So he's calling in Orozco Fiscal to pander to the fan base? To me that's more symptomatic of a guy who hears voices in his head and decides to start a new religion on that basis. By the way quite a few of the major prophets shared that condition, so I'm putting JK in rather exalted company.
This topic is silly, I think it's quite clear that JK has his system that he's clinging on to along with his favorites within his system and apparently Bradley is being perceived as one of those that doesn't fall under either of these two categories. Why I can't fathom, but there you go.
Actually, I've been arguing for years that Michael is one of those neither fish nor fowl players that requires a lot of adjustment and compensation in the way his teammates play. But he brings enough to the table that you do not want to exclude him. It is just as silly of JK to do that as it was for BB to always put him in the lineup.
He's just doing it to piss off the posters who said the next coach would also play Mike all day and all night. Are people even watching Bradley play for Chievo? He's not distinguishing himself. It's not the Michael Bradley that some people like so much. He's not in good form. He's in meh form. That's the difference between Bob and JK. Mike's not going to play regardless of form. If JK plays Edu 24/7 for the next 2.5 years, then we can talk.
He was cast as a #10 in that game, and the attacking options in front of him were Edson Buddle (who was awful), Landon Donovan (who played fairly well), and JF Torres (who did absolutely nothing in that role, and didn't do much more elsewhere despite the plaudits from the BS peanut gallery). Perhaps as a consequence of that, the only probing pass he played was a diagonal to I think Cherundolo on the right wing. Then again, perhaps it wasn't a consequence of the poor play by Buddle and Torres... maybe Bradley really isn't suited to the position. He was outstanding in possession, completing 90% of his passes. (Hint: that's really, really, good, even for someone who's mostly passing back, square, and short forward.) Before killing the idea of Bradley in that role entirely, I would love to see him play there with Altidore in front of him and Shea and Dempsey flanking him, to pick a group of players who are on the roster right now. Having said that, I can also understand not bothering with such an experiment. It's reasonable to conclude that he doesn't have the right skillset for it; he's not good enough off the dribble to create on his own when the situation calls for it, and while he's underrated for his forward passing ability, I'm not sure he picks out forward runs consistently enough. Anyway... long story short, I think Bradley's play in that game is much too complex to be called "poor", and it's also not evidence that he doesn't fit as a #8.
Funny that Michael is getting sympathy for being miscast in that one game against Mexico. When he stunk in most of the Gold Cup. When for years other players had to adjust where and how they played to allow for his free lancing tendencies--Stuart Holden is grateful for at least getting a look in a position Michael did not play. When other players get played out of position all the time--Daniel Williams says hullo and respectfully requests a couple games in central midfield.
To be fair, there really wasn't any player who played well in the Gold Cup...and Bradley was far from the worst.
For a year before the cup and the whole year after he constantly hit the notes of - including the latin player. That poor left out latin player. Orozco and Castillo were never going to be good enough...ever. Yet?
And it is worth noting that Donovan was sat in favor of Sacha Kljestan during the Gold Cup. And to be fair lots of players besides the central mids have been playing poorly of late. But it could be as I noted earlier that JK is making all sorts of stupid personnel decisions to disguise the fact that he is really picking on Michael. Clever isn't he?
And this has been popular? To me it just shows how stubborn JK is when he gets an idea in his head. JK marches to his own highly idiosyncratic drummer not popular opinion.
Actually, Bedoya took over Donovan's role. And Donovan was playing like shit. And the tactical adjustment seemed to work as we really picked things up immediately following the benching. All I'm saying is that you are slagging on MB (like you always do in every thread regardless of how he plays) while seemingly giving everyone else a pass. And in the games under Klinsmann where Bradley has actually gotten minutes, he has clearly been better than his counterparts in the middle of the park.
I refer you to post #13 of this thread where I argue that JK should give Michael a chance. And to post #30 of this thread where I argue that JK's exclusion of Michael is as bad as BB's always putting him into the starting lineup.
Sorry, saw him to much as a player. He hits the safe notes and then tries to play them. The difference was, as a WC striker it didn't matter. He produced and towed the company/political line. As a coach? I'm not so sure that it's just stubborn. He said a lot of s**t when he wasn't coach from the sidelines. I got a long memory. Then, when he became coach, and the player pool was ours...and not Germany's...he followed up with players that fit his snipes. If you call it stubborn, then I will just call him stupid. Makes more sense. Then again, these were many of the issues he had with Die Mannschaft until right before the cup. Players/assistants telling him his stuff wouldn't work and he better change it. Sounds just like Bayern. Players changing the tactics on the field. It's scary how those articles/comments by players/stories are coming to life here. I'm truly starting to worry now. I really hope we can win this next match. It's really needed. No matter what the clowns say about "we have time"...we really don't anymore, and I know you know it. We need a positive performance. The meekness of our attacks is disturbing, even without LD, who isn't going to be the white knight folks hope for either. I haven't been this pissed since the CCup when Bradley had freaking Davies sitting on his ass with a hapless attack, and a totally out of form/not playing DMB starting.
To be fair, he was pretty poor in that Mexico friendly, wrong position aside. Was a bad time for him before he bounced back in the way he does. Every other game he's been in? Sure, why not.
The real problem is that all of MB, Danny, Edu, Beckerman, Jones are better suited to be 6's. The guys who should be 8's are injured (Holden, Torres), or judged too young or inexperienced (Mix), or judged too important at other positions (Donovan). Maybe Fabian Johnson should slide in there although he might be better as an outside player. I think the parts are there to solve the midfield riddle once everyone is healthy and available. And as unimpressed as I am by JK, I think he'll figure out the answer. It is just taking him a ridiculous amount of time to do so, although to be sure he does have some excuses at the moment (Holden, Torres injured and Donovan not on the roster).
Quite frankly I don't think Torres is the 8 either. He's never played like that for Pachuca. The only one who comes close is Holden, if we ever see him anywhere near what he was again, so IMO, it's even worse than that. The system our coach employs doesn't fit our players.