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Sounders FC - LA Galaxy preview
69 Plays1 year ago
The last time the Sounders visited the LA Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park -- almost exactly one year ago -- there was a fullblown fan protest over the team's refusal to fire president Chris Klein. The stands weren't quite empty, but they were eerily quiet.
The scene the Sounders should expect on Saturday should be entirely different. Ryan Rosenblatt -- our resident Galaxy expert -- says that since Klein's firing that fans feel like they can enjoy themselves again. It probably helps that the Galaxy are a lot of fun to watch as well.
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsorship
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey, this is Christian Roldan. And Jordan Morris from the Seattle Sounders Football Club. And you're listening to NOS Arietes. This episode of NOS Arietes is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of NOS Arietes since 2011. Full Pull was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime Sounders supporters.
Seattle Sounders MLS Cup Celebration
00:00:20
Speaker
They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest.
00:00:28
Speaker
A.O. Shen! Let's go! What a save by Fry! The Seattle Sounders have done it! MLS Cup win! Here come three years through the middle to crown it the vehicle! And now they truly can't stop the celebrations. It's the Sounders' MLS Cup! Niko Liddo leaves out!
L.A. Galaxy Discussion with Ryan Rosenblatt
00:01:12
Speaker
Is that what you young people call twerking?
00:01:28
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of NOS Adietes. I am Jeremiah O'Shan. Joining me today is Ryan Rosenblatt. That is a name that you may recognize from ESPN FC. But more recently, you may recognize his byline from Sounder at Heart. Ryan is also a Galaxy fan. So I figured, what a great time to have Ryan on and talk about this upcoming game. Welcome to the show, Ryan.
00:01:56
Speaker
Hey, how's it going? We'll get back to the show. Actually. I think we've talked to you about the galaxy before. Yeah, we've done this a couple of numerous times. Uh, but yeah, so the galaxy, every time I feel like I've talked to you about the galaxy, it's always been what a shit show they are and how disgusted you are with, uh, the way the team is run and everything else. I'm guessing the emotions around the team are a little better these days.
00:02:22
Speaker
Yeah, so much better. It's, it's really funny because there's real reason for optimism and like things are legitimately doing better. So, um, that's great. But also, you know, when you talk to me or you talk to other galaxy fans or you listen to the chance around, uh, digging the, uh, health sports park.
Atmospheric Changes Post-Protest at Galaxy Games
00:02:40
Speaker
So much of it is.
00:02:42
Speaker
Thank God we are past Chris Klein. And, you know, I think they're actually doing a good job, but when, you know, the bar is on the floor, things feel a lot better. And so at some point, at some point the bar will be higher than not Chris Klein, but you know, for now that's the bar and they are clearing it by leaps and bounds.
00:03:01
Speaker
Yeah, so I want to say the last time the Sounders played at Dignity Health, that is the name of it, right? Dignity Health. Yeah, we're on name four of this game. The last time they played in Carson, it was in the middle of the Chris Klein protest period. And if I remember correctly, supporters groups were actually boycotting the game.
00:03:25
Speaker
And it was like the vibes were about as bad as they could be in the stadium.
Galaxy's Offensive Transformation
00:03:31
Speaker
This was a game that you may remember the Sounders 1-2-1 last year. It was early. It was almost probably close to almost exactly a year ago from today. But what is the vibe like in the stadium? Have you been to games?
00:03:47
Speaker
Yeah, I caught one of them this year. So I was back at one of them and it's it's just joyous. I think there's kind of a freeing feeling from the fans. Like there's not a guilt. There's not like a do we actually like this team? Like you people are showing up to see their favorite soccer team play and are excited to hang out with their friends and watch a soccer game, which is like the most basic thing that we all do when we choose to support a team. But for a while there, Galaxy fans didn't
00:04:16
Speaker
They didn't have that luxury. It never felt good. And so, you know, now fans are just excited to be like, we came to the game. We hung out with our friends. We talked about what we thought was going to happen. We watched the game. We were excited by it. We went home and just like did a very normal thing. And so kind of just that freeing aspect of we get to be a normal fan supporting a regular team is really, really freeing and really fun because, you know, that that was gone for a while.
00:04:46
Speaker
So I'm part of that was simply just getting rid of Chris Klein, who finally left the organization and was replaced by Will Coons, who I think was for he's been formally named the the CSO. Is that correct?
