I believe MB is a decent player, but he has been disappointing and his confidence is shit...time to sit him. No excuses for the guy...the formation has suited him....give me another team or midfielder that has 2 workhorse behind hin (JJ and Beckerman) to clean up his shit! Bench his bald ass or sub him in later to take the pressure off him.
I'm so glad many of these posters are not our coach. Did someone really say MB was the worst player on the field during the Portugal game? Geez. That's just not even a starting point for a conversation.
@appoo is right. MB is being asked to do too much. He's the Cup's top runner, more than 1KM ahead of the next highest player, 3.4 km ahead of the 5th place guy, Germany's Lahm. Yet he's also being asked to be the creative engine of the team, with only one true attacking player to service (Dempsey). @Spursfan1 is also right. Get Jozy back into the XI and MB can return to a deeper role more likely to suit his abilities. But right now Mike Bradley is a classic #8 workhorse who is also taking on the responsibilities of a play-maker and of a second striker. It's too much to ask, and he doesn't really have the skillset. Plus, he's only had 1 poor game (Ghana) and two average-to-good games. http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/statistics/players/distance.html Players - Distance covered Goals scoredShotsShot positionsAttackingDefendingDisciplinaryPassesDistance PLAYERS▴▾MATCHES PLAYED▴▾MINUTES PLAYED▴▾DISTANCE COVERED▴▾DISTANCE COVERED IN POSSESSION▴▾DISTANCE COVERED NOT IN POSSESSION▴▾TOP SPEED▴▾ Michael BRADLEY327038.0km12.2km15.8km28.3km/h Marcelo DIAZ327036.7km14.6km12.7km27.9km/h Mile JEDINAK327035.4km11.1km15.5km29.1km/h Muhamed BESIC327034.9km13.4km13.3km31.2km/h Philipp LAHM327034.6km15.5km11.6km28.7km/h
... and the land of emotionally overwrought support for veterans deemed "untouchable" even when they're not delivering. It is a "what have you done for me lately" kind of business. Michael Essien might actually be a fit analogy since Essien saw, what, 20 mins of playing time this tourney. You get the minutes you deserve on current form, not nostalgia.
we need him out there. yes, we need him to get his head in the game, figure out what's going on, maybe have his dad or his wife or kids talk to him, but we need him. hell, send him to church on sunday or temple on saturday, anything
He has done an awful lots of work. it would be much easier if jozy was present. still his touch on jermaines pass was atrocious.
Whoosh... I wasn't lauding his distance covered, although it is impressive. Really, it's a sign of the point that I and others are making -- MB is being asked to do too much, including important tasks outside his skill set and with few helpful attacking options to work with. His performances have underwhelmed because he is being asked to play out of his element, beyond his abilities.
I don't know how he fixes the "problem." We've all seen Bradley perform at a higher level than this. It is true that we probably haven't seen him run a gauntlet of quality midfields like those of Germany, Ghana, and Portugal in quick succession. I think Klinsmann's solution to the problem is to keep running him out there and let him figure it out.
Nobody is asking him to run that much. He does it himself. That's the essence of his game, running around a lot trying to make things happen. That's why he can't play the Beckerman spot or any other kind of holding mid type role.
It has nothing to do with veterans being untouchable. I was completely fine with LD not making the team because he was probably past it. I honestly feel that some people simply don't understand what Bradley provides for this team because he is not an AM and watching a holding mid play is boring. But his work rate is undeniable. What I see is a lot of people asking for a replacement simply to replace Bradley. Replacing Bradley with Disk is conceding defeat. Michael Bradley had the most passes of any American with 52. There were 8 Germans who had more passes than he did including 3 that had more than 100 each. We were dominated. Do you seriously believe that some other American instead of Bradley would have changed that?
not what i am saying at all. I am saying that MB is being asked to do more than his usual role for the National Team for the entire game, and its a weakness of this roster that plausible help isn't on the bench to cover him or to deal with injuries, cards and fatigue.
Huh? Bradley is a holding mid. He's not a defensive mid like Beckerman. But is a B2b holding mid who is supposed to link up the defense to the attack. That isn't possible when there is no one on the offensive side of the field except Dempsey.
