Latest / Tectonic Takes / Episode 162: Seattle Recap & DeJuan Jones Interview
Transcript
- speaker-0: What's up Quakes fans, we're back with another episode of Tectonic Takes. Devin was not able to join us today due to being sick. I checked with him, he is okay, but just not feeling great enough to record today. And to be honest, I'm not feeling too good either after that 1-0 loss to Seattle at home. Obviously a very disappointing result. When you look at the stats, I mean, we dominated in every stat. Robert Jonas posted to both ⁓ Bruce Arena and Ronaldo Vieira. And... They agreed, you know, when you look at a game like this, stats don't really matter because Seattle's plan was to let us dominate in every aspect of the field except for right in front of their own goal. Their keeper had six saves. We had seven shots on target. One of them, I believe, was cleared off the goal line, as that's what we're seeing here from Thought Mob. Yeah, I mean, Andrew Thomas is You know, one of the best number twos in the league, probably the best number two could be a starting keeper for a lot of teams. And the defense in front of them was no slouch. They lined up with Jackson Reagan and they also had an Antino Lopez. Jackson Reagan is a player who I came into the game not wanting to face because of the just physical threat that he imposes. He is a full. Let's see here. Jackson Ragan is 6'6 and that's taller than anyone we have on the field. And it obviously showed when you look at the aerial dominance that they had. He gave Preston Judd a really hard time. Antino Lopez was obviously the player who got that goal and save. ⁓ Played very well also. ⁓ We have ⁓ Neuho. Everybody knows about Neuho. Very good player in this league. And you know, this is a really difficult game to talk about just because we did a lot of things right. I felt that this wasn't a game that we lost so much as it was a game that Seattle won. And you know, some people might take issue with me saying that we didn't lose the game. We obviously lost. I understand that the score is what matters and so does Seattle. And that's why they employ this game plan. We saw a similar thing against Vancouver. where they sat back, let Vancouver have the ball and then they countered and scored three on them. Unanswered. ⁓ They haven't conceded in their last three games. I believe the game before the Vancouver game was St. Louis and they didn't concede in that game either. That game was another one where they barely had any possession but they were able to escape a win. So. This isn't something that's exclusive to us and in fact I thought that we had a lot of chances that on a different day we could have scored and you know maybe this game could be a draw but you know with the overall play from ⁓ Seattle in this match I can't say that we deserved the win just everything was decked against us. So in this game the game plan for Seattle was to sit back and get us on the counter. It's not a coincidence that they lined up with Paul Rothrock and Joji Minungu, two of the fastest swingers in this league. And obviously, Rothrock is on form having gotten a goal against Vancouver. They basically let us have the left-hand side. They let us play through Werner a lot. ⁓ And, you know, that could have just been us favoring our left, which, you know, totally fair. You want to play Verner as much as you can and Verner is one of the positives for me in this match. I thought that he was really spectacular with, you know, just what we've had before versus what we have now with him on that left side. We look a lot more threatening. I think with more space to get behind, he can perform a lot better, but he also wasn't ⁓ there's not a lot of room in that box for him to make any, you know, passes that ended in anything substantial. So He gave that their right back a really hard time, but it was almost like they wanted us to get to the end line and make it cross because they were going to win it every time. And that's why I mentioned Jackson Reagan's height. know, Judd's a big guy, but he made, Reagan made Judd look normal sized. And that's never a good thing, especially because Judd is, I think, the tallest player on the pitch for us. So they were just able to crowd the box and not let us get any really good chances. in the first half. In the second half we got much closer with the two breakaways from Judd who missed both. It's hard to say missed because he did get them on target but the first one in the 61st minute was a pretty low XG chance. Let's take a look at that. ⁓ It was on his left foot and it had an XG of 0.18, but the chance that I thought was the better of his two chances was in the 74th minute that had an XG of 0.42, ⁓ which is, you know, every 100 times he takes that, he scores 42 of them. Much better chances than the first one. ⁓ And he did beat the keeper. It was... really impressive that Thomas was able to get his hand to that and I think that did ultimately ⁓ make it so the ball was slow enough to be cleared off the line but technically Judge still did beat him on that occasion but it was a very good effort from Antino Lopez to make that clearance. The only other big chance we had I believe ⁓ Was the chance for Viera where it was really good actually from Timo Werner to cut inside and then slip it through to Viera He's not the guy that you really want to be picking