Latest / Tectonic Takes / Episode 170: Next Man Up
Transcript
- Tectonic Takes: What's up Quakes fans, we're back with yet another episode. Unfortunately, Devin couldn't be here today, but we do have the very special, I call you special. Yeah, no, you're right. You're not wrong. Yeah, they had to really dig deep in the of the barrel. And then when they saw nothing was there, they went three more barrels over and they're like, I guess. No, Devin's on a camping trip and Saz was very gracious to Gannis his time today. Saz, how are you doing? Special I'm feeling special special one. might call me No, I'm feeling good. Thank you for having me. It's never gonna live that down. Yeah I have a really chaotic work schedule. So, ⁓ thank you for wanting to shoot this so late Of course, no even for someone so special I had to make accommodations. Yeah But no, we are back after the one one draw in Vancouver Obviously disappointing to lose after we were ahead in that match but not a terrible result considering that you know Vancouver is who they are and also we had a few players out. What were your thoughts on the match says? I thought it was an interesting match. I it was fun. think going into the match obviously both teams were missing some important players. I think for us the while people were looking at Teemo I think Niko was the big loss for us as well as a far as a ball carrier, obviously. Muller's a huge loss for them, but it's part of the game as we've talked about. It was super back and forth. I know we didn't really have possession on the ball like we usually do. We stayed a lot in our half, but it looked like we were honestly looking for that type of counter attack. And Paul Marie, who for a while I feel like was averaging an assist every like 20 seconds, ⁓ gets an assist early on to Judd, who that was, in my opinion, that's the best goal he scored all season as far as difficulty and talent. And just it looks, he looks sharp. He's looking like he's got some confidence swagger versus just kind of finding a way to get it in there. But ⁓ we can see some of the cracks in the team and we can see that we're kind of starting to get a little bit towards the we're getting tired stage or the lack of depth, but we're still finding a way to get results, which is so huge. So some positive, some negatives I'm sure we'll dive into later. Yeah. I mean, you mentioned Marie and he's not really the guy that you would choose to start at the right wing. And that's because of indirectly because of Nikko Chikuris absence who like you said ball carrier and is a huge part of how we not only like attack in the attacking third, but also breaking the lines. He likes to come deep and help us progress forward. How did you feel Buddha did at the attacking mid position? Because for me, I it he wasn't really a factor. Maybe that could be because of the way that Vancouver sets up their midfield. where I kind of remember ⁓ Nico had a tough time against their midfield as well. But for me, I felt like Buda could have done better. Yeah, I think it's tough because I don't think he was playing the attacking mid role that we've been accustomed to this season as a ball carrier. Honestly, I think it was just they're more for a defensive purpose. I think we just want him for his speed and so we can have it on that counter and the pressing. ⁓ we know Judd's going to more likely stay up top and look for those tap ins. Well, if you have Marie, you have Buddha, ⁓ I'm blanking who else was up there, but, ⁓ it was, it allows us to just quickly break. And I think that's more of what Bruce was looking for in that game anyway. So it's hard to say it didn't work because we scored so early and we were able to hold off and follow the game plan for so long. It's also going to bug me. going look at the starting lineup while you do that. Yeah. ⁓ looking at. Thought mobs match ratings Buddha got the worst of it with the 5.9 that seems kind of harsh But also like I said, he wasn't really a big factor in this match Something that we've been doing a lot ⁓ Is putting Romney at left back and we haven't really gotten to talk about it says since you've not been able to be on the show for me That's like I know that we're sure an option. So yeah, I'm not too mad about it, but it's It really hinders our ability to progress to the left side ⁓ where Benji is more capable of carrying and also finding a good pass. I feel like ⁓ if Ricketts is there, he's also same thing, able to progress from that position. Romney is like if we if we're passing around our defense, we're not going to progress to the left side through Romney. He's you know, he'll make an easy pass. But like if it's anything, you know, too complicated, it's. you're going to recycle it, move it back to Reid Roberts and go the other way. Yeah, I think Romney adds when the ball is directly in front of him adds a certain level of like defense. That's really nice to have. ⁓ We obviously do lose a little bit of pace. We do lose that attacking ability. You actually, I don't want to we lose too much space because he is actually quite fast. But when Jamar Ricketts and ⁓ some of the other options we have are the ones ahead of him. By pace or maybe like agility, but he is quicker on his feet. So I do want to walk that one back but I Do notice with him and even Rickets you can see it on the goal There is a little more ball watching a little bit less awareness of space a little bit less awareness of the line And I think that's something we saw last year ⁓ When he was a little more central so but yeah, I think you put it elegantly with the loss in the attack as well Yeah, you mentioned that goal and obviously it's hard to put too much blame on anyone because it was such a, you know, hectic situation where we're trying to clear the ball, but we can't really. And it lands perfectly to Burrhalter in the box. ⁓ you know, looking back at it, Ricketts does kind of just leave Burrhalter to go. But like, I don't I don't know. Do you expect him to to follow his man in in that position or what? What is, is there any faults in that scenario for you? I'm only, can I just watch the highlights before this? Yeah, I would put it on Jamar. ⁓ cause it, it's caught in two minds there. It's either you're waiting to go on the break and you're not quite like taking that early lead to counter them. Or it's like, we're holding the lead and you're not watching like your surrounding spaces. There is like, it sucks cause it's a bouncing ball. It's a little bit of chaos and like, you're kind of just trying to your bearings, but. to not pick that up. then I remember if was Mooney or Roberts or Romney, someone was a little bit deeper that kept it on side. That in my mind is a little bit more of a scramble. that's like, okay, that's really hard to judge because like positioning and scrambling. Ricketts is more of like, we should be aware of what is around. And it's so hard to say. And like, it's tough to say, but you should be aware in a perfect world of what's around you. And that if someone's breaking through, if the way win the ball, what is happening? Yeah, it's definitely fine margins. It's not like, ⁓ my God, Rickett never to the pitch again because of that. You know, it's doubt about it. And I think that's why Bruce moved him forward. think as much as he offered us last year, you could still tell that defensively there is a little bit of like work that needs to be done and just a little