Latest / Tectonic Takes / Episode 183: Back In Business
Transcript
- Abram: What's up Quakes fans? We are back with another episode. I have a new microphone, but it's not actually anything. It's just a little little nub to hold our our wireless microphone. but look out for it in the press conferences. Also I'm very excited about the fact that like it could do that. So we could have a long microphone for interviews and and all kinds of content. We are evolving here guys. but we are back with another episode of Tectonic Takes. Devin, I know that you didn't get to go to the game but you had a nice time in Yosemite, I'm assuming. Devon: Evolving we are, Abram, and yes, I think part of part of my evolution is taking time away from social media and enjoying the wilderness and reconnecting myself back to the real life instead of spending so much time on on technology and maybe, you know, watching away games on the phone and whatnot. It was very relieving in in most regards. But I'm happy to be back and happy to be talking with you, Abram, via Quakes. Abram: Yeah, before we last episode, last time on Tectonic Takes, we weren't in the highest, you know, of of moods, I would say. we hadn't seen the San Diego game yet, and obviously we hadn't seen Houston. We are off the back of four losses in a row, then two draws. so winless in six and then we're here now lossless in four. It's crazy how that that shifts. in in the span of a week everything changes and it's it's definitely reflected in the fan base. So we're gonna talk about the San Diego game first. Nico Shekaris tore the roof off the place. And Snapdragon Stadium will never be the same after Nico Shakaris has stepped foot in there. Devin, were you able to see that match? 'Cause I know that you couldn't see the Houston game, but were able to see the San Diego match. Devon: Yeah, I was definitely able to watch the San Diego match actually. I was watching it with a buddy of mine. So yeah, Nigos Chikares is basically one of the only names that you can you can really mention as a direct impact on the game. Like what what a player he is. I we've we've mentioned it on the the last couple of episodes prior to to this one. And we've noted how Nico is slowly rebuild rebuilding that chemistry with his teammates and and midfield partners and trying to gain more of that that attacking aspect of his game again. And all of a sudden it just clicks. Everything about Nico, all the chemistry with Bo Laru, with with Lovin, with his wingers, wing backs, with center backs, everything clicked, and he's able to get a goal and two assists. And could have had more. He could have had more. But You know, a goal and two assists that's that's impressive as it is already. Abram: It definitely is. And I it's not just that he got two assists. It was the quality of those assists. Some of the best passes I've seen in, you know, Quake's history. Saz was was going off online, Good Fen Saz, also known as What's Shaken, all over social media. He said the best Quake school I've ever seen. And Saz I I don't I don't think that he doesn't believe it was a very nice Quake school for the the Buddha goal in the thirty fifth minute. Beautiful goal, very, very nice. But I think that he's forgetting the Duende Rosario free kick. do you know what I'm talking about, Devin? I that's just Devon: yeah. Yeah. That that curler. Abram: a pushkas quality goal. Like insane. where where does it rank for you though? we've had some pretty nice goals. We have Charco's Volley. Charco had a few bangers, Bolaroo had a few bangers. W what do you think? Devon: I think it'll rank maybe around fifth, fifth or sixth. I Abram: Mm-hmm. Devon: think there's there's been a couple of goals pre-2005 that I can remember. you know, the the notable one that you just mentioned, De Rosario and the the Troco goal, and I think there's just a couple others that I can't really remember off the top of my head right now. but there's also the that that the famous Dane that we had, who had a hell of a free kick back in the day. I I I can't remember the name for the life of me, which is very embarrassing as a a a Denmark fan, but you know, he had that beautiful free kick where it was just kinda lobbed up right in front of him. Abram: Trying to think of who it is. Devon: Yeah, I can't Ronnie Eklund, there we go. Yeah, Ronnie Eklund had a beautiful free kick. No, definitely not Mulrooney. Yeah, and he's also represents Abram: Yeah, yeah, yeah, Eklund. 'Cause I wanted to say Mulrooney, but it's not Mulrooney. Mulrooney is a very Irish name. Eklund. Devon: America as well. So yeah, Ronnie Eklund had a beautiful free kick. indirect or yeah, indirect free kick. that's still up there in my top five, as well as Derosario, Trauco and I yeah, a couple others. I it'd be fun to actually put a top ten goals list together just to see where everyone's everyone's thoughts are. Because I I'd like to know like Abram: I agree. Devon: how how deep your fandom will go and how how far your your fandom stretches, you know, pre two thousand eight and whatnot. I think that'd be a fun activity for us in a in a a little video. but nonetheless, yeah. Nico Sakaris with that absolutely beautiful ball, to Oseni Buda who found his way behind the back line of San Diego and and did a his best impression of a Robin Van Persie in the World Cup. I can't believe I had witnessed a level of quality like that by those two players in a random MLS season game. That's amazing. Abram: And it came at the perfect time where we needed a win. and obviously on the road you don't expect that kind of result, but it was one where, you know, like we said, the spirits weren't very high at that point and we were complaining about the lack of I guess efficiency in attack. and I still will say I don't think Buddha should be the lone striker. And he wasn't at that time, when he scored that. but this game, I really enjoyed that we got the start for Luka Jovanovich. I've seen on Twitter some people are not too happy with him at the minute. I've heard someone say Luka Jovanovic it's horrible. And I don't know what they're looking at. Right? I I I'll let you I'll let you go in a minute, but there's not been anything to show me that Luca has been below par at all. He hasn't scored yet, but I don't know, he hasn't gotten that many minutes yet either. So I I'm not really I I thought he he was a very positive influence on on the match. I thought that