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This Seattle Sounders Player Has The Most to Prove - Ep. 128
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We are back with some Seattle Sounders and MLS offseason coverage from the new Sounder at Heart studio in the International District, just blocks away from Lumen Field! With the squad in Marbella for preseason training, we discuss the news of Nouhou’s contract extension and give our picks for the players with the most to prove between now and the start of the 2026 season. Later on, we hit a couple of headlines from around MLS, including the LA Galaxy’s trade for João Klauss and a Blazing Hot Press Conference from Charlotte FC star Wilfried Zaha.
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Transcript
Episode Introduction and Sponsors
00:00:00
Speaker
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Speaker
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Speaker
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New Studio and Show Format
00:02:15
Speaker
anytime online at shoppodium.us as well as Instagram at Podium Edmonds.
00:02:21
Speaker
Well sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be a real scorcher today. What the scorcher today? Well it's gonna be a scorcher.
00:02:42
Speaker
What's going on, everybody? Welcome to another preseason edition of Lobbing Scorchers. We have a very exciting show for you all here this evening. We are recording this from the new Sounder at Heart studio space in the International District. That's right.
00:02:59
Speaker
Sounder at Heart overlord, Jeremiah O'Shann. has sprung for a studio space. We're gonna have the whole setup in here. We're gonna have the live stream operation. We're gonna have the podcast operation. We're talking about getting projectors to be able to watch games from here. We're gonna have kind of a more conventional office setup, computer monitors, all that good stuff. Very exciting news. We're thrilled to be debuting it. Our first show ever recorded from here. First of many. Noah, as the one,
00:03:30
Speaker
who was able to browbeat J.O. into springing for this space. ah How are you feeling? feels good. It's beautiful in here. We are in one of the best neighborhoods in Seattle. Don't let them tell you differently. This is the best place for food in the entire city. This is the last vestige of anything like original Seattle. Like this is OG Seattle through and through. It always has been, it always will be. So love being here. Neighbors are awesome.
Sounders' Preseason Updates
00:03:59
Speaker
ah It's like a blank canvas where you can see all of our stuff chilling over here, all the stuff down here.
00:04:07
Speaker
you can You can't see it, but we have a view of Columbia Tower. Wajimaya. Wajimaya, and we have a view of Smith Tower as well. So good skyline. And then literally right next door, right there, Lumenfield.
00:04:22
Speaker
Lumen Field. Just a few blocks from Lumen Field. When you step outside, you can you can see it. yeah So, yeah, I mean, great location from that respect. We're going to be able to pop over here before games, after games. I'm excited. We were talking about hosting the national pundits here when when they're in town for their games this year, and I think they're going to be mind-blown. How many teams have beats that have their own studio space like this? We're just two guys. Yeah. We're just two guys who make fun of...
00:04:52
Speaker
U.S. Men's National Team fans online for money. Like, I don't know. How how did this happen? Yeah. No, I mean, we ah are arguably undeserving, but it is very exciting. And ah I'm excited for when it's all tricked out and all set up. Like you said, it's kind of empty in here right now. But... ah Let's lay down this ah this debut studio space pod, Noah. We got some stuff to get to. we got Sounders news. We got a new who contract extension to get to We got Jersey sponsor discourse to get to. That broke today. Providence after 2027. off the jersey so we're going talk about who they're going to put on the jersey uh noah you're going to spain i am going to cover the team in marbella so we're gonna uh we're gonna talk about that hopefully we're gonna be able to do some kind of boots on the ground hands-on coverage with that uh we'll be talking some sounders pre-season two uh who's got the most to prove was the thought exercise i figured we could do uh and we're going to talk about georgie manungu a little bit And then just a lot to get to from around um MLS. There's been a ton of transfer movement. Some big names. I mean, Timo Werner is ah in MLS now. Matios Bogus is back. A lot of stuff went down in the last couple days, so we'll ah we'll get to that at the end. ah General programming, no, we're trying something new with the format for this one. ah We are recording this. We're pre-recording this, but we're going to...
00:06:11
Speaker
air it live on ah on the Lobbing Scorchers YouTube, so you'll still get the the chat vibe and everything, but were in in the spirit of bringing back the old school pod vibes, we're gonna pre-record this, premiere it on the YouTube, see how that goes. We're not married to it, but it's pre-season. we got's It's the time for experimentation. yeah This is the proving ground. And if you guys have thoughts and preferences on what formats you like best, go ahead, drop them in the comments. We will ah will take feedback into account if there's mass consensus on anything. But we're going give this one a whirl and see how it goes. I think it ah it has some potential. ah Before we get into it, shout out to our sponsors, Hacks and Ferments, Podium um Menswear, and Full Pull Wines. And ah if you have not done so yet,
00:06:57
Speaker
Sub to the YouTube. We're on the road to 3K. We're getting there. We're at 2.8 something. So just right around the corner. That's a coveted milestone for me. The IG and TikTok as well, of course. And a new platform to plug, everybody. New platform unlocked. New platform unlocked. New old platform. I can't believe I'm about to say this. i can't believe i'm about to say this. But please follow the Lobbing Scorchers Facebook page. We've had one for a while that we didn't really use a lot. And then Noah started uploading stuff to it, and it actually was kind of cooking. i uploaded a few things to it, and I was like, this is actually kind of cooking. So we're going to start using it. We we love our elderly audience. you know If you look at our analytics, it's not the biggest thing. demographic that listens to us, but 6% of Lobbing Scorchers listeners are apparently over the age of 65, so we'll be updating our Facebook accordingly. we We're trying to get to 7%. We're trying to get to 7% of our listeners. Honestly, shout out to anyone 65 plus who listens to our show. If you ever have questions about lingo, just drop them in the Facebook comments. We had a
Debate on New Who's Contract Extension
00:07:56
Speaker
couple of ah Facebook commenters who are not fans of Lobbing Scorchers headline strategy, but you know, that's, I guess to be expected, but we don't have very many followers on the Facebook yet. So if you still use Facebook, I don't really, but if you do get on Facebook, type in Lobbing Scorchers, throw us a follow on there. ah
00:08:15
Speaker
Anything else to plug now, or should we, should we get into this Sounders coverage? um I guess 4 or IV, whatever Jeremiah wants to call it. Apparently I said it was IV before and it's not. It's literally just 4 is the name of the magazine. So I got to be honest. I think my branding was better, Jeremiah, but you know, whatever you want. That's the right now is the last time to pre-order your issue. So it is going to be going up to $15, but I have seen it.
00:08:43
Speaker
I've seen it. I took photos for it. You're not going to want to miss it. That's all I'm going to say. You're not going to want to miss it. You can check it out. Sounderheart.com. Find all of the information there, but it's cool. And I don't know. That's exciting. And also, um other I was going to say, we're we're also going to Spokane.
00:09:04
Speaker
we We planned our Spokane trip. And and a secondary thing, if if you're a Spokane business or you you're out in Spokane and you have something cool to share about soccer in your community, Reach out, lobbying scorchers at just once media.com. In all the descriptions, we have our contact information. Reach out to us. We want to tell some cool stories while we're out there and make it a whole big event. And then on the business thing too, we're always looking for sponsors.
