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Philadelphia Raccoounion - Ep. 35
60 Plays1 year ago
Ari and Noah headline with a raccoon pitch invader, the Seattle Sounders loss to Real Salt Lake and highlight the standout performance of Georgi Minoungou. Then we answer your questions about Albert Rusnak and whether he is worth his designated player contract, future of the Moose agenda and address the concerns about Brian Schmetzer's coaching. Plus we hit the recent coach firing of Nashville SC's Gary Smith, the struggles of the Philadelphia Union and Vancouver Whitecaps plus the winners of the week, the New York Red Bulls and the Columbus Crew.
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Tease
00:00:09
Speaker
What's going on everybody? Welcome into episode 35 of Lobbing Scorchers. This is Ari Lillianwall. I got producer Noah here with me. Noah, say what's up to the people.
00:00:21
Speaker
Sorry, I'm dealing with the situation over here involving a raccoon and in a trash can Ari That's right folks. We've got a For furry four-legged friend who's going to be talked about on the show today So we're actually gonna lead the show with that the Seattle Sounders did get bammed on to zero at real Salt Lake. We don't need to talk about that
00:00:43
Speaker
We're gonna go in depth on that, sorry. We don't shy away from results here at Lobbing Scorchers. But yeah, something happened in the city of Philadelphia that I've never seen in MLS, and it was great content. And we also, we have a coach firing to talk about. That's big news. Our first sacking of 2024, and it was not who you would expect. So we're gonna talk about
00:01:04
Speaker
All that and more here on episode 35.
Subscriber Shoutout and Support Request
00:01:07
Speaker
Before we get into that, as always at the top of the show here, I would like to thank all of our paid subscribers. We're sitting on 19 right now. And if you would like to join those people in supporting the show, all you have to do is go to podcast.lobbinscorchers.com. Click the little heart and you can pledge however much money you want. Or don't sub and just stream and download. That's fine.
00:01:29
Speaker
We did just buy donuts, though, to record this episode, so... We could use listener help to pay for our donuts and our coffee, but, you know, it's definitely not obligatory, but I would like to thank our subscribers. I'm gonna read them all off right now, because we love and appreciate you guys all so much. We got Rhombus, we got Nate, we got Tyler Nakatsu, we got Owen, we got David Rodriguez, we got Christopher Maley, Bill Breitenbach, Mike Lentini, Aaron B., Derek Richards, Sounder Naves,
00:02:06
Speaker
Thank you guys all so much. I know that's kind of long list now, but I feel obligated to read it every week because that's how much we appreciate the support.
YouTube Channel Growth Update
00:02:14
Speaker
And I also want to keep plugging the lobbing scorchers YouTube which is now up to I just checked 58 subs Which is not bad, but our goal is 100 right now So if you're listening to this and you have not yet, please go sub to the lobbing scorchers YouTube Where we're we're slowly but surely growing on there 58 subs not terrible and our cumulative views is up We're barreling towards 1000 so
Podcast Delay Announcement
00:02:39
Speaker
You know I wouldn't say we're going viral on YouTube yet But we're working on it and it seems like every week that we post a new one up there We get a few more views and a few more subs so appreciate everyone who supported us on that platform as well And I also I wanted to notify everyone before we start the show today of there's gonna be a little bit of a delayed pod next week I'm gonna be missing this upcoming game against the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday, which is unfortunate But I do have a friend who's getting married
00:03:09
Speaker
Wait, wait, wait, wait. You're telling me that a game, a Seattle Sounders game against the Vancouver Whitecaps, they're probably going to lose at home. You're going to miss that, Ari? For a wedding? I know. That's it? It's unfortunate, but you got to blame my friend for getting married. Who schedules a wedding during MLS season? I know. It's crazy. He didn't take that into account. I'm going to Ben Dorgan though, so I'm looking forward to it, but it will unfortunately cause me to miss the game.
00:03:37
Speaker
just slightly delay the reaction pod. I'm going to be back on Monday during the day, so we're going to try and lay one down, maybe Monday evening, which we usually send them live Monday morning. So if you wake up Monday morning, you're wondering where the show is, it's just going to be, it'll be up Monday evening or Tuesday morning. Is that fair?
Raccoon Incident Discussion
00:03:56
Speaker
No. And I think that's when we're going to try to get it out.
00:03:59
Speaker
you can get on my case if it's not out by then but I see no reason why we shouldn't be able to adhere to that but I wanted to let everyone know I don't want to leave anyone hanging on Monday wondering where episode 36 is and you think that we're slacking on it we're not I just I have I have obligations this weekend sadly
00:04:16
Speaker
It's, um, you know, like you said, it might not be the worst game to miss, to be honest. I mean, uh, but then again, this Vancouver team though, they are, we're going to talk about it, but they are in a little bit of a lull in form compared to how they had been playing lately. So maybe Seattle actually does have a chance in that game.
00:04:35
Speaker
So yeah, we're going to talk about this Sounders result at Real Assault Lake. But before we do that, Noah, there was a, there was like, as you mentioned at the top of the show there, there was a much bigger and more important headline that took place in the midweek slate in MLS last night. There was a raccoon pitch invader in the Philadelphia Union versus NYCFC game. And
00:04:56
Speaker
It was it was incredible content. So I want to just I want to do a deep dive on this and just talk about our reaction to the raccoon and how the raccoon was handled by the by the staff in Philadelphia. You know, they've had an interesting season between member of the guys with the mops that was with the sounders were involved in that game.
00:05:14
Speaker
That was actually also at Subaru Park in Philadelphia So they've really they've had a lot of curveballs thrown at them this year And I think they've handled both of them as well as they could you know the the guys with the mops They didn't end up accomplishing their end goal Because it kept raining, but I thought you know given the circumstances they did everything that they could But in this situation, you know, so when I when I first saw the raccoon Noah I was
00:05:44
Speaker
I was definitely it became a thing where and they mentioned this on the broadcast where I was kind of rooting for him to get away. Yeah, absolutely. Like he was he was running around and doing this thing. And I think he might have not have realized the gravity of what took place when he charged onto the field. It seemed like he got out there and was a little surprised and he was like, oh, OK, there's there's a lot of people watching me. And now I kind of got I got to do my thing. I got to put on a show. And my favorite part of it. Well, there's I had a couple of favorite parts of it. But
00:06:11
Speaker
Did you see he scaled the ad board at one point? Yeah, he did a little trick Yeah, he got up on the ad board and was climbing on it very briefly and then he fell off and he kept running around and I the definitely the funniest part of the content was the the security guards chasing him around and being unable to catch him and
00:06:32
Speaker
I gotta say, when I saw him running around, I was like, I don't really know how they're gonna get him. This is a wild animal. I've seen this with dogs a few times. It's happened in a couple of CONCACAF matches that I've watched where a dog charges onto the field and then a player goes and picks him up and takes him off the field and he's panting and it's kinda cute.
00:06:51
Speaker
that's a little bit easier to manage because a dog you you can gauge their reaction usually a little bit more I mean not always I you know when I watch the dog situations it's kind of you know you don't know if the dogs gonna wild out on you necessarily but a raccoon I mean
00:07:08
Speaker
Even more so, there's no context where I would ever approach a wild raccoon.
Seattle Sounders vs. Real Salt Lake Analysis
00:07:17
Speaker
I was concerned for the safety of the security team at Subaru Park because when you're up that close with a wild animal, you really don't know what's going to happen. I will say, I think raccoons are pretty cute.
00:07:30
Speaker
They are very cute. They were debating this on MLS 360. They had some terrible takes on MLS 360. Yeah, well, I mean, I think Bradley Wright Phillips, he said it was it was gross, which, you know, I can see the argument for it. But me, I really I really think that raccoons are pretty cute. I did have an apartment when I lived in Bellingham going to Western Washington, where we had a little family of raccoons that lived outside the apartment. And they were I didn't really get along with them that well, to be honest.
00:07:59
Speaker
I remember there was one that always would he would climb on the tree outside my apartment and I would walk outside in the morning So I'll go to class or whatever and he would always be staring at me and they make eye contact Yeah, it's really weird like I was costing you perhaps. Yeah, he would and I would make eye contact back with him be like What do you want?
00:08:17
Speaker
Yeah. And he never had a good answer to that. That's the average. I think that Raccoon might have been a Whitecaps fan, potentially. I just didn't like how intensive eye contact he would make. This Raccoon eventually did get caught. The way they did it was
00:08:36
Speaker
They had well they had like three or four security guards chasing after him at one point and just the funniest the funniest part was It was kind of like when they're trying to chase a guy that goes on the field and they quite can't quite catch him They're like diving after the raccoon and falling over it was some real Looney Tunes stuff. But anyway one of the security guards ended up procuring a trash can and I gotta say when I saw that I
00:09:04
Speaker
I was like, I don't really know if this is gonna work because you're going to trap the raccoon with the trash can by putting it over him. They were doing like the bug in a cup. They were doing the bug in the cup there. Yeah, exactly. They were doing bug in the cup with the raccoon, but I was a little bit skeptical that that was gonna work because once you put the trash can over the raccoon, how do you know that you're going to be able to get him into the actual trash can?