he helped us going forward. He he I think he he like helped knock a ball down to, you know, lead to Nico's goal. only positives for me. he still waiting for that goal, but you know, it's looking okay, in my opinion. What are your thoughts, Devin? Devon: I mean it's not like he we're watching, you know, Amal Pellegrino and there's just notable bad moments, you know, in in many of the plays. It's not like watching that. It's like when you're watching when you're watching Jovanovic play, he's contributing to the play and in in positive ways. And like you've mentioned, he was a part of that Nico Sakara school where you know he he dropped back to maintain possession for the the the Quakes and won that 50-50 challenge to give Bolaru the ball and Bo pinged it over to Nico and Nico did what he had to do. I I really love Jovanovich's hold up play. And the fact that he's he drops deep and is willing to help the team out with a possession of the play and building it up from the back. you know, with the with Bruce's playstyle and and you know, play preferences, that's exactly what you would love to see out of a an attacker, and especially when you're in a two-striker formation, you would love to see one of those two strikers dropping back and main, you know, maintaining the dictation of play. and that's exactly what Jova did versus San Diego. And and you know, definitely contributed to one of the goals and the first actually the opening goal of the game. so I, you know, I think it is very positive on Jova's end, whether Bruce may agree or not, because you know, we still haven't seen him since. but nonetheless, yeah, I I was very happy with with his style of play. And I am confused where the criticism for Jova comes into play because again, it's not enough sample size really to dictate whether he's a good contributor or a bad contributor. He's just not enough minutes, but in the minutes that we have seen, we've seen enough potential to know that he is one, capable of better, and two, already provides enough to the team for attacking pieces and offensive chances. Is that a similar look that Abram: Yeah. Devon: you see, Abram? Abram: Yeah, that's how I see it. I think that, you know, he does his job perfectly fine. He hasn't scored and when you're a striker that's gonna, you know, weigh on you, from the perspective of everyone looking in. But maybe he'll score at some point. Honestly, if he can keep contributing to wins, that's what I care about. Like I don't really care about his personal accolades. I would like him to get goals and what what kind of where it would be a problem for me is if he was the only one, you know, we leaned on to get goals and he wasn't scoring, or it was like Amal Pellegrino who would get so many chances a game and just kick them all straight at the keeper. and it was very unfortunate what happened to Pellegrino and you know, it was very obvious he had the yips. I don't know if you have heard of that, Devin. It's it's like a baseball term. It was very clear that's exactly what was happening to Pellegrino. And that's not really the case for for Yovanovich. He's doing hard striker work. I have no qualms with his play at all so far. and he only got like a few minutes. Let me let me look here. he did in fact play in this game against Houston, but he came on the eighty second minute and there wasn't even that much stoppage time. So really, you know he's there to defend a lead. He's there to to run around at the top part of the field. So what do you want, you know? I I find those kind of comments disappointing, somebody who had a very disappointing performance over these two games was Max Floriani, who came on at halftime for Reed Roberts, who was injured, I believe. He has lower body injury. and it's not that he was bad But he did cause the second goal, or yeah, the second goal. He he he gave them a penalty. He grabbed onto a player's shirt. It wasn't necessary in my opinion. And he got a red card. You're already on a yellow. For for he shouldn't have like done that to get the first yellow. I don't remember that play exactly, but it felt like un un unnecessary contact. And then you drag somebody down in the box by their shirt. Whether like they should have like fell from that contact or not, you should be smarter than that and not give them the opportunity to make that claim. thought Steven. Devon: Yeah, like the first yellow card didn't really make sense much sense to me. I don't know why he got a yellow for that. Just seemed like a very simple foul, but the ref was, you know, pretty eager to to hand him a yellow. But when you're already on a yellow, usually the case just kinda like Vieira versus Houston, like you have to make make sure that you're you know You're mentally stable enough to to get through the rest of the game and and you know, limit limit the fouls that you give, especially as a center back, where your position is way more important than than at a forward if you're trying to defend. I didn't necessarily agree that the second one was a yellow either, but I can understand from the opposition angle where if a defender is pulling on your jersey in the box, you're gonna want to call for that. You know, you're gonna you're gonna want that call to be made just as much as, you know, if we were to be favored in that call. Abram: Alright. Devon: So, you know, that being said, you don't pull on a player's jersey if you're already on a yellow, especially on a free kick. but the, you know, the the place where I come from, I guess, is is I had noticed that, you know, San Diego's player was was also tugging on he was also tugging on on the jersey as well for for Roberts, and I thought it could have gone both ways, to be honest. although, you know, the initial contact was by Roberts, so Abram: Yeah, me and Floriani. Devon: I mean yeah, Floriani. I d I don't know why I said Roberts, but I Yeah, basically. Abram: I mean, the same draft, same position. Yeah, I I get it. Devon: young players, but no. yeah. I i it could have gone either way for me, but I understand why it's a foul and I understand why they gave it yellow. I don't wanna necessarily be like, the ref sucked in that instance. Like, no, he he did what he needed to do and I think, you know, Floriani's gonna walk away from this learning lessons. it's un unfortunate that he had to learn a lesson in the first place, but is what it is. Abram: Right. Mac Floriani at this point