00:09:28
Speaker
Please hit our line. If you want to sponsor lobbying scorchers, there's so many different opportunities, links down in the description. And now that it's been 10 minutes of us shilling, I'm sure we can. Jump right into Exciting times in the Sounder at Hartwell. I mean, the studio space, a magazine, we got it going on. So, yeah. All right. Noah, Seattle Sounders. Let's talk about them. Let's do it. As of today, they're still in Portugal, right? Right now? or They are now in Spain. They're now in Spain. Okay. So they have departed Portugal. They did the beep testing Portugal. Now they're off to Marbella. report on the beep test no report on the beep test that's kind of cowardly usually well i'll get to the bottom of it i promise they used when they used to do the beep test at starfire that was a bit like the guys who wanted loved to talk about how they wanted that was it was a big thing like they they care a lot who wins that should i should i text andrew thomas right now and's and ask ten let's see get on the get on the scoop see who won the uh beep test but uh needless to say the beep testing is done now they're in marbella where they're going to play three scrimmages right but i believe uh They are going to play three scrimmages. And we're going to hopefully, I mean, they're probably not going to show those games as we understand it, but we'll at least get to see the highlights and get some sort of an idea of how the team is looking and how the team is playing. So that's that's exciting. Noah is going to be in Marbella starting in ah in a couple days. So we'll talk about our coverage plan for that.
00:10:52
Speaker
But let's just let's get the to the team news off the top, which is that NuHu contract extension. He has re-signed with the Sounders on a ah multi-year extension as first reported by Nico Moreno. Shout out Lobbing Scorchers kickoff.
00:11:08
Speaker
ah And this, I think, is a, I wouldn't say unexpected development, but like earlier this offseason, there was questions about Nuhu's potential future. he was going in, I think, to the last year of his contract. So that always creates some uncertainty if you haven't signed the extension. And Nico said that there had been some interest in Nuhu from around MLS and ah some clubs in France as well. Lyon Scrooge. specifically specifically so there was a potential for new who to be leaving the club uh which is what nico reported it is it is what nico reported on kickoff he said one of the people who i think potentially could be moving on is new who he did have a lot of offers from other um mls clubs there were offers there was interest there was offers new who weighed in on this at one point on the lobbying scorchers instagram famous his response was
00:12:01
Speaker
27 cry laugh emojis in a row. So read into that what you will. But I mean, was just happy that he gave his thoughts because, you know, it's reports about him. He should be able to weigh in. He should, yeah. From the source. He is now assigned to a multi-year extension. So I think anytime we have a player That gets signed to a contract extension. The thing to talk about is do we do we like the extension? Do we think it was a good decision or would you have not signed the extension? I'll toss that to you to start. ah how How do you feel about ah New Who extended multi-year extension? I mean, it's not the wrong thing to do. I think that the Sounders are obviously making an Like for me, I can't like get emotional about this. I'm not like, let's go, Nuhu's back in town. But also at the same time, like he's been a starter through and through. Like he probably is due for a little bit of a raise. He's been in the league. He's a known commodity. And clearly there are teams interested in him. So if you are extending him, it doesn't mean that you have to keep him that full length of that contract. Like it gives you an opportunity to know that he's going to be in your plans, kind of lock down that position. And if it doesn't, if if it's time to move on, you already know that there are potential offers out there, which is...
00:13:19
Speaker
That's just business. This just feels more like a business move than like, a wow, I'm so shocked that the starting left back to the Sounders is getting re re-signed. you know what I mean? Yeah. And I guess that's honestly, you're more pro the extension ah than ah than I expected. that's That's roughly where I come down as well. new I mean, I can be more emotional, but should be? No, no, no. don't want you to say what you actually think. ah knew who did But he did generate... He took a lot of criticism last year, much of it self-inflicted because he got three red cards across all competitions, two of which were pretty insane. So I think when people were...
00:13:59
Speaker
thinking about his future with the team, they were probably taking that into account. It really it frustrated people quite a lot last year. he He got two insane red cards, and then there was also the incident Club World Cup where he lost his composure, gave up the foul that led to a free kick that led to a goal. That might have cost them a result in that game. So ah there was a lot of criticism flying around, and people were not as kind of high on his future.
00:14:27
Speaker
necessarily. But for me, when I look at it, let's i mean let's talk about what the arguments against a new Who extension would be. i think one of them would be... ah you know It's time to move on. he well well He's this loose cannon, right? yeah He loses his composure, and there were all these incidents last year where that happened, and it did hurt the team. like these These red cards were... The Vancouver game, that was that was brutal. the The Club World Cup incident that I mentioned, that was tough.
00:14:54
Speaker
And you just... Three red cards in one year. That's too many red cards. that's So I think some people who would be anti the New Who extension would point to to that, the composure issues and those instances as reasons why you wouldn't want to extend them.
00:15:10
Speaker
I look at that and i try to take into account what has been like the patterns over his career more than the most recent season.
00:15:23
Speaker
And J.O. mentioned it in his article, but no, I'll ask you anyway, just to ah illustrate the point. Nuhu got three red cards last year, two in MLS play, one in ah one in League's Cup. Do you know, and i' I'm going to guess without looking it up, do you know how many red cards he had in his MLS career leading into last season? Probably three.
00:15:46
Speaker
Two. two answer Two. One of them was his rookie year in 2017, and then he literally didn't get one from 2018 to 2024. So when I look at it, it's not actually a player who has a pattern or history of getting a lot of red cards throughout his career.
00:16:04
Speaker
Last season, you got he got three. He's gotten four, I think, in the last two years. So that's not good. I would feel more like that's that that's something that should be taken into account when thinking about an extension. If that was something that I really felt like was a repetitive thing throughout his entire career and like you really couldn't trust him from that standpoint. I look at what happened last year and it is the outlier compare relative to the rest of his career. So if we get into next year and these things are still issues and he's getting ejected three times a season...
00:16:41
Speaker
then I think it it'll be fair at that point to look at this extension and be like, all right, maybe you guys should have known that he's apparently reached a point in his career where he's going to crash out three or four times a year and get these red cards. I tend to think that that was ah kind of a ah year where that randomly piled up all in one year than it is indicative of a larger pattern. So that's that's number one. The other argument against it... Well, i have i have ah I have a devil's advocate for that. Sure.
00:17:08
Speaker
So... Yes, he definitely up until that point had not gotten red cards, but increasingly he has become a bit of a character, a bit of a diva even.
00:17:22
Speaker
Last season, the Raul season, I guess it wasn't even last season. Yeah, so there was Raul season and there was the missed Uber. those are Exactly. So missed Uber situation. It's not that big a deal. That happens. Everyone misses... everyone I've missed a lot of Ubers. Everyone gets a little too drunk every once in a while and misses an Uber. like What are you going to do?
00:17:43
Speaker
It happens. you know The second one, though, where you effectively... have no point to crash out. You're just like, oh, the best player on the team or formerly the best player on the team is crashing out, so I'm also going to crash out.
00:17:58
Speaker
And like, I didn't understand that. And I think there was just a bit of like antics around that to where people were questioning like, okay, this is all piling up. Is Nuhu getting too big for his britches? You know, like he's the captain of Cameroon, which is I mean, dude, I would have a head about that if I if i if i was the captain Cameron. That's a recent development. Sure, but like, you know what i mean? Like his his career is definitely on an upward trajectory, but at the same time with that upward trajectory, there has come more problems. And then his defense, like while good, it also is still like like a liability at times. So I think people may have looked at that and said like, hmm,
00:18:38
Speaker
i don't really know about this guy anymore. That was the second counterargument I was goingnna going to get to, is that some people think that his defensive capabilities are overrated.
00:18:49
Speaker
That's where i that I just disagree with that. I think if you there are there were definitely situations last year where Nuhu was out of position. he was arguably the one at fault for a handful of goals. But...
