Latest / Tectonic Takes / Episode 161: Outside Perspective (W/ James McLeish AKA ThatMLSBrit)

Transcript

Episode 161: Outside Perspective (W/ James McLeish AKA ThatMLSBrit) · Tectonic Takes

• speaker-0: Hey guys, little bit of a different episode today. Devin isn't able to record, so I thought we'd do something a little bit different. We decided to have James McLeish from thatmlsbrit on TikTok. Great content creator. I wanted to get his perspective on the Quakes, because I think that the Quakes fans tend to get a little bit carried away one way the other. So I wanted to see a neutral perspective on how the Quakes are doing this season. We also discussed a little bit about MLS at large, the Academy system versus the Super Jeff system. I hope you guys enjoy that, but because we do cover a lot more of general MLS stuff and not just Quicks stuff, I'm going to do a separate analysis of the upcoming game against Seattle for you guys. You know, after we do the solo analysis, we're going to cut into the interview with James. I hope you guys enjoy. What's up, Quicks fans? We are here after our 1-0 victory against Philadelphia Union. Super happy to have three consecutive clean sheets, three consecutive wins, and three different goal scorers. Uceni Buda on two, Preston Judd on two, and Danny Mearny, of course, on two as well. So this game against Philadelphia was our most difficult game by far. I felt that the way that Philadelphia likes to position themselves in the midfield really made it impossible for us to get any sort of progression ⁓ through ground passes. and we kind of had to resort to playing Judd over the top and you know that sounds like a bad thing but in my opinion it worked out really well. President Judd is kind of made for that with his speed and power so could have been much worse in that regard. The stats for this game we actually managed to win the possession game by 52 percent. I'd be interested to see how the stats looked in the first half because we just kept noting how difficult it was for us to get any sort of progression through the midfield. They did something very interesting where they took their kind of half wingers, half attacking mids, but Indiana Vasilev and Olavsky on the other side, they went really tight with their defensive mids, both Jacques and Lukic, and also their fullback stepped up and that just made it so that when we got to our defensive line, there was really no options for us to play, unless we played it over the top. And like I said, Judd is very good at that. So ⁓ in the first half, we weren't able to score any goals, but we did look ⁓ pretty dangerous. Thankfully on the other end, our team was able to defend them just as easily. And so we're still able to keep a clean sheet in this match as well. And second half there was a little bit of ⁓ a change with Ricketts coming off for ⁓ Timo Werner this time, where in the past we have seen Preston Judd was the one to come off against Atlanta for Timo Werner to make his debut. And so that meant that Timo played on the left primarily, Judd up top, and Buda was on the right. And Buda has shown something that's been very interesting. where his his play on the ball has been a little bit concerning to be honest ⁓ i i haven't been super impressed with how he's been able to progress the ball or take anyone on or you know really create chances i don't think that's been his strong suit so far in the first three games especially in this one it was a really tough game defensively but his positioning has been the thing that has been super impressive where he's gotten two goals and both of his goals, obviously we talk about them because they were assisted by Timo Werner, but what's impressive about them was that he was able to finish them both on his first touch. And that's not something that's new from Buddha. He is consistently getting into positions where he can finish on the first touch and he has a really good finish on him. you know, if we continue to see A lackluster performance in terms of his numbers on the ball that could be concerning in terms of know turnovers and stuff like that But I do think that it is still worth it to keep him on if he's continuing to get into these spots and scoring these goals Now I do think that this game could have very easily Been a zero zero game. It looked like it was gonna be that way because of how solid both defenses were But with that being said, the debutant for Philadelphia, Giovanni Saquera, 20 years old, it's really hard to not blame him for that goal. A lot of people were also blaming the center back that kept Bouda onside. But to me, the more egregious offense is Saquera being about 10 yards off of Bouda, letting him have that much space. And honestly, he was very fast. Saquera is a very speedy player. He almost got to that ball that Buddha eventually finished. But if he was like even two steps closer, he might've gotten there and made the interception. So it's really fine margins in games like this, but that's where we trust players like Timo Werner to see those gaps and make those passes. And hopefully that continues. The connection between ⁓ Werner and Buddha has been amazing. We talked to Buddha at a press conference after this game. He said that the connection between them feels like it's natural. It's not something that they are necessarily focusing on cultivating, but ⁓ it is, you know, right off the bat, they had a very good connection. So that's really cool to see. Yeah, so more stats from this game. This isn't something that we're super used to, but it does show, you know, how solid our defense was where we conceded 12 shots and four on target. Daniel was able to come up big every time. obviously great to have someone like Daniel to be able to keep these kinds of things in our favor. But it is a little bit concerning that they had 12 shots to R6. But in terms of shots on target, we had a similar amount. They had four, we had three. So not a complete blowout in that regard. But still something to note where this attack is producing so far, but against a tougher defense like Philadelphia, are ⁓ having less opportunities and we do still lead the league in expected goals, but you know, that could be seen as a bad thing if we start to underperform that number, you know, a higher degree. Okay, so we have, if I'm not mistaken, we have six goals in three games so far and in that time we've also gotten 7.55 XG so we are underperforming our XG by 1.55 and