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Is It Time to Be Optimistic?
1.8k Plays17 hours ago
Aaron and Mark talk about the bright side of the Sounders outlook.
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Transcript
Will Bruin's New Role & Sounders' MLS Cup Celebration
00:00:01
Speaker
Hi, I'm Will Bruin, and I was just recognized as a Seattle Sounders legend. Now I get to do voice reads for the Sounder at Heart podcast network. Here we go. Come on. Hey, O'Shaughnessy.
00:00:14
Speaker
Let's go. What save by Frye. The Seattle Sounders have done it. MLS Cup winning. Here comes Ruiz Dias through the middle to crowd it for Seattle.
00:00:29
Speaker
And now they truly can start the celebrations. It's the Sounders MLS Cup. Nico Lodero leaves absolutely no doubt. The Sounders rule the region.
00:00:43
Speaker
Seattle, Sounders, it's got built.
00:00:52
Speaker
This feels fucking awesome. This is a tiny dog. Nice work on your little yacht yat thing. And Portland can't say shit. know, what was the thought
Sponsorships & Podcast Hosts
00:01:02
Speaker
process in terms of who you decided to use who you didn't?
00:01:06
Speaker
Ever since Southert Hart wrote a commentary that we didn't take over coming seriously. Go, not Seattle!
00:01:18
Speaker
This episode of Nos Arietes is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of Nos Arietes since 2011. Full Pull was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime Sounder supporters.
00:01:32
Speaker
They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, Pacific Northwest.
00:01:43
Speaker
Welcome to another edition of Nos Adientes, brought to you by our good friends at Full Pull Wines and BodySpec, and of course, our wonderful subscribers. This is being recorded on April 15th, and Jeremiah is currently down Mexico way, so I'm your host for this week, Aaron Campo.
00:01:56
Speaker
And my co-host for the day, making his second consecutive appearance on the show, is my dear friend, Mark Kastner. Mark, how are you this evening? Good. I think you can
Sounders' Recent Performances & Defensive Focus
00:02:05
Speaker
call me like the... the sounder at heart version of Danny, Danny Musoski or something like that.
00:02:13
Speaker
Well, I think that short changes you, although, and we'll get into it. Maybe not, maybe not anymore. I think you said it quite well in your story the day after the game.
00:02:24
Speaker
This was a very ordinary win, which is exactly what the Sounders needed. I thought the Sounders were pretty clearly the better team in this one, which you would expect given the the talent differential. ah But it was a fairly boring 1-0 road win in April.
00:02:36
Speaker
And I think it's exactly the kind of result that can prevent a tailspin like we saw at the sort of last season. and And we've seen at times in the past where... you know The Sounders were maybe not playing nearly as poorly as the results would indicate, but that sort of snowballs into bad vibes, bad performances, and then it does become a problem. I think this was exactly the kind of performance that you you want to see to arrest that sort of thing.
00:03:01
Speaker
ah Danny Maslowski scored the lone goal. It was a real poacher's putback. off of ah Pedro de la Vega screamer off the post. I actually thought a really nice goal from, from Musovsky because that thing was moving pretty fast as it came back into play.
00:03:17
Speaker
ah And then he almost had a, had a second ah with a goal and ruled off side in the fifty ninth minute. But I think after the first goal, the Sounders still looked at the more likely team to score.
00:03:28
Speaker
um FC Dallas just was not getting anything going through that midfield that we're having to go direct. And I think the Sounders are always going to be pretty comfortable in a situation like that. After the offside goal was called back, ah it seemed like the Sounders were pretty content to just kind of sit back and see out the game. And I think for the first time, maybe this season,
00:03:46
Speaker
i They did so quite comfortably. there There just weren't a lot of minutes that I was super concerned. It didn't really ever seem to me like FC Dallas was much of a threat at goal.
00:03:57
Speaker
The Sounders weren't much of a threat at goal after the hour mark either, but you don't have to be if if you know you've got the lead and and you're you're not worried about the opposition scoring. So very businesslike results, ah the kind that the Sounders, I think, kind of made a trademark for a lot of last season.
00:04:12
Speaker
And they've certainly had more entertaining performances this year, but it's really tough to argue with three points on the road.
00:04:19
Speaker
Yeah, I think that you know like it's the kind of win you want to see when your team isn't playing well. like Sure, it would be nice if all of a sudden, especially after the San Diego game, if they just kind of turned it on and played as well as they did against LAFC, and the rest is history. But in like a weird way, I feel more encouraged by ah performance that just like wasn't very good. and Like it's nothing to write home about. hope Hopefully it's forgettable, you know, like, you know, hopefully we're at a point in the season in November and December this year where we don't even remember that they beat Dallas on the road. It it was just kind of like it happened. And I think that,
00:05:05
Speaker
If you're trying to like start fresh, which the the
Player Roles & Injury Management
00:05:12
Speaker
Sounders basically are because they crashed out of CONCACAF and league play has been pretty miserable so far, it's kind of a perfect place to start. like Just go get the job done.
00:05:22
Speaker
ah the game didn't go, i think, the way that anybody had planned kind of with kind of choppy it was and stuff like that. And, you know, they were comfortably the better team and that's while they just weren't playing very well, which is great.
00:05:38
Speaker
Yeah. It's, it's, I think that you're, you're going to have a lot of games like this and MLS on the road, especially this time of year, right. Where it's just not, it's not coming together. You're not playing like anything right home about,
00:05:50
Speaker
But good teams win those games. I think that there's this misconception that a lot of people have about other good teams in MLS that they don't watch week in and week out that, well, those teams always look great.
00:06:02
Speaker
um You know, they're always putting together really good performances. And it's just straight up not true. Like, this is a tough league to play in. It's a tough league to play in on the road, especially. ah Thank God, you know, if you can get Dallas away in April, I think that's a much better scenario than getting them in you know August for sure.
00:06:18
Speaker
um But just we've seen, you know, ah many, many times the Sounders playing a team that's not super great on the road and putting in a subpar performance and getting a point when they should have gotten three or coming away with nothing.
00:06:32
Speaker
And so I do think it it speaks to. um the professionalism of the team to be able to see out a game like this, because they have looked shaky at times this year, went under pressure defensively. And they just didn't, they didn't have that to me.
