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Episode 381: Mailbag for Week 8
85 Plays2 years ago
This is the mailbag episode ahead of Week 7 of the MLS season. If you'd like to get your questions answered in future episodes, please shoot us an email at nosaudietis@gmail.com.
In this episode, we answer questions about who has been a bigger surprise so far in 2023, what do we do with so many hot players and so little starting spots, and we wax poetic about our next matchup against those dudes to our South.
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This week's music: Perry Como - "Seattle", "RVIVR - "Ocean Song", Woody Guthrie - "Roll On Columbia", "Your Journey Begins" - OurMusicBox (Jay Man) (CC BY 4.0)
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsors
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Nos Arietes is sponsored by Fullpool Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of Nos Arietes since 2011. Fullpool was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime sounder supporters. They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest.
Hosts Introduction
00:00:21
Speaker
Hey, this is Christian Roldan. And Jordan Morris from the Seattle Sounders Football Club. And you're listening to... There's no study at this. Come on! Hey, Ocean! Let's go! I want to say bye-bye!
Seattle Sounders' MLS Cup Victory Celebration
00:00:35
Speaker
The Seattle Sounders have done it! MLS Cup winners! And Portland can't say he's cheating! Here comes Rudy Diaz through the middle to crowd it for Seattle! They have climbed the mountain!
00:00:51
Speaker
And now our masters of all that they survey. Michael Adero leaves absolutely no doubt. The Sounders rule the region. Seattle Sounders is confirmed. Seattle Sounders, the greatest MLS team in history. Is that what you young people call twerking? How does this one feel? This feels fucking awesome. Why do we win? Why do we win? This is Seattle Sounders, bro.
00:01:24
Speaker
the bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle and the hills the greenest green in Seattle like a beautiful child growing up
00:01:42
Speaker
Thanks
Additional Sponsorship
00:01:43
Speaker
to Watson's Counter for sponsoring this episode. Located in Ballard, Watson's Counter is your neighborhood specialty coffee shop, brunch spot, and now, coffee roaster. Sourcing exclusively high scoring coffees, Watson's Counter has started their coffee roasting project to showcase amazing coffees grown around the world. Their first featured coffee is the beautifully complex washed Ethiopian Odola.
00:02:04
Speaker
Follow them on Instagram at wantsonscounter to keep up with all the upcoming releases or check out their website at www.watsonscounter.com. Whether you want to stop by for your daily coffee to go or sit down for delicious Korean inspired brunch, Watson's Counter has got you covered.
8th NOS Adiatus Mailbag Episode Introduction
00:02:23
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome to the 8th edition of the NOS Adiatus Mailbag, brought to you by Fullpool Wines, Watson's Counter, and our wonderful subscribers. Jeremiah is still out of the office this evening, so I'm once again your fill-in host, Aaron Campo, and I am joined once again by our good friend Mark Kastner to answer some of your questions this week.
00:02:41
Speaker
Uh, not to peek too far behind the curtain, but, uh, we're recording this like five minutes after the last episode. So, um, that's, that's why Jeremiah is not here, but, uh, hopefully he's having fun wherever he is. Uh, so Mark, let's get into it. Um, I will start us off with the first question.
Sounders Players Goal Predictions
00:02:57
Speaker
This one is from J underscore SSFC, a 10 to hits a banger and opens his account. Sheesh, who else do you expect to get their first this season? Um, so.
00:03:10
Speaker
Uh, Jackson Reagan, he hasn't scored yet, right? I don't think so. That was going to be my answer. So let's see, but I think you're right. I don't think he has. Um, uh, although like technically he, uh, kind of made that own goal happen, scored an own goal. So that's, that's like.
00:03:29
Speaker
You probably get like pretty good odds if you take that to a sports book because he's a six foot six center back. Yeah. Comes up on every corner. A lot of the corners seem sort of designed to get him in the mix as well. Yeah. Yeah. So that that feels like a good one. And I'll just say Stephen Fry. Why not? Yeah, why not? It'll probably be Wendy at some point this season.
00:03:55
Speaker
You know, or it's been a while since we've had one of those like crazy comebacks, like, uh, 2018 or whatever, whatever it was where we'd go down three goals and still win. Yeah. So you send up the goalie and he scores. So let's just do that. Why not? That works for me. Um, I think that, let's see, Ethan Dobler hasn't scored, right? Correct. I'm going to go with Ethan Dobler. And what about, uh, AB Sozoko, another tall center Beck.
00:04:23
Speaker
Yeah. Good call. He's probably, he's probably going to get some playing time at some point to share. I would imagine. So I'm assuming we're talking about the league as well and not, and not, uh, you know, the open cup or what have you, but yeah, I think there are any number of guys that I think are going to get some pretty good minutes this year that have not scored. I think Reagan is the odds on favorite for sure. But, uh, you know, we've, we've got our, we've got our second choices and also is pretty good at taking penalties. Apparently he is. Yeah.
00:04:47
Speaker
Maybe there's a bizarro world where he's on the field and he takes the leaf or something. Yeah, I mean I.
00:04:56
Speaker
I've never seen him take a bad penalty and he's taken a few that I've seen. Like, uh, he took one in the shootout against San Jose last year. I think, um, I know he's taken others in the past. So yeah, that's, that's not a bad show.
