AppleTV and MLS 360 Studio Analyst Dax McCarty on SDH AM 6.27.25

And that's an expected result. When you look at Landy United right now, having been with you when you were here and covered you at SDH and your time here in Atlanta, when you look at Atlanta now as someone with Apple TV, what is sticking in your mind about it Lanty United right now?

strengths are, what their weaknesses are. They don't there's not they don't balance each other out well and quite frankly, there's just not a ton of cohesion on the field when you look at what's happening, look at either side of the field. Defensively, they cannot stop leaking goals. They're one of the worst teams in the league at goals conceded. They give up seemingly multiple goals almost every game. Can't even remember the last time they had a clean sheet.

And then on the attacking side of the field, their big time players haven't been good enough. And it's okay, it's okay to say that, Like I think, when you sign designated players, there's a lot of factors that go into them settling. But the reality for Atlanta United is that if you're going to spend forty or fifty million dollars in the transfer market and have this very expensive outlay, then you don't really have the luxury of time to try to get acclimated to each other. It has to.

It has to almost work in the first couple of months of the season for a proof of concept. So it's not just all down to the designated players. There are other issues that I see in midfield, but for the most part, Emmanuel Latte Lot, Miguel al Moron, and Alexi Moranchuk have not lived up to the price tag. And when you can't score goals and then you can't defend your net consistently, you're going to end up where Atlanta United is, which is outside the playoffs looking in How frustrating.

Golden Boot. And I think this is just a really good lesson that I think money buys you better players, it always has, but it doesn't necessarily buy you cohesion and success because there's so much more that goes into it than just let me just buy a bunch of expensive pieces and see if they fit together on the field. There's a lot more that goes into it. So I've been frustrated for sure, because I actually really love almost everyone that I encountered in Atlanta. It's a really good

group of guys in the locker room. I don't know the coaching staff as well. Obviously I didn't play under Ronnie. I played under Carl Robinson a little bit with Rob Valentino. But I really like all the people that work in the front office, behind the scenes, the kitmen, the chefs, the people who sell tickets. Everyone there is really pleasant and really really wonderful. But that doesn't necessarily mean you're going to put a winning team together on the field.

And so I've been just as frustrated as the fan base because Atlanti and iited gave me the opportunity to end my career on my terms, and I have some wonderful memories in Atlanta. So I you know, as an analyst, you have to take a step back. You can't be biased. You have to try to be objective in how you're looking at things and analyzing things. And if I have to put my analyst hat on and analyze what's happening

this year. It's just not good enough and it's unacceptable, and the players will know that, the front office will know that, the coaching staff will know that. I appreciate the candor with which Ronnie DLAs speaks. You know, he doesn't sugarcoat what's happening right now. So it's frustrating. It's never over right with regards to him that making the playoffs at this point. But I would say it would take a little bit less than a miracle for Atlanti and I to to make the playoffs at this point.

If things do not fix themselves. In whatever terminology you want to use in air quotes, and that's a dollar in the jar for me. How you know, Hey, cliches are dollars in the jar and at the end of the year, the boss is like, oh, look at the jar. How active? And I'll use that word. How active? Would you anticipate the summer transfer window for teams south of the playoff bar right now at Lanti United included, Yeah.

Do you wait until the winter where you can turn over the roster a little bit faster, you can get players in and get them a full preseason. Or are you a team like the Chicago Fire who are maybe are on the outside looking into the playoffs, but they have a good enough team to not only make the playoffs but make a run. And so there are nuances, there's nuances to the different teams, but I'll keep it at Lanta United focused. Landa United has to be active.

They have to do something because what's happening right now, what the supporters are seeing, what we are seeing as fans, it's just not acceptable. They're not even competitive in games. If you look at their last three results, two zero to the New York Red Bulls, four zero to NYCFC, and three to one to the Columbus Crew. I mean, even that score line against Columbus flatters Atlanta. They were miles off of it. They didn't even look competitive. So you need to be active if you're at Lanta United.

I actually don't know how much flexibility they have to make moves to bring players in. I would think that in order to do that, you would have to move some players out, and some players that are you know, quite frankly, probably pretty high priced players, you know, And so you need to make moves out of the team first before you can bring people in. And I don't know. I think where Atlanti and Nited should focus mainly is

in midfield and on the back line. You're not going to be able to get rid of Miguel al Moron or Emmanuel Latte Lot or Alexi Moranchuk. Maybe Moranchuk would have some transfer value somewhere in Europe, maybe somewhere in Russia, right if you got an offer. But Alexi Moranchuk, to me, he hasn't been as bad as people sometimes talk about him. But again, him and Miguel al Moron, it doesn't seem like they can coexist together in a functional way. So

it depends. And then with midfield, you need to bring in a defensive midfielder. That's been such a problem for Atlanta United this season, not having that spine of the team. It's been a rotating cast at center backs. What do you do at center backs? You have some young players in f Rraane Morales and Noah Cobb who I think have a lot of potential, but it's clear that the coaching staff doesn't trust them at this point in time. So you have Derek Williams Andon Gregorson who have had

trouble staying healthy. I think you need to bring in a defensive midfielder and a center back in this transfer window in the summer, and then you reassess and reevaluate what you're going to do for twenty twenty six in the offseason.