00:06:46
Speaker
um You know, it's like you said, it wasn't anything to write home about. They weren't playing anybody off the pitch, but they also did exactly what they needed to do. And I think, you know, at this point I'll take that.
00:06:58
Speaker
Yeah, it is funny. We keep saying it was nothing to write home about and I had to write about it. So, right. Yeah. I'll go ahead. All right. One last point I want to make. Like it It was a performance that kind of like this team finally looked like a Brian Spencer team.
00:07:18
Speaker
And I think like most of this year we were being kind of like, you know, some changes have happened, maybe not enough roster turnover, ya yada, yada, yada, yada. But it just never really looked like it was brought like a Spencer team that we've, we've come to know. And like that Dallas performance was like, how many times have we seen that exact same thing over the last like decade, basically.
00:07:39
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I definitely think you've got to walk before you can run. and And I know that the Sounders were, i think, really intent on being more entertaining this this year and switching some things up um tactically.
00:07:54
Speaker
And I think that I don't think there's any reason to think that stuff can't still be in the cards. I mean, they they looked fantastic against LAFC when they were at full strength. Right. So there's no reason to think that this kind of game has to be the norm and that the Sounders just can't be good unless they're playing this kind of game.
00:08:11
Speaker
But I think they have to be able to play this kind of game successfully. and They haven't really been able to do that yet this year against, you know, MLS level competition. um I think if you want to contrast this game with the the Charlotte game at home, right, the season opener, I think the Sounders were much more entertaining. They were much more threatening going forward, but they just looked completely disorganized in a way that's that's really um not what you would expect to see from a Brian Schmetzer coach Sounders team.
00:08:41
Speaker
And it cost them, you know, a game that they definitely should have won. It cost them two points. So I think that getting back to basics until you can get some stability and in the in the side is is a pretty pretty good approach.
00:08:56
Speaker
Yeah, especially because they just haven't looked good on the road this year. um Which... ah outside of like let's say the second half against san jose but when you look at the game state of that situation they were chasing the game and it took a really long time to equalize even though they were like basically beating the brakes off of them yeah um you know that the salt lake game they might as well have not even shown up like yeah that that was that bad um the san luis city game comes after crashing out mexico so that that's kind of ah
00:09:31
Speaker
a compound situation. And yeah, so like I, and then obviously the San Diego ah FC game, which was just like awful, you know, to like completely shooting yourself in the own foot, all that kind of thing.
00:09:47
Speaker
And da Dallas, you know, I think a lot of, kind of people in the center heart discord and stuff like that, making the point that Dallas is just not very good. And I agree.
00:09:59
Speaker
They might be the worst team we've played. Um, maybe, you know, like, I don't know where you really put that stuff in, in April, but, um, It's still a game you have to like play and Dallas made it super frustrating. They're a really physical team. There was 36,000 this game, which was just a ridiculous amount of fouls.
00:10:19
Speaker
Um, and I'm not, I'm not even going to kind of have the conversation about the referee. It just was a physical game. um, And that's just, it seems like how Dallas wants to play. I'm not really sure.
00:10:31
Speaker
But um yeah, I just think like you you play the 90 minutes that are in front of you. And I thought the Sounders did extraordinarily well to
Tactical Adjustments & Player Development
00:10:41
Speaker
see out that 90 minutes and not really be threatened. It's not like Dallas had three or four chances that they should have scored.
00:10:48
Speaker
They didn't have any, I don't think. Yeah. so Yeah. Yeah, I think and this this is a good point to segue into but of the things I did want to talk about. One of the bullet points I had to talk about for this game was I did think the defense looked very solid in the sense that if Dallas was going to score, they were going to have to do something.
00:11:07
Speaker
it it It wasn't a game where the Sounders were making the the kind of defensive mistakes they've made earlier this year um that have cost them. And Dallas just wasn't capable of doing anything against this Sounders defense that was really well organized.
00:11:21
Speaker
And ah they were you could tell that they were probing and looking for those mistakes and trying to play pretty direct and trying to force guys into into making mistakes. And they just didn't come. And I think that that's that's a really encouraging sign, because if this defense can play up to 90 percent even of the level that, you know, we've we've come to expect from them, I think the Sounders can win a lot of games like this, even if the offense isn't clicking.
00:11:45
Speaker
So i thought I thought that was really encouraging to see, especially because the Sounders have had some struggles with physical teams in the past. Like they they have been straight up bullied at times in the past. I think the Cruz Azul away leg was a great example of the Sounders just not being up for a fight and and they got played off the pitch. And and so I think them being able to to stand up to a team that wanted to play really physically ah and, you know, and hold their own in a situation like that and just not make those kind of uncharacteristic I mean, I guess they haven't been uncharacteristic this season, right? That's been the problem. But ah historically uncharacteristic defensive mistakes, I thought was really, really encouraging.
00:12:27
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. I think one of the one of the things that I've been kind of skeptical about as the Sounders have It's not really a new for more formation. It's not that much different to how they played last year, but there are, i would say, significant tweaks, especially in buildup and in their final third and whatnot. And one one thing that I've felt that's been lacking all season, despite both players playing pretty well most of the year...
00:12:57
Speaker
between Christian Roldan and Obed Vargas is the the midfield has just been like left like chasing. And I thought that Obed and Christian were phenomenal in this game.
00:13:08
Speaker
That's just like a partnership, and you can kind of really see how important that is for the defense to perform well, especially when Jackson Reagan goes off injured and Kim Kihe... ah plays his first Sounders game in six years.
00:13:21
Speaker
So yeah I think between Obed and k Christian, they won 15 duels, which um I don't know how it compares to the rest of the season, but it felt noticeably like they were the ones bowling the midfield.
00:13:34
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. In previous games, San Diego, Cruz Azul, St. Louis, it felt like they were getting bullied. And That kind of, I think, gave them the platform for, A, the defense to perform really well, but then you win the ball in better positions when the team is trying to attack and you can kind of move the ball quicker.
00:13:55
Speaker
That's easier for your attack to get going. So um I think like the what if you want to call it the back... seven of the team because Stephen Fry didn't really have to do anything. um I think that they played really well in a couple of and a couple of players had to come into interesting positions. you know Kim Keehee is...
