I did not say he hated Adu. But are you going to tell me after what you saw v. Panama and Mexico, that Adu adds nothing to the USMT? Go back and watch Spain and Switzerland in '08. You'll see the same Adu you saw the last 4 days. BB has, defacto said Adu could have added nothing to the USMT between then and now. Was he right? I don't think so. So, maybe he's been wrong a on other players.
Here's where I think I disagree with you. Very broadly, generally speaking, and not going into anybody specific, I like South Americans coaching our youth set-ups, club and country. But we don't have any senior nats playing in South America, and only a handful south of the border. The lion's share are in Europe and play "European" soccer, basically.
That was pathetic and unprofessional on the US end. He will be here until 2014, at which point a new USSF guy takes his place.
Does Bobby Convey deserver a look at left back? I don't fault Bradley for his tactics, but I'm not sure of his player selection. I'd like to see some games played without his son, so to know that he is capable of that. I do think MB desserves to be on the team, but shouldn't be playing every minute. If we cannot get Guus Hiddink, I'd like to see what Jason Kreis could do as a national team coach.
I actually think us trying to play European "continental" soccer is a part of our problem defensively. We try to defend like we're strong and athletic. We try to have a strong back 4 to use a foundation for our midfielders to spring forward and launch a lot of direct attacks. We don't have those defenders for this cycle. I do think we have defenders who do well at reading a game and in anticipation, but to use those central defenders, we'd have to play a different style of game in front of them, one that forces opposing sides to slice through us rather than running past us. We need more pressuring from our mids, and we need more man marking from our mids to guys out. Attacking, we need to be a little more patient, we need to be better with our possession, and not just take the first chance to attack, rather be a bit restrictive in how we launch attacks. To me, we need to play more of a Latin style...at least this cycle. Now if we can find more athletic, faster, center backs - we can goto a more continental style.
It is the club's job to develop quality players, not the national team's. The starting lineup of the national team during the continental championship is not the appropriate time and place to "demonstrate potential"
This Gold Cup Bob proved with his team selection, roster choices and results that he has taken the team as far as he can. Under Bob Bradley - this is it. Thinking outside the box for Bob is inserting Adu, or allowing his most influential attacking players the freedom to rotate positions - that is outside the box. His squad has been in defensive shambles since the last Gold Cup - and there are no signs that it will improve any time soon. Bob - we thank you for your time but it's time to step aside.
For one, you're definitely overrating Adu in 2008 (and 2009, and 2010). Secondly, Adu has always been extremely inconsistent, not only match-to-match, but even within a match. Bob kept him close for really longer than Freddy deserved, to be honest, and he was quick to bring him back. Freddy's game is maturing, and he's looking a little less prone to inconsistency, and what does Bob do? Brings him on to help us get a win in a semi-final, then starts him in the final. Because we have gotten stagnant, we have looked stale, Freddy's been working on his game and rounding back into form, and he decided to take a chance on the talented-but-enigmatic kid. And I think he was right. The Freddy you just saw in the last couple games is not the Freddy that's been there all along since 2008, and even his knowledgeable supporters on here (there's a core contingent on here that follows him pretty obsessively) will admit that.
In fairness to Bob, the floodgates opened when Bornstein let the simplest of thru balls beat him for an easy goal. What can Bob do when a starter gets injured and his replacement allows 2 guys to waltz by him for 2 goals for the tie? Man, it would have been nice to have Chandler at that moment.
so you dno't think Adu should've started tonight? if you do then why did he only get 24mins. up till tonight. how is that not misjudging his talent/what's best for the team. maybe he should've let Adu be an autostarter and built the team around him over these last 4 years like he did his son and we'd be better off. nepotism: you betcha.
My main critique of Bradley is his management of our striker roster at the last WC. Otherwise he is a good, but not great coach for us. He should finish this cycle and then be gone. Whoops, what I meant to say is: HOW DARE BRADLEY NOT EDIT BORNSTEIN'S PLAYER ATTRIBUTES BEFORE THE GAME! I mean it is simple enough to go into edit mode and just hold down the x button so you can move it by 10 points a pop... could have cranked up his defense and reaction scores. Oh whut? You mean Bradley has no control over how talented his players are and he was just working with the best of a meager talent pool? ROFL, no way. I say we give Bradley the chair and make his son throw the switch!
LoL at this point I will take Arena over Bradley LOL>>> But reallyU.S. needs to beg klinsmann or Lippi, or and insert name to make this team more disciplined.
