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Nos Audietis, Episode 273: A step in the right direction
49 Plays7 years ago
Finally, the Sounders turned in a performance we can find reasonably encouraging. No, the result wasn’t quite what we would have wanted, but the 2-2 tie at Sporting KC was a good result no matter the circumstances. It was an especially good result when you consider KC came into the game leading the Western Conference, while the Sounders were the only team without a point or a goal and were missing several starters.
This week's music: RVIVR - "Ocean Song", Perry Como - "Seattle", RVIVR - “The Tide”, Woody Guthrie - "Roll On Columbia"
Thanks to James Woollard, Sounders Public Address Announcer, for doing our sponsor reads. You can follow him on Twitter at @BritVoxUS - if you're looking for a British Voice to advertise your business or non-profit, please reach out to him.
Want to hear the music from the show in their glorious, full versions? Check out the Nos Audietis playlist on Spotify!
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Transcript
Sponsorship and Wine Talk
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Nos Adieres is sponsored by Full Pool Wines. Full Pool Wines are based in Seattle, owned and operated by Sanders fans, and have been sponsoring Nos Adieres since 2011. They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest. Their model is simple. One, they email compelling offers.
00:00:24
Speaker
Two, you request bottles that sound appealing. And three, your wine arrives at their soda warehouse and is ready for pickup or shipping. Their soda tasting room is also open to the public. If you're interested in joining their mailing list or learning more about them, visit fullpaulwines.com.
Sounders vs Sporting KC: Game Recap
00:00:42
Speaker
Hey, this is Christian Roldan. And Jordan Morris from the Seattle Sounders Football Club. And you're listening to No Study at Discs.
00:00:58
Speaker
The blueest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle And the hills the greenest green in Seattle Like a beautiful child growing up
00:01:17
Speaker
Welcome to another edition of NOS Adietes, sponsored by Full Pool Wines, Queen Anne Acupuncture, Verity Credit Union, and our broadcast partner Bootstrapper Studios. This is episode 273, and we're recording on Tuesday, April 17th, 2018. I am your host, Jeremiah O'Shan, and I'm joined by my co-host, Aaron Campo, and our engineer, Lickett. Finally, the sounders' current dinner performance we can find reasonably encouraging.
00:01:39
Speaker
No, the result wasn't quite what we would have wanted, but the 2-2 tie at Sporting Kansas City was a good result no matter the circumstances. It was especially good when you consider Casey came to the game leading the Western Conference while the Sounders were the only team without a point or a goal and were missing several starters. Given all that, are you more concerned about blowing a late lead or encouraged by being in position to even blow that lead, Aaron?
00:02:03
Speaker
Definitely more encouraged. Sporting KC is a good team that's been playing really well so far this season. They'll probably fade down the stretch like they always do, but they're tough to play this time of year. And I think that it's frustrating to blow a lead like that.
00:02:26
Speaker
It's pretty easy to isolate what happened and what led to that. And it's the kind of mistake I can live with, you know, who had an awful game that, you know, the second goal was probably his worst moment. Penalty was also not great, but I think the second goal was probably worse. But
00:02:45
Speaker
I can live with mistakes like that from such a young player. And the things that I'm really worried about going forward, being able to create opportunities, not completely melting down at the slightest sense of adversity, which has kind of been the issue this year.
Controversial Red Card Incident Analysis
00:03:03
Speaker
Being able to absorb pressure without sitting back and
00:03:09
Speaker
and just holding on and praying, they showed a ton of progress in all those areas. They didn't get a red card, although maybe they should have, but I'll take them. I will say that I definitely thought, I don't think, I'll dispute the idea that they should have gotten a red card,
00:03:28
Speaker
I don't necessarily think that McCrary deserved a red card there. But once I saw that the ref was listening intently to the VAR, meaning that we knew that it was actually being looked at, given the way the sounder's season has gone, I thought for sure that it was going to be a red card. But I think it would have been pretty harsh. I mean, yes, he got him.
00:03:55
Speaker
I mean, it was a yellow card, I think, is the right call. Yeah.
Sounders' Upcoming Game Expectations
00:04:00
Speaker
But like you said, I mean, that call has not gone our way. And even though that's kind of out of our control to get out without getting a red card feels pretty good. You know, the Sounders are going to be much closer to full strength this weekend. So hopefully, hopefully, hopefully you never know. I can't let him get an extra game suspension, which I can't say I would be shocked by at this point. No, and he probably does deserve it.
00:04:25
Speaker
it would be nice to know a little sooner. But that's OK. I think the biggest thing for me coming out of that game is that this underscored two goals without Clint Dempsey, with Alex Roldan and Henwall Abuana starting as wingers. And they looked convincing doing it. It wasn't like two goals came from their only two chances or that the two goals were
00:04:52
Speaker
you know like that they weren't really genera- like i actually you know looking back at the game
00:04:57
Speaker
I don't know that the Sounders had a ton of great opportunities that they didn't score on, but they created danger. They forced Casey to be honest. But beyond that, like there was this kind of this idea that Casey was kind of unlucky not to be up by a bunch of goals going late into the game.
