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Lobbing Scorchers: Same Old Seattle Sounders
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The injury-ravaged Seattle Sounders couldn’t quite get on track in Matchday 5 as they played a snoozer in Saturday’s scoreless draw vs. Nico Lodeiro and the Houston Dynamo. Was this a case of falling back into the cycle of early-season 2024? We discuss that in our game review, then hit our Agenda Check, which included some less than positive coverage of the US men’s national Fraud Squad.
Later on, we discuss the reports linking the Sounders to English winger Ryan Kent (not of Ted Lasso fame) and hit winners and losers from around MLS
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Lobbing Scorchers is a production of Just Once Media.
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
Introduction and Episode Setup
00:00:00
Speaker
Well, sure, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be a real scorcher today. Quite the scorcher today. Well, it's gonna be a scorcher.
00:00:22
Speaker
What's going on, everybody? Welcome to episode 89 of Lobbing Scorchers. This is Ari and Noah. We got a big show this morning, or we're recording this early Tuesday morning. How are you feeling?
00:00:36
Speaker
I'm loving it, man. We're in warren my own home today. We swapped out from the Lobbing Scorchers mansion, and we came to Noah's apartment. And I'm ready for a draw pod. I don't really want to talk about this. I keep saying this. Sorry. I don't want to talk about this game, but we don't shy away from from bad results. We got it. We got a draw pod, but we've got a lot of other topics to hit yeah today that some of which are very
Seattle Sounders vs. Houston Dynamo Match Analysis
00:01:00
Speaker
interesting. So looking forward to getting into it.
00:01:02
Speaker
As you mentioned, the Seattle Sounders played the Houston Dynamo in match day five with a chance to salvage the vibes, which I think it's fair to say have taken a decided downturn in recent weeks. ah This was a chance, I think, to get a galvanizing result in front of 31,000 people with Nico Ladero back in the building, get the season back on track. Instead, they took a 0-0 draw at Lumen Field. We're going to talk about that, unfortunately, in our game review.
00:01:28
Speaker
ah But we do have a red hot Seattle Sounders transfer rumor courtesy of Nico Moreno. seems like the Seattle Sounders are on track to get a new player. So that's pretty exciting. We're going to talk about that.
00:01:40
Speaker
We're going to hit our agenda check and then we're going to dive into some reaction on the other results from around MLS. So it's going to be a good episode 89. But before we get into all that, I do have to let you all know that Lobbing Scorchers is a part of the Sounder at Heart podcast network.
00:01:55
Speaker
If you want to get the best independent Seattle soccer coverage, consider supporting us by going to sounderathart.com slash LS. Noah, what's that link? Sounderathart.com slash LS.
00:02:05
Speaker
ah scroll down to subscribe and support to get 30 days completely free every sign up through our link helps support and grow this show the road to 100 sounder heart subs is on track now more than ever it's great time to become a member with the season in full swing subscribers also now get access to the audio only versions of our live shows right to your podcast feed big perk the live shows have been a lot of fun we even broke news on our live show yeah yesterday morning so uh We're going to get to that.
00:02:32
Speaker
yeah But if you're if you're not tuning in to Lobbing Scorch, just kick off every Monday at 8 a.m. under the lights every Thursday at 7.30 p.m. Stop on by. It's a lot of fun. you get to ah interact with me live and ask questions and talk to other fans. It's a great time. So definitely stop by those.
00:02:50
Speaker
ah And shout out to our sponsors, Hacks and Ferments, Podium Menswear, and Full Pull Wines. Please patronize all of our sponsors. That really helps them and us out. And if you use our code LS ah to order for your order on Hacks and Ferments, you get a free bottle of hot sauce with your order. And it's genuinely a very good product. Correct. No, is there any new subs? There is one new sub. Yes.
00:03:13
Speaker
Thank you to Devin Hanson for becoming our 82nd sub. 82. We take that. we We're getting there. The road is steep. Let's goal before episode 90. Let's get to 83. yeah. If we can get to 83 subs, we will that.
00:03:28
Speaker
let's get to eighty three oh yeah we can get to eighty three subs we will take that um Anything else to show there, Noah, or should we just get into
Interview with Corey Hintthorn and Sounders Lineup Issues
00:03:38
Speaker
this? No, um I wanted to say that we did an interview with the GM of the West Seattle Junction. USL League 2.
00:03:47
Speaker
Yep. So this is their second season rival to Ballard. And we had a lot of fun with him. It was like, he's genuinely like one of the coolest guys. He's pretty he's cool. he's He's got a ah good thing going with West Seattle Junction FC.
00:04:02
Speaker
It's the Ballard FC rival for anyone who might not know. And ah they're on the up. Like we had a good talk with Corey Hintthorn is his name. And he gave us the whole lowdown on what they're doing in USL League Two. And yeah, support local soccer. It's a really good scene. And, ah you know, I didn't know the soccer scene in West Seattle was as abundant as it appears to be. But it is.
00:04:24
Speaker
And I got to say for, for anyone who's interested in like a guy who really loves West Seattle, loves where he's from. He said he was third generation from there. um He literally has the team slogan tattooed on his arm. Like he is,
00:04:39
Speaker
He loves this. Like we talked even like an hour and a half after ah we recorded the podcast, just me and him. And he's a guy who loves what he does. And I'm really excited to go and see them play this season and ah for you guys to see this interview. So that'll be out in the next few weeks.
00:04:55
Speaker
It'll be standalone exclusive interview. we got into some drama. We got into promotion and relegation. We we talked it all. So Look forward to that. um And I'm just really excited to put that out. So that's all my promo shilling over.
00:05:12
Speaker
All right. Noah, let's jump into our game review. Seattle Sounders zero Houston Dynamo zero brain cells. Zero. It was a riveting contest at Lumen field, just back and forth, high octane attacking end to end action.
00:05:29
Speaker
ah But unfortunately neither team found the score sheet. Uh, let's hit our lineup reaction to start it off because, ah you know, there was a lot going on with this lineup, obviously. ah no new who in this game, no Obed in this game, both on international duty.
00:05:43
Speaker
ah you had Jesus Ferreira with another run at the nine with Jordan Morris still out. You had right mid rolled on in this game. It's all He's always it's funny inevitable. Yeah, it's inevitable. Every year we're we're like, all right, Christian's got a set position. This is going to be his role. He's doing really well with it. And every year he either ends up playing right mid or right back by the fifth game of the season. That's just.
00:06:07
Speaker
how like I think whether if Christian is playing right mid, that's like symbolic of the state of things, injury-wise and absence-wise. And so this, I think, was a good example of that. This was ah this was a motley crew out there for this game. You had a J-Bell start.
00:06:23
Speaker
You had the JP Danny Leyva double pivot. And no new who, no Obed. So, um, I mean, i think the, what the lineup looks like, I informs my expectations. Sometimes if I see a, uh, kind of, like I said, a motley crew like this, my expectations generally become more, just get, uh, just get a win by any means necessary. I don't really care that much how it looks, but I will say in this uh,
00:06:52
Speaker
ah you're playing it You're playing at home against the Houston Dynamo team that's also depleted and not very Even more depleted. Even more depleted, but also not very good, even if they're definitely not not depleted.
00:07:02
Speaker
and A team you should be able to beat depleted well when they're full strength. You should be able to score one goal against them. With the lineup they had out there, You should be able to score one goal. do They had depleted. Did Jimmy Maurer. Do you know about the law of him? Jimmy Maurer didn't even he't even finish the game.
00:07:20
Speaker
Yeah, he didn't even finish the game. They brought like a 22-year-old goalkeeper on his debut out there. so But I'm saying Jimmy Maurer, FC Dallas super sub string legend. Like...
00:07:33
Speaker
i don't i've I didn't even know he was playing in MLS anymore. like he was on FC Dallas until like last year, maybe. yeah i don't I think he he's just always going to be in MLS. Shout out Jimmy Mauer.
00:07:45
Speaker
Share this pod with Mauer. Anyway, there's not that many ah key moments to go over in this game, frankly.