00:09:32
Speaker
Once it happened and they got him, they had no clue what to do. Yeah. They didn't know what to do. I didn't think, well, first of all, like they tried to put the trash can over him the first time and he escaped. I think he went to escape like twice. Yeah. And then on the, on the, uh, on the one where they finally got him, the trash can actually made contact with the raccoons head. I was worried about concussion protocol.
00:09:56
Speaker
We did. Yeah, we didn't, you know, I think we're not talking about enough how the medical staff was really not, was kind of negligent in checking on the raccoon. Yeah, I mean. Thank you for listening to the Sound Rit Heart podcast network, which now includes No Sonietes, Lobbing Scorchers and The Cooler Guild. We've been independent since August of 2023,
00:10:26
Speaker
but need your support to make sure it continues. Although this podcast is free, it's only made possible by your continued support.
00:10:34
Speaker
Memberships start as low as $25 a year, which not only helps make podcasts like this one happen, but also gets you access to everything we produce. If you're able to support us at higher levels, starting at $75 a year, you gain access to a host of other perks, most notably entry into our Members Only Discord, where the smartest, funniest, and most engaged commenters share their thoughts and ideas. To find out more, just visit centeratheart.com and click the subscribe button in the top right corner.
00:11:03
Speaker
Thanks for listening. The union did put out a tweet that he got given to a pest control company and they set him free. So we can confirm at least by word of the Philadelphia Union that the raccoon is in good health and got released into the wild, which is good to hear. But I was worried when they when they hit him with the trash can that they were going to injure the raccoon, which
00:11:31
Speaker
Hopefully wasn't the case and I don't think it was the case but again once the trash can was on top of the raccoon They cut away which was unfortunate. I was upset about that because I wanted to see how it was gonna go I don't really know I popped out. Oh, I can I can give you a detailed account Okay, how did they get the raccoon from under the trash can to make to ensure? Yeah that he actually got into the trash can
00:11:54
Speaker
Yeah, so immediately once MLS 360 cut away from the raccoon I was completely Disinterested in hearing anything that a bunch of panelists had to say about soccer because frankly like who cares you know So they they got him over like bugging a cup style and you know when you got a bug in a cup That's like on the wall or something mostly a spider right you get a piece of paper you slide it under and you take him outside and
00:12:21
Speaker
So essentially, they busted down one of the ad boards behind the benches, took the Adidas ad out, slid it under the trash can, and four guys picked up the ad board and the trash can and walked the ball. Oh, that explains it. Oh, that's good info, man. That's good info. I didn't know that.
00:12:41
Speaker
that because i was really i didn't see that part so i was really confused as to how they uh they executed the bug in the cup and got the raccoon into the trash can but that makes sense um good info noah yeah um so anyway the next the next cut that i saw was the guy uh walking off the field with the raccoon in the trash can um i don't
00:13:03
Speaker
Did he have anything over it, though, to just add? OK, so he did have the ad board. That's what I was wondering, because I was like, if you don't have anything on top of it there, that thing could climb out and escape. It's the trash cans not so big that it can necessarily hold a raccoon like that. So.
00:13:20
Speaker
We've known this this guy to be an escape artist exactly. He did he had just proven it. We watched it happen. Yeah, so They did eventually get him off the field and by the time it was all said and done They actually MLS communications added it up the right who made it 161 seconds on the field before they caught him a lot of funny pictures were taken a lot of funny videos Were shared. I'm sure if you're if you're listening to this you probably saw it but
00:13:49
Speaker
I had fun with it.
00:14:06
Speaker
It puts the league in a viral spotlight and not necessarily the way that you would expect, but I'll take it. All exposure is good exposure. There is a fair debate to be had on exactly how cute the creature was. I think he was pretty cute. The picture that we have on the website is really funny. He's smiling and running around.
00:14:26
Speaker
I gotta say DC United, your scouting department, it's getting really advanced and I have to give that to you. You know, I didn't think that we would see something new in the case of scouting teams and let alone utilizing wild animals to facilitate the most direct scouting possible. But I'm proud of you guys, you know, just changing the game constantly. MLS on top.
00:14:55
Speaker
Yeah. Just another crazy scene in Philadelphia. Once again, weird stuff goes down at Subaru park. All right. I think, uh, is that a good, is that a long and detailed? I could, I could go in depth for another 10 to 20 minutes on the raccoon, but we'll move it along here. We'll dive into this sounders game. I know that's why
00:15:15
Speaker
most of you tune into the show but at the same time for a result like this I don't really feel that bad for going 10 minutes on the raccoon at the top of the show yeah if this was a dub pod we probably wouldn't have done that bit but raccoon would have been in winners for sure but I mean we can still put it there yeah but anyway yeah let's just dive into this Sounders game now I get this over with
00:15:36
Speaker
The Seattle Sounders went to America First Stadium at Realsalt Lake. Worst name. And yeah, worst stadium name in the league. Lost 2-0, unfortunately. But let's talk about the lineup reaction to start, because Noah, when I saw this lineup, I was actually pretty excited. We've talked a lot on this show about how we wanted to see just something different. New wrinkles, new changes to the 11, just to see what would happen.
00:16:02
Speaker
Throw stuff at the wall Steve at sticks and this wasn't necessarily a situation where Schmetz was Was doing it for those reasons. I mean it was it was a situation where you had to rotate on a short week and That was the motivation behind it But it's I guess what I'm saying is it gave us a chance to see something that we haven't really seen this season in terms of the amount of rotation that took place and
00:16:25
Speaker
You had Moose up top, you had Georgie on the wing, you had the full-back duo of Sota Kitty Hara right back and Cody Baker left back, which I think that was the thing I was the most excited about, the Sota Cody Baker full-back duo.
00:16:39
Speaker
So it is kind of a good bit that any time the Sounders have a young midfielder that they just don't know what to do with or like need to fill a spot, they're just like right back plug him into a fullback position. Yeah. So does not write back by trade. I think I think I saw that he had one appearance there with Tacoma Defiance. So either way, not a whole lot of experience at the position. But you know, screw it. I was down to see how it goes. And Cody Baker, you know, we're we're longtime noted fans of Cody Baker on this podcast.
00:17:08
Speaker
So I was excited to watch that. You had John Bell at CB who I think continues to play decently well. I think he's established himself as a good depth CB on this team who you can plug in and expect a reasonable baseline and performance from. You had Danny Leyva and JP in the double pivot. So there was a lot going on that was theoretically interesting before this game started.
00:17:29
Speaker
Unfortunately, the game itself was not very competitive at all. You had two goals for Real Assault Lake in this game. You had Andres Gomez in the 27th minute. And then Diego Luna, who I've mentioned on the show as one of my favorite young players in the league. He's got a fun backstory, came up through the USO with El Paso locomotive before Real Assault Lake gave him his MLS shot. And he's played himself onto a nice upward trajectory here. He's been a US youth national team player.
00:17:57
Speaker
He's pretty fun to watch and he hadn't really, he'd been kind of falling out of favor with Pablo Monstrone in recent weeks. So this was kind of him working his way back into the fold with a goal and an assist. He was the man of the match for them. I thought he had, he had the second goal of the match in the 58th minute. This is the type of game where, and this is just how I personally look at it. You know, I know a lot of people kind of.
00:18:21
Speaker
hinge on every result and get really upset anytime the team loses and that's fair but for me personally I try and kind of detach myself from the result in a game like this because you know I've seen these seasons go down so many times where I've just learned that throughout every season there's going to be games like this where the lineup is kind of just chaos you know you have to rotate
00:18:50
Speaker
So you're playing a lot of homegrowns. You don't have a lot of experience. You're playing guys who are out of position. You're playing midweek. So some of the veterans you're playing are tired. And then in this, especially in this particular situation, you're also playing the best team in the Western Conference. So, I mean, I think I said it when we were previewing it last week, but I had, I had pretty low expectations for this game. I was just hoping that it would remain decently competitive and that they could have a chance at getting out of there with the zero zero or a one one and really, um,
00:19:20
Speaker
Until that first goal, I thought they were hanging with it decently. Well, I wouldn't say Seattle was on the front foot or anything But I thought I thought the game was relatively even until Andres Gomez scored that opener. Would you agree with that Noah? Yeah, I I didn't mind well for first I didn't mind the lineup and I was not shocked at all like I
00:19:43
Speaker
people were really really really upset when this lineup came out, which I just thought was funny because like Would you what you want to play Raoul after he played 90 and then he's gonna play another stubbed his toe Okay, he did stuff his toe so he was on the injury list which you know, I can't really blame him that shit hurts I wouldn't have played him anyway in this game even if he didn't stub his toe exactly so I think I think that this was a perfect game to do the moose experiment and
00:20:10
Speaker
Yeah, and that's that's another thing that I had written down was like the moose experiment needed to be fully fleshed out this this They never win that real salt lake. Anyway, like even even in the best of times. They probably aren't taking a result in this game That's just honestly I I can't I mean it is tough It is that altitude and real salt lake is really good this year but like even in past years when we all saw lake has been pretty real salt mid and
00:20:32
Speaker
They They never they never ever win there. I mean I said it on the last show So even if Seattle was had their first choice lineup and was in good form They probably don't take a result on this game just based on past history. You throw in the fixture congestion in the lineup rotation and
00:20:50
Speaker
The actual odds of taking a result in this game were pretty close to none. But I will say, I would have hoped that it would have been more competitive than it was. It was non-competitive. They were driven in the first 15 after that.