so that's like a goal or two we could have scored that we haven't but like I said a lot of that could be due to the first game where Jack Skain missed some really good opportunities that were very close to goal so that could be the reason for that inflated number but right now I'm going to say that this amount of XG that we're creating is a good thing. I'm not going to look at it and call it out as a negative yet. To me, I think it just means that we're producing really good chances in good areas, like we saw for the Buddha goal. But like I said, there's a point where the disparity between the XG and the actual goal scored becomes really high. And that stops being a good thing where it says that, you your, your offense isn't scoring as much as they should be. But right now, I don't think it's anything to worry about. But if we move on to the game against Seattle, ⁓ I took the liberty of watching the highlights for the Seattle match against St. Louis. And it was very interesting in a few ways. I thought that Seattle struggled a little bit when trying to progress the ball ⁓ out from their defense. They weren't super confident in that regard. They're also missing quite a few key players. Let me list those for you right now. So according to Devin, ⁓ Seattle is going to be missing out on Paul Rothrock, Yai Mar, and Jordan Morris, who are all pretty key players for them. ⁓ Rothrock is a player that I hate playing against because he is a very skillful player on the ball. Also, Yai Mar is an extremely physical player. And also Jordan Morris is a player where also very physical, but you know, sometimes he doesn't quite show up. but when he does show up, he shows up. We never want to wish for these injuries, but ⁓ obviously that does play in our favor for this match. So Seattle did end up losing the possession battle against St. Louis. St. Louis is pretty renowned for the way they pressed. Against Colorado and against Real Salt Lake, Seattle won the possession battle with 64 and 57%, respectively. So if we take the average Uh from those two games, it's a very small sample size, but we're just going to do this for analysis sake We add up the we add up 57 plus 64 divide that by two. We get the average of 60.5 and then we Subtract that we subtract 39 from that number And we get 21.5. So what that tells us is that uh, st louis's high press system Made seattle lose about 21.5 percent possession more than they would have against a regular team. And obviously these numbers aren't exact, but we're going off of what we have so far. Now, why am I telling you about these averages and the percentage of possession and stuff of other teams? Well, I'm getting to that. It's because another high pressing team that we have seen is the San of the Earthquakes. If we're able to give them a really hard time passing out from the defense, continue to be a high pressing team like we have been this season, we could see a really good result against Seattle if we're able to not only win the ball back in high areas but also convert those chances. Now might be saying, well Seattle was able to win the game against St. Louis even though they only had 39 % possession. That's true, but if you watch that game they got really lucky on their goal where Conrad Wallum basically gave up the ball in his own box to Jesus Ferreira, a very dangerous player who played the ball across and then they ended up scoring. And with all that being said, it is still going to be a difficult match, but I do think that if we keep playing how we have been throughout the season, we should get a good result against a big rival in the Western Conference. And with that analysis out of the way, I'm going to leave you with the interview I had with James McLeish, ⁓ also known as that MLS Brit on TikTok. I really enjoyed this interview. I thought it was a very insightful for the different perspective ⁓ from somebody outside the U.S. And for that reason, I hope you guys enjoy it too. What's up, Quicks fans? Today, Devin's not here to join us, but I am joined by James McLeish, that MLS Brit on TikTok and MLS Brit on Instagram. James, how are doing? speaker-1: Brilliant, thank you. It's quite late over here in England, but it's a pleasure to be on. So yeah, thank you for having me. speaker-0: Yeah, the complications we had to deal with, you guys have no idea. And with the time change as well, we recently had daylight savings, everything has pushed forward. And yeah, it's a whole thing, but I am glad to finally have you on. ⁓ So what I wanted to ask you about is why cover MLS? As a British person, you obviously have a big time difference as we've already covered. What makes it worth it to you? speaker-1: I do get that question quite a lot, especially over here. If anyone from ⁓ England finds out about kind of the content I do, then they do ask ⁓ why MLS. But I guess I would say that I'm mostly European. I've watched quite a lot of football, especially in England. ⁓ But I'm someone who's very open to the American sport model. ⁓ You know, even when I was like teenager I remember in school I did like a whole project on like the differences between American and like European sport like it's it's I've always been like very interested in it I was kind of played a lot of basketball growing up so I was ⁓ yeah I was into the NBA and so MLS has always been on my radar ⁓ I've always like ⁓ lightly followed it ⁓ and then I would say Maybe in the last two years, 18 months, I've like really ramped, like I've started watching ⁓ a lot of the games live. Like I had the season pass last year. And yeah, this year I've been watching on Apple TV. But I think I got kind of fed up with the Premier League. I watch a lot of lower league football here and I've worked at a few clubs in the non-league and I love that. So I'm very much like fed up of the... the Premier League and how it kind of, there's only maybe two or three possible winners each year and how like uncompetitive it can be. And obviously the competitive balance of the MLS, I find it a really attractive selling point from the league. And in general, I feel like it's just a really fun league to follow if you actually do get invested in it. And I think a lot of people in Europe, if the time difference doesn't, put them off, then it's just that they don't give it a chance. ⁓ But yeah, I find it very easy to access all the games now. ⁓ And to me, it also I would say it felt like like a niche as a Brit that I could embrace. Because