Bradley didn't have a very good game, but his midfield mates were the ones subbed off, so I guess he has Zeman's trust. Great win for Roma, and it'll be interesting to see how they line up when De Rossi is back. MB did seem a lot more comfortable when he moved to the middle.
Agreed. Pretty bad game for him IMO. The field had some to do with it. He never looked comfortable though. Until he was moved into the hole like you mentioned. Hopefully he plays better next time out and keeps his spot. They keep winning with him in the lineup, that's all I know.
I didn't think he was that bad. He had more turnovers than his usual self, but Siena is a stout defensive team and the pitch was crap. You can't underestimate the importance of his positioning and fitness for Zeman's tactics.
He never stopped running. In the final 3rd you want Bradley finishing or with the MLS assist, he just doesnt seem comfortable forced to create. Someone send Destro a Fleshlight so he can make his goal celebration complete.
Full-time update: Mikey - 57 touches, 80% passing accuracy, 1 shot, 1 tackle - 6.28 rating (still the lowest of all field players - Destro 8.4, Pjanic 7.7, Totti 7.6).
He pretty much always has. I mean, back in July, Zeman himself was virtually gushing over Bradley (if the `tvrdy Prazan' can ever be said to 'gush'), and that was before he'd even suited up for his first practice. Bradley has had to earn it. But it was fairly clear from early on that Zeman was going to count on Bradley to add substance, sacrifice and smarts to his high-flying team. And perhaps to become, in the process, another amazing Moneyball hit by Zeman, a guy who plenty often has spent 5 and made 15. Last summer, some argued pretty strongly against the idea that Bradley was a player Zeman was going to be seriously counting on; and that Bradley would face a very tall task in seizing a starting spot. That idea wasn't without reason, but I always thought it was going to turn out to be more rubbish than reality.
Those folks arguing were afflicted by the American lack-of-self-confidence bug. MB is an American; how could he possibly be good enough for the European game?
That American soccer fan lack of confidence in American players can be pretty annoying, but I think it has to do with the biases of the European soccer media we all have to use for information. Bradley has been making his doubters look stupid for YEARS now. I'm too lazy to do it, but there are entire threads where people talked about how he didn't deserve to play for the national team, Mo Edu was way better, he only got to play because his dad was the coach, etc.
Yeah, Mike had such a bad game that Zeman subbed out Tacht and moved him into that spot. Then he put an errant pass into the box that resulted in the game-winning goal. What a shite player!
Zeman needed a carillero, someone to take on the linking role between the defense and the attack while being capable of high work rate to also help in defense. Roma has enough offensive firepower. What it needed was a supporting cast. Come to think of it, in that role, ZZ still has only Bradley and Perotta, where he is at least two deep in other spots. He hasn't seized the starting spot but, with injuries and suspensions, proved to be an inexpensive and yet valuable addition to the roster. The starting midfield, with everyone healthy, is still probably Firenzi-Pjanic-De Rossi but, with rumors flying about both Rossi and Pjanic, both Tachditis and Bradley will have a role to play. Well, no. The BS crowd had him going to Arsenal after the World Cup. That's was your typical "exuberant exaggeration" as with every other USMNT player on the YA board.
Not Michael's best game, that's for sure. Pretty thrilled (as his uncle, not a fan) that he's played 90 minutes in three straight wins after the derby loss to Lazio. Don't think I'm exaggerating too exuberantly to say it's a huge game coming up this Saturday against Fiorentina.