Sounders Strategy and Performance Review
00:05:16
Speaker
But you know, the quality of their chances weren't that great either. I mean, yeah, I go Parra got open for a couple of headers, but
00:05:23
Speaker
it wasn't like he whiffed horribly there was the Kyrie Shelton chance that probably should have been a goal but at the same time you shouldn't be giving up that goal to Graham Zusi and you know they only like their their expected goals was only you know it was like 1.72 to 1.67 or something which essentially is a
00:05:44
Speaker
equal uh so no i mean i i thought the sounders looked really good in that game i thought they actually had a a real counter attack for the first time this year uh they went you know i i thought that they looked good defensively they looked like they had energy you know i i wrote a column earlier this year i think after the cheapest loss
00:06:04
Speaker
that looked at their duels and just the total number of duels that they would get into on the road. And they just, it seemed to me that they were a much less aggressive team. And in this game, they had 69 duels won. And I think that they had, you know, there was something like,
00:06:22
Speaker
you know, well over 120 duels total in the game. I thought that was a really good sign and I thought it was, you know, I thought it passed the eye test too. You know, I thought that they were winning a lot of the 50-50s and that they were, you know, getting to second balls. I was really happy with the performance in the game.
00:06:41
Speaker
Yeah, I think when you're playing a good team like Sporting KC on the road that the best you can reasonably expect is that it's an even game. And it wasn't even game, and it was an even game that the Sounders had every chance to win, almost did win. Frustrating to not get the win, but definitely trending in the right direction. I don't even know that aside from the frustration of giving up a late equalizer, if that result is even especially frustrating if the Sounders hadn't started so slowly.
00:07:10
Speaker
Um, so I'm feeling much, you know, feeling much better about this, the team right now. Um, I think that the Minnesota game is going to be a true test because they're, you know, they're going to have Clinton Dempsey back unless the disciplinary committee decides to tack on another game on 10 times.
00:07:27
Speaker
Um, you know, uh, you know, uh, Ozzy Alonzo is, is probably going to be closer to, to full fitness and, and might get a start. Um, and Minnesota is a better team, I think this year, but there's still a team. The sounder should be beating at home, even with a sort of a, they definitely need, I mean, that's a game that sounders need to win. I mean, if they don't win this game, you got to start being worried about when they are going to win games. Um, and that's, you know, even if they aren't at totally full strength, I mean, this is a game that sounders really need to win.
00:07:58
Speaker
for confidence reasons. I would have said the same thing about the Montreal game, frankly. I will say that I went back and watched, I just happened to watch the second half of the Montreal game today. I was out of town for that game. I had kind of put off watching it. And I will say that they weren't nearly as bad as
00:08:18
Speaker
I think I was led to believe that they were, especially when you consider they were playing down a man, that whole second half. They had some pretty good chances. I think they were a little unlucky not to at least get one. You know, they had, I want to say like four open headers that they either put right at Evan Bush or pushed just wide. And then, you know, Nico Lidero had a couple, had a really good look at a shot. I'm not going to get into, I don't want to relitigate that game too much, but I will say that they,
00:08:47
Speaker
have been playing better than I think that maybe it feels like they've been playing because the results have not been going that away.
00:08:57
Speaker
So I think there's reason to be hopeful that this is not going to be a disaster. You brought up Clint Dempsey's situation, though. You may as well get into that a little bit. Garth Legaway last week made a comment along the lines of, don't be mad about the timing of it. I think if you're going to be mad about it, be mad about the decision. Now, I think that there's room to be mad about the decision.
00:09:20
Speaker
I don't think that there's any way that that's a two-game ban. I watched that replay so many times. I don't think he is purposefully hitting a guy in the nuts. I'm a little surprised that the disciplinary committee seems to have taken that.
00:09:39
Speaker
perspective, I don't think that they would have given a two-game ban to anyone else in the league that did that. I don't know that they would have shown a red card, frankly, to anyone else who was in that situation. And that's not how this is supposed to work. It's not supposed to be, you know, your reputation precedes yourself in these kinds of situations.
MLS Communication Critique
00:10:01
Speaker
But I will dispute
00:10:03
Speaker
legaways assertion that we shouldn't be mad about the timing. Now, yes, the disciplinary committee had informed the Sounders some time before that, and they probably had at least a week's worth of notice. But I just don't think that there's any way that the league can defend not announcing the suspension until 25 days after the incident. I find that completely unacceptable. And I think fans have a right to know if a player isn't going to be playing.
00:10:30
Speaker
And the idea that fans should just accept that, well, the team had enough notice to plan is bullshit to me. And I don't think that that's at all viable. And I don't think that's how the league should be running itself. And I think that this idea that it's Clint's fault that the suspension took so long to announce is totally an issue where the league is trying to cover itself.
00:10:58
Speaker
And by the way, the collective bargaining agreement spells out that if the union is going to challenge a suspension, they have to do it in 48 hours. So this idea that Clint is somehow responsible for letting this thing play out for two weeks is just not true. If the league wanted to have a quick resolution, they could have.
00:11:18
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, and I think Garth's framing of it, I think is very typically Garth and has some of his tone deafness that we've talked about before where I understand that his position is probably like, look, it didn't really affect us. Not a big deal. Don't worry about it. And it sort of ignores that, you know, we have an investment in this as well and finding out, you know, two days before a game or whatever.
00:11:46
Speaker
when I had completely forgotten about it, frankly. Right, exactly. And so that was kind of off-putting, I think. But I guess Garth being just the way he is bothers me a lot less than I think it bothers other people, just because I don't, as long as he's doing his job, I don't really care. He could go out and insult my mom, but I understand
00:12:11
Speaker
why it rubs people the wrong way. I'm not mad at him for saying that. I'm just saying I totally disagree with his framing. Yeah, for sure. And I think too that, you know, you're right. And it's such Mickey Mouse bullshit. And it's frustrating because this league has gotten so much better in so many ways. The quality of play is much, much better.