00:19:05
Speaker
To me, those got magnified because it was New Who more than it was things that he was doing at a higher rate than anyone else on the back line. If you go through, I think I said this when we were having this debate last week, but if you if you went through the film from last year of all the goals that they conceded, you would be able to find someone on the back line or in the midfield who's at fault on every single one of them. I can think of a lot of goals last year that were the CB's fault. I think Jackson and Yamar would probably even tell you that. I can think of of some goals last year that were the right back's fault, not the left back's fault. I can think of a few goals last year where you could put it on the the double pivot. like st and f fra Like, yeah, the new who... ah
00:19:50
Speaker
The fact that he was responsible for a handful of goals last year, I'm just i'm not really convinced that that was true of him at a at a higher rate than any other defender. And I and i do think that, to me, the the value that he does bring in as far as his 1v1 defending and being able to kind of cover ground and go up against these super athletic attackers that you have to go up against in MLS, I think... he's shown pretty clearly that there's a lot of value to that. And i think the team is probably benefited more from that than other people there, or then some people give him, give him credit for. and the other thing I wanted to say about that, just on the topic of like what we were talking about last week with who, when you're going up against a guy, like the example I was using was Gabriel Peck, but you got to go up against, you know, you got to go up against Sun Hung Min and Denny Buonga. Like, who do you want out there? new re baker or i wear r w whi like I mean, to me, it's pretty clear what the actual answer to that question is. i was watching the the final game of Champions Cup.
00:20:59
Speaker
ah Not Champions Cup, I'm sorry, of League's Cup. I was watching our vlog today because I was getting nostalgic and I saw the videos of Reid in there and I was just like, give me that.
00:21:11
Speaker
Give me that. Give me that. Give me that. Give me that. yeah give me that Give me that. it's ah they're they're very They're just different profiles of left back. I think if you if you have a matchup where it's more important to have defensive solidity, you would want new who in there. Yeah. I mean, do you really think that, though? Like, like do you... Honest to God in in your in your heart, do you think that Reed Baker Whiting has the defensive ability to... Like, Nuhu legitimately has the ability to, like...
00:21:44
Speaker
fully neutralize opposing attackers in a way that even if RBW ever hit his top upside as a player, that's not his selling point. His his selling point is not, I'm going to shut down this area of the field. I'm going to shut down this 1v1. It's like, I'm going to be solid on defense and I'm going to offer a lot more in attack. Like the 1v1 lockdown, shutdown defending isn't like his skillset profile really. Maybe not, but I still want them out there.
00:22:14
Speaker
i think he could I think he can do whatever he wants to do. I think if you give him enough minutes to develop in that position, because he's a winger right now. He's been developed as a winger. He's been played as a winger. That's what he's been good at. But then he gets slotted in at this left back position.
00:22:29
Speaker
Give him some time to figure it out. Yeah, and I mean, I don't i don't think Nuhu getting extended precludes RBW from getting one. think he's going to play a lot this year, and we're going to get we're going to get to see how he develops. So this doesn't stop him from getting that opportunity. The other thing I did want to say is just on the point of Nuhu's defensive capabilities, the red card he got against Gabriel Peck last year does not – Disprove that. OK, we were we got into that over this last week, but there there is no way that you can tell me that. First of all, first of all, first of all, you and I both said it at the time.
00:23:10
Speaker
Okay. We both said it at the time. You said it too. That red card in particular was a pretty harsh call. Like out of all the red cards that he got last year, that was one where it was not like a total loss of composure out of nowhere that got him thrown out. Didn't he leave his feet?
00:23:28
Speaker
he yeah He went in for a really hard slide tackle, and i think people people were criticizing him because he did it it was like with two minutes left to go in the game, and they were up multiple goals. It was the two-footed, leaving-his-feet tackle, correct? Yeah, but he barely made contact with the guy. like If you watched it live, you wouldn't have thought it was a red card, but it was one of those ones if slow it down. But look, this is my point with that, which is that... like The reason that that happened is because he and Gabriel Peck had been going at it for two games in a row. Gabriel Peck had not done jack shit in any of those games. And yeah, they were up two goals, I think, late in the game. And first of all, it didn't cost them the game. I think that's an important point. Like some people commented like, how can you say a red card doesn't matter? Well, it literally didn't matter in terms of the result of the game. They still won the game. They so still won the Sporting Kansas City game too, so i doesn't matter. But... I'm just saying that like it did like it didn't from the same point. As as the teams are bad, you can crash out. It's fine. It didn't cost them the result in that particular game. So it didn't end up being like a big deal from that perspective. But also just mentality wise, man, like I really think and I said this at the time, you can go back and check the tape mentality wise. One of the great things about this team last year was that they were relentless. They were suffocating. They went hard for minute one to minute 90. knew who in that situation, he had been going at it with Gabriel Peck for two games straight, and Gabriel Peck was trying to make a run at him, and he was like,
00:25:01
Speaker
Fuck that, I hate this guy, I'm gonna go just as hard as I'm gonna go in this 1v1 as I would any other 1v1. I'm not gonna give this guy a blade of grass because I hate him and I don't respect him.
00:25:12
Speaker
I don't mind that mentality, I don't. like He got a red card for it in that situation, but as far as like the principle of playing hard even when it's late in the game and even when you're up a couple goals, I think like the if you want if you want your team to have the identity of a team that's relentless and suffocating,
00:25:32
Speaker
Situations like that might be cost of doing business sometimes. like i don't I hate the idea of letting up on Gabriel Peck in that situation just because it's late in the game and you're already beating him. no So you need to jump up with two feet and tackle him? You go into a slide tackle the same way you would if you were defending it in a tie game. like i don't I don't think that tackle was like that that crazy. I think it was kind of unlucky that it got... like He got the ball way before Gabriel Peck was even in the frame. He was just running and going so hard that he slid into him and clipped him barely with his cleat. But anyway, that red card in particular is not... And that's why we need to sign him to an extension. That red card is not evidence of anything regarding his defensive capabilities. It's just not. I
Future Jersey Sponsor for Seattle Sounders
00:26:20
Speaker
don't buy that at all.
00:26:23
Speaker
That's my take on the Gabrielle Peck red card. You got any other new who takes? No, I feel like we hit that last week. We're good. Yeah, we don't need to do the whole debate. Do that in the comments.
00:26:37
Speaker
All right. Jersey sponsor discourse. Want to hit the Jersey sponsor discourse? are The news, Providence. probably That's the okay. Yeah, Providence is no longer going to be the Jersey sponsor on the Seattle Sounders kits following the conclusion of the 2027 season ah As I understand it their partnership is still going to continue. They're going to keep working with Providence They're gonna keep the naming rights on the the training facility, but they are going to Find a new front of Jersey sponsor No, I'll give my take on this first
00:27:11
Speaker
because it's pretty short, which that this falls in the category of one of those things that a lot of people care a lot about that I personally don't care about as as much. Who's on the on the jersey doesn't make as much of a a difference in my life as some people's. But I will say,
00:27:29
Speaker
ah With Providence in particular, they are a whack company for a lot of reasons. If you want to, I think they're pretty well documented, but if you want to learn about those reasons for yourself, go to their Wikipedia and go to the controversies section. It's like...
00:27:48
Speaker
18 paragraphs long of all their controversies. So from that standpoint, they took a lot of criticism when product Providence was announced as as the sponsor, I think kind of deservedly and probably in a way that they should have expected.
