Maybe, maybe not. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_7nGsp-878"]MNT vs. Spain: Behind the Scenes - June 4, 2008 - YouTube[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RrmrGMNUoI"]MNT vs. Argentina: Behind the Scenes - June 8, 2008 - YouTube[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX61kPIw9aQ"]MNT vs Poland: Behind the Scenes - March 26, 2008 - YouTube[/ame]
He has a foreign accent. Bruce from Long Island and Bob from New Jersey sound like they are calling in to WFAN to talk about how good Eli looked in the Giants game.
I'd like to think that Bradley must have picked up a knock in training, because otherwise I can't understand Beckerman and Edu being preferred to him.
I don't think it has anything to do with reverse-nepotism. It has everything to do with Klinsmann being afraid to lose. And Klinsmann not recognizing he's leaving out the one player who fits his proposed "pro-active, possession style soccer" most. Bradley likes to play soccer. Beckerman, Edu, Williams don't. Or can't. They can't, really. And by play soccer I mean actually having off the ball movement and positioning, and always looking for either the opening, or the combination. When Bradley plays, the ball starts moving. It means his teammates start moving. It means chances will (probably) be created. But it also means players will (have) be(en) pulled out of position when possession is lost. Apparently Klinsmann rather opts for players who sit still in front of their defense and on their on half of the field (Beckerman, Edu) and never leave their defensive positions. Result so far: zero combinations, zero forward supply, zero surprise, zero chances, zero goals, zero wins. All in all the USMNT is playing extremely poor soccer at the moment. But hey, at least we've stopped "bleeding goals" with these dedicated sixes.
LOL, jesus. I think we can nab a goal against Guatemala. Yes, the Costa Rica result was bad, but look how Jozy is improving. And do you think they will outspeed Shea like France did? I'm not saying we'll win 6-0, but I'm not spectacularly worried about beating them home and away, and beating Jamaica at our home. And why do people keep assuming this is the same team that will play a year from now? A year. That's a lot of time to tinker around. Come back and laugh at me if it's October 2012 and Beckerman-Edu are still starting and we still haven't scored more than 2 goals, because I'm rather sure that won't be the case. I'm not a big fan or hater of Klinsmann. And the whole reason I opened this thread is because I somewhat agreed with the topic (or at least the idea that Bradley, who I think is one of our better players, should be on the field more often). But Klinsmann has been coach for what, three months? So maybe he doesn't move as fast as he should, but at least we've seen some progress. (No Rodgers in the 18!!!) I'm not in panic mode yet, and I doubt the players are either. I. Die.
I'm sorry but M. Bradley couldn't possibly be any worse than Edu who had another couple handfuls of head-scratching passes to the opposition in this match.
I'll bet Klinsi hasn't met Michael Bradley's mom yet. Suppose she were to show up at a Nats practice copping a fake Deutscher accent ...
i do not think mb had a chance to show shortcoming. let me give you some facts... michael arrived at aston villa at the very end of the transfer period..they were struggling to avoid relegation and had just purchased mccoun for 6 million. banan, delph, petrov, and pires were just coming back from injuries and reo coker was just getting out of the dog house. there was very little chance for him to break into that lineup after being there for such a short time. houllier wanted to pick up his option but a new coach wanted to bring in his own players. he opted out on mb, reo coker, and mccoun and after selling young for 18 million had a lot of money to spend. how many of our usnt members would have cracked that lineup...would dempsey displace bent, heskey or young, i do not think so...mb picked the wrong club to transfer to and has suffered according. this does not mean he failed in the epl. aston villa is a better club than any of the americans played for.
Were the original "nepotism" threads this ********ing stupid? I want to apologize for participating in them if so. Bradley hasn't been jettisoned from the team. Maybe he is better than Beckerman, maybe he is better than Edu, or Jones, But he isn't Zidane. He was on the bench in Paris. He is getting a chance. He is in the midfild mix for the US. He hasn't created any separation between himself and the other candidates. But he continues to be called in. He'll find his level. That isn't "reverse-nepotism" (whatever that means). It's just earning a spot. Mike Bradley will be a part of the US going forward, he is a good player.