should know better. Like, you know, not even because he he's, you know, new to the league. It's like in college, anywhere, a coach wouldn't advise you to grab a player's shirt when you're on a yellow card defending a lead away from home. So many factors lead up to why you shouldn't be, you know, giving them ammunition to to make an easy call like that. and you know, the ref spent a lot of time on the monitor because he's trying to see whatever, but I think that if you look at the facts you see the the shirt being grabbed. He's already on a yellow. I know it's a double jeopardy, but it's like come on, man, like I don't know. It to me it's it's avoidable. If he doesn't grab his shirt and he he doesn't make that, you know, challenge or whatever. I would be more okay with that than doing the thing that's going to concede a penalty and get you off the field for us to have to defend with one less player. Very, very difficult to stomach and I hope that we see better from Floridi because he hasn't been the worst lately. I I I I've been okay with his play. This was not acceptable. just in my opinion. but thankfully, for the Houston match we had quite a different game. If we look at the momentum charts on Fot Mob, it's like blue and then orange. Like immediately at halftime it changes so fast. whereas this San Diego game is is more back and forth each team, you know, they they both have a little bit on on the graph. it definitely they they mirror each other in that The opposition has more momentum in the second half because we are letting off the gas a little bit. But that was more noticeable in the match against Houston. Muni gets a goal. I know that you saw that, Devin. big play from Boluru, very tight angle. That situation is always the scariest. And for me, whenever like it was a a set piece like that, and I'm like I receive the ball, I would just swing at it. Just wildly just 'Cause I'm like, I don't know what to do. We just want to get in the goal. I've scored a few goals like that just swinging at it, but Boluru had the wherewithal and the composure to make something big out of that chance. what were your thoughts on that goal? Devon: Look at Bolarue this week was absolutely snubbed of a team of the week performance or team of the match day entry. This is his third consecutive game with a direct goal involvement. You know, in Austin he had a goal. San Diego had the assist for an Eagles goal, and then Houston had the assist for Munich's goal. And then was not received any any sort of awards for that. and and yet Muni, you know, not not against Muni. I'm not saying anything against Munich, but you he was given the you know, Player of the Match Day award alongside Angus Gunn, which I think are deserved, but I just don't think it's deserved for the right players. I think Nico deserves it with his incredible San Diego performance. and then as well as Bolaroux who's had three consecutive, you know, consecutive games as with with direct involvements of goals. So Yeah, I you can always rely on Bolaroo, at least in the second half of the season, to produce numbers for the team and and you know, give chances, whether it be from him or, you know, just sending balls into the box for for an opportunity. I was really impressed with Bolaru. Admittedly, I've only watched up until the fortieth minute for the San Jose versus Houston game. Abram: Perfect timing. Devon: so yeah, Abram: That happened in the thirty eighth, you were right there. Devon: exactly. I really wanted to get by that. right before we started the podcast. So it's been very busy. I haven't had much time, so fortieth minute is how much I've I've gotten to. I have a bunch of notes here in front of me, but yeah, for from what I've seen so far, Bolaroo has does a really good job with with dictating the play, you know, through the wits, not necessarily even centrally. I it seems like Bolaru at especially on the left hand side, really likes to push Houston wide and stretch them out and then our wing backs kind of do a good job with bringing the ball back towards the middle and then Livin and Nico kind of, you know, expose the wide open central areas for the the movement forward. But I think a lot of that is dictated by Bolerou and and how many times he's able to, you know, collect Houston defenders and and you know pull them out of positions. I think that he did he does a really good job on that front and he's he's he's he's done more of that recently than in recent games, and I'm really happy to see it. Abram: Yeah, f just to describe the formation a little bit, 'cause it it is weird. It's closer to what we had seen when we started drawing games, where it is like four central midfielders. There's two defensive ones and two attacking ones. although they're all doing a little bit of everything. That's how midfield works. but the way I would describe where Bo and Nico were in this game against Houston was left attacking mid and right attacking mid, like lamb and ram, right? that's a that's a term we haven't talked about or or seen in a while, 'cause that used to be like a FIFA thing. not quite a winger, but a lamb or a ram. and it's worked pretty well. We haven't lost since we started playing differently. I think that the shape was a little bit different in this match versus the San Diego one. I think San Diego was a a five two one two. So this a five, you know, defenders, the full backs are able to go up and down, but they're wing backs. and then there's two midfielders, you know, k the taking the the central parts of the pitch. Then there's Nico Shikaris and then there's two forwards which was Judd and Jumanovich in front of Nico. And this game it was you know what we had seen in the Jigan prior to that is h how would you call it? It's like Three, four, two, one. You know. Devon: Yeah, I would I would probably say that. Yeah. Abram: And the what you're trying to do is take control of those half spaces, like you said. So Bo isn't like you know, committed wide all the time. You know, he he wants to to act somewhat central, but he's not like a cam or a number ten. He he's kind of like in in the half space, like I said, and it is a very effective spot for him to when we when we have the ball at least. and that's kind of a switch From what we saw in the Austin game, from what I remember, I know it's been a while, where Luvin would be that where Bo was, and Bo was where Luvin was. though those two are the only like two that switched. and I think that Luvin was fine where where you know in the eight or the the double pivot. and I'm not sure which one I prefer. I think that, you know, we won in this game against Houston, so that's obviously a a positive, but that's something that I'm going to have to, you know, keep an eye on, to see, you know, make my mind up about it and provide more analysis in the future. 