00:28:02
Speaker
Um...
00:28:04
Speaker
But I'm not like sad to see them go from the jersey from that perspective. And i think it also presents a fun opportunity to ah talk about who we would want instead of Providence. So that's kind of where where I come down on it. What do you think just of, I guess, the switch? And then we can talk about candidates for for the new sponsor.
00:28:25
Speaker
I mean, I think that the biggest problem with Providence is that it doesn't align at all with any of the things that the club pretends to care about.
00:28:37
Speaker
It was a company that was famous for refusing to give equitable health care to trans people. It was a company that is...
00:28:50
Speaker
just just Just like in general, it's healthcare. care like it's It's not really ah an ethical business to make money off of you know people's like people's lives generally.
00:29:04
Speaker
And I think going from... A sponsor like Zulily, which was just kind of this, like, i don't know why, like, they're a Seattle company, but it's just a very benign and weird, like, sponsor.
00:29:18
Speaker
And then before that, coming from Xbox, those felt very aligned with, like, at least the Seattle ethos. Providence is just this massive healthcare chain that... you know, is low-key evil? They're evil. I mean, like, they're evil. I don't know what else to say. You can look it up. They're terrible union busters, and they treat their nurses terribly. They underpay their workers. Everything.
00:29:44
Speaker
And when the Sounders announced it, they then got the pushback and then just said nothing and continued the partnership and continued everything. and It just felt like kind of like how the front office does everything nowadays, which is ignore what anyone who's actually buying the product has to say. Look at what the numbers on the paper actually are and go with the thing that's on paper looks the best.
00:30:21
Speaker
And it's just like it's annoying because... you you have the opportunity to at least be somewhat moral in the way that you operate. I think people in in specifically the Sounders community care deeply about that, and that's what has made your brand impactful to a lot of people in this community.
00:30:40
Speaker
And so, i don't know, I guess it's more of a just going forward, maybe you should focus a little bit harder on what businesses you're going to partner with, because why the hell are the Portland Timbers outdoing the Sounders on ethics?
00:30:55
Speaker
When the Portland Timbers found out that DiBella, who is a sponsor or was their front of shirt sponsor, the CEO of DiBella had sexual assault allegations against him, they immediately severed the partnership and then got Tillamook on board, which is a 10 times that's better sponsor. That's sick sponsor. And they did something moral.
00:31:18
Speaker
The Sounders didn't give a shit. They never talked about it. They never cared. They always said, that's impossible. That's impossible. That's impossible. Well, now it's possible. 2027. it's some bullshit, if it's some bullshit,
00:31:31
Speaker
I'm expecting it to be some bullshit. So i don't know. Well, so ah who would you like it to be? I mean, we've we've already got the discourse flowing online, but ah if you've got ideas or preferences on who you want, go ahead, drop them in the comments. A a lot of people have said, bring Xbox back. I don't think that's going to happen, but that was those were the coolest That's like the one time I've seen a sponsor on a jersey and I've like been like, that's notably cool.
00:32:01
Speaker
You know, the Xbox on the jersey. Like, yeah I think everyone liked that. ah But so if they brought that back, that would probably get a lot of positive PR. ah But we were talking before we started recording, like PlayStation or Nintendo, they could, they should slide in and make a play there. Like kind of get, get one over on Xbox. Like it used to be you guys. Now it's us. um ah I don't, do you have any thoughts? Do you care? Like, I mean, I i think it would be cool to have someone cool. I just, I, what I don't want it to be no crypto.
00:32:28
Speaker
If they, if they use fucking crypto, I'm going to crash out. If I see another crypto, if it's call she or poly market on the front of the Jersey, don't you want Freddie Montero to like my bad, my bad. Yeah, no, we Freddie Montero crypto AI company on the front of Jersey. No, none of that. No gambling.
00:32:47
Speaker
ah Oh, God, if there's like an NFT. Dude, I'm telling you, any of that. ah No health care, no health care, no insurance. yeah No health care, no insurance. I like that rule. No like that no one likes those companies. i don't No one likes them. No one likes them.
00:33:02
Speaker
no one likes In fact, everyone hates them. yes Famously. Just don't put them on there. like that I think like, okay, cool, Alaska or Delta, fine, whatever. would be Delta. I don't care. Yeah, Alaska's Portland now. And then you could do, which Delta, that would make sense because i would i wouldn't hate it they are trying to they are constantly fighting with Alaska for Seattle business. So that could be cool. That's good Darby, Alaska versus Delta. Yeah, exactly. You get the airplane Darby, but people have said Boeing, but like Loki there, that wouldn't make people happy for military reasons. Um, what else? I mean, someone said Costco. I kind of love Costco. Like Costco dollar glizzy. like Costco. That's a company that people like. Everyone loves Costco. Who doesn't like Costco? They should factor in whether people have a fundamental like of the company. I just don't understand this. You are associating your soccer team. You are giving the goodwill of all of the people who follow and watch your team to a company.
00:34:09
Speaker
Would you not want to vet them? Would you not want them to be something that's like... works within the the the space of the the people that you're supposed to serve. I don't understand. these did i don't get it.
00:34:23
Speaker
don't get it. I would also be okay with a lot of people really didn't like when Zulily was the sponsor for whatever reason. It's going to be fucking Starbucks. Oh, God, it's going Starbucks. But like... I didn't mind Zulily because it was at least like a local company, right? where they They started here. didn't care. And they were selling something. They were selling baby clothes. that Yeah, they were selling baby clothes. Why were people anti-Zulily? don't know. Ask Mark Kastner.
00:34:52
Speaker
i like I honestly... i don't There was red-hot discourse around Zulily. And I remember thinking at the time, like are we doing discourse this hot over the baby clothes company? But maybe people had their reasons. I don't know. I don't really remember. But like what I'm saying is i would be cool, I guess, with... like another company like that that's like a big company but has Seattle roots but that is not Starbucks. It's going to be Starbucks. Something in like the tier of Zulily and Seattle Association of Zulily I think i would i would I would sign off on that. I'd be okay with that. Taco time hit my line immediately. Taco time would be fire. See, we're getting somewhere. are we We have good ideas. I don't think taco time has like 40 million to drop on a sponsor. Definitely not. yeah But it would be a cool idea if they ever did do it yeah They should just sacrifice the money for the bit. Yeah, for the bit. Honestly, people did
Sounders' Preseason Player Analysis
00:35:46
Speaker
ask.
00:35:47
Speaker
If we were going to submit a bid and I'm not, I'm not lying. I think that's a good video idea is us crafting a bid, putting in like a $20 bill and finding Adrian and giving it to him.
00:35:58
Speaker
I think we could make that happen. So would, would lobbying scorchers be the sponsor in this scenario or sounder at heart? I think lobbying scorchers on the front sounder hard on the sleeve. Okay. Fire. Cause they have a better, like, I don't know. i think they could, they I don't know. We both have good sleeve sleeve style.
00:36:12
Speaker
Yeah. Okay, we we'll we'll we'll cook that up we Okay, we I feel like we actually had a surprisingly productive sponsor discourse right there. I really don't have like any thoughts on it pat past that. like Again, it's one of those things that... i mean, as long as it's not something...
00:36:33
Speaker
egregiously stupid or that people hate. I really don't care that much. The thing was with Providence, it fell under like kind of both those categories. So just don't do that, I guess, again, is my preference.