Seattle Sounders vs St. Louis Analysis
00:05:10
Speaker
Um, next one is from at Smith Jacobus. Your opinion on the first half, according to pundits, they seem to think that St. Louis dominated several views. I couldn't come to that conclusion. What say you, I, um, I don't think St. Louis dominated.
00:05:26
Speaker
but I thought they played really well. But they had one, they had like one clear cut big chance that they missed. And that was the, this is the Joe Klaus one where Jackson Reagan actually did like a really incredible job defending him, but it like hit the post or something like that.
00:05:51
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think they dominated, but I do think they played really well. Sorry for such a political answer. I think it's the right one though, right? I think that...
00:06:02
Speaker
I think that if you were dispassionately watching that game, you could maybe come to the conclusion that because the Sounders weren't able to create a lot in the first half, that St. Louis was winning. And I think considering what St. Louis set out to do, I think it's totally fair to say St. Louis took this approach and it worked extremely well. And in that sense, they were the better team in the first half. No problem with that. I don't think it was anything close to domination. Like you said, they didn't create a whole lot going forward.
00:06:30
Speaker
they made things difficult through the midfield, but ultimately the Sounders were able to overcome that. And I think that the idea of a game being two discrete halves rather than a whole is a weird... I understand why you look at it that way. And I mean, even on this week's mainline episode, we kind of talked about that of the Sounders, it was a tale of two halves, all that stuff. But
00:06:55
Speaker
I think that that's because the Sounders took the lessons they learned in the first half about the way St. Louis were approaching the game and applied that to the way they approached the second half. And I think the Sounders are more than happy with the way that first half turned out, ultimately, because they didn't give up a lot of chances. They were able to learn some things, and they were ultimately able to go on and win three doubles. So I think we're pretty much in alignment there. So now we're going to move on to some questions about the Timbers game coming up this weekend.
Portland Timbers' Performance Discussion
00:07:24
Speaker
This one is from 206 Hometowners. Please feel free to wax poetic and at length about the current state of Portland Timbers. Uh, okay. They're as bad or worse than I've ever seen a Portland Timbers team. Um, and, uh, they are, they really suck. They suck so bad. Uh, I'll let you talk for a little bit and I'll try to find some, uh, maybe some numbers to back up my claim.
00:07:52
Speaker
Yeah, they are. I haven't watched a full game of theirs this year, but I've watched some highlights and I've watched like the end of a game and they just don't have it. They just do not have it. They have an aging roster, I think it's fair to say. Guys that probably should not be getting regular minutes anymore are still getting regular minutes.
00:08:15
Speaker
They're not scoring. They're not stopping other teams from scoring. You got to do at least one of those two, right, to be an interesting team. I think that there's a good chance that by the end of the year, they'll be better than they are now. But that is really damning with faint praise. I think, you know, I like to make fun of Gio Zavarese.
00:08:39
Speaker
But I don't dislike him like he's he's the manager of the timbers and he's kind of goofy. So he's very he's a very easy target. I don't think he's I don't think he's a bad coach. I don't think he's a bad guy. I don't think he's long for for this job. I just it's you've got to change something, I think, and whether or not it's his fault. Kind of irrelevant. You just can't you can't wash this kind of thing. Coffee, I think, at a certain point.
00:09:05
Speaker
Yeah. So they've only obviously won one game this year, the first game of the season against sporting Kansas city. Yes. Uh, they actually lost the XG battle in that game. They did not create more. They've, uh,
00:09:22
Speaker
They've only won one XG battle all year. And that was surprisingly against St. Louis, but that was a game that St. Louis came from behind to beat them. And Vancouver created over two goals, over two expected goals. So that was harder to say. Vancouver's not very good. And they got
00:09:49
Speaker
They got beat by Vancouver the same week Vancouver got humbled by L.A.R.C. just a few days before. So they can't create goals. Other teams that play them create goals a lot.
00:10:11
Speaker
They don't do anything. There are bad teams in this league that do things. So for instance, like everybody, like maybe the most famous example is Matisse Almeida's San Jose Earthquakes team. They were really bad, but they were bad in an interesting way. And there's nothing interesting about why Portland's bad. They played too many old players, like you said, they,
00:10:39
Speaker
They piss off all their young players, like Eric Williamson requested a trade this offseason and never got it. They do some funny things, like signing players for a lot of money that nobody's ever heard of. It might not actually be that good and play them out of position, which I think is just really weird. Like you spend all this money on this guy, why wouldn't you want him to play his best position?
00:11:07
Speaker
Yeah. So like what I think I said on the main show this week, like, yeah, you know, obviously all this can come back and bite me and they win, you know, four one or something like that.
00:11:20
Speaker
Man, they are really bad. I mean, I think if Portland wins that game for one, it doesn't change the fact that everything you've said is true and good for them if they go out and do it good for them. I don't see it happening. And yeah, I mean, they they're very bad and they're very bad in a way where.
00:11:38
Speaker
Not only are they boring and uninteresting, like you said, this doesn't feel like the kind of thing you can fix quickly. Those earthquakes teams felt like they were more than the sum of their parts because they were really bad talent-wise, but they played, I think, better than they were. They caused problems for teams, and you felt like, man, if they could just get some more investment and spend a little bit more money, these teams could be really good.
