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Nos Audietis, Episode 300: Live from Masonry
63 Plays6 years ago
All things considered, this seems to be a good time to be doing a live show. After a bit of a rough patch, the Sounders have now won 3 of 4, and find themselves second in the west and second in the Supporters’ Shield standings by points per game. Their latest win was probably their best of the season, beating the defending MLS Cup champs 2-1 at home.
The scoreline doesn’t quite do the performance justice. The Sounders had the far superior chances on the whole -- only giving up two shots on goal -- which showed in a season-best expected goals total.
It was a performance I think we were all hoping to see from the Sounders, especially given that they were playing with as close to a first-choice squad as they’ve had for months after getting Raul Ruidiaz, Jordan Morris and Cristian Roldan back from international duty.
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)
Thanks to James Woollard, Sounders Public Address Announcer, for doing our sponsor reads. You can follow him on Twitter at @BritVoxUS - if you’re looking for a British Voice to advertise your business or non-profit, please reach out to him.
Want to hear the music from the show in their glorious, full versions? Check out the Nos Audietis playlist on Spotify!
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsor
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of No Sadietes is sponsored by Full Pool Wines, a Seattle-based wine seller who recently released their first book, 36 Bottles of Wine. The ethos of the book, a highly curated look at wine categories that provide exceptional value right now, should be familiar to full pool readers. But there's loads of fresh content, and since it's not trying to sell any wine through the book, there's a bit more of a sass factor.
00:00:21
Speaker
And there's food, lots of it. Fulpel's unique writing style is applied to recipes like leftover Thanksgiving turkey, schmaltz-a-ball soup, and pregnancy nachos. This book can be purchased through Sasquatch Books.
Seattle Sounders Player Introductions
00:00:32
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. Fuck! Hey, Ocean! Let's go! Morris runs right by him and sticks in and slots in him for a bowl. Fantastic for Jordan Morris.
00:00:55
Speaker
Here's Morris! Morris! I'm back in the net! What do the tigers dream of? They take a little tigers. The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle. And the hills, the greenest green in Seattle.
Sounders' Recent Performance Overview
00:01:28
Speaker
Welcome to another edition of NOS Adietes, sponsored by Fool Pulled Wines. This is episode 300. And we're recording on Tuesday, July 16, 2019. I am your host, Jeremiah Chan. As usual, I'm joined by my co-host, Aaron Campo, and our engineer, Lickett. Hello. Today's show is being recorded in front of a live studio audience at Masonry.
00:01:47
Speaker
in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood so you know it's real you can hear all the back I don't know maybe can't hear the back all 300 people there's dozens dozens and dozens of yeah yeah cheer if you can hear us in the back
00:02:08
Speaker
All things considered, this seems like a pretty good tie to be doing a live show. After a bit of a rough patch, the Senators have now won three or four and find themselves second in the West and second in the sport of shield standing by points per game. Their latest win was probably their best of the season, beating the defending MLS Cup champs 2-1 at home. Scoreline doesn't quite do the performance justice. The Senators had far superior chances on the whole, only giving up two shots on goal, which showed in season best expected goals total.
00:02:37
Speaker
It was a performance I think we're all hoping to see from the Sounders, especially given that they were playing with as close to a first-choice squad as they've had for months after getting Raul Rui Diaz, Jordan Morris, and Christian Roldan back from international duty. It does feel a lot more awkward than I'm reading in front of live people. Given all that, how encouraged, Aaron, were you with the game, and how confident are you heading into the final 14 games of the season?
00:03:01
Speaker
I was definitely encouraged. I mean, I think that that first game back when the team gets closer to full strength is always kind of iffy. Everybody is excited because everybody's back, but they haven't played together for months. So to see them, you know, look pretty cohesive, look pretty, I think, decisive in beating an Atlanta team that's not as good, obviously, as last year's, but it's still very good was super encouraging. The score line, I don't think, did the Sounders justice. I think that they easily deserve to win by
00:03:31
Speaker
two or three goals. So yeah, I thought it was very encouraging and I feel good about the last, you know, the last 14 games. So, you know, one of the things I thought was kind of interesting about that game is that for all their buildup and for all their positive play, that it really took an absolutely amazing goal from Raul Roy Diaz to open
Highlight: Raul Rui Diaz's Goal
00:03:51
Speaker
the scoring. And if he doesn't score that goal, how different does that game turn out to be? And that was, I mean, I think that ranks up there with some of the best centers goals ever.
00:04:00
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, the obvious comparisons are to the one that O of S scored against Portland in 2014. That was the one I think, as well as the one you scored against Orlando, where he kind of passed it to himself. Yeah. Yeah. And I think those are both great comparisons. I think especially the goal he scored against Portland, as good as it was, there was a lot of luck involved. And I don't think there was nearly as much involved in Raul's goal. I would agree with that. So, yeah, I mean, I think it's a super impressive goal. It would have been an incredibly frustrating draw if he doesn't score that goal.
00:04:31
Speaker
Because Atlanta just was not worth a shit on the day They just did not play well at all and the Sounders did a good job of taking advantage It would have been nice to see them score three or four because I think that they were capable of doing that and that it took a world-class goal, I think sort of speaks to The the level of bad luck the Sounders kind of had on the day with finishing Yeah, and they had
00:04:55
Speaker
By one site's metrics, they had four big chances in the first half, which seemed high to me. I think they probably had two or three big chances, but certainly there was the rolled on shot from almost point blank range. There was the hairy ship shot on the breakaway. There was Kim Ki-hee, which may have been offside, and I honestly don't know what the other one would have been.
