Nerding Out: Bradley Joins the AV Club.

I dated a Candy stri-- Oh, one "p." Never mind.

In my defense, her name was Candy.

 

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vewBQkBKm5M"]Candy[/ame]
A home movie?

 

Houiller seems to be recovering well. he had chest pains but no surgery will be required. He is unlikely to return to the bench this weekend.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/s...ms-gerard-houllier-will-avoid-surgery?cc=5901

Looks like Mikey did a good job in the hospital.

 

Well he is still training with us

 

Hahaha. I just watched this last night.

 

(R) over in Germany:

Gladbach just upset the leaders 1-0 and are now even with St Pauli and Wolfsburg on 29 points. Theyll need help from their rivals Koln tomorrow to make sure Wolfsburg stay on 29. BMG is very much alive and kicking, and Bradley could yet have a Bundesliga side to return to next year.

 

Just a reminder, folks, that YA isn't the place for emotional, drive-by snark when an American isn't playing.

 

Is that Bradley or Friedel doing some outfield work

 

i hope gladbach doesnt get relegated and bradley looks like a fool

too many american players have feelings for a ridiculously mediocre premier league and in this case with a villa team that already had 1000000 midfielders along with a shit coach who hates americans


bradley doesnt suck or anything, but those positions aren't just exchanged with regularity in the middle of the season

 

If he hates Americans, why is Friedel starting every game. Surely they could make an excuse about how he's too old and they need to go younger. I thought BigSoccer was over the whole "Everyone hates us" crap.

 

This is kinda a nonsensical post, but I'll bite.
1 - BMG is 3 points and -13 GD behind Wolfsburg, so have to make up 4 points over the next 3 games. Wolfsburg plays the 9th, 11th and 12th teams. BMG plays the 3rd, 7th and 8th teams. You do the math.

2 - Why do you want Bradley to look like a fool. He saw a potentially negative situation, took steps to address it. It didn't work out, but I would wager that he has learned more from the situation than would have happened if he sat the bench at BMG until Frontzek was fired.

 

Not to repeat myself, but:

I think it's now 20 points in their last 14, which of course isn't too bad for them, imo.

 

While I think the Houllier criticism here is a bit ridiculous and there's no evidence of him mistreating any of the Americans who play for him, 20 points from the last 14 is pretty poor when you consider the talent on that squad.

 

It is not poor when you consider that that pace would put them in 7th right now.

They are clearly not as talented as the 6 teams that would be above them. And it becomes silly to argue.

 

It would put them on pace to earn 10 fewer points than last year. 54 points (what a 20 from 14 pace would yield over the course of a full season) is not an impressive total for a team that has earned 60 or more the past three seasons (and has the talent of Villa...they're a lot closer to 'pool talent wise than you give them credit for).

 

They lost Milner, which was a huge blow. The year before they lost Barry. O'Neill brought back in players who didn't work out.

But, hey, if it is important to you to say they are under-performing given your opinion of the players, that's fine with me. I disagree, but our disagreement is largely about the players first, then the manager. And anyway we are quibbling over a couple of spots on the table - not a chasm.

At the very least the repeated claims that Bradley is only not dressing because Houliier is completely incompetent simply have to stop. I don't think he's amazing, but the job he is doing is hardly the disgrace needed to make everything ok for Bradley.

 

Welcome to 2010-11 season, where only one team averages more than 2 PPG.

And, just in case there are doubts, that team is ManU.

At to the bottom, Burnley was the best relegated team in 09-10 with 30 points.

This year, the bottom team already has 32 with 4 more matches to go.

 

Overreaction. MB will find a new club in time. He has the talent to play at a good level. It's just a matter of finding the right opportunity.

 

I'm not sure what any of this has to do with Villa underperforming so badly when you consider the talent on their squad.

 

Huh?

First, every single poster recognizes that Mike will find a new club. That he has the ability to play professional soccer. Why even bring it up?

