Latest / Tectonic Takes / Episode 182: Burned At Austin, Stagnated Offense

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Episode 182: Burned At Austin, Stagnated Offense · Tectonic Takes

• Tectonic Takes: What San Jose earthquake have been thinking ⁓ San Marco on the richer scale of football, I think. What's up Quakes fans? We are back with another episode of Tectonic Takes. Devin, how are you doing today? Fantastic, Abram. Having a I had a great weekend. It carried over into the week. It didn't start on a Monday, it started on a Tuesday 'cause we had the the ⁓ Monday off. So had a four day weekend, rested up, ⁓ getting back into the groove and then off to Yosemite this weekend. So pretty busy, but you know, that's such is life and ⁓ that's what makes things fun is to stay busy all the time. So Abram, how's how you doing? I'm doing okay. ⁓ you we we're starting a little bit later than usual and ⁓ so what I did was like, okay, I'll take a nap for an hour and then we'll get ready to go. And then I woke up like an hour later than I wanted to for my nap, which f felt great, but I was like, ⁓ no, I'm late and then I look and Devin is still not ready, so I'm like, Okay, good. Yeah, perfect. It ⁓ it made up for perfect timing. Exactly. ⁓ so you went to ⁓ some racing event ⁓ I don't know exactly what it was, but I know that ⁓ a photographer that we met on Instagram, Gustavo, shout out to him. He was also at that event. Can you tell us what that was about, what it was like? Yeah, it was like an IndyCar event. So it was the the final race of the season for the IndyCar series. For those who don't know, it's a series primarily in in the United States of cars that look like Formula One cars. and you know, my my favorite driver was is is Christian Lingard. And this was him battling for second position because the the champion was already crowned the week before. His name is Alex Pelot from Argentina, number ten. ⁓ I think you can you can see why he's number ten from Argentina. ⁓ but that being said, it was a really exciting finale. ⁓ a lot a lot went down. ⁓ the w the winner of the race actually had walked up to where I was standing around the podium area and just blasted me with champagne while I was recording him. So that was ⁓ That was super cool to to experience and be like on the front row of that. but yeah, no, it was it was a great time. I camped there ⁓ for about two days and then made a made a couple of new camping friends. So yeah. All around had a blast except for getting Sunbird to my arm, but we ⁓ we've we've already added Suntan to that. So you won't even ⁓ That was the only ⁓ event of the weekend. ⁓ let's start off, it wasn't the worst game. We are visibly improving. I think that ⁓ when talking about how the form tends to flow, I guess. We we think of it like a pendulum. So the pendulum at the beginning of the season was here where we're winning a lot, and then after the break we're losing a lot. ⁓ but we haven't lost in the last two and that sounds better than it is, ⁓ but when you consider that I think it's in our last six we have no wins. ⁓ that's four losses and two draws. You know, it could be six losses, so I that's where where we are right now. But ⁓ it's it's kind of reverting back to the mean. What would that does that ring accurate to you, Devon? I think it rings fairly accurate. But Abram, think of the away points. The away points, Abram. ⁓ no, I'm just kidding. ⁓ yeah, I think what does that mean? I ⁓ any point away is is a good point, but ⁓ I see what you mean. Okay. Yeah. I I think given the circumstance of how we got the the point though, it feels more like a I was like, did MLS introduce yet another extremely convoluted system? They probably will at some point. It's it's it's in the in the pocket of MLS. I'm sure we'll see it. ⁓ but yeah, like we said, ⁓ a a point away is very good, ⁓ although it was super devastating to end up losing ⁓ not losing, but not coming out of there with three points with five seconds left in the game. ⁓ a lot of people blame Floriani. I don't particularly blame him. ⁓ Gun I I think it's more on him than Floriani, but it's really it We needed to clear that ball. We like the we shouldn't be in that situation to begin with, ⁓ is how I read that. ⁓ if you have any more specifics, Devin, you feel free. I I mean, so I'm I'm kind of one of those who may not have watched most of the game. ⁓ I had a huge You were busy. I I was busy and I I actually did try watching at the track, but I had such a bad headache that I actually had to go to Walgreens during the game and I I wasn't able to watch a good chunk of that just 'cause it hurt me. ⁓ but I did watch I think up to half time and what I saw was was decent football. I I think it there was there's good connection in the midfield. ⁓ and we pressed really well. But they just ⁓ yet again, just like Houston, we were we're unable to, you know, to finish our chances. Yeah, and that's kind of the theme of what we were hearing at the press conferences. ⁓ Especially with Bo LaRue, we spoke to him earlier today where I did. ⁓ and and for anyone who who looked at that ⁓ you know, media availability and is like, Abram seems off, it's because I hadn't eaten at all, no breakfast, and it was about like one PM and I I I had had water and that was my whole thing today. I'm not on any fast, I just forgot. So they also told you to show up at twelve. Even though it was really just got over twelve thirty. And then you had to wait until twelve thirty anyway. I don't know if you wanna Exactly, yeah. There there was a huge delay in ⁓ getting Bo onto the actual thing. ⁓ but regardless, I I had no food and I didn't realize that. I had totally just forgotten until ⁓ it was about to be my turn to be called on and my blood pressure or blood sugar was like, Hey, by the way, you haven't eaten today? And so it's just like what you you if you've experienced that then you know like your your heart starts beating super fast and it feels