00:05:20
Speaker
The Sounders were doing a great job of creating chances. Brad Guzan afterward, who, I know you're a big Brad Guzan fan. Yeah, my favorite guy. He said the Sounders could have scored like five or six goals in that game. He definitely knows what games like that look like. He does.
00:05:36
Speaker
He, if anyone knows what it's like to see a five or six full game that's, Brad was on. That's true. But Atlanta really did not look, did not look great. And I think one of the inescapable narratives coming out of that game is like, what's going on with Atlanta? And should the, I mean, there's still a fourth place team in the East that are not, they're probably gonna make the playoffs. I don't think anyone would be completely shocked if they,
00:06:02
Speaker
made it to the MLS Cup Finals if only because the Eastern Conference does not look like it has any stand out teams. But it does seem like they are a long way off from where they were at the end of last year. Yeah, and I think some of that's to be expected. I mean, I think that anytime teams are playing in CCL and going deeper in CCL, you would expect a little bit of drop off that lingers for longer.
00:06:27
Speaker
than CCL. I mean, I think we've definitely seen that with the Sounders in the past. That's a lot of fixture congestion. Atlanta has also gone deep in the US Open Cup, and I think that that kind of adds to things. They lost Miguel Almerón, who was one of the best players in the league last year, if not the best player in the league. And they replaced him with Petey Martinez, who does not look like he gives a shit at all.
00:06:49
Speaker
And, you know, Ezekiel Barso last season was their big DP signing. He has not done all that much in Atlanta. He's a young player that, you know, you expect to maybe struggle a little bit, but that's two designated player signings in a row that they've kind of whiffed on. And I think that you can't really afford to do that in this league, especially when one of them is replacing, you know, the best player in the league.
00:07:13
Speaker
I think also going from a coach with a very attacking system, like Tata Martino had, and setting records for attacking play, being one of the most fluid goal-scoring threats in league history, to Frank DeBoer, who is pretty much the opposite, just shows a lack of holistic vision from the organization.
00:07:39
Speaker
a ton of credit for going out and spending money, and they hit on a lot of the early signings. You know, Al Maron was tremendous, Joseph Martinez was tremendous, Tata Martino seemed like an inspired hire. And it's starting to look like maybe the decision makers got a little bit lucky early on, because the Du Boer high just does not strike me as being something that a club with a holistic vision of how to get
00:08:02
Speaker
to where they want to go and how to be successful long term. It just doesn't seem like the kind of hire they would make because he's just not the coach for this group of players.
00:08:10
Speaker
When you look at a lot of the signings that they've made in the last year, year and a half, guys like Darlington Nagbe, who hasn't been bad, but he hasn't been anything like the player I think they were expecting when they gave up as much as they gave up. I think they gave up like a million and a half in allocations to get him. Eric Rometty, two defensive midfielders who
00:08:34
Speaker
matched up against Roldan and Svensson and were mostly invisible in this game. I thought Roldan and Svensson, who I was a little surprised to realize today that they'd only played nine games together so far this year, were by far the better midfield people I thought. Yeah, absolutely. And I think, especially because they haven't played together, I think you said since April, right? Or May, was it?
00:08:59
Speaker
April 24th against San
Midfield Dominance Against Atlanta
00:09:01
Speaker
Jose when Svensson actually went out with an injury I think right and it's so important in a double pivot like that to get cohesiveness and playing time together and so for them to have that long of a layoff and come off come out and dominate a pretty high-priced Atlanta midfield I thought was really impressive and yeah I mean it's you know Mark Kastner and I and you I guess
00:09:26
Speaker
Yeah, that guy who is looking at me in a very cute way. That's very adorable. We were talking before we started recording about Atlanta does not cohesively press. They press with the forwards, but they don't press in the midfield. And you can't give Gustav Svensson and Christian Roldan that much space. You just can't do it. And they took advantage of it and dominated. And if the Sounders are dominating in the midfield, they're going to win pretty much any game.
00:09:52
Speaker
You know, one of the players that wasn't available in this game was Victor Rodriguez. We saw Harry Shipp basically step in for him. You know, I know there's been a lot of consternation about Victor Rodriguez, and it was a funny thing that you guys kind of, I was like kind of in the pre-show notes we were talking about, and I was kind of defending Ezekiel Barrico, or Barso, I don't know if I'm exactly sure what I'm saying. It doesn't matter.
00:10:16
Speaker
And someone pointed out, he only played six games. Someone played six games this year. And for all of the consternation of Victor Rodriguez, if he had only played six games this year, he would be riding around town on a railroad jerk, kind of doing as it is. And I don't have, like, I don't blame anyone. I mean, he's been injured a lot.
00:10:35
Speaker
This all is a roundabout way of mentioning that Harry's ship has actually been really good as a left mid for the sounders. Actually, since the start of last year, there were 14, 7, and 3 in his start, which seemed really good to me.
00:10:49
Speaker
Yeah, Harry Ship is a good player. It's one of the only things Matt Doyle is right about on a regular basis. So yeah, he's very good. If he's your best player, as he was in Chicago for many years, that's a huge problem.
00:11:05
Speaker
Yeah, if he's your 10th best player. I mean, he's as good of a rotational attacking option as you're going to get. So I've been thrilled. And it's good to see the good work that he does paying off because for so much of his career, he looks seven or eight thoughts ahead of all of his teammates and he's trying to do this really clever stuff and it's never coming off.
00:11:28
Speaker
And so for him to finally see the payoff to that has been really nice to see this year. And for him to score a decent number of goals this year has been great.
