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Jordan Morris and the Return of the MRI - Ep. 97
1.7k Plays16 days ago
We have a Draw Pod as the Seattle Sounders took a little road trip to the thriving metropolis of Commerce City CO and came back with a 1-1 draw. We break it all down in our game review, which features another Moose goal, another Jesus Ferreira assist, and Jordan Morris going out with another injury. Later on we hit our Agenda Check, and dive into the BEST Blazing Hot Coach Press Conferences (sponsored by Haxan Ferments) of the season.
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Lobbing Scorchers is a Seattle Sounders and MLS focused show brought to you by Sounder at Heart. Hosted by Major League Soccer's Ari Liljenwall and Producer Noah Riffe. Join us as we lob our scorching takes on the American soccer landscape, Seattle Sounders, Major League Soccer, USMNT and more.
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Transcript
Episode Introduction and Sponsorship
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Lobbing Scorchers is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based cellar. Not only are they a local company, but they've been supporting independent Seattle soccer media since 2011 and are run by Sounders fans.
00:00:11
Speaker
They offer the best boutique wines in 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. Two, you request bottles that sound appealing.
00:00:23
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00:00:35
Speaker
Ari, as a dedicated fashion expert, how do you do it? Day in and day out, I see you rocking the best fits. I need your help. Noah, I'm glad you asked. People ask me that a lot, and I can tell you need an upgrade.
00:00:47
Speaker
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00:01:02
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Whether it's Filson, Dayhen 1920, or Wax London, everything in the store is made to last, be loved, and even passed down. Located 114th 4th Avenue North, just off Main Street in the heart of downtown Edmonds, come shop and explore at Podium to find all the essentials for the modern Pacific Northwest man. They're open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 to 6 or Sunday from 12 to 5. Also anytime online at shoppodium.us as well as Instagram at Podium Edmonds.
Sounders Match Recap and Highlights
00:01:32
Speaker
Well sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be a real scorcher today. Quite the scorcher today.
00:01:39
Speaker
Well it's gonna be scorcher.
00:01:54
Speaker
What's going on, everybody? Welcome to another episode of Lobbing Scorchers. We're recording this on a Tuesday evening here in Seattle. And Noah, we're about to lay down this draw pod.
00:02:06
Speaker
How are you feeling? Feeling all right, Ari. It was a concerning match, to say the least, but not one that broke my spirit. Sounders still have a win streak. and Unbeaten streak. Okay, yeah, sorry, my bad. We got to qualify that. It's a streak. We're still streaking, Ari. We're streaking all over Seattle.
00:02:24
Speaker
ah The Seattle Sounders took a little road trip down to the thriving metropolis of Commerce City, Colorado, and they came back with a point, a 1-1 draw. We had another Moose goal. There was another Jesus Ferreira assist. There is a KKR assist.
00:02:40
Speaker
Unfortunately, as you referenced there, Jordan Morris went out with another hamstring injury. We're going talk about all that in our game review. ah We're going to hit our agenda check. And Noah, i ah I think we also might have the greatest blazing hot coach press conference week in Lobbing Scorchers history. There have been some good ones.
00:03:02
Speaker
It's definitely the best one we've had so far this year to the point where I had to feature three coaches. Wow. From MLS this week. you put in the deep dive the work. I mean, yeah, there was just, they delivered so much good content. So ah really excited to get to that. You know how much we love a blazing hot coach press conference here.
00:03:20
Speaker
um And we're going to hit some ah some of the other results for match day 10 in MLS. ah Before we get to all that, though, I do have to let you all know that Lobbing Scorchers is a part of the Sounder at Heart podcast network.
00:03:31
Speaker
If you want to get the best independent Seattle soccer coverage, consider supporting us by going to sounderatheart.com slash LS. Noah, what's that link? Sounder at heart.com slash LS scroll down to subscribe and support to get 30 days completely free. Every sign up through our link helps support and grow this show.
00:03:46
Speaker
Uh, the road to a hundred sounder at heart subs is alive and well now more than ever. It's a great time to become a member with the season in full swing. Uh, do we have any new subs to thank?
Supporting Community and Sponsorships
00:03:57
Speaker
No no new subs Ari, but we are literally two subs away from 90.
00:04:03
Speaker
And it's just like, it's always been my dream to to have 90 people come on board as Sound Art Heart members because of us. That's been my, like, that's all we started this podcast for was to get 90 people to sign up for Sound Art Why don't we ah set a goal before next week's pod to get to 89? Yeah. I think that's a reasonable goal.
00:04:22
Speaker
So Ari, how do they how would they sign up? Just go to soundarthart.com slash LS. Scroll down to subscribe and support. It's easy as that. Shout out to our sponsors, Hacks and Ferments, Podium Menswear, Full Pull Wines, My Data Removal, and BodySpec.
Sounders Lineup and Strategy Analysis
00:04:37
Speaker
Sub to the channel, like the video, rate five stars, all all that good stuff. ah Before we get into the show, we also did want to mention ah ECS co-president Tom Bureau has been hospitalized after an accident.
00:04:51
Speaker
So we wanted to say that our thoughts and best best wishes are with Tom. And there is a GoFundMe to help raise funds for his medical costs. We're going to drop the link in our description. We really encourage everyone to donate to that. And, uh, Noah, we kicked 50 towards that. yeah So please, uh, visit that GoFundMe link in the description and, uh, help Tom out, please. Yeah. and if you want to leave a super chat or something below here, we'll donate, uh, all of those proceeds as well. We seriously, uh, wish, uh, Tom and his family the best and, are hoping for a good recovery. And regardless, uh,
00:05:25
Speaker
We want you guys to help out because medical costs are terrible because we live in the United States of America. So go help out a fellow Sounders fan and someone who does the work day in and day out to make match day experiences amazing for everyone.
00:05:37
Speaker
Well said. ah All right, Noah, let's get into this. ah Let's get into this draw pod. Seattle Sounders won. Colorado Rapids won. And let's do our lineup reaction first.
00:05:50
Speaker
You know, Noah, there is the whole debate, the hot hand debate versus the ah put the starters back in debate. Yep. And ah Brian Schmetzer rode the hot hand. Because he listens to us. Yeah, exactly. listens to us. Which is, that's what I think. I think we both advocated for that. I know I yeah advocated for that. Both because I think it's good to reward the team that just got a great result and try and keep rolling with that.
00:06:14
Speaker
but also because guys like Jordan Morris and Albert Rusnak are not, we're not 90 fit. So it made perfect sense to me to give this lineup at least an hour and then get into the subs and getting the guys coming back from injury back on.
00:06:29
Speaker
ah But what was interesting about this game was that ah ah the lineup made sense, the starting lineup for the first half, ah but Schmetz actually made the changes at, or one change at least at halftime of this game with Jordan Morris coming on. for moose And with how that game ended, that's been generating a lot of discussion.
00:06:46
Speaker
So ah we're going to talk about that. But as far as just the starting lineup, Noah, I mean, do you have any thoughts or takes on what was going through your mind when you saw it? I was glad that Brian played the hot hand. I thought that that was really smart, especially with the bench you have. And in my mind before, obviously I can't see the future, so I can't see Jordan getting injured. But my thought was it's good to give him a little bit more rest as much as he can get back to being fit while still getting a few minutes here or there.
00:07:13
Speaker
I was glad Moose was playing well. He wasn't playing amazing through the first half, but when he finished that second half, he looked like, you know, he should keep playing. And, you know, I liked that Rothrock was playing. I liked that KKR was getting on the field and getting minutes. I thought those guys who you can just run and run and run and run in Colorado, that's always something good. You want to be able to keep up with them.
00:07:36
Speaker
And then if the altitude starts to get to people, they literally had a a full starting squad on the bench that they could bring on. I thought it was great, like, game state management, tactical management.
00:07:47
Speaker
um And, you know, I think initially in my post-game reaction, I said, Why would you sub off Moose? Why would you do all of that? Hindsight's 20-20. I think the reality was they were trying to get Jordan more minutes, get him back fit, and see if they couldn't get another goal. So ah it's ah it's's it's a hindsight 20-20 thing, but I was glad that the lineup looked like it did. It's a tough balance, right? Because you do need to get Jordan and Rusnak back fit.
00:08:13
Speaker
oh But I think you could also, you could definitely argue that ah the lineup that started the game should have gotten to gotten more run into the second half. But like you said, i i can see the ah flip side of that as well.
00:08:27
Speaker
ah Let's talk about the key moments from this game. i thought this game got off to a pretty shaky start for Seattle for the first season. Probably half hour. ah Colorado had a couple really good chances early. There was the one in the fifth minute where Christian rolled on, had to clear a header off the line off a ah Colorado corner kick, which that kind of became a theme in this game. The set piece defending wasn't great. Colorado was doing a good job on their delivery and ah getting those looks, but it happened.
00:08:57
Speaker
I think four times where they sent a corner kick in and it ended up with like a pretty clean header. Uh, so there was that one early where Christian was just Johnny on the spot, clear that one off the line, but that was pretty close to being a goal. I think in his post game, he literally said, yeah, I was just happened to be the guy who was there. Yeah, exactly.
00:09:16
Speaker
Uh, and then colle Bassett just a minute later, i think had a header over the bar. So early on in the game, I mean, they were absorbing some pressure. Colorado was cooking on their set pieces as they do.
00:09:27
Speaker
ah But, you know, ah ah life is like that in a Western Conference road match at altitude. Sometimes it's just all about if you can absorb that pressure ah without conceding or letting the game ah get away from you.
00:09:40
Speaker
And so to Seattle's credit, they were able to to do that despite not really having super great control of the game state and conceding a few games. chances. And, they had some good looks of their own as well.
00:09:51
Speaker
I think the, the most notable one I thought that I wrote down was the, ah the one from Obed to Rothrock where Obed, like remember he passed passed it back across, uh, to Rothrock running on. I thought that was a good, uh, a good chance.
00:10:05
Speaker
Uh, KKR, I want to say had the, uh, kind of shot cross, which, uh, I, you know, people were saying he was, uh, meant to cross it, which, but like, just put it in there, you know? So, uh, You never know what's going to happen, folks. Exactly. That's what I like about KKR. He he makes stuff happen.
00:10:22
Speaker
He's explosive. I thought the chance generation in the first half and really through this whole game, I thought the chance generation was actually pretty good. That wasn't the issue in this game. the issue in this game ah that ended up being the pitfall, I thought, was the defending.
00:10:36
Speaker
um But as far as the attacking movements and how the offense was running and the chances they were generating, I thought there was some pretty good stuff.
Injury Concerns and Team Adjustments
00:10:44
Speaker
And in the forty fifth minute, Another moose goal. It was a, I think it was the first. Yeah. You can't, you can't stop moose. You can't, you can only hope to contain moose. This is what happens when you let a wild animal out of their cage. Okay. He was riding the bench. He was, he was belittled by pundits.
00:11:01
Speaker
I don't know who, cause it wasn't me. He was, he was shot down, put tranquilized, locked in a cage. And you know what happens? Ari animals don't belong in zoos. They belong out there on the pitch. Yeah, no, this was another, uh, this was another really good moose goal.
00:11:17
Speaker
A really great team goal starting with the secondary assist from Jesus Ferreira. Um, excellent, excellent pass to spring KKR and then KKR, uh, really good stuff to run onto that ball and send in a accurate cross at pace.
00:11:34
Speaker
that ah that Moose is able to just put in the back of the net. And it's another one of those finishes from Moose ah that he I think he mean made he made it look easier than it actually was.
00:11:46
Speaker
yeah But credit to him for converting that. and You know what I like about the goals that they're scoring right now, Noah, is they're coming from sequences of play that are repeatable and sustainable.
00:11:59
Speaker
as they move forward in the season here. It's not like they're just nicking set pieces or scoring against the run of play when the other team is dominating them the whole time. um They're moving the ball well.
00:12:12
Speaker
Ferreira, that through ball is beautiful. And it's just ah it's just a great team goal. So it was good to see them get another one of those ah in a sequence these last or in the last few weeks where they've been able to get a lot of goals like that.
00:12:25
Speaker
Yeah, I also wanted to note that I thought Ferreira was playing well, and I thought that it was cool, too, that KKR in the postgame said, me and Moose have literally been talking about this exact play.
00:12:39
Speaker
he He was like... I knew that he was going to be there because I said, you know, if I get the ball out wide, I'm going look for you. Where are you going to be? And Moose said, I'm going to be here. And he was there and he made that finish.
00:12:50
Speaker
And I think, you know, to how harsh some people have been about Danny Musavsky, he is a space merchant. Like, he knows the field. he's He's good at getting into the space where you expect him to be.
00:13:03
Speaker
And I think that is an asset. He's not a Jordan Morris. He's not a Raul Re-Diaz. But he is a guy who... in a setup like this, where you have someone like Jesus Ferreira who can like set up that great play.
00:13:18
Speaker
Hell yeah, it works. It's a, it's nice to see Moose get rewarded for being in those spots because ah truthfully he's been doing that the entire time that he's been on the team. He just hasn't been finishing the chances. So it's good that he's finally ah finishing the chances and the team really needs it right now.