like you're cold. It feels like, you know, you just ran a mile and like you're just sitting down. It it was so weird and I had to like really work to keep myself present. ⁓ it sounds like, you know, s a dangerous thing. I I'm I'm literally just sitting in my car, you know, waiting for the press conference. But regardless, ⁓ basically, yeah, but it was just like We just gotta work harder to score more goals. ⁓ nothing really substantial and this is kind of a an answer that we get a lot from these players, like they don't really know. They don't wanna throw anyone under the bus. And so the answer you get is that like we just gotta keep trying, you know, working hard and blah blah blah blah. So really nothing in that front. one thing I I I meant to ask, but ⁓ the the question was asked before I got the chance was the connection between Bo Laru and Nico Chairis ⁓ has always been something that's stellar. Like they they always look to find each other on the pitch. It's it's very ⁓ excuse me. It's very obvious how well they work together. And in this game, ⁓ you know, Nico s kinda set up Bo for his goal that put us ahead. ⁓ he it didn't seem like he meant to. He just kinda like trapped the pass and then Bo came and took it back from him. ⁓ and then he took a shot and then it went in. But ⁓ that's a the the connection between them has been something that has led to a lot of success in the past and it hasn't really in my opinion been at a hundred percent ⁓ since Nico come back from injury. It's just his his connection getting back into the team, getting situated at the heart of the midfield. It taken some time. It's good. It's not bad. Like I'm not saying that like ⁓ Nico's off or anything. It's just not where it was before. ⁓ and so I wanted to ask Bo about that. He said that yeah, Nico's a great player, we like Nico try to find each other. Blah blah blah blah. Not nothing like Bo's not giving us anything there. But I wanna hear your ⁓ perspective on that, Devin. ⁓ after watching you not not just from this last game but the few games that that Nico has played since coming back. Do you think that he is a hundred percent integrated into the team yet? I think it's more of like a sixty sixty five percent integration. ⁓ I think we we can all unanimously agree that Nico is a a huge talent for us and and acts like a DP in most cases. I do think with his absence in the long run, it affected the team chemistry on his return. And it seemed like to me that, you know, Nico is trying to find rhythm and and a good cohesive connection with the rest of his midfield teammates. ⁓ with the inclusion of of Levin, ⁓ I think he he and Luvin are trying to you know, trying to try to figure each other out. It ⁓ as as you get new teammates, you have to build that bond with someone. ⁓ given that Nico's had this bond for at least a year with most of his other teammates, when you acquire a new teammate who works alongside you, you have to get to know them as a person, as a player, their their playstyle preferences. It takes some time. I'm not asking necessarily for time, but I think with a new player with such quality like Livin, I think Nico and Livin would work great together. They just need time to mesh and and work well ⁓ and and build that team chemistry like we've like we see, you know, with with Bo and and Nico. But even the connection between Bo and Nico is is still, you know, in repair. as I think, you know, with with many of the other teammates and and wingers that Nico is connected with. I think ⁓ the strongest connection that Nico has right now, with personally, is is Jamar Ricketts on the left hand side. I think Nico Nico finds Jamar quite often wide open on the left hand side. He loves utilizing the left hand side. But for the most part, ⁓ I don't know. I I I don't see I wish to see more out of Nico in terms of like one v one take ons and and forward dribbles. I don't see too much of that. I think I see a lot of passes to the width, which is good. A lot of short passes and and you know, stretching the field is is great great work by Nico, but ⁓ I I don't see much out of the one v one take ons and and ⁓ forward dribbles as much as we used to before his entry. Is that something that you see, Abram? Yeah, definitely. I think that Nico is somebody who He was never like extremely fast or anything. ⁓ I wouldn't say he's slow, he's like pretty average for ⁓ a cam, I guess. ⁓ But we saw a lot more explosive movements ⁓ from him in the past where he would like, you know, take a step and then have ⁓ a step of space and then do something with that. or he would run out of defender and then, you know, make them commit one way or the other. Things like that is what we're not seeing. He's playing it a lot safer. and part of me worries about that being a thing because of his injury is just not having a lot of explosiveness in that kind of step when you're when you're, you know, facing a man you you have to quickly move in a direction. And ⁓ it seems like when he tries it it doesn't really come off and the rest of the time he's not tr wanting to try it. I think that he he you know, he says either a hundred percent. I can only, you know, listen to what he says. But ⁓ th that's definitely something that's missing. I think that it really destabilizes ⁓ defense when you have somebody who's able to ⁓ you know, put them on their back foot like that. And he hasn't really been doing that. It's just been like there's a pass over there, pass it over there. You know, the simple things. And that's great. The basics it's great that he's doing that, but the things that make Nico a special player in this league are, you know, just shifting the balance of the defence. Like whether it's a pass or a dribble or both. it hasn't been really present in his game since he's come back. It's been very, you know, safe. ⁓ and and ⁓ that that it it's sad to see a little bit 'cause ⁓ you know that he wants to do better, ⁓ but hopefully it's just him like, you