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Nos Audietis, Episode 302: When things aren’t going your way
59 Plays6 years ago
Normally, you’d think coming out of a week in which the Sounders secured a point at LA we’d be feeling pretty good about things. Instead, I suspect that the lingering emotions over what is now a four-match winless run, coupled with Saturday’s 2-2 tie leave us not feeling so hot. That’s made even more acute by the way the circumstances surrounding that point, as the Sounders played up a man for 85+ minutes and needed an own-goal to even secure that point.
This is all leading up to what could turn out to be a season-defining match at Portland on Friday. We talk about all those things as well as take tons of your questions.
This week's music: Perry Como - "Seattle", "RVIVR - "Ocean Song", Woody Guthrie - "Roll On Columbia", "Your Journey Begins" - OurMusicBox (Jay Man) (CC BY 4.0)
Thanks to James Woollard, Sounders Public Address Announcer, for doing our sponsor reads. You can follow him on Twitter at @BritVoxUS - if you’re looking for a British Voice to advertise your business or non-profit, please reach out to him.
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsor Highlight
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of No Sadietes is sponsored by Full Pool Wines, a Seattle-based wine seller who recently released their first book, 36 Bottles of Wine. The ethos of the book, a highly curated look at wine categories that provide exceptional value right now, should be familiar to full pool readers. But there's loads of fresh content, and since it's not trying to sell any wine through the book, there's a bit more of a sass factor.
00:00:21
Speaker
And there's food, lots of it. Fulpel's unique writing style is applied to recipes like leftover Thanksgiving turkey, schmaltz-a-ball soup, and pregnancy nachos. This book can be purchased through Sasquatch Books. Hey, this is Christian Roldan. And Jordan Morris from the Seattle Sounders Football Club. And you're listening to... There's no study at this. Fuck! Hey, Ocean! Let's go! Morris runs right by him and sticks in and slots in him for a bowl. Fantastic for Jordan Morris.
00:00:55
Speaker
Here's Morris! Morris! I'm back in the net! What do the tigers dream of? They take a little tigers. The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle. And the hills, the greenest green in Seattle.
Seattle Sounders Recent Performance Analysis
00:01:27
Speaker
Welcome to another edition of Noose Ariatess, sponsored by Vocal Wines. This is episode 302, and we're recording on Wednesday, August 21st, 2019. I'm your host, Jeremiah Shan. As usual, I'm Joe, my co-host, Aaron Campo, and our engineer, Lickett.
00:01:42
Speaker
Normally, you'd think coming out of a week in which the Sounders secured a point in LA, we'd be feeling pretty good about things. Instead, I suspect that the lingering emotions over what is now a four-match winless run, coupled with Saturday's 2-2 tie, leave us not feeling so hot. That's made even more acute by the way the circumstances surrounding that point, as the Sounders played up a man for
00:02:01
Speaker
almost 90 minutes and needed an own goal to even secure that point. This is all leading up to what could turn out to be the season defining match at Portland on Friday. Aaron, how would you describe your confidence level personally going into this game?
00:02:18
Speaker
Uh, not great. I think it's, it's pretty low. Um, the sounders are talented enough. And I think we saw this against the galaxy. They're talented enough to score goals just through almost sheer force of will. Um, yeah, yeah. They, you know, they're a very talented team, but they're not playing well. They're not playing well at all. Um, they seem utterly.
00:02:45
Speaker
I don't know if it seems like they don't know what to do, or if they don't think that what they're supposed to do is the right thing, or they don't trust each other, or they don't trust themselves, or some combination, which I guess is the most likely. It's just not clicking right now.
00:03:09
Speaker
In a vacuum. That's a decent result at, at, uh, whatever the hell they call that stadium now. Is it StubHub dignity? No, that's right. Dignity health park. Yeah. Um, that I don't know what dignity health is to be honest with you. It's a problem. Yeah. I'm assuming that's another, you know, HMO. Yeah. Um, I still, I still call it there. I had half the time. You call it what?
00:03:36
Speaker
Home Depot Center in my head half the time. It hasn't been there for like 10 years. Hello human kindness is their catchphrase. Oh boy, I bet, I bet. That's a great experience. Anyway, yeah, I mean, in a vacuum, that's a good result.
00:03:52
Speaker
But, you know, we both watch the game. There's no sense in beating around the bush. Like, they just weren't very good. And, you know, it feels like something they can snap out of. Like, it doesn't feel hopeless, necessarily.
Sounders' Defense and Strategic Challenges
00:04:09
Speaker
No, I don't.
00:04:10
Speaker
There are a lot of people, I think, that are convinced that this is the way it's going to be the rest of the season. This is just the true level of the team. And I don't think that that's true, but they haven't been good for a long time. So it's reasonable to be concerned, I think, for sure.
00:04:31
Speaker
all about this, but this is this, this like four game stretch, the six game stretch, if you want to say, go back that far, is different than some of their other slumps that they've gone in. And in some of those other slumps, I think you could say that they were unwatchable in part because you just didn't think they were capable of scoring. And, you know, in the last four games where they're winless, they've got
00:05:01
Speaker
They've got six goals or seven goals, um, which isn't a great stat, but if you're scoring seven goals every four games, you're expecting to win a fair amount, like more than a fair, I mean, you're, you're, you're scoring plenty to win games. Like, I don't think it's that they're incapable of, of being competitive. The defense clearly has them sorting out to do. They've also given up three penalties in that time.
00:05:27
Speaker
I don't know that any of the, and I think what's frustrating about all three of those penalties is you can argue that they were maybe all the right call, but none of them were a result of just getting beaten. Like they were flukey, they were dumb, they were all kinds of things, but none of them were like a guy being pulled down on his way to the goal or a handball denying a clear goal scoring opportunity. Last ditch tackle because of the defense again. Yeah.
00:05:57
Speaker
Right. And so I think that there's reason for hope in that I really do think that it's just a play here or a play there. And all of a sudden, the results are very different. Although I'll put this to you if, you know, the Sounders had three really good looks at a winner against LA. If they win that game,
00:06:19
Speaker
all things being the same other than Louis Silva scores a winner in the 92nd minute. Do you feel much better or is it is it still like they're just not playing well and that's ultimately I mean because that's I think where I am is that even if they win that game they're still not playing well.
00:06:37
Speaker
Right, I feel better in the sense that I feel like a lot of what this comes down to is a lack of confidence and winning ugly once or twice might be what they need to keep to get some confidence back. That's kind of what happened last year, right? Yeah, like I think the Portland result just kind of broke their brains a little bit. And
00:06:57
Speaker
they just don't seem especially sure of themselves. And I think that if they can grind out a result or two, because a lot of that winning streak last year was not playing great, but grinding out results. And then towards the end, you could see it sort of come through in their competence and they did start blowing teams away.
00:07:17
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think that I feel better that they were able to do what they needed to do to grind out a result without brain farting it away for once. But, but I don't think it fundamentally changes anything. Like you still have to see them followed up with a strong performance before you start to get too excited. Yeah. And I think that is the thing is that if you need, if you want to get, if the season really needs to turn around, it starts with a result or two.
00:07:46
Speaker
But for it to really turn around, it needs to be concerted, better play. And I guess the question right now is, do you feel like the centers have the personnel to potentially do that?