bit of freshness still. He was a rookie last year, obviously, and then hasn't seen as much of the field this year, whether it be due to injury or someone else gaining form. And I think that's a part of the game where he still needs to improve on but overall still I like a more than his attacking role Definitely and I think you know people don't really understand Ricketts is journey so far like When we drafted him the goal was to convert him to a fullback It wasn't that he was playing fullback in college and so that's his natural position I thought he has a lot of attributes that could lend well to playing that position and the the transformation when he played at the town was on and off like he would get caught out. He doesn't have an innate sense of where to stand defensively. He makes up for it with him being ridiculously fast ⁓ and very aggressive. He will fight for the ball. He just doesn't know where to stand before it's time to do that. I just wanted to add that kind of insight from from what I've seen watching him over the last two years, I believe. Yeah, I mean, they have the joke in the professional game. The fullback is the failed winger. I mean we can even kind of look at our roster now. I mean like Benji what there wasn't cutting a wing like couldn't get the time on the wing. I was throwing back Paul Marie. I mean, I he played wing this game, but he was a fullback for a while. Yeah, it's weird for him because it's like it's the opposite is true for Murray's the failed fullback that is now playing on the wing because he's not actually he was a he was the winger slash Ford in college really then went to full that I think first couple subs might have gone actually up top then went to wing back then went to back to wing mm-hmm yeah I've obviously I haven't spoken to Murray as much as probably you have ⁓ after the game so I appreciate the insight but you mentioned Benji Canovic this was a really good match for him like he was getting fouled a lot and and yeah he was selling a few of those but they couldn't get past him even if they did he was getting it called back and they just could not get past him on that side. And that's been a recurring theme throughout the season. And I feel like if Benji isn't on his game today or Saturday, this game could have been a loss seeing how the momentum was going for Vancouver. Any thoughts on Benji? Yeah, I mean, they had a lot on that side. think it's easier for our right side inherently than our left having Vera and Mooney over there. ⁓ Nothing, nothing against Roberts, but Leroux does is more of a box to box role. Right. Or even if we put Ian in there. ⁓ But I fully, fully agree. Benji has really done well at this right back using his pace, but also his positioning, his strength. ⁓ When he got the yellow card, that should not have been a yellow card. ⁓ I was scared for the other team because you don't mess with the scary whites. And those are the Eastern European. He's Bosnian. I saw that Bosnian. came out in him during that. ⁓ was so scared he was about to punch him in the face if he was going to get a red, but great composure by him. But he's been having a great season. ⁓ Can't take anything away from that. I don't think, I mean, at least I didn't expect him to be so successful at fullback. I know he has a lot of attributes that would naturally lend themselves to being good in that position. But for me, he was a striker that was being pushed out to the wing. And then suddenly he's like one of the best fullbacks in the league. ⁓ I'm sad that we don't get to see him a striker anymore, especially because Judd can't do it all himself. He's he's been getting gassed. But ⁓ as long as Benji is holding down the right hand side, I say keep him there. Any thoughts on that? Because I want to ask you about the striker situation, because Judd just physically it's impossible for him to play so much and we're not bringing on Adi Mabua until like I believe the 90th minute. Yeah, first with Benji. ⁓ What I like most about it is that he is so defensive first minded, ⁓ really taking the defense part of the role serious. I would love to see if he could honestly get up or even inverts into like some sort of inverted winger, not to get too much into that. ⁓ Or if he goes wide because he did play wing for us, it would be cool to see him get up more. But he's taking the defensive responsibility so well and just allowing our attack to attack. doesn't really necessarily need to need. He really does care more about, okay, I don't want to get beat versus, ⁓ I want to go attack. ⁓ but if we can find a way to evolve the game so he can do both sides, ⁓ it would be so such a dangerous side. But as far as the striker situation, yeah, I mean, a lot of games have just been Preston for a bit. And then we saw that we let Buddha play more centrally. ⁓ I think. There's pros and cons. mean, it's hard to take Judd off when you just look purely at the stats just because it's, I think, eight goals in 13 games, 14 games, ballpark. ⁓ As far as the play, there are pros and cons. One of the cons is you can tell he's getting more tired. Like, the pressing isn't the same, but not even like he's not pressing now, but ⁓ he's understanding his role more. ⁓ He doesn't help much in the buildup. It's just not his play. Like he will just stand between the two center backs. Doesn't really check in for the ball. Doesn't really make the runs behind. Just kind of like, I mean, it's kind of like Wondo in the sense of like, I want to a little bit more, but it's like, I'm going to wait till it's in the box. I'm going to sniff it out and tap it in. And clearly it's been working and it's been so great, especially when we have the pace down the wings. But yeah, maybe having like an option B would be, would be nice. And again, just for that rotation, let him rest. Yeah, it was a few games ago where the 45th minute hit and you could tell that the physios had told Judd 45 minutes and that's all you get max. so because 45 minutes hit and we still had stoppage time for that half and he didn't go for anything. He didn't go into any challenges and he was just kind of an extra man on the field until the halftime whistle eventually blew. And so they're definitely cognizant of the load that he's carrying. But ⁓ it still seems like they're trying to push it and see where the boundary is, where for me, I just think that we should be a little bit more careful in this stretch of games where we have a game every three or four days. And it's really scary to see because we're down Teemo, we're down Nico. ⁓ We'll get more into that in a minute. ⁓ I feel like Adi Mabua, you know, he wasn't amazing in that that US Open Cup game. ⁓ But I do think that he does have more to show. ⁓ And I I'm a little bit worried that because he wasn't the best in that game where, let's be real, we were a man down like after 30 minutes or something. So obviously it's not going to be the best game for him. I feel like because of that performance didn't go well for him. Bruce has already kind of written him off and he's only going to come on and like in the dying minutes of the game where I don't feel like that's fair to him. I feel like he has more. But any thoughts from you from the limited time you've been able to see Narnia play? Yeah, going to disagree with it just a little bit. I agree. And I'll say why I do. I do want to say I do agree with the it wasn't a great open cup game. If you watch it