00:05:01
Speaker
Yeah, they I think technically the title is general manager. But yeah, he's
Impact of Player Acquisitions on Galaxy
00:05:05
Speaker
the guy in charge of the players who come in and the players who go out. Okay. So yeah, he's and and it's not and but it's not as simple as that, you know, as much as that I'm sure is the first bar. But the second bar is important to
00:05:19
Speaker
The Galaxy are fun right now. They are, I think the top scoring team in the league. They've got what 12 goals through, uh, through five games. They just erased a two zero deficit to beat Kansas city on the road. Uh, this is a team that is playing high flying kind of chaotic. They they've also given up a ton of goals, but it is, it's a fun, it's just a fun team to watch right now, which I imagine is a, is a significant part of all of the vibe change too. Right.
00:05:46
Speaker
Yeah, I mean the team is really fun and I think it's a combination in terms of the vibe change of the team is fun and the team is fun in large part because of players that were brought in this winter and you talk about Will Kuntz. He came in actually previous under Chris Klein but then was after the dismissal of Chris Klein was promoted and given that power.
00:06:09
Speaker
It feels like this is his team. He gets to kind of make up the roster now. And some of the first moves he made was bringing in Paintsill and it was bringing in Peck. And it was really adding that those wingers that this team has lacked. And so doing that, I think really adds to it too, in that this is fun. And also I think it is somewhat reflective of that new direction and new leadership that fans have been killing for for years. So you put that all together,
00:06:37
Speaker
It's a really exciting time to be a Galaxy fan, even if this team is still flawed and I don't think you'd meet a single Galaxy fan who would say otherwise.
00:06:46
Speaker
Yeah, and Coons obviously had the ability to spend some real money. They spent something around $20 million on transfer fees alone on Joseph Pansill and Gabriel Peck. Tell us a little bit about those players and why they were so expensive and what they're getting out of them.
00:07:08
Speaker
I mean, in paints those case, it's really straightforward. You're talking about buying a guy in the middle of his prime who was playing in Europe. He was playing in competitive matches in a relatively high level with gank. I mean, that's a club that tries to
00:07:28
Speaker
Compete and make the Champions League. That's a team that's trying to make the Europa League who thinks they can win games there things they can win their league Rightfully, so so I mean you don't go take a guy in the middle of his prime He's 26 years old Bring him over at a high level from a club like that if you're not going to pay a lot of money
00:07:45
Speaker
That's just how it goes. You have to pay a lot of money for players like that. And the Galaxy said they were willing to. And I mean, that that transfer saga was actually drawn out for a while because Genk was pretty unwilling to move off of their price for good reason. Why would you get rid of that guy at a cut rate deal? Why would you ever do that? And they weren't willing to. And eventually they worked out a deal. The Galaxy paid a lot of money and they were able to bring him in. And he's been really good. He's
00:08:11
Speaker
I mean, I would say in the first, what are we at four or five matches of this season? He's been as good as any attacking player in MLS. Um, yeah, the pace that he brings out wide is one thing, but his movement is really clever. And you say the way that he will make that overlapping wide run, but then sometimes he'll bend it in. Sometimes he'll tuck in a little bit and play a quick one two before he takes off. He's able to attack in a lot of different ways and he's really tidy on the ball to the point that he doesn't just have to, you know, get out in space and
00:08:41
Speaker
Yeah, you let him get in transition. Good luck. But I mean, he's not a guy who can only run in transition. I think that's been really important because obviously the galaxy have Ricky Poosh, who is really good and can spray the ball around and create things.
00:08:57
Speaker
But you got to be able to create that space and you got to do something when he puts the ball on your foot. And I think that's kind of where he's shown he can really do that. And then Gabriel Peck on the flip side, that's a guy where you're betting on his potential to some degree. He's 23 years old. He comes over from Vasco to Gama and he's considered to have a really, really high ceiling. That was the talk of him coming out of Brazil.
00:09:21
Speaker
Um, and we haven't gotten to seen a ton of him yet. Last week was his first start. Um, he'd been coming off the bench and you can see that the skill is there. And when you're looking at a galaxy team that already had poos in the middle, who is one of the most creative players in the league. And you have a guy in day on, uh, Joe village who's playing at striker and you pop him in the box and he's going to be
Defensive Concerns for Galaxy
00:09:45
Speaker
strong and he's going to move around a lot. And he's kind of just going to be a little chaos agent.