00:21:09
Speaker
No, it got it got out of it got in a hand, especially in the second half. Both the goals they conceded were on counterattacks. So I guess we can talk about the sequences that actually led up to the goals themselves. I mean, the first one it was it was a giveaway in their own end.
00:21:24
Speaker
and then Rial Salt Lake. That first one, that was a sick counter. I'm not even going to lie. They got out and running. They executed that very well. A lot of people blamed Cody Baker for him. He was technically guarding Gomez on the sequence where he scored.
00:21:43
Speaker
Like I mean I would say too, you know Stephen Fry should have saved the shot. Yes, exactly. Okay, he should have But I think both Cody Baker and Stephen Fry were put in a pretty bad position just with the to me it's more about the original giveaway yeah, and Letting them get out on the break like that than it is about what what technically happened on on the shot, you know
00:22:12
Speaker
but I do think that Stephen Fry would probably tell you that he could have saved that shot and like Cody Baker there's just not a lot of good options when you've got a freight train coming at you like that. I think he did the right thing. I think he defended that literally as well as you possibly could. He pushed him out
00:22:30
Speaker
to the outside post so that fry had more time and more space to actually make a save i think fry if you're gonna blame one of those two players fries for sure way more to blame than cody baker that's my take i mean and i i saw someone point this out on twitter but you could if you watch the replay you can see that uh
00:22:50
Speaker
You know goalkeepers when they get scored on oftentimes yell at their defenders and Stephen Fry wasn't yelling at anybody He wasn't yelling at Cody Baker. Yeah, I don't know if that really tells you anything I mean JP got absolutely cooked in the midfield and same with Leyva like that counter-attack was in the whole entire night actually the midfield was so disjointed and So susceptible to that counter it was and especially on that play a friend of the pod Mark Kastner sounded hard tweeted a quite comedic photo of just like where the midfield
00:23:21
Speaker
Was at when that giveaway happened and there everyone's just so flagrantly out of position and then you you had like Three three or four guys at least just around the ball if I remember correctly kind of like, you know when you're watching a tee ball game and Someone hits it off the tee and then the entire defense like flocks to the ball. Yeah It was a little bit of a ball like that where you just had a bunch of guys around the ball So once we all saw like won the ball
00:23:48
Speaker
There was just a ton of space for them to get off on that counter and start ripping. It was still a well executed counter. It was a very well executed counter. I do think you have to give them credit for that. And Andres Gomez, I mean, he's a good player. I believe he's a U22 player for them.
00:24:05
Speaker
Is that his first goal of the season? No, he's actually having a breakout season for them. He's got like nine goal contributions. That's pretty far. So it's like, I would say prior to this season, he's sort of been like kind of their version of Alejo Chu in the sense that he was brought in with a perceived upside that he hadn't necessarily realized yet.
00:24:27
Speaker
He was I think last year he had like six assists or something. I lay out you had eight assists last year so it was sort of a similar situation and then this year he's really Coming into his own and becoming a big-time contributor for them and he had a nice shot on that first goal and then The second goal it was another counter-attack where Diego Luna made a really good individual play But really the whole second half was kind of a bloodbath to be honest I mean real salt lake looked like real salt Madrid
00:24:57
Speaker
They were they were running up and down the field on Seattle Seattle wasn't generating much on offense And frankly like I don't know I thought this game could have been like four or five zero Oh, yeah, we also like like they were they were really cooking I mean they're one of the they're one of the best teams in the league right now and I think for me they're they're certainly the the best team in the West right now and I feel a little bit validated on that because I
00:25:20
Speaker
I did say that I saw this come in last year with the Chicho Arango edition and the potential ascent of Diego Luna and you look at the rest of their roster in concert with those things and you know you could really see an upward trajectory under Paolo Mastriani
00:25:37
Speaker
And that's finally come good this year and a lot of it is down to Chicho Arango producing at an MVP level for them. That's really been the thing that's boosted them from an average to above average team to an elite team in the Western Conference. But Chicho Arango didn't even score in this game. I thought Seattle, he had a couple of looks, but I thought his best look was the one he had from distance that was saved pretty easily.
00:26:00
Speaker
And other than that, I can't remember him getting all that close to scoring, but I think the thing is they're a much more well-rounded team than just Chicho at this point to where if you kind of, you know, if you hone in on Chicho and you devote so much of your game plan to neutralizing him, they have other guys that can hurt you.
00:26:18
Speaker
And Andres Gomez is one of those guys, and Diego Luna is one of those guys. And the thing about those guys is they're young and ascending players. So I think there's kind of every reason for them to believe that both of those guys are going to get even better. And at that point, you combine that with Chicho Arango and a really good defense. Also, that's anchored by Justin Glad, who's been a good CB in this league forever.
00:26:42
Speaker
Mean they're cooking. I told I told you last year. Did I not you know? I don't get to victory lap my takes all that often but I told you that real salt lake was cooking with gas and we're seeing that come to fruition and I mean It's like I just kind of envy like I remember Seattle used to be the team where they would have the edge in a game like this this is this is one of those MLS games where you can kind of tell what's gonna happen just purely based on the lineup because you have
00:27:09
Speaker
a real salt lake team that they really didn't rotate that much, if at all. Um, I can't remember their exact 11, but I know Justin glad was out there. I know Chico was out there. I know Diego Luna Luna was out there. I know Gomez was out there. Um, they don't even have Pablo Ruiz right now who is considered. He's kind of there. There's y'all Paulo. I would say, you know, they're kind of,
00:27:28
Speaker
in the midfield who he's got a, he's got a really good propensity for scoring goals from distance as well. They don't even have him right now and they're still cooking. And I mean, yeah, they cooked Seattle in this game. It was not two zero was flattering. Yeah. It could have been a lot worse.
00:27:46
Speaker
And speaking of Joe Paulo, I thought he put up potentially his worst game since coming back from injury. I don't know what's been going on with him since coming back from injury. Maybe he's not fully fit. Maybe he shouldn't be out there. But I feel like the last few games he's just been terrible. Yeah, this game was definitely rough for JP. I would I would definitely agree that it was
00:28:10
Speaker
It was probably probably the worst JP game since he's been at the club. And, you know, I'll there's there's washed allegations going around about both him and fry. I don't really know if I'm ready to agree or disagree with those yet. JP is has been regaining fitness coming back from injury. So it's possible that some of some of it is just him kind of regaining his footing and getting back used to the speed of the game and getting fully fit.
00:28:36
Speaker
So I'm going to see how it plays out over the next few weeks here. Personally, like if I could put a prediction on it, I think he'll probably get better as it gets more fit and start looking like the JP that we're used to. But that's definitely I think not just to pick on JP or anything. I think it was a game where it was more it was more the veterans who weren't performing at the level that they needed to than the young guys. I mean,
00:29:05
Speaker
think that's definitely the case JP was one of them but you know you have a couple of shots a couple a couple of goals on shots that Stefan Fry should have saved although to be fair Fry did make a couple good saves in this game and again like
00:29:22
Speaker
Yeah, you should have saved those shots. But realistically, we also like could have and should have had like three or four other goals in this game. So and a couple of those were prevented because he made good saves. So I don't know. I don't know. To me, it's more I thought personally, at least I thought it was more about the defense and losing control of the game in the midfield as well, more than the individual goalkeeper errors. But
00:29:51
Speaker
you're looking at if you're looking at just the two goals that they scored in isolation and the shots on those plays I do think that they should have been saved yeah I mean I think the thing you got to think about is does Andy Thomas save those I don't know prop maybe maybe he does I think he's really talented but
00:30:08
Speaker
Yeah. Fry, fry did make some good saves. I think he had a lot of easy saves that he was able to make that kind of booned his average there. Uh, he had a cup, like the, he had the one towards the beginning of the game and that was a really sick save. The guy lined it up from just outside the, uh,
00:30:25
Speaker
remember because they called them left paw Gavin Beavers. That's right. The left paw Gavin Beavers. That'll go on like the save of the week compilation video. But you know that got offset by the two goals that they conceded so that's fair to point out.