00:08:00
Speaker
I think that the Sounders have a good team with a lot of talent. Holistically, I think that there are some pretty serious problems. I think the center back pairing is a problem just because they're two players whose skill sets are not complementary, largely because they're very similar. So I think that's a problem. Left back right now is kind of a mess. Which is crazy to say, right? Very crazy, right? Like the two positions that should have been the least concern
00:08:28
Speaker
have have turned into I think two of the biggest concerns. I think we knew who has actually been playing really well. And and frankly has been playing better than Jovan Jones has been playing even in the attack, which is shocking, I think I don't think anybody would have predicted that. But
00:08:47
Speaker
There's something else going on with new and I don't really want to speculate but I mean I think it's pretty obvious that he is not in good graces so so that's a problem Brad Smith is still heard I think everybody would agree he's, you know, the best guy to start well not everybody, most people would agree that he's the best, the best guy to start but he hasn't been healthy for a while.
00:09:06
Speaker
Um, and Jovan Jones has just been a nightmare. Um, so there, there are concerns, um, the defensive midfield that I still have some serious concerns with, they've looked really, really bad the past month or so. Um, but at the same time, you know, they do have Jordan Morris who's having what I think is fair to call a breakthrough season at this point. Um, Raul Rui Diodes still one of the best strikers in the league. Nico Ledero still one of the best creators in the league. Um, you know, Christian Roldan is a, is a great, great young player. Like they, they have.
00:09:35
Speaker
plenty of talent, but they don't necessarily have the talent that they need to play the way they want to play all the time, or at least the players that
00:09:46
Speaker
If they're going to play the way that they want to play, they've got some players that are going to have to step it up. So I think that they're talented enough to make the playoffs and maybe make some noise in the playoffs. But there are some big problems with the way this roster is set up right now. And a lot of those, I don't think you can necessarily blame on anyone, but it's the reality. Yeah, I think if you had told me in May that we'd be talking about left back and center back being a problem,
00:10:17
Speaker
and think you were crazy. Back in May, it looked like two of the deepest positions they had. Now, they lost two center backs since then. And Jovan Jones has not been nearly the signing that we, I think, hoped that he was going to be. And Brad Smith getting hurt for a lot of this time, obviously, is a problem. And New Who, I think, is about where we would have expected, like all things considered.
00:10:46
Speaker
a sometimes elite level defender, who is not necessarily great going forward, but is, you know, acquitting himself fine, I think in that phase of the game. And frankly, if you're relying on your left back to be like a fulcrum of your offense, that's probably problematic anyway. So like you should be able to afford to not have
00:11:10
Speaker
I suppose the problem is that the senators kind of started to build their offense around having an elite level attacking left back. But on the other side, Kelvin Lierdom has also been kind of a frustrating figure. I guess he might be dealing with an injury.
00:11:27
Speaker
I think one of the stark things that we've seen certainly this last week was none of the full backs are nearly as involved in the attack as they probably need to be. And I think that kind of gets into the confidence issue where if they aren't feeling like they can attack with abandon because they don't want to leave the center backs exposed, it just ends up creating more problems, I suppose. Yeah.
00:11:57
Speaker
Everyone, I think, and I'm as guilty of this as anyone else, everyone has their pet caused for what the issues are. But I think a lot of it does come back to completely having to redo their center back pairing multiple times this season.
00:12:16
Speaker
and just having things looking so good when Brad Smith was on and then having to sort of change things on the fly when he wasn't available. It's just there are holistic issues.
Tactics and Formation Debate
00:12:29
Speaker
Losing Victor Rodriguez has been a huge blow, which seems obvious, but I feel like it gets overlooked. I think that we both really like Harry Shipp and he's
00:12:41
Speaker
somebody that you're happy to have as a rotational player, but when he's one of your starters in an attacking position, that's below average for the teams that you're hoping to compete with. And that's a big problem. So it's just kind of a holistic thing. And I think that confidence is a big part of it, but they've also got to figure out how to get the most out of the players that they do have. And I'm not convinced the way that they've been approaching games is the right way to do that.
00:13:10
Speaker
So let's get into that. In terms of the way the Sounders are approaching games, I know you have some thoughts about this. What are you most frustrated by? I think the biggest thing for me is I think there's an overemphasis placed on possession. It's a tactic that we've seen the Sounders use in the past to a great effect, where they just kind of wear teams out with possession.
00:13:35
Speaker
and kind of create chances from that. The 2014 and 2015 teams, when the 2015 team
00:13:42
Speaker
Um, aside from, you know, the, the end of the season when they lost so many players early in the season, that's what they did to teams is they just wore them down, just ground them down with possession and then kind of blew them away at the end. The seam doesn't have that same makeup and, and that doesn't even necessarily mean that they're, they're worse. Cause I don't know that they're less talented than the 2014 or 2015 teams were even relative to the rest of NLS. They just don't, I mean, they don't have Gonzalo Pineda playing in the midfield.
00:14:10
Speaker
they have Christian Woban and Gustav Svensson, who are both great players. But I don't think either one of them, you can say, are like metronomic, classic center midfielders. They both have some shortcomings in their distribution. Svensson's a great long passer of the wall, but
00:14:31
Speaker
He's not going to make a ton of incisive forward passes on the ground. He's more of a safe option, and that's fine. I mean, you've got to have players like that on your team. Christian Robon is not a great passer. He has pretty good vision, and he can make forward passes, but he's not a guy that is going to be tremendous at keeping possession. Nico Ledero is very good at it, but where he's being played, he needs to be the guy pulling the strings and helping to unlock the defense.
00:15:01
Speaker
Um, and so how good he is in possession is kind of irrelevant if he's, if he's passing backwards a lot of the time. So I just, I don't know that they really have the team for it, but they do have the team suppress to try to create chances out of, out of transition.
00:15:17
Speaker
Um, I think Nico is great at that. I think that he, you know, he, he loves to press, he loves to run. Um, and he, you know, he's really good at picking passes in transition. Um, Jordan obviously is a, is super threatening when he gets him behind defenses. Raul is not as fast as Jordan, obviously, but you know, he's great in tight spaces with keepers. So if he gets a one-on-one, you know, you feel pretty confident that he's going to be able to finish. And he's great when he's got defenses, when he's running at defenses.
00:15:46
Speaker
Yeah, I mean he knows how to take defenders on and create space for himself. He's not the direct loft balls over the top kind of threat that Jordan is, but if you can get him in space and transition, he's super dangerous.
00:16:03
Speaker
I mean, you look at the red card that he drew against LA and that's like a perfect example where he doesn't have to be blazing past guys. There's a lot more situations where it's not just about flat out speed. It's about outmaneuvering and it's about, you know, putting defenders in bad situations like he did there. And, you know, like that's part of why I was so reluctant to say the galaxy gifted the Sounders anything because the red card, the Sounders earned.
00:16:32
Speaker
You know, if stairs doesn't drag down, he's in on goal, probably scores there. And similarly, if David Bingham doesn't come way off his line and he's being pressured by, by Jordan Morris, he doesn't have to head that ball. And if he doesn't have to head the ball, he probably doesn't, he doesn't hit it off his defender's head as comical as it was. It was a, it was a forced error.
