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TABLE TALK: Are The Union A Solid Team? · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

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Hey, everybody, it's Jeff. We wanted to let you know we've recorded
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this podcast episode on Monday, April eighth, twenty twenty four, so by
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the time you hear this, some things may have changed, but we hope
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you enjoy this table talk show and interview. All right, everybody, you're
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listening to Table Talk here at the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest
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running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world. That's right, just about
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eleven years strong. I think we got one week left until we are officially
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eleven years doing this podcast show. But we got a great, great table
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talk interview and discussion coming your way. It's all about the Philadelphia Union,
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what has been happening with this team early in this season, and expectations for
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the future. So we got a great guest. Let's get right to it.
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It's great to have back on the podcast. You may know his voice
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from some of the our Eagles postgame podcast shows from this past season. Filled
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in for the guys every now and again, and he is also doing some
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great work over at Philadelphia soccernow dot com to get into this Philadelphia Union team
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and what's been happening early in this season. We've got Josh Schuster. Josh,
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Buddy, thanks so much for jumping on our table talk interview show this
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week. It's great to see him. A friend. Always a good time,
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Jeff. Always enjoy talking with you. It's always a fun time talking
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with you, whether it's Eagles, you know, getting into the Union here
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as well, because like I'm like looking at where this Union team is right
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now, Josh, and I mean, they got off to a slow start.
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You know, I'm sitting there. At one point, Lenn and I
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are here on the show. We're talking about how the start of the season
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was going. And I think at that point they may have been in like
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thirteenth place in the Eastern And again, I know it's early on, but
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now after six MLS matches played, at this point, they're second in the
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conference. They're the only team without a loss. I can't like they're the
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only team without loss. So it's still early this season. But what's an
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early theme of this year with this Philadelphia Union team that I think may or
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that you think is going to continue to grow to give them success throughout this
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year. Yeah. The one thing I like to remind people that's different about
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soccer than any other sport is that the playoffs take place during the season,
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and it just so happens that for the Union that falls at the beginning of
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the season. Yep. So I listened to what you and Lenn were saying,
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and the one thing that was neglected to be mentioned is that at the
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beginning of the season, very more emphasis on trying to move further in the
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playoffs. Yes, they were able to move a little bit further and then
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they got embarrassed, but that's why it was a little bit of a slow
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start. So I think what you've seen really over the last four or so
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matches from the Union is probably what you can expect to see moving forward.
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So I would really say the theme moving forward is thank goodness that the playoffs
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are over. Yeah, Okay, I think that's I'm sorry we forgot to
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mention that. I'll say that right now to everybody, to you, Josh,
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to the fans out there, I'm sorry we forgot to mention that.
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Yeah, But but I think, you know, momentum, there's something to
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be said for momentum in the sports world in general, I mean not just
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soccer too. You see the momentum that I think the Union had, like
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the first two games of the season or first two matches of the season,
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I should say we're a little rough for sure, And now there seems to
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be some momentum building here with this team. What do you think that momentum
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is doing part of what's the reason for it? Well, I think if
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you look traditionally, the Union generally tend to get off to a slower start,
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and I think the frustration this year was the word that I'm going to
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use as consistency. They finally have consistency from one year to the next,
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and that's why I think the beginning of the season, everyone myself included,
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was extremely frustrated, extremely disappointed because we expected better. This is the first
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time Jim Curtin really kept the majority of his team, did not lose any
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key parts of his team, and so we really expected better. But I
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think that it's had a benefit where earlier in the season than normal, they've
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kind of flipped the switch and turned it on. And I think the main
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thing is consistency. I think that's a very good answer there. We're gonna
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need to see that consistency with this Union team. Of course, you know,
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throughout these next couple games, we're gonna get into the next two games.