00:30:41
Speaker
I just feel like if you control the game better and you don't make the giveaways and the defensive errors that lead to these counters where we all saw Lake can get off and running. Um, maybe he's not in that situation, you know? So I think there's both factors at play.
00:30:56
Speaker
Yeah. Well, speaking of non veterans, how do you think Georgie Monongo did? Because I thought he was such a bright spot. I had the Georgie reaction written down on the outlines. Yeah. Good segue there. He's still pretty fun. You know, I'm down for him to get more first team minutes.
00:31:14
Speaker
You know, I said on the last show that the whole Georgie experience reminded me of the Leo Chiu experience a little bit just in the sense that, you know, it's a similar profile in the sense that it's a player brought in with perceived upside that maybe
00:31:31
Speaker
Doesn't have the experience to fully realize their potential yet, but they have a lot There's a lot of talent and a lot of underlying physical gifts that you're hoping can develop into an impact player at some point And I think the exciting thing with Georgie is that there's just there's basically no tape on him It's an entirely new experience getting to watch him play and so there's the excitement of hoping that there's this
00:31:56
Speaker
Ceiling that he could reach which realistically, you know that hasn't really happened with leochu and so now you have this new player who Who knows maybe he could realize that potential that being said I mean, I still think the actual experience of him
00:32:13
Speaker
watching him play right now is this is not to rain on the Georgie parade. You know, I'm having as much fun with it as everyone else is. But it is a little bit similar in the sense that you have you have these good individual moments where he definitely I would say has beaten his defender one on one more times in the last couple of games than we typically see Leo Jude when he is taking some taking on a defender one on one from out wide.
00:32:42
Speaker
But the end product itself hasn't quite been there yet. You know, he doesn't have a goal or an assist But he's putting himself in good in good positions and he's a very direct player. He's an open cup assist He does have an open cup assist. That's fair. Good point one assist across all comps to Paul Rothrock. Correct
00:32:59
Speaker
Two legends, two club legends. So then Product though hasn't necessarily been there yet on the whole, but he definitely put himself in good positions in this game. There's actually one play where he got a little unlucky not to score. He beat his defender one-on-one and he was put a shot that was gonna go on target and got deflected, but it's the type of shot that sometimes you take that and it deflects in and it's just completely up to chance whether it does or not.
00:33:27
Speaker
And I think when I watch him play, it seems like he has a very good understanding of how to put himself in those positions. He just needs experience to learn how to get the final product to come to fruition.
00:33:43
Speaker
which who knows if he's going to do that. Like there's just a certain percentage of the time when you have a player like this where they do make good on those gifts and that potential and a certain percentage of the time where they don't. So time will tell which path that he's going to go down. But in the meantime, at a point in the season where the season is still kind of dragging and there's not a lot of like fun storylines like this to hang on to, I was glad that he got the start. It was fun to watch and I'm down to watch him play more for sure.
00:34:12
Speaker
yeah i really at first i was very skeptical of the uh the georgie hype train it really it yeah it reminded me of this leochu-esque character this nuhu-esque character this like almost like you're at a point in the season where no one has anything to believe in anymore so they see this like dude who has a really good aura around him and has just kind of like
00:34:40
Speaker
physical physically really talented but like No idea anything else about him, right? He gets he's not even on Wikipedia. I was trying to look him up on Wikipedia We better cook that up. We better get that lobbing scorchers listeners get this man's Wikipedia up I know he qualifies now because he played a professional match. Yeah. Yeah, so but you know I
00:35:02
Speaker
Sign him at this point with leochu going down with injury And not having having a player where there's very little or no tape Is really helpful I think for the sounders at this point because you have to throw everything at the wall to see what sticks and
00:35:17
Speaker
But yeah, I wasn't so sold at first, but I think after this performance, you might as well sign him. I think he's way more physically stout than Leo Chu, which is one of my big problems with Leo Chu is that he'll dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, and then just gets bodied off the ball in the final third. And Georgie was making these really nice runs. Like the one that I remember very, very clearly is he got two-man kind of in the second half, like the entire time.
00:35:46
Speaker
Dude just like gets bodied by two guys kind of dinks the ball in between both of them bodies them off and then like has a run-in on the box and That's something that Leo choose. I don't think ever gonna be able to do just with his physical size. So I don't know I think it's an interesting wrinkle and you might as well explore it at this point in the season where there's basically nothing to lose and
00:36:07
Speaker
Yeah, no, I agree with that. I mean, I do have one take kind of along these lines that I was thinking about, which is that, you know, a game like this, I had fun with the rotated lineup for sure. I thought it was interesting to watch and it was at least something different to watch, which, you know, that's something that we've been campaigning for, so we can't complain about that.
00:36:30
Speaker
I think it did kind of show that a lot of the changes that we were campaigning for, they're not guaranteed to make a difference. In the aftermath of a tough loss where you have more of a first choice lineup than this, it's easy to say, why didn't you play this guy? Why didn't you play that guy? Why is this guy starting? And why not that guy?
00:36:47
Speaker
But you know if you if you go down the list of some of the guys that we've been talking about I mean moose didn't score in this game is the most of the dead like the moose agenda took a hit the defense in general was kind of a mess with the JP Leyva double pivot in the dual homegrown fullbacks, which I
00:37:03
Speaker
I don't think it was any of the young guys fault at
Sounders' Systemic Issues and Coaching Debate
00:37:07
Speaker
all. Like what happened in this game. That's not what I'm saying. But what I what I'm saying is it's not like the team's overall prospects at competing in this game got changed or affected at all by fielding a lineup like this. And, you know, granted you are playing the best team in the West, but I mean, realistically, you were non-competitive. You were non-competitive in an MLS game. Can I say something controversial? Yeah, go for it.
00:37:32
Speaker
I think if you rolled out your starting 11, I don't think the result changes. I think it might even get worse. I don't know if it would get worse, but yeah, I don't know how much I think it would get. It would have been better. But I mean, this lineup got ran on about as hard as you can get ran on. It was fortunate to not be a four to five goal score line. That's really
00:37:54
Speaker
I mean I haven't peeped the XG but like I would be surprised if we all saw Lakehead under like 2XG. Yeah the X vibes were like 5-0. Yeah so I mean it's just it's just something to think about because you know there there is a lot of stuff with this lineup that we had been you know we wanted to see more moose you know Paul Rothrock after Leochu got injured in this game which is unfortunate like
00:38:17
Speaker
I know Leo Chiu takes a lot of heat but You never like to see a guy go down like that. He was emotional and It was just a bummer because he he'd been injured earlier in the season too. He kind of just gotten back He scored a goal in the DC United game and now he goes down again. So Unfortunate to see but like the the Paul Rothrock agenda like I got like to be honest took a hit in this game, too Yeah, I disagree
00:38:41
Speaker
What did he put in? He put in a really that shot that Moose basically shot right at the goalkeeper. That was a Paul Rothrock ball in on like a stop play where I thought he looked really good. And he was sliding in a position where I don't think he's the best at. That's fair. I mean, I thought he did. I thought he did. I'm OK. I'm pretty good. I'm sympathetic to the argument that the agenda didn't take like a full on hit. But I mean,
00:39:07
Speaker
He has, he's supposed to do, you know? I mean, make an impact in the game. But he's not like playing- Get a goal contribution, score a goal. That's what he needs to do to further the agenda. He tried. Moose, Moose, Moose has apparently whatever other sounders player has, which is high XG possibility that he can't finish. It's a tough.
00:39:25
Speaker
Position for him to be put in without a doubt, but like I really think that the the Paul Rothrock agenda hinges on like him making impact plays in the game and Getting on the stat sheet and giving you a tangibly better chance at pulling a result in the game Well, which is that's that's how you earn that's how you earn more minutes and more of a role on the team You know and like he to be fair like
00:39:54
Speaker
I'm not trying to undermine the Paul Rock agenda that we've espoused on this show previously, because the thing that I like about him is that he actually does make those plays when he's given the chance in these Open Cup games and then even scoring the game winner against Houston last year. So sort of my argument for him is that he has been making those plays. But I mean, if you look just at this game, I didn't I didn't really think I really didn't think there was anyone who necessarily made a super huge case like
00:40:25
Speaker
they have to get more minutes other than maybe Georgie just for the fun and the excitement, the potential of it. Um, but I don't know. I don't, I, I certainly don't think the Paul Rothrock agenda got advanced by a two zero shell lacking at real salt lake where he didn't like get on the stat sheet or play you're talking about. I did forget about that boy and he could have had an assist.