the ball up in that position but he does have that kind of intelligence to be you know To be phasing through the defensive line and finding himself in those areas It's just unfortunate that he doesn't have the best finish even though it was a pretty good chance It was easily blocked by the goalkeeper in the discord in the discord today. We had a debate about exe and People are saying well, we racked up 2.35. XG you know, we should have won this match, right and Sure, if you look at it like that, but actually doesn't really tell you the full story Especially when you have 25 total shots ⁓ And if you're going to divide the XG by the total shots, then you get a really low number It's just that when you have that many shots they the XG on each of those shots racks up really quickly and You get to a point where you're looking at 2.35 XG ⁓ And no goals and you're like, well if we had so much XG, why don't we score it? It's because none of those chances were super high probability chances ⁓ And even the ones that were higher probability, they were saved. They were saved or blocked or whatever the case may be. ⁓ We didn't have the best day in front of coal. And then you take that fact and you also take into account the fact that Seattle is just objectively very solid defensively. So after the game, we spoke to Bruce and something that I want to clear my name a little bit on. I'll include the clip. Hey coach, so to the point of result, but Timo played all 90 minutes today. Was that more out of necessity or do you think we can expect to see that more often? When he'll play 90 minutes more? Yeah, the full game. Why the f*** he here? Well, you said that he's like in fitness. Well, he played 90 minutes today. What do think? We moved him 30 minutes, 45 minutes today. He went 90 and he did a good job. He's here to play. He's not here to sit on the bench. Thank you, He's able to play a full 90 minutes and that they're not going to rush him. And this is what we've been hearing for two weeks. And keep in mind, Timo at that point had played 30 minutes, he played 45. And then this match, he played a full 98 minutes. He played the full match and the stoppage time. so, you know, that is in contrast to what he had been saying in the weeks before during the press conference. And so as somebody who wants to get the answer for the people, people want to know, is Teemo here now? Is he ready? Is he fit? Can he play more often? ⁓ And so I asked the question and maybe I didn't ask in the best way. I asked, is this, ⁓ did he play the full game out of necessity or was it because he's ready to play now, like he's fully fit and we should be expecting this to happen more often. And Bruce's response was really weird because it didn't seem like he understood why I was asking, even though the context for why I'm asking is because of what he had said previously, where he said that he's not fit. He said it's gonna be months before he's fit. And we're looking two weeks in to a team of being in San Jose and playing 98 minutes. And you know, that in and of itself is really good. I am happy that, you know, team was ready to play. That's great. But I wanted to know from his perspective, is this something that was like, we needed a point against Seattle at home. So we left him on to hope he makes something happen. Or is he fully ready and there's something that we can expect to see in the game against Vancouver, in the game against San Diego. You know, these are big games and I'd love to have Timo Werner available. So I would like the context, know, ⁓ has there been a reevaluation of his fitness level and now he might be available for more games. You know, maybe I could ask it better. Let me know in the comments. I got a lot of people saying like, don't know why he responded like that when he's the one, you know, making the comments about his fitness in the past. So still no answer on that. ⁓ But what I'll take from it is that Timo is ready to play. But I hope that this doesn't mean that we are going to be forcing him to play when he's not fit. I think that Bruce has more sense than that. I don't think that it's something where He will be pushing him too hard, especially when Jamar Ricketts has been performing to a decent standard. So there is other options. We don't have to just force him onto the field. But obviously, if he's ready to go, then why not play him? Because he is obviously a very good player for this franchise. makes a big difference. Bruce was also asked about the comments he had made ⁓ when we brought in Timo Werner during that press conference. Bruce had said that we wanted to bring in one or two more players to, you know, bolter the attack. And he was asked about that again to see, you know, where we stand on that, if that's still the goal, if we have any, you know, updates on that situation. And The answer was weird for that as well. I thought that given what he has told us, we should be expecting to at least hear rumors at this point or getting close to that point at least, but we've heard nothing, right? And so the question is just like, okay, can we get an update on that? And Bruce's response was, I'll show the clip. speaker-1: Do that. speaker-0: So Bruce's response was basically, know, if we can bring in a player that's going to help us, great. But we're not just bringing in random players for no reason. And