Bob Bradley to Aston Villa? Not gonna happen
by Steve Davis on Aug 30, 2010 6:36 PM EDT
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If there were any wheels to this Bradley to Villa Park thingy, well, the suits in
Club officials, communicating through the official website, pretty much said “Bob Bradley need not apply.” In speaking publicly for the first time, they listed some of the requirements. Dig, if you will, this picture of a job that is not for someone without a Premiership background.
Two of the traits we believe are of crucial importance are that candidates have experience of managing in the Premier League and a strategy for building on the existing strengths in our current squad.
You can read the rest of it here. Or you can just take my word for it.
I said it here last week that this wouldn’t happen. It’s another great reminder that just because some media site “links” someone with a job, that does not put someone on the fast track to employment there.
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It really is not gonna happen now.
It is being reported that Bradley has signed an extension with the USMNT.
Los Angeles is like Manchester. There is a red team that wins championships and a blue team that doesn't.
Could have been worse.
Bradley did a good job the last 4 years. Was I annoyed by some of his lineup choices this summer? Certainly I’d prefer that Clark and Finley got less PT, but the other options weren’t overwhelmingly exciting either.
Bradley does an excellent job of instilling discipline and perseverence in his players. The team plays hard and organized, which has led to good results against some top programs.
Would Kilnsmann have been a sexier pick? Yes. Would he have been a better pick? Maybe. His greatest success was to get a perenniel power (Germany) to over-acheive when it was perceived to have been a weak squad by German standards. That weak squad included Ballack, Klose, Lahm, Kahn, etc. He failed at Bayern Munich (though some of it may have been due to fights with the board).
Klinsmann’s attribute that would have excited me most is his emphasis on youth and club infrastructure buying into national team plans. His commentary on such work that he contributed to in Germany was inspiring. I’m not sure it’s possible, but if Gulati hired Jurgen as a consultant, that may excite me almost as much as having him as coach.
Beyond that, does anyone want to think about reaching into the wilderness for another candidate? An MLS coach? Maybe Kinnear or Nichol, but both are struggling with their club teams right now. Going back to Arena certainly wouldn’t feel like progress. Perhaps Preki? None seems better than Bradley.
What about a foreigner. Gulati wanted someone with experience and understanding of the American soccer system and the American athlete, and that opinion can’t be discounted. Look at the number of foreign coaches with solid resumes who have been outlandish failures in MLS. That isn’t to say that Sir Alex would fail as US caoch, but he’d certainly get frustrated by the system and the enormity of the job.
Would I have been happy with a Klinsmann hire? Yes, but I don’t consider retaining Bradley a loss. When there are only two legitimate candidates, many times both would be good hires.
Very well said.
I totally agree with you. Klinsmann is the only realistic option better than Bradley at this point.
Los Angeles is like Manchester. There is a red team that wins championships and a blue team that doesn't.
I can hardly consider the early goals conceded in the WC and the way in which they were conceded organized. I also don’t feel “playing hard” has anything to do with Bradley, that’s a trademark of American sports. It’s the Rocky complex, when up against the ropes we fight back. Also, no more exciting options than Findley? Um, did you forget about Buddle and Gomez who combined for 3 goals in our last tuneup match and then were rewarded by watching Jozy and Findley gain automatic starter status? And how are Benny and Edu not infinitely more exciting options than Clark?
Yes, yes I do want to think about options besides Bradley and Klinsmann. It’s been 4 years since the decision came down to Bradley vs Klinsmann, and the brain trust at US Soccer couldn’t come up with viable candidates in that time? Why is everyone OK with this. It’s these peoples JOB to do that. THIS is the biggest problem, the Federations inability to evolve and execute. I’m so sick of how rigid US Soccer is. Do you think someone could come into US Soccer and do what Klinsmann did to revamp Germanys program? No, because US soccer is full of self convinced bureaucrats who refuse to admit failure. Remember Project 2010? Why aren’t we holding US Soccer to the standard it set for itself? According to the goals of Project 2010 they utterly failed, but everyone buys into the US Soccer inferiority complex where we just accept barely clawing our way out of the group stage and point to going 2-3 in the meaningless Confed cup as improvement. Am I the only one who remembers going to the quarter finals in 2002? How is the current program at all improved over that?
The dramatic fashion of the late goal vs Algeria captured the nations attention, for the first time that I can remember people were really captivated by soccer in this country, and then Bradleys team shit the bed. The longer we continue to embrace mediocrity and excuse it, the longer it will be before we’re really a contender.
First, it should have been clear from my first post that I don’t consider Bradley’s re-hire a big win, but I don’t see it as an unacceptable failure by Gulati, as you seem to.
2-3 at the Confederations Cup was quite an accomplishment when you consider:
- in the last three years, Spain has lost twice, once to the USA and once to the Swiss, who used Bradley’s gameplan.
- Egypt is also an impressive squad and we dismantled them.
- Even though the US lost 3-1 to Italy, it wasn’t as lopsided as the score suggested. Clark’s red card was overly harsh, they still led for almost 20 minutes while down a man, and had Italy nervous of dropping points until they got the 3rd in stoppage time.
- The other two losses were to Brazil. We led the final from the 10th minute to the 74th. If Michael Bradley hadn’t been out on yellow suspension, we really had a chance of pulling that one off.
I would agree to an extent with your arguments against the inflexibility of US Soccer. They should be more open to change as an institution, I just feel that when faced with that bureaucracy, one has to look for candidates that already have an understanding of that system. Would it potentially be useful for an outsider come in to yell into the wind until the system changes? Long-term maybe, but it would definitely lead to a lack of focus in short-term.
Also, US Soccer just is not a glamorous managerial assignment, nor one of the better paying. I’m sure Gulati identified some other coaches he’d like, but many of them you probably couldn’t even bring to the table.
Project 2010? You’re going to hold a hairbrained marketing scheme dreamed up by Carlos Queroz in 1998 against Gulati and Bradley now. Whatever.
The current program is improved over 2002 in the following ways:
- The current midfield is much stronger than the 2002 midfield (Chris Armas, DaMarcus Beasley, Landon Donovan, Cobi Jones, Eddie Lewis, John O’Brien, Claudio Reyna , Earnie Stewart). Donovan’s improved, Beasley has regressed a bit, but Reyna and Jones are the only ones that would have had a shot at the 2010 roster.
- the 2010 squad won their Cup group, and would have done so handily if not for horrible referee decisions. The 2002 squad got extremely lucky that Portugal was more emphatic in their bed-shitting in the third game than good old USA. Incidentally, isn’t it hypocritical of you to praise 2002 but dismiss Confederations Cup? They are actually quite similar results, but with Confed Cup against more impressive opponents.
Paging Trevor Hayward .... paging Trevor Hayward
I guess we’re still waiting for his “I will be the first to admit it if I’m wrong” statement ….
by worldcupexpert on Aug 31, 2010 11:13 AM EDT reply actions
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