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Episode 364: That is how you start a season right!
84 Plays2 years ago
The Sounders got off to a pretty awesome start to their 2023 MLS regular season. The 4-0 win over the Colorado Rapids was every bit as convincing as the score suggested and we had a ton of impressive performances, highlighted for me by Jordan Morris brace and general involvement in just about every dangerous chance the sounders had.
It's obviously just one game and the Rapids might be bad -- and were at least missing a couple starters -- but this was a very positive performance either way. Suffice it to say, we were pretty excited to talk abou this one.
Of course, we also made time to take your questions.
Sponsors
This week's music: Perry Como - "Seattle", "RVIVR - "Ocean Song", Woody Guthrie - "Roll On Columbia", "Your Journey Begins" - OurMusicBox (Jay Man) (CC BY 4.0)
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Transcript
Sponsorship Highlights
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Nos Arietes is sponsored by Fullpool Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of Nos Arietes since 2011. Fullpool was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime sounder supporters. They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest.
Seattle Sounders' Early Season Success
00:00:21
Speaker
Hey, this is Christian Roldan. And Jordan Morris from the Seattle Sounders Football Club. And you're listening to... There's no study at this. Come on! Hey, Ocean! Let's go! I want to say bye-bye! The Seattle Sounders have done it! MLS Cup winners! And Portland can't say he's cheating! Here comes Rudy Diaz through the middle to crowd it for Seattle! They have climbed the mountain!
00:00:51
Speaker
And now our masters of all that they survey. Michael Odero leaves absolutely no doubt. The Sounders rule the region. Seattle Sounders, this can feel it. Seattle Sounders, the greatest MLS team in history. How does this one feel?
Match Analysis: Sounders vs Colorado Rapids
00:01:15
Speaker
This feels fucking awesome.
00:01:39
Speaker
I didn't know what it was. Is that what you young people call twerking? I have no idea. I don't know.
00:01:50
Speaker
Welcome to another edition of Nos Adietes, sponsored by Full Pool Wines and Watson's Counter. This is episode 364, recording on Wednesday, March 1st, 2023. I'm your host, Jeremiah O'Shan. Joining me as usual is Aaron Campo and our engineer, Lickit P.
00:02:06
Speaker
Well, the Sounders got off to a pretty awesome start to their 2023 campaign. The 4-0 win over the Colorado Rapids was every bit as convincing as the score suggested, and we had a ton of impressive performances highlighted for me by Jordan Morris's brace and general involvement in just about every dangerous chance the Sounders had. It's obviously just one game and the Rapids might be bad, and they were missing a couple starters, but this is a very positive performance either way.
00:02:32
Speaker
Uh, is that, is that too late on too thick Aaron or is that, is that pretty fair? I don't think so. I mean, as long as you're not getting too far ahead of yourself, um, with the takeaways, you know, and, and yeah, I'm just going to win sports shield, uh, MLS cup, uh, maybe throw in a league's cup.
00:02:48
Speaker
You know, why not? Yeah, I mean, I think that you can acknowledge that it's early that single game sample sizes are, you know, not not a great thing to draw conclusions from. Well, also acknowledging that sounders look incredible in that game. And I think that if you were looking for a performance that was going to make you feel good on pretty much every level, the sounders delivered in that game, they
00:03:13
Speaker
The the tactically I think the only thing was that because they were so dominant it like you couldn't really see the tactical Nuances because the Sounders just had the ball and we're shoving it down Colorado's throats Yeah, and so you didn't you know you didn't get to see a lot of the like shifting machine between shapes in possession and Defense that we talked about. Yeah, it was really it was basically a four two three one and they just like counter it I mean it was interesting because
00:03:43
Speaker
Colorado played, it was funny because at first it felt like maybe they weren't pressing, but when I went back and watched, they were pressing actually quite a bit and the Sounders were just killing them on transition. It really felt like watching that game and maybe this is confirmation bias, but it did feel like that's something that they worked on a lot was breaking the press and they were really effective at it. And look, you know, Colorado is a bad team.
00:04:11
Speaker
that was compromised even from their normal state. They're missing key guys, like you said, but they're still a professional team. They're an MLS team and it's hard to dominate a team that much, especially a team that is trying to do things that have given you trouble in the past.
00:04:33
Speaker
that you're just not having any trouble with, you're not bringing a sweat with. That's, I think, really encouraging. It's all of the things that the sounders struggled with last year that are not random. Finishing was obviously a problem last year. Only so much you can do about that. But creating quality chances, not giving away a lot of quality chances, and not giving away possession in bad areas, being able to maintain possession for long spells,
00:05:03
Speaker
and still create something, right? There wasn't a lot of useless, meaningless possession. There were long spells of possession where not a lot was happening, but there was always an end product, right? There was never a point where it felt stagnant. Exactly. They were not running out of ideas very frequently. And that's been a huge problem. That was a big problem last year. And I think all of the times in which the sounders have struggled under Brian Schmetzer, but even going back to the Ziggy days,
00:05:28
Speaker
A lot of it has been that, well, we kind of ran out of ideas here against a team that's now obviously the game state is a huge factor. The Sounders were out ahead early, never took their foot off the gas. And those nil-nil games when they're home against the better opponent, that's when that's going to be a struggle. But.
00:05:46
Speaker
nonetheless, it's still pretty encouraging to see them just never break a sweat and struggle at all. For one game, they did everything that you could add. I mean, all you could do is play the team in front of you, right? Right. Exactly. And they did that excellently. All four goals were a little fluky in a sense. They were all unassisted off of either defensive miscues or
00:06:09
Speaker
rebounds. But what I found encouraging is that even though they were, you know, a little on the fluke, he said all four were genuinely dangerous chances. You know, the first goal comes on Christian Roldan, you know, heading a Jordan Morris cross, and then that gets saved, he scores it. But that buildup
00:06:30
Speaker
was absolutely gorgeous. Matt Doyle actually tweeted out a full video of the buildup where the sounders get possession deep in their own end, NuWho breaks the first wave of pressure with the dribble and then they pass it around a little bit and then it's just one, two, three passes and it's
00:06:48
Speaker
off to the races and I thought we saw a lot of good movement there. We saw a lot of good passing. Two defenders broke pressure with dribbles. It was everything you could really want and then there was the final product at the end.