00:16:56
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, I, you know, that goal was exciting to me because it was the Sounders doing what I think they're really good at and, and forcing the galaxy into a bad situation. Um, most own goals are not the result of just the defense doing something stupid. They're, you know, they're, they're put into a bad situation. I think that that definitely, it was very funny, but I mean, I think, you know, it was.
00:17:22
Speaker
there weren't any good options for Bingham in that situation. And you want to force more situations like that. So I don't think the sounders need to be the timbers, right? Like I don't think that they need to seed possession completely and just look to do everything on the counter. But I think that they need to base at least some of their tactical plan off of building those opportunities. And then, you know, if you get a lead,
00:17:48
Speaker
then you can play possession and wear teams out that way. But I mean, the RSL game, I think, was a great example where they're losing on the road against the team that looked shaky defensively in transition. And they would get these opportunities to break and just slow everything down and let the defense get sad and pass a ball around for two minutes, cross to no one. And then RSL gets the ball back.
00:18:18
Speaker
It's just super frustrating to watch. When teams don't need to have the ball, they don't care if you keep possession. When they know that you're not going to be able to threaten from a possession situation when your defense is set, they're going to let you have the ball all day long.
00:18:38
Speaker
you know, the Sounders have got to make teams, for that possession style to work, they have to make it so that teams want the ball back. So that they're taking chances that you can, you know, take advantage of, take advantage of aggression. And right now that the other teams just aren't doing that, they're more than happy to let the Sounders bounce the ball around. And, you know, I think we've kind of seen why.
00:18:59
Speaker
Right. The sounders just aren't creating a lot from possession. They're not creating a lot from, you know, I've seen it referenced a lot, the horseshoe of death, where they kind of work the ball.
00:19:13
Speaker
down one of the wings and then they just kind of work it back to the other wing and cycle it back and forth. And, you know, I don't think that's inherently problematic that they aren't generating a lot of offense from that. I don't know that they're necessarily even looking to generate offense from that, but they can allow themselves to repeatedly get into those situations, especially when they're chasing the game.
00:19:35
Speaker
And so hopefully they're getting it through. I think that they're discovering that Jordan Morris is turning into an elite level attacker, especially when you let him run. He's putting in crosses that I don't think we ever saw as part of his game.
00:19:53
Speaker
You know, his left foot is a is an asset now, which is crazy. It's crazy. It is funny to think like how much stick he took for having no left foot and how that's not even a thing people are talking about anymore. And yet we don't want to there seems to be this not this desire not to acknowledge this immense improvement that he's made with his left foot. And it's good to see, though. I mean, I've enjoyed watching him
00:20:20
Speaker
you know, turn into this player. And if there's one reason for hope, it's that if they can get everyone else kind of playing at their normal level, he might be like a difference maker. And, you know, not having Victor Rodriguez is a huge problem. I think a lot of what they had planned for this year was based on having Rodriguez, certainly a lot more than they have had him. But Harry Ship is having almost a career year
00:20:50
Speaker
And that's like on a per minute basis. And here the centers are struggling in spite of that is very frustrating. I don't know what to make of this. I do think that the line between them being a bad team, which they are right now and maybe not elite, but very good team is not that small.
00:21:16
Speaker
But they got to figure things out, I think, especially defensively. I've been reluctant to call Christian Roldon out too much on this, but I think that he's one of the players who has a lot of room for improvement in terms of his aggressiveness, in terms of his ability to really be a change maker on this team. I think it's time for him to shoulder some of the burden
00:21:42
Speaker
and to be a player, a difference maker for the Sounders. And I guess that's what gives me hope is that there are players here who can step up their game. It's not like they're just, they have bad, it's not like they just have bad players. But that's probably a good place to call this a segment. We have a really long question and answer segment after this. And we'll answer a lot of all kinds of your questions.
00:22:10
Speaker
You're listening to Nos Adieres. Full Paul wines are based in Seattle owned and operated by Sanders fans and have been sponsoring Nos Adieres since 2011. They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest. Their model is simple. One, they email compelling offers.
00:22:35
Speaker
Two, you request bottles that sound appealing. And three, your wine arrives at their soda warehouse and is ready for pickup or shipping. Their soda tasting room is also open to the public. If you're interested in joining their mailing list or learning more about them, visit fullpaulwines.com. Welcome back to Nos Arietes. We have questions. We hope to have answers. And I'll let Mr. Lickit just take it away.
00:23:04
Speaker
Yes, let's can do it. And he asks, can you do it? Can can you quantify morale? What do you think is his impact on points per game? Huh, that's a that's an interesting way of thinking about it. I don't know that you can quantify it on a points per game basis. But this is what I'll say. A confident team wins a game like
00:23:35
Speaker
Saturday. I don't think, I don't think Wednesday's game against RSL is one that is necessarily a confidence issue. That's just not playing well. And although I don't know, I suppose that maybe they don't give up that third goal. I think it's probably easier to quantify in goals loud. And like, I think they probably don't allow that, that third goal. If it's a confident team, I don't think they allow the second goal.
00:24:04
Speaker
They might not, I think they probably win that game 3-0 if this is a confident team on Saturday. Let's see, going back to New England, I think they probably win the New England game. They probably score another goal in that game.
00:24:20
Speaker
They probably score another goal against sporting Kansas city. So you get a tie there. Like, I mean, I could see, like, that's what's, I think so frustrating about this current run of four games. Winless is that you can see the result. Like, I mean, I would say, I would think two, one, and one would be a perfectly reasonable, like, like the margins between oh two and two and two one and one is really small.
00:24:45
Speaker
Yeah, it's almost like the opposite. I think of last season during the winning streak where there were plenty of games where the Sounders didn't play great, but I think that they were so confident in themselves that they took chances and were able to win games. They probably shouldn't have. And it feels like the opposite of that now, like where.
00:25:03
Speaker
They're not playing great, but there are games that are there for the taking and they're just not capitalizing. And I think that they're, you know, their lack of competence and just sort of general malaise that seems to be kind of casting up all over the whole team is, uh, is probably responsible for a lot of that. Okay. Motley 69 asks, is there a better formation for the group of current group of players than the four, two, three, one?
00:25:33
Speaker
I feel like, you know, I think we kind of talked about this in the sounder heart slack last week, maybe. And I think that you can make an argument that maybe they should be playing like something like a diamond or maybe there's a case for for them to play it. I don't like the diamond in general. I think it tends to be pretty boring to watch. But, you know, right now they don't they're getting all their width from their full backs anyway, for the most part.
00:26:02
Speaker
And, you know, a diamond allows you to maybe shield the defense a little bit more. Um, it allows you to play more high and in the middle so that, you know, when he gets in behind the defense, he doesn't have to cut inside. He's already sort of in a goal scoring position. Um, but I don't, you know, that feels like shuffling deck chairs to me. I mean, I think you can make a case that, that maybe it wouldn't make sense to do that tactically, but I don't think that the formation is a problem with this team right now.
00:26:32
Speaker
Yeah, I would echo a lot of that. I think that. I wouldn't mind them like I thought they looked really good against. I guess it was New England when they're in the in the diamond and I think that they probably could play in the diamond well, but I'm having a hard time believing that the difference between this team. Turning around their season is using the same personnel in different formation.
