Photo by Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports
By DAN KARELL
The long-discussed argument over Michael Bradley’s best position is now playing out on a national team level.
In his end-of-season press conference, Toronto FC head coach Greg Vanney revealed to local media that he had spoken with U.S. Men’s National Team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann since taking the job, though the conversation centered around where on the field Klinsmann believed Bradley should be playing.
Bradley, who normally has played more of a holding midfield role or box-to-box midfield role while with the USMNT and his various clubs in Europe and the USA, was pressed higher up the field into an attacking role during the World Cup after Jozy Altidore went down injured 21 minutes into the opening match against Ghana. Bradley received a fair bit of criticism during the World Cup despite playing a relatively new role. It seems though that it’s a role that Klinsmann would rather see Bradley play.
“I have spoken to Jurgen,” Vanney said. “Most of the conversation to be fair was Jurgen telling me how he thinks Michael should be played, and my conversations are more with Michael and how Michael feels he should be played.
“I think Jurgen feels he is a player who should be higher up the field, but I don’t know that Jurgen and Michael see things exactly eye to eye,” Vanney later added.
To Bradley’s credit, he’s never once revealed publicly any disagreements he’s had with either Klinsmann or the two TFC coaching staffs he worked with in the 2014 season. Disagreements with coaches are common in all sports, but the ones who take it public or allow it to ruin their on-field performances are the ones who potentially end up worse off afterwards.
Vanney went on to say that if he was to be successful at TFC, he would need to have Bradley buy-in to Vanney’s ideas, including allowing Bradley the freedom for him to play wherever he feels most comfortable on the field.
“We are with the player on the daily basis and we have a rapport and a relationship with the player,” Vanney said, “and how they train and how they work, and for me it’s very important to get the best out of Michael for 30 games, or however many you have, that I’m working with him with what he feels are his strengths and how he can best help the team.
“He’s cerebral, he’s smart, and he’s a hard-working guy. So I work more closely with Michael on his image and vision of the game, but also where he wants to go. He’s not a complete player yet, he’s not his final product. Michael still believes, as I do, that he has areas in his game that he can continue to improve and he can try to take another step forward in terms of the world’s level of players.
“As we talk about that, if I am to get his buy in (to my coaching), it needs to connect with his vision of his career and where that’s going.”
Vanney also touched on exactly what he sees from Bradley in his ideal formation ahead of next season.
“He’s a guy who can dictate the tempo and pace of the game,” Vanney said. “He’s a guy that can connect all of our pieces together. I don’t see Michael as a playmaker. I see Michael as a guy who can move pieces around and control the speed of the game.”
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What do you think of these comments? Do you believe there is a conflict brewing between Bradley and Klinsmann? Where do you think Bradley’s best position is on the field? Where should be play with the USMNT?
Share your thoughts below.
Great stuff, his club coach knows him well.
Having taking care of Donovan, it appears that Bradley and Dempsey are next on Klinsmann’s hit list.
Which is exactly what Garber warned about. Although only Bradley, given his younger age. I really think Klinsmann is out after the Gold Cup at the absolute latest. I’m getting my capital HA HA’s ready for my twitter post.
David M.
So you expected that Clint (32 next March) and Mikey (28 next July) will be dominant and around forever?
People in general should just lay off Klinsmann and, lay off Bradley. Especially, the player, who as someone in here said before, is a professional and does everything asked of him by the coach. That’s what good players do. Many, many players are asked to play a different position with the national team as they play with their club teams. To believe this is not the case is just silly. All the anti-Klinsmann speak is just as silly. He is the first coach I can think of ever to take a US team into Mexico and win there. He’s established a tough mentality in the side that wasn’t there before, otherwise coaches that went before him would’ve been able to win on the road in Mexico. What about that one? He’s the first US coach since Bora to ever have both played and coached at the highest level. There’s so much to be done to improve the US player development system that we have to give them a chance to do his job. Look at all the new faces that he’s brought into the mix to challenge for future positions on the US team. That’s good. No one is complacent about having a play place locked up in the team, which is the way it should be. Michael Bradley has never had a hint of any rift with Klinsmann. The fact that his Toronto coach should even bring up such a thing reflects badly on him. By the way, where has Greg Vanney ever been in his career that gives him license to inject himself into this discussion? That he didn’t avoid the topic altogether shows he’s a rookie and it would be good for him just to stay out of these discussions because he does neither the player nor the national team coach any good. In my opinion domestic coaches shouldn’t go anywhere near this topic, especially those whose successes in the coaching ranks you could put on the head of a pin.
