Quote Originally Posted by ag futbol View Post
I’m going to respectfully disagree here. The statistical models are far from full proof (especially the ones we layman look at).

If you see an opposing attacker barrel though midfield and Michael Bradley drops to the back between the CB’s rather than pressure (as should be a DM’s primary job) it has little statistical impact on his score. The impact on our team on the other hand is huge.

All the following can be true: a great player, a great servant to the club, and at 35 years of age, not able to contribute in the same way he was earlier in the career.
Don't mind discussing this at all. I think an 85% pass completion (one of the best records in the league for a midfielder), expected goals per 90 minutes are all still up there. So he's still quite strong offensively. On the defensive side what you are saying about not pressuring as much is true much of the time and probably is because he's slowed down a bit and knows that he won't win the tackle. I'm not sure that equals to benching him and playing someone else, our defensive woes have many factors.