again, that's not what anyone is asking. Nobody was accusing him of bringing in players that weren't going to help us. I don't think anybody is interested in that. The question is, hey, what's the situation? He's the one with the information we need to ask questions. And so I don't think it's out of the scope of what's appropriate to ask, hey, what's the deal here? And if he wants to say, I can't tell you anything, or we're working on it, or give us a non-answer in a way of like, I don't know yet. That's totally fine. I don't think I'd have a big problem with that. But the problem is where he's like, well, I don't want to bring anyone. I don't want to just bring in a random guy. That's not, you know, what anyone we don't want random guys at our club either. I guess we're on the same page there, but I just don't see how from the question he was asked, he got that out of it. ⁓ And it kind of. gave the vibes of we're not bringing in anyone at this point and so don't expect that. because they weren't able to bring anyone in, his attitude about it is like, well, we didn't need them anyways. And that's just speculation. I want to be clear. I don't have any information telling me that that is the case. But because of his vague answers, that leads me to having these theories and I wish it didn't have to be that way. I wish we could, you know, rely on him more to be decisive with his answers. And if we ask him a question and he can't answer it, then I would prefer that to then then to pretend like we had asked something else entirely. But that's just me. Let me know if you guys think that I'm in the wrong there or if my question was off base or any other questions you had heard during that press conference. ⁓ But I didn't think so. I felt like. My question wasn't answered in the way that I had asked it and I felt like a lot of questions got a similar treatment and that's not something that's, know, exclusive to this press conference, but many press conferences over the time that Bruce has been here. ⁓ And, you know, obviously not in the best mood, wasn't the best game for the earthquakes. So probably shouldn't be expecting too much from him there, but we do have to ask questions. ⁓ And so far the questions aren't really met with a lot of ⁓ effort, I guess. I also took the liberty of watching the Vancouver Whitecaps play Minnesota United. And I can't lie to you, this looks like a really difficult game for us as well. So they beat us four to one last time. And a key part of that game was obviously Sebastian Berhalter and he was instrumental for this game as well. A lot of the goals came from him directly. ⁓ He assisted the savvy one. He got the goal for the penalty on the first goal and was just overall, you know, pulling the strings with his range of passing. So that's the main player I think that we need to look out for because really everything went through him. Brian White is the one who got the brace. I still believe that their main man is Sebastian Berhalter. Now, if I'm going to try and take something positive from this match, I would say that Minnesota looked absolutely dreadful in defense, insanely bad. ⁓ Jefferson Diaz had one of the most shocking performances I've ever seen from a center back. ⁓ If you want more details, go ahead and watch ⁓ that game. A lot of the goals, I wouldn't say his fault. That's kind of harsh, but he didn't do much to stop them. Jake Callender also had a very terrible game, a former Quicks Academy player. Another positive would be that two of the four goals were penalties, and so that's not necessarily something that is repeatable in terms of like, you That's not a strategy that they can utilize against us, but I want my idea they did look really good in a lot of areas. So what I think that means for the match coming up, I would be very weary. wouldn't look at this match and expect any sort of result. I think a tie away from home would be really good for us. We knew that the streak at the beginning of season where we got three wins in a row, it had to end at some point. And we did get a favorable schedule at the beginning of the year. ⁓ That has quickly shifted and if you look at our new schedule and if you look at the schedule of the games coming up, it's not looking favorable to us anymore. Because after Vancouver, we have San Diego and then we have Porting Kansas City. Again, that's a team that I do think we can beat even though we'll be away from home. And then we have LAFC. It's hard to be super optimistic at this point as a Quakes fan, but You know, what happened in Seattle was due to their game plan being, you know, sit back and get us on the counter. and we were able to give them really hard game. I like, I do think that Seattle plan went perfectly, but it was almost foiled. We almost did score. ⁓ we were almost able to break down that block that they had, but when Timo starts, I look to the bench and I don't. have a lot of players that I think are going to come on and make a huge difference in this match. felt that Buddha, you guys know I love Buddha, but I didn't think that he played very well. I thought that Colin Atteneer during the Quake Step Center aftershock, he brought up a really good point in saying that, you know, Buddha is somebody who fasts for Ramadan and the change in the schedule for him might be having a disproportionate effect on how he plays than