Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Lobbing Scorchers: The Celtic Bots are After Us (BONUS)
370 Plays20 days ago
Follow Lobbing Scorchers:
SPONSORS
Haxan Ferments - Specializing in unique, small-batch fermented hot sauces and vinegars, Haxan Ferments is handcrafted in Georgetown and made with the best local ingredients from across the Pacific Northwest. Use Code LS for a FREE Hot Sauce w/ purchase!
Sounder at Heart - Our network host and biggest supporter, Sounder at Heart covers the Seattle Sounders, Seattle Reign, and MUCH MORE! Subscribe and Support to the BEST independent Seattle Soccer coverage.
Podium Edmonds - Located at 114 4th Ave N, just off Main Street in the heart of Downtown Edmonds, come shop and explore the best menswear in the Pacific Northwest. Tell them Lobbing Scorchers sent you!
Full Pull Wines - Founded in 2009, they the best boutique wines of the world to members, with special focus on our home, the Pacific Northwest.
Seattle Sounders Tickets - Get tickets to an upcoming match straight from the club and help support the show at the same time.
MLS Season Pass - MLS Season Pass is back on Apple TV with access to every single MLS match—including Leagues Cup and the entire Audi MLS Cup Playoffs—with no blackouts! Subscribe today to support the show.
MLS Store - New year, new gear! The 2025 MLS jerseys are here, and MLSStore is the ultimate destination for every fan. Every purchase helps support our show!
Lobbing Scorchers is a production of Just Once Media.
Lobbing Scorchers is a Seattle Sounders and MLS focused show brought to you by Sounder at Heart. Hosted by Major League Soccer's Ari Liljenwall and Producer Noah Riffe. Join us as we lob our scorching takes on the American soccer landscape, Seattle Sounders, Major League Soccer, USMNT and more.
Contact: lobbingscorchers@justoncemedia.com
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Episode Teaser
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome in to the bonus episode of Lobbing Scorchers where we get frisky, where we talk back to the bots. Today we're gonna be talking back to the Celtic bots. That's right. We had really we had a lot of bots come after us this off season.
Bot Controversy and Celtic Discussion
00:00:16
Speaker
I couldn't in good conscience put this above the paywall because they would be on us again. And I just like, I couldn't take that. We farmed them for a lot of views. and that's, I love just dropping nukes onto YouTube and then being like, I'm not reading the comments. Yeah, I'm not, I'm just not. We literally had- 185 comments, definitely not going in there. The Wilfred Nancy short that I made of him crashing out after the Sounders game literally has 100,000 views.
00:00:41
Speaker
hit 100. One sixth of our entire view count. Yeah, it's literally from Wilfred Nancy crashing out, which I, and I made that short like a year ago and it just randomly picked up steam when he got signed. so And like, God, we cleaned so far out off that because it it picked up when he got hired. Yeah. And then when he was crashing Celtic out, it picked up again. And then when he got fired, it picked up again. Yeah, it was great. But anyway, yeah, we are back with, uh,
00:01:09
Speaker
bonus content which we uh we did some of last season but kind of got away from but it's another one of those things that we're gonna start
Commitment to Podcasting Over Social Events
00:01:15
Speaker
bringing back shout out to you all who have signed up as youtube members we love and appreciate you and you are ah are some of our best supporters so we're gonna try and put out some more stuff for you guys this year and we're gonna start with this bonus episode we just uh we just ripped like a two-hour stream yeah and now we're doing more content because that's how we're dedicated I'm literally, there's ah there's a disco party at a bar that I was invited to and it ends at 10. It doesn't matter that it's 8.30. No, you're not. We're making this content because what the hell, why not?
00:01:44
Speaker
What kind of disco party ends at 10 p.m.? I don't know. It's at a bar. I'm still going to go. I'm still going That's classic Seattle.
Football Leagues Coverage and Skepticism
00:01:50
Speaker
going to have a party and it's going to be done by 10 o'clock. Yeah, it's like we're cutting it off at 10 p.m. I was getting texts from the person running it. Like, all the homies you hear, come out. Brother, I'm podcasting. Yeah. Brother.
00:02:03
Speaker
Priorities. Come on. Okay. Content. Social life. Nah. Fuck that. um All right. So we had... We were going to do our ah around the league topics yeah for for this bonus episode. I think that's like a good way to do it. If we rip for two hours on the Sounders, we can make the bonus content, the league-wide stuff, because we do follow and cover all
Wilfred Nancy's Tenure at Celtic: Fairness and Criticism
00:02:24
Speaker
of MLS. We're not even just covering MLS. We're also talking about fucking Scottish premiership, which...