Player Highlights: Shipp and Morris
00:11:38
Speaker
And also, speaking of his goal, Jordan Morris is turning into a winger. One of the things I pointed out in the immediate post game was
00:11:47
Speaker
He had, you know, I think if you could look at the games that Jordan Morris has had this year where he hasn't had a single shot and you would say, oh, he's had a good game, not very many of them, but he managed to do that. Like I was a little surprised to see he didn't take a shot in this game, but he was very effective. He had, I guess he had four key passes, four chances created, and he just generally looked really dangerous and he didn't have a ton of touches, but he was playing like a real winner in this game.
00:12:16
Speaker
Yeah, and I mean, one of the knocks on him playing wide has always been, he's playing like he's a forward and a 4-3-3, but that's not the system the Sounders play. And I think it's a reasonable criticism, but I think he's really growing into that role. I think that having that role both with the Sounders and with the national team has probably been a big part of that. In the postgame, he mentioned that, actually, that exact thing. Because he's playing the same role with the Sounders and with the national team, that it's making him feel like this is just kind of what he is now.
00:12:46
Speaker
Right, and I think having to play that role in a higher pressure environment with the national team, where I think it's going to be tougher for him to have bad games and continue to get playing time than it is in Seattle, I think that that probably adds to things. So as much as I hate to give Greg Berhalter credit for anything, I think he's done a good job with Jordan Morris. I think that he comes back from national team duty looking really effective. So yeah, it was very exciting to see him make
00:13:16
Speaker
Probably not the most obvious decision, but clearly the best decision on ship's goal, and just to generally sort of be an outlet as an attacking threat on the wing, and in a way he hasn't really been that often this year. You know, it's kind of a funny thing. I don't have the exact stats to back this up, but it seems like the last few times he's gone to national team camp and come back. He comes back looking really good, but then he gets hurt in his first or second game.
00:13:44
Speaker
Yeah. And so it was nice to see him follow up a national team camp where he's clearly gained some confidence, where he's clearly, you know, maybe added some little wrinkles to his game to actually be able to play 90 minutes and look strong. I really hope for your sake that he doesn't get injured, you know, on Sunday. Or tomorrow, I guess. I know, although I guess like 35th minute he kind of pulled up with some kind of lateness, but then you played another 65 minutes.
00:14:12
Speaker
Yeah, I would hope that that was not something that put him at further risk of injury. That would be very unfortunate. It would. It would be very unfortunate. So one of the other players I wanted to talk about from this game was Roman Torres, who, you know, he's been up and down this year, but I think he's finally getting into shape.
Defense Improvements with Roman Torres
00:14:30
Speaker
And by me, shape, I mean, he's actually physically fit, which is not something that he has always been over the last couple of years, especially with the Sounders.
00:14:39
Speaker
And I think we saw a version of Romant Torres in this game that we haven't seen a lot of. He was cutting off passing lanes, he was playing aggressive, but he wasn't getting beat for speed in behind. It was just a very effective version of him, aside from the one really curious decision where he made, just shoot him with 35 yards, for really no apparent reason.
00:15:04
Speaker
But other than that, I thought he was great. If Ramon ever stops doing stuff like that, I won't love him as much anymore. Because stuff like that is what makes him so endearing. He was tremendous. He was great against Philly.
00:15:21
Speaker
I don't think that he's necessarily anyone's first choice, but he's much, much, much, much better than he looked earlier in the season. And it's nice to give Ariaga some time to bet in a little bit, to give him some room to fail if he needs to. It's tough in a new team, you know, coming to a new country. It's a tough adjustment to make and to have somebody like Ramon that can step in.
00:15:45
Speaker
and prevent you from you know screwing with your midfield because that's if Ramon isn't playing then that's probably gonna be Gustav and and that adds another set of problems because then it's the limb coming in and blah blah blah so yeah it's great to see him being dominant again it's great to see him
00:16:04
Speaker
Like you said, being physically fit again. And I'm not going to bag on the guy for his fitness. I'm the last person that needs to do that. But he is a much, much better player when he's fit. So one of the things I talked about on another podcast was this idea that maybe he's actually a better pairing with Kim than Ariaga. Whether you think Ariaga or Torres is a better player,
00:16:31
Speaker
that Torres might be the better fit with Kim at least right now. Yeah, I think that might, I mean I think there's probably something to that. I think Torres is a lot more similar to Chad Marshall than he is Ariaga. So I think, and Kim is very mobile, he likes to get upfield, he likes to carry the ball into attack.
00:16:49
Speaker
Which is a great thing to have from a center back But you do need somebody that can be a little bit more of a stay-at-home defender and Ariaga doesn't seem to be that as much I don't have a lot of concerns going forward necessarily I mean, I think that they're gonna be able to figure out but right now I think that you're probably right that that that's from a holistic standpoint probably the best the best center back pairing
00:17:10
Speaker
So do you feel pretty good about that pairing potentially going up against Portland? Yeah, I think so. I mean, Portland's pace on the counter is scary. And Roman Torres is not always a person that deals super well with pace on the counter. But I feel much better about his ability to do that than I have in the past. I think it's a center back pairing a lot of MLS teams would kill for. So it's hard not to feel good about it.
00:17:35
Speaker
So speaking of Portland, Brian Hernandez is scoring at a rather alarming rate.
Rui Diaz: Best Striker in Sounders History?