“He is the first coach I can think of ever to take a US team into Mexico and win there. He’s established a tough mentality in the side that wasn’t there before, otherwise coaches that went before him would’ve been able to win on the road in Mexico. What about that one? ”
You can’t be serious, can you? One win in Mexico in a friendly is more important than anything else? Arena took the US team to the WC quarterfinal. Bradley took the US team to a second-place finish in the Confederations Cup and the round of 16 in the WC while winning the group. What has Klinsmann done? No better than either Bradley or Arena (actually worse), and he did so by having the US team play an embarrassing bunker soccer. What was the team’s tactics against Belgium? Have Howard singlehandedly win the game? Just compare how the US played against Germany in 2002 and how we played them in Brazil. It was an utter embarrassment — not even a hint of going forward.
Considering that Klinsmann is making 4-5 times as much as Bradley did, we should expect the results to be 4-5 times better. And Klinsmann has a much larger player pool than his predecessors — all those German, Icelanding, Norwegian ersatz Americans.
By your logic, every naturalized citizen is “ersatz.”
Apples and mangoes comparison. Klinsi was really playing the Germany game to not lose by more than 2 goals. You can’t compare it to a performance 12 years ago by completely different players in different circumstances.
Klinsmann was the first coach to ensure we made it out of group and avoided the every other WC jinx. Arena couldn’t do it. Doubtful Bradley would have. Please don’t compare our incredibly easy draw in South Africa with the Group of Death in Brazil.
We also managed to beat Ghana and get revenge for them knocking us out of two successive WCs, something neither Arena nor Bradley was able to do.
Had Wondo converted that relatively easy gift at the end of regulation, you would have no argument.
We had the toughest opponents and the hardest schedule, forcing us to fly more miles in Brazil than anyone else. It was patently obvious that our players were gassed at the end of the Portugal game and it showed against Germany and Belgium.
If you want to fault Klinsmann, fault his decision to play Cameron instead of Beckerman and for some of his roster moves, particularly Wondo, Davis, and Chandler.
I didn’t have a problem per se w/ cutting LD, but the achilles heel of the team was the complete absence of a replacement for Altidore. I would have picked Boyd instead of Wondo.
Also, what if Bacon and Bradley weren’t hurt? AJ might have shown us something. We will never know what would have happened had Jozy not gone down after 21 minutes.
I’ve been following the MNT since 1979. My first game was the 6-0 beating by France at Giants Stadium. You can’t even conceptualize how far we’ve come since then.
Klinsmann has made the US relevant in international football. Period. We are not going to be a regular top ten side until we have better talent. That’s a fact. And may I remind you that we kind of lucked into our quarterfinal in 2002 almost entirely because we played the one team that we were going to beat, Mexico.
Look at how loaded Belgium was. They brought Lukaku in as a sub! Maybe if Matt Besler doesn’t make a mistake gambling with Lukaku on the 50-50 ball, they don’t score. Maybe Howard would have dominated the PK shootout. What if Dempsey puts in that free kick in the end?
I am so sick of the Klinsi haters. I would like to see you do better.
“Considering that Klinsmann is making 4-5 times as much as Bradley did, we should expect the results to be 4-5 times better.”
Sure David. That’s why teams like the Angels, the Dodgers and the Yankees win the World Series every single year. Or why LeBron has, until this year never been the highest paid player on any team he has been on.
” And Klinsmann has a much larger player pool than his predecessors — all those German, Icelanding, Norwegian ersatz Americans”
It’s a larger pool but it is not necesarily more talented than what Bradley and Arena had. Where is JK’s McBride? Where is his JOB, Reyna and Eddie Pope?