back, think he was he wanted it as weird as it sounds. He wanted to be good too badly. And it's like, of course you'd want that, right? I looked at the person in my left gram, I don't know if he listens to this, and I said, he's gonna gas himself out. He's not gonna make halftime. I said 10 minutes into his thing. Happens a of times when the young guys are in, they're so excited, they wanna be like, I'm a team player in this, I'm in a pressable, and they sprint, and they sprint, and they sprint, and I know these are professional athletes, but everyone's got a wall at some point. There were times where he's playing striker and I saw him like covering the left back. And it's, it's a great mentality to have, but you also need to like manage the runs, which to Preston Judd's point, it's a veteran, a veteran at this point. Well, maybe not a vet, but at least on the squad. And that just comes with experience. You always see it with the young players when they sub on in the 70th minute, they're gonna sprint, they sprint the sprint. And then you start to be like, okay, I gotta pace myself in these games. ⁓ And I think he was, I don't want to say nervous, but I think again, it's just, I want it to be good. want it to be good. ⁓ The part where I'll disagree is maybe he's just not at the level yet and Bruce could see that. mean, he need some time as well to give him 50, 50. Cause I mean, he's doing stellar at Quakes 2 from what I've heard. You would actually know that better than me. But from every one I've talked to that watches the Quakes 2 games, that he's been like scoring goals for fun. Now there obviously is a leap to the level. We've seen it in the past where someone like Will Richmond was a little too good for quakes too, but it was not good enough for the first team. ⁓ Now scoring goals is something that I personally believe translates over there. But to get more to the point why fully are the reason I mostly disagree is talking to the players this season and talking to other journalists who have covered teams that Bruce has ⁓ coached. One of his best qualities is his ⁓ communication with this team and what's made Bruce so special and what makes it So reassuring for a lot of these guys. mean, we have players like Jack's game. We have players like Paul Marie. mean, even Jamar, I Jamar has always been under him. Buddha. ⁓ That, ⁓ some weeks we see Benji. Some weeks we see him. A couple of weeks we don't. It's always been wishy washy for them the last couple of years. Bruce has come in and he has talked to apparently every single guy and he's been like, here's your role. Like you do have a part to play on this team. Here's when we're gonna need you. Here's when we're not gonna need you. And it's kind of gone well over the locker room. Everyone that said this locker room is great. We're a team this year. There's no egos. Everyone's playing for each other. We all know what we're supposed to do. And it sounds like everyone's happy to play their roles currently, especially when we're winning games. But ⁓ that's where I kind of agree and disagree. your stance is that his. Yes, I was long winded. No, I just trying to get like the I don't the point, but. That he he are you yapping about? ⁓ think I think what you said was valuable. It's you know, I think he needs more minutes I think I think okay, I think this is a tough game I mean you're throwing inverse arguably the best team in the league. It's not us like so like the fact he even got some minutes shows that he is in that Rotation and in the thoughts and like in the current idea now we might see more of appearance in this week or two but again it could just be like Needs that bigger jump. It's tough because the quakes to the quakes one jump is large. Yeah. Now for sure. And it Buddha's ⁓ an example of somebody probably the only one that I can think of who truly made it from from quakes to to the first team ⁓ when he played there. He was obviously too good for quick to scoring goals for fun. I think Polly still has the best goals per minute ratio on that team. ⁓ So and then obviously he's starting now and one of our most effective players ⁓ so so you're saying that that Nonny won't you think that he shouldn't? ⁓ Sorry, I'm getting flustered that He's not ready yet. So he needs to keep playing these like stoppage time minutes or Or that ⁓ just that this isn't a good game to bring him on in and where you know, we're facing Vancouver Little calm a little calm be ⁓ I don't think this is the game to throw him on I think you if especially It depends on the game because it's hard to take pressing out and it's hard to take them out for Maybe someone we're not sure of yet. Now. This is I don't see the behind the scenes I don't know how far of a gap it is so I can't too much on that but in a game like this, it's your Your up one zero. You're gonna want to keep the bets in and that's one of the two reasons I think Paul Murray started ⁓ Over maybe like a Jack skein. I'm pretty sure Jack traveled Might have had some personal stuff. So that might have been another reason But I think that's why we saw some more of the vets coming in as Dave Romney over Jack Jacinski Who's been in my opinion playing phenomenal. I think I think he wanted a more vetted lineup for this game And I mean it was going well till the 70th something minute as far as game plan wise ⁓ So I think maybe in a game we're playing a lesser team You might see him get those 15 minutes if Bruce is like seeing like okay, he's on the run Preston's doing this. Preston's fine. Let's play the minutes correctly. I think Bruce is also well aware that while we do have a compact pitch, we're also about to have two months off and I don't think a single player is playing over those two months. Correct me if I'm wrong. No, I don't believe anyone is, which is obviously beneficial for us. ⁓ Yeah, before we move on, I want to call back what I said about a brutal being the only one. I think that LaRue is the other one. Who actually had a contract with the second team and not the first team and then got the contract with the first team which is like Kind of a he flipped his fortune even more than Buddha who was always first team player that happened to be loaned down He's so good. Yeah, so glad we cut we've let so many of those Academy kids or local products go I'm so glad we cut it and was crazy about Leroux. I've said this time and time again. I Didn't think that he was the one that was gonna make an impact I saw him play and I was like, you know, this guy pretty good midfielder, very calm on the ball, has a really good shot around the box. And that was like it, because a lot of guys at Quicks two, they score bangers. Like it's a league, you should watch it because bangers happen. And so it's kind of normal for me, like seeing Leroux link up with Chris Medina and Edwin Mendoza. But then, you know, Bruce saw something that I didn't see, which shocker. ⁓ And he put him in the first team and then immediately become the superstar, you know, very stoked on ⁓ Bo La Rue's success so far, but we're going to move on because we have gotten quite a bit of news this week First I want to talk about Nico Chakray's injury earlier today. We heard that he got a successful surgery on his right groin but he will be out for three to four months, which for me, from what I was hearing about how bad it was, I was expecting more. And also considering the fact that this is a reoccurring