00:12:33
Speaker
You know, I don't think we started doing this podcast in 2011 and I don't think there's a team in that league that would not get blown out of the water by the worst team in MLS right now. Um, and I'm not, you know, Toronto, even though they're at the bottom of the standings, I'm not, they don't count as the worst team right now. I mean, like Minnesota or something. The league has come so far in such a short period of time.
Team Dynamics and Transfer Needs
00:12:55
Speaker
And, and this stuff, it's, if anything gotten worse, you know, the, just the, the communication, the transparency, um, the league sort of.
00:13:07
Speaker
going about things in a very passive aggressive way. It's just so frustrating. It's so frustrating to see because they should be better than that. They make a lot of money. They should have a much better budget and a much better sense of how to communicate these kinds of things and to make decisions effectively and quickly. And they should definitely be above taking shots at players like they did with Dempsey. Right.
00:13:32
Speaker
Yeah, there was essentially a whisper campaign that was going on and I can only guess where it came from, but I think we can reasonably assume that people in the league office were making sure that people knew that Dempsey had at least a significant role to play.
00:13:54
Speaker
You know it I found it interesting that that information was not circulating before the announcement and That it only came out when it was clear that there were some people upset by how long it took to announce this But yeah, I don't necessarily think that the league has actually gotten worse with this stuff I think that there's just a lot more attention being paid to it and so things that and there's just so much more going on that
00:14:24
Speaker
it does give the perception that it's gotten worse because it's because whenever things like this happen like there's just so many more mechanisms that the league can use like you know in 2011 there was no such thing as the disciplinary committee there is no such thing as tam there is no such thing as uh you know all the a lot of mechanisms that the league now has and
00:14:42
Speaker
And I guess maybe in that way it has gotten worse because there was no VAR, obviously. And so there's all these new points of controversy that they can hit on. But yeah, I mean, I don't know. I guess I will say that there's part of me that's also a little frustrated with Clint in that he
00:15:03
Speaker
he could have made this easier on himself. But at the same time, I'm sure that he looked at it and he's like, if they're going to give me a second game, they're going to give me a second game. There's nothing I can say that's going to change their mind. What's he going to say? I didn't hit him on purpose. That's the default. I'm sure what he was going to say is, look at the tape. I think the tape shows that I'm not doing it on purpose. And what's there to say beyond that?
00:15:31
Speaker
Yeah, and I guess that's the thing is that they very clearly wanted him to show, they wanted their pound of flesh, right? Which, when you're suspending a guy for two games and finding him, you're already getting that. Right. And I don't, you know, like, yeah, if he could have pretended that he was sorry,
00:15:54
Speaker
and not been suspended. Okay, maybe I wish he would have done that, although I don't blame him for not doing it. But if he knew he was still going to get suspended and they were expecting him to make some fake apology, I'm amazed he didn't just tell him to go do something untoward with themselves.
00:16:16
Speaker
Maybe he did, I don't know. I don't think he did, because I think we would have heard about that. I do think he was just not responding, and he just wasn't being timely in essentially his interactions with the disciplinary committee.
00:16:37
Speaker
But yeah, I don't know. I mean, it's a joke. And at the risk of people thinking that I'm being a homer here, I mean, people can go back and read my tweets from after he got the red card. I was super pissed. I thought it was him being an idiot again and doing something off the ball. And I just don't understand how you could watch that. I mean, I was inclined to think that he was being dirty.
00:17:05
Speaker
and that he deserved the red card. And I don't understand how you can watch that and think, not only was it worth a red card, it was worthy of additional suspension. And it's a crazy decision already in and of itself. And the fact that it took that long and that just all the optics around it were such a joke is just really disappointing. Yeah, I will agree with all of that. All right, well, that's probably a good place to call it. We're going to come back. We're going to take your questions.
Fan Questions Segment Intro
00:17:32
Speaker
You're listening to NOS Adiatus.
00:17:40
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:18:55
Speaker
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00:19:12
Speaker
Welcome back to Nos Arietes. We are going to take some questions at the end of this segment. We are going to award two tickets to the upcoming Sounders game to the question that we think is best.
Impact of Returning Players and Offensive Needs
00:19:27
Speaker
And we are just going to use our own great judgment to determine that. So without further ado, here's Lickit with the questions.
00:19:35
Speaker
Yep, here we go. Sami Charmed Ali asked, with Alonzo returning and the boost we saw immediately on the field, how do the sounders go from here with additional people, or is what we needed really just injured returning? Well, I'll start by saying that I do think that Ozzy's return was a reminder that the sounders have some very talented players
00:20:02
Speaker
not available and that to ignore that as a contributing factor to their frustrations right now is to not be taking an honest look at the roster. That said, I don't think that Ozzy in particular's return changes much in the way of what the sounders really need. In a lot of ways, Ozzy is just strengthening
00:20:27
Speaker
a existing strength, which was their defensive midfield. So I don't think I'm going on a limb to say that the centers still need some offensive help. They should probably sign at number nine. I don't know that. Yeah, I mean, I think that's probably the logical thing. If they can get a number nine before the end of the transfer window, that's great. I think that's probably going to be their top target.