And the opposition for the USMNT is gettting tougher just as the US has been getting better. Our CONCACAF opponents for example are much better than they have been in the past. It’s a bit of a wash.
Nice points both of you but the win goes to David M. As Arena beat Mexico in the 2002 World Cup and that counts for more than winning at Azteca even if it was a qualifier. Somehow Klinsman got out us of the group of death so in my view he just barely met expectations. Lets see how he does in this next cycle and then make a decision. He has definitely earned another 4 years, well 3.5 now.
The fact is until our players become more technical we won’t be able to compete with the world’s best no matter who the coach is. This technical ability is really about football culture and coaching at youth levels where it is fine tuned.
everyone was doing better than usual vs Mexico at Azteca during WC qualifying
His best position is anywhere the sun is shining on the field… his head absorbs the sun’s light and gives him solar energy.
For the one billion time, for Russia we Need a new team, new blood, creative soccer, no sympathy and score like a machine and defend like an army.
We need a new team, Dempsey,Bradley, Howard, should be out of the conversation, and the only player with a secure spot is Guzan.
Guzan and maybe jozy but jozy will be in MLS by then or in Mexico.
Technically, nobody should have a spot on the roster at this point. Those who the coach should be hoping will be the focal points of the team are Bradley, Jozy, whichever CBs win the job, hopefully two of Johnson, Yedlin (not as sure a thing as some would like to think and a player JK might actually like higher up the field) and other capable outside backs, speedy and dangerous hopefuls like Gyau, Green, and Shea, to play on the wing, and another couple of central players who can prove themselves ala Diskerud, maybe Morales, maybe Cameron, and then Guzan when called upon. Oh, and it would be nice to have someone with experience like Donovan to fill in/come off the bench in a pinch.
” Oh, and it would be nice to have someone with experience like Donovan to fill in/come off the bench in a pinch.”
It’s clear in retrospect that Donovan did not want to play for JK or for this team so your wish was never going to be granted. Guys like Mix, Nguyen, and so on, will have to fill the void.
You group your best 23 players and find a formation, strategy, and tactics to get the most out of them: coaching 101. If you want this group to play at a higher international level then it’s necessary to look at how the game is fundamentally played and play it at a faster speed. What are the best teams doing in Europe? Despite whatever formation being used we are seeing more compact and direct play…especially the Bundesliga..relentless pursuit of the penalty area. Getting behind defenders with dribbles, through passes, chips, and other tactics to get behind the defense as quickly as possible. Compact defense. Are we not seeing more body on body, shoulder on shoulder, and in your face defense around Europe AND MLS? The USMNT already does the compact/double team defense VERY WELL, but we cannot generate the same compact effort in the other teams penalty area looking for a goal.
When Klinnsy gets the USMNT to pressure the penalty area of European teams AND maintain the same compact defensive pressure he will have my unconditional respect.
Meh…more of that weird “soccer speak” that I’ve always disliked…”he can move pieces around” “his vision and image of the game.” Vague.
I think the main take home message here is that Bradley does what’s asked of him, depending on the coach, and doesn’t make a public fuss about it. Smart.
Having the USMNT limited player resources, I think this whole MB to ACM is really a waste of time, he is an 8 that can also play a 6. All of his passes to scoring opportunities have been over the top when the defense sat back and allow him the time to move the ball around. Asking MB to push the ball in a crowded field and to make the through ball pass is not his game, never was. We now have RR that is starting to shine, also LG, and to some extend even Johannsson, these are the players that we should be trying as the ACM, not continue to use players out of position for the sake of having them in the field.
If he can just put your post into mind of Klinnsman…Klinnsman has a coconut skull..hard to break into and a typical stubborn German who is not very progressive…he keeps trying to perfect the last game.
This is about more than how two coaches see a single player. National team coaches do not get a lot of time with players. They don’t train them; they use them. In an emergency or with a particular sort of player or within a very narrow range it is rare for national team coaches to play a guy outside of his club position.
