That's not even the point. It's a comparison between HIM and YOU. I was a pretty decent baseball player in my youth, but I'm not deluded enough to watch a major league game and say, hey, I would have jacked that hanging curve. When Bradley coached the 1998 Fire, did they run the empty bucket? When he managed to get the MetroStars into the playoffs (no easy feat pre-DP, with their management), was he running the "empty bucket?" Speaking of the Fire...I don't watch every game, but I know for a fact they've played with 3 in the back at least at times. Obviously DC started with 3 in the back. But that's not even the point, again. You stated that BB can't even coach a tactic most MLS teams run. Yet you can't name a single team that plays a 4-4-2 with 2 DMs. Now, *I* can. But I'm not the one who thinks because I'm good at Football Manager that I'm a better tactician than Bob Bradley. You can say that if you want. But anyone can read this thread and make up their own minds. All the facts that show you don't know what the hell you're talking about wrt MLS, the USMNT, and Bob Bradley.
Is Williams close enough? SFS, which point are you arguing: 1. Bradley doesn't understand a 4-4-2 morphing to a 3-5-2 ? 2. Bradley can't teach this formation ? 3. The players can't pick it up ? 4. Even if all three occured, the US would get burned using it anyway ? Your response to my post suggests that you believe all 4 points. I think you are naive if you really believe points 1 through 3. I personally believe only point 4... the US will get burned by Brazil in any meaningful game 9 times out of 10 (11 out of 10 for my kid's college team ) regardless of formation because Brazil has much better players.
Talk about a mountain out of a molehill. It's not a complicated matter at all and getting into this whole hybrid 442/352 crap is just silly. When your outside back makes a run up, the closest center back slides over. It's basic, basic stuff. Where people get the idea that most of these strategies and formations are more than what any American can handle is just crazy (no experienced US internationals as players or coaches have anywhere near the required knowledge, but your average bigsoccer poster does?). The us is tactically naive, sure. But, it has more to do with their finding the proper spacing and positioning and moving well together on a much higher level than not figuring out how to shift to cover a gaping hole like what occurs when a back plays more forward. I'm more worried about our lack of skill on the ball, which brings me back to Parkhurst. And, yeah, I like him. It would be nice to have a center back who can pass the ball a bit. Of course, he plays in MLS, so if a guy on the outside keeps marauding forward, he'll obviously be far too stupid to get his ass over and cover that space.
to get a license, tactical knowledge is presumed... for me, the management of the pool of players and their clubs is an important aspect of a national coach.... in game managment is crtiical, and often times, it's shaped by the skillset of the selected players....making selection important too... given most americans at the national level do some things well, and some things poorly, preventing bad tactical match-ups from occurring is important.. so, you could be the most brilliant of managers, but if your player(s) can pull off what you want, that brilliance is wasted... it's all about the player....although a BAD manager can waste good talent... BB is NOT a BAD manager
why is everyone thinking we couldn't use a 3-5-2 when the most succesful us team possibly ever did in 2002?
It was one game. And it was against Mexico, whom you may have noticed we own everywhere outside of Mexico.
Due to Bob Bradley's over reliance on the "empty bucket" formation, I have developed some alternative formations which I will attempt to communicate to him: The Full Bucket Formation -----Donovan----Johnson------ ---Beasley---------Dempsey--- ---\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/ ----\----------------------/ -----\------WATER----/ ------\___________/ -------Mastro----Bradley------ --Spector---------------Dolo-- -------Parkhurst--Onyewu----- ------------Howard------------ The Frying Pan Formation: --------------------------Donovan------------------------- ____________________ --Mapp--Convey--Beasley\___________________ ------------------------\-------------------------------------/ -------------------------\-Mastro-Bradley-Feilhaber--/ --------------------------\_____________________/ -----------Bocanegra---Onyewu---Parkhurst----------- --------------------------Howard----------------------------- I'm also working on a hybrid 4-4-2 "Bucket Half Full"/3-5-2 "Bucket Half Empty" formation. Unfortunately, I'm afraid Bradley's limited grasp of the tactical game, and other such strategery, will prevent him from appreciating the genius of these formations. Perhaps I'm simply ahead of my time.
That isn't at all my recollection of the formation from that game. I guess I need to go back and watch it again.
That was very similar to the formation used in the Mexico game. Pope, Berhalter and Sanneh were the three man backline, while Hejduk and Lewis sprinted up and down the flanks as wingbacks. Mastroeni played the backline sheild in midfield to perfection, while O'Brien and Reyna paired up in front of him in the center of midfield. McBride played high as the target forward and had great success, while Donovan roamed around and tried to latch on to second balls and get behind the defense after changes of possession. Once Germany went up a goal, the offense really started to go through McBride as the Germans became compact, and he was playing extremely well. It will puzzle me for the rest of my life why Bruce took off McBride for Mathis...to be honest I thought it was Donovan that should have come off for him. Sigh.