00:07:04
Speaker
Similarly, kind of a similar situation on the Jordan Morris goal that came right before the half where Morris takes a cross from Nico Ledero and is kind of deflected or he kind of glances it off of the defender and then he puts away the, he puts it away. But the one that was really fun was the third goal. This was a break up the right channel, a pass gets centered,
00:07:32
Speaker
to a bear he back heals it and then
00:07:36
Speaker
Albert Rusnak does this sort of like, I guess, what do you call that? A scorpion kit? What do you call that? That, that back heel, the thing where he flicks it over your shoulder and it in live, it looked like the sounders were being a little too cute with it, but watching it back, I just think they were kind of making, they were kind of keeping the play alive really.
Player Spotlight: Abe Eyre's Impact
00:07:56
Speaker
And, and it ends up, uh, uh, Lidero cross comes in. That's, uh, you know, puts the defense under pressure and a bear cleans it up and there you go.
00:08:06
Speaker
Yeah, I think that a team that has the skillful players that the sounders have can do things like that. And it's not you're not getting too cute, especially when you're up to no home. Right. But I think it.
00:08:18
Speaker
There were a lot of times last year where you just never would have seen the guys on the team trying that kind of stuff. For whatever reason, whether it be confidence or just not wanting to keep their heads down and will their way out of the struggles. I think that it was pretty clear that they were feeling pretty loose and feeling pretty comfortable.
00:08:40
Speaker
And I think for, you know, a player like a bear to look that comfortable and a new team in game one, when he hasn't, you know, most likely has not been training as the first choice striker. I'm sure he's gotten 20 minutes with those guys in training, but.
00:08:57
Speaker
Um, it was extremely encouraging and you know, I think If if that's if that's the player that we've got the rest of the year that is, you know in a best case scenario coming off the bench in a lot of games That's a pretty monumental upgrade. I think no offense to well ruin but
00:09:14
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think that that's, to me, the big, maybe the biggest takeaway from this was that we may have undersold the acquisition of Abe Eyre, because it wasn't just the goal that he scored, which was a nice enough goal. But, you know, he was involved in three what Opta calls big chances, which are, you know, good looks on goal, essentially.
00:09:35
Speaker
He only converted one of them, but the fact that he was in position for three of them was huge. He ended up finishing the game, I think, with 1.29 expected goals, which, you know, it's just a number you don't want to take too much away from. You don't want to take too much from a single game XG stat like that. But I did think it was interesting that that was a that was more XG that a bear had than Reed has had in any game last year. I actually thought at one point
00:10:03
Speaker
Rudy Diaz had more, but I went back and double-checked it and that was a rounding error. He actually had less XG in his best game, which came against the Whitecaps. He had a brace in that game. But, you know, Rudy Diaz had an OK season last year. You know, it wasn't a spectacular season, but he still, you know, scored, you know, more than a goal every other, you know, basically averaged a goal every other game a little better than that.
00:10:29
Speaker
And if a bear can put up anything like that, I mean, that's huge. That's, you know, that's the difference between missing the playoffs and contending for a top spot. Yeah, I mean, I don't think the Sounders have really had a backup striker, if you won't even say a backup striker, but have had two striker options. Yeah. Potentially good as these two guys since what, like the EJ Montero days, which
00:10:59
Speaker
doesn't seem to be problematic in the same way as that ended up being problematic. I mean, it's been a very long time. Most teams just don't have that luxury. I think it was a good investment for the Sounders given the fact that they are relying on some guys that are a little bit older and some guys who have struggled a little bit last year to score the lion's share of their goals.
Jordan Morris & Joao Paulo's Contributions
00:11:20
Speaker
If you're going to spend money on depth, that's a pretty good place to do it, I think.
00:11:24
Speaker
Yeah, the other big revelation for me in this game was, like I said at the beginning of the show with Jordan Morris, who I, he was every, he was dominant. He was involved in everything. He was effectively an unplayable, like they could not do anything. He did not, I don't remember, the last time he looked like this was 2020. He just looked like a determined player. Both goals, like I said, were a little on the flukey side, but
00:11:50
Speaker
To me, those are goal scorer goals. Those are goals that you want someone like Jordan Morris to be crashing the box and just being in the right spot. But beyond those two goals, he was creating chances for teammates everywhere. I mean, he had a great play to set up Christian Roldan for his goal, but then he had an even better play on a ball that was rolled offside correctly, but it did show kind of what he can do. He set a bear up for another really good chance on
00:12:20
Speaker
you know, just a wonderful cutback pass. He was, you know, involved in defense. He was just, I don't know, he was an absolute monster in this one. He was. And I think the thing that I noticed right away,
00:12:34
Speaker
was he was taking guys on again, which is such a huge part of his game when he's at his best and is not something he did last year, not very much at all, or even really in 2021. I mean, it was very encouraging. He looked extremely confident. He looked extremely purposeful. He just, he looked like his vented self. And I don't know whether that was
00:12:59
Speaker
just getting healthy finally, whether it was getting some rest finally, although it's not like you got that much rest over the summer, whether it was going to the World Cup and training with the national team and being in that environment, giving them like a confidence boost. Whatever it was, I hope it keeps up because if he is that player, I mean, that's, if he can put in performances like that, obviously he's not going to score a brace every week and set up goals every week.
