Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Groundhog Day in LA - Ep. 26
60 Plays1 year ago
Ari and Noah recap the Seattle Sounders latest loss to the LA Galaxy, preview the upcoming match against CF Montreal and take questions from the audience. Don't miss this weeks winners and losers around Major League Soccer featuring LAFC, Vancouver Whitecaps, Colorado Rapids, Philadelphia Union, Real Salt Lake, and the Portland Timbers.
- Support the show by subscribing to Sounder at Heart and get 1 FREE month!
- This podcast was made possible through the support of Full Pull Wines.
---
Follow Lobbing Scorchers on Social Media:
Follow Ari Liljenwall
Follow Noah Riffe
Instagram
YouTube
TikTok
---
Visit Sounder at Heart:
Website
Twitter
Instagram
YouTube
Lobbing Scorchers is a production of Just Once Media.
Recommended
Transcript
Seattle Sounders' Performance Issues
00:00:09
Speaker
What's going on everybody? Welcome in to episode 26 of Lobbing Scorchers. This is Ari Lilianwall. I've got producer Noah here with me. Noah, say what's up to the people. The Seattle Sounders are awful.
00:00:24
Speaker
The Seattle Sounders have lost 1-0 to the LA Galaxy. They are 0-2-3, last place in the Western Conference. We're going to spend episode 26 diving into our reaction to all that. We're going to lead with the Seattle Sounders.
00:00:41
Speaker
doing a bit where I was saying that I wasn't going to lead with the Seattle Sounders unless they scored multiple goals. We didn't have to adhere to that last week because they actually did score multiple goals. They didn't this week, but I'm not going to adhere to the bit because as it turns out, the Seattle Sounders struggling this much has been good for us. Noah, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe our last show broke our all time downloads record, which
00:01:05
Speaker
well unfortunate as unfortunate as it is the form that the seattle sounders have been in that's good for us yeah um so and if there's one thing about us we care more about ourselves than this club yeah exactly i mean i'll take it i'll take it and on a serious note i really do appreciate uh how many people tuned into the last episode how many people have submitted questions the last couple weeks um it's really nice for us to hear that that many people are listening to the show and uh
00:01:30
Speaker
Interacting with us and it's great like you know I've tried to express this clearly But that motivates us to keep putting out more content and trying to tailor it to what you guys like so thank you again to everyone who tunes in every week and Thanks again to everyone who submitted questions this week We're gonna try and hit as many as we can there is about 60 replies to my tweet So we're not gonna be able to do all 60, but we're gonna we're gonna do our best but
Takeaways from Sounders vs. LA Galaxy
00:01:56
Speaker
We're gonna break down this Sounders 1-0 loss at LA Galaxy, give all our takeaways. Noah, I actually, some people might not like it, but
00:02:06
Speaker
I actually am going to, we're going to, we're going to lay down the obvious negatives from this. I'm going to talk about a couple of the reasons why I actually came out of this game, not feeling great, but feeling a little better after this game than I have after previous games. And you know, I'm not one for delusional optimism and I hope everyone who listens to this show can appreciate that.
00:02:28
Speaker
when things are going poorly i'm not going to try and frame it like things are going positively and i would not do that in a situation right now where the seattle sounders are zero two and three um but if i do see something that i think gives reason for hope i'm gonna point that out too even in the dark times so i'm gonna i'm gonna lay that down that take today as well
00:02:50
Speaker
But needless to say the full body of work is not great so far I mean zero two and three last place in the Western Conference two points from their first five games Still one goal from open play this season your five games Which means the Seattle Sounders are still tied with Houston Dynamo FC left back Brad Smith for goals from open play this season which is not necessarily a stat that
00:03:14
Speaker
you want but anyway let's talk about this game now are you ready ready to get into this one you know if we have to are yeah actually you know what i'm actually kind of excited to talk about this i know i gotta be i am too there was there was uh there was stuff to chew on from this game at least so you know even though it was another loss at least it gives us content um and that's positive for us here at live in scorchers um
Lineup Changes and Strategy Adjustments
00:03:35
Speaker
The first thing I wanted to talk about here, Noah, was just our reaction to the lineup. That's kind of how we've been starting off these last few shows because the lineup is a subject of so much debate every single week. And there was a few elements to this one. It was a new wrinkle. The 442 was no more than this game. It was back to the traditional 4231, which I think
00:03:55
Speaker
It was time. I can appreciate the fact that the 442 was a logical experiment to undergo in this situation when you have this many injuries and you're kind of this short of personnel. I don't mind trying new stuff, but the 442
00:04:13
Speaker
Did not work. It was not good. It was not cooking. So it was good to see, from my perspective at least, back to the 4-2-3-1 in this game. There were three things about this lineup that I wanted to react to here, Noah. The first one was the decision to drop Christian Roldon back from right mid, back to his old spot from earlier's career in the defensive midfield to form a double pivot with Josh Atencio.
00:04:39
Speaker
I think that was probably the most significant change in this lineup. Christian really has not played that position in a couple years. He moved to right mid permanently a couple years ago and he's been playing that position to great effect ever since, but really not to that great effect so far this season. The rolled on combination through these first four games before this game was not producing at the clip that it normally does, neither
00:05:05
Speaker
from the high test nor on the stat sheet so for that reason no i actually was okay with the decision to move christian back in this game i didn't mind it a lot of people uh there's been there's been kind of a polarizing debate on this some people have been arguing that it's time to try moving him back there to try and settle the midfield
00:05:24
Speaker
A lot of people feel like and then I was actually arguing beforehand that moving him out of right mid Which has been shown to be his best position in the last couple years and really like the engine of this offense, right? We talked about that so much last year how so much of this offense especially with the injuries that they had last year runs through the Brodans on that right side and how much they lost when he was out with the concussion issues but
00:05:48
Speaker
I just think that with how the offense has been producing so far this year, which is not at a not very prolific rate, let's just say, I don't mind trying moving him back to try and settle the midfield. And I think a double pivot of Christian in a tensio is a logically sound idea. And, you know, I know he hadn't played it in a while.
00:06:14
Speaker
But he's played that position at an elite level in MLS for the beginning of his career. He had to establish himself as one of the best defensive midfielders in the league. And I think it speaks to kind of how versatile and adaptable a player he is. But for me, I didn't mind. I didn't mind trying it. I was OK with it. I don't know.
00:06:36
Speaker
It's hard to say how well it actually worked because the field was soaking ass wet. And I felt like it was kind of, it was frustrating because it was kind of hard to judge how this lineup actually performed because once again, the conditions were so poor. But in principle, I personally didn't mind the decision to move Christian back. What do you think?
00:06:54
Speaker
No, I wasn't a huge fan of it just on face value because I think you're already tinkering so much with this lineup. Let's get as many pieces settled as possible. That was my biggest issue with it.
00:07:10
Speaker
but i don't think he played poorly i don't think that it was a bad idea to try and put him in that position especially with like when pedro de la vega comes back maybe maybe you want to move him there and maybe you want to slot in morris on one of the wings and pedro de la vega on one of the wings so finding a position where he can be effective
00:07:31
Speaker
in an in a new wrinkle in you know a full strength squad like how does that all work out that's something to think about but i thought he played fine i thought alex played fine um he's he plays the wing like you know that's a good segue because the other the other move was to
00:07:55
Speaker
You know in order to get Christian in that in that deeper line midfield spot Alex rolled on Started on the right wing which that wouldn't raise my eyebrows a little bit more. It's just you know you're right He is a wing back, but he plays wing for El Salvador like when he plays for El Salvador He plays right and left wing so like yeah, and there's
00:08:15
Speaker
A lot of similarities in kind of what you're trying to do as an attacking right wing back compared to a right wing. So it's not like totally out of left field. He's never played it in MLS and while he may have played there a fair amount for El Salvador, it hasn't been his primary position in his professional career. Christian
00:08:37
Speaker
He played deeper in the deeper lying midfield for years. So there's at least that experience, which is pretty extensive to fall back on, even if he hadn't played it in a while. Alex, I mean, he's never played right wing in MLS.