00:13:36
Speaker
ah with Jordan Morris being injured. And another thing is, you know, for all the ah consternation and blazing hot discourse surrounding Jesus Ferreira, which I get, you know, we've been a part of it. The guy's up to five assists and ah I think seven assists across all comps and ah five of them are primary. So it's not like he's been a merchant of the secondary assists, but also, know,
00:14:02
Speaker
I mean, this secondary assist was, I mean, that's a world-class dime. So he needs to start scoring goals. We all want
Controversial Referee Decisions Discussion
00:14:09
Speaker
him to start scoring goals. We'll see if he does start scoring goals.
00:14:12
Speaker
ah But he's been legitimately productive as a facilitator. Like, you can take that for whatever ah for whatever it's worth. But ah he is getting on the stat sheet, so... Some people were saying that it's so clear that he is so much better at the 10 than Rusnak.
00:14:28
Speaker
And I thought it was, I mean, it was brigade. It was brigade. Let me preface by saying it was brigade, but it is an interesting point. You know, he has been performing though. Albert again, he has five goals plus assists and Jesus has three, three assists, five if you count secondary assists.
00:14:44
Speaker
So, and I don't know what Albert's secondary assist numbers look like, but that's, you know, i think I think it is to say that he plays really well in that position, but I don't know. I think Albert's still your number one. I don't even think we need to ah pit them against each other like that. I think... ah Oh, yeah, we're going to have that whole discussion. huh well We'll get to it later, but I mean, i thought I think Albert got off to a pretty good start to the season, like you said, five goal contributions.
00:15:10
Speaker
He got injured, ah and Ferreira has looked a lot better playing that position since since he's been playing it. right ah But I think... You know, realistically, they both played it at high levels at different points in the season. Sure.
00:15:25
Speaker
That's the pot hand mentality, man. I'm telling you, like this could be this could be the way that they could grind out this season and play super well is just playing whatever hand is working right now.
00:15:39
Speaker
ah Let's talk about the subs in this game. ah Like I mentioned, there was Jordan for Moose right at half, which I think that's the one people are questioning in the hindsight, both because of how the game panned out and then the situation with Jordan getting injured.
00:15:56
Speaker
And, you know, I can see why Schmetz handled it the way that he did, ah because you know you need to get Jordan a good run to get him back fit.
00:16:07
Speaker
ah But what I would say with the benefit of hindsight is that ah even if you have a planned substitution like that, which actually, did you see Moose's interview at practice? No. He was saying that he wasn't told until halftime, and then that part of the reason that he got subbed out was because he was on a yellow.
00:16:28
Speaker
So that that kind of goes against what I think everyone assumed about it, which is that Schmetz went into this like, all right, I'm going to give Moose the first half, Jordan the second half. Apparently that was not the case.
00:16:39
Speaker
um But either way, I mean, I don't know. But it's a striker. What's he going to get another yellow? I don't know if I understand like pulling Moose for being on a yellow because That seems really ridiculous. I think you can trust Moose to make it to 60 without getting sent off.
00:16:57
Speaker
He's a veteran player. well i mean but likes yeah i don't know if he's a veteran. and i think ah what is Moose? Yeah, he's still young. He's like his sixth MLS season or something. He's okay definitely a veteran. I thought he was like 27 or something. No, Moose is 29. He's He looks good. i'm just um easily I thought he was younger. Shit.
00:17:15
Speaker
Uh, but like, I, I think based on how the game was going, uh, I didn't, like I said, I thought the first half was honestly a little shaky for most of it. They were under pressure conceding a fair amount of chances, but then towards the end of the half, they grew into the game a little bit and they got the goal and they got the lead.
00:17:33
Speaker
It's easy to say with hindsight, but I was advocating for Moose 60, Jordan 30 the whole time. Right. I think even if you want ah want to make that sub at half, you can be like, all right, that it looked a little better at the end of the half and we got the goal. We can ride this for a little longer. yeah and when you throw in the fact that Jordan, it seems like re-aggravated his hamstring at the end, that seems like it might have been an even better option.
00:17:59
Speaker
um i do recognize that is, you know, Monday morning quarterbacking. Sure. But... But that's what we do on this show. That is our job. Exactly. We are the Monday morning quarterback. Yeah, it is. You know, hearing now that from from the horses, from the moose's mouth, ah that it was because he was on a yellow that honestly it makes me change my thoughts on like what I said earlier about.
00:18:22
Speaker
it kind of makes sense to give Jordan more run, whatever, that that makes sense. That's a little harsh, don't you think, to not think that he Moose couldn't keep his head for another 20 or 30 minutes, inch and that this official was going to send him off and like well I don't think the implication was that the yellow was like the soul full reason and it was like punitive like you got a yellow and you might get sent off like we're gonna pull you now.
00:18:49
Speaker
I think it was more like ah totality yeah of the situation of like we want to get Jordan a good sustained run not like a 10 minute cameo. Moose is on a yellow like we got the lead let's ah let's just do it at half just to make sure all the bases are covered or whatever.
00:19:07
Speaker
<unk> I don't think the yellow is the only thing, but moose Moose mentioned it as a factor for sure at practice. That's wild to me. That's wild to me because... I don't know. you well at one nil, you're not closing out the game.
00:19:23
Speaker
The game's not done. do you know what I'm saying? Yeah, exactly. Like that's not a big enough lead to sit on. Yeah. You you you have Jordan coming in. We know how Jordan Morris plays. He needs a little bit of momentum.
00:19:35
Speaker
And that's why you play him, right? That's why you would bring him in and give him sustained minutes. But you're on 1-0 and you have a guy who just scored going into half. you It was Scored for three straight games. Scored for three straight games. It was working. What you had out there was working in the closing minutes.
00:19:52
Speaker
I don't really understand that then. If that was a big part of your calculus was you're on a yellow and we want to play this guy and we're up 1-0 so it's fine. We just need to close out the game.
00:20:04
Speaker
Unless you're like, we're cool the draw, which, yeah, sure, I'm cool i'm cool with the draw in Colorado. but Well, yeah I would say you know Jordan isn't like a close out the game type sub. I know i think Schmetz said in his availability that ah you know they were subbing Jordan on with the obvious hope of getting another goal. So I don't think it was like, ah we're going to pack it in and try and sit on this 1-0 the rest of the half type situation. But he's not super sub like scorer like that.
00:20:33
Speaker
Well, but you're in a situation where he's not starting because he's coming back from injury and you're trying to get him fit. So like you're trying to balance those two things. And I don't know, maybe if ah maybe Schmitz would redo that one. Now that we know how it, how it panned out, because i I just, I guess I just kind of think in any situation where you close the half with some momentum like that,
00:20:53
Speaker
um you're better served to at least start the half with the same. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I think a lot of people have been pointing that out and I think it's a fair point. ah The other subs in this game where, and this is the one that Nico was telling me on a kickoff yesterday that he had more of an issue with was,
00:21:12
Speaker
Rusnak for De La Vega yeah on 55. I agree. Which, um again, you're you're trying to get Rusnak minutes, give him run, get him fit.
00:21:23
Speaker
But De La Vega, you know, he is one of, if not you're the most dangerous player on the team. So... Should he have subbed De La Vega out that early?
00:21:36
Speaker
I mean, with De La Vega, there's the fitness issues as well, but Schmetz said today that, or maybe it was yesterday, Schmetz said, though, that it wasn't necessarily fitness-related. I think it was more related to getting Roosnack some run. So that's another one that people were questioning.
00:21:51
Speaker
And then... ah Rolled on for KKR also on 55 when KKR was balling. Yeah, he was playing great. Yeah. I guess, you know, this is what's great about our job is we get to be two, three days removed from all of this and I can make a second. Knowing the outcome of it, yeah. Yeah, but like those are some really brutal...
00:22:12
Speaker
While I will say if I put myself in Brian Schmetzer's shoes, they are realistic in the moment, especially with the idea that this is not a single game season. You yeah you have to get these players worked that's what he would point out. Right.
00:22:24
Speaker
And so, like, I can totally respect that. And also, because I'm a pundit and I can say whatever I want without a recourse, it's I just don't... Thinking about it right in this moment, I'm like, damn, that is a momentum killer.
00:22:38
Speaker
Especially for me, the Rusnak for De La Vega swap. Because naty not only do you neuter De La Vega because he's not on the field, you also neuter the one and only secondary assist god,
00:22:52
Speaker
Jesus Ferreira. Okay. Cause we know they can't play together. but All right. They, maybe they can in the future. Hold this, hold this. We're going to get, you we're going to get to that. We're going get to that. You're, you knew to that. So that, that, that like that sub in itself, I kind of agree with Nico and, uh, free my boy KKR. I don't know.
00:23:07
Speaker
ah Alex Roldan played fine, though. Yeah, he was fine. so We did get another Ryan Kent cameo. He came on for Ferreira in the 71st, so that was cool. He looked good. Yeah, no, I mean, I continue to enjoy watching him play, and I'm intrigued and excited to see what he can do moving forward as he gets more minutes. You know, with Jordan being out for at least the short term here, I think we're going to start to see him get more and more run.
00:23:30
Speaker
And so... ah That's exciting. Uh, I really, I just, I like his, uh, I like his style. yeah I like, i I like what I'm seeing out there so far. I think so far it's kind of living up to, uh, what we had envisioned, like at least in the preliminary phases, as far as like a player who's going to bring energy and flair and, uh, sauce out there. Like you, you see all that stuff and, uh, hopefully he can, uh, he can build on this and get some more minutes. It's awesome too because he's kind of doing the thing that we hoped Jesus Ferreira would do, which is just like step in, be kind of dominant, but like be super interesting and cool and not really strong. Like just, you know, just kind of plug and play.
00:24:14
Speaker
He's kind of just, I mean, judging off of a combined 30 minutes. If that like that, like, yeah, like he, or I guess he went 20 in the, 30, 30 Yeah. Like, yeah like Yeah, dude, he looks kind of sick as hell.
00:24:29
Speaker
He looks like he's just going to rock and he's just going to play off at whoever and that he's just that kind of good. And he might like I've been saying he's the greatest player to touch grass.
00:24:39
Speaker
Someone corrected me and said should be the greatest player to touch turf, which greatest player to touch turf officially. Ryan Kent, that's your new nickname. ah Let's talk about the Rapids equalizer. They get level on 54. Off a set piece, Georgi Mihailovic. So, Yaimar fouls the guy right near the top of the area.
00:25:03
Speaker
and ah The Sounders set up their wall and they don't put the guy laying down like some teams do. And honestly, I'm not even going to lie. This was a Mihailovic cooked here. This was fire. This was ah this was like a IQ, high IQ play.
00:25:21
Speaker
He tells the, like, if you watch the clip, yeah he yeah he sees it. He's got his binoculars on. He's watching all of the, like, discussion. He can tell that they're disjointed and nothing's said. It's a little bit hurried.
00:25:33
Speaker
he He walks over to his, the guy standing next to him, covers his mouth, tells him literally what he's going to do, and then rips it. And it's like, okay, dude, you're just, like, actually really good at soccer. Like, yeah what do what are you going to do there? So what the Sounders expected him to do was try and put it over the wall and he knew what they were thinking.
00:25:55
Speaker
And instead of trying to put it over, he just rolled it right under and right into the net. Like ah just a money finish and just a smart play. ah There was talk about whether they should have put the guy lying down, which is something I feel like you don't really see Seattle do they a lot. Yeah, they don't do that. It looks stupid.
00:26:12
Speaker
But I mean, that's that kind of situation is theoretically why you do it. Maybe against Messi. ah I mean, maybe apparently it would have worked against Mihailovic right there. They were supposed to tippy-toe Yeah, so in Brian Schmetzer's post-game press there... he was asked about this and Brian said, Oh, well they weren't supposed to jump. I don't know what they were doing. That's my fault. I should have been more clear about that in training. They're just supposed to go on their tippy toes.
00:26:41
Speaker
So if they don't go on their tippy toes or if they just go on their tippy toes and don't jump, he can't slide that ball under. You don't have to worry about that. He's saying it's just so hard to get the arc on the ball and you basically have to score in the top corner of the net. And at that point you're going to score anyway. So it doesn't matter.
00:26:57
Speaker
They all went Vince Carter. they Yeah, do they were balling. they were beaten They were basketballing. They were jumping out of the building. They were going Space Jam, Ari. and he Space Jam alien. He rolled it right on. I respect the play. like That's a good really smart play. well it It reminds me of on the Charlotte game, that corner that they had, that really well-designed corner.
00:27:17
Speaker
It was like people were freaking out about it and I'm like, dude, sometimes set pieces are just so well designed. Sometimes the other team just, they they get you. Yeah. You know, you can be mad at Yamar for the dumb foul. Yamar had a terrible game. I mean, that's about as clear as it gets. He was all over the place.
00:27:34
Speaker
But other than that, it's like, you like that's you kind of just got to look at that and be like, that's soccer, man. That's pretty. Yeah. So it was one, one. And, I thought, you know, the game still, uh, stayed pretty back and forth, pretty, uh, entertaining for the rest of it. As far as like both teams had their chances at the, uh, at the winter, but, ah for Seattle, everything kind of got overshadowed when Jordan came off with the injury.
00:28:02
Speaker
the doubly unfortunate thing about it was that it happened on a sequence where he was, he was making a great run. yeah You're like, all right, he's back, you know? And ah he pulls up with the... We haven't... i don't I'm not sure if it's a re-aggravation, but i'm I imagine that's what it is.