know, reacclimating to the game, ⁓ rather than ⁓ You know, this is Nico now. I don't really think that's the case. ⁓ because it's still pretty early on. He's not been playing ninety minutes that often, right? It it's like within five games of him coming back at this point. ⁓ I'd be interested to see how he plays against San Diego, ⁓ after this like, you know, short turnaround. ⁓ see if he even starts that. I don't know what his load is like, but they did ⁓ mention that they are managing his load a little bit ⁓ in the press conference, after the match. ⁓ so yeah, ⁓ jury's still out, I guess, on Nico Shakaris. ⁓ but that Boluru goal, wonderful strike, I did not see that coming, but I know our friends at WAA T V they've heard so much about Boluru and then he goes in and scores one like this on them. ⁓ what do you think of that goal? Yeah, we've definitely been praising him every time we've had ⁓ A T V on on not just our podcast, but you know, any time there's There's a visitation from us over to the other side, ⁓ if there ever is. at any given chance, we will always support Boluru. But yeah, what a great goal. I think it caught us all off guard, really, because you know, in the video you can clearly see Bo Laru is is marked by like three or four different Austin players. You would think he's gonna cut it back, maybe play it backwards to an open player and and and kinda draw Austin's defense out. But he just says, nah, screw this. I'm Bolaroo. I can shoot from outside the box. I'm gonna go for it. Sure enough, he scores, but it was inside the box, I think. ⁓ either way. He bangs one in, far post. Low driven shot. It's exactly what you see out of a striker. Nonetheless a midfielder from Bolaroo. Exactly. No and and the strikers aren't shooting, so why shouldn't he? ⁓ honestly it's like maybe put him up there false nine just Just tell him like I don't want you to do anything, but when you get the ball shoot, maybe maybe it'll work. I don't think so. I'm not advocating for that, but ⁓ it would be funny. ⁓ You do make a good point though, Abram. So I I had just looked up San Jose Earthquake's results. ⁓ and I was looking through our thread of goal scorers for every game. We haven't had many goal scorers recently. Obviously we had the two goals versus Cincinnati, but the last time, apart from Timo Werner, that a ⁓ a striker or an attacker has scored for us was away versus Portland when we won three one before the World Cup. Preston Judd had his brace. ⁓ most of the goals that that have come from our team are from midfielders and defenders. We haven't had Ford step up and and actually be clinical for us. ⁓ and I think that that's very evident in our score lines and you know our our attack is is just very absent. Yeah, i it it's kind of like a double edged sword with this new formation is that we've only conceded twice, but we can't score at all. And I mean it's not even just this formation. It's even before when we were, you know after we came back from break, we used couldn't seem to find the back of the net. And ⁓ it doesn't really matter what formation we're using, except this one we're able to defend better for whatever reason. ⁓ so obviously I prefer that. I prefer drawing to losing, for sure, any day of the week. But ⁓ we do need to get back to winning ways to get a good playoff ⁓ position. And then once we're in the playoffs, like we need to play good then too, right? It's not just getting to the playoffs. ⁓ so it it it is very ⁓ scary. We we haven't seen anything from ⁓ Jumanovich. and that's some a player that we would love to see more from. We were talking about it last week where just like it's not that he's like playing amazing or playing terribly, it's just I wanna see what he could do and we're not getting the chance. We started Buddha up front again and guess what? Didn't really work out. ⁓ I don't know if he got any shots on target. I don't have these stats in front of me. ⁓ and Preston Judd came on, I think, for a little bit and ⁓ I don't remember seeing him do anything substantial. ⁓ I ⁓ he pushed a center back off the pitch, ⁓ as he likes to do. But ⁓ that shouldn't be your highlight of the match. ⁓ and we we spoke enough about Judd in last week's episode. ⁓ but, you know, Devin I before we started this episode we're like, Well there's not really much else to say. You know, like it's kind of the same story. ⁓ and All the points that we made last week are still prevalent today. ⁓ thoughts on that, Devin? Yeah, a hundred percent. I think ⁓ it's the same same situation, you know. goalkeeper doesn't doesn't have much to do when you don't have many shots on on target against you. ⁓ but when you get that singular shot on target that's faced directly at you and you somehow manage to jump over the goal in an attempt to save a low driven shot. You're bound to concede. ⁓ you know, I think I think the the game versus Houston, there was there was a good connection and cohesiveness on the back line. ⁓ and and maybe that had to do with a a ⁓ communication from from the goalkeeper. I I I'm I'm speculating here because I d I don't know what technically happens on the field and what's communicated back and forth just yet. but I I don't I don't think communication matters when When your own goalkeeper decides to leap over a ball rather than actually save it with his foot. I I'm genuinely stunned at the last second goal conceded in the Austin game. It was ⁓ it was a weird one. ⁓ because I I know that he struggles with low driven shots and like he's not gonna get to all of them. He is very high up there. But It felt like his leg was right there. and I don't know, just didn't utilize it well enough. I I would say it's it's poor form. ⁓ and not like in terms of how he's performing, but when you're, you know, going through goalkeeper training, it's like you do this like this. And keepers have a form like they they use and you see different forms in different places, but they they generally want to accomplish