Maurice Edu or Clarence Goodson in a foot race? Orange Traffic Cone or Clarence Goodson? What exactly did Goodson bring to the table tonight? Checking the amazing talent that Chicarito and Dos Santos have in the air? Bornstein or Spector? Honestly. EPL spot starter with right back experience in the past or someone who their would be a meaningful debate about who has more defensive awareness, he or Freddy Adu.
That's not fairness to Bob, that's an indictment of Bob. I'm telling you right here and right now, that Bobby Convey doesn't make that same mistake. Why didn't Bob call him in?
Jeezus. Bradley has been a stud in this tournament, but yes he sucked in this match. He's easily better than Edu. I don't think that comparison is even remotely close, of course that's just my opinion. I'm already sick of the Adu crap. I'm someone who called for Adu's inclusion, and wanted him to play basically every match since Spain, and yes called for him to start against Mexico. You won't hear a PEEP out of me about Bradley not playing him earlier. He was badly cramping in the 75th minute. You don't start someone you're not sure can go 60 minutes. From Bob's interviews, it's apparent that Freddy came into this camp struggling, and I'd imagine a lot of that has to do with his fitness. But as camp went on, he got better,he got the shot in the semis, and earned the start in the final. I don't understand how you can logically crticise Bob over his handling of Freddy.
I think you might be too nice on saying 2010 was average. The US was minutes (in stoppage time) away from an unmitigated disaster. What happens if they don't beat Algeria? Then to play like they did against Ghana.....the Confed Cup; revisionist history. They lost the first 2 games of the group and were extremely lucky to get to the semi's. They have had too many unprofessional results.
9-2 last two Gold Cup finals (on home soil). That alone is worthy of being fired. The rest is poop icing on a crap-flavored cake. Fire Bradley.
We've seen Convey at LB before and it wasn't the best of results. Also, we don't know the relationship between Convey and USSF. I'm among his biggest fans, but he shot his mouth off at managers of US Soccer before. He may have burned bridges.
The bottom line is that we can't give up 4 goals per game to good teams. I don't see Bob reversing that. It won't be a disaster if he stays, but we won't get to where we need to go.
The bottom line is who could do better with the talent available to him? Our defense is crap and the quality of our back line is abysmal....changing managers isn't going to change that... Bornstein is so bad that he wouldn't have even made the Mexican 23-man roster...same with Goodson, Lichaj, Gooch, Ream, etc. That's not the managers fault. Mexio has so much more talent than we do it's not even funny...and you can't blame Bradley for that!
Enough is enough, the team needs someone new with a new direction. Bob has done what he could with the team, its time for someone new to take over.
Interested to see what Susaeta has to say. I'm personally of the opinion that Bob has been trying to remold us this cycle as a bit more of a possession side (beginning with the back, the Tim Ream thing is really instructive here) to protect what he knows is an obvious defensive weakness no matter which of our guys we select. The old guard who were good defenders but poor with the ball just do not have the legs to be the same defenders they were any longer, and there's a bit of a generational gap between them and the young prospects, with guys in between age-wise like Marshall and Parkhurst and such just never... just never having merited it. As a result, we're playing a style that just doesn't fit us enough like a glove. We're holding more possession (except against Mexico, and if someone honestly believes that we would or should with different player selection or tactics, then I probably wouldn't rate their opinion much), but we've lost a little of our incisive edge I think as a result. Something's not quite right. I just think a shake-up and a rebuild is in order. One thing we cannot afford to do is to get into a mindset where we're going to settle for being second best, and everybody in the program, the players, everybody have to know that. Very generally speaking, if you're not getting better you're getting worse, and I do feel like there's a little stagnation going on, despite some pretty conscious and deliberate efforts on Bob's part to make certain that isn't so (he's made some definite "decisions" in this tournament that are as contrary to his RoboBob moniker as you can get). But it might just be a little out of his control and... The "meet the new boss" factor just might be the sort of jolt this team needs right now.
what? managment of tactics after the US went up 2-nil? Cherundolo, who BY THE WAY was our steadiest performer, had to be taken out due to injury and his replacement, Pornstain, got eaten alive. Why? Because he's not good enough. Mexico saw him come on and they licked their lips and went right at him. What is Bob supposed to do about that? His starting LB is really a RB and he has no one else to play fullback. oh... convey right? yeah, bob not picking him resulted in this loss. He started Adu for the first time in 2 years and played Dempsey up top for the first time... ever? He ditched Robobob and brought some fresh ideas to the team and they played lights out the first 15 minutes or so. All things people slam Bob for. The US did this time. Injruies and world class talent beat us tonight, not poor management.