injury for him and ⁓ it's been pretty bad in the past. So ⁓ I'm glad it's only three or four months, but that's going to be a really long three or four months without him. What are your thoughts on Niko? I like that it's happening during the World Cup break because I'm hoping that's not He's not going to have to then watch. Oh, here's another game week without me. Oh my God. There's another game week without me. And then especially for winning, he's like, oh my God, they can play without me. They can play without me. Oh my God. Like just that mental side of it. I don't know what he's like as a person. I say hey to him every once in a while. Um, and that literally is it. Um, I don't know what his mental is like. So, but I would imagine now that he gets this big break, he's excited to come back. Everyone's just kind of like golfing, hanging out, training a little bit. I hope they don't rush it. Um, I'm assuming they will be some sort of signing or something to maybe try and patch up some of that and some of the other things. ⁓ We know how John Fisher can be, but we also know that Bruce would like some more reinforcements. ⁓ That one's tough though. It is a reoccurring injury and to be so young and on his like not for surgery is also quite devastating. ⁓ Man, yeah, I think it came at a good time if you had to pick one, but it's a that's one of the few positions that I think we don't have a very much a like for like ⁓ or at least similar play style in. And I've been saying it for a while now that as good as we are, we are two or three injuries away from being just an OK team, potentially. ⁓ I still think the camaraderie around the squad, what I mentioned earlier about Bruce telling everyone they have a role, the Momentum we have which I think in most sports, especially soccer is so important like yeah You don't even need to be that good my in my opinion Arsenal's not that great, but they got some and some rough calls ⁓ But they have some serious momentum going for them ⁓ It momentum would be a hell of a thing. I think we got it right now yeah, it's tough because Yeah, it is good that the World Cup break will eat up a lot of that time spent out and Like you said, the mental side of it is, you know, just as hard for a lot of people as the, you know, the physical side of, you know, making a recovery like that. And also the fact that it's not his first time hurting his groin. But no, he, he's very important to how we play. Obviously a 10 is going to be very important, but he was one of the better attacking mids in the league, putting up a lot of chances, key passes, assists. He was having a really good season and it really sucks to have ⁓ it be interrupted by by this kind of injury. ⁓ You can see like the team, like you said, the camaraderie is still strong and that's really good to see. But tactically, we're just not as good of a team without Nicos Chacaris. ⁓ And, you know, obviously having Tima out hurts, too. But it's crazy. Like, I don't think anyone would have said at the start of the season that Missing out on Nico is more detrimental than missing out on Timo. Do you agree on that? Yeah, no, I agree with that. I think we all know who good Nico is, but I think we've said he's just made a glass. like it's what he's needed is game time, but he can't get it because he gets hurt. And when he finally got he showed how great he was to a lot of people that don't watch the youth national teams. Yeah, I think most people don't watch would assume Timo would have just gone and ran through, not to say he hasn't been great. ⁓ But the other reason I want to give it a game or two is I don't know if we were just playing a more defensive counter-attack style game for Vancouver and how they line up. I don't know if we'll see something a little bit different for Dallas or if we're just trying to rotate the squad so this is how we're going and this is how we're evolving while trying to keep it similar. Yeah and I mean Like I said, I don't want to like hate on Buddha too much. It wasn't his fault for me. Like it's just one he's out of position just blatantly that he's a winger and he has to play cam. So there's always going to be a little bit of familiarity. But also, like you said, the style against the Vancouver team, he seemed to be more like a shadow striker. If you guys play FIFA, you kind of understand where his job isn't really to. Pick up the ball and progress the ball. It's more to phase into the box and find himself in good positions. Arrived into the box late, that kind of thing. ⁓ And I think that he does have a lot of attributes that work with that, especially his positioning. But this didn't seem to be the game for that. And ⁓ I look at ⁓ Nick Fernandez, somebody who also played for Quakes 2 in the town. think probably stylistically is the closest to Nico. Obviously very different in being left ⁓ nico being left-footed nick being right-footed But they're kind of like similar like like to make combinations ⁓ I guess like more traditional number tens, but again, that's a player that Maybe has less than ten appearances for the first team ⁓ similar to Nani Adimabua you can't just throw him into the deep end and ⁓ As well as he's done, he did good against St. Louis. He did well in the Open Cup match against Phoenix Rising. ⁓ But this is a really big task to ask from him so so early in his career. ⁓ So it is going to be interesting to see how we go forward and playing teams like like Dallas and see if our ⁓ shape changes at all, or even if we like use a different formation. ⁓ I don't know, I guess anything possible at this point. Before we have any yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think I think I think those names you mentioned Gonzalez Fernandez and maybe even Ian Harkes And if we're if we're calling it FIFA, I mean you could even put both the Rue up top Well, I don't think that necessarily is his play style and I wouldn't suit it the most well Even though he does have the good passing good shot My guess is it's again. We're just trying to get a mixture of squad rotation player like keeping the the heads in the locker room But again, think we just wanted that way. Our winger plays been what's so phenomenal. And I would say Daniel, Daniel Mooney. ⁓ Maybe Vieira, maybe Nico and maybe I guess Timo. But and Judd, I know I just list half the team. They're the ones with the biggest skill gap. As far as like their role. We don't have like a Nico. We don't have a Daniel. they're like Moony, it would be a big loss without Vieira. I think it's starting to gap the others a little bit in the way he covers defensively and what his very, very specific CDM role is. ⁓ So I think it's then also that with Bruce it's like, okay. Well if I do this, how does it affect the other systematic pieces and also how does it affect my substitutions? What are my options off of this? I got a game in three weeks. They also play like this. So there's so many like little thing I don't know how Bruce like thinks with that. So there's a lot of like, ⁓ I'd love this. I'd love this. I love this. But also I don't know what they were aiming towards. just I take my best guess. Right. I like that you called out the era because I feel like He's kind of litmus test and says, I know you know ball. And so I hope you know what I'm saying and I hope it doesn't sound rude. if you don't like Viera in this team, you don't know ball. In my opinion, you don't like you want something more