00:13:22
Speaker
But if he can play at that level, you know, more often than not, that's like an MVP caliber player. Yeah. And you know, to me, what he looked like was a player who had a weight lifted off his shoulder. And I don't know if that's reading too much into it, but the way I think it's it's possible. I mean, like the World Cup is no longer hanging over it, hanging over his head. He's not you know, he doesn't have to worry about the national team right now. He doesn't have to worry about living up to the expectations of
00:13:51
Speaker
the U.S. national team. I mean, this is a player who's been really under a microscope ever since Jurgen Klenzen called him up to the Nash gave him his full national team debut when he was still in college. And he sort of got tagged as this next great thing. And he's been very good, but he's just never really lived up to the expectations that that many had on him.
00:14:12
Speaker
And I think he can kind of put that aside. I don't think he's like, I'm sure he would, he's open to the idea of moving to Europe, but I don't think he sees that as something he has to do. He's got a five-year contract. I know he's married. He's just got, you know, I just, he looked like a, like the way he just carried himself just felt so much looser. Like after you scored that second goal, the way that he was smiling just felt like,
00:14:35
Speaker
a different version of Jordan Morris than we've seen before. He was kind of joking around with the press in the post game. And I wouldn't say he's bad with the press, but he tends to be a little wooden. And I don't know, he just, like I said, he looked like a player who was feeling like himself, like he wasn't as worried about whatever else was going on in the world.
00:15:00
Speaker
Yeah, as much as I hate to to like psychoanalyze, I don't think that you're wrong. Like, I don't want to like be diagnostic or whatever, but you know, but I don't think I mean, he did look.
00:15:13
Speaker
like the player that he was when he, you know, before he went to Swansea and got hurt. And so much of that was that swagger. And I think it would be shocking if making a five-year commitment to the Sounders at this phase in his career didn't affect his mentality in some way, right? Because that most likely means he's made peace with, like, this is probably where I'm going to write my whole career.
00:15:43
Speaker
And, you know, if there's not that pressure to like, I really want to try to impress and get a move to Europe. Like if you're just like, no, I'm fine playing here. How could that not like affect your mentality for some people? Maybe it would make it worse for him. Maybe it makes it better. Who knows? But whatever it is, I really hope that it's something that continues and that it's it's not, you know, a short term confidence boost from the World Cup or something, but that it's he's at a place mentally where, you know, he can be this this guy going forward.
00:16:11
Speaker
Yeah, so somehow we are almost 15 minutes into this recording and we haven't even mentioned Joe Paulo, who I don't know if he had a moment in this game that stood out, but what stood out to me was how he just slid right in. He looked like Joe Paulo.
00:16:29
Speaker
He got those little tackles. He got those, you know, little, he got those little movements. He, he, he made interceptions. He did all the stuff that you expect jail, Paula to do. And he moved the offense forward and he like fit in with this really nice partnership with Albert Rusnak.
00:16:47
Speaker
And it's like, Oh yeah, this guy hasn't played for eight months. Yeah. Welcome back. I, I think I said during the game that, that I think shall Paul is Ralph hollow is more important to this center's team than Ozzy was to like the, you know, 20, 20, 24. And, and I mean, when you think about how important Ozzy was to those teams and the record that they had without him, that, that's almost crazy to say, but.
00:17:12
Speaker
And they're not, it's not like they're identical players, right? Like they play similar positions and play in similar spaces, but they go about their business pretty in a pretty different way. Ozzy's more of a traditional six destroyer bulldog type, and Trappolo is a little bit more of a, I guess cerebral sounds like a dig at Ozzy, and I don't mean it that way, but I think he's more about like positioning and reading the game, and Ozzy is just a little more tenacious, but
00:17:36
Speaker
They're important to the team in the same ways, like the things they ultimately end up accomplishing are similar.
00:17:43
Speaker
And I just think that Joao Paolo has that additional creative edge to his game that just takes him beyond. And it, it frees up everyone else. I mean, it's that, that what Garth loved to say, that like force multiplier. There you go. You know, we should probably retire that, I guess at this point, but that was a good, good way to use it at the end. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's.
00:18:08
Speaker
The whole shape of the team just looks better. Everyone around him is more is freed up to do the things that they do more effectively. I think this was a great example of what we were talking about. I think in the last episode, maybe the one before that, but there was a question about real snack.
00:18:26
Speaker
playing in that role and maybe hoping that he would be in a little more advanced role. But I think this was a great example of what he can do when he's in that space, when he's playing in that role, when he's got a troll collar next to him and how effective he can be. And obviously, he's going to feel free to get forward a little bit more, even if he's nominally playing the same position, playing the same role.
00:18:48
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I have a feeling that his minutes are going to be managed to some degree. And so I'm hoping, not only for the sake of results, but just for the sake of their careers and for the sake of the sounder's financial well-being that some of those younger guys can take a step forward this year in the minutes that they do get.
00:19:06
Speaker
But I do think that Joao Paulo getting, you know, the majority of the minutes in that position is going to make, I mean, I think that right there is the difference between making the playoffs and not making the playoffs last year. Without a question in my mind. Yeah. And I think the other thing you see with Joao Paulo, you can see his influence almost on every position, but one of the other players that was very heavily influenced, I think,
00:19:30
Speaker
Uh, was Nico Ledero who had a, had a good game. He was, you know, he was influential, but I thought it was notable. He, he had the third most passes on the team behind Joe Paulo and Alex Roldan, which to me just suggests that he's not having to.
00:19:48
Speaker
go to the ball as much. He can float into space. He can receive it where he wants to receive it. A lot of the times it ended up being in those half spaces on either side. He floated around to some degree but it wasn't
00:20:03
Speaker
You know he wasn't having to ball on the way that he sometimes did last year where he's having to come all the way back into the defensive side of the other field to start the place cuz you can rely on gel palo and albert rusnak to kind of move the ball forward and so when he's getting it it's in much more dangerous spots.