00:02:30
Speaker
No one needs to see that. Brother, i watched too much of that. Yeah, okay. All right. so so Should we respond to the Nancy bots? Yeah, let's respond Nancy bots. All right. I'll give it the context yeah for for anyone who might not be in the know. But on ah on a recent episode of Lobbing Scorchers kickoff, Nico and I were... went off the rails. We were discussing Wilford Nancy's... ah firing at Celtic and his whole tenure. And basically our point was that it was just kind of stupid to only give a coach eight games and then fire him immediately. And I think there was an undertone of like, we were, we were,
00:03:08
Speaker
taking issue with the notion that he failed in the Scottish Prem because he's an MLS coach, which is the leap a lot of people were making. We were questioning that. We were saying, I don't know about that. It sounds like he never got like a fair shake. And boy, oh boy.
00:03:23
Speaker
the Scottish... would have thought you would have said like... I don't know. I will say I did read some of the comments and some of them were making points that about how we didn't know what we were talking about with the Scottish Prem where I was like, you're right. I don't like I don't i don't watch the Scottish You self-admitted in the video. You're like, yeah, i didn't watch any of the games. And instead date we got so many comments that were like, you even said that you don't watch it I'm like, yeah, i don't watch it. I'm not here lying. I fully admit that I was absolutely cooking on a topic that I knew pretty much nothing about. And I was just kind of giving my outsider perspective on seeing a coach get fired ah that fast.
Behind-the-Scenes at Celtic: Investigative Insights
00:04:01
Speaker
ah The Scottish bots, i was I was working on my Scottish accent and I was like, to see if I should bust it out on the pod. I'm not going to do it. But I did get a kick out of- You're after me, Lucky Charms. Yeah.
00:04:11
Speaker
I was like reading the comments in a Scottish accent and just laughing my ass off because they were so pissed off. You should record a video. And they were crashing out. You should record a video sometime this week just reading the hate comments and we'll put it up as a video.
00:04:26
Speaker
In the Scottish accent. But, okay, like... Here's my updated... Now that I have learned more about the situation... Did you read the article that I sent? Yes, I did. And that's what I was going to talk about. yeah That's what I was going to talk about.
00:04:39
Speaker
they ah So, yeah, we recorded a video where we didn't really know what was going on with the the full details of it. And people took issue with that. And there were some things like...
00:04:53
Speaker
ah Like apparently Celtic was actually not that bad before he got hired. But then I'm like, well, why were they firing and hiring a new coach in the middle of the season? That doesn't really make sense to me.
00:05:10
Speaker
like why they're doing that. But then some Scottish investigative reporter came out with 8.6 K word. It was like 20, dude. Fucking behind the scenes expose. 17 anonymous sources. Yeah. Yeah. And so, and it was all like the inside story of what went wrong with Wilford Nancy at Celtic. This is why. It was some like this insane headline too. It was like the disastrous implosion. yeah At Celtic. And I was like, all right. Yeah. Okay. So I read that article. I read that article and it didn't take me long, Noah, getting into that article before I realized I was like, all right, I see what's actually going on here.
00:05:54
Speaker
I see what's actually going on here. The players on this team, Never thought that this dude should have been hired ye from the beginning. They thought it was a bad hire. I'm sure a lot of that is to do with a and MLS, like the fact that he came from MLS. And you know what? This is the bonus content, Noah. Like, I'm going to go there. yeah
Allegations and Organizational Issues at Celtic
00:06:14
Speaker
I'm going to go there.
00:06:15
Speaker
It's probably to do with the fact that he's not white. Yeah, I was going to say he's the first and only black Celtic coach. I think a lot of fans... Never on paywall this because I don't want the Scottish bots to... But like that is probably... I straight up saw some of the most disgusting racist shit on Twitter, which like, okay, average day on Twitter, but also like straight up coming from Celtic fans. like The amount of people who were literally calling him Diddy Yeah, exactly. Like, so i that, okay. But that's, that's one thing that's like to be expected sure twitter on Twitter. Unfortunately, but what was clear to me is that that's how the players felt.