00:28:19
Speaker
um so We are not medical doctors. We're not doctors. We will not speculate. But ah typically... In my experience, a hamstring like that's at least two to four. So we'll have to see. Another one. ah Thank you. so But Schmetzer gave an update at training today, and he said that they took the m i um MRI, ah but that they're going to have to take another one. And it was actually kind of a weird exchange because...
00:28:44
Speaker
ah The first thing he said was like they took the MRI and they didn't like what they saw. So they need to take another one. And Jeremiah was like, just to clarify, like, what do you mean by what didn't like what they saw? And he was like, they literally like couldn't tell. It was too blurry. It was like too blurry. It was like already trying to take a picture. exactly. They put Ari on the MRI machine and he was like, dude, I don't fucking what button do I press again? exactly But so it's not like necessarily like they're taking a follow up one yeah because they think it could be really bad or something.
00:29:13
Speaker
They literally like couldn't see what they needed to see. So they're going to take another one. And then we should know more about the severity. Schmetzer did say after the game that Jordan doesn't think it's that bad. ah But, you know, he's not a doctor either. I mean, his dad is. So maybe he has a better feel on that than the average layman.
00:29:30
Speaker
Uh, but, uh, even in a best case scenario, I imagine he'd be out for, uh, at least a couple of weeks. So that sucks. Um, but you know, at least Moose is in good form. At least Ryan Kent is working his way into the mix here.
00:29:45
Speaker
and Moose is suddenly the most important player on this team because if Moose isn't in there playing pre on this fucking moment, like they don't have, a clear plan B if Moose is to not play. De Rosario kid who is not ready MLS minutes. And false nine Ferreira. That's it. And false nine Ferreira. Yeah. Like this, the state of the nine spot is chalked, folks.
00:30:09
Speaker
It's a little chalked. chalked because you got Moose. yeah I mean, the state of the... Behind Moose. The concession, recession play. I don't... Dude, I'm not a linguist. We'll see what they what they do in that in a situation. and Because Moose is not going able to play full 90 every single no game. No, no. So... He's going to...
00:30:30
Speaker
But they're going to be riding the moose train. And you know what? Let's say something. That's okay. It's fine. In the form that he's in right now, that's great. It's working. like yeah I'm not worried.
00:30:42
Speaker
I'm really not. I'm definitely not ah nearly as worried as I as i would have been like earlier this season. Moose is balling right now. He's scoring goals. Let's hope he keeps doing that. I can finally see it, Ari.
00:30:55
Speaker
My Rothrock at the nine. I can see it in the corner of my eye. I can see it potentially happening. They tried Georgie. So why not? Georgie at the nine was a. Rothrock at the nine is like ah it's it's it's not even a bit for me. Like I would be down to see that. Yeah, he's got he he he knows that space. Well, I've seen him hold his hold up play and all that. I i like it.
00:31:16
Speaker
I don't know. Um, Brian, you can hire me as a, as a coach. I'm telling you. Well, lobby scorchers put Roth rock at the nine. That's true. We put him anywhere, dude. Put him at the GK spot. It's he's saving at least four goals. Um, I thought the Seattle's best chance of the second half was in the 81st when a roost snack had that volley. That was just wide, uh, on our post game show. We had people in the chat, uh, uh, talking about, uh, he has to finish that. He has to finish that.
00:31:44
Speaker
I think that's a pretty high degree of difficulty on that shot. That's one of those where you you you take that and you just pray, you know, and, ah you know, he we've seen him make goals like that. Like the ah equalizer against San Jose was not the same exact same type of shot, but I would say a similar degree of difficulty.
00:32:05
Speaker
He was a really smart soccer player. Yeah, he didn't miss it by much ah and it would I think it would have been an insane goal. Yeah, if he had scored that well and also you can't say that and praise it'd be like, oh, well, why did you switch Jesus out from that position and then not mention the fact that Jesus Ferreira the ball that he missed in this game is still orbiting the earth.
00:32:28
Speaker
Like he missed a shot so bad that NASA is now tracking it as an asteroid. So it did. Yeah. He skied another one. He did that in champions league too. Now he did ah this one, which is definitely, ah it's a little confounding because i mean, no, you and i more than most have watched Jesus Ferreira in a lot in his career, dating back to his FC Dallas days.
00:32:50
Speaker
Yeah. How many times have we seen him score goals like that? A lot. Often. Often. So, but that, that to me indicates that, you know, I've, I've said this before about guys like a Baron been burned before, but I think that's going to even out and he's going to at least start putting shots like that on target. He's got, the yip there's ah Maybe you might have the yips a little bit right now, but there's enough of a track record of him hitting those that I feel like he's just in a little bit of a wayward finishing funk right now.
00:33:23
Speaker
And that if it like ah evens out to his career baseline or norms, ah he should start banging in some goals. ah We'll see if that happens. It might be a zero goal, 15 assists type season from that's still pretty rare. Like he's literally on pace. That's what he's on pace for right now is zero and like 17.
00:33:42
Speaker
seventeen So if he did that, that would be weird. but content It would be sick. Um, i Listen, he is a good finisher at the end of the day. And you can even people are going to mock you for saying I don't care, man. You don't score 50 goals in a league.
00:34:01
Speaker
The league hasn't changed that much in that period of time. Like he scored 50. He was the youngest player to ever score 50 goals in this league. He can you can't tell me you can score goals. You can't tell me that it's impossible.
00:34:13
Speaker
Right now, look at Moose, right? Moose wasn't scoring. Moose was looking and playing poorly. I think we can say that. And he found his rhythm. He found his stride. he's ah He's a momentum player. Strikers are momentum. Jordan does the same thing. He'll have stretches where he doesn't score, and then he finds the back of the net, and guess what? He gets really hot and goes and goes and goes.
00:34:33
Speaker
When he finds his footing, he's going he's gonna He's going to be fine. Mark my words. You can call me out for that. At the end of the season, if he doesn't have at least three goals, three. Set the bar real high. Five.
00:34:47
Speaker
You can yell at me at the end of the season if he doesn't have five. I don't want to necessarily platform the vocal minority or like make it seem like there's more the this take is more widespread than it actually is. I don't think a lot of people actually think this. But we got another...
00:35:03
Speaker
jesus is literally bad ah comment on our youtube and i'm just like how can you watch the the pass he made to kkr on the goal sequence and then be like that guy is bad at this yeah he should not play i don't yeah i don't know well it's they don't know ball are they don't know there's some lack of ball knowledge involved with that there's lack of belief lack of ball knowledge in our youtube comments quite frequently yeah unfortunately Well, I mean, I'm on this podcast, so that really doesn't like that. Yeah, no, exactly. It's fair.
00:35:35
Speaker
um All right. Let's talk about the officiating controversies this game of which there were multiple, but two ah two in particular. So ah let's start with the Colorado one because like ah the the one that happened before it kind of ties into to it, yeah into the narrative. Yeah.
00:35:56
Speaker
Uh, so what happened was, ah rapid striker, Rafael Navarro was going up for a ball in the air against Yamar. And, uh, right as he got the header on frame, the referee called him for a foul for pushing Yamar over the ball goes in the whole stadium goes crazy. The rapids think that they scored.
00:36:15
Speaker
The foul was whistled before the the shot went in. The goal is waved off in the ah Colorado rapids. We're not happy about that. Uh, and all right, let's first, let's just talk about this call.
00:36:30
Speaker
Uh, this is a 50, 50 call. Like you can, you can see this called both ways. I've been saying, I think it was a bad call, but like realistically you can defend the foul being called.
00:36:41
Speaker
Here's why I don't like calls like this, Noah, which is that like, uh, just in general in soccer, like the defense already has so many advantages. The guy, the guy defending the goal is allowed to use his hand. Yeah. Has a huge advantage. Yeah. And I can't pick the ball up. Yeah. It's what it's so hard to score goals in this game ah where like ah i don't I don't know if he pushed him like I could see how it looked like he went down easy. Yeah.
00:37:10
Speaker
Yaimar might have sold it a little bit, but what I didn't like about it is... And I'm trying to think of this like... The way I think of it is like if a Seattle player got called for that same foul, would I be pissed? I would have been pissed. yeah I would have been pissed. i would have been like, that is so ticky-tack.
00:37:23
Speaker
he butt there aren't He didn't extend, is the thing. He might have used his hands to like give himself like a like a platform to, to go up and get the header.
00:37:33
Speaker
Maybe Yamar goes down. ah but, uh, I didn't think he extended enough for it to be like, to wave off a goal yeah like that.
00:37:44
Speaker
So that's my just take on that. Uh, do you have any, what do you think of that call? This goal stands in MLS 1.0, Ari. 2.0, in mls two point o ari This goal stands in all the physical versions of um MLS.
00:37:56
Speaker
but ah It got waved off because of woke. it's Yeah, there you go. Yeah, we we've gotten soft and woke as refereeing organization. I don't know. It was funny, though, to me, because I mean, I'm sure as you'll mention ah this other refereeing dispute, it was it was very clear to me watching the game.
00:38:15
Speaker
And of course, I'm not a referee, not in a referee's head. We actually had a professional referee comment on our postgame show. He was like, yeah, this was a this was a really bad grade for this official. Like they're going to get a really bad. grade Yeah, I mean, it wasn't just that.
00:38:27
Speaker
call There was a lot of calls throughout the game. And the way that he let the game play out was like very odd. But, ah you know, with it acknowledged that I didn't really like that call. Yeah, I didn't either. It should it was a goal. It's subjective at end of the day, but like i I didn't like that call. I wouldn't have liked it if it ah if it had gone against Seattle. So I always try and be honest with myself about that. I'd have been pissed.
00:38:50
Speaker
ah But Noah, my sympathy meter for the Colorado Rapids and their fan base over this call is, uh, it might be less than zero, might be less than zero, because you're actively, you're actively thinking it was a good call earlier in the, uh, in the second half in the 46 minute, the Rapids had this kid out there who, uh, I, I said on a kickoff that he was making his MLS debut. He's played a few MLS games.
00:39:17
Speaker
He's like 20. Uh, he, this is his first game of the season. ah he was on until Andrew Craven's number though. So I'm going to say like mind that's okay. You got to like, I have no respect already.
00:39:27
Speaker
Anyway, all that happened was he was on a yellow already and then committed another yellow card foul. And he didn't get sent off. The ref reached into his pocket. Yeah, so this is the whole problem.
00:39:40
Speaker
Like, he gave a soft yellow to the kid on the first one, but you giving... someone a soft yellow, that's on you. That's on you. That's on you. And that cannot absolutely cannot in any scenario have any bearing on whether or not you give a player the second yellow if they commit a clear yellow card offense.
00:40:05
Speaker
He needs to be sent off in that situation. ah This is not subjective. It's not debatable. That is the most, if you check, if you made a list of criteria of a yellow card foul, that foul would check every single one.
00:40:20
Speaker
It couldn't be more clear. And like you said, he goes into his pocket to give it to him, realizes that he would have to send him off if he does that.
00:40:32
Speaker
Feels bad, I guess, that he gave him the yellow the first time. And so he lets him stay on the field. ah The Colorado Rapids should have been down a man from the 46th minute onward in this game. No question about it.
00:40:44
Speaker
And for that reason, I feel nothing about the Navarro non-goal. Seattle might have got bailed out on that play. Colorado got, they got more bailed out. I'm sorry, because they got more bailed out because if the Navarro goal had counted, ah Seattle would have had some time to try and find an equalizer. They're still probably chalk, but they might have had time to find an equalizer. Colorado, if the ref gets that very obvious call right, they're down a man for the entire second half.
00:41:10
Speaker
while already down 1-0. So they're there're they probably would have been more chalked than Seattle would have. I got to say, Colorado was definitely more hard done than the Sounders in this matchup. Waving off a clear goal because you are making up for guy sent off is a huge decision. Absolutely. I agree. But I'm just saying, that's that's not a guarantee. right I've seen plenty of teams play better with 10 men than 11 men.
00:41:35
Speaker
I've seen you know whatever it may be. i'm not You can't determine an outcome from that. right But the fact that they waved that goal off, they they they they have a reason to feel hard done.
00:41:45
Speaker
The Sounders do too, sure, whatever. But like a man sent off versus a very clear goal. I don't know. I feel like Colorado has done worse than the Sounders.
00:41:57
Speaker
I think that it's all to say. this There's not like that big of a disparity in an impactful call between a guy getting sent off in the 46th minute and in the play where the goal got waved off. like ah playing down a man for an entire half is, ah it's not guaranteed to be, but it's a hugely impactful call in the game. So I i don't think, ah I think it's like equal, it's's it's tit for tat. it's They are equally hard done and ah the Rapids,
00:42:29
Speaker
You know, they can be mad about the goal. I like I i just said that I didn't like the call, ah but they got bailed out too. So well there's I'm just what I'm trying to ah make sure we do is not let any narrative take hold of like, oh, well, this this actually was an L because Seattle got bailed out by the by the by that call. Colorado got bailed out by a call the exact same way.
00:42:50
Speaker
I'm not saying that anyone got bailed out. I don't think that that's a fair assumption, but I do think that Colorado can feel more hard done by the decision to wave off a very clear goal that we both agree and agree to the time was a goal. Here's what I would dispute is like the term very clear. It's very clear to like in our opinion, but it is a subjective bang, bang call at the end of the day. Like it's yeah, but that's not 99 times out of 100. That's goal.