00:08:52
Speaker
I, you know, I tweeted before the game, I'm going to keep an open mind on it, but I don't really think it's going to work. And I don't think it did work especially well. And I don't think I don't think the Christian experiment worked especially well either. But like I said, it was fine. I thought it wasn't like considering the elements. Yeah, considering the elements like like I said, I find it pretty hard to judge. Yeah. The last one was Cody Baker starting right back, which that one I was like, oh, hell yeah.
00:09:20
Speaker
Cody Baker, every time I've watched him play, dating back to last season, I've found him to be very impressive. I think he's a really hard-working player. He's a hard-nosed defender, which I like. And his wide service is really good when he gets a chance to whip those crosses in. He has the one assist from Open Play that the Seattle Sounders have recorded this season, and that was a wicked pass in the San Jose game to set up the Danny Musovsky header.
Defensive Lapses and Game Management
00:09:45
Speaker
so yeah exactly like we've been we've been actually advocating for multiple weeks down Cody Baker to get at least more of a run if not start and so I was happy to see him start in this game and I think overall when I saw the lineup we've talked about a lot but
00:10:03
Speaker
I've just been advocating for different wrinkles different curve balls kind of irrespective of what they are and You know like there are other things that Schmetz could have done here A lot of people felt like Danny Leyva earned another start after he looked really really good I think in the San Jose game his setpiece delivery was really good. He is a very talented passer and ball progressor even if he is he's not the fastest dude in the world, but I
00:10:28
Speaker
I'm sympathetic to the idea that Danny Leyva could have started in the defensive midfield, and Christian could have kept his normal spot at Reitman, and maybe you put Cody Baker at left back for Newhoo, and then you put Alex rolled on back at right back. That's all well and good, and I think I wouldn't argue with it if that was the 11 that Schmetz rolled out.
00:10:48
Speaker
I don't know how much I believe that Danny Leyva starting is this big needle movers that would have necessarily changed how this game went or change the result. It's personal preference if you think that that would have been a better way to run it out. I'm not necessarily going to disagree with that.
00:11:07
Speaker
just don't I'm skeptical I guess that there's much higher odds of The Sounders beating or drawing the galaxy in this game with that lineup compared to this lineup if the coaches Ran that the lineup that they ran out there in training and thought that that had the best chance to win I'm not necessarily gonna disagree with that but I
00:11:30
Speaker
I do understand. I am sympathetic, like I said, to the idea that Danny Leyva could have started in this game. I think there's a fair case to be made that he earned it based on his play in the San Jose game. He's subbed on in this game, but I don't know. I don't know if I'm fully convinced that you run Danny Leyva in a tensio in the double pivot and Christian at right mid. All of a sudden, it's like a three one win here. Like, I don't know about that. Maybe.
00:11:58
Speaker
I'll be a Danny live advocate here. I don't think that it changes the result maybe But what I well actually I do think it might change the result because on the peck goal New who gets beat like three times in the clip that they posted like he gets in lost in no man's land so if you have a defender like Cody Baker out there who doesn't necessarily Play the same way that that knew who does and in an advanced role and then not getting back
00:12:28
Speaker
I think maybe that goal doesn't happen. Maybe another goal happens. You know what I mean? But I don't think that specific goal happens. And that's that's not to say that Danny Leyva is solving the problem. I think it's just that like you're putting better players in their natural positions when you're putting Danny Leyva on the field. So it's like Danny Leyva is not the key, but he's the key to like creating
00:12:53
Speaker
more normalcy in a lineup in a formation that's way more normal, but I will say shout out to Brian for actually like he's cooking something up like over the last few weeks we were we were freaking out we were like Brian please get rid of the four four two like I know you're trying to cook some here it's not working just try new people try new personnel he's doing it at least he's doing it at least like yeah at least this was different you know looked better
00:13:21
Speaker
than the 442 ever did. Right, so that's actually a good segue into, let's recap this game itself because, you know, it was only 1-0, but there was some action to break down and there were some comedic elements as well. First of all, it was pissing rain again in LA, which, so, if you'll remember,
00:13:39
Speaker
A couple weeks ago, the Seattle Sounders famously played a really awesome game against the Philadelphia Union at Subaru Park where it was a torrential downpour. They had guys come out on the field with mops while it was still pouring rain. Shockingly enough, that did not solve the soaking ass wet field and they had to cancel the game. And it was funny because
00:14:01
Speaker
When, you know, like before the Sounders game starts, I'm working the other games on the MLS editorial desk. I'm kind of doing other stuff. I'm not necessarily tuned into the pregame show, so I don't really know what's going on. Before the Philadelphia game, I pulled up the feed right as it was about to start and I was like, oh, wow, they're OK. This is a wrinkle that I wasn't expecting. I didn't know that there was adverse weather. Let's see if they can actually play this game. Turned out that they couldn't.
00:14:26
Speaker
and then you know this game again like I was doing other stuff and I pulled up the feed right before kickoff and I see it's pouring rain again. I see them trying to clear off the field again. I was like dude are you kidding me? Yeah, what is my being like is not being trolled like we're really doing. They're just tossing up replays Apple TV is this bad. What is going on like can I just get a game on a normal field in normal weather like
00:14:51
Speaker
LA it's not even supposed to be a place where it rains that much. No, what is there supposed to be like in a perpetual drought and it's just in all seriousness It's just obnoxious because like especially in this game with Kind of new lineup where I wanted to see how it would play just out of my own curiosity I can't get like a good read on that because the field is soaking ass wet and it doesn't like play normally and
00:15:14
Speaker
so it's just just from the jump man it's like what is going on this season like we're doing okay we're doing another rain game at least they can actually play this one the field was not as bad as it was in Philly and they made it through the whole game but it's just like god damn it dude like i just want to watch a normal game where the ball plays on a normal field and i can at least see how this lineup functions for better or for worse and i feel like
00:15:40
Speaker
once again because of the soccer gods and adverse elements we didn't really get that opportunity. But needless to say the Seattle Sounders managed to lose control of the game state in this game about as quickly as I've ever seen.
00:15:55
Speaker
I am I tweeted before the game that the LA Galaxy had signed the greatest MLS player I've ever seen a man by the name of Joseph paint sill go Joey paints who has quickly become one of my favorite players in the league to watch but I wasn't necessarily looking forward to watching the Seattle Sounders contend with Joey paints and so I mean I wasn't I wasn't even watching when it happened because
00:16:22
Speaker
that early in the game, it doesn't even occur to me that the game state is gonna become that lopsided directly after kickoff. So Joey Paints, needless to say, started cooking instantaneously after the game kicked off. I don't even know how it happened, but he ends up on a breakaway, literally directly after the game kicked off, within 20 seconds maybe. Joey Paints is cooking on a breakaway, just zooms by everyone,
00:16:50
Speaker
rips a shot on target obliterates the post and at that point i was like okay here we go i don't know how that happened that fast but this could be a long night it was one of those just oh yeah chuckle chuckle i'm in danger already added you know he's been
00:17:08
Speaker
Arguably the hottest player in the league to start the season. He rips one off the post immediately after kickoff It was an ominous sign But you know, I think the frustrating thing was because it went off the post Seattle actually got away with that. Yeah, but the game state
00:17:24
Speaker
Just remained entirely chaotic in favor of the la galaxy in the aftermath of that chance And it was I mean, I don't know what was going on. It was like Seattle just like decided We're not gonna we're not gonna really play defense to start the game here. We don't really See the need for that. We're just not gonna play it and see what happens and
00:17:48
Speaker
That didn't pay off, unfortunately. Immediately after Joey Paints rang the woodwork, Gabriel Peck, the other DP winger that the Galaxy signed this offseason, who has not been as hot as Joey Paints, but he's a very highly rated prospect. And anyway, he gets a goal on just a pretty ridiculous sequence of defending. There was a lot of talk about Stephen Fry needing to save the shot from Gabriel Peck, which is
00:18:16
Speaker
Very true. Stephen Fry. It was a bad. It was a howler. It was a howler. And Steph Fry, for as great a goalkeeper as he is and as he's been, MLS Cup, MVP, he's one of the greatest goalkeepers in MLS history, both in terms of his statistical output and the trophy case that he's been the starting goalkeeper for this entire fantastic run of trophies that Seattle had in recent years. So we all know that Stephen Fry is a goated MLS goalkeeper.
