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Nos Audietis: What does Ryan Kent’s addition do to Sounders’ tactics?
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Although they don’t exactly ignore Saturday’s 1-1 tie with the San Jose Earthquakes, Jeremiah and Aaron spend most of the show discussing the impact of Ryan Kent’s addition and how that could ultimately impact the way the Sounders play.
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Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more here. You can also watch many of their shows on YouTube.
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“Diversions” audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music here.
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Transcript
Will Bruin's New Role
00:00:01
Speaker
Hi, I'm Will Bruin, and I was just recognized as a Seattle Sounders legend. Now I get to do voice reads for the Sounder at Heart podcast network. Here we go. Come on. Hey, O'Shaan.
00:00:14
Speaker
Let's go.
Sounders' MLS Cup Celebration
00:00:18
Speaker
The Seattle Sounders have done it. MLS Cup winners. Here comes Ruiz. Yes, through the middle to ground it for Seattle.
00:00:29
Speaker
And now they truly can start the celebrations. It's the Sounders MLS Cup. Nico Lodero leaves absolutely no doubt. The Sounders rule the region.
00:00:43
Speaker
Seattle Sounders is going to be able to win. He scored! Derrick scored! Finally! This feels fucking awesome.
00:00:54
Speaker
This is a tiny dog. Nice work on your little yacht yat thing. port the cast say You know, what was the thought process in terms of who you decided to use and you didn't?
00:01:06
Speaker
Ever since I heard Har wrote a commentary that we didn't take over coming seriously.
Nos Arietes Podcast & Sponsorship
00:01:18
Speaker
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 Sounder supporters.
00:01:32
Speaker
They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, Pacific Northwest.
Podcast Recording Details
00:01:44
Speaker
Welcome to another episode of Nos Adiates, part of the Sounder at Heart podcast network, sponsored by Full Pool Wines, our subscribers, and our newest sponsor, BodySpec, who we will ah be talking about later.
00:01:57
Speaker
We're recording on Tuesday, April 1st, 2025. am your host, Jeremiah Shan. Joining me today is my co-host, Aaron Campo, and our engineer, Lickett. Well, the Sounders tied the Earthquakes 1-1 on Saturday.
Sounders vs Earthquakes Match Analysis
00:02:08
Speaker
They dominated the second half, ultimately needing an 80th-minute equalizer from Albert Rusnak.
00:02:16
Speaker
But really, at this point, I don't know how much there is to say about that match. It's been sort of gone over in various places. The talking points of have been exhausted, I think. I don't know if we really have a lot to add.
00:02:29
Speaker
But what did happen today...
Ryan Kent's Signing and Impact
00:02:32
Speaker
was uh we got to meet ryan kent the sounder's newest signing he his ah signing was officially announced on monday and i thought it would be a little bit more interesting to sort of discuss this now that it's actually happened and kind of go over what this all means aaron what did you make of of this signing i am i'm i'm pretty excited about it i think that expectations should be tempered right i think that um
00:03:01
Speaker
players that are a great bet to come in and be, you know, MVP caliber players are probably not going to be hanging out there on a free transfer at this time of year, most likely. But I think yeah considering the the reality of what they were trying to do, which is replace Paul Areola with a player who would fit into his cap hit and could provide a lot of the same skills, play the same positions, play in the same you know spots on the field.
00:03:32
Speaker
that was available and has upside, I think this is about as good as you could possibly get. And I, and I think there is real
Ryan Kent vs Victor Rodriguez (Q&A)
00:03:38
Speaker
upside there. Like, I think there's a chance that he could become, you know,
00:03:43
Speaker
a Victor Rodriguez level player, perhaps. Like, i think i'm at I think that's maybe better than Victor Rodriguez. I mean, Victor Rodriguez is high. We remember Victor Rodriguez for his goal in MLS cup, which is certainly relevant, but you know, I don't know how consistent he was and it will be you know, it it remains to be seen how consistent this guy can be, but I think there's potential that he's even better.
Ryan Kent's European Journey
00:04:04
Speaker
you know, I would say, you know, looking at his resume, I don't think it's out at all. crazy to say that two years ago, he he's 28 years old. Keep in mind, but two years ago, i don't think he was even like, I don't know that there was a price point that you could bring him to MLS at, but if you, if there was, he was almost certainly a designated player.
00:04:25
Speaker
you know, this is a guy who had European football on his mind very much. So he was, He was a very good player for Rangers. And his next move, which came after a knee injury, was to Fenerbahce, who was a team that competes and for Champions League all the time. He actually has a bunch of Champions League appearances.
00:04:46
Speaker
like I think the upside potential for this move is real. ah But like you said, there's, there's concerns, you know, and those concerns are, this is a player who effectively has not played consistently for two years.
00:04:59
Speaker
He hasn't played at all in eight months. He's been out of contract since October. So, you know, even if we take him at his word and that he was, you know, turning down offers,
00:05:11
Speaker
ah in the last, during the, in the last few months, still like this couldn't have been his top choice. Yeah, absolutely. i mean, he, this is a guy who has like very recent high level experience and yeah, you know, it's, it's true that there's a lot of guys that Jose Mourinho just didn't like for whatever reason that went on to have great years afterwards. But, um, you know, there was a coach there before Jose Mourinho that, that,
00:05:43
Speaker
Didn't love him either. um And, ah you know, all of the successes come in a league that is not great um compared to, you know, a lot of European leagues, albeit in ah in a very good team.
