It is a filibustering time, or at least it was kind of sort of, And so I filibustered a bit man's properly hydrated William I don't know. Let's let's check and see from the weekend and see if he is in fact properly hydrated. Abe Gordon, sir, have you recovered from the weekend?
Yeah, I'm feeling pretty good.
Uh you know that that uh that game Saturday night made it almost drove me to drinking, I believe.
But but but we're back at it, so here we are.
I was like, wait a minute, now, I mean that that When was the last time that you had as goofy or crazy a match as that one that involved a team that you are either covering or anything like that? When was the last year?
I just like that.
Just not on the professional level, right, Like, like we've all played rec leagues where some team dominates the first half and some team dominates the second.
And that's not what this was, necessarily, But we've seen.
Comebacks at lower levels, uh quite comfortably, but uh, this one was was weird.
Uh.
And I was sitting up in the booth with with Madison Cruz and Jared Smith and I turned to Jarrett before before that own goal, and I say, man, I don't know if there's a path back in this one.
You're down three to one.
Have it looked overly dangerous in quite a while, but lo and behold, I mean, just put the ball in good places and see what happens.
That's what Saba did that led to the own goal. And quite frankly, I think that's what you know.
I mean, Seandae Silva is kind of a blind cross, right, I mean the way his back is to the goal or to the box, and he just kind of turns and fires it in there. And look, if it wasn't Maggie, it would have been Latte Lot. They were both right there, and so just put the ball in dangerous spots and see what happens. And that's what they did. They found
their way back. And again, you know, for for a season that had started out one, two and two, and you probably deserved a little bit better than the results showed through those first five matches. We're gonna be quite honest, this was the performance that you're gonna necessarily compliment in general.
But the result was there.
And so, man, just a little bit of the soccer gods, give it and take it away, and all that really matters is the three points at the end. So I'm happy about it, pleased with it, and now you're really starting to build something because kind of the talking point, at least for me, but also for Rodney Dila, who had mentioned it in his press or Thursday, was like, hey, man, like, we haven't got many points, and we got three straight
home games. These are winnable games, Like, let's start to rack up three, three and three, and by the end of this a couple of weeks, you're gonna be sitting on nine extra points and that doesn't happen without picking up the first three. And so they did that and
they accomplish that. And the one thing that you and I John have talked about is is the start of the season, the opponents that you're dealing with, these teams that were in the playoffs last year, that starts to change coming up with these next two home games, and so an opportunity to really get on a roll at home,
and that's something this team has sorely needed. And then the other thing that I mentioned to you a week ago, and it was kind of like, I know, they're not really gonna consider this, but also maybe they should consider this. Is there's something about Saba on the right and they went into another formation midway through the second half that moved Saba to the right, and I turned to Jared, I was like, what formation are they in right now? Because Saba's on the right, Shawn Day's on the left.
I don't exactly know what they're asking Miggy to do. We also saw Alexi Mornchuk slide deeper a little bit and play from the six, and so it's just something. I don't know if it's sustainable. I don't know if it's something that you will do at the start of a match, but I think there are gonna be stretches where you maybe shift for Machion for twenty twenty five minutes see if you can produce something. But it's something
to consider. It's just a different Saba on the right side for whatever reason, and it needs to be looked at. It needs to be figured out.
Because I was trying to do the schematic in my head and I was thinking that it might just be a different four. It might just be a different four two one, three.
Well, what you need is twelve players on the field. If We're gonna be honest, it is like that's what I was walking my dog this morning. I'm like, I know we're going to talk about this, and I can't figure out how it would actually look during a game unless you're running twelve men, right, I mean, if you have Sean Day and Saba and the rest of the guys and the midfield and the defenders and Goose, that's twelve men. So it's just not something that I think
you can necessarily run for ninety minutes. But there might be stretches in the game where you move people around and ask people to sit higher, sit deeper, or whatever it might be. But there has to be a little bit of consideration in film study going as to why it's dangerous that way.
No, maybe we're just going to play CFL rules and see if any of the folks can sit there and jump on and go, hey, wait a minute, you've got twelve. But no, to your point where you have the four that you have on your back line, then you know, Ronnie Daila wants to have those two holding mids, and then you have the full kroom and then he wants to have the three. You know, maybe it turns into something at times where and we've always said here on
the show that formations are a loose construct. Anyway, you can sit there and put up a graphic on television and go, oh, it's a you know, it's a four to two three one or whatever it is, and then when the whistle blows, everybody kind of goes and does
their thing. But if you have a moment where you want to drop mid on Chuck a little bit, you want to have him be more of a point guard, you drop him further back a little bit, send everybody else forward, lock saba In down on the right hand side, and Miggy wander on that two thirds and figure out to track it down and figure out, okay, do we overload here? Do we flip this? And all that? To your point, it gives teams something else to think about,
in something else that they have to account for. Oh okay, here's your standard formation. Okay, I know what to expect on the left hand side. Oh okay, now Miranchu cast a drop. Now I've got to figure out how I'm going to handle that. So it just I think it just adds something else where folks to have to think about.