00:12:03
Speaker
this timbers team feels like it needs to be set on fire and just completely rebuilt from the ground up. And you have like the starting goalkeeper texting journalists during games to tell them that the coach is lying. Those are really bad vibes if you don't want to have them. And they've missed the only penalty they've gotten this year. So that's fun. Yeah, it is.
00:12:32
Speaker
It's a bad situation down there. And our next question from interpersonal is about how, how much worse it has to get before GeoSauvery SAS fired.
Upcoming Portland Timbers Match Preview
00:12:40
Speaker
How big of a win is required for Sauvery SAS to get fired this weekend? How big of a trap is this rivalry game against the Portland side that the Sounders should demolish on paper?
00:12:49
Speaker
Um, I would, I would say listen to maybe like the last 20 minutes of the main show this week, if you want my philosophy on what a trap game is and how I think this is not a trap game, but it is, uh, it's just a different thing. Um, so without repeating anything I said, um, I don't think it's a trap game. I.
00:13:13
Speaker
I don't know, like, I think there's a lot of teams in the league right now that are kind of doing that scene from the office where they're all pointing at each other. Yeah. And nobody wants to be the first team to fire their coach. Because you're giving, you're like, this is funny because the Sounders won MLS Cup the year they fired their coach. Sure. But you're giving up on the season when you do that. More often than not.
00:13:42
Speaker
And there's like six teams right now that should maybe fire their coach. Two of them aren't because they're like basically brand new. So like Montreal is not going to fire their coach because they hired him like four and a half minutes before the season started. And he was there like
00:14:05
Speaker
10th choice or something like that. And he's DC's old coach, and he's apparently not the nicest person in the world. I think I can weakly say that. So that's not gonna happen. And like, I don't think Portland will ever give us the satisfaction of
00:14:26
Speaker
being the team that got their coach fired. Yeah, I think that's true. I think that that is sort of the level of petty that Mayor Paulson has. And he's like, and with everything else going on, he has that to hold on to. Right. Yep. That's true. That said, let's figure it out. Let's test the limit. Let's do seven zero and see what happens. Yeah, I think so. I mean, there has to be
00:14:52
Speaker
a result bad enough that it happens. Yeah. And like, there's probably context there that's like this, you know, the goalkeeper thing I was mentioning, like, that's the thing that gets a coach fired. So maybe some of more of that can happen this week. Maybe he, I don't know, makes fun of vegan food or something, which Portland has incredible vegan food. They do.
00:15:20
Speaker
Good food city in general, I think. I obviously have moved across the country in the last little while of my life, and I didn't realize how much I would miss being able to just go to Portland.
00:15:36
Speaker
Yeah, it is a very fun city to visit, especially when you're going down there to watch the Sounders play the Timbers in 2023. Another one from Nick Payton that is pretty closely related to the last one. I don't know if you have any additional thoughts I'll give mine. How nervous should we be this weekend to play Portland? I never feel great about Cascadia games just because this is a game in April
00:16:02
Speaker
in a season that the Sounders have surpassed expectations, look like supporters, shield contenders. It's a team that you have to be. If you want to stay in that conversation and you want to feel good about the direction your team is headed in, it's the kind of game where if you lose, that
00:16:20
Speaker
hits your confidence can snowball. And so all of that being said, I mean, I'm nervous about it because I do think that more if the Portland Timbers were the exact same team with the same players, same coach, same results, and they were not the Portland Timbers,
00:16:42
Speaker
I wouldn't be at all nervous about it because I feel like the sounders were able to take care of business. But there's just something about these rivalry games that makes them harder. And I don't know what exactly that is. I think it's a lot of different things, psychological things. I think that the way that these games tend to be refereed can tend to benefit the less technically skilled teams. The atmosphere certainly can be tough to play in and intimidating.
00:17:11
Speaker
So I don't think that it's as simple as the sounders are much better than timbers, therefore they should be timbers because these games just aren't that simple. So I'm nervous about it, but I don't know how reasonable that is. I don't think that it's all coming from a place of being analytical and being unemotional about it. I think that a lot of the nerves around it are just because losing this game to the timbers would suck really bad for a lot of reasons.
00:17:39
Speaker
Yeah, and I think that that's completely rationally irrational. I think that makes perfect sense, but it's a rivalry. It's like when a schedule comes out, you look to find out
00:17:58
Speaker
Like when the sounders are playing Portland and then you figure out if you can do those trips or not. Right. And then you get sad because we're all much older than we were 10 years ago. Right. It's just harder. Yes. Um, or you moved to Minnesota. Right. I did much harder. Right. Yeah. Um, so it's, it, it wouldn't matter. Like, like they could be an MLS next pro team and I'd still be nervous about playing them. However,
00:18:25
Speaker
you gotta be like part of being a fan is like, like when your feathers are out, you gotta like, you gotta strut like a peacock because the sounders are playing as good or better than everybody else in the league right now. And Portland's really bad. And Portland was really bad. Like they had kind of like, they had like kind of a Rocky and,
00:18:51
Speaker
kind of terrible like summer last year and then they came to CenturyLink or Loom & Field excuse me and beat us 3-0 the same day we lifted the banner for winning CCL. So it's just kind of like things like that happen in these in this rivalry but at the same time like
00:19:10
Speaker
Part of being a fan and part of like going through the roller coaster of supporting the Sounders is you gotta take, you gotta be as high as you can be when the team is as high as they are. Yeah. You gotta feel that because we all felt how low things could get. So like, you gotta do both. You gotta be nervous, but you also gotta be really excited and confident.