00:09:49
Speaker
you know, 12 yards in front of goal. What you need at that point are wingers who can be creative, whether that is being a goal scoring winger or getting up the byline and trying to find that cut back, run onto the ball that Puj plays onto him, that type of stuff. And so that was the big problem last year for the galaxies. Those wingers were just straight up bad. They had bad wingers. And not only does the personnel and Puj and Joe Lynch lend themselves to good wingers. Greg Vanny's system is entirely dependent on good wingers. So that was the huge problem.
00:10:18
Speaker
Vanny's still playing that system. Puj and Jovalich are there. Now you have two legitimate, one legitimately great proven winger we've seen through five games in pencil and there's no reason to think that's going to change. A guy who looks very talented and hopefully with more minutes will show it in PEC. The Galaxy, I think legitimately you can make an argument assuming PEC is who they think he is and who's shown glimpses of. That front four, I think you can make an easy argument. It's as good as any front four in the league. Yeah, I think you could definitely make that argument and
00:10:45
Speaker
Jovolic is a player who a couple of years, we've always known that he could get into dangerous positions. He's been very good at generating, or getting chances. And he's doing that at an alarming rate right now, but he's also finishing at a pretty good rate as well. Is there something different about his game or is he just sort of growing into having so much talent around him?
00:11:13
Speaker
I think it's a little bit of both. I think that having that talent around makes his job easy. You plant him in front of goal, tell him to move around a lot, something he's always been good at. He'll hold off the defender. He's pretty good at being able to redirect shots towards goal that aren't always that easy, and his finishing isn't pristine by any means. He's not a clinical finisher.
00:11:34
Speaker
But when you're able to get yourself so many chances and you're able to turn half chances into a three quarters chance, for lack of a better phrasing, you do that enough times. You're going to find the back of the net, even if it doesn't always look so pretty. And I mean, there are some people who have criticized his finishing this season because he's had a couple sitters that he's missed or had saved. Um, but who cares? You scored five goals and he's doing that just kind of out of volume. And I think I,
00:11:59
Speaker
between his ability and the players around him. I don't think that volume is going to change anytime soon. And I think that you're also just kind of seeing a lot. He's never lacked for confidence. He's never lacked for bravado. He's the first one who will tell you that he should be starting every game and he will score every game. But I do think he's also carrying himself a little bit differently now that Chicharito is not in the team and he kind of knows going to every single week that he will be starting as opposed to, I think I should be starting and probably I'm not.
00:12:28
Speaker
Yeah, just to put it into context, he's at 5.6 expected goals already. That is fully two goals better than anyone else in the league right now. Uh, and yes, he's, I guess he's, he's got a, he's got a penalty in there as well, but still he's at 4.59 non penalty XG. That is.
00:12:46
Speaker
That's very good in case anyone is wondering. He's averaging about a one expected goal per game or non penalty expected goal per game, which is, you know, that's just not a thing that we are used to seeing, especially from people not named Messi or Zlatan.
00:13:12
Speaker
But this is not a perfect team by any stretch. They have also given up quite a few goals. And, you know, one of the big signings or, you know, their center back duo is at least is experienced, but is maybe a little long in the two. Is that fair to put it?
00:13:32
Speaker
the
00:13:52
Speaker
However, I think that was also kind of always a little bit foolish because while Jalen Neal is young, he's not a super fast center pack. That's not really his game, and I'm a big Jalen Neal fan, but I don't think that he's really bringing a huge stylistic difference to what you're getting out of the older partners that you would put him with.
00:14:12
Speaker
teams that could attack the galaxy with pace were always going to cause them problems, even if Neil was out there. And I think we've seen that to some degree with that center back pairing. I think some of the, of the leakiness we've seen from the galaxy defense.
