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Nos Audietis, Episode 247: Oh, it’s not all that bad
57 Plays8 years ago
This wasn’t quite the start of the season we had hoped for, but one point from a tough two-game road trip isn’t the worst-case either. Aside from the first 45 minutes in Houston, the Sounders actually played pretty well. Sure, their advantage in xGA could be chalked up to playing from behind for a good deal of the time, but the offense looks reasonably potent and if they can regain the defensive form they had during last year’s playoffs ... well, this could be another fun year.
The guys sort through all of that and then have Richard Farley back to discuss some of the goings on around the league. Among the topics of discussion are the beef between Alejandro Bedoya and Jozy Altidore; the Twitter spat between the Timbers and Galaxy; and whether or not the seemingly shrinking reliance on American players in MLS.
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Transcript
Introduction & Sponsors
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Nos Adieres is sponsored by Full Pool Wines. Full Pool 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.
00:00:23
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.
00:01:11
Speaker
The blue skies you've ever seen are in sea And the hills the greenest green in sea
00:01:24
Speaker
like a beautiful child growing up free and wild. Welcome back to another edition of Noose Adiete, sponsored by Fullpool Wines, Constellation & Company, Queen Anne acupuncture, Verity Credit Union, Designers Marble, and our broadcast partner Bootstrapper Studios. This is episode 247, and we're recording on Wednesday, March 15th, 2017. I am your host, Jeremiah O'Shan, and I'm joined by my co-host, Aaron Campo, and our engineer, Lickit. Joining us later in the show will be Richard Farley.
Sounders' Season Kickoff Challenges
00:01:53
Speaker
So the first two weeks weren't exactly as hoped, but I think we can safely say that they went basically as expected. One point from two road games is hardly ideal, and giving up four goals is cause for at least some concern, but the Sounders put together strong second halves in both games, and preseason concerns over the offense appear to be...
00:02:10
Speaker
maybe non-issues. Let's focus on last week's game though.
Montreal Match Performance
00:02:14
Speaker
The Sounders needed two late goals to get a point in Montreal including a 94th minute equalizer from Will Bruin, but according to expected goals they actually should have won reasonably easy. Going into this home opener, how are you feeling about this one Aaron?
00:02:31
Speaker
I would definitely feel better if we weren't playing New York. They've looked good so far, I think. I could be told that they could have lost both games, like, by six goals, and I would probably still say that. But, I mean, they're definitely a talented team. So, you know, it would be nice if we were playing, like, Minnesota or Vancouver or something, but, you know, I feel okay.
Player Performance Assessments
00:02:55
Speaker
After the first game, I kind of felt like, okay, well, our worst players were Ozzy Alonzo, Nicholas Ledero, Christian Roldan, and Roman Torres. They're probably not going to be our worst players most weeks. And then the next week, it was just Torres and two lesser extent Lederos. So, you know, we're already kind of picking up there, so that's good.
00:03:18
Speaker
And yeah, I mean it's you know, I think that Nicholas Ledero what we saw over, you know the the end of last season with him with the team There's no way he was gonna be able to do that sustainably if over the course of a 34 game season But I don't think there's any reason to worry that he hasn't looked great in the first two games just because I think that players like him are
Adapting to Playing Conditions
00:03:41
Speaker
are just kind of inherently streaky because a lot of the stuff they do is risky and it's not always going to come off. I thought he looked a lot more like himself against Montreal. I just, I didn't think that, you know, it just wasn't quite there yet. And there's definitely still some, some rust, I think team wide. Roman Torres is looked interesting in the first couple of games, but I don't really expect that to
00:04:07
Speaker
To continue, Houston looks like they might be a legitimately pretty decent team, which I think makes that loss hurt a little bit less. And really, the Sounders have looked bad for 45 minutes. And that was the first 45 minutes against Houston. They didn't look terrible, I didn't think, against Montreal on the first half. Montreal's just a pretty good team, playing on the road is hard. And it should be said, in a very uncomfortable environment,
00:04:35
Speaker
There's a lot of things that make Olympic Stadium tough, but the fact that it's the only stadium where it's artificial turf on top of concrete, and you can see the players were struggling with that a lot.
00:04:49
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. And I think that, you know, for a team that likes to move the ball on the ground really fast, really quickly, and that's always going to kind of hurt them. And Montreal, I'm sure, they don't play there often, but they're probably a little more used to it.
Sounders' Strategic Adjustments
00:05:05
Speaker
They probably trained on it for a couple weeks, though.
00:05:07
Speaker
And I think it's just inherently going to make things weird. And when things are weird, you know, it's going to be hard for everybody, but that doesn't mean it's going to affect everyone equally. So, you know, I think I guess the caveat is that they've been playing from behind and teams generally look better when they're playing from behind. So, you know, it's we'll see what happens when it goes, you know, 70 minutes, no, no, or whatever. I mean, it's it's just the game state has been weird in the first two games, but
00:05:36
Speaker
you know in general um i'm just not super worried right now i think uh you know if if we lose this game to new york uh that's going to be a pretty huge disappointment i think but you know if you get three points out of that game it's four in your first three uh and and one of those and the win is is against a team that i think a lot of people would consider an MLS cup contender so um you know it's it's way too early i think that everyone that you know didn't sleep through last year knows that
00:06:07
Speaker
as long as you have a chance of making the playoffs that you can't freak out, but it would be nice to see a lot of the things that have been concerning over the first few games kind of washed away in the first home game.
Jordan Morris' Impact
00:06:20
Speaker
Yeah, and I would say that it's not that hard to find positives in the Sounders play.
00:06:26
Speaker
You can look at, like I said, the expected goals are one thing that's nice. And what that is, is it's showing basically where the sounders are taking shots from, what kind of shots they're taking. And it's certainly fair to point out that those numbers have kind of been helped by playing from behind. But the sounders are getting good looks. They probably had four or five quality looks in the game against Montreal.
00:06:53
Speaker
I think that they were probably a little unlucky not to get two goals at least from the run of play. You had Jordan Morris hit the outside at the post on a great play. Jordan Morris I think is actually an interesting case of how the Sounders are going. I feel like there's been a lot of people that have been on him about lack of finishing.
00:07:14
Speaker
And I don't know that I've seen a lack of finishing as much as he's putting himself in good positions and not converting difficult chances. Like, I don't think he's had anything that I would think is a gimme by any stretch. And, you know, but he's been able to turn what didn't seem like very good chances into decent chances. And then those pile up and people start thinking, oh, he's lost his ability to finish somehow over the offseason.
00:07:41
Speaker
Yeah, I never worry too much about finishing, especially with guys that have shown that they can do it pretty consistently and Jordan Morris has. I mean, I know that he had, I think it was kind of similar at the beginning of last year and I think maybe the
00:07:54
Speaker
just sort of getting the monkey off his back kind of weighed on him and maybe made it a little tougher for him. But, you know, I think he knows how to finish. And like you said, like, he's getting chances, but he's not necessarily getting gimmies. And, you know, those are hard chances to finish. Nobody is going to finish 100% of those chances.
00:08:12
Speaker
especially nobody playing in MLS. The fact that he's getting looks is the most important thing, I think. If he can continue to do that, he's going to score a ton of goals. I think the most encouraging thing really about
Team Consistency Improvements
00:08:27
Speaker
the Montreal game and especially the second half is that there's just starting to be sort of a consistency and a flow to the attack that You know really wasn't there against Houston even in the second half when the Sounders were better They just look a lot smoother They look like they're ironing out some of the kinks and as they continue to do that Morris is gonna get more chances and and Dempsey is gonna get chances and you know and they're gonna convert and so it's a
00:08:50
Speaker
You know, as long as they keep going along the way they've been going along, I think that the attack will be fine. It's the rest of the team that I kind of have maybe bigger concerns about. And I think it's important to note that the Sounders created several chances in the first half, too. It wasn't like they all came after the score was 2-0.
