Michael Bradley's role for Club vs. Country [R]

[Sam Hamwich]

I havent said much about MB, mostly because I was curious to see how he would develop...but it seems like during family holidays, things must get pretty tense in his house.

1. He plays for a coach at SCH that builds attacking, quick thinking teams. They have talent, but not as much as Ajax, PSV, for sure.

2. MB comes into SCH thinking he is a dmid, focusing only on this role, likely because his father did all the coaching and brainwashing.

3. At SCH the coach sees more potential and broadens his role, makes him better than he or is father probably thought he was.

4. He goes back to USMNT and gets plugged into an unimaginative, uncreative, slow paced, game plan. Further, he is asked to forget everything he has learned, and play, square square square balls.

5. That Yellow card he received I think was directed more to the US play than Mexico's.

6. My point being, he must see the limitations of having a US coach with only US experience game planning against world class teams. Except it's his dad. I would not be surprised to see a real dust up there at some point leading up to 2010.

7. It was pretty obvious that BBradley is now going to play the same style every single game, whether it works or not. These friendlies are about experimentation (unless Bradley still feels he needs to win every match to keep his job) and training the team to play different types of formation under extreme pressure.

It was disappointing to see the only experiments were changed personnel that lead directly to the draw.

[braun]

I know it is off topic but perhaps Bradley senior doesn't use him in a more offensive role because we have so many offensive midfielders (Donovan, Beasley, Dempsey, Convey, Adu, etc) and fewer defensive or two-way midfielders. Maybe he is being force fit into a function where the nats have less depth.

This is a good point. Lewis or Davis at Lmid instead of Convey would have had more chance to hook up with Bradley in the box vs Mexico. That only seemed obvious after the match. Starting Feilhaber centrally with Bradley might have made sense. We need a better 4-backline when Clark and Edu have to be benched...forget it, it won't happen without one of C & E, which then makes it a 5-man midfield. We aren't good enough to play with a 3-man backline or even with a single striker.

[DaPrince84]

This is a good point. Lewis or Davis at Lmid instead of Convey would have had more chance to hook up with Bradley in the box vs Mexico. That only seemed obvious after the match. Starting Feilhaber centrally with Bradley might have made sense. We need a better 4-backline when Clark and Edu have to be benched...forget it, it won't happen without one of C & E, which then makes it a 5-man midfield. We aren't good enough to play with a 3-man backline or even with a single striker.the US arent good enough to play with a 3 man backline? ARE YOU SERIOUS!?!>?! :p

u post that on the US N&A board and you are automatically branded anti-American :)

I really think we should go with an Italian 4-3-3... or we should evolve to that... put Adu on the left maybe Landon or Clint on the right... Bradley in an advanced role in the midfield with Edu and Benny if he can get games... Benny being the one pulling strings...

[eric515]

I know it is off topic but perhaps Bradley senior doesn't use him in a more offensive role because we have so many offensive midfielders (Donovan, Beasley, Dempsey, Convey, Adu, etc) and fewer defensive or two-way midfielders. Maybe he is being force fit into a function where the nats have less depth.

That is true...but, last I checked...none of those guys have scored 17 goals (in all comps.) in a European League of quality.

Bradley is the real deal...you don't score that much from Central Mid by being lucky. His positioning and instincts are at a much higher level than most of those guys you listed, with the exception of maybe Dempsey.

Sorry for the Nats post...came on here to catch Johan's .gifs of the goal!

[bct81]

I havent said much about MB, mostly because I was curious to see how he would develop...but it seems like during family holidays, things must get pretty tense in his house.

1. He plays for a coach at SCH that builds attacking, quick thinking teams. They have talent, but not as much as Ajax, PSV, for sure.

2. MB comes into SCH thinking he is a dmid, focusing only on this role, likely because his father did all the coaching and brainwashing.

3. At SCH the coach sees more potential and broadens his role, makes him better than he or is father probably thought he was.

4. He goes back to USMNT and gets plugged into an unimaginative, uncreative, slow paced, game plan. Further, he is asked to forget everything he has learned, and play, square square square balls.

5. That Yellow card he received I think was directed more to the US play than Mexico's.

6. My point being, he must see the limitations of having a US coach with only US experience game planning against world class teams. Except it's his dad. I would not be surprised to see a real dust up there at some point leading up to 2010.

7. It was pretty obvious that BBradley is now going to play the same style every single game, whether it works or not. These friendlies are about experimentation (unless Bradley still feels he needs to win every match to keep his job) and training the team to play different types of formation under extreme pressure.

It was disappointing to see the only experiments were changed personnel that lead directly to the draw.

pretty good thought

so do we put Donovan and Altidore up top
Dempsey and Bradley as attacking mids
Edu and Clark as destroyer defending mids?

leaves out Beasley, Convey, Adu and some of the others

frankly that lineup has more size, speed and skill than others

not trying to be USMNT forum here but clearly Bradley is sparkling in the SCH system and shines less for the Nats.