'Cause right now it's like we won so nothing to complain about. any any positional analysis from you, Devin? Whether it's it's this match or the you know, a few matches prior. Devon: Yeah, so I'll start with the San Diego match, just to catch up. I think in terms of like, you know, analyzing Livin's positioning and kind of impact on the game, I I I'd seen since we started Livin. Actually I wanna make this this fun fact. We haven't lost a game since we've signed Luvin. It's we're Abram: Mm-hmm. Right. Devon: four on four games undefeated. which, you know, kudos to Livin because I think he does make a DP impactful job for the team. But specifically for San Diego, I I I'd seen him contribute a lot more defensively than I think I I did offensively. And I think that was just because of Bruce's tactics, is because he you just wanted us to sit back and absorb pressure and and see if we can counter that way because, you know, what we've seen in the past is the the Quakes would score first, whether we would score early or just in the first half, and then we just defend that lead. we'd sit back, kind of like absorb that pressure and then counterattack. Because clearly the other team wants to score more. and then we can find chances that way. which is why I think I had seen more of a defensive involvement from from Edward Leuven. but in the Houston game I had noticed that he played more of an attacking role for the team and and he was there in the box and just outside the box, you know, distributing the ball for for opportunities and and creating his own chances. I really like the connection that he has with with Benji Kakanovich now. which is so odd to say because they're in like very different spots on the field it making it hard to link up. But yeah, I I I actually really love to see Luvin's so far involvement offensively in the first half of of the Houston game. I thought I did a really good job with with attempting to play more of a direct role and and getting attempts on on target that we've We've been talking about Abram Abram, 'cause it it seemed like the Quakes had lost that that desire to test the goalkeeper, I just found that the the quakes were really struggling and then we got livid and and and everything started to click again. Abram: Yeah, I think that he's very reliable, I don't think he's done anything wrong. maybe a V misplays passes, maybe just like a few things that could be chalked up to not knowing his teammates a hundred percent. And there are things that I can't even like call up a specific instance because it's not like it's not pertinent. I I've I've enjoyed his his ability to play on both sides the ball. he has really good size. I think he's like six two, don't quote me on that, I might be wrong. But yeah, he w when I asked him at the beginning of the season in his introductory press conference what position he likes to play, I knew that he was gonna be like six, eight, ten, and that's what we heard. But we're we're very much seeing why he's comfortable in all his positions. It's because he has all the attributes needed. He's not the fastest guy, so I understand why he's not like, you know, the one on the you know, receiving end of the counterattacks. He's more of a slow build up the the ball kind of guy. some stats that I see here that are are interesting that in both the games against San Diego and Houston, we have pretty much dominated in interceptions, and clearances. We have over twenty in both games. interceptions for San Diego with eight and fifteen against Houston. So it's a lot of defensive work. and a lot of people, you know, in the fan base are not too happy with the fact that in the second half we've had to kind of switch how we play to become very defensive. And I'll be real, I don't like it either. It's not very good you know, historically for us. It has caused a bunch of issues. It's worked in these last two games, but I hope that is something that we can try and move away from. I think that Bruce isn't really confident in pushing Nico ninety minutes every week. something he mentioned in the press conference where he said that he feared that he might have pushed him too hard in the the game against San Diego where he had to play I believe he had to play ninety minutes in that game. let me just look really quick. Yeah, it didn't look like he was subbed off. So You know, he's been back for a month. That's definitely something they have to look out for, but they seem to be aware of it at least, so that's something that, you know, good sign. what are your thoughts, Devin, on the fact that the philosophy of the team changes so much after the forty fifth minute where we have to, you know, defend a lead with our lives? Devon: I think I touched on it a little bit. I think that's mainly Bruce's strategy is is he realizes once you're up the other team's more desperate to score, so you kinda sit back and then look for counter opportunities. but I I I I really wanna touch on what you had mentioned about, you know, Bruce's comment in the press conference about Nico. It seems like and I'm gonna I'm gonna broaden this to most players on the team now. I think Bruce pushes injured players hard in general. We see that a lot with Timo Werner. where, you know, three games three games back after injury he just gets reinjured again because there's not not a moment where Timo misses the field or a minute. you know, like immediately after he comes back from injury, he's playing ninety minutes. you know, after like two or three games, and then, you know, on a a three three game week where you have a game Saturday, Wednesday, and then Saturday again, Timo's playing all three of those three g three games, and then he gets injured again, you know. now that Nico's back from injury, he's been playing a significant amount of minutes and not necessarily kind of re immersing Nico into the game slowly. It's just more like, hey, we have you, you're gonna start. Something that I had noticed about Preston Judd as well is is and I I had talked to a a buddy about this, but you know, I had some concerns about, you know, maybe it's not the fact that Preston has a lack of like desire, even though I had mentioned that on on former episodes. but it seemed like, you know, there was a stint at the Portland away game where it looked like he got injured and ever since then he hadn't been the same. I kind of had suspicions that there was a possibility that he was carrying an injury. 