00:19:38
Speaker
And I mean, I think obviously as even as this rivalry has been over the years, I think ultimately the Sounders have every right to say that they have been the more successful club than the Timbers. And I think that, especially now, you've got to be confident going to the end of this game. And I wonder how much of it with me
00:20:03
Speaker
is acknowledging that there are things about these games that are different than other games that make them more difficult and how much of it is just completely irrational. I just really don't want to lose this game because I do think like when I take a step back and I think about the odds of the outcome of this game, I think that it's more likely that the sounders
00:20:25
Speaker
handily beat the timbers like talking like 3-0 type handily than it is that the Sounders don't win that game. And it's hard to beat teams 3-0 away anywhere in the world, but especially in MLS. But I just think if I'm trying to take all the emotion out of it, this is a game the Sounders should probably feel like they can win pretty comfortably.
00:20:46
Speaker
Yeah. And like, I don't think, I don't think Brian, especially as the type of manager to take the emotion out of it. I think not beating them. They didn't beat them last year, right? I think that's correct. Yeah. I think not beating them. I think this team and I kind of referenced this, I kind of referenced this a little bit on the, the, um,
00:21:10
Speaker
the main show that we did. I kind of think this team is all about exercising their demons. And they're finding even the smallest demons to exercise and doing that. So I think they really want to do things like they won in Kansas City for the first time.
00:21:28
Speaker
ever, you know, like, so long. And not only did they win in Kansas City, they like, really beat the brakes off of them, right? You know, right. And like, they didn't beat, you know, they didn't beat the timbers last year. And the timbers got to spoil the banner party. Like, I think they really, like, I don't think professional athletes or professional managers think like this, but like, I think they would rather win this game, like,
00:21:54
Speaker
six or seven, zero, and then lose to Minnesota, then maybe like maybe get a draw here and beat Minnesota, even though, yeah, you know, just like that kind of thing. So I do think that's how you keep these rivalries.
00:22:10
Speaker
how they stay interesting when they've they've grown a little stale. I think it's it's fair to say. You play three times a year. Yeah. But Portland doing something like coming up here and winning three and all the day we raise the CCL banner. That pissed me off. Right. And it makes me want to win this game more. I'm sure it makes the players want to win this game more. The Sounders just rubbing their nose in the dirt.
00:22:35
Speaker
when they're clearly a much better team, I think probably adds, you know, some heat on Portland side. So, you know, that's, and that's why not, not for any sort of results or bragging rights, but that's why I want this average to win this game by five goals is so that the rivalry can stay relevant. It's not, it's, it's really all about that for me, rather than embarrassing the timbers.
00:22:57
Speaker
Um, moving on from the timbers game, we've got some more general
Seattle Lineup and Player Potentials
00:23:01
Speaker
questions. The first one, a couple of people asked about this. Uh, I'm going to ask one of the questions, but I also want to shout out combat wombat Esquire for asking a very similar question. Uh, the one I am going to read is from Bill Jones TRPT. When I realized we had Morris, Rudy, I was in a bear on the field at the same time, I got overwhelmed with excitement. Will it ever make sense to start all three? And what would that look like? And when would it be prudent?
00:23:27
Speaker
Yeah, I do think it would make sense to start all three. I think you do that, you don't do that against a team like Portland, even if they are bad, because they are really bad. I just think they can handle a three forward setup a little bit better than other people. But I think when you do it, there's probably an injury you're going to have to deal with somewhere else on the field to kind of compensate.
00:23:56
Speaker
but you see it kind of like really kind of like a classic 4-3-3. And I know none of those three forwards are any of those positions like naturally, but that's how it would have to work. You have kind of like, we used to kind of see this with Ziggy where he would play like Kenny Cooper, Chad Barra on the wing as kind of this like,
00:24:23
Speaker
instead of like the kind of classic target man happening in the middle of the field, he would move it out to the side of the field and then kind of like tilt the field that way. That's how that's how hate a bear would play as a leader. Yeah. He's not you know, he's not six for like Kenny Cooper was or whatever. He's not particularly that strong, but he's incredible at holding the ball. So I think you put him probably probably on the left or the right and
00:24:53
Speaker
play him the ball, he holds it up, a midfielder, a fullback comes and interchanges with him. And then you kind of have Raul dropping a little bit deeper like he normally does. And then Morris is kind of going in behind. I think that that's how that works. Yeah, I think you're right. I mean, I think that in against St. Louis, a bear played a little bit more as like a at least in the same space as like a classic 10, I think is how they had it set up. But I think you're right that
00:25:24
Speaker
Splitting a bear out wide is probably the more likely way that all those guys get on the field together. And I think it just makes more sense from the go. I think that there's a time for it. I think there will be times we see it. I don't think that it is the most likely thing. Like, I don't think we're ever going to get to a point where that's like the primary starting 11 for those guys. I think we are likely to see it quite a bit.