00:20:21
Speaker
And man, I got to say, Lidero looks like he spent a good amount of time making sure that no one was going to call him old. Like he looks very fit. He does. He does. But I think that also plays into he he can be a little more selective with when he is going all out because he doesn't have to cover
Nouhou & Defensive Strategy
00:20:43
Speaker
as much ground. And that's, you know, that's going to make a huge difference. But I mean, he's
00:20:48
Speaker
what, he's like five, six years younger than me. And that's just, I mean, it's like, obviously he's a professional athlete, but you shouldn't be able to run that much after 30. No, he's running a lot. Yeah. It's insane. It's just, you know, God bless him. I'm glad for it. But I just, it's incomprehensible to me how guys stay that fit.
00:21:13
Speaker
yeah he and he looks great he you know if and i i gotta say like if he's on sort of like i don't know what's gonna happen to him i i think there's a pretty good chance that he's gonna leave at the end of this year regardless uh but i he just strikes me as the kind of guy who refuses to like go out with a whimper like he's gonna
00:21:32
Speaker
do his darnedest to to make sure that this last year, if this is his last year, that he's remembered sort of the way that he feels like he deserves to be remembered. And this game was indicative of that, I thought. You know, one of the players who we thought was going to be. Have a role change sort of in this new tactical setup was new who and I think we like, you know, we didn't really see this.
00:21:59
Speaker
this sort of like hybrid formation come into play so much because the Sounders weren't like building out, they weren't having to build out in a traditional, like what they would normally plan to do way. But I did think Newhoo did a good job of playing sort of like within himself. Like he made a couple runs up forward. Both times I remember thinking like, come on Newhoo, what are you doing? But he was kind of taking what they were giving him. He wasn't forcing the situation.
00:22:25
Speaker
And I thought he looked good. He did a good job marking Barrios, who is a player who has absolutely killed the sounders over the years. But I was very happy with Nuhu's performance. Yeah, I thought he was fantastic.
00:22:44
Speaker
The point you make about he's taken what the defense is giving him. There are very few players on this or any team where if they have the kind of space to make a run like that, I don't want them to do it. I mean, that's and he picked the spots really well. And, you know, he's when he gets into the final third, he is new. So not a lot came of it, but you still I mean, yeah, take that. Take that run all day. If you've got that much base and they're staying off you that much.
00:23:12
Speaker
as long as you're not literally doing it all day right like as long as they're not saying oh let's just like let this guy carry the ball he didn't and it wasn't and notably he wasn't coming into the channel like he wasn't like getting into situations where he was taking the space that you want jordan morris to be taking right wasn't
00:23:29
Speaker
coming flying down the wing and firing and aimless crosses you know it was it was kind of cutting runs towards the center of the box yeah you know it was the kind of stuff that you can you can sort of live with as because he was you know potentially creating danger and pulling defenders out of position and whatnot.
00:23:47
Speaker
And there were definitely a few times where you could see him start to make a run forward, give the ball up, start to make that run where he's calling for the overlap.
00:23:59
Speaker
recognize that it's not the time and pull back, which is not something he used to do very frequently. No. Not to rag on them too hard. I think that in the system, the sounders were previously playing. The right thing to do in that situation is to make that run, to make that overlap. In this situation, it's not. And he made the right call. And so I do think
00:24:23
Speaker
We're going to see more of how the new approach and new tactics look in future games, but I do think those are the kinds of things that you can kind of pick up on, even in this game where the sounders are so dominant. Yeah. And then on the other side, I thought defensively the sounders look good.
00:24:41
Speaker
They were tested a couple times. Yapi got a shot off the crossbar early on. It wasn't actually much there, but he created a decent little chance. The shot he took was never going in, so maybe it wasn't that big of a deal, but it hit off the crossbar, sort of a wake-up call.
00:25:02
Speaker
There wasn't a whole lot going on until much later. Rabbids had a couple decent looks, but Fry did great to snuff them out. It made a couple good saves. The XG for the Rabbids ended up being a relatively big number. I think it was like one four or something like that.
00:25:21
Speaker
So they were able to create some chances, but it just never felt like the sounders were not controlling this one. And to the degree that they were allowing the rapids to have chances, the sounders were in control of the game.
00:25:35
Speaker
Yeah, I think this is a this is a good example. The Rapids number in this game is a good example of why a game state is so important to, you know, having things like exchange context in a single game, because at no point did it really feel all that much like the Rapids were going to score. And they got, you know, they had a couple of decent chances, I suppose. But every team in every game is going to have a couple of those. And
00:25:59
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, the Sounders at a certain point were just not super concerned about things, how things are going because they were pretty clearly the superior team on the day.
Preview: Sounders vs RSL
00:26:08
Speaker
Yeah, so this week, they go from the rapids to their Rocky Mountain Cup rival, RSL, who will be coming to town. Later in the week, we'll actually do a, we did a little podcast with Matt Montgomery, who's running a site that's now called Wasatch Soccer Sentinel. And we'll give a full preview of RSL, but we'll go over it lightly today.
00:26:37
Speaker
You know, RSL won their season opener. The craziest stat I think I've seen in like, this is like one of those hard to believe stats. I had to go back and double check it. RSL has gone undefeated in 14 straight season openers, which is wild to me.
00:26:53
Speaker
Like they haven't been good during most of that time. And 13 of those games have been on the road. That's pretty incredible. That's definitely one of those like, this is meaningless, but it's still kind of stacked. Exactly. That's pretty wild. Yeah.
00:27:09
Speaker
So, but they got a pretty good win against Vancouver, a Vancouver team who looked like the much better team in the first half, but weren't able to put away their chances. But yeah, I don't know. Do you have any hot takes on RSL?
