Michael Bradley's role for Club vs. Country [R]

Re: Bradley:Sat 2/9 19:30 CET PSV - SC Heerenveen

This is a good point. Lewis or Davis at Lmid instead of Convey would have had more chance to hook up with Bradley in the box vs Mexico. That only seemed obvious after the match. Starting Feilhaber centrally with Bradley might have made sense. We need a better 4-backline when Clark and Edu have to be benched...forget it, it won't happen without one of C & E, which then makes it a 5-man midfield. We aren't good enough to play with a 3-man backline or even with a single striker.

 

Re: Bradley:Sat 2/9 19:30 CET PSV - SC Heerenveen

the US arent good enough to play with a 3 man backline? ARE YOU SERIOUS!?!>?!

u post that on the US N&A board and you are automatically branded anti-American

I really think we should go with an Italian 4-3-3... or we should evolve to that... put Adu on the left maybe Landon or Clint on the right... Bradley in an advanced role in the midfield with Edu and Benny if he can get games... Benny being the one pulling strings...

 

Re: Bradley:Sat 2/9 19:30 CET PSV - SC Heerenveen

That is true...but, last I checked...none of those guys have scored 17 goals (in all comps.) in a European League of quality.

Bradley is the real deal...you don't score that much from Central Mid by being lucky. His positioning and instincts are at a much higher level than most of those guys you listed, with the exception of maybe Dempsey.

Sorry for the Nats post...came on here to catch Johan's .gifs of the goal!

 

Re: Bradley:Sat 2/9 19:30 CET PSV - SC Heerenveen

pretty good thought

so do we put Donovan and Altidore up top
Dempsey and Bradley as attacking mids
Edu and Clark as destroyer defending mids?

leaves out Beasley, Convey, Adu and some of the others

frankly that lineup has more size, speed and skill than others

not trying to be USMNT forum here but clearly Bradley is sparkling in the SCH system and shines less for the Nats.

 

Re: Bradley:Sat 2/9 19:30 CET PSV - SC Heerenveen

No we do not. If we want Bradley to play as well/the same as he does at Heerenveen, we need good wingers and wing play. Either get some real wing backs, or play Beasley and someone competent on the right (Zizzo? Rogers? Adu?)

 

Re: Bradley:Sat 2/9 19:30 CET PSV - SC Heerenveen

I wouldn't be surprised if, when Bradley moves to a bigger club in a better league, he ends up being utilized primarily as a defensive midfielder. They would have to "brainwash" him again, of course. Strap him to a chair, pull his eyelids open and force him to watch every game of Richie Williams' career.

I don't think it's possible to make a player better than his own parents thought he could be. I doubt there was anyone who believed more strongly in MB's potential than his own father.

Yes, I'm sure Bob Bradley, upon seeing his son tearing up the Eredivisie decided "hey, you know what? I don't want my son to succeed at the international level. In fact, I'll intentionally limit him by forcing him to play square balls against his will. I'll forbid him to try to do anything offensively. The last thing I want to see him do is score a goal or get an assist or anything like that."

I wish Mike would have played some square balls in the Mexico game, but he didn't. He kept trying to make ambitious long through passes which were always cut off by a Mexican defender. It's hard to say what Bob Bradley's instructions to Mike were in his game. When we had the ball, he would go forward - it didn't look like he was told to stay back. The problem is, we almost never had possession of the ball in Mexico's half. So Bradley was forced to do a lot of defending - not because that was his only responsibility, but because the superior Mexican midfield and our dreadful outside backs demanded it.

Don't count on it.

 

Re: Bradley:Sat 2/9 19:30 CET PSV - SC Heerenveen

hardly


it's hard to imagine this, i know

but the players play the game

there needs to be some level of familiarity

these guys showed up for a game and played (us-mex)

they don't play together much... it's hard to get any sense of each other in those situations

a coach can say how he wants things to go, but it's for naught when guys don't have a feel for where their team mate is going to be and not be

people can bitch and moan about what happened in the us-mex game... but it's a game to familiarize oneself with your new team mates in an intense environment making the ussf some serious jack

winning, losing, tying doesn't really matter... it's what the players get out of it that does

that's why they call them friendlies... the result doesn't matter... what the players gain from it does



now we see bradley back with the guys he's spent most of his time with, a team that's really put it all together and is playing above the sum of their parts... sure, bradley probably called for the header, but his team mate was also looking for him to be there... and put into an open path for him

that's familiarity, it doesn't come quickly... and when it comes, it's something special to watch

 

Re: Bradley:Sat 2/9 19:30 CET PSV - SC Heerenveen

Aside of the anticipated father-son bust-up (I think the two are pretty close), I agree with Sam Hamwich.

Mike's off-the-ball running and anticipation - to say nothing of finishing - are his strengths.

Bob limits them greatly, which is detrimental to the team as a whole also.

That makes Bob ... well ... Bob.

 

Re: Bradley:Sat 2/9 19:30 CET PSV - SC Heerenveen

how does bob possibly limit them?

he's not on the fricking field limiting players from doing what they are suppose to do

that's the most idiotic thing i have ever heard in my life

 

Re: Bradley:Sat 2/9 19:30 CET PSV - SC Heerenveen

if u tell ur son to stick back and play DMid when he can clearly make runs and score goals... then he is being limited... u dont just throw the line up out and tell the guys to go... I would like to see his passing stats today... I cant remember him misplacing a pass all day...