00:25:50
Speaker
as, you know, sort of substitution pattern. You know, if the Sounders are chasing a goal or trying to push for a win at home, you know, it wouldn't be shocked to see something like that. I think there's, you could, if you are playing A-Bear in that 10 space, you could see Rudyas, Morris, A-Bear, and Leo Chugo on the field at the same time, which would be, I think, a lot of fun, if not a little nerve-wracking, to have a, you know, to have a setup like that.
00:26:19
Speaker
Uh, but I think, I think in general, it just does speak to all of the different ways that the sounders can hurt teams and can effectively attack teams. And, um, you know, it's, we're saying this a lot these days. It's one of those things where it's a good problem to have figuring out how to get those guys out there and what your best team looks like. Yeah. And like.
00:26:39
Speaker
Formations are just like numbers on screen or a piece of paper. Yeah, like for instance, this season we have played Albert Rusnak at right mid. We have played Christian Roldon at right back. You know, like even the way that New Who is playing left back this season is completely different than the way you played left back last season. Yeah. It's just kind of, it's like,
00:27:06
Speaker
With the modern game, everybody's more concerned about where players end up in certain phases. And even the most simplest terms is like, Nicole Sildaro is like,
00:27:22
Speaker
one of the best number tens of the league has ever played, ever had. But the way that he plays is like completely different than say Landon Donovan, who just played a different position. Right. Right. Just did different things. Yeah. Even or even like Sebastian Jiminco or. Yeah. Yeah.
00:27:42
Speaker
Yeah, it's and it is like MLS is not as tactically advanced as a lot of leaks and there are a lot of reasons for that but I do feel like that evolution is starting to happen where teams are getting more sophisticated. This is I think the most tactically sophisticated sounders team we've ever seen. They're they're sort of out of the box approach. I guess for lack of a better term is much more
00:28:07
Speaker
Interesting maybe isn't the right word but adventurous or cutting-edge then you know the 4-2-3-1 Pretty straightforward that we saw a lot or the 4-3-3 and the 4-4-2 in the Ziggy days The empty bucket 4-4-2, especially like those are very traditional conventional formations that pretty much everybody knows how to play pretty much everybody knows the expectations and so the tactics are really
00:28:33
Speaker
more about who are we man marking? How deep is our defensive line? Are we running an offside trap? What do the set pieces look like? Whereas I think the sounders this year are playing a much more malleable shape that changes between phases, not just between attack and defense, but
00:28:51
Speaker
game state and where on the field you win possession back, the way your shape ends up looking is going to be dramatically different, sort of by design. St. Louis is, I think, a much more aggressive pressing team than we've seen. LAFC, I think, is a really tactically sophisticated team. So it's an interesting time in MLS, and I'm enjoying it. It makes the games more interesting. It makes those Wednesday night games against
00:29:17
Speaker
you know, FC Dallas or whatever, a little more interesting to watch to me at least because you, you are going to see those sort of chess matches that maybe you wouldn't have seen before. Yeah. And I do think like to kind of circle it all the way back to the question, like,
00:29:30
Speaker
You probably see these three on the field, but the way that the fullbacks play would have to be completely different. So you probably don't see new who play or new who's playing as a center back. It would have to switch because there needs to be some sort of width somewhere. Yeah, I think like if you see those three, you're probably going to see a three, four, three, right?
00:29:55
Speaker
The the two wider midfielders being closer to like fullback type players. All right. Next one is from Neve Telenry Ember. Sorry. Nailed it.
00:30:13
Speaker
We've seen a couple of big surprise slash breakout performances this season so far. Leochu and Atencio, if you had to choose one more player who will unexpectedly, and I think unexpectedly is a key word there, jump into the limelight in 2023, who would you pick? Unexpectedly.
00:30:32
Speaker
I'd like to go with Reed Baker Whitting because if we're going, if we're putting the emphasis on the unexpected situation, I'm going to kind of talk through my reasoning here through like a hypothetical situation.
00:30:54
Speaker
The last few times he's gone away with the youth national team camps, he's been playing as a fullback left and right back. And he's played really well in kind of the national team set up. They play completely different to the Sounders. They're like a very possession heavy 4-3-3. And it's just different than what the Sounders do. So I can see a hypothetical situation where, say,
00:31:21
Speaker
say a team blows us out of the water for new who this summer. And like, we can't say no, like to that kind of transfer offer. And, you know, new who goes and plays for PSG or whatever, or, or Alex Rodin picks up a significant injury and is out three to four months. And there needs to be a longer term solution than just Kellen Rowe playing, which I'm, I would say,
00:31:48
Speaker
for a game or two games in a row, I won't count row playing. But if it becomes apparent that there needs to be a longer term solution at either of the four back positions, I would like to see Reid get that opportunity to play there because he has literally done it professionally or in a competitive manner with the national teams that he's played for.
00:32:15
Speaker
And I think he has an interesting skill set through that role. I think it's a good pick. And I think that he's a player that everybody expects big things from, I think it's fair to say. He's one of the more hyped sounders prospects that we've seen ever.