00:05:56
Speaker
um But, you know, I mean, there's there's certainly reason for optimism. There's also reason for that optimism to be
Ryan Kent's Skillset & Potential
00:06:04
Speaker
tempered. But I like his skill set a lot. um You know, I think that he...
00:06:09
Speaker
brings a little bit of directness that I think the the Sounders could really use, especially, i mean, Jordan will be back before he's ah before he's he's ready to go, obviously, but, you know, Jordan might miss more games in the future. And so it'll be nice to have another player besides Georgie that can provide a little bit of that direct play um that can take guys on. You know, I think that he's he's going to be a really good fit.
00:06:31
Speaker
um i'm I'm interested to see, and we'll get to this later, I think, but I'm interested to see how he looks as a wingback, whether that's a position he can be comfortable in. And, um you know, if he has the defensive chops to play there, but I think given the remit that the Sounders had, which was, we got to find somebody that can take the spot on the roster um and, you know, fit in with the cap hit and everything like that.
00:06:55
Speaker
I think they, they hit it out of the park with this one. And I think that the odds of him being, know, you know, ah just kind of a guy that's around for 18 months and can eat some minutes are real.
00:07:08
Speaker
But I think the odds of him being a real impact player are also very real. And even if he just hits that midpoint and is just like a good, solid rotational guy, i mean, that's great because that's that's kind of what you were expecting to get from Paul Ariello. Right. So i'm I'm excited. I'm really excited to see how he does and how fast he can he can start getting some minutes in.
Ryan Kent's Contract Details
00:07:31
Speaker
Yeah, a couple things that are worth noting about this move is, and I didn't fully appreciate this before today. And when we talked to Craig Weibel, he basically explained that the way this mechanism works that the Sounders use to bring him in. And so basically what happened is, Areola was placed on the season-ending injury list. And the Sounders are allowed to replace him with, basically theyre they are given mechanism cap hit to use on a different player.
00:08:00
Speaker
Now, if they sign someone who costs more than him, they can't, they they can't use that mechanism to sign someone who costs more than Areola.
00:08:11
Speaker
They also can't, if they sign someone who's less than Areola, they can't then, take the savings from that and apply it elsewhere. So this is sort of like a one-shot deal.
00:08:22
Speaker
And you need to find someone that essentially takes the same cap hit as Areola. Areola, my estimation, is something like $700,000 cap hit for the Sounders. So I'm assuming that's what Ryan Kent is on, which is not an outrageous amount of money.
00:08:36
Speaker
But the other thing that's notable about this acquisition is it's a one year guaranteed contract with a option year next season.
00:08:47
Speaker
So if he's not playing, if he's not looking good, this is a, you know, essentially this is a free, ah free role. Like they, you know, you're no worse off really because you didn't have, he's replacing a player who you didn't have anyway.
00:09:02
Speaker
And if he doesn't do well, you don't have to worry about it. And then if he does play well, that does create some, potential problems because you also have Areola under contract for, I think, two more years.
00:09:14
Speaker
So you, you know, the but those are good problems. You know, you love to have too many players that you you want keep around. so I think it's a good bit of business, like just purely from a upside potential and downside risk perspective.
00:09:31
Speaker
But I do think there's real
Sounders' Signing Strategy
00:09:33
Speaker
upside here. And I think the upside is that this guy turns into a starter. And I think, you know, he compares pretty favorably to guys like Johnny Russell to Denny Bwonga before they got here. Now, I don't know that he's going to be able to put up those types of numbers.
00:09:48
Speaker
There's also a gap between those two players. But, you know there's reason to think he could be a very good player here. And I im i applaud the Sounders for actually taking a a swing here.
00:10:00
Speaker
and ah And the other thing that's worth noting is that this is money that had to be paid for. This is... ah essentially discretionary spending so this is money that actually came out of ownership's pocket which is again it's not an outrageous amount of money but when you're not spending money on transfer fees it's the kind of money you should be able to afford to to yeah you know spend sure for sure yeah yeah it's it is uh i think too the reason that i'm most excited is that this is just the kind of signing the Sounders have hit out of the park over the years. They've, they've, they've found these guys that are available.
00:10:37
Speaker
um and the reaction pretty much every time they've signed them has been the same of like, well, if this guy's so good, you know, why why is he available? And it's, i mean, it's a fair question. It's, it's a reason to have some, some doubts that, you know, they're, they're going to be a slam dunk, but ah they just have done really, really well identifying these players, making sure they're a good fit.
00:10:56
Speaker
Um, Gustav Svensson is a great example. Victor Rodriguez, I think, is a good example. Kelvin Leardham. ah there There are just a lot of these guys that that they've done really well with. I think the the only real failure i I would say that they had um was when they signed a the guy whose name I'm blanking on for some reason in 2020 Magnus Volk.
00:11:19
Speaker
ah By all accounts, that was less of a bust on just like talent identification and more of a, he had some stuff going on in his personal life and also just wasn't like necessarily a great fit for the way the team wanted to play.