00:27:26
Speaker
Not really. I mean, they are, I think, a very mediocre team. I didn't see, I'd be lying if I said I, you know, look over their whole offseason with magnifying glass, but nothing floated across my radar. Yeah, that leads me to believe that, I mean, they are, there's a lot of clubs in MLS, unfortunately, that just are kind of phone-ended in, and they feel very much like a phone-ended in kind of club.
00:27:52
Speaker
Well, you know, they, they got a new owner and David Blitzer, the expectation was that he was going to come in and start spending money and he spent some, but it's definitely not been as dramatic of a sort of a remake. You know, this was a team that the league was effectively running for a season or two and, and not as much has changed since that stopped, uh, as,
00:28:17
Speaker
As Garth Loggerway like to point out, though, RSL is still finished ahead of the Sounder, played longer into the season than the Sounders two straight years. So I don't know, maybe we shouldn't be too harsh on them. But yeah, it's a team that Sounders should feel good about, like they should come into this game feeling like favorites. And hopefully they can build on this, it would be really nice. Because it does get a little tougher after this.
00:28:44
Speaker
Yeah, I think the biggest thing to keep the positive momentum going is beat the teams that you should beat and the games that you should win. The Sounders, they're getting two beatable teams at home to start the year. And I feel like in past years where things have been a little bit annoying maybe at the beginning of the year, these are the games that they struggled in.
00:29:06
Speaker
Fortunately, in most years they got things turned around, but as I think we all know, last year that didn't so much happen for lots of reasons that we've covered indefinitely. But ultimately, I mean, if they can get six points in games where they should be getting six points,
00:29:21
Speaker
Uh, and you know, take the, take the more difficult ones as they come. And you're setting yourself up for a lot more success when you win the game. That's pretty obvious, but I think, you know, it should be said like, this isn't going to make the difference between a successful season and a not successful season, but it makes the margins a little bit more favorable.
Listener Questions & Sponsorship Details
00:29:41
Speaker
Absolutely. Absolutely. And that's, uh, that's probably a good note to end the segment on. We're going to come back, uh, take a bunch of your questions. You're listening to no idea this.
00:29:53
Speaker
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00:30:21
Speaker
Okay, visit their website at www.watsonscounter.com or follow them on Instagram to stay up to date with all the latest announcements, such as their coffee ruin classes.
00:30:35
Speaker
This episode of Nos Arietes is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of Nos Arietes since 2011. The team at Full Pull tastes hundreds of wines each month. The best of those are included in their carefully curated Once Daily email offers. Joining the Full Pull email list is free and there are no obligations to buy. If you read about a wine you like, you make a request. The wine then arrives at their warehouse where you can either pick it up or have it shipped to you directly.
00:31:04
Speaker
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00:31:28
Speaker
Welcome back to NOS Adietes. So we got a bunch of questions that I'll let you start asking. Sounds good. The first one is from Ian Wiltemeth1. I hope that's right. If not, sorry, Ian. How much available cop space do the Sounders have? Also, the consensus is Nuhu is a terrible offensive player and an incredible defender. So why wasn't the shift to center back in 2023 permanent?
00:31:54
Speaker
So assessing exactly how much cap space the sounders have is always a bit of a challenge, but best of my estimate, they probably have somewhere in the 700 range, maybe 700,000. So they could probably sign like a TAM player.
00:32:11
Speaker
uh, or a couple, you know, kind of higher, uh, veteran, you know, higher end kind of veteran type players. So they have room to do something. They don't have a lot of roster
Team Dynamics & Player Roles
00:32:23
Speaker
space. I think they only have two roster spots open right now. Um, but like the big rumor right now is that Javier Arriaga is potentially on the trading block. I think the sounders are very aware that they don't have a ton of depth that center back.
00:32:41
Speaker
And so, you know, Ariaga is just one injury away from being the starter again, and who knows, he might take the spot back. But that potentially clears up a lot of space, because he's on about $700,000, and then if they were to get another $700, say, in Gamm, you know, that's $1.4 million, essentially, in new cap space, and all of a sudden, you can do a bunch of stuff with, you know, at that point, you probably got over $2 million of cap space to play with. So,
00:33:09
Speaker
Yeah, so that's the situation cap wise as far as I can tell. As far as new who goes, I mean, he's not been shifted. It's notable that they haven't shifted him really to a center back. He is playing more defensively. He's sort of like, I don't know, how would you describe what the idea is here? I mean, he's definitely not a center back right now.
00:33:31
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think he's not a center back in the sense that the sounders are normally playing with two fullbacks. But I think functionally in defense, he's a center back. Yeah, he's just playing wider. But but I mean, you know, ultimately, I mean, I think that Apple had
00:33:48
Speaker
uh, Alex listed as a midfielder in, in like the formation graphic. Yeah. I mean, for what it's worth, the sounders, the graphic, the sounders put out had him had the centers in the same old four, two, three, one. Sure. Uh, but I do think functionally, like he's not playing as a center back, but he's also not really playing as a fullback. Yeah. And, and I think, you know, the sounders are playing a little unbalanced. Uh, and, and that that's, that's a part of it. Like the, just the shape of the team is a little tilted.
00:34:18
Speaker
So, you know, he's not, I mean, I think if you put new who in a two center back formation, he's going to struggle in some ways. I don't think that he, maybe not. He's a super talented defender. Maybe, maybe I'm wrong, but I don't, I don't think it's necessarily a slam dunk the way that I think some people maybe think it is. He's, he's not as big as a lot of center backs.
00:34:42
Speaker
You know, they're just, he's not like a big hulking physical presence. He's not a great incisive passer like, like Ariaga is. So there are reasons to think just sticking him next to Jackson Reagan or, or, you know, whoever is, it would not maybe give you the best results. But I think the role he's playing in this formation where he's a left back, but a very much stay at home left back is, is a good fit for his skillset.