00:07:55
Speaker
i thought i thought Seattle's chance generation was... like sufficient to get a goal in theory, but they, they didn't. Right. But it's not like there was zero chances. JP had the one just over the bar. I thought that was ah pretty good look.
00:08:12
Speaker
You had ah Christian and Paul Rothrock forcing the goalkeeper into some really nice saves. I feel like there was a couple of other solid looks, I guess. yeah but ah But they they couldn't score. And I guess that leads me to just sort of how I see this game in general, which is, you know, like I said, it was a chance for a ah galvanizing results, chance to get a win that was badly needed and get things back on track.
00:08:42
Speaker
And it was a missed opportunity. But more than that, it was... ah It was representative of a talking point that I was hoping that we would be able to avoid, which is that like Noah after member after the ah Charlotte game where they blew the
Challenges and Expectations for Seattle Sounders
00:08:59
Speaker
lead and it was two two and everyone was feeling kind of sour about that result.
00:09:03
Speaker
You had people out there saying, oh same old Sounders. And, you know, we and we took issue with that. We were like, no. No, that was clearly not. That was clearly not like this. This offense has looked meaningfully better with Pedro de la Vega in the mix and Jordan Morris playing like this and Paul Areola looking pretty good. Jesus Ferreira had been doing some good work as a facilitator.
00:09:24
Speaker
ah So it was not the same old Sounders in that game. And that talking point was incorrect. This game, that was what the Seattle Sounders were doing last year.
00:09:35
Speaker
That was honestly a carbon copy. And unfortunately, anyone dishing that talking point of that looked like the the team that we saw last year ah is correct.
00:09:47
Speaker
So that was my first unfortunate takeaway. Like, I don't think that's ah an overreaction. I think that is very... I don't really know how you could come to any other conclusion, frankly, after watching that, which obviously the injury situation sucks and is brutal.
00:10:09
Speaker
And I'm even willing to accept that given the injuries and absences in the situation with the roster right now, I don't expect him to look like Real Madrid out there. i don't i don't think they're going to be hanging three to five goals on ah on even this Houston Dynamo team.
00:10:27
Speaker
But that being said... They should have been able to score goal in this game. I don't think that is an unreasonable expectation. And I think the consternation and criticism towards the the offense in this game is merited.
00:10:45
Speaker
And, you know, Rusnak and Ferreira are a part of that. And that's basically what I came out of this thinking. Yeah, I, uh, this game was a stinker. This game like felt like two teams that were kind of rotated, but like just depleted, you know what i mean?
00:11:04
Speaker
And even that said, like, I think the Sounders did have some good opportunities. I thought Paul Rothrock brought it pretty good in this game. ah he scored a volley that was offside. Um,
00:11:16
Speaker
I mean, I guess he didn't score it because it was offside, but like he had a nice finish on that. He had a nice finish that ah went over the bar, I think. um Oh, no, it was a hit. There was a cross from Paul Rothrock that a defender try and cut out and like the 60th minute.
00:11:31
Speaker
And it was literally like an inch from going in on an own goal. Like it was literally like right there. um And then that that shot that Albert pulled back, like he was in the box squared up and he like pulled the shot back and made that pass to Alex Roldan and it was saved.
00:11:49
Speaker
I mean, that was like a great opportunity. And I understand that, you know, people don't like it when we say, well, there were opportunities there.
00:12:02
Speaker
They didn't look terrible. They didn't look awful. I really, I saw people crashing out about this game more than I've seen about any other game this season. And I mean, I was sitting there watching it. like I mean, yeah, that like was not a fun game to watch, but I'm not super concerned. I think we can we can get into the discourse about Jesus Ferreira, but you know was something that a Coach had said in the postgame presser was like, I'm not going to get mad at him. This is essentially his...
00:12:30
Speaker
second one and a half start at the nine it's his first full game playing at the nine like it's gonna take time for him to get settled in we've been saying that and i don't know that's just what it felt like was like a an unlucky game that you know houston came there to grind out a draw to grind out a defensive game. They played their game correctly. I'm not saying it's a good result and I'm not saying that anyone should be you know patting them on the back for it, but it's like this felt like a March game against against a Houston team.
00:13:08
Speaker
During an international window. I don't know. What do you do? you see it any differently than that? I mean, i just think that ah all all those things that you said are correct and should be taken into account. But I do, you know, I do think if ah if if fans came out of that feeling like all those things taken into account, you should be able to score one goal against the Houston Dynamo at home. Yeah. I think that's, uh, I think that's fair and, uh, and, uh, and merited. Like, uh, I don't know about the full on crashing out, but like, I think the, uh, the negative feelings that people have coming out of that result, like, yeah, uh, especially cause like what I was saying, man, it's like, yeah, we can sit here and say like, they had some good chances. The XG was cooking, but like, uh, how many times meant like during the first couple months of the season last year, did we say that?
00:14:04
Speaker
same thing like at ah at a certain point uh that stops mattering like you just you got to be able to score against the houston dynamo yeah at home well we know i'm famously anti xg so you're right exactly you were kind of uh advocating for it that we just kind of we had to we actually switch positions there yeah exactly yeah but um yeah i mean i don't know that's just how i uh that's just how i came out of it feeling I think, you know, for me, maybe I'm just because I've found Nirvana, you know, with this team ah and accepted the reality of what it is right now.
00:14:40
Speaker
It's like, am I happy? I mean, whatever. No, not not really. Like, yeah, you I agree with you. You should be able to get a goal against this Houston team. against a goalkeeper who has literally never played a single MLS minute against like I mean you know the goals wouldn't have counted but like yeah I would have hoped that we could have done that um another thing i I don't know if we if you want to get into positives and negatives or whatever but there was just some things that I had written down that I saw during the game because yeah actually you do the positives negatives I wrote for sounder at heart for the first time I did their gamer, which folks, let me tell you what writing it's not my specialty.
00:15:18
Speaker
um So that was, that was a tough one, but, uh, um, positives, um, there was it was a clean sheet, I guess. You know, I don't know what like what's a positive from this. No one got hurt. Even me and Nico were talking about this. Even the clean sheet, it's like they weren't even trying to score. So how much credit? I will say they got spread really...
00:15:43
Speaker
poorly like towards the end, those five, the same thing that happens in the final 10 minutes of every goddamn game where they're trying to push for another goal where they get spread so bad and you don't have like a player like Jordan, who's going to come back and just sprint back and defend, or, you know, you just get people caught out wide, whatever it is.
00:16:00
Speaker
And it like, they were able to kind of shift back. But how much of that to your point was you're playing the Houston dynamo and how much of that is like, they actually were playing well defensively.
Sounders' Depth and Injury Concerns
00:16:13
Speaker
Yeah, I guess here's how i see this, which is that this game in isolation, ah if they're able to turn it around in the next set of games here, start banging in some goals, figuring out how to play without their injured guys a little better.
00:16:30
Speaker
Ferreira gets gradually more integrated and they start taking, they start racking points. I'm willing to like forget and discount this game entirely, uh, given the circumstances.
00:16:44
Speaker
ah but what I think what they need to try and avoid, obviously at all costs is ah situation where it becomes sustained, run where it's it's looks like Groundhog Day ah last year if they go into ah these next few weeks and it becomes like just one one or one one zero zeros grinding out really low scoring boring draws like this especially at home then ah again like The people who are are saying that we're watching a repeat of last year, i i can't say that they would be wrong in that situation. That game was 100% replay of last year. Exactly. So we're going to see. I'm open-minded, willing to give them a chance to like prove that that is...
00:17:34
Speaker
wrong We don't know that that's the outcome yet, but I definitely ah I don't blame anyone for having kind of an ominous like, oh, man, like, is this what we're in for for the next few weeks? but Can I say something that may be controversial? and Yeah, no, please. Like, yes, absolutely. The worst of the worst, like,
00:17:55
Speaker
No one's integrated. No one has their best game, whatever. Your floor, your literal floor is last year. Hey, guess what last year got you? To a Western Conference final and 15 minutes away from MLS Cup. But not not from playing like that.