00:11:34
Speaker
Cause he went on to, to have a a couple of pretty good years elsewhere. So I trust them to get these signings, right? Yeah. At Molde. Yeah. Which, you know, obviously not quite a MLS level, but still that, you know, they, I think he's played in the champions league and and played pretty well. So I trust them to do a good job identifying good players,
00:11:55
Speaker
And, you know, obviously they were, they had some constraints. They were a little bit under the gun to to try to get a signing that would work. So maybe it doesn't work out at all. And he's, you know, like you said, he's just a guy who doesn't give you what you need, which is a bummer.
00:12:13
Speaker
But you're also, as you said, not hemmed into any kind of long-term deal. um Hopefully it can be a mutually beneficial thing where he's around for another 18 months and then Either he stays here a long time and becomes a key player for on the next great Sounders team, or he can go have success somewhere in Europe and, and you know, spread the good word of the Sounders is a great place to restart your career.
00:12:35
Speaker
You know, i also the other thing i I liked about this move is that it happened quickly. Like the early only had surgery, you know, last week it was when he went on the season ending injury list and the centers essentially had this move lined up and ready to go.
00:12:52
Speaker
i don't know. i don't, we didn't get a lot in the details on how it came together quite so quickly, but supposedly they had been, ah you know, they, they'd had Ryan Kent on their list of players that they were sort of following for quite some time. And,
00:13:08
Speaker
And Craig Weibel had sort of insinuated that this was a player that they were looking at last summer. And, you know, he wasn't you know ready to come here for whatever reason last summer.
Ryan Kent's Arrival and First Impressions
00:13:20
Speaker
But it's ah it's a move that, again, on paper, i really like. i also was encouraged by a few things after meeting him. One is he's he seems to be in genuinely good shape. Now, is he soccer is he game fit?
00:13:36
Speaker
Surely not. The guy has not played a match in eight months or so. So I don't expect him to be. you know ah hitting the ground running quite like that. But he was able to train right away. you know so he's he's in the kind of fit. you know He was training with the Sounders with his new teammates on his first day here, which I'll note is not something that Kim Kihee was able to do.
00:13:59
Speaker
And you know this is just a recent example of a signing the Sounders made. And it looks like really the only hang-up in terms of him making his debut is how long it takes to get his P1 visa, which you know the Sounders were pretty...
00:14:15
Speaker
ah political, I guess, about it. And they, and they said, Oh, it's not, it's not an administration issue. It's just just a ah thing that takes time sometimes, but you know, it can take anywhere from a week to a month, essentially, depending on how yeah quickly those things get processed. And I would imagine those things are not getting processed as fast as they used to.
00:14:36
Speaker
But I thought that was pretty encouraging that he was essentially able to train on his first day here. And, you know, he looked reasonably sharp. You know, i'm not going to sit here and break down his training performance, but he looked like he knew what he was doing. And it looked like he didn't look like he was out of shape in a by any stretch.
00:14:56
Speaker
I also thought it was interesting that, you know, they offered him the opportunity to to have sort of a ah meet the press in, in their press area in like their, their theater space.
00:15:08
Speaker
And he wanted to do it outside and be a little bit more humble about it. And I kind of liked, you know, we don't haven't had a lot of English players here. I think Tyrone Mears may have been the last English player that played for the Sounders.
00:15:21
Speaker
Yeah. I was, I kind of liked his whole vibe. Like I, was you know I feel like a lot of players, especially that are coming from big European leagues, don't really know how to handle the press or they don't really... They're not interested in dealing with the press.
00:15:36
Speaker
And he seemed like pretty normal, frankly. like He talked to highly of... of see it you know he He said all the right things, I guess, is what I'm saying. And I like that he's coming... you know He talked about trying to rediscover the joy and he seemed to...
00:15:52
Speaker
vibe with his teammates so far. Just a lot of encouraging signs, I guess, generally speaking from them today. Yeah. And like that stuff is all secondary, obviously, but it's, I feel like it is, it can be a good indicator. Like I used to be really cynical about that kind of stuff and be like, who cares what, what they do on the field. Right. But like, right.
00:16:11
Speaker
As you get older and wiser, you you recognize that it is like a good and indicator of the kind of attitude that that a player has. And I think especially coming from the heights of his career to MLS, um where, you know, he was what, like a 20, 25 million dollar player. Not that long ago. Transfer Mark Tedham as a 20 million dollar player in 2021, 22, believe.
Sounders' Injury Updates
00:16:34
Speaker
Yeah. And and then, you know, and then having a really bad time in his last year at Rangers and and that leading to him going to to Fenner and and having a bad time there.
00:16:45
Speaker
um That's got to be hard. And I think that a lot of. ah players would not have a great attitude about it and they would view themselves as being, you know, too good for for MLS or especially since, you know, it was an option for him apparently last year and and he decided against it.
00:17:01
Speaker
um And so I think that him coming in and having a positive attitude and saying all the right things is an indicator that his mindset you know is is right and and that he's going to take things seriously and that he doesn't think it's going to be a walk in the park or that it's beneath him. And that's that's nice. I mean, realistically, the reputation of MLS abroad, especially in in Europe, has not has not increased along with the the quality of play, I will say. I think it's still thought of by a lot of folks as you know a backwater retirement league, whatever you want to call it.
00:17:33
Speaker
Until they get here. Until they get here, right? that's all And then all of a sudden, it's like, I'm so i'm really excited about MLS. Right, right. But I think that, but you can still tell a lot of the time with those guys, you know, when they get here that they think it's going to be easy.