[Gorky]

pretty good thought

so do we put Donovan and Altidore up top
Dempsey and Bradley as attacking mids
Edu and Clark as destroyer defending mids?

leaves out Beasley, Convey, Adu and some of the others

frankly that lineup has more size, speed and skill than others

not trying to be USMNT forum here but clearly Bradley is sparkling in the SCH system and shines less for the Nats.

No we do not. If we want Bradley to play as well/the same as he does at Heerenveen, we need good wingers and wing play. Either get some real wing backs, or play Beasley and someone competent on the right (Zizzo? Rogers? Adu?)

[The Big Ticket]

2. MB comes into SCH thinking he is a dmid, focusing only on this role, likely because his father did all the coaching and brainwashing.
I wouldn't be surprised if, when Bradley moves to a bigger club in a better league, he ends up being utilized primarily as a defensive midfielder. They would have to "brainwash" him again, of course. Strap him to a chair, pull his eyelids open and force him to watch every game of Richie Williams' career.

http://www.the-means.com/images/alex.bmp
At SCH the coach sees more potential and broadens his role, makes him better than he or is father probably thought he was.
I don't think it's possible to make a player better than his own parents thought he could be. I doubt there was anyone who believed more strongly in MB's potential than his own father.
4. He goes back to USMNT and gets plugged into an unimaginative, uncreative, slow paced, game plan. Further, he is asked to forget everything he has learned, and play, square square square balls.
Yes, I'm sure Bob Bradley, upon seeing his son tearing up the Eredivisie decided "hey, you know what? I don't want my son to succeed at the international level. In fact, I'll intentionally limit him by forcing him to play square balls against his will. I'll forbid him to try to do anything offensively. The last thing I want to see him do is score a goal or get an assist or anything like that."

I wish Mike would have played some square balls in the Mexico game, but he didn't. He kept trying to make ambitious long through passes which were always cut off by a Mexican defender. It's hard to say what Bob Bradley's instructions to Mike were in his game. When we had the ball, he would go forward - it didn't look like he was told to stay back. The problem is, we almost never had possession of the ball in Mexico's half. So Bradley was forced to do a lot of defending - not because that was his only responsibility, but because the superior Mexican midfield and our dreadful outside backs demanded it.
I would not be surprised to see a real dust up there at some point leading up to 2010.
Don't count on it.

[The Blind Pig]

pretty good thought


hardly


it's hard to imagine this, i know

but the players play the game

there needs to be some level of familiarity

these guys showed up for a game and played (us-mex)

they don't play together much... it's hard to get any sense of each other in those situations

a coach can say how he wants things to go, but it's for naught when guys don't have a feel for where their team mate is going to be and not be

people can bitch and moan about what happened in the us-mex game... but it's a game to familiarize oneself with your new team mates in an intense environment making the ussf some serious jack

winning, losing, tying doesn't really matter... it's what the players get out of it that does

that's why they call them friendlies... the result doesn't matter... what the players gain from it does



now we see bradley back with the guys he's spent most of his time with, a team that's really put it all together and is playing above the sum of their parts... sure, bradley probably called for the header, but his team mate was also looking for him to be there... and put into an open path for him

that's familiarity, it doesn't come quickly... and when it comes, it's something special to watch

[sidefootsitter]

Aside of the anticipated father-son bust-up (I think the two are pretty close), I agree with Sam Hamwich.

Mike's off-the-ball running and anticipation - to say nothing of finishing - are his strengths.

Bob limits them greatly, which is detrimental to the team as a whole also.

That makes Bob ... well ... Bob.

[The Blind Pig]

how does bob possibly limit them?

he's not on the fricking field limiting players from doing what they are suppose to do

that's the most idiotic thing i have ever heard in my life

[DaPrince84]

how does bob possibly limit them?

he's not on the fricking field limiting players from doing what they are suppose to do

that's the most idiotic thing i have ever heard in my life
if u tell ur son to stick back and play DMid when he can clearly make runs and score goals... then he is being limited... u dont just throw the line up out and tell the guys to go... I would like to see his passing stats today... I cant remember him misplacing a pass all day...