If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Guys get drilled in their position. They train at it and they work at it, and reactions become instinctual. If a club moves a guy other than as a stop gap, it’s usually a project. I’m talking here about say a move from Fullback to Center back, or mid to fullback, etc. not a smaller move like an attacking mid to forward. Also, club coaches spend the most time with a guy, so they should have a pretty good idea of what he can and cannot do.
Look at Germany in the World Cup. They tried to move a player as great as Phillip Lahm from fullback to defensive mid… and it really didn’t work. They wound up moving him back. Moving a guy at the international level is a very big deal. it is not as easy as some fans seem to imagine. Yes, a great player can probably execute 95% of what should be done at any position. Maybe 98%. But is the small percentage of what they don’t do that kills you.
Yet Klinsmann does this sort of thing constantly. I mean all over the field, all the time. It is mind boggling – I promise you no one, no national team coach anywhere does this as much as he does. So, with his limited time with guys, his limited time to drill guys into new spots, he throws out what guys do with their clubs and declares “X is now a ____.” You have to ask, is he smarter than anyone else, is he the ONLY guy who sees Bradley as an attacking mid or Jones as a CB or Brad Evans as a fullback and so on, is he some kind of genius? Or is he wrong? Is it more about him either having ego that tells him he is the only guy who sees things as they really are?
It’s one or the other – he’s either a genius or a fool. His coaching record suggests fool far more persuasively than it does genius.
Klinnsman KNOWS Bradley has vision. I believe Bradley has good vision. Good vision in the way of anticipating a pass or a run off the ball. Bradley has done this before. It began to show in Roma, a few good times at the WC that turned into goals, but with Toronto, that vision is rusty..maybe it’s a result of teammates off the ball or a little lacking in motivation. I think this is the concern Klinnsman has. Oh well, Klinnsman can call in other players who show that motivation and vision. Bradley is not immune from not getting a call up to a national team game.
“They tried to move a player as great as Phillip Lahm from fullback to defensive mid… and it really didn’t work. They wound up moving him back.”
They moved him their because Kedira was hurt and Lahm had been moved there by Pep at Bayern,
How many games did Germany lose with Lahm there?
As for moving players around being unusual, Germany historically have done it all the time.
Nearly one, rallying to tie Ghana. Lahm played so-so as a D mid, but his replacement on D played poorly which necessitated Lahm being switched back to defense.
Nearly does not count.
The US nearly beat Belgium.
Lahm moved back to right back when Khedira came back and when Khedira re-injured himself they moved Kramer into Khedira’s spot.
Clubs and national team managers use players differently.. No story here, not Vanneys business to instigate a Bradley-Klinsmann issue.
I think we all know that MB is best in a holding/box2box/possession cm role but why not push him to do more? Long term that his role but in Brazil when Beckerman edged Diskerud for a major role and Dempsey was the only decent striker we had available a spot openned up
I subscribe to a starting 11 and the other 11 not necessarily to replace a starter, but add there own weapons in the case of suspensions, injuries, etc… Klinnsman did NOT do a good job of his bench at the WC.
Klinsmann is a fool. You don’t see good coaches put a square peg into a round hole. When’s the last time Sergio Busquets or Nemanja Matic play as an attacking mid.
Yes. Klinnsman tries to put square pegs into a hole over and over. The thing that kills me is he knows better to do this, but does not DO better.
Actually Nemanja Matic is a converted attacking mid.
Dude, I don’t know if Klinsi is a fool, but the top players are expected to play multiple positions in modern soccer. For example Loew played Lahm and LVG played Robben at multiple positions at this WC. Guardilola played Alves at several positions when he coached Barcelona and plays Lahm in multiple positions with Bayern. Klinsi played Fab Johnson and J. Johnson in both midfield and defense. None of the players complained.
