The Michael Bradley thread

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

  1. Black Tide

    Black Tide Member+

    Mar 8, 2007
    the 8th Dimension
    Jermaine. And honestly it might be a small improvement over Bradley. Fight me.
     
    nbarbour and TheHoustonHoyaFan repped this.
  2. DHC1

    DHC1 Member+

    Jun 3, 2002
    NYC
    I think Cobi would accept as well.

    I love Jermaine Jones but he’s playing indoor soccer now. Cmon.
     
  3. Black Tide

    Black Tide Member+

    Mar 8, 2007
    the 8th Dimension
    True. But I bet he can still win a 50/50 ball unlike Bradley.

    edit for clarity.

    I am not advocating calling up Jones. Cobi or Jermaine. We should drop Bradley though.
     
  4. #1 Feilhaber and Adu

    Aug 1, 2007
    Once Again, just like the beginning of the Sarachan era, the moment Bradley is not in the team, the players and the team so much better even with a crappy "system".

    Our opponents target Bradley like clock-work, wait for him to tire and then go all-out on his zone. They even have the nerve to tell us this publicly because they know our player selections are so rigged to nepotism, that it will never matter.

    Days of Our Lives: episode 2022 - General Egg and the Bradley midnight tango

    Produced by Fox Sports.
     
  5. juveeer

    juveeer Member+

    Aug 3, 2006
    Bradley should never suit up again.
     
    UncagedGorilla and smokarz repped this.
  6. smokarz

    smokarz Member+

    Aug 9, 2006
    Hartford, CT

    UNfortunlately, not his decision to make. The moron 3G keep forcing him to dress up.
     
    Namdynamo repped this.
  7. ttrevett

    ttrevett Member+

    Apr 2, 2002
    Atlanta, GA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Bump for this revelation:

    https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020...ndergo-ankle-surgery-could-be-out-four-months

    Shocking to me that Jozy would step out and say something that seems so anti-Toronto as he did in this piece:

    https://www.espn.com/soccer/toronto...toronto-fc-mishandled-michael-bradleys-injury

    One wonders if this is the death knell for Bradley's playing days. I'm not sure if this is the same ankle that we all saw pictures of being bent 90 degrees when he was warming up for the national team a few years back, but it would make sense that this was the culmination of that process.

    If this is the end, let me be the first to say thanks to Michael for some wonderful memories. The Slovenia goal, the golazo from 50 yards out against Mexico, etc. Well done kid, enjoy your family, get your coaching badges quickly and take Europe by storm.
     
  8. truefan420

    truefan420 Member+

    May 30, 2010
    oakland
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    He said something similar about their training staff and his own injury
     
    gogorath and Gacm32 repped this.
  9. ttrevett

    ttrevett Member+

    Apr 2, 2002
    Atlanta, GA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    From the standpoint of protecting my body, if I'm a pro footballer, I'm getting a second opinion from an independent physician if I get a significant injury. No one prevents these guys from going out and paying another physician for an opinion. There has to be some responsibility shared for one's own rehab. Obviously the team has a vested interest in having Bradley on the field, but they also look at other variables that are not always in the player's best interests.
     
  10. truefan420

    truefan420 Member+

    May 30, 2010
    oakland
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I doubt the team physician would risk their medical license by giving false information. They lay all of the info out. If the player feels pressure from the club that’s on them not the doctor. However, I do agree. They should always get a second opinion.
     
  11. mschofield

    mschofield Member+

    May 16, 2000
    Berlin
    Club:
    Union Berlin
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    Their interest is in having a healthy MB on the field, one who can perform. I suppose there could some dirty dealing going on, in that he might have had the ability to stay on his old wage through the end of rehab for an injury incurred during that injury. But they did resign him, and while a huge paycut it is still a significant MLS wage (all we know is TAM, so under $1.5m, right). It seems unlikely that they would resign him with the idea of not playing him, and they would have known from the first day the nature of the injury and, if surgery were needed, the rehab time. If TFC were ignoring his health in this, they would have insisted on the surgery as soon as it was possible While this route offered the possibility that he would play again without surgery, the medical team would have known surgery was always possible.
     
  12. Ghost

    Ghost Member+

    Sep 5, 2001
    32 years old. Already slow. Ankle injury to sideline him for months. Native-born backup, possible starter on Canada's national team, waiting in the wings.

    Let's give him a big new contract!

    Makes perfect sense.
     
    TOAzer repped this.
  13. mschofield

    mschofield Member+

    May 16, 2000
    Berlin
    Club:
    Union Berlin
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    Who, Osario? Or are you talking about Laryea (sp?) or the other young'un. Serious question, I'm wondering.
    In any case, the surgery gives this mystery player two solid months to cement themselves into Bradley's role, and more if, as you suspect, MB does not come back strong from the injury. As for the money, I don't think they are allowed to cut him off during rehab, in any case. So if the original surgery surgery had been in December, which seems reasonable, they would have been paying him his previous wage for the duration of his rehab time, which would have been through March, and three months of his previous salary was right about $1.5m, the max a TAM signing can be on, right? I am not sure on this, but I just read a couple FIFA rulings and that seems to be how they roll on injuries that come near an end of contract.
     
    russ repped this.
  14. 50/50 Ball

    50/50 Ball Member+

    Sep 6, 2006
    USA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    @mschofield Liam Fraser is the hoped for heir to Bradley, 21 years old and a Toronto boy.
     
  15. SamsArmySam

    SamsArmySam Member+

    Apr 13, 2001
    Minneapolis, MN
    Surprised Bradley is 32. Thought he was older now. Guess that's a function of his early start with the USMNT (and my memory).