00:14:18
Speaker
theoretically reliable. We don't really know what we're getting from like a 35 year old Kim Kihee, but in this match he came in and he was just so calm and dealt with everything. I thought it was new who's best game of the season.
00:14:30
Speaker
And I think you kind of saw like Paul Rothrock had to go play like eight different positions or something in this game. Right. And Yeah, I just thought it was like a really, really solid like and if you're kind of if you want to isolate, let's say that like central back five, the two midfielders and the three central defenders, I thought they performed really, really well as a unit.
00:14:53
Speaker
yeah i Yeah, I agree. I thought I was I wouldn't say I was nervous about Kim Kihee, but it's like you said, you don't you don't really know what to expect. i mean, he's been recently playing at a high level, so I was I was optimistic. But to see him come in and and not only play well, play really calmly, but just immediately jump into kind of taking a leadership role on the back line was super encouraging.
00:15:16
Speaker
um And, you know, it's it's one of those things where the Sounders have a reputation you ah making Seattle a place guys want to be. And so it's really nice to be able to call out a favor like that and just say, hey, you had a good time.
00:15:30
Speaker
We could use another center back if you don't mind being more of a rotational guy. We'd we'd love to have you. And I think this is this this game is a great example of of when that kind of thing really comes in handy. And I guess we do need to talk about the injuries.
00:15:42
Speaker
um Danny Mussofsky had to come out Looks like most likely a cramps situation, I think, is the consensus. Reed Baker Whiting, I think same same deal.
00:15:53
Speaker
um The one I think that's obviously the bigger concern is Jackson Reagan coming to come out at halftime. ah You know, Jackson has not been quite as good as he he was last year, but I think he's still been very good. I think he's still, you know.
00:16:10
Speaker
ah clear starter on the team, one of the better defenders in the Western Conference. And so if he's out for any length of time, um that's that's going to be a problem. And, you know, I haven't really heard any updates on his condition.
00:16:22
Speaker
um Hopefully it's it's not very long, but having a guy like Kim Kihee that can step in is a pretty good position to be in. i have heard i heard ah that Jonathan Bell was training off to the side today.
00:16:36
Speaker
So another, you know, another injury on the back line is certainly not good. But one of the nice things, I guess, if you want to, you know, take a glass half full ah look at it about getting knocked out of the Champions League is the Sounders only have one game a week for for the foreseeable future until League's Cup. Right. So um hopefully those guys get a chance to to get healthy and this doesn't turn into, you know, ah a full blown injury crisis.
00:17:02
Speaker
Yeah. Even though it's April playing in Dallas, you're still going get guys cramping up. So hopefully, you know, nothing serious there. But I don't know if you've heard anything else or anything additional about injuries.
00:17:14
Speaker
I have not. And um the Jackson Reagan thing really bothers me or worries me, I should say, if he's out long term. um He is so important to how the Sounders build up in possession from the back that if he... I think the handful of times he's been rotated or subbed out earlier this season, the Sounders is like...
00:17:40
Speaker
couldn't get the ball from the back to the front of the field. yeah And I really worry, like, i think you saw in the second half against Dallas, the Sounders didn't have Reagan on the field, Albert Rusnak, or Pedro De La Vega, or Jordan Morris.
00:17:55
Speaker
And those are like, I would say probably the four most important players the Sounders need on the field to like, move the ball in any like meaningful way. And ah yeah second half against Dallas, I thought, I thought they, they did. Okay. They did an okay job, especially through Danny Leiva, who I, you know, we've been recording for 15, 16 minutes and we haven't mentioned his name yet, yeah who I thought played really, really well.
00:18:21
Speaker
Um, But if Reagan has to miss any significant time, i really I'm really nervous. ah yeah He could probably play better defensively this year. And I know there's been kind of like, let's say two mistakes that have led to goals that were like he was at the scene of the crime, so to speak.
00:18:41
Speaker
um And, you know, he could probably admit that himself. But... I just would be really, really nervous if he had to miss any sort of time because there's nobody else on the roster that can has that sort of like deep vision with the ball that he does.
00:18:58
Speaker
Not just in terms of picking out long passes, but if I get the ball here, he's going to get the ball there, and then we're kind of through the press and stuff like that. So I'm worried, to say the least. Jackson Regan has the ability to break lines,
00:19:14
Speaker
ah that MLS center backs just typically don't have, especially if they're as good at defending as he is. And, you know, Kim Kihee, I always thought was a good passer that had pretty good vision, but he's not, he's not Jackson Reagan. He doesn't have that, that sort of ability to see the game a few steps ahead that Jackson has. So, yeah, I mean, that's, I think that's clearly the biggest concern because I feel like you can put Kim Kihee in there. You can put even John Bell in there.
00:19:38
Speaker
and feel pretty good about how things are going to go in your own end. It is how you're going to progress the ball, how, how you're going to build up that I think is the bigger miss.
00:19:49
Speaker
um And, you know, I think if this is a hamstring injury, similar to Jordan Morris's hamstring injury, it's not great. Obviously you'd rather it just be a precautionary thing and he's out a game or two at most, but you know, if he misses a month, even, I think you can weather that storm.
00:20:06
Speaker
I just really hope that's as severe as it is because I think any more so severe than that, it it can become ah pretty big problem. Yeah. It should also be said that ah Stuart Hawkins has...
00:20:19
Speaker
It has been told to me the ability to play that way. I'm going to be completely honest. I know this probably makes terrible listening for a podcast. I've never really seen him play meaningful minutes.
00:20:31
Speaker
Yeah. um Because I just, I don't really pay attention to the MLX Next Pro stuff. Yeah. yeah i to and i i would I would be in favor based on like everything we've seen this season. right like We've seen John Bell play there.
00:20:46
Speaker
i never want to see John Bell and New Who on the same field, yeah on the same team ever again. yeah Just because I think you just are really hamstringing yourself in terms of like that deep buildup with those two players. yeah so And then...
00:21:02
Speaker
that We're finally kind of seeing this, like the way that this is supposed to play kind of to like the tweaks and stuff to the formation, like, it's starting to work a little bit.
00:21:14
Speaker
yeah And so I would like to, I would like to see like, okay, can we get 70% Jackson Reagan in Stuart Hawkins? Sure. He's a young kid, but like you can kind of put some protections and stuff around him.