the same things. We saw ⁓ David De Gea would often, you know, use his feet to to make the saves and a lot of people were upset about that, but it saved them a lot of games. and I I don't see who else to blame there. I I don't blame Feloriani. He he you know he has to to dive across and he does his best to do that, but as a defender you can't really do that much more to get in front of a shot. I don't think there is more he can do. He did the thing that I would have wanted him to do. Just the shot didn't go at him. It went, you know, in between him and and the keeper and the keeper has to put his leg out. The keeper tried, but it was just it was kinda wobbly. It was like too high. I don't know. It it's a really disappointing way to end the match. ⁓ I thought we were the better team. ⁓ I'm it's disappointing we couldn't get a hold of ⁓ Nico a at WATV because we would have loved to hear their perspective on this match. I did hear that they were vaccinated about Bolaru scoring, but other than that, ⁓ I I would love to see them challenge, you know, that that viewpoint of us being the better team because I think it was pretty clear to see that we we had control of everything but we weren't able to score any goals. We we controlled the game but we wouldn't we weren't very dangerous. And that's something that I pointed out before we started the game against Houston, where I'm like, hey This is a lot of ball control in the midfield. ⁓ but it's not a lot of bite. There's no there's nobody who's gonna score. It's is players who are gonna move the ball around and that's it. And we we do move the ball around. We we have we look very good in this formation, but it's just to win a soccer game you have to score the soccer goals. Yeah, it's very simple, right? Yeah, it is. And and looking at the match from someone who barely watch the game. You know, I'm looking at the stats here and and it does look like Austin FC kind of had more it had more they had more possession and they had a higher expected goals number with more total shots. But also the match momentum ⁓ breakdown shows that the earthquakes had more opportunities on in possession than than Austin did despite The fact that Austin led in expected goals. ⁓ so it's very conflicting and it seem it it seems very fifty-fifty. ⁓ whereas, you know, anytime we watch the Quakes, they they they love to hold possession and they love to dominate going, you know, w with their lado lateral play. I I'm not exactly sure where we need to improve the most, other than the fact that our nine has been quite absent since May. Yeah, and that that doesn't just include Buddha. It's all of them. It's ⁓ when Judd comes on a striker he doesn't look very good either. And nobody else is really, you know, stepping up to score and not that is their job. But ⁓ we need goals to come from somewhere and there's nobody, you know, that's really able to do that for us. ⁓ I'm I'm pulling up Fot Mob here to to look at the stats you mentioned. ⁓ But I I I fear even looking at the stats I'm just gonna you know I I'm just gonna be like reaffirmed in that. My my light fell down. ⁓ but it's all good. You guys you guys get it. ⁓ And and you know, seeing here the the stats don't it's not like they blew us away in X G. They scored ⁓ a goal that I think would be considered higher X G. ⁓ so e X G on their goal and then ninety sixth minute was X G ⁓ point zero eight. ⁓ but yeah, point zero eight and then ours point zero five. ⁓ and then we look at t total shot, they had six more. So when you're thinking about, you know, how good of a chance each shot is, ⁓ and they have more shots and we have almost the same amount of XG total, that that kind of puts it in a different perspective, in my opinion. Where they might they only have more X G because they have more chances, but each individual chance wasn't necessarily you know, way better than any of our chances. They just had a lot more of them. ⁓ they had ⁓ the same amount on target. So that tells you something there is like they're not really blowing us away. They're just, you know, taking a lot of shots at us. ⁓ but also there's a lot of shots inside the box and that's not really what you want to see there. ⁓ big chances missed. I see that ⁓ We both had two big chances and we both missed two big chances. I can't say which ones those are or what they consider the big chances to be on Fot Mob. That's kind of whereas like as as a stat person, it's like the the I test people would be like, Well what do the big chance constitute as? Like, I don't know. I don't know either. 'Cause that's not up to me. I'm not the one that decides that. ⁓ but regardless, ⁓ I think that, you know I I'm glad you brought up the stats and I'm glad I looked at them because This kind of reaffirms the eye test for me and honestly if stats can't be backed up by the eye test, then it's kind of not that useful. ⁓ But no, they had more possession, ⁓ which is something that I'm ⁓ you know, surprised to see. I thought that we held the ball better, ⁓ than than, you know, I guess is the case. But ⁓ No, th there's not too much to say about this match. ⁓ somebody who was very scary for me was ⁓ John Gallagher because I I mentioned before ⁓ that this formation its weakness is fast players that can run on the wide areas of the pitch. So John Gallagher is exactly that and we saw him a lot of times getting ⁓ those runs in behind and running out of defense. ⁓ who who's that player for Seattle, Devin, who is very fast And ⁓ we wanted him at the beginning of the season but we didn't end up getting him. I think ⁓ Rothrock. Yes, yeah, Rothrock is is the name. I was thinking Jordan Or Jordan Morris, but Yeah, no, we're good on that. but Rothrock is a player that I I love to watch and I hate playing against him because he's so effective. He's very fast as well. ⁓ so that kind of player, just like the just the guy who's gonna run and and he's not necessarily like Alan Saint Maximin or or Wolf Ed Zaha or