00:20:50
Speaker
I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them go after maybe a speedy winger type, but I would think those are the two main kind of pieces on their shopping list. Yeah, I mean, I think that it is a reminder, like you said, that there are talented players that can make a difference. And it's encouraging to see. I mean, I think everybody kind of intellectually knows that, but to actually see it put into
00:21:14
Speaker
into motion is important. But it's not the biggest problem with the team. I mean, I think this team is going to struggle to score in a fair number of games. And I think that especially if something happens to Will Bruin or anything like that, it's a real big problem. So I don't think it solves everything, but it is encouraging. And I think this team as currently constructed is fine once everybody gets healthy. But it's not.
00:21:44
Speaker
cream in the crop and I don't think it's going to be unless they upgrade it forward.
00:21:51
Speaker
OK, staying in the same vein, I have two questions about DPs. I'll go. I'll ask them both in order. XZag asks, when the sounders sign a DP striker, what's a reasonable expectation for money spent? Also, are we restricted to a free transfer? And then DXDWhole asks, will a DP striker actually cure our woes, or will it just quiet the fans for a month before they call him lazy? So the first question, I think that
00:22:21
Speaker
It's really tough to say, you know, to put an exact number on it. I'd be surprised to see them go above 10 million or so, and I'd be shocked to see them go above 15 million. I think, you know, we're probably looking at the load error type range of transfer fee, maybe a little higher, since it's a more purely attacking player.
00:22:43
Speaker
But I don't think, you know, in terms of a DP signing that we're necessarily restricted to a free transfer, there are some good players that are out there that are available or will be available on free transfers. So I don't think it's a bad thing if that's what ends up happening as long as we get one of those good players. But there's probably going to be a lot of competition for those players. I think it's probably going to be easier to find somebody that, you know, you can pay a transfer fee for.
00:23:08
Speaker
So yeah, so that's the first part. The second part, I think having a DP Striker is going to solve a lot of problems, but Sounders fans and the sports fans in general, anytime there's a bump in the road, it's always the highest paid players that get blamed for it. So I'm sure if, you know, we signed a DP Striker and there's a bit of a dry spell that they'll be getting plenty of arrows flung in their direction.
00:23:35
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I agree with you there. I think probably six to $10 million range is probably the high end of what we can reasonably expect the Saunders to spend. My suspicion is that the DP spot won't be a free transfer, right? I would be, I think I'd be a little surprised if the DP spot ends up getting, it's not that there's not good players available, but just kind of the nature of the beast is that you're gonna get kind of what you pay for.
00:24:03
Speaker
free transfers are usually gonna be older players. And I don't think that's what they're looking for for a DP and older meaning.
00:24:13
Speaker
you know, in the 29 and older range, not necessarily like 35 or 36. But so that's not, I don't think they're going to be going after free transfers for the DP spot. Now, for the TAM, I do think that we're going to be looking at a free transfer. That's kind of the thing with TAM is that you can get a very good player.
Expectations for DP Striker Signing
00:24:34
Speaker
uh at tam you know for a million and a half bucks or whatever uh you know bobby wood's been a player whose name has been thrown around a lot and what makes him tricky is that he's his salary is probably like tam level salary but you're going to have to pay a fee to get him and that's most likely going to push him over the tam threshold and so that's that's kind of the the trouble with with tam if you look at it that way is that you're you're more likely going to be bringing in
00:25:03
Speaker
free transfers and that's everything. I think everyone, but Roman Torres, I believe, was a free transfer and Roman Torres may have even officially gone in the books as a free transfer, although we know that some money exchanged hands there. But anyway, yeah. Okay. Ken Wise 2020 asks, how married to the 4-2-3-1 setup are we? Likely that the DP target we are pursuing keeps us tied to it, or would that player to be determined possibly move us to a different formation?
00:25:33
Speaker
I mean, I think the thing with the 4-2-3-1 is that it's pretty flexible and that you can essentially play two forwards in a 4-2-3-1. You can essentially, if you wanted to, you can shift into essentially a three-forward setup. You can, you know, so I don't think that the center's formation restricts the kind of player that they're going after. More likely, I think they just are looking at, I think they use that formation as their base formation because it gives them a lot of
00:26:01
Speaker
a lot of flexibility in how they want to play. I don't think the center is going to be going to a three-back formation. I know that seems to be the de facto answer to every concern that people have is, why don't we just go to a three-back formation? And I think I've seen that suggestion this week as an example of a way to get Ozzy on the field along with Will Don and Svensson.
00:26:29
Speaker
and everyone I mean it's it's I just don't think that we're gonna see it and part of reason I don't think we're gonna see it is because so often what we see now as it is is that the sounders in some ways do play with a three-back formation except for it's a defensive midfielder who's dropping back into dropping back to play with the center backs and you have the two full backs bombing forward that essentially give you five midfielders anyway that's my rant all
00:26:58
Speaker
You have a different thought on that, Aaron? Yeah, I mean, I think that that's the reason that the 4-2-3-1 has become so ubiquitous and so popular is that you can have a consistent style of play and you can have a consistent shape, but you can really plug and play much more easily.
Formation Flexibility Discussion
00:27:15
Speaker
And I think it's why the sounders have been pretty aggressive about signing a lot of attacking midfield players and things like that.
00:27:21
Speaker
I don't think they're going to have to change up the formation. I think it is likely that whether it's this next upcoming DP signing or maybe one next year that it's a forward that is maybe more of a playmaking forward and kind of occupies a similar space to Dempsey. That's sort of like a hybrid forward attacking midfielder type player. And that probably fits in best with what they want to do. But I mean, there are teams that play
00:27:49
Speaker
a 4-2-3-1 with that central attacking player in the midfield band being a really speedy forward Jordan Morris type. So there's lots of stuff they can do with it. And really, I mean, I think that the 4-2-3-1 as a formation is shorthand for we don't really have a set formation a lot of the time.