00:26:57
Speaker
Along the way, I do think like the one thing I was encouraged by against RSL was like I was glad to see them use what I think was conceptualized as a 3-5-2 and that's what Schmetzer said afterward was the idea behind that formation was to have the fullbacks be part of the midfield not really part of a back line and that never materialized in any way in the game so I can understand why it's being called a 5-3-2 but I think that that formation has some promise if you can
00:27:25
Speaker
you know, figure some things out. But I also think that's one of those ones where it might be the same personnel that they're already using. Like it might just be Gustav Svensson dropping back into the back field, essentially. And so I don't think formational changes are going to be what turns around this team. The team just has to kind of figure out how to believe in itself again.
00:27:54
Speaker
True, true. All right. Twimberly23 asks, seeing Chris is in many places that we don't transition fast enough offensively to take advantage of an unset defense. This seems a strategic decision, as Brian stated. We only have Moors who can effectively play that way. Do you agree? Does fast transition necessitate fast players?
00:28:18
Speaker
I don't think, I think there's truth to that. They're not doing a good enough job of transitioning into the attack. That said, they have had quality transition moments, you know, just in the last three games, they've gotten something like three or four goals out of, or yeah, four goal, depending on how you count the, the, uh,
00:28:42
Speaker
the own goal, I would say you have at least four goals that have come from genuine transition moments, getting out on the break, that kind of thing. And so I think they can play that way. And I don't think that just because the only like out and out fast attacking player that they have is Morris means you can't. Again, I just think it has to do with confidence of willing to kind of just put those balls, like to just kind of go for it.
00:29:11
Speaker
I think that's largely true, but I do think that it's hard for me to believe that the team is not coached to some extent to value possession over sort of a higher risk approach.
00:29:28
Speaker
And I mean, I think that you can you see how dangerous that they can be in transition. And maybe Morris is the only guy on the team that's like an outright burner. But I don't think you have to have multiple guys that that can get in behind a defense to be effective as a counter-attacking team. I think Nico Ledero
00:29:47
Speaker
is actually really well suited to playing that kind of style because he likes to press defensively and he can get off really high quality passes pretty quickly. I just think that there's an emphasis being placed on possession that the sounders don't necessarily have the personnel to pull off right now. And it's frustrating to watch because you can see how effective they can be in transition. And I'd really like to see them
00:30:16
Speaker
lean a little bit more that way against Portland, especially given the way Portland likes to play but but we'll see. I do think that there is something to be said for for confidence being a factor, because I, you know, there have definitely been times where
00:30:32
Speaker
It seems like there's an opportunity for a counter and whoever ends up with the ball just doesn't look like they know what to do with it. So that certainly would help, but I do think that that it's playing that way is somewhat disincentivized as a tactical decision, which is a little bit of a head scratcher.
00:30:52
Speaker
Do you think it's more frustrating to watch as a fan because they are trying to keep control of it longer and it just ends up with nothing most of the time now, like recently?
00:31:04
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's my single biggest frustration watching this team right now because... It's like at a point where you just want them to just fast break because it's less annoying. I mean, once the defense is set, the odds of the Sounders creating anything are very slim. I mean, they'll occasionally get really good service onto a ball into the area and somebody's making a good run, but it's pretty rare. I mean, generally you kind of know how the possessions are going to go and so does the opposing team.
00:31:31
Speaker
It is definitely very frustrating to watch just cause you can see it coming a mile away, but. Okay. Class four asks, could we get a better defensive performance with a combination of Johnny football, Svensson SAS with either Kim or Ariaga having two guys that seem not to be able to defend balls in the air is bad. Yeah. I think that Kim and Ariaga are not an ideal pairing and the lack of.
00:32:01
Speaker
aerial prowess is part of it. And I think just the way that they play their aggressiveness is part of it as well. I love aggressive center backs, but having two of them together is problematic, especially when the defensive midfield has been such a problem for the Sounders. But without being said, the declining quality from Kim and Ariaga to
00:32:23
Speaker
to Abdul Salam or Campbell is pretty steep, I would say. And Svensson I really like as a center back, but he's not exactly a presence areally as a center back. He's a great aerial presence as a midfielder, but as a center back, I don't think that he's the answer to, you know, his left hand score in those goals to put it that way. So yeah, I mean, I would like to see them make some kind of adjustment to sort of
00:32:54
Speaker
take that into account, but I think that that has to be more in the defensive midfield and just not allowing teams to get those crosses off more than, you know, trying to get more of a physical aerial presence in at center back. And if you go back to last year, I think one of the, or maybe it was two years ago when we saw Svensson playing as a center back, one of the things we were complaining about, if I remember correctly, was
00:33:19
Speaker
as good of a passer as he was, he was not a aerial presence at all. And I feel like he got beat a few times on aerial balls. So I don't know that the answer to our problems is Gustav Svensson. I think what's really frustrating to me at least from last week was they did a pretty good job defensively, except when they didn't.
00:33:49
Speaker
Like when they didn't, they really, like, they, like, there's no reason they should be giving up that penalty. Like that's, that's, you know, if, if Zlatan isn't in Kim's head, I don't think he commits that penalty and there's no reason he has to commit that penalty. And he, and then just like the outmuscling that he did on the, on the goal even. And, and I don't really put that one so much on Kim as much as the Sounders just did a horrible job of closing down
00:34:17
Speaker
the crosser on that on, and I don't know, it's just the, those are the kinds of things that happen when you're not playing confidently, I think. And then sort of related, Oh, Hoops asks, how much of this awfulness is from losing Chad Marshall? A fair, I mean, like, it's not all that, but there's a chunk, there's a, like, I don't think the sounders are, I would say the sounders are probably two, one, and one in these last four, if they have Chad Marshall. And I'm sure you can find points along the line.
00:34:47
Speaker
that it wouldn't be very hard to find. Because as frustrating as this is, the margins are still really small. And I don't even think the sounders have to be playing that much better. We're not asking for them to go on an LAFCS run right now. If they could just kind of assemble it together and bide some time to get their heads together, I think that would be
00:35:17
Speaker
The difference between these results and the results they could be getting is not great.
Impact of Player Loss on Defense
00:35:23
Speaker
Yeah, and I think, too, that Ramon Torres, people kind of overlook that the defense didn't really fall off a cliff until that happened, until that suspension. They weren't as good as they were with Chad Marshall, obviously. But they were still, I would say, an above average defense, if not good, well above average with Ramon Torres.
00:35:50
Speaker
I think it's the combination of both things. I mean, the way that the defensive depth was set up was actually pretty great, where you've got two less mobile, but stronger, bigger physical, more aerially capable center backs into mobile, slick passing, aggressive center backs to pair next to them. And, you know, you lost the two big guys. And I think, so I think that that's a big part of it and having to just figure out how to play differently has been
00:36:20
Speaker
Critical, but you know, I think that having somebody as good as Chad Marshall allows you to get away with not playing as well as you should be. Um, and so I think, yeah, it's, it's definitely a big part of it. So just to give some context, when Torres was hurt, the Sounders had given up 28 goals in 22 games, which is not, you know, that's not gonna, you're not, you're not going to be the best defense in the league with that, but that's 1.27 goals per game.