And why would it be "overreaction" to discuss a central member of the US National team, who is a yank playing abroad, on a soccer message board in the section dealing specifically with Yanks Abroad, and the specific thread about Bradley?

The fact that Mike Bradley can't make the bench at Villa is real news in the US soccer world. People who are interested in US soccer find it interesting.

 

You don't? Really?

You don't think there's a case that the EPL TV contract filled enough teams coffers to make it far more competitive this season visavis the last decade when the strugglers were often non-competitive at this level?

Well, it's your opinion.

As to Villa's talent, their backline is pretty suspect and this was the big change from the last season under O'Neill - 39 GA in 09-10, 55 in 10-11 already. (the attack is roughly on par with 52 GS in 09-10 and 43 in 10-11 but they dropped Carew and replaced him with Bent in mid-season)

 

Dude chill out, your posts are really way too combative. The overreaction was people blaming Houllier for not "seeing" his talent. His time will come, but people are way too quick to point a finger when they have absolutely no clue what's going on in training and behind closed doors.

 

Well, I look at the teams that Villa has competed with for European spots over the past few seasons (City, Spurs and 'pool) and see that this season they all look like they are going to finish with roughly the same point total as last season (with the exception of Spurs who might finish with 5 or 6 fewer points) while Villa is going to finish with roughly 15 fewer points. So no, I don't particularly buy the argument that the EPL TV contract does much to explain Villa's struggles.

 

Houllier had a thankless job this season, with O'Neill abandoning ship at the start of the season, the caretaker imploding, lots of early injuries and no preseason or new signings to help the squad adapt to his new style. Their one signing, Ireland, confirmed he is a flake, didn't respond to Houllier, and was a total flop. Once they got healthy and he had a chance to spend some money in January, he got the squad playing better- they still are crappy defensively, but he'll have to address that in the summer, if he's still well enough to manage.

Edit: That's not to say Houllier hasn't been totally blameless, he alienated some players and still should have found a way to get their extremely experienced defense playing well, even though they don't fit his style.

BTW General Krulak posted on the Villa fan sites that Houllier's problem is serious enough to keep him from managing again this season. So McAllister will be in charge for the last 4 games.

 

Villa has had several problems this season and they covered everything from back to the front and from the right side to the left:

1) Their defense self-imploded. Cuellar was either hurt or ineffective; Warnock, after being given some England time last season, followed suit; Davies proved useless; Dunn gotten prematurely old or too slow or something and they had to play a whole bunch of young players on the backline, from Lichaj to Walker to Clark.

One or two of these variables can be dealt with but, when they happened at once, they were hard to overcome.

2) In midfield, Milner departed and with himself, took down the whole O'Neill system, which had its backs, except Warnock, sit deeper and its midfield generate the attack. When Milner left, there was no one to replace him.

Additionally, Petrov was either hurt or abysmal and Reo-Coker and Makoun are deep sitting holding mids rather than the aggressive box-to-box types.

3) Agbolanhor was hurt and Carew ineffective. Houllier gave Carew a way out by loaning him to Stoke but the guy's form remained poor, as he has one Stoke EPL goal to his name.

With Gaby being out, Houllier shifted Young into a small forward spot and Albrighton into the right wing. Albrighton was excellent for a young kid but Young never really took off as a supporting forward.

And, since I have only mentioned backline, midfield and strikers - allow me to add that Friedel hasn't been quite as sharp as in his previous year.

Regardless of him, however, Gerrard had to do a lot of tinkering with the schemes.

Adding Bradley could have been seen as an attempt to have an O'Neill type Box-to-Box midfield. But Bradley proved poor and Petrov not much better.

Smartly, the club loaned Walker from Spurs to give them an attacking fullback, who can provide width when Stu Downing drives toward the middle.

In summary, the team had a lot of changes this season and that was the major impetus to its previous record.

PS. As to league's TV contract and corresponding salary level having nothing to do with a far more competitive balance, I will more than hold my point.