00:18:11
Speaker
they they I'm just saying that's your floor. And and i guess... if I guess I'll do my positives and negatives, but I guess I would accept that as a positive, which is that like ah it does not appear that it's like a bottom is going to fall out type situation. It doesn't appear that they're going to be like non-competitive or getting overrun by anybody, but that's not the standard we should be holding them No, no. And I'm not so i'm not trying to turn this as like, a guys, this isn't bad. I'm just trying to say, if if this is the world falling, i'm it could be worse. I've seen so much worse from this team.
00:18:49
Speaker
I've seen so much worse from this team. So if this is depleted with injuries, with a guy who has literally played 95 minutes at the nine position, who looked...
00:19:00
Speaker
And we can talk about this too. This was my positive. I thought he looked better at the nine. He was not, he was staying more forward. He was playing more of a center forward position instead of this like roaming false nine, 10, getting in Rusnak space. Um,
00:19:17
Speaker
I don't think he was amazing. i don't think that he was clinical or lethal or even a threat. He literally had zero shots, which like how the how I'm not saying he looked good. I'm just saying he looked better. And like if you can consistently get better.
00:19:36
Speaker
in your second, like noticeably better in your second time out on the park. Like what? I mean, I think, uh, two things can be true. His integration is, turning out to be more of a gradual process than we would have hoped. And that's honestly to be, that's to be expected to a certain extent. Like,
00:19:58
Speaker
Anytime you're integrating someone into a new team, like that's probably going to be ah part of it. So that is true. And then they also should have been able to score one goal against the Houston Dynamo at home.
00:20:12
Speaker
Even with that and taken into account. Yeah, I'll hit my positives and negatives. ah Positives. the Seattle rain, Noah. Yes. Big dub. Did you see this goal? I did. That goal was bug on her first goal, professional goal. If you got, if you have not seen, ah the Jordan bug goal that, uh, for Seattle rain at North Carolina,
00:20:33
Speaker
That might be the goal of the NWSL season. That was yeah incredible. The way she teed that up. Oh my God. I don't, I don't know. don't know if that meant, uh, or if that made sports center top 10, but that should have been number one. It made lobbying scorchers top 10. It's number one. Uh, it's the best goal, best lobbying scorchers goal of the year so far. So, uh,
00:20:51
Speaker
And we should plug, we should plug our besties at the cooler guild who broke that whole game down and talked about it. They have literally been Jordan bug, like evangelists. Like, you know we were Paul Rothrock evangelists. They've been doing it for Jordan bug. So it's even more of a, a banger for them. sub to the cooler guild right now, the cool sub to the cool, cool.
00:21:11
Speaker
um The Nico ceremony was nice. It was sick. Yeah. I thought the, so there's been a lot of ah kind of drama with that. You know, he feels like he was talking to ah Nico Moreno about it after the game. And he was very upfront about how he felt pretty sad about how that went down this off season. And it seems like he feels a little disrespected, which is unfortunate, man. Like you never want a club legend, especially the club legend, like the build the statue guy. yeah to to feel that way.
00:21:40
Speaker
But the ceremony was, I mean, they did it up for him. I thought it was awesome how they lined up all the trophies that he won with Adrian even came out there. Adrian came out there. The crowd was going crazy.
00:21:51
Speaker
And I honestly think that's sort of ah what made the game even more of a letdown is that the building was actually most buzzing. It has been all season. I was going to say that was going to be one of my positives was just the attendance. Like I have not seen a lot of people there. They were into it. Yeah. Yeah.
00:22:07
Speaker
It seems like, and I think that was the first match where they did the free ah tickets to. So like that rocks people. I think people came out to come see Nico. I think people came out because there were free tickets. I think there people came out because March Madness was in town and people just wanted more sports.
00:22:23
Speaker
Yeah. Like to, to, to be in front of that many fans and to put on that performance, That's a negative. The positive is the people showed up. The negative is like you couldn't give them a good show. Exactly. Like if it just feels like that if they'd been able to put on a show and bang in a couple goals and take a win, it just would have helped the vibe so much and they couldn't quite get it done. So that's why I think it felt like more of a letdown. But it was I think that was a great way that was a great way to honor Nico and everything he's done for the club, build the city, the organization, build the statue.
00:22:55
Speaker
My other positive, I mean, it is still March, you know? like It's week five. The dropping points at the rate that they're doing it right now, it definitely can sink you later in the season, but we're at the point where it doesn't necessarily have to.
00:23:10
Speaker
It's a long-ass season, so really... until we get into the summer and if it, if it still looks like this and it not, it's not improved by the summer, then I'll be a lot more tilted.
00:23:23
Speaker
But for now it's early enough where there is a lot of time. And I'm going to keep saying that until, ah until the timeline starts to run out, you know, like as long as they've got time, there's still a chance. Uh, yeah,
00:23:38
Speaker
Jordan Morris will ostensibly be back eventually. Same as pe and Pedro De La Vega. He's been he's been like taking shots and which training pretty hard. Which I think any evaluation of the attack right now should include the context that...
00:23:56
Speaker
the two best attackers yeah on the, or two of the best attackers on the team are both out injured. And then Paul Areola, who's going to be a key player for team. Yeah. He was playing amazing. Yeah. He was looking really good. So like I said, with all three of those guys injured,
00:24:13
Speaker
Uh, it should, it should, the reality is it should be expected that the offense is going to suffer a little bit, but I mean, like I said, that doesn't mean that you, uh, that doesn't justify getting shut out by the Houston dynamo at home, but it does mean that when those guys, when Jordan and De La Vega get back, I would be pretty surprised if that doesn't improve things. And that's kind of where I am. Well, and then the other thing about that though, is that, uh, I think we expected more of the depth To be able to withstand a situation like this, even though it is admittedly like it's about as like chalked an injury situation as you could possibly have. I just fact to point that out too i just imagine another team losing
00:24:55
Speaker
ah obstensibly three dps Do you know what I'm saying? It's like if if if I don't know, I'm just going to pick a random team like if the Chicago Fire who have been on a winning streak, if they lost their three Hugo Kuiper, Jonathan Bamba and some like Gutierrez. Yes, I'm the high Tam player, right? Like if they do, they're they're they're done. They're done like they're lose. They're losing all of those teams would be.
00:25:21
Speaker
But again, we we held this team to ah to a higher standard. But I think that what I'm saying is like it shows that they're able to... I'm not saying that a draw is good and I'm not saying that ah their last result was good either.
00:25:35
Speaker
I'm just saying that like what's the what's the reality of the situation? Let's let's's come back to like when we get these other players back, can we like... realistically, then we can judge if this is the 2024 2023. I still have no doubt that at something approaching relative full health, this team can be a contender in the West. I have no doubt that they can push for home games in the playoffs and make ah make a run in the playoffs. I guess just I think the reason why people feel justifiably disappointed is that ah this was built as a team that was deep enough to withstand a situation like this. And at least like literally, man, like one goal against the Houston Dynamo.
00:26:21
Speaker
going to keep saying It's not like an unreasonable expectation for that lineup. I don't think Schmetz or any of the players would tell you that that's an unreasonable expectation. Yeah. Uh, so that's, uh, that's, I guess getting into the negatives, which I'll hit now. Uh, oh, well, i guess my last positive was that Obed is also like, uh, I think you saw, you felt Obed's absence in this, in this game. Like I thought that JP, ah Danny Leyva double pivot. i don't think JP looks good. I thought it was fine, but like,
00:26:53
Speaker
Obed's level is typically a lot better than the attack too. yeah Like, I don't think people under people do actually understand how good he is, but he like, he brings, he cuts out passes and he turns the attack so fast and like makes up so much ground that like you just, there's just not another player like him really in the, I don't think in the league, but just definitely not on this roster. Definitely not on the roster. Yeah. Uh, negatives.
00:27:19
Speaker
I mean, I pretty much hit all of them already, but yeah, I'll read what I wrote down anyway. ah Got shut out at home. Yep. Never good. ah Looked like last year's team. Talked about that. Ferreira integration.
