I did respond to trash. He didn’t respond to what I asked about the fullbacks, mids, inability to possess. He is a good poster I agree with a lot. But arguing that the only different variable was Bradley and therefore it’s all on him... he knows it’s more complicated than that.
Who's saying that? The voices in your head? Who in here has been advocating for Bradley to return to the team?
Granted we’ve been playing top 10 teams in the world, but the thing that’s alarming to me lately is how few of our players look like they can even compete at that level, much less win. It’s hard to believe these are the best players our country can produce.
Many who said he wasn't the problem tonight....he's been the problem for years and looks like he'll continue to be.
When Colombia subs in a lower level player in Chara, it kind of tells you how weak we are at that position. We would kill for a player of Chara's caliber..
Nope. Chara is a DM Yedlin is a RB Chara is a pitbull in midfield. Yedlin doesn't have the ball control of Chara.
De acuerdo con el primer y ultimo punto. Lo de la coladera es mas culpa del medio campo, en mi opinion.
Tyler Adams owns the 8 spot. He brings bite to the defense and can provide a pass that goes forward. There may be others like him, but he is made for that spot. As for creativity, America does not produce that kind of player because kids don't come home from school and get a ball and play pickup type games until dinner time. I'm sure James missed a lot of meals from being in the park until dark. That is where you learn to ball, not from somebody's dad in youth leagues. Sad but true. We do produce athletes that can run fast and far, they just lack that edge you get from making shit up and doing it to your friends in the park.
All it takes is one semi-reputable journalist to write an honest article about MBs performance then all the dogs will sniff the ehem...air, know which way the wind is blowing and start wagging their tails in the same direction. Do any of them dare put a hit on his career the way Doyle took Jones out at the knees (and it turns out advocated for the exact team that failed to reach the world cup coach and players and positions included) let's see if anyone has the stack to get it right for a change.
I think this team needs Vermes as a coach, mostly because he's a hardass who would cut down on some of the bullshit. There's absolutely no commitment from the players. They play like they're afraid of getting hurt and damaging their club careers. I'm watching Costa Rica--Mexico now and it's refreshing to see defenders actually get physical and put pressure on the guy with the ball. We need a coach who isn't afraid to bench Bradley if he doesn't have it anymore and who can explain to the players what's expected of them besides just showing up and putting on their uniforms. This team still looks like it did under Klinsmann--like they met each other for the first time on the bus and are still trying to figure out who's playing what position.
I'm not a huge Vermes fan, but this team and program right now is rudderless, and a Vermes-coached team is never rudderless.
Mexico-Costa Rica, another game with caretaker coaches. The Ticos look a lot better against Mexico than they looked against Korea or Japan. I think it's not unlikely that Asia is surpassing us.
But even the kids that miss their lunch to go play soccer (pay to play) are taught to dribble a cone instead of a living human being. I laugh a those coaches that uses cones to teach kids how to dribble between cones.
What ever happened to that one article that blew up after the Honduras qualifier from like 5 years ago?
You know how it's in South America: playing in the street, the goal is the space between two parked cars, the ball is something rescued from someone's attic and needs to get pumped every 20 minutes because it's so old, and at the end of the game your reward is not orange slices but black & purple legs. And you dribble, You dribble the other guys, and the passing cars, and the people walking by with their dogs, and when the game is over because you're all too tired to keep playing, after the picado, the pichanga, the cascarita, you sit there with your pals and talk about the game, the mistakes, the good plays. Then you talk about the games you watched on TV that week. And how so-and-so can curl the ball, trap a pass, turn a certain way to kick so the ball travels right to the corner where the keeper cannot save it. And you think about the game. And plan for the next picado, pichanga, cascarita, think about that move, and that pass, and that combination that can finally beat that big guy who knows how to turn. Ah yes, it's culture. You live with it, you breathe it, you talk about it, it's not a hobby, not a sport, not a pastime. It's your life.
i'll let you calling me trash slide...i got it enough growing up to not let it bother me at this point.... my take is...yes the fullback were not good especially robinson...i got attacked on robinson's thread in yanks abroad earlier this week b/c the highlights from his latest Wigan game were keystone cops level bad from him and everyone got on me for merely noticing that. it's not all on bradley...but he's the MAIN variable that was different. the same backline looked pretty solid against some other big teams recently.... to me ...the CM captain role that he played had a huge domino effect on everything that happened out there....when he's dropping back in-between miazga and brooks that means there is 1 less midfielder in midfield where he should be....when the team gose up 2-1 and then MB drops back into the 18 for the rest of the game it means the team cannot press colombia's shaky backline....he couldnt press colombia's backline....sure, some of that mioght be on sarachan desperately wanting a 2-2 to take back to earnie....but that is how MB always has done it under every coach.... the us was having success staying high up the pitch and making it hard for colombia to get into the final 3rd early in the game...for the first 30 minutes or so.... to me, dropping back into your own 18 is a losing strategy that is a hallmark of bradley's game and the only way his older body can play it at this point.... he did okay in possession and passing....but there is much more to it than that.... i'll not even bring up the slowness in his tracking back on the colombia attacks or the way colombia waltzed around him at times like he was a ghost.... but the most important thing is that how he plays impacts how the entire team plays....in invisible ways....so yeah he did look decent if you just looked at his touches in isolation...but if you at how he fit into the entire team and impactd the the defensive strength of the team and the shape of the defense and literally where the team was on the pitch...he was horrible.
Another problem is that, when you continue to shape your lineup around Michael Bradley or shape it to shield his current weaknesses it puts a lot pressure on the outside players to do a lot more to compensate.