00:17:48
Speaker
And so for somebody to have, like, come in and give indications that they're just taking it as seriously as they would any other club, any other gig they've had is is, I think, a really positive sign. Yeah, i would I would totally agree with that.
00:18:00
Speaker
ah The other thing that came out today, and it interestingly not at training, but on Brian Spencer's appearance on KGR, he made it sound like Pedro de la Vega is at least...
00:18:14
Speaker
in contention to be available this week and that both he and Jordan Morris are potentially available for the Dallas game next week.
00:18:26
Speaker
So the Sounders, you know, I will say at training today, everyone was in at training that, you know, maybe not for the entire training session, but that was De La Vega. That was Morris.
00:18:37
Speaker
It was even Leo Bernie who, I don't even know if you know who Leo Bernie is, but he is ah the homegrown player they signed in at the end of or the beginning of this year who has not been available at all. He hasn't even played for the defiance.
00:18:50
Speaker
I guess he's been dealing with a hamstring injury. But Sounders do seem to be getting healthy. and This week, I am sort of expecting Danny Masofsky to get his first, don't know, I guess it would be his, I'm not sure if it's his first start of the season, but a rare start.
00:19:09
Speaker
And we may as well talk about it a little bit.
Danny Masofsky's Performance (Q&A)
00:19:12
Speaker
What did you, where do you come down on the Danny Masofsky discourse? I have already put out a video talking about it.
00:19:21
Speaker
I've written about it, but I am curious, where do you fall in Danny Masofsky, like discourse from his last game. I think that Danny Masavsky is a much better player than he gets credit for being.
00:19:38
Speaker
i think that it's not an accident that when he came on on on Saturday that the Sounders instantly looked better. um i think that he plays, he takes up space and plays forward in a way that fits the system much better than Jesus Ferreira does.
00:19:55
Speaker
He puts himself into dangerous positions. He gets into dangerous positions. I think he's been really unlucky in front of goal. Having said all of that, he's looked really bad in front of goal.
00:20:07
Speaker
I mean, I don't, there's no other way to put it, right? Like, I think that the the one chance he had that I thought people were a little unfair to him on was the one where Obed played him in behind and he had a one V one with a keeper, but it was not as good or nailed on him as a chances. I think.
00:20:23
Speaker
Oh, really? I thought that was a pretty good. che I mean, I don't know. This is the one where he, this is the one where he cut it back to his left foot and sort of just like kicked it at the keeper. It was, I'm not saying he made a great decision. I'm not saying he looked good.
00:20:37
Speaker
i am saying that. There was a defender trailing where if he cuts it back the other way, he's going to have trouble. The keeper, I thought, played it really, really well. um Probably the right move there is either to try a chip, which I mean, i don't know if Danny's got a chip in him or to try to round the keeper. But rounding the keeper is not an easy thing to do.
00:21:00
Speaker
I'd love to see him get off a better shot, obviously. But I think people were treating that as like, you know, ah nailed on goal when I think Jordan doesn't score that half the time. but Now, fair Jordan is fair Jordan is probably.
00:21:15
Speaker
and he's probably on the keeper a lot faster, right? Like he's he's probably causing more problems for the keeper than Danny is physically capable of causing. um But the other one he had ah from the corner where he just had a wide open net right in front of him and he put it 10 feet over the bar. I mean, that's, just that sucks, man. I don't like, and I don't have any, yeah there's no better way. I think he kind of got his feet wrong on that one too, where he, you know, and it was, I saw a few people suggest like, Oh, I think the, that shot got blocked.
00:21:45
Speaker
There is a replay later in the broadcast that just shows it's he, like the goalkeeper is so far out of position on that, that he is essentially looking at an open goal and he just shanks it very badly.
00:21:58
Speaker
And the reality is the best strikers in the world will miss chances like that. Yes. The problem is that Danny has done that with like every chance he's had pretty much. Now he had, he had the goal against Cruz Azul.
00:22:10
Speaker
That was ah actually kind of like a similar situation really where the ball just kind of fell to him and he puts it away. um i think that he suffers from, he's getting most of his minutes at a time when the Sounders are really struggling to score goals.
00:22:26
Speaker
And he's just had some really bad misses. But you also have to like you have to take advantage of your time, man. Like he he had the goal against Cruz Azul.
00:22:38
Speaker
That's great. That's what his second goal as a sounder, i think. um But his his only one this year, it's just he's got to start taking advantage of putting himself in those good positions.
00:22:51
Speaker
ah And I don't, I don't blame anyone for being frustrated with him. i just, I do think you, you have to give him credit for getting into good positions, um doing all of the other stuff. That's not putting the ball in the net. I think he does it really well. I think his holdup play is good. I think he's, he's pretty good in the air. He's, you know, he's a good physical presence up there.
00:23:11
Speaker
um His positional discipline is good. he makes pretty good runs. But yeah, but none of that matters until you can actually convert a chance. and And he just, he had couple real nice ones that he was not able to do a whole lot with.
00:23:26
Speaker
Yeah. And I will give him this is and again. And I think we we agree on this is that there is something to be said about just being a willing runner, just putting yourself in those spots.
00:23:40
Speaker
And you can see the way he opened up the game when he came on, like one of the first things that happens after he gets on the field is, Paul Rothrock ends up with a run down the the left sideline.