Roman Torres' Defensive Issues
00:09:09
Speaker
but on the defensive side Roman Torres has probably been the biggest culprit in terms of players who have struggled and he's Struggled kind of in similar ways in both games. He doesn't seem to be making the right reads all the time He also showed a penchant for getting frustrated that I don't know that we'd seen in the past but he he ended up getting himself suspended for kicking out at Ambra or Yongo and
00:09:33
Speaker
in the first half he was probably lucky not to get a card i don't even know if he got called i think he got called for foul maybe he didn't get called for a foul in the game but he the replay is pretty hard to deny that he he kicked out and he probably deserved to be suspended but maybe that's not such a bad thing
00:09:49
Speaker
You know, after the game, if you watch the press, if you watch Brian Schmetzer's press conference, he looked like he was pretty upset. And we haven't seen a really upset Brian Schmetzer too many times. Certainly not in post-game press conferences or talking to the media. And he definitely looked frustrated that the Senators gave up two goals. And I think he didn't think that the two goals they gave up were the kind of goals that he thinks the Senators should be giving up. Like there wasn't, there was just kind of slow to get back on defense and guys getting beaten ways that they really shouldn't get beat.
00:10:19
Speaker
And in both the times, I think Roman Torres was one of the main culprits. And so maybe sitting out this week isn't such a bad thing for him. Yeah, I mean, I think that I don't think that benching him is the right option, but I think that
00:10:37
Speaker
you're right that if you're going to lose him for a game that this probably is not the worst game to lose him for. I will say that I think that on the second goal, Chad Marshall has maybe escaped a little bit more criticism than he should. I don't think anybody covered themselves in glory there.
00:10:56
Speaker
Aside from the defending aspect of it, which is obviously the biggest thing because that's you know, it's his job and everything is he's just doing stuff he was not doing last year like he's going on weirdly timed runs and Playing Hollywood balls. It's
Defensive Opportunities in Torres' Absence
00:11:12
Speaker
been weird. So I don't know maybe maybe Sitting out a week and kind of refocusing will be a good thing for him. I definitely I should say I didn't think he should have been benched but I think
00:11:24
Speaker
being suspended and kind of forcing the hand to bench him effectively may be a good thing for his head. And he's not gonna play for, he won't set up for the Sounders until March 31st, so he's gonna get a nice long break.
00:11:40
Speaker
Yeah, so I mean, yeah, I think you're right. You'd rather have them than not have them, but they're definitely positives to maybe the timing of it. And especially it's better to have this happen now than down the stretch in the playoff race.
00:11:56
Speaker
And, you know, we get to see how Tony Alfaro looks or how Gustav Svensson looks at Cinderback. So there are some positives to it. I'd still rather he be around. Yeah, no, don't get me wrong. I think I feel better with Roman Torres than either Gustav Svensson or Tony Alfaro.
00:12:15
Speaker
And it's going to be interesting to see what the Sounders do there. But speaking of Gustaf Svensson, I thought he had an OK game. I think he probably deserves some degree of blame on the second goal. And I guess the first goal. He also kept Mancuso on side by dropping back a little farther than the line looked like it should have been.
00:12:35
Speaker
But on the second goal, he was guilty of kind of misreading an overlap, I think. And he kind of cut outside the pass from Lidero, went inside, and all of a sudden Montreal Impact are off to the races. And that happens. You know, that's gonna happen. Especially when you have an overlapping fullback, that's one of the dangers, is that, you know, if there's a bad read,
00:12:58
Speaker
You know they can sometimes get caught out of position But the one thing that Svensson doesn't have is he doesn't have the kind of recovery speed that's gonna allow him to make up for that kind of mistake and And I think we saw O'Neill Fisher. I you know when O'Neill Fisher came to the game. I I asked The people in our site. I just don't get this substitute. You're essentially subbing out a full back for a full back and
00:13:22
Speaker
Now granted Fischer has some skill sets that Svensson doesn't and he's gonna provide a little bit of speed but I just don't get this and it was kind of agreed that well maybe it's just to get him some minutes and and get him kind of ready to play but he ended up being a huge part of why the Sounders came back you know he made a great run to get into the box drew what you know on first glance I thought was maybe a soft penalty I still think it was a bad foul for
00:13:51
Speaker
Simon to give but it was legitimate. It was a totally legitimate call Fisher made a great play and if and if Simon doesn't foul him there He's in the box and he has he had two outlets that looked like they were ready for for a pass So it was a pretty dangerous chance But give you know Neil Fisher some credit. This is a he came in he affected the game and he made an instant impact and
00:14:16
Speaker
I was a little skeptical, I was not necessarily thinking that he would be starting, that Svensson may actually keep the job, but after that performance, I think O'Neill Fisher was gonna be starting this week no matter what happened.
00:14:29
Speaker
Yeah, I tend to agree and I think that Tora's being suspended makes the choice even easier because I expect to see Svensson in plain center back. And I think both of us could probably be described as O'Neill Fisher skeptics to some extent. But I think that I wanted to see him get a shot and to do that I think he was going to have to
00:14:53
Speaker
sort of do exactly what he did you know play really well um in the minutes he was given and and show that that he'd earned it and i think he definitely did that i think especially at home against the team that you're probably going to need to score goals against um it's great timing you know to give him to give him the opportunity hopefully he can last for longer than 45 minutes this time um it would be would be nice yeah his
00:15:17
Speaker
His last start at right back was the first game of last season, and that didn't go so well for him. It did not. But I think that it's easy to dwell on that because it's the only time he started it right back in anyone's recent memory, I think.
00:15:41
Speaker
And I think that the reality is he did not play well at us too. The reality is that there's been an opening at right back that was his to win and he didn't do that. And I think that the fact that he suffered a concussion is obviously a big factor in that.
00:15:58
Speaker
I really kind of got the sense that that was going to be Svensson's job until Brad Evans is back, like you said, if he didn't show something in MLS. So I think there are definitely reasons he hasn't gotten more of a look, but you know that there are just some players that
00:16:16
Speaker
When they're playing with the first team are just gonna be better. I mean they're there, you know, there are plenty of players that In the sounders org that have shown much better. I think with the sounders big club than it asked to so You know, I'm excited for it. I hope that he ends up being you know, a right-sided version of Jovan Jones That would be pretty exciting
00:16:35
Speaker
I think I'm still skeptical that he's ever going to be anything other than a decent MLS player. But a decent MLS player, you have to have those in your starting lineup if you're going to be competitive. Most teams have two or three bad MLS players in their starting lineup. So that's not a bad upside. And I definitely hope he can get there.
00:17:00
Speaker
And I don't know that it's worth spending a whole lot of time on, maybe it is, but you mentioned Jovan Jones, if there's been one single brightest spot over these first two games, it's the su- and I don't want to say it's unfair to call it a sudden emergence because I think we've seen
00:17:16
Speaker
Jovan Jones do these things in spurts and I mean he had three assists in the playoffs last year so we've seen him affect games in positive ways but you know what was interesting was that you know in the first game we saw him put on this kind of offensive powerhouse performance he was in the middle of three very good scoring opportunities one of them resulted in in the Sounders
Jovan Jones' Standout Performances
00:17:38
Speaker
goal and
00:17:38
Speaker
And then against Montreal he kind of he didn't he wasn't involved as the offense, but he had a very sound defensive game Basically to the point that everything that that Montreal did had to come through the other side of the field And and that's what you know mark II basically mark Dominica Duro out of the match That's not an easy task for anyone
00:17:59
Speaker
I've been very impressed. If there's been one guy who has exceeded my expectations, I think it's Jovan Jones, and that's, like I said, going both ways. I just, all of a sudden, you know, we saw glimpses of like, wow, this is maybe an older, more mature D'Andrei Yedlin. And in some ways, I think that's kind of what we're getting.
00:18:25
Speaker
Yeah, I mean I think that's reasonable and I think that he's really coming into the age range where
00:18:32
Speaker
wear full backs I think start to really kind of hit their peak and you know I think it's really really yeah I think that's really encouraging you know for the next few years and you know he definitely looks like he's taking a step forward over last year and and he was good last year for most of the year but he's to the point now there were always a lot of very vocal Joe and Joan skeptics out there even into the playoffs you know so
00:19:01
Speaker
I think it's really hard to be taken seriously as one of those people after the first couple of games. Obviously, maybe it's a blip and he'll go back to being the player he was last year. That's certainly within the realm of possibility, but this looks a lot more like actual progression and growth as a player than just a good run of form to me. Yeah, I would totally agree with that.