00:40:45
Speaker
He also got back defensively which if you the postgame presser one of the things that Brian was hammering on was how dogshit the defense was or thought the the midfield was but he was talking about how Chijo Orango is one of the greatest players because he comes all the way back to play on defense and to defend and That I mean one that's something we see Jordan Morris do a lot. So Jordan Morris haters get shit on but number two
00:41:15
Speaker
Rothrock was back there basically every play sprinting the entire length of the field and he was making stops in the defensive third and you know I think he he did literally everything that Brian could have asked him to do subbing in on that position
00:41:32
Speaker
when that clearly wasn't the game plan to bring him on that early or in that position. So I got to say, I don't think the Paul Roth Ruck agenda took a hit. I just think that when you lose, you can't when you lose and you don't score like it looks bad. But I think in the context of a of a shellacking, I don't think he looked bad.
00:41:52
Speaker
OK. All right. You know, I'm I'm all for the Paul Rothrock agenda continuing. I don't want it to take a hit. So I'll allow that take. Let's get into questions, Noah, and then we can jump into the around the league stuff. Does that sound good? Yeah, let's do it. Yeah, I got to pull them up here. I'm I'm off my game.
00:42:11
Speaker
Thank you as always to everyone who submits the post-game discourse. I know we don't get to every single one every week, but it's always good to take the pulse of the streets, check how you guys are feeling about the state of the team, especially in a season like this. So yeah, let's jump into it.
00:42:27
Speaker
From Bard here, just gonna summarize this one up. Albert Rusnak, can he just take a good first shot? Albert Rusnak's on a DP contract, we just saw that the numbers come out. Is this guy really worth it, Ari?
00:42:42
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, okay, so should we get into the Rusnak debate? I think so. Just quickly. Yeah, that's fine. Because I got actually a couple of responses about this after one of our last shows where we were kind of defending Rusnak. So I guess I'll just throw my final take on the Rusnak debate out there, which is that, I mean,
00:43:00
Speaker
I think he's good, not great. Do you think that's fair? I think the notion that's flying around out there that he's like this terrible, actively bad, detrimental player, I don't really agree with that. I don't think the numbers that you can look at from throughout his career really back that up. I mean, if you go back to his time at Rial Salt Lake, he was a very good and productive player for them. Him and Demir Krylak had a really nasty one-two punch for many years down there.
00:43:29
Speaker
And just if you if you if you're just looking at stat sheet production He's pretty he's at like 49 goals 48 assists or something in about 200 and something MLS games So that's a pretty good productive player. Is it a Is it a carry the load DP that you can build an entire MLS attack around?
00:43:50
Speaker
I don't think so. I think, like I said, I rate him at this point as good, not great, which, you know, I have to wear some egg on my face there because when people might remember, but when he first signed, I was very, very high on the signing. I thought it was a great signing at the time. I thought he could thrive in Seattle with some of the players that he was going to be playing with.
00:44:12
Speaker
And they did win CCL as I pointed out on one of the last shows in the aftermath of that signing. So I think the initial signing itself was validated in that sense. But should they have brought him back as a DP and tried to build the attacker on him? I think that's a very valid thing to question at this point.
00:44:34
Speaker
Because, I mean, I don't know, if you just think about it from comparing him to some of the other most dynamic number 10s in the league, like Luciano Acosta or Haney Muftar. I mean, these are very, very explosive dynamic players that put up double digit goals, double digit assists every single year, like clockwork. And you need a guy who's going to give you that type of output to be a contender among the MLS elite, you know, in this league.
00:45:01
Speaker
And I think it's pretty clear at this point that Rusnak doesn't necessarily give you that. He's still a good and useful player. But like I said, I think what's fair to question is, is he a centerpiece, build the team around him type player? I get why people are feeling like he's probably not.
00:45:23
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's kind of funny because if if I were to have been given the option at the beginning of this season of Nico Ledero or of Albert Rusnak at the 10 for this season, I would have picked Albert Rusnak. But now I think I think we both would have. Yeah. Halfway through the season, I'm looking at what Nico's doing in Orlando and I'm like.
00:45:44
Speaker
get Albert out of this team on a DP contract. I want, I would, if it had to be a DP, if it had, even if, even if Nico had to be a DP, I would much rather take Nico as a DP than real snack on even on a Tam.
00:45:58
Speaker
Yeah, it's funny. Uh, Nico Ledero is playing pretty well for Orlando city. Like I wouldn't overhype that too much because Orlando city has been one of the most disappointing teams in the league this year. And, uh, Nico, but Nico did have a three assist game the other day. I mean, I think Rusnak has four for the season.
00:46:17
Speaker
But Nico does he only has five for the season but yet in the in Orlando's 3-2 win at Philly Last week Nico Ladera started played all 90 minutes had three assists had had II of assists He had a two assist game as well Against DC United earlier this season. So all five of his assists have come across two games I think it's fair to point that out but I
00:46:40
Speaker
Vibes was but like I was watching that Orlando Philly game and he was pinging those through balls in there like it looks like it literally looked like vintage Nico and just kind of It was the type of dominant performance from your 10 that Russ Mack hasn't really logged one of those I don't think I've ever seen him play a match like that. He's had good individual games and he's gotten his stats here and there but I mean let's look up. Let's look up his stats right now.
00:47:09
Speaker
Yeah, I mean zero goals for assists in 744 minutes. Like I said, that's like that's mid. That's that's good. That's good. If that's actually, you know, I mean, you want you want your starting number 10 ideally in an ideal world to be on on a pace that's like much faster. And this isn't this isn't just a player that's talented or good. This is supposed to be one of the three best players on the team and making a salary.
00:47:39
Speaker
that is worth that. Is that? Absolutely not. Yeah. Absolutely not. That's a good point. All right. Yeah. Let's, I think that was a good little section on the rest of that debate. We had that we had to eat some crow there, but you know, we will not shy away from it. Yeah. Well, okay. Just one final thought though. Like, like I said, the whole idea that he like sucks and is terrible and is like this crazy detriment to the team
00:48:03
Speaker
I don't really agree with that either. I think I come down in the middle of that. I know that it might sound like a cop out, but that's honestly how I feel about it. He has been a pretty good productive player in his MLS career. I think everyone would, or most rational Sounders fans agree that he is a TAM quality player. He is not a DP quality player. So we'll leave it there and we will bring up another personnel question, which I actually really like this one. How are we feeling about Kitahara?
00:48:31
Speaker
I thought it was an interesting situation for him to be thrown in it right back and no I honestly I thought he did pretty good like he didn't I think the whole goal in that situation is to not make any glaring egregious mistakes and embarrass yourself and embarrass the club and embarrass the city and I don't think he did
00:48:48
Speaker
any of those things I just I don't know how much of his long-term future is at that position so I don't even really know how much it's worth evaluating in that sense I don't that's not necessarily where he's going to be playing but given the situation and given the circumstances and his lack of experience I thought he I thought he acquitted himself all right do you remember him doing anything like egregiously bad
00:49:09
Speaker
I didn't think his playing transition was really good at all. I thought that maybe it was the first or the second goal. I feel like he got toasted and got caught out in the midfield or way too high up the field. But again, like I don't want to take, I don't really take anything from this match to evaluate his quality because he was slotted into a position. He's played one time coming back. What is this is like second appearance for the first team in an MLS match, maybe second or third, like,
00:49:38
Speaker
I'm really not gonna make an assessment off of this match. I will say I'm glad that he's getting first team minutes. It's good, but also he does have the most drip on the entire team, so I'm a little biased there.
MLS Coaching Changes and Team Performances
00:49:55
Speaker
He's a stylish fellow.
00:49:58
Speaker
But that is how I'm feeling about Soto Kitahara. This one comes from Dan. I'm not embarrassed by this performance. I'm just disappointed. Can the sounders put a discovery claim on the raccoon from the Philly game? Please sign him. Yeah, sign him. Why not?
00:50:16
Speaker
Georgie first team contract seems imminent. I know it's too early to make a call, but at what point if he stays consistent, is he a better choice than Leo or maybe even Jordan? He's basically a Leo who can actually beat his defender. Still question his decision making. This is exactly what we talked about. Yeah, that's sort of a, that's sort of how I would describe it. Yeah. Yeah. Just wanted to toss that out. Thank you sound a boy for that, for that question. Uh, did Moose actually play in the second half or was that just a mannequin in a Jersey?
00:50:46
Speaker
The Moose Agenda took a hit. I had this written down here on my notepad. Is the Moose Agenda dead? No, it's not dead. It's one game and it's a game with extenuating circumstances against a very good team with a rotated lineup at altitude. So I'm not going to call the agenda dead off those factors, but I mean, it took a hit.
00:51:10
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. I'm, I'm very much lower. I keep lowering his rating. Yeah. We should be honest about like how much the agenda should really, I mean, he's, you know, he's a backup forward. Theoretically he shouldn't need to be like carrying that big of a load, but he, you know, it is, you want your backup forward to be able to, uh, to score a goal in a game like this. I just don't understand why you don't play Jordan at the nine in this match.
