When did Michael Bradley go from one of our key players to "damn wish he retired from the NT"?

Perhaps. 2-3 years from now on EPL wages, Pulisic will surpass him. It also depends on how much money Dempsey made. Dempsey spent his time in the EPL, not Bundesliga/Serie A, and both came home for huge paydays in MLS.

 

Because there is a strong and powerful connection and a sense of camaraderie from our young and extremely talented players.

The combination of Pulisic motivating others by breaking through at Dortmund at 17, and the epic failure of 2018, that gave these kids a sense of purpose, together.

How many times has Sargent and Reyna played together?




all Bradley will do is disrupt this and he knows it. Hell Yeuill has proven himself to already be a major upgrade to the current Bradley in the 6 role.

watch this video of Herc calling out the truth on how behind the scenes people are "scream from the mountain tops to move on from Michael Bradley..." and then when Herc puts it out live, this same person ( the host, Salazar) suddenly goes into scared kitten mode and calls Bradley the captain out of nowhere and Bradley by cohesion in this segment is now back to being the captain (after we moved on from him having that role, 2 years ago).

Why are they so scared to criticize Michael Bradley publicly? why do they feel their job is on the line? why do they gulp in fear?

Moreno gives you a glimpse of the ruthless Bradley's First, family.....While also playing kiss-ass.

 

This was a really weird video. Was it from 2 years ago? How on earth are they even getting 10 minutes out of Bradley?

Just makes me think that Ives was writing with some inside knowledge when he had Bradley still as a starter. And it further reinforces my "caps record" conspiracy theory.

 

Video was put out a few weeks ago. that's some scary shit.

 

It is getting weird that some in the media seem to feel they always need to interject that Bradley is still a key USMNT player. On the horribly named, Fox Indoor Soccer, during an interview with Gregg, Holden basically states young players are dubious and don't you need Altidore and Bradley? Gregg says if they are playing well enough, but not just because they are experienced.

But what was the big impetus to talk about Bradley and WCQing? Bradley is hurt and there is no international soccer for a long time. Holden, in particular, rarely leaves a USMNT discussion or broadcast without crow barring in that Bradley is still a starter. In games where MB isn't even playing!

Holden, and others, never explain where Adams would play then. Or who they are dropping. They don't even make much of a case, it is like they are assuming it is a given and we all understand, right?

 

Current depth chart at DM position alone:

1)Adams
2)Mckennie
3)Morales/Yueill
4)Yueill/Morales
5) Pomykal? (fast rising here and multiple positions)
6)Bradley

What we have so far seen.

Adams- moved to RB
Mckennie- moved up the field
Morales- rarely called In.
Yueill- given chances ( represents MLS, not surprised but has proven to be a big upgrade over 32- year old Bradley. )
Pomykal- slow integration (massive potential to join Adams/ Mckennie level).

 

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking, too...I thankfully didn't see the interview, but you now have apparently Stu, these ESPN guys, and Ives, talking about Bradley being a starter for the team. These guys all have some form of connection to US Soccer (obviously more than we do here). This is a guy who hasn't been good for half a decade, as you mentioned is currently injured, and where other players have completely passed him in ability.

So what do they know that we don't? Nobody here even considers MB to even be in the 23 at this point, but the media has him as a starter. Something fishy.

 

MLS has concluded that Bradley is declining. He is no longer a DP and is making a fraction of his former salary. I say MLS, not TFC, not because it is single entity, but TFC would have probably traded him anywhere willing to pay him DP money.

I've got to think Gregg/USSF is more in tune with the MLS thinking than what the media is saying. I don't know if Holden is paying back the Bradley's for their help in the past or what, but it is not logical.

Garber/MLS moved on from marketing Bradley even before his pay cut. He is not a key player in MLS anymore.

I think these articles and thoughts will change over the next months. From, "Starter", to "must have option", to "veteran leadership on the bench".

 

You think? Over the coming months????!! This was supposed to happen in 2017!

I hope you're right, but I fear you're not. Just can't see the media being so beholden to the Bradley family, and not getting this info from someone who is actually part of the US Soccer operation.

 

It did happen a bit in the months after Couva. It wasn't until Sarachan was extended from July to November that the Tenorio piece came out about Mike being unhappy about Couva but still thinking he is one the best players. Then in the Fall, Dave brought him back and then Gregg had him in every camp until he got hurt (except for September when he did a favor for TFC).