00:18:42
Speaker
but he's been good for like a howler every so often in his career. There was one famously in 2014 against the Whitecaps. Remember that one where he ran all, that was my first year on the beat, actually right before I started, but I always remember the highlight. He runs like all the way to the corner flag and tries to clear it. And I think it was the Whitecaps who regained possession and he was just nowhere near the goal and they got an easy goal. And he talked a lot about in subsequent years about how that was like a confidence rattling moment.
00:19:10
Speaker
how Ziggy sticking with him through that really built him up and kind of created a platform for him to overcome adversity and evolve into the goalkeeper that he ultimately became. But I mean, it was a bad highlight. There was also the one I was at this game, LAFC's first ever home game, where
00:19:30
Speaker
LFC had a 0-0 right at the end and Ariane Collin had a free kick that was right at Steph Fry and it hit him in the hands and squeaked by him. Seattle lost that game 1-0. That was a pretty bad howler. There's been...
00:19:47
Speaker
at least one or two others and then I think this one was kind of in that category where Gabriel Peck puts the shot on target but it's I mean it's pretty much right at Steph Fry an MLS goalkeeper that's an easy save for an MLS goalkeeper to be honest but
00:20:05
Speaker
He should never have been in that situation. No. Like the sequence of events that led up to that shot getting put on target shouldn't have happened. Everyone's blaming New Who and a lot of it was on New Who. I thought Jackson Reagan also didn't cover himself in glory in that sequence. It was a full scale breakdown.
00:20:26
Speaker
I think it was led to that shot getting taken to begin with and I frankly I blame personally I blame the defense more than I blame the goalkeeper on that play that shot just should not have been taken both on both on the sequence but also
00:20:45
Speaker
This leads me into my next point, which is that if you look at the defensive lapses that have happened in the last couple games, it's not even that the goals are being conceded as much as it is how they're being conceded and the timing with which they're being conceded. In the San Jose game, we talked about it on the last show, but you have two separate instances of defensive malpractice
00:21:09
Speaker
where you're conceding a goal right after you've conceded the first goal and then you're conceding another goal literally on the next ensuing kickoff after you score an equalizer which are both examples of situations where game management is crucial and you've let the game get out of control in those situations and you end up conceding
00:21:32
Speaker
To concede two chances like that, one to Joey Paints, one to Gabriel Peck, right after kickoff, it's just poor game management. To start the game like that, you're trying to be on the front foot, yes, but you're also trying to make sure, especially as the road team, I think that's key here, especially as the road team in adverse weather, you need to be managing the tempo and the overall game state
00:21:59
Speaker
Much better than they were so as to concede to really clear-cut chances like that And I think that's another reason why I'm not as wrapped in the howler itself because it's like okay if step-fry saves that You should have still conceded to Joey paints right before that like they deserved to concede based on how they were defending at that juncture in the game and
00:22:20
Speaker
like they all it was just luck that the joey paints shot went off the post like he's been finishing those this season so far so i think i just disagree straight up all right like we're getting a scorcher in here let's cook i think that you know yes maybe that joey paints goal is goes in on a literally every other day of the week but it didn't
00:22:47
Speaker
But it did it, you know? And then you got to look at, okay, you're right. Game management, 100% is where it's at. So like, what's next? Where does the defensive breakdowns keep happening? Well, tell you what, it keeps happening on the left side of the field. Like, that's where that assist comes from. Joey Painsall probably could have gone and scored that goal by himself. He didn't even need to pass to Gabriel Peck. He walked through the defense. Jackson Reagan let him walk through him, knew who wasn't even
00:23:15
Speaker
Wasn't even in the conversation. He was watching the sequence. He was posted with some popcorn and a hot dog. I think that...
00:23:25
Speaker
what essentially could have been a nil-nil game or a 1-1 game, you know, whatever it may be, right? Like, you're getting in situations constantly where, and this happened last year too, and they were still able to find success because, you know, kind of like Mark said, this team was a stout defensive team that is
00:23:48
Speaker
focused on mitigating chances and basically just not giving up these silly ass goals. Fry should have been better. You know, knew who should have been better. Reagan should have been better. But like, man, it's just like this type of goal keeps happening. And I think that I don't know what the solution is, but
00:24:14
Speaker
Yeah, it's all just this constant like. Just. I don't even know people. People are just not in position. People are not playing well. New who's not playing well news starting so maybe maybe I'm just here to bang on new who on the head, but like I just think about that. It's like OK if that doesn't go in and then the Sounders maybe get lucky one falls for them in the same type of way like that's a win. Or you take a point home. It's like you have to be stout defensively if you know you can't finish the ball.
00:24:54
Speaker
Thank you for listening to the Soundwork Heart podcast network, which now includes No Sunny Yetis, Lobbing Scorchers, and The Cooler Guild. We've been independent since August of 2023, but need your support to make sure it continues. Although this podcast is free, it's only made possible by your continued support. Memberships start as low as $25 a year, which not only helps make podcasts like this one happen, but also gets you access to everything we produce.
00:25:20
Speaker
If you're able to support us at higher levels, starting at $75 a year, you gain access to a host of other perks, most notably entry into our Members Only Discord, where the smartest, funniest, and most engaged commenters share their thoughts and ideas. To find out more, just visit centeratheart.com and click the subscribe button in the top right corner. Thanks for listening.
00:25:50
Speaker
Yeah, well, I mean, once again, that's kind of a good segue into the next part of the game, because I mean, I'm going to talk about what I saw in this game that I thought was actually I'm not going to say actively good, but at least improved from the last run of games in the last couple of weeks here.
00:26:12
Speaker
The Seattle Sounders actually, believe it or not, from about the 17th minute on in this game, they played decently functional MLS offense. And Noah, you were tweeting at me about the XG debate. So yeah, without getting fully relitigating fully the XG debate, it's actually it's kind of relevant to my point here.
Signs of Improvement in Offense
00:26:35
Speaker
You know, Danny Musofsky came on and I think that he's been a standout performer in the last couple of weeks. He scored the one goal from open play this season. But from the 70th minute on trailing one zero, Seattle actually generated a couple of good chances. The offense looked it looked competent. OK, look competent. And that's a step.
00:27:03
Speaker
And okay, I mean this in a complimentary way, but also in a kind of backhanded complimentary way. The sequence of play from the 70th minute on looked a lot more like last year's team, like you were talking about, which is not necessarily a good thing. But if you think back to last year,
00:27:23
Speaker
A lot of the national pundits who analyzed this team pointed out that the underlying performances, not necessarily just the XG, but the underlying performances in general and the eye test were actually pretty good for a lot of the season and things like controlling the game
00:27:49
Speaker
Chance generation where the numbers were actually looking pretty good, but they just weren't finishing Rui Diaz was injured for most of the year They didn't have they were missing a lot with Christians creativity and a bear with snakebit So it wasn't resulting in as many goals as we're accustomed to seeing and wasn't resulting in as many wins as we're accustomed to seeing from Seattle but the national pundits pretty consistently pointed out that
00:28:13
Speaker
the team was performing decently well in spite of the results they were taking now i know that uh people don't want to hear that and people didn't want to hear it last year no you never wanted to hear that no but um i think the thing that you have to understand okay like
00:28:29
Speaker
Our website has, MLS Soccer, has two of the best tactics writers in the business, Matt Doyle and Joe Lowry. They both, last year, when they were covering Seattle, they consistently pointed those types of things out, okay? And these guys aren't Sounders fans who are looking to rationalize poor performances. The reason that they're looking into underlying data like that to try and assess how a team is performing compared to the results that they're actually taking is because
00:28:57
Speaker
That stuff is of predictive value. So they're trying to evaluate what teams that maybe aren't taking results might actually stand a chance at playing better so they can predict that before it happens. And by the same token, like with Austin FC as an example, if a team is outperforming their underlying numbers, if they're going to regress, such as St. Louis. Exactly.
