Bradley was mocked for wearing track pants and had a nickname that made zero sense given how his teams actually played. He was accused of nepotism by ignorant dopes. He was only given that extension after 2010 because Sunil couldn't convince JK to go to the prom. He was only given the job in 2007 because of the same reason. He was given zero rope by the fanbase or USSF.
Jurgen has his flaws, but to say past coaches didn't criticise players in the press is totsl revisionist history. Jurgen is much more publicly supportive of individual players than arena or Bradley were. His criticisms are typically much less blunt and/or addressed to the general group. Particularly as to current or future players.
Please direct me to the Bob Bradley quote where he talks about his best players "not achieving s--t"? The most cutting critique I can recall from Bob was directed toward Freddy Adu needing to grow up, which happened to be true, and Bob still managed to bring him in from the wilderness later on to contribute.
.........i am going to be so happy that when Jason Kreis is done pretending to be a lap dog and takes charge of the squad his first order of business will be to say "remember everything we did for the past 8 years? We are going to pretend that never happened. It is going to take hard work and dedication, but getting back to square one starts today". And it will be a wonderful day.
I don't know why Bradley got brought up, but since he was - I was the Moderator around here during his reign. First off, he was already considered a boring hire after he was named interim, while Gulati pursued - and failed to capture - Klinsmann after his Germany run. As such, he never truly won over the BS fanbase. Ever. At worst, he was considered a hhighly defensive coach who didn't like to attack (never mind he had one of the best attacks in the world throughout qualifying, never used a pure destroyer, and always played a pair of strikers) and at best someone who lucked into a rich vein of US talent. In point of fact, I had to tell our local populace before the Egypt - USA match, this this forum was for fans rooting for the USA to win, and that rooting for the US to lose would not be tolerated - for you see there was a large amount of USA "fans" that wanted the US to lose hugely to Egypt so Bradley might get fired. 2 years after delivering what was probably our best ever Gold Cup in 2007, and routing Mexico in a final (the score was very generous to them...we should have won 4 or 5 to 1 if not for some unfortunate finishing). He was hounded by nepotism attacks. He was called an amateur in over his head. He was attacked by rank rumors that he had lost the locker room and that there was a player revolt on hand. Klinsmann has gotten it far easier than Bradley, even though the evidence is that we achieved inspite of him, and that our side is far worse than the sum of its parts due to Klinsmann. There is zero chance of his removal, and his he shows no sign of anything remotely like humility. He's an embarrassment.
Bradley was under-appreciated, but he had clear flaws. I was disappointed in his empty bucket formation and in some of his tactics (like playing Rico Clark) but the biggest issue was that it seemed clear the Nats had reached their ceiling under him. It was a reasonably roomy ceiling, with no shame, but if the US ever wanted to do more, it had to have a different manager. Unfortunately, JK ain't that guy.
The biggest flaw that people remember about Bradley is that he played Robbie Findley and Rico Clark in the World Cup, which was his reaction to his hand being forced by devastating injuries to Holden and Davies. And he went on to win a WC group.
@bsky22 imagine what those Bob threads would have looked like come January 2012. I think there's more vitriol for JK but that's because, well, he started it. He's been a condescending douche from BEFORE day 1 (invert the pyramid!). Successful assholes get to keep being successful. Unsuccessful assholes are on the high wire without a net. Bradley didn't promise any kind of revolution, so he, unlike Jurgen, couldn't fail in that area. Bradley didn't openly lobby for the job after our loss to Ghana in 2006. I just think it's a bad comparison.
We did pretty well four years later. So, 4 years after Bradley was canned for his piss poor performance against Mexico in the GC final, we got...?
There was perhaps a misapprehension of Klinsmann's 'A damn good result for both teams' comment. The viewing public's perception of the game as a thrilling affair was the good result. He needs to maintain credibility with Sunil, the sponsors, and the players. Excepting the wobbly period after the Concacaf Cup loss, Sunil has been steadfastly in JK's corner. The sponsors haven't complained. There has been significant turmoil with the players, but the coach seems to have learned and adapted, if the conduct of this year's Camp Cupcake is an indicator. Veteran players, including those coming off surgery, are no longer being pressured into limping into camp. Players don't have to stay at the team hotel. They have more say in how the practices and training are conducted. Klinsmann's record merits him no more of a post GC opportunity than what Bob got. But unlike Bob, JK has been given that additional remit. I'm looking forward to seeing if he can finally build a more effective team shape, one that is less defensively fragile yet more fluid in the attack. Then again, if Bielsa were to come in, I wouldn't complain.