I, know, having my experience in sports media over here, everyone is obsessed with the Premier League. And it almost felt like it's like, what what can I do that's maybe a bit different? ⁓ And there are more reasons why I cover MLS, but it just felt like a unique thing that I could start doing. speaker-0: So you mentioned ⁓ that you had Susan Path last year. Has Apple TV's acquisition of the league's rights made it easier for you, or would you say it's more difficult? Because a lot of people are, there's a lot of division on how we feel about Apple TV over here. speaker-1: Yeah, so before it was ⁓ it was split up between like Fox, right? And like, what were the other channels? NBC? ESPN or something? speaker-0: It's... I couldn't even tell you. speaker-1: I guess if it was on those channels, I obviously don't have access to them ⁓ abroad. I guess from an international point of view, the Apple TV streaming deal has meant that anyone could watch it anywhere. And it is now very easy to watch. And obviously, in England, I can't even legally watch. every single Premier League game because of the rules with blackouts. So it is nice to just have one subscription and be able to watch everything. And as I said, before, I believe it was on those sort of stations, I wouldn't have necessarily been able to watch it before live. So from an international point of view, it's been great. And I think it's better now that it's on the main Apple TV deal and not the season pass. I think that brings more eyes to it as well. speaker-0: Definitely that has been a positive change overall I think And you know I have my opinion of Apple TV because I used to not be able to watch the Quake games if I didn't go to the stadium There's no way for me to watch it on TV without going to like you know a bar or something where they're they're playing it on TV because of blackouts and it's like why can't I watch my own team at my own house, but I see you have a quick jersey on I believe 2017 ish I'm not sure about the era but Is that, did you have that before this call before I reached that tier or is it like a new acquisition for you? speaker-1: I this so yeah it just so happens that fortunately so I do collect MLS jerseys and then I like to wear them in my videos because it leaves everyone second-guessing which club I actually properly follow. ⁓ Unfortunately it isn't San Jose but I this was actually one of the first ones I got maybe about a year or so ago so it just felt fitting to put it on for the video. ⁓ Because yeah, believe it or not, can get MLS shirts in the UK secondhand on an app like Binta or eBay quite easily. There's quite a lot of options. yeah, I'm always looking for, especially the ones that have the old MLS logo on with the foot, with the boot. I like the more retro ones from the 2000s. speaker-0: 100 % I agree with that. I think it's it's like has more character to it like the new one is you know, it's whatever but like I love that that kind of I don't know I don't even know like cartoony aesthetic. Yeah, there's something like I said more character But ⁓ are you open to sharing with us breaking the news on who you do actually follow? speaker-1: Definitely. Yeah, yeah, yeah, so it's so the team that I follow most I do obviously my content I cover the entire league and I try to keep it quite a balance but the team I actually do follow is Charlotte. speaker-0: Charlotte, okay, does that have anything to do with Wilfred Zahar or? speaker-1: Actually, no. ⁓ was very pleased when I would say that Charlotte getting a franchise in the league, if anything, strengthened how much I would pay attention to it because I've been a not a massive fan, but I've always been like since I was quite young, a like a Hornets fan and NBA. And that was purely because of their colors, their strip colors. speaker-0: What else is there, you know? speaker-1: How was with I picked? Yeah. And then obviously I was kind of when I got into NFL bit, I'd watch the Panthers. ⁓ So then yeah, so Charlotte just made sense. And it's quite, they're quite, nice club to follow. They do have ambition. ⁓ speaker-0: ⁓ they have that offset. So go ahead. speaker-1: They're often challenging. ⁓ It's nice to follow a team that do have aspirations to definitely make the playoffs and maybe get a top four spot and everything. speaker-0: Right. Zaha's career was, it wasn't like, you know, in his prime, I would say, you know, when he was like Crystal Palace, probably, you know, when he was at his best. But I would still say that he was a European caliber player. So to go after him, you know, that was a really, you know, big statement from on their part. Because I actually, was a kind of full circle of, ⁓ when I first started writing for MLS, I covered Charlotte's inaugural game against, ⁓ DC United and You know, they've come a long way since that point, you know, they had Christian Fuchs and some some good players, but ⁓ no, they they've definitely shown a lot of ambition and they have a lot of character and They had a man of the match ceremony where they they they crowned was it pet bill or something like that? I might be wrong about who that player is speaker-1: And you've got the throne in the stadium as well. speaker-0: Right. It's cool. We actually had, you you're from, you know, Britain, so you know, John Barnes, we had him at our stadium, you know, doing the siren bit and I was like, that's kind of random. Like, yeah, we know who that is, but like, why is he here? speaker-1: Yeah. Maybe it was just in the area or something. speaker-0: Right. Yeah. But ⁓ no. So you mentioned so the Europeans perspective on MLS, you know, in general is not, you know, the best. They kind of see it as a Sunday league, you know, type of thing or a farmer's league. Sorry. ⁓ And obviously, I don't share that opinion of someone who's covering this league all the time. But ⁓ what is your like, how does it feel to be in the midst of that? And then, you know, people will judge you for covering MLS and seeing it as inferior. speaker-1: It is funny because I'll put out a video sometimes and I'll think in my head because I do get views from America and I've increasingly done so because at first I didn't really and sometimes when put out a video I really do hope that this gets to the American audience and the actual MLS fans because often I do try and put maybe an EFL spin on some of my videos or like with Ramsey and Nancy both coming over to Britain that was a good