anything. But they're gonna run and they're gonna keep doing it and keep trying. ⁓ it's it's it's kinda like the elevated version of ⁓ Jack's game. It's like they're fast, they're they're very positive in how they wanna play. ⁓ but thankfully it didn't end up in anything. ⁓ they only got a point from this match, which they're probably more disappointed than us. Or or that's that's hard to say. ⁓ because yeah, going into this match they they would wanna win against us, ⁓ s looking at our record. But also they snatched this ⁓ vic they snatched the victory out of our jaws and you know ended up getting a point w in a match where they were losing for all of it. Like ninety nine point nine percent of the match they were losing. So their their perspective on the match is probably quite different to ours ⁓ in that sense. Anything to add? ⁓ Abram if I were to ask you what you thought and and this is going back to the Houston game. If I were to ask you what you thought Nico Sekaris's match rating was, what would you say? Based off of what you said. Yeah, I won't look. ⁓ six point five, like very average. am I am I higher or lower? You're you are lower than the r the rating. But not by much. ⁓ wha he got he got an assist, so I guess it could be like Well, this is Houston. This is Houston. ⁓ okay. Houston? Gosh. ⁓ Yeah, very average in that game as well. I I didn't mind him, but he moved the ball around ⁓ quite a bit. ⁓ I would say yeah, I would say six point five again. But I'm guessing since he said I'm lower, it's like six point eight. Yeah, exactly. Six point eight was his match rating. And I thought that he actually played quite well. I thought he was dictating the pace of play fairly well. So I thought, you know, just like looking at that that original stat line, six point eight seemed quite low for for his contributions, but also, you know, offensively nothing much was was was done. so a six point eight I guess at the end of the at the end of the day, including second half performance seems seems right. ⁓ and looking at his his stats ⁓ his ⁓ match rating against ⁓ Austin, did you already look at that? The match rating versus Austin, yes, I see that right here in front of me. It is higher than six point eight, but Yeah, it it was seven point six, which is really good. I think that the ⁓ when you get an assist it kinda bumps up your rating by a lot. ⁓ which is what we saw from Bero, because Bero wasn't like doing anything on on the opposite team, right? He wasn't doing anything, but he got the winner, and so that's gonna elevate his match rating by a lot. he he's their is he like a fullback for them? He he looks like they're the left side of center back. How how are you too sure? How do we end up in a situation where their left center back is in our box and finishing a chance like that? That's that's crazy. I mean looking at the the the heat map, Bero looks like their left back. Okay. 'Cause Gallagher is is moving up and down a lot. ⁓ he he's ⁓ he's a wing back, right? So I I could see him having to cover a lot ⁓ of the left hand side because ⁓ Gallagher's gonna be, you know, bombing up very often. Yeah, weirdly enough the heat map or the the stats say he's a centre back, but the heat map shows him as the left back, left mid. Right. And that's something that we see that's probably similar. ⁓ it it's it's less so but it's similar for Reed Roberts, who is also hugging that left side, but it's it's a little bit more central. ⁓ because Ricketts is very similar. He's gonna be running up and down a lot. ⁓ and Roberts is going to have to cover for him. Benji Kukanovich ended up starting this match after Paul Marie went off injured. He was destined to start, but he got injured in the prematch. ⁓ I thought that the Quakes were worse off for it because Marie would have been pretty helpful. ⁓ Benji didn't do anything wrong. I'm not I'm not saying that he was terrible in that match, but he was he's still getting back to the Benji we know. He was a little bit clunky. ⁓ but he defensively Did most of what he was asked to do. ⁓ the goal did come from his side, but it was much after he was off the pitch already. ⁓ any any comments on ⁓ Kakanovich's performance? Yeah, he's still a shadow of his former self. I think he's still trying to to find his way out of that shadow. and there's there are a lot of aspects to his game that he needs to improve on. His match rating was a six point five. And and I think, you know, based on the the the the footage that I had seen from the game. Benji found his pace again and found his his drive to, you know, make some sort of a contribution in in in the match play, but I just I don't think it was obviously it wasn't enough. But I I I want to see more skillfully out of Benji. You know, more situational awareness and awareness of of the field. And it seems like i as as a fan, the speaking as a fan, Benji's line not line of sight, but the way he reads the game right now seems slow. And I don't know if you've picked up on that, Abram, but any time like he's on the ball or he's waiting for a ball to pass to him, he he's confused as to what he wants to do with that next step and where he wants to go. I think that ⁓ I see that from him definitely. I also see that from Ricketts. ⁓ he's very fast and that's why they're able to make up for it and able to play professionally at these positions. But they don't know what's gonna happen. They just have to react to what's happening. And they're good at that. But they they're th it's really hard for them to be proactive, whereas Muni, Roberts, they they see it before it happens and they're able to snuff it out that way. ⁓ also being very athletically inclined ⁓ in their own rights. That I'm not saying that, you know, they're not fast. ⁓ Ricketts gets away f ⁓ with it more though because he's very skillful and he makes more happen on the wing, ⁓ offensively. Benji is he's not that he was never that type of forward. He wasn't like gonna beat like three