Climbing the Mountain: Bob Bradley at Stabæk

Discussion in 'Yanks Abroad Academy' started by Lloyd Heilbrunn, Jan 2, 2014.

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  1. Hararea

    Hararea Member+

    Jan 21, 2005
    I think your general point is a good one, although the fact that Stabaek ended up 15 pts above auto-relegation and 10 pts above the playoff suggests that they weren't as desperate for help as they may have thought.

    And what does it feel like from the other end?

    You're hiking in the woods, sitting in your camp next to the campfire. Your buddy who went for a walk looking for berries and mushrooms comes back to the camp, soaking wet and muddy. "What happened?", you ask. He tells about how he got stuch in a marsh. Then you pull out a satellite phone to request an SOS airlift, insisting that you're surrounded by alligators and Burmese pythons. ;)
     
  2. lmorin

    lmorin Member+

    Mar 29, 2000
    New Hampshire
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    So, rather than claim an alligator/python fiasco to the news media, the call actually goes to Bob Bradley, requesting his assitance. He arrives on the scene, takes note of conditions, history and who the buddy and map reader are, then mutters something about direct evidence being better than some ridiculous map that someone states is the proper way to get from point A to point B. Instead, BB determines that the map is bogus and says, "No worries. I know how to get from point A to point B." And, as far as the wide, wide world can see, he accomplishes the feat, just as he promised. Moreover, when he finishes the trip, someone asks about future trips. He is quoted as saying, "No worries. I know how to get from point B to point C just as well, and most likely, better."
     
  3. Lloyd Heilbrunn

    Lloyd Heilbrunn Member+

    Feb 11, 2002
    Jupiter, Fl.
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Coach_01.JPG Call Bob to grab him!
     
  4. Diegan

    Diegan Member+

    San Diego FC
    United States
    Sep 18, 2008
    Club:
    Celtic FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Pretty much all of my friends who are interested in Stabæk have said that Bob came in, installed a good mentality, had to be frugal with limited resources, plugged holes with older players when he couldn't find long-term replacements, and focused on getting ugly results in order to stay up. I'm biased, but that was my view as well. Tippeligaen can be a bit too open at points (it's been interesting watching Liam Henderson suddenly become Diego Maradona for Rosenborg as a Celtic fan) and I think as a result Bob's sides can fail the eye test. I also wouldn't put too much emphasis on two people's opinions as representative of Stabæk supporters - most of them are happy from what I can tell.
     
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  5. superdave

    superdave Member+

    Jul 14, 1999
    VB, VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Cap him now! He can really put the squeeze on the other team.
     
  6. Sevens7ar

    Sevens7ar Member

    Apr 17, 2014
    Club:
    Stabaek IF
    #1381 Sevens7ar, May 3, 2015
    Last edited: May 3, 2015
    Luckiest win of the season when we beat Mjøndalen 1-0 at home. We got less than we deserved from the first couple of matches so I guess you can say we're about to break even - which puts us in 2nd at the moment (two matches in round 6 still pending).

    Maybe the trend is a bit negative with the last two matches being our weakest of the season - or maybe it is a bit coincidental. Today was sloppy, that's for sure.

    One factor that contributed in a negative way in this match was Næss missing from the central defence, which meant Granli came in as a right back and Jalasto moved to CB. Granli (honestly my least favorite player in our squad) had a terrible game once again. Mjøndalen exploited this in the second half and came to several great chances but GK Sayouba made a couple excellent saves to extend our clean sheet record to 465 minutes of football (including one cup match).
     
  7. Sevens7ar

    Sevens7ar Member

    Apr 17, 2014
    Club:
    Stabaek IF
    Highlights

     
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  8. ArsenalMetro

    ArsenalMetro Member+

    United States
    Aug 5, 2008
    Chicago, IL
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    "Maybe the trend is a bit negative with the last two matches being our weakest of the season - or maybe it is a bit coincidental. Today was sloppy, that's for sure."

    "...extend our clean sheet record to 465 minutes of football..."

