The Michael Bradley thread

Discussion in 'USA Men: News & Analysis' started by ttrevett, Jun 11, 2015.

  1. superdave

    superdave Member+

    Jul 14, 1999
    VB, VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    And not even a good one!!! He does the seltzer gag over and over and over and over and over and over and.....................
     
  2. bob347

    bob347 Member

    Liverpool FC
    United States
    Oct 15, 2017
    I really don't understand the people that think Bradley should be on the same field as the rest of the national team. His negatives far outweigh any of his positives. His slowness of play, lack of ever getting stuck in, lack of any passion IRT to his teammates, the only time he ever wins a ball is when he is the 2nd player in a double team and he gets a fortunate bounce, constantly killing the attack/flow of the game with his back passes are way worse than the couple of decent long diagonals/crosses he makes a game. He hands off the responsibility of making a pass forward to his CB's far more than he takes it. The Lion no longer has any teeth.
     
    TimB4Last repped this.
  3. yurch10

    yurch10 Member+

    Feb 13, 2004
    Do or die game, the Lion inked into one of the team's most important positions, and we lose.

    Wash, rinse, repeat.

    Two years after he should have been dropped or retired gracefully, he's still cemented in the starting 11 (and cemented is nearly literal, as he moves about that fast).

    I hate calling attention to when I'm right (jk, I love it), but how much longer does this song and dance have to continue before people start demanding change?

    Something fishy is going on. He's not a top MLS player, yet remains in the squad. The only competition provided is Trapp, who stinks. USSF is somehow involved. If anyone had any cajones, they'd ignore this team like I have until this nonsense is finished.

    Are people going to be ok when he gets called up and is starting in the initial WC qualifiers? When is it time to simply end it? Does he keep playing til he feels like declining call ups? Does it stop when he breaks the caps record (my hypothesis)?

    Shame on the entire US Soccer operation.
     
  4. jond

    jond Member+

    Sep 28, 2010
    Club:
    Levski Sofia
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    This is why Jermaine Jones remains incredibly underrated. Back in 2011-14 his ability as a mid covered Bradley's weaknesses and allowed him to play to his strengths.

    2011-13 was the best ball Mikey played in his career and it largely happened with Jones as a dual 8 next to him.

    But that Bradley is long gone. He no longer can control tempo as a pivot as he once did. It's been 5 frickin years since he was of that quality. Now all it takes is a minor adjustment from Tata to overload the midfield and we're drowning.
     
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  5. dougtee

    dougtee Member+

    Feb 7, 2007
    if at the end of the day you need a defensive robot wizard to cover for bradleys shortcomings, it is clearly time to move on from him since he is hardly a chance creating machine at the other end. weston is not tyler adams and clearly needs to focus on his own role without worrying about babysitting bradley
     
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  6. Maximum Optimal

    Maximum Optimal Member+

    Jul 10, 2001
    Bradley is Bradley, but the reason he is still in the lineup is the lack of suitable alternatives.

    I take as positives the emergence of Cannon at RB and Pomykal as a central mid. When Adams and Yedlin return to health, and Cannon and Pomykal are integrated into the squad, Michael will ride off into the sunset. But for the Gold Cup he was better than Trapp or any available alternative.
     
    EruditeHobo repped this.
  7. yurch10

    yurch10 Member+

    Feb 13, 2004
    No he wasn't.

    The alternative was the #6 who played the 2nd most minutes of any American in the Bundesliga.
     
  8. Maximum Optimal

    Maximum Optimal Member+

    Jul 10, 2001
    ok...what is his name
     
  9. yurch10

    yurch10 Member+

    Feb 13, 2004
    Morales
     
  10. Maximum Optimal

    Maximum Optimal Member+

    Jul 10, 2001
    arguable at best...Morales is at best a stopgap imo...guys like Pomykal, Adams, Cannon, Yedlin have more to offer at the international level
     
  11. yurch10

    yurch10 Member+

    Feb 13, 2004
    It never ends...Argue all you want, this guy has been the midfield fulcrum against T&T (disaster) and last night (not as much of a disaster, but his play was apparently).

    So you're saying a guy who played 1600 BL minutes wouldn't be better than what you saw from MB90 last night?

    Could MB, in his current form, be a starter on a mid-table BL side?

    Lowering expectations is something USSF has done to perfection. You and others have fell for it, hook line and sinker.

    Can't wait to get into more "arguments" when MB90 is called in again this summer and beyond. Bradley can't lead his team, with MLS' highest payroll, to the playoffs. But Morales can only start 20 games in the Bundesliga! Arguable!
     
  12. Maximum Optimal

    Maximum Optimal Member+

    Jul 10, 2001
    Yeah. I'm saying it's arguable. In the case of Adams, there is no argument imo and Greggg's scheme to play Adams at a different position when we have such a strong need for a 6 makes no sense. In the case of Morales, I'm not convinced. ymmv
     
  13. yurch10

    yurch10 Member+

    Feb 13, 2004
    Ok, I disagree, and don't think MB90 could sniff the field of a BL team at this point.

    But this has pretty much been my argument for 4-5 years (looking for other options/playing other options).