guys and and you know get into the box that way. He he was fast He had he was powerful and he was able to score. ⁓ he wasn't setting up chances like crazy. He wa he was doing what he needed to do, but he was never the guy who's like Nico's very crafty. Benji is not crafty and his crossing is something that I've always criticized. It needs work because he kinda just kicks the ball to the other side of the field. Like I'm not saying that he tries to to get it, you know, out or anything. I'm saying that like for him crossing isn't pinpoint. It's it's ⁓ a macro like let's get it over there. I don't know if he's doing that on purpose, if that's like his philosophy, or if he's just not able to pick out a pass like that. ⁓ and I think it's probably the latter. He just doesn't have that kind of ⁓ finesse I guess. And that's never what we wanted from him. He was always a very powerful player. That's the kind of forward he is, honestly. I wouldn't mind this and I know that Bruce would never do it, but we remember what Benji was like as a forward, ⁓ Devin, you and I remember. Very much so. This formation could work with Marie at the right back and Benji at the forward instead of Buddha. It would be so much better because he is a monster in the air, he can do the hold up play, he likes running in behind and is fast. It it just works. ⁓ and you know, it's not working for for Judd right now. I think that Benji is ultimately faster than than Judd. ⁓ probably a better jumper. ⁓ I don't know if he can like direct it better with his head, but he he is a crazy good jumper. ⁓ it's not gonna happen, obviously, because this we know that Bruce sees Benji as an outside back, but it would be so nice To see, you know, Benji go back to his roots as a as a forward. ⁓ but unfortunately I don't think that'll be the case. Devin, you your thoughts? I mean so hear me out, Abram. I was brewing a theory as you were talking about this, and actually some of your points hit that theory on the head. Okay. I think that with this current formation we're using, Benji has more freedom to move forward from a strict right back. To have more of an attacking presence and role as a right wing back, so he can move he can move ⁓ more I guess not laterally, but vertically as a as a winger and support winger. ⁓ I think with that freedom, I think that gave Benji more confidence and and purpose as the player he is, with the philosophy he has, to serve more of an attacking presence on the field, which is what I personally think Benji is way more comfortable and confident in doing. ⁓ I think he's he's he's capable as a right back. Mm-hmm but my theory is like in the last couple of games it it just seems like Benji is not like depressed, but he just seems sad that he's he's being asked to to stay back so much. Whereas as a right wing back, he now has more freedom to attack and and be supportive in our, you know, attacking possession of play that we saw a little bit extra out of Benji than what we've seen in the last couple of weeks ⁓ in this specific game versus Austin. ⁓ what are do you have any thoughts on on that potential theory? I mean, I have this thing that happens where I I think something and I assume everyone thinks that. ⁓ And so I assumed everybody, you know, thought that Benji enjoys attacking a lot more than he enjoys defending. And which is like kind of what you were, you know, saying. It's like yeah, ⁓ and I agree. Because ⁓ for me he's an attacking minded player who is very good at defending, ⁓ because he is physically gifted and able to do so. But ⁓ like we were saying earlier When defensive things happened, he doesn't have very nuanced thinking of of where to go next. He has to react instead of being, you know, proactive and and ⁓ predicting before it happens. It's it's very he doesn't have the brain for that because he is not naturally a defender. ⁓ he he is definitely a more attacking player, like you said. ⁓ the problem is, I think, is that his like I I was saying earlier, he doesn't have a lot of finesse to his game. ⁓ so when you see Benji running out the defense, you think, okay, he might whip one in. ⁓ but at least for me who's been watching him for a few years, he's not likely to find anyone. He usually doesn't. ⁓ he usually finds the defender or it goes, you know, past everyone. He's not a chance creator. He is a chance finisher, in my opinion. Just the way that he's built, the way he's always wanted to play. I think he'd be really good at receiving the ball rather than setting it up. ⁓ he has said this a few times in in press conferences. He said that he he wants to give Buddha the ball more often because he's the one who's gonna create the chances in the one v one situations where Benji doesn't feel as comfortable dribbling past a player like that. And I think that, you know, given the space to to just run behind somebody, he can do that no problem. But it's it's the final ball. He doesn't really have it. I've seen him get assists. I've seen him ⁓ I think it was against Sacramento where he dribbled past everyone on the left side and ⁓ played it over to Judd and Judd scored. ⁓ so that's an example of him setting up something, but we don't see it very often i in MLS play where we see, you know, Nico ⁓ approaching the box, you're like, Okay, what's he gonna do? Who's he gonna get it to? And Benji is like, Okay, I I don't know what's gonna happen. I don't know how he wants to create. Because he's not very good at it. ⁓ I don't know if if you disagree or agree with anything I said about ⁓ Benji's chance creation, but ⁓ he's just not the one who is, you know, known for doing that in our squad. Yeah, I find Benji to be more of an attacking threat in terms of the final product rather than delivering the product. ⁓ which is is essentially what you said, A Rome. And and I think you know that that Type of style and tactic that Bruce instills into that right back system doesn't necessarily suit Benji. I think Benji is out of all the