chance to like speak about MLS but also because I guess the whole point of what I'm trying to do with my content is to try and show that there are other people that aren't Americans that enjoy the league and promote it almost to a more international group of people promoted to fellow Brits. And whether it's successful or not, I guess we'll see. I do often think that, for example, the European mind does often fail to understand why maybe there's no relegation in the league. Because over here, ⁓ football is so deeply tied to passion, fan base over a competitive business perspective. And I do think the Premier League is changing in that way, but for the most part, everyone obviously, yeah, it's a lot more like, you've got to, know, even if you're threatened with relegation, you back your club, whatever, you turn up. ⁓ But then obviously that does mean that a lot more ⁓ clubs over here are in threat of ceasing to exist. I know that American soccer has its rough history with clubs collapsing, leagues collapsing, but now I do feel like MLS is at a point where it's very stable. there is not, that stability doesn't exist here and you constantly have clubs getting point deductions, you constantly have clubs and that is maybe part of the game. And a lot of people would say, I'm happy with watching the Premier League, I'm happy with watching the Championship. people definitely instantly switch off as soon as they hear the word, ever less, and they don't necessarily ⁓ give it a chance. But I do believe that the league has a lot of ⁓ opportunity to grow further globally. ⁓ especially because I think it's got this building reputation of being a league which will produce young talent now. It's not like Saudi Arabia where it is purely for older stars or people looking to get a big paycheck. think that, yeah, MLS now has this reputation, especially with clubs like in the English Championship. You've seen a lot of young players go over there now. ⁓ And I think it is actually becoming now like a respected market. for European clubs at least. speaker-0: Yeah, no, mean, it's a leak that gives a lot of time and puts a lot of emphasis on the products that we export. Like, Kevin Sullivan, for example, is probably the biggest and most recent example of like, he's going to match the city because I think he's the best teenager in the world. ⁓ And there's a lot of players that are there kind of in that ilk. ⁓ speaker-1: Look at the Red Bulls right now. With all their teenagers they're playing. speaker-0: I spoke to a know-which fan, I know him through a friend of a friend, and he had visited to watch the Quakes play. He ⁓ liked the game, he said the stadium was nice, but his ⁓ analysis was that our play was more closely resembling ⁓ probably League 1 level rather than championship, and obviously far off Premier League. Where are you on that? You know, what level do you think MLS is close to? speaker-1: I mean, think a lot of ⁓ players could play in the championship and most of the players who have made the jump in the last year or so have taken to the championship really well. They've adjusted really well. If anything, they've got a bit better. A player like Patrick Ajamang or like Ali Akhmed recently in Norwich. Well, like Milanda has gone into the Middlesbrough and been great. ⁓ So I don't think it's far off the championship. However, I could see, I mean, obviously MLS is a huge league, 30 clubs compared to typically 20 or 24 in England, but that just makes it more chaotic. I would say some of those teams that you know, they're fighting out for the wooden spoon. They're maybe closer, a lot more closer to a league one level. But obviously some of the best teams in the league would be pushing at the top of the championship. So I would say it ⁓ crosses between the championship and League One. But I would like to say, if I'm speaking positively, that it leans more towards the championship. And if anything, the proof is that the players take to the championship well coming from MLS. Unfortunately, the managers don't seem to take as well to the championship as we've seen with Eric Ramsey. Yeah, yeah, that's I'd say yeah between Championship and League One. speaker-0: And I think that that is a good answer. It doesn't have to be one or the other, you know, because there's a lot of ⁓ differences, especially nowadays with the L.A.S. season and Inter-Miami being able to bring in players like Homi Tsao and Lionel Messi, the best players in the world, you know, little past their prime, but still very quality players. So you'll see a lot of differences between those two leagues. ⁓ But you mentioned ⁓ with Finansia and other MLS managers who have gone abroad and had a hard time. Do you think that is... It's hard to say, because they're not physically playing, but what is the difficulty right now? Why are they struggling to do better in the European market? speaker-1: It's such a good, ⁓ I think it's such a good debate right now. I've had to write an article or two on like what it is because it is, we've seen these two managers, two of the better ones in the league that have attracted attention from Selig and West Brom come over and it has just gone absolutely awful. it's not helped the MLS's reputation. ⁓ But I would say that to just brush it off as MLS's tactics not being up to par is quite lazy. And I think it's a mental thing, most certainly because if you look at Nancy and Ramsey, neither of them had really had a much more senior role outside of MLS. ⁓ So that was where they made their name. And even though Ramsey had spent most of his career over here, he still clearly wasn't prepared for dealing with clubs in such a crisis. I also think stuff like, even stuff like the calendar, I couldn't have seen either Ramsey or Nancy. just leaving MLS mid-season in the summer. I think they both wanted to see out the year, see out their projects. I know that West Brom tried to sign Ramsey last summer, tried to bring him in. And he basically said, wait until the winter. But then because they both came in mid-season, they didn't have a pre-season, they didn't have that time to really build something which... you're giving it, given often in MLS, you you could come in mid-season in MLS and even if you don't necessarily win a lot of games, it's like, well, you you've got time, there's not a threat of going down. Whereas like, Ramsey came into West Brom, he had to win because otherwise the club are going to end up in League