'Cause I just I I simply don't see Preston as the guy that just gives up on a team like that, especially after such consistency of of playing hard and aggressive and being that normal Preston and getting in the opposition's heads. That's what we love to see. That's what I think football is all about, is is that emotional aspect in the game and and not necessarily like, you know, punching players in the face or whatever. You know, like that's that's going too far. But but having that mental game of of like Sort of like Quincy Americois, just getting in the opposition's heads and and, you know, kind of attacking the game on that front. Preston's really good at that. And it seemed like the last several games he had lost that aspect. I feel like he was playing on an injury, and then all of a sudden the San Diego game comes up, and this was like the normal Preston Judd that we had seen in first half of the season. you know, he was just playing all out, getting real physical, getting in the heads of San Diego players. you know, and then his injury comes around and he has to to walk off the field. I have a a a slight suspicion that that Preston was kind of cleared to play after like an injury to his normal pace again. to which, you know, he re injured himself. So whatever the deal with that was, I still have suspicions with that. I would like to find confirmation to see if that's true. but as it is now, he's he can't play for us, even though Bruce had hinted he and Timo may be back for next game versus LA of C at Levi Stadium. but, you know, point being, they're still week to week. We don't know if they're gonna make it or not for the next game, and and he's injured. And Bruce has done that a lot for a lot of our players. and yeah, it just seems to be like a a very consistent basis, and I'm not happy with with the player management on that front. and it doesn't seem like that's necessarily The decision isn't necessarily coming from the training staff, or the the physiotherapists. It it seems like that decision in my observational context is coming from from Bruce's word to to play them despite in you know, being injured. Abram: Yeah, I mean, Bruce decides who goes on the field. so it's pretty simple. there is from from what I see here on Pop Mob, there is no Pessin Jud listed on the injury list. Although he did go off in the thirtieth minute against San Diego, which you don't go off in the thirtieth unless you're hurt. and he he did look hurt. I don't it was it was like, you know, almost a week ago. I don't remember exactly the circumstances but I remember it was like he he did a run, stopped, and then he was pulled off at the thirtieth. he wasn't listed on the bench against Houston. not seen on the injury list here. it's possible that he is on it and it's just not listed here on Fot Mob. so that would seem to confirm like the things you're saying. Or not confirm like totally, but like it would corroborate with that. Yeah, I mean i it makes perfect sense, if he's injured because like we we're going in on him a few episodes ago, about like the lack of desire or or whatever. and you could see a world where it's you know, you repaint that as frustration with your own body, rather than like your teammates not putting the ball in the correct place, whatever, you know, y you wanna say. It it You could see that, like very clearly. and it would I don't know what I prefer. because I don't want Judd to not be able to play. I hope that he, you know, is healthy. but for me I I would rather I guess believe that it's it's hurt and not just not wanting to be here, right? but like we said, he's not on the bench, I I'm curious about when he might be back. I I didn't hear any updates on Judd in the press conference. Maybe you saw something, Devin. but who Devon: Yeah, there was an answer, or someone had asked about Preston Judd and Timo Werner to see if if you know what what this extent of the injury was and what the return expected return date and Bruce never really answered, you know, what the injury was, but just said that they are possible for for this coming week and he expects them them both, Preston and Timo, to play this coming week. Abram: That's it's positive, I I suppose. you know, because we we do want Judd back, but I I would be nervous about aggravating his injury moving forward. I am glad that we have Yv Ivanovich to kind of provide backup. I didn't like Buddha too much against Houston as a lone striker. you know, back to the same issues where he's not the guy who's going to you know, hurry defense that way. I did like him more than than the previous, you know, games where we drew because he he kind of decided to play differently. He's like, I'm not gonna make a dent here playing against the two center backs. So he moved wide more often and we saw him dribbling more. but that kind of leaves a void, you know, in the middle of the pitch where you want a striker to be. And I do prefer, you know, him doing stuff to him not doing anything. He hit the post and it was a really good opportunity for him. but it's just the problem is the system. He can play well. He's a good player, he can do big things in big games. But if he's a lone striker, that's not really playing to his strength. Right? so it's it's good that Ivanovic is here and available. But I did get confirmation today as of recording that Adima Bua is on the season ending injury list, so he won't be playing again this season, unfortunately. And that is something that we investigated because we noticed that we have seven international players on the roster and we only have six international slots. And so I we dug into it a little bit. We found out that Adimobua is actually on a season ending injury which frees up his slot and is why we're able to bring in Jovanovich. obviously not good to see Nanin, you know, missing out on football and it it's possible that we don't see him play for the center of the earthquakes again. I hope that's not the case. but, you know, with