00:36:47
Speaker
We'll see. It won't happen. ah All right. good ah Good Jersey sponsor discourse. ah Let's keep it pushing. Noah, you're going to Spain. I figured we'd talk about that yeah real quick. You leave on ah what day? Tuesday? on Sunday. Sunday. Oh, you're you're out in a couple days. ah How are you feeling? You excited? what are What are you planning? Do you have any plans on...
00:37:12
Speaker
What kind of content or coverage you're going to do? Like, what's ah what's going on? Yeah. um Out in Spain, i think that... I'm jealous, by the way. Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, you could have come out. I could have, but... You could have, but... not. No. I think...
00:37:27
Speaker
The biggest thing that me and Jeremiah are going to do, we're going to sit down with Brian Schmetzer. He's going to do an interview for magazine. I didn't know this. So we'll have a Q and A there. um I'll probably be posted up doing a couple of photos here and there for that.
00:37:40
Speaker
um Other than that, really just watching the games, watching the games, reporting back to you guys on what's going on. we need making We need you on that. We need you on that. Every, every update.
00:37:52
Speaker
Yeah. Like we' we'll have to figure out some way to ah get real time updates without the games actually being watched. Yeah. We could do like a live tweeting scenario or something like that. But yeah, we'll do that. Hopefully some post game lives from the stadium of me and Jeremiah. Me and Jeremiah will do ah a special report podcast kind of vibe from Marbella and...
00:38:15
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. Just kind of schmoozing and and talking to players and figuring out what's what's going to be going on this this next season. i'm I'm interested to see how these games run. They are playing a game the 31st of the day before I fly out, but ah two games I will be there for.
00:38:32
Speaker
And um yeah, I don't know. It's just it's a fun opportunity. We were potentially going to stream the games, but I'll tell you right now, Major League Soccer said, hell no, you're not doing that. You don't have any rights to do that. And we will literally come to your house and take you out if you try and stream a preseason match. I could have anticipated that response. But so that's the aversion. It's like if they want to say that, OK, but then fucking stream them somewhere so we can watch him like.
00:39:06
Speaker
The fact that we can't watch the games, man, every year, it's just like, I don't know what we're doing. Like, you're missing out on, like, at least maybe with other markets, it's different, but Seattle people would be hella tuning in to that. Everyone wants to ah to see those games just to see how the, how the team is looking. It's fun to see him play against these international teams too that they're never going to like, yeah, you're not going to actually see them play in like a real meaningful competition. Like it's pretty, it's just disgusting that we're not going to be able to watch these live, but, but the sounders are defeated this season. They have not won a game. They have, they've lost every match that they've played this season. that's which is one one. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, so hopefully they can improve upon that record. I, I, I try to be the guy who gets people to not crash out over preseason results, but that can be a fool's errand. Sometimes I do think that's a good segue into our, uh, our that thought exercise for the night, Noah, which is ah i wanted to talk about ah this preseason and our expectations and stuff, but through the lens of what players do we think have the most to prove or the most to gain, I guess, during preseason? Who can kind of make their case and cement their roles as maybe bigger contributors than you would think? or just kind of you know show that they're ready to take on the season and be big-time contributors to a trophy-contending team this year. ah I think there are a few candidates that come to mind. ah
00:40:35
Speaker
Do you want to start, or do you want me start? Sure. i think the number one for me is Hassani Dotson. think that's the question. See, I wouldn't have said that. That's the question that I think a lot of people have, is what is his role going to be? Is it going to be a true rotation player, or is he going to be...
00:40:49
Speaker
a starter. what What is that going to look like? Where is he going to play? um And so I think that's going to be interesting to see because he's coming ah from a club where he was when he was healthy, a starting level caliber player.
00:41:08
Speaker
I don't know if that's going to be the case here, but I think it's interesting to see. I think if he can go out there and kick the ass of Obed or kick the ass of Christian, like, I don't know if that's going to happen, but he has an opportunity to to find himself in a in a good role ah in this preseason. I don't know. I think that i think that that one could shock some people.
00:41:31
Speaker
I think that's a good one. The first name that comes to mind for me is Georgie Manungu. And we're we're going to talk about it, I think, in in a bit here. We had a statistical analysis on Sounder at Heart, looking at kind of george Georgie's profile and his underlying numbers. And I think that's sort of why he comes to mind, though, is that there's now, ah you know, we we looked at the Doyle Cutbat Passes chart, and you didn't like you didn't like that chart. But that's one of several things that I've seen of sort of underlying data that Georgie is putting up that is, according to the nerds, super impressive. And the nerd community seems to think that ah they're They're seeing like the warning signs that they usually see with small sample sizes, that if you if you give a player like this a bigger role, you could be likely to see, ah with with the numbers we're seeing with Georgie,
00:42:32
Speaker
they're They're saying they could be like a big breakout, man. Like, you know, ah puts up a kind of crooked stat line type ability. And also, if you looked at his defensive metrics, they actually weren't as bad as as I thought. Like, he's a little further along. hes You know, he's not incredible at it like Rothrock or like Jesus. He does love to give up a penalty to lose the Open Cup game. think what it is is there's...
00:42:57
Speaker
There's a lot of individual instances where he still like loses his focus for a second or or makes a mistake. But ah on the whole, in terms of maybe his 1v1 defending or transition defending or whatever it is, I don't know, he's not like He doesn't grade out as poorly as I would have thought based on some of the stuff we saw last year and how we talk about him. But either way, there's there's just a lot of these these supposed analytics and underlying numbers that show that he could have a really big season if he gets a bigger role. So what like what I would want to see ah from him in preseason in that case, show it. Prove like prove that. like Be that guy during preseason. Make the coaches have no choice.
00:43:41
Speaker
but to play you based on how you train and how you look in these in these preseason games and show that the nerds are right. And once the season starts, like be ready to maximize whatever opportunity that that gets you. So we'll see if he can actually make good on that. But ah you know I loved a lot of what we saw from Georgie last year. He's very exciting to watch. I think his ability to win his 1v1s is special. I think it's better than...
00:44:10
Speaker
anyone on the the team save for maybe De La Vega. But I think he showed that much potential in that area of his game last year. so ah So let's see it during preseason and go earn that role. I think he's ah he's a big one. did Do you have any... or Should we save the rest of the Georgie thoughts for the article? Sure. I mean, I think... Or we could just dive into it now. Let's just dive into it. I think the biggest thing with Georgie, too, is like he is competing in the most competitive and crowded... Yeah, exactly. Position on the field with someone who just signed a new contract in Paul Rothrock with De La Vega, who will eventually be coming back. He kind of has a very narrow window to make mark. Areola coming back in the field. That position group is stacked. It's it's like, I don't know. he he will have an opportunity, but i it's like, dude, the deck is definitely stacked against him. I want him to play. I want him to show what he's doing. But like realistically, like he he is face if he can make a mark and actually make his cut into this team with minutes or even somehow winning that starting role...
00:45:19
Speaker
I think that's going to say a lot more than any underlying stat can say, because you're literally fighting against some of the best wingers in the entire league. Yeah. yeah if If you're, if you're good enough and you play well enough, like the opportunities will be there. And I really think, man, like,
00:45:38
Speaker
When we look at the depth chart during preseason, sometimes we can look at it and be like, how is this guy going to get minutes? Like he's buried behind this guy, this guy, and this guy. Then once the season starts and everyone starts fucking getting injured and you have 15 games in nine days, like the minutes will will be there, whether it's in league play or in CCC. Like I think there's going to be opportunities for all of De La Vega, Areola, and Georgie and Paul Rothrock to play ah But I think Georgie's in a situation where if if he shines in preseason and he looks good, he can he's he's someone I think who can expand his role more than anyone. Like we know Roth Rock is going to play a lot. We know De La Vega is the A1 starter at that position when healthy. ah
00:46:24
Speaker
Paul Areola, like he's going to have a big role on this team this year one way or another. But let's see if Georgie can work his way into a bigger role in his own right. And that would be exciting, man, because like that, I mean, like you said, their depth at at left mid right now is just stupid. Like De La Vega is not going to be coming back for the first month or two of the season. But once he's back, it's like...