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You know, at the end of our discussion here, but you know,
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you mentioned Jim Curtin, and we talked about head coach Jim Curtin the
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last time you were on the pod talking about this team, Josh, and
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how this really could be a make or break season for him. How would
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you assess his job and coaching per hormance thus far? It hasn't been expected
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because there have been some lineup alterations here and there. I don't know,
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perhaps perhaps and again I'm not as much of a soccer expert as you are.
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Perhaps, you know, some experimentation here and there. What how do
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you think Jim Curtin is doing thus far and how that may relate to how
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this team performs down the road. Well, Jeff, if I told you
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that Philadelphia Sports Twitter overreacted, would you believe me absolutely? That's what happened
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in the beginning of the season is everybody was fire Jim Curtin. It's time
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for him to go. And we're like three matches into the season. Yeah,
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I'm like, friends, we got it. Like it's a long season,
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Like just hold on, we haven't even hit the beginning of summer yet.
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And I think what Jim has tried to do this year is to solidify
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who he's using off the bench a little bit more, you know, with
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with the getting older and moving kind of into this new role, someone who
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Jim Curtin relied on to kind of be the centerpiece. And I've talked often
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about it. You can like Alejandra Bedoya, you cannot like him, but
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we can't deny that he is an extension of Jim Curtin's coaching staff on the
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pitch YEP and so he has really had to rely around trying to find someone
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to be able to fill that role with Bedoya just kind of coming in.
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Basically he's playing about half the matches, which is fine, and that's probably
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a really good role for him. And Bedoy has been great when he's been
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asked to do less. I think Jim Curtin is still trying to figure out
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who that is going to be. I think he's turned a lot of it
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over to Andre Blake. But Andre Blake has been injured, right, which
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has been part of the problem. So now you're kind of looking at Elliott
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or Glessness and in the matches where they've been asked to kind of do those
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things, their performances have been pretty poor to be to be honest, So
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I think Jim Curtin has really kind of experienced growth in the sense that he
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is learning who he can trust, who he can't trust, and just being
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able to solidify the bench rotation. On Philadelphia soccernow dot com, one of
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your colleagues, Joe Lister, he put up an article recently on you know,
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right after the Union earned their second win. They did it behind a
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rarely used formation that was employed during the course of that game. I was
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wondering, can you kind of talk about that a little bit for folks perhaps
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that aren't as aware of what this formation specifically was and how it made how
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it may look in the future as well. Thought it was a really good
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article from Joe to help some of us understand a little bit more about,
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you know, what this formation was. But from a pure like hockey standpoint,
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can you kind of get into that maybe a little bit with the here.
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Yeah. So, one of the hallmarks of the Jim Curtain system is
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he he plays a system that's similar to Yurgen Klop at Liverpool, where the
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wing backs at the back end are critical in terms of they have to be
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very, very skilled, which is why Kai Wagner has been so key into
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this Union success. They really have to push the ball up. They really
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become kind of like speed wingers along the side. And so basically what this
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new formation has done, and I think part of the reason why it's been
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so successful is it's wildly different in the sense that they're beginning to use the
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middle of the field more and they're beginning to use possession a little bit more.
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Before it was let's push, push push. It's kind of like in
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the NBA. Is probably the easiest way for me to explain it. During
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the regular season, it's always running gun, right, you have people just
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running up and down the court. They're chucking up threes from like you know,
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the mid court line. But when it comes to the playoffs, things
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slow down and it really comes to a standstill, and then defense becomes really
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critical. Well, the good news for the Union is they have really strong
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midfield play. Tinez is great. He's not going to be somebody who's going
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to score a ton of goals. He can drive you crazy because he plays
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with a high level of emotion, but at the same time, he's also
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one of the best defensive midfielders in all of MLS, and their back end,
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I would argue, even with Gleasness and Elliott kind of struggling this year,
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I would argue is still one of the best defensive ends in all of
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MLS, and their goalkeeping is phenomenal when Andre Blake is in there. So
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I would say it's kind of moved into more of there's still an emphasis on
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defense, but it's kind of moved more towards a possession style and kind of
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slowing things down a little bit, which has allowed the union to really highlight
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their strengths and in terms of highlighting those strengths too in terms of the players.