    Hopefully he gets a miracle surgery outcome. Players can still contribute at a high level from midfield at 32, 33, 34. But if this is the end of the playing days, put me down with @ttrevett above... Sincere thanks for the memories. He produced some highlights for me as fan.

    On the path into coaching, I recall that Jesse Marsch was his mentor when he was coming up at NY Metro. Would not at all surprise me to see MB find the same successes in coaching as Jesse has. Seem like similar players, similar personalities.
     
  16. ttrevett

    ttrevett Member+

    Apr 2, 2002
    Atlanta, GA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    There are many options that are laid out by a physician. Many choices are within the standard of care for different injuries. A physician that is employed by a team may have a certain set of biasis towards a certain type of treatment, which is many times known by the team prior to them hiring him or her. I'm very cynical when it comes to motives of for-profit enterprises, so if I'm a pro athlete and my body is my paycheck, I'm getting an unbiased opinion. I would never blindly trust someone who is paid by an entity which has its own interests in mind. In the perfect world the employers' interests align with the employees' interests. But how often is that the case?
     
  17. juvechelsea

    juvechelsea Member+

    Feb 15, 2006
    #4192 juvechelsea, Jan 22, 2020
    Last edited: Jan 22, 2020
    Re Jones, we flushed him and Beckerman because we ceased to cover ground and Bradley was the least decrepit. He now looks exactly like they did when we moved on, and is hurt to boot.

    I think the only think saving Bradley now is GB's crazed definition of the 6 into a non-cruncher spot. You define away the need of Bradley to chase, and talk up passing. He doesn't have to move.

    So the theory goes. I think you can try to define away the need for midfield scrapping but you need it regardless. Someone has to do the dirty work or opposing mids feast.

    I also think, as I have argued ad nauseum, that we systematically overrate the tangible contribution we get from using a 6 as a 10 and not one who gets many assists. You need defense from someplace? Ditto offense. If your playmaker gets a handful of assists a season and the other team has a 20 assist man you're a one legged man in an a$$ kicking contest. And ironically you steered your 6 decision away from crunching and towards passing, only to then go with a passer who barely makes a detectable statistical dent. All while claiming to be Mr. Analytics.

    Personally I think the NT should as a matter of process leave out anyone 28 or older when the cycle begins and explore its options fully. Only finding the youthful cupboard is completely bare should old farts who will be 32 or older be brought back. We instead schedule friendlies with Father Time, who eventually beats everyone.

    I could see exceptions for Dempsey types with no hint of decay. But Bradley started occasionally looking slow and old in 2014. Bradley has been a professional since 2004. My theory is often enough early in early out. Look at when Owen or Rooney started tailing off. Even Landon the Ever Fit was burned out and on sabbatical at 30. The ones like Beasley who come in young and play til well in their 30s are amazing (but rare).
     
    UncagedGorilla, TOAzer and 50/50 Ball repped this.
  18. tomásbernal

    tomásbernal Member+

    Sep 4, 2007
    Club:
    Portland Timbers
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Regarding Bradley's injury, the Toronto medical staff and Jozy's comments about their mishandling of it I'd like to point to this quote from Vanney, particularly the bolded part: “It's not easy to find,” explained Vanney, outlining why it was not evident until the lack of progress required further examinations. “It's an injury where you feel like you can pretty much do everything, but there's something that just tells you it's not right: a little bit of an annoyance and a pain."

    If you have a player that you've spent so much money on, just signed to a new contract and consider of central importance to your club, why on Earth wouldn't you use all your resources to do "further examinations" at the outset, even if just to make sure there's no deeper issue? I'd be interested to know what these "further examinations" entailed, how much they cost and whether or not they required any sort of surgical intrusion (as opposed to just additional scans or something).
     
    TOAzer and ChrisSSBB repped this.
  19. LouisianaViking07/09

    Aug 15, 2009
     
  20. nobody

    nobody Member+

    Jun 20, 2000
    I think I like MIke Bradley the person better than Mike Bradley the player these days.
     
  21. Suyuntuy

    Suyuntuy Member+

    Jul 16, 2007
    Vancouver, Canada
    We always knew Mike has a tendency to impersonate a chicken with its head cut off, since his Villa days. And we also knew he lacked the concentration to protect a back line on his own.

    Thing is, he was a decent distributor and had the motor to cover a scary amount of ground. Having Mike in your team was not having a great player, but having a guy who could be like two mediocre players, just because of the area covered for the full 90. Mike had the stamina of an Energizer bunny.

    Also, he had the ability to make the pass, but only once he got into advanced positions. He was not a deep-lying playmaker, more a B2B CM who could spot the right lob to a rushing AM or forward. And he could score from distance on occasion.

    All in all, a very valuable guy to have. But his gifts were always more in transition and attack, as a B2B or even an attacking CM, not as a defender/DM.

    Since Jones wasn't the most disciplined guy either to leave behind, Klinsi solved the issue with a third guy in the middle in charge of protecting the defense: Edu, first, and Dreads, later.
     
  22. #1 Feilhaber and Adu

    Aug 1, 2007
    TOAzer repped this.
  23. 50/50 Ball

    50/50 Ball Member+

    Sep 6, 2006
    USA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States

    That's not his job. Very few pro athletes walk away on their own terms. The coach/GM makes the call.

    Vanney has already started the transition in Toronto.
     
  24. 50/50 Ball

    50/50 Ball Member+

    Sep 6, 2006
    USA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States

    Mediocre for Roma, not mediocre for the USA/CONCACAF or 90% of international teams. Healthy, young Mike was a good player. Roma doesn't pay for and give 1000 mintues to mediocre center mids.

    I don't understand the constant fantasy of comparing ourselves with the world powers when we can't even be sure of 6 points in a home and away with Panama.
     

Share This Page