exciting, but that's not what makes the good team. ⁓ And he does make the team tick. He controls the tempo. Just the way that he like uses the other team momentum. When he's winning the ball and just like makes a pass that they get some, you off balance. I I am so glad we have someone like him because we haven't had a solid CDM in a very long time. Yeah, I'm just looking up the games because actually this is something I've been talking about with other people. So I don't want to say the goal today, but I'm pump the matches right now. The. See, we didn't concede there. didn't concede there. So Seattle, we can see it won. We conceded a goal versus Sporting KC. I know that's the second one. I don't think he was LAFC's goal. So I'll put that one down. don't... Anyway, so we've conceded only a couple goals this season, but I would say like a third of them, as unfortunate as it is, are his fault in the sense of... The one time he messes up in the game, it will result in a goal. As unfortunate as that is, he prevents so many goals that people don't realize or he makes, and I think Moody's been unreal. I actually think like all stark your alibar, ⁓ both from positioning communication and his one-on-one defending, not just his pace and the clearance and the goals, like the little things. Viera is stepping into that role as a delay. I promise you, if you go back, Over the last like two or three seasons the goal that has killed us the most is the negative ball from late runners. Viera has stopped a lot of those or he's stopped that channel or he's forced it somewhere else just by his presence being there or winning the ball and the few, few, few times he has given it up almost every time it has led to a goal unfortunately. So he can't give up that goal as much. We all know how big of an Ian Harks fan I am. I would love to see him start and play more. But I do understand, like you said, that role he is playing is, and that's why I said the like for like skill. We don't have a player like Nico who's gonna take the ball and move it forward. While I do think Nico's made some mistakes and still has some growing room, there is undeniably that. If we want to even look at the older team, Magnus Eriksen was a very similar player only in the sense of while he did spray a lot of balls that went wrong, his ability to take that ball, drive forward and spray it forward. helped us move so much that when he left, even though a lot of people were like, ⁓ thank God he turned off the ball so much, we lost the midfield play for like three, four years. My dad's going to love that you said that. Shout out, Juan. ⁓ He's been saying we don't have an Ericsson. We don't have an Ericsson. And like I hear so many fans like Ericsson was terrible. And like he didn't do the best all the time, but he was so important. Like you have to really know how the game flows to appreciate someone like Erickson and Vieira and and it's so weird the the you know, the example that you made is that like so many of goals happened to be his fault because If he did the right thing they wouldn't have happened But he's always doing the right thing and that's why we can see so few goals And I think that that's hard to conceptualize. I mean objectively that that's a difficult thing to it's like the the planes in World War two They would they pass when they came back in the place where they got hit and it didn't actually help the amount of planes coming back I know the meme you're looking at anyone doesn't see the photo in their head. They're gonna be so confused what you just said I'm right here with you. I I'll see if I can yeah, Devin whoever's editing it throw it up right now Yeah, I'll see if I can get that but you mentioned reinforcements and We've got our first bit of transfer news in quite a while. It's still a rumor at this stage But there's a lot of evidence that it might be coming to fruition. ⁓ Phoenix Rising winger Darius Johnson is reported to be joining the center of the earthquakes. ⁓ Says we watched him play against when we played Phoenix Rising at home and he was probably the only player on their team that he was even mattered. Like, yeah. Can you speak more on ⁓ what you think about this move? Yeah, I made a tweet like live of the game like. A, all we gotta do is guard him. The rest of the team didn't move. The rest of the team was like, they had like one or two guys that were okay in moments, but like he was the one consistently, that was like a dangerous threat. ⁓ I think he got a little overhyped after he dropped Jack on that one triple. ⁓ Can't finish to save his life on that, like no end product. ⁓ Looks solid. It may be a Quakes two player, maybe like a winger. I don't know if it will go straight in, we don't know. It's a good reinforcement sub. ⁓ I'm glad that we are talking about, I'm also gonna try and. Transition this and open this up to you about who we need ⁓ I think there is a an order list on What we need and in my opinion it is very very clear I think the first put like I don't even care what position it is. We need locker room guys the Biggest thing everyone talked about before the team was this year was there are no egos. There are no like locker room problems like I don't care how good or bad the guy that comes in and he needs to He's about to vibe check, which I know like that's kind of hard to scout for, but we don't need someone coming in, ruining, disrupting all that. Secondly, again, I really don't care what position is. need depth. There's, don't think there's one position in here where we're looking at. We're like, ⁓ my God, like we got 80 of those. Like do we need another one of those? Like, we're like, obviously we don't need another like first team goalkeeper like choice, but if Daniel goes down, obviously that's something I would put maybe goalkeeper in the back. The two center backs have been great and we have some okay options coming off the back of that wingers wing backs. All right. Obviously we've talked about Nico maybe that would maybe be the one if you want like a ball carrying center mid that could maybe also play like a striker or like something else like that or obviously everyone would like I think we'd like another Preston Judd and I don't mean in the sense of someone that's scoring eight goals for us. I mean some of that like we all said Preston Judd's best thing last year was he comes in for 15 minutes. He doesn't stop running puts unreal pressure. It's your perfect like sub and it's hard to say ⁓ let's get a new starting striker because you don't really want to mess with ebbs and flow right now but that's my whole process with that and then just to answer directly to that guy like ⁓ one thing i would love from him that i think our team is lacking right now ⁓ but also it's gonna be hard to see if it translates to that jump over because you could i'm sure buddha looked like this when he played in the second team is someone who gets the ball and drives directly to goal i know that's not always our style of play And it's been lovely that we can score so many goals from different people. But it also would be nice to have a player that likes to challenge and go at it. I did see it a bit in a couple of the games. And I do like that pass versus the option. I'm never going to want to change that or get away from that. the games where it's just not clicking or going to the goal, it is nice to have that one guy where you're like, might be awful for 85 