00:06:51
Speaker
Yeah. They, there was, there was all these little nuggets in this investigative report that were like clearly written in a way that was trying to make Wilford Nancy look bad.
00:07:03
Speaker
But then you read it and it's like, he went up to a veteran player at training and told him to open his hips. Yeah. Like gave him a tip on how to receive the ball. yeah And these these Celtic players were... Also, let me be clear. Never heard of this player in my life. But somehow he's like, he's been on the... lead he is He is the greatest Celtic player. He's a Celtic legend. yeah And this dude was like offended that Wilfred Nancy was trying to coach him. And to me, it's very obvious that...
00:07:30
Speaker
That is rooted in a preconceived notion that they already had when the hire was made for the reasons that I just stated, that they literally never gave him even the remotest inkling of a start of a chance. that is now If you have a locker room that's already mutinized against the coach before he even gets there, then yeah, it's going to crash and burn no matter what Wilford Nancy does. So I think some of the comments we got that were pointing out the tactical mistakes that he might've made or whatever, or he was too dogmatic, that that could there could be some truth to that. and So I don't think...
00:08:09
Speaker
After looking into it more, he was definitely not blameless in what took place. But I also like read that article and got the feeling these players intentionally basically tanked. Yeah, it does feel like that. They fucking tanked to undermine him and get him fired because they didn't think he was qualified or whatever and they didn't want to play for him. So they, ba like, am I wrong? Like they, know they like sabotaged him essentially. It was insane. Like reading that article and I'll, I'll leave a link in the description to like the free unpaid wall one. Cause like no one goes subscribe to the fucking like Scottish independent or whatever the fuck. No one cares about that. um
00:08:46
Speaker
It was insane. Like to read that, Oh, basically everyone coming in was mad that they laid off or they let go the interim head coach, who is literally a Scottish footballing legend. Like a guy who is renowned, has been around, knows everything about Scottish football, has coached like the Scottish national team, played for the Scottish national team, played for Celtic. Like he... It's basically like Brian Schmetzer. Brian Schmetzer was the assistant coach forever, and then they eventually hired him. He was also the head coach previously. So you basically had Brian Schmetzer, and you were replacing him with what's a good MLS comparison? Like Greg Vanny.
00:09:26
Speaker
Like, I don't know. like Worse than great like Chris Armas. Chris Armas, yeah. like you know or Or just like a random coach who has no idea what MLS is like. I think he was really set up to fail in so many different ways. He was way too loyal to Columbus.
00:09:43
Speaker
He was way too low. He had the job offer to be able to start at the beginning of the Celtics season. That was part the problem. his biggest mistake. That was part of the problem. was, He would have been able to come in. would have been able to tinker. He would have been able to play. And he still, it wouldn't have been the middle of the season and felt so dire. The second is that is a very fucking unathletic group of fat, ugly Scottish guys. I am so sorry. I watched so much of that fucking league when he played. watched every single game. I watched every single Celtic game he played there.
00:10:18
Speaker
your average MLS Next Pro team would be able to run more than than this group of guys. Granted, a lot of their players were injured. They had traded players away. They were buying players. was like a whole mess. The front office was a mess. the The board's a mess, everything. And what seemed to have happened was...
00:10:37
Speaker
They all decided we found our scapegoat. It's Wilfred Nonson. Fans, players, front office. And I think he got the rawest deal of all time.
00:10:47
Speaker
That said, yeah, I don't think that he should have
Transfers and Future Predictions in Football
00:10:50
Speaker
changed the tactics from what was working when he wasn't even able to get the players in that he wanted to. But dude, i ah it is so clear to me that he was sabotaged. He was.
00:11:05
Speaker
Whether it was intentional or not, he never got a fair shake there, ever. The fan base turning on him is one thing. They were turned on him before he got there, man. The media turning on him is one thing.
00:11:19
Speaker
the players on the team. Yeah. Turning on the coach before he even gets there, which they will, they would tell you that that's not what happened. It's very obviously what happened. That is like, dude, there's some, there is some, there's something rotten inside your locker room and your organization that you can scapegoat any coach you want.
00:11:40
Speaker
But if there's that rot to your core, it's not going to matter who your coach is at the end of the day. You're not winning shit. Like, yeah. And maybe with this Martin O'Neill guy, the interim guy or whatever that they brought, that's the funniest thing. They, they, they brought it back. Yeah. They brought the interim. Oh my God. What kind of,
00:12:03
Speaker
podunk operation are we talking about? They're operating like a fucking Atlanta United. Have you ever seen an organization let go of a coach, hire a new coach, fire that coach after eight games and then bring back the old guy? What are we talking about?