00:46:48
Speaker
it's an embarss That truly is an embarrassment of riches. Noah, the other big name that I had here, and this is a big one. I think you could even put this guy above Georgie in some respects. Nikola Petkovich.
00:47:01
Speaker
like This is the fabled... U22. People have been talking about this spot for the last... This is the biggest signing in club history, Year or years. Yeah, exactly. Huge blockbuster Huge blockbuster signing. But no, I mean, like, we talk a lot about how these U22s are dart throws, but they're also big investments, and they're also investments that could potentially be very consequential to your roster and your fortunes on the season if you hit on them. And...
00:47:31
Speaker
He he has more pedigree than i would think for someone who played the bulk of their minutes for Crown Legacy FC last year. like he he's the he gets called into the Serbian national team camps. He has a senior cap. ah Doyle had a column where he said that he was he was naming every player's breakout, like biggest breakout, or any every team in the West's biggest breakout candidate. And he didn't pick Georgie. He picked Petkovic. based on stuff he liked that he saw from when he was at Charlotte, and he said something to the effect of like, I kind of don't understand like how he felt that fell out of the favor and out of the pecking order in Charlotte. And he said that it's his pick for the most likely player to have like an unexpected breakout season. so
00:48:19
Speaker
I want to see if he can make good on that. And also, you know, we do so much Craig Weibel discourse. This player is going to be a very big, important data point in our assessment of Craig Weibel. Like, I think most people are writing it off because it's kind of seems like a Charlotte FC cast off and ah he hasn't really broken through in MLS yet. But if if it turns out that this pedigree is...
00:48:45
Speaker
signs of ah of a high level and MLS player, then that's going to be a cook on the part of Craig Wibes in the front office. Likewise, if he doesn't do anything and can't get on the field and contributes absolutely nothing to the team this year, Craig Wibes will be ripe for some first criticism for biffing a ah you twenty two spot where like,
00:49:05
Speaker
Even if they're dart throws, you should really be trying to maximize these like absolutely as best you can because you can you can get a serious leg up if you do hit on these. So that's that's someone that i'm I'm really watching closely, and we we're going to see. like if If he's worth a U22 investment, he should be a guy that we watch play and are like, okay, that guy should like be on the field, like,
00:49:29
Speaker
At some point, like whether it's in the league games or in more important games, if you're in Leagues Cup or whatever, like he should be a player, like a contributor for this team this year. And this preseason is his chance to show that.
00:49:40
Speaker
No, I think that's a that's a good shout. I mean, I'm thinking if if there's if there's one more, ah someone who I'm interested is Stu Hawkins, too. Stu Hawks, man.
00:49:52
Speaker
I mean, i know that. or i guess I guess even in on that same note, too, like the Ryan ryan Taylors, is that correct? Ryan Saylor. Ryan Taylor. Ryan Saylor. Bob T. but robert Robert Taylor. Ryan Saylor. Got it.
00:50:05
Speaker
Same Miami guys, you know, who whatever. I think this those. second tier center backs. that could be That could be an interesting shout as Yamar is obviously still such a stud, but he's getting older.
00:50:20
Speaker
That spot's eventually going to need to be filled. Jackson, i mean, he's young. He can and be will be the starting CB for the next 15 years. Yeah, exactly. I'm cool with that. So I think that is interesting to see ah who might kind of arrive this season that could potentially take over that Yamar spot in years to come. Yeah, no, CB3 is a good shout. ah How about Paul Rothbrock for a little bit of a for a little bit of a different reason? Not that he has to like prove his value on the field to the team, but I think what he needs to prove is that the whole arc of his career has been the scrappy underdog who is just fighting like a dog to to make it, and he's...
00:51:02
Speaker
become this great player for for pennies on the dollar. And he wanted to get paid. He got paid. I think now ah for for him, this year is about showing, like, I'm not going to lose that mentality just because i got paid. I'm still going to play just as hard. I'm going go just as hard week in, week out, just like I used to, and not let the new contract affect that. I don't think I have no real like worry that the contract is going to affect him in that way. But when you get paid, you still you have to you have to show it. This is his first year after after getting paid. So that' that was one that came to mind from a little bit of a different reason.
00:51:42
Speaker
ah And then I also had the other Paul, Paul Areola, kind of for similar reasons as you were talking about with Hassani Dotson. But ah Paul Areola looked great to start last year. Unfortunately, got injured. And you were saying when you went out to Long Acres, he was looking spry. He was looking really good. yeah That was exciting to hear.
00:52:04
Speaker
But I think he's in a situation where coming off the injury... He's got to show that he's that he's still that guy and he can, i mean, I expect him to be a load carrying player for this for this team this year. Like I really do. I think he's going to end up being tasked with that and it's going to questioned to see if he's up for it. And so for him, the preseason is, it's about getting fit, but also showing that he's ready to be that guy coming off the injury.
00:52:28
Speaker
Yeah.
Wilfried Zaha's Impactful Presence
00:52:29
Speaker
That was all I had. you Love it. No, that's it. That's all I got, too. Sick. ah good Good thought exercise. Was there anything else that you wanted to talk about with, ah Georgie? I see this graphic in here, but I thought that was a link to the article. It's not a link to the article, but I think it was just... We can... we can We can skip that for now. There's time to talk about that later. Why don't we why don't we ah do a couple of these, then we'll save the rest for the for the bonus. Okay, I like that. Let's do this one and then save these for the bonus.
00:53:03
Speaker
Ooh, okay. yeah no oh No, no, no, you pick, you pick, but like that was my thought. We'll save that one for the bonus. Just do one of them, you drive, I don't care. All right, like let's let's hit a couple of these headlines from around MLS. I mainly i mainly know, ah honestly, this is we can just do this as the last topic. I mainly just wanted to talk about Willy Zaha. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. guy. I do want to hear about this. My favorite player in MLS. I'll tell you guys about my day a couple days ago at a little peak into my day-to-day life. I was doing my day job on the MLS editorial desk. and Making five cents an hour. Yeah. Yeah.