00:17:44
Speaker
But he's always played about 700, 800 minutes, so it's not quite as impressive. But I wanted to use this as an excuse to talk about Rui Diaz. He's scoring basically 0.8 goals per 90, which without scoring any penalties, which based on my cursory research,
00:18:03
Speaker
Might be like the third best all time if you correct like you don't count penalties Is is that overstating how good Rudy has been or has he? He's the best striker that's ever played for the Sounders I don't there are people that will argue with that and there's space to argue with it, but I'm pretty comfortable in that assessment Steve Sakawani was insistent that that was a crazy notion
00:18:28
Speaker
Steve zakwani knows a lot more about soccer than me. So I but I still think that I'm the best striker I Oba as much as I loved him It was not as good as Rudy odds Clint Dempsey
00:18:44
Speaker
Wasn't really a striker. I don't think I mean I think that's really where the argument would be and I think he's just more of a generic attacking player than a striker So it's really it's EJ Montero and Oba There's room for disagreement with with Oba I suppose, but I'm pretty comfortable in saying Raul is the guy and He scored an insane amount of goals everywhere. He's been every stop in his professional career
00:19:09
Speaker
He scored a ton of goals and it's it's kind of wild to me that he's never played at a higher level Then then he's achieved like he just seems like a very obvious fit for somebody that's gonna score a ton of goals No matter where it goes, but I'm very happy that you know, he's he's playing here Yeah, he's got 20 goals and 25 appearances with centers that seems about as good as you can ask Yeah, yeah, and this goal I think was one of the first goals that I would say was like a
00:19:37
Speaker
super impressive individual effort like most of them have been just kind of in the flow of the game. Right and I think that that's maybe part of the reason that he doesn't generate as much buzz as you would expect given his numbers. I mean he's not a super flashy player a lot of the time.
00:19:53
Speaker
He is positioning is incredible. He makes tremendous runs. He's always in the right place at the right time He understands his teammates and what they're likely to do in a way that I think great strikers have to but a lot of his goals are kind of on spectacular looking this one was
00:20:10
Speaker
quite spectacular, and I think arguably the best goal in the founders' history.
300th Episode Celebration and Reflections
00:20:15
Speaker
Well, that seems like a good place to end this segment. We're going to come back. We're going to take some questions. If there's anyone in the audience that has questions, our huge studio audience. Live audience. And maybe we'll bring Ari or Mark into this too, if they want to participate. So we may be able to do guests, yeah. All right. You're listening to NOS Audio.
00:20:42
Speaker
Fullpool Wines are based in Seattle, owned and operated by Sanders fans, and have been sponsoring Nota Adieira since 2011. They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest. Their model is simple. One, they email compelling offers. Two,
00:21:02
Speaker
You request bottles that sound appealing, and three, your wine arrives at their soda warehouse and is ready for pickup or shipping. Their soda tasting room is also open to the public. If you're interested in joining their mailing list or learning more about them, visit fullpaulwines.com. Welcome back in Los Adietes, here at Masonry in Fremont.
00:21:28
Speaker
Very good pizza, very good beer, even better company. Jeremy is really drunk, by the way. I think we could go to jail if I admit I'm drunk on the air. Is that a thing? No, it's not. OK, good. It's not in the night. Good.
00:21:45
Speaker
Good. So we have some questions. We might as well start with the questions that have been sent in. And then maybe we'll finish out with some questions from our live studio audience. If you can hear me way in the back, start lining up the microphone way back there. Calm down, everybody. Jeez. All right. The first one is not a question. It's more of a plot it because we never do this on the show. Yeah, we don't do this. 300 episodes. 300 episodes. Who ever thought?
00:22:12
Speaker
Coffee Bike says, not a question, but thanks for all that you do to keep us out of town center SC fans connected to the club. I look forward to listening to whatever you record. Well, that's very nice. Thank you. All right, to a question. They said thank you, so you should say you're welcome. You're welcome. You're welcome, yeah.
00:22:29
Speaker
Jeffrey M. Williams asks, how have you changed in the way that you cover the sounders or as sounders fans since the start of the podcast? Well, that's a good question. I think, in all honesty,
00:22:43
Speaker
I think winning MLS Cup in 2016 took a lot of the pressure. I always felt like there was this sense of I was very defensive about the sounders because I felt like they were getting undue criticism. And then after they won MLS Cup, it was like, oh, if we won MLS Cup now, I feel like we've been a little bit freer to be more critical since MLS Cup. I don't know.
00:23:11
Speaker
I think that's probably true. And I think in some ways that's because... Well, there's that too. I mean, I think for me, it's less like other sports that I like. Not in a bad way or a good way, it's just different. So it's nice to have other sports that I can still be very emotional about. I'm not emotional about the Sounders as much as I used to be, which is probably good.
00:23:41
Speaker
No, I don't cry after good results either But yeah, I mean I don't remember like the last time I yelled at the TV during the game or whatever So and I think that doing this has been helpful but yeah, I mean it hasn't changed that much really other than just like being able to meet players and stuff on occasion which I do a lot less than Jeremiah does obviously but It does kind of humanize people, you know in a way It makes it harder to yell at them. So yeah
00:24:09
Speaker
All right. Here's the marquee question of the night. Matt Oak asked, assuming full strength, starting 11, and which pizza topping or ingredient each pan is. So we started doing this, and I started getting really pissed at Matt Oak for asking this question about halfway through. But we did get a little way in. So I think Nico Lodero is cheese, because he holds everything together.
Fun Comparisons: Players as Pizza Ingredients
00:24:36
Speaker
What was Gustav Svensson as Oregano? Because you don't really notice it unless it's missing. We could. Yeah, either one.
00:24:57
Speaker
Raul Rui Diaz is pizza sauce, because you can have a pizza without sauce, but it's not quite as satisfying. Let's see, who else? Ramon Torres is pineapple. Because of his hair. Because of his hair, but also because he's actually good, and people want to pretend like he's not.
00:25:19
Speaker
I had one for Brad Smith that was good but it's kind of mean so I don't want to say it because I don't actually believe it.
00:25:31
Speaker
I don't remember the reason, because he changed positions. Right, because he changed positions, which made sense at the time. But I think it was also because it's a nice thing to have. It's a great thing to have. It complements the rest of the pizza really well, but you're never going to miss it if it's not around. So it's ranch dressing.