    Anyone who disagrees says "I'm not convinced".

    Then we miss the WC and lose the GC.

    Then I think that's all the "proof" I need.

    Then it's not. BL starters are still not necessarily better than an average MLS 31 year old.
     
  14. Maximum Optimal

    Maximum Optimal Member+

    Jul 10, 2001
    btw we seem to be arguing slightly different things. You are saying Bradley would not start for a BL team. I am discussing whether Morales should have been playing in place of Bradley at the Gold Cup.
     
  15. yurch10

    yurch10 Member+

    Feb 13, 2004
    Slightly different, but pretty much the same...

    Morales playing at a higher level than MB is currently capable (I don't think many would argue that, at the very least).

    Thus, Morales = better player, and should have been playing in place of MB90.

    The beginning of this was your comment on "no alternatives available". I simply pointed out that, yes, there are alternatives available, alternatives that are playing at a much higher level than the current version of MB.

    You disagree, which is pretty much the status quo for the last 4-5 years, which has led, in my mind, to the worst failures in US soccer history.

    Basically, your argument is - Bradley is the best of what we had after Adams got injured, we did the best we could.

    My argument is - Bradley is not the best of what we had after Adams got injured, we should have looked at the Bundesliga starter.

    Luckily for you, we'll never know!!!
     
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  16. Maximum Optimal

    Maximum Optimal Member+

    Jul 10, 2001
    You might be right. I am all for Morales being called up at future camps. I'm not sure why he hasn't been called up by Greggg yet. He should be given a look.
     
  17. TimB4Last

    TimB4Last Member+

    May 5, 2006
    Dystopia
    It's the why that has everyone else here so upset.
     
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  18. superdave

    superdave Member+

    Jul 14, 1999
    VB, VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Look I love Jermaine, and think if he hadn't been injured we'd have made the semifinals in SAfrica.

    However.

    Bradley's star level performances started in 2009, and continued through 2010. I mean, it's subjective, I can't "prove" it, but if I really cared I'm positive I could find foreign media saying the same thing.

    But agenda gonna agenda. Everything European is perfect, and everything American sucks.* Got it.

    *Clark was good in 2009, when he was in MLS. He was in Europe in 2010, and was a disaster in SAfrica.
     
  19. DHC1

    DHC1 Member+

    Jun 3, 2002
    NYC
    You are welcome to your opinion of course but the thought that an average MLS player is equivalent to an average B1 player (50% of minutes for a midtable team) is laughable. If it was an elite/ rising MLS player, it’s a great debate but that’s not what this is.

    I fear that your opinion is what Berhalter thinks as well - only auto starters in better leagues are better than average MLS players.
     
  20. DHC1

    DHC1 Member+

    Jun 3, 2002
    NYC
    I appreciate that you’ve added a lot of substantive point beyond chicken love to hyperbolic posters.

    That being said, c’mon, man. No one (or barely anyone, is saying all of Europe is better than MLS and I think you know that. The consensus perspective is that MLS is roughly akin to B2/Championship and all are meaningfully below the major leagues.

    It’s only die hard MLS fans who differentiate MLS from the other two leagues (because I can’t recall many posters pushing for a B2/championship player over a major league one).

    FWIW, when Bradley was a young, fast-rising star in MLS, he fit the exact profile of players who should be featuring on the USMNT - the international exposure helps them get to a higher league/team level.

    I think you’d agree that’s not who he is now.
     
  21. superdave

    superdave Member+

    Jul 14, 1999
    VB, VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I kind of think there are. Many of the active posters in the USMNT forum are also active in YA.

    But thanks for the compliment! :cool:
     
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  22. nobody

    nobody Member+

    Jun 20, 2000
    What's Danny Williams' injury situation? He looked decent in multiple appearances for the US. Morales is an obvious choice as well, so there's two options who are actually experienced in high level games. If the bar is lower than that and someone like Trapp gets a shot, then you pretty much have to open it up to a good percentage of American midfielders.I thought Bradley played pretty well in the first half last night before playing poorly in the second. And of course, it is only fair to note his partner in midfield (McKennie) was poor throughout. But, the idea that we can do no better than someone who has time and again now led us to failure just appears absurd on the surface. We failed to qualify, we failed to win the Gold Cup, we have faltered in the friendlies and in many of these cases Bradley was one of the poorer performers on the field while playing a key role. In none of them was he leading a valiant push to turn over the result. It shuldn't take an amazing amount of insight to think that maybe trying someone else can't turn out much worse. OH that's right, we tried WIll Trapp, so since he sucked no one else could possibly do better.
     
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  23. Maximum Optimal

    Maximum Optimal Member+

    Jul 10, 2001
    Danny Williams is someone I rate over both Morales and Bradley. Hopefully he returns to health. He could be a contributor at a position where we are a bit thin.
     
  24. DHC1

    DHC1 Member+

    Jun 3, 2002
    NYC
    What does that smiley face mean? Are you actually saying thanks or was it a kinder chicken love take? I’m seriously old and don’t know which way to take it (I’ll be fine either way!)

    The best part about BS is that we’ve moved off of euro-pixie dust. Now, the biases work in the other direction AFAIK
     

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