00:36:50
Speaker
You're right up there with, you know, the best defense, the top third of the defense is probably in the league. They've given up 2.75 goals in the last four. Um, they're giving up more than twice as many goals a game since tourist went out. That's a, I mean, that's a big hit. That's, you know, more than a goal per game more. You know, you take that goal. You take away that goal per game. And right there you're two one-on-one.
00:37:20
Speaker
Sorry. Yeah. All right. Moving on. Lindsay21 asks, it seemed to me like Jobin was defaulting to a backwards pass last game, a game that would really have benefited from him taking the ball forward. Do you think play was designed that way or is that something JJ needs to work on?
00:37:42
Speaker
I mean, I think it could be both. It's definitely something that Jovan needs to work on. It's something that everyone on the team needs to work on, frankly. That timidity, I think, is a huge part of the struggles that we're seeing. But I think it goes back to, you know, I think that some of it is the team valuing keeping possession over being aggressive.
00:38:05
Speaker
Um, and saying, you know, if we're in a situation where you've got a 40, 60 chance of success, maybe recycle possession and see if we can get better odds. Um, so I think some of it is a tactical decision, but I can't imagine all of it is. I can't imagine that you're bringing on. Um, yeah, they brought them on right for new. Yep.
00:38:27
Speaker
I can imagine you're bringing on Jovan Jones for him to pass back. I think that you want him to be a little more aggressive than the new who it was being. Yeah, and I'm looking at his passing chart right now. He had basically two balls into the box and he had a couple other kind of forward passes, but this is one of those times where
00:38:51
Speaker
your impression is right. Your gut tells you, like he was doing a lot of backwards passing, not even like, not even like, you know, cross crosses. It's just like, he just was tapping the ball back a lot. But he wasn't in the start. I don't know that that was, he wasn't the reason that they were struggling, but he didn't necessarily help the situation.
00:39:24
Speaker
And you could probably watch the game again and probably say, you know, he probably had nowhere to go anyways. So, but I mean, other than just giving it a shot, then it's not really good. Any hopeless crosses wouldn't have been the answer either. Right. Yeah. Okay. Moving on here. T. Steege asks, will V-Rod play for the Sounders this season? Can you make me feel better about the matchup on Friday? I'm not feeling it right now. You know, I- Crown face icon.
00:39:54
Speaker
Victor Rodriguez, I sure hope plays again, but every week that goes by and he doesn't play, I think it's a fair thing to question. It's becoming less and less likely that he's going to be back next year. I don't know that there's really any, like I wouldn't at this point, as frustrating as it would be, and I'm not advocating this, but it wouldn't even shock me if
00:40:17
Speaker
The Sounders agreed to mutually terminate his contract and he went and found someone in Europe to play for, just because it's becoming bigger than just a guy can't get healthy. And like many, many people have pointed out, he was fit enough to make the bench, although we heard that he never even really warmed up. So maybe he wasn't actually fit enough to play in that game.
00:40:43
Speaker
Um, just a complete mess of a situation. I don't know who's at fault. Like I don't, I'm sure he's doing his best to get on the field. I'm sure the sounders are doing their best. Clearly something isn't lining up. It's a very frustrating situation. I, you know, I, I feel awful for him. I feel, you know, frustrated that, you know, this is a player who I really thought could get healthy and would be really good. And who knows, maybe he's got a second run in him, but it's been.
00:41:11
Speaker
It's been a really frustrating situation to watch from afar. And what was the other part of the question? Feeling good about Portland? I mean, I don't know. Make it feel better about it. I don't think, I think we've built Portland up to be a lot better than they really are. Like it's, I think the Sounders could compete in this game. I don't, I don't, you know, I'm not gonna sit here and say they're gonna win. I'm not gonna even sit here and say that I, like, I think a top, I don't, I would not be shocked if they get a result out of this game. I just think Portland's, the degree to which Portland has surpassed the Sounders
00:41:42
Speaker
which seems to be everyone saying that right now. I just don't, I don't see it. Yeah, I totally disagree with you. I think the Timbers are a much better team and I think that the Sounders are also, it's just a nightmare of a matchup for them. Let me see, I just, I don't know what leads people, what leads you to say that they've, that they're a much better team. I mean, I've watched them play and I, I mean, I just don't see the
00:42:04
Speaker
I mean, the fact that the Sounders are worse than most playoff teams, every playoff team in the league since April. The Sounders are averaging 1.2 points a game since April. They've been a shitty team for most of the season. And the Timbers, since they've started playing at home again, have been very good. I don't think the Timbers are great, but there's just nothing about the way the Sounders have played.
00:42:33
Speaker
since the early spring to make me think they're any good at all. And I think that the timbers, I don't know, I think that if the sounders decide that they're going to let the timbers, they're going to force the timbers to have possession and play that way and try to create opportunities by pressing.
00:42:52
Speaker
then I'll feel differently. Because I think if the Sounders can force the Timbers to keep the ball and get an opportunity to beat them in transition, I think they have a pretty decent chance. Because the Timbers are not LAFC. They're definitely a beatable team. I just haven't seen anything from the Sounders to make me think that they're going to play this game the way I think that they should. Because if the Sounders go down there and try to keep possession and
00:43:21
Speaker
and beat them that way, they're going to get roasted. They're just going to get torn apart. So, I mean, it's a combination of, I think the timbers are a pretty good team. I think that they're as good as anybody, but LAFC, although I think most of MLS this year is kind of mediocre. But I think just from a matchup perspective, even if the Sounders weren't playing poorly, it's a tough matchup. And given the way the Sounders have been playing, I just, I don't see it. I'm really not feeling confident at all.
00:43:51
Speaker
Well, I should be clear. It's not that I'm feeling confident and it's not that I think that the Sounders are better than Portland. It's just the gap between the two teams is not as big as I feel like most people have made it out to be. But I digress. I mean, it's probably not, but I think the Timbers are a legitimately good team and I don't think the Sounders are a good team.
00:44:17
Speaker
So it's probably not like the gap between LAFC and the temperature. And everybody. Yeah. I mean, it's certainly not that big. But I think that if the sounders were playing the way Portland's been playing and Portland had been playing the way that the sounders had been playing and they were coming here, I think the sounders would expect to win that game 3-0. I just think that it's going to be a tough one.
00:44:47
Speaker
You guys are terrible at making someone feel better about Friday. I know. I mean, maybe that's what I'm doing is I'm over selling it. Right. There you go. It's a trap game and Raul will get a hat trick about that. There you go. I mean, honestly, that is what, like any team that has Rui Diaz and Ledero on it,
00:45:07
Speaker
I feel like has more than a puncher's chance. Sure. I mean, you're looking for a positive, I guess. And I, and I'll go beyond that. I think you look at the talent that the Sounders are going to put out on the field, regardless of how they're playing. You should feel like they can on their day, they can beat any team in MLS just based on the talent that they have out there. Now, will they put it together? Who knows? Like they haven't put it together for, like you said, like three months. So that's a problem.
00:45:40
Speaker
Okay, I'm giving you guys another question. Who is a player we're under utilizing or misusing and how could that be rectified? I'll say Jordan Morris.
