CommonSense
13 Jun 2008, 02:17 PM
MIGHTY- After watching Mexico get a good international coach, and watching the last two games US has played (England and Spain), do you think Bradley is the right choice for this team? Do we really want to wait till 2010 to actually make that decision? Also Why does Bradley insist on putting Wolf and Johnson in the line up? Haven't he seen their way of playing? Why is he not trying new players on top?
IVES- The memory banks of plenty European soccer fans are filled with the failed exploits of big-name national team coaching hires so I’m not exactly sure how Mexico’s hiring of Sven-Goran Eriksson is an automatic success. It’s good that Mexico was able to spend the money to lure a big name, but I’m sure you can find England fans who are still laughing at the appointment. As for Bradley being the right choice, I really don’t see how the results against Spain and England were automatic indictments of his selection as coach. The performance against England was disappointing but losing to England at Wembley is no crime, regardless of what some angry fans who put too many expectations on that match believe. As for the Spain match, they played a great first half and tired out in the second half, losing 1-0 in Spain without Landon Donovan. I think some people want to blame Bob Bradley for the inadequacies of the U.S. national team’s player pool but the blame goes on a system that just didn’t produce enough high-level players. That system has improved and continues to improve. You can keep believing that all you need is a big-named coach to come in and sprinkle some of his magic Europe dust on American players and they will automatically become Cristiano Ronaldo, that’s just not reality. I see progress with the national team under Bradley and more importantly I see a young generation of talent coming up the pipeline that could be better than any group before it.
I've seen a lot on these boards about firing Bradley, how we need a big-name Euro coach to come in and bring us to the promise land.
It's the biggest reason I don't post much on the US MNT board anymore, it's just too frustrating.
1. Be real. We're not changing our coach before WCQ. All this discussion it moot, he's not going anywhere. He's a positive record and overall has done a decent-to-good job. If you're using a 0-2 loss to England (AT WEMBLEY) and 0-1 away to Spain as justification for your argument you're absolutely loony. The fact that IMO we actually outplayed Spain in the first half and stuck with Argentina is a sign that Bob has us playing better than previous managers.
I was disappointed we didn't get Klinsy, VERY disappointed. I didn't like hiring Bob Bradley much either, but let's face it. We've yet to lose to CONCACAF competition, we've had some nice wins away from home and have done a lot of work getting our boys used to the next level.
2. We simply don't have any world-class field players, yet. Adu may get there, Altidore may get there, Landon is as close as we've had, but we still don't have one player on a big 4 club in the top 4 leagues. If you think we're going to beat England and Spain away without players consistently doing well in CL play you're just off the reservation, especially when Jozy and LD are absent and our other best forwards are in MLS play.
GET YOUR EXPECTATIONS IN CHECK WITH REALITY
Yes, bringing in Josh Wolff was a complete and utter joke, but it's not exactly as if Bob has a bevy of options up front (MLS season). I'm sick of EJ too, and I'd love to see Kenny get a shot (which I'm sure will happen sooner rather than later), but again, what has Cooper really shown internationally? Do we have any forwards that have matched EJ's past success in CONCACAF? While I don't want to see him up against the best (Altidore and LD please), I'm pretty sure he'll help us cruise through qualification.
3. Magic Euro-dust managers will NOT change the skill level of the team. They will not teach some magical tactical awareness or the ability to dribble 1vs1/calmness on the ball, they can't single-handedly alter the programs direction. It's a top to bottom approach, and it takes time. Is it moving as fast as some of you would like? No, but it's moving pretty darn quickly. We're sending a lot more players aboard at different ages, we're bringing more foreign coaching into the youth and domestic leagues. We're on the right path.
I'd love to have Hiddink or Scolari or [Insert trendy manager of the month] but doing so now would be an incredible error. I think many of you ignore the unique situation an American manager must deal with. MLS, players abroad, a huge country with a complex youth set-up. I'd like to see a Euro manager start a cycle, not replace a manager doing relatively well in the middle of one.
Really, just shut the ******** up about coaching changes until we actually fail in WCQs (not going to happen) or suck it up at WC10. Until that point, all this arguing remains a completely pointless endeavor.
Do you really think a new manager will be able to instantly implement a new system that produces results with the players we have?
Do you really think a new manager will be so tactically superior that we'll start playing like Arsenal?
Do you really think a new manager will instantly allow us to over-achieve?
That last line is a point of contention. Perhaps, but I doubt very much he'd be able to do it in the 2 years preceding WC10. We live in a real world, not some dreamworld where any manager will accept the job and instantly alter US soccer history forever.
