Hammering Down: Let's Talk About Protective and a Film Study

It's because it is. Hopefully I won't do that, Hopefully it'll survive, and hopefully you don't notice too big of a difference. So in this episode, we're gonna do our first half as we're gonna talk about the stadium. We're gonna talk about Protective Stadium. We're gonna have the conversation, and then we're gonna go to a film study. If you're a YouTube watcher, the first half of this is going to be the stadium, and then there's gonna be a second video with this same intro that is going

to be the film study. So they will be two completely separate videos. And then if you're podcast this is all one thing. So again, if you are watching the film study, this is the same intro as the stadium intro, so that's going to say the same. So without furdu, let's go ahead and get into this episode, and we're

gonna start off with the stadium. I've noticed, especially after playing Rhode Island FC, that a lot of people did not appreciate the fact that the the biggest attendances for Rhode Island came against Birmingham with a lot of our former players. And then Legion are still sitting in Protective and there was a really interesting moment after Charleston where the Welsh Fireman took over the stadium a little bit

versus Charleston. The atmosphere was awesome, and I think a lot of people kind of got a taste of what a fantastic atmosphere was like and it happened in Protective and I'm just going to tell you this, there was nothing that the Fireman did any different that Legion fans can't already do. I think the issue with a lot of what is wrong with Protective in terms of atmosphere is that everybody wants an atmosphere, but not maning. People

want to create it okay. So you know you had the Welsh doing like the big clap right that, there's no reason why the grandstand can't do that. Already, the Magisley Brigade does like the hammer down hammer down, and like half the crowd does it. There's no reason why the whole crowd can't do it every single time. I don't think there was anything that the Welsh did besides doing it that's different than the regular fans. All it

takes is the regular fans doing it. So instead of just being a passenger, you know, let's all get on this train and drive it together pretty much. But you know, if you would rather be more of the I'm here to watch the game, I'm not here to sing, that's totally fine and that's totally fair. And a lot of people have talked about missing the old atmospheres at BBBA. People who've went to some of the matches at Donemo Valley down at the Valley, you would know that the

atmospheres are pretty fun. If you've been out to Montavallo. Yes, even the album of soccer matches Birmingham Southern right, those matches have been fun. The atmospheres have been fun because it's a smaller stadium, everybody's close together and it feels

more lively. So how do we get there? And I know everybody's going to say, build a studium, build a stadium, Build a stadium, build a stadium, Okay, and there is There's only so much you can do, right because if the club was just interested in building aue stadium, they would go out to Chelsea, they would go way out into Leeds or somewhere else in those counties and say we're building a little cheap stadium. They can do that,

but they want to build it in Birmingham. And the issue with Birmingham is that's really expensive and the places that people are quote unquote willing to go is rather small. Right, And when we talk about because I have a list of all the stadiums in Birmingham that are pre built, so I'm not going to go through all the locations that Legion could buy because there's going to be conversations already. No matter what, there's going to be a sub section

of the fan base that is not going to be happy. Right. If we go back to BBVA, well, the field sucks again, there's no drainage and if it sprinkles then we can't play a game that doesn't happen in protective y'all remember how bad it was. We want to look back rose tinted, but yes, even I look back at the FC Tulsa game that restarted at like eleven thirty at night, kind of fondly. But it was like me and two hundred

people at the game. Most people, when they saw rain was on the radar, didn't even show up to the matches because they knew that it was going to get rained out. That's the way it was. In fact, we played against Memphis nine to one at Legion Field because the pitch at BBVA looked like a sandpit. It was closer to beach volleyball than soccer. Yes, that's just the

truth of the matter. So when it comes to this field looks like crap and it's completely unplayable and it's borderline dangerous for players, there's gonna be a subsection of fans who don't want to support that. When we look at places like possibly buying land at Birmingham Southern, some people will say I would never go over there because I'm afraid for my safety, asking me a subsection of fans if I were to mention building the stadium at

the training facility down at the Valley. I would never drive all the way out to Shelby County to watch the matches. This is Birmingham's club. That's a subsection of fans. So in order to appease everybody, you won't. You can't. And so I want to just kind of walk you through what's already built. And my criteria is it has to be a stadium that you can play soccer in and that you can can have food trucks that can show up and they can sell alcohol. Those are my criteria.

They have to be able to do those things. Why because some people will not show up to a match if they can't buy beer or if they can't tell gate beforehand. You know it's true, they're'll be like this is so minor league, this is so Mickey Mouse. I can't buy a beer at the game. People won't show up for that. So it has to be you have to be able to play soccer there. It has to be at least already somewhat established, and you need to be able to buy alcohol and then buy food, whether

it be from food trucks or already built concessions. So with all that, we obviously have protective stadium, and in all reality they're going to be looking at staying a protective long term until an actual feasible stadium option in Birmingham pops up. That's the truth of the matter. Doesn't suck, sure because it's the b JCC. But I also want to remind you that if Legion build their own stadium and don't raise the funds primarily themselves, the b JCC

will still run Legion FC Stadium. If the city puts in primary like the majority of the money into the stadium, the b JCC will own it. So you're just gonna be dealing with protective but smaller, which some people would be okay with, but some people wouldn't. Again, no one's gonna be happy. So I have made a little slide show so if you're a visual person, it's all here the Bank BNC Field, BBVA Field. The capacity is five thousand so it is right on the line for the

second division Professional league standards. Hey, it's a great size, it's an awesome location. I think everybody would agree that the location was awesome and we have fun memories of the place. The cons and the reason buying will probably never happen. It did not end on good terms with UAB, It just did not. And the chances of Legion just buying the stadium out entirely is very slim to none.

The only group of people in the history of mankind that has ever loved the land more than expansion era of the United States government with manifest destiny is the UAB Board of Trustees when they see a patch of grass in the city of Birmingham, right like, the UAB will never sell the land unless Legion come out with an insane bid, which at that point they might as

well build their own. Samee. The inconsistent pitch conditions that we unless they completely change everything and let Legion completely run everything, the pitch conditions are going to be bad. You have the men's team for UAB, you have the women's team from UAB, and then you'll have Legion also playing there. It's going to destroy the field and we're

going to be back where we first started. I think I saw somewhere that was originally a seven or eight year lease that Legion broke to get out of this thing and right, and it was because the field conditions were that bad. Also, people don't really remember this. It was kind of far from the pitch. If you decide to sit close to the field at Protective Stadium, you are less than ten yards from the game at all times.

If you decide to sit in the general emission side of the stadium, you had the field and then like the touch line, you had a full like three to four yards before the ad boards, and then about ten five to eight yards from the ad boards to the fence where they had people sitting, and then there was an entire sidewalk. So if you were in the very front row of the general emission you were about twenty five to thirty yards away from the action. That's pretty far.

And I know some people say, well, when you're at the very top of Protective Statium, that's even farther away. Yes, but you chose to sit there. They'll say, well, yeah, I chose to sit there because of the shade. There's no shade at BBVA none, there's zero. If you're lucky enough to sit in the five foot overhang that's on the rich people's seats. Cool, I'm proud of you, But there was none. Right, so your father away from the pitch, and it will not fit the current First Division Professional

League standards, which currently require fifteen thousand seeds stadium. I do think that's going to change, I really do. But five thousand is not enough. Could they expand this up to roughly around eight ten thousand. I could see that, I really could, and maybe that would get you closer, But that would involve Legion putting in even more money to a stadium that they're not going to own. So would it be nice to go back and have close

and have like