 

Re: Bradley:Sat 2/9 19:30 CET PSV - SC Heerenveen

you guys do, um, realize that he's still on the field

and he's still going to move off the ball

along with everyone else on the field

they, you know, sort of, kind of, need to, you know, have the ball

bob (waves from the benches) isn't on the field (where the players are... players wave)



you guys might want to re-think your line of reasoning


i'll give you a start and provide 2 areas

1. a bunch of players flew in to play with a bunch of other players that they are not familiar with
2. some guys are in season, some guys are not


let's watch the mental giants of bigsoccer role with this

 

Re: Bradley:Sat 2/9 19:30 CET PSV - SC Heerenveen

 

Re: Bradley:Sat 2/9 19:30 CET PSV - SC Heerenveen

I think you're projecting your values and ideas onto someone else from afar. Bradley has clearly benefited from his time Heerenveen. Robbie Rogers, another young American who showed more obvious soccer skill both before and after going to play in Holland, did not benefit in any recognizable way.

Different players thrive in different places. Some environments are better than others but soccer players are individuals who can respond very differently.

 

Re: Bradley:Sat 2/9 19:30 CET PSV - SC Heerenveen

[edited by mod to delete a random invocation of the running feud with sfs--we're not going to do this any more guys]

 

Re: Bradley:Sat 2/9 19:30 CET PSV - SC Heerenveen

I have no idea what goes on in the Bradley household, but it is clear that, for much of last season, anyway, Verbeek saw Bradley as mini-Bosvelt. Now, whether that meant he saw him solely as a defensive minded CM is anyone's guess. Bosevelt, as a guy headed to stud, was not going to give you lungbursting box to box outings and maybe Verbeek knew that if Michael could get comfortable with a defensive role, he would explode into a goal scoring machine. Or maybe he's just as surprised as the rest of us. He did run Mike out at RW early on, so perhaps he believed that Mike would be effective going forward. Or maybe he just thought he was a good young player and was open to seeing him develope.

As to Mike and the USMNT. Perhaps they need to wear their hearts on their sleeves.

 

Re: Bradley:Sat 2/9 19:30 CET PSV - SC Heerenveen

or bob uses him where he serves the team best knowing that he doesn't have the left/right mids and outside backs that 'veen has and doesn't have the time to jel all the moving parts with just a few days of practice.

that makes bob ... well ... smart.

just as valid a view.

 

Re: Bradley:Sat 2/9 19:30 CET PSV - SC Heerenveen

The oedipal psycho-babble, excuse-making, and mental projectionism on this thread not withstanding I saw the first half and some of the second. MB showed class in a game that was of a faster pace than the one streamed two weeks ago. He's a good young player who I look forward to seeing in a stronger league come next season.

 

Re: Bradley:Sat 2/9 19:30 CET PSV - SC Heerenveen

so ur first post implies that he needs to run around on the field and just play like a headless chicken.... now ur saying the travel... welcome to the end of a not needed debate

 

Re: Bradley:Sat 2/9 19:30 CET PSV - SC Heerenveen

Wow, I'm really impressed with all the astute observations on Bob Bradley's deficiencies that we have going on in this thread. Sitter, Sam, you guys are definitely right. It is most certainly Bob's fault that we lack anything resembling the talent on the wings to allow our center mids to play like Michael does at 'Veen. Excuse me while I got shoot myself in disgust at the utter boneheadedness of my countrymen.

 

Re: Bradley:Sat 2/9 19:30 CET PSV - SC Heerenveen

what are you talking about?

 

Re: Bradley:Sat 2/9 19:30 CET PSV - SC Heerenveen

I never quite saw this whole thing about European magic dust.

My take on the matter is, as you write, different players click in different places. As with any sport, there are few instances in which one player is better across the board than another player. Robbie Rogers does some things wonderfully well, certainly better than MB. And Robbie is a nobody, Michael is a bigtime somebody. Par for the course.

To the extent that Europe is different, I think it's fair to say that there are more opportunities to find coaches (and leagues) who play in a different style, thus more opportunity to find the right fit. As other people have commented, Michael Bradley's package of pros & cons make him a less obvious star player than many other candidates, a package that in the wrong situation could be ineffective. He has certainly found the right situation.

 

merge

Maybe Mike is uptight when he plays from Dad. Just a theory. He makes smart offensive runs for Heerenveen and for the U20s, something I have not seen with the Senior team. So, what would you rather have: Mike as he plays in Holland or the genius of Bob Bradley? I know my answer.

 

This whole idea that the way Michael is deployed with the Nats is the reason he fails to show anything in the way of consequential passing ability strikes me as nuts. In much more limited playing time, I can remember Edu making creative, consequential passes that split the defense (the one leading to Cherudolo's goal against SA, the one that sprung Beasley up the sideline against Switzerland). I remember Feilhaber's pass to EJ against Argentina, and some nice passes in the Ecuador game.

Yet with Bradley, also playing central mid like Edu and Feilhaber, I remember zip, nada. Same thing with his play with the U20s. I did ask on another threat for other posters to name any consequential passes he had made, and they came up with a grand total of 1, in the match against China.

So you have a guy here who has now played a dozen or more games for the nats, playing the same role as Edu and Feilhaber, given more minutes, and we can come up with a grand total of one dangerous pass that he has made for the team. And people around here want to argue he is being misused by not being given a more offensive role??? Amazin.

The other thing I would mention is that lately he has been paired up with a pretty good defensive player--Clark or Edu--in central mid. So in fact he has the cover to do all these clever off-the ball runs that he gets so much praise for doing with Heerenvenn. He would actually have less such freedom if he were paired with Feilhaber or Donovan, two guys who are more inclined to go forward. On the other hand, he would get some better return passes from those guys. I think what people are underestimating is how big a difference in quality is needed to succeed in an intense match against a team like Mexico than is needed to succeed against your typical Eredivisie side, a league well-known for lots of offense and somewhat lax defending.