00:28:16
Speaker
So, and I think, you know, that's probably best in a league like MLS, where you can't go out and sign exactly the players you need to play your style of play. Okay. Brian Maustrom asks, are there any murmurs of reinforcements before the transfer window closes, or should I just hope for summer?
00:28:38
Speaker
You know, I would say that that's really kind of a, what kind of fan are you? Are you the kind of fan who hopes for the best and then is okay with being disappointed? Are you the kind of fan who expects the worst with the hope that you are pleasantly surprised? I wouldn't hold, I don't think that the window is closed, literally. It's also, I think that there is a decent chance that the centers will sign somebody, but
00:29:06
Speaker
I don't know how much faith you would want to place in that. And yeah, I mean, I'm cautiously optimistic, but I'm kind of feeling like a signing isn't going to get done. But who knows? You know, there's two weeks a lot can change.
00:29:23
Speaker
I'm, I'm operating under the assumption that they are going to sign a player of Wilburn's a striker of Wilburn's caliber, or thereabouts, you know, maybe not quite as good but someone that's a significant upgrade over Lamar Nagel because I think that not doing that would be
00:29:40
Speaker
um a really execrably bad decision um Garth has made a lot of decisions that were unpopular that I think were were reasonable um or there was at least you know some solid rationale there not being very very aggressive about improving uh the forward position before the secondary window I don't I don't think is defensible so
00:30:03
Speaker
I'm really hoping that they are doing something or working on something. And I don't know that, well, we tried and just couldn't get it done as an acceptable excuse in this case because they're not looking at that DP caliber forward in this window. They're probably, I would guess, not even necessarily looking at a TAM caliber forward.
00:30:23
Speaker
They just need somebody that's better than Lamar Nagle that can rotate with Wilbrew and provide some extra depth. And that should not be that hard to get done. And if they don't see that as a pretty urgent need, it raises some pretty serious questions, I think.
Injuries and Roster Management Challenges
00:30:38
Speaker
Yeah, and I'll kind of back that up with this notion that they overshot their target, essentially, and that that sometimes leads to them not getting their DP player. I think that's a viable
00:30:53
Speaker
explanation um it's a viable explanation you know and i can understand how they don't want to like it you only get three dps and i can see how the quality of player that they can get right now does not line up with the way they want to spend their dp uh spots and so it makes sense to me to to wait until summer to to assign a dp but yeah i mean you can't you can't
00:31:23
Speaker
go into this window with, you know, Jordan Morris got hurt in late February. They've had the better part of almost three months, well, two and a half months to figure something out in terms of bringing in another forward. They have to, they have to, they have to bring someone in, I mean, and if they don't,
00:31:43
Speaker
I think it's going to be a really hard thing to explain. And that doesn't mean they need to bring in the guy who's going to be here for the next four or five years, I think. But there's so many players out there available that could fill that could fill a role. It's just I don't quite get it if they aren't able to get someone. OK, Wally Resido asks, if we don't get the big striker signing, does that push Nico a little bit closer to the door?
00:32:15
Speaker
I can't imagine that those two things are related. I mean, I think Nico is obviously a pretty serious competitor and I don't think he wants to be on a bad team, but I think that any chance of Nico leaving has a lot less to do with how the Sounders do this this year and more to do with whether or not Boca actually has interest. I think that's really the only team that's going to turn his head enough to get him out the door.
00:32:44
Speaker
Yeah, I don't see those two things as particularly closely linked. And it's not just Boca wanting him back. I mean, I think one of the things that's easy to kind of forget is that he's under contract here. I know the Sounders haven't exactly been playing hardball in the past with a lot of these signings, but I would be shocked to see them
00:33:09
Speaker
let Nico walk without something comparable to what they paid for him, especially to Boca who they weren't really thrilled with in terms of how they handled negotiations the last time around. So to see them roll over, you know, unless Boca is willing to basically pay what they got paid for Nico,
00:33:29
Speaker
you know, minus, you know, usage fees, I guess. I don't, I don't see that as a particularly likely move and Nico isn't the kind of player who's gonna, you know, Nico presumably, you know, seemingly wanted to come here pretty badly when, when the sounders were, were
00:33:48
Speaker
trying to sign him from Boca. And he did everything. I mean, he played out his contract to the degree that I think we, you know, in hindsight, I'm glad that he did because it shows that he's willing to, you know, he's not going to play games. He's not going to like force his way out. He's not going to do what the Sounders were worried about Oba doing. And so I'm not, I don't, I'm not really super worried about losing Nico and I'm not worried about losing him for basically nothing.
00:34:19
Speaker
Okay. Two related questions. TRSPHD asks, is the left back position one we should worry about now? And blue82vdub asks, new who? What the fuck?
00:34:33
Speaker
I know it's it is funny I was kind of thinking about this is that left back going into the season I don't know if I thought it was a strength but I definitely thought that they had two good MLS quality players not you know just not two serviceable players but two guys that I thought could be good MLS players and New Who and Francis have both been pretty disappointing I don't know that either one of them have had
00:34:56
Speaker
even one game where I thought, yes, this is the left back that I'm hoping to have for the rest of the year. That said, I don't have a good explanation for NuWho's performance. That was probably his worst performance in a sounder's uniform, and I say that including S2.