00:21:26
Speaker
I would so much rather have that than just a different play style. And I'm not sure
Sponsorship Highlights & Community Support
00:21:32
Speaker
maybe Kim Kihee can do 70% of Jackson Reagan, yeah but I'm not, I'm not sure i would I would be in favor of seeing somebody like Stuart Hawkins.
00:21:39
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he's got to play at some point or he's got to go somewhere else for, for the rest of the year, I think. And it, it's a tough situation to put a kid like that in to be like, all right, well, uh, our guy who was arguably our most important player last year is hurt.
00:21:56
Speaker
So go out there and do that, do that thing. He does that pretty much nobody else in MLS is capable of doing. Um, it's a big ask, but you know, sometimes you gotta to sink or swim, I guess.
00:22:07
Speaker
Um, I do want to talk about a couple more positive things. Move on from the injury stuff because there's not much we can do about it. Let's talk about Pedro de la Vega. I thought he looked really good. I thought the Sounders looked much more dynamic with him. You could tell this is another thing you kind of touched on in in your your recap.
00:22:24
Speaker
This is just his his way of seeing the game and his way of pressing the issue was something the Sounders have been missing, I think, since since he's been out. So it was really good to see him back. um I thought Danny Leva did do a great job in the second half playing a similar role.
00:22:37
Speaker
I would love to see... you know, more Danny Leyva always. um But I think PDLV being, if he can be at that level for the rest of the year, um he's, he's going to start looking like actually a pretty good signing after all. I think there's been a lot of skepticism, ah which I think some of which is valid, some of which is quite premature and unfair.
00:23:00
Speaker
um But if that's the player the Sounders have, know, I think he's going to prove to be a really critical player. So I think that was really good to see, and I'm glad that they were able to get him off at 45 and they can kind of work him back more slowly. But I'm curious what you thought.
00:23:15
Speaker
Yeah, I thought he was um he was the reason why anything positive happened yeah in an attacking sense in the first half. He was in the right pockets. He was making the right movements. Even when he wasn't getting the ball, he was...
00:23:32
Speaker
in a similar way that not, and I'm not saying in the same way or at the same level yet, but just drawing a similarity in the same way that Nico Ladero used to play, let's say in like 2017, 2018, in that kind of just like free role that he used to have.
00:23:48
Speaker
Like, even if he wasn't getting the ball, the defense was gravity. Gravitating towards like where his position was and that was opening things up for other players. And in particular, I thought that kind of like right triangle of Roldan, Kalani Renzi and De La Vega was just so effective.
00:24:08
Speaker
yeah um I thought that I thought those those three players have very complementary play styles. And in particular, on the play where the goal ends up happening comes from.
00:24:21
Speaker
i winning a duel kind of deep, transitioning the ball forward pretty quickly up the left side of the field, coming across Pedro de la Vega, picking up a good pocket, and then kind of creating his own shot.
00:24:35
Speaker
it's it's ah It's a low percentage shot, but the fact that he can try something like that yeah means you kind of you kind of shuffle the deck and reset everything after a shot like that, as we saw, because it goes off the post right to Danny, Danny's feet, he scores.
00:24:51
Speaker
So the Sounders have been really lacking a player that could do something like that um all season because he's been hurt. But yeah, I thought that was great.
00:25:02
Speaker
I was really kind of pleased with his first half performance. i was really pleased that he came off and the Sounders kind of saw it out. I was exceptionally pleased with how Danny Lavo played. And then also like to kind of use the golf analogy, like Spencer was able to keep some clubs in his bag. Like Jordan Morris was expected to start this game and he didn't, he didn't play at all.
00:25:26
Speaker
And I think that that just like one solidifies the confidence that the players that did play can do the job that the Sounders need them to do this season, but also too, it protected the health of two or three players that didn't have to come on.
00:25:40
Speaker
So. Yeah. Yeah. And that's, I mean, that's, I think everybody in the back of everybody's mind, every Sounders fans mind is always the team looks really good, except if this guy gets hurt or this guy gets hurt or this guy gets hurt, it all kind of falls apart. So I think as, as careful as they can be getting these guys back into game shape and also figuring out, okay, how do we,
00:26:06
Speaker
get by when this guy isn't around. Like the more time you have with PDLV off the field, you obviously don't want that ideally, but if you can get Danny Leiva some more minutes, you know, playing that sort of creative role ah and you have a better sense of who you are and what your identity is when Pedro needs a day off or he has another setback or something like that, I think that's, that's definitely a positive Ready to kickstart your fitness journey?
00:26:31
Speaker
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00:27:18
Speaker
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00:27:31
Speaker
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00:28:00
Speaker
To find out more, just visit center at heart.com and click the subscribe button in the top right corner. Thanks for listening.
00:28:11
Speaker
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Speaker
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Speaker
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00:29:13
Speaker
Last thing i had on list that I want to talk about is Danny Masofsky. So, Danny Musavski put the ball in the net twice. ah His first goal, I thought, was a great, great goal. Great poachers goal.
00:29:25
Speaker
um second Second goal that was ruled offside. I think it was the the correct call, but I think he was very narrowly offside. And I think just another really nice finish. And, you know, all of a sudden you look at his his year overall. He only has one goal in the league, obviously, but his per night. I mean, that puts him at like a per 90 rate of like 0.5 goals per 90.
00:29:46
Speaker
five goals per ninety um he had He had the goal against Cruz Azul. I think it's time people kind of lighten up on the guy a little bit. I don't know. I mean, I've been a Danny Mazovsky defender for a while, so I'm sure that there are people saying, well, of course you're going to say that.
00:30:01
Speaker
But I think he's just I think he looked really good against Dallas. I think when he's played striker, even if when he wasn't putting the ball in the net, he was generally doing all the other stuff pretty well. um he's He's a pretty solid physical presence. His holdup play is pretty good. His movement is pretty good.
00:30:17
Speaker
i mean, one of the frustrations I've had with the Sounders this season, and you mentioned it with Pedro De La Vega, and I've noticed it with Danny Mazovsky, is that when the attack isn't flowing the way they want it to, the off-ball movement is just non-existent.