Bob Bradley is a good manager. He's not great. He's never going to coach a World-Cup winning side, but at this point, we don't have the talent to compete for one. We'd all love some huge name to come in and take us to the promise land, but for now it's Bob Bradley's turn. For now he's our manager, until he really ********s up you all need to cool it.
IVES- The memory banks of plenty European soccer fans are filled with the failed exploits of big-name national team coaching hires so I’m not exactly sure how Mexico’s hiring of Sven-Goran Eriksson is an automatic success. It’s good that Mexico was able to spend the money to lure a big name, but I’m sure you can find England fans who are still laughing at the appointment. As for Bradley being the right choice, I really don’t see how the results against Spain and England were automatic indictments of his selection as coach. The performance against England was disappointing but losing to England at Wembley is no crime, regardless of what some angry fans who put too many expectations on that match believe. As for the Spain match, they played a great first half and tired out in the second half, losing 1-0 in Spain without Landon Donovan. I think some people want to blame Bob Bradley for the inadequacies of the U.S. national team’s player pool but the blame goes on a system that just didn’t produce enough high-level players. That system has improved and continues to improve. You can keep believing that all you need is a big-named coach to come in and sprinkle some of his magic Europe dust on American players and they will automatically become Cristiano Ronaldo, that’s just not reality. I see progress with the national team under Bradley and more importantly I see a young generation of talent coming up the pipeline that could be better than any group before it.
I've seen a lot on these boards about firing Bradley, how we need a big-name Euro coach to come in and bring us to the promise land.
It's the biggest reason I don't post much on the US MNT board anymore, it's just too frustrating.
1. Be real. We're not changing our coach before WCQ. All this discussion it moot, he's not going anywhere. He's a positive record and overall has done a decent-to-good job. If you're using a 0-2 loss to England (AT WEMBLEY) and 0-1 away to Spain as justification for your argument you're absolutely loony. The fact that IMO we actually outplayed Spain in the first half and stuck with Argentina is a sign that Bob has us playing better than previous managers.
I was disappointed we didn't get Klinsy, VERY disappointed. I didn't like hiring Bob Bradley much either, but let's face it. We've yet to lose to CONCACAF competition, we've had some nice wins away from home and have done a lot of work getting our boys used to the next level.
2. We simply don't have any world-class field players, yet. Adu may get there, Altidore may get there, Landon is as close as we've had, but we still don't have one player on a big 4 club in the top 4 leagues. If you think we're going to beat England and Spain away without players consistently doing well in CL play you're just off the reservation, especially when Jozy and LD are absent and our other best forwards are in MLS play.
GET YOUR EXPECTATIONS IN CHECK WITH REALITY
Yes, bringing in Josh Wolff was a complete and utter joke, but it's not exactly as if Bob has a bevy of options up front (MLS season). I'm sick of EJ too, and I'd love to see Kenny get a shot (which I'm sure will happen sooner rather than later), but again, what has Cooper really shown internationally? Do we have any forwards that have matched EJ's past success in CONCACAF? While I don't want to see him up against the best (Altidore and LD please), I'm pretty sure he'll help us cruise through qualification.
3. Magic Euro-dust managers will NOT change the skill level of the team. They will not teach some magical tactical awareness or the ability to dribble 1vs1/calmness on the ball, they can't single-handedly alter the programs direction. It's a top to bottom approach, and it takes time. Is it moving as fast as some of you would like? No, but it's moving pretty darn quickly. We're sending a lot more players aboard at different ages, we're bringing more foreign coaching into the youth and domestic leagues. We're on the right path.
I'd love to have Hiddink or Scolari or [Insert trendy manager of the month] but doing so now would be an incredible error. I think many of you ignore the unique situation an American manager must deal with. MLS, players abroad, a huge country with a complex youth set-up. I'd like to see a Euro manager start a cycle, not replace a manager doing relatively well in the middle of one.
Really, just shut the ******** up about coaching changes until we actually fail in WCQs (not going to happen) or suck it up at WC10. Until that point, all this arguing remains a completely pointless endeavor.
Do you really think a new manager will be able to instantly implement a new system that produces results with the players we have?
Do you really think a new manager will be so tactically superior that we'll start playing like Arsenal?
Do you really think a new manager will instantly allow us to over-achieve?
That last line is a point of contention. Perhaps, but I doubt very much he'd be able to do it in the 2 years preceding WC10. We live in a real world, not some dreamworld where any manager will accept the job and instantly alter US soccer history forever.
Bob Bradley is a good manager. He's not great. He's never going to coach a World-Cup winning side, but at this point, we don't have the talent to compete for one. We'd all love some huge name to come in and take us to the promise land, but for now it's Bob Bradley's turn. For now he's our manager, until he really ********s up you all need to cool it.