Jimmy Conrad exposes Michael Bradley

There was at least one that did make that claim and several that implied what you are saying. As you say, the two aren't very different. Either way, it is the coach's responsibility to choose the team and as many have pointed out both Arena and Klinsmann were/are extremely arrogant and hardly seem like the types that would defer to one of their players for advice.

In addition, Bradley obviously has his faults but he is also extremely rigid in some of his beliefs on how people should behave within a team (complaining to the press etc). I could be wrong, but I don't see Bradley as the type that would try to give advice to the coach or bad mouth a player to the coach. Of course I was never anywhere near the locker room, so I am only speculating.

 

Honestly, it's worrisome, I don't know what is true and what isn't, what is axe to grind exaggeration, and what is true to the letter and the form, I just find it alarming, and I trust Conrad (maybe foolishly, maybe not) to be honest and frank, he just seems like a guy not inclined to scheming, or dictatorial behavior, but the opposite side of the spectrum, probably at times a little too loose, a little too Heydude, but that's just my impression.

I make no claim on the issues other than my read on what's been mentioned and what it seems to suggest. I have no first hand anything to go by.

 

Whenever it gets to this point in any thread I always feel like just saying:

11 years ago I liked Szetela and Adu much more than Bradley.

Four years ago I liked Haji Wright's chances at greatness a touch more than Pulisic.

Last January I was dancing over Tillman's switch to the US until I read the story more closely and even then I still thought it was close to a lock.

12 years ago I wanted Klinsy and never wanted Bob.

I always undersold Bradley until I started overselling him in '13-'14.

I was all in on Junior Flores, Zelalem, Gyau and Michael Renken.

I liked all of the aforementioned players much more than Bobby Wood.

I thought Davies would make it back, maybe even in time for 2010 in South Africa.

I was fine with the Arena emergency hire because I thought he could handle qualification in a pragmatic and intelligent way and rebuild the locker room while he was at it.

I thought Akale would already be with us by now.

I could go on and on, but that's about ten of my more idiotic takes, my "I was wrong," mea culpa's.

We're all wrong sometimes, sometimes a lot of the time, all of us have blind spots (I'm way, way, way too high on young prospects, mostly because all of my favorite sports teams since I was in high school have sucked, been chokers, or a bit of both, and so the draft was often the only avenue for hope in my sporting life in the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL and MLS), we're strangers to one another except to each others postings. It's not the end of the world to be wrong about anything. I know sometimes temperaments and personalities make it very difficult to own being wrong with some posters, but if nothing else, it's worthwhile to admit you're wrong, instead of manning the barricades. I don't speak to any particular poster in this so much as to all, hell I think an, "I was wrong about..." should probably merit being a pinned thread somewhere in the US forum's just so we all can have some humility and others can see that we actually aren't know it all's, even if we come across as such, not insanely obstinate, even if our posting smells of it, not inflated with hubris, even if we float around from thread to thread like it.

I was wrong about a ton. Sure I got a lot right over the years, but wrong? I've got endless threads worth of inaccurate and downright embarrassing takes from time to time too. It's fine to be wrong, and better to own it when you are. We aren't defending Ph.D. thesis' here.

 

i dont see the difference between these two scenarios.

 

there isn't its a dumb lie that someone told because they don't enjoy reality so they made it up and it became really clear it wasn't true so they are now trying to change the order of the words to make it look different but it means the same thing.

 

Bradley was our best CM for a time. He just lost his love for the game. You can notice it's a job for him now.

 

Frankly I trust Conrad too. He may not like Bradley and it is very possible that it tints his glasses a bit. I didn't hear the podcast but the transcription in the opening post didn't say anything at all that would suggest he was picking or otherwise trying to influence the picking of the team. He mainly said that Bradley was a very strong personality and a horrible captain because he was unapproachable. He also gave some reasons that he shouldn't be a part of the team going forward. (mostly related to his personality)

I believe it was @Susaeta that suggested there were players that felt (rightly or wrongly) that he had some influence on who was fast tracked and who was not. He mentioned Acosta as someone that Bradley liked playing with and he was fast tracked (I guess that would have been under Klinsmann first) and Williams as someone that not so much. Whether it was legitimate or not, he said that some of the players have/had that perception. Of course often times perception is more important than reality. I don't have any real idea what actually happened. I wouldn't be too surprised if Klinsmann and Arena tried to build their teams around him (that is what seems to be the case).

 

I suspect that the conversation was about Arena. Williams was so fast tracked under Klinsmann that he was played at AMR because Klinsmann was so impressed and wanted to get DWill on the field. Williams ended up just behind Bradley and Jones and started the last 2 matches of the 2014 WCQ group and the first match of WCQ Hex at #6.

The Ringer article and now this quote from Conrad just give us more data points around how some teammates viewed Bradley.

