Bradley is the complete Midfielder

[Allamerican1974]

or at least FIFA states he is. For all of those thinking he's only starting because of his dad you'll probably think FIFA were bought off

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/newsid=790129.html#bradley+complete+midfielder

[Ringo]

i thought he earned his way onto the roster ... but that he hasn't done much since to keep it. I'm really curious to see what he can next season to build on the breakout year he had for herenveen this year. big year for the kid. big year.

[cc-atl]

For those of us in the States that only see him for the USMNT our perception is certainly going to be more negative because his play has been sub-par.

But obviously he is still a young kid and he most have some talent to be that successful overseas. It is hard to imagine that he will not continue to progress into a solid player for the USMNT. I don't know if we have ever had a player that young be that successful professionally even if it was not a top tier league. I hope he makes the move to the EPL so we can follow his progress more closely.

[QuakeAttack]

Just need to change title to "Bradley can be the complete midfielder" and I would be sold. He has the tools (reads the game, agressive, confident on the ball, and passing). However, he focus too much on work rate and breaking up plays (ala defendsive mid). I hope that a good club coach would push him to develop in other areas...

[Maximum Optimal]

I'm interested in opinions on the following two questions:

1) Is it necessary to have quick feet to be a complete midfielder?

2) Does MB have quick feet?

[Munich_Lex]

I'm interested in opinions on the following two questions:

1) Is is necessary to have quick feet to be a complete midfielder?

2) Does MB have quick feet?


Remember early on in the England game when Becks and MB were chasing a ball on the wing? Becks beat him to the ball and MB took him down from a side/behind angle. The only reason he didn't get yellow there, was that it was a friendly and the Ref tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. If he can't catch Becks, who is no speedster, how can you be a complete or international level midfielder?

[LJSoccer]

I think that he is a pretty complete midfielder. However I think that his Dad is asking him to be a defensive mid first and an attacking mid second. He's a proven goal scorer in a very technical league. In another words his Dad is playing him out of position. Sad ain't it.

[minya]

He is complete. Just not very good. I'll take incomplete Benny or Freddy any day of the week.

[RevsRule]

He's no better or worse the 1/2 the Americans that play that position in MLS. The fact is he's getting every break in the world for one reason only and while others are dropped for poor play, he still starts even though most of his games are poor.

Ever wonder if there's a certain amount of resentment from the other nat players when they see multiple screwups resulting in a start in the next game? Is it just a coincidences that the team picks up when he goes off? I don't know. What I do know though is that he's not good enough to be an automatic start and he certainly hasn't earned that status by playing on some halfass Euro team.

If he were playing under Arena or another coach, I wouldn't mind but this situation has a bad smell

[Marko72]

Just need to change title to "Bradley can be the complete midfielder" and I would be sold. He has the tools (reads the game, agressive, confident on the ball, and passing). However, he focus too much on work rate and breaking up plays (ala defendsive mid). I hope that a good club coach would push him to develop in other areas...

I don't think he's confident enough on the ball in traffic. Watch him closely, he looks down at his feet a lot, and when he feels pressure he simply looks to get rid of it.

That's by far my biggest beef with him, as in most other respects I think he's either solid, or else very strong. He's the closest product at such a young age to the complete midfielder that we've had in a long while.

[sidefootsitter]

I'm interested in opinions on the following two questions:

1) Is it necessary to have quick feet to be a complete midfielder?

2) Does MB have quick feet? Yes, he does.

That doesn't mean he doesn't do stupid things with his feet, though that is more of a function of his head.

And, btw, for the thousandth time, Daddy-o is playing his kiddie-o out of (club) position.

[Marko72]

I'm interested in opinions on the following two questions:

1) Is it necessary to have quick feet to be a complete midfielder?

2) Does MB have quick feet?

I don't think he's particularly quick or agile (neither lumberingly slow and awkward). I do think he's very strong, fairly smart, very aggressive, and strikes the ball really well.

[Michel_Platini]

MB has a lot of weaknesses and attributes.

He looks woefully young, inexperienced, and out of place at times, not able to maintain possession and not knowledgeable enough to position well to win balls defensively.

That being said, these are things that will grow. But I am sick of the commentators falling over themselves talking about how great he is.

There was a point against argentina when Messi started to go at Bradley and Dempsey. It was Dempsey who picked the ball off of Messi's foot, and the commentator remarked how well Bradley did.

He is still very young, and we don't need to have him be the starting d-mid, although the more playing time he gets, the more quickly he will develop.


It seems there are players who play great at the club level, but internationally they lag. Taylor Twellman is one such player. Perhaps Michael Bradley is as well. He set some record as an American scoring goals in Europe for his club--but I have seen nothing for the Nats that would indicate this.

Then there are players who are fairly unremarkable at the club level. Pablo Mastroeni is one such player. But at the biggest and best games, he plays the best. Has Pablo ever made a highlight reel for the MLS? No. Would anyone say that Colorado's midfield consistently dominates the competition? Absolutely not. However, whenever the US plays big competition, Pablo plays big and evens the playing field in the midfield.