Actually, he has publicly complained in not so many words. What short memories we all have. The problem is that Bradley is not a good defensive player. Fanboys think he is. But, seriously, he is completely terrible. There are better options for pure defensive mid, which is what Klinsmann wants. Klinsmann likes to attack so that leaves Bradley as an attacking mid rather than a defensive mid. He does well passing in the attack, so, naturally Klinsmann wants him there. However, this again exposes more weaknesses. Bradley cannot dribble a ball to save his life. He needs a good counter attack to be effective. If we play a counter attacking style, then Bradley should be the first person to play center midfield, but we don’t. He is a much better option coming off the bench in a game where we are losing to be an extra attacker on the counter. We can all see now how limited Bradley is in his skillset. These were all the same reasons he wasn’t good at Roma. Now America sees the same too.
I actually don’t think he does that well passing in the attack. He does great hitting a 40 yard ball over the top and spreading it wide. However how often do you see him play a through ball or combine in the final third.
Bradley was the most important player on the US for awhile because he was the only player who could pick the ball up off the back line and get the attack moving forward. Jones, Cameron , and Williams all struggled to sense pressure and turn up field. However, if we start to ask more from the center backs passing out of the back, perhaps this role will because less important.
become less important*
Bradley was good at Roma and doing fine. Roma signed players with a higher talent level than Bradley. Happens to teams and players everywhere and every year.
I’m not sure if we’ve been watching the same player over the past decade. The guy’s passing stats at Chievo were among the best in the Serie A. His ball control is just about the best on the team.
I get that Bradley’s form in the summer leading into the WC was stellar and he’s fallen off since, but to suggest that he’s bad defensively or a liability on the field is a bit perplexing.
As I’ve said with Altidore many times in the past, Bradley has his issues, but he’s still far and away the best we’ve got at his position.
” but to suggest that he’s bad defensively or a liability on the field is a bit perplexing.”
You never seen him try to tackle someone have you? Mikey is minimum standard to adequate but anyone who says defense is a strength of his is fooling themselves.
Pretty obvious to anyone that Vanney is right but I wonder why he would air this in public. Coaches and players should keep things like this in house. Just speculation, Vanney is a Bruce Arena disciple with ties to LA from college at UCLA until his time with the Galaxy on his second go around. I wonder if he’s in the “Team Landon Camp”, as it pertains to his relationship with Jurgen. He never was one to speak out in his career up until now. Always saw him a the silent general type. Just seems like odd timing and very out of place. TFC have bigger issues than discussing a situation that has no on field impact whatsoever. Drake is not happy
We all know how Donovan and Bocanegra ended up with a ‘can’t touch me’ attitude.
We do? Tell me, when did this fact enter the general consciousness of all USMNT fans?
I don’t think that’s what doomed Boca at all. Rather it was the combination of age and a lack of PT in Spain.
To be more exact, I’d say the Rangers implosion did him in.
The whole thing took a lot out of him and disrupted his career at a time when he really could have used a nice stable situation.
If that had not happened, Los would have had a much better shot at retaining his form and, consequently, his USMNT place.
The last paragraph from Vanney is spot on. Klinsmann should take note.
Yes, Bradley connects everyone. How about in the middle of a diamond formation to make it 5? I post solutions. Too easy to complain. Leadership solves problems. Take note on solving problems Klinnsman.
That is your solution? Who are the other players in your diamond+1 midfield? I would put forth a few, but I would have to stop once I realized that LANDON DONOVAN IS NOT FREAKING AVAILABLE!
“To Bradley’s credit, he’s never once revealed publicly any disagreements he’s had with either Klinsmann or the two TFC coaching staffs he worked with”
Give the guy a medal for doing his job. It’s not as if he’s been asked to play keeper. If such a small change is enough to throw off his game then he’s not much of a player.
He’s getting paid way more than he’s worth to help the team any way he’s told,and top player or not, he just doesn’t know more than the coaching staff…… Neither does anybody here.
Bradley is comfortable with his much higher paycheck and being able to play how he wants on the team he is on. He gets away with that with Vanney and Toronto. At the World Cup/International level Bradley is both a Defensive midfielder and Box to Box midfielder. The best formation for Bradley, if the USMNT wanted to get the best out of him would be a 5 man midfield in the shape of a diamond, but with Bradley right in the middle of that diamond at the fifth midfielder. In that position Bradley would have somebody behind him, somebody in front of him, and two wingers on the side of him. Bradley would make all those around him better and make the entire midfield more efficient. The defensive midfielder in that 5 man midfield could be a player that can drop back as a 3rd Centerback on defense like Edu or Cameron. The top of the diamond midfield could be hybrid midfielder/forward like Dempsey. Wings you need skill and speed or skill AT speed!
