Bob Bradley is facing more and more scrutiny after Swansea City’s latest loss, a defeat that has the Swans now tied on points for last place in the English Premier League.
Swansea’s 3-0 loss at Middlesbrough was another display of inept defending, while the Swans attack failed to do much either in the team’s latest road defeat.
The belief had long been that Bradley would have a chance to add defensive reinforcements during the January transfer window, but the team’s recent slump—a stretch of three multi-goal losses in four matches—has Swansea fans asking for Bradley’s dismissal.
For his part, Bradley isn’t wavering in his belief that Swansea can turn things around, nor is he too concerned with the perceived increase in scrutiny and pressure he is facing now.
“When I came here I knew what I was getting into and I’m not backing down from it now,” Bradley said after Saturday’s loss. “That’s the challenge. When the team has put itself in a tough spot, everybody has got to stick together during the toughest times and fight the fight.
“I put pressure on myself to see if we can get stronger and fight for points. I will continue to do that.”
Working in Bradley’s favor is the fact Swansea closes out the year with a pair of home matches, on Boxing Day against West Ham United and New Year’s Eve against Bournemouth, a match that firmly qualifies as a must-win encounter for Bradley’s men.
Entering those two matches, Swansea City sits 19th in the table three points out of safety.
“Up until today we have done well in the games against the teams who are right around us in the table,” Bradley said. “We talked about the importance of the games against Crystal Palace and Sunderland, but for the first time here we didn’t take care of business. That’s going to be important, but now we have to look to our next two matches and try to win those. They are going to be key for us.
“That’s the challenge – that’s the job,” he added. “When a team has put itself in a bad spot, everybody has to stick together and fight. That’s what we’ll do.”
Swansea isn’t totally lacking talent. Clearly they need defensive help and on-field leadership from the window, but the team has shown flashes of good play at times during the Bradley regime.The table is so closely clumped together at the bottom that a string of a few wins could totally change the narrative on Bob over there.
Why go there? Seriously. What a waste of time. You want a pathetic, hopeless situation, go to the Fire. At least you CAN win. They won it all about 17 years ago and many US Open Cups too.
At Swansea you are taking a job, where you lose all the time, no chance of winning, then you get fired. This story isn’t even news, it was a guaranteed, just a matter of when.
Maybe do the article on the timing. It happened so fast. Give him a couple of years, then fire him, or now is the right time, the fans need a scapegoat.
Now I am getting whiny, when does MLS start?
*now* you’re getting whiny?
In over his head
Mike,
Not sure I agree with this but right now I am all over the place on Bob’s appointment/opportunity.
Should Bradley have stayed at Le Havre to see if he could get them promoted and cut his his teeth in Ligue 1 after earning promotion? Perhaps. Had that played out,…no one in France would have been doubting his credentials.
Is it unfair that people raised eyebrows upon hearing of his appointment at Swansea? Probably. Consider a flounce like AVB being given the reigns at Chelsea? How about that drunk Harry Rednap getting gig after gig. Why? There is definitely a stigma to an American coach without professional playing experience taking the reigns at an EPL club and you wonder if the players were ever really going to tune into Bradley or would they tank and just wait until he is fired. At present I believe it is a combination of the team being crap,….AND them looking at Bradley and saying,…who the f@ck are you!
Unless he arrests this run of losses hemorrhaging goals he will be fired and it will be a huge setback for future American coaches with aspirations for European gigs.
Not so sure he is in over his head as much as this was a poison challace he should have passed on.
While I agree that there is definitely /skepticism against American coaches/players, these two examples are bad. Both managers had track record of success at the European club level. AVB took Porto to the UEFA Europa League title. In fact, he led them to a treble: League, Cup, & Europa League. He has actually won multiple titles in Russia as well. As far as Redknapp is concerned, he has a track record of winning titles on multiple levels in England, manager of the year and winning/success in the Premier League. I like Bob, but he has not what they have on the European club level, yet. Although, I think he is every bit the manager AVB is if not better.
Easy for you and me to say that he should have stayed at Le Havre and gotten them promoted… then looked to move somewhere. But if you were Bradley and you got gifted a Prem opportunity, would you really stick around with Le Havre? I mean think about what you guys do for a living… then imagine being offered a huge pay increase, all the notoriety you could imagine, a massive prestige boost, and top notch experience. Yeah… sure… you guys totally would stick it out at your current jobs.