00:35:09
Speaker
And I, and I guess the, it's a, he could have, like you alluded to, he could have moved to just been a normal two back center back in the last year. And I think the reason they didn't go to this system last year is because it takes time to implement it. Like, I don't think this, they had, they, presumably they didn't have this idea at this time last year. And so they spent almost all off season sort of like implementing this sort of new system. So I think that has, that's a big part of it.
00:35:39
Speaker
Um, all right. Well, this one is from Andy Fretwell. He says on a pace to score 136 goals this season. How many more than that will we score with Raul in the lineup? Well, he scored what he scored a 12 last year, 11.
00:35:54
Speaker
You know, all competitions, I think 12, but only nine in MLS play. All right. Well, let's round up because he's, you know, back to his best and say 148. Yeah, why not? Why? Why not? Why not? I do legitimately. I think it's legitimately possible the Sounders will have.
00:36:13
Speaker
Oh, no, that'd be nice. Uh, we'll have three, uh, three 10 goal plus words. Yeah. I mean, I think, I think it's fair to, yeah, I don't think that's, that's outside the realm of possibility. I mean, would Morris enroll and then I suppose potentially, uh, a bear or Christian or heck, I guess Nico could potentially go for 10 goals. Um,
00:36:42
Speaker
But yeah, I mean, I'd like to think that they will have an easier time scoring this year. I definitely think that this team has the potential to be the most offensively potent Sounders team that we've had.
00:36:55
Speaker
Uh, definitely under Schmetzer and maybe ever. Yeah. That's not the same as saying, I think that they will be, but I think the potential is there. They can play up to it. Uh, next one is from murmur zero, zero, zero. Why do you think Jackson, Jackson Reagan has replaced Javier area area. Goodness as the preferred starter. And how do you see it playing out over the season?
00:37:18
Speaker
You know, I I've been an Ariaga fan, so I'm not going to sit here and say that, you know, he's a garbage player or anything. I do know the Sounders coaches have really been high on Jackson for a while. Wade Webber, who's the defiance coach, has been his probably his biggest cheerleader.
00:37:37
Speaker
But there's been a lot of other people in the organization that just like his passing They think that he sees the game really well that he reads He reads the game. Well, he's obviously made some mistakes, but he's got a big body So I think he just you know, he's got upside right now that maybe ariaga is
00:37:59
Speaker
I mean, Ariaka was on the Ecuador World Cup team, so I don't, you know, it's like, he's not a bad player and he is a good passer. But I think this is maybe also just an example of Schmetzer wanting to send a message that like, no one's spot is safe. And just because you were on a World Cup team doesn't mean you're a guaranteed starter for the Sounders.
00:38:23
Speaker
And, uh, you know, Reagan has apparently done very well in training. So I mean, I don't know. I don't know. I don't think Reagan's going to start 34 games. I'll say that. Um, but, uh, or at least not, he's not going to start every game. So I don't know. I won't be totally shocked if Ariagas, the starter, uh, takes him, you know, starts a lot of games.
00:38:45
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think it's not necessarily also between Ariaga and Regan exclusively. It's between Yamer as well. I think Yamer is probably the safest right now. That seems fair to say. But I think there are going to be games where he's out, there are going to be games where Regan's out.
00:39:04
Speaker
And I think you mentioned as well the other day on Twitter, I believe, I'm pretty sure it was you, that you felt like even though the Sounders would be open to the possibility, they weren't desperate to do it. And part of the reason was because Ariaga was happy to stay and fight for a spot. I think that could be a factor as well. I mean, if you've got a veteran guy who is, I'm not going to say happy about losing a starting spot, but is willing to accept it and stick around and try to earn it back without being a problem.
00:39:32
Speaker
That probably plays into that decision making too. Sure. Yeah, I really don't think the sounders are looking for a way to get out from under Ariaga's contract. I think they see him as a really... It's not that crazy in MLS these days to have a...
00:39:50
Speaker
you know, Tam player who's not a guaranteed starter. So yeah, I, I don't, I don't, I'm not too worried about that situation right now. Uh, so this one's from 206 hometowners. Is it really possibly finally Leo two season, man, that is, we didn't talk about that in the first segment. Cause we, we had a lot of probably more important stuff to talk about, but he did look.
00:40:13
Speaker
You look good. Different. Like he's he's had games in the past where you're like, OK, I kind of see what we saw in this guy. Right. But he put it all together in ways that he has not done before against similar or even worse competition, I would say. I mean, he had chances against some pretty bad teams that he just did not impress in. And so I think, yeah, much like the performance in general, one game, bad opposition at home.
00:40:45
Speaker
don't go nuts with any of your takeaways, but I was extremely encouraged by Leo too. I mean, there were a lot of things that coming into the season, you know, you could say these things could all go really badly. Uh, Nico Lidero's health, JP's health, Raul Reed as his health, would a bear be able to, to, you know, fit into the team.
00:41:07
Speaker
Is Jordan Morris just the guy he was last year? And then there were some other things that could go the other way. Is Ebert gonna, you know, come in and fit in right away? Is Jordan Morris back to his best? One of the WoW cards, I think, is Leo Chiu gonna finally figure it out? If Leo Chiu can figure it out and he can put the clear talent and skill that he has, put that all together and become a dangerous guy off the bench and a dangerous rotational player.
00:41:32
Speaker
I mean, that's enormous because I think right now that non-striker attacking depth is where the sounders maybe have the biggest hole. And if you can fill that hole, then you're looking pretty good.
00:41:47
Speaker
Yeah, Lyochu emerging as a viable bench option would be massive. Dylan Tevez was not as good. He didn't get as much time. But if he emerges as a viable piece off the bench, the sounders could go from being perceived to be very top heavy to being really... It's not like... You saw a team...