players on the team probably best suited for that spot, which is why I think we need an upgrade at the right back position, ⁓ of all things. But, you know, that being said, we like many positions on this team, actually, you know, Benji's true potential is not unlocked because he's not playing in the right spot that I think he should be playing in. think he should have more of an attacking role, more of an attacking presence. If we if if he does claim to make that, you know, that statement where he wants to make passes to Buddha because Buddha generates more opportunities for the team, I think Buddha should be the one that should lay off a pass to an ⁓ underlapping Benji Kakanovich who could one time it from even outside the top of the box, ⁓ to, you know, test the goalkeeper. But we don't see that very often because Most of the time, you know, it seems like since the very first game of the season, Benji has been asked to and I don't know this for sure, but it it appears that Benji has been asked to defend more rather than find more opportunities to attack with the team. You know, in the first three or four games we saw Benji overlapping ⁓ Oseny Buddha and making great connective plays with him, whereas now past halfway through the season It almost seems like Benji has just regressed a lot emotionally and physically, where to the point where, you know, even defending is very difficult for him. And we we had, you know, praise Benji quite a bit in preseason for, you know, locking down Zaha and a lot of these top name products that have had opportunities to one v one against Benji and he's locked him down. But, you know, the further into the season we go, the more defensive we've seen Benji and I think That emotionally has taken a toll on him. Yeah, and you know, I think that fullback is a whether it's wing back, whether it's a a complete like, you know, fullback traditionally, ⁓ it's a a position that people underrate as how important it is, ⁓ and how difficult it is. You do have to think. It's not just like you throw anyone out there and they can run, they can play it. It is one of the positions where if you have to make a sacrifice, then yeah. then you you you know, throw in the guy who can run at fullback, ⁓ versus the guy who can't. Like, ⁓ I remember one time we threw on Piero at fullback when Almeida was here. ⁓ just to close out a game. And he ran like crazy. So I was like, that makes sense in this situation where the fullback had to go off. He he can play there. But there are there are a lot of situations where a fullback who doesn't know what he's doing will get exposed just via a very creative team. Who knows how to exploit that ⁓ situation where you they'll cut inside, the fullback stops, then they they make a ⁓ a pass in behind. And we saw that a few times ⁓ early in the season. I don't remember exactly against who. I think it was ⁓ Cincinnati where they just like they would stop, Benji would come in, they play a ball in into that wide space and then make something happen. ⁓ Cincinnati no. Yeah. Cincinnati's a good example as well, yeah. Yeah, especially with I I always get Cincinnati and Minnesota mixed up, so I was like, Am I am I mixing it up again? No, I'm not. Yeah, it was the gap between Muni and and Benji where they exploited Where Muni is a center back, so he should stay. B ⁓ Benji doesn't have to stay. And then the guy who made the run in behind is is free now. ⁓ but regardless, next time there's a Quakes match, I g I want you guys to watch and see Benji enters the final third with the ball. ⁓ he will either pass it to somebody who is more, you know, traditionally creative, like Nico or Luvin, Bo, you know, he he'll pass it to somebody and it that's great, that's fine. Or if he has to, he will, you know, try to get to the byline line and whip a cross in. See where that cross goes. A lot of the times it doesn't go anywhere productive for us. Sometimes it'll it'll be a corner. That's great. But it's not something that's sustainable. That he's, you know, ⁓ consistently creating chances. ⁓ and Ricketts hasn't been playing as well as he, you know, had been earlier in terms of cross production. But he does have a better curl on his crosses. He does find his target more often. ⁓ he d had a really disappointing chance. I don't know if you saw it Where ⁓ him and Buddha were were on the breakaway and he had to just pass it over to Buddha and he passed it like two miles per hour, it was just trickling over. And Buddha couldn't get to it because he had to and then instead of just running in a straight line and and getting to the ball, he had to overcome the defender who was, you know, in between him and the ball. It was never gonna happen. ⁓ very disappointing chance that could have won us the game. ⁓ but regardless, ⁓ there has to be ⁓ better chance creation and Not just that, somebody to put the chances away because even though ⁓ Useni Buddha has a better match rating than than Preston Judd, he wasn't threatening at Stryker. Six point three isn't very good. It's just that Judd didn't have a very good game and got a five point eight. ⁓ something needs to happen. ⁓ I I don't like throwing players into the deep end, but I think that this isn't that. I think Jovanovich needs to get a start. ⁓ just to see what he can provide that's different because Buddha isn't doing it. ⁓ Bruce admitted that Buddha, you know, he's ⁓ what he said was he's doing good. Maybe need to get a little better ⁓ hold up play, but and I'm like, No, he's not doing good. He just runs around and and tries. He tries really hard. But You could tell that he doesn't believe in himself because he's not this type of striker and he's just trying he's been asked to do something that he isn't really built to do. Too many players we we talk about like Benji, he's not a he's not naturally a fullback. He he's been asked to do that. It it it's not a situation you want to be in. ⁓ something needs to change because you can't score