00:32:35
Speaker
But I don't think anybody's really expecting him to have that much of an impact this year. But I think the scenario laid out is one where it's conceivable. And I think it's also just possible that he plays so well in training, that he plays so well when he's with the national team, that he sort of forces Brian Schmetzer's hand to give him some playing time. Yeah, there are the Youth World Cups coming up this summer, and he's supposed to be on those rosters. So maybe
00:33:02
Speaker
Maybe we never actually get the chance to see him have the breakout for the Sounders, but he breaks out there. And there comes the transfer fee. And I guess in a roundabout way, I'm still right, which is all eminaries. It is technically right. I'm still right. I really don't have a better answer than that. I think that they're like, I think I love you, Ethan Dobler. I think he's going to be a pretty good player. There are players on this team that
00:33:29
Speaker
I think will be good and will come good, but I don't think any of them are likely to break out in the way I think that's been asked about more than Baker White and so. And it would be like having a third already. Yeah.
00:33:44
Speaker
like, that'd be, I'd feel pretty spoiled. I'm happy that it's, that it's true and it's a 10 Sia. So yeah, that I think, uh, the odds are that you were probably not going to have a third this year, uh, frankly, cause that is an embarrassment of riches, but, uh, Hey, you never know. Uh, next one from D underscore height.
Albert Rusnak's Role in Midfield Strategy
00:34:05
Speaker
Can you dig up some stats that show what Albert brings to the midfield? He seems an unsung hero so far this season. So I will say that.
00:34:13
Speaker
As a caveat before I turn it over to you, Mark, from the stats that I think you would look at, the stats don't love Albert. He's pretty middle of the road in most statistical categories. His XG numbers aren't blowing anybody out of the water. His X-pass number is kind of the same deal. His defensive numbers are not outstanding, but I think that
00:34:41
Speaker
It's already kind of hard to quantify statistically the role he plays. People are going to disagree with that. That's fine. I haven't seen statistics that I think for the kind of player he is in that position where I feel like you really need to trust them over the eye test. And from my perspective, from the eye test, he has been definitely an unsung hero. I think that the way he progresses the sounders attacks from deep
00:35:08
Speaker
that he's seen balls that other guys that are playing in that role are not typically seen. I love him. I think he's been great there. He's played really well on the wing and I understand the desire to get him up a line and get him closer to goal. But I think the things he brings to that deeper midfield central position are
00:35:29
Speaker
are unique. I don't think that there are a lot of players that play it that way. And, and I think that the numbers that we tend to look after guys play in that position are not the ones that are going to shine a great light on Albert. Yeah. I think, I think kind of the interesting, um, the interesting thing here with, with Russ neck is he's not a defensive midfielder. He's also not an attacking midfielder and he's not a wide player.
00:36:00
Speaker
And he's also not a number eight. The role that he's playing, and I'll get some statistics in a second, but the role that he's playing is he's the ball progressor in this team. What that means is.
00:36:14
Speaker
the Sounders will be in a situation where they have just defended or are taking a goal kick and they get the ball back. He's the guy that takes the ball from a defender and gets it to the attackers. Like just in the simplest terms, if you're not a stats guy, that's basically what a ball progressor does. And he does it in a way that is like,
00:36:41
Speaker
so beautiful to watch that if you can just spend, especially when the sounders are playing very well, he plays super well.
00:36:51
Speaker
the last 30 minutes of the second half against St. Louis. Josh Atencio obviously gets a man in the match, but for that section of the game, I thought Albert Rusknech was like playing better, you know? Yeah. As Progressive passes, he averages 6.79 a game, which puts him in the 86 percentile for that. Progressive carries 2.36, which is 89%. So that's like, that's almost 10 or...
00:37:19
Speaker
That is nine like serious ball progressions in a match, which is like unheard of or not unheard of, but like extremely good. And if you're not necessarily a fan of like numbers and you get boring because we just took you to stats class, uh, without your consent, um,
00:37:42
Speaker
I would ask you to go rewatch the L.A. Galaxy game because he played against Ricky Puig or Ricky Buig, however you say it, who is this kid that costs so much money. He came from Barcelona's academy. He was like playing for Barcelona. He had to leave because Barcelona's finances are strange.
00:38:07
Speaker
watching like you don't get midfield battles like that in MLS, hardly ever. But just to see like a player of like kind of the pedigree league is from and then watch Russ and I just do everything better than him was like, I think the thing that's just like, okay, he's good. He's actually good in this position. It's not a waste of talent or we don't need to switch anything up. Yeah.
00:38:37
Speaker
So, that's all I've got to say. Yeah, I mean, I think not to be the dead horse, but one of the themes that we've seen on this show this year, and then things that Jeremiah has written about, other folks that sounded hard have written about, French Munzer has talked about.
00:38:53
Speaker
It's not about necessarily putting the players in their quote unquote best position or putting them in the position where they're most likely to score goals. It's about holistically putting the best team together that you can. And I'm sure that Albert would be scoring more, assisting more if he was playing on the wing full time, but I think you lose a lot.
00:39:13
Speaker
in the center of the field. And I think that there are other players who are better at those things. But there's not really anyone that can do what Albert has done. I think even as good as Atencio has been, he's much more of a Joao Paulo analog. And you can have two guys in your midfield and be successful that are like Atencio and Joao Paulo, tons of teams would kill for that midfield. It's a good midfield.