00:14:29
Speaker
gets fixed as Gaston Brugman plays more and he was able to come off the bench last week and you saw immediately not only did the defense get better but that allowed Poosh to push further up the pitch and if you look at his touch map from last week before and after Brugman came on
00:14:44
Speaker
it's a it's night and day and he doesn't have to drop deep to get the ball anymore he's more dangerous on the ball the threat of him being on the ball further up the pitch pins defenses back and it makes it harder to play and transition against the galaxy it really brings everything together i think he's a huge huge part of making this teamwork defensively as well but i mean more than anything right now that the problem is in
00:15:08
Speaker
this is an area where like this being an older center back pairing and having some older players back there shouldn't be the problem. They're getting eviscerated on set pieces defensively. And, and that's kind of the next thing they have to figure out because if they don't, you, you put a real hard ceiling on how good this team can be if they can't stop anyone on set pieces, which has been the case so far. Right. And they give up two goals. That's how they fell behind Kansas city last week is, is giving up two goals on set pieces. Right.
00:15:34
Speaker
Yeah, the both their goals were on set pieces.
Gaston Brugman's Role in Defense
00:15:36
Speaker
They'd given up a couple more early in the season on set pieces. I can name a couple other times they gave up great chances from set pieces that just, you know, got saved or miss the frame. It's through five games. This has been an every game problem. They, they're defending set pieces terribly. And that's where I say, I mean,
00:15:52
Speaker
Caceres and in Caceres and Yoshida like the their age probably isn't a problem on set pieces You're playing them with Mickey Imani who's the night new right back He is a smaller guy. So but again, you have experience out there. That's a guy who's played internationally. He's played for a long time They're not the biggest team in the world by any means especially when you get to some of the guys up front But they're not a small team that
00:16:16
Speaker
There's nothing inherently wrong with their ability to defend set pieces when you look at their 11 or their 12 or their 15, whoever they're going to play. They've just been really bad at it. And until they figure out how to fix that, that's going to be a problem. So you mentioned that Gassen Brueggemann is essentially on the mend. He has come off the bench in four games. Is he at the point now where you were expecting him to start or is he not quite back to starting level?
00:16:44
Speaker
I mean, it's been entirely unclear.
00:16:49
Speaker
what that issue is, or like the extent of it, because we've kind of been hearing he's been getting better. He's been feeling better. And for a couple of weeks now, we thought that that would translate into starting and it hasn't happened yet. I mean, we heard Ricky Boosh and a couple other players said that he changed the game when he came on, how important he is. Greg Vanney's talked about it. So I don't think at this point anyone, I'd be shocked to learn that this was in any way a tactical decision. And I think there's a degree of we're getting results. The team's undefeated.
00:17:18
Speaker
This is a guy who we're gonna really lean on heavily as the season goes on. Let's not push him until we have to But it's been a couple weeks of this might be the week he starts and then he didn't so if it's not this week It'll probably be the week after but I think you're either way you're gonna see more minutes out of him and that's in the spot where Edwin so we're surreal is basically starting now is that right
00:17:41
Speaker
Yeah, presumably. I guess we could see that Delgado and Serio have played kind of behind Poosh. And I think that to some degree you just kind of assume that, you know, Brugman will slide into that spot. But until we see it, I think Serio has actually played really well this season better than expected.
Galaxy's Playoff Prospects and Strategic Moves
00:18:00
Speaker
And Delgado, he's a known quantity and that's fine. But I also wouldn't be surprised if in some games this season you see a Serio Brugman pairing there and Delgado heads to the bench.
00:18:10
Speaker
But yeah, I would guess that he would come in for Sario at least to begin with. So not to get too far ahead of ourselves, but what's the ceiling on this team? Is this a team that you think is an MLS Cup contender or is this more of a burn brightly but you aren't quite ready to trust them?
00:18:26
Speaker
I'm certainly not ready to trust them right now. I think, to my point, get Neil back. I think you still need another center back with a little bit more pace. So listen, it's MLS. You can make a lot of signings in the summer. If they go find that center back, if they tweak some of the things around there, I think they could probably add another midfielder. Because I think if you're entirely dependent on Soreo and Delgado in the middle there, you're probably a little bit light. So there are changes you can make, and the depth could be a little bit better.
00:18:55
Speaker
John McCarthy has also proven that, you know, you can win an MLS Cup with him, obviously. Right. I don't think he is the greatest keeper. I think that's an area where if you could and, you know, salaries allow and met whatever you can find, I think you could probably look for a little upgrade there. So there are areas I think that they could upgrade in the summer and make that leap. But if you told me, you know,
00:19:16
Speaker
you're taking this team into the playoffs right now, I would, I don't think there's a chance they could win MLS cup, but I do think that's a team that could beat literally anybody in the playoffs and win a round or two. Sure. Sure.