minutes. But somewhere in that last five, he might create some magic. Yeah. I know that this is you, I kind of see that in Jack Skean where when he's on the field, he's just going to try and make a goal happen. It doesn't always look great, but that's what he wants to do. You know? Yeah. I mean, this is respectfully as possible. ⁓ Every great team is not an all-star lineup. You have your like three to like five stars, but you have your glue guys. have your, for talking basketball, your Steve Kers, your corner three guys, your guy who does one job or like two jobs or like they have the ability to do more, but they do that one or two things. For me, That Jack Scanan, he's been kind of the Jack of all trades. Yes, we can throw him in different positions and he can come in. Yes, he can start a game for us and be a decent winger option for us. But that ability to come off the bench and be that both fit, I know he's not tall, but he is strong as hell. Physical and speed threat. The guy who's willing to work hard and when you're already tired, like, ⁓ my God, this is coming in. ⁓ Or if everyone's out, ⁓ my God, he started and then I got to deal with another one. or, this guy's injured. shoot. Okay, Jack, you're going to have to switch over here. That is really, really important to me now. There are areas where obviously you may have dropped the ball, ⁓ but I think the impact sub and the versatility is so important to us. And I think it's been a really, really good piece that I like having come off the bench consistently. Yeah. You know what you're going to get from him in terms of what his energy and his mentality, the product isn't always there, but I think that's almost secondary to when you're bringing someone off the bench, you want to know that they're going to give it everything that they have and they're going to try their damnedest to make something happen, which is always what he's doing. ⁓ You were talking about transfer targets. for me, I would really like someone, ⁓ know, obviously I don't want somebody that's going to come in and replace Nico long term. ⁓ That would be very difficult to do. I actually the disk with right next to me. I have people asking for us to bring her nan back from loan Not gonna happen. I don't I I don't know if I'd want that I between the just the history but also it's like I don't I don't want to force people on the field right again, I don't think people sometimes realize is and if you don't believe me because Who I am look at Real Madrid probably the biggest team in the world if we're I don't even really like them that much, just talking that is very rarely, and I know Bruce is a big name, so he's a little bit different. might get away with it. Sometimes you just like you don't have a choice in who you can play. Like sometimes like you I don't care how good or bad and boppy is. I just spent 200 million dollars on him. They're going to literally fire me if I don't play him. And I don't care if the team is better or worse with them. I got to figure a way to get him on the field. ⁓ We just paid all this money and I had to beg, especially with our front office and like how that works with John Fisher and all that. I had to beg for this player like I gotta find a way to play him. They're gonna be pissed at me. Now, if it's not a huge name or a huge ego or something that might cause ruins, they might drop him or change, but I don't want a, all right, well, we gotta get Cheecho, Joseph and Espy all on at the same time. And while it looked good at first, I know they all hate each other now and we gotta figure a way to play them all. Yeah, it was really fun while it lasted to have this caliber player and they did do cool things. won't, I won't like say that they were useless, but I would much rather have the cohesion that we have now. This team is really fighting for each other and they won't stop talking about it. And every press conference, they always say the same thing. No, goes running for each other. That that's been repeated over and over, you know, across all the different players that, that are, ⁓ you know, being interviewed and that's Much more important much harder to buy. ⁓ we paid like six million for hernan lopez And and I don't think that he helps the current locker room mentality ⁓ I think that he's a great player in his own right and i'm he seems happier in argentina, honestly, so I don't see a reason to disrupt that disrupt our our flow that we have going on ⁓ and again, like I said, I don't really want somebody to come in and take nico's ⁓ position long term ⁓ I just need ⁓ a playmaker who is going to be consistent ⁓ and I would like that person to be Nick Fernandez, but I just don't think that we've seen it consistently and so I would like someone more proven in the league ⁓ But that's ⁓ my transfer target ⁓ for Bruce if you're listening to the show It may been you may have had great times would never go back to that X, know It like you may remember the good ones, but it's never quite as good as the first time. Yeah that's that's usually the saying but I Mean I got it. He may have been great. Everyone may have loved him. It may have just been like a coach thing ⁓ Prior maybe we like Luci that he didn't really like ⁓ But III it's again, I don't really want to mess with the ebbs and flows I kind of do want a Niko replacement only in the sense of like, to me, both from the youth level where he's dominated, the Quakes 2 level where he's been very good, here where we saw this season and we had been kind of anticipating he's been extremely good. The one thing that has never been proven to us is fitness consistency, which is like, no, I don't know if it's no fall of zone. could, especially with a groin, could be genetic. in how his hips are made. right. And I won't go too much into all that science. ⁓ But the best ability is availability. And unfortunately, it is not one of his abilities. Right. Which is so unfortunate. And I don't want to even put that on him. But if we're looking at it, we we need the player there that and Bruce just said, hey, we got this kid who's phenomenal. You're willing to fight for the spot, but we need he's not he's here ten games a season if you got it when you're there We need someone to dictate and when he's not here Hey that wing play like I see that you're good like get up multi-dimensional player that like kind of like Jack where it's like I can play you here I can hear we're gonna have a three game spell where I'm gonna want to rest him and I could maybe move you around or You get here you be here. We're gonna have these deep cup runs. We go here and here You are a part of this squad. You're not just gonna make a couple appearances here and then just F off to the bench for the rest of season. Right. Which again has been a part of Bruce's strength. Yeah, it is. It's a hard thing because Nico is like a is a Academy guy and we all it's like there is the factor of how he's performing so well. But it's just when he's one of your own, you kind of have more emotional attachment to him. And I think that's that's ⁓ obviously a play here for. for me and my chance for target, if I'm being real, if I'm playing FIFA, right, and my starting 10 is not fit for most of the year, I have to sell them, right? Yeah, you have to move on. And I'm not there yet for real life, but, you know, it's as though it's bringing up a very good point in that. But we're gonna move on to the FC Dallas