00:42:14
Speaker
on Sunday that all of a sudden you're like, oh, hold up. Maybe this is actually a pretty deep team. And Leochu would be a big part of that. I mean, I think that changes the calculus immensely. Yeah. I mean, he's a player that's talented enough where if he can play up to that level,
00:42:33
Speaker
He's a starter on most teams in the league. So, you know, it would be, be real nice if he could get that figured out. Uh, next one is from Garrett Amini on the a bear, uh, tip. Do you see a bear in the starting lineup of everyone is healthy? You know, not right now. I don't think like it's a little hard for me to see a bear starting over a perfectly healthy and productive, um,
00:43:02
Speaker
like it's it's just like I'm not I'm not ready to go there but like it could happen like I suppose but I'm not I don't think that's that's not what I'm expecting to happen
00:43:21
Speaker
I would prefer that it didn't happen because if it happens as good as he looked, he's not at a time in his career where you expect him to take a big step forward. So if that happens, it means where it was probably taken a big step back. Right. Yeah, that's a good way of putting it. All right. This one is from Josh on the Sound. Seems like trading a future third ground draft pick.
00:43:49
Speaker
for a drafted but unsigned college player who within a year would be starting over a South American who just made a World Cup roster should be a bigger story. Yeah. I mean, I think that's a fair point. But I think it also speaks to the fact that American people, nobody knows what to make of American players coming out of college. No. And even even even when they went through your academy. Yeah. I mean, and to be fair,
00:44:19
Speaker
A lot of players take big steps forward in their early 20s. And if they are in college and not playing professionally, late teens, early 20s, I should say. And so if they're not playing at the highest level that they can be playing at, it's, I guess, reasonable to not go nuts. But yeah, whether or not it should be headline news is, I guess, debatable. But it certainly seems to have worked out extremely well in the sounder's favor.
00:44:48
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, the, the, I think I, I may have said this on our podcast, but I do think it's, it's going to be an interesting move. Like one of the last moves that Garth made was to basically sell St. Louis city, a discounted international roster spot in order to not select potentially Jackson Reagan. Uh, and that's, you know, that's a pretty big move. It seems to me.
00:45:18
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, it's, I think the sounders probably end up protecting him if they point out, but they probably lose someone much more valuable, you know, and, uh, and maybe they don't have the depth. Maybe Ariaga is that guy and they don't have, you know, this so much to think about, um, from J underscore SSFC, his EMR is passing improved.
00:45:44
Speaker
I mean, I don't know. Small sample size. You know, he's he's always looked good. At times, and then he seems to be good for like one brain fart type pass. He didn't have any of those. Yeah. So, you know, that's great. But I'm going to I'm definitely going to hold off on that one. Yamar is an interesting one in that.
00:46:11
Speaker
A lot of center backs when they keep it simple, but Chad Marshall is a great example of this. He almost never misplaced a simple pass. He also almost never broke a line, never did anything too crazy. Yamer makes tons of ridiculous line breaking passes, lots of great downfield passes that find guys in space. And like you said, we'll occasionally just pass to the other team when he's not under any pressure at all. So interesting, interesting
Season Outlook & Fan Reactions
00:46:38
Speaker
case.
00:46:39
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Um, I, I, I'd love to think that he's, his passing has improved, but, um, I'm, I'm not, I'm not ready to declare that one yet. Uh, drone six, three, seven. Is it too early to be happy about leading the supporter shield race? No, never too. It's never too early to be happy about anything, right? Yeah. The world is bad. You should find joy where you can. Yeah. No, no, does that mean the sounders are going to win the support or shield?
00:47:05
Speaker
Now we're getting a little ahead of ourselves, but like to be happy about leading after one week? No. No, I don't know. Is it my turn or your turn? I think it's your turn. Okay. Sorry about that. From Bill Jones, DRPT, if you could add one depth piece to the squad, what kind of player would you add? And for what position or positions? Do we have any plans to make that move now or this summer?
00:47:30
Speaker
That's a good question. I mean, I guess the obvious answer is like left back, like a traditional left back so that at least you have that in your
00:47:41
Speaker
your arsenal because right now the backup left back is Kellen Rowe and whatever you think of Kellen Rowe he's not a natural left back you know he can play the position effectively but you know he's if new who gets hurt and you need Kellen Rowe to start a bunch of games that's not an ideal situation but the Sounders were
00:48:05
Speaker
Apparently not panicked enough about it to, like they had Tate Schmidt in preseason and he ended up signing with the Houston Dynamo. He actually scored in the season opener. But they presumably didn't feel like it was such a massive short-term need that they would just sign, you know, an MLS quality player.
00:48:30
Speaker
So, but yeah, I mean, I got to think that's the position they're targeting. They, they, like, I know they don't have an obvious backup at right back either, but between Kellen Rowe, Ethan Dobler and Reed Baker Whiting, I think they can reasonably manage that if something happened to Alex Roldon, but left back is.
00:48:51
Speaker
kind of your trouble. I would also say the way they're asking you who to play left back, if Kellen Rowe is being asked to play left back, they're going to necessarily have to change the way. Right. Yeah. But if Ariaga steps into that position. Right. Yeah, that's possible. Or I suppose a Josh Tencio is someone else that they could potentially put there. So yeah, it's entirely possible that they have different ideas.
00:49:17
Speaker
I still think if I was going to add one player, that's the position I think I most want. I definitely don't disagree. I think that having an attacking left back on the bench would be extremely nice because there are going to be situations where it would come in handy.