00:27:30
Speaker
Like you said, I think better, but still, I mean, he didn't score and I don't think he looked like that dangerous. If don't get a shot all, that's... I think there was like a couple better moments, but that's kind of tough to hang your hat on like with how things are going at the moment. But...
00:27:48
Speaker
I do think that it's just, it's like anything, man. Like the more you work on it and drill something, it's going to improve. And he's been a provenly good enough player in this league where I have no doubt that'll happen. It's just that until it does, this might be what we're looking at. So that's unfortunate.
00:28:05
Speaker
And then again, talked about this already, but I wrote depth isn't living up to its billing. And that's where just, I just don't agree. I don't know. Really? i just don't agree. You're missing five starters.
00:28:17
Speaker
Yeah. You're missing five starters. What do you expect any team? The depth, this depth was never going to be able to operate missing five starters. It doesn't matter. You had, ah like, this is where, like, I'm not trying to sound like Brigade, but I think this is a situation where it's fair to say if you have Rusnak out there, if you have Ferreira, your biggest...
00:28:35
Speaker
off season arrival out there. Uh, is it going to look amazing with the injury situation we're talking about? No. Like, are they going to be scoring three plus goals? Probably not.
00:28:47
Speaker
But when you've got like your highest paid attacker and your biggest, uh, off season trade arrival out there, I think it's plenty fair to say that, uh, getting shut out at home is like, not what should have happened. like they should and And like the those guys, like the depth lineup should have been able to step up in that situation, circumstances notwithstanding. I just think like you have more than just five guys out. You have another guy who has not played the position that he's been in with this team. Him and Russnack are already...
00:29:22
Speaker
Like we saw it with with Rusnak and Jordan when when Rusnak was integrating back into that position, they were getting in each other's space all the time. And it was like this kind of mess of a of a figuring it out sequence.
00:29:35
Speaker
It's like, you know, ostensibly you have two players who are the most important. are not familiar with each other yet. And that's like, you have to take that. That's basically another two starters out because it takes them from starter DP quality to like, you know, I don't know. You're, if you ever played a pickup game, like sometimes you click with people, sometimes you don't like, I don't know. It's just random, you know?
00:29:59
Speaker
And I'm not saying that that's the standard that we should set for the sounders or anything. I'm just trying to say like the context of it all. Like I'm just not, I'm not crashing out about this game. Like this was ridiculous.
00:30:10
Speaker
rotated This was such a silly, like, I don't know. we're gonna i think I think we just... We have to see what happens over this next set of games. Like I said... There were just people going insane.
00:30:23
Speaker
Right. I mean, in which... I don't... I mean, you know, i wouldn't... full a on crash out over a soccer game, no matter how bad right it got. But like, I get, I mean, I get the frustration is what I'm saying. Like, it's not like you can't get shut out at home against the, uh, Houston dynamo in front of 31 K and then, uh, and then expect people to be like happy about that.
00:30:48
Speaker
I just, I just, it happens. Like it's, it's March. It happens, it happens but it happened a lot last year. Sure. But it's March and it happens like that's MLS. Like, I don't know. We play through international breaks. It's stupid.
00:31:01
Speaker
Like maybe we should be yelling at MLS. you know i mean yeah we can How does this game change if Obed's involved? how does this I mean, I know the new who, whatever. you know I'm not a super big new defender, but like that's a piece. i mean, the defense was fine in this game. I think it's kind of hard to judge because, again, like Ben Olsen literally admitted that they were playing for the 0-0. But like I said, I'm going to let this next set of games play out. And if they...
00:31:32
Speaker
If they improve, start scoring goals. what maybe Maybe in this Quakes game, yeah one goal. One goal. That's a good start. Little benchmark there. And maybe, maybe if they're feeling frisky, two goals.
00:31:47
Speaker
And if they do that in this game, I'll be like, okay, I can, ah the the Houston game, I can whatever that a little bit. you know like That was, ah like you said, great. totally ravaged lineup with Ferreira, not integrated yet. Like, you know, Ruth snack doesn't, he he doesn't have his boys right now, Morris and De La Vega, who I think he's shown to be a very good force multiplier when he's, I think that's Max Aquino's term. Like, I think that might be the thing with Ruth snack. It's like, he's an excellent force multiplier, but like,
00:32:21
Speaker
we're going to see if he can like actually put things on his, on his back. Uh, and if he's able to at least like, i like, i like I said, man, I don't need the squad bamming in four goals a game. Just get me one goal against the goddamn San Jose earthquakes. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Like, like I mean, i don't know.
00:32:40
Speaker
We're snack to me. i don't know if anyone's played Bellator. don't know if you've played Bellator. It's a little game. He's like the the the multiplier, like you were saying. like He's the X, two, you know like the two times. But you got to have the number in front to multiply it. If it's one times two, it's what it's one.
00:32:58
Speaker
If it's 100 times two, you know it's 200. It's like you've got to have the pieces there for him to be successful. Are you in the comments whether he should be, you know I don't know, not be a DP because of that. But like... I don't even think he played poorly. Like, I think he created multiple chances. He had that really nice pullback on the shot, like I was talking about, and made a pass out to Alex Roldan, who, I mean, doesn't i see that was a nice sequence. And, like, he there were there was opportunities that he made. I'm not saying that he, I don't know.
00:33:32
Speaker
I don't want to talk about this game anymore. I give up. Let's go to agenda check. Let's do our agenda check. ah What do you got, Noah? Do you want to dish yours? All right. I got one agenda. It is about Jesus Ferreira. The Holy Ghost agenda explains. You get the, do you get the bit?
00:33:50
Speaker
Cause it's the father of the Holy spirit kind of thing. Yeah. So ah he, he went ghost. I'm sorry. If you want to say Albert Rosnack goes ghost every game,
00:34:02
Speaker
Jesus Ferreira went ghost, dude. Zero shots on goal. That's despicable. That's despicable, bro. I mean, were you just saying, though, that like he it's but not one.
00:34:15
Speaker
Yeah, that's what I was saying. Like that even with the integration process, like. ah it's not i don't I don't even think it's just about him. I think everyone out there everyone out there deserves ah whatever criticism they get you know for not being able to score a goal in this game. or not even It's not even about deserving it. It's just like to be expected. you know yeah Yeah. No, I agree with that. I think... Listen, he was he was he was not good. I'm not trying to say he was good. I'm just saying... like
00:34:50
Speaker
Not one shot. Yeah. and I mean, I'm not going to argue with that. That's crazy. I just think that, uh, like as much, I'll, I'll, uh, I try to, uh, I try to,
00:35:01
Speaker
ah acknowledge when I miss the marker or get something wrong. So I'll hold my hand up here. Like when they, ah I was really high on this trade and I'm still actually high on what he can bring to the team once they get him more integrated.
00:35:14
Speaker
But I was hopeful in perpetuating the notion that his prior MLS experience and his prior experience playing with some of the guys on this team would theoretically expedite his experience.
00:35:29
Speaker
integration more and he would be able to hit the ground running at the start of the season and for champions league, maybe more than, ah an average player or or like a player coming in from outside the league. I was, i was hopeful about that. And I thought that that was a decently likely outcome given what I've seen from him as a player throughout his career and the, uh, experience he had playing with guys from the national team.
00:35:53
Speaker
And I'll just, I mean, all this, that did not, pan out like that. He it's, it's become, it's clearly a thing where it's more like integrating a player that came in from wherever than it is like a guy who you think, Oh, he can, he can like slide in right away and look like he's been on this team for a while. That just didn't,
00:36:13
Speaker
Happens. So, and he seems like he's a player who needs a little bit. and He, he can't just like fit into any position either. Like he needs, he needs to kind of be a centerpiece is what it feels like. I'm, I'm staying open-minded. I'm going to give it time, uh, for him to integrate this is a pro jesus podcast and for it to improve. It's just, that doesn't really like do much for this exact moment. you know and not at all like realistically jordan and de la vega are going to be out for a few more weeks here so it's not like uh it's not like there's a whole heck of a lot of time so uh my other one here i wanted to jump back to the pedro de la vega is the savior agenda oh this is a throwback listen
00:37:01
Speaker
I mean, we've been we've been tough on the kid, but seeing what this team was without him and over the last few weeks, I want to know from you at least, does it kind of like paint him in an even better light?