locks that attach to the MLS All Star roster. First off, do you dig the All Star Game being the way that it is or would you rather play MLS players playing MLS players in showcase the league in and of itself instead of going up against leg at mc geese or Juve's D squad or whatever.

was incredible. It was an incredible experience. And even if you know some of the biggest players they had at the time, I don't think Cristiano didn't play. You know, they had all of the stars right that were there. I mean, Gareth Bale was there at the time, Marcelo, Sergio Ramos, I mean, these guys all played, and even though it's preparation for them in preseason, you still want to win. You're at Soldier Field in front of seventy thousand people, and it's a fun game, right, It's almost

like a training exercise. But people come go to All Star games to be entertained. So the Lega MX format has been nice. I think that it's been competitive. I think that fans have enjoyed it, but I think you lose a little bit of the All Star feel when it becomes a really competitive game, Right, you want fans to be entertained, want you want players to enjoy themselves and show out. I mean, players go to the All

Star Game. They don't want to get injured. So I would personally love to see an East first West like throwbacks to what we had in the early days. I think it would be great. I think it would be especially with thirty teams in MLS. Now you have so many players who are deserving. I mean, you could go the twenty six All Stars, I think all deserving. Sure, you could have another All Star team of twenty six players who would all be deserving as well. So it's

difficult for players that have missed out. I mean, there are so many snubs I can think of off the top of my head. Honeymook, Tar, Sam Surge from Nashville. They've been fantastic, pet Bil from Charlotte, Martino Hayda from Orlando City has been wonderful, right, Andrew Goutman, Dan Lovets, Kai Wagner. I mean, I'm just naming fullbacks here who have all been deserving to get recognition in an All Star Game. So I definitely see the novelty and the

the functionality of doing it lega MX's versus MLS. I think there's a lot of synergy right now between those two leagues when you look at Leagues Cup. But yeah, the All Star Game is always going to be fun. I'm looking forward to it. It should still be really fun this.

able to thrive in that attack. With Dryer and Lozano as wingers, they have blown the doors off of every expectation that I think anyone could have of them. Right now. I think they're sitting first in the West at this point in time, which is nothing short of insane, and the way that they have played, they're completely breaking the model for how an expansion team can come into MLS. They played beautiful soccer, they play entertaining soccer, and they

play effective soccer and it gets results. So I think if you put together a formula of like what is the perfect expansion team expansion season, san Diego's living that right now. And so I know there have been other expansion teams that have been great. Chicago Fire back in the late nineties, obviously winning I believe they won the Double. I know they won MLS Cup, but LAFC, right Seattle, even Atlanta United when they first came into the league, I mean really took the league by storm. The way

that San Diego's doing it has been so impressive. Anders Dryer right now is the MVP in Major League Soccer if the season ended today. That's not a hot take, that's just a fact. But I've been so impressed with mikey Veras and everything that San Diego's done.

Fridays at any time and sit there and shoot. You know, at nine point thirty, if there's ever a great Guards or a Michael Parker's sighting and you sit there and you go, oh, I want to crash on that segment, you know you love it. What is your best? And Kevin Egan is one of our A listers as well? What is your best? Kevin Egan's story to this point of the season about live at MLS three sixty, Oh.

terms of helping me acclimate to a new life. We lived in Atlanta together, uh for those six months where I stayed in Atlanta until May, and we were on every flight together up to the studio and just being just being able to have him as a sounding board and to pick his brain on things that I was

curious about, things that I needed help with. He's one of the most selfless individuals that I've ever met, and he he just wants everyone to thrive, and so he's he's an amazing person and he's very good at his job. One of the best hosts I've ever seen. Best Kevin Egan's story up to this point. He's just it's not it's not just one single thing that he does. It's

just an accumulation of things. He absolutely loves food, and so he's a big foodie and so he'll uh whenever we get to the studio, he's always on the hunt for a new restaurant or or somewhere to uh to grab a bite to eat. And he's just he's just a great guy. Like there's really there's really no one single particular story that stands out, but it's his preparation. I'll tell I'll tell everyone, like for how we prep right. We prep through the week, and as a host, your

prep is a little bit different. But every single day on Saturdays, in the hotel before the show, Kevin Egan goes down to the lobby. He grabs a coffee and he grabs like an overnight oats or a bagel or something from the hotel and he sits in the little cafe area for six seven hours before MLS three sixty and he's just banging out prepped notes. He's got a notebook. It's very organized. You'll see it next time you watch MLS three sixty. Look at the desk, look at the

big notebook he has. And that's why I that's that's why I take my preparation so seriously, is because I've seen him do it, and because I see how big of a pro he is. And he's just consistent. He's just a consistent individual who just wants our show to be the best it possibly can be. And without him, he's the team dads. I'll tell you guys that he's the uh, He's the team dad and just a great dude altogether. Man. So really really grateful for everyone on our crew, but especially keV.

luck with your ten box, sir. I wish you nothing but the best success when it comes to the ten box and everything going on. It's great to see charging and taking care of everything up there at MLS three sixty. Do not be a stranger once again. Like I said, you got the garage door opener. You know you can crash at anytime, so just have a hell of a show and we'll catch up with you soon, my friend. Thanks for visiting, and don't make this the first time, all right.