00:49:33
Speaker
Yeah. And because, and also because like the other positions that you might want to add, like maybe a, a winner, like Leo Chu, I want to, I would like to see like, I'm not like, I'm not like at mid season, maybe you decide you need that position. But like as of right now, I, I'd really like to see what Leo Chu and Dylan Tevez can do with those minutes. So I don't feel like I need to add another player at that position.
00:49:59
Speaker
Alright, we're going to close out with architect Brian. He says, did Spencer keep that gold chain? And if so, do we need to get him another one with a huge clock? I feel like the clock
00:50:12
Speaker
could bring it into problematic territory. Yeah. We don't need the clock. But I will say I love the chain. I love the conversation that it started. If you didn't, if you don't know what we're talking about, ECS did a TFO that I love. I really liked this TFO. I really, I thought it, it, it, it was like, basically Brian Schmetzer looking like a DJ carrying his coffee cup.
00:50:36
Speaker
And with the words, don't call it a comeback, which I thought was adorable. And we like Jordan Morris had no idea. He didn't get any of the references, which I guess makes some weird sense. He's 28. You'd like to think that he'd know who a little cool J was, but maybe not. I don't know. Yeah, I mean, I feel like there are a lot of guys that were.
00:51:06
Speaker
When I was Jordan Morris's age, I was like, yeah, I know who that guy is, but I. Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, he was like.
00:51:14
Speaker
I wasn't aware of him until his like sort of reverse and I'm sure shit. So I don't think it's that crazy that, you know, but that's fair. That's fair. But the other thing I thought was funny is like, I guess those gold chain things, not like the one that he was wearing was a little bit more like a traditional gold, something close to it a little, but like in the NFL, especially like these, like every team has one of these gold chains that I guess fans can just buy.
00:51:42
Speaker
And that's one of the stranger things, uh, but it was a good, it was a good bit. I guess he did keep the chain. He briefly put it on. Uh, I think after the game. Yeah. It's very funny to think of him having that in his house and probably to at least like cherishing it to at least some degree. It's very funny to think of him. Oh yeah.
00:52:07
Speaker
It's like when you give an animal a toy that's really clever and they don't really appreciate all the nuances, but they know that they love it. Not to say that he's not in his wheelhouse. Hopefully he's got it on the mantle as a conversation starter.
00:52:27
Speaker
But I always like to see the reaction from coaches or anyone really when they're featured in a big Tifo like that. This is actually at least the second, if not the third one that he's been in. I think at least the second one since he's been head coach because they also did the rightful king Tifo that was another one I really liked.
00:52:48
Speaker
I remember Ziggy being almost moved to tears over being featured on the all-in Tifo. I think it was the one that he was on. Yeah. Schmetzer definitely seems to appreciate it on a level that is maybe not as outwardly emotional as Ziggy, but you can just tell that it's very
00:53:20
Speaker
I'm psychoanalyzing again, but it almost seems like he has trouble sort of believing it. Which yeah, if a bunch of people painted my face like 60 feet tall or however big those things are, I would probably have trouble believing that too.
00:53:42
Speaker
And like an a bear gave this great quote after the game where he said something like, you know, it's the first time since I left Brazil that I felt like this and I had goosebumps and you know, it's it's that there were quote only 30,000 people or so there, but it was a great atmosphere and it was high energy. It felt like it felt good to be back.
00:54:05
Speaker
It was a lot of fun to just be at Loom and Field again and I'm looking forward to this year. It's a great way to start and it makes me feel very optimistic about the year ahead. Yeah, I think that that's all you can ask for out of these early season games because as much as we can say you shouldn't get carried away,
00:54:29
Speaker
You're going to get carried away a little bit either way. And it's much more fun to get excited about how good the team looked than to dread how bad they looked. Well, and if we can't enjoy the the times when they're good, what's
Closing Remarks & Gratitude
00:54:42
Speaker
the point? Right. Right. And this is kind of the same thing we said last year during Champions League is like it does like winning Champions League doesn't mean you're going to go on and win an MLS Cup, but you should have fun with it. You should. You got to win the Champions League. Yeah, you got to win the Champions League. Exactly. Yeah. And so like
00:54:58
Speaker
Winning your season opener is not winning Champions League, but cherish the wins. I think if anything last year taught us that nothing is guaranteed and you got to appreciate the good times when you have them. So hopefully that goes a little longer. Yeah, absolutely. Or a lot longer. Hopefully we got like eight months of this stuff.
00:55:21
Speaker
Yeah, that would be that would be nice. There's not a whole lot else going on. So no, no, no, nothing good. So yeah, exactly.
00:55:29
Speaker
All right. Well, I think that's what we're going to call it. We're going to be recording on a more regular basis. So hopefully you want to hear from us. I want to give a little plug to our sub stack and we're nearing about 600 total subscribers. We have about 120 of you are paying subscribers and you can subscribe for as little as $5 a month or $50 a year.
00:55:55
Speaker
And, you know, we can't guarantee that's getting you more content, but it's definitely encouraging us to do more of this stuff. And it's supporting our effort to potentially become fully independent. And we might have some news on that. We'll see where that goes.
00:56:14
Speaker
This is shaping up to be a fun year and an exciting year in a lot of ways. It's funny to be saying that in year 12 or whatever it is that we've been doing this.
00:56:26
Speaker
Yeah, this is the year it actually gets good. This is the year it actually gets good. This is it's all been building towards is this. So yeah, on that note, I want to thank our sponsors, Watson's counter and football wines. Signing off for Aaron Campo and Lickit P. I'm Jeremiah. This is no sardietes. And remember, you'll never get alone.
00:56:52
Speaker
Green Douglas fir where the water's cut through. Down to wild mountains and tangents you flew. Canadian Northwest to the ocean so blue. It's Roll On, Columbia Roll On. Roll On, Columbia Roll On. Roll On, Columbia Roll On. Your power is turning our darkness to dawn. Roll On, Columbia Roll On.
00:57:43
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one!