All Roads Lead to Roma: Bradley in the Eternal City v. I

He did well/OK in those roles at Chievo

 

I preface my assessment, again, by saying it wasn't his best day.

But he was a big part of the relentless effort put forth by Roma in the second half. Siena is not an easy team to break down, especially once they've got the lead and the field is heavy. Believe me, I was groaning when his passes didn't connect, but admired how determined the whole team was to forge on and win the game.

 

That is what I saw too. Roma was relentless in attack, and MB was a big part of that. Siena has given up a grand total of 7 goals at home, 3 of which were scored in about 15 minutes yesterday. The pitch was crap, and Roma was pressing hard for goals at the end of that match. Some errant touches were bound to be taken. 5 is harsh to me.

 

Yeah, I showed it to a friend of mine here - who happens to be a lifelong Roma fan - to get a bit of additional input on the comment's meaning and he thought it was too harsh of an assessment for just one bad match. Also said he thinks Bradley can handle either the center or outside of a 3-man midfield line.

 

I'd say he can handle the outside, but I agree with the assessment that he was "born to play centrally". Mike's the most effective there, and I'm glad that even a critic recognizes that.

 

I don't know, I thought he was an artist out there. His passing totally burnt Siena.

 

I think you just hit Crayola!

 

When Bob tried the three man midfield vs. Colombia, Mikey was at his most effective when he was sitting deeper.

On the other hand, he is also effective when he ghosts into the box, which he doesn't do often off a deep position.

This almost stipulates him being an "8" in a 4-4-2, with two strong wings. Roma has the talent to do so with Firenzi and Pjanic. The US may not, if Donovan isn't there.

 

Can't think of that game without recalling this Andrea Canales gem.

http://m.goal.com/x/en-us/news/2165608

 

Whatever happened to her?

 

I really do not know.

 

I have several theories . .

1. She is now writing children's books. Slow sales are attributed to the economy.
2. She is now the fashion editor at the LA Times. A change is being considered.
3. She has always been cleverly disguised as the poster known here as SFS.
4. A dishwasher at Denny's in East LA.
5. She is now Sepp Blatter's personal assistant.
6. In a cruel twist of fate, she was in a blender accident and 6 of her fingers were chopped off.
7. She is bearing the love child of Michael Clarke Duncan.
8. About a year ago she was hired by the federal government as an economic advisor.
9. She now picks stocks for Merrill Lynch.
10. She was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Oman.
11. She is Kim Kardashian's official press agent.
12. She has moved back in with her mother.

 

Good question. Her blog, sidelineviews, hasn't been updated since the Women's olympic final in August. She hasn't tweeted anything in almost a year--though strangely her last tweet about Tigres winning was retweeted 5 days ago.

Weird. I wasn't always a fan of her work but appreciated the fact that she was out there doing it. And by appreciate I mean that I resented the fact that I wasn't doing what she was doing.

 

It seems like Goal.com people disappear never to be seen again. Greg Lallas comes to mind.

 

My, how things have changed. His vision is just as good, if not better than Jones! And he is playing at just as strong of a team as jones, and just as strong as a league, and playing with just as talented if not more, teammates...

On the flip side, now when both play together for the NT, Jones looks like Mike from a couple years back, and Mike is the solid DM that everyone swears jones would be if played in his position (I think mike is better there than jones).

 

I'm pretty sure Lalas is working for MLSsoccer.com, possibly as head of their web media.

 

I'll leave your first sentence alone since that is highly subjective and as fans that is why we are here. IMO they are both very good and head and shoulders above any other CMs in the USMNT pool. The USMNT is very lucky to have both Jones and Bradley!

Your comparison of Schalke v Roma is not even close by any reasonable metric. Take UEFA rankings; Schalke is currently ranked 15th v Roma 39th over the last 5 years. If you look at current year, Schalke is ranked 2nd while Rome is not in the top 100!

http://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/uefarankings/club/index.html

 

Were not playing in Europe so of course our UEFA ranking is going to be crap.

 

While statistically they are better on paper.... I think it would be PRETTY interested if both teams were playing a 2 game series vs. each other...

 

If Roma performs on the field and gets into the CL we may well see that, maybe next year. Lets hope! Heck lets hope they perform well enough to at least get into the UL!

 

Underachievers' League?

 

My bad though some have called the Europa League (EL) that.

 

I think you're hot.

 

Man I tell ya she was cool she was red hot
I mean she was steamin'

 

Who? Andrea Canales?