Sounders' Contender Status in Western Conference
00:19:28
Speaker
That's seems all quite fair. So, you know, you have started doing the, uh, sort of, we're doing a tiered power ranking over, I don't know if we're allowed to call it a power ranking or not.
00:19:39
Speaker
for the purposes of this show anyway. Give us a little sneak peek. Who do you have at the top right now? How far down have you dropped the sounders?
00:19:52
Speaker
And I'm not saying this to pander here because this is a thing that has happened for several years now Everyone gets mad at me who's not a sounder sand because I I don't drop the sounders as much as they I think I should I There's just they have too much built-in equity for me to drop them that far. I mean, I'm just not going to bet against this front office I'm not gonna bet against Brian Schmetzer. I'm not going to bet against the talent on the field. I'm lower on them than I was preseason Sure sure
00:20:22
Speaker
But like, I mean, realistically, I mean, if I'm gonna think it through at this moment, I will have them lower. But if you were to ask me like, Hey, where do you think they legitimately will, you know, rank in the West? I'm like, I don't know fourth, like, I'm not really that down on him. I actually think that this is still a really, really good kind of base here.
Western Conference Analysis and Unexpected Contenders
00:20:42
Speaker
I think the interesting thing is, when you look at
00:20:46
Speaker
kind of where they fit in. I was a I was kind of high on Minnesota preseason and I think that they have delivered upon my optimism and then so I would say so. Yeah, like I just I really like that roster and I think that
00:21:02
Speaker
everything on that roster makes sense. I think there were aspects of the way that Heath managed that team that kind of restricted some of that talent there. And we'll see where Ramsey does. I mean, obviously, we have no idea what we're getting out of him as a manager, but I've got to think that that's going to go well. The galaxy are obviously looking better right now. And so like, I think you look at it,
00:21:23
Speaker
If you bet on the Sounders getting better, if you bet on LAFC using those DP spots to strengthen that team and be able to create a little bit more, I think you're looking at a much more competitive West. And then that kind of brings me back. If we're looking at the Sounders, I don't know. Like even if I'm a believer in the Sounders, you might be a real big believer in one of these teams. They might only be, I say fourth, but maybe they are the six best team in the conference, just because I think that competition is a lot better this year.
00:21:49
Speaker
Definitely on paper, it seemed like everyone was in agreement that the West was by far the weaker, less competitive conference. And then here we are where some of the breakout teams early in the season looked like they might be Western conference teams. Like you said, like everyone had sort of written off, maybe not written off, but I don't think a lot of people had the Galaxy or Minnesota very high in the Western conference rankings. And yet right now, they're maybe the two best teams in the early going.
00:22:15
Speaker
Do you feel like the balance has shifted that much, though, between West and East? Is it still a bunch of teams in the East and then the West bringing up the
Episode Conclusion and Farewells
00:22:25
Speaker
rear? Or is it a little bit more even in that top couple of tiers? I think that I still think the best teams in the league are in the East. I mean, give me either Ohio team. I still am a big believer in Atlanta, Miami, as long as they can kind of keep something that resembles their first team out there is obviously really good. But I think after that, you're hitting a really
00:22:45
Speaker
big gap to what kind of comes after that. And I think while the East has all the best teams, I think if you ask me which conference has more good teams, I'm certainly saying the West. And so I think there's a depth of quality there, even if it doesn't have really like the top end, top end teams that the East has. That's fair. That's fair.
00:23:03
Speaker
Well, Ryan, once again, thank you for joining us. You can read him on ESPN FC. You can read him periodically on Center at Heart as well. I don't know. Are you still doing, are you still doing Twitter?
00:23:15
Speaker
Yeah, I'm still there talking about whatever other dumb thing that has come upon that day. I know. I'm with you. I can't quite quit it. But thank you for doing this, Ryan. It is always a joy to talk to you. And yeah, all bid farewell. Sounders are going to be playing Galaxy in case you don't know, 7.30 Saturday. I guess MLS season pass. I am Jeremiah O'Shan. This is No Study Yet This. And we will catch you next time.
00:24:17
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one!