 

people are dumb though think about it

everyone hates bradley...they let him pick the roster...wouldn't they let someone I don't know who maybe someone on the team liked?

you people are grasping at straws its fine if you don't like the guy but trying to rewrite history to find new ways to blame him is lame.

 

Since the actual position is that Bradley was polarizing and that he influenced the roster, your nonstop blathering about views no one holds is pretty ********ing stupid.

Cheers, mate.

 

nobody holds what opinion? that he influenced the roster? did he influence it when jk considered dropping him? lol.

he had zero influence jimmy conrad is looking for an in on the media side and is desperate for an angle if he had this for real he would've said it three years ago.

 

. , ? !

Also, for fun: the ones you argued against; he did; if things were different, etc., etc. Lol!

 

I really am confused. When did Conrad say that Bradley influenced the roster. I must have missed it? I am not an English major and sometimes I misread something or just pass over something without it sinking in (sometimes more than once) but I didn't see where Conrad says anything about picking or even influencing the roster. Apparently (based upon one poster's statements) other players do believe something along those lines but, from what I can tell the accusations are somewhat vague and without any real hard evidence. Where does that leave us? According to second hand information, at least some players didn't particularly like Bradley, at least some feel he is a piss poor captain, at least some feel that he is or at least was a favorite of his coach(es) and that he gets preferential treatment.

sounds kind of like first grade but stranger things have happened.

Edit: Really...if I missed where Conrad says anything about Bradley influencing the roster please point it out to me. (If there was something in the op's original post or if he said something somewhere else it would really make it easier for me.

 

MB has always been a player of marginal quality who worked very hard. Now that he's older, working hard isn't good enough. He shouldn't make the team now, because he's just not good enough. He always held the ball too long and slowed down the attack.

 

so you are saying you can prove that michael bradley told jk and ba who to call up, nah you can't.

if you think jk and ba were talking to conrad about their mb issues...then you are lost dude.

All I can think is bradley went harkes on some of ur wives/gfs/daughters because this couldn't be further from the truth and pushing this garbage is a terrible look.

Can someone even explain how mb would get that power lol and how can DS not call him in I mean shouldn't he be picking the roster still? I mean after t&t did they tell him he couldn't pick the roster anymore? who made that decision lol? did the same person tell him he could pick the roster tell him he now can't? did jk and ba both decide on their own that he could do it? when ba was hired was he told he had to get mb's ok to call anyone in? If this has been going on for 5/6 years then don't you think someone would've said something during that time? like someone not happy about not getting called up? why would benny go after jk when mb was the one making the call to not bring him up? you don't think someone would've said to him hey benny jk isn't making the call mb is???

there are so many very simple questions you should ask urself when you hear garbage like this that should tell you it isn't true. every single piece of common sense says this isn't true. Its literally flat earth stuff at this point.

 

conrad said everyone hates bradley which then turned into he must have been picking the roster because blaming him for missing the wc wasn't enough he is now responsible for everyone else on the pitch because he put them on there.

there is a secret within the team that none of these people have known before this interview and here it is....

within a team...some guys don't like eachother. they aren't all best friends secretly there are groups who dislike players and other groups who dislike other guys its crazy its almost like any other workplace in the world.

 

You're once again hijacking a thread, arguing against crap no one said.

 

Actually Adam Tash and #1 Fielhaber Adu have insinuated this more than once.

I think we can steer this argument back to outsized personalities and the effects on teammmates though.

Personally, i dont believe MB or anyone over 30 should be called back into any roster going forward. I am curious to see what new leaders emerge.

 

okay...well lemme walk my comments back a little bit.

I dont think MB was sitting there with his pen and his pad picking the 23...or even close to that.

BUT

as someone who has followed the team closely for many cycles....I have felt that recently how playing time has been divvied up has been often perplexing and seemingly oftentimes not related to actual on-field performance.

curiously, players who seemingly play well are left out sometimes or never given a chance and players who play poorly are continuously included....(over the past several coaches, imo)...or, on the other hand, it seems the players who became favorites had never really distinguished themselves with their play and on-field performance.

clearly all of the blame for this cannot be laid at the feet of MB...

bottomline.....the culture on the inside of the team seems toxic, imo...and I do feel that stalwarts like MB etc probably had a big role in creating such a culture.

ON TOP OF ALL THAT

I personally felt that midfield was a big problem on the team for a long time and that other options besides MB were never or rarely given much of an opportunity to shine....it was always how do the other midfeilders fit with MB not how do they fit on the USMNT...as a result the midfield was a huge weakness of the USMNT for a long time....

I guess that doesnt mean that MB was picking the team...but it smells fishy to me.....

 

Yeah I literally feel like we are having an alternative fact/truth is not the truth moment with this.

 

Off the field like in a parking lot?

 

If it's true Pulisic is avoiding the friendlies, it must be for something, no?

And it's unlikely to be Mike, everybody knew he wasn't getting called.

 

Plot twist: he's boycotting until Bradley and Altidore are recalled.