00:35:13
Speaker
Uh, he, he was very bad and it wasn't just the goal that he gave up there at the end. It was the penalty. It was, you know, giving up a free header, essentially on a, on a ball that he had no business, uh, basically waiting on. He just, he got, he was having a hell of a time handling Johnny Russell, who he made look like an absolute stud. I can't speak to how good Johnny Russell actually is because I haven't watched him play a ton, but he certainly made him look very good in this one. Um.
00:35:41
Speaker
But I think the reality is that you're starting left back at least until William Francis' hamstring is fully healthy.
00:35:48
Speaker
Yeah, and I think, I mean, if New Who was 26 years old and having games like that regularly, I would be a lot more worried about it. But, I mean, he's, you know, he's still super, super young. He played a lot down the stretch last season, but he's still pretty green. You know, he hasn't had a full season at this level. He's going to have bad games. DeAndre Yedlon had plenty of bad games, you know, when he was sort of at this stage of his career.
00:36:15
Speaker
Uh, and it's frustrating. Um, but I mean, that's, that's kinda, that's the trade-off with playing, you know, promising young players is they're going to have games like that occasionally. Um, but the upside is worth it. And, you know, when he, when he's having good games, he's, he's having really good games and he's, he's putting in great performances. So, um, you gotta take the good with the bad. And, you know, if it's a consistent thing over a long period of time, when there's a lot more bad than good, then yeah, you know, you need to, to make that change for William Francis, but.
00:36:46
Speaker
I don't know. I'm just not super worried about it, to be honest with you. And I think that a lot of the inferences about, you know, he needs to be benched for being lazy or not putting in the effort are a little crazy to be completely honest
Defensive Performance Focus
00:37:05
Speaker
with you. I mean, that's the one thing that you could never have said about Nuhu before that game is that he didn't give, you know,
00:37:13
Speaker
complete and total effort in every game. I mean, he's always, always very obviously completely committed. And the fact that he looked like he wasn't on one play, what was it, 80 minutes into a game where he had looked to be kind of struggling the whole game, that you would jump to while he wasn't trying is very strange to me.
00:37:41
Speaker
I didn't see it. I think he was probably carrying some kind of knock or something or maybe he just read, you know, read the situation poorly. I don't know. And I do think that laying that last call on him is really harsh. I think that, you know, he probably deserves the majority of the blame. But I watched a few times and I think that everyone else is
00:38:03
Speaker
Inability to cover for him is pretty well excused by the assumption that that I mean he never breaks out of like a casual jog and it's not like Graham zucy is a speed burner. I'm just, I don't necessarily think that he was being
00:38:24
Speaker
I think he thought there was cover there. I think that's the only way to explain it, but I don't know why he would have thought that because it was his mark. It was his, you know, it's like he was playing it as if he was a left mid expecting the left back to step up.
00:38:41
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, that's fair. And I'm not trying to excuse him. I mean, I think he messed up pretty horribly. And I haven't watched it probably as much as you have. But I do think there were opportunities for people to rotate over. Yeah. But at the end of the day, let's say it is 100% his fault. I mean, it's never 100% his fault. You're right.
Victor Rodriguez Injury Concerns
00:39:01
Speaker
I mean, it's never just one player breaking it down. Right. There's always, I mean, to the degree that there's some other blame to get like, could other players could have slid over faster, for sure?
00:39:11
Speaker
Yeah, and I mean, I think the thing that I was angriest at him for in that whole stretch is making that run forward. I mean, if he's carrying a knock and he knows he doesn't have that extra gear, he shouldn't be making that run. And he certainly shouldn't be taking a shot when he's that far out of position when there's not, you know,
00:39:31
Speaker
appropriate cover. But again, I mean, those are mistakes that they're frustrating as hell. I don't blame Stephen Fry for freaking out at him after the play. I don't blame Brian Schmetzer for being pissed off at him. But they're the kind of mistakes that I think you can live with, with somebody that has played as well as he has, has the upside that he does. And especially since, you know, the options right now are what played you are your element left back play Tony off our left back. I don't
00:39:59
Speaker
I don't want to send whatever message people think needs to be sent that badly. So hopefully he'll learn from it. I mean, his team getting mad at him is probably all the message that needs to be sent. Right.
Team Communication Transparency
00:40:18
Speaker
GabrielLNV3, I guess, GabrielLN8. Any news on Victor Rodriguez? I really miss having him as an option. Seems like we haven't heard much about him this season.
00:40:29
Speaker
No, we haven't. And it's one of the frustrating, I would say low key, one of the more frustrating things that's going on this year in terms of the Sounders injuries. I don't know how many people will remember this, but before the Chivas home game,
00:40:43
Speaker
Victor actually was one of the people they had media day, and Victor Rodriguez was one of the, you know, three or four guys at the centers actually had talked to the media that day. And at the time, you know, it was like Aussie Alonso Victor Rodriguez Clint Dempsey Stephen Fry I think, I guess Kim. Kim was the other guy that was that talked. And
00:41:05
Speaker
And I guess Kim, low-key, also, I don't know what's going on there. But I guess these guys are all hurt. That said, Rodriguez made it sound like he thought he might play in the Chivas game. Now, this was two months ago. And I guess what happened was the following training session, he got hurt. Now, I don't think we've ever gotten a detailed explanation of what that injury was. But my assumption is that he
00:41:34
Speaker
We've since found out that he was playing hurt during the end of last year. And so maybe they're just being extra cautious. But yeah, I mean, it's kind of crazy. The Sounders have played eight games at this point, and he hasn't played in any of them. That's concerning for sure. But if they can get him back fully fit, I think there's every reason to think that he can be a good player for the Sounders. But yeah, that's frustrating.