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The personnel that's out there on the field goes into the next discussion point
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here of you know, which players are you seeing Josh really stepping up making
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a difference, you know, whether it be from a defensive standpoint, as
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you were just talking about, perhaps an offensive standpoint, which players are really
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are really standing out to you early in this season. Yeah, I know,
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I just talked about possession. Yeah, And oftentimes I say stats can
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make you say what they want you to stay to say. Right, you
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and I can enter a debate about insert whatever, and we each come loaded
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with different stats that back up our argument. Right, that's part of what
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we do. But in soccer you do want possession and it can be something
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that highlights how the match is actually going, but a lot of times it
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can lie as to who is the more dominant team. One person who has
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been extremely good this year where and I really don't know where the Union would
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be without them, is Quinn Sullivan. He doesn't have and this is what
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I mean by stats. He hasn't lit up the scoreboard. He has one
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goal and he has two assists, and he has seventeen shots in seven games.
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It's really not that impressive. But his playmaking ability where he has been
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you know, the second or third pass that has led to a goal,
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has been incredible. And just the pressure that he's able to put on the
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other team in terms of what he's defending is incredible. His past percentage is
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top five on the Union, and he is really for a really, really
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really young kid, he is doing really really great things and so I would
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say he's probably the biggest reason why the Union are where they are. On
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the flips that Josh, you know, I'm wondering, are there players you're
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seeing thus far who you really want and who us fans need to see stepping
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up more. There's been a lot of there's been a lot of positive.
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There's been again going back to what we were talking about, that momentum that
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this team you know, currently does have here, but who needs to step
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up in order for that momentum not only to continue in the future, but
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you know, maybe to get to that next level. What players are you
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seeing that really need to step up their game. Well, if we were
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talking in the first three games of the season, the answer is pretty much
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the same as last year, which is Michael Uwa. Yeah. He was
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the largest signing the Union have ever had, and he just I mean he
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was so snake bitten. He would have a wide open net and it would
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somehow hit the crossbar right and he just he was cursed. It felt like.
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Well, he now has five, he now has a number of goals.
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He's got two goals in his last four games. He's really kind of
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turning things around, which is good. The problem is sometimes in life we
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can look at Ryan Howard and Chase Utley to bring in to try to draw
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a parallel with different sports for understanding I don't think we realized how good they
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actually were until we didn't have them anymore, or until they started to decline.
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Yep, right, And I'm kind of beginning to worry about Elliott and
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gladsness on the back end. They have been so good and I don't think
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that we fully appreciated how good they have been. And they're struggling more than
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they normally would. Yeah, and because they're really quick? Is it because
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of where they are in their career? Do you think is that part of
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it? And I ask that too because there's one particular athlete that I've mentioned
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on this podcast show over the years who I think is absolutely remarkable in terms
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of knowing who he is as an athlete on a field, understanding his age
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the decline, but altering his game in order to remain relevant within that sphere
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of where he was always very good. And that is Jamie Moyer. We're
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talking about Phillies here. Jamie Moyer was that type of professional athlete where when
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he's getting older, he knew what was happening to his body, he knew
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what was happening to his pitches, but he altered his game in order to
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stay relevant there on the mound, and it's something that's pretty remarkable, and
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I don't think a lot of athletes get to the point where they can actually
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do that mentally, have the strength to do it, the realization that,
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Okay, I have to put my ego aside here and I need to realize
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that I need to alter some aspects of my game if I want to stay
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in the sport. So I mean, is it like that, Is that
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basically what's happening for these guys, and maybe they need to take a step
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back and say, I need to alter my game a little bit here in
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order to really remain relevant and really step things up here. Tough question.