it does on somebody who maybe isn't fasting during this time. And you know, that's total speculation. I wouldn't be able to speak for Buddha and tell you whether or not the fasting has impacted his game. But there has been a growing concern on my end for Buddha's general play. I think that he's getting into really good positions in terms of scoring goals. ⁓ when you have a defense that is going to not give you that much space in behind and not let breakaways happen too often, Buddha's positioning is gonna be less effective. But even then, I'm really hoping to see better from Usani Buddha very soon. And I do think he has it in him. I'm always going to try and back Buddha as much as possible. But like I said, I'd like to see more from him, ⁓ especially because I didn't... have a lot of confidence in skein coming off the bench. ⁓ I do think that scan provides value, but this wasn't one of the games where that was super apparent. I do think that we could do better with who we have on our bench. Again, when I look at it, it's like, yeah, we have Ricketts and I enjoy watching Ricketts play, but I don't think this was a game for him either ⁓ because what are you going to do? You know, if you're bringing someone on, you're taking someone off. And the unfortunate thing about that is the man standing in Ricketts way at this stage is Timo Werner. And Timo was one of the biggest bright spots during that game against Seattle. I think that if you give Werner a team that is, you know, less compact in the box, a little bit more space and, you know, a little bit more familiarity with teammates. We have a real gem there. think that he could be one of the better wingers in this league. Niko Scherz is another player who impressed me. I thought that he was very active and making a lot of things happen. Bolaru ⁓ was someone who I was a little bit disappointed in in the last two games. I felt that in the two games prior to this one, he was trying to do a little bit too much and maybe wasn't, you know. It wasn't coming off for him for whatever reason. He's giving the ball away a little bit too much. He was somebody who in this match, felt, I felt that in the past, Bo might've been biting off a little bit more than he could chew. And I don't think that was the case in this match. I felt that he was doing what he knows how to do best ⁓ to the best capacity that he can. I thought that that pass to Judd to find him in behind was one of the best opportunities we had all game. And that's the kind of thing I wish we could have seen more of, but with how Seattle back line were positioned, it was, you know, really difficult to find any space in behind. Hey guys, this is editor Abram here to interrupt that outro real quick. We actually have some more information I wanted you guys to know before we end this episode. So the second half of this episode will actually be the Dwan Jones interview that we were able to do. Super thankful to Earthquakes team for allowing us to do this. was actually voted for by our Patreon members and they will get to vote for the next player that we interview. But again, thank you to Dwan Jones and the Earthquakes team for letting this happen. But without further ado, here's their interview. Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of Tectonic Takes. I'm delighted to be joined by Dwan Jones. Dwan, how are doing today? speaker-1: doing well thanks for having me. speaker-0: So, last time we saw you, took a pretty big knock, a big contact with Mussovsky. How are you feeling after that? speaker-1: Yeah, still a little sore, but feeling pretty good. Hopeful to be ready for this weekend against Vancouver. speaker-0: I'm actually speaking to you because ⁓ our listeners voted for you as the first interview for us to talk to this season. Are you aware that you're sort of a fan favorite since you've come to the Quicks about a year ago? speaker-1: I'm not aware, but that's great to hear. I appreciate the support. speaker-0: Yeah, I I don't want you to get too big of a head, you know, just, but now after winning the first three games, you guys, you know, obviously had a difficult result against Seattle. What are you looking forward to changing for the next couple of games coming up? speaker-1: Yeah, I mean when you look at the game overall it was a pretty good performance. We gave up a few more chances than we have been in the first three games, but overall it a pretty good performance. We had a lot of the ball, created a lot of chances. So I would just say being more clinical in front of the goal, creating more higher quality chances as well and just being cleaner in those moments because it just takes one moment to you know to be down a goal, one moment to make a play to save a goal or to score a goal. So just comes down to those moments. So making sure that we're on the right end of those moments. And yet getting results, that's what it's all about. Especially at home, we want to be getting all three points every game. So definitely disappointed to drop points at home. And we're only going to improve from that and learn to be better next time. speaker-0: No, definitely and you guys have been really good homes this season ⁓ so after last year we had ⁓ You know formation of a three five two or three four three and then at this year We saw a change in that we went to a more of a three. Sorry a four three