00:23:52
Speaker
And I'm convinced his run helps open that up because he's occupying the center backs and he's you know i'm giving a little bit more daylight to Rothrock. And then he puts himself in a really good position actually to receive a cross.
00:24:05
Speaker
I don't really blame Rothrock for shooting there. But that's exactly what you want a number nine to do is is sort of do the dirty work. And you know i i think it's notable that Ferreira looked a lot better when he moved you know beneath the striker and and so was out on the wing a lot of the time.
00:24:25
Speaker
i do think it creates some potential headaches for... I don't know what you do with when Pedro... Let's just say Pedro is back next week.
00:24:38
Speaker
And you don't have Morris. I don't know how you get everyone you want on the field on the field together. Like think that's going to be a genuine challenge. I suppose you could go to a four, two, three, one.
00:24:52
Speaker
i don't know if that's necessarily solves all your problems. No, I do kind of feel like.
00:25:00
Speaker
We might have run into a situation where the three at the back is not going to be. I don't know. We might. And then we asked Brian about that and he sort of, he kind of admitted like, we'll see. We're not. yeah It sucks because I think the roster is built to play that way in a lot of ways. But I mean, if Kent can't play wingback, if you know, and he and he plays really well and needs to be on the field, like,
00:25:26
Speaker
what
Ranking Potential Sounders Lineups
00:25:27
Speaker
what are you going to do? I guess you could play with like three tens maybe. I don't know. Yeah. i this is I'm glad you brought this up because think you brought it up. i don't know if you you brought it up. Whatever. I brought it up.
00:25:38
Speaker
One of us brought it up. I'm glad we're talking about this because what we're going to do in the final segment is we're going to do, we're going to have another power rankings discussion and we're going to power rank the lineups that we'd like to see now that Ryan Kent is here and we can kind of wish get, we can imagine this is not what we want to see this week.
00:25:56
Speaker
This is the lineup that we see when everyone is available and assuming reasonably good fitness or reasonably good form. So we're going to take a break. We're going to a little introduction to our new sponsor, and then we're going to finish out the show with a power ranking of lineups we'd like to see.
00:26:14
Speaker
i But you're listening to Nos Audietes and we'll be right back.
00:26:26
Speaker
All right. So welcome back to Nos Audietes.
BodySpec Sponsorship & Benefits
00:26:30
Speaker
We wanted to do a little we're doing something a little different this time. We have a new sponsor. And in part because this sponsor is a product that Aaron is actually familiar with.
00:26:43
Speaker
It felt worthwhile to kind of give a little bit of our experience with this with this product. If you don't know, BodySpec is a DEXA scan service. they Essentially, it takes about 10 minutes.
00:26:55
Speaker
You go in there and they give you a reading that what does bone density, muscle mass, things like that. If you are someone who is... in a fitness journey, anywhere in the fitness journey, it's a pretty useful thing.
00:27:10
Speaker
But Aaron, you've done this thing. What can you say about yeah Yeah, I've been, I've been using body specs since gosh, it's been almost, uh,
00:27:21
Speaker
two years now, I want to say. um And, you know, after after my ah cancer diagnosis and and recovery and everything, I just i decided I really wanted to start taking my health more seriously. um And that's been a process, you know, over over a few years. And um recently, I got into ah weightlifting, started hitting the gym quite a bit, ah started working with a nutritionist.
00:27:44
Speaker
And, you know, I was having some struggles seeing progress on the nutritionist side. And my nutritionist said, well, it's probably because of the weightlifting and you need to go get some get a DEXA scan so you can start tracking your actual body composition. Because um if you are putting on muscle and losing fat, the scale is not going to change. It's not going to tell you a whole lot.
00:28:06
Speaker
um So I resisted doing it for quite a bit because I didn't really necessarily want all of the information that you get from the DEXA scan. But I eventually ah relented and and went. And I'm very glad I did. It's been a ah great tool for me.
00:28:19
Speaker
Um, it, it showed me that I was on the right track that I was making progress. Um, it's given me a lot of good information about, you know, not only my fitness goals, but also just my overall health.
00:28:30
Speaker
Right. Um, it, it tells you not only how much body fat you have, but where it is. Um, and that is, better to have some places than others. And so it's it's good to have that information to try to change your diet up.
00:28:44
Speaker
um And yeah, it's just been a great tool for me. Recently, I took a little break from going just because I've been traveling a lot. I haven't, you know, haven't been quite as active at the gym, haven't been quite as nailed in nutritionally, and I picked back up. And as helpful as it was to show me that I was making progress, it's also been really helpful to show me you know when your your life happens and and you maybe backslide a little bit, um which is all... you know That's going to happen, right? I think to anybody who who has sort of long-term fitness goals, um it's not always going to be straight path.
00:29:20
Speaker
It's never going to be a straight path. It's going to be up and down. And so... Having that information, you know knowing, okay, this is where I've slipped. This is where I'm still doing okay, is super beneficial. It's just really nice to have insight into all of that to to keep me honest um and to you know keep me encouraged when things are going well and and get me right back on the right track when they're not.
00:29:41
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's a fascinating thing to watch from a distance seeing your like if I'm to to share, it's been fascinating to see your sort of fitness journey in this. And I can only imagine that having a tool like this is particularly helpful.
00:29:55
Speaker
I will share that, ah you know, so if you want to Sign up, go to bodyspec.com slash sounder at heart. There's hyphens in between the at there.