MLS Social Media and Player Interactions
00:19:23
Speaker
Well, we're gonna, I think that's probably a good place to call this segment. We're gonna come back. We have, we're gonna try out something new. And maybe it's just lending itself to do this week because there's all this stuff kind of out in the news that I thought was worth talking about. We're gonna bring in Richard Farley. This is something we're gonna try to do maybe every other show. And just kind of talk about some of the stuff that's going on in MLS. And then we'll, of course, take questions. But right now you're listening to Nos Adiadis.
00:19:53
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:21:37
Speaker
Welcome back to Nos Arietes. So we're going to try out kind of a new element to the show. I don't know if we'll be able to do it on a regular basis, but we're going to bring in people that aren't always part of this and kind of talk about stuff that's going on in the world of American soccer. And I think
00:21:57
Speaker
And so Richard Farley is here joining us, Richard Farley from 442, and you may have heard him on this podcast once or twice. This is recently his last show. You guys really haven't recorded since I was back on? No, we haven't. You're actually the last three episodes, I suppose, since the one before that was Yacht-Con.
00:22:19
Speaker
But anyway, I wanted to start off with kind of a light note. We saw this Timbers Galaxy game where I guess you could say it was marred, depending on your perspective, by a couple dives that ended up getting Yelva and Dom kicked out of the game, which was entertaining in its own.
00:22:41
Speaker
because it's always fun to see the two teams I think most sounders fans see as their rivals kind of going at it but what really made this great was the next day the Galaxy put out this
00:22:54
Speaker
this video which apparently is a meme that I don't I'm not I wasn't familiar with I don't know how popular a meme it is but it's like called shooting stars and it plays the song and it was very catchy and it has the players diving going into all these I guess it's like a fail meme is that an accurate my more hip people is that accurate is that it
00:23:18
Speaker
I would just blow past this one and just keep going. Yeah, just keep going. Power through it. Anyway, the aftermath of this thing was this grate had this amazing interaction. I want to say it had something like 25,000 retweets and probably a million likes or something like that. But then we hear that MLS is not as happy with this as everyone else was.
00:23:44
Speaker
Is there any reason like is there is there a defense for MLS in this? Should is there like I think we all agree that it was funny and that we probably want to see more of this stuff But am I are we maybe what's the plan is someone willing to be devil's advocate in this thing and say no MLS is needs to stick up for their poor timbers friends
00:24:05
Speaker
I think that it's easy to understand what their concerns might be. I just think their concerns are stupid. What do you think their concerns are? I think their concerns are that we all have an investment in these players and we don't want our teams making other teams look bad or other players look bad or whatever.
00:24:33
Speaker
I don't know. I mean, it's just all about the brand, right? It's protecting the shield. And that's like, that's, MLS is going to do that. It's the way that they're, I mean, they, you know, Don Garber loves the NFL and it's worked for them to some extent. I guess you're right. It is kind of an NFL-esque kind of thing, isn't it? Yeah. I know why they're doing it. I just wish they wouldn't because it's super dumb.
00:24:56
Speaker
So there was recently an identical example of this in the National Basketball Association, where- People normally call it the NBA, I believe.
00:25:04
Speaker
Right. Well, first reference, Jeremiah. Come on. Right. Good point. Good point. Good. So it was about two months ago when the Memphis Grizzlies were here in Portland and one of their players, Chandler Parsons, had been courted as a free agent during the offseason. But he's had a terrible year this year struggling with knee injuries. And during the game, he threw up an air ball. And the Portland Timbers, Portland Trailblazers account, gifted and just said something like, shooting a basketball is hard and posted it to their Twitter account.
00:25:33
Speaker
Parsons responded and said something like it is hard sometimes enjoy enjoy being in the lottery this year because at the time Portland wasn't in the playoffs but then one of the Blazers players CJ McCollum came back at him and said we already won the lottery when we didn't sign you
00:25:52
Speaker
So that got a lot of traction. Everybody loved it. But the NBA stepped in. And the basic logic is, look, this is this seems fine on one level, but it does us no good if our if our clubs and our players are seriously going to get mad at each other. Oh, yeah, it's it's just a negative look for the league just to see people sniping at each other. And I don't even think the NBA really thought it was like that big a deal, but it definitely opened a door to like, look,
00:26:19
Speaker
You just you can't have this back and forth this thing between Entities in our league and I think I think garber and whoever is managing this in the league office is in the same situation Where it's not so much that the galaxy did something bad. It's almost just like look
00:26:37
Speaker
It's not your fault somebody got pissed off, but somebody did get pissed off, so we just can't have that. And it's not even a matter of whether the timbers, in my opinion, and probably Mary Paulson's opinion too, were really far too short-fused on this one. It's just that we can't be making those judgments as to what is a funny meme, what isn't a funny meme, what is taken in jest, etc.
00:26:58
Speaker
It sucks, but you just need to watch it and you have to realize that some people are sensitive and as a league, we just can't go there. So I understand it. And I guess I did leave out probably the best part of this whole thing, which it was funny enough, like the galaxy thing, standing alone was funny enough, but the timber response was I guess what really made it gold. I think, what was it?
00:27:25
Speaker
What was the response? Do you know it offhand? Oh, it was very funny, guys. Very funny, guys. We got video guys too. Stay tuned. The first response was something like, good luck filling more than 60% of your seats going forward. That's right. And I just thought it was very funny that...
00:27:47
Speaker
Then Mary Paulson basically admitted that their account got destroyed. I think that's another internet term, destroyed. But the Timbers account kept on going. It must have had three or four responses.
00:28:07
Speaker
Yeah, it was a terrible look. It was a terrible look. I know Merritt was quoted as apparently saying that he didn't complain, that he was not the one that put in this. Do you buy that or do you think Merritt was like, come on, we can't have this?
00:28:22
Speaker
I have 100% buy it because I think that Merritt, much like Mark Cuban, he has no problem being honest about these things. If he honestly felt that this was a problem, that he would just say so, he would have replied to the Galaxy account himself.
00:28:38
Speaker
As is I think this was a social media manager that got a little bit too sensitive and merit even replied to a Couple of timbers fans hinting at that just you know, I don't think we he said something like I don't think we look the best here But I do think our social media has been generally improving right? Oh, I don't think merit I honestly don't think merit would waste time with something like this I don't think I don't think he was the one running in the account
00:29:01
Speaker
Um, but all right. So next, the next thing I think that is, and like Richard and I had a discussion about this and I think I feel very differently about it. And I'm actually curious how you guys feel about this, but there isn't one of the other kind of intra league, uh, spats that happened this weekend was Alejandro Bedoya was talking to the media after the Toronto, after playing as Toronto FC in which Toronto FC got a penalty on, I don't, I don't know.
00:29:31
Speaker
if I would call it a dive, but maybe questionable penalty that was awarded to Josie Altidore and Alejandro Bedoya to the assembled media. And he's like making, he's clearly laughing about it. So he thinks it's funny whether or not it means it's a joke or not is up to everyone's interpretation. But he says, well, Josie's a diver. He's kind of been like that. I don't remember exactly what he said. I guess I should have bothered to look up what his exact quote was. But then that was tweeted out.
00:30:00
Speaker
without the video, and then Josie responded on Twitter saying something like, oh, you wouldn't say that to my face, so I guess we'll talk about it in person, or I don't remember exactly what it was. I should research this better. Yeah, you really come prepared for this. I know, I really came, I really came packing heat today. But he then, but then Alejandro would tell this, oh, it was taken out of context. Josie Aljador pulls it down, and then the big, and then the video comes out, and now the big argument.
00:30:27
Speaker
is was Alejandro Bedoya joking and was the lack of context in the original tweet? Was that what's really the only thing to blame here?
00:30:39
Speaker
And my argument is that whether or not Josie Altidore, I mean whether Bedoya was joking, was irrelevant because he's not making a joke in private. He's cracking on a guy who's not in the locker room who does have, let's face it, a reputation for going down a little too easy.
00:30:59
Speaker
And whether or not he meant it as a joke is still taking a shot at a guy who is essentially his teammate on the national team. And I thought it was kind of a chicken shit way to get out of it to say, oh, it was taken out of context.
00:31:13
Speaker
Am I being too sensitive about it? No. I mean, in full disclosure, I think Alejandro Bedoya is a huge piece of shit already. And that goes back to the equal pay discussions and how much of an asshole he was about all that. So I'm inclined to not like him, but I think that's a totally reasonable take on it.