One. You know, if you get relegated, there's so many financial factors that you have to deal with, your wage budget being cut. So, there's so much pressure. And the fan base is so on to you. So I think that it was definitely a struggle to adapt to from MLS to the championship and the Scottish premiership and also a mental thing ⁓ with how comfortable it can sometimes be coaching in MLS compared to, yeah, Britain. speaker-0: Right. So it's probably a mix of the different structures, just providing different challenges, you know, cause yeah, in the MLS, you can, you know, still make playoffs, even if you're not the top spot, right. You're not like, and I believe that for the championship is like the first three or four that are like in contention to go up. Whereas like in MLS, you have like 66 % of teams make playoffs, I believe it is. You know, so it's much different. So that's a really interesting point. don't think I've heard before, but it's weird in that suitcase where, you know, Celtic are expected to, you know, win most of their games. And obviously it's more complicated than that. You can't just say you're Celtic and then go out and win. You know, you have to actually back it up. ⁓ He took control of a team where, know, there's a lot less parity. ⁓ Compared to know MLS in my opinion at least where Celtic and Rangers are the top two teams in that league and then the rest of the teams are trying to you know, displace them ⁓ Anything you say on that? speaker-1: Yeah, you can't go into a team like Celtic. It's like a lot of leagues in Europe. You couldn't necessarily go into Bayern Munich and not win the league. It is an expectation and that's probably not a great thing. I don't think that football should have a league. You should be in a league where you're expected to win, but that is just how it is. Celtic and Rangers, especially Celtic, have just completely dominated. The idea, the fact that there's a team in hearts this year that are challenging is crazy. So I think it doesn't help. It doesn't help that Nancy went into a Celtic team that are very much in limbo. And obviously he tried to instill this identity, right? He has such a strong ideology of how he plays. And doing that, especially without being able to bring in players that might play in that way better, or just having a pre-season to iron out what you want to do. Without that, ⁓ I don't think it was ever going to go well. We've seen in comments made by, like, SOTY players after he left that it just seemed like they never took it seriously from the start. But yeah, I don't know why they brought him in at that time. I feel like it doesn't take a lot to see that maybe he was someone that needs a bit more time, can't be just thrown into the pit of snakes straight away. But of course, it was the end of MLS season. So it was the best time for him to move on as well. So yeah, it's a tough one. Yeah. speaker-0: Yeah, that's really interesting because like we said, you know, he can't play he's not out there and so if they're not taking him seriously, what are they going to do? And and you know, the fact that Celtic is such a giant in that league, it's kind of a double edged sword because like, yeah, you have the squad to win most of the games or so that's, you know, that's the theory. But then if you don't win, then, you know, then the expectation is like even stronger against you, whereas like, what are you doing? You have all these good players and then you can't, you know, make use of them. What is wrong with you? And then the players aren't taken up seriously. That's completely, that seems like something that'll turn sour really fast. speaker-1: I think the fact that his time there lasted five or six weeks, The idea of a permanent coach coming in to MLS for five or six weeks and then getting sacked is absolutely insane. And I think that just highlights how the leagues are different. They're playing the same game, but ⁓ yeah, there's still a... And obviously to play is a bit easier because they're just playing, right? They're playing the same game. But yeah, for a coach, it's, I think it can be a bit more difficult. And that's why there's in general, there's not been a lot of success from coaches coming from MLS to anywhere. And there's not been many American coaches in like the Premier League, for example. speaker-0: There I would say Patrick Biera, but that's a completely different case for a lot of different reasons. ⁓ And obviously he had mixed success anyways, so can't even say that he's a perfect example of that. But ⁓ I wanted to shift topics to before we talk about quakes, I want to talk about the differences in the system. think you touched briefly on it before. so in the United States, we have the college system, we have the super draft. ⁓ And you know that's players who didn't they chose not to go to home gunra or they weren't offered a contract they'll go play for their college and then We we've had the quakes have had players that are you know the the main reason we're doing as well as we are Come through that system like Jamar Ricketts or Danny Muni Reed Roberts a lot of our players come through the super draft, but there's kind of more of a shiny aspect on Hong Kong players. And we do have really good ones like, you know, Nick Kachkara's, ⁓ you know, very ⁓ highly talented prospect who was given a Hong Kong contract at, you know, 1516. And people want us to like be more like the European system where we're looking at that as more of a priority. Like, you know, just bring them through Academy and then give them a contract and then, you know, see what happens. Whereas like Not everyone is really ready at that age. And if you're not ready, like Nick Kishkaris or Cade Cowell, if you're not like a physical freak at 16, then you're not really going to get looked at. then once you're past that point, it's almost too late. But we have like a second chance system here in the States where if you do well in your college team and you're, you know, by the time you're 21, 22, then you should be more developed physically and able to keep up with the, you know, the rest of those athletes. you know, that that's a better, I think, metric to judge a player on. ⁓ And then, you know, having both systems, I think, benefits us massively. And we see players come through the SuperJaff and then also go on to Europe after that. ⁓ Darryl Dike is a strange example. He's not doing the most amazing with his injuries. But ⁓ and also he