00:29:21
Speaker
when I look at that I do put stock in that and it also it matched up with the eye test that I saw from the team last year where like they were playing pretty good ball to actively good ball at points last year despite some of the results and I always tried to point that out when I saw it because I do think it is
00:29:42
Speaker
Important to acknowledge when you're trying to assess like the future outlook of the team it doesn't always like pan out like that, but I it's something that I look at and But here is in this in this game I at least thought especially in the second half and after the moose came on I thought the ball was actually pretty good especially given
00:30:08
Speaker
like that field was a pretty big disaster. And like it's the ball is not rolling. It's pretty hard to play high level offense. I thought, you know, LA's goal
00:30:23
Speaker
came on a howler from Step Fry and they had a couple other good chances but they were not cooking like the LA Galaxy for anyone who hasn't watched them this year. That's the best offense in the league right now and they obviously with the field in this condition were not able to function at that level that they have been throughout the season in this game.
00:30:42
Speaker
They got their goal on a howler which credit to them, but it's not like they were Cooking all that much on offense either. So given the circumstances I thought it was at least Mildly encouraging to see the offense look like an MLS competent offense, which I thought I thought it did from the 70th minute on and
00:31:07
Speaker
you know, seeing 2.1 XG, okay, that's like, that's better. That matches with my eye test of what I saw in the game. And that is at least better than it's been in previous weeks. But now I'm gonna give you the flip side of that coin, okay, Noah? Here's the reason why I'm skeptical that that necessarily means anything as far as predicting the future outlook of this team and attack, especially with the personnel situation and what it is right now.
00:31:33
Speaker
It was against the LA Galaxy who they passionately love to concede goals. The LA Galaxy love nothing more, especially on their home field to concede equalizing and game-winning goals. For as good as they've been on offense this season,
00:31:48
Speaker
they have not moved on from that attribute much if at all and that's why going into this game like without knowing that the weather was going to be what it was I actually felt like there was probably a better chance than most teams that Seattle could take a result in this game because the LA Galaxy they uh
00:32:09
Speaker
The type of defense that the L.A. Galaxy play is similar to the type of defense the Seattle Sounders were playing right after kickoff in this game. They don't really do it a whole heck of a lot of time. It's not fun. It's not something that it's not a part of the game that they're especially into.
00:32:26
Speaker
It's just not LA, you know, yeah, exactly. It's not like air once in Hollywood FC. They're trying to they're trying to get Joey paints and day on your village cooking the defensive thing is not really their thing. So to rack up to point one XG against a team that doesn't really care about defending all that much. They had conceded nine goals going into the season and then you still get shut out, you know,
00:32:52
Speaker
I would want to see a attacking performance like that, A, against a team that is better defensively, B, over a larger sample of games, and then C, also ideally with at least a couple of those chances actually finished before I really start talking about the predictive value and everything that I just talked about. But you know, in a situation like this, I'll at least take progress compared to what we've seen in the last couple weeks.
00:33:22
Speaker
At least it was nice to see them play MLS-competent offense, at least for a certain portion of time. And there was really three chances in this game that I thought were pretty high percentage opportunities that you would like to see them generating more often. There was actually one early in the game right after Gabriel Peck scored on the Steph Fry Howler, where
00:33:46
Speaker
Jordan put in a low cross to the left for Raul Raul got the shot off inside the box Remember this one and he just he just missed it to the near post. That's at least The type of look that you want Raul to be having ideally multiple times throughout a game, right? He just missed it but He hasn't been getting those looks nearly enough in front of goal. So
00:34:10
Speaker
I thought that was a good chance. The Moose header, okay. That's not a really high percentage chance. It's kind of a speculative cross from Christian on the right side that Moose is like kind of sneaky athletic. Like he got really high up to win that header.
00:34:27
Speaker
he put it on target and that was like you got to credit John McCarthy on that like that's a really really high class save that he made um maybe maybe uh you know if Moose gets that chance 10 times he makes it a couple of times and John McCarthy doesn't get to it um so I thought that was a pretty good look and then okay the tough the toughest one right at the end I think it was right before second half stoppage time or maybe in second half stoppage time
00:34:51
Speaker
where Dylan Tevez who subbed on lays one across the box to Jordan Morris who basically has an empty netter and he just he doesn't put it on target. He puts it wide and yeah like he went one v three into the wet ass box and just missed a sitter. Let's be honest and so if he makes that yeah he misses a sitter if he makes that man like they take a point from this game and all likelihood and you know all right.
00:35:21
Speaker
I'm not going to roast Jordan overly hard for missing the sitter.
00:35:31
Speaker
I swear, I mean, this could be delusional rationalizing, Noah. But if that's not a soaking ass wet field, I bet he makes that shot, first of all. He should make it anyway. It's close enough. And they've been playing on that field for long enough where you would hope that he would be able to read how the ball is going to play a little better. I don't know. But Noah, when Jordan missed that chance, did you look into his eyes?
00:35:57
Speaker
Dude, he looked dead. He looked like he was dead. He was staring into... There was pain in his eyes as he gazed into the deepest realms of outer space, wondering and questioning what led up.
00:36:14
Speaker
to that exact moment in his life. And I just couldn't help but feel bad for him in that moment because you could tell he wanted that goal so bad. He needed that goal. The team needed that goal. It was such a good chance. The XG on that one
Player Form and Mental State: Morris & Ruidiaz
00:36:29
Speaker
was through the roof. That was probably like 1.8 of the 2.1 XG that they racked for the game on that. That's completely made up number, by the way. But I mean, there was genuine pain in the guy's eyes.
00:36:43
Speaker
I saw that and I was thinking, man, like, you know, there's been a lot of talk about what the lineup should be. And a lot of people want Jordan benched right now because he hasn't really been producing so far this year. I actually tend to think that, you know, he's the type of player that's very dependent on outside factors to be effective. And I think a lot as most nines are exactly. I mean, other there are other
00:37:06
Speaker
But Jordan, regardless of where he's playing, his whole game is predicated on making runs in behind and getting service to maximize his skill set. And neither Jordan nor Raul have really been getting that outside help from those external factors so far this year.
00:37:25
Speaker
I did find myself thinking, like, first of all, like, I think moose at this point, I think it's worth starting him. He should be starting over. Well, I mean, I was going to advocate for it over over Jordan. Oh, I disagree. I mean, well, OK, hear out my logic. Yeah, yeah.
00:37:44
Speaker
I mean, I think there's a good, a very good argument for Moose to be starting. He scored the one goal from open play so far this year. And he had, uh, he made a really nice play to put that header on target in this game for what could have been the equalizer. So he's really, he's looked like the most dangerous forward out of Raul Jordan, uh, or Moose. Like I think Moose, uh, he's, uh, Raul has more goals, but his goals are PK merchant. Moose has scored from open play. The offense has looked like I thought the offense.