I would like to see this in a friendly or two.
I feel bad for Bradley, but bottom line, he’s got to be tactically flexible enough to play anywhere. I think JK is trying to figure out how to replace CD and isn’t ready to declare Mixx the guy. Bradley will likely be on the field somewhere during the next cycle, but where is a matter of whether Mixx or a current outsider like Nguyen steps up to own the attacking mid role.
We still haven’t found an adequate replacement for Claudio Reyna, so until then, Klinsmann must figure that Bradley is his best option. Maybe Hyndman, Trapp or Gil will step up in the future.
Mr. Page,
You mean the Claudio Reyna who started out as an attacking midfielder/old fashioned inside forward, at Leverkusen and then Wolfsburg ( where he was named captain) then moved to Rangers where he was the standout starting right back/midfielder and then moved to holding midfield for Sunderland and Man City all while playing the midfield general/timekeeper role for the US ?
That Claudio?
So Bradley had a bad World Cup, and could have blamed it on his injured foot, or playing out of position, but he didn’t.
Pretty classy.
He saved most of his whining for MLS refs.
Who, frankly, deserve it on a pretty regular basis. It’s a rare Eredivisie or La Liga game that I watch that has the kind of bad decisions I think we see every two to three weeks here in MLS. I think the refs are the number one detriment to the US league’s quality.
Full disclosure – Revs season ticket holder since 1997, so I already know the league is light-years ahead of where it used to be.
More conflicts with Klinsmann, as happens everywhere he goes in his coaching and playing career. Who can be surprised ?
Did you read the article?
The question is, did you?
Reading it seems that JK wants MB to play higher up and Vanney wants MB to have more freedom to what he does best.
Different teams with different players, playing different competition and having different needs. Given that, it should be no surprise that the different coaches want different things out of the same player.
^this. 8 clubs in 17 years. He can’t get along with people as a player and a coach. That tends to happen with ego maniacs.
You play where the coach wants you to play or go to option 2: sit on the bench.
I’m tired of his lame azz excuses for not performing.
You’re not a heart surgeon being asked to operate on a brain. A good footballer should be able to play more than one position without missing a beat or acting as if he’s world class in a certain position.
Bradley has made no excuses, much less “lame azz” ones.
That was one of the points of the story.
“That was one of the points of the story.”
But reading is hard, man….
No one is really surprised he isn’t performing in the more advanced position. It’s just not in his skill set.
I don’t follow. You’re saying any player should be able to play any position without missing a beat? Forward to defensive midfielder? Centerback to playmaker? Not sure I know many players who could make either of those transitions without missing large chunks of the song.
More than a few.
Big guys used to move from center forward to center half all the time.
Wingers played fullback. This is not that big a deal. Some people are more versatile than others but just go back and watch the Dutch and German national teams for the last 20-30 years and you’ll find a lot of people moving around without missing too much of a beat.
It’s not like asking Tom Brady to play center or JJ Watt to play QB. .
So Messi should be able to strap on the gloves and tend the goal without missing a beat?
“Back in my day…..”
Maybe he could…
i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02166/messi_2166331b.jpg
Ever watch Rooney play in goal?
Pele would have loved to have played in goal.
I think that the title of this post is a little misleading, the TFC coach said “I don’t know” if they see eye-to-eye on the optimal position, but the title of this post is more definitive and proclaims that they don’t see eye-to-eye and attributes it to the TFC coach.
Spot on. Title is a tad… I wouldn’t say misleading, but overplaying the situation.
Yep, overplaying is a good way to put it.
It’s just klinsmann covering his backside because we all know the role Michael played in the World Cup after Josy got injured is the role Donovan should have played. Now he is acting like he thought that is Bradley best position, despite not playing him there prior to the WC.
