been quick enough to get in position to finish it. Freddy is going score a lot of goals like that. Even though I bothered to reply to the rest of your post, I have to ask, do we need a thread every week to rehash this point. We get it.
So Freddy could stand around, not run on passes and get a lucky stabbing goal sooner? Look, Freddy's goal was pure luck. That ball snaking through the area was pure luck. It was good that Freddy had the presence of mind to put that in, but in terms of overall effort, he didn't put in much.
Yes, that's a nice debating point, but you know perfectly well that's not the only way to judge a player. I agree with your very last statement. I think Eskandarian and Cerritos both have the instincts (and speed) to finish goals like that. No, we don't. I was merely responding to the poster who has bought into the Saviour Freddy hype.
Esky may get to that ball, but 8 times out of 10 he shoots at the keeper. Didn't you start this thread?
You know what WEAK is? Missing a wide open goal... THAT'S WEAK... You know what WEAK is? Playing forward/attacking midfielder all year...and only scoring one goal.. THAT's WEAK Shall we continue????
No way! You're a troll and just jealous of all the attention that Freddy is getting. Freddy is the American Ronaldo, and he scores when he wants. He coulda scored earlier in the year, but he doesn't want to make the rest of the league look like a joke. Ok, I had a really hard time typing that. Freddy finished an easy ball. Good for him. He still played like crap the rest of the game.
Please do. I'm hoping that if you keep talking we can figure out what you're talking about. I suspect I know, but it's entertaining to see you wend your way to the point.
Drop the glib comments, will ya? I started the thread, but I was commenting on his play yesterday, and not about how he was the saviour of the team Sorry, I forgot myself. Glib comments are the very reason for the existence of this forum. Fire at will.
Freddy was not alone in being "useless". Cerriots was far more useless, his contribution mainly being standing in an offisde position the entire time he was on the field. At least Freddy managed to poach a goal. Freddy did make a couple of very nice passes. But among the problems in the second half was too many guys trying to do too much by themselves. There was no real teamwork going on. The one and two touch passing was abandoned and guys were trying to beat their team on the dribble. Not sure you can blame that one on Freddy, altho not being in a good position to receive a pass might have had something to do with it. He was not alone in that though. Petke was pretty useless on defense in the second half. I think Nowak know what he's doing with Freddy. But even after all the lip service after last week's game in LA that the team didn't play 90 minutes, we have more second half breakdowns and more talk about playing hard for 90 minutes. We'll see if they manage to do that this week. I have a hard time blaming Freddy for a couple of bad defensive mistakes and one referee mistake.
Clint Mathis was the leading scorer for the US in 2002, despite playing significantly fewer minutes than #2 and #3. People still say he had a bad year, out of shape, etc... Do other countries' fans also complain when players score goals? Of course there are other ways to judge a player, but there's a reason why the highest paid players in the game are generally goal scorers.
I think so. I've got a question I've been mulling and this is probably good place to ask it. I'm not sure if Freddy is weak (inexperienced certainly, but not weak), but I keep getting the sense that once Freddy comes on the field DC United gets weak. That's just a sense, and part of me thinks the sense is wrong. Still, something seems to happen to the team when Freddy comes on the field - our sharpness and our work-rate apparently just fade. I'm not so sure that's a problem with Freddy Adu. Maybe it's a problem with the team. Or maybe it's a problem with my perception.
I'm not sure I should be quoting myself, but here goes anyway. In the post that opened this thread I said: Obviously, I agree with you. That said, I have no doubt that Freddy's going to learn to think faster and make better, more dangerous passes. And yes, score more goals.