00:38:14
Speaker
part of why the offense might have looked a little better last night was After Moose subbed on and he had a really good chance. So I think fundamentally there is a good argument for him to start and then also I think Jordan more more than
00:38:31
Speaker
Taking a week off Because of being ineffective or anything like that like I think maybe just a mental health break stand to benefit him like Like I don't it was tough seeing him in pain like that I know he wants to get right back out on the field and you know redeem that missed sitter and I'm not gonna argue with it if they keep starting him I do think there is a little bit of we talked about recency bias on the last show with Jackson Reagan and
00:38:57
Speaker
And I think there's a little bit of recency bias going on with Jordan right now. This is a provenly effective and productive MLS attacker who has been a key starting player for many a trophy winning side. He looked effective.
00:39:13
Speaker
I didn't think he was consistent last year but his final output was pretty good and I don't think it's necessarily a situation where the injuries that he's had have sapped him of his ability to be an effective and productive MLS player. I just think that he's not informed right now and it seems like
00:39:34
Speaker
I don't know, looking into his eyes last night, it seemed like it might be getting to his head a little bit. I mean, at the same time, he, you know, like I said, I tend to think that if the elements in the field are not in the same condition that they were last night, I think, at the very least, the odds that he makes that are much, much higher.
00:39:58
Speaker
I don't know if i'm on to something with this idea, but i'm just trying to think of ways to get moose in the lineup And I think raul is playing pretty well right now for the most really why though like how? Okay, he's been good He's he's been four chances last night and had one where he shot it right at the goalkeeper He's been doing he's been asked to do like a lot more stuff than he Has normally done or should really be exactly why should he why is he doing it?
00:40:28
Speaker
I mean because like with the line of what it is right now that's that's what he's being asked to do and he's he's playing hard he's getting in but I'm sure he's going harder pks I mean look Jordan Jordan listen listen hear this hear this out here try this on for a trip try this pair of hands on right I don't hate Raul I think that he's still has something to give but he is also
00:40:56
Speaker
getting up there in age. I think that his finishing is diminished quite significantly. I think that he's starting to make weird decisions as well, like just ripping shots. He had a bad one last night. Yeah.
00:41:13
Speaker
I think that in the formation that's clearly effective, which is the one that was played last night, you need a real nine, a solo nine. If we're playing Brian Schmetzer ball, a tall, moose-like figure is the guy who needs to be there. You keep Jordan Morris out on the wing because that dude is one of the only players on the field that I will watch for 90 minutes and he actually gives a shit for 90 minutes and wants to be there and is working hard. Dude, that ball from Dylan Tevez,
00:41:43
Speaker
He took that pick the you if you watch it He picks his heads head picks his head up sees no one else is there and he's like fucking I'm gonna do it myself dribbles three defenders cuts back while leaning back and obviously misses the shot, but like I don't understand why you would pull that from the field when he can go 90 minutes Raoul I Mean you're putting him at a false 9 because you're putting on musavski who's been clearly more effective but Raoul
00:42:11
Speaker
He can't play a false nine. That's not his position. He's not good at that. You're setting up him up to fail. So for me, it makes way more sense to bring him in in a role that he was effective in last year, which is basically a super sub and keep Jordan on the field as a winger.
00:42:29
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, to be clear, my argument for giving Jordan Morris a week off in this scenario is fully predicated on the mental health aspect of the situation, and not necessarily on the form that he's been in, which he hasn't been scoring. It's true. But I tend to think, based on the track record, that if you can get him more chances, like the sitter that he missed last night,
00:42:58
Speaker
I've seen enough of Jordan Morris throughout his MLS career to think that those will eventually start going in. And I think the same thing about...
00:43:07
Speaker
Rudy Diaz, but it just hasn't come to fruition yet through these first five games. So I don't know just I'm off of Raul. I think I think maybe maybe I want to see like the in his in his in his potential for this season specifically. I think is what I'm interested in. What do I see? Yeah, like is the as the potential for now?
00:43:31
Speaker
I mean, I think I don't know if I see it as potential of this outcome actually happening, but I think a big part of what is going to determine this team's ceiling when you can get guys like Albert Rusnak back to full fitness. He started last night, but you know, it was his first start back. He's probably not like in peak form yet and Pedro de la Vega.
00:43:55
Speaker
Raoul is still your 10 million dollar DP striker. And he is one of the best and most efficient goal scorers in MLS history. He's the leading goal scorer in Sounders Club history. As long as he's on the roster, taking up the spot that he is on your cap,
00:44:16
Speaker
I think a lot of your ceiling is dependent on getting him performing at least something towards his previous capabilities in his MLS career. That is, I mean, that might not be a good situation for the roster to be in, but that is the reality. And without banging your head against the wall, trying to get something to work that's not working, I think
00:44:44
Speaker
I've seen enough positive play from Raoul this year, even though it hasn't resulted in open play goals yet. I still keep coming back to the conclusion that he needs to be starting in your best 11. The one thing I will say is that
00:45:03
Speaker
There's valid argument in the whole debate between Morris Raul and Moose. Like there's valid points for all three. But I do think, man, like Moose, Moose has kind of earned a look here. Yeah. But if you factor in the fact that he's the one player to score from open play this year and he got
00:45:31
Speaker
the closest to scoring last night maybe other than the Jordan sitter like when you're in a situation Schmetz said last night that everything is on the table regarding lineup so we'll see what they do going forward that's a good segue into we're gonna we'll talk about the preview the next upcoming game on Saturday at Loom & Field Seattle's coming home and they'll be taking on CF Montreal from Canada
00:45:57
Speaker
And we're not gonna spend too much time on this because I'll be honest like you know I follow the whole league very closely I watch a lot of the a lot of the games every single week CF Montréal is one of the teams that I follow the least I would say It's cuz they're Canadian they speak French like grow up
00:46:19
Speaker
They're the one of the teams that I follow the least but what I can't tell you what I can't tell you about CF Montreal I can tell you a couple things They have a first year coach Lawrence Courtois who? He has them playing
00:46:34
Speaker
a little better than people expected. The pundits all said that CF Montreal was going to be in 17th place in the Eastern Conference this season. And I'm going to look up what place they're actually in really fast. But I think what I can tell you is that the ball that they're playing and a couple of the results they've taken have been, they're in ninth right now, so they're two, two, and one with seven points, which people thought they were going to have zero, three, and two record with two points at this point, which is what the Seattle Sounders have.
00:47:04
Speaker
Considering how things have been going lately, I don't know if I would I definitely wouldn't expect this to be an easy game just because CF Montreal is not touted by the pundits. They've actually, like I said, they've been playing better ball than people have been giving them credit for. So we'll see how they line it up. I mean, my source of industry at this point is basically predicated on seeing which Mets does with the
Anticipation for Future Games
00:47:31
Speaker
lineup. And then hopefully, man, like,
00:47:33
Speaker
Hopefully, getting an actual idea of how it plays and not having it take place in a torrential downpour again. That would be nice. That would be enjoyable. Anyway, Noah, let's get into a few questions here. I took more questions from you guys on Twitter last night, and we're going to hit a few of those before we jump into winners and losers from around MOS in Match Day 7. That sound good?
00:47:57
Speaker
Yeah, it's jumping back into that. How are they going to line it up? Which I think is going to determine a lot for next week. Who has proved they can keep their starting spot? I argue almost no one. Yemar and Tomas are the only players I haven't had one grievance with other or haven't had an agreement with this season. Did you call him Andy Tomas?
00:48:16
Speaker
Yeah, that's the bit. Um, okay. Um, I mean, okay. Schmidt said everything is on the table last night. Um, I mean, I think there is an extent to which the injury situation has your hands tied in a few different capacities. Like, um, but
00:48:37
Speaker
You know, I tend to agree. Like I don't really think that any spot should be safe right now, but I think there's just like a few spots that are kind of safe by default because of injuries. Yeah.
00:48:49
Speaker
No, I agree. I think I mean, I don't think I think it's too early to tell who's who's safe and not safe. I'll tell you who's not safe. Get new who off the damn field. That's that's my take. If I had a dollar for every time the sounder stopped attacking once they got in the final third and instead turned around and passed it back, I'd be on a DP salary. Nobody has confidence. Are is this true?