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I know it's not. Yeah, I'm not entirely sure. Okay, I
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think part of it is the system. Again, I've talked about the emphasis
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that Jim Curtin has on the defense, so naturally, if you're struggling,
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it's going to be highlighted if you play on the back line. I think
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if they were in a place like Houston or Columbus, where the emphasis is
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more towards the midfield, they probably it probably wouldn't look as bad as it
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has this year. But I am encouraged by the last game that each of
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them played. We'll see what happens. So maybe one of the reasons why
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Kurtin is moving away from how things have always been is because he's noticed that
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as well, and the last match that each of them played things were better.
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So I'm looking forward to that awesome. All right, Well again,
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folks, we're talking to Josh Schuster from Philadelphia soccernow dot com. Follow him
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on the Twitter slash x at flag guy Josh ninety one. He's a great,
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great follow and again great friend of the show here as well. And
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as we're closing out our discussion here about the Union, Josh, the next
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match is against Atlanta down in Georgia, and then the team comes back home
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to face Real Salt Lake. What should US fans be looking for these next
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two matches to really give us some confidence about this twenty twenty four season and
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what its potential has at this point, because they're certainly potential. Yeah,
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I think consistency. I mentioned that was a benefit earlier on. I would
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say consistency through the match. The Union have developed this habit of falling behind
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it having to come back, So that's what I would say in terms of
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a team. But I'm gonna give one player to keep an eye on for
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the next two matches, and it's Daniel Goazdog. Okay, we know Daniel
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Goazdog because he scores a lot, and he hasn't been with the Union that
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long, but I believe he is one goal shy of Sebastian Latoo for the
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all time leading scorer for the Union, which would be pretty remarkable if in
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this short period of time he's able to pass Latoo, who is, like
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many Union supporters, one of my all time favorites. He was perfect for
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the expansion team, gave us something to cheer for. Keep an eye on
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Daniel Gosdag. We'll see if he's if he's able to do this all right,
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I guess the real question is are the Philadelphia Union a solid team?
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As our discussion here is the theme of this discussion, Josh, I think
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is that they are. They are a solid team, and I think they
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can do some really good things this year. It's going to be an interesting
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watch for sure. It's it they're solid. You know that. The overreaction
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that we talked about from the Philadelphia fans before, it's like it's like the
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overreaction to Aaron Nola in his first part of the season. People are like,
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Oh, he's a bomb? Is he really? Like? Is he
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really a bomb? It's gonna be interesting to watch. I think they're a
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solid team. This Union team is a solid team. It's gonna be fun
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to watch them. Yeah. No, I agree. I think solid is
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is a very good word, and I'm encouraged that Jim Curtin is beginning to
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make some changes. I think it was necessary for his job, but I
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think it was also necessary because when you do the same thing over and over
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again, it's why a quarterback can look good one year and not so great
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the next year. Because the league will adapt. It is their job.
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They get paid to do it. Yep. So it's nice to see that
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some changes are being made and we'll see what happens again, folks. Josh
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Shuster from Philadelphia soccernow dot com at flag Guy Josh ninety one on the Twitter
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slash x buddy, it was great talking to you, and I know that
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next week on our table talk show you're gonna be joining us too. We're
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gonna be getting into an interesting subject matter. We'll leave that as a teaser
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for folks, but thanks so much for joining us this week, Buddy,
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very much, appreciate it. Always a pleasure. Jeff, I have to
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agree with Josh. Yeah, the Philadelphia Union. They are a solid team,
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a solid team as they're moving forward early in this season, and it's
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gonna be fun to watch. It's gonna be fun to follow, gonna be
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fun to watch the various dynamics of this team takes shape over this twenty twenty
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four season. So it's gonna do it for us here on Table Talk.
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Anything happens to your podcast feed out there. You can head on over to
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like, okay, you know United, all right, So anyway, folks,
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take care, have a great rest of your week, and we got
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some great content coming your way, so take care. We'll catch you next time.