00:31:35
Speaker
I don't think you're going to say something like that in the immediate aftermath of a game without there being some truth to it. Like I just like I don't think there's any way that he was not that he wasn't at least somewhat trying to get under Josie's skin about it. And again, like I don't whatever. I don't care. Like I think that stuff is fun. And it doesn't make him a bad guy for saying that, but I think he needs to own what he did.
00:32:00
Speaker
Yeah for sure and I think I think too that like it's very weird to me that like there's all this focus on like but they're national team teammates it's like well but like they play for their clubs right and and like a lot of teams and a lot of leagues in a lot of countries around the world like play with guys that they hate you know during club play and they and they kind of get over when it's time to play on the national team like I don't think Alejandro Bedoya is gonna stop passing to Josie
00:32:26
Speaker
So, I don't know. I think this kind of stuff is good for the league. A lot of the time, MLS players are very practiced and very boring, I guess, would be a good way to put it in some of their answers. And I think that's fine too, but I have no issues with a little bit of beef, but I think that not being honest about what it was is kind of a chump move.
00:32:56
Speaker
Richard, I'm hoping that you can offer another perspective on this. Yeah, I mean, I personally, and a lot of times very ill-advised, do stuff like Alejandro Bedoya did. Just straight out say something that I think Alejandro kind of didn't mean it as a dig at Josie, but kind of like Aaron was hinting at, want to link it to what happened with like a kernel of truth. And I think he was being facetious.
00:33:24
Speaker
And because that didn't come across in print, Alejandro, from his point of view, thought his words were taking out of context. I mean, I guess that's just your interpretation as to what context is. And I think what probably happened is that once Alejandro saw what was happening online and saw what Josie did, he just texted Josie and said,
00:33:43
Speaker
Hey, sorry man, I was just being sarcastic, you know, I love you, etc. And that's why Josie took it down. I think that's, when I think of every scenario probable, that's what is by far most likely. And I think Alejandro, as he's done before online, like Aaron's talked about, just said something without realizing how other people would perceive it.
00:34:04
Speaker
so that's why I think that he's saying out of context and like I said, I have Anybody that follows me on Twitter knows I have a lot of personal experience in this so maybe that's a bias that I'm trying to empathize here, but I do I do think that his explanation makes sense and I think seeing Josie take down his tweet the most likely scenario for me for Josie taking down his tweet is
00:34:30
Speaker
talking to Ali about it. And granted, I do think it's possible he just looked at his tweet and goes, I don't want to go there. But I think it's more I think it's more probable that he talked to Ali and then took it down. Yeah, I mean, I, I think what you're saying, there's some truth to it. But for me, it just comes down to the context is
00:34:52
Speaker
who he was saying it to not how he meant it and When you open your mouth when you start and I guess this and this is where I have mixed feelings is because on one hand I don't want players to be like oh This is why we hate talking to the media because you guys always make us look bad And I don't think I don't think sock first of all I don't think American soccer players Can say that at all because I think the media bends over backwards for the most part and I'm as guilty of this as anyone
00:35:18
Speaker
of trying to make American soccer players cast them in the most positive light possible for the most part. And so I would hope that he's not gonna sit here and go, and that's not gonna become this argument. Like, oh, well, this is why no one likes talking to the media. But I do think that there's an aspect of it that you do need to know who your audience is. And joking about a contemporary of yours potentially cheating,
00:35:45
Speaker
And when you're talking to people whose job it is to disseminate that information, you gotta be a little smarter.
00:35:53
Speaker
And I agree with you. I think that he's using out of context in a way that we're not used to. So it makes it look like he's he should just say, hey, I was trying to make a joke. It didn't work. Sorry about that, guys. He shouldn't say out of context because we think. And I guess if he had said that, if he had if he had just come clean and said, hey, I was trying to make a joke, clearly it was the wrong medium for that joke. Yeah, I would have been like, yeah, whatever. Who cares?
00:36:17
Speaker
See I think this is another interesting parallel with what happened recently in the NBA because as probably a lot of people know Andre Iguodala from the Warriors got into some trouble this last Thursday when last Friday actually he was asked after a game in Minnesota if he if he was he
00:36:34
Speaker
Andre has like this weird sense of humor because he doesn't give a fuck about anything. So he will say just outrageous shit in press conferences. And at the beginning of this press conference, he started asking questions with, and there's a word here I can't say because of my lack of pigment. He started answering questions in his press conference with, what would a dumb say?
00:36:53
Speaker
Kind of just uh, I didn't actually I missed that part. I only saw them Yeah, exactly and I think a lot of people missed it because then four questions later. He was asked well, what? What what do you think about the fact that you're not gonna play tomorrow? Steph's not gonna play tomorrow There was a big game in San Antonio on ABC the next night Steve Kerr the head coach decided to rest him Clay Thompson Draymond Green and Stephen Curry in other words all they're good players and then Andre then just said I do whatever master says
00:37:23
Speaker
So people took that, it was like, oh my God, Andre Iguodala is calling Steve Kerr a slave master. Obviously Andre didn't mean that. And this became a huge controversy and Andre got five, $25,000 for saying racially insensitive comments.
00:37:40
Speaker
But the next day he came and said, you know what, I regret saying that it wasn't the right time for that. I regret creating a distraction for the team. And then that was it. He basically, he didn't defend what he said. He didn't have to, because if you knew the context of it, you knew that Andre Iguodala was just kind of...
00:37:57
Speaker
He's basically fucking with the press. In fact, the next day, Steve Kerr came out and said, hey, the press got Andre'd last night, like you fell into what he was trying to do. But he still got fined and the next day he said, he said, I'm sorry, because right now our team does not need those distractions. So, you know, it's a kind of a compare and contrast. If Alejandro Bedoya had, instead of trying to defend what he did by saying out of context, if he just got, you know what, that did not go how I intended, I won't do that again. That would have been better.
00:38:23
Speaker
Yeah. Well, and here we are with another kind of mini controversy that happened. And I don't know if this was, yeah, I would say this is controversial. So on the broadcast, for the ESPN broadcast, who was it that was playing in that game? Was it New York City?
00:38:42
Speaker
I guess it doesn't really matter crack research squad here. Yeah, correct. Anyway, there was Taylor Twelman a friend of the show was talking about about the declining Influence of Americans in MLS and he was Minnesota, Atlanta
00:38:59
Speaker
Minnesota Atlanta, okay, which yeah, that was an interesting game, but I can see why he needed some other stuff to talk about, but he was talking about the declining influence of Americans in MLS and he pointed out that in 2014 51% of the starters on first kick were American and that has gone down to 42% and
00:39:22
Speaker
And I kind of made a observation that like I'm much more interested in the raw numbers. And it turns out, when you look at the raw numbers, I guess there was 108 American starters in MLS in 2014, despite the fact that there's three more teams this year than there were in 2014. There was only 101 starters. Now that's, you know, you can chalk that up to, uh,
00:39:47
Speaker
to all kinds of, you know, I don't know that that in itself is proof of anything, but it does bring up a larger issue. And, and I know that I know Aaron has some strong opinions on this is how much is that even something that we should be worried about as fans of, of the Seattle Sounders and maybe to a lesser degree MLS, and then maybe in even to a lesser, lesser degree, the US national team, or maybe not, I don't know, maybe
00:40:12
Speaker
We have different orders of those things. But is that something that we should even care about at all? Should we care about how many US national team eligible players are starting an MLS? It depends on what level. I think if you're a hardcore US men's national team fan, you should probably care about it. But I'm not sure you should care about it as what a league should be obligated to do or what they should be worried about the fact that
00:40:43
Speaker
there aren't enough players being developed in US soccer to compete with the standards of an aspiring league. So beyond that, I don't know why people would care beyond pure nationalistic or worse, jingoistic reasons. And I would suggest if you are somebody that cares about this sport for those things, you're really, really watching the wrong sport. Especially in, yeah, no, I would go, Aaron, go ahead.
00:41:11
Speaker
Yeah, I tend to agree. I think that whenever national teams don't perform as well as people want them to, the first inclination for a lot of FAAs or fans of national teams is to say, well, it's because all the foreigners are coming into the league and taking away jobs and players can't develop.