00:49:13
Speaker
I mean, it's definitely been frustrating to watch and attack this season. I definitely don't disagree with that. I don't know. Maybe I'm delusional. You can tweet at me and tell me that if you think I am, but I thought it looked a little better on offense last night in the second half.
00:49:33
Speaker
How does JP coming back fix any of this? I think it helps a lot. He's one of the best two way players in the league. And I think a big part of what you're seeing right now is just how much of a drop off there is on this team when he's on the field compared to when he's not. And if I had to point to this single biggest factor that has hamstrung this team early in the season, no pun intended, it would be the fact that JP hasn't played a minute.
00:50:03
Speaker
Sometime in the future, we'll look back at this current Sounders team and think, damn, that was a dark era. It'll pass. I want to believe that if we had everyone 100% healthy, this would be a winning team. I'm tired of what I'm seeing, but we will win a game soon.
00:50:17
Speaker
The only thing I would say to that is it's still yet to be determined what this team is going to look like and the level that they can play at in a world where JP and Pedro de la Vega are healthy. It's definitely not guaranteed. That's going to quote unquote fix everything. But I do think there is at least a chance that it's going to up the level quite a bit.
00:50:45
Speaker
I don't begrudge anyone holding onto that as something to try and look forward to in this very tough season so far. But it's definitely not a guaranteed fix.
00:51:00
Speaker
When's the GM vote again? Seriously though, the lack of transparency from the front office since Chris and Garth left has been terrible. At this point, I don't know if we have a scouting department. We signed one player from outside MLS and switching GMs. I know money is tied, but get creative. Get alone, buddy.
00:51:16
Speaker
Craig Weibs has been taking a lot of heat in these crowd-sourced questions that I've been taking the last couple weeks. I mean, we talked about it on the last show with Mark. The A-Bear signing was a bust. There's been criticism on a lot of the other moves that he's made.
00:51:37
Speaker
I just feel like he really hasn't made that many moves to be able to assess yet, and I feel like the crazy amount of injuries they've had this year has made it. It's made it hard for me to honestly come to a definitive conclusion on that, but I definitely
00:52:00
Speaker
Understand the disconnect with how ill-equipped That it seems like the team has been set up to handle the amount of injuries. They've had While at the same time, I think you got to acknowledge that this amount of injuries Would put most teams under the gun. That's just the reality Ari it's my birthday. What will it take for the sounders to just I don't know win a game and
00:52:25
Speaker
Happy birthday, by the way. Thanks for the question. What will it take for them to win a game? Well, they need to score multiple goals in an MLS game, which is something that has happened exactly once in five games this year. And should they do that, they need to not concede multiple goals in a game.
00:52:51
Speaker
Will they be able to do that this Saturday against CF Montreal? I mean, tune in to find out because it's going to be fascinating to track.
00:52:58
Speaker
Alright, last two here. This is the third season with a nearly non-existent offense. How much of it is tactics and how much is players? I think the whole organization is an absolute mess. They also have a sell profile picture, so yeah, sell the Mariners, come on. I think this person... They might be talking about the Mariners, actually. I mean, I've been getting some hand-hour sell tweets, which that's a spicy take. I mean, you know, I think whoever asked that question,
00:53:27
Speaker
they're definitely speaking to how a lot of the fan base is feeling right now and I think that is
00:53:38
Speaker
I think that's the most frustrating part of this whole situation is that there was so much talk about an inconsistent and anemic offense last year. They still managed to grind out second in the West, but it never felt like they were fully firing or were going to be a real contender to make noise in the playoffs. And then, you know, this season starts and you instantly have an injury report with half the squad of all the most important players.
00:54:02
Speaker
Um, it's just a slog on offense. Again, you're conceding really unfortunate, nil timed goals. And, um, you know, when, when you have a situation like that, um, it's good for loving scorchers, but bad for the Seattle Sounders.
Management Decisions and Team Depth
00:54:17
Speaker
so what do you think personnel or gm or tactics or everything i mean i think it's a little bit of everything um but i mean from my vantage point it's mostly about personnel right now like you you're throwing out like pretty crazy ragtag lineups with like
00:54:39
Speaker
Alex rolled on at right wing and 442 that you haven't really run before and isn't working. It just feels like the pieces that they have at their disposal. There's not there doesn't seem to be a really good way to fit them together. And Schmetz has been trying new things.
00:55:02
Speaker
But they haven't been working. So I see it as mostly personnel, which you could argue falls on the GM. You could make that. But also this is major league soccer. We play in a salary capped league and there is only so much depth that you can realistically have of quality. Thank you for pointing that out. Because when I point that out, I get called a show. But like that is just a fact. No, it is like you can't you can't ignore the fact that like
00:55:29
Speaker
We are playing like 17, 18, 19, 20 year olds who should be realistically not having to play in the circumstances that they have to. But we can't sign anyone else. There's there's no more cap room like
00:55:45
Speaker
It just doesn't exist. And you have... MLS is such a hard league to tread water in when your DPs are either unavailable or unproductive. And you have a situation this season where Ciao Paolo, one of your DPs, hasn't played. Albert Rusnak just got back from an injury that kept him out of every game. And Pedro De La Vega, who was the big...
00:56:11
Speaker
shiny signing that was meant to give a boost from all the issues that we saw last year instantly blew out his hamstring. So like that when you're missing all three of your DPs it's just the reality of the situation is that your productivity is going to suffer.
00:56:34
Speaker
Change the roster rules. Garth out or something. I don't know. Whatever people on Twitter say. Last but definitely not least, if we brought back at live Sounders, do you think we could score more goals? That's a great question. And you know, one thing I will point out is that the Seattle Sounders are zero two and three with a negative four goal differential in our last in the West since the death of live Sounders. So it's something to think about. It's something to pontificate on. Honestly, it is. Think about it.
00:57:01
Speaker
Okay, well, I guess we'll call that a wrap right there for the questions for the week. Thank you, as always, to everyone who submitted. Really appreciate all of you interacting and tuning into the show. Like I said, at the top of the show, our download numbers are so good, Noah. It makes me really happy, so appreciate all of you for that. We love our hey listeners, too. We love our listeners here.
00:57:29
Speaker
All right, you're down to jump around the league a little bit do some winners and losers real quick and then we can get up on out here Let's do it. Okay winners and losers from match day seven in MLS We're gonna stick with this format because I've been having fun with it every week I think it's and I think it's a good way to kind of talk about the other results that have gone on get a little respite from the Difficulty that following the Seattle Sounders on a weekly basis has presented for us here
00:57:54
Speaker
And we're cementing our, you know, potential as sounder scouts. So, you know, exactly. First winner for the week, Noah, Colorado Rapids and specifically Georgie. I've been saying I've been saying we don't count them out. So we touted.
00:58:12
Speaker
A lot of the pundit class has kind of been touting a positive trajectory for the Colorado Rapids during the offseason because of a couple of the moves that they made. Georgi Mihailovich, chief among them, this guy was an MVP candidate a couple years ago for CF Montreal before he transferred to the Air
League Highlights: Rapids & Union Success
00:58:27
Speaker
Divisa.
00:58:27
Speaker
And I didn't actually follow how well he did over there. I'm not sure if it was a situation where he couldn't really get going or didn't do very well and so ended up coming back to MOS. I thought I remembered seeing stuff of him starting to cook over there. But either way, the Rapids made him a club record signing over the offseason to really kind of build their club.
00:58:53
Speaker
around him
00:59:10
Speaker
So I thought it was like a it seemed like it felt like a high percentage signing for the Colorado Rapids when they did it. They took a lot of positive press for it. They also signed Zach Stefan to be their goalkeeper who for whatever you want to say about his U.S. national team career and getting left off the World Cup roster and what have you.