00:30:30
Speaker
And so I really like that that Danny can provide some of that. And... Obviously, i want Jordan Morris back and healthy and playing 90 minutes every week more than anything in the world. But I do think this idea that Danny Mazovsky is an irredeemable black hole that is has got to be, you know, can't play anymore. We should just bring up De Rosario so he can play because these minutes are just going to waste. so I really think we can kind of put that idea to bed at this point.
00:30:57
Speaker
Yeah, I really agree. I think one thing Jeremiah and I talked about last week was like, The experiment to play Ferreira at the nine just didn't really work.
00:31:08
Speaker
And it it causes the attack to have to re rethink and retool how it plays. What playing Danny does is it gets you towards that idea of like, we have like, we have like store brand Jordan Morris up there.
00:31:26
Speaker
He's not as good as Jordan Morris, but he can do a lot of the similar things so that the the other 10 people on the field can do the same things that there's that they've been practicing all preseason and in training and all that.
00:31:40
Speaker
Um, and, And I think it's great. I think that he played really well. um I agree that kind of the criticisms of him... have been harsh or at the very least misplaced.
00:31:52
Speaker
and I think he, he, he at least provides that like, yeah, like I said, store brand version of Jordan Morris, 60% Jordan Morris. um And you can get the same ideas that you want on the field and he will find himself in the same place. He's not as fast. He's not as strong. He's not,
00:32:12
Speaker
maybe not as good of a finisher. However, he can do a lot of the similar things. And I think it gives you that like that same thing that we just talked about with De La Vega, where if he can kind of find a rhythm as a substitute or a spot starter and stuff this year, you can you can choose to kind of rest Jordan Morris in in spots that you don't need him to play 90 minutes every game.
00:32:39
Speaker
And yeah, I i thought like...
00:32:43
Speaker
we're We're like three, four inches away from a brace. And it's funny for me to say because i i am like I hate analyzing offside goals because they just don't count.
00:32:56
Speaker
However, that's one of those situations. And in MLS, they don't have semi-automated offside lines. So we're just left to kind of wonder. um Not left to wonder, but you know what i mean.
00:33:09
Speaker
Yeah. yeah We're like, we're, we're just, we're just a split second away and that's a goal. So um yeah, I thought he played great. And I, and I think that that's just like a really important thing that like, he knows he can do that because there's going to be points in the rest of the season where he needs to be called upon something that like never came for a bear was like,
00:33:33
Speaker
he just was missing and missing and missing and missing. And right the stats the stats nerd, the like the deeply asthmatic stats nerds like myself were like, no, he's actually good because look at all the positions he's getting into. Right.
00:33:44
Speaker
But he was never putting him the net. Whereas like dan Danny is, or he's scored twice this year already. So like there's at least like a like, okay, this is something we can work with.
00:33:57
Speaker
Now, if he doesn't score for the rest of the year, that's something else. But I think where we're at now, it's really nice. I think the biggest thing for me is that I definitely think that that signing another striker for this team is a priority. It's something I would really like them to do in you know in the in the secondary window.
00:34:18
Speaker
But I think if you think we have to get an upgrade on Danny Mazovsky, we We just have to get more out of that backup forward spot, which I think is a totally valid thing to think, right?
00:34:30
Speaker
um eat You almost have to use that. You have to sign somebody who is like a veteran that you feel pretty confident you're going to get some some contributions out of.
00:34:42
Speaker
I think if you feel okay with what you're
Strategic Acquisitions & Season Outlook
00:34:44
Speaker
getting from Danny Mazovsky as the primary backup striker... you can maybe take a bigger swing and a bigger risk on a U22 type player, right? Because the track record of those players, as I think we've talked about on every episode of this show so far this season is spotty, right? Sometimes those guys come in and set the world on fire much, much, much, much more often. They do absolutely nothing their first year.
00:35:06
Speaker
and And so, but those are the, I mean, those are the guys that are exciting. They have the potential. And so I would love to sign a U22 striker. I think that would be a great use of the mechanism. a great use of the resources, really good way to to maximize you know your potential future transfer return, all that good stuff.
00:35:22
Speaker
But I don't think you can use that signing on a player that you feel like you have to get an immediate contribution from. And so I think if if you if you can get to spot where you feel more comfortable with Danny Maslowski getting you know the lion's share of backup minutes at Stryker, that gives you a lot more options with what you can do in the summer window.
00:35:45
Speaker
Yeah, i agree. I think, um or in the next week, because we have until next Wednesday. That's true. I don't recommend anybody holding their breath. Yeah. i Yeah, i think that, like,
00:35:59
Speaker
ah Craig Weibel kind of alluded to this when when he did his media availability after the Ryan Kent signing, was, like, hey, it is like extremely difficult to sign under-22 striker from, let's say, South America that has large upside because those players, A, don't grow on trees, and B, are usually going in like the double like like tens of millions of dollars.
00:36:30
Speaker
So it's going to be, I think, tough to find that player, but I think if...
00:36:39
Speaker
if this kind of like let's say sh If these two strikers can work out until the summer, it gives them that opportunity to find a guy that they can be like, hey, here's the right price point.
00:36:51
Speaker
here's kind of He's at the right point in in his career, and he's got the upside that we're looking for that maybe in two or three seasons can kind of take over for Jordan Morris. so yeah um Yeah, i I do want to see them swing for the fences.
00:37:04
Speaker
i think the I think the annoying thing about the Leo Chu signing was it was like kind of a safe U-22 signing, and that just kind of sucked all around.
00:37:17
Speaker
and i don't want to do And I don't want to do the Leo chu striker electric bugleow thing. You know, I want to, I want to find a guy that is exciting. Maybe he sucks, you know, but that's okay.
00:37:30
Speaker
I, I think the, what you hope for with signing the U22 striker is you hope to sign John Duran, right? You hope to sign that kind of player who yeah has promised, but is too raw to really have a lot of buzz at top leagues.
00:37:43
Speaker
And then you strike gold and you sell them for a huge payday. And then you get another huge payday with a sell on fee. that's the, I think a great outcome, right? That is, that's, that's what you want because you want that mechanism to make you money. You also want to, you know, get a contribution from the guy, but ultimately I think this is a income generating mechanism.
