When Donkeys Fly: Michael Bradley at Chievo, pt 1 [R]

Pretty sweet backdrop! While it's not a high prestige club, there are a lot less charming places that one could play professional football, and he should get a lot of minutes against competition that will keep him on his toes. Frankly, he needs this after last year and he's young enough that if he establishes himself and does well, he's got plenty of time to make another move upward. Even if he never moves, if he's a regular starter in the Serie A it will be good for him.

 

i hear brigate gialloblu would just love to watch europa league games.

 

I want to copyright "Bradley's Accent" right now.

 

http://www.chievoverona.tv/en/news/peschiera-la-prima-di-michael-bradley

Michael had his first training session with the team today; it consisted of sessions in the gym interlaced with on-the-ball exercises and shooting practice. Picture of him with some of the coaching staff in the link above.

 

It is weird. Not McLaren-level, but weird. Sounded sort of like he had been working on enunciating stuff in ways Germans would pick up better, but then with a lot of British on top of it.

He was only in Birmingham for four months.

 

This is great for him and for fans of the USMNT. A new league and definitely one where he will be challenged. It is another chance for him to improve his game.

Congrats, Mike.

 

He still sounds like he is from the Jersey area to me.

 

They're thinking in the same vein.

Guh.

And a note to those who like to laugh at a player picking up an accent overseas....you can't post from like Ohio and call a player 'pants' or 'shite' or some crap like that either. That's way more annoying.

 

There is a book by the English writer Tim Parks called A Season with Verona about Hellas Verona, which follows Verona for the year before they fell off a cliff. In the book, Parks is comically dismissive of Chievo, first mentioning them more than halfway through the book:

"I admit I've been putting off this part of my tale. I should have mentioned it way back, perhaps at the very beginning of the book. Then I could have said, 'Actually the city of Verona has two football teams, one in Serie A and one, rather surprisingly, in Serie B, rather than Sere C, or D where it belongs.'...Chievo is a small suburb of Verona, sometimes nicknamed 'the dam' because it's situated by the by the dam that controls the flow of the Adige through the city...When you go to watch the boys from the dam, you find the terraces empty and just a few old folks with their picnics of salami and polenta."

Welcome to the dam, Mikey, and good luck!

 

What if it's Brad Friedel visiting his Grandma? You can call him annoying, but I won't. Not if I don't want my testicles pulled out through my belly button.

 

For my money, Jozy's accent lately is way weirder. But it is funny. There was a little ussoccer promo vid about life overseas released in June, and Michael's accent sounded much more average (like his dad). Maybe being around Americans brings out the normal accent and being around non-Americans does the opposite.

This is probably one of those things I think way too much about

 

German media reports set the transfer fee at <1.5m euros, or roughly $2m.

http://torfabrik.de/profis/borussia/datum/2011/08/31/fix-bradley-ist-weg.html

 

First, congratulations to Michael. He had to get out of BMG, and I consider this a lateral move, so not a bad one. For him, it is a new and interesting frontier.

As many have said, Serie A is a tactical league, the most tactical in the world. It is probably my favorite league to watch, as it is the most cerebral.

Comparing the top 4 leagues, one might come up with something like this:

Country | Speed | Physicality | Technical Quality | Tactical
----------------------------------------------------------
England | 11 | 10 | 8 | 7
Spain | 9 | 8 | 10 | 8
Germany | 9 | 9 | 7 | 9
Italy | 7 | 8 | 8 | 10

So Michael is moving to a league which is slower and less physical, but slightly more technical and tactical. Germany has recently passed Italy in the UEFA coefficients, and I think this is because the speed of play has improved overall. What I'm talking about here is more about the average speed of play than a ranking of players' speeds. All of these leagues have players who can run fast, it's more a question of the typical tempo in a game.

This is probably a very good move for Michael, as it allows him to work on his weaknesses (tactical awareness and technical ability), while utilizing his strengths (speed, physicality, tenacity). His time at Villa has hopefully improved his speed of play, i.e. his mental speed, although he didn't play much.

In Serie A, players don't run around like headless chickens as they do in the EPL. They will play slowly and then at just the right moment will sprint and punish the opponent. Change of pace is more important than outright speed. Still, there is something to be said for running your opponent into the ground, and EPL teams attack with reckless abandon, keep their opponent on their heels.

 

Is that a smile?

 

Jozy admitted to putting it on as a joke. I think he was put up to do it by his new teammates. He doesn't really sound like that, it was just for that video.

 

Yes. And now kittens everywhere are crying.

 

I'd agree if it wasn't Michael Bradley we're talking about. And you know Mike........let's just say he's the last guy in the pool who'd get a twitter.

 

Good luck Michael!

 

looks like he's in pain b/c of it

 

Man, MB went bald quick...maybe he should consult Rooney..

 

Gah! Is that his new coach? What's with all these bald guys? Bob Bradley, Michael Frontzeck, and now this guy!

 

Guess we know Mikey's type then

 

So that's been the problem all a long, everyone has been playing MB out of position. If you are American and bald, you play keeper.

I think this is a great move for MB (move to Chievo, not keeper!). I'm looking forward to watching some Siere A this year. Not a league I typically follow.