    Deep breaths, man, it's going pretty well. :)
     
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  9. Sevens7ar

    Sevens7ar Member

    Apr 17, 2014
    Club:
    Stabaek IF
    Hence the "maybe it is a bit coincidental".

    Next match will be our toughest challenge of the season so far: Vålerenga away. That's a team that I have predicted will finish in the top three this year and they have had a good start, with the exception of their loss to Aalesund in their previous home game. Definately a stronger team than Tromsø and Mjøndalen but possibly one that suits us better and allows us to play more to our own strengths than our last two opponents.
     
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  10. Fanatical Monk

    Fanatical Monk Member+

    Jun 14, 2011
    Fantasyland
    Stabaek, the Nebraska football of Norway.
     
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  11. Jeff Bradley

    Jeff Bradley Member+

    Jun 3, 1999
    Manasquan, NJ on the beautiful Jersey Shore.
    Club:
    Le Havre AC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I should stay off BigSoccer. I know that.

    But, man, last year Bob was told to keep the team up. He inherited a team that was not equipped to compete in Tippeligaen. I could see that during pre-season. It was godawful. So, they came up with a plan to survive. In the meantime, they lost Sayouba to Ivory Coast for the World Cup, which they could not overcome. They weren't able to keep Adu, their best player. They had to devise a new game plan for the second half of the season. And, they finished mid-table, and made a run to the semifinal of the Cup (and were unlucky not to beat Molde in the semifinal, in my opinion). They swept Rosenborg. They went away with the intent to WIN. How any Stabaek fan could feel somehow cheated by what happened last year is BEYOND ME. Anyway, every single player who performed well (Thorsby, Boli, Brustad) were sold... I believe they sold off more than half of their goals before this season.

    And now they're on 13 points after five games, with four straight clean sheets...they're playing really attractive football, looking to attack, playing fast and free-wheeling. Did Sayouba have to make a few big saves today? Sure. But did Stabaek also miss 3-4 clear chances? Yes. Lucky? Hell no.

    Carry on. Second place. Building confidence. I'll take it!
     
  12. chad

    chad Member+

    Jun 24, 1999
    Manhattan Beach
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I know, I know, it's a different guy, but boy did that make me chuckle.
     
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  13. Sevens7ar

    Sevens7ar Member

    Apr 17, 2014
    Club:
    Stabaek IF
    #1388 Sevens7ar, May 4, 2015
    Last edited: May 4, 2015
    The thing is, no one is saying that we did not get some incredible results last year, or that we did not manage to do the necessary things on the transfer market despite limited funds. All we're saying is that there was a big difference between the roster we had during preseason that caused everyone to predict Stabæk to end in 16th and the one we actually had at our disposal during the season - which means people in the club did several things right, like identifying our needs correctly and then finding the right players to fill the holes, on a limited budget.

    For some reason, some people seem to be offended by this and want to believe that all our results defy the laws of nature and probability, and never can be explained in any other way than pure wizardry on Bob's part. What gets me is that someone can deny facts and other people's knowledge just based on looking at some misinterpreted numbers on some website and assumptions pulled out of thin air - hence the analogy where your crudely drawn map does not fit with the real world terrain, and then argue it's the real world that's wrong.

    I believe both @@ringo and I have said that we are much happier with how the team looks this season and that some of the things we did not like last year seem to be better now. Unfortunately it all drowned in a silly cavil about last year's squad.

    FYI, Bob has not been too happy with our performance and ability to play our own game in the last two matches either (media also seem to agree that Mjøndalen dominated us in the 2nd half and were unlucky not to get any goals and points) so I don't feel I'm way off when I say they have been our weakest performances of the season - while adding that we got less than we deserved from the first two matches, to make it clear that we have had an excellent start to the season and really do deserve to be where we are at the moment.
     
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  14. Jeff Bradley

    Jeff Bradley Member+

    Jun 3, 1999
    Manasquan, NJ on the beautiful Jersey Shore.
    Club:
    Le Havre AC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Bob is rarely satisfied.

    Thankfully, I get to watch every minute of every match and know what I've seen. It's not going to be perfect with this roster. A lot of reclamation projects on the field.

    But so far, so good.
     