00:59:30
Speaker
He was an elite MOS goalkeeper, goalkeeper of the year for Columbus Crew when he was in MOS, so that felt like a decently high percentage signing too. They lost 4-1 to the Portland Timbers in their first game, and they took not as much positive press for the Chris Armas hire as their head coach.
00:59:51
Speaker
But they've kind of started to make those offseason predictions look better in the last couple weeks. They've taken a couple good results and they bammed on LAFC really good in this game. LAFC was, they had 2-1 in the 83rd minute. Georgi Mihailovic scores a free kick.
01:00:08
Speaker
Galazzo, which he almost did in Seattle. Yeah, I remember it was ended up being Kevin Cabral on the rebound, but Georgie Mihailovich hit it real nice and Andy Thomas had to make the save his life. Yeah, that one out so really great set piece go and wait Andy Thomas better than Hugo lorise. Is this what I'm hearing? He might be
01:00:27
Speaker
Yeah, that's think about it. I wasn't I wasn't gonna get into that take but it is something to think about but so Jordan Milevich Bams on LFC to tie it to two in the 83rd minute and then scores in 89th minute game winner It was fun to see Dick sporting goods Park in Commerce City Erupts like that The Colorado Rapids have had a tough
01:00:52
Speaker
last calendar year. I mean, they were, I think they weren't, they didn't win the spoon last year, but they were last in the Western conference and it just felt like a stark downfall. So they're definitely a winner for this week. And I think they're even more of a winner for this week because Georgie Mihailovich two goals, one assist. He's back baby. He's back. And if he puts up a big year for them that would be, I think the single biggest factor to start talking about the Colorado rapids as like, okay, this team is probably going to make the playoffs.
01:01:21
Speaker
And just to point out, too, like with the Sounders and, you know, missing so many players without Georgi Mihailovic, the rapids lose this game.
01:01:31
Speaker
Yeah, 100% and that's like, you know what I mean? That's what a DP who is producing at kind of carrier attack type level can do. Those players pull results by themselves. Like how many times have we seen Hany Mukhtar do that for Nashville SC when that team probably by all rights shouldn't be scoring any goals and then they get two or three goals just because he's that good and they cooked on that signing.
01:01:55
Speaker
you know the whole storyline with them is that they're way overly reliant on him, but like Yeah, exactly like when you hit on a signing like it looks like the rapids might have with Georgie mileage it can like Change your outlook so much and you know that's what That's the effect that I think we were all hoping Pedro the day La Vega would have on Seattle But unfortunately he blew out his hamstring that was a tangent right there, but any I thought I thought it was a good tangent um
01:02:19
Speaker
Next winner from matchday 7, Philly Union, 2-0 on Minnesota United, who had been the hottest team in the league coming into the game. Yeah, speaking of being back, the Philly Union, they won their last two games by a combined score of 5-1. They beat Portland on the road 3-1, which is not an easy thing to do. And then they come right back to Subaru Park and beat a loons team that
01:02:45
Speaker
I mean, they've been in our winner's section a couple times this season. They were the hottest team in the league. They've got this hotshot new young head coach who seems like a really good hire for them. They have a fun roster that's kind of got this intriguing mix of, you know, veteran talent like Timo Pookie and Emmanuel Reynoso, who I think is back in the fold after missing some time earlier this year with injury.
01:03:08
Speaker
And Philly kind of waxed him and they've looked a lot more like the Philly that we've grown to know over the last couple of years. It's just a well run organization man like I mean what can I say like every year every year they just are a well oiled machine.
01:03:25
Speaker
always and they've got a new up-and-comer who they just sold the man city I mean oh that's actually a good show I want to talk about this so yeah Kevin Kavan Sullivan is the latest Philly homegrown to be getting hype and positive press and he is I mean
01:03:45
Speaker
Guys, I don't know if it's true. I'm not a scout but the type yes we are We're becoming it the type of stuff. I'm reading about come on Sullivan is like Pulisic tear hype if not even more so he just reached an agreement by the way to Manchester City But like body like the one of the biggest clubs if not the biggest clubs in the world in terms of spending Has
01:04:13
Speaker
has bought this guy that he's going to go over when he's 18. He's going to the way they're doing it is that he's going to stay with the Philly, Philly union until his 18th birthday and then go to man city, which is obviously huge news. But anyway, I was reading about him a little more because I was like, damn, like this is really like the most hype I've seen around his agent doing a long time.
01:04:33
Speaker
Okay, his agent is doing tricks, but like if you read Tom Boga wrote a kind of deep dive piece on him in the athletic and he interviewed a couple scouts and some like front office personnel I think at Manchester City and you know for the Union and US soccer.
01:04:49
Speaker
And the way they talk about this guy is, I mean, I've seen stuff and this is not necessarily from an agent or a Philly union representative that has a vested interest in hyping him up. I've literally seen stuff that's like, this is the best 14 year old player in the world right now. And he has the highest ceiling of any US player ever. And so I was like, okay, I read stuff like that. And I'm like, I gotta go check this out just to like, see what's up.
01:05:15
Speaker
And you watch his highlights and you can only read so much into a highlight reel, but you look at it and you see a player who's pretty electric on the ball for sure. And then I thought the thing that was most impressive about him was his vision and his unselfishness.
01:05:33
Speaker
He's a playmaker and he has that kind of unique vision where picking out those passes that other people wouldn't even think of. He's got that gift in him, I think. You always want to be careful about Freddy doing a prospect and try to be mindful of that.
01:05:54
Speaker
But I will say that Philly Union fans and US soccer fans, I don't begrudge anyone for being excited about this Man City move. And it'll be fun to track to see if he can live up to that hype.
01:06:08
Speaker
Yeah, I'm excited to see what he gets up to. I mean, he is. It's a lot of hype. It's a lot of hype to live up to, but like every so often, like Pulisic pretty much, I would say, I would argue has lived up to a lot of the hype that he got as a youth prospect. So if, if Kvonne Sullivan is, it takes a similar trajectory, the ceiling seems to be very, very high.
01:06:32
Speaker
I mean just that man the Union Philadelphia in general producing the greatest soccer talents of our modern American generation is crazy so his older brother Quinn is like yeah playing for their first team and is has been really good prospect in his own right who I'm pretty sure is getting a lot of overseas interest he's got kind of nowhere near what what Kavan has getting in terms of hype but
01:06:57
Speaker
Like you said, it just speaks to how elite their youth development is within MLS. If you're looking for the gold standard academy, FC Dallas is out there, obviously. Shout out my former club. I think especially with the next generation they've got coming up with Sullivan and stuff, Philly Union are 1A in that discussion. Last winner of match day seven.
01:07:26
Speaker
We also lake chicho orango hat trick 3-1 win over
Real Salt Lake's Standout Performance
01:07:30
Speaker
st. Louis City We also lake was down 1-0 at home in the 70th minute of this game And then chicho orango just went bananas and scored a 21-minute hat trick He is he is nice him with it. Yeah, that was LFC frankly man, but I mean we'll talk about them in a second. Yeah But
01:07:50
Speaker
Chicho Arango, the LAFC hasn't been the same since Chicho Arango left, and he's been good since he went back to Real Salt Lake kind of towards the end of last year, but maybe not like LAFC to your Chicho, really. But this kind of showed that this is still a very dangerous and productive MLS number nine.
01:08:14
Speaker
And okay, so I took a little bit of heat last year because when they signed him and then also had Diego Luna on a upward trajectory, which I still believe in, I still believe in Diego Luna, I was touting Real Salt Lake and that take didn't really pay off and I got dunked on a little bit, fair enough. But they're off to a pretty good start this year. They're third in the West and Chicho blowing up like this in this game makes me think that
01:08:42
Speaker
I'm not, you know, I'm not calling it yet, but there could be something to that take. After all, they've had a good start to the year. Diego Luna, he could take the leap and Chico is a nasty number nine like you showed last night.