00:39:34
Speaker
But neither one of them do the same things that that Albert Rusnak does. So he's I think he's a he's a really prime example of the tactical advances and the increasing tactical sophistication in MLS, where I don't think he's playing a role like this two or three years ago. I don't think any team in the league has a role like that. No, I think it's just so interesting that I mean, like if you want him to score and assist more, just
00:40:01
Speaker
like go watch those RSL teams where he was scoring 10 goals and assisting 10 goals a season. They weren't that good. I mean, he was playing well, but that's kind of the limitations to using a player like this in a role like that is it's like watching them.
00:40:22
Speaker
It's watching like peak, like isolation basketball, which is just not interesting basketball to watch. It's like one guy beating another guy and it either goes in or it's a turn. That's like, that's what that RICL team is like. Yep. Next one from, uh, at cahota 81, Leo two or Rudy Diaz on the initial 11 for next game. Uh, I think you start Rudy Diaz cause he's the Portland killer and he's come, you know, he's.
00:40:51
Speaker
score a goal against St. Louis. And then if it's not working, maybe you bring two on to run at some bad and tired fullbacks. Yeah, I think so. I think that we kind of talked about this on the main show, but I think that as much fun as it has been watching Leo to set the world on fire.
00:41:14
Speaker
It maybe isn't the worst thing that he didn't get an assist or a goal. And I think he played well in that game, but didn't get on the score sheet. Didn't have any.
00:41:25
Speaker
sort of tangible things you can point to and say, see, he's still the hot hand. You got to keep playing him. So it was perfect. He played well. He caused some problems. He didn't make any major mistakes. But now you kind of have the excuse to get Ruby Diaz back onto the 11. And yeah, I mean, I would be pretty shocked if it's not rule. I've been shocked before, but
00:41:50
Speaker
So who knows, but I do think that that role is the most likely person. I suppose there's a reality in which Jordan is the one that sets, but I don't think so. I think it's a pretty clear choice between Leo or 3Dos.
00:42:05
Speaker
I agree. Um, next one from at Garrett underscore Amini, uh, any updates on the turf being replaced, it's looking pretty rough. It is looking pretty rough. I will say that I think that part of that is that Apple TV is looks better. And so you can see it more clearly, um, but it does look bad. And you know, Mark, maybe you have some insight here, but I don't think we know, I know that Jeremiah has asked about it and hasn't really heard anything as far as I know. Um,
00:42:33
Speaker
I'd be pretty surprised if it happens during the season, because I know that it takes some time to do. But yeah, I mean, I would I would be shocked if it doesn't happen after this offseason, unless they are trying to get it to 2026 as is, which I really think. Yeah, I think the last time it happened, it happened during the summer. Yeah.
00:43:01
Speaker
that's something to kind of keep an eye on. I don't have like any, yeah, it was replaced in June of 2019. Yeah, I mean, so maybe it doesn't take as long as I'm thinking. And I think the sounders had to play like three road games or something in a row and to let it settle. So if you think about it, like the reason why it looks bad is because there's now a second
00:43:24
Speaker
professional American football team playing on it. Correct. The Seattle Dragons XFL. Yeah. So those games are happening like they had one on Sunday, like 12 hours after the Sounders game ended or whatever. It's like and then they have like all the summer concerts and stuff that they typically do. Yeah.
00:43:46
Speaker
So really the only time it works to replace it is in that middle summer thing. I don't know if it will be replaced this year. It'd be cool because it does look really bad. But it is important to say that when the players get asked about it, both away and home players,
00:44:07
Speaker
They say it plays fine. Yeah. I think it's time for it to get replaced. But I do think that what you're seeing on the field is
00:44:22
Speaker
the lines have to get scrubbed a lot more frequently and that you would notice it. You see that. I mean, that's like when people say, oh, the turf looks bad. I think that that's usually what they're seeing is they're seeing those lines having been scrubbed off. And I don't know that that makes has like much of a tangible effect on how the how the turf plays. There's value in the turf not looking bad on its own merits. But I do think that it probably looks a lot worse than it actually is.
00:44:49
Speaker
That being said, I know that there was an agreement that it would be replaced on regular interval. I'm pretty sure they're past where that agreement was.
00:44:57
Speaker
Um, uh, they, they actually will be at it this summer. Gotcha. So maybe, so maybe that is the plan. I mean, I, we don't know. We're just speculating. Yeah. I'm like, I'm reading through old sound or hard stories right now. Yeah. I mean, that would make sense. That would make sense that they do it in the summer. I do think though, the last time the turf was replaced, there was a very noticeable difference in how bad.
00:45:24
Speaker
the surface played. That was just immediately noticeable by pretty much everyone. And that was I believe the story there was that was a defective batch that, you know, maybe wasn't up to standards that didn't have the longevity that they were promised. So I haven't seen any indications that it's plain poorly, but
00:45:46
Speaker
It looks beat up. Two more questions. First of the last two from at J. Tobiasen, how mad is US soccer that Garth signed with Atlanta? I don't know. I think Garth is too good for him. I agree. I think it's kind of like being mad that somebody completely out of your league is not dating you or something like that.
00:46:14
Speaker
he would have been really stupid to take that job. Before we found out a lot of the unbecoming things of US soccer. No, I just like, they can be mad all they want. It was never a real, like, it just doesn't make sense for Garth to do that right now. That's like the end of Garth's career. I also, the things that Garth is good at
00:46:43
Speaker
that we know of, right? There's a lot about the job of CEO or a president of soccer that is totally opaque to me. Yeah, but the things that we know he's good at negotiation, he's good at, I think, listening to smart people and interpreting data well, and all those things. And that's something I think you can bring to a position like that.