00:43:20
Speaker
e it's It's not i think you should it's got a 90, 100. I remember it. It's not a 90, 100 call. It's a 50, 50 call. It's a 50, 50 call. This is where we diverge. yeah This is where we diverge. You're wrong, Ari. You're wrong.
00:43:35
Speaker
like ah I don't like the call, but like you can definitely make the argument that the foul there. It's a problem we're even having to have this conversation is is I think what we're both at, though. like the The officiating was tragically bad.
00:43:48
Speaker
it was it was It was bad in this game. and you know We don't complain about refs either, really. i remember that guy who commented and like said that we do, and I'm i'm still upset about that. we literally never talk about... a In fact, we are so pro-official that we literally had the union representative from pro-officials when they were on strike on the podcast. because We do care about officials.
00:44:09
Speaker
We're very charitable. And charitably speaking, this was not the best performance by this official. Uh, here's, here's a, here, I have a take that people aren't going like, cause there's been a lot of officiating discourse this week, which we're going to get to in our blazing hot coach press conferences.
00:44:25
Speaker
Uh, I don't buy into the whole narrative that ah MLS refs are like that much, if any worse. I agree. Other leagues in the world. Like, yeah, prem dude exactly. There are like a lot of controversial calls and missed calls in MLS.
00:44:39
Speaker
But is that more true of MLS than, than the prem or any league that you could name? i really don't think so. I think every league thinks that they have like the worst, most incompetent, yeah refs when the reality is refereeing is just a fundamentally subjective thing where, uh, there are a lot of situations where people, yeah, people are going to be unhappy with you a certain percentage ah of the time, like no matter what you do. And there are certain games obviously where it's worse or more impactful than others.
00:45:10
Speaker
But, uh, on the whole, and it's impossible to measure this, but on the whole, I don't think and MLS refereeing is worse than any other league. and And, and the thing, the other thing is like, well, we only talk about these things when they miss the calls.
00:45:25
Speaker
Like when, whenever they use VAR correctly or get a really hard call, right? No one is like, Oh, great call. That was awesome. It only ever comes up when it's a call that people disagree with.
00:45:37
Speaker
Um, but like, uh, the, uh, the moose goal in the freaking nashville game yep for instance like that was a very badly egregiously missed call and that was like a fine yeah perfectly well executed fine use of var as one example and they got the call right that stuff happens all the time too it's just people never talk about that so and and we did we said you know what whatever like you can't really miss that but also you knowing you have that backup it's like whatever but I'm going to take some heat for that one. No, dude, look at when we are in CONCACAF games. When we are in games officiated by Liga MEC East refs or by by other Central American refs.
00:46:18
Speaker
they It's shit. Well, CONCACAF is its own category. you Right, but I'm saying those officials are, look at how bad they are. When you come and play an MLS, there is a standard set.
00:46:30
Speaker
they they They, like, yes, the pool of officials is really small, and that's a problem, and they agree with it. But the standard that they set in the style of play that they allow is very consistent across the board. It is something that they talk about. It's something that they train about. Like, they have a guide to how the game should be played.
00:46:49
Speaker
It's I'm serious. Like you guys can talk and bitch and moan and say that they have the worst officials in the world. They do work really hard to officiate the games in a specific manner that makes it interesting for the fans, you know, some sort of leeway, but also safe.
00:47:03
Speaker
And I think they do a pretty good job nine times out of 10, maybe even 99 times out of 100. Yeah. And in this scenario, there were these controversial calls, but controversial calls are a part of the game to an extent as well. Like this Navarro call that we're that were debating, there's literally there's not like a ah black and white answer to that.
00:47:25
Speaker
Whereas that's, I guess that's the other difference between the, uh, the yellow card one. Like you could say yellow card fouls are subjective. That one was not, that was, that was, yeah. Like that was, a hundred times out of a hundred a yellow. yeah The first, the first one, that's, that's the problem. It's like when you, when you're inconsistent or quick to jump the gun, you give this kid a yellow early for a foul. That's hard, but maybe not necessarily a yellow to teach him a lesson. Cause he's played five games and you don't know him.
00:47:50
Speaker
So you can't like have that rapport. Yeah, that's a problem. But yeah, I don't know. I think about it kind of like the read, maybe it read Baker Whiting. When he got sent off, he got those two yellows or the straight red or something. Do you remember that? That was like last year. Yeah. Or Obed, Obed, Obed getting sent off for kicking the ball away or something like that. Do you remember that? There was another one. I don't know if I remember Obed getting a red. I remember the RBW one, that we were talking about because, we were saying you should have been subbed off. I remember that one. Yeah.
00:48:20
Speaker
So like there's, there's, you know, There's certain things where you're like frustrated and I don't know. It's all to say like nine times out of ten. It's fine. This game was poorly officiated though.
00:48:33
Speaker
Yeah, and there was a lot of other controversial calls this week. It was like a it was like the week of controversy officiating controversy. Do you guys remember the scabs? Do you remember the scab refs? Oh, that was totally shit. You want to talk about bad officiating? They literally had we should all be thankful for pro. That's what I'm saying. dude like you they're unionized they're they're you know they're paid well i'm not saying that they're the best officials on the planet that they can't get better i'm just saying like you better count your goddamn blessings because the second that uh that uh that like bob dylan from uh louisville kentucky the high school official gets down on that field and he's like sh shit man you it's over for you we've seen it it's it's bad news
00:49:15
Speaker
Um, last key moment in this game, right at the end, Colorado has a, a shot on target that, uh, Stefan Fry saves the, saves the point. That was a big time safe. I have an agenda check based on that. Oh, okay.
00:49:28
Speaker
Uh, So I guess let's table our, our fry discussion till agenda. show We can talk about the same. I mean, i really, I just wanted to note it. Okay. He made a really good, he made a really good save that, ah that preserved the draw.
00:49:41
Speaker
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00:49:59
Speaker
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Player Performance and Strategy Review
00:53:13
Speaker
All right, Noah, let's talk about our positives and negatives. I have mine here and the then you can give yours if that works. For positives, I got a, it's, ah the result itself is solid, 1-1 away at Colorado.
00:53:27
Speaker
I know it sucked how it ended with Jordan going out and it's definitely frustrating because they had the lead and actually gave themselves a good chance to win this game. yeah ah But if you're looking at purely the result itself, 1-1 away is, it's okay, it's fine. it's fine Like I mentioned earlier, i thought their chance generation in this game was actually pretty good.
00:53:48
Speaker
Like for a, for a road game at altitude, i was pretty happy with how the attack looked for the most part in the ah quality of the chances that they got and, and with the goal that they did score.
00:53:59
Speaker
And, uh, and those goals are looking like they're coming from sustainable and, uh, repeatable sequences of play, which that's, uh, you know, we don't need, uh, we don't even need to, uh, get into the XG aspect of it. I almost, we almost gotten a physical altercation on the, uh, on the last show, but I think we can both agree that, uh, generating a lot of high quality chances is, what you, it's a good thing. It's what you want to see.
00:54:23
Speaker
And, I feel like they're doing that right now. Moose stayed hot. He's in good form. That's going to be doubly, triply, quadruply important right now with more Jordan Morris out for the next few weeks. And it's really, it's just good to see him coming good on the, and like getting, like I said, getting rewarded for playing well and believing in himself, believing in him when no one else did. It's a, it's a, it's a fun little storyline that we got going on with Moose right now.
00:54:50
Speaker
And someone said that I would not, i I hate to admit when I'm wrong. What are we talking about? I'm never wrong. I didn't even say the moose was bad. No, yeah, that never got... That never happened....by you. Yeah. um Good to see Ferreira get another assist. Not just the fact that it was another one for the stat sheet, but God, that pass was so nice. It was great. Dude, when he gets in those moments and he knows that there is going to be a play and he can make it, I feel like he goes into another mode.
00:55:19
Speaker
He goes into Jesus mode. He goes into walk-on-water mode. And like... you get some passes like that. Like that was like a dude walking on water. Yeah. I know. I just really appreciate, I would say just the general unselfishness, uh, and team or team oriented nature of his game. Yeah. This guy, like obvious he's, he's been good at scoring goals throughout his career. He wants really badly to start scoring goals here, but, uh,
00:55:46
Speaker
he He doesn't, he doesn't care about the glory for himself or getting all the goals for himself. He just wants the team to score. ah he's very good at putting his teammates in positions to score. And, ah for all the talk about his goal scoring, which is valid, he has been a really good facilitator for this team this year.
00:56:05
Speaker
And this one in particular was just such a nice pass. Um, KKR gets the primary on that. So that's another positive, just, just kind of his rise.
00:56:16
Speaker
Like I was talking to Nico about it, but like, feel like the conversation with KKR almost needs to switch from like, is this guy a MLS player, which now now at that point, at this point we know, but the question is like how high a ceiling and MLS player could he be?
00:56:30
Speaker
To me, I've seen enough from him where i feel like he actually has star potential. Like he could actually get to a place where he's considered like a really, really plus player at the MLS level for this team.
00:56:45
Speaker
ah Ryan Kent looked good again. That was another positive. And then ah Schmetzer mentioned this after the game, but for how kind of rough the season started between CCC and some of the league games not going well, they're right in it.
00:56:58
Speaker
on the table. If they keep playing well, all their goals and objectives of accomplishing great things this season and winning some trophies are right in front of them. They got to three points out a second, three points out a second. They got to keep playing well.
00:57:11
Speaker
ah But I feel like with what we've seen the last points out of third, I'm sorry. Apologies. Okay. Yeah, that's right. They're making, making false allegations here. But, uh, I feel like if, if they keep playing how they've been playing these last few weeks, there's a solid reason to be optimistic that, um, the rough start to the season can be kind of left behind them and then they can really start locking in on the stuff they want to accomplish this year. It's a tough, it's a tough, it's a tough next few games. Like I won't lie. We're going to learn a lot about this team, especially without Jordan Morris, uh, over the next few weeks, like this, ski you're right. The schedule is, it's not easy.
00:57:48
Speaker
Um, negatives. I think the Jordan injury is obviously the biggest one. He was just coming back really suck to see him go out. Now going to have to be out without him for, a few weeks and it really just, uh, I think it kind of clouded, i a lot of the positive feelings that you might normally get from like a hard fought road draw.
00:58:07
Speaker
ah seeing him go out was just a bummer. Uh, the defensive performance, they only gave up one goal, but I get specifically the set piece defending, i think was negative in general. Uh, I mean, I don't even like, he didn't have a great game, but like, um, a lot of the looks, uh,
00:58:24
Speaker
Like there should not be that many clean headers off corner. True. And that that's on. yeah is that piece the fact was atrocious That's on more than just Yamar. And also, did you catch how Christian was saying after the game, like ah how they hadn't really talked much about what to do in that scenario? Cause it doesn't come up that often. So like they were kind of like improvising on the fly on yeah what to do. Like that feels like a oversight. Yeah, that feels like bad coaching. Well, especially like, because he was saying, you know, that situation doesn't come up that often, which, yeah, but it comes sure it comes up enough to where... You got to play Messi this year, so it's going to happen, buddy. Spence actually said that exact thing.
00:59:04
Speaker
But then like, that that probably should... i don't know. Yeah, exactly. i just thought that was... Come on. Yeah, arguably... Andy Rose! Arguably deserved to concede more than one... ah But I think they arguably deserve to score more than one too. But like just if we're talking purely about defensively, I got a little, they probably got a little lucky to get out of there with just one goal conceded and but who deserved is dess deserved. That doesn't mean shit in the scoreline. The first half was just shaky in general. yeah So those are my positives and negatives. What do you got? I just wanted to cook on the Jordan injury one. Like I think that it just adds to,
00:59:43
Speaker
My, I guess, frustration with the depth of the nine that's been around, like that's been a problem for me. Now, like they have to figure something else out.
00:59:53
Speaker
I like, I understand that Jesus is an emergency option, but who's a real option? Because you're about to come up to a match week here where you're going to play LAFC and then at Portland.
01:00:05
Speaker
You're not going to have Jordan back. That's in like two weeks, I believe, or three weeks. You're not going to have Jordan back reliably for that. You're not going to be able to play Danny Musavsky for 90 minutes in in two match days and then coming off of two previous weeks. God forbid he gets injured.
01:00:20
Speaker
What is the realistic option here? It's false nine for error. That's it. And that's that's that is horrifying to me. that's That's a loss, a loss, a loss, and a loss. I, it's a little melodramatic, I think. who Well, it's, I don't think so because if you look at his performance, he doesn't look comfortable. i wouldn't say I'm horrified by it. I would say that, uh, skepticism is certainly warranted based on what we've seen of him playing, uh, playing up top so far. But I guess I, uh, more than some people think that there's an outcome where they figure it out a little more. There's, these are smart guys, you know, they're all, uh,
01:00:59
Speaker
They're all high IQ individuals. Like well i know it hasn't planned with Rusnak. It hasn't, uh, it hasn't worked yet, but that doesn't mean it never will like, uh, like the, the level that we've seen with the the type of setup this season is not like guaranteed to be the same level that we see going forward when they've theoretically had more time to, you know, drill it in training and, uh,
01:01:22
Speaker
They're going to have to run it for in games too. So i'm not i'm not predicting I'm not predicting that it's for sure going to be super awesome and get way better. I'm just saying that it could. We don't know. But it's week 10. That's early. Week 10 is early. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying.