01:08:57
Speaker
That's all I had for the winner's section. Noah, did you have anything? No, I think that's it. I honestly, for the first time this season, turned off the TV. In a petulant rage? I was throwing a fit. I said, I refuse to watch every other club be better than my club.
01:09:17
Speaker
Yeah, I mean honorable mentions sport in Kansas City, the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts, shout out my former players. They beat Toronto FC three one at BMO field Toronto FC could I didn't put them, but they could be in the loser section just because
01:09:32
Speaker
Lorenzo Insinie is out long-term again with another hamstring injury. This is what I'm saying? This is what I'm saying? This is what I'm saying though, for all the talk about how above average an injury rate the Sounders have, if you look at a team like Toronto, they have it just as bad, if not worse, dating back the last couple years. Their fans have the exact same types of discussions and there's a couple other clubs that you can put in that category where you look at the injury report every week and it's just ridiculous.
01:10:02
Speaker
But I don't know how much of it is specific to any club or if that's just something that happens to MLS clubs sometimes or just soccer clubs in general. But either way, TFC has been dealing with this hamstring stuff with Insignia the entire time he's been in MLS. And it's unfortunate for them because they were off. They were probably the biggest surprise star in the league to start the year.
01:10:21
Speaker
And Insimie was cooking. He was scoring Galazos for them every week, it seems like. And now they're without him for, it seems like a Pedro de la Vega amount of time. But I will give credit to Sporting Kansas City, the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts, because they went in there on the road against a short-handed team and took care of business. So, credit to them for that.
01:10:43
Speaker
I think it's time we start questioning the Canadian Health Services, Ari. I think it's time we put them on watch. Austin FC, I still think they're one of the worst teams in the league, but they got their first win in six months.
01:11:02
Speaker
The last time Austin FC won was October 4th, 2023 versus DC United. And they had like four losses and three draws since then. And Noah, I literally like, I think I've talked about this, but Josh Wolf has been my favorite coach to watch the press conferences of during the stretch that they've been on. Like I love a red hot embattled coach press conference and he has been really delivering great content on that front.
01:11:28
Speaker
But I saw it last night. I saw a tweet out there and a bunch of fans showed out with a wolf out banners and they were like chanting I saw a video and they're taking a picture with their wolf out banner and the woman who's taking the pictures like okay wolf out on three Okay, it's like that in Austin but then they come out and get a 2-1 rivalry victory over FC Dallas for their first win in
01:11:52
Speaker
six months, so that's enough for an honorable mention in the winner's section for the week. All right, let's cut on to the losers. This section is more fun. I hate to do this again, but I have to for the bit until they win a game. Seattle Sounders, man, shut out again versus the LA Galaxy, who, as we talked about, passionately loved to
Sounders' Continued Struggles
01:12:12
Speaker
concede goals. They would have loved, LA Galaxy would have loved nothing more than to concede the equalizer in that game, and Seattle Sounders unfortunately got shut out again
01:12:22
Speaker
just by generating over to XG one open play goal in five games zero three and two last place in the West unfortunate and not what she want really now.
01:12:37
Speaker
LA FC Okay, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I know I do the same teams in this every week and that's kind of what the bit is but like last week I Legitimately put LA FC in the winner's section. They beat Nashville SC 5-0 Bwanga looked totally back They come out
01:12:57
Speaker
On the road against Colorado, which is like, no matter how bad Colorado may or may not be, that is always admittedly a tough game because of the elevation, but it wasn't snowing or nothing. And you lose three, two and get bammed on twice in six minutes by Georgie Mihailovich. It's not snowing.
01:13:14
Speaker
They were doing their best LA Galaxy impression. Exactly. Yeah, that's a good way to put it. So that was, I haven't dove into Steve C's press conference yet, but Steve, like, what are we doing? Like, Stephen, come on, man. And then
01:13:30
Speaker
Portland Timbers 3-2 defeat at the Vancouver Whitecaps who I could have put in the winter section. Lost two straight after getting bammed on 3-1 by the Philly Union at home in their last game. And after a promising start to the Phil Neville era, they've now hit a little bit of a roadblock.
01:13:53
Speaker
I don't know if you saw the highlights yet, but if Andrew scored just another insane goal, that's the only thing you can do. I thought you put it perfectly a couple weeks ago when you were saying like he's a total bot, but then he comes out with these insane galazos every time he does score. He did it again. It's so weird, dude. It's he's he's the best player just for the fact just for the entertainment factor. Like he's one on one with the goalkeeper. He's got an empty net in front of him.
01:14:22
Speaker
blasting it wide, but he's 45 yards out. He's hitting a bicycle kick. That's going top in last night was insane. Yeah, dude. What he's he's hilarious. He was created in a lab for content. He's a hilarious player and like it from our perspective. It's like a game like this is like perfect.
01:14:42
Speaker
Yeah, because he scores in insane goal like that out of nowhere. Well, not really playing well the rest of the game. It doesn't seem like and then they still lose the game. Yeah, and Phil Neville has to fill. Neville also is a great salty press conference. I haven't dove into that one yet either. I need to dive into Phil. I need to dive into Steve. See maybe I think a new segment might be a blazing hot coach press conference of the week. I think we might have been toying with that last season. Yeah, but I think we're going to get some good ones. I got to say
01:15:10
Speaker
Vanny Sartini had oh yeah one of the best three I think I've ever seen on the cap strong first half if the first half was a city it was Florence if it was a person it was my wife if it was an idea it was socialism.
01:15:25
Speaker
Oh my God Vinnie Sartini is he cooks dude he's prize. He's one of the best coach press conferences in the league. He I mean he started this game off with it was originally a 16 game suspension and it started and it got reduced to four I believe on appeal because he made a
01:15:44
Speaker
what was admittedly a very ill-advised joke about the death of the referee last year. And so I think the suspension in that situation was both expected and warranted, but like a quote like that. Yeah, he's back to prime form. He's back to prime form and not offensive form. So that's good to see. I really hope Vani Sartini keeps that white cap's job for as long as they'll let him.
01:16:10
Speaker
Um, because, um, we need, we need a more entertaining press conferences in this league. I feel like the coaches have for the most part been delivering on that this year. Steve C has had some good ones. Peter Vermees is always good for some. Josh Wolf has been on fire since last season. So there's been some good stuff, but it's good to have Vanny back.
01:16:30
Speaker
and and you know they're playing well. The caps are playing well. There's a good team. They got Scottish messy dude. They've got Scottish messy and I should have put them in the winner's section to be honest for like a Cascadia victory and five people spin ball or Fabrice people not not far off yet. Fafah was a good signing. The caps the caps have a good coach. They have a pretty decent roster and they have Scottish messy. So I expect them. I mean I fully expect them to be a playoff team in the West and competing for home playoff games.
01:17:01
Speaker
All right, that was all I had for winners and losers from match day seven So I think we're good to wrap it right there unless you have anything else Noah. That's it man. What an app
01:17:10
Speaker
What an app. It was a good one. Thank you, as always, to everyone who tunes in and submitted questions. We really appreciate the spike in listenership that we've seen over these last couple of episodes. It's been really great to see. Like, rate, comment, subscribe on whatever your platform of choice may be. That really helps us out and boosts us in the algorithm and all that. Share with Vanny Sartino.
01:17:36
Speaker
share it share it with your friends share it with your neighbors share it with your parents your mom's dog let's keep getting those numbers up and we'll stay motivated to keep putting these out every single week reacting to whatever may or may not have happened with the Seattle Sounders and and what's going on the rest of MOS
01:17:57
Speaker
Next week's will be a little bit late. I'm going on a trip. So we'll be, we'll be in mid week form for next week. We got a mid week match up. It's all good. Um, anyway, appreciate you all tuning in as always until next time we out. Peace.