an injury like this and with the kind of season he was having prior to that and also the fact that he is on an international slot. There's a lot of factors here that that could point to that. I hope that maybe, you know, gets a green card and and that solves, you know, a big issue right there really quickly. But I just I'm just saying that so people can, you know, understand where Adimabua is at. any thoughts on the attacking kind of barracks that we have available right now? Devon: something that we hadn't touched on because we've been very critical of his performance recently is Kakanovich. Benji Kakanovich. I think there were many aspects to his game, versus Houston, specifically where we had talked about this before Abram, and you know, we had noticed that Benji seemed to enjoy more of the attacking prospects of the game rather than the d than the defensive. We know he's capable of both, but it seems like he had lost that attacking piece to his game. And we just wanted to see that again. And it seemed like versus Houston, he kind of took that offensive contribution up a notch. and it seemed like also Buddha really love to kind of connect with Benji and float over to the right hand side. There was a a specific moment in the twentieth minute of the match, where Buddha actually held up the ball for Benji to overlap. nothing really much came of it. But you can clearly tell in that moment that Buddha was just waiting for Benji to to support him in the attacking front, in possession. I think it's something to kinda look out for in games to games to come, especially if and when Preston returns, or if and when Preston stays out for a while. and and Buddha's kinda remains to be that number nine. I wanna see kind of where Buddhes to lean in, whether it be to the left hand side and to the right. It just seemed to me that he loved the right hand side more often just because of the connection to Benji Kakanovich. And Benji seemed way more free and confident to be himself in the attacking plays. because in the twenty-ninth minute there was another opportunity that that Benji was was given the ball and then sent across a you know from maybe six yards out from the end line off on the right hand side and it went straight to Eduard Lewin Leuven. And Leuven unfortunately just fired the ball extremely far wide. but the opportunities are there. Like Benji can clearly, you know, send a good good ball into the box for any player to attempt to shot on goal. and there was there was another one too that I can't necessarily find here but you know Benji had made a lot of contributions offensively in the the first half versus versus Houston and I hope to see that more so versus LAFC because I maybe I'm wrong and correct me if I'm wrong in the comments below. But I I thought Benji actually did a really good job away versus LAFC. on both defensive end and offensive end. And I think with this new formation we we might even see a better Kika at Levi Stadium, locking down, you know, players like Human Sun or Danny Buwanga. You know, obviously is the capability for it. But in terms of the offensive contribution, I think we're gonna see a lot more Benji Kikanovich kind of showing up and being like, hey, if you want a ball, I got you. I'm gonna give you a ball. Abram: I don't wanna rain on your parade, Devin, but the stats do not back that up at all. I mean, Devon: That's okay. Abram: I think that we we see Benji and we're like, Okay, well he can attack because he's an attacker. Like naturally he is an attacker and I you know, I agree with that. We spoke about the type of attacker he is, it's not quite a creative one, it's more of a finishing one. and so he had he had a a few touches in the in the opposition box and I think that's really good for or what win back, that's what you want. Without looking, Devin, what what percentage so he had six crosses. How many of them do you think met somebody? Devon: I wanna at least two. Abram: Nope. Devon: Not even two. Abram: Nope. No, that's that's what I'm saying. So it's it's it's not he's not super creative. He doesn't like I know you said that, you know, and I don't want to contradict you, but the stats show that he's not putting in good balls. against against sorry, Devon: I I have sorry, I don't wanna countr argue here. Go ahead, go ahead. Abram: against San Diego he came on for Chazinski and I thought he looked really good. He's looked much better lately. but When I when I said, you know, last episode, when when Benji's on the field in the final third, look at what he does. He he'll recycle the ball or try whip one in from the byline and and usually never meets anybody. That happened once and but it it happened not how I said it would. He he got the ball and and recycled it. No problem. But he's not, you know, creating incredible chances. He did have a very good game against Houston defensively. That's what I'm looking at here. Eight defensive contribution, three tackles, two clearances, one headed clearance, and three interceptions is huge. recoveries two is Joe will pass three times in the course of ninety minutes. I'm happy with that defensively. and he he did seem to lock down that that left winger, number eleven, who was I think faster than him, to be honest. He he was very fast, but Benji You know, squared up very well, used his own pace and physicality, was very good in this game. But there's for me, I I just want to reiterate that I'm looking for him to improve offensively. and I I'm not seeing that f like not only with the eye test, like when I see him, I'm disappointed with how he is going forward. So I looked at the numbers and they kind of validate, you know, that that what what I was feeling that is not looking that good in terms of going forward. And, you know, successful dribbles, he only had one last game and he attempted two. So fifty percent, you know, rate, not that great. But like I said, he's a player who it gets on the end of things. He he has scored before from from right right back, right wing back. And and that is always awesome to have. but that's just, you know, what I'm seeing here. I'll let you go now, Devin, 'cause I've been talking for a minute. Devon: Yeah. So I this isn't me arguing against you specifically, Abram, because we're looking at the same stats, right, on Fot Mob. And Abram: Mm-hmm. Right. Devon: what I have written on my notes, based off of my observational analysis, the there's a