thats the end of it. That tie is on Daems completely, he was directly responsible for both of those goals
I would judge that as a hallmark of poor teams; inability to finish off games when they have a slender lead. Pity for Bradley that he's not surrounded by more competence.
I didn't see his chance in the 1st half, but the one in the 2nd wasn't exactly a gimmee. He had to one time it under pressure of the charging goalie and a CB on his back. The goalie made a great reaction save to his left...it's not like MB just hit it softly straight at him. Agreed, although as has already been stated his passing is MUCH better than it was this time last year. I've noticed a marked improvement in his distribution in tight spaces...his one time touch passing is much better as well. His worst pass of the 2nd half actually came when he had lots of time and space!
the team is actually quite solid asside their outside backs, as someone else discussed in the thread. That is the real dagger for this team. They could do with another goalscorer but that is a luxury, not a necessity like a new right and left back
That wasn't the home crowd, there is no "crowd" at Hoffenheim. There isn't anything you could call a fan community, it's a plastic team in a village; they attract an opera audience. 90% of what you've heard during this game have been the 4.000 away supporters. A pity we haven't won in the end, there have been enough chances to kill this game off. Mmmh, one point, better than nothing... @ the outside backs: I think Levels had a great game today, best field player in my eyes. But yes, Daems had one more bad game; he still isn't the player he once was, after he came back from a long injury break, and I'm not really sure he'll ever be again. We have signed a new, young left back this week for next season.
I'd say this was definitely on the weaker side for Bradley. A bit too many errant passes, and two good chances he failed to convert. Both teams looked pretty sloppy throughout, though.
Hoffenheim deserved a point. Gladbach's defense and midfield was pretty weak in the second half. Bradley had a few bad passes, but he wasn't getting much help. The pass that led to the first goal, the defender barely beat the BMG player to the ball. Then for some reason, Dante completely froze at the top of the box, giving the Hoffenheim player room to the outside. Bradley did everything he could to get back, but there was no marking at all. For anyone still arguing for MB to be moved further up the field for the Nats, they need to watch this game. For Heerenveen, Bradley was in an advantageous system and went on an extended hot streak. He's simply not a big-time goal scorer. He had two glorious chances today and didn't convert either. However, he showed why he does score goals: exquisite off the ball movement. His run on his second chance was absolutely beautiful, just wish he could have iced the game!!! It hurts to write this "analysis" after seeing BMG lose it in the second half. However, a few different calls by the referee and it could have been 4-0 Hoffenheim. We saw Bradley's new ability to spray the ball all over the field. Whether it is in the middle third or around the box, his distribution can be oustanding. Today he had a few more errant passes than usual. But he continues to display his amazing off the ball movement and hustle all over the field. I could see Kicker giving him a 4 and Torfabrik giving him a 3,5.
This is the first time I have ever heard of anyone saying this is Bradley's ceiling. Seriously. A 22 year old box-to-box midfielder? Plus, Bradley is as good as he is because of his smarts, not athletic or technical abilities. He's going to continue to get smarter and improve his skills.
I agree with you in the overall improvement in his passing, but I believe it has only gone from being a glaring weakness to just being a weakness. As for this game, I felt his first half was bad and his second half was okay. His chance in the first half was a sitter and he straight shanked it. Not only did he have some errant passes, but some direct give aways right at the top of the box. I am a big fan of Bradley's overall, so I certainly not trying to be critical, I was just disappointed in this performance.
I'm just happy to see a young U.S. player starting every game and improving overall on a mid table german team. Good stuff.
Today midtable, tomorrow the world; as it was and should ever be. I was born as a reigning German and UEFA Cup champion, learned to walk as a reigning German champion, and learned to talk as a reigning German champion. Had a Kindergarten party for the next UEFA cup trophy. Maybe I should have a son, and hope the family tradition works...