game. We're not gonna be able to cover. ⁓ Seattle game because we this episode comes out after that game is played ⁓ I Forgot that was tomorrow. ⁓ my god. ⁓ Well briefly just do you think that we have a chance because they're the team that beat us and we are weaker this time on paper Yeah, no, actually I do think we have a chance me on that was like that was a game where I left and I'm like I'm even mad like that was just unfortunate we had like 2,000 chances like I the goal he had less saved in the back line. it was, it was just like they got, that was one of the games where Ronaldo messed up. They capitalized good on them. They took their chance, capitalized it we just couldn't finish. Like they may win that one two to one as well. Like I don't, but I'm not going into that game thinking like, ⁓ they probably got that one again. Like that one could go up in the air. It's a, it's an interesting one for me. I'm excited. I'm actually generally really excited for a Seattle game in a long time. Cause usually I'm like, is it going to be seven one again? Is it going to be, how bad is it to be this time? Yeah, it's interesting because, you know, Seattle actually haven't won in the last two. They've drawn their last two matches, but they haven't lost except for one game this season. Similar to us. ⁓ They have less wins, they're seem seemingly their style has been very defensive and counterattacking. They don't have Mnungu this time, who was, you know, obviously a big threat in terms of pace. but they haven't lost Rothrock. I don't know if he's available and ⁓ he is a player that I hate playing against. ⁓ He's not, he doesn't have anything, you know, in particular that's like any attribute that you look at that's like, ⁓ wow, that's, you know, world-class, but he is fast and he has really good positioning and it just looks so difficult to defend. And especially, you know, against ⁓ Romney ⁓ or if we have Ricketts on that side. ⁓ just the positioning and the pace is going to be really hard to contend with. So I'm interested to see how it goes seeing as Seattle is in pretty good form. ⁓ They drew against San Diego and they drew against ⁓ SKC. So, you know, looking at that, you can't draw to SKC. You can't be drawn to SKC. Looking at their form, they've lost eight and they've only won one. And this is ⁓ The draw against they won a game. Yeah, they won a game. I think it was against the galaxy. I don't know. ⁓ okay. That's fair. But one of the the two draws that they have was against Seattle, which was ⁓ their game before last. ⁓ So they're definitely fallible. But ⁓ for me, just because they're the team that beat us and we're going away, it's it's scary to me. So I can't really. Say that i'm super confident, but luckily i'll be sorry. have a chip on our shoulder I want to be shocked if with this squad they're like i'm pissed. That's our only loss Yeah, like they're the they're the ones who nicked it off us. Nah, let's show them They got lucky last time like like we have that type of like there's been years in past where like everyone's like, that's what the players think That's what the players think and i'm like, yeah, I don't think so Like i'm looking at the same players y'all looking at I don't think so. Yeah, I think they gave up what we did like this year's team I think they're really like looking at it and being like ⁓ we're going in there to win like. Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if that's case at all. I think that's a good point. ⁓ But ⁓ as a numbers guy, ⁓ looking at the numbers, I'm like, it could go either way. We obviously do have the ability to beat them. So I'm not, you know, when this came out. But it is a game that I'm more worried about than the other games. ⁓ Speaking of other games, we're facing Dallas on on that Saturday. They just beat Rail Salt Lake 3-1, but something that's interesting about this match is that they only had 27 % possession. ⁓ But also, they were able to beat Rail Salt Lake in terms of total shots and shots on target and racked up a whole 2XG with only 27 % possession. So that means that they were making a lot of chances and decent chances at that. ⁓ Do you look at this game as a game that we should be looking to win seeing where Dallas is on the table compared to us? What are your thoughts? Yeah, it's going to be interesting because I think it's that's going to be the tough call game for Bruce because I'm imagining we're going with a pretty heavy squad for Seattle. But if we do that, then if we want to then play that Came first Dallas with that same squad. I might expect a little bit of rotation there because we have the open cup game coming up on that following Wednesday on the 20th after playing on the 16th. I'm going to say they remind me of the Almeida era not in the sense of like style player anything because I have not watched a second and I'm just looking purely from an outsider point of view of like, oh, this is chaos. Like Dallas is just going to be a chaos team. So it's not going be a game we can take lightly. Like I think both for momentum and a bunch of other things. It's going to be interesting to see. ⁓ If I had to imagine there was a rotation squad, was going to be there or I mean, I wouldn't even be shocked if Bruce was like played it mostly starters there and then rested everyone for the Colorado game. I'm sorry, then rotate a bit for the Colorado game. Then again, it's like we then we play three days later after that in Portland where we haven't won like ever. Yeah. So he may want that. He may want that. It's like It's not, it's like, it's picking and choosing how we want to do it. And I'm assuming they're going into every game trying to win. ⁓ they might just take it a game at a time and be like, all right, we got this. We got this knowing that they have after this stretch, almost two months of no, like, go rest y'all. Like they might just literally be like, guys lock in for two weeks, roll out. And then if you're not ready, it's going to be next man up. Cause I know a couple of our players are dealing with some nagging injuries that are coming back. So it, it. I could also very well see him just starting everyone and then being like, as soon as he sees that you're a little like off, ah, you're up next, which we kind of have the availability with this one. Have we built it this year, which has been fun to see. Yeah. Uh, if this would be such a nice time to have to one Jones, man, like, yeah, every game, no, no, every game. I get what you mean. And it, and I know that we've been to playing well, but like he, he was, he's such a solid player. Um, and just. What what he allows to happen on the pitch and then we wouldn't have to have Romney at the left back and you know All these kind of things, but here's the one provit though. I don't think we would have seen Jack Jaczinski No, yeah, and and I know he probably came in for Benji But I don't think we would have seen him quite to the extent we did right the the the way that things would have to be rotated is definitely different and I've liked Jack to look at I think that he has some limitations just being so new but he's It's weird how much of a goal threat he is when he's on the pitch. He's like, he's just always, you know, getting in good position, which is his strength seems to be like defensive and he is a big guy. But also like when we're attacking, you know, knows where to go. ⁓ So, you know, he's a great guy to have and