00:30:06
Speaker
And you'll get a ten you can get a $10 discount off of the the service. Ends up bringing it down to about $50. And you just use the code sounder at checkout. We'll get some credit for ah sending people there.
00:30:21
Speaker
And doesn't really... really there's no I guess there's the downside is just you have more information about your own body, right? Like this is not a ah cure.
00:30:31
Speaker
It's not a, ah you know, it's it's information. And the information is good to have, I suppose, especially when you're mindful where you're being mindful about what you're eating and what you're doing to yourself. And, you know, it's good to know what the results are, right?
00:30:48
Speaker
Yeah. And I think too, ah part of my skepticism, you know, was, well, this is a thing for serious athletes. Like I have done a lot of work and in terms of body recomposition, but I'm still ultimately a fat guy in his, in his mid forties. Right.
00:31:04
Speaker
And that's probably, that's going to be, I'm going to be a fat guy. Yeah. And I'm going to be a fat guy in my mid forties until I'm in my late forties. So it's not just serious athletes that can benefit from this. Right. Like if, if you are,
00:31:17
Speaker
If you're doing any kind of work, like if you're, you know, just doing maintenance cardio and you're and you're maybe trying to heat eat a little healthier and you just do this once just to see where you're at.
00:31:28
Speaker
That's great. um If you have longer term goals and you just want to make sure you're staying on the right track. that's That's great, too. um If you are a serious athlete, it's obviously great. I mean, all of the big guys who are competitive lifters at my gym, they all they all hit up the the body spec truck as well. But, um you know, plenty of other folks like me are using it as well. And it's been super, super helpful.
00:31:53
Speaker
Yeah, and I guess that's another good note. It's not just... They they have physical locations that are around the Seattle area, but you can they also have mobile units that travel to various gyms.
00:32:03
Speaker
So it's pretty easy to get set up and find out where this is going on. And you can probably find one that's close to you. And yeah, if youre if you're inclined to do it, go check out bodyspec.com slash sounder at heart. Again, hyphens between the at or on the other side of the at there.
00:32:21
Speaker
ah But yeah, ah thanks, Aaron, for sharing that story. Thanks to Body Spec for sponsoring the Sounder Heart Podcast Network. You're probably going to hear their ads ah for the next, you know, we'll see how long this goes on, but for you at least the next month and and we'll see where it goes from there and ah help.
00:32:38
Speaker
support sounder at heart by, by doing that. Uh, and thank you to everyone involved. Uh, all right, well, we're going to come right back. We're going to talk about the, uh, power rankings for sounders lineups.
00:32:51
Speaker
Uh, you're listening to no side at this.
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00:34:47
Speaker
Welcome back to nos adiates. So we're going to, we've been trying to get this last segment kind of going. We're calling it power rankings.
00:34:59
Speaker
And this time we're just going power rank some lineups for you. ah And with the idea that the Sounders have a lot of options right now. And I guess the first thing that I'll ask, ah this ah we're we're winging it on how we're we're formatting this, but we're I'm going to ask you to sort of rank a few different things, Aaron.
00:35:20
Speaker
Looking at what they have here. Do you want to see them at with using a four in the back or a three in the back kind of setup? Like, I think that's a good baseline. So we're, we're building up from there.
00:35:33
Speaker
I think if, if Ryan can't can play wing back, I really like three in the back. I really do. Um, I think it suits the personnel well. I think it allows them to get more guys on the field that they want on the field. but It gives them a little more flexibility.
00:35:49
Speaker
um But we don't i mean we don't know if he can. so you know yeah i my My suspicion is no. like i I think he's probably a winger. like A real winger.
00:36:03
Speaker
So I guess if the choice then becomes... Do you want... and And I guess maybe it's a little bit of a false choice. Because on one hand, you could say... Look, Nuhu is going to be playing the role Nuhu plays.
00:36:19
Speaker
i And so what you're really talking about is what role do you want Alex Roldan playing as the right back for now? Well, I guess that's actually a good question. Who do you who do you want back there? Do you want like is new who a starter for you?
00:36:34
Speaker
I assume we both agree. More and Jackson Reagan are in this starting lineup. But in that back line, is it like, would you rather see a John, but would you rather see a Reed Baker Whiting potentially?
00:36:47
Speaker
Would you rather see man yeah Alex Roldan? this is where this is where the This is where the numbers on the sheet start kind of breaking down, right? The 4-2-3-1 versus because I think you can play a formation that
00:37:07
Speaker
I think if you're playing with four in the back, I'd love to see Reed Baker Whiting play at left back. If you're doing it in the traditional, well, we've got two fullbacks and two center backs and then we've got. But there's I mean, a lot of teams play on balance formations.
00:37:22
Speaker
And i think I mean, Alfonso Davies is a wing back, right? Is he on paper a wing back? You know, and like and and there's a lot of there's a lot of players like that. um The number of players who can be truly elite playing both ways out of that fullback wingback slot.
00:37:40
Speaker
There's not a ton of them out there. And I think a lot of teams play ostensibly with three center backs and two wingbacks. But really, they're playing with three center backs, a traditional fullback and right.
00:37:52
Speaker
And they just play sort of an asymmetrical setup. And so if you're doing that, I like New who as the left side and center back. um if you want your left side and fullback to get forward, I don't want Nugo doing that. so as As good as his shots looked on Saturday, he did have few. They did, actually. He had three good shots.