00:53:42
Speaker
part of my And part of my role for that is ah we have these virtual press conference availabilities around the league. And we often put our writers on them to to get the audio and write stories off of them. But sometimes, if there's a high profile player talking, they'll just have us sit in on it and record it so we have the audio. And if they say anything that we can use for our content, we got the audio. So I signed on a couple of days ago. And i got the assignment, hey, can you listen to this Charlotte FC presser, Wilfred Zaha is talking. And I said, oh, hell yeah, I'm signing on to i'm signing on to that. like
00:54:21
Speaker
i already know how that can go from last year. So I was already excited for it. But dude, it was it was the best. it was It was his best work yet since... coming to MLS, which is saying a lot because he had a lot of banger press conferences and interviews last year. He was absolutely cooking in peak mid-season form. First of all, he rolled up like 45 minutes late, which tight which I thought was kind of a sick move. that's He rolled up 45 minutes late and he was just ready to come out swinging right off rip. He, uh,
00:54:54
Speaker
Someone was asking about one of the interviews he did or something he was saying over the offseason and he was like, oh, so you want to hear about my Snapchat story? And the guy was like, yeah. And he goes on like a 15 minute soapbox that no one asked about, about how players take criticism for switching clubs, but they need to be able to maximize their earning potential and fans don't understand and all this stuff. And it was just like completely out of nowhere. needed to. He needs a fucking podcast. This is what I'm saying. He needs a podcast. And then my favorite part of it. So something I noticed is that the Charlotte FC reporters have started baiting him. And I noticed them doing it in this presser. And I realized I was like, okay, they covered him all the last year. So they know how this goes. But literally, one of the questions he got was... Wilfred, there was a lot of talk last year about how you were given kind of unfair treatment by the referees. you have any thoughts on that? And then they were just like, cook.
00:55:51
Speaker
Yeah. Cook. will And, you know, some players don't like getting baited, but he was Like, oh, hell yeah i'm ready to about that. He's like, oh, got something to say. He started going through, like, individual... He was like, there was the Philly game where this guy put a stud in my calf. There was the Red Bulls game where this guy should have gotten a red card. And then all of a sudden, I get a red card. and Literally just litigating random calls from last year. And then talking about how, like, he needs more protection from the refs and the refs have it out for him. And it was just like...
00:56:22
Speaker
out of left field. like it's so It's so fun to have a player who 98% of pro athlete interviews are just like, you know you got to go out there, give 110%, trust in God, trust in my mom, trust in process, and trust God. And and that's like basically all they say. And then you know you have like your Christian Roldans or your Stefan Fries, where it's like a lot of kind of cliche athlete speak, but They at least give semi-insightful answers or they at least base what they're saying on what your question was, yeah which some guys don't do. So you get some you had some guys that we get actual good quotes from that standpoint. But Willie Zaha, as much as any athlete I've ever seen, he does not give a shit about any of that. He just he literally just agent says... Whatever wants on the mic. You could tell from watching it, he looks forward to the press conferences. A lot of guys dread him. He was like hyped to be in front of the mic. He needs a podcast. this is This will be the agenda check for the week. He wants to pod so bad. so bad But dude, he's he's like he's like my age. He doesn't understand the tech.
00:57:29
Speaker
He doesn't he's using Snapchat. I'm telling you, I'm telling you, Wilfred Zaha's agent, call me. I will. I will make him the number one soccer podcast in the US. s He wants to pod so bad. He just doesn't know how he's trying to do it on Snapchat. And like, really, he needs to be one of those. yeah You know how, like, every yeah NFL player's got a podcast like we need a Willie Zaha. show man I will fly to Charlotte once a week to make this happen. He's he's my favorite player in MLS interview-wise. He's the best. He is the best. That was ah that was my Willy Zaha spiel. That's the blaer Hacks and Ferments blazing hot presser of the week where we don't have it clipped, but I just strongly encourage... It's also like
Criticism of LA Galaxy's Strategy
00:58:13
Speaker
25 minutes long he was cooking. I strongly encourage everyone to search it up. ah
00:58:19
Speaker
let's Let's talk about... ah Let's talk about this Galaxy trade to close it out. Does that sound good? Sure. Because I do want to want to get our thoughts out on this. ah The Galaxy had a devastating development when Ricky Pooj had a setback with his ACL recovery. He's going to miss a second straight season.
00:58:41
Speaker
But they did do this year what they didn't last year and put him on the season ending injury list, thereby opening up his designated player spot. So they were set up better this year to handle the loss of Ricky Puj than they were last year. They literally have a DP spot now. Could have had one last year, too. Could have had one last year, but didn't, famously. But now this year they were like, we're going to learn from that mistake. We're not going to do that this year. But then the question was, all right, so what DP are you going to go out and get? Let's talk about that first, because did you have any other assumption other than that it was going to be more of like a facilitator-creator type role, or did you think they were going to go after number nine? I wasn't sure what they were going to go after because they are doing the Royce Bell cow vibe. But I just wasn't sure where... I can't tell you any of the mental process that goes through one of the worst GMs in the entire league's head. He's your favorite guy. couldn't tell you what's going through Will Koontz's head at any point. So honestly didn't know what they were going to do with that spot. I was kind of of the mind. Obviously, you're not going to get a like-for-like replacement for Ricky Pooj. No.
00:59:57
Speaker
But losing Ricky Pooj for another year, like your that's that's your engine. That's your creative focal point. And I thought the direction that they were going to go was more of that skill set than what they ended up doing, which is they sent ah St. Louis City SC two plus million dollars for João Klaus, Brazilian number nine who's been on St. Louis City SC for the last three years. He becomes the Galaxy's de facto Ricky Puj replacement DP. He is not like a number 10 or ah
01:00:35
Speaker
creative facilitator type player at all. He is a pure target striker. He is like a slow, sits there, and does nothing until he does something kind of guy. So when they made this trade, I was like, am I am i missing something? Because I i don't think that Joao Klaus is like that good. The way I remember Joao Klaus' arc was he actually, the St. Louis City's first year when they had that magic carpet ride to yeah winning the West, He was genuinely famously fraudulent he famously fraudulent, but he was genuinely genuinely playing well and producing for them yeah and scoring like good goals to the point where I do remember thinking like, oh, it's like with between Edward Loewen and this this Klaus guy, like he's huge. He's just this big lumbering kind of guy and he was scoring good goals. He was actually more effective like in transition than I expected for a big lumbering number nine. you know Not amazing, but like he had some nice runs. So I thought he looked pretty good, and he was scoring a bunch of goals. Then the next year, he got injured and didn't really do much. He only had five goals. And then last year, he played the full year. He played over 2,000 minutes. He scored 10 goals, which is good, but not like incredible. And he for one of the worst teams ever,
01:01:55
Speaker
in the league. So, you know who would I just am not really sure that this is the DP I would have got like he's not that good. Like, am I missing something? No, I don't understand it at all. It's stupid. You had the opportunity to sign anyone in the entire world for one year and it was João Claus.
01:02:19
Speaker
Like, what did he do last night? I don't understand it. Like, here's my problem with the whole thing, Ari. Will Koontz is an idiot. He's an idiot. He's an idiot, and he ruined this beautiful Galaxy team that we both loved. The biggest thing about it to me is, like, if your whole brand is, I'm going to go out, and I am going to push the roster limits to their limit, I am literally going to...
01:02:46
Speaker
have to blow up my team after we win cup, but we would have won cup. I'm going to push to the absolute extreme caution to the wind. Who cares? We'll figure it out when we get there. And then the next season you're like, what if we signed Joel Klaus?
01:03:03
Speaker
Dude, you could sign anyone in the whole fucking world. You're the LA Galaxy and you chose to sign Chihuahua Klaus. you couldn't You couldn't get anyone else interesting. You couldn't do... Like, I understand that maybe people want a multi-year deal. Sign them to a multi-year deal and figure it out when you get there. Like, it just doesn't make any sense. Their whole strategy is mind-blowingly stupid. Yeah, like, just going through it, trying to understand it, like, I can see how they could get to a place where they feel like a number nine is more prudent than trying to replace Ricky Pooge, which you're not going to do, because, but, i mean, it's kind of a bed of their own making, because they're also super thin at number nine. ah
01:03:49
Speaker
They have, like, Christian Ramirez still, I think, and then they brought Nascimento back, but Nascimento... man, like to me, he looks like an example of why U22 number nines, like they've had both ends of the spectrum with it. Like they were the Jovovich team for sure.