00:37:16
Speaker
I mean, as far as what he brings to the team and what we saw him bring to the team this year, then yeah, like I see what you're saying, but I think that sort of illustrates what the problem is, which is that he hasn't been able to stay on the field. yeah It's fine to say that the team would look better if he was playing, but if they can't keep him on the field, like what am I supposed to do with that information?
00:37:43
Speaker
yeah okay yeah it would look better if he was playing but he's not and hasn't been a lot and like it's really like i really i hate when people propose the notion that it's like a player's fault for getting injured you know right it's not like i really i feel bad for him and and like and especially because of how good i think that he's looked to start the year here but uh It's just, it's just tough, man. Like he hasn't been able to stay on the field. It's yeah unfortunate. Well, I think that's really the key, right? Like his talent is undeniable at this point, but he just, and this is why I was trying to slow X, but another reason why I was trying to slow expectations is like,
00:38:27
Speaker
It's kind of comical at this point. It seems like every time you see him being god tier, he like reaches a new level you thought previously impossible.
00:38:39
Speaker
And there it is. a muscle injury. a A knee, a calf, butt, toe. ah he I don't know. He's going to break his nose next. Who knows? like It's just...
00:38:51
Speaker
I don't understand how you can continue. And you talked with Joe Lowry about this and he was kind of down on, De La Vega. I think he's been, I think he's been down on it. Yeah. think a lot of the national, the national people who haven't watched him play, like when he has played, like we have are probably looking at the whole thing. Like it's a categorical bust, which, uh,
00:39:18
Speaker
I think that is going to be what is determined through the rest of this season. What I was talking to Joe and Nico about is like, if I feel like they're getting to a situation where it's like, all right, we give this one more, one more run. We ramp them up, get them healthy and put them back out there and hope that uh,
00:39:38
Speaker
he ah can consistently be the player that elevates this team. Like we all hoped and expected that he could be. And if, yeah if he does his hammy again, then like things are going to have to be assessed regarding the future.
00:39:54
Speaker
Yeah, you can't be a DP and not play. yeah like that's And that might sound harsh, but that's just like the reality. That's just like, it's not... It's not ah it's nothing to do with... like It's not a comment on his quality. yeah it's It's a comment on the reality of a league where you are constrained by your heavy reliance on these roster spots. So, I mean, that's that's brutal. Okay, here's here's my last agenda. This is something I noted in my game recap, but the Georgie is found out agenda.
00:40:22
Speaker
They slammed Georgie with three defenders in this match whenever he was on the ball and they were like, they were tackling him They were like literally like throwing him to the ground. Yeah. Yeah. He, he pulled off two. They got two different players got yellow cards for like literally throwing him down. Yeah. Like just, just, just not even, it's like a tactical foul, but like tactical rugby foul. Yeah.
00:40:45
Speaker
Um, I don't know about found found out, but that definitely, uh, that was, that was the Houston dynamo. That was one approach to defending him is, if he's about to like truck through you, you just grab him and tackle him. Yeah. Which, uh, I don't know. I don't think they were red card fouls, but it was like the definition of cynical. Yeah.
00:41:08
Speaker
Yeah, it was, um I mean, it was very clearly a yellow card. Like, all both of them were were yellow cards. And, like, i just, like, I don't know. It just sucks to see people kind of, like.
00:41:19
Speaker
all right, he's good. Fucking defend him harder. Like that's he's, I mean, he's a handful. i don't know I don't know how I would defend him if I was trying to I think that that's effective because his getting out of those situations, he's not necessarily going to make a really tight pass or, you know, what they had five hundred out three guys That's what I'm saying. And in Schmetzer even said this. Someone's going to be open if you have three on Yeah, but if you have three on you too, how are you supposed he's not good in tight passing windows, like in my opinion.
00:41:52
Speaker
So like he can play a cross in on a tight passing window, but they're not letting him get to the position where he's dangerous on the cross. So I thought they defended him well, but I think like that's a blueprint for the way that people are going to take him.
00:42:05
Speaker
And It's not as hard to pull three defenders late in the game to just swarm a guy because you're already probably going to be playing a deeper line when you deploy him unless he's starting. He's usually just pressing pressing pressing pressing. pressing So you're already back in your half.
00:42:20
Speaker
I don't know. It's it's going to be an interesting little wrinkle. But this is something that Schmetzer had noted in his postgame presser, which is kind of why I wanted to bring it out as he's like, yeah, the league's finding out about Georgie. They're figuring it out a little bit on what he has to give. So I think if they train him more on those tight passing windows and if he can get his passing a little bit better, he could be insane. He's basically DK Metcalf. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like DK Metcalf would pull two, three defenders and then you would have one of the other two passing options open if, you know, not to be football podcast. It was a interesting little new wrinkle that the Dynamo deployed against him.
00:43:02
Speaker
I hadn't seen, i hadn't seen a team try that yet. Yeah. it kind I mean, it kind of worked. Yeah. yeah it worked. Um, all right. Uh, should i hit my agendas? Yeah, go for it. Mine or, uh, no, uh, you down to a clown on the us men's national
USMNT Performance Critique
00:43:15
Speaker
fraud squad a little bit. Yeah. Can we do it? Why don't we break? We'll do an ad break. okay We'll recap the game a little bit and then we'll bam on the bot squad okay and then do those as agenda. We're going to take a little ad break. We'll be right back.
00:43:30
Speaker
So yeah, my agendas are regarding our friends that you might've skipped the ad. And if you did, don't skip the ads. Okay. Anyway, sorry. Regarding the U S men's national fraud squad. No, I did a, a about 30 minutes on stream the other night, i having a, having a good little laugh at their CONCACAF nations league campaign, which did not go, uh, especially well. It went well for us. Yeah. I mean, I w I was on the up after it. I thought it was funny.
00:43:58
Speaker
ah I, uh, uh, the Pochettino I saw on the stream, I was calling him Pocatino and then shortened that to poke, which is not the correct pronunciation, but I think I'm going keep calling him that. But this is literally the mispronunciation podcast. Well, that that's like our whole, but also the nickname poke, uh, is this kind of makes him sound like a goofball. Yeah. And I think that's what he might be, which I guess that brings me to, uh, uh, my first point, which is that, I mean, you can go watch this stream for my full takes,
00:44:28
Speaker
on it, but like um I think this guy might not know what he is doing. like Well, he did coach Chelsea. like You know what I'm saying? That's what's so funny about it is that ah he is the man that the bots have been touting as what is needed to elevate this quote unquote golden generation. Like but Greg Berhalter isn't getting enough out of these players, but if we hire a real coach there, that's going to get this team going. Like, that's what, that's what we need. They've been saying that for years.
00:44:58
Speaker
Have they not? They've been saying that for years and There is... can honestly not think of any way that this era could be going worse.
00:45:09
Speaker
It is not only not going well, it's pretty much already a joke. Yeah. It's pretty much already a joke. And that brings me to my first agenda, which is that if you're one of the USMNT fans...
00:45:23
Speaker
who has spent the last five to seven years trashing on guys like Jossie's artist, Jordan Morris, Christian Roldan, Jesus Ferreira.
00:45:38
Speaker
You should just...
00:45:43
Speaker
If you're, I'm going to redo that. Was that Siri? I don't know. um If you're one of the USMNT bots that has spent the last five to seven years trashing on guys like Jossi's artists, Jordan Morris, Christian Roldan, Jesus Ferreira, you should just stop talking.
00:46:06
Speaker
Just shut up. All the points that you've been making for the last five to seven years look so unbelievably brain dead.
00:46:18
Speaker
You need to just give it a rest because this is this. We want to talk about if the team was embarrassing under Burr Halter, the team won Nations League three times under Burr Halter.