three Do you think that the change of formation has any correlation to the? Improved defense where you guys have only left one goal in four games. Yeah speaker-1: I think so. think with the four in the back, it's a little bit more clear. And I'd say a lot more clear with what our roles are. ⁓ terms of the wingers helping as well, the forwards helping, the midfielders, I think everyone's roles are more clear with the four in the back system. And I think this year we've done a great job of just having everyone defend. We've had all 11 players trying to get the clean sheet, trying to limit shots, block shots, block crosses. Whereas last year there were times where it was maybe eight guys, eight or nine, but not always 11. So to have the full team effort to get clean sheets. been a tremendous help this year and I think we've seen that the first three games. Everyone putting their buys on the line to make sure we get the results. speaker-0: Speaking on the defense, you guys have some college guys like Muni and Roberts at the center back pairing. ⁓ Can you speak a little bit on how they've sort of stepped up into a much bigger role this year? speaker-1: For sure. I think they've both done a really great job. They both have a lot of pace in the back and they've both done a really good job in terms of speaking more, communicating throughout the back line, talking to the midfielder this year. I know I was testing Reid to do that a lot in preseason and he's done a really great job. You know, he's being a lot more vocal this year and taking on more of a leadership role. He's still young guy, he's still learning and he's a student of the game so it's been fun playing with him and he's very composed on the ball and it makes a lot of really good decisions. So yeah, that's a really good pairing and only giving up one goal in four games, that's pretty good. we know we can even be even better. We want to win every game that we compete in. yeah, so far they've done a really great job. And it's been a really good chemistry between those two in the back. speaker-0: So against Atlanta, you were named captain. How did that feel to get that, you know, get the arm bad for that game? speaker-1: Yeah, that was an incredible honor to have that trust from my teammates and from the coaching staff. This great club won so many trophies back in the day and we want get back to that level. So that's a big responsibility, an incredible honor, and I didn't take it lightly. But yeah, I mean, I think I'm a guy that's been around the league for a long time and have a lot of respect in the locker room with my teammates, with the coaching staff. So yeah, I'm ready to step into that leadership role. And yeah, I'm a communicator on the field. I speak a lot of positivity to my teammates. And yeah, think that's a good role for me to be in. So yeah, whether I'm wearing the armband or not, I'm always going to be a leader and helping guys around me to play to the best of their ability. speaker-0: So you spoke on communication a little bit. ⁓ This year we have a few more ⁓ guys who are English speakers in the back line. Does that make any difference in terms of how you guys communicate on the field? speaker-1: I would say so a little bit. mean, I think, again, it's about building the chemistry. So not necessarily about the language we're speaking, but I mean, there's been a lot of great conversations between myself and Reed and Muni and whoever's in the back line. I think it's more so not about the language, but just the understanding of knowing your teammate and speaking in a way that they understand and can communicate information quickly and effectively. speaker-0: ⁓ Back to the ⁓ topic of you being selected captain against Atlanta, ⁓ how does that process go for this current administration? I know in the past we've had a vote, a player vote. What's it like nowadays? speaker-1: Yeah, so my understanding is that there's going to be a vote ⁓ from the players and the staff as well ⁓ towards the end of March. I think we'll have more, like we'll have an official captain maybe in the next coming weeks. So that's kind of what it's been. And I think he said he's going to rotate the armband a little bit throughout the first games of the season. Yeah, I think we'll have more clarity on that. But again, I think this year a lot of guys have really done a good job stepping up and using our voices more. So it's not like it's just one leader. It's a lot of leaders out there and a lot of guys communicating. Whether you're a younger player, older player, guy in the middle age, ⁓ yeah, a lot of guys can step up and use their voice and be leaders in their own way. speaker-0: So you, you touch a little bit on staff and everyone, you know, obviously knows about Bruce Arena, but I didn't actually realize this until, you know, the start of this year. Oh, Shaury is, you know, an MLS All-Star and, you know, this other assistant coach, former coach of the year. Can you speak a little bit on the coaching staff apart from Bruce himself? speaker-1: Yeah, for sure. ⁓ You know, Shari is a guy who, like you said, was best 11. I think Steve Ralston as well and Dave Serkin, you know, he's coached at a high level as well. So I mean, they all have a wealth of experience ⁓ and Raleigh and Shari more from playing, you know, they have, you know, they know how to win games, you