came through as a sophomore or freshman, I believe. But regardless, what were your thoughts on? you know, the differences in system. Cause I don't think you guys have anything really like that in the, in the UK. speaker-1: No, I mean, as someone who's at a university right now, ⁓ know, the equivalent of a college, right? ⁓ I've been through the first team of the football or soccer, the first team, and there's no one watching it. There's like, you know, there's maybe, I mean, you wouldn't even have family there because a lot of the students, they're family or across the country. And they're not traveling to watch that. And most of those players, they're not ever going to be playing professionally. They're pretty much there just for fun. guess maybe like a lower division of a college, maybe it would be similar. But obviously you have a Division 1 college. They're players that have got genuine prospects of growing professional. ⁓ Yeah, it's interesting that there's been a rise in Academy football over the last two decades or so ⁓ in America, I guess. And it it's obviously does have its European influences. ⁓ But I think there's, there are benefits to both as you highlighted. I mean, in this country, if you haven't made your Premier League debut as a teenager, are you ever going to make it? ⁓ I mean, obviously people do make their debuts later, but you're not necessarily going to make your debut for the club you came from in the academy. If you're in the academy and you've not made a senior appearance for the club by the time you're 20, then you're probably going to have to go to maybe drop down. And that's where the second chance thing comes in. Because the pyramid works, I guess it works fluidly, like you can very easily go up and down divisions. If a player got released from a Premier League academy at 18. I mean, he could go and play in the fifth division, the fifth level of England and still play professionally because the fifth division is completely professional pretty much. between the fifth division and the first, that's over 120 teams or so. I don't know, maybe a hundred teams. So there are still a lot of opportunities and that's where you find, as someone who's watched a lot of football at the fifth and sixth levels of the game. There's so many players that were in Premier League Academy and that's where their second chance comes instead of, like, yeah, I guess going to college. ⁓ And I just think that the SuperDraft is cool as a like a novelty. It's it's cool that they have this system. We obviously don't have it over here. But yeah, obviously it's clear that it's the influence of the draft in MLS compared to NFL is it's so different isn't it like the the top picks in MLS aren't aren't even necessarily going to be playing minutes in the league that they might be in next pro so yeah it's very different I guess you've had a few cases recently of players from England maybe going over to play in college the college system themselves so they see it as a as a genuine chance to have a to have another go, just go and oversee, yeah, to a college. speaker-0: I watch a lot of podcasts like Beast Mode on with, you know, Adabioq and Fenwa and the players he talks to, some of them like they talk about how you're 16 and you haven't been signed to the first team and, you know, they don't have much money to continue, you know, duking it out in the lower leagues where, you know, the pay isn't like amazing. A lot of them for the sake of their family, they have to quit. And that's a really unfortunate reality. They can come over here, and that's a nice idea to come over here and play college ball. But it's not possible for everyone. It's expensive to make that move anyways. And then you don't even know if you'll be able to get in at the school you want to go to or whatever. to have. I'm not saying that like, you know, the Premier League should have a super draft or whatever, but, uh, just something to, to, you know, catch these players that are likely fall by the wayside. And it's really unfortunate because, uh, you know, Antoine Semenyo is someone who, you know, obviously a great player, but he's someone who. I hadn't heard about until he got a little bit older. He's 26 now. Say, say he had to stop at playing 18, uh, for whatever reason, right? That would be a really unfortunate loss to the league and someone who's obviously You know was very important for born misses You know doing welfare Metro City in his own right? That's just an example or Jamie Vardy right and he is someone who was just very stubborn and kept going and you know in the lower leagues But that's not you know reality for everyone where they have to get a job and they don't have time to play football you know and and just hope for the best really, where over here it's really different where they take care of you more in a weird way. And it is funny how you mentioned that the SuperDraft is somewhat of a novelty and that is increasingly true. It's so different from let's say the NFL where you get a number one draft, you could have a franchise player forever, right? and that's where the players come from. Whereas here it's like, yeah, know, Danny Mini for us is great. We love Danny Mini, we love Jermar Ricketts, ⁓ but they're not superstars in the league. They're not like world beaters. So it's a much different thing. speaker-1: Yeah, some of the, I guess you do just in the end get a few players that slip through the cracks because you can only have so many professional players. It's funny you mentioned about like some players genuinely they don't earn enough money from it. So they go and they get, they just get another job instead at ⁓ the highest level of like semi-professional football. in this country, you'll often have some really good players who don't want to make the jump to like the lowest rung of professional full-time because the job that they're working that like as a semi-professional like makes too much money like they would be taking too much of a cut and in general anyone that's playing in the lower divisions even if it's professionally anyone that's playing in the fourth or fifth tier can't necessarily say that their football career is going to set them up for life. yeah, you've constantly got players thinking about what next, ⁓ which is a shame because that might have been a player that genuinely did have the capability to go on and play in the Premier League. But yeah, that can sometimes happen. And