00:46:30
Speaker
I'm not saying that makes Burr Halter like an amazing coach, but this is a joke. This is a joke and this outcome happened after like those fans got what they wanted.
00:46:43
Speaker
And this is what happens. I mean, I can't think of anything more embarrassing than what we saw in these, and in these nation's league games compared to the outcome we were supposed to get from this guy.
00:46:58
Speaker
He has got, he's got a time, I guess, to salvage it. But I mean, i just feel like it's already just like laughably bad, laughably bad.
00:47:10
Speaker
and Like you're like, you you want to talk trash about Jordan Morris on the U S men's national team. He's got 11 goals. How many does Josh Sargent have in his career in the last five years?
00:47:25
Speaker
like Zero. He has five for his career. He hasn't scored any since 2019. So until all the Euro boys actually play better than these guys that you've been trashing on, my agenda is that you should just,
00:47:40
Speaker
pipe it down just because down look absolutely ridiculous. It's, um, it's quite funny to me. You know, the discourse that's been going on, about the euros, the euro frauds, as I call them, um, and continued to, to have it.
00:47:57
Speaker
And someone made a really good point on a blue sky that I saw, which was essentially why in the, why, why does a guy like Christian Pulisic,
00:48:09
Speaker
Tim Weah, Tyler Adams, who apparently is one of the best players in the world, according to himself, by the way. You're an idiot, Tyler Adams. You're dumb. You're not good.
00:48:20
Speaker
ah An MLS lifer is better than you, and I will stand on that. Christian Roldan literally is more impactful in all of his games he's ever played in his life than you are.
00:48:31
Speaker
um So... That is hot. I don't give shit. He's bad. He's not a good player. I don't care. These USMNT fans want to say whatever they want to say about um MLS players. I'm going to say it about your Euro fraud. He's not good.
00:48:42
Speaker
He is not good. All of these players don't give a shit. Why would they care about the Nations That's what it looks Why would they care? Because you know what? Playing for the US men's national team doesn't do anything for your career if you are a European player.
00:48:57
Speaker
People don't care or rate the US or really even care... at all about international ah play, if you're on a really high tier Serie A team or a, or a premier league team or championship team, even like, why would they care? It's just another chance for you to get hurt. And guess what? You're already American. So you're already playing on this uphill battle of you're not a real soccer player, right?
00:49:20
Speaker
I can acknowledge that people don't respect Americans in, in soccer. Like, Think about all the shit that Christian Pulisic went through. I don't think he's that amazing of a player personally, which, you know, I'm going to get canceled after this whole round. But you just definitely like i don't think i keep cooking I don't think he's like this insane, you know, superstar. I think he's a good soccer player. But like, I'm sorry. I think if Jordan Morris was healthier and had his run in the championship, I think he probably would have been...
00:49:51
Speaker
playing in and in Europe for the rest of his career. But ah regardless, it's it's all to say, like, you need you need a player like Diego Luna or or Diego Luna and Patrick Agimond, two MLS players, were the ones who the only ones who could score a goal for that for that team That's what I'm saying. It's like it's it's so funny to me that like those are the guys who will consistently put you on their back.
00:50:17
Speaker
They're the ones playing against this type of competition. They're the ones who give a shit because guess what? If you're playing, you know what? People want to say whatever they want to say about MLS lifers. There are people who love this league. There are people who rate this league There are people who are happy to play for their hometown club or play for a team where they grew up watching. OK, I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
00:50:39
Speaker
um And you have players like like Diego Luna and all of that who have worked their ass off. And this means something to them. You think this means something to Christian Pulisic and Tyler Adams who like are just going to go back to their super multimillion dollar salaries?
00:50:56
Speaker
They don't care about Nations League. Why are you calling them up, poke? Why are you calling them up? You're telling me for real that, I mean, Jordan Morris, obviously not healthy. Jordan Morris scores against fucking Panama.
00:51:11
Speaker
He might, he might. Jesus Ferreira. Yeah, this ah this this is blazing hot. ah I'm tired of it too, Ari. I love it though. I'm just going to read a tweet from Landon Donovan because people to people are goingnna cancel you for that. But this is ah this is a take from Landon Donovan. This isn't Noah. This is Landon Donovan. There you go. Landon Donovan says, I'm so sick of hearing how, quote, talented this group of players is and all the amazing clubs they play for. There you go. If you aren't going to show up and actually give a shit about playing for your national team, decline the invite.
00:51:43
Speaker
Talent is great. Pride is better. Exactly. Dude, this is exactly the problem. And don't think, think your take there was hotter than that, but not by much. it's just like It's just, I'm just being, you know, obviously dramatic about it for the for the clicks and the views, but the reality is, is like,
00:52:02
Speaker
why the Why the hell is Christian Pulisic sitting there yelling back at his coach and saying, I'm not coming out? I'm not. Did you see that? yeah He literally said, I'm not subbing out. Hey, idiot. You were playing like shit.
00:52:14
Speaker
You're bad. You're playing bad. Okay. Get your ass off the field. You are nobody. You are nobody, bro. You are going to go down in history as nobody. Nobody.
00:52:25
Speaker
Woo. All right. I'm tired of it. already The USMNT got even hotter than I was expecting. I'm tired of it. But ah no, that was sick. That was sick. I put down an agenda too. yeah i know i like and I'm just going to keep on the heat and keep ripping.
00:52:38
Speaker
Listen, Pocatino, whatever. oh he's He's fine. he's He's fine. I don't think he is. He's fine. I'm just saying like he's a fine coach. I'm sure he would be great somewhere. I'm sure whatever. He doesn't know how to get it done in CONCACAF.
00:52:53
Speaker
You need a proven winner against teams like this, against the shithousery of CONCACAF, against people who you know who know in and out this league, have built rosters with big talent and small talent, and and are able to gel a group, not only on vibes, but are able to discipline players when they need to be sat the hell down, even when they're the best of the best.
00:53:19
Speaker
You know who would have done that, Ari? Oh, this is going to be hot. b Brian Schmetzer would have been a 10 times better coach that poke. Okay.
00:53:31
Speaker
And here's why I'll give you two examples. Here's my first one. Last season when his superstar was throwing a fit, having one of the worst seasons he's ever played club legend, all of that, you know what he did?
00:53:47
Speaker
He benched him for an unproven bottom of the roster player. who put the team on his back and led them, literally led them, gave his own legs.
00:54:01
Speaker
His legs were ruined by the end of the season, okay? Gave his own legs to bring them to a Western Conference final. The man by the name of Paul Rothrock, call him up. ah But That's the reality.
00:54:12
Speaker
You need a coach who respects and understands that the people who want to be there day in and day out, grind it out, give it their all, not the people who play for the club with the big name.
00:54:24
Speaker
Brian Schmetzer would have been able to coach this team not only to a nation's league win, but I think to a competitive competition ah in Copa America.
00:54:36
Speaker
I'm going say it. Okay. He is the type of player who knows how to win tournaments. He's a type of player who knows how to get, get, get guys to gel. He's a type of, I'm saying player type of coach who is able to actually work within the confines of a really shitty roster management.
00:54:53
Speaker
Okay. He will work with whatever he has and he will build a championship winning team with superstars and scrubs and whatever. Okay. Brian Schmetzer should have gotten the job.
00:55:06
Speaker
That's a hot agenda. That's a hot agenda. The only thing I disagree with is that Polk is a fine coach. I think he might just not know what he's doing. I think he might just be bad. I don't know. What do you think about Brian Spence? Do you think Brian would have... Been good for USMNT.
00:55:19
Speaker
been a good good for usm and t ah Yeah, no, I think i think that... ah I just don't know if he would have wanted or taken that job. said he wanted it. Oh, I guess he did. He literally had he went on the radio with our front of the pod, Jackson say He did say like if that opportunity came, like I would... like They didn't even give him a call. Any coach would be interested. yeah yeah The thing is, i feel like pretty much anything would be better than what we're seeing right now. so And to add insult to injury, you literally have Greg Berhalter
00:55:52
Speaker
Turning around the worst club, the most cursed club in major league soccer. Dude took a team that literally needed an exorcism to a winning streak and beating the best club in MLS right now. He he literally beat the Vancouver Whitecaps who had done something only like four clubs had ever done in the history of of MLS, right? Like they had this insane winning streak and all of this stuff or to start the season at least.