Not sure, but the Bradley threads I saw were quite civil. Very fair point! I wish his coaching could be separated and discussed/analyzed on its own. Just like his job as TD, though ther is some overlap and even competing goals. Leave the hatred for the douche you think he is. Bash him for his interviews and comments in the press but is it necessary to claim every coaching decision is wrong and that he is ruining our team? Agreed. JK has brought this on himself. I get the feeling that many dislike the guy so much that they'd rather he fail than succeed even though we are the real losers in that situation. Hes not wrong about everything. He's actually probably right about quite a bit because there is still so much "low hanging fruit". They are/were both coaches of our team and can be compared on that level.
Personally, I save most of my bashing for the stupid shit he actually does. It's relatively rare that I bother bashing the stupid shit that he says, but since we've had no action in a long time, and he's been saying so much stupid shit recently, well, it definitely bears bashing accompanied by a loud chorus of boos. The federation should know that we are unsatisfied in no uncertain terms. You don't say? Who are these people? They're certainly not me. (I don't want him to fail. I want US to succeed. I want him GONE so that we can, because it's clear that he--his abilities, ideas and biases, and personality--is an impediment to our success.) I don't detect that from most of us. I do suspect that notion in only a few, in fact. If I weren't convinced--and it took quite a bit of evidence to compile before I became convinced--that Klinsmann is an impediment to our success, then I would willingly tolerate him, asshole and all. That very sentiment was even more widespread in early 2011, by the by.
Being an egomaniac is not remotely a bar to being a top coach. JK, in any event, is more monomaniac than egomaniac.
To a degree (one has to lead with intelligence before ego), but true enough on the second bit, which is a major part of the issue.
I am not sure that's the biggest flaw, but it was a bad choice; and it is hard for me to unsee the keeping blunder, the incredible LD finish and the last-gasp LD goal that made it possible to win the group instead of crash out. No need to be glass half-empty to realize that Bradley can't take the lion-share of credit for winning that group. Bradley deserves praise -- but let's not overdo it.
I don't think that anyone (certainly not me) said that he deserved the "lion's share" of credit for winning the group. He simply deserved credit. The lion's share of credit for accomplishing anything always belongs to be players. This IS a players' game. Coaches are important, and coaches can certainly ruin things, but making things go well is always primarily the doing of players, and only secondarily a coach.
It was just a gut feeling on my side and my wording of "many" should probably have been "some" people. The two things I'd point to are people who said they wanted us to lose to Mexico so JK would be GONE and a lot of pettiness and concern over what credit he'll get for things that happen after he leaves and what he gets paid. So some were willing to trade the confed cup for Klinsmann to be GONE and it depends on where the pettiness begins and ends. I'm glad it's not you, but still don't know someone can be so certain of something like this. I just don't see it is clear that he is an impediment to our success or even how you measure it. In what way was it more widespread? I didn't post back then but I recall those negative comments being fairly well contained. Now, it seems like every thread devolves into a discussion of JK. There are multiple threads now on various angles of how he sucks. When I looked fat old fire bob threads and gold cup post game threads I didn't see it. Can you please show me a thread that illustrates what you are saying?
You don't see how Klinsmann's significant shortcomings as a manager are an impediment to our success? How could I expect you to?
Klinsmann's tenure has been on a par with those of the previous 2 regimes. He has been neither an impediment not a great boost to the NT. Most of the criticism is just personality related. The commentary against Bob, who had friends here, was more judiciously moderated and contained.
Preposterous. This past awful year is primarily down to his mismanagement. I won't bother going into the many ways in which he's gotten it wrong post-WC; we've gone into it at length over the past year. So says you. Wrongly. We'd suffer his personality if he were also a capable manager. At least I would. He isn't, though. He's getting it very wrong, and our program is suffering as a direct result.
I, for one, said that I would trade the Mexico match for having JK fired. It's a classic case of short term pain for long term gain. I felt, and still do, that we will be more successful in Russia in 2018 if we have a different coach and that the sooner we do it, the better. I truly feel he is setting this team backwards.