00:12:16
Speaker
like but Like, you should be more mad. I stand by the take that they should be more mad at a... their organizational brass than they should be at the, at the coach. Yeah. But that was a funny level headed fans are, do feel that they're like, I didn't like the hire, but I don't blame him. He was out of his depth. He was put in a situation that was bad. I think that's the right take, even if it is harsh and wrong. I think that's probably the right take where like, yeah, he had no fucking clue what the Scottish premiership was. He was walking into a dumpster fire of a team, which he had no idea.
00:12:53
Speaker
He didn't realize that, um oh, these guys just can't run. They just don't know what a counterattack is. Which, think about his Columbus teams. Exactly. That couldn't be more mismatched. Exactly. So it was like it was like, why would you, Celtic, why would you hire the counterattack guy when you have a team full of 48-year-old beer bellies? like I don't know what to tell. That's literally what they looked like I have a 54-year-old guy who plays Sunday League with me that was faster than every fucking player on that Celtic roster.
00:13:24
Speaker
It was crazy. And you went on a Twitter crusade where you were pointing this out and ye they were not happy about it Also, also. You had the weebie ratio. I did. I did have the weebie ratio. Also, I have to be honest with you.
00:13:35
Speaker
We know how I feel about XG, but if you genuinely look at their XG and you watch the games, they hit the post 10 times. They hit the post or like how the, the statistical problem, everything was against this guy, dude. Everything was against Wilfred Nancy. And you know what? I have to say,
00:13:54
Speaker
There's a reason. There's a reason all this happened. Karmic justice for not signing a goalkeeper.
00:14:02
Speaker
I don't even think we need to add anything more to bring all the way back to the greatest press conference in the It's fucking difficult. It's fucking difficult. I'm 22. I have no money. I'm 22. I started playing at 19. I quit at 22. I have no more money.
00:14:21
Speaker
100K views. Wilfred, we love you. Welcome back. You are St. Louis City SC. Noah, let's speed through these last couple. yeah Rick Ramsey exit. Nico and I talked about it on the last kickoff, but I know this is something that's near and dear to your heart as well. Cook, what do you what do you think of Rick Ramsey going to ah the championship? Queens Park Rangers. I think we can all agree that He's where he belongs. He's where belongs. First of all, I literally, i posted this clip.
00:14:51
Speaker
I literally called this. I literally said this exact thing would happen, that he would go to a shitty championship team. He is going to a shitty
Goalkeeping Strategies and Team Comparisons
00:15:02
Speaker
championship team.
00:15:04
Speaker
You know i will be watching Every game. Dude, you know what I think? I think that he's going to get that team overachieving. I think I think he is genuinely, as much as I hate him, a bad championship team is perfect. Yes, it's perfect for him. It's perfect for him. Get that shit out of MLS. Put it in the goddamn championship where it belongs. Bottom of the table championship where it belongs. They're fighting for relegation. I can honestly... Not QPR's West Brom. I'm sorry. I said QPR.
00:15:34
Speaker
I can honestly understand... understands the employment of tactics like that as a bottom of the table championship club. Because yeah think about it. You're by definition... Coach, where do want to be? you're You're by definition underfunded, undermanned. You're not going to have nearly as much talent as these top of the table championship clubs. You're playing in a fundamentally unfair you're playing in Wrexham's league. You're playing... Yeah. You're playing in a league that unless...
00:16:04
Speaker
you have way more money than whatever this club you went to has. You're going to be fighting uphill battles. You're not going have the talent. You're fighting parachute payment yeah teams in the prem who have prem rosters. So, so what style of play can actually take results when you have a team like that. A very defensive, fully counterattack-oriented, conservative, anti-possession-based style. That is how you win in that situation. is. And to be fair, man, for as much shit as we gave him- It worked.
00:16:37
Speaker
And he was in a situation, if we're being real. Oh, yeah. They fucked that roster. Their roster. They destroyed it. And that's why I almost... It's even worse now, by the way. Way worse. They're going to be terrible. Way worse. literally said, and this is going back to the... I just like to vindicate myself because I said it. I said, Minnesota United will go back into obscurity when he leaves and their roster is further destroyed. That is exactly what happened. There no one on that team. There is no coach. They promoted their assistant. Like, brother... who Minnesota United fans celebrating that playoff win. Like they won MLS cup, by the way, still Minnesota United has never won a trophy.