moment in the seventh minute so I don't know why Fot Mob said that there were six attempted crosses and only one was successful. I would count two as successful because in the seventh minute, Benji laid a great ball through the middle. That was you know, given right to Bo LaRue. Bo was shoved in the back by a Houston player. So he was he kind of lost his balance and was unable to, you know, fully, you know, stay composed and and and on and balanced. And he attempted to take a shot. Right, Abram: Mm. Which wouldn't be on Benji. Yeah. Devon: it wouldn't be on Benji. he attempted to take a shot, but it seemed like he just couldn't, you know, get the ball under control or his own balance under control. so I thought You know, based on that and the fact that he that Benji gave a ball to to Levin, there were two clear opportunities there that had good potential. it's just, you know, unfort circumstantial that Livin missed the the target entirely and then Bo was shoved in the back, or at least in the side and and sent off balance. So I Abram: Yeah. I s I see the the the bottle luven. I believe that's the chance created here. He does have a chance created. And to be fair to him, he has eighty five percent accuracy, just like, you know, basic passing. I I have no problems with Benji because he played very well. but when we're talking about like Benji's the guy who's gonna give you the good ball, you know, even at two out of six that's not that's like thirty three percent. so I'm just saying that he needs to improve there. Not that he's terrible and and, you know, was never gonna get better. It's just he isn't perfect yet and this is where those faults lie, I think, in in going forward and creating chances in the offensive end. because we clearly he's able to to stop them on the other end. at least the last few games I have had no qualms with him. like we had previously where we're like, Benji, we're looking for him to step up. I think he had done that for for these two games. but on the other side of the pitch, I know you didn't get to watch too much of the match, but Ricketts did you have any thoughts on his play and how he was terrorizing their their right hand side? Devon: I think he stretched well Ricketts yeah, their right hand side. Yeah. So I think Ricketts did a good job with with kind of luring a bunch of Houston's defense out wide and creating opportunities for other players, other Earthquakes players to send balls Abram: Mm. Devon: in the middle. but I think in terms of the personal distribution into the box by Ricketts, it just wasn't that impressive. There there was a good there was a a a good example and I can't think of the the minute 'cause I didn't write it down, but Now that you mentioned it, you know, there was a a a point where Ricketts took the ball to the end line and then attempted a cross and it just skied over three Earthquakes players, for Houston to kind of not necessarily counterattack, but you know, win possession and then you know, just the the attacking momentum dissolved after that. and you can clearly tell that Ricketts knew he was at fault for that 'cause he was just kind of wincing at at what he created. But overall, yeah, there just wasn't many chances that, you know, Jamar had created that were dangerous for Abram: Mm. Devon: the earthquakes. you know, I think we had seen in other games he he he has that offensive creativity, but you know, maybe kudos to Houston for for shutting him down, but it just yeah, he wasn't very prevalent in in Saturday's match. Abram: Yeah, I thought early on he looked pretty okay. he you know, using his pace, but I think they got wise to that. after, you know, ten, fifteen minutes. It's like, okay, well don't let that guy, you know, run past us, you know. And it it's pretty simple after that. he only had two crosses. He has fifty percent you know, accuracy with the crosses, but he only has tempted two, whereas Benji attempted six. And for me, I'm like, if you can attempt more even if you don't succeed, I would rather have that. but somebody who had a very good game, s we've not been able to say this very often, is Angus Gunn, man of the match. we've we've been talking about him on and on. Finally had a very good game, clean sheet, eight point eight rating. you didn't see much of of You know, his play because his he shined more in the second half, when we were defending. but I guess, you know, even if you can't provide analysis on his performance, what does it mean to have a a goalkeeper who we can feel confident in? Devon: Over the last three games, as Bruce may have also stated in the press conference, it just seems like, you know, Angus Gunn has finally kind of settled into San Jose. you know, this is just my assessment based off the press conference that I saw and just kind of gathering all that information plus the last couple of games. it seems like, you know, building up to the la these last three games, he he's been struggling a lot, I think, with just like adapting to the San Jose environment and just kind of building his base here with his family. and then obviously the last three games hit and he finally does what's needed for a Santa's Earthquake's goalkeeper for the team to, you know, stay in a in the playoff hunt. has a lot of good reaction saves. I don't necessarily want to make the claim that they were great reactive saves because I I think, you know, based off of seeing the match highlights, two of those those shots late in the game by Houston went straight to gun and he just stuck out a leg. But historically, he's had really bad reaction time. And in that moment versus Houston, he had good reaction time enough to make a kick save twice. So no matter where the ball is placed. He reacted well enough to keep it out of goal. and and I want to give Angus Gunn credit for that, because it seems like his his reactions are improving, which is also, you know, giving confidence in his own back line. So, you know, based off the highlights that I saw, I think Angus is improving on the aspects that we're asking him to improve and thus, you know, giving the rest of his teammates something to something to really fight for. Is that something, you know, does that does that resonate? Well with the rest of the game, Abram, or do you have a different app opposing view? Abram: No, I I I totally agree. I think that when you aren't confident in your keeper, you just aren't confident in general. I