know, they they've been players top of the league and they know what it takes. just getting all their experiences when we watch film and individually. getting information on how we can improve. think it's a tremendous help. Bruce does a good job setting the team up, but having those conversations with those guys who've been between the lines, those are really good conversations and they give you lot of wisdom and advice that can really help elevate our games. speaker-0: So there's a bit of a meme surrounding you in the fanbase where I actually asked you last year, you probably don't remember, which side do you prefer, left back or right back? And you said left back despite being a right-footed player. And then through more research, I found that you actually were drafted as a right-winger. What is that process like to go not only from attack to defense, but also switching sides as well? speaker-1: Yeah, so I was an attacking player my whole life until ⁓ my coach Brad Friedel at the Rebs got fired and then the assistant coach who took over he was trying me outside back and when he tried me outside back I had a really good game and then the next game Bruce Arena was taking over at the Rebs and I started left back again there and Yeah, from there, Bruce and the staff were like, yeah, you're outside back. And I was just like, dang. So yeah, it was tough that first year. I mean, I was happy to be getting on the field and playing. they also gave me a role where I could still get forward into the attack. So I think it took me a year into the second year to really fully accept the position, the position change. But it was, I've always took pride in my defending from playing basketball. So it was just, you have to defend a little bit more, but again, you could still get forward into the attack and that's what makes it so fun for me because I feel like I'm still an attacking player, a creative guy in the final third. I still have that. Again, more defensive responsibility, which I feel like I'm a great defender as well. So the position kind of makes sense for my skill set. So yeah, it's been a change. But again, defense has always been something that I pride myself in. So it wasn't too hard to make that adjustment. speaker-0: And, you know, obviously this ⁓ earlier season, you guys signed Timo Werner, you guys both play on the left hand side. ⁓ Does it pose any challenges on the field when both of you are kind of inverted wanting to cut onto your right foot? Obviously, we saw some good crosses for me from your left foot. But can you speak on that dynamic and what that's kind of been like? speaker-1: Yeah, it's been amazing. Temos came in to the team pretty seamlessly, fits into the locker room really great and he's got a lot of quality. So it's been fun, you know, building our relationship and I think it's only going to continue to grow. We had a lot of good plays together in this last game against Seattle and but yeah, in terms of inside outside, I think we can both play inside or outside. So it's going to be a great partnership and I think again, as we continue to grow into the season, it will only get better. But yeah, I'm very comfortable getting down the line and Timo as well. think we both can show that we can go inside but also we can go down the line and get crosses in with our left foot or go right to goal. speaker-0: We noticed that at the start of the year you changed your number from number 22 to 24 and that's obviously what you had at the Reds. Is there any sort of sentimental value or significance around that number for you? speaker-1: Definitely 24 is always my favorite number. I was born June 24th, so that's kind of since I was young it's 24 is always been my number and yeah to get it back was a easy decision for me. Nick Lima gave me his blessing. So yeah, I was very happy to get my number back. It just feels like it's part of my identity. So yeah, DJ 24 is back. speaker-0: Awesome, I'm happy you got it back. My final question is outside of the field, off the field, ⁓ what are you watching? Like what kind of ⁓ media are you into that would be considered more like nerdy? Like Star Wars, know, something like that. What is, what do you like to watch off the field? speaker-1: Future. I like to Jeopardy every single night. So, Jeopardy. Right. Yeah, I watch Survivor and then I watch anime. So right now I'm watching One Piece and Black Clover. speaker-0: Jeopardy, okay. How far along are you? speaker-1: One piece, I'm like in the 900s, Black Clover, I'm on season two. And my hero as well. I gotta finish that, so. speaker-0: That's a commitment. You're going to be at it for a while. Well, I appreciate you giving us your time. ⁓ Guys, this has been Dwan Jones. Dwan, thank you so much for joining us. speaker-1: Thanks for having me on. speaker-0: Hey guys, I'm back. ⁓ Fantastic interview. I was really happy with the answers that we were able to get from Rowan Jones. Really surprised to hear that he is an anime fan and also one of his favorite animes is One Piece. If you don't know about One Piece, it's one of the longest standing ⁓ animated series of all time. So, ⁓ you know, big commitment for him to invest into that series. Yeah, that's going to do it for today's episode. Thank you guys so much for watching, a recap for that, and also to preview the San Diego game, but until then, go Quicks.