00:26:00
Speaker
Yeah, ranch dressing. Yeah, there you go. Who's the crust? Stephen Fry. Because he's at the bottom. So, yeah, we didn't get that far. If you want to know who, if you want to know what my Brad Smith answer is, you can DM me on Twitter and I'll tell you.
00:26:22
Speaker
It was good so I don't actually believe this or I don't believe it in a way that's as mean as it sounds but so Brad Smith is super fancy Italian cured meat because he's only Slightly better than pepperoni and costs way more but people have talked themselves People have talked themselves into believing that he's a lot better than he actually is That's the bratsmith answer
00:26:47
Speaker
That said, that was quite a move he pulled on Franco Escobar. It was, it was.
00:26:54
Speaker
I mean, I prefer Brad Smith to New Who, but not that much. Not $550,000 more. What's New Who? New Who is like banana pepper or something like that. You don't put it on your pizza and you're like, whoa. I didn't know I needed this in my life. You don't really know how it's going to turn out. But it's going to be fun.
00:27:21
Speaker
yeah still pizza related question dudes be asked what time what team is the stale breadsticks to the Sounders hot pepperoni pizza San Jose yeah
00:27:36
Speaker
I don't know what the rationale is for that. It's pretty great. San Jose's third. How did you vote San Jose's second best team in the league? I mean, have you watched them play lately? They're really...
00:28:02
Speaker
It's fascinating with the man-marking and all that. No, I don't actually believe that they're... This entire segment is shit that we don't believe, but we'll say anyway. Oh Hoops asks, how would you feel with the back three were tactically appropriate of Kim Ariaga Torres with attacking wingbacks by dropping Svensson?
00:28:27
Speaker
So I don't think you would have to actually drop Spence. You could do, I think you could go with that three man back line, but I actually don't, I think it would make Spence and kind of redundant. I don't think you need a, you could probably not have Spence in that. You could have like a Leyva rolled on mid-field probably.
00:28:44
Speaker
Well, yeah, isn't that what the question was, though? Is you would have to drop Svensson to make that work? Oh, do you mean drop him out of the lineup? Right. Oh, I thought he meant drop Svensson in, like, he would drop back. Oh, no. That doesn't make sense. You're right. Yeah. He would have to drop Svensson. I don't think he would have to.
00:29:00
Speaker
I think you could... I think that he can play... It would be, but that's okay. I mean, I think that Svensson can play a more attacking role, he just tends not to. I mean, he was part of a double pivot with Ozzy, so... I don't know. I guess the more appropriate question is, do you like the three-man backline of Ariaga, Torres, and Kim?
00:29:26
Speaker
I like it as three-man back lines go, but I don't want the Sounders to use it. I mean, I think that Ariaga is a better fit for it. I think Smith you definitely would, because you need a very attacking player there, if you're running three at the back. And I mean, I don't know who else he would use over Virdom. He's not as attacking as I think you would ideally like, despite the fact that he's like the second leading goal scorer on the team or whatever.
00:29:55
Speaker
I would, you know, you'd prefer like a right-sided Brad Smith, right? I think that Ariaga is a better fit for a three-man backline than Chad Marshall was, but I just, I always hated the way that looked earlier in the season. I was kind of glad they moved away from it. I think that there are situations where it would make sense, but I think they're few and far between, but I do think
00:30:18
Speaker
If you were in a situation where you felt like you needed three center backs that those three would do pretty well in that kind of a system Yeah, I mean it does allow you to play with two strikers which I Wouldn't want to play like a 4-4-2 with this team
00:30:47
Speaker
So it does allow you to do that. It allows you to get all of your width from the wing backs. There are situations where I think it's appropriate. I don't know that there's a game I'd want to start with that look, though. Right. I guess it would be more of a situation where if Espenson was hurt. Right. Yeah, definitely.
00:31:08
Speaker
Speaking of Smith, regardless if Smith leaves, how do you think the team will utilize Jovan Jones? Is he still an MLS elite left back?
00:31:20
Speaker
So he hasn't played Left Back in a while. He didn't play it at all in Germany, which I think is wild, because I don't like him that much as a winger. I think that there are situations where he can succeed in that role, but it's mostly when you're trying to see out a result.
00:31:41
Speaker
that left backs and wide midfielders have a different ideal skill set, and there's a fair amount of crossover, but it's not a one-to-one kind of thing, and so I think his skill set's much more well-suited to left back. I'm hoping that that's where he gets most of his minutes.
00:32:02
Speaker
But yeah, we'll see. When he was signed, I kind of assumed that meant the end of Smith here once his loan was up. I don't know if I feel the same way anymore, so I'll be curious to see how that checks out.
00:32:15
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think it is actually going to be really interesting to see how Jones is used. I think the Sounders kind of envisioned him as almost like a Victor Rodriguez fallback plan, whereas if Rodriguez couldn't stay healthy, he was another option that you could use. But right now it feels like he might just be a, you know,
00:32:34
Speaker
I don't want to say he's surplus, but I don't think he has a set starting spot on this team. I think he might even be behind Ship, frankly. I think Ship has probably earned the benefit of the doubt at this point, but Jones could be really effective off the bench, I think.
00:32:53
Speaker
I think too that there are a lot of times where you see signings like this happen in the middle of the season and maybe they don't make an impact in that same season, but the next season there's a little bit more of an overall plan that they fit into. So maybe we don't know what his role is this year, but I think it's probably going to be a lot clearer going into next season.
00:33:15
Speaker
Okay, Twombrely23 asks, when should Leyva get a chance to start alongside Roldan consistently when Goose leaves, when Insert Goose replacement leaves?