00:38:15
Speaker
ah yeah Three of the best shots I've ever, frankly, seen him take. ah all Including the goal he scored. Yeah, for sure, including the goal he scored. The goal he scored was, the you know, like, anyway.
00:38:27
Speaker
ah But i one thing I do think that helps the Sounders here is that Alex Roldan's role has sort of evolved over time. And I think what you can do, what ah he allows you to do is he he sort of allows you to play ostensibly three in the back, even if you're in a four, you know, four, two, three, one or whatever, because what he can do is he can slide. He doesn't have to be a winger in that, in that formation.
00:38:54
Speaker
He's perfectly capable of sliding into the defensive midfield and sort of creating a fifth defender a little higher up the pitch. And it allows you to have more traditional wingers, I think, higher up the pitch.
00:39:10
Speaker
Right. And in so in that way, i i am okay with a back four, no matter what way they are formatted, of New Who, Jackson, Reagan, Yamar, and Alex Roldan.
00:39:24
Speaker
And I would imagine you and I both feel like the... the defensive midfielder pairing probably that move makes the most sense is Christian Roldan and Obed Vargas. But sort of in this idea, yeah it allows Obed to get a lot more attack. One of those two defensive midfielders to get to join the attack a little bit more freely if Alex Roldan is sliding over into a more of a defensive midfielder spot.
00:39:49
Speaker
And then it gives you a little bit more of a cleaner choice when you're talking about your attacking formation. and And I think it really comes down to who among Ryan Kent, Albert Rusnak, Pedro De La Vega, Jesus Ferreira, do you want sitting essentially beneath Jordan Morris, who I assume we both agree is your starter?
00:40:15
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. It's an interesting question. i mean, obviously the caveat here Ryan Kent has to play well. I mean, if he comes in and he's not giving you much more than Paul Rothrock and you know, it's right. It becomes much easier to answer. But I think that the, the way that I kind of have been thinking about Ryan Kent, I don't know why I'm saying his full name every time.
00:40:38
Speaker
Cause what do you just say? Kent can't feel so boring. Yeah. And he's not my, I mean, I don't know the guy, so I can't call him Ryan. Right. yeah He's not, he's definitely not Ryan yet. No, he's definitely not.
00:40:50
Speaker
ah So yeah. So the way I've been sort of conceptualizing best case scenario, Ryan Kent is he is polished Georgie, right? He's very direct. He's very fast. um He's not afraid to take guys on, but he ostensibly has a little bit better final product.
00:41:06
Speaker
And So I think him playing on the left is ah if he can hit that, right? I'm pretty happy just setting up a rotation. i think Rusnak is probably going to be a guy who is on the team sheet every week.
00:41:24
Speaker
I think that what he does, the way he plays, the way he controls possession is just kind of the thing that makes the system work. I know and not a lot of people don't love that, and they think that the Sounders would be better suited with a different kind of player in that spot.
00:41:38
Speaker
But I just don't think that's realistic. like I think this is he's the guy that Brian Schmetzer wants doing the things that he does in his role. um But I do think Ferreira gives you an interesting second option. does. He he definitely does, because I think...
00:41:54
Speaker
he I think I said this during the game on Saturday. i think he's just Ferreira has been really, really good this season. I just don't think he's been good in the way the Sounders have needed him to be good. Yeah, they've got plenty guys that can create chances.
00:42:09
Speaker
What they have needed since Jordan's been out is somebody to finish him. Yeah. And he just hasn't. He just hasn't looked good at all being that guy. And I don't know if it's a system thing or if it's just that he's not that guy anymore thing, but.
00:42:23
Speaker
But he has been, I think, really, really good as a creative player, whether he's been sort of playing in that, you know, underneath the striker position or on the wing. I think he's he's looked at he he's like the opposite kind of a 10 from Rusnak where Rusnak is very controlled.
00:42:44
Speaker
um makes killer passes, but he's not trying to force killer passes. He's always going to opt for keeping possession. And I think he's just is kind of the opposite of that, where he's a little more of the sort of like classic trying to push the the envelope sort of player.
00:42:59
Speaker
um So I guess you could set them up as tens, you know, and I don't know. I don't know what the rest of the team like if you do that. you I think you can set them up as dual tens. I think that means yeah Ryan Kent probably isn't on the pitch in that scenario.
00:43:14
Speaker
But I think it it makes sense. And then I think the other thing is it allows Pedro de la Vega to play more on the right. And I think that is the role the Sounders kind of see for him.
00:43:26
Speaker
And I don't know. I actually I'm with you. I think this sets up an interesting sort of rotation situation for the Sounders. Like I think they can. It gives them a little bit more variability.
00:43:39
Speaker
It'll be interesting to see how Georgie Manungu and Paul Rothrock both sort of fit into this because. you know I do think Manungu right now is best used off the bench.
00:43:50
Speaker
like He just looks so much more effective when he's coming in against tired legs. And you know the to the degree that he... and he looked He had moments where he looked like an elite player against San Jose.
00:44:04
Speaker
you know he had moments against LAFC where he looked like an elite player. And it and if you kind of go through his... appearances this year, his best appearances have been for the most part when he's come off the bench.