01:01:38
Speaker
and And it's week 10 and hypothetically, like... Yes, you could give Jesus more run at the nine and you could like not have boost plays in many games and you're probably going to see him there anyway, regardless of it makes you upset or not. That's just, you know, there's no other backup plan than that.
01:01:55
Speaker
So he's going to get run there. But is that enough time for him to figure it out before you play at Portland and at LAFC two important rivalry games, which to me,
01:02:07
Speaker
That's very important. Those are two very important away games. get a point You got to get a point from those. You got to get a point from those. And like not only because we hate the Portland Timbers and we want to make happy foot, sadfoot sad foot, sad.
01:02:20
Speaker
it's that that is That is a tough two-game sequence where you need answers and you're going to have to score and you're going playing two top-tier Western Conference teams. I just don't think...
01:02:33
Speaker
Having your backup plan as, well, this guy, you know, he hasn't figured it out yet, but maybe he'll figure it out in the game where the stakes are the highest. That's not going to work. That's not fair. Well, you ride moose in those games.
01:02:46
Speaker
Sure, sure. But he like I'm saying, he can't play in back-to-back games. He can't play 90 in back-to-back games. Yeah, no, it's true. I mean, I think you ah you ride moose as much as you're able to. But like they got to figure out a backup plan. What do you think the backup plan would be?
01:03:01
Speaker
the The backup plan is literally false nine Ferreira. Like, uh, whatever you think of that plan. i don't really see another plan unless we're talking about day Rosario. I would be down for the Roth rock thing.
01:03:11
Speaker
yeah I just don't know if they'll do that. do you think they should have signed a u twenty two
01:03:16
Speaker
Uh, I still see why they didn't and think that it ultimately might prove prudent why, uh, why they didn't. The whole logic was that they wanted to see how the team played and what the need was before they assessed, uh, how to use that spot. And I think, uh, I think that actually turned out to be smart because now they, they have a better handle on that. But I meant in the last few weeks.
01:03:41
Speaker
Because the window just closed. They didn't even make an acquisition in general. Yeah, well, like, wading through this window. um I mean, that seems like ah you like you don't want to rush into things. We don't know the behind the scenes of it.
01:03:55
Speaker
But they've had this spot. If they had a, yeah, but if they had a super awesome target that they felt that they could, uh, go get and plug in and he could produce right away, then yeah, uh, they should go do that.
01:04:08
Speaker
But like, if you're just settling for a guy just to get a guy, because you feel like you, you need a guy like right now, that's not a smart way to do it. That's how you, uh, end up making a bad signing. So I would not want them to do that.
01:04:20
Speaker
Goddamn salary cap, Lee Agari. Yeah. I like the salary cap, man. makes you get a makes just being tactical with it. I'm being a pain in the ass. But, ah I mean, i think it's pretty clear what they have to do with this U22 spot now. Yeah, but it's like then it's also the same thing of like you sign you twenty two We know what that means.
01:04:40
Speaker
Unless you're Jovalich. You're not hitting immediately. There's a lot of ah pressure on that spot being used on a player who like it can't be like a Leo choose to even a Leo choose situation where he was he's hurt. Also i'm so Leo, chu please get better. He wasn't as much of a bust as everyone says, but he wasn't like a weekend week out carry the load contributor.
01:05:06
Speaker
um You don't need a U22 to come in and be the guy like week in, week out, carry the load guy every single game, game in and game out. But you do need you need it to be a guy that actually when you put him in the game, he scores goals sometimes as often as possible.
01:05:24
Speaker
Like it can't be. uh, like a super non-contributor for the first year that he's on the team for developmental, whatever. Like, and Craig wives has even said that he's like, but that's, that's what that position is good for. That's my problem. It's like, that is, that is how it should be utilized in a realistic sense. I understand that they're spending big and like all of this, and it's a way to get basically an extra DP on the cheap and, or, ah you know, kind of move things around.
01:05:53
Speaker
But, dude, like that you can't expect some random 22-under player who's going to come to MLS on a contract, on a salary, to just be that guy.
01:06:07
Speaker
I don't think you can. and And so it just it just concerns me. It just concerns me. The lack of striker depth concerns me. But you never know. No, it's I mean, it's definitely a ah it's definitely a concern yeah right now because, i mean, yeah, like the backup plan if Moose isn't on the field is not, ah they haven't how it look they haven't They haven't shown one where you saw it and you're like, all right, that's it. you know yeah i mean, I think they can figure it out, but they do have to actually go do that.
01:06:34
Speaker
De Rosario, you are a sounder. It might happen. all right, Noah, let's hit our agenda check. I'll lead off, and then ah you can hit yours. Does that work? Let's do it. No, I would love for you to start. Okay, this one's called the Ferreira's just been the assist guy all along agenda.
01:06:52
Speaker
That's a really long and catchy name, Ari. he he's just ah He's a dime disher. He's he's Steve Nash. If you crossed him with John Stockton, he's always been as such. ah He wasn't brought here to score the goals. He's just here to rack assists.
01:07:07
Speaker
He's the Chavi to Messi. Yeah. i always I knew it, and I said it the whole time. Yeah. No, I ah yeah. Wow. What a what a good um and totally predicted outcome. How about this?
01:07:19
Speaker
If it if it turns out that he's more of a facilitator than a goal scorer on this team, then that's not like a terrible outcome. No, here's here's my take on it. OK, and mine's a little bit like I'm going to do like a broader view of it.
01:07:35
Speaker
This now and the way that he's playing gives you so much more flexibility at the 10 position because it allows you to essentially, if Rusnak is starting to decline, if he doesn't play well this season, if he doesn't play up to what he was playing, you can ship him off, move him around, interleague trade, figure that out, right?
01:07:53
Speaker
While he still has value and you plug in Jesus Ferreira right there at the 10, okay? Yeah.
Player Role Flexibility and Team Dynamics
01:07:59
Speaker
I don't think that's a terrible option. Regardless, hes he's able to play at that 10 in a high level when Rusnak may not be able to provide that or you know whoever else might not be to provide that.
01:08:12
Speaker
We already have so much winger depth. Everyone on this team is a winger. I keep saying this. And you have a guy who is a dime disher to those wingers, understands how those wings play better than just about anyone because, you know, they were slapping him there in the beginning of preseason. And so he kind of learned that system.
01:08:32
Speaker
He can make those insane plays, especially with KKR and all of that. It gives you so much versatility. It's honestly almost better than just having him as like, I'm only a pure nine. Or I'm just a winger.
01:08:44
Speaker
it is a It is honestly, like in a in a sick way, the best case scenario if you make it work and you play to it. But I don't know if they're going to actually play to it.
01:08:55
Speaker
Because I think that i think that like you how do you actually balance that with Albert Rusnak? Albert Rusnak is too good of a player to just throw on the bench and do a Raul Re-Diaz.
01:09:07
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, and I don't i don't think they there's ah need to do that yet. No, no, no, no. I guess that's a good segue into the other agenda, which this is one that we've been talking about, but I figure we may as well give our updated thoughts on it, which is, I guess I'm calling this your agenda. Yeah, it is my agenda. This is the Ferreira and Rusnak shouldn't play together and that they should rotate and mix and match. Keep Ferreira and Rusnak separated on the playground agenda. No dual tens agenda.
01:09:38
Speaker
Lunch detention agenda. how are How are you feeling about this? I feel the same about it. They looked bad together in this game when they played together for the for the very few minutes that they did.
01:09:48
Speaker
They neuter each other. They do. And I just, i they are both incredible players. And sometimes when you have two brilliant soccer minds on the field at the same time, it doesn't work. And that's okay.
01:09:59
Speaker
That's all right. But you got to do right by both of the players, and you got to just put them in the best position as possible. And if that means Jesus Ferrer needs to sit on the bench, Jesus Ferrer needs to sit on the bench. And if that means Albert Rosnag needs to sit on the bench, that means Albert Rosnag needs to sit on the bench.
01:10:13
Speaker
But I just... There are too many better options. I would rather have Ryan Kent playing on the wing than Jesus Ferreira. I would rather have Paul Rothrock playing on the wing than Jesus Ferreira. I would rather have Pedro De La Vega playing on the wing than Jesus Ferreira.
01:10:26
Speaker
And I might even rather, i mean, i don't I don't know about this, but like KKR is getting up there, man. Ooh, now that's a good agenda. you didn't have that How did you not write that down? I did that's that's not like i'm not um i said I'm almost there. Yeah, no. honest I mean, honestly, the ah everything you're saying with that makes sense.
01:10:44
Speaker
I still think that it's... I guess I still think it's too early to make a definitive determination on it. I don't think you're wrong that what we've seen so far with like the dual 10s and just them playing together in general hasn't looked...
01:10:59
Speaker
Or him at the nine and, and, and, and that looks even worse. I mean, the dual tens can look serviceable in moments. Yeah. I mean, but like, ah would you grant that we're still at a point in the season where, uh, adaptation with new players is not necessarily complete yet?
01:11:21
Speaker
Yes, but I don't want to downgrade a player for the sake of integrating another player that you don't necessarily have to. You're trying to fit us like a square whatever into a round hole, like a square peg into a round hole.
01:11:38
Speaker
You don't need to play them at the same time to have a strong team in this lineup. You are playing both of them at the same time because you feel like you have to because they are two talented players. yeah And I don't think that that is good...
01:11:50
Speaker
tactics. I'm not a tactical guy, but I just, that doesn't make sense in my brain. What you're saying makes sense. It's just, uh, it's going to be interesting to see how they handle it because it's like, if you do rotate and mix and match them, like, you know, maybe, maybe it's like one good ones going 60 ones going 30 and like you base that on stuff like who you're playing or who's the most fit at the moment or whatever. But like, you know, what are the, what are the players going to think of that? Like, are you risking upsetting the dynamics and stuff? So it's, it's a tough one for the coaching staff. I will say it's one of those ones where like it makes, it makes me grateful that we,
01:12:34
Speaker
can have debates like this instead of the debates that some other fan bases are having like debating like who to play between Jesus Ferreira Albert Rusnak is ah champagne problem at the end of the day, even if they haven't looked good together so far.
01:12:47
Speaker
Well, and that's that's my point, is I think that if you have two players who are so talented and they just don't fit together and they both lower their level when they're on the field together, how is that doing right won by the player?
01:13:01
Speaker
But how is that going to make them happy? Both of those players want to win. You can see it in their eyes. They get so upset when it's like they're not playing well. Or they can tell you that they're not playing well. Albert doesn't show it, but you can tell.
01:13:14
Speaker
And... Regardless of who you're starting, i that like that's not my decision to make. That's not my decision to manage their abilities and their their emotions. But you've got to think at least that they would understand that, hey, listen, we're going to get you run.
01:13:29
Speaker
You've got to trust the process, though. You've got to trust that... like We are in a situation where we need to win as a team. You guys just, it's not working together and you're both downgrading your ability when you're playing together.
01:13:41
Speaker
We don't want to downgrade either of your abilities because you're two top tier MLS players. That's what I would say to them. I'd say, listen, this is not about, this is not about you're not good enough. It's about making sure that this team is so stacked. Yeah, exactly. And that's what frame it like that. and you're not You're too good. That's what Jesus Ferreira knew coming on this team. That is why he's not a DP on this team.
01:14:02
Speaker
And that is why he, he, he might not start. He's not a DP. I'm not, and like, he should be, absolutely. He's essentially a ah fake DP on the roster, but like, I don't, it's not that they shouldn't play together. It's that if you, I guess it is that they shouldn't play together. It's not that like they can't play together or that like it's impossible to get them to play together.
01:14:25
Speaker
It's that when you look at all the things that I've laid out, like I just feel like they shouldn't. It just feels like you're trying to force it. And why are you trying to force it? yeah The team's good enough without forcing it. Yeah.
01:14:35
Speaker
I mean, resource allocation, i think does factor into how you, how you think about it because in a salary cap league, uh, it's never necessarily ideal to have your high, some of your highest paid players in a super sub role.
01:14:52
Speaker
But like, I think there is, you know, credence to what you're talking about, about ah rotating it through a long season. And like, you don't necessarily have to do it. So like here's what I would ask you, right?
01:15:05
Speaker
Maybe you play them at the dual 10, but alternatively, Jesus Ferrer would be playing out on the wing. Right. Who are you taking out on the wing? Are you taking Ryan Kent are you taking Jesus Ferrer? Yeah.
01:15:17
Speaker
Well, Ryan Kent, I'm not like thinking of as a guaranteed first choice starter yet. He might get there, but we just don't. we That's still up in the air.
01:15:28
Speaker
Okay, Pedro de la Vega, Jesus Ferreira on the wing. Like deciding between the two of them?
01:15:37
Speaker
De la Vega. Yeah, okay. Paul Rothrock, Jesus Ferreira. See, that's where it gets that's where it gets interesting. No, that's what I'm saying. and What do you think? As it stands right now, I would say Rothrock, but I think that i think that ah if you if you do get Ferreira working there and it hits the upsides way higher. Yeah, but but it's not about what might happen. It's like what is happening.