Future Prospects: Danny Leyva
00:33:25
Speaker
I mean, I don't know that we're going to see Leyva get consistent starting minutes until next year at the earliest. And I don't know that we know exactly what his best role is. Like, it would be interesting to see him next to Roldan. I don't know that he
00:33:40
Speaker
is the more attacking option or the more sit-back option between those two players. He clearly has an ability to get forward. He's clearly a very talented player and I think that's one of the great things about the way the Sounders are kind of working him in is that there's no pressure on him right now to perform and if he wins a spot he wins a spot that's great but
00:34:03
Speaker
I don't think we're going to see consistent minutes from him until at least next season. He's already gotten more minutes than I thought he was going to get this year. I think too that it's entirely likely that it's the kind of situation that we saw with Christian Roldan in his first couple of seasons where
00:34:20
Speaker
he's playing lots of different positions and trying to sort of get a feel for where he is as a player. So yeah, I mean, I wouldn't be shocked to see him even get like some run out as a, as a wide midfielder. You know, who knows?
00:34:37
Speaker
OK, three kind of related questions. Chamber of Seattle asks, do the sounders already know who they're signing this window but just waiting for the opportune time to announce it or are they still looking? I don't think that's ever been, I don't ever think the sounders have slow played a signing.
00:34:56
Speaker
I would love it if they did, because that would make for better. It would be pretty funny. It would be pretty funny. But at this point, there's no reason to wait. Yeah, I don't think they know yet. I don't think they even know if we're signing anyone yet. I think they probably are. But I would say that the last time Garth talked about this, I felt like he was a lot less adamant that someone was going to be signed. And when they signed Ariaga and Jones, it was all about, oh, we left ourselves room for a DP.
00:35:24
Speaker
And there was like, on the down low, they were letting everyone know, yeah, we think we're going to sign a DP in the summer, blah, blah, blah. But I don't know, these last few comments have been much more likely. And we'll see.
00:35:36
Speaker
I don't know. So definitely signing something. So definitely signing something tomorrow. Bill Jones STRPTS asks, how do we feel if the club buys absolutely no one this month? I kind of feel pretty dang good. Our depth has tested and seemed to fare pretty well. Are we luxury shopping this window?
00:35:55
Speaker
I mean, I'm fine with it from a, I think this team is good enough to win the MLS Cup perspective. I think they're probably the second or third best team in the league. So from that standpoint, I'm cool with it. From the standpoint of if you don't sign a player in this window, you're probably looking at summer next year. So maybe that doesn't set you up for the most success.
00:36:18
Speaker
possible. I think that's a reasonable concern. So I would like them to take care of whatever they think the next big need is in this window, but I don't think it's worth freaking out over if they don't.
00:36:34
Speaker
I do think that there are luxury shopping to some degree right now, and that I don't think there's a glaring weakness. What has been the words, the whispers that are coming out of the center front's office is that they're looking at a defensive midfielder, someone that's going to play alongside a Christian Roldan long term. And they don't need that player today. They don't need him tomorrow, most likely. And so I do think it's a little bit of a luxury shopping situation.
00:37:03
Speaker
And I don't think that the teams that are right with them are going to make any huge signings. LAFC, as far as they know, doesn't have the ability to make. They do have an open DB.
00:37:15
Speaker
I'm told by Mark Kastner that they do have an opening key. So that could change things. I don't know if L.A.F.C. is able to make a big signing, and I suppose that makes a difference. L.A. Galaxy are rumored to be signing Carlos Pavone, who, I don't know, that might change things too, but. Christian Pavone. Christian Pavone? Christian Pavone. Oh, God, look what I know. I hope they sign Carlos Pavone, because nobody knows who that is. Right, exactly. Who's that guy? So.
00:37:42
Speaker
I mean, I guess the centers might need to keep up with the joints a little bit, but as of right now, it doesn't feel that way. They signed the joints, exactly. They signed already. Right, exactly. Okay, mhelm727 asks, would you bring Victor Rodriguez back at the same cap pit next year, or is it time to move
Victor Rodriguez's Injury Concerns
00:38:08
Speaker
on?
00:38:08
Speaker
I wouldn't and that sucks because I love Victor's game. I feel bad for him because this has got to be awful for him. He's never really had injury struggles to this degree in his career. But he's definitely of an age where you wouldn't expect him to become this super reliable.
00:38:29
Speaker
Going forward that doesn't mean that he's gonna have the same kind of injury struggles next year. It just means that This very well could be a thing. And so you've got to weigh that risk and that's a pretty Serious risk when you're talking about the sort of level on the roster that he That he occupies. So yeah, I think it I would have to say no
00:38:50
Speaker
I just want to comment that I really liked watching Ari do a two-handed pour. The beer that he was pouring is... It needed a two-handed pour. It's like a magnum of beer. It was very cute. It's not a pro. Victor Rodriguez.
00:39:08
Speaker
Stick to sports, Harry. What's funny is that I suppose there's a world in which he gets healthy next week, and then he plays the last 14 weeks of the season, perfectly healthy, and you go, oh, of course we're going to bring him back, because he's been one of our best players. But as we sit here right now, it's impossible to think that he's going to be back. If he's back next year, it can't be as just kept up.
00:39:34
Speaker
Okay, Kingdome Nomass is having a historically bad season and act of defiance.
00:39:43
Speaker
I think we just let that linger there. That's a joke. That's a joke. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's a pretty funny joke. It landed. It landed. Well done. Everybody did kind of do the squint to acknowledge that we're vocalizing the live studio audience reactions. Right. There's millions of people here. Yes. Shane, everyone just squinted at your question.