Yeah. It is hard to believe that so many continue to cling to the notion that Michael is an ever-present foundational caliber player. He is a good useful player who deserves to be in the mix. No more no less.
Yes... many have been trying to tell posters for years... Not saying there werent rational arguments here and there, but overall it was that effing stupid. Most who are making an argument for bradley simply arent rating Beckerman or Edu as high, if at all. Personally i think MB should start over either of them. I would also like to see a Jones and Johnson pairing, at least then we'll have an attack minded and a defense minded CM pairing rather then 2 defense minded. Dont get me wrong, there will be posters on both sides of the arguments arguing the extreme. I rate MB up towards the top of our CM options (healthy options) and would start him soon so that he may adjust and improve upon JK's tactics. This CM pairing we are using is simply preventing opportunities in our attack (preventing goals, though they give up plenty of chances). We simply wont make it far if that's our goal.
Where the central midfield in the Bradley era was determined by overall quality and/or current form 95% of the time, Klinsmann is trying to pigeon-hole favored players into a specific system of play. Bradley had a "system", but he tried to go with the best overall guys and fit it around them instead of Klinsi picking the system and then choosing the players. The contributions of the pro-nepotism arguing regulars in this thread are hugely ironic, as they try and fail to build equivalency between the two eras.
He's better than Beckerman and Edu. And unless Torres or Holden are healthy he should be on the field.
it would be curious to see what JK does when Torres is healthy. He's typically played him in the role that Dempsey plays at this point with 2 CM's behind him. Will he allow Dempsey to continue the position or move him to one of the CM's behind him or back out left? Regardless, ive always felt that Torres (in the position that JK has played him) would do well with a player like MB running up and down the pitch.
Since nepotism is favoritism granted family members, wouldn't "reverse-nepotism" be exclusion because of a family relationship? Maybe Jeff can correct me on this, but I don't believe Jürgen is part of the extended family. Too much hair. So, instead, wouldn't this be "Is Bradley now the victim of tribalism?"
way to suck the fun out of the topic with your definitions and critical thinking. Perhaps the Bradley's have some German ancestry that actually has hair??
Wait so what have Beckerman and Edu done to earn their spots? What have they done to keep those spots, once earned?
Beckerman is sooooo slow. Not that Bradley is a speedster, but he covers ground much better than Beckerman.
Nothing. I would say that they have performed in a way that calls for them to lose their spots. And I'm talking more about the Honduras and Ecuador matches (where those two started) than the France match. But Michael had an even longer run in the Gold Cup and Mexico friendly where he also made a powerful case for some benchtime. I think the rational response is to keep cycling the candidates until we find a pair that produces good results. I agree that the time of the Beckerman/Edu pairing should come to an end. I'd like to see Jones and Bradley against Slovenia and Fabian Johnson at right mid. At a minimum I'd like one of Beckerman/Edu replaced just so the message goes out that if you don't turn in a good performance over a three to four game period your competition will be given an opportunity.
Well Michael covers more ground because he is an undisciplined chaser who wants to be the goal-scoring hero. And when he was in there his teammates had to make a lot of adjustments to allow for this. But I think JK has made clear what he wants from his defensive mids. And Michael should be smart enought to know that the kind of chasing he did under Bob Bradley will get him a swift return to the bench. I want him to be given a chance to show he can play in the positionally disciplined style JK wants. It will be up to him to show he can adapt.
You claim bradley is a "chaser", but I saw Beckerman out of position numerous times v france, forcing him to "chase", and he didn't have the speed to catch back up. Luckily, he was saved by bad decisions from the french attackers.
LOL, i saw Beckerman ahead of Edu multiple times yesterday. Hardly stating that he's expecting specific roles from his dmids. At this point i will take a CM who wants to be a "goal-scoring hero". We seem to have a team who struggles to simply get into the box (until JK changed his formation).
I think it has been pretty clear that the spacing issues between the mids and defenders that led to other teams scoring quite a few goals on us has been pretty much not a problem since JK took over and Michael has been benched. I don't think this is a coincidence. There have been all sort of problems in JK's seven games as coach, but we shouldn't overlook the positive developments, one of the main ones being better defensive spacing and more disciplined play from the central mids.