00:42:04
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's especially frustrating just because I feel like it's part of a pattern that we've seen over the last however many years this team has been around, you know, of players picking up an injury being like, yeah, it shouldn't be too serious. I should be back soon. And then it turns into months and it's really frustrating. And I know it's partially, they don't want, you know, they don't want to.
00:42:25
Speaker
over promise on recovery times. And they don't want to tip off other teams about who to prepare for and things like that. But just having no idea when a player that I think everyone was kind of depending on to be a key player for this team. I mean, he has a skill set that nobody else on the team has, at least at the level that he does. And it's one that I think the Sounders could really use. And just having no idea what's going on with them is pretty frustrating, especially when I think people
00:42:55
Speaker
recognize that once the team gets healthy, they should be fine. But they have no idea of when that's going to be. And I think that that's the part about it that's frustrating is, OK, how long is this going to go on? How long is this team going to be below full strength?
00:43:07
Speaker
I think that's maybe the biggest weakness in the front office. And I don't mean that to say that Garth is the one. So I mean that by everyone that works outside of the out of the team, being able to accurately predict when players will be back. Now, I realize it's very much an inexact science, but I don't feel like players ever come back earlier than expected.
Potential Bobby Wood Signing Debate
00:43:31
Speaker
And they very often come back much later than expected. Like if they say three to five weeks, your assumption almost
00:43:37
Speaker
seems to be that it's going to be out for six weeks. And it seems like most of those times when they keep pushing the timeline out, we find out later on it's like a more severe injury than they first announced or something like that. Right, exactly. Rosez asks, how worried should we be about the wolf signing? He was healthy and barely saw the field versus Casey.
00:44:00
Speaker
I'm not super worried about it. I thought it was a weird decision at the time. I think it worked out pretty well. I mean, I think that he's a very talented player, and he's going to end up playing a lot more than Alex Roldan and then Walla Bona. But in that specific game, they felt like they needed a different look. The fact that he did not
00:44:26
Speaker
longer I think was a little weird a little concerning but at the same time they had a lead you know for a long time and I don't think Wolf's a bad defensive player but he's not a shutdown guy so it's a little strange I don't know I mean I think sometimes players take a while to acclimate to MLS and then the Sounders have always I don't want to say been overly cautious with bringing new signings along slowly but but they bring new signings along slowly and let them integrate for the most part so I
00:44:54
Speaker
We'll see, but I think he's shown enough. I mean, he had a very bad game and several pretty good ones. And he has a good track record. So I think he's gonna be a solid contributor going forward. Yeah, I wouldn't read too much into him being benched for one game. I mean, if we're two more games down the road and he's still not playing, that probably speaks to the Sounders maybe
00:45:22
Speaker
feeling like they didn't get the player they thought they were getting. But I think we've seen enough of him that we should still be encouraged. I think his style of play has maybe not meshed as well with the Sounders as you would have hoped. But that also speaks to the general play of the team. So I don't know, we'll see. I'm not super worried. I would like to think that he'll be
00:45:47
Speaker
ahead of Honwala Bwana and Alex Woldon for the most part this year though. I felt like it was more of a, we're playing KC and they like to run people out of the gym. So they want to play younger players that can run for 90 minutes. That's just me. That makes sense.
00:46:09
Speaker
Uh, Steve Locker asks, can you explain the cognitive dissonance, uh, dissonance in a segment of the sounders fan base that simultaneously clamors for a big time DP signing and reminisces about OBA. But for some reason also likes the idea of signing Bobby Wood. I mean, so I, I will admit that this is not the most in-depth analysis, but I ran some basic numbers on goals scored, uh, for
00:46:38
Speaker
for Bobby Wood during his professional time. And I didn't include his time in the regionalia or whatever the lower levels of Germany are called. I included his stats in the two Bundesliga and the Bundesliga and his time with the senior national team. And I compare that to Jordan Morris's.
00:47:04
Speaker
And they are shockingly similar in terms of scoring rate. And I think it's worth reminding everyone that as much of a, we seem to have this idea that Bobby Wood is like this clinical finisher.
Sounders Performance Strategies
00:47:17
Speaker
And I don't know that he is. I mean, he's definitely a decent player. And I don't doubt that he would be an upgrade over what the sounders have right now.
00:47:27
Speaker
But I don't think that you go out and invest the amount of money that you would have to invest in Bobby Wood to then have him compete with Jordan Morris who might be
00:47:38
Speaker
He's not gonna be better for at least another year, but in two years, Jordan Morris might be the better player than Bobby Wood. And I don't think that's being even particularly controversial. So I don't know why people are that excited about Bobby Wood, a player who essentially has one good season under his belt, and it was in a second flight.
00:48:00
Speaker
So yeah, I am too a little confused by people who want to sign an OBA level player, but then also want to have Bobby Wood. It just doesn't seem like... I think people have maybe built up Bobby Wood's experience more than... or his pedigree more than is really deserved.
00:48:20
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think that if you were to find another player with his exact same numbers and statistics playing for a national team that wasn't the US but was at that same level, and the Sounders made that 30-piece signing, I think people would rightly lose their minds. That's not a great signing. And I know that there's probably a premium that you have to pay for American players to some extent, especially one coming from Germany.