00:38:03
Speaker
Uh, and, and, but you have to take a big risk to do that. And if you feel like we need this guy to contribute, you can't take that big risk. So I'm totally with you there. um Well, think that's a good place to call it.
00:38:16
Speaker
um We are going to be back with some power rankings. You're listening to Nos Audietes.
00:38:25
Speaker
Welcome back to Nos Audietes. ah Mark, let's do some power rankings. I think our topic for the week is why we think this thing is going to turn around. It's a nice little counterpoint to...
00:38:36
Speaker
last week. um You know, why why are things going so bad? Now we've got a win under our belts. So let's talk about some reasons we're optimistic. And the first one i think is ah pretty obvious one, but um ah we've seen it work a lot before. A good defense gets you really far in MLS.
00:38:55
Speaker
Yeah, and I think like ah we've talked a lot about how the Sounders have made some really stupid mistakes this season, but they, at their like core, they are a good defense.
00:39:07
Speaker
um There's still maybe some question marks about potentially some players have kind of fallen off a cliff, but we don't know that yet. It's April. um And I think that like last season,
00:39:23
Speaker
it was everybody was kind of waiting for the Sounders to kind of like break sort like it to use like kind of a horse racing analogy, like come around the final turn and then just kind of like take off towards the finish line.
00:39:35
Speaker
They never really did that, but they did get to the Western conference final at the same time. So it's kind of like, well, if they can be just like a little bit better offensively this year and build on that, like really elite defense that they have,
00:39:52
Speaker
hey, let's let's see where this thing goes. And yeah, things haven't really clicked in terms of the attack outside of like, let's say one game this year. But the defense has made some stupid mistakes, but if they eliminate those, there'll be a really good defense. And ah like a good defense takes you really far in MLS. Like that's how that's how the Red Bulls got to the final was like,
00:40:15
Speaker
They were a really good defensive team. They a couple of lucky breaks here and there. And and yeah, I think with the Sounders, we're we're now five or six years into like having one of the league's best defenses. So I don't see that changing anytime soon.
00:40:30
Speaker
Yeah, I'm with you, man. I think that um it can be kind of frustrating... the and it's, it frustrates me as well. Um, but the Sounders definitely have an approach of giving themselves the highest floor possible.
00:40:42
Speaker
And a big part of that is, is making sure your defensive house is in order. And, and I think, you know, it's, it's not maybe the most exciting approach in the world all the time, but I think it's hard to argue with the consistency and the results the Sounders have had, you know, over the years. And, uh,
00:40:59
Speaker
I do think, too, that if you know that that part of your game is going to be under control consistently year to year, it gives you a lot more flexibility to you know experiment with things in the attack and maybe take some bigger swings on players from time to time.
00:41:15
Speaker
um So, yeah, I'm with you. I think that's a good reason for optimism. Next one up, the Western Conference is really shitty.
00:41:23
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know if... it's It's hard to watch a lot of MLS now because of how Apple TV has kind of changed the schedule because when the Sounders are on, that's when pretty much the rest of the Western Conference is on.
00:41:36
Speaker
so Yeah. And i don't into I don't expect fans to be like, oh, I'm going to go rewatch five or six games from over the weekend. but Yeah. Look at the kind of standings of the Western Conference.
00:41:48
Speaker
Vancouver is in first and Minnesota United is in second. Personally, and I said this last week, I think Vancouver might be the best team in the world. so there They're really good at them.
00:41:59
Speaker
That's something to kind of like wrap your head around, like the little brother is finally like taller than you type of thing. um But like Minnesota United is not... good.
00:42:10
Speaker
They are efficient at getting results, but yeah that's not good. And then an expansion team is in third. so All of your kind of like heavy hitters in the Western Conference, LAFC, us, Seattle, the Galaxy, even even kind of let's let's say that the rung below that with like Salt Lake and in maybe you can throw FC Dallas into that category too.
00:42:38
Speaker
they're having they're that We're all having bad starts. And and ay I am of the opinion that some of the the bigger heavy hitters like lafc have deeper and more obvious flaws than the sounders um lafc do i think have two open d dp spots for the summer so that's something to keep in keep in mind but yeah they they like they choked again in conca calf this past week they are like
00:43:13
Speaker
one crazy Gareth Bale goal away from just being that's the type of franchise they are. So yeah i just don't, and and they choked against us in the playoffs last year. So I'm not entirely worried about the Western conference that if the Sounders can kind of get their, their own house in order, they can put run of games together and kind of by the end of the season, find themselves not only in kind of that home playoff hosting,
00:43:40
Speaker
position, but potentially like higher. I don't know. i don't really know how the supporter shield stuff is like going to shake out this season. It's just really weird. Plus the Sounders do, unfortunately, you have to deal with the Club World Cup.
00:43:55
Speaker
um yeah Those are literally games they have to play that other teams don't. So yeah i don't I don't know. like they They're 10 points back right now in the Supporter Shield standing. So that's not an incredible amount of points in MLS. It's probably too much.
00:44:10
Speaker
And they're just... Jeremiah and I kind of talked about this last week. They're not really the type of club to... want or try to win the supporter shield, but I think they could find themselves in a situation where like through league play, they find themselves qualified for CONCACAF again. That's for sure.
00:44:27
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I, I think, I think Vancouver is for real. I think there's a lot of skepticism about that, but I talk sports with a decent number of white caps supporters who have been white cap supporters for as long as as the team has been an MLS And they've had these hot starts before and they have all to a person said, this is a different team.
00:44:48
Speaker
This is fundamentally different soccer that they're playing. ah And so I think they have a legit shot at at winning the shield, which you know what? I'm happy for a man. they've They've put up with a lot of shit over the years. So Godspeed to the caps.
00:45:02
Speaker
and And I don't think we're catching them, but I don't, I don't think a top three finishes anywhere near out of the question. um i just, I think this team is good and, You know, they do this at the beginning of the season. i wish they didn't do it, but they, you know, they do.
00:45:21
Speaker
And it's just kind of our lot in life.
00:45:25
Speaker
So, yeah, I do think I do think LFC has some real problems. The Galaxy are dead and not coming back anytime soon. um RSL is, I think, you know, it's funny to say this about teams that are ahead of the sounders in the table, but I just like.