00:17:15
Speaker
They were literally like celebrating. No Dane St. Clair. Dane St. Clair took a pay cut to go play anywhere else. dan say They lost Dane St. Clair, Hassani Dodson, ah and like rick ramsey Rick Ramsey, but like also a couple other yeah key players.
00:17:31
Speaker
Like, no, they are chalked. They're chalked. I mean, they're going to probably cook in the summer window, but like that's that's what That's what they get, man. That's what they get you get. That's what you get. Talking all that shit. Talking all that shit, dude. When never won anything. Getting up in the Lobby Scorchers fucking comment section.
00:17:49
Speaker
Where are you at now? Like, your guys are done. Like, so, anyway. Like, sorry, man. Enjoy your win. Again, it's literally their Super Bowl was beating us. They didn't even win a game. Ari, they didn't even win a game. They didn't even win a game.
00:17:59
Speaker
They drew. They drew. Two draws. Two draws and a loss. That's all I got to say. I think Dane St. Clair in Miami is ah actually not as insane an upgrade on their trash duo of Bustari and Rocco Rios Novo as it might seem because i think we agree that Dane St. Clair is a little overrated. He's overrated for sure. But, but, but.
00:18:26
Speaker
The fact that he is a penalty kick specialist... That helps them, man. Yeah, because they're going to be playing in a lot of tournaments. They're going to be in knockout situations. Also, Falcone crash outs.
00:18:40
Speaker
He loves to give up a penalty. Falcone. Exactly, man. So, like, even if he's not that much higher of a quality goalkeeper than Rocco Rios Novo, which... A lot of people would take issue with that. Like, Dane St. Clair is so much better than Rocco Rios. I don't think so. I think they're pretty even.
00:18:57
Speaker
Like, am i am I out of my mind or did Seattle not score seven goals on him? Like, I get it. I get that he won the the shootouts and he is genuinely... Goalkeeper of the year, okay, cool, whatever. He is genuinely very good at penalty kicks and they won that shit fair and square. But they did the idea that he was in there swatting away all these goals that won them this year. And they gave up seven goals last two years. The reason that the Sounders didn't advance was because Obed Vargas took the worst penalty kick known to ban, and so did De Rosario. And Danny Leva.
00:19:25
Speaker
And Danny Leva previously, yes. yeah But in the in the final game. Oh, okay. Yeah. So, yeah, I don't know, man. yeah We didn't even talk about this all offseason, but they got to fucking get better at penalties, man. What was that? Ryan actually was asked about that, and he did not want to answer that question. And Jade asked that, and it was really funny. Taking penalties is random as hell, but I am... They did troll in those situations last year, and this is the best thing about Andy T taking over, man. Inner Miami now has... Dislocating your finger, then going and saving two more... He's fucking incredible. He's so good. Dan St. Clair gives Inner Miami a boost in that respect, but we... I think Andrew Thomas is just as good, if not better. Just as good. At least just as good. At least just as good, and...
Galaxy Management and Ricky Pooj's Injury Concerns
00:20:15
Speaker
That is like something that Seattle hasn't had for as awesome as Steph Fry is. He's not a good penalty goalkeeper. yeah Andrew Thomas is like elite, elite, elite, elite at penalties. Like think, think about this, man.
00:20:30
Speaker
Every single time that the Sounders have conceded a penalty kick for the last 10 years or so, it's like, all right, that's going in. Yeah. I think Fry saved a couple. Yeah. come Maybe one or two, maybe one or two.
00:20:44
Speaker
Now they're going a goalkeeper next year where when they give up, when they can see who crashes out and concedes a penalty, they actually have a chance of it not resulting in a goal. Like he is going to save those more often than Friday. I agree. So that's, that's sick that we got off track there, but but no, no, no. Did you have anything else on Rick Rams? Nope. Get him out of here. Never want to hear his name again, even though I will be hate watching.
00:21:06
Speaker
i'm I'm actually curious to see. like If Ramsey Ball is as OP as it was in MLS, he could... Championship is MLS. People don't want to agree with it, but championship is copy-paste MLS. It's not that different. It's very It's that different. yeah So I think he actually has a chance of being pretty successful. ah i have Galaxy Jip written down. what we What did we want to talk about? Oh my God, dude.