JK is asking him to do multiple tasks. Play CM (a role he can play), play second striker underneath Dempsey (something he has never done and isn't suited for), and create scoring chances even though the lineup has only one attacker (Dempsey). MB's best role is as a box-to-box CM, a classic #8, and as the 4th or 5th attacker. In this World Cup he's often our 2nd attacker behind Dempsey. I love what MB brings to the table, but I would never want him to be a team's 2nd attacking option. Thanks to Altidore's injury, thanks to JK's lack of trust in Johannsson and Wondo (and Green), and thanks to the absence of he-who-shall-not-be-named, JK is asking way too much of MB. MB isn't free-lancing.
The truth is that we played the last two games very conservatively because a draw was all we needed in both matches. So playing with 5 mids, 3 of which are supposed to be defensively focused, is party of the plan. If we had to win today, we would like have seen Wondo or some other attacking option in rather than Davis or Zusi.
You are completly wrong about him. Best US player by far. Thats no trolling but my opinion. MB will always look bad at this position. Its his job and JK knows it. Highest workload, 2nd best passes, most sprints and always high pressure on the opponent. Vs less elite side not like Germany was today this pressure will pay out. OFC you look very bad when it does not work out but thats not MB fault.
I agree with most of this. Bradley is a dangerous player as a guy who trails the attack gets the dropback pass at the 18. He does not have the pace to be a striker and he doesn't have the vision to be a #10. I don't think JK's lineups were based on a lack of trust. I think they were based on trying to maximize advancing, which we did. We looked much the same against Portugal early as we did for most of the game today. When Portugal scored, however, we started attacking and creating chances. I will be VERY surprised if we don't have a true striker in the lineup on Tuesday.
You know who'd be a good replacement for mike right now? Landon Donovan. Oh,yeah,I went there. Truthfully,he's back to the headless chicken style that we hadn't seen for years,and I'm damned if I know why.
Would we want Mix starting and MB super subbing and exherting full energy in less minutes or vice versa...I want to see Mix get his shot at this competition...see if he plays above his perceived faults or if he rises to the ocassion
I wish I had a chalk board. --Johnson------------------------------------------------Beasley-- ---------------------------Beckerman-------------------------------- -----------------Jones---------------Bradley------------------------- ---------Mix------------------------------------------------------------ -----------(Jones)-----------------------------------------(Beasley)---------------- -------------------------(Bradley)-------------Dempsey-------------------- ----(Johnson)------------(Mix)-------------------------------------- ---------------------------Jozy-----(Dempsey)--------------------------------- ---------------------------(Jozy)--------------------------------------- Here, you see a players starting position, and where I'd want him to be on the attack by the (name). We want to funnel our attack through Jozy, Dempsey, Mix, and Fabian Johnson. Bradley, Jones, and Beasley are in support of them. Their job is provide defensive cover for those ahead of them, and find those ahead of them in good positions. Positionally, Bradley should stay behind that attacking quartet. His job is to be a table setter. Deliver medium and long range passes forward, while cycling the ball shorter with the mids and defenders around him to maintain possesion. Jones, an atheletic beast, is there to cover for Fab Johnson when he runs forward, as well as to make his own runs forward when FJ stays back. Beaz is there to cover for the huge hole that Dmepsey will inevitably leave. We don't want him getting too far forward. It would just pull Bradley and Beckerman out of position. It's not where you line your players up, it's what space you want them to occupy.
I have been going over and over this and kept coming to the same conclusion... Jones and MB are such fantastic two-way midfielders we just have to take off Beckerman (despite his exceptional tournament) and go with another striker for offense. But, maybe I am thinking about it wrong... maybe we need more defensive midfielders not less... Maybe we should start Omar (or Brooks) with Besler and add Cam into the midfield with Beckerman. We could play a 4-2-3-1 with MB and JJJ as part of the three with maybe Mix or Ali or Zusi as the third. At first you are going to say we give up our width but Bease and Johnson have been our most consistent crossers from defense - and for long stretches of the Germany game I felt like Davis and Zusi were playing behind MB and Jones. JK has previously said that Geoff Cameron was a great player but his best position may be defensive center midfield not right back or center half. I think that we should always try to get the ten best field players on the field with the number one gk. and try and find a system of play that capitalizes on their strength. And that way late in the game it is easy to sub off MB for more offense (Green, Yedlin, Zusi, Mix, etc.)