00:40:11
Speaker
There was hundreds of people just squinted it. No answer? No. I don't get nothing. I get nothing. All right. Claude Teotonoio. Teotonoio. How does one get a bot asking for a friend? It's not hard. It's really not hard. If you know Python, you could probably figure it out.
00:40:37
Speaker
I think one of the funniest things about this whole thing is that my understanding of the bots that were created to game the goal of the week voting, they're very simplistic bots, right? Yeah, you're just basically programming something to perform an action over and over and over again. It's not hard. How much harder is it to create a bot that games the way it's set up now?
00:41:22
Speaker
where there's a cap to it.
00:41:23
Speaker
And it's very funny to me that people actually got super mad about the bot. I can't imagine having that much. I know. I just can't imagine having that much. You don't know how close I was. I think somebody did, but I think it wasn't as good of a bot. Well, clearly not. It clearly wasn't as good. Well, it was dumping like, what, 800 a second or something?
00:41:51
Speaker
But yeah, it's amazing that you wouldn't. I mean, I guess MLS probably is like, well, it's Patriots, but. Yeah. Do we want to explain it for people that don't? Yeah. Well, I don't know anything about this other than it was done. Walk us through the process of creating this thing. Well, I just meant there was an online poll for Go All the Way. Oh, OK. So the background. Yeah. Yeah. So there's an online poll for Go All the Way.
00:42:18
Speaker
It required nothing more than a clicking a button that said which player you wanted. You could go back in and vote infinite number of times. And this week, Jefferson Savarino from RSL had 300,000 votes overnight. Almost all of them came while all of you listeners were probably sleeping. And we're all worried he has had 100,000 votes. Everyone else had like 10.
00:42:49
Speaker
And also, the first four hours, just already had all the votes. And then after four hours, a real ideas bot showed up. And then 100,000 votes showed up. Right. Yeah, it was it was crazy. And and up it did. Huh?
00:43:05
Speaker
Right, so Atlanta had been kind of doing something similar, but even in the weeks that Atlanta was winning, there was only like 30,000 votes. And in most weeks where there was no Atlanta, no Seattle, no RSL, no Cincinnati, there was like 10,000 votes. And so for there to be 300,000 votes overnight was particularly scary. How many people live in Utah?
00:43:28
Speaker
Well Salt Lake City, there's 200,000 people. They're busy. They're really interested in Jefferson and it wasn't even that good of a goal, right? No. Didn't he win Goal of the Week earlier this season for a similarly uninspiring goal? Probably.
00:43:48
Speaker
Huh, he is I just feel like there was a another week early in the season Maybe that's what it was but where then there was a sounder nominated for something and Well Christian rolled on famously did not win goal of the week two weeks in a row, right? Right
00:44:09
Speaker
One week he lost to an Ezekiel Barco shot that was a nothing goal, and then the other one was a pretty basic, back-heeled goal since then. Shameful. A basic, back-heeled goal. Easy. Mad online. Easy cloud.
00:44:28
Speaker
Okay, two more questions. Ryan M. Baum asks, does Chicago pizza count as pizza, or is it just lasagna with a crust? It's pizza. I know the food debates, like what constitutes real food is the word. I mean, there's so many bad things about the internet. But is it a sandwich?
00:44:51
Speaker
Yeah, it's a sandwich too. It can be whatever. It's fine. I certainly have no... I don't have this strong feeling about whether or not it's pizza, but I really like Chicago style pizza. It's good. Well done Chicago style pizza. It's really good. You can have one slice full for a week. Yeah! I cannot like that.
00:45:16
Speaker
It's also an actual, it's an Italian taco is what it is. It's an open face calzone. Matt from Masonry, what do you think, where do you come down on this debate? You make very much not Chicago style pizza here.
00:45:39
Speaker
I think, am I allowed to swear on this? Okay, I think people who have really strong opinions about stuff like that are really fucking stupid. Who cares? Who fucking cares? It's bread, it's sauce, it's cheese, it happens to be thicker, who fucking cares? That's my thought.
00:46:06
Speaker
Okay Jeffrey Jeffrey M Williams asked if the Sounders won one MLS Cup in your first 300 episodes How many do you predict they will win in the process of recording your next 300 episodes? Well, so it's gonna take it's gonna take if it happens It's gonna take like six times as long because we used to believe it or not We used to record not only every week
00:46:29
Speaker
We used to record multiple times a week. I know. It's crazy. With kids, kids, man. Right. Yeah, so at six, I don't know. The first 150 episodes went by like that. Right. And the last 150 episodes went by like...
00:46:46
Speaker
Well, I mean, maybe if we weren't also doing, some of us, we weren't also doing competing sounders podcasts. We could record more often. Why are you doing that? I don't know. I don't know why I am. I don't know. It's not competing. I just work closer to him. It's all, we can consume infinite. That unfortunately is true.
00:47:14
Speaker
Oh, we have a question for the audience. State your name, sir. Cram Mastener. Whoa. He had that role lined up. Well, I want to conceal my identity from the takes. And I also wanted to encourage the crowd to participate. Oh, good. That's pretty big of you. A little look behind the fourth wall there. Do you think it's possible the Sounders get 65 points? That's 30 more points than they have now.
00:47:41
Speaker
I think it's possible, but it's a stretch. I actually, another guy asked me what I thought about the same thing the other day. Who had a pretty similar name, actually, now that I think about it. And I did the math on it, and I mean, it's possible, but that would be one hell of a run.
00:47:59
Speaker
So I feel like I did the comment on this last week and it wasn't it like if they did play it at the same pace that they did? Oh, sorry. 65 points would be the most points the Sounders have ever gotten in a season. So that's the context of the question.