00:21:30
Speaker
Ricky Pooj. Oh my God. First of all, i just, I really just wanted to go on a rant of how much I just absolutely hate the galaxy's manager, general manager.
00:21:43
Speaker
i think he was cooking until the Pooj injury. I think that, and we were deducing this in the lobbying ah happy lobbing sad Scorchers group chat, that he was trying to get, what's his name again?
00:21:58
Speaker
I'm totally blanking. Will Kuntz. wills Will Kuntz, Will Will Koontz was trying to get fired last year. he was trying to get laid off, I think, it felt like. He was literally talking about it. He was literally talking about it on podcasts and then getting bammed on 7-0. That's the most iconic GM sequence in MLS history. I'm sorry. That shit was hilarious. Oh, my God. To go so on a on the Kooligans podcast, talk about, oh, yeah, well, if I was still coaching, if was still a manager with the Yankees, I would have been fired by now. Ha-ha.
00:22:28
Speaker
Loses Ha-ha. gets like red bull so Three weeks later, gets a contract extension, which was even fucking better in the midst of a wooden spoon campaign. I think he's the biggest fraud of all time. I don't think he's good.
00:22:43
Speaker
I think he's gotten lucky more than he has actually... been good at his job. I think he may be a good talent identifier or he has good talent identifiers, but I do not think he's good at constructing a roster. And I think he's terrible at making tough decisions because they should have season ending injury. Ricky Pooge last year. it made no fucking sense at all in the entire world not to do that.
00:23:07
Speaker
They rushed him back. They rushed him back. It wasn't that they rushed him back. It's that Ricky Pooge wanted to be back so bad that they let him rush himself. And now he's out for a whole other fucking year because the surgery didn't take. Because, again, he was rushing to get back.
00:23:24
Speaker
That is on your team. That is on your staff. That is on your roster build. And now you're fucked for another year. Now you're fucked for another year. They got to make a DP signing for a year and then somehow sort all of that out.
00:23:37
Speaker
You're not going to get another Ricky Poosh. And you have potentially just ruined this kid's career because of it. And so I honestly, i honestly hate him. I honestly, he, I think is more evil to me than, I guess it's just, it's it's not, I'm sure he's a really nice guy, but I just, he's evil. He's evil to me.
00:23:58
Speaker
the The whole situation that happened with them last year where ah they won MLS Cup and then their roster got blown up so badly that they couldn't even compete the next season. That just that shouldn't happen. It shouldn't happen. like if that ah If that happens, you have fucked up like yeah catastrophically bad because it's such like a Parody driven league that even if you have a roster that's as good as theirs was when they won cup, even if it gets gutted to a pretty large extent the next year and you have to take some lumps that should put you at like 1.1 to 1.3 points per game, yeah not 0.6. They get, how does that happen? They traded away prospects. They traded away young players. They gambled away literally every,
00:24:49
Speaker
in my estimation, two, three, four, five years. Jalen Neal. j they treat you Dude, I'm telling you, it's like five years of Galaxy for one cup, which, listen, all they won was cup.
00:25:02
Speaker
That's all they won. They didn't win anything else. They won MLS Cup, which that's awesome. All we won was Leagues Cup last year, but we have the same fucking roster and we have a buy in in the same way that they had a buy in Champions League.
00:25:19
Speaker
Also, it's really funny that they qualified for Champions League. ah That's what they did last season. Honestly, that's a good bit. That's a good bit. That's a whole other thing. But I just think, dude, he is he is an evil, evil, evil man who has no business running one of the most storied um MLS franchises that had my favorite one of my favorite, like...
00:25:40
Speaker
Just play styles and rosters ever. And sure, I can give him credit for constructing that in a way, but I don't really know how much he had to with that. But like, man, you you you may have potentially ruined Ricky Pooja's career and that has to be on you. You have to own that. He's already lost two years of his career. Like...
00:26:00
Speaker
You can come back from that, but that's just tough. People want to blame it on Roldan. I see this all the time. First of all, that's so fucking stupid. Be mad at Will Koontz. Be mad at Will Koontz. You should be absolutely livid at Will Koontz.
00:26:14
Speaker
Also, if anyone thinks that Christian Roldan is like a dirty player. god you just ah Hector Herrera back with the Houston Dynamo. And will not have to serve a suspension. Did you hear that? Yeah. What was the rationale with that again? So he served his suspension while he was in Liga MX.