00:48:48
Speaker
but he's not the american player that i want to spend that premium on um i don't know if there are any right now frankly that they're plausible but uh yeah i mean he's just i think he's a fine player um i think that he could he'd probably do pretty well in mls i think there are teams that maybe he even makes sense for um but the sounders
00:49:09
Speaker
you know, they have one DP spot, they need a forward, and Bobby Wood is a DP forward, you know, a lot of people I think have tried to talk to themselves into thinking that he's a, that he could be a tam level player and he is a tam level player but he's going to hit the books as a DP, because you know he's not going to
00:49:26
Speaker
He's not going to be a free transfer. He's not going to have an inexpensive salary. And I think even doing something like where he's a DP this year and moves into a TAM role next year, I still don't think that's a good decision. I don't think he's good enough to be spending a transfer fee on and to be coming in in this window. I think the Sounders need to make
00:49:52
Speaker
for performance reasons, but also just optics reasons. I think they need to make a much, much bigger splash than Bobby would. And I think you're right. I think people have talked themselves into thinking he's a much better player than he actually is. And I think a lot of that is because he didn't look like a very good player at all for several years and kind of had a little bit of a breakthrough to where he was a pretty useful national team player. But I think that a useful national team player is much different than DP-level forward for the Sounders.
00:50:26
Speaker
Firewood113 asks, if you are a natural disaster, would you rather be a slow-moving mudslide or a fast-moving avalanche? Secondly, why do the Sounders F-hos seem to prefer having a team that is a slow-moving mudslide?
00:50:39
Speaker
Now, I'm wondering if he means that as a destructive force in that they kind of build up over the course of a season, and then they steamroll the opposition at the end, or if he means that he feels like it's a bit of a disaster, like it's just this slowly unfolding disaster in front of you. I'm going to assume he means it in a positive way, but I mean,
00:51:08
Speaker
I don't know.
Closing Remarks and Future Prospects
00:51:11
Speaker
I mean, I guess you'd rather have the hurricane all at once because the end result is you're laying waste to your opponents either way, right? You don't get extra points for doing it over the course of time. But I guess practically, the slow moving mudslide actually maybe is you get the most powerful part of it at the end, I guess. I don't know.
00:51:38
Speaker
Just for the sake of good radio, I'll assume that he's talking about them being physically slow. Oh, there you go. And yeah, I don't know. I mean, they had a really fast guy and then he blew out his knee. So they're like an accidental mudslide. I knew who's pretty fast still. I don't know. I would rather be an ambulance though. Just get it over with.
00:52:01
Speaker
I'd also rather, if I were going to die in one of those disasters, I would rather it be an avalanche. Yeah. Yeah. If I was going to die in one for sure, I would want to be over quickly. If we go with, uh, Jeremiah's read of it, I would say, I think years, seasons of starting or starting quote unquote fast, and then not finishing at the end, probably put a little bit of it into the FO about wanting to finish at the end. Yeah.
00:52:27
Speaker
I think it is sometimes important to remember. I mean, the goal obviously is everything, right? You win everything. But like...
00:52:38
Speaker
I think we sometimes forget how frustrating, like 2014 maybe was a reasonable exception in that they just went down on an away goal. But for the most part, every other year, I think the Sounders, like these last two years, I felt more satisfied at the end of them than any of the other years, other than 2014.
00:53:05
Speaker
And there was, I mean, up until 2016, I think we sometimes forget how rampant the belief was that this team can't win the big game. Um, but I don't know, we don't need to relitigate all that. It has, it is kind of funny though, that it's almost gotten the polar opposite direction of, you know, yeah, it's, it is kind of funny, but what are you going to do, right?
00:53:32
Speaker
Okay, probably the most important questions we'll ask tonight. At Lost Sounder asks, Ozzy with hair, how many transfer windows can we expect a path before we see a resolution to the situation? And, not underscore Rossi asks, will Ozzy's hair make him a reverse Samson so now he will stay healthy until he cuts it? I like Ozzy's hair. I think it looks good. I did too. I was kind of playing it. It's the longest I think I've ever seen it.
00:53:59
Speaker
He's getting to be an older player. I think that's an okay look for him. He can pull it off. It actually makes me wonder why he shaved his head because he's got a pretty good head of hair. He does. He has nice hair. I'm assuming it's the kind of thing where he's just always done it to stay cool when he's playing. But if your first game back is in Kansas City and you're only going to play like 20 minutes and it's like 10 degrees outside, maybe you want to keep a little extra fuzz. I don't know. I could see that. I hope he keeps it. I like it. It's a good look. Makes me look younger.
00:54:29
Speaker
Yeah, it does. And the last question, I don't know if you haven't answered this, but well, I said anyways, Matt, soccer talk asks, which sounder to heart writer would be the best person to sign as our new DP striker? I think me, because I would like to have a several million dollars. I mean, it's hard to argue with the selfishness of that particular answer. Wait, would the newest ideas get the transfer fee?
00:54:55
Speaker
God, I hope so. That'll be a pretty good deal. Hole gets a salon fee, too. Call back. Call back. Good stuff. Yeah. Well, thanks for listening. I really do appreciate that. Sorry that we haven't been recording all that often, but we're trying to figure things out here, too. And this slow-moving early part of the season is not helping in that way. But anyway.
00:55:24
Speaker
Thanks to our sponsors Verity Credit Union, Fullpool Wines, Queen Anne Acupuncture, and Designers Marble. You're listening to I'm Jeremiah Shan, signing off on behalf of Aaron Campo and Lickett. This is No Study Yet This. And remember, you'll never get alone.
00:55:42
Speaker
Green Douglas where were the waters 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
00:56:29
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one!