01:16:01
Speaker
That's like the whole point. But what's happening right now isn't necessarily what's going happen in the future. I mean, you got to get cosmic with it We can bet. We can bet on everything and hope that it happens and it's not going to go to potentially happen. And here's where I think we diverge in our view of soccer is like, that's why I think XG is annoying to use as as as a thing because it's it's it's a maybe.
01:16:22
Speaker
It's a maybe. I'm looking at what's happening, you know? I mean, XG is partially what's happening. I'm not trying to. We're not going to. I'm just saying, like, I think it's it's cool that we can have this conversation ah from two, like, separate sides of of seeing the same situation. It's definitely, like, a good debate. It's a good debate. yeah Like, we we I was having it with Nico. Like, ah it's, a you know, fun to put our little coach hats on. like see I don't envy the coaching stuff ever. It's tough. ever um All right, next agenda.
01:16:50
Speaker
ah this This goal that Seattle scored this week with is a good opportunity for me to do my little secondary assist soapbox agenda. ah i've I've done this soapbox a few times before, but I never- You know you're at odds with all the Soundert Heart Boys.
01:17:06
Speaker
On the secondary assist agenda? Assist in general. They say assists aren't important and they're a terrible stat. i've never i I've never heard of that. it's a crazy take. I don't know about all that. um Or that they're not helpful. I'm sorry.
01:17:18
Speaker
ah Okay, well, my secondary assist agenda is... like So, you know, MLS takes a lot of heat for counting secondary assists. People say it's a Mickey Mouse way to like inflate player stats to make them look better than they actually sure are.
01:17:32
Speaker
ah My opinion on it has been and will always be that secondary assists are totally fine. The logic makes perfect sense. People saying that the logic is like this crazy thing that's totally out of nowhere.
01:17:45
Speaker
it's li it's the The logic could not... be any more sound. And I think this goal was a perfect example of Ferreira absolutely should get an assist created the entire play. The the primary assist doesn't happen without him setting it up.
01:18:00
Speaker
And it was a brilliant play, like the technical ability of it, the vision and everything. There's no reason that he shouldn't get on the, uh, on the stat sheet for that. so ah That secondary assist is a valid assist. All secondary assists are valid assist.
01:18:17
Speaker
and MLS is actually ahead. They are times for counting secondary assists. And it's actually your favorite league. That's Bush league for not counting him. Like yeah what, what is ah seriously, what is wrong with him getting an assist on that play?
01:18:31
Speaker
What is wrong with that? make Makes perfect sense. So I will never but pass up an opportunity for that soapbox. as ah As the anti-statistics guy on the podcast, I stand with you, Ari. stand with Are anti-goals and assists? like No, i so i'm very I'm very pro like numbers on the board, but I'm not like, oh, this means the world. You know, this means more than whatever. I'm just saying like as a guy who is heavily questioning of using statistics as a good measure to like dictate a lot in your argument.
01:19:05
Speaker
I mean, secondary assists are oftentimes more important or just as important as your so as your primary assist. Like, that Like you saying, that play doesn't that play doesn't materialize. that that That goal doesn't happen if Jesus Ferreira doesn't make a very difficult pass and a very clean and crisp and good and smart play to set the whole thing up.
01:19:28
Speaker
and then And then people always go, well, if you give the assist to the second guy, then don't you have to give it to the third or the fourth? And you know what i would say, Ari? You literally it's you give it to the second You know what i would say? That's it.
01:19:44
Speaker
Go for it. Everyone who touches the ball gets an assist. I'm with that. And if you touch it twice, you get a second assist. See, I just think that I just think that giving it to the second guy and like putting that as the delineation on who gets on the stat sheet or not.
01:19:59
Speaker
That's fine too. That like, there's nothing. It's not a dunk to be like, well then could you give it to the other? Like, no, just the second guy. What's wrong with that? All right. No, I'm with you. I stand with you, Ari.
01:20:11
Speaker
Thanks. All right. What agendas you got now? My agenda for today, I got two of them. My first one, I miss him, okay? I just, I miss him, Ari, and I have to talk about him because I miss him.
01:20:23
Speaker
He's the former Big Ten Defender of the Year. He's a legend. Up at Michigan, go blue. ah Jackson Reagan, okay? Here's my agenda. Jackson Reagan drives the defense agenda.
01:20:34
Speaker
This whole back line, the whole way that they play out of the back It cannot exist without Jackson Reagan in its current form. okay He is one of the best, if not the best, at distributing out of the back I have ever seen across MLS. This is why he was a Defender of the Year candidate.
01:20:52
Speaker
And this is why, well, he was robbed of Defender of the Year by a literal attacking player, so we don't have to talk about that, but... He powers this defense and we are missing him tremendously.
01:21:04
Speaker
And while we were both a little bit tough on him, I think seeing the like, you know, you know how it's like the saying is you don't know something until it's gone. Like don't know how much you have until it's gone. That is how I feel about Jackson Reagan. No, I mean, I think that's exactly that's exactly the feeling.
01:21:21
Speaker
Like, I don't think I fully realized or appreciated how big of an impact his long passing and his passing out of the back really makes.
01:21:32
Speaker
Uh, like you said, people, I think the fan base in general has been on him a little bit this year. Cause there's been some individual mistakes that have, uh, led to goals or chances or whatever. And that's, you know, that's fair. That's part of being a CB. if That stuff happens. People are going to say that stuff.
01:21:46
Speaker
Uh, but you can see how much they're missing without his, uh, his ability on the ball and his, his passing. It really like he is low key. One of the most important players in the attack season.
01:21:57
Speaker
Like, hands out yeah, like the way he can spring guys and just and always making the right pass and his the accuracy on his long balls is phenomenal.
01:22:09
Speaker
And it's it's a big part of this team and they are they are missing it right now. Yeah, it's he is such a talented player. The USMNT should be trying to get him at every camp, not just the the cupcake ones.
01:22:23
Speaker
And this is why we're Canada fans. Jackson Reagan one time switched to Canada. We need you go. That's a good agenda. Yeah, that's my dad's. Yeah, that one time switch to Canada agenda. Everyone, everyone should.
01:22:35
Speaker
ah Paul Rothrock one time. Is he eligible? I mean, he played at Toronto. I feel like he should be eligible. Anyway, um and then my second agenda was based on some online chatter that I heard from some pundits.
01:22:48
Speaker
I was sparring back and forth intellectually online about this. um And they they don't, they don't, they no one really takes me very seriously, which honestly, totally fair. can't believe that. yeah Like totally fair. That's shocking to hear.
01:23:03
Speaker
Like, yeah you know, I'm basically a caricature of like the guy who is yelling on the street with the like Jesus sign and the bullhorn. But it's just about soccer. Right. Like you're like that guy. That's a good way of putting it. That guy needs to just like stop talking and posting.
01:23:19
Speaker
But I was in their comments in their mentions because I was defending our glorious 39 year old king, Stefan Frye. My agenda is the and anti of this, but their agenda was, Stephen Fry has washed an immobile agenda.
01:23:37
Speaker
And I have to say, okay, I don't really understand why you would tweet that in the middle of a game, for one, because you know what's going to happen when you tweet that or post that, right?
01:23:48
Speaker
He's going to inevitably make a great save, save the game, whatever it may be, which is exactly what he did in this game. And it just has to be said that while absolutely he's getting older, he's getting less mobile, whatever that means, he is still the best number one option.
01:24:05
Speaker
I love Andrew Thomas. Andrew Thomas is incredible. He incredible. one of the most fun players I've ever watched in my entire life. He throws caution to the wind though. That's the reality.
01:24:16
Speaker
When we were at that open cup game, do do you remember that play where he like passed it to a defender or to an attacker ah and then just decided to full bull rush him and lay his full body out on the ground, ended up like diving on the ball, saving it because the attacker took too big of a touch.
01:24:34
Speaker
But that's the kind of thing, man. where I actually thought that game in particular, for the most part, he was able to ah temper. yeah But like you're right. yeah In general, he's a little more of a wild card in there. yeah that is yeah Well, and it's like, do I want him in the middle of this atrocious defensive game to settle everyone down? Or do I want Andrew Thomas to go crash out mode?
01:24:58
Speaker
I'm just like, I'm just not there yet with Andrew to andy T. I think he's incredible and I think he's going to be really great once he gets in that role. He's the clear successor. That's exciting. ah The Andy T era is going to be epic and we will be there and we will be riding.
01:25:12
Speaker
But man, what is up with this like anti-fry agenda? It's yeah so dumb. You're... you're you're I don't even know what people were talking about. that like I do not agree that he's immobile and that he's not serviceable and that we should be concerned.
01:25:27
Speaker
I think he has been playing great soccer. I thought he was the man. mean, we didn't even do a lot of games for just a man. Oh, yeah, we forgot. But I thought he he might have been the man of the match. Well, I mean, that last save he made yeah was it saved the result.
01:25:42
Speaker
I've seen the Fry's Wash stuff going around a little bit, even dating back to last year. it was being pervaded by the XG nerds. I don't feel personally. I don't. OK, so that's where you're.
01:25:53
Speaker
It's because. The reason you're that passionate on the soapbox is because they're pointing at stats that supposedly show that Fry has lost a step. I'm not advocating for those stats. I don't remember or know what they are. They weren't even advocating at the stats on what I saw, to be fair.
01:26:11
Speaker
For me, me personally, i haven't been that concerned with the goalkeeping this year. I feel like it's been pretty good. like, I, I feel like a lot of the goals that they've conceded were due to defensive errors more than poor goalkeeping.
01:26:27
Speaker
There might be a couple in there that you could say he like could have saved. But then there's also like the the one he made in Colorado, which was a huge save. He made a couple of huge saves in the Nashville game.
01:26:37
Speaker
I think in the last couple weeks, he's started to like make those those fry saves where you're like, this guy's goaded. ah So I don't know. We'll see if, ah if that becomes something that I'll be more concerned about going forward this season for now, like I still trust Fry over anyone for stuff like exactly like we saw in the, ah in the Colorado game. I like, I think ADT is an MLS number one and he's going to be a great successor.
01:27:04
Speaker
ah But there's a peace of mind that comes with Fry that I still feel if other people don't, they're entitled to that, but I'm not really, they're not I'm not concerned about the, ah the, the GK. Well, it's just don't come in my mentions saying he's been statistically the worst goalkeeper in the league by a huge margin.
01:27:21
Speaker
Bro, I'm sorry. What does it matter? he made He saved this game. I don't give a shit about your stupid stats, man. like you're you're so You guys are so... Watch soccer. Watch soccer.
01:27:32
Speaker
Watch soccer. get off Put down the phone. Pick up the glasses, Ari. I'm like one of those old people who are like... They always on the damn phone. These kids always on the damn phone.
01:27:43
Speaker
Put the foot mob down. The foot mob is poisoning our children, Ari. It's poisoning our children. The anti-stats soapboxes are your your most boomer take. It's fine. I agree. No, I am. i am It's funny because like Brian makes some of the same takes as me and I'm like, damn, maybe maybe I'm not into the modern game. Coaches like to be like ah coaches love love to be like, the only stat that matters is the scoreboard. Yeah, and I'm like the same. Yeah, like that's my bit, dude. Like, what? That's great. All right. We're going to take another ad break.
01:28:14
Speaker
ah Don't skip the ads. And we're going to be right back with our blazing hot coach press conference of the week. Really excited for this one. is going to be good. And
Fiery Coach Press Conferences
01:28:21
Speaker
around MLS.
01:28:28
Speaker
Welcome back to our podcast, which we record and do ah with support from our sponsors. So if you skipped our sponsors, just know you are personally victimizing both me and Ari and stabbing us in the back and the heart. So please go back, re-listen to those ads, maybe once, maybe twice, maybe three times, if you really love and care about the show. Ari, take it away. our sponsors. All right, let's get into this week's Blazing Hot Coach Press Conference of the Week, sponsored by Hacks and Ferments.
01:28:55
Speaker
support hacks and ferments great company great hot sauce love them um this week noah i think might have been our greatest week the blazing hot coach press conference ever ever ever uh i ended up having to feature three coaches oh my god you had uh how could we be so lucky greg berhalter Greg Vanny, both Greg's.
01:29:21
Speaker
Gregging it up. And Charlotte FC's Dean Smith. Who's basically a Greg. Like, he looks like a Greg. all yeah All three of them are featured this week. So what going to do is I'm going to lay down, like, the the circumstances that all three coaches were giving these press conferences under, because I think that's important for the context.
01:29:39
Speaker
And then ah we're going to play. I literally made a video it. we'rere proud I made a video compilation that that is like how good the press conference was where this week made a video compilation Noah hasn't seen it yet no so I'm gonna I'm gonna play it for Noah and we're gonna we're gonna show my video and we're gonna break down the pressers and which ones that we liked best which coach we thought was spitting the most fire up there You know, I think the first thing is apologizing. Apologizing to the fans that took the time out of their day to watch that game. Some of them perhaps travel to the game. Apology to the owner for for putting up a performance like this. You know, that doesn't represent who we are. And just kind of out of the blue is a penalty call that I don't, haven't seen it for sure in the the run of it live. I didn't see a penalty. At best, at best, it was fifty fifty and soft. and Don't call it. Nobody says anything ever. That's probably
01:30:31
Speaker
the most incompetent performance from the officials, in my opinion, that I've seen. And it was a very, very poor performance. and And we deserve to lose the way we did. There's no response.
