I think suyuntuy’s posts wrt MB were more of an effort to slag major leaguers Morales and Williams than hyping MB. He hasn’t been at their level for a while unfortunately.
Looking at that clip, he shouldn't even be playing, much less starting. It is a joke TFC pays him the highest, or one of the highest, salaries in the league and they get that effort. No field awareness, no basic shielding, moving the ball even slower than he did at T&T. Not only was he incredibly slow to move the ball, he was just going to make a back pass. Got to get those passing stats up! If he even looked upfield for a pass he would have seen the player bearing down on him. Calling him in would just show Stewart is clueless or powerless.
It is a minor point but I think it shows how the MLS/SUM partnership corrupts the USMNT. Notice that the clip says Guzman causes a TO. No mention of Bradley or his lackadaisical ridiculous play. That this was a positive play by Guzman only and not a horrible play by Bradley. It can be both. But I don't see midfielders be dispossessed that easily in U11 games.
Don't exaggerate. Bradley has had some notable games, some of them fairly recently --the tie in Azteca for the qualifiers, he did a fine job, beyond scoring the goal, for example. It's time to move on but there's no need to be selective with the memories.
Of course, the goal at Azteca, which masks every other weakness he had over the last 4 years. He hasn't been good for a long time, and only a few of us noticed. I have also mostly just said I wanted him rotated based on form. Rarely does our talent allow us to have guaranteed starters (CP is the only one right now), and he shouldn't have been for the last number of years. You sit him sometimes, other guys step up, maybe he steps up his game. He got old, he got slower (not his fault), but the worst problem was Arena (and Klinsy to an extent) allowing that to happen by inking him into every lineup (even in the ridiculous Gold Cup). Again, this isn't a debate. We had/have the talent to easily qualify for the WC, and we didn't. I am right. Unfortunately.
Those are friendlies. Our kids are not bad, but they're nothing to write home about. Focusing on defensive CMs: -- McKennie is our best, my fave player in Europe because of his eagerness, but no one is going to convince me he's a creative motor. Truth is, he's a couple of bad games away from getting benched, but he has that quality that is so needed in the international game: mentality. -- Adams, I still have to see him in a real game with the main team. Hopeful, but truth is we have nothing solid yet. Everybody below this line is not, or unlikely to be, international quality. -- Danny Williams, we may find a use for him in CONCACAF, against weaker teams, but that's it. -- Alfredo Morales, although he's been playing a more offensive role of late, is not the sort of guy you want in a NT, where you must be a fast thinker and adaptable. -- Wil Trapp, when even in friendlies you show limited imagination and limited technique, there's no reason to have high hopes. -- Russ Canouse, Bochum tried to play him as a CB because they figured a DM who can't distribute must be a CB. They were wrong. -- Mike Bradley, the legs are gone, the mind is gone as well. All that is left is the ample experience. It's been a few months since he looked useful. So that's the panorama: we have two players for the defensive mid position that may be good enough for the Mexicos and Costa Ricas of the world, no one to face top teams in actual competition. Only reason why Mike still gets a mention.
You're riding the wave. I was demanding for Mike to get benched at least in friendlies to try other guys back when doing so got you labeled a "nepotism conspiracy theorist." Now you're riding the Pulisic wave, Bradley hate one. Folks on these boards are like that. In five years, once Puli is a decent but not extraordinary lateral AM in some BuLi or EPL mid-table team, the lot of you will be saying you noticed his limitations "back then."
I certainly hope he does better than that, but if it happens, I hope he is not our automatic starter/captain Lion and our coach is able to rotate based on form to ensure motivated players. I don't really ride waves. I watch the games and write about what I see on the message board. Seeing MB wasn't that good wasn't difficult for me, but maybe that just makes me an all-star talent evaluator!
The Ticos are the most 'South American' team in CONCACAF. They'll always give us a headache, so far we can't dribble or follow dribblers.
I'm looking for a complex game as host Toronto and LAFC vie for the Oedipus Cup tomorrow. https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2018...l-be-family-affair-bradleys-square-first-time
Trinidad Mike in the 93' https://matchcenter.mlssoccer.com/m...os-angeles-football-club/details/video/170672
I don't believe at this moment that he's a serious candidate to be called up, even in competitive matches, even with a new manager. He might well have played his last cap.
Have you ever watched an aging NBA center lose his legs? It’s watching a great player lose a little step every day and by the end of a month or two, he’s a shell of what he was. The transformation is startling in both amount of decline and the steady downfall. Like a slow motion train wreck. Sad.
Williams and Morales are not UCL major leaguers but they know how to play vs better players at top speed and have proven it week in and out. They may not be dynamic but they are predictably decent. We can build a defensively oriented team with these types of players that will give elite teams a hard time. We can’t do that with MB at this point against even CONCACAF opponents. Trapp is an unknown at higher speeds at this point.
What a terrible step-up. Gives me nightmares of all the poor defensive work in midfield during qualifying, where teams quite easily passed through midfield, that failed to provide any semblance of pressure on the ball.
I watch TFC just so I can watch that shet show. I get a kick out of it. In a sadistic, I told you so sort of way. He really hasn't regressed much in the past 2 years. The denial protected him but that has eroded to where he has no supporters left with working synapses.
C’mon laxcoach. I know you can’t stand the guy but his play has diminished greatly over the past 12 months. His play for the USMNT was always above the Ralston line but, unfortunately wasn’t great for us.
Michael Bradley has a long history of working very hard in a us shirt, revisionist history aside, he’s had some great moments/games/goals for the us. Like every other talented American player, he has some deficiencies in his game, but acting like he was never good for the us is patently false, despite it being the trendy take on his career these days.
I can comfortably say the same. Except i felt he needed to be dropped in competitive games, not just friendlies.