00:48:14
Speaker
I think this team is better relative to most of the rest of the league than the 2014 team was, but unfortunately the best team in league history is also in the league, so that kind of makes it tough.
00:48:32
Speaker
It's that second-year expansion team thing, man. I mean, it's a huge advantage, and if you know what you're doing at all, there's no reason that you shouldn't be pushing for a points record in that second season. But in five years, men will know where they are. It's true. They'll probably still be really good. Yeah. Any other questions? Anyone got any questions? I got a question. Oh, yeah. Hey, Ari! Can I go in there? Pronounce your name for us.
00:49:01
Speaker
My first name or my last name? Ari Lillianwall. The last name has like four L's and a J, so it throws people. Anyway, I was just wondering... Yeah, well Ari is. I was just wondering Jeremiah's thoughts on the viability of the city of Atlanta as an MLS expansion market, and if he thinks the league and a fan base could really thrive there.
00:49:30
Speaker
They are falling apart in a really amusing fashion. It's pretty great. I love that I still get to talk about this. Like five years later, it's great. And I think it's funny too that you're the one, because you weren't alone.
00:49:46
Speaker
You were probably the biggest dick about it. Plenty of people were saying the same shit. And they just weren't publishing it. That's the thing. They weren't great. Where was Bobby Warshaw five years ago? In Bobby Warshaw. A bench?
00:50:06
Speaker
Slumming it in Sweden. That was a better joke than the reaction I got. I just want to point that out. Still works. I appreciate that. Is that it? No one else? I want to put pressure on anyone. Oh, there's a question here.
00:50:24
Speaker
So you talked about how Raul's having a pretty incredible... What's your name? Oh, I'm Taylor. And so earlier you were talking about... No, Taylor Wimberly. You were talking earlier about how Raul's on this... See, Raul? Yeah, I was jealous earlier too as well. Yeah.
00:50:41
Speaker
I'm here live now. Anyway, you're talking about how Arul has basically been one of the best per 90 strikers in MLS since he's been here. I think also during the analysis you were doing earlier, you saw that Fernandez is on basically a rip-roaring pace so far. From what we've seen from the Open Cup and just what you guys have seen in other games, is that something you think is sustainable? Is he going to basically keep up that pace with Raul? Or, yeah, I guess the comparison between the two.
00:51:09
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think that that pace is necessarily sustainable, but I don't see any reason to think that a Golden Boot type pace is not sustainable. I think that he is definitely talented enough to put up some pretty crazy numbers.
00:51:24
Speaker
I think what's kind of interesting about that whole thing is that he is seemingly a part of a growing trend of players that aren't necessarily from Mexico but are coming from Niga and Meccis that are coming to MLS and you know you saw this guy that the revolution is signed from Tijuana
00:51:46
Speaker
I think we're gonna see a lot more of these players that kind of maybe stop off in Mexico and then come to the United States and Frankly have pretty good Yeah, I mean it's a great place to scout you know it is All right Oh, I think Emily has a question here. Oh
00:52:10
Speaker
Please stay your name. This is Emily. So this was brought to my attention on Twitter. Maybe other people have been seeing it by a friend, Rom. But apparently, Chris Henderson tweeted and then deleted as he is to do. Earlier today, see you soon.
00:52:33
Speaker
Who was that meant to be DMed to? Louis Suarez, right? He also tweeted yes right after it. Like 30 seconds apart. I'm not making that up. And my mind went to probably unfair places as to what those DMs could have been about. Maybe his wife. It can't be anyone from his wife to Louis Suarez.
00:52:58
Speaker
I would really hope that we're not negotiating deals over Twitter, but you never know. Yeah, I do think in the year 2019 that someone like Chris Henderson can make this a habit of tweeting out things that he presumably thinks are DMs. It's not that easy of a thing to mistakenly do.
00:53:21
Speaker
and the classic the classic move is and it's the easiest way to tell is there's like a D at the front but there's not that so I'm assuming he's using tweet deck or something and just clicking the wrong thing but it's still it's pretty it's not great although it's also funny to think of Chris Henderson using
00:53:37
Speaker
It is. It is. I can't. I don't know what you're implying. No, it's true. Like normal people don't use. No one here even knows what tweet tickets and they're like nerds too.
00:54:00
Speaker
Jesus Christ. What's interesting about the Henderson tweet is that is exactly what I said after I slit tackled him in high school. And then yes. You said see you soon before you slide tackle him. Was that our show? I think so. I hope so. I said 300.
00:54:27
Speaker
So thank you to Matt for hosting us at Masonry in Fremont, which has really good pizza and really good beer. True. They forage their own mushrooms. Really good meatballs, too. He foraged them on the way over. While he was on his bike, he was picking them off the brick kilman trip. Jeremiah's actually hallucinating right now. He's not drunk at all. Yeah. So thanks to Masonry for hosting us. Thanks to Popol Wines for sponsoring us.
00:54:55
Speaker
Thanks to everyone that came out, there's like six people, eight people, nine people. Just the people we can see. Just the faces we can see. 900, I mean. This is like by far the most people we've had at a non-YotCon live event.
00:55:14
Speaker
So it feels very, uh, very, it's really personal and nice. And so it's a good way to do episode 300. Aaron and Lickit, it's been wonderful doing this with you guys. So thank you. Sure. As long as the check's clear. Yeah. As long as the big, big checks getter. Um, anyway, uh, I'm Jeremiah O'Shan, signing off on behalf of Aaron Campo and Lickit.
00:55:56
Speaker
Roll on, Columbia, roll on. Roll on, Columbia, roll on. Your power is turning our darkness to dawn. Roll on, Columbia, roll on. We love you. Let's win another one!
00:55:59
Speaker
Mrs. Nosadietes and remember, you'll never go.