think having even a fine keeper, you know, is so much better than than having one that you have to worry about because then you're like, if I don't do this then we're screwed, you know. If I don't if I make anything out of out of place, then then we're gonna lose this game. as a defender. So I I am glad to see that he is playing fine. He he had a a good performance against San Diego as well. I don't claim any of those goals as his fault. I think he couldn't really do much against the Jared's goal and the penalty, what are you gonna do, right? but this was a good match. yeah, those those shots were right at him, but the reaction was there. Right, he didn't just let it bounce off of him, even though for one of them did hit him in the in the forehead. but that was different. That was a different you know sequence. yeah, I think that this is huge for the morale of the of the group. I think that the Daniel situation, and then the fact that Gunn had such a terrible start to the you know, his time here really put a damper on it on things. on and on top of everything else going on, it it's just nice to not be here and be like, come on, you know, and and feel frustrated as a keeper. And you know, I just feel like he did a fine job. He's not Daniel so far. Daniel was incredible. We haven't seen incredible things from Gunn, but just like solid no complaints performance. Devon: Agreed. And, you know, again, I I wanna reiterate that, you know, it is unfortunate that we lost Daniel the way we did. and Angus, you know, had to pick up the pieces that Daniel not nef not left behind, but I guess, you know, that that Bruce Arena had left behind in Daniel's place. and and I'm glad that he's he's slowly improving in the the save department. I am still hoping that he's continuously improves to become a a good Daniel replacement. obviously we see optimistic signs that the the talent is there, and I think, you know, with with Bruce and Gunn both harping about this in the the postgame press conference, because you were there, Abram, there there was definitely a clear understanding between the two. that Angus Gunn with the lack of minutes played in the course of two years definitely affected his ability to play goalkeeper. which is why I think, you know, Angus was so appreciative of Bruce and giving him the opportunities to consistently play for these last seven or eight games, with full ninety minutes. 'cause I think that would have shot Angus's confidence entirely if we had taken him off the field at any point, you know, and and and sat him out even for a game. we wouldn't see the Angus gun that we're seeing now. I think he would have even he digressed even worse if we had taken him out. and that's not to justify everything that Angus has done in the last several games. But I think, you know, it's good to see that the player that we're expecting to start with the pay that he's given is is finally performing, maybe not at his pay grade, but you know, to a point where the starter is is doing starter related things. so so in that regard, I'm looking for more of gun. I want to see more of kind of like Daniel-ish impressive saves. And sorry, I want to make an apology, like I I don't like comparing him to Daniel because I think it's unfair to anyone in the league. So I'm trying to do that less. but considering the fact that Daniel was here like this season, it it's hard not to initially. but that being said, I I think he can make Daniel level saves. We just haven't seen it yet. Abram: I mean yeah, he's a very different type of keeper than Daniel, so you you know it's it's understandable. and it's not even like the the types of save, it's more just like the numbers about how little we conceded at the start of the season. if we can just like stop conceding, that would be great. And honestly, let me look at the last few games here for the Quakes. But we haven't conceded that many. So we had a really rough go of it against Minnesota United, obviously. That's not a great look for anyone. But so we have here against Houston, zero goals conceded, one against Austin, two against San Diego, and one against none against Houston. so what's that? Three conceded in the last four games? That's pretty okay. And two clean sheets in that four Devon: Not bad at all. Abram: games. Right? and one of those goals happened because Floriani grabbed somebody's shirt and pulled him down of the box in the ninetieth minute, while he was on the yellow card. So I and I'm not I'm not trying to go even more on Floriani, but what I am saying is that the that goal that, you know, was scored is was avoidable and that we could be looking at only two goals conceded in the last four. And, you know What if's but s whatever, that's all hypothetical. What matters is the score at the end of the ninety minutes. but it is looking good when you consider the fact that in that Minnesota game we conceded more goals than we have in the last four matches combined. Things are looking up statistically and also just on the field everything looks better as well. I I wanna give a quick shout out to Chazinski who looked pretty good at the right center back position in the absence of Floriani and Roberts who was also injured. I had no qualms with him. In fact I thought he looked pretty natural there. I don't know if you wanna provide any any insight on that, Devin. Yeah. Yeah. He he looked perfectly comfortable. he's he's like six one, so he has the size for it. He he's more mobile than than your average center back, not as mobile as Muni. But no qualms at all. He looked very good. he had a very solid match rating in the Houston game. let me confirm that. line up. Yeah, he had a seven point five better than most of the players on the pitch. Super happy with that. Better than anyone on Houston, that's for sure. but with that we will be back after the Levi's game at w we're playing LAFC. big game, are you coming to to watch that with me, Devin? Devon: I'm looking forward to it. I'm hoping so. Just up to the media team to decide whether or not, you know, we get approved. Abram: Did you did you put in your application? Devon: I I did, yeah. I think so. Abram: Okay, 'cause if you haven't then th then you're not gonna be there. the deadline was at five today. Regardless. Devon: shit. Okay. Abram: thank you guys so much for watching. Like I said, we'll be back again t after the L AFC game. But Until then, GW out. Devon: GW out.