01:04:03
Speaker
But Nascimento last year, he was one of those U22s that was really hit or miss. It took him a really long time to get going. He was much more the classic situation where he needed time to adapt. And there's no way, honestly, that they could have gone into this season with Nascimento as like their line leader every single week. Like, Nassimento-Christian Ramirez striker duo, that's tough. Like, you wouldn't be able to do that. So I can see positionally how you get there. But, i like, at that point, like you said, like, you can you can go out and...
01:04:41
Speaker
Maybe they had a really hard time like finding someone who was willing to like take on that role just for one year, and Joao Klaus was willing to do that. But that's also like you kind of did that to yourself. And then on top of that, now they're in a situation where literally, as best I can tell, the entire attack is built around, like you said, the Marco Roy Spellcow vibe. Yeah. and Marco Royce actually was was good last year. he was. Once he heated up i and i watched him play more, I was like, okay, this guy's actually pretty nasty and he's playing genuinely good good ball for them and he's producing. like He's getting a bunch of assists and stuff and dropping these sick dimes. So from that standpoint, maybe they're thinking of it like, all right, we're just goingnna have like it's going to be a Marco Royce year. But...
01:05:28
Speaker
He's 48 years old. Yeah. And has a whole injury history in his career dating back before he even came to MLS. That was the whole thing when he was that with Borussia Dortmund, right? Like, he was always injured. And he got injured when he was with the Galaxy last year. Looked awesome when he came back, but, like,
01:05:45
Speaker
you're going to like You have CONCACAF Champions Cup to compete in because you got the Mickey Mouse Leagues Cup third place bid. ah like And then on top of your league season and and Leagues Cup, like Marco Royce is the player.
01:06:00
Speaker
What are they actually going to do Marco Royce? like They're literally trying to not spoon. That's what they're going to try and do. Because it's like their whole team. And then what doesn't make sense to me too is like, okay, so you're another year past Ricky Pooj. You're another year past this. What does your roster look like?
01:06:18
Speaker
You're supposed to be building around Ricky Pooj, who has not been who has been incredible when he's healthy. but like you tried to rush him back to being healthy instead of, it's just roster mismanagement, Ari. It just pisses me off because they have the best player in major league soccer. I don't give a fuck about Messi. I don't care about Messi. I don't care what you say.
01:06:42
Speaker
Ricky Puj. He's that guy. He's that guy. And you had your team built around him. You had one of the best teams that I've seen built around him when they won Cup. We took a lot of heat for Galaxy Glazing because we really you loved and appreciated how they played. It was a beautifully built team. And I just don't understand how you go from that to now you're pussyfooting around and you're fucking saying Zhao Klaus.
01:07:08
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, we'll see what happens. Sign Danny Musovsky. Or, yeah, someone in that ilk. And, yeah, that's that's kind of what I was thinking. I don't understand because they could have had the empty DP spot, signed another U22, converted them to TAM at some point.
01:07:24
Speaker
What is it? I don't. We should be MLS I'm just saying, bro. like i just And I can't get over the Kooligans. The Kooligans. That was legendary. The Kooligans, Will Koontz. If you haven't seen, go watch the Will Koontz Kooligans interview where he basically asks to be fired.
01:07:41
Speaker
Well, like you have to watch it with the full context if he gave that interview and then immediately went to Red Bull Arena where the Galaxy got blasted seven to zero That's the best part about the Kooligans interview. And they hadn't won a game that season. That is one of the most iconic MLS GM sequences I've ever seen. And I think it goes underappreciated. So shout out to the Kooligans boys because that was genuinely like one the That was hilarious. like yeah That was hilarious. And that was when he was doing the Man About Town press tour. Yeah, he was doing the po while they were like and they were like, all right, I think the way to handle this is to have Will Koontz do a media tour. We're going to get slammed on 7-0 by the Red Bulls. Then we're going to get back to l L.A. Greg Vanney extension. Greg Vanney extension and Will Koontz extension. They both got extended. That was fire. I forgot about that ah that Galaxy sequence. the league is The league is better when the Galaxy are good. That's all I'm saying. We'll see what happens. like
01:08:33
Speaker
Maybe Zhao Klaus turns out to be a better pickup this year than we think. And I do think that ah the Justin Hack signing and the Jacob Glessness trade, those those at least on paper address needs. The Hack thing is the best signing they made all season. Yeah. All offseason. No, like that's one of the best signings that any club made. all He was in the top two to three, if not the most coveted free agents. And they got him. And it was a very specific need for them as well. Their CBs last year were, what was that guy's name? Zonka? Zonka. I'm going to miss Zonka.
01:09:08
Speaker
Bring him back. He was so funny. You knew when he was lining up. We knew when he was lining was just going to say. We were like, that's at least a goal or two. The second time Seattle played the Galaxy last year when we saw the LA lineup drop and we saw Zonka in there, we were like, let's go. That's dub. Let's go. That is what we needed. And then...
01:09:29
Speaker
What Osase did to him on that last goal was my god absolutely just bullying them. That's about as bad as a CB can get clowned on. So I'm going to miss that guy. jacob Someone get us a Zonka jersey. I would wear that. Wait, we should we should cop LA Galaxy's Zonka jersey. Yeah, we'd get it for the studio. yeah But yeah, I mean, Justin Hack and Jacob Glessis is a hell of a better CB combination than they had last year. We were talking about this on the bonus show last week, though. That is one of those things where...
01:09:59
Speaker
I feel like I've seen a lot of situations where a team has a need on paper and they, you know, address it by getting one guy or in this case, two guys.
01:10:09
Speaker
But it's like if you're not three or four deep, you're one injury away from being in a really dicey situation yeah again. And so it's just like like the whole sequence of like, oh, we are short at center back. We'll go sign Justin Hack and that will fix it. It doesn't always, it's not always a quick fix. It's like that oftentimes teams who are in that situation end up getting burned anyway because they're not three or four deep at the position. They're only two. They should have signed a DP like center back.
01:10:40
Speaker
That would have been funny. I don't get why.
MLS Roster Building Strategy
01:10:42
Speaker
Has there ever been a DP center back in the last 10 years? Yeah. I can't remember who is off the top of my head. Teams have have done that. because like i feel like it's not a recent thing anymore in MLS. like no You signing don't see it that much anymore. I've been saying that like if i was my philosophy for roster building, if I was building an MLS team designate a team is the designated team. now i would I would focus on i would i would allocate one DP spot to either the best six I could find or the best center back I could find and like build out from there instead of doing what I feel like some teams do, which is like, let's sign a number 10 and number nine and that and then build out from there. yeah
Listener Engagement and Social Media Promotions
01:11:25
Speaker
But anyway, that's kind of a tangent. uh all right that's all i had for uh for the show unless you got anything else on on your mind all right well let's uh let's call it right there thank you all as always for tuning in hopefully you guys enjoyed this new format again we're not uh we're not married to this we're just trying it out seeing how it works so if you do or don't like it let us let us know give us your feedback we'll try and take that into account if there's mass consensus uh
01:11:54
Speaker
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01:12:06
Speaker
Noah's going to Spain. we' Stay tuned for all the coverage, the preseason coverage that we're gonna try and do from there. Nico and I will be back at it on kickoff on Monday. And, yeah, that's all we got. Until next time, we out.
01:12:21
Speaker
Ace.