Turkmenbashy,
It’s called the ‘long play.’ Sure,….you are correct, Bob Bradley is coaching an EPL team,…but for how long? What happens if he gets fired after three months in charge? His reputation will be in a shambles and he won’t be getting another shot in a top flight league again,….period. Furthermore, he will have damaged other American coaches/managers chances of getting a chance. Sure, he’ll get his payout (probably really good money) but Bob Bradley isn’t about the money. He is about the achievement.
So if he gets canned,…which I hope he doesn’t,…the grass may not have been greener after all and he might long for the longer-term ‘play’ at La Havre.
The thing is people in positions like EPL Manager or major corporation CEO, don’t think they are going to fail. They have so much confidence in what they are going to do that the long play generally isn’t in their thought process. Bob has probably thought for a long time “if I just get my shot, I can make this thing work” so for him to turn down that shot would be inconceivable to him. Also if you look at it another way, to achieve promotion Le Havre needed to beat out 18 teams, for Swansea to stay up and secure his job for the start of next season he just needs to beat 3.
Bob’s best shot at a big time job was a mid-year replacement when his competition was smaller, even if he had earned promotion with Le Havre he would have been up against the full list of candidates for any top job in England. Swansea was his best chance, yes the Swans are much weaker than the Arsenals and ManUs of the world, but the talent gap between them and most of the bottom half is not very big. What they do against the top 7 or 8 in the league doesn’t matter everyone at the back loses those games, but can they win at home and draw on the road against the Palaces, Hulls, Sunderlands, Burnleys, and West Hams. That’s were Bob will earn this job or not.
A lot of apologists here, but the Bradley has never been far from nepotism.
Bob is a fine manager, and probably an even better man but it’s hard to make a legitimate argument to keeping him at the post with how lucrative it is to stay up. From what I recall reading, his record is worse than his predecessor after the same amount of matches. Frankly, if Bradley was any other nationality, there wouldn’t be this amount of justifications for poor results.
Of course, it would be nice of he made it to January to infuse some talent into the squad, but I’m also very interested to see how Bradley handles/performs in the transfer market on, presumably, a limited budget. Should he survive, I don’t see him making it out of January without a dramatic turn around…regardless of opponents.
I think we are pretty much in agreement. Bradley is getting the pro-American bias on these boards (and the ilk). However, in the unfortunate, trigger happy EPL, he is, predictably, under fire. In the 7 games Francesco Guidolin was in charge in the EPL, he had 4 points, in the next 7 games Bradley had 5 points. He was able to pick up 1 result (a win), but the nxct 3 games by January 1st are critical:
– West Ham
– Bournemouth
– Crystal Palace
Pick up 6 points and no more blowouts and he should be safe through January transfer window.
It they are able to get or more points from those three and Bob is kept on, they need to at least compete in away matches. If it close at the end they are giving up a lot in goal differential in these games. Away 0-5-1 GD:-14 They’ve lost those 5 games by at least 2 goals. Home 2-1-1 GD:+2.
Sunderland Home 3-2 GD:+1 Away 1-4 GD:-7
Palace Home 1-5 GD: -3 Away 0-3-1 GD:-4
Burnley Home 3-1 GD: +2 Away 0-4-1 GD:-9
They are giving up almost one goal a game more in differential than the teams they need to catch on the road and are not gaining much more if any at home. People say the Swans fans should relax they are only 3 pts out of safety, but in reality its 4 because they aren’t likely to make up the 13 in goal differential in one match. Yes, they need to win these home matches against weaker opponents, but they need to steal some draws on the road too.
“Bradley is getting the pro-American bias”
if “pro-american bias” means not overreacting when he’s lost maybe one game he should’ve won (middlesbrough), then i guess that’s true.