00:41:32
Speaker
I mean, and England is constantly having this discussion and generally, you know, leaning towards making it more difficult for foreign players to play and their national team gets worse and worse and worse. So, you know, that's one example of why maybe this isn't the right thing to care about. But I think realistically, and I say this, you know, wearing my bias on my sleeve, that the national team is
00:41:57
Speaker
I root for them. I would consider myself a fan, but they're pretty far down the list of things I care about, especially at this point in time. With that in mind, I don't think that MLS is really the place we need to be concerned about players developing. I think that the youth soccer setup in the US is getting better, but it's still pretty terrible. We're not developing players at young enough ages.
00:42:22
Speaker
And by the time they're playing in the pros, they are who they are more or less. They either have that fundamental skill set that's gonna allow them to be great players or they're not, and they can get better with playing time, but it's really gonna be sort of incremental. Until we fix our development system, we're never gonna be a soccer powerhouse, and I don't care if the entire league is American players or if there aren't any American players.
00:42:49
Speaker
If we're not developing good players, you know, at 16, then it just doesn't matter. And, you know, I mean, I, Alexei Lawless went off on something as he has want to do about how, you know, American soccer fans equate foreign players with being good.
00:43:08
Speaker
and exciting and American players would not be in that way. Well, I mean, sorry, Alexey, but foreign players tend to be better and more exciting than American players. That's the reality. I mean, that's the reality. And I think that anyone that tries to tell you, no, no, America is producing players that are just as good as Argentina or Colombia or the places that the high profile designated players are coming in for, they're lying.
00:43:32
Speaker
The U.S. has produced some really good players, but the elite players in this league are always probably going to tilt towards foreign players.
00:43:44
Speaker
You know, there are strides being made, right? FC Dallas is a great example. They've put a ton of money into their academy, and they are a really fun team to watch, and a lot of that is with homegrown players. But we're not there yet, and I don't care how many Americans are playing MLS. That's not what's going to get us there.
00:44:03
Speaker
You know, and I'll add that if we're worried about, you know, there's all kinds of talk up and down the American developmental system about not having enough competition for elite players and that, you know, players basically get, you know, especially in MLS, we talk about players kind of getting
00:44:20
Speaker
gifted not gifted but they kind of get they don't get they don't have the level of competition they need week in week out to preserve their starting spots and you know this is something that you know the pro rail crowd loves to talk about is that you know that if there is more competition that the national team would be better but you know
00:44:40
Speaker
Talk about competition, if we weren't bringing in foreign players, there would be even less competition for roster spots. That competition, I think, is probably good on a large level. To use an example, Dylan Remick is a player who should be fighting for... It would be a mistake if the Dylan Remicks of the world were automatically left backs, starting left backs all over MLS.
00:45:05
Speaker
And we need, you know, like it's not a bad thing that Jovan Jones ends up beating him out. It makes the Dylan Rummox of the world get better, right? So, and maybe that's not the perfect example, but like I don't sit here and worry about the Sounders not having enough Americans on their team. My concern as a fan of the Sounders is that the Sounders put out the best possible team they can. If that means that you only have a handful of Americans on the team, that's how it goes. But yeah, I mean, I think that fans of MLS
00:45:35
Speaker
should be much more concerned with their teams putting together the best teams possible. And the fact that Atlanta United doesn't have many American starters is not something that
00:45:48
Speaker
I'm particularly worried about. That's the least of my problems, I think. But this is also dumb, too. Like Aaron alluded to, we've seen other countries, specifically the country that we inherit so much of our soccer culture from, go through this argument over and over again to no avail. And England hasn't been mediocre by their standards, at least, or by their aspirations, because the Premier League is really good. They've been mediocre because their development, player development sucks, too.
00:46:16
Speaker
I mean, you look at the English players that are being sought by other clubs, by the big clubs in Europe, and the list, it doesn't really exist, really. And that's not because the Premier League is bad at developing talent, you look at how
00:46:32
Speaker
how well Harry Kane has performed for Tottenham Hotspur. I don't think he's been hurt at all by the Premier League. If anything, the fact that Tottenham Hotspur does seem to take an interest in cultivating English talent has helped him a lot. The fact that we're replicating those arguments over here now
00:46:49
Speaker
I mean, I want to make it clear, I didn't hear the context of how this got brought up on Sunday, but it is just so dumb. And it's not so dumb from the point of view that the argument itself is dumb. I think we're showing it's actually an interesting discussion, but the fact that we're kind of point for point starting a replicated discussion that has been played out is just so dumb. It's just like so sports media that we just keep recycling these things over and over again.
00:47:12
Speaker
But the other thing that annoys me about this is the fact that we talk about what people want from the game, what people enjoy about the game. And I'm trying to imagine somebody that really follows soccer, but their only source of enjoyment is seeing their national team improve. And they watch club games
00:47:30
Speaker
Solely through that lens and when they're looking at major league soccer and they see those numbers you just cite Jeremiah They get super concerned and that's not really somebody I can empathize with that's somebody that looks at 90% of the soccer that they see and they can't enjoy it because they don't have a link to it or they're only Enjoying it for like always Jorge Villafana finally gonna get some playing time for Santos here I don't care about this league at all. I just care about not even this team I only care about this one position on this one team. That's not how people watch sports so to tell me that I
00:47:59
Speaker
You know, that's got to be a main concern or that there are people out there that like that or look at the world like that Or there are enough people that look at the world like that that we should be concerned about this There are so many reasons that we should not care about this at all No, and it's that kind of stuff that also it kind of leads into this discussion where every now and then it pops up that there should be a quota for American playing time in MLS and you know, we've seen Liga MX kind of adopt a
00:48:26
Speaker
a policy like that. And God, I really hope that's not an avenue that MLS is going down because I don't think it's going to improve the league. I don't think it's going to improve the national team, ultimately. But all right. Well, we should probably get to questions. We'll take a break and we'll come back. And I'm assuming Richard's going to stick around with us because he's a good guy. You did no study at this.
00:48:54
Speaker
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Speaker
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Speaker
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Speaker
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00:50:18
Speaker
Welcome back to Nos Adietes. Uh, lots of questions. Some questions. I don't know. Look at the price amount. He's asking us away. Okay, here we go. Tal42Levy asks, how do we break the Red Bull's high press? He did ask it, you jerk. What's this? What's this inside joke you're laughing at? We did. I...
00:50:42
Speaker
How do you break the press? You don't turn the ball over, I guess that's the answer, right? Is there a better answer than that? Am I missing something? No, that's... Did they even play a hair press? Yeah, I haven't actually looked too much at what they're doing with their new two front. And how it compares to last year. Yeah, I can't say that I've done my film breakdown yet on that either.
00:51:10
Speaker
Thanks, Lickit. Thanks for that one. Chip Haynes1 asks for how much and when will and to which team will Sounder sell Jovan Jones this winter?
Jovan Jones' Transfer Speculations
00:51:22
Speaker
Hashtag it's a thing. Jovan Jones is not going to get sold this winter. I would be shocked. I mean, he's a really good MLS left back.
00:51:33
Speaker
He's just, players like him don't tend to get sold outside of MLS. I wouldn't be shocked if he ends up in Mexico or something when his contract's up, but I would be really, really shocked if he got sold. I mean, do we think that everybody understands why that doesn't, why players in his situation don't get sold?
00:51:53
Speaker
because I think this comes up a lot. We always hear every time a good player, like a player emerges, it's like, okay, they're going to make the jump or they're going to get sold. And it's always like, look, he's not actually going to be able to get sold for that much. The percentage that they get, it ultimately, it just doesn't make sense for these teams to be selling players unless they reach a certain threshold. Yeah. I mean, I think that Jovan Jones is way more valuable to the Sounders than anything they can get on the market for him.
00:52:21
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's the thing is there's just not the financial incentive to sell players that there is in other leagues. The players don't have as much leverage to for sales, which is shitty. That's not a good thing. It's good in that the Sounders get to hang on to players, but it's bad in a moral sense.
00:52:43
Speaker
And it's what I mean. This is how ridiculous it is. Like, let's imagine like Jovan Jones is going into last year of his contract, even though we don't exactly know when that would be. And let's say for argument's sake, his normal value on the transfer market would be a million dollars. Well, in the last year of his deal, it's going to be less than that, right? Something like 600, 500,000.