00:45:52
Speaker
he's shown how great he's gotten like that playing as a winger playing up top um and it feels like if we're not finding him in transition we're only getting him the ball in positions where there's just not a whole lot he can do um i would really like to see us we don't need to center our attack around him necessarily but i i just feel like as good as he's been this year he should
00:46:19
Speaker
you should really be getting a little bit more of a look in terms of being a tactical focal point. Yeah, I think the irony of this six-game stretch that they're in right now is certainly at least the last five games, Morris has probably been their best player and certainly been their most effective player. And he's maybe looked as good during this five-game stretch as he's ever looked at any point, any five-game stretch of his MLS career.
00:46:49
Speaker
And I hope that that's hopefully something that can sustain itself through this struggle. Because if he and Rui Diaz can both get on track, I think that's a pretty good combo. So I'm hopeful that
00:47:10
Speaker
they can get him, they can, the other, the rest of the team can kind of build into that. I mean, it is also crazy that Rui Diaz is, it feels like he's having a bad, you know, an off year and he's got nine goals and 16 games or whatever, but. Yeah. And with Rui Diaz, I feel like he's been frustrating the last few games, but I don't, like, I don't worry that he's forgotten how to finish. No, he's scored. I mean, right. Exactly.
00:47:35
Speaker
That's it's just, you know, it's one of those things that happens where this is like, this is exactly the kind of player you want whose slumps he's still scoring during. Right. Yes. It's just one of those, like, when the, all the stuff is rolling downhill, when he's missing, it's just more frustrating, obviously. Okay. Uh, Motley69 asks, what is the threshold for Schmetcher's job being at risk? Missing playoffs, first round exit, second round exit, et cetera.
00:48:07
Speaker
You know, I think at the end of the year, I suspect the Sounders are going to have a serious look at Schmenzer. And, you know, barring some kind of miraculous turnaround, and I guess it wouldn't be miraculous, but barring some kind of deep run into the playoffs where they are not just getting results, but actually playing well, I think the Sounders kind of have to give it some serious consideration.
00:48:36
Speaker
I think what complicates it is that someone like Brian Schmetzer, you want to keep in the organization somehow. And is there a way to transition him out that allows him to remain involved? Because he is such a big part of the organization. And I don't think that it's a situation you go into lightly. But if they miss the playoffs, I think he's almost 100% gone. If they go out in the first round, I think there's a decent chance that he's not back.
00:49:05
Speaker
Even if they win a game or two in the playoffs, I think there's a chance that he's not back. Maybe it's under different circumstances. But I think that that's. I take no joy in saying this, but my suspicion is that there's going to be some serious consideration around, you know, he might. Maybe he's back next year, but I think that it's probably a thing that's being discussed.
00:49:25
Speaker
Yeah, and it's a tricky thing because no matter what your suspicions about the causes of the struggles are there are a lot of plausible reasons that you can point to and say but it's not, you know, like, what about this, right, lots of injuries lots of international break, you know, absences.
00:49:46
Speaker
I don't know. It's tough because I feel like there are definitely things that you can point to objectively and say, this is something that I think it's fair to ask whether this was a coaching issue. And I think that especially the last couple of games when the team has been closer to full strength, there's more of that. There are more questions like that. And I think
00:50:07
Speaker
I think you're right. I mean, I think that unless things turn around pretty quickly, it's something to have to talk about pretty seriously. To me, this feels a lot less like 2016 when the wheels totally came off and a lot more like 2013 where it was just like
00:50:24
Speaker
The wheels definitely came off, but in a different way, if that makes sense. It feels like there's a distinction between the two kinds of things. And so it doesn't feel like the team had just obviously quit the way that it did before Citi was fired. So I don't know. It'll be interesting to see what happens. I'm definitely rooting for him because I don't want this to have a bad ending. I don't think anybody does.
00:50:53
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, that's yeah, I mean, I guess that's the thing for me is that I, I just hope that there is some kind of resolute, there's some kind of way to get through this where people can feel good about it. And I would hate for it to end in, like,
00:51:14
Speaker
I don't know. I don't know. I, I want it to end well, I guess is what I'm saying. Um, that's not, that's very rare in coaching that you get to walk out on a, that you get to leave on anything like a high note, but we'll see. I'm sorry. Did you set a threshold for it or is it just no matter what three and I'll have a long look? That's, I mean, that's what I kind of think is like, there's not a threshold. It's, it's, I think we've,
00:51:42
Speaker
I think we've crossed the threshold of not having a serious conversation about it. It almost feels like it's an inevitable thing where they have to say, even if Schmetzer isn't the primary problem, and I don't think he is, I don't think that
00:52:00
Speaker
He's the primary problem, but I think what you can say is we want our coach to not just be a neutral impact. We want our coach to be a positive impact in terms of like getting more out of the team than they would be getting otherwise. And I don't know if you can say that's happening right now. Right. And I think, I mean, I think another thing too, is that a lot of the time when coaches get fired, it's the right decision to make and it's not necessarily the coach's fault.
00:52:30
Speaker
Right. Sometimes it's just time for a change, you know, um, and I, it sucks. I mean, like the Siggy situation was kind of like that, I think, where I don't know that he was, you know, doing anything wrong as much as clearly a change needed to be made. Right. Fair enough.
00:52:51
Speaker
Okay, Tim Lan asks Arlan, in your opinion how will new ownership impact first team investment in the next couple of years as well as further down the road? I don't think it's going to have much of an impact. I think that they're going to continue to spend money when they need to and I don't think that the reason they haven't been spending as much on transfer fees and whatnot as some people would like is because of
00:53:18
Speaker
a lack of money to spend. I think, I mean, obviously, you know, if Adrian Hanauer was worth 10 times as much as he is, and the only thing he cared about was the Sounders winning, they would probably be spending more money. But
00:53:35
Speaker
You know, they've always talked about running a sustainable business, and I'm thankful for that. And I think most people should be thankful for that. And I think a lot of the people that feel like the sounders don't spend the way they used to, I think there's a lot of nostalgia for a time that never really existed, frankly.
00:53:55
Speaker
where that's concerned. So, you know, I think they're going to continue spending money when it's appropriate, using most, if not all of their discretionary TAM, you know, making eight-figure commitments every couple of years. And I don't expect that to change. And I don't think there's any reason that it would, because I think that they're probably profitable enough that they can do that sustainably. But I'm not expecting them to, you know, start going crazy in the transfer market.
00:54:25
Speaker
Yeah, I guess if there's a hope to this new ownership group, it's that they just tapped into a lot of both people that come from industries where they had to come up with ideas to change revenue streams.
00:54:46
Speaker
And I think that there's potential for an energy shift. I think bringing in people like Macklemore and Russell Wilson, I don't think they're going to come to the table with these great necessarily great business ideas. But I do think that there's kind of some soft influence that people like that can have in terms of building the excitement around the team and potentially opening some doors. And I think guys like,
00:55:12
Speaker
Peter Tomakawa, who just came in as the president and is also part owner. You know, this is a guy that understands finances pretty well. And I would suspect that, you know, like one of the things that Hannah pointed out today is, you know, if they can increase their ticket revenue by 10%, that's a huge bottom line effect. Like that's
00:55:34
Speaker
You're talking about millions and millions of dollars that you can extend that over four or five years. And that's a $20 million player. And so I think that there are some reasons to be hopeful that they can increase their revenues with this new ownership group. I don't think that they're going to start operating the team much differently from a bottom line sense. But I do think that they might start spending more money as a result of bringing in more money. Yeah.