Bob,
You need some players from MLS on Loan (To….umm….help them stay fit lol).
just call in Sebastian Giovinco, Bradly Wright-Phillips, David Villa, Ashley Cole and Jelle Van Damme to YOUR camp
On a serious note Bradley is in trouble…Big Trouble. Swansea is worst off than anyone realized. I don’t think Bradley’s going to be able to stop the bleeding in time with what he has
I know that was tongue in cheek, but Swansea clearly need a defensive organizer. They are clearly hurting from loosing Ashley Williams to Everton. They would need a cheap, defensive organizer (who, ideally, knows the EPL) . They also need a replacement going forward for Ayew. TFC is not going to let Gio go on loan and Bradley Wright-Phillips was garbage in England above League One. He even struggled in the Championship.
“Bradley Wright-Phillips was garbage in England above League One. He even struggled in the Championship.”
…..True Anthony but the key word is WAS. Now he’s one of the best strikers in MLS…keyword NOW (Meaning no US Striker in MLS is on his level right know). I know you understand that its not always about just the player, but the quality around him, the style of play of th team and the chances created based on supply / distribution of the ball (TO HIM). Examples of that are Sebastian Giovinco and Bradley Wright Phillips and even Jermaine Defoe. I can tell you without a doubt a NYRB with Wright-Phillips up top can put a whupping on many Championship teams
“They would need a cheap, defensive organizer (who, ideally, knows the EPL) . They also need a replacement going forward for Ayew.”
I agree 100%. At this point it looks like they need EVERYTHING. It’s like they need players with the underdog mentality and have that fire inside, players that are eager to have their chance on the field.
True…point taken. That being said, Giovinco is/was seen as a quality player in Italy. Remember, he is a fringe national team player and was a regular squad player for Juventus (roughly top 45/50 Italian players).
There is an alternative to the narrative that BWP has gotten better in MLS and that is why he scores goals in MLS. More than likely its a combination of factors though.
Could it be that Swansea is just bad? How can the be Bradley’s fault at this point?
U are correctly but sorry, sadly that factual logic didn’t work for American fans when Jozy was there and it won’t work now
Jozy was never at Swansea.
If u can’t figure out that I meant “the EPL” by the word “there” then perhaps this convo isn’t for you, Anthony…..
Troll on…
Davis, I know, but I was pointing out your unclear syntax.
Thanks SWJ……
But if u knew what I meant then how was it unclear? …..lol…..
How the hell is that being a social justice warrior???? Do you like throwing terms you don’t understand.
Keep winning, winner (that is sarcasm in case you don’t get it).
In retrospect, I probably should have toned that this response ….
(**sigh**)……
I agree with whoever said the outcry about Bob getting fired is coming from biased Americans. Bob knew what he was getting into and if he gets fired after a few more bad losses i’m sure he won’t be surprised. He certainly won’t trot out all the lame excuses SBI commentators have
Bob Bradley looks like Neo in the Matrix
Swansea fans need to all jump in a brown paper sack and breath. Bradley walked into a mess he had no say in creating, then plays six of 10 on the road. They went 2-1-1 at home, only losing to Man U. The sky is not falling. Give him an opportunity* to fix things.
* Slightly more than a quarter of a season, and no transfers, does not qualify as an opportunity.
It’s more simple than that, really, with the next two fixtures being at home. He must get points if he wants to keep his job. He MUST get the defense sorted out.
That being said, he will likely get the results he needs to stay on long enough to bring in his guys, and then things need to start shaping up QUICKLY. He may not be the man for the job, and that would be no indictment of Bradley – it’s not his fault he was hired to do a job that really requires premier League experience or something like it – but we’re all going to see just what he has in his locker over the next 30 – 45 days
The only Premier League experience he may need is how to talk the mouth breathers off their ledges. As for football managing, he has excellent experience that most informed rational people can acknowledge.
How about how to fight a relegation battle with less talent? While I agree EPL fans overreact, they rightfully want to avoid relegation. Wouldn’t you? A bounce-back is A LOT LESS common than an extended stay in the lower levels. They need talent, but they also need better defensive organization.
How does one get Premier League experience without getting Premier League experience? You have to start somewhere.
It’s the old saying: you can’t win the Kentucky Derby on a donkey.
What the heck happened to Swansea’s players? How in the world did the front office think they had a remotely competitive group? That roster would be middle-of-the-road by MLS standards, and Swansea’s trying to stay up in the Prem with that crew?
Yeesh.
Bob Bradley for President! Electors- there’s still time. Move quickly.