00:45:40
Speaker
i
Impact of Key Players & Schmetzer's Influence
00:45:41
Speaker
I can explain why the Sounders have struggled and ways that, and we're doing it right now, right? That give me optimism. They'll be able to turn it around in ways that I can't really do that for LAFC or Salt Lake.
00:45:53
Speaker
ah Next one up. Pedro De La Vega seems like the one. Yeah. I mean, I think he, we kind of, we spent the last segment talking about, how well he played in a game that in general the Sounders didn't play very well in.
00:46:07
Speaker
But I think he's quietly putting together like an early season resume of being like an extremely good signing. and yeah that the question obviously is the injuries and you just have to see what time does with that because you don't just like – figure that out right away, but you can really, you see his quality. Like he struggled last season for sure. um Not just with injuries, but I think like in terms of play this season, completely different. I think if we saw, if the Sounders signed him in January and this is a new player we got, and I'm not going to do the, like a new signing thing, but he is, he is an extremely good soccer player and he is,
00:46:58
Speaker
He is the thing that this whole thing and was missing last season. And there are some better players around him in addition to that. So I think that there there are blessings in kind of getting knocked out of CONCACAF. There are blessings in not having the Open Cup later in the season.
00:47:17
Speaker
I don't know what this Leagues Cup thing is, but I'm just going to pretend it doesn't exist because that's what I've done with Leagues Cup the entire time. It's the right call, I think. And then you kind of set aside Club World Cup and you and you and you're in this kind of cadence where the Sounders are playing once a week, once a week, once a week, maybe a few midweek games here and there where they need to rotate.
00:47:37
Speaker
And I think he can find a rhythm and he can kind of be a, like, let's say 15 to 20 rule contribution type player for the rest of the season. In addition to Russ Neck already being that and Jordan Morris already being that.
00:47:54
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I think when I think of what the, you know, what the best version of Pedro de la Vega looks like, and you kind of alluded to this in in the last segment, it is Nico Ladero without the stuff that made Nico Ladero kind of a pain in the ass sometimes, right?
00:48:14
Speaker
Especially towards the end of Nico's run where they do a lot of things similarly. and They're very high energy players. They move off the ball. They they thrive in kind of a freer, role but niko demanded the ball in a way that Pedro doesn't seem to demand the ball.
00:48:30
Speaker
um And when Nico was feeling it, that wasn't really a huge problem. But when he wasn't, or when the Sounders didn't have him, it was a big problem because the entire thing just kind of became, we'll just give the ball to Nico let him figure it out.
00:48:50
Speaker
And I just don't get the sense that that Pedro is that kind of player. But he has that same level of energy. He likes to run. he likes to move off the ball. And he just likes to cause problems. And and I don't think they're necessarily similar players.
00:49:05
Speaker
Like Pedro is more of a dribbler than Nico was. um He's less faster too. he's He's faster. i think he's less of a... Nico was really, i think, more of a creator than Pedro.
00:49:19
Speaker
and pedro ah ah pedro is i think Pedro wants to create chances for himself. um which is not a criticism. I love a guy that will take somebody on and try to make something happen.
00:49:31
Speaker
So i'm not I'm not saying that they are like identical types of players, but I think in terms of the impact they can have, ah that's that's kind of what I look at as the the best best potential outcome for Pedro. Best plausible potential outcome.
00:49:44
Speaker
Two more. The next one, for me, I think is the one that gives me the most optimism, although maybe it's not the most important.
00:49:56
Speaker
ah Brian Schmetzer tends to figure it out. Yeah, I think like he just does this kind of thing. And I don't know...
00:50:08
Speaker
It's obvious. It's certainly not by design. I think, and he's not a, uh, insane person. He's not like giving the rest of the league a headstart type of thing.
00:50:21
Speaker
Um, but I like until he doesn't do this and that probably comes when he finally retires, whenever that is.
00:50:32
Speaker
but, This is just, I think, going kind of be how things go. And i'm I'm totally okay with it. I've made my piece a long time ago.
00:50:43
Speaker
um I've accepted that a game in April, and MLS game in April or March, like fundamentally doesn't matter in the same way as it does in September March.
00:50:59
Speaker
Yeah, September, let's say. So I'm i'm kind of okay if if he's taking risks to kind of figure out what he needs to do with the roster so that when the games do actually matter, they matter, you know, and they they're on the winning side of of that because that's typically what tends to happen.
00:51:17
Speaker
That is not a criticism of the Sounders. That is not a criticism of the coaching staff. that's not a critic that's The league has done this on purpose. so yeah Like MLS has decided they are a league that crowns its champion via playoffs.
00:51:36
Speaker
And when you do that, you inherently devalue early season games. It's just how it works. And until that changes, which it never will, this is what's going to happen.
00:51:47
Speaker
and And especially when they start putting funny business in the middle of the season, like the thing that I just said I'm going to ignore in Leaks Cup, yeah game Games until September don't really matter.
00:51:58
Speaker
Sure. like I
Long-term Success & Strategic Planning
00:51:59
Speaker
would love for the Sounders to win another supporter shield, but that's more kind of like luck of the draw and just kind of being around for it to matter. like I'm sure being a Columbus Crew supporter right now the last few years has been fun and interesting. Same with FC Cincinnati.
00:52:17
Speaker
Those are teams built to win the supporter shield, and they come up short. in the playoffs. Right. the the the Like there's not a team that can do both.
00:52:29
Speaker
um And maybe Miami is going to be different because well, and they, they won the supporter shield last year and and lost in the playoffs. So, yeah. And they have quite literally the best player to ever play the game ever.
00:52:40
Speaker
So until that changes, I'm fine with, Spencer's taking the first two months of the season, feeling out his roster, feeling out his best selection, getting some bad beats here and there and just being fine at the end of the season.
00:52:57
Speaker
Find the good. Right. And i'm I'm definitely sympathetic to the position that I pay for season tickets or I pay for, you know, ah Apple TV Plus or or whatever it is. I guess you don't have to pay for Apple TV Plus, but I pay for the MLS package and it sucks to feel like half the season is a waste.