00:44:16
Speaker
ah So I think that that's kind of an exciting element of this. And, you know, I don't know exactly where Ryan Kent fits, but I do think if I'm going to choose my theoretical ideal lineup, I think it's probably ah front four of Ryan Kent Albert Rusnak, Pedro de la Vega and Morris and Ferreira is sort of more your backup 10 than anything else.
00:44:42
Speaker
Yeah, that's that's interesting. That's interesting, man. I mean, I I think I put for now, I put Jesus there over Kent a because we just don't I mean, we don't really know. it We don't know. Right.
00:44:54
Speaker
um But I think, you know, even if he hits his let's say, 80th percentile of of what we think he could be, i still think I opt for Ferreira once Jordan is back. I think if Jordan is out for any reason, having Kent's pace, even though he's not playing centrally, but having another guy who who you can play in behind that's maybe a little more polished than than Georgie is going to be really, really beneficial.
00:45:18
Speaker
Along the same lines, I also wonder if Kent allows Ferreira to be more effective as a nine playing as sort of a false nine. Because I think that was one of the things that they...
00:45:29
Speaker
one of the things that they really struggled with, with Ferreira as a false nine is there was no one really providing that vertical threat. And I guess it was theoretically supposed to be Paul Rothrock and Christian Roldan, but they were not doing that in the first half for one reason or another. Whereas Kent, you would like to think Kent and maybe even Pedro, you know, you could imagine a world where them...
00:45:52
Speaker
where they're creating a lot more verticality on the wings and it allows Ferreira to not necessarily have to be that player. Yeah. Yeah. I think that it's, it really is.
00:46:08
Speaker
It's not that long ago that Paul Arreola got, got injured. And i think that the most likely outcome is we see kind of what we saw before he got injured, which is everybody's getting plenty of minutes, but they're not getting 90 every game, right? Different guys are starting.
00:46:26
Speaker
And that seems like the most likely scenario to me. um But I think for me right now, based on what we know, Ryan Kent is probably on the bench, but I don't think you're crazy for thinking that he's the preferred starter over Jesus, if he can, you know, hit a certain level, um, because he does bring something a little different.
00:46:45
Speaker
And I just think he, he might fit what Brian Spencer's ideal sort of playing style is. And I don't know if Ferreira is fits the mold quite the way that Kent potentially does.
00:47:03
Speaker
Right. Which if that ends up being the case longterm, is an interesting thing to talk about in terms of roster construction. Yeah, it does. It definitely does. um But it's, I think that there was a lot of hope that Jesus could be the player he was in 20, was it 2023 that he had as 20, 20, 23.
00:47:28
Speaker
And I just, I don't see the evidence that, yeah, I don't see the evidence that he's that player anymore. I still think he's a really good player. i still think that what the Sounders paid for him was a great deal.
00:47:39
Speaker
But I do think that if they got him with the assumption he could go back to being that guy, I think it was a bad decision. Well, we'll see. I mean, I think that decision. I don't know.
00:47:50
Speaker
But I mean, the jury's out. I think it's early to call it a bad decision. But it you're right. that There's not a lot of it doesn't look. It doesn't look like he is going to be playing as a nine for the Sounders, although who knows? mean, in a month, it could be a completely different situation.
00:48:05
Speaker
But anyway, and I do think it looks like shit for like six months. So, right. Exactly. You know, you never know. Exactly. Well, I think that's probably a good place to call. I'm glad we figured out the Sounders lineup situation. Brian, ah feel free to you know, let us know what you thought of our our choices.
00:48:25
Speaker
ah I'm sure he's listening, right? you Yeah. definitely You know, listen Ken, i i I've seen some people say that he has played, Ken has played as Brian Ken has played as sort of a withdrawn striker before and that could be interesting interesting too that would be interesting i think him jordan being kind of a bruiser and having like two just total speed demons up top could be kind of fun to watch not as a regular thing but as an option as a Yeah.
00:48:53
Speaker
I do like the ideas of the Sounders kind of stockpiling some offensive weapons and ah potentially being more varied when they're like, I like the idea of what they could look like when they're fully fit. Let's hope we we actually get to see it.
00:49:09
Speaker
I really, I think that's a key point because the Sounders have a lot of guys who are good at doing a lot of the same things right now. And so I think having another player that could potentially be a high level player that brings something different is,
00:49:22
Speaker
could be really, really helpful. Yeah, no, I would totally agree with that. Well, I think that's probably a good place to call it. Aaron, thank you again. Thank you to our newest sponsor, of course, BodySpec. Thank you to Full Pool Wines.
00:49:36
Speaker
Thank you to everyone who is a paid subscriber as well. It's been really... ah ah we keep growing. I keep pinching myself every time I i see new people signing up.
00:49:48
Speaker
But I will note that we have we've also started inserting more ads into the show. And if you are a subscriber, this is another reason to like use the subscribe the private ah RSS feed because there are fewer ads available.
00:50:01
Speaker
in that so i'll just give a plug to the private rss feed i'll also encourage anyone who wants to get involved to get on discord we plugged it a lot the last show we don't need to get into all that again but anyway ah good talking aaron thank you to lick it for producing the show i am jeremiah shan this is no sadie at this and remember you'll never get alone
00:50:51
Speaker
I expect an LAFC who's motivated ah to prove themselves at home, to prove to their fans that that they're capable of winning in this league. And it's up to us to really brew in the party.
00:51:04
Speaker
You guys like that? and a what Awkward joke, dad joke right there, huh?