00:51:35
Speaker
Well, I mean, I think they Jordan came on in the second half and JP also subbed off at halftime for Christian So I think there was a little bit of like trying to manage guys minutes for Saturday going on which is fine But I felt like getting I don't know I just felt like Jordan could have been way more effective in this line of at the nine I don't know that's like especially with Georgie and like we've seen how that shoe and Morris connection Sparks, you know, I don't know. I felt like I
00:52:02
Speaker
if it were me making that lineup, I would have started Moose seeing if he had a good run of form and then, you know, 45 comes. I'm taking him off. Okay. So he wanted Jordan on earlier. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I wanted, I wanted him. Yeah. And I wanted him at the nine. Um,
00:52:19
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. I feel like all of these questions we've really kind of covered. I think this is what I'll do as the final one. No questions, just lots of whiskey. Is this season chocked yet, Ari? Or are we still have things to look forward to?
00:52:37
Speaker
No, it's not chalked. I actually had this written down. St. Louis Houston and Vancouver actually all lost their games last night. And those were the three teams that were ahead of Seattle on the table. So nothing really changed much from that perspective. They're still in a situation where if they can get on a good run of form and string some wins together, they'll at least be back up in the playoff mix.
00:52:58
Speaker
And if, you know, if you can just make the playoffs, anything can happen. I mean, I don't think any of us necessarily see this team as an MLS cup contender at the moment, but things change fast in this league. I mean, we've seen it with the Seattle Sounders many times before where they start a season slowly like this and then they turn it around.
00:53:15
Speaker
So that could still happen. I don't know how optimistic I am that that's going to happen, but it could. And, I mean, just purely based on where they are on the table, the season's not chocked yet. But, I mean, if they keep taking L's, it's gonna be chocked. I did have one more take, just based on some of the questions about Schmetz being on the hot seat. I kinda wanted to throw some numbers behind my sort of sentiment that
00:53:45
Speaker
who the coach is and changing the coach doesn't necessarily matter as much as some people might think. And the example I wanted to use here was LAFC head coach, Steve Chirundalo, okay? Steve Chirundalo, I don't know how many people know this, but before he was the LAFC head coach where he's been one of the winningest coaches in the league for the last few years, and he's become, he's respected as one of the top coaches in the entire league.
00:54:12
Speaker
He was the coach in the usl championship for the las vegas lights who were la fcs affiliate before He took the first team job And he coached the las vegas lights from january 19th 2021 to january 3rd 2022 almost a full calendar year, okay? During that time he coached 32 games. Do you want to know what his record was no? Let me guess he had like 11 wins
00:54:34
Speaker
six wins, three draws, 23 losses, negative 36 gold differential. All right. Now that's a coach right there. And if you look at his numbers, since he took over as the head coach of LAFC, January 3rd, 2022, he's coached them for 106 matches, 56 wins, 20 draws, 30 losses.
00:54:55
Speaker
plus 80 goal differential. Okay, so when Steve Chorendolo was the coach of the Las Vegas Lights with a negative 36 goal differential and a winning percentage of 18.75, was he like the worst coach of all time putting up those numbers? Like no, obviously not. And that's why they ended up hiring him to their first team to great effect.
00:55:18
Speaker
The point is, a lot of the times, and I think Steve Chirundolo would tell you this, and I've heard many a coach express this sentiment, a lot of the times a coach is only as good or as effective as the players that they have at their disposal. The Las Vegas Lights team that Steve Chirundolo was coaching
00:55:36
Speaker
Just it had it was a really poor roster for the USO and it it wouldn't have mattered who the coach was man You could have had pep himself coaching the that Las Vegas lights team and they probably would have put up the exact same numbers by the same token him having all the success he's had with LAFC his first team doesn't make him the greatest coach of all time either and
00:55:56
Speaker
You know, a lot of it is just a lot more down to the fact that he has a vastly superior roster with great players and he's benefited from that. It's not to say that coaching doesn't matter at all. I think I just bring it up more because when people advocate for coaching changes, like we're going to talk about Conzo Pineda in a minute.
00:56:18
Speaker
The grass isn't always greener necessarily. Plugging a new guy in doesn't always lead to the results that you think it might just by virtue of making the change. Just to make a comparison across another sport to drive the point home.
00:56:35
Speaker
like you remember a few years ago when the Golden State Warriors were at the peak of their powers and Steve Kerr had to Had to miss a bunch of the season because he had like a like back issues or something and so Luke Walton took over and They went like 40 and two under Luke Walton, you know Did that make Luke Walton a super great coach? Obviously not because he went and coached Sacramento or something and they were terrible because he had terrible players Yeah, so anyway, that's sort of a
00:57:04
Speaker
I was looking at Steve Truandolo, like the splits between his Las Vegas Lights record and LAFC record, and I was like, that kind of is an illustration of what I've been trying to say on the show the last few weeks when people bring up the Schmetz hot seat. Like, you have to think about whether that would actually change anything.
00:57:20
Speaker
Yeah, I think the only interesting thing to actually bring up about this situation is, in the Sounders organization specifically, how much involvement and sway that Brian actually does have in player personnel, and over-wible in general. So I think when people are, I mean, maybe people are reactionary about just firing Brian, they don't really have a reason for it.
00:57:48
Speaker
I think the funniest part is there there can be a reason for it that is valid and that is Brian does have a lot of say over the player personnel on this team and to say that he doesn't and to say that like this is squarely on the players and that he doesn't have talented players well it is partially his responsibility to
00:58:08
Speaker
make these decisions to get in new players or to get rid of players so i i think and and listen i've been with you for weeks and weeks and weeks years even because people have been brian out for a long time i am kind of warming up to the idea just partially you hit me in the microwave for like eight seconds
00:58:28
Speaker
That I could be swayed that this might be warming up for me and I might not be loving the Brian experience anymore. Yeah. And, you know, it's not it's not necessarily to say that an era can't run its course and sometimes that change for the sake of change.
00:58:46
Speaker
can be a good thing. I mean, we saw it in the previous iteration of this where I think the Ziggy Schmidt era, by the time it ended, it wasn't necessarily anything other than it was something that had just run its course and a new era needed to commence.
00:59:04
Speaker
No, what's wrong about that? He lost the entire locker room. People were walking out of training. People weren't showing up. Clint Dempsey hadn't talked to him in about allegedly about a year. Like that was that was he completely lost the locker room before they did anything. That's a byproduct of what I'm talking about. That's why that's why you needed like a new era. But I mean, it was very drastic forward.
00:59:26
Speaker
Yeah, by the end it was really bad and you did have the game, it's true, at Sporting Kansas City where things went really off the rails. But the result of that was a situation where you had a coach who had been in place for a really long time and I think the whole organization benefited from just something new.
00:59:47
Speaker
And so that could happen with Schmetzer. I don't know. I don't know if it's at that point yet. But I'm more talking about just the notion that a new coach in itself necessarily fixes all the issues. It's not guaranteed. Exactly. It's not guaranteed.
01:00:05
Speaker
It's not. Could it work? Sure, but it's not guaranteed. And yeah, I agree with you. Like everyone who's just hammering on that. That's the problem. It's a two. It's a two a two folded issue. You have to fix the player personnel. You have to fix the roster before any of that other stuff is going to resolve itself.
01:00:26
Speaker
All right. Let's move on to, uh, to, uh, the rest of the storylines from around MLS this week. So that sound good. And then we can check out of here for episode 35. Oh yeah. Um, winners and losers from this midweek, uh, match day slate and MLS. Um, I mean, the first thing we're going to, we got to talk about is we had a coach firing. We had a coach firing Noah first. Gary Smith of Nashville SC shot in the heave ho after winning. And they did it after a dub. They beat Toronto SC two zero last night.
01:00:54
Speaker
And they still fired their coach. It was his hundredth win with the club. They fired him after a milestone win But yeah, Gary Smith is out. The first thing I'll say is that I'm I'm surprised that Gary Smith was the first one to go I thought it was gonna be gonzo panetta Atlanta United lost 1-0 to FC Cincinnati last night. I think they're winless in seven still lost three home games in a row and
01:01:17
Speaker
Elmata got her and it just seems like the vibes are not good. I think we talked about it on the last show, but Gonzo is next for sure, I think. And the reason I think that is because of comments that Garth Loggerway made during the preseason where
01:01:35
Speaker
He was talking about how there were very clear metrics of progress that they needed to make. Garth is a thoughtful guy. He doesn't just say stuff for no reason. I think it's pretty obvious that he said that to set a very clear and public benchmark for the type of progress that he needs to see for this staff and infrastructure to remain in place there.