00:56:07
Speaker
Let's see. Rick Sportsfeed asks, will the Sounders win a playoff match in 2019?
Playoff Predictions and Strategy
00:56:16
Speaker
Yes. I'm going to say yes. If you had to predict where they were going to finish, where do you think they end up? Six or seven. Oh, really? You think they're going to open on the road then?
00:56:36
Speaker
I'm just as a fan, I'm like, you want to finish six or seven or three or third, because if you are fourth or fifth, you'd end up having play LAFC in the conference final. Or the semi-finals, right? Yeah, that's a fair point. Yeah, I mean, I guess there's a I guess there's a decent argument to be made that finishing sixth is better than finishing fourth in that
00:57:05
Speaker
You know, if you're, if you're six, you're looking at potentially playing. Playing the galaxy on the road and that might be better than playing, you know, you're like right now, if they're the fifth seed.
00:57:20
Speaker
or if they were the four seed, they would be in an RSL, they'd be matched up against RSL. I would say I would much rather go to at, I would honestly rather go play anywhere other than RSL. That's a pretty huge home field advantage.
00:57:36
Speaker
Certainly for the Sounders, although I guess they won a playoff game there, but the Sounders have a laughably bad record at RSL. It's shocking how bad they've been there.
00:57:53
Speaker
I think they'll finish fourth and so I think they'll get a home playoff game and I think they'll probably end up playing somebody like RSL or San Jose at home. I think Minnesota United is going to slip. I think the galaxy are probably going to slip a little bit.
00:58:14
Speaker
Go ahead. Well, I think fourth is pretty easily attainable. I mean, they're tied for fourth right now. They're just behind on goal difference. And I'm not super bullish on this team, but I don't expect them to keep up this level of crap for the rest of the season. I think they'll turn it around to some extent. And if they don't, they're not going to make the playoffs. Right, right. No, that's a good point. I think one of the things that kind of just shows the gap between
00:58:44
Speaker
And granted, I don't think either of us expect this to happen, but if they win on Friday, they could find themselves in second place.
00:58:54
Speaker
Like that's not even at all far fetched to think that they'd end up in second place if they win on Friday. Uh, that would basically just mean that. That Minnesota loses on the road to sporting Kansas city, which is not at all impossible and that the galaxy don't win their match. And I don't know who they, they actually don't play again until the 25th.
00:59:20
Speaker
and that's at LAFC. So yeah, I mean, they win this game, they're in second place. That's not to say that they'll stay there, but that's the kind of gap we're talking about right now. And I mean, the rest of the schedule, there are definitely winnable games in there. Like Minnesota at home is a winnable game. DC right now. All their home games are winnable, for sure. DC is a nightmare right now. So they could even win a game away. Colorado, they should be home or away.
00:59:48
Speaker
Theoretically, but the Colorado game is actually lining up. Oh, that's right. It's because they're going to be missing like all the same guys that are missing during the gold cup break, basically. Right. So, well, shit. No, I don't know. But I think if they, if they play a home game, they'll, they'll win a game. And there are road games that I think that they have a pretty good shot of winning as well. Um, so I think I'll say if it's a 50 50, I'll say yes, that they will want to play off match, but I don't think they're going to win more than one.
01:00:19
Speaker
Fair enough. Okay. Uh, next few questions are related. You don't have to get too heavy into it, but I'm going to ask them together. So Bill Jones, STRP PT asks regarding rising frustration about the recent iron
01:00:36
Speaker
ban on flags, do you hold any hope that the Sounders will push back against the
MLS Political Symbol Policy Discussion
01:00:40
Speaker
league? Is it naive to hope so? The composition of our ownership group gives me hope. And then a fool's gambit asks, what can we do to help remind MLS that fascism shouldn't be welcome? Well, I'll tackle the second question first. And I think the degree to which the league is welcoming fascism
01:01:05
Speaker
is probably being overstated by a pretty high degree in that most teams seemed like the incident in LA, which I don't have enough information. My suspicion is that that had more to do with a visiting team displaying something than it did the galaxy making some sort of decision, although the words that were quoted certainly don't speak well. But I mean, the sounders are explicitly allowing anti-fascism signs.
01:01:35
Speaker
that literally say the words anti-fascism so I don't think I have a hard time like cracking down on the sounders for not being anti-fascist when they are allowing that literal language in as so I don't I I don't know I don't think that the like I think the league could be doing a better job of leading this cause
01:01:53
Speaker
I don't think that they are actively welcoming fascism, and I think that it would not be at all surprising to me if they actually came out with language that was more explicitly anti-fascist. That said, the iron front flag is... I honestly don't know where that's going to fall. I think that the sounders have done a lot of educating on their own,
01:02:21
Speaker
I think they have been educated. I think they have a better understanding for what the iron front flag stands for. And I think that they understand that it's not just this kind of symbol that anarchists are running around with while they're bashing windows in and that there's a much more nuanced understanding of it. And that I think they're open to the dialogue of getting that allowed. I don't think that I'm holding out much hope that the sounders are gonna like plant
01:02:52
Speaker
proverbial flag in the ground and say, we're just going to straight up allow this at CenturyLink field, even though it is explicitly against MLS rules.
01:03:01
Speaker
I do think that there's hope that they will try to get that allowed in backroom dealings and that maybe next year and maybe even this year, they come out, that there's some detente found where that is allowed. I don't know, looking at the language coming out of the timbers makes me feel like that's less likely to happen because I kind of get the sense that the sound, at least in the beginning of the year, the sounders and the timbers were kind of like,
01:03:29
Speaker
in cahoots together in terms of like they were of the same mind. And I suspect that they might still be of the same mind. So I don't know. I think there's hope. There's certainly hope that something will be done. I'm not holding out hope that suddenly we're going to start seeing huge iron front flags at Century Lake Field this year, though.
01:03:50
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think it's not only plausible. I think it's likely that the sounders have probably tried to push back to some extent. I think it's worth keeping in mind that sounders ownership is, I don't know if they're unique in MLS, but I think that it's fair to say that they're probably solidly to the left of your standard MLS ownership group.
01:04:15
Speaker
And so I think that there are probably especially some of the late legacy ownership groups. There's active opposition to a very firm opposition to things like the iron front flag being allowed. And I think that I mean I think that it is an issue of
01:04:34
Speaker
um the way that the issue has been framed in you know in right-wing media um sorry to get political but the way the issue has been framed in right-wing media they've created this straw man boogeyman of of antifa that's not actually reality in any way um and that so that flag is associated in people's minds with
01:04:57
Speaker
this straw man that just doesn't exist, that has never existed, and that never will exist, frankly. And basically what MLS policy is saying is that the reality of the situation doesn't matter. We have people that are upset by this.
01:05:15
Speaker
And we're not going to take sides. And that's, you know, that's a fairly standard, I think, corporate attitude in the US is that we only get involved in politics when we can make money off of them and we can't make money off of this. So we're going to just explicitly ban it.