And the last thing that you want with twenty five to go is folks with fresh legs are sitting there and coming at you from different positions, and then Micky yelling at Rocky to go ahead and start swinging and fighting left hand on it.
Well, the other thing is the best time to do it is like right after the opposing team brings in, you know, two or three players on a sub and they've been given their duties and responsibilities based on how United's played for sixty eight or seventy two minutes, and then they get in there and all of a sudden, it is not what we talked about. And it is really impressive though to see Moran chuck in the ability that he has to play those multiple roles in what
he's being asked and so hopefully that continues. But there just seems to be a level of danger. You'd like to not have it forcefully be when you need goals down three to one, but there's something about it, and it's it's at least got to be measured and weighed.
Right.
Kind of brought it up last week and said, hey, man, like this was noticeable. Right, They're not gonna move Miggi off the right, So I understand what the talking point was last week. Now it's two weeks in a row that we've seen it, and it does start to become some sort of consideration again, if not for ninety straight minutes, certainly how you could adjust in game to get Saba there. And I mean, look, there's all sorts of things wrapping through my head, like would Moranchuck work on the left
and Miggi drops central and Saba goes right? I mean again, I don't I don't know. The formation takes twelve people. That's why it doesn't work right now.
But maybe it's maybe it's a four to two to two two basically to where you've got your fourth the back, you have your two midfielder, you have your two holding mids, then you have your two attacking mids with Midanchuk and whomever, and then Saba on the right and cheating in and then whoever your striker. You know, Latte lot at the striker position being where he is, and so I'm thinking maybe it's a two.
Yeah, And there's a lot of things that come into play here, right like maybe this formation isn't necessary if Pedro Amador is healthy and he's running up the left side. But you had to switch out him because of a quad injury for dom chan Qui. Some good some bad there for him, but you're probably not tasking him with getting forward the way you would task Pedro.
You probably here say hey, man, it's your first start.
I know it's not your first appearance, but it's your first meaningful minutes here with Atlanta United. Maybe play a little bit safer right on the defensive side of things, and so maybe it would look different if it is a Ronald Hernandez or Pedro. Amador is back healthy in terms of the connection on the left with Saba, in terms of the attack from the left side, and maybe you don't need sean Day in there for things to work. So there's a lot of different considerations here. But it
worked and it led to just a crazy comeback. And again I'm not gonna fight and sit here and say this is an outstanding performance for Atlanta United.
It wasn't. But you got three points.
And for a season that started out where you felt like you could have had three points, or in some of those games where you picked up zero, you could have had one point. For this one to happen in a manner that it did. I don't feel bad. I'm never gonna apologize right for three points, but I certainly don't feel bad about this one based on how the earlier parts of the season had gone, and so you know, for me, it just continued to build on this. We
do see that Saba can be dangerous. Latte lot is a problem for ninety minutes, like the energy doesn't die down, and I've been really impressed by him and his willingness to do things you don't see a lot of elite goal scorers do. His willingness to drop back and defend in moments and continually to defend. You see a lot of guys defending in the first half and then in the seventieth minute or seventy fifth minute they stop making runs.
They do this, They do that. He's willing to defend.
He's gonna get off sides here and there, but he's not just standing off sides all the time, which is one thing you see a lot of guys do. There's just a lot of parts of his game I really really kind of respect and appreciate, and obviously that paid dividends. We do need to contact the MLS league office that needed to be an assist from Brad Guzan. I'm sorry they refuse to give it to him. Jarrett myself on the full time report unofficially gave him the assist, but
he deserved that. And all kudos to Latte Lost for causing a problem in the late stages of this game where a lot of guys may have run themselves dry. So look, there's just a lot of really nice things that we're seeing right now. And going back to the first goal, I think it was the first goal Alexi Moronchak getting on the scoreboard was a nice feeling because he's kind of come under a lot of heat for a variety of the reasons, some deserve, maybe some not deserved.
But he's played well and yes, I get it, he's not leaving the league and assists that was my bold take I take at the start of the year. That hasn't happened, to be fair, your bold take of Pedro leading whatever it was, hasn't happened yet either, So it is just one of those things where I do still
think that it's going to come. But it was nice to see him rewarded from some fine play and then again credited later in the match for being able to drop it and play it a different role than what he was asked to play the first you know, seventy minutes or whatever.
It was double digit assists. I think was what I've got with Pedro Amador.
I got time. It's early.
