Having picked up just one point from their last six matches, Swansea City became the first Premier League club to sack their manager this season, replacing Francesco Guidolin with Bob Bradley on Monday following the 2-1 home defeat to Liverpool.
The Welsh side are currently sitting in 17th position, outside the relegation zone only due to goal difference.
The 58-year-old has signed a three-year contract at the Liberty Stadium, and speaking to the club’s official website, Bradley gave an insight into what style of football Swans fans can expect to see under the new manager:
“I love good, passing football. I want us to move the ball quickly and find the right time and way to get forward and create chances. It is also important that when you lose the ball everyone is ready to react and try to win it back. It’s a complete team effort.”
The History
Born in New Jersey, U.S.A, Bradley’s playing career only stretched over four years at Princeton University, before entering the Ohio University sports management graduate school in 1981. While studying in Ohio, Bradley was named the head coach of the university’s soccer programme, before an 11-year stint as the head coach at Princeton between 1984 and 1995.
Following a brief spell as an assistant manager for the United States under-23 side in 1996, Bradley spent a season as an assistant to Bruce Arena at D.C. United in the Major Soccer League (MLS), before being appointed the head coach of MLS outfit Chicago Fire in 1998.
Bradley won the MLS Cup and US Open Cup during his four years in Chicago, before he took in stops at the MetroStars and Chivas USA.
His big break came in 2006, when he was appointed interim manager for the U.S men’s national team. After some positive results in friendly matches, Bradley was given the permanent position in May 2007, and in 2009 impressively led the side to a second place finish in the Confederations Cup, including a 2-0 win over Spain, ending their 35-match unbeaten run.
In the 2010 World Cup, Bradley’s side topped their group, which included England, but a 2-1 defeat to Ghana saw the US team exit the tournament in the last-16.
Bradley then spent two years in charge of the Egyptian national side, with his reign ending in disappointment after failing to qualify for the 2014 World Cup.
He then took over at Norwegian side Stabæk in January 2014, becoming the first American to manage a club in European football’s top flight. During his tenure, he led his side to the Europa League, but in November 2015, Stabæk announced that Bradley would be leaving the club.
Just days after his reign at Stabæk came to an end, Bradley was appointed manager of French Ligue 2 outfit Le Havre. They narrowly missed out on promotion to Ligue 1 last season on goals scored, and he left the club sitting in fifth place this time around.
The Prospects
While Swansea’s new American owners revealed they had no prior relationship with Bradley before the last week, it’s understandable that there has been a little scepticism over whether the American would have been on Swansea’s radar were it not for their involvement with the club, given Bradley’s CV.
Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins, as he has done before the appointments of both Garry Monk and Guidolin, spoke of the need of “restoring the club’s footballing philosophy” after unveiling Bradley.
But with the American generally being recognised as a defensive-minded coach, who’s very adaptable in his tactical approach, it doesn’t appear as though the Welsh outfit are going to automatically see a return to the possession-based football seen under Roberto Martinez, Brendan Rodgers and Michael Laudrup.
Bradley does favour using a four-man defence, but according to this report tends to favour a deeper line, with full-backs generally not encouraged to push too far forward.
He has favoured a 4-2-3-1 formation in recent times, and it’s likely we won’t see anything too different under the American from what we’ve seen under Monk and Guidolin over the past few seasons, although the midfield diamond may perhaps be used less under the new boss.
There have also been mentions of more of an emphasis being placed on pressing opponents without the ball, although recent matches against Man City and Liverpool have suggested the fitness levels of the Swansea players may not be up to the standard needed to sustain this over a full 90 minutes.
Personnel wise, Ki Sung-yeung could be a player who gets more of a chance to shine under Bradley, with the South Korean a player who can fulfil a number of different roles in central midfield. Jefferson Montero is another who may get more opportunities under the American, with Bradley generally keen for his teams to favour a counter-attacking approach.
From a Fantasy perspective, it’s likely that Gylfi Sigurdsson will remain the key man at the Liberty Stadium. The Iceland international has registered a goal and assist so far this season, and with the fixture list generally easing over the coming period, particularly after Gameweek 15 (SUN, wba, mid, WHM, BOU, cpl), he could well re-emerge as a key target.
It’s expected that Jordi Amat will remain a mainstay of the defence, handing us with a budget option in defence, while it remains to be seen whether Borja Baston or Fernando Llorente will be favoured to lead the line for the Swans.
Bradley did favour using a 4-4-2 during his time as the boss of the US national team, but the two Spaniards don’t look suited to forming a partnership up front, while that system would also fail to bring the best out of Sigurdsson, making it unlikely he’ll veer away from the 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3.
One thing’s for sure, though – Swansea’s new boss isn’t short of confidence, going by his recent self-analysis:
“When I have a chance to observe different managers, the ones that do good work, I mention Pochettino, Klopp, Tuchel. We haven’t even talked about the Guardiolas and the Ancelottis. But I’ll tell you what – maybe I’m stupid – but I think I’m a manager in and around that level.”
He’s likely to find the reality in South Wales being all about survival rather than putting himself on the level of some of European football’s elite coaches.
With a tough run of matches coming to an end in Bradley’s first match in charge away to Arsenal after the international break, it’s likely we’ll see Swansea players begin to creep back onto our radars, particularly if Bradley can help restore some confidence that has been lacking in recent times.
His first few matches in charge should hand us the ideal opportunity to gauge which players he looks set to build his team around, but it would be a surprise if it’s not Sigurdsson, Amat and possibly club-record signing Borja who dominate our thoughts when mulling over Swans’ assets over the coming months.