00:26:31
Speaker
fuck are we talking about he spit on a referee and he doesn't have wasn't that against Seattle yes yeah spit again like let me tell you something if you spit on anyone while you're playing Seattle you will not be punished for it you won't yeah no apparently not you you won't be punished you can just do that with impunity yeah so uh that's that's really just one that I wanted to bring up served it while he was did he sit out league MX games nope Tight. Yeah, I don't think so. Tight.
00:26:56
Speaker
maybe Maybe he sat out a couple like when he was injured or something. um Well, what I'll say about that is he's 35. Didn't look that good by the end of his Dynamo tenure. Ended his Dynamo tenure by crashing out and spitting Suarez style at a Seattle Sounder. And ref. It's fine that they... He spit on a referee. Yeah. yes It's fine that they brought him back. I know that like he was popular there It's not, that is not good. They've made, they've been pretty active this off season. They just made a huge DP signing, but, uh, bringing him back is not going to do much for them. Like he's not, kind of weird. I don't think he's like a, yeah, exactly. Like why not take, why not roll the dice on like a younger yeah upside option at this point?
Offseason Moves and Team Potential Debates
00:27:43
Speaker
And you're like, anytime teams like try and run a run the clock back like that, I'm like, I'm like getting to the point with, uh,
00:27:52
Speaker
Atlanta United where I'm like, bro, like everyone says this Tata hire is the greatest thing since you sliced bread. And it's just like, the players seem to like it though. So that is good.
00:28:05
Speaker
yeahte la Latte Loth was pressuring and he was like, finally, someone who doesn't treat me like a child. knows Wow. Okay. yeah Drama. This is a totally separate tangent, but I'm not falling for them this year. No, no, thank God. I'm not falling for them. They're going to be the most popular preseason. Ooh, Tata Martino's back. Watch out for Atlanta United. Miguel Amirone's coming for it.
00:28:33
Speaker
Am I out of my mind or does Tata Martino not change anything about the fact that Miguel Amiron is washed? yep He and Alexi Marinchuk can't play together, don't fit together anyway. Emmanuel Latte Loth looked like a bust last year. Maybe there's something there like a year or two bounce back for him. But if two out of your dp three DPs are one guy who looked completely cooked last year yeah with another guy who didn't look very good and was also a complete stylistic mismatch yeah with the other guy,
00:29:04
Speaker
you are starting with a couple hands tied behind your back. And you don't really have any interesting depth. No, you don't. You got rid of Brooks Lennon. You got rid of... No, honestly, man, if if Tata... If it starts poorly for them, Tata should literally... He has to bench one of Almiron or Maranchuk. He cannot do what Ronnie Dyla did and try and just...
00:29:31
Speaker
force them to play together when they like showed absolutely no ability to do that. And like, did they do anything else? Like they, it's like, they sign these randos from Argentina or whatever that it's like, all right, like sure good you guys have been missing on those, but that's fine. But like, if your DP situation is as cooked as theirs is,
00:29:53
Speaker
That's tough, man. Like at that point, you got to rely on like culture and heart and grit. And they got none of that either. Like they actually are, have horrendous. oh they're they're Long way of saying, man, every single year for the past three or four years, I've been like Atlanta United is going to bounce back this year. They're going to be the Atlanta United of 20. I'm not doing that this year. Like they are cooked until further notice. I think my sleeper pick of a team that's going to be way more fun ah than Atlanta United is San Jose.
00:30:27
Speaker
Really? Yeah. I think San Jose. Did they like make a move you like? or just i just think i think I think they're going to be more interesting to watch than Atlanta United. I mean, yeah, low bar. But I'm saying, like if we're going to talk about like expectations or whatever, like you forget to sign... You forget to fucking exercise your contract on your DP because you forget to press a button on a computer and no one gets fired for it.
00:30:52
Speaker
Yeah. I wanted to make another... point about the galaxy real quick and then we'll call it a night. But, um, I actually thought they were having a good off season until the Pooj injury. Like they, their, their midfield and their defense were all fucked up last year they went out and they traded for Jacob Glessness, who's been an upper tier center back in the league for the last three or four years. And they signed the best free agent at that position with Justin Hack, who is someone that I wanted the Sounders to sign. Yeah, you wanted know. Um, So those are two really good signings. Justin Hack can play center back. I would imagine that he and Glesnes are going to be like the new starters there. And that is so much better on paper than what was that guy? Ranko. Oh my God. guy that the sounders were just cooking. He was so bad. Oh, I'm going to miss that guy. No, literally saw him on the lineup and we were like, oh my God, we're eating tonight. Watching that guy try to defend De La Vega and Osaze and...