[The Blind Pig]

you guys do, um, realize that he's still on the field

and he's still going to move off the ball

along with everyone else on the field

they, you know, sort of, kind of, need to, you know, have the ball

bob (waves from the benches) isn't on the field (where the players are... players wave)



you guys might want to re-think your line of reasoning


i'll give you a start and provide 2 areas

1. a bunch of players flew in to play with a bunch of other players that they are not familiar with
2. some guys are in season, some guys are not


let's watch the mental giants of bigsoccer role with this

[Mr. Warmth]

i'll give you a start and provide 2 areas

1. a bunch of players flew in to play with a bunch of other players that they are not familiar with
2. some guys are in season, some guys are not


let's watch the mental giants of bigsoccer role with this


http://www.georgettesworld.com/main/lukeobitroopers.jpg http://irishcalvinist.com/files/2006/07/jedi-mind-trick.jpg

[garbaggio]

I havent said much about MB, mostly because I was curious to see how he would develop...but it seems like during family holidays, things must get pretty tense in his house.

1. He plays for a coach at SCH that builds attacking, quick thinking teams. They have talent, but not as much as Ajax, PSV, for sure.

2. MB comes into SCH thinking he is a dmid, focusing only on this role, likely because his father did all the coaching and brainwashing.

3. At SCH the coach sees more potential and broadens his role, makes him better than he or is father probably thought he was.

4. He goes back to USMNT and gets plugged into an unimaginative, uncreative, slow paced, game plan. Further, he is asked to forget everything he has learned, and play, square square square balls.

5. That Yellow card he received I think was directed more to the US play than Mexico's.

6. My point being, he must see the limitations of having a US coach with only US experience game planning against world class teams. Except it's his dad. I would not be surprised to see a real dust up there at some point leading up to 2010.

7. It was pretty obvious that BBradley is now going to play the same style every single game, whether it works or not. These friendlies are about experimentation (unless Bradley still feels he needs to win every match to keep his job) and training the team to play different types of formation under extreme pressure.

It was disappointing to see the only experiments were changed personnel that lead directly to the draw.

I think you're projecting your values and ideas onto someone else from afar. Bradley has clearly benefited from his time Heerenveen. Robbie Rogers, another young American who showed more obvious soccer skill both before and after going to play in Holland, did not benefit in any recognizable way.

Different players thrive in different places. Some environments are better than others but soccer players are individuals who can respond very differently.

[Bruce S]

how does bob possibly limit them?

he's not on the fricking field limiting players from doing what they are suppose to do

that's the most idiotic thing i have ever heard in my life

[edited by mod to delete a random invocation of the running feud with sfs--we're not going to do this any more guys]

[freisland]

I have no idea what goes on in the Bradley household, but it is clear that, for much of last season, anyway, Verbeek saw Bradley as mini-Bosvelt. Now, whether that meant he saw him solely as a defensive minded CM is anyone's guess. Bosevelt, as a guy headed to stud, was not going to give you lungbursting box to box outings and maybe Verbeek knew that if Michael could get comfortable with a defensive role, he would explode into a goal scoring machine. Or maybe he's just as surprised as the rest of us. He did run Mike out at RW early on, so perhaps he believed that Mike would be effective going forward. Or maybe he just thought he was a good young player and was open to seeing him develope.

As to Mike and the USMNT. Perhaps they need to wear their hearts on their sleeves.

[luvdagame]

Aside of the anticipated father-son bust-up (I think the two are pretty close), I agree with Sam Hamwich.

Mike's off-the-ball running and anticipation - to say nothing of finishing - are his strengths.

Bob limits them greatly, which is detrimental to the team as a whole also.

That makes Bob ... well ... Bob.

or bob uses him where he serves the team best knowing that he doesn't have the left/right mids and outside backs that 'veen has and doesn't have the time to jel all the moving parts with just a few days of practice.

that makes bob ... well ... smart.

just as valid a view.

[IndividualEleven]

The oedipal psycho-babble, excuse-making, and mental projectionism on this thread not withstanding I saw the first half and some of the second. MB showed class in a game that was of a faster pace than the one streamed two weeks ago. He's a good young player who I look forward to seeing in a stronger league come next season.

[DaPrince84]

you guys do, um, realize that he's still on the field

and he's still going to move off the ball

along with everyone else on the field

they, you know, sort of, kind of, need to, you know, have the ball

bob (waves from the benches) isn't on the field (where the players are... players wave)



you guys might want to re-think your line of reasoning


i'll give you a start and provide 2 areas

1. a bunch of players flew in to play with a bunch of other players that they are not familiar with
2. some guys are in season, some guys are not


let's watch the mental giants of bigsoccer role with this
so ur first post implies that he needs to run around on the field and just play like a headless chicken.... now ur saying the travel... welcome to the end of a not needed debate

[Rainer24]

Wow, I'm really impressed with all the astute observations on Bob Bradley's deficiencies that we have going on in this thread. Sitter, Sam, you guys are definitely right. It is most certainly Bob's fault that we lack anything resembling the talent on the wings to allow our center mids to play like Michael does at 'Veen. Excuse me while I got shoot myself in disgust at the utter boneheadedness of my countrymen.