00:56:19
Speaker
Guess who gets it done? Guess who gets it done, Ari? Greg Berhalter. Yeah. Greg would have won this game. That's another good agenda. Well, at this I think, ah you know, I don't know. i We say the Berhalter stuff somewhat in jest, or at least I do.
00:56:38
Speaker
But I mean... He at least won Nations League, man. He at least won Nations League three times. All right. Well, I think that's enough USMNT punditry. Let's keep moving here. I'm going to get the bots in my mentions. No, are you down just for an interest of time just to go right to the transfer stuff? Yeah, let's do it. Okay.
00:56:55
Speaker
Because this is actually an exciting story surrounding the ah Seattle Sounders.
Potential Signing of Ryan Kent and MLS Matchday Highlights
00:57:00
Speaker
A a new player. A new player might be signed ah as per report from Soundert Heart and Pulso Sports.
00:57:07
Speaker
Nico Moreno, also my co-host on Lobbing Scorchers Kickoff, where we actually ah broke this live on the stream. Like, well, the report got published while we were streaming and then we got to talk about it like right as it came out. So that was kind of cool.
00:57:20
Speaker
That's why you should tune into our live shows. There you go. Ryan Kent. supposedly Roy can it' like the guy from, uh, yes, that was the first exact reference that I made as well. Uh, they're signing the guy from Ted Lasso.
00:57:36
Speaker
If you look at his Wikipedia page, which I'm doing right now, the picture literally, it looks like yeah one of the players from Ted Lasso. So everyone's going to be getting those jokes in, which, uh, is, ah I think is fine. Um,
00:57:50
Speaker
he's gonna, i think as soon as that show came out, that probably became the story of Ryan Kent's entire career. Uh, but basically the situation with this player is that he has been, ah playing in Turkey for Fenerbahce. I really hope I'm saying that correctly. I don't know how the and Turkish top flight clubs are pronounced,
00:58:08
Speaker
ah But that's the club that Jose Mourinho coaches right now. And apparently Ryan Kent and Jose Mourinho didn't see eye to eye on a few issues. And he, he got released from that team. He's now a free agent.
00:58:23
Speaker
He's a Liverpool Academy product. He's played in the championship for Coventry city, Barnsley. He's done stints with Bristol city, but his main claim to fame was his time with, in the Scottish premiership with Rangers, where he, uh,
00:58:38
Speaker
He was a really good at times dominant player, honestly, in the Scottish league. From what i can tell, he was considered one of the like better attackers in that league.
00:58:50
Speaker
ah And he was at one time, according to transfer market valued at around $20 million. dollars And that has declined based, I think on the falling out he's had with coaches, maybe a little like downturn in form, but it is kind of a classic, like distressed asset to asset type situation.
00:59:11
Speaker
yeah people are going to be calling it a money balling, which mean, it is, it is it is it is literally free. Yeah, it money balling to and extent, but, uh, I guess let's just talk about what we think he could bring to the table because, I mean, it's it's your it's effectively your Paul Areola replacement. I think skill set-wise, there are some similarities there.
00:59:32
Speaker
And I think mainly ah it's the idea is to provide another threat and creativity from out wide. which I'm all for that. If he can bring that to the table, I think the issue here might be like motivation and buy-in and just general temperaments rather than talent.
00:59:54
Speaker
But if they can harness all that and get them locked in, i think it seems like it seems to me that there's a chance that he can be a plus contributor for this team.
01:00:05
Speaker
um I mean, if anyone can do that, it's Brian Spencer. Yeah, sure. I mean, like, and we've seen, we've seen the Sounders do stuff like this before. So, uh, I'm all for it from like ah a, a skillset perspective. I think it could be a positive. I just, what I, so I've been looking up his career a little bit.
01:00:24
Speaker
And, uh, so like when I look at, okay, when I look up his YouTube highlights, uh, I like what I see in the sense that he, uh, He's kind of a maniac out there. Like he plays with his hair on fire. Like he is running like just full speed, like ah a little, like not out of control, but just like he's kind of, he's kind of crazy. Yeah. There's a clip of him when they were playing Celtic in that famous Scottish Derby.
01:00:53
Speaker
He punched a guy. Yep. So like face puncher guy 2.0. So obviously, like we don't condone that. No. you And you you can't do stuff like that because you'll get red carded. and you know You shouldn't punch people. um Or a banned from an indoor soccer league. what i Yeah. But what I will say is that i think... ah a maniac, a guy who's just plays the game like a goddamn maniac, which Ryan Kent seems to, that could be, that could be something that this team could really, that could be a boost to this team. Just ah a little more craziness out there in a, in a, in a controlled and productive way, not in like a punching people way, but like, I like the fact that he plays high octane and high intensity style.
01:01:38
Speaker
You know, I think this is an interesting transfer. i For me, it's really funny because I see people online like, Oh, let's go. this is a this is This is a good transfer because he's a European player. He's English, so therefore this is a good transfer.
01:01:53
Speaker
When ah they apparently were, according to Nico, on the live stream, which you should go watch, they were also looking at um Bob t one of our favorite players.
01:02:04
Speaker
Seems a little similar to Bob T. Yeah. Robert Taylor is also English. No, he's Finnish. He's Finnish. Okay, whatever. whatever they' They're all European ah He's European. He's also a Euro star, but you know, also in MLS. So it doesn't count as a good transfer.
01:02:20
Speaker
And who's the other one? The former Atlanta player and then inter Miami player. Gressel. Yes. Julian Gressel. That was another one. how do you How do you rate, like, do you think this was, when you compare the three, I mean, obviously you haven't done a ton of research on this guy. You don't know a lot about him, but like, would you have rather had a known asset like a Robert Taylor or this face puncher 2.0 guy? I would, I think if it ah if it was Robert Taylor, I would view it roughly the same. Although i feel like we would like that more. We have been advocating for them to sign Bob T as a joke. We're like ah longtime Bob T fans, so I think like we would have been fired up about it from that perspective, but I don't think ultimately I would have viewed it like all that differently. I feel like they're pretty comparable.
01:03:11
Speaker
Gressel is one where I would have been stoked if it was a couple years ago. If it was a couple years ago, i would have been like over the moon if they were able to get Gressel I think he has been one of the best, some of the best wide service in the league for years.
01:03:30
Speaker
But I just don't really know what's going on with him at Inter-Miami, like why he fell out of favor, if there's issues there, like where they either think that he's washed or something. That's that's why I get paused with Gressel. He probably just like...
01:03:47
Speaker
farted next to Messi and Messi was like, get this motherfucker. I mean, yeah, I don't know what the like, why? Because Gressel has been a very, very good player in the league for a long time. ha He's a podcaster. So like we have to respect him. Exactly. Like he's in our line of work.
01:04:00
Speaker
But I just ah I think if it had been Gressel on one hand, I would have been like, all right, like I've watched him play a ton and I know what he can do. And I feel like he could be an asset to the team. But I would also be like, why is he so far out of favor at Miami to where he's like not even playing?
01:04:16
Speaker
So I would have questioned that. is weird. The whole situation is weird, man but ah we'll have to see what we'll have to see if this Ryan can Ryan can't think it's finalized.
01:04:29
Speaker
But I think i think realistically, like what he's going to bring or could bring to the table is similar to what Bob T could have. Bring back Dylan Tavis. That's a good agenda. We should put that in there.
01:04:41
Speaker
He also apparently owns alligators. He does. He's an alligator owner. So that's, I mean, I don't know if he's going to pet alligators. can he He can't. It's illegal in Washington. Really? Yeah. So that was like a whole thing. I was doing my research, obviously, on on Roy Kent.