Our RB Tobias Levels is one of the better Bundesliga RB's this season. And Philip Daems obviously needs to find his form after his injury. Btw: Almost all Bundesliga FB's are facing problems when playing against Hoffenheim's fast & tricky outside forwards... LOOOL. We controlled almost the whole 2nd half (even after we invited them to score the 1:2) and didn't allow them much (maybe 1-2 chances after their surprising first goal). I think you really need better glasses, dude. )
Just reviewed a fast forward of the game inside my head with a beer and a cigarette on my balcony. I think you could sum up Bradley's game with the nice German phrase "ein gebrauchter Tag", "a second-hand day". Whatever you try, whatever you do, somehow it goes wrong in the end. Bradley and Meeuwis controlled the area outside our box, kept them from really creating anything, won a lot of balls; and somehow many of them directly found their way by bad luck from Mikey's foot to the foot of a Hoffenheim player. Some nice tackles, where the ball was by chance in the end in a more dangerous place than before. Had some nice off-the-ball-runs, created chances for himself by his nose for space and ball... and blundered them. He often did almost everything right; and then, somehow by bad luck, "it looked like he had two left feet". ("Zwei linke Füße haben", another nice German phrase.)
so where do you think you guys will look to upgrade next season? i think if Nurnburg go down you jump on Bunjaku like a hobo on a ham sandwhich, or some similar forward on the level. Bobadilla doenst quite have the goalscoring prowess that was hoped for i dont think. And if im Coulatti im letting him have it in the dressing room for stealing my goal
It was the other way around; Colautti stole Bobadilla's header. Colautti's contract wasn't renewed so far, and there's still Oliver Neuville until summer, who doesn't even see the bench anymore, but sucks up some serious part of the salary budget. Young Moses Lamidi signed at a BL2 club yesterday, so there's Bobadilla, Friend, Matmour (forward/wing/midfield), Bäcker next year, maybe Colautti; could be space in the roster and budget for a new forward. We've signed a LB talent yesterday, Wissing, but I wouldn't be surprised if we signed another established LB, and have a full reconstruction there, with Daems being downgraded to CB/LB defensive all-round back-up, and Jaures going home to France. We need another quality player in the back line, just extended the contract with CB Brouwers (who's having a good season), so I don't believe we will rely on a new, young talent, and what's left of the former Filip Daems on the left.
If its widely considered that the fullbacks are a weakness, then its usually right. Same in this case. I really have no idea what you were watching. BMG didn't control anything in the second half. Just because Hoffenheim may have only had a handful of chances after the first goal doesn't change the fact that they were in the final 3rd much of the time. And how is that classified as a "surprising first goal?" Hoffenheim had been knocking on the door the entire game. Yeah, hilarious. WHAT IF the referee doesn't award a penalty kick because he had actually seen the handball was just outside the box? There goes one Gladbach goal. WHAT IF the lineman had been in better position and correctly called Collautti offsides? There goes the other. WHAT IF Dante gets called for his handball and Hoffenheim gets another penalty? That's 3 calls off the top of my head that could've changed the scoreline to 3-0.
And there goes Nilsson with a Red in the first half. He got only a Yellow, because Gladbach was awarded the penalty, and the likely chance to balance his delict; if he awards a freekick, it's a Red. And a different game with 10 vs 11 for more than a half.
The same what I've been asking myself about you... But well, everybody is free to have his own opinion. Ok, if you think so ... be happy with your opinion. Why? Because they didn't produce anything dangerous until that goal (except for their early 2 top chances in the first half). In your eyes. But well, thankfully I have my own eyes! If the referee didn't call the pk (without technical support, it isn't easy to see that the handball was slightly outside the box), he'd have had to send the defender off ... so we'd have been in numerical superiority. Since the head of a player belonges to the body, it was no offside (even though surely another close decision). Dude, if you seriously had a clue about the soccer rules, you'd know why that wasn't a pk. Btw: What about our defender Daems not even seeing the ball when it hit his arm in the pk scene for Hoffenheim? Yeah, for sure.
I agree. I don't think he's reached his ceiling. I also think its harder to have a really exciting thread about a defensive midfielder. I do think he's at a relative plateau place in his growth the past year or so. If he does well in the World Cup he could be poised for more growth next year. Geez, is he really only 22?
They had 20 shots goal. And while they only had 3 more shots than BMG, they weren't shanking them as bad as BMG was. True, that is a good point. It seems like it actually would have been better had the referee made that decision instead, but it still would have taken away BMG's goal. You question my knowledge of soccer rules, but then you say that a player has to see the ball for it to be a handball? Come on. Daems had his arm away from his body, it doesn't matter one bit that he didn't see it. Oh yeah, and Hoffenheim had 55% of the possession. Now can you explain to me how BMG "controlled" the game when they had so much less possession than Hoffenheim?