Yeah, like you know, yeah, look you got you got yours with am five nine, I got mine with Amador. We got plenty of time. I want to talk about Dominic chon Qui a little bit and Matt Edwards and DCQ basically was tapped on the shoulder and it's like, dude, you're going in. You're starting because of just a concern over Pedro. Nothing nothing you know that we have seen that is earth shattering, no news about him, you know, sitting out for nine months or something like that. So
DCQ comes in. He has literally thrown into the fire. Matt Edwards I think, ends up having to play his third different position at the back at certain points during this particular match. And so once again we talk about the young guys being thrown in not they're not flinching. Yes there are mistakes, but once again, you know, you're your first time in, You're you're learning. Ronnie Daila has been nothing but positive, really sees a bright future for
d CQ. What do you think of DCQ and Matt Edwards.
Well, let's just start with Matt Edwards. I think it's a shorter conversation. I know you called him a young guy. It doesn't even feel that way anymore, Like like there's just full confidence in him being brought in, whether it's on the outside, whether it's on the inside, whether it's off the bench, or whether it's the starting role. I just don't even think about it, right, It's not even one of those things like you have to protect him and maybe use a football term slide coverage or whatever.
I just don't even think about it, to be honest. I'm just fully comfortable in what he's doing, certainly defensively. Maybe there's some more he can add in the attacking aspect of things, but I don't even think about it.
In terms of dom chon Qui, A couple things probably played in his favor, Like he probably got a great night of sleep Friday night, right, I mean the fact that he's not told until a couple of minutes early that hey man, we're pressing a duty, we're gonna need you probably actually helped him out and we talked about we see this a lot with like starting pitchers making their debut and being called up, and when did you find out? I didn't find out until two hours before
game time. And you know, it just the ability to not panic or overreact or like get in your own head because you don't really have time to think about what's happening in the moment.
And I'm talking about the.
Pregame and the warm up and the fact that you're being called on probably does help you. And then once you get into the game, it's just the game and we understand that. And so look, there were some mistakes made, certainly, and that's got to be fixed. And we'll see if
he gets another opportunity to start. Right this is his last short term call up, So if they are going to use dom chon Qui again at any point in the regular season, they're gonna have to do so by modifying his contract and signing him, I think, to a first team deal. And so maybe we get that news at some point early this week if the plan is to keep him either on the bench or in reserve, and maybe that's the plan, is to keep him with the twos and continue to develop him. But look, he
made some mistakes it cost you a goal. Ultimately, it didn't cost you the match, and I think you'd be a lot more frustrated, you'd be a lot more critical in the decision if you had lost three to one and you look at some of the play there, but a massive learning experience that ultimately you still picked up three points on. I think that certainly helps. I think doing it at home probably helps quite a bit it
as well. And look, there are times in that match where you can see what others see about dom chon Qui and as as he continues to grow and as he continues to learn the league.
And that's the one thing.
I always remind people about when when you've got these guys making their first start or like it's not just learning their teammates, but you have never played against probably all eleven guys, maybe one or two guys you've met at the junior level, or you're on a youth national team with something like that. But it's a completely new opponent field, and so you're getting used to pretty much every aspect of your team, every aspect of their team as well. So mistakes can be made. It's nicer for
a mistake not to ultimately cost you goals. It did, but ultimately they were they were able to fight back, and so really nice debut, not debut, but starting debut for dom Chon Queen. And we'll see if he gets a new contract, and we've see a lot more from him, But there are reasons to be optimistic. I think we can all.
See that he's like the pitcher called up and he's thrown into his first start and he goes five and two thirds, gives up and earned, and he's pulled with two runners on base, and that they bring in the meat, the middle relief guy, and he shuts the door in the sixth inning, right, something like that.
Yeah, you know, look, he did cost you a goal, So I'm not sure the outing was quite that strong, but I think it's a situation where he gave you an opportunity to win, right, And that's really all you can ask of if we're going to keep a baseball term here, like a spot start is really just keep you in the game, man, three or four runs of
five innings, four innings, whatever it was. Let's see if we can stretch it out a little bit, and then we get to our bullpen, our closers, And that's kind of what Louis O Brahm and Matt Edwards were brought on to do, and ultimately, from their aspect, they did it, and you still needed the offense to wake up. It did it, and so you walk out of there with a nine inning win and you're not too concerned about it. So three points and you get back into it.
No doubt. All right, hit the promo for me. What's going on in your world?
Yeah, man, we're ready.
It's gonna be exciting week of coverage here on ninety two nine, and it's all leading towards another home game, the second of three straight home games feels winnable against Dallas, and this one again is at kickoff at just after seven thirty, but the Five Stripes countdown will be getting going at six thirty, so really excited about it. Hopefully it's not as crazy downtown as it was this past weekend.
I know, the volleyball tournament and some other stuff kind of had people acting all crazy up on.
North Side Drive.
So hopefully a lot more Five Stripes and a lot less Span Dex and we'll be ready to roll.
No, not as much volleyball, I don't think, Thank you, my friend. It's always great to see you on Mondays.
Always better after three points, isn't it.