01:30:43
Speaker
They're never wrong, so it doesn't yeah matter. How do you get better if you can never look in the mirror and say, you know what, maybe I need to get better today? and I asked the fourth official for rule. He didn't even know. So it's incompetence and I get a yellow card for telling them it's incompetence. Today was you know an absolute disaster and a very, very poor performance. We need to get better and I need to get better with the group and I can stand in front of you and tell it why can't they come in front of the media and say, you know what, we need to get better. That wasn't good enough because today it wasn't good enough.
01:31:13
Speaker
It's not good enough for this level. I can accept if your team's better than you or they scored a really good goal and you go, yeah, okay. That didn't happen today. My opinion it wasn't up to the game today that they knew officials. We're all responsible for this. I'm responsible for this. The coaching staff, you know, setting the guys up to succeed. We're gonna have to look at it.
01:31:31
Speaker
We have to process through it. And they need to accept it and own it and say it and then we'll all have more respect for the situation when they can also sit up in front of us like us and say we need to get better.
01:32:14
Speaker
Those were our blazing hot coach press conference of the week, ah sponsored by Hacks and Ferments. Wow. You might have made the greatest video of all time. I'm pretty proud of it.
01:32:26
Speaker
I am so proud of you. like as the As the new video editor. I've been learning my CapCut. Dude, you cooked. it's it's a I mean, they gave they made it, they walked that over the plate for us. That was pretty easy.
01:32:39
Speaker
ah But ah let's talk about these because I think there's a different ah there's different things dig into in terms of- I got to know what your favorite one was though, starting just as a baseline.
01:32:51
Speaker
it's tough, but, uh, my favorite one I think was, was Vanny. Yeah. Vanny was absolutely spitting. Uh, there, is there is a lot of facets to it. Uh, he was doing the whole, uh, the refs should have to talk to the media thing, which is a popular, uh, blazing hot coach press conference thing.
01:33:08
Speaker
And, uh, really just like everything about the Vanny I thought was a, was top class in terms of blazing hot coach press conference. ah But let's talk about the Burr halter one. yeah I was going to say that one was my favorite. I thought, so I thought this was kind of an interesting one. It it wasn't like that blazing hot, but it's more, i included it more just because it's like the novelty of a coach having to do a presser after a seven to two yeah chicago fire lost this game seven to two.
01:33:34
Speaker
So he ah had to go face the music after that. And ah so like before I watched it, I was like, all right, let's what's Greg going to do here? Like squad just gave up seven goals.
01:33:47
Speaker
ah They hadn't been playing well the last couple of weeks, even before that. ah Now they gave up a seven spot. He's going to be under fire for, under Chicago fire ah from the fan base and probably ah ownership.
01:33:59
Speaker
And so what's he going to do? What's he going to do? First thing he does apologizes. He says, I'm going apologize to the fan base, ah apologize to the, to the owner for the product that we put out.
01:34:11
Speaker
That's just when you have to do that as a coach at the presser, that's tough. Yeah, he he walked up to that podium like he had just killed a dog. Like he had just run a dog over with his car or like or like it kind of reminded me. I don't know if Portland ever did a presser after both their players got those DUIs. Do you remember that?
01:34:30
Speaker
It felt like that had just happened and he had to come out and like speak on that. Like it felt like a tragic event had happened, there which I guess it kind of did. There's so there's not much you can say after a seven to.
01:34:43
Speaker
ah So I think honestly, all things considered, Berhalter handled that ah as well as you could, ah given the circumstances. And, you know, he gave the whole, like, I'm responsible for this. Everyone's responsible for for this. It's a collective. It's not about, he at one point he was like, it's not about singling people out. So,
01:35:00
Speaker
Well, greg Greg is not new to getting his ass beat. So he, ah you know, I think he probably was questioning all the decisions that he made leading up to this moment of ended up coaching the Chicago fire.
01:35:13
Speaker
You know, it's probably, you know, he's had a lot of success in MLS. He probably thought he could ah get that. It's the Chicago fire. Dude. Yeah. We know you're you're going you're coming into this from a deep hole. ah Not even there is not enough sage in the world to fix that club.
01:35:28
Speaker
Apparently not, man. Because remember the start of the season, the pundits were like, hey, look at the Burrhalter. Hugo Kuypers might win the Golden Boots 7-2. Sure, buddy. So that was... a Get run on by Sam Sturridge. That was four four goals to so but Sam Sturridge. Oh, my goodness.
01:35:46
Speaker
ah So anyway, I thought Burrhalter, you know, given the circumstances, he did all he did all he could. But postgame... Is he going to get sacked? Uh, no, no MLS is a lot more forgiving most leagues. And also man, like he's in his first year trying to rebuild a club that is like deep in the gutter. But even with that, like a seven, two is hard to rationalize. It was almost seven. Like, remember when Seattle lost to San Diego 3-0? Yeah, that felt like the world was ending. And we were like, this is the most disgusting thing. 3-0 is like nothing compared to a seventh spot. Like, Jesus Christ. Which, funny enough, somehow that match, they still didn't play as bad as Atlanta played this weekend, which I'm sure we'll get into when winners and losers. I really like Dean Smith's too, though. Dean Smith? Was he standing?
01:36:35
Speaker
No, no, it was just like he's like no, he's vertical. He's sitting and like the ah footage from their YouTube, it's the sound isn't very good. and nice yeah But I thought that added did the no it does there's like lofi added to the character of it. But ah Dean Smith was fired.
01:36:51
Speaker
yeah He was calling the officials incompetent. My favorite part of the Dean Smith one was when he was like, And then they gave me a yellow card for saying that they're incompetent. Yeah, Dean, what did you do? I honestly don't even know what he's mad about. Like, no I didn't even look into, didn he wait but his, uh, no, they lost now they lost one zero. So the reason like that, all three of these coaches have different motivations. Yeah. Greg Berhalter is trying to damage control after a five gold feet where he, uh, his team conceded yeah seven.
01:37:22
Speaker
Greg Van I don't even think they can legally re air that match like that is like a crime it's like that bad Greg Van he his team is off to one of the the the worst start in the league tied with CF Montreal which you cannot be tied with CF Montreal a season after winning MLS Cup they're off to the worst title defense in the history of the league Uh, so like the Vanny one is a classic situation where the team is performing so, so poorly that the, if the coach, if they kind of look, look over here, look at the refs, yeah look how badly the, and that I only take it so seriously when a club is,
01:38:00
Speaker
as down bad as the Galaxy and then the coach starts talking about the refs. the yeah ah The penalty call that Portland got might have been a bad call. That's not the root of what ails the l LA Galaxy.
01:38:11
Speaker
So it's also lost two to four. So I don't really gave up three goals outside of the Well, what he was saying, so they were down three zero They cut it back to three two and then it was a soft PK call to make it 4-2, and he was saying that kind of the refs kind of took the momentum away from us type stuff. Sure, sure, bud. even if he's right, even if you grant that he's right, that is not, like, the reason that the LA Galaxy are last place in the West right now. Like, they got...
01:38:35
Speaker
issues beyond one, like a soft PK call. He was saying, you know, the reffing wasn't up to the level of, uh, of a top flight league or whatever, but it's a, that's a, well you're coaching classic that's a classic diversionary, uh, coach presser.
01:38:51
Speaker
And, uh, and then you look at Dean Smith, Charlotte is off to a really good start this year. Uh, going to win MVP. He looks like one the best players in the league and all that. But charlotte they're actually have you been paying attention to the zaha stuff yeah dude so i sent you that uh post oh okay you see you're the one yeah yeah so they're dealing with their star player uh big biggest acquisition being disgruntled right now so that's posting on snapchat yeah it's 2025 you are in you are a you are an old man get off snapchat stop posting on your snapchat story what are we doing zaha He's my age, okay? He's an old man. Yeah, so Dean Smith- If I'm posting that on my- If I had a Snapchat and I was posting on my Snapchat story, like, bruv, I just can't- I just can't handle the pressure, bruv.
01:39:38
Speaker
This just- You just don't understand, bruv. It's like, I do well, bruv. And like- and like and ah And then like, they hate me. And like, I do poorly and they hate me. It's like, bruv, like, get off my dick, mate.
01:39:49
Speaker
Get off my dick, mate. It's like- do i hear zaha That was my soul I don't actually know what he sounds like. He, uh, he, he, he was, uh, he crashed out online. yeah Dean Smith is trying to deal with that.
01:40:01
Speaker
And then they had been undefeated at home. They had some crazy unbeaten streak at home, like dating back to last year. was, they were looking, it was looking like one of the biggest fortresses in the league. yeah And then they lost one zero to the revs at home. yeah So Dean Smith is trying to kind of divert away from that. They just took a really bad result at home yeah and that their star player is crashing out online.
01:40:22
Speaker
So again, like differing motivations from all three of them, ah but comedically, And for us, yeah it worked out it was a beautiful song of symphony. Like they're all just chirping about the same, same shit instead of taking, well, Berhalter, Dean Smith and um Vanny were crashing out about the regs and then Berhalter was just trying to find meaning in life again. Yeah, dude, I feel you like you, you can, you can tell that he's lost it. He's lost the love.
01:40:52
Speaker
It's gone from his eyes. It looked like in that press. Yeah. Like yeah he looks like he never wants to see a soccer ball ever again, which I don't really blame him. Like to be, to be constantly told that you are a joke, not a coach, basically just like a sock in the wind, plastic bag. What is that? Plastic bag drifting through the wind wanting to start again. He wanted to start again. And you know what he did? He started again at the Chicago fire, a club that literally is cursed by like,
01:41:23
Speaker
every God that exists, they are doomed. And he's, he is, and they god it seemed like they started off like, okay, paul had they had a Bamba seemed like a really good signing and was looking pretty good. Hugo Kuypers is a really good number nine. Honestly, seven guy yeah he's a guy who he'll be up with the golden boot leaders all season. I'm pretty sure.
01:41:47
Speaker
Uh, so you think that like maybe they're, uh, they're turning it around and then seven to two. That's just tough. Um, and they have that dude named like pumper nickel or whatever the winger.
01:41:58
Speaker
I don't know. Oh yeah. He had a, he had a really sick goal for one of their goals. So yeah there's that. Um, all right. That was our blazing hot coach press conferences, plural of the week sponsored by hacks and ferments.
01:42:09
Speaker
That was a great
Vancouver Whitecaps vs Inter-Miami Performance Comparison
01:42:10
Speaker
one. wow loved, uh, watching all three of those and making that video. That was a good time. i don't I don't know if I could pick a favorite. Honestly, i really don't. You i know gotta to pick one. you guys i know why you put all three of them. I don't know. the
01:42:26
Speaker
but Maybe the Greg one just because like seeing the life drain from his eyes. like They just shouldn't have had a presser. I apologize to the fan base. I apologize to the owner. yeah like That's crazy. You gotta to get on your hands and knees After a result like that, like, what do you even say?
01:42:43
Speaker
What do you even say in the locker? I'm just like, I'm just like going home. I was like, okay. So I was thinking about that. Like, what do you say in the, in the locker room? Yeah. What I would say is like, guys, like it's one thing to lose a game.
01:42:55
Speaker
It's one thing to lose a game badly. But like, if we're going out and giving up seven goals, I'm not going to work here. Most of you aren't going to work here. Like that's the type of stuff that like,
01:43:07
Speaker
yeah They gave up that gets, that gets players cut that gets coaches fired. So like, if you want to keep playing here, like figure out how to make that not happen.
01:43:19
Speaker
ah and I honestly don't even know, like if I can, like that has to be internal, you know, yeah like you guys have to decide to get out of that because if we're giving up seven goals, like, you All of our jobs are on the line and that's just the reality. It was almost that's what i less what i would tell it was almost the most goals ever scored an MLS match.
01:43:38
Speaker
right Yeah, Seattle scored seven in a couple, or even 2020. that That doesn't count. Yeah, I guess it doesn't count. I mean, I know that we were always like, oh, every goal counts, but the let's, come on.
01:43:48
Speaker
Anything, anything. 2020 season does not count. um All right, let's hit our winners and losers from match day 10 in MLS and then get out of here. Yeah, get out of here into the bonus episode because you're going become a YouTube member. Exactly. Good plug.
01:44:04
Speaker
ah Vancouver Whitecaps, God damn. They're the greatest team to ever exist. Ari, I have been so excited to talk about them this week. You, you lay down the match, but I'm just going to be sitting here rubbing my hands together. I mean, night and just more, uh, more impressive stuff. They, uh, are up to zero on inter Miami in the CCC semis or, uh, yeah, in the yeah CCC semis right now.
01:44:28
Speaker
And they went to Minnesota coming off that game on the road with a rotated ass lineup. yeah Not like not their first choice 11 at all because of CCC at Allianz Fields, which is one of the most difficult ah places in the league to play against a Minnesota team that's been pretty good this year. They have not been bad at all. They're pretty they're pretty solid side.
01:44:50
Speaker
And they and that this is the type of game where if Seattle was was in the situation, i would be like, dude, A draw, any type of draw is fine. and Lose the game. And if you lose, whatever, because you got CCC, I don't care about this at all.