Umm, nope. First, Klinsmann started experimenting with putting Bradley at the tip of a diamond before the World Cup started — and plenty was written about how that didn’t seem like his best position. Second, it’s very unlikely Donovan would have been put into that particular role, regardless of who was coaching the team.
You do realize, don’t you, that Donovan has more than twice as many career assists as any other USMNT player and holds the career assist record for MLS? Bruce Arena, who has a pretty good record, has played him up top, on the wing, or as a playmaker, depending on the situation and other players on the field.
Mr. Page,
You do realize, don’t you, that Donovan had been tried by others centrally for the USMNT long before JK was around and it was determined that he was best out on the wing?
I seem to recall Bradley doing very well at the top of the diamond prior to Brazil and my guess would be his performance in Brazil may have had a lot more to do with his foot “injury” or whatever it was..
to be more accurate, he did very well for 45 minutes in that Mexico game in April. Every game after that showed that his performance against Mexico was an outlier, and that his best position is as a 6 or an 8.
JK went to the WC with no backup (offensive) plan for the USMNT that would give the US an effective offensive without JA. Yes we had Dempsey, but his best scoring year at Fulham had him playing predominately in the midfield. (was named the highest scoring midfielder in the EPL that year. Bradley best scoring year (at Heerenveen 20+ goals), he played as a box to box midfielder and sometimes as a point of a diamond midfield. Donovan was truly a Swiss army knife of Galaxy/USMNT offensive players, playing as forward, center forward, winger or left and right sided midfielder, withdrawn forward, box-to-box midfielder and even when called on as a defensive midfielder. Only Mike Magee when he played for the Galaxy, had played in more position, having played fullback and goalkeeper.
But the positions that Bradley, Donovan, or Dempsey played. were not their favored ones and made the players sometimes ill-at-ease, but were necessary at the time. Coaches, like Klinsmann and others prescribe to the strategy that its better to have your best players on the field, even if in a position they may not have played much (or even well) in rather than going for the better positional player. Which is the opposite of what he did in classifying Donovan as a forward only and not a player for the positions of midfielder or winger. Thus he became (in JK’s mind) expendable (or as it turned out not).
Putting Bradley up as an offensive mid, was not a position he played a lot for in the USMNT setup, but was one he had played (at Heerenveen) and so Klinsmann made the choice to put him there. At the WC, Bradley was not really comfortable at the position and tried a little to hard, chasing the game many times, with a huge work rate and may have led to tiredness, some poor decisions and less effective passing, tha what he is capable of.
Curious why Vanney decided to reveal his conversations with Klinsmann..I’m sure this is a type of conversation that many club coaches have had with National team managers over the years.
Well, I just hope people don’t blow this out of proportion.
Vanney is honest to a fault as well, revealed the whole Doneil Henry scandal from a week ago. It’s nice to hear coaches being honest about these things.
Remember when players were upset with Klinsmann because there were too many Germericans on the team? This is normal. Players have egos and usually know where they’re most comfortable on the field. Klinsmann is trying to shape Bradley into more of a No. 10 and I’m willing to bet Klinsmann responds to this with, “well yeah, of course he’s not going to be in favor of that, but I’m putting him out of his comfort zone to help him in the long run.”
Or something.
If JK ever gives Lee a shot at the number 10 he will quickly forget about Bradley as a #10.
“I have spoken to Jurgen,” Vanney said. “Most of the conversation to be fair was Jurgen telling me how he thinks Michael should be played, and my conversations are more with Michael and how Michael feels he should be played.”
His response: I’ll play him where I want and don’t see him as a playmaker (and I won’t take stick about it, I’m telling you upfront).
There may be similar pressures on Jones, if the intent is to push hm back. But NE likes him as a M.
So, in other words, Jr’s a total and true professional…..regardless of what you think of his level of play.
Plays with heart where’s he’s asked. Doesn’t bitch publicly about it.
Agreed…regardless of what you feel about his current form, you can never doubt Bradley’s commitment to the team or his effort. He gives it his all every game.
Yup, like every great player should!!