  15. BostonRed

    BostonRed Member+

    Oct 9, 2011
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    [​IMG]
     
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  16. Hararea

    Hararea Member+

    Jan 21, 2005
    Seems like the only fact I called into question was one where you later conceded: "That was a mistake on my part."

    But you're clearly bent out of shape about this, so I'll let the rest of it go.
     
  17. Sevens7ar

    Sevens7ar Member

    Apr 17, 2014
    Club:
    Stabaek IF
    We're up 2-0 at halftime in the away match against 2nd division (3rd tier) team KFUM in the second round of the cup. KFUM (The Norwegian branch of YMCA) is one of the better tier three teams with several players who have experience from Tippeligaen, like former Stabæk-players Torstein Andersen Aase and Stian Sortevik.
     
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  18. Stogey23

    Stogey23 Member+

    Dec 12, 1998
    San Diego, CA
    Hopefully things can improve.
     
  19. Sevens7ar

    Sevens7ar Member

    Apr 17, 2014
    Club:
    Stabaek IF
    Indeed, it's not a very good game. KFUM are actually on par with us in every aspect except where it counts. They have a lot of possession and most of the game is being played on our half. KFUM create some big chances and have been extremly close to finding the back of the net several times.

    Obviously this is the game of the year for a 2nd division team while it's the opposite for the Tippeligaen sides. The early rounds of the cup can be a bit tricky if you don't bring your A game. There are usually some big upsets every year. And indeed three Tippeligaen teams are losing to 2nd division sides this round. Possibly more; some matches are in extra time.

    Full-time and a 3-1 win. Very bad first 20 minutes, then we turn it up a notch and get two goals in five minutes, and a third one five minutes after the break. After that we hit the switch again, to "off" this time and KFUM was actually the better team for the remainder of the match, but fortunately only got one goal.
     
  20. Gorky

    Gorky Member+

    Jul 28, 2006
    NYC
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    "KFUM" seems harder to spell out with your arms.
     
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  21. Sevens7ar

    Sevens7ar Member

    Apr 17, 2014
    Club:
    Stabaek IF
    I believe we have a new record, with as many as four top division teams losing to 2nd division sides and failing to qualify for the third round of the cup - and three Tippeligaen clubs haven't played yet. Start and Haugesund were humiliated with 0-4 and 1-4 respectively, and even Tromsø and Vålerenga are out of the competition.

    Maybe we didn't impress anyone against KFUM and only did what was necessary to win - at least we're still able to beat an amateur team even on 75%.
     
  22. @ringo

    @ringo Member

    Jan 6, 2014
    Club:
    Stabaek IF
    A lot of those KFUM player have the quality to play at a higher level. They also form the core of Norways national team in Futsal. So it was never going to be easy.
     
  23. Sevens7ar

    Sevens7ar Member

    Apr 17, 2014
    Club:
    Stabaek IF
    True. Sortevik was actually one of our best players near the end of last season; he could still play in Tippeligaen. Andersen Aase was once concidered one of the top prospect in Norway and indeed dominated on our U19 team more than anyone I have seen. Sadly, he turned out to be too fragile for professional football, however - both physically and mentally. Jonvik had a short spell in Tippeligaen for Sarpsborg and is very skilled, and Christoffer Dahl is someone who has impressed me several times in the past (when I have seen him play for Lyn) but decided he didn't want to pursue a pro career shortly after he got a contract with Hønefoss, playing in Tippeligaen at the time. It's not their skill level stopping those guys from playing on a higher level.
     
  24. kruck

    kruck Member+

    Jan 12, 2008
    Houston, TX
    Club:
    SV Werder Bremen
    Good, I picked these four teams to finish in the final four of the Norwegian cup:

    4) Rosenborg, Molde, Stabaek, Brann

    Perhaps you can keep me up to date on on their status in the cup? Thanks
     
  25. Sevens7ar

    Sevens7ar Member

    Apr 17, 2014
    Club:
    Stabaek IF
    You can bookmark this page and keep track of the tournament.

    By the way, a bit lucky yesterday when Brann equalized in the 93rd minute and eventually won on penalties.
     
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