01:01:56
Speaker
And I mean, it's black or white if those benchmarks are hit and they're decidedly not in Atlanta right now. So that's why reading between the lines, I think it's just, I think it's a matter of time at this point before a change is made there unless something really drastic changes for them in the next few weeks. But let's talk about Nashville SC a little bit because they're the ones that actually have made the change. Gary Smith has been their only head coach since they joined MLS and he's had quite a bit of success there. I will say they have a really nice awesome stadium that I want to get to someday.
01:02:26
Speaker
They made the playoffs every single year and when you think about Nashville SC at least especially in their first couple years in MLS I think about a team that's very Their identity was built on defense like they're a very tough team to play against tough team to break down very very difficult to score on anchored by Walker's inner Zimmerman in the back there and
01:02:48
Speaker
They did a pretty good job in their early MLS years of signing guys that had experience in the league and knew how to win in the league and I think that paid dividends for them and then they also have one of the best players in the league in Haney Mukhtar who I mean he's been an MVP in this league he puts up incredible crooked numbers every year he's one of the most fun players in the league to watch he's a very he's an electric exciting player and
01:03:10
Speaker
And, uh, that was a massive hit of assigning for them. And between that defensive solidity with anchored by walkers and Zimmerman and, uh, Henny Moop tar being one of the best players in the league. They actually, they built a very good solid perennial league contending playoff team.
01:03:26
Speaker
in their early years, and I think Gary Smith does and has gotten a lot of credit for that. I think if I had to pinpoint the downfall, it was just that it was two things. Number one, over-reliance on Haney Mukhtar. I feel like every time we talk about them, that's something that they came up. Their whole team has been Haney Mukhtar or Bust. If he doesn't play for whatever reason, like he has to rotate out or if he's injured,
01:03:48
Speaker
they don't have anything at all on offense. They were having him play without a really good number nine for years and they finally signed Sam Surridge to try and fill that void and I don't know that that's worked out to the extent that it would have needed to to save Gary Smith's job. Sam Surridge, I think he's been playing a little better this year. I know he's scored at least a couple goals but he's definitely
01:04:12
Speaker
When I think of the when you think of the top number nines in the league is Sam Surridge. No Yeah, exactly so that didn't have the desired effect that they needed it to to to elevate them along with any MOOC tar and then also kind of losing that defensive identity like they've been shipping soft goals this year in a way that they like typically hadn't in their MOS history and they
01:04:39
Speaker
lost that identity and just still had no other plan or idea other than any move to our and had I think ultimately kind of stagnated and if you look at the record this year they're averaging like around one point per game and they're at a point in their MLS evolution where
01:04:54
Speaker
I think their front office and their club brass probably really want to be making progress and taking the next step into the Elite tier of teams in the league go from good to great. That's that's their goal. That's what they're trying to do right now and I think they felt like the project was stagnant and so they decided to make a move and
01:05:12
Speaker
So, it doesn't surprise me necessarily that it happened. I think the writing was on the wall a little bit, but it did happen a little earlier than I expected, and I am surprised that it happened before Gonzo, which, like I said, I think that one's coming.
01:05:27
Speaker
Yeah, it's not surprising, yeah, like you said, but I was completely thrown off by the fact that Gonzo didn't get sacked before them, and I just, I don't know, that's all I have to add. It's quite funny to me that Gonzo survived another day, but... Yeah, I mean, he's on the Ozzy Watch right now. I for sure thought that this last, after he lost this last match, it was Jover for him.
01:05:56
Speaker
bring him home bring him home bring him home um the filly union are down so bad i i'm just not used to seeing the filly union down this bad they did have a raccoon on their field uh which was you know a brief boom for morale for them but four straight losses at home after losing 2-1 to nycfc
01:06:16
Speaker
I don't think Jim sees necessarily on the hot seat yet. I kind of consider him similar to Schmetz in that he's a provenly good coach that you know that you can win with and that making a change for the sake of change is not guaranteed to benefit you.
01:06:32
Speaker
Um, but that's sort of, uh, you know, I follow the sounders every week, every week, every day. So, um, you know, I feel like my opinion is a little more informed on that. I don't follow Philly as closely to know like how much their, their fans are feeling the gym C hot seat thing.
01:06:49
Speaker
But I would imagine, I mean, four straight at home, like that's like you rarely see that in MLS. Like it's a league that's basically designed in a way for home field advantage. And Philly, you know, we talked about it before Seattle played there. They've been one of the best home teams. They've been historically good at home. They never lost there. They had a crazy good goal differential there at Subaru park.
01:07:09
Speaker
So I don't know what's going on with the Philly Union. Thinking back to the Seattle game, it's a little bit similar maybe to Nashville in that you have a team that normally has a calling card of being really strong on defense. And just some of the goals that they're conceding, like the goals that they conceded against NYC,
01:07:28
Speaker
Well, first of all, Andre Blake is hurt. And remember, their goalkeeper was the same one who was off his line with Raul Band from midfield. There was a goal that NYC scored last night where the guy was lining up a free kick from, it was like between the corner kick and the 18 yard box.
01:07:46
Speaker
And he let it rip and the goalkeeper was just way out of position and the guy looked like he was crossing it and it went in because the goalkeeper just totally left on it. Yeah, bammed off the person in, right? Exactly. And I just don't know. I think so. I think their backup goalkeeper is hurting them right now. They're making a lot of
01:08:06
Speaker
Really bad defensive errors and they're not just dropping points at home, but losing games like I don't know Yeah, I'm just not used to seeing the Philly Union like this. It's kind of sad Yeah, they're doing the inner Miami bit but without Messi right now like they you can score on them in transition like easier than Honestly, you enter Miami like it's hilarious that that game last night I watched a through ball be played and I'm like, oh there's gonna be a defender back there, right and
01:08:32
Speaker
There's gonna be a defender back there, right? And then it's just bam back at the net because there's no one covering the entire right side of the field I don't know what's going on with the Union, but honestly I'm gonna I'm I'm here for the collapse because they have so many young prospects like They deserve to go through like all of the things that they're going through just just purely because like you have so much talent and also I think it's funny that it seems like
01:09:00
Speaker
Literally every stage of the plague is happening on their home field like maybe we need like an exorcism because they've got like mass floods animal infestations Like what I mean like what else could there be yeah? I mean that's kind of one of the biggest storylines that I'm paying attention to like what's the next crazy thing? That's gonna happen at Subaru Park other than them losing into their home game
01:09:24
Speaker
The Vancouver Whitecaps lost 1-0 at Colorado. I think that's relevant because we can kind of use that to preview Seattle's next opponent, which Vancouver come to Seattle on Saturday, which as I said at the top of the show, I'm going to miss the game sadly.
01:09:40
Speaker
The Whitecaps, to start the season, they had rightfully established themselves as one of the surprise best teams in the West, and they're going through it a little bit now themselves. They got bammed on 3-0 at LAFC.
01:09:56
Speaker
and then turned around midweek at Colorado and lost 1-0 at Colorado. It was a little bit of a weird game in that they got a dog so red and then Colorado got a penalty and that was the only goal of the game. So maybe if they don't get that dog so red, they take a result in that game.
01:10:17
Speaker
Still think the white caps are pretty damn good. I mean Scottish Messi. We saw him the last time that they played Seattle. He kind of cooks Seattle So he you know, he's an example of a true centerpiece build your attack around it type number 10 and then you know Brian white always dangerous and they're usually they're usually more solid on defense than to give up three goals in the game and then get a dog so red and
01:10:42
Speaker
So I actually think, Noah, that this creates a much more dangerous opponent for Seattle because they've lost two games in a row and they need to right the ship. They need to get back to how they were playing earlier in the season.
01:10:57
Speaker
And they also already know they can compete with and beat Seattle. So I think you would almost rather catch them in a slightly better run of form than this and hope you can get them like overconfident than in a situation where now they're kind of desperate because they're going to be going all out on Saturday.
01:11:15
Speaker
Yeah, and there's nothing easier than to get a get right game against the Sounders at home. So especially a rivalry game. Yeah, it's it's over for for their down streak. I think personally, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what lineup is going to show up this weekend, but, you know, yeah, I don't know.
01:11:36
Speaker
I mean I would imagine it would be a lot more first choice because I mean depending on the status of Rudy Diaz's stubbed toe which you know I don't really know how severely he stubbed it or what he stubbed it on or what exactly happened with that but like take a
01:11:52
Speaker
Assuming that the stubbed toe is healed I would imagine he'll start in the game and then Obed didn't play in the RSL game Out of what Schmetz said I believe was an abundance of caution He just felt like a little bit of tightness in his hamstring which with first sounders player. That's the alarm bells Yeah, you gotta I think Schmetz did the right thing holding him out
01:12:14
Speaker
warning. Yeah, exactly. Hopefully that hamstring tightness has subsided and Obed can get a start in this game again. Stretch it out kid. So, you know, playing at home with a lineup that, you know, to be fair, the last couple of games that the first choice lineup has played, they actually have scored multiple goals in there in those MLS games at Philly and at Portland. So theoretically playing at home against a Vancouver side that is in a slight downturn in form.