yeah, it's interesting what you say about the Superdraft and college. football in general because ⁓ you'll even see like colleges these days it's not like they've just got ⁓ like Americans there they like a football program will have like scouted a player from across the world to come and join their their school doing stuff like that is it is quite yeah it's like insane how these these education systems, sport programs, have like scouting departments and everything because that yeah that literally just doesn't exist here. ⁓ speaker-0: Right, yeah, we've seen players like Useni Buda, ⁓ who is from Burkina Faso, have to bike to Ghana to play for the right to gym academy. And then goes to high school in America. now he's fast forward to today, he's on the Burkina Faso national team. So that's just an example of someone coming from abroad to further their career. thankfully, he was seen at that level. And you know. was given that opportunity because there was probably a lot of players from that area that maybe had a lot of talent as well but just couldn't cut it. ⁓ But if you don't mind, I'd like to cut over to the Quakes because that's, after all, is what we're here to talk about. What are your thoughts looking at the Quakes from an outsider's perspective, having won three games in a row and not conceded any goals? speaker-1: Yeah, I mean, so I haven't watched any of the games in full or live, but I did make sure that I have watched all of the highlight packages for the games. ⁓ I mean, the Corixra team that I had down as ⁓ my dark horses in 2025, when they brought in Bruce Arena, Tisha Orango, ⁓ Joseph Martinez and everything. I thought that, you know, this could be, I mean, obviously they're not going to be the best team in league, but was like, oh, maybe this is a team that actually, you know, has a bit of a bit of a push in the playoffs. I would have expected them to get playoffs at least. But I guess it was ultimately the defense, wasn't it? Once again, that cost the club. And obviously the season before the 2024 season, was just, defense was disaster. So to see Then we start with ⁓ three clean sheets this year. mean, it's only... LAFC are the only other team that have done that, right? It's... Here it is. It's almost... like, funny. Especially because the players they're doing it with were all pretty much there last year. Like, I must say, you know, when I look at the Quakes, it is a team made out of a lot of players who were there the year before, so... Something that I would be interested to know is what actually has changed. I mean, I know that I guess the teams that you've faced the first three games aren't the best and and like, you know, you've got Seattle coming up this weekend. That will be maybe where we really see ⁓ what they're made of. But ⁓ I think it's nice to see a team that doesn't necessarily have, that isn't driven by star power. know Timo Werner now exists and he's in the picture, but ⁓ still it's a team made up of lot of homegrown players, a lot of names that obviously no one outside of MLS would know ⁓ and actually proven like yeah they're competitive so I've been impressed ⁓ definitely. speaker-0: It is really interesting because like you said those those players that you mentioned to Chiruranga, Puzo Martinez Some of the best players this league has seen ⁓ You know and that that's you know quantifiable numbers that they put up and they did have really good seasons last year for if you look at their the gold tallies and Assistant stuff and Christian Espinosa, you know, been with us for a long time you know, I'm still a huge fan of his and he's doing well at Nashville now, but ⁓ You know, it was was kind of heartbreaking to see, you know, the start of the season where we're losing all those guys and not just those guys, but also Rodriguez and ⁓ Bruno Wilson, who we considered to be, you know, really good defenders who just, you know, had bad games or, you know, were unlucky with injuries or, you know, whatever it is. We didn't see them as as players that were deserving of. You know, having considered the most close in MLS history, you know, and that unfortunately they were those guys. And like you said, we had these guys last year, but they were like the number two, number three guys, especially with Roberts, probably like the last name on the center back depth chart. ⁓ But I don't know what it is. I can't tell you, you know, from the sideline, but what we heard them say is that they feel like they're running for each other now. Like ⁓ they feel a sense of togetherness that you can't really you know, you can't buy that you can just you know, hope it happens and bruce arena is He's known as the vibes guy ⁓ because he he can kind of make that happen But also, you know with some of the things that you know, we saw last season He was really frustrating to watch with some tactical changes where he wouldn't make substitutes or he'd play this guy here when he's not having a good game or whatever it is It's really difficult to say or put into words because we just look like a completely different team when really we're just like last year's B team almost, you know. We have like players like Ricketts who, you know, we're excited about last year, but you know, two goals in the first ⁓ two assists in the first two games, that's completely unexpected and you can't, you know, plan for that. ⁓ And Timo has been great, obviously, but in terms of his output, You know, can't I'm not complaining about two assists in two games. But if you look at what goals he actually provided, if he didn't make that assist in the game against Philadelphia, we're still, you know, three clean sheets in three games. We won two out of three games. That's still, you know, a really, you know, good output from everyone. But Werner, who's, know, I don't think it's played a full 90 minutes. ⁓ No, no. Yeah. But I mean, like in terms of like, if you add up. speaker-1: He's not started yet. speaker-0: the number that he's played, don't think it's up to a full 90. And even him, we saw a lot of people who are Chelsea fans or Tottenham fans kind of making fun of us for being so excited about Timo Werner because let's face it, he was a little bit of a meme over there for how often he'd missed chances. But it's just kind of we see sophistication in the way he plays and just seeing things that maybe others who haven't played at that level wouldn't see. And so he's been able to pick out passes like the ones