00:53:17
Speaker
um And so I think that's a fair criticism, right? I think I am tired of feeling like the season doesn't start until half of the games I've paid for have already come and gone. But I do think there's a distinction between that
00:53:31
Speaker
And the team has to prioritize the supporters shield. And I know a lot of people say, well, you know, the most fun season in Sounders history year is 2014. I don't personally agree with that, but it's a personal subjective thing. So I think that's totally valid.
00:53:47
Speaker
I don't think it was winning the shield necessarily that made that such a fun season. i think it was having Clint Dempsey and... Obafemi Martins on the same team and winning a double and also winning the first league trophy the team had ever won. And you just can't recreate that.
00:54:04
Speaker
Right. like what the sound That season also happened to be the most heartbreaking because of the Galaxy knocking the Sounders out of the playoffs off of like the one of the most insane goals you'll see in MLS. So, yeah, it's six of one, you know.
00:54:20
Speaker
Yeah, it is. It is. Yeah. Last one. And I think that that even though the Brian Schmetzer figuring it out thing is, I think the one that makes me most optimistic that the Sounders will ultimately be fine.
00:54:31
Speaker
I think this is the most important and it's getting healthier. Yeah, I think you know the Sounders just had a really gritty win against FC Dallas in a match that Pedro De La Vega only played one half of.
00:54:45
Speaker
And Albert Rusnak and Jordan Morris didn't play at all for different reasons. So... um that It's just that kind of thing where like if the Sounders can have a healthier roster than not, they're going to perform really well because the way that this particular roster is constructed is to, like you said, have that very high floor.
00:55:12
Speaker
That's not the sexiest thing in the world. um And i i I understand kind of like the criticisms and the annoyance that comes with that. yeah,
00:55:25
Speaker
the players already on the roster are getting healthier. Ryan Kent is an addition to this team as kind of a, a wild card. um And I just think that like it
00:55:38
Speaker
I'm going to say something that kind of contradicts something I said last week, and i i I will wear my contradictions on my sleeve. But like this is the benefit of having keeping the band together for another season, where it's like, these guys are going to get healthier. They're going to be able to like gel quicker and be able to do the thing. Hopefully.
00:56:02
Speaker
Um, that, that, that's the reason why you do this kind of roster construction instead of blowing it up and signing seven new players. So, um, it's, it's one win. I understand that.
00:56:13
Speaker
I'm, I, I get the kind of like literally one week ago, Jeremiah and I were kind of, doomsdayers a little bit but it it like that's how quickly things in MLS can change it really it really is like Vancouver could lose their next two games and that's that could just be it you know what i mean so that's how quickly things can change yeah Yeah. I mean, the Sounders win their next two, Vancouver loses their next two and the Sounders are four points behind them.
00:56:45
Speaker
You know, it it it can change that quickly. ah And yeah, I definitely think that you got to knock on wood whenever you're talking about health, right?
00:56:56
Speaker
um Apparently Jordan was training off to the side again today. Doesn't sound like too much of a cause for concern, but it's always a fragile balance with any of this stuff. But yeah, eventually guys are going to get healthy and and back to full strength.
00:57:10
Speaker
And, you know, I think that the next the next let's call it six weeks of games are going to be pretty critical, I think, to determining what kind of season this is is going to be, um you know, really through the Portland game.
00:57:26
Speaker
in mid-May, there's some winnable games here, and the Sounders just have to go out and win them. you know They've got Nashville at home this Saturday. and That's a game I think that they should feel like.
00:57:39
Speaker
It's not a must-win, but they should feel like they've got to win that game, if that makes sense, if if you understand the distinction. So, ah yeah, it's you know what's what's the major league streak? If you win two, that's you know that's a start, and then you win three, that's a winning streak.
00:57:54
Speaker
It'd be nice to go on a little bit of a streak here. So let's hope they can do that. Yeah. And I think that like
00:58:03
Speaker
it, you don't need a lot of points in MLS. Like the the record amount of points is like what whatever Miami did last year. and that was like low seventies. yeah um That in kind of what's,
00:58:17
Speaker
apply that to kind of like any of the major European leagues, that's a team that's a team that's like qualifying for Europa League in most leagues. like For instance, like the Premier League, which is a very silly comparison, but it's just not a lot of points.
00:58:32
Speaker
so You find yourself in this situation as a fan where it's like, the Sounders got to win their next six games. They just got to do it. and That's just not true. Yeah. but right it's it's that It wasn't true last season and they almost got to the final. So it's like, ah well, okay, maybe maybe it's not necessarily true, but it's definitely true for the vibes.
00:58:53
Speaker
so And I'm somebody that thinks the vibes are incredibly important. That's what sports are for. like This is supposed to be fun. And if it's not fun, go do something else. yeah And so the
Upcoming Matches & Conclusion
00:59:05
Speaker
Sounders are in a situation where they have three extremely winnable games in their next three. Yep.
00:59:11
Speaker
to winning two of them is good. Like even if the third one is a loss and then you get into a stretch of three games where it's kind of a nightmare because they're all on the road. Um, and you just kind of see what you get out of those. Yeah. Yeah.
00:59:27
Speaker
One is on the road to Portland, though, so that's ah that's a guaranteed win, I think. um that's also That's true. to To underscore your your point, um Miami last season had 74 points from 34 games, the the standard for MLS.
00:59:44
Speaker
ah This season in Ligue 1, PSG has points from 28 games. seventy four points from twenty eight games so And they're like one of the best teams in the world. Like they're really, really good. Yes. Unfortunately they are markets. I think we both know all too well.
00:59:58
Speaker
Um, I think that's a good place to call it. Uh, Mark, thank you so much. It's always a pleasure when you're able to join us. Um, thanks for, uh, for listening. Thanks for subscribing. If you are a subscriber, uh, thanks for listening, even if you're not a subscriber. And of course, thank you to, uh,
01:00:15
Speaker
Fulpo Wines, our dear friends, Fulpo Wines, and our newest sponsor, BodySpec. This has been Nos Audietes. ah Jeremiah should be back next week, so you won't have to put up with as much as me, but ah thanks for listening. i am Aaron Campo, and we'll talk to you later.
01:00:55
Speaker
I expect an LAFC who is motivated ah to prove themselves at home, to prove to their fans that that they're capable of winning in this league. And it's up to us to really brew in the party.
01:01:09
Speaker
You guys like that? and a what Awkward joke, dad joke right there, huh?