00:53:02
Speaker
All right, well you take the if you want to just sell to try to get something you're only getting a certain percentage of that He's not a homegrown player. So already Seattle's now down to like $300,000 it might be worth $300,000 to them just to let him walk so they get to keep his rights when he comes back into the league Because if you sell him you lose his rights too because you already profited off of him, right? So that's how ridiculous this these it is with all the rules in MLS. I
00:53:32
Speaker
I think that's it. I think I had to look at. I know. I know. I was getting, you didn't let me get my breath there. Come on. Aspect ratio Ross asks, let's discuss the usage of the sweeper libero leaving us weak early in games.
00:53:50
Speaker
I guess he's implying that Marshall is playing deeper than Torres and Torres is like ranging up. Is that the implication that I'm getting here?
00:54:05
Speaker
I don't know. Is that really what's going on? I don't think that's what's going on. That's kind of what's going on, but I don't really think it's supposed to be going on. I don't think this is a tactical decision Brian Spencer has made to go on 1992. Right.
00:54:22
Speaker
But that's just a common relationship you see with center backs too. Sometimes one person is tasked with going and winning balls in midfield a la Sergio Ramos and the other person will sit and be more of an organizing presence or just an anchoring presence.
00:54:37
Speaker
You know, a good example of that was for the last three or four years on the US Women's National Team, Julie Johnson would be the much more aggressive one of the two between her and Becky Sauerbrunn. That's why you would see a lot of people like during the last World Cup really tout Julie Johnson will look at all the stuff she's doing when Becky Sauerbrunn was kind of doing the quiet work by maintaining the organization in line and just anchoring the defense.
00:55:02
Speaker
Yeah, we kind of played that way in high school as well same kind of deal, but we always ended up being a sweeper Just because of habit. I would I would just collect too many cards. I always had to sit back Yeah, exactly Twemberly 23 asks who will lead the Sounders in scoring this year Hmm I guess the easy answer there is Jordan Morris, but
Sounders' Leading Scorer Predictions
00:55:29
Speaker
I mean, it's a 50-50 call. It's Morris or Dempsey And I think Morris is probably the safer bet just because I think he's probably gonna play more games How does Copa America factor into this I mean, it's the same I mean, they're both gold cup. Yeah, they're both highly likely to make the gold cups Yeah
00:55:54
Speaker
I mean, I don't know. It's not. I mean, you know, with qualifiers, this is going to be the down goal cup. You're right. So if there's a if there's a dark horse candidate, though, who do we think it is? It's it is it.
00:56:09
Speaker
I think Ledero, I mean. Ledero, yeah. Or, you know, mistream in season, winger acquisition, I guess. We'll take the penalty kicks. Will it be Debzier or Ledero? Well, it looks like Ledero took it on Saturday, which I was a little surprised by. Oh, that's right. Bruin's goal had to be totally over forgetting how Seattle got there first. Yeah, I'll admit, I was totally surprised that was Ledero stepping up to that.
00:56:37
Speaker
And even more surprised that there didn't seem to be any discussion that, you know, Lidrow just took it and that was that. Yeah. So he should have like a nine in 12 or nine in 14 years. So it probably depends on Morris and Dempsey's health more than anything else or availability. Not underscore Rossi asks two questions. First question is what up with Kovar? The graphic said groin surgery. Yeah. I think that's a good indication. It's probably groin related.
00:57:09
Speaker
real inside information here on the Sounders podcast. That really was, that really was like, it just kind of came out of nowhere though. Like he wasn't, he wasn't, it was just like, oh yeah, he's got a knock, you know, and that was about it. And then it's like, actually they cut open his groin with a knife and cut some stuff out. It is, I mean, and he didn't play, did he not play at all during preseason?
00:57:32
Speaker
No, I mean, well he went to Wales or whatever. But that's, I don't think he played any games. Yeah, that was weird. What's his future with this team? I really liked what he gave the team last year. He came on to kind of stabilize the formation during that downtime earlier in the year. I don't know, it seems like he'd be a good bench option for almost anybody.
00:57:55
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. I think he's a player that, you know, before this whole saga where he got hurt and, you know, he didn't play in preseason, I thought he was going to be, you know, the, you know, one of the guys that was going to be always in contention for being the third guy off the bench, second or third guy off the bench, depending on what they needed. But now, I mean, I don't know. I don't know where he is now because it seems like he's he's just been like he's hardly, you know, we've hardly even seen him because it looks like he's been hurt basically all preseason. So.
00:58:24
Speaker
Hard to know what to make of it at this point.
00:58:26
Speaker
What'd you guys think of Harry's ship? His numbers were good, but I didn't really get a few. I really was impressed, actually. Yeah, I'm a huge Flacco fan, but I think ship has got a start, at least a few games to see. I mean, he was involved in two of the better scoring chances that the Sounders had. And I thought his movement was good. I thought his passing was good. He doesn't necessarily do anything that he's not going to like,
00:58:55
Speaker
blow you away with a move, but he seemed to be in the right place at the right time a lot of it. Interesting. This will be the third club in a row that he's gotten off to a hot start with, and my general impressions is that people remember those starts and don't remember kind of the next two-thirds of the seasons, so it'll be interesting. I mean obviously in Montreal he eventually lost his spot, and in Chicago they eventually traded him. They moved on from him, so
00:59:20
Speaker
I wonder if that's just people expecting too much out of him and him becoming expendable just because those expectations don't get fulfilled or that he just has good games early in seasons and then is not actually at that level. I don't know what to think about him.
00:59:37
Speaker
I'll say that I think this is probably as good of a situation as he's going to find himself in, in that I don't think he's a guy that you build around, but I think he's got a skill set that can be nice in a complementary role when he's the third or fourth fifth best offensive player and he's kind of more of a linking piece.
00:59:56
Speaker
And I think that on this team, he could fit nicely. Now, if he doesn't do well here, then I think we kind of have to wonder if maybe he's just not as good as we thought he was. But I like his potential. Yeah, he's in a perfect role. He and Bruin both are in perfect roles. Like they're stretched if they're one of the two or three people you're counting on to create most
Jordan Morris' Optimal Position
01:00:17
Speaker
of your chances. But if they're kind of plug and play matchup options, that's perfect. Right.
01:00:24
Speaker
Non underscore Rossi's second question is are you team Morris as a winger or team Morris up top? Striker 100% I'll say that if you come upon a striker Who is clearly an upgrade like if you were gonna get a dario benedicto Like it was not legitimate as we found out not a legitimate rumor But if you can get a guy like that, then I think it justifies moving
01:00:53
Speaker
Jordan Morris out to the wing, but you don't put Jordan Morris out on the wing so you can get Will Bruin on the field. Yes. I also think too that if you're moving Morris to the wing, there is a cost to that and an opportunity cost that you're losing and that has to factor it as well. I mean, if it's a no brainer shirt, but you have to assume that he's going to be sold at some point and you have to assume that if you're selling a striker two or three years down the line, you're probably going to get a better return on your investment than if you're selling a winger.
01:01:20
Speaker
I think it makes more sense even to consider a formation change and go with two strikers at that point. If you want to maintain continuity with your team and you're always going to be a team that's just going to play a one front, that's one thing. But if you are acquiring another forward and you already have Jordan Morris on your roster, I think you really need to consider we should be able to play with a two front. I think he can be a good outside player and I think we saw him have
01:01:47
Speaker
some good games as an outside player but he's not this he's just not as effective way like game in game out i don't think yeah i agree
01:02:02
Speaker
Grouchyvelle asks, happy that we are getting correct second half adjustments, but are we missing proper preparedness, advanced opponent scouting and issue? Wait a minute, is he looking at the 442 editor threads here? This is awful. This is right out of something that I gave one of my writers this week.
01:02:23
Speaker
So I've been thinking about this concept a lot lately and I think where I come down on it is that it's impossible to make up the lack of preparedness at halftime. Like if you weren't prepared at the beginning of the game, you can't fix that at halftime and then all of a sudden be coming out great. I think you had to have done a lot right leading up to the game to even make a second half turnaround possible.
01:02:50
Speaker
So I don't know that I buy that. I just don't know that I'm buying into this seemingly growing narrative that Brian Schmetzer is missing something before the game, but then he magically picks it up in the middle of it.
