I don't think he should be fired. Yeah we lost to Panama and Mexico, but we got to the final. I don't think losing to this Mexican team means that we've gotten worse. Also, I don't think anyone is settling for being second-best.
Well, if we are going to pull the trigger, now is most certainly the time. A new coach would have a lot of friendlies and some time to tinker around before the qualifying starts. I don't know why everyone thinks we need Guus Hiddink or Klinsmann. I'd be happy with Jason Kreis or Nowak
not firing your coach after finishing second in the Gold cup is literally settling for second best. Everyone in the US mocked Mexico for struggling to find a good manager the past few years. Might not have been such a bad thing for them, afterall...
Short answer: No. He needs to go. Long answer: NO. He needs to go, now. Before the US fails to qualify for 2014. And even if we do, do you seriously expect us to get out of the group stage? I expect the US to get past the round of 16, building up what we have done before. I don't see Bob Bradley getting us to Brazil, much less the round of 8.
I agree he needs to go, but does your expectation that we should be improving on our last WC result take into account our player pool holes? I don't consider you an idiot and I'm not setting you up to look stupid. It's an honest question.
unrealistic. only a handful of teams are capable of being considered likely to get to the round of 8. the US is not one of them and wont be any time soon, regardless of who the coach is. the real questions that should decide our coaching situation are: 1. is our coach getting the most out of our available players? 2. is our program heading in the right direction?
You know, a few years back I'd have been ok with that. Now, not so much. And I don't think it's so much from a coaching/technical standpoint. I'm thinking more along the lines of talent evaluation.
Now that is truly Managing Expectations! [particularly since there aren't going to be so many of us around to check what happens ]
Friendlies against good opponents doesn't mean we are bad, Final against Mexico doesn't too, then how to prove we have trouble? We can beat Canada, Panama, etc, so Bob can stay on the job, is this our ambition--2nd best team in CONCACAF? The coach of USMNT never resign, so we must fire the man.
it would be great if we could bring on a new coach to bring a fresh perspective (i would like a foreign coach) I'm going to pray for klinsmann. but i fear we will not get a new coach this cycle
The so-called "player pool holes" are the result of his selection and game coaching. Look at the "coaching" thread for this match. Two posters (not me but I quoted them) put together a fine summary of the number of things a semi-competent coach would have done. Not that this Mexico side doesn't have talent but they barely edged Guatemala and were taken by Honduras into overtime goalless. All the screaming that Gio and Cheech are football gods didn't stop the Honduran coach from preparing a reasonable game plan against them (and he did it without Fiegueroa, Wilson Palacios, Georgie Welcome, et al). Bob couldn't do that with a better roster of players. And that's solely because he is an incompetent fmuck.
Fire Bradley if you like. It does seem like some players are tuning him out. But MLS needs to get its collective crap together and start producing players better than what they are to date. And other US players need to do a better job of keeping their jobs overseas. Yeah, I'm looking at you, Bradley, Gooch. No matter who the coach is, if all he has is Bornstein and others in that same class of player (don't tell me there is someone significantly better than JB) to go to when Cherundolo goes down, it isn't going to cut it. I'm not worried too much about midfield. I'd prefer some depth at forward. I'm not comfortable with gk - if for no other reason than I'm not sold we have a guy who can spell/take over for Howard if that is necessary. But it is at defense that we are in desperate need of players.
I saw them. They were a little cheap. Basically pointing out that some of Bob's moves didn't have good effect (and you could predict it... I'd be shocked if Bob actually thought that bringing on Bornstein was going to help his cause), and then suggesting that the equally "out of the box" (or batshit insane) moves he didn't make would've been clearly better. Kind of a back-up QB argument, except in terms of tactics. Except that in this analogy, the "clearly better back-up QB" is a left-handed closer with a 97mph fastball and a mean stare-down routine.
The problem now is that I can't see how ANYONE can be confident that this team is good for an easy 2nd place qualification to the World Cup. We just played Panama twice at home, and came away 1 and 1 in wins, with our lone win coming on a fairly late goal. When we have to start playing the Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras and such others on the road, I'm quite scared. This is a very tricky time for this team, and it can be argued that the "safe" path is the path towards some real trouble.
The development of a player who has the skill, technical ability, and vision to compete at the international level starts long before they get to the professional level first team. Sadly, that's something this country lacks.
No. The arguments were about structuring the defense differently and giving Jonny some help. That's where Bob effed up. I mean, Guatemala held these guys to a couple of goals and flippin' Honduras shut them out for 90. The US gave up 4. Sorry, but I ain't blaming Bornstein for all of them (though, I did say he shouldn't even be onthe roster).
+1. In fact, making a change will not guarantee improvment, and this is a risk. But if not, we will never step forward for sure.
It's the path the USSF is determined to take...............Besides, it's not as if not making the WC would be a sign of some sort of failure on our part, right? The WC is really some sort of glorified Copa America, right? And we don't do silly little things like the CA, right?
You need to take risks to improve. Firing Bob and hiring a more tactically astute manager is fine by me.
Bob needs to fall on his sword. We won't have any major comps for a while...perfect time for a new manager.