01:05:34
Speaker
I think if you want to be cynical, and I don't necessarily believe this, I think that there's some of that at play, but I think that genuinely the people in the sounders run office are sympathetic to the messaging. But you could even be cynical and say, the only reason the sounders are allowing it
01:05:51
Speaker
to the extent that they are is because they know that their fan base is likely pretty far left of center compared to most sports fan bases. And, you know, they can, they can get away with it a little bit and curry some favor. I don't think that that's true, but I think that there's maybe some truth to it. Well, I mean, I think there's truth to it, especially to the degree that they are responding to their constituents. And in some ways, like how they personally feel is
01:06:21
Speaker
secondary to what their actions are showing. And their actions are showing that they're willing to spend time and energy trying to figure this out. And surely that's motivated by a bottom line concern, but it's like their actions show that they're putting time and effort into this. And I'll say, I don't know
01:06:48
Speaker
What my expectation is in terms of the iron front flag in particular but I was, I was impressed by the by this new president of business they hired today. You know he had they did a media roundtable, and he seemed to have his
01:07:05
Speaker
you know, his heart for lack of a better term in the right place. And I think he wants to understand and he wants to be responsive. And he gets that this is not a black and white issue that there's, you know, shades of gray that need to be understood. And I think you're very much right that my suspicion is that this is all being driven by, you know, right wing medias kind of
01:07:32
Speaker
turning this symbol into something evil or something dangerous when it's pretty clearly just stood as opposition to literal Nazis. And by the way, if you don't know, the three arrows in the Iron Front flag are anti-Naziism, anti-communism, and anti-monarchy, which are, I would think, three things that Americans in general could all rally behind.
01:08:01
Speaker
Most, most. You would like to think, well, yeah, I mean, we I mean, it was quite literally a thing that we like the one thing that the country has most supported seemingly in the last hundred years was World War Two. And and those were the, you know, kind of the three pillars of fighting that. Well, I guess it's not entirely true. The Soviet Union played a pretty important part. And that's a good point. That's fair. I see what you're saying. I mean, I definitely see what you're saying. And certainly after the war,
01:08:30
Speaker
anti-communism was as big of a part as anti-Naziism. And anyway, I don't hardly any disillusion, I mean, I understand that the anti-communist aspect of that symbol has probably been lost through time, but that is what it stands for. And I just feel like that's worth reminding people that these are quite literally American ideals that this symbol represents.
01:09:03
Speaker
Ultimately, it's just MLS. I think it was West Birdine that wrote the article about what MLS is trying to ban is not politics, but controversy. But controversy. And I think that that's a proper read. That doesn't let them off the hook, because that's how a lot of evil shit is allowed to grow and thrive, is people don't want to upset anyone. And so it just kind of takes root. But I think that it's more of that than Don Garber has jack boots in his closet. Yeah.
01:09:23
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think
01:09:32
Speaker
I would, yeah, I would very much agree with that. And, and, but I also think that there's like the thing that as much as we like to believe that neutrality is, is a, is like a third option. It's really, and I don't want to turn this into a, either with us or against this kind of thing, but there needs to be an understanding that neutrality is a position and that neutrality is a position that, that favors whoever's in power and.
01:10:00
Speaker
And you can't just claim neutrality and then act as if that's not a position at all. Right. I think that's the thing that frustrates me most of all, is that they want to have their cake and eat it too. And you can't do that.
01:10:14
Speaker
And that's something that corporate America right now is having to deal with in a lot of ways, and especially in a political environment like we're in. And this is getting way off subject, I suppose. But in a political environment that we're in, neutrality just becomes a harder position to take because disenfranchised people feel like neutrality is just further disenfranchising for them.
01:10:36
Speaker
Right. And it's, I mean, it is the downside of woke capitalism, right? Is like, when you've decided to take a stand on issues that are generally popular, you've kind of already planted your flag as being somebody that takes a stand on things. And yeah, it's, it's an interesting topic of discussion, but you're right. Probably not the right form. Yeah. I'm, I'm curious what percentage of our listeners made it through that whole thing, but I'll leave a timestamp marks for those people.
01:11:05
Speaker
Right, exactly. As far as, can you remind MLS, I think, is just keep doing what's going on. Keep going on.
01:11:19
Speaker
Uh, moving on. Mark Kastner asks, will you see me? Happy birthday? No, no, we won't, but happy birthday, Mark. Yeah. Happy birthday. No, but I mean, they just listened to us talk about politics. The last thing they needed is serious. God. Can you imagine that would just be twisting the knife, wouldn't it? Yeah, it really would. Okay. Last question. Nick Payton asks, it must be time to panic now. Right? Also, why do so many cats love Aaron? I mean, it's.
01:11:50
Speaker
It is, it's, it's like, I don't think this week, like whatever the result happens this week, it, I don't, I don't know, quite believe it's panic time. It's the home game that follows it that I think will, like if they lose this game and then they lose at home, I think you really start to freak out. They lose this game, they went on the, they went,
01:12:14
Speaker
I mean, if they win their home games, they're going to make the playoffs. That's still the reality. But if they win Friday and they lose at home, then the season continues to be completely impossible to understand. I would be happy just because if they win Friday, it would suggest that there's some spark left. Yeah. And in terms of why cats like me, I mean, it's because I'm nice to them.
01:12:45
Speaker
That's really all it takes with cats. You can give them food and they're nice to them. We make sure that the ferrules that are in our neighborhood have water and stuff, so they hang out. They don't really like me, though. They don't attack me because they're feral, but they're not.
01:13:05
Speaker
No, I mean, yeah, they asked for food. Like we're at the point with these two kittens that we're kind of watching now where like they'll meow for food and come to the window and like try to get our attention to give us food, but we can't touch them. Like throw them away if we try to touch them. So, so really it's because I'm a sucker is the answer that I'm just willing to give them things without any hope of reciprocity. But
01:13:32
Speaker
What are you going to do with that? They're cute. It's fine. I can live with that. That's it. That's it. Wow. We did it. We did. We did it. Congratulations. Good job, Suss. Yeah. All right. Well, thanks for listening. Appreciate it. Thanks for humoring us with our political takes. I do recognize that people probably are not
01:14:01
Speaker
largely listening to this podcast for our politics. But I'd like to think that they can at least hang. So thank you. Anyway. And if not, they probably, I mean. They will have stopped listening a long time ago. Let's be honest with them. Yeah. I think that we've made our politics pretty clear over the years. It does seem that way. But if you disagree with us, thank you for listening. Yeah. And don't ever tweet at us.
01:14:29
Speaker
Tweet at Mark Kessner. Mark Kessner loves to talk politics with his listeners. All right, well, that's our show. Signing off on behalf of Aaron Campbell and Likit, I'm Jeremiah Shan. This is no study at this. Oh, thanks for, I should thank our sponsor. I feel like I haven't been doing that at the end of shows lately. Focal Wines. Great company. Great company who, by the way, promised that they would increase their sponsorship every time someone sent them an email complaining about our politics.
01:14:58
Speaker
Yeah. Um, if you want to complain about our politics and get us some more money, that would, I'm sure, be appreciated. Although maybe I think I, I, there was probably some clause in there where I couldn't actually tell people. Right. You can't like actually solicit the right negative accounts and just start sending you emails every five minutes. Right. Exactly. So, um, anyway, thanks to full pool wines are great. And, uh,
01:15:27
Speaker
This is Nos Arientes. Remember, you'll never know.
01:15:45
Speaker
Roll on, Columbia, roll on. Roll on, Columbia, roll on. Your power is turning our darkness to dawn. Roll on, Columbia, roll on. We love you. Let's win another one!