goals without a striker who is ⁓ in form or a striker. You know, Buddha isn't a striker. ⁓ i is that what you would like to see as well, Devin, would you like to see Jovanovic ⁓ become the start, or do you wanna keep trying Buddha or or Preston Jed? I would love to see Jovanovic play. No matter if it's thirty minutes or a full ninety. I think he should be given the start. One hundred percent. Because clearly as as stated earlier in this podcast, you can't just have your only attacker, Timo Werner, score I mean he's not the only attacker, but he's the only attacker who scored since the Portland away game. Yeah. ⁓ he he scored two goals since. But now that he's injured, you're not getting any product from any other attackers. You know, Senni Buddha, Preston Judd, I don't know, Jack Skane, like anyone else that either comes off the bench or is a starter, isn't producing anything. And the fact that Timo's out and nothing is happening on the offensive end clearly states that something needs to change tactically or systematically. And I I I'm leaning towards more of a personnel change, and personnel change just means giving Jovanovich more playtime and opportunities to prove himself. Because he was the what, the co-Golden Bootleader? Or the sole golden bootleader coming out of the Australian Soccer League. So, you know, that being said, I think Jovanovich should be given minutes here. I mean, this is gonna be posted publicly after the San Diego game coming up as, you know, recording tomorrow, but If anyone's gonna start or should start for the San Diego game, who may produce opportunities as we'd seen versus who was it? At home versus mina Minnesota, right? ⁓ where ⁓ Jovanovich had ⁓ opportunities with Paul Marie. It may not have been Minnesota, it was probably another game ago at this point, I don't remember. Yeah, it was a long time ago. ⁓ but for for those types of games, I think it was LA Galaxy. Jovanovic has created chances, scorable chances for both himself and his teammates that we don't necessarily see out of other, you know, attacking players that we have on this roster right now. Our best chance of getting wins and scoring goals may in fact actually come from Jovanovich. And we need to actually see him perform and play in order to make that final judgment. And it's it's quite a shame that we don't we haven't seen that since Galaxy. Yeah. ⁓ and I don't I don't wanna ⁓ further, you know, be the point in. We we need to see something change, 'cause we're not scoring goals or not nearly enough. ⁓ like we said, Buddha's not not a striker. not at least not in this shape where he's the lone striker who has to make all the attacking things happen. ⁓ we're we're calling for it. ⁓ just have to pray that that somebody's out there listening ⁓ they do do things quite often that we call for that we're like begging for that they they do happen sometimes. So ⁓ I don't know who's watching. I don't I hope Bruce is not watching the show. So that'd be insane. ⁓ but ⁓ that's that's all really there is to say about this match. ⁓ very ⁓ it w it a lot of suspense but not a lot of action. but we will be back. ⁓ after the game on Saturday. ⁓ what who are we playing Saturday, Devin? ⁓ we're playing Houston Dynamo. So everything that we've seen, everything that we've talked about, you know, will be will be poured right into this upcoming match versus Houston. This time at home. ⁓ it is Ted Lasso night. I think game starts at seven or seven thirty. I unfortunately will not be in attendance. I will be at Yosemite. ⁓ having the time of my life yet again being, you know, ⁓ emotionally distant away from a struggling San Jose Earthquakes. Not that I don't like this team, but it's you know, I'm can we I'm trying to find happiness where I can. Before we go, I think it is ridiculous that we have a Ted Lasso theme night, ⁓ who are in their new season he's coaching a women's team. We still have Gavin Wilkinson on the payroll. ⁓ nothing really to report on that. ⁓ no news ⁓ at this point, ⁓ disappointingly. ⁓ it's just really tone deaf for me. Like I know that the person who hired him isn't the person who sets up these you know, these events, but I I would like to think that people at Apple are paying more attention. They're probably not. ⁓ but this is the really bad look for for them if they knew what was going on, which I I doubt they pay enough attention to really care. Honestly, they're they're probably just banking on not enough people knowing who Gavin Wilkinson is and just like ⁓ the people will now know that there's a a a new season of Ted Lasso and that will be the prevailing, you know, sentiment after the match. ⁓ which ⁓ unfortunately is probably true. ⁓ the vast majority of people aren't really paying attention to the news like that. don't care really and we'll just be happy to see another Quakes game, have another hot dog, and watch Chad Lasso when they get home. ⁓ very unfortunate. We we do have ⁓ a post up on our Instagram. ⁓ we haven't talked about it, but ⁓ we have called for a boycott of the concessions at PayPal. ⁓ hey if you have like a ⁓ you know a child with you and they're hungry, they want a hot dog, you know, do what you have to do. We're not saying don't feed your children. ⁓ but one those post outside the stadium concession hot dogs. Right. Yeah. You can get one of those hot dogs. Devin doesn't like them, but I think they're amazing. ⁓ you can go to In and Out ⁓ before after the match. ⁓ and the food trucks, we we we're not saying anything about the food trucks. If if anywhere you want to go It would be the food trucks, ⁓ because those are small businesses and we're not asking for them to be boycotted because they're not doing anything wrong. They're just trying to provide food and and feed their families and stuff. But do with that what you guys will. ⁓ like I said, we will be back ⁓ after the match against Houston Dynamo. Hopefully we'll have some better news by then. ⁓ but until then, GW out. GW out. ⁓