to Buda, you know, no problem. And those have ended up being really, you know, game-changing moments. speaker-1: I suppose yeah, what you were saying about the Verna signing being mocked. I guess I was probably worried that he was being brought in, obviously losing. mean, Espinoza was one of the signings of the winter, ⁓ And Nashville looked brilliant. But maybe I was worried that Verna was brought in to solve problems and it was probably quite clear that he isn't necessarily that player. So I think it's been nice that ⁓ actually the stars of the season so far have actually been elsewhere it's not necessarily been him and they've proved that like yeah he doesn't even need to be on the pitch to produce success and then I shout out Preston Judd you know like getting his couple goals ⁓ and yeah it seems like it is a team of characters who have actually who look confident and like you said these are players that were maybe backups in previous years and all it's taken is them to be given a chance and have confidence and belief in them for this success that you've found so far. speaker-0: 100 % agree and ⁓ You know looking at this Seattle game coming up. I've not been able to look at them too much I've been super busy, but as someone who covers the league, you know more of a general thing ⁓ How do you think that we might fare against them because like you said earlier? We faced two really poor teams in SKC in Atlanta, but Philadelphia not a bad team They weren't in full health, but yeah, so so solid team speaker-1: Yeah, mean, if RSL can get a result against them, then why can't San Jose? ⁓ Is it in San Jose? speaker-0: Let me check that right now. I believe so. Yeah, we're playing. Yeah. On Sunday. speaker-1: because that could really make a difference. I think if you were to travel to Seattle, playing in that atmosphere might have been a lot more of a challenge. But I would say that it will really be interesting to see ⁓ how they handle playing against a team that naturally has more of a plan and has more of an idea of what they're doing. Of course, Seattle by all means aren't necessarily the best team in the league, but they're going to be up there. And they might be competing for a similar position to San Jose in the playoffs. So ⁓ Yeah, it will be interesting to see how the defense handle things I wouldn't be surprised if this was the the game where You do finally concede ⁓ But yeah, no, but I definitely think it's it's a chance to because it's a chance to make a statement ⁓ To the rest of the league because right now like There'll be a lot of eyes on San Jose based on their opening form, but there's always like a, you know, it's just a real deal. I know that you didn't start badly last year, I think like winning like your opening couple games. So yeah, it's a chance to let the league know that you're a real deal or it might be that kind of it's an opportunity to maybe see where, cause it's not going to be perfect, right? Like the team isn't. going to be 100 % perfect. It might have been a perfect start, but there will still be areas of the game where Bruce Arena wants to improve on. So it might be a chance to, like, Saddle might be the sort of team that exposed that and kind of make it clear what still needs to be worked on. speaker-0: Yeah, it'll be an interesting game because I felt that ⁓ for the first two games at least there was a clear ⁓ thing that we had that countered, you know, what they had. felt like ⁓ we have a really high press and Atlanta and Sportingham City. They weren't able to deal with that. And we kind of predicted that, you know, going into the game. You know, you mentioned that like we've it's still early on and we had a good start last year. But, you know, When we talk to Bruce Arena and every time I try to ask him like how do you feel about the season? Like how do feel about the success we've had? He's like, too early, too early to say anything. He doesn't want to give us any, any, any, you know, sort of, he doesn't want to give himself any credit to let us down later in the season, which I understand. I did want to ask you, looking at our highlights so far in the first three games, who's a player that has impressed you other than Timo Werner? speaker-1: I think, I mean obviously it's been quite nice that it seems like the start in 11 has pretty much been very similar. It's been the same players playing week in week out. like the look, I thought that Bolarou had an excellent passing range to him. I was really impressed by the vision on of his balls that he played. speaker-0: I'm glad you see it too, cause we were always talking about both of it. speaker-1: Yeah, yeah, so definitely him. I think Hussini Buddha has looked very lively on the wing. ⁓ He was played, I think I first really looked at when the Afkom was on a couple months ago. I know he didn't actually play much at all in the end, but just kind of definitely that got flagged up that he was an international. But yeah, he's looked lively so far. And I think that, is it Chakras? Chakras. Yeah, he's looked like a very creative player as well. ⁓ And then of course, the centre-back partnership, Like you don't, and I guess the goalkeeper, you don't keep clean sheets for no reason. So Robertson, Mooney have handled the starts of the season excellently as well. speaker-0: such a carous. I think that you named a great couple of players there. It anybody as someone who I Was because I saw him, you know come through to college and I saw him play for the second team Yeah, being up to his inclusion with first team and so I was like guys just trust me It'll it'll be good and he hadn't you know Really felt like he established itself until like maybe late last year early this year And so to see him doing well, obviously is a huge I feel so validated and hearing you say he's one of the guys that stood out to you. But yeah, I think that's gonna be the end of our show. James, where can the people find you? speaker-1: So I'm on TikTok at that MLS Brit and I also have an Instagram page which is just MLS Brit. speaker-0: Yeah, guys, recommend you check him out because I see a lot of people covering MLS as being in the business myself. ⁓ And not everyone has too much passion for football. I don't think that's the case here. I think that James had an actual passion for the sport. Actually, he knows what we're talking about. So if that sounds good to you, go ahead and check him out. speaker-1: Yeah, thanks. See you guys.