Clicky. I dunno, man. I'd assume he would get a lot of playing time at this Greek club but I don't really see this is a good step forward in his career. What are your thoughts, agoo?
It remains to be seen whether or not Adu will get playing time here. Toni Calvo and Javito are both established at Adu's position, but can play in other areas. Eddie Johnson is joining on loan from Fulham and could work well with Adu, as well as Calvo and Javito as wingers as a speedy front four with Adu's passing pulling the strings. What it boils down to for Adu is if he's willing to work his ass off for this or not. The consistent knock on him is that he's awful in practice, and that's effort and not skills. The talent cannot be denied. If he's willing to work for it, Adu will get his playing. He just has not shown that willingness yet.
Adu didn't play in his first match with the team, but made his debut today in the 64th minute and didn't wait long to make an impact on the match. I can't tell if Johnson started or not because I can't read Greek and the Aris English website isn't updated yet. In stoppage time, down 2-0, Adu received a pass just inside the attacking half on the left wing. Adu took a few dribbles toward the center of the pitch before lofting a high ball right into Johnson's run. Johnson timed his run perfectly and sent a touch deflecting through the keeper's legs before slotting a goal around the diving keeper. You can see the video here at the 2:10 mark: [video=youtube;ud-g1CBqzYo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ud-g1CBqzYo&feature=player_embedded[/video] Makes me feel a bit better about these moves. I'm hoping to see Adu get more starts, instead of staying in the super-sub role, as that role is easy to lose.
a great pass but johnson's "touch" was nothing but luck and having the keeper redirect the ball right back in front of him. eddie johnson sucks.
why does he suck? all he has is speed. he has horrible touch and no skill on the ball. in this instance he has a bad first touch that goes directly to the keeper that he's lucky gets played back in front of him for him to finish. adu is a guy with a lot of skill who must be absolutely terrible in practice to explain his lack of game time. eddie johnson is a guy with no skill at all. he can outrun guys(on the rare occasion that he can stay onside) but that's about it.
Gotta admit I'm really tired of hearing about this guy. Over-hyped to the max. Not a relevant footballer.
[video=youtube;t0GK_TaV34Q]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0GK_TaV34Q[/video] This is Adu's first goal since the two he scored early after arriving at Benfica in the summer of 2007. Aris had a winger streak down the right and he sent the ball across the face of goal and it went through to Adu running at the back post, where he sent it in. The Ergotelis defender appeared to not be paying attention to what was happening and just completely lost track of Adu. At the start of the highlight, you can see Adu just standing at the corner of the 18 yard box.
Read a summary from Yanks Abroad, looks like Johnson started and played 60 minutes and picked up an assist on the Sergio Koke goal to make it 1-1 (but when the scorer hits one from 25 yards out, do you really get credit?). Adu's game winner is his first club goal since October 2007 with Benfica.
He's not really a striker. He's most comfortable as an attacking mid, but has been playing mostly on the left wing since going pro. When he was a top U-20 player, he was all over the attacking third, but started behind Altidore in a 4-2-3-1.
This just in, Adu apparently is on fire. He scored his second Greek goal today and assisted another as Aris won 3-0 over Skoda Xanthi. Eddie Johnson entered in the 76th. I'll post video once I find it.
I think the pass on his assist to Johnson was better than both of the goals, but I like what I see in them. Adu's top plays on the U-20 were usually about him giving an astounding individual effort, where as these two goals are him taking smart runs, reading the play, and getting right on the end of crosses in the box.