00:47:06
Speaker
But I think a lot of what he's good at is the business of soccer. And that's a much different. That's a bigger deal for a club.
00:47:17
Speaker
than a national team. Yeah. And I just it feels like he's wasted in a position like that. Like I don't know what he can do. Like he can't find better players. He has, I think, a pretty good sense of what it takes to develop good players. And like that was a huge part of what he did with the Sounders was improving the academy infrastructure and stuff like that. But ultimately,
00:47:41
Speaker
youth development in US soccer is not something US soccer can do that much about. The clubs have to do it. MLS clubs have to get better academies and they have to put a lot of money into them and the USO clubs need to get academies and they need to
00:47:56
Speaker
I think US soccer trying to take over player development is one of the things that got them into this mess in the first place. There was just a generation of super talented athletes that US soccer sent to Bradenton and it never looked up to their potential.
00:48:14
Speaker
I think that Garth has a lot of good ideas about what could fix American soccer, but I don't know that he would be in a position with the national team where he's empowered to do much about it. In a weird way, the national team is better if Garth is doing his job at a
00:48:38
Speaker
doing his job for Seattle for less six or seven years. And now, being able to do a job with more resources in Atlanta. Yeah, I agree. Jury will still be out on whether he does a good job or not there. But to completely reorganize
00:48:59
Speaker
The Sounders Academy and the way that he did to take advantage of all the talent in the Pacific Northwest that has always been there for soccer was great. Perfect. And he built a great team and that was good despite what some US soccer fans will say about Jordan Morris and Christian Roldan. They are contributing members of the national team getting better.
00:49:28
Speaker
I think that's the thing that a lot of the discourse about Europe versus MLS development, blah, blah, blah, that gets missed there is that
00:49:48
Speaker
Yeah, you probably want your best prospects going to European academies like, yeah, G arena, Christian Polisic, those guys, you know, Timothy way, those guys probably benefited from playing in Europe, but most American soccer players, most players everywhere.
00:50:09
Speaker
are not going to be so good at such a young age that European teams are snapping them up. It's just not really happening that often. And so I think if people want American soccer to get to the next level,
00:50:24
Speaker
There has to be a place for those kids that aren't elite to develop. And, you know, you look at guys like Alfonso Davies, obviously not American, but came up through an MLS Academy, kind of.
Garth Lagerwey's Career Move Discussion
00:50:38
Speaker
A lot of FC Dallas has produced a lot of comments and players.
00:50:43
Speaker
Reed Baker Whiting is on the radar of a lot of European clubs without ever playing in MLS. Getting those kids who are not obviously elite at 10 years old or whatever into an academy system that is competitive, that helps them develop
00:51:01
Speaker
So that either they become good MLS professionals and can be sort of like the back end of the national team roster, or they go to Europe when they're like 16, 17 years old in greater numbers. That's the next step. And to do that, you have to have academies like Seattle's and like what Garth is trying to do in Atlanta. And so in that sense, I totally agree that
00:51:23
Speaker
The most talented people, the visionaries, they need to be in MLS or in USL or wherever they can instill those cultural changes and those more holistic changes. Because once it's at the national team level, it's really about, you know, strategy, tactics, picking the best players, recruitment of dual nationals, that kind of stuff.
00:51:46
Speaker
Yeah. And like, I think he would probably be a better commissioner of a week that he would be in whatever sort of like opaque position, US soccer is trying to hire for. Yep. Agree. All right. Our last question is from at bookworm 16. What news will break after posting the episode?
00:52:07
Speaker
But in general or like? Yeah, I feel like this hasn't happened in a while. What's the joke here? I can't really remember what the joke is. This was a thing a few years ago where we'd post an episode and then the same day like a transfer would be announced or there would be an injury or a trade or something like that. And I feel like it hasn't happened in a while. Okay.
00:52:28
Speaker
We're going to get a new turf. That's going to be the one. I think that that's actually a really good bet. I think that that is a good bet. And be welcome, obviously. I will say that one of the Academy kids is going to get sold. That will be mine. One of the Academy kids has been sold.
00:52:53
Speaker
either European club, maybe a German club, or like Mexican club maybe, that'll be mine. Because I do think that as painful as that is to lose Academy players, it says really good things about your Academy and it's good for business if you can sell some of those kids without them having a ton of playing time.
00:53:15
Speaker
That's going to be mine. And that is the Mailbag Show for this week. Thank you so much to our subscribers, to our sponsors, Focal Wines and Watson's Counter. I'm Aaron Campo. Thank you again to Mark so much for joining us. We should be back to your regularly scheduled programming next week, so you won't have to listen to me talk quite as much. Thank you for putting up with me. And yeah, take care. We'll see you next week.
00:53:44
Speaker
Green Douglas spur where the water's cut through. Down to wild mountains and tangents you flew. Canadian Northwest to the ocean so blue. It's Roll On, Columbia Roll On. Roll On, Columbia Roll On. Roll On, Columbia Roll On. Your power is turning our darkness to dawn. Roll On, Columbia Roll On.
00:54:15
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one.