[Maximum Optimal]

Lateral quickness is probably the most important physical quality a good defensive mid needs. It is important because the attacking player in one-on-one situations has a slight head start and the defender must be quick enough to react and overcome this head start. Guys like Makalele and Gattuso have tremendous lateral quickness. In another sport, Bill Russell has written that this was his one area of physical superiority over Chamberlain and some of the others he had to guard. I would say all of our recent defensive mids (Armas, Mastroeni, Clark and Edu) have had clearly superior lateral quickness to Bradley.

On the offensive side of the ball, quickness allows a player to explode in a particular direction or change directions very quickly. The two most outstanding US players in that regard were JOB and Ramos. I wouldn't be surprised if Bradley could beat both in a 50 yard sprint. But in terms of a quick two or three steps in one direction or changing direction with the ball, he ain't close. Nor is he close to Donovan or even a relatively slow player like Reyna. And of course we're not even going to bring up the outside mid whippet-like guys like DMB or Convey.

It's actually hard for me to think of a midfield player who has had extensive time with the Nats (in big matches like qualifiers and the WC) in the last decade who was not significantly quicker than Bradley. In some ways it is a tribute to Michael that he has come as far as he has with this lack of quickness. And there have been some pretty good players with other countries who have overcome a lack of quickness. But it is a pretty big handicap to overcome.

It is precisely this lack of quickness that leads to the fouling and missed tackles. There is a bit of a myth around here that this only happens when he is tired. But take a look at the games against S. Korea and Brazil in the U20 tournament or the late tackle against Beckham mentioned by another poster. Some of his worst fouls or missed tackles have nothing to do with fatigue.

[sidefootsitter]

Well, I said he has decent feet and reasonable quickness - this doesn't mean he has Mo Edu's quickness.

But Mikey's lunging tackles - and this covers his red card/double yellow vs. Ajax in the Dutch playoffs - were for the most part entirely avoidable since he wasn't even beaten on those plays that badly.

Though, he did go for that Julio Baptista fake.

[Marko72]

On the offensive side of the ball, quickness allows a player to explode in a particular direction or change directions very quickly. The two most outstanding US players in that regard were JOB and Ramos.

To my eye, Adu might be better than them both in this regard.

As to the rest of the post... well-said, I think. My opinion in MB's case is that speed of thought will compensate with time. Earlier this year I thought he was thinking more quickly, though the past couple of games leaves me feeling unsure. Then again, the bar was raised pretty significantly.

[Maximum Optimal]

To my eye, Adu might be better than them both in this regard.



Agreed. I started typing something about Freddy in the initial post but decided it might become a distraction.

[Marko72]

Agreed. I started typing something about Freddy in the initial post but decided it might become a distraction.

It is off-topic, but I think that the foundation of Adu's talent is the quickness and agility of his feet (combined with very well-practiced technique). That's what allows him his unpredictable explosiveness, and his confidence to look down the field and see space to attack, either on the pass or the dribble. And of course, Adu's just plain cocky...

To make it relevent, I think that Adu's strength is Bradley's weakness. But Bradley is aggressive and is a soldier, and he passes and shoots really well. And while Adu's much quicker and more agile, I don't think that he's all that much FASTER than Bradley is. I wouldn't call Bradley either all that fast or that slow.

[Maximum Optimal]

It is off-topic, but I think that the foundation of Adu's talent is the quickness and agility of his feet (combined with very well-practiced technique). That's what allows him his unpredictable explosiveness, and his confidence to look down the field and see space to attack, either on the pass or the dribble. And of course, Adu's just plain cocky...

To make it relevent, I think that Adu's strength is Bradley's weakness. But Bradley is aggressive and is a soldier, and he passes and shoots really well. And while Adu's much quicker and more agile, I don't think that he's all that much FASTER than Bradley is. I wouldn't call Bradley either all that fast or that slow.

I'm not sure about the shooting part, but I do see some of the same positive things in Bradley that you do. There are some other things he does well. One is playing the role of second defender. By that I means that he knows how to position himself so that if the first defender is beaten he is well positioned to clean up. His physical strength is a big asset, though exactly how big will depend on the referee for the particular match.

I've said it in other threads, but the player he should try to pattern his game after is Ballack, another big strong guy, who is not particularly quick but who knows how to get into the box and do some serious damage. Even though he is not quick, you don't see Ballack missing tackles and fouling like Michael does. That suggests the possibility of gaining some wisdom with experience. I also think Ballack is a more insightful passer at this point and again this is something that is more a mental skill that can be gained with experience. We should consider ourselves lucky if Michael develops into anything remotely close to Ballack.

[Maximum Optimal]

It is off-topic, but I think that the foundation of Adu's talent is the quickness and agility of his feet (combined with very well-practiced technique). That's what allows him his unpredictable explosiveness, and his confidence to look down the field and see space to attack, either on the pass or the dribble. And of course, Adu's just plain cocky...



I think Adu has a chance to be a combination of Seedorf and Zidane. See what I mean about the thread drift. ;)