00:31:51
Speaker
Just trying to watch him defend, period. I don't think you could put me in there, and I think I probably could have scored one. wanted them extend him so But anyway, this is kind of thing. If Ricky Puj had stayed healthy and this knee injury hadn't happened, and they had signed...
00:32:08
Speaker
ah Justin Hacken traded for Jacob Glessness. I think a lot of the press they would be getting is like, the Galaxy are back. like Ricky Pooge is going to launch them back to what they were and they've improved the back line so much because they traded for Glessness and signed Justin Hack. But like I feel like teams fall into this trap sometimes of...
00:32:28
Speaker
okay, there's a hole in the roster, like at center back. let's trade Let's spend a bunch of resources and trade for Jacob Glesnes. Plug him in.
00:32:40
Speaker
Problem solved. We're good at center back now. Once the season starts, the reality of that... it It just it doesn't usually work like that. like you don't You're not going to have the pairing of Jacob Glessness and Justin Hack for every game. And so like what I look at more than like if they fill the hole with one trade and one signing is like how does the position group look as a whole now? Yeah, that's what you got to look at the teams that are actually good are teams that can have starters like Jacob Glessis and Justin hack.
00:33:13
Speaker
But if one of them has to miss a game or gets injured and has to miss a few weeks, they have multiple guys. You need to be four or five deep and to be able to do this, like, which is what Seattle has been able to to do very well. But like, if you don't have,
00:33:28
Speaker
two guys that are MLS starting caliber behind Jacob Glessness and Justin Hack, the whole operation is teetering on the edge from the start. yeah And I think a very likely outcome for their season, if Ricky Pooge hadn't gotten hurt, is that one of Justin Hack or Jacob Glessness if any if there was any situation at all where one of those two guys had to miss time, they would have been fucked again. yeah And that's that's assuming that that pairing works out as well as you think it will on the field. You don't know that. What if Justin Hack ah was good at CB for and NYCFC, but he's not as good for with the Galaxy's personnel for whatever reason? What if Jacob Glessness, he's 31, 32 now. What if he's starting to decline? it's serious as ACL. You can think that trading... Yeah, exactly. like You can think that trading for Jacob Glessis on paper solves your center back issue. That's just usually not how it actually works. And I think there's a pretty high likelihood that their shit would have gone off the rails even with the good offseason that they were ostensibly having. I couldn't agree more. And I wish them the best. But I don't think they're going to be... yeah
00:34:39
Speaker
I think they're going to be spoon fighting again. Yeah. I mean, we'll see who they sign as the Pooj replacement, but like you said, it can't be anyone who's nearly as good as him. He's the best player. one of the best players in the league. He's best DP signing potentially other than Messi. I think there's a good argument for that because of the combination of age and pedigree. Yeah, exactly. You not see 22-year-olds who are playing for Barcelona. La Misa Academy products. and this doesn't It just doesn't happen. It doesn't get talked about enough. And dude, when he plays, he's a fucking magician. Man, yeah. yeah
00:35:13
Speaker
He's like if you gave...
00:35:17
Speaker
if you gave Albert Rusnak Nico Ladero's fucking work rate and made him just like a energy demon. And also Jesus Ferreira. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Like if you combine Rusnak's passing ability with Ferreira's energy,
00:35:34
Speaker
He gets cut out. like he he is a He does have like a trick that you can exploit. But like generally speaking, man, he'll overcome that. like Even if he gets his pocket picked, he's going to make up for it. Dude literally made up for that by creating the goal on a torn ACL. He played on a torn ACL. i mean he People use that to like clown on Seattle. I'm like, nah, Ricky Puget just likes He's literally just that good. like I don't even...
00:36:02
Speaker
We were also at that game. so That was fun. That was a fun game. but All right. let's ah Let's call it for the bonus episode. yeah Thank you all for tuning in. Appreciate all our YouTube members. ah we're going to We're going to try and keep turning these out this season. We'll do it as much as we can. So stay tuned. ah Thank you all for supporting. Love y'all.
00:36:20
Speaker
Peace.