01:12:44
Speaker
I wouldn't predict a dub in this game, but I think a result is attainable Yeah, and a huge shout out to to Ian Mitchell who slid me his tickets for this game. I'm taking my nephews so Shout out to you. I appreciate you Go Sounders. I don't know
01:13:03
Speaker
Alright, let's jump into the winners, I guess. We can make this pretty quick and then call it a wrap here. I got the New York Red Bulls. They bammed on DC United 4-1. If you haven't seen this goal that Elias Emmanuel scored, one of the best goals of the season, it was a little bit similar to the one that Rui Diaz scored in Philly, except
01:13:20
Speaker
I think it was even better. It wasn't as far away from the goal, but he had like a defender right on him and he kind of just bodied him off and then noticed the keeper was off his line and then chipped it right over him from way outside of the box. I was a sick goal and I think my just my takeaway from that is that this Red Bulls team is pretty legit. They got slammed by inner Miami a couple weeks ago, but I mean a lot of people get slammed by inner Miami and I think by and large the Red Bulls have they look like a team that
01:13:51
Speaker
has an identity again but then they also they signed Emil Forsberg who he's he looks like a centerpiece type designated player for them and he needs to call his wife and kids though that is true he is taking heat for that but as far as his play on the field for rbny he's doing pretty good
01:14:12
Speaker
And their team just looks a little bit different. You know, when you think about Red Bull soccer, it's like energy drink, high press, like kind of chaos ball a little bit. And they've been they've been a little more dialed back, I would say, from what I've watched this year compared to those past years. But then in this game, they sort of turn that up again. And they were running all over D.C., who we were talking about D.C. and Christian Ben Teke. They've looked pretty good at times this year. So that was a good one for the Red Bulls.
01:14:41
Speaker
LAFC took a 2-0 win at St. Louis City FCSC. You know, we clown on LAFC a lot here, but I'll give them credit when they do well. I think the notable thing here was a Denny Spewonga had a brace in this game. And sort of as long as that guy's on their team, LAFC can be a problem in any individual game. And you kind of saw that in this game, even though St. Louis do look like they have taken a step back after their kind of blessed year last year.
01:15:10
Speaker
Yeah. Are we putting in the biggest winner, though? Who do you got?
01:15:15
Speaker
Gary Neville he survives Phil Neville. Why did I say Gary? Oh my God Gary Smith Phil Neville say it's yeah, Phil Neville biggest winner of the week. Okay, we can we can talk about that because I'm not putting I was actually thinking of still putting Portland in the losers section. Yeah, they beat the San Jose earthquakes for two and we're bragging about it. This was one of the worst games I've and it was it was entertaining but like just
01:15:43
Speaker
Every once in a while you see the type of game that makes you believe that the people who make fun of MLS kind of have a point. This was one of those games. So let's be clear, the Timbers were getting bammed on 2-0 at home by the San Jose Earthquakes, who have been one of the worst teams in the league all year.
01:16:04
Speaker
It was 2-0 at halftime. Oh yeah, you sent me the broadcaster. So there was a pretty funny moment where the Portland Timbers radio broadcaster was. He got caught on a hot mic. It was halftime. He thought that they had cut to commercial, I guess.
01:16:21
Speaker
And what did he say? He was like, he was calling back to the lake announcer in the booth and going, Hey, Brian, you want to coach? You want to come coach this team? Can't be any worse. You want to coach the team? Steve can't. Yeah, it can't be any worse, which, oh man. And then I saw, he tweeted out an apology today. I don't know. I felt bad for him. It's embarrassing. But anyway, so that's, that was the state of things for the Portland timbers at halftime.
01:16:47
Speaker
Um, they got, uh, the way they got back into this game was they, they had a shot on goal in the San Jose earthquakes defender. He almost made an insane play. Did you see this? He had a goal line clearance and it did hit his hand and they gave him a dog. So red, I thought that was pretty harsh.
01:17:08
Speaker
He did hit his hand, but like he wasn't making himself big and I didn't know if there was all that much He could have done to avoid the contact that it did make I don't know if that I think that probably Matters less when you're in the goal like that if you're in the goal like that and it hits hits your hand or arm It's probably you can't be shocked if you get the dog so red But it was still like I don't know he was pumped after he made the play He thought he had it and I kind of wanted them to give it to him because it would have been a really sick play by the defender and
01:17:36
Speaker
But either way he gets a dog so red and Portland Portland cuts it to two one from the spot and then they end up They end up tying it and then getting two more goals like but it was just it was a pretty trash game to watch and
01:17:55
Speaker
Basically, the only reason the timbers came back was probably because of this dog so red that may or may not should have actually taken place. But I haven't watched the film that will press her yet. I'm sure he was he was very sure he
Team and Fan Reactions Post-Match
01:18:09
Speaker
was pumped. He was pumped. It was honestly awesome. The clip that I saw, he was like,
01:18:14
Speaker
Oi bruv, listen, listen. Those supporters back there, they willed this team. They willed that ball in the back of the net, mate. They willed that ball in the back of the net. I'm so proud to be coaching this team. We have things to work on, but mate,
01:18:31
Speaker
My god, I'm just so proud of this club. Yeah, I mean that that adds up We'll see how the fill the Neville era continues to go. I mean taking a win like that against the quakes I don't know how much that changes their fortune. I don't know their fans were pretty hyped on Twitter about beating the quakes
01:18:48
Speaker
I mean, honestly though, a dub is a dub for them right now, especially after that Seattle game. And honestly, based on how the Phil Neville era had been going before that game, I think Seattle people probably want him to stay in charge there as long as possible. Lifetime contract. But it was pretty funny how that all panned out.
Columbus Crew Victory and MLS Team Rankings
01:19:09
Speaker
All right, my last winter of the week, Columbus Crew bammed on CF Montreal 3-1 on the road.
01:19:15
Speaker
And you know, we were talking about last week, they, they lost hell as real def C Cincinnati. And we were talking about just the perils of juggling CCC. I mean, the crew didn't actually look like they were struggling with it that much in this game. They like, I watched some of those game, they looked like vintage crew.
01:19:33
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, to me, it's just it's them and inner Miami kind of at the top of the league right now. And that's the situation that I think there's a pretty stark drop off between them and everyone else. I mean, FC Cincinnati is up there. Real Salt Lake is up there. But for me, I've got like inner Miami in the crew is 1A 1B right now.
01:19:51
Speaker
Yeah, no, I thought that game was honestly kind of sick to watch. That was like my opener. And yeah, I don't know. They're fun. They're fun to watch. They're so fun to watch. And I think it was always destined that Wilfred Nancy was going to beat his protege. But like still, I mean, it's what a game. And like people have been saying that Montreal are trash, which is just false. That's a good team. I would say I would say mid but not trash.
01:20:20
Speaker
Well, I see. Okay, here's my thing. They way outperform what they what they're like. They have what their roster is. That's fair. So like I think that they're coached really well. Yeah, that's that's what I would say. That's what I would say. If you're Atlanta United, you're trying to get the I don't even know his name. I always forget the Montreal Court. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
01:20:41
Speaker
Give Lauren Courtois a roster as good as Atlanta has yeah, and you probably have a sick
Audience Engagement and Future Content
01:20:48
Speaker
team. Yeah, yeah exactly All right, let's call it there for episode 35. I think we cooked a pretty long one there Yeah, we can get up on out of here Thank you to everyone who keeps listening and supporting the show we've been averaging like over 400 downloads per episode the last four or five episodes and
01:21:04
Speaker
We really appreciate all the support. If you want to support the show, you can go to podcast.lobbinsquarters.com. Click on the little heart. We really appreciate everyone who's already done so and hope to see more of you there in the future, but not obligatory. We just appreciate you listening. If you haven't yet, go ahead and rate five stars, subscribe, like, comment. We need more reviews. We need more YouTube subs, anything you can do to help support and grow the show. We really appreciate.
01:21:33
Speaker
like I said I'm gonna be out of town this weekend so it'll be a little bit of a delayed reaction episode from the Vancouver game but don't worry like we've gotten so much support these last couple months that we're gonna keep grinding these without a doubt so if you don't see it on Monday morning like you normally would don't worry we're gonna get that thing out there
01:21:50
Speaker
I'm gonna have to catch up on the game and figure out what happened I don't even know if I'm gonna be able to watch it live But I'll lay down the top maybe I'll lay down the takes without watching it with that would be so far be fire Yeah, just look at the scoreboard and then see and then you can tell me if my yeah, I like that Maybe we'll toy with something like that. Yeah, but uh Anyway, thanks again to everyone for listening. We're gonna call that one for episode 35 until next time we out peace