01:03:05
Speaker
I think, too, that I think that the extent to which the Sounders looked flat against Montreal is a little bit overstated. Yeah. I thought they played pretty well. Really, I don't think they played that much better in the second half than during the first half, frankly. I just think that, you know, goals happen at weird times and even games was the bigger thing. And one of them was a penalty. Yes. And I think, too, against Houston that, I mean, how do you prepare for a team with a brand new coach, with a ton of new players,
01:03:35
Speaker
that is playing a completely different style than they've played for the last four years. I mean, Houston has been, you know, sort of a kick and rush, very organized, very, you know, paint-dry and boring team for as long as anybody can remember. And then they come out and they're like this high pressing, you know, counter-press, you know, really open team and put two goals on you in the first half. I mean,
01:04:03
Speaker
I mean, clearly, I don't think the Sounders were ready for that, but I don't know how you can say, well, Schmetzer should have known that they were gonna be a completely different team, and he should have scouted the players that haven't played in MLS before. I don't know.
01:04:18
Speaker
Well, I'm definitely in that camp because Wilmer has played this the same way for a while. Well, at least he did it real last year in the U.S.L. So I think we kind of knew that Houston was going to play like that. But I do I do agree with the idea of like, take, you know, you should be prepared for these two Hondurans that have never played a major league soccer game before. I agree with that.
01:04:41
Speaker
But I think in general, too, when I was watching that first game, I definitely thought, wow, this team is just not prepared to play against a team that's gonna aggressively press like this. And it's less about, are you specifically prepared for Houston? More about, are you prepared just generally when you have to make these decisions? How are your fullbacks moving? Are your fullbacks releasing early and then leaving the two centerbacks abandoned? How much are you incorporating Stefan into the play to buy yourself some extra time?
01:05:06
Speaker
Like it just didn't look like even how Ozzy and Krishna were trying to show to provide another option. It just didn't look like Seattle knew what they wanted to do and that comes down to basic preparation I think. I think that game and then the sporting game and the playoffs were the ones that I was really like.
01:05:23
Speaker
this team doesn't look like they're ready. But I tend to look at it less like, are you ready and are you not, or are you not ready? Like a binary thing, more of a spectrum. And whereas I think maybe some, like the argument could be that most teams enter a game on a, at like a seven level and are prepared to take it up to a 10 if need be, maybe Brian's preparation is leaving them at a six or a five level. And that explains more of the goal difference between the first and second half. Then last year I was willing to admit it.
01:05:54
Speaker
I mean I don't know I guess I'm just not sure that you can be enough of a tactical genius to create this pretty dramatic goal difference in the second half and at the same time be
01:06:12
Speaker
a tactical dunce in the first half. And that almost seems to be what is the implication. Right. And there were a lot of games last season where the Sounders came out flying. I mean, it's under Schmetzer. I think that people tend to remember comebacks and people tend to remember games where, you know, you go down early and don't really have a hope of coming back. And that kind of feeds into the narrative. But, you know, when you're a team that's playing really well and you're kind of expecting to win as the Sounders were down the stretch, those games where you come out playing really well and
01:06:42
Speaker
and win aren't as memorable. If this is a pattern, if they come out flat against New York, maybe it's a concern. It's hard for me given the context of the first two games being on the road against an unfamiliar Houston team and against a Montreal team that really didn't play that much better in the second half. I'm just not that worried about it.
01:07:07
Speaker
I'm not worried about it either. I just think it's something we have to open our minds up to. Sure. But at the same time, I think that it's more about the character of the core of this team than anything else. I think we have seen this Seattle team, not just last year, but pretty
Sounders' Game Intensity Critique
01:07:23
Speaker
much throughout its endless existence, kind of almost relish in putting its own back against the wall at times and then playing better.
01:07:31
Speaker
So that kind of like within a game that kind of leads to a slow start mentality and being shell shocked for like 20 or 30 minutes. You're just not, you just don't have the requisite intensity at that point because you haven't set up an obstacle for yourself. These slow starts really harken back to some of the games we saw during the death of Sigi. Just like that lack of intensity and before you know it you are by far the second best team on the field.
01:07:53
Speaker
And we know that that's not truly what the sounders or this core of the sounders are all the time. So Brian's challenge is to get their mindset to where they're constantly at that place they were when he took over. Like that can't just be a last ditch resort. That's who you are. That's who you should be. And your inability to play like that constantly or play closer to that constantly, that's a problem. So, you know,
01:08:17
Speaker
I think it's reasonable that Brian, what is he like at this point? 21 games into his job or something like that? I think it's 22. Yeah, I think it's pretty reasonably that he doesn't have every single thing solved, right? So maybe slow start is not the way we should be looking at it. Maybe we should be looking at it in the bigger picture, which is this core, this group of players tends to dig a hole for itself too easily, or it tends to be too happy to dig a hole for itself.
01:08:51
Speaker
Okay. Cisco2k2 asks, more playing time for Wingo? Pretty sure all goals scored when he is on the field. I have all three. Yeah, I think you're right. I think all three goals have been scored when he's on the field and he has looked good. I think that, and we'll see more playing time in that I think he's going to continue to play. But I don't, I'm not ready to say I want him starting in place of Harry ship or,
01:09:21
Speaker
It's even been suggested that maybe he'll get some time at right back as a starter. But I think it's important to remember that he's been coming into games when it's put your head down and pin your ears back and just attack.
01:09:36
Speaker
Yeah, I think he's great in that role. And I think it's a really good role for a young rookie player. And maybe he'll grow into being more of a rotational regular. But I want him to keep playing until he gives us a reason to think maybe he shouldn't be playing. But I think it's a little too early to think that maybe he needs to be getting rotational minutes at this point.
01:10:03
Speaker
I'm wary of his name because I'm really tired of ironic MLS Twitter. And I think that his name lends itself to a bunch of 1950s private eye memes or something like that. So I'm really wary of him getting any more time just because...
01:10:24
Speaker
I think we saw today that MLS Twitter likes its memes just way, way too much and gets really personal about them. So anybody with like a name like this that can serve as fodder for that, I don't need it. So sorry, Mr. Wingo. You know, it's still a free country for a couple more months. You can change your name. Just add a couple more syllables to your life and I'm going to be on your side.
01:10:48
Speaker
Well, Wingo, please, doesn't have the same ring, so I think you're mean and safe. See, this is where we are, right? This is where we are. We're talking about Miami, and yeah, this is why I hate ironic MLS Twitter. You guys need a little nugget that a nice person in Scotland invented, and you scar me for life. Anywho, speaking of ride-backs, drone637 asks, who do you think is going to be the best long-term choice to ride back, I guess, at this point?
01:11:19
Speaker
since we asked this question every week. Yeah, I'm still pretty bullish that if Brad Evans can stay healthy, that I think he's still the best option the Sounders have. And by the way, it looks like if he stays to the timeline that was originally put forward, there's a decent chance that he'll be ready for that March 31st game. But we'll see.
01:11:42
Speaker
The bad news for Brad Evans is that, you know, at this point in his career, he seems pretty fragile or these muscle problems aren't going away. The US national team doesn't have any right backs. Like Michael, Michael Orozco might start it right back against Honduras. If Brad Evans gets healthy, particularly given Bruce Arena's predilections, Brad Evans could be playing a lot of games this summer, which is not going to be good news for the Sounders. No, I really would like D'Andrea and Linda to get healthy soon.
01:12:11
Speaker
What, Graham Zucy is not the truth? No, he's not. I think it's, I did think it's weird that everyone was trying to talk themselves into Graham Zucy as a right back. And with Michael Roscoe as the top option, Zucy doesn't get called in. Oh man. Anyway. Yeah. Uncle Bruce is interesting guy. He is.
01:12:35
Speaker
Can Oplinder ask, should I feel as disappointed as I do that Dempsey will be heading to the national team now rather than staying with the team? I mean, I think it's reasonable to feel that way. But at the same time, I would like to think that what's leading this is the tests that they're doing, they're continuing to do on Dempsey that basically says that he's fine. Did have six months off, after all.
01:13:07
Speaker
Uh, it's probably also, I mean, if he feels like he can still help the team, he's going to go. Right. Right. I mean, he does get paid for doing that too. So that's true. Uh, Emily come, Emily R Cummings asks, who are your fantasy picks at Ford this week?
01:13:28
Speaker
Jeez. I still have. What are even the games? I still have Javinco and Morris and somebody else. I don't know. I'm happy with my team and it's been, it's been shit so far, but I don't want to do that thing where you're like, well, this team has been shit and I change a bunch of stuff. And then it's, you know, like the new team is shit and all the old players are, uh,
01:13:55
Speaker
are good, so I'm gonna stick with it. I think Morris and Jiminco are a good bet, though. He's probably got a cost a ton, but I gotta think Adi's gonna be good for some goals just because Houston is gonna have their first reality check since their hot start against Seattle. They're gonna be going into Portland, playing on that fast surface. It's gonna be a different situation for them, so I gotta think that he might be a pretty reasonable bet. Yeah.