01:04:56
Speaker
and uh ryan can and uh he yeah he owns pet alligators and he was allegedly trying to go to like iran or something the iranian football league because you're allowed to own alligators there that was like his criteria yeah or maybe it was saudi pro league or something i don't know i'm getting it wrong it's some asian hopefully they can get him a waiver to bring his alligators so yeah that's Yeah, you should be like you should be able to. i wonder like Does he keep them just confined? or can he pay can he pet Are they domesticated? Yeah, I feel like he's like the type of guy who's just like, you know, you know the type of guys who just like walk around in their underwear around their house, like don't no care in the world, like mansion, and he's just got his alligators chilling in the living room.
01:05:37
Speaker
I guess I'm very curious to learn about that. How long alligators live? That's a good question. We got to do our alligator research if they're going to sign this guy. when If they sign him, Sounders PR, can we take him to the zoo and like ask him about alligator facts?
01:05:53
Speaker
like I think that'd be a good video. The alligator thing is going to be certainly going to be content. yeah I don't think there's anyone else on the team who has alligators. Steph Fry has the wrinkly dogs. The wrinkly dogs are cute, but this is this is you know this is a player we've never seen before.
01:06:09
Speaker
A guy who is insanely eccentric in a way. He's like's eccentric. i he's like He's like a very... like it's funny we compare him to Roy Kent, but he is like a TV made for TV player, right? Like he's just, I kind of, I kind of like that though. That's still sort of something about this signing that I'm ah intrigued by is the eccentricity and the, and just his style of,
01:06:34
Speaker
of play like yeah i think it'll be good for like i think ah a high energy high octane like all out intensity type player which if you watch his youtube highlights that's what he seems to be uh i'm definitely interested as to like what a player of that profile could bring to this team alligators or no alligators yeah like i mean you know maybe he'll become a florida gators fan You know i don't know.
01:06:59
Speaker
He might have to. Yeah. Like I, it is actually surprising that he didn't sign with Miami though. Cause you're, you are, i assume allowed to have pet alligators down there. Cause they kind of just roam around. They have a lot there. Yeah. Yeah.
01:07:10
Speaker
but Okay. Well, you know, Ryan, if you listen, if you're listening to the podcast, we would love to meet your alligators. don't know if I, you don't want to meet them. You wouldn't do you and say what's up. I don't really do alligators. I'll be honest. I'll be honest.
01:07:24
Speaker
Not much of an alligator guy myself. I'm nothing against an alligator guy. but New agenda. I only want my attackers to own alligators from now on. um Anyway, we'll be ah we'll be keeping tabs on if this gets finalized. A new player is always exciting. It was the guy who like, uh, the like guy who's like, Oh, I'm from down under.
01:07:48
Speaker
And he like, he was like, didn't he die from like, yeah, Steve Irwin. Yeah. Steve Irwin. Is this dude? We're signing Steve Irwin. um Yeah. That's apparently that's fire.
01:07:58
Speaker
um All right. I think we, uh, we, uh, we covered, uh, his playing style, his earlier career in the alligators. So I think that, uh, think we can just hit some winners and losers and then, uh, get out here. Do we have time to hit this other one or should we save it for next step? Oh, oh, uh, let's hit that like one minute. Okay. Okay. Well, we can save it for next step All right. Let's just say, yeah, we're saying, so this is, this is what you get live on our podcast here, folks. Okay.
01:08:26
Speaker
ah Winners and losers for a match day five in MLS. I'm just going to rapid fire my my takes here. Winners, LAFC, I put them on Fraud Watch, but they slammed the Club per Professional Wrestling. That way doesn't count. Which, it doesn't count, but... if They're on a 12-game losing streak, aren't they?
01:08:46
Speaker
No, they they tied one. they so okay well they have on winning yeah like twelve They haven't won one in like 12 or 13. So there ah ah we'll see what happens with ah with old Peter V down there. Peter V is literally invincible. LAFC, I put him on Fraud Watch and they got a a big dub. So I think I'll put him in there for week.
01:09:05
Speaker
And that's exactly that i like like that goal he scored. I'm like, okay. okay he's coming up He's breaking out, which like, yeah, whatever. we' This is a Galaxy podcast. Actually, we've I feel like we've...
01:09:18
Speaker
pretend that we're not a galaxy podcast anymore for how bad I never I never i don't we don't acknowledge the galaxy table team. um But David Martinez man, I'm in love. If you haven't seen that with that player, I mean, I don't go watch it. You're not gonna you're not gonna be happy. Yeah, ah Chicago fire. I got him in here again. they ah they slammed the white caps.
01:09:38
Speaker
Burrhalter literally did a crime against his own. So this was the Burr halter Darby, which I forgot until the, like I was watching the end of it. I was like, Oh wow. Yeah, this is, that's kind of must be mixed emotions. ah But ah yeah, like ah someone who I think deserves to sit back and have a good laugh at the plate of the U.S. Men's National Fraud Squad is ah is Greg Berhalter. I bet it's pretty difficult for him to not just sit back on his couch just like this and be like...
01:10:05
Speaker
Yup. Wasn't so bad, was it? Yup. Wasn't so bad. it literally, you guys got the guy that you wanted and it got worse. And that's funny. It's so good. And like he, in all seriousness, he has the Chicago fire playing really good ball. That's three straight wins.
01:10:22
Speaker
And it looks like, looks like he might be a good coach after all. He actually excised the demons. He looks like he, I mean, I'm going to wait to like fully, uh, call that, but they can always come back. Are it's just like, you know, they're looking good. They're looking good. And a burr halter deserves his credit. In my mind, they hired a priest to come into the locker room with holy water.
01:10:45
Speaker
And that's just, you can't convince me otherwise. i That's the only way i think that they could have gotten out of that. ah Charlotte f c continue to look good. They slammed the quakes who the sounders are playing. We didn't preview that at all. Damn it. Oh, well, that's fine.
01:11:00
Speaker
And then honorable mention to Orlando City for their, their four one over DC United. uh losers this is a bit hearkening back to last year uh seattle sounders shut out home by the houston dynamo are we gonna have to do the thing where if they don't score we don't talk about them yeah do you remember that that was a whole bit or multiple goals multiple goals yeah or like don't lead the show yeah yeah might have to bring that back hopefully not ah my other loser, the Houston Dynamo, came to Seattle. And, you know, it's fine to come to Seattle and ah play for 0-0, I guess. That's what a lot of teams do.
01:11:39
Speaker
ah But... I'm going to put you in the loser section if you play negative soccer, which Ben Olsen literally admitted post-game that they did. He does love to do that. And then RSL, I'm putting as a loser because they play at America First Field.
01:11:53
Speaker
I don't even remember what their result was. I think they lost. They're just a loser we all lose perpetuate all lose for the American First agenda.
Final Thoughts and Episode Conclusion
01:12:01
Speaker
um All right. That was all I had. Did you have anything else league-wide takeaways that you wanted to hit or? Nothing league-wide. We'll save that other disc. I mean, unless you want to hit on the Ladero disrespect discourse quickly.
01:12:14
Speaker
Well, Nico and I hit on that pretty extensively on the stream. Okay, we'll cut a video for that. So, yeah, you if you want takes on the Nico Ladero potential disrespect, go watch the VOD of Lobby Scorchers kickoff. We hit that with Nico Moreno.
01:12:31
Speaker
Sweet. All right. Let's just call it right there then for episode 89. Thank you as always so much everyone for tuning in. Appreciate all the all the support on our pods and our streams.
01:12:42
Speaker
Having a great time putting this content out even though the results aren't super great right now. But we're going to keep covering the team. God
Listener Engagement and Next Livestream Details
01:12:51
Speaker
damn it. Like, comment, subscribe.
01:12:54
Speaker
Rate five stars. Rate five stars. Share with Roy Kent's alligators. Share with the alligators. Like this video. Like all our... go just Go through all of our videos and like every single one.
01:13:05
Speaker
Am I missing anything? No. All right. I think that's it. I'll be back at it on Thursday for... Thursday, 7.30 p.m. Lobby Scorchers under the lights live on our YouTube. Until then, out.
01:13:18
Speaker
Peace.