01:45:07
Speaker
And I think that's how most and MLS ah ah fans would feel in that situation. Yeah. The Whitecaps beat the brakes off him, man. Three to one. Wasn't even close. ah They didn't even look like they broke a sweat. no Sebastian Berhalter scored an incredible goal. Pedro Vitae.
01:45:23
Speaker
has turned into the greatest player to ever play soccer. He is a top five to 10 player in the league right now. because he's not been good. with ah he He's grown into it it. He's grown into it. He's been good before this, but he's not been elite like this. He is elite right now. Yeah.
01:45:41
Speaker
Burr Halter is elite right now. Like that is, yeah that is better than his father. a Better time in this game than Greg Head, coach of the Chicago Fire, which, you know, that's a low bar. But in all seriousness, like he is, ah he's become a star for them. Scottish Messi. Literally their game in Mexico in like the death.
01:46:00
Speaker
That was Tristan Blackman. Oh, it was? but he not I thought he... No, he scored. Oh, no, he tied it. Yeah, he tied it. yeah But outside of the goals he's been scoring, he is one of the best number eights in the league right now. He's to watch. He's fun to watch. He's scoring bangers. Yeah. And Scottish Messi literally hasn't even been playing.
01:46:19
Speaker
so like They might be better without him, which is crazy. Yeah, I mean, I think we're at the point where it's not even like a... ah There's no question of of, is this just a hot start? Are they actually this good? Like, no, this is the best team in the league right now. Easily. like Way better than Inter-Miami.
01:46:36
Speaker
We'll see if they can close out Inter-Miami. I still think that they are a better team than Inter-Miami. As a unit. Yeah, they are. Like, Jasper Sorensen, however he's Danish or whatever, don't know how to pronounce his name. He must be the guru, man. He's better than Wilfred Nancey.
01:46:51
Speaker
He's better than Wilfred Nancey. That's a good idea. We should have that an agenda. Yeah. Because when have you ever seen a Wilford Nazi coach team play like this with the pieces that they have?
01:47:02
Speaker
Wilford Nazi has always had way more talent than this. I'm sorry. Well, with the crew, the thing is, when he was with Montreal, he did it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's fair. But his Montreal teams were not as good as this Whitecaps team. Fair. But they also weren't in this position.
01:47:19
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, and like Sorensen must be the guru because they didn't make many moves this off season. Their most ah notable move was Stuart Armstrong leaving.
01:47:30
Speaker
Yeah. That was their most out going. And Jasper Sorensen has them playing like the clear best team in the league, like not even debatable. Yeah. like and like they got they got I think what you said is actually right. Like even if Inter-Miami comes back and beats them, that will be on like star power.
01:47:46
Speaker
This Whitecaps squad is like a real, real team. They're team. yeah And I wrote about this for Sounder at Heart this week, actually, like, lessons that we can take from ah Vancouver and Philly, because I think Philly's interesting to look at this year because they're bouncing back under Bradley Carnell, and it's like, oh, man, they just moved on from their coach that had a down year this year. Like, how are they this good again? It's because these...
01:48:12
Speaker
Clubs like this, that like that know what they're doing. It's that simple. They're they're well run. They know what they're looking for. They have identities. The Philly Union have become elite at youth development. The Whitecaps, not as much, but have had a lot of success in that area as well with when you think about like Alphonso Davies and stuff.
01:48:31
Speaker
So it's like infrastructure and culture, all that stuff affects winning more than we talk about. And ah you can look at the flip side of it, too, of ah Atlanta United, who we're going to talk about in Toronto FC, who spend way more than Philly and Vancouver, but they're not real teams. Yeah, they're not real teams. The Whitecaps are a real team.
01:48:52
Speaker
i I'm officially ready to make my this is a X podcast pick for the 2025 season. All right. And this one will be even more controversial than the LA Galaxy one because the LA Galaxy are also technically sounders. so This is a Vancouver Whitecaps podcast. Because I'm sorry, this is giving me 2024 LA Galaxy vibes, right? They had specific needs and they addressed them, okay? They they signed very few people, but they've been effective with those signings.
01:49:23
Speaker
They look unstoppable. They're playing well through MLS play. They're playing well in Champions Cup. And I'm going to even say it. I hope they win Champions Cup. I hope they beat the brakes off of Inter-Miami. I hope they go on to win the whole thing.
01:49:36
Speaker
I don't even care. ah don't even care. That would be amazing. And put them in club, club world cup instead of l a FC or club America.
01:49:47
Speaker
That's my take. Yeah. It's wild, man. It's wild to watch. Um, FC Dallas beat Inter-Miami 4-3. That was a crazy game. Inter-Miami was up 3-1.
01:49:58
Speaker
They're rotating for Champions Cup as well. Cowards. And they were up 3-1 and ah allowed FC Dallas to come back. Pedrinho's goal was nice.
01:50:11
Speaker
There's an interesting point that you hit on, which is you know, how well Vancouver are performing in both competition, in both league play and CCC and how inter Miami i managed to do that as well. Inter Miami, I still put in like a cheating category, you know, it's, ah it's just not something that a normal MLS team can look at and emulate or s sign messy. Isn't like a strategy yeah that you can look at and co-opt for yourself. and get every single Argentinian young player but ah for free. But what Vancouver are doing ah are they're kind of showing that the whole CCC has to tank you in the league thing.
01:50:51
Speaker
Maybe
Nashville SC's Impressive Victory
01:50:52
Speaker
that's not the case as much as it used to be yeah because they're they're crushing it in both. And Inter-Miami had been before they lost to Vancouver in the first leg.
01:51:04
Speaker
But I think that's interesting. And also just, you know, this means nothing for inter Miami really, because it wasn't like it was messy in the Barca boys out there for this game. And honestly, it's kind of encouraging for inter Miami that they played their depth lineup and they still bam three goals.
01:51:19
Speaker
This freaking 18 year old kid from Ecuador that they signed, who's like the most highly rated Ecuadorian in the world or whatever. course he, like this, this is like second MLS game and he scored.
01:51:31
Speaker
So yeah that's like a good sign for them, even though their defense ended up cratering and they lost the game. ah But it has been ah interesting to look at like how they've performed. Both of those clubs have performed in league play with CCC going compared to how and MLS teams usually fare in that situation. Like maybe that's a thing, not ah less of a thing now.
01:51:52
Speaker
Caps are on 2.3 points per game. Yeah. That's crazy. And it's not playing in, in still in champions cup. And it's not like, uh, like fluky or unsustainable. No, they are like that.
01:52:06
Speaker
They've played there like that. Inner my, you know, they pull, they're playing inner Miami. They're playing, they bammed on Austin. Who's looked good. I, we don't need to get into it. This is a Vancouver white caps podcast. And then my last winner, we already talked about it, but Nashville SC, I think anytime you drop a seven spot, you gotta be in the winter spot. You gotta be in like Seattle slammed that team and people were doing the, doesn't count stuff. yeah And ah they look pretty good. I don't like, I don't care that it was the Chicago fire.
01:52:36
Speaker
Anytime you score seven goals like that, that's not easy to do against even the worst of MLS. Usually
Atlanta United's Leadership Critique
01:52:42
Speaker
teams don't just give up. Like, you know what i mean? People have a little bit of, well, morals.
01:52:48
Speaker
Speaking of that, uh, let's talk about Atlanta United because they're my first pick for the losers segment. Uh, I was talking to Nico about this, uh, uh, on Monday as well, but, uh, it is like such a ah It's a storyline that I'm paying a lot of attention to yeah right now, because outside of the fact that I made my pick, I picked them as like my favorite offseason and that take isn't looking good, which I'm perfectly fine to take that out because yeah I love Atlanta United schadenfreude. Yeah, it's great. It's great. Like when they're, when they're this bad and when they're upset at us, even better, it's funny for me, but I, every year I expect them this is going to be the year where another year removed or more time removed from the Boca era.
01:53:37
Speaker
This is Garth and Chris Henderson's team. Now they have such a track record of success. I have no doubt in my mind that that track record and their soccer minds combined with Atlanta United's resources and infrastructure.
01:53:48
Speaker
How could it go wrong? How, how could it go wrong? No, I can't figure this out. Like how it's like, do you even realize how bad it is? I do realize how bad it is so bad. Like they lost the, so not only have they lost their last two games, both three to zero, there were reports, uh, that they're two of their starting midfielders, uh, got in like a physical altercation at practice.
01:54:14
Speaker
So there's like discord in the locker room. seemingly, uh, Ronnie Dyla is like snapping at reporters and really by the day looking like a more and more questionable hire. yep He got hired purely basically based on, ah him. He had some success at his previous stops, but he won an MLS cup with NYCFC where I was like, okay, at the time they hired him, i was like, all right, MLS cup winning coach proven winner. um But looking back on it now, I'm like, all right, that NYCFC team was solid, but not that good. They just got blazing hot at the end of the season and in the playoffs.
01:54:50
Speaker
Was Ronnie Dyla really cooking that hard? Because right so far, like, Like whatever he's trying is not only not working, it's like actively backfiring. It's bad. like ah there's question, their fan bases are questioning the effort of the players, how much they care about playing for the team.
01:55:08
Speaker
The culture of the whole organization is getting called into question. ah daa It is not too early to say like he's literally already on the hot seat. Yeah.
01:55:19
Speaker
Garth Loggerway fired Gonzo Pineda because the ah the pace that they needed to keep to reach their goals became, like, impossible.
01:55:29
Speaker
They would have average, like, 2.8 points per game to get a home playoff spot, which was the benchmark they set out. And so he used that as the rationale to, like... fire Gonzo. they We're 10 games into the season and dial is already mathematically approaching the same situation.
01:55:45
Speaker
Yeah. They would need to average over two points per game at this point to get to what Garth, uh, set as their goal before the season, which is the same rationale used for firing Gonzo.
01:55:56
Speaker
So like, have we seen anything to suggest that they're going to suddenly become a 2.3 points per game team? Like the freaking whitecaps. Let's not, let's not, no. And let's not, he's on the hot seat. Yeah. And let's not forget Gonzo had less of a ah hand to play.
01:56:12
Speaker
They invested ah shitload of money in this roster after he left $30 million dollars this off season between Emmanuel Latte Loth who broke the MLS transfer record and Miguel Almiron, who I called the best move any teammate all off season. Uh, and that, that, that one in particular, like Latte Loth is at least.
01:56:32
Speaker
We both liked the idea of bringing him back though. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Like, it seemed like it made perfect sense. Latte Loth is at least scoring goals. Almirone, he looks frustrated. His body language is super bad. He's not producing.
01:56:45
Speaker
The homecoming is, like, totally soured. That has not worked at all. Yeah. So, like, where do you what do you where do you start? Who do you blame? Well, and also, like, I'm sorry, but when I'm pretty... Latte Loth has five goals.
01:57:00
Speaker
Yeah. You know who else has five goals?
01:57:04
Speaker
Pretty sure. Does Jordan Morris have five? No. No, yes three he has three. has three. Moose has... ah Moose has three. Four all-comps. Four all-comps. When you are one all-comp from Daniel Musavsky and you are signed for 30 milli...
01:57:18
Speaker
Listen, money doesn't always bring you happiness, And you're not even digging Moose with that. like it's Pure numbers game. Pure numbers game. Well, so like production, but ah like salary.
01:57:29
Speaker
That's what I'm saying. Pure numbers game. What is Moose making? Like four hundred k if you If that. They paid million. dollars for the worst club starting, we're starting club history, uh, 30 million. When you add the Almy Roan tag, if you, this really is the perfect example of in major league soccer money doesn't buy happiness. What I wrote about. Yeah. Yeah. Money doesn't always buy happiness. Sometimes it's about figuring it out and something we're going to talk about in the post show is Garth a fraud.
01:58:02
Speaker
I like that topic. So we'll talk about that in the post show. Uh, I put Chicago fire for the exact inverse reason. So they're in there. And then, uh, San Diego FC, uh, I'm not, they're like close to fraud watch lost to three, lost three, one real salt Lake at home. What does that make us though?
01:58:21
Speaker
Well, I mean, at the time that the Seattle game happened, they were on absolute fire. well Atlanta is on fraud watch. Atlanta is fraud. they're no They're not even on watch, man. They've been they're fraud. They've done been frauds. yeah But ah San Diego FC, they had that phenomenal start. You can't take that away from them. and They looked really good.
01:58:40
Speaker
They've come back down to earth a little bit. 3-1 to RSL at home. Diego Luna ah scored a really sick goal on them. But just in general, these last few weeks, they have not looked like the high-flying San Diego that we saw at the start of the season.
01:58:54
Speaker
And they get the last selection for the loser section of the And I'm pro Diego Luna, so that's a... This is a pro Diego Luna podcast. He worked at a coffee shop, folks.
01:59:05
Speaker
How can you be yeah howgg can you be mad at the guy? That's good point. We're going to call it right there for this episode. We went along on this one, but there was a lot of good stuff, and we had to get in the the triple coach presser, so... Listen, it's not our fault we want to give you content, you know?
01:59:20
Speaker
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01:59:52
Speaker
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02:00:03
Speaker
Alright. We'll catch you next time. Until then, we out. Peace.