01:14:24
Speaker
That's, I mean, Adi is, I think a good fantasy pick because I think he's, he's not, he's not cheap, but he's not like Javanko levels. I still have Freddie Monteiro on my team too, because I think for 9 million, he's a really good buy, even though he's not actually starting, which still bugs me, but whatever.
01:14:44
Speaker
I'm looking through the games this week. I'm trying to think of somebody who, you know, if you're somebody that needs to swap in a forward, maybe doesn't don't have a lot of money, who would be a good pick for you? And I'm just not seeing a lot of options. Maybe one of Vancouver's reserve forwards, they're going to be home against Toronto.
01:15:05
Speaker
How much are they going to rotate, though, because they have a break coming up? I don't know. And who do they have to rotate to? I mean, the cupboard is not overflowing. Well, Eric Hurtado. Eric Hurtado. So, well, Colorado is at home against Minnesota, so you might want to load up on some Colorado players. Their attacking players are probably super cheap, since they aren't good. Right. But against Minnesota, they're going to look better.
01:15:32
Speaker
it's going to be so great when colorado and minnesota draw nil and everybody's like wow minnesota really got their shit together rather than the more obvious conclusion that you could draw from that colorado's dominated this game and it's 0-0 i'd go with wool brewing he's gonna score this weekend
01:15:53
Speaker
Moving on. Tacos and a haircut and Thrice Jamie have similar questions. I'm going to ask them back to back because I think you can answer the same thing for both. Over or under 20 minutes before the first taco is tallied, predictions for time to first flamethrower of 2017. Non-ceremonial, ceremonial of course.
01:16:15
Speaker
So that's the deal. So I should say that I'm very excited about Elriconcito being the taco provider of Sounders FC because even though they aren't in Seattle, and I know there are some people that are moaning about they're not being a Seattle outlet for their free tacos, which of all the things to complain about, I can't get free tacos in Seattle. Just go to CTAC or go, like they're all over the area.
01:16:41
Speaker
the best tacos are going to be out. Go ahead. Well, I mean, that's, I think that's, you know, you were on your way to saying that, like you're, you can't get great tacos in Seattle because Seattle is too expensive for great taco reels. So, you know, and like, consider yourself lucky. You're going to go on a, on a journey of discovery. Yeah. Go to beer and beer in school. There's one down there. It's fun to hang out.
01:17:06
Speaker
It's actually one of my favorite taco places in the Seattle area, so I was very excited to see that this is happening. But every goal, you get a taco, huh? Is that how it's going? Up to four. Wow. That's quite a deal. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to go 20 minutes. I think Seattle scores early this weekend. Yeah, I agree. Which, man, New York has not been good, and Seattle is going to be pretty motivated to get into the win column. I'm going to take the under on the 20 minutes, yeah.
01:17:36
Speaker
You've convinced me, Richard. Yeah, Richard. It's on you. I mean, yeah. OK. And if it's over, I will buy you guys tacos when I'm there on Sunday. Oh, sweet. What time is the game? What time is kickoff? 4 o'clock. I mean, well, that's advertised, but it's a TV game, so like 7. But the game should be over by 7. Like, we should be leaving or out of the venue by 7. So, OK.
01:18:05
Speaker
On a production note, if you have really good tacos in Seattle and we don't know about it, please invite us to have free tacos at your place. Yeah, that would be great. I mean, I'm not saying there aren't places to get good tacos. I'm just saying that... No, no. What we're saying is that if you own a taco place in Seattle and you want us to re-nig on our previous claim, invite us for free tacos. We'll gladly have free tacos. Now they're free.
01:18:35
Speaker
Uh, at Jim C Kim asks, this is the sounders ninth season at MLS time to start thinking about your all time sounders starting 11. Wow. That's, uh, going to just throw that one out there. Shoot. Let's do this. Well, the question is time to start thinking about it. It doesn't say name. You're starting to panic. You never actually panic. Yeah, I'll do it. I'll do it right now. Yeah, I would go, uh, fry.
01:19:04
Speaker
Yedlin, Marshall. Which Marshall? Chad. Tyrone, what do you think? Torres, I think actually Torres is probably the second best. Jovan, Alonzo. That's where it gets tricky, is that second central midfielder, I guess. I'll come back to that.
01:19:33
Speaker
Dempsey and Montero up top. I would take Montero over Oba for reasons that are not entirely rational.
01:19:43
Speaker
And then...Zacowani...Zacowani? Yeah. And we haven't had a ton of great...Lungburgers. Rosales. Well, yeah. Rosales. Yeah, that's a good one. I'll go with that. I mean, you get to choose more Rosales than you can try them, right? You don't have to take more Rosales today. If you do that, you could put Brad in the middle with Ozzy.
01:20:05
Speaker
You could, yeah. Yeah. I mean, honestly, I think Tifford was probably the second best central midfielder we've had. You can't have Christian Tifford. But no, you can't. You can do Pineda. Pineda's not bad. No, that's Pineda. Yeah, 2014 Pineda or maybe Freeburg. There you go. You see? It's not that hard. So you'd take Fry over Keller though, huh? I would, yeah.
01:20:31
Speaker
Uh, I, Keller was good. I don't think he was, I don't know. I don't think he was otherworldly. Yeah, but did, uh, color, uh, total play for us.
01:20:44
Speaker
like 90 something because he started three seasons. I'm sure you could do some stat. Fry probably had, I'm sure Fry had more games and I'm sure his, but I'm sure that Keller had a better goals against average and a better save percentage.
01:21:02
Speaker
But that doesn't necessarily mean he was better.
Goalkeeper Fry's Key Role
01:21:05
Speaker
Fry was also our starting keeper when we won the shield in the MLS Cup. That's a good point. Actually, that's a very good point. Even if that's just a tiebreaker, you know? Yeah. And then there's his tattoos too, so. Right. And his dogs. And he... Right. Questionable color commentator.
01:21:31
Speaker
What happens in this favor? Okay, moving on to the simplest of next questions.
Player Interaction Preferences
01:21:41
Speaker
DirtyDCtown asks, why do you think the sounders don't really do meet and greets autograph signings for big players like Deuce, Oba, and Nico? They don't have to. Yeah, I think that's the answer. I think the secret here is that very few players actually like doing those, and once you get powerful enough, you just don't.
01:21:59
Speaker
Right, I think that's, I have a hard time seeing the sounders like twisting, like using whatever, like they have to ask the Obas and the Dempsey's of the world a lot of favors to do stuff. And I think they're more inclined to try to get them to do things like sit down with an interview with ESPN than they are to go to QFC and Burien and bag groceries.
01:22:27
Speaker
That's my take. To what I could pay to see Oba bagging groceries against Kovar. Not that I wouldn't love to see Oba in a bagging, grocery bagging contest. Did anyone ever, have either of you ever gone to one of those things that were supposedly a grocery bagging contest? I have always assumed that they were not actually doing that. Absolutely not. I've never seen pictures.
01:22:54
Speaker
I've just seen pictures that look like they sort of were doing it and then it was mostly just getting autographs from people buying groceries kind of thing.
Closing Remarks & Thank Yous
01:23:04
Speaker
Well, thanks Richard for joining us. So we'll have you on again one of these days I'm sure. Maybe even next show. Who knows the way these things go. But anyway.
01:23:15
Speaker
Thanks to our sponsors, Queen Anne Acupuncture, Verity Credit Union, Full Pool Wines, Constellation & Company, Designers Marble, and our broadcast partner, Bootstrapper Studios. I am Jeremiah O'Shan, signing off on behalf of Likit and Aaron Campo. This is no study at this. Remember, you will never yacht alone.
01:23:39
Speaker
Green Douglas, where were the waters cut through? Down to wild mountains and tangents you flew. Canadian northwest to the ocean so blue. It's Roll Long, Columbia Roll Long. Roll Long, Columbia Roll Long. Roll Long, Columbia Roll Long. Your power is turning our darkness to dawn. Roll Long, Columbia Roll Long.
01:24:12
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one!