I'm glad that we have him as an option. ⁓ But more into this Dallas game, ⁓ Petar Musa. I don't know how you say his name. He is coming into this match with 10 goals in, let's see, 10 goals in how many games? Show me how many games. They're probably at like 10 or 11. Well, they played 12 and then I don't think they're in are they in the open cup anymore? It's been 12 and 14. Yeah. It looks like he started 10 matches. has 10 goals and Not to mention to assist so in 11 matches he has 12 goal contributions. But on the flip side of that it seems like nobody else is doing anything on Dallas. They're kind of just like punt it to him let him do it. A bunch of guys have like a couple of assists like to assist but and a lot of them do so it's just like everyone just get it to Moussa. The only thing I'll argue with that is I'm sure no one who's watched the Quakes games is saying the same thing about Preston Judd. Sure, but ⁓ it's you know, numerically not accurate of seeing, you know, with Buddha also being there. Yeah. And if ⁓ if Timo was fit, which he's not, ⁓ he would also be a big contributor to the amount of goals that we had scored. know, so that's just my take. But it's still seeing I didn't get to watch the match. But looking at the the the number that I mentioned earlier with. with the very low amount of possession, but high XG and the momentum graph that they have here on FOTMOB, it looked like they were just a counter attack team. ⁓ And looking at their lineup, which was a 3-4-3, that kind of ⁓ fits. I mean, I'm sure you could defend a lot with any formation, but they look like they want to have a lot of people behind the ball while defending and then attack in numbers as well. ⁓ and that is For me, ⁓ a worry because that's how seattle played us and that's the only system that's been able to beat us ⁓ does that bring up any worry at all? that just me? ⁓ you know being anxious over here Yeah, no, I think the seattle game was ⁓ a unfortunate case because it was just like it was like fifa duty It was just like nothing was going in it was just so unlucky again. I left that game not mad about a loss like I what? Because usually at that point of the season of Quakes, even if we won a bunch of games and then we lose a game like that, like, we are again, here we are again. Yeah, yeah, I left and I'm like, it happens. It happens. Like, so I'm excited. I think Bruce will. As much as I hated on him before he came in, I mean, like it's hard to deny what's happening. I still think. Momentum is helping us a lot, I think. lack of depth and having like the main like a main guy like that I kind of talked about earlier it could catch up to us it could keep having the momentum and that that's sometimes how the cookie crumbles so it's as much as I hate sitting on the fence like that that ⁓ is how it goes ⁓ sorry I was when I was looking at FC Dallas there it said their stadium only holds 11 000 people and I'm like how is that even possible like because that's like When we're doing really bad, how many people we get they hold between 20 and 24,000. They are currently doing renovations. That is only allowing 11,000, which I actually now that I think about, I'm going to do text adult. One of my Dallas, uh, I'm less friends. Yeah. Like how does that work then? Like if you're a season ticket holder, right. And then like, just got a couple of extra seats, but that's tough. Yeah. I mean, we were once to talk at having a fourth of a stadium just lopped off. Um, ⁓ no, I love that though. I gotta be honest. It's like one of my favorites here. It like doesn't feel like a sporting event. It feels like a family hangout. Like I hope they never get rid of that. Like I don't want to move stadiums. love sit sometimes I'll sit on the grass and watch a game or like all the food trucks and everything. Like I literally think it's the coolest stadium I've been to. One of these days I'm going to take a day off from media and hang out with you guys over in the grass area because it's getting a little bit tight. You can't celebrate goals, ⁓ which you know, I like doing and it kind of like affects me even when I'm not in in the press box where I won't I can't react like I'm just like worried that the PR officer is watching me behind my back and and so I'll be at the stadium with score and then I'm just like I have no reaction it's kind of like a part of me dies every time that happens. I'll happily go there so I can ask some dumbass question at the end of the game. I'm not worried about losing the one credential game like I don't buy me back. Like I don't like you're trying to make a career I'll go in and ask a dumb question. It's fine. Yeah, we could swap for a game. Let's find a game and do it But yeah, this game is gonna depend heavily on the amount of rotation that we choose to do because it seems that Bruce is Prioritizing the open cup and does want to go as far as we can in that so I wouldn't be surprised if we go with a ⁓ more of a B squad in this Dallas game and then go stronger in the Colorado game. But it's I do not claim to, you know, be able to see into Bruce's mind. ⁓ I can only, you know, give my best guess. ⁓ But for that Colorado game real quick, ⁓ they are doing a lot worse than the other teams we've mentioned. ⁓ Three losses in the last three games in MLS. That seems like a bit more winnable, even though it is going to be altitude in Colorado. Fun fact, it's also the team we've scored the most points against. Shots everyone who watched the Tenable. Yeah. ahead and watch the first episode of that. That's out now. We're currently editing the second episode. Very, we love playing that. I'm glad that you brought that to the channel, Seth. I have fun hosting it. Yeah. I've gotten a lot of compliments on it. Yeah, leave a comment if you like it, but a lot of people have said they really, really like it. One draw in their last five. They've lost four out of their last five. Yeah, really really bad a form for them. ⁓ I'm surprised that they've gotten this far. They they went to penalties against ⁓ the switchbacks, I believe ⁓ which you come on wear MLS teams. We can't we don't do that. ⁓ But ⁓ yeah with that being said that's gonna be it for ⁓ this episode We'll be back to preview the the next game after colorado But ⁓ I'm just gonna I'm gonna go sorry time. I don't to play my player to watch for Colorado Josh attention. ⁓ I'm a big fan of him I actually was hoping that when he was leaving Seattle or that we would have swooped him up in the midfield Stats I know don't look the fanciest but I really really enjoy watching play anywhere from that kind of CDM center midter even center back roll Yeah, yeah, no, I actually have some of his rookie cards from a few years ago That's sick. And yeah when he left Seattle, I was kind of surprised that it was Colorado of all places I'm honestly surprised at the amount of players that they were to pick up like Paxton Aronson Meningo I don't know what the calendar is. What are you? What are we doing over there? must be a party or something but ⁓ As we saw with our team last year and their team this year is not always how it looks on paper There is that locker room factor. Yeah, no, you're 100 % right Even though I am paper guy I do like those numbers. But yeah, with all that being said, thank you guys so much for watching. Go ahead and check in the descriptions for our links and also Sadie's links as well. But until next time, go Quicks.