I do think Trapp was supposed to be the starter and Bradley was there to help teach The System. But Trapp was so bad, that Bradley became the starter.

 

2013.

 

Mikey funny enough did a lot to repair a reputation. That was bad when his dad was coach during his time in Italy. I think the combination of the Portugal game in 2014 and the move to Toronto FC really started souring people on Mikey again.

I also think that Mikey's personality and the perception he wasn't willing to speak out against people also started the turn since the issues with the team were really starting to show as well

 

well, Ibra sarcastically said after a game in Toronto that "he thinks he is the philosopher of football". Mikey wanted to go to Russia as "the man" or not go at all.

At the end of the day, the real problem was the generational talent gap in the media which couldn't see that Bradley needed a partner in midfield and I hammered the issue to the point of being at the edge of banishment from BS.

If you want to understand it all in a nutshell, take a look at this goal. It tells you everything you need to know about MB. This is my favorite Mikey gif of all time:

 

Oh dont get me wrong. I think Mikey was criminally underrated and unjustly hated for both the 2010 and 2014 cycles. I think for 2018 both coaches, and teammates (and honestly himself too) were relying on him to do things he just couldn't do consistently at a high level anymore. Honestly think that similar expectations were placed on Tim Howard

 

why wouldn't your favorite mikey gif be one of his great goals or assists? which teams were you rooting for?

 

The issue with Michael Bradley with the USMNT wasn't Michael Bradley.
It was that so few of the generation that followed Bradley developed (The central midfielders for our 2016 Olympic qualifiers were Matt Polster, Fatai Alashe, Will Trapp, Gedion Zelalem, Marc Pelosi, etc.). He was counted on for a lot longer than his "expiration date" required. So now we've skipped a generation of central midfielders to get to Adams, McKennie, and company.

I do think people forget how good the Michael Bradley was that started multiple seasons in Serie A.

 

This would be more palatable if Gregg didn't try to build around the team around Michael in 2019 (and hopefully not 2020)....

 

People would have more sympathy if we'd played any of the younger guys in Polster, Alashe, Trapp, Zelalem, Delgado, or Roldan. Or if we had tried any of the vets in GCam, Edu, Bedoya, McCarty, or Morales.

Instead, MB played 51/54 games, 90 minutes every game, and we spread out maybe 5 cumulative caps between all of those players. Polster got a game at outside back, Alashe got a callup and no gametime. Delgado got nothing, despite being MB's partner in Toronto and playing well for his club. Roldan got one game against Martinique. Trapp got a cameo under JK for 30 minutes, Edu and Bedoya got nothing, GCam played CB/RB only, McCarty got a few GC Group Stage games, and Morales got one cap in 2016 under JK at LM.

We never settled the question: Who could we play instead of MB? It still hasn't been addressed in 2020, despite our worst Hex in modern history and see-saw results at-best since 2017. That's an issue with Michael Bradley the player, or perhaps more accurately, an issue with the fact that MB is still starting.

 

That is the most charitable perspective. I do think people forget just how average Michael Bradley was that wasn't starting for Gladbach, forced a move to Aston Villa that was a total failure where he never played and that of his multiple seasons in Serie A; one was good with a nothing team in Cheivo and one was good as a cog in the machine at Roma that turned into another Gladbach situation after just one season there.

Someone else already handled the fallacy that there were no other alternatives during the time that Bradley was unjustifiably playing every minute of every USMNT game.

 

This is coming a little late in the thread, but I don't think anyone has linked to it yet:

https://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/socc...-hurt-ankle-proved-u-most-010841563--sow.html

Sep 2013. To me, he just didn't have the same 360-degree mobility and quickness that was such a part of his game after this. Personally, I didn't recognize the seriousness at the time. I thought, rolled an ankle in training? Meh, he'll recover.

To his credit, he fought through the recovery and had some great moments with the team in subsequent years. His field awareness and intelligence were critical to his ability to make that adjustment. But he was never the same elite player who had become key for our midfield.

That said, there many degrees of decline between "key player" and "wish he retired." For me, "wish he retired" was after Couva. The next generation needs those minutes and has been superior to MB for a while now.

 

Because they belong to another era.

 

I like hot-headed mike (BS old timers may remember when we used to worry about him potentially getting a red card) than the stoic leader he later became.

that’s putting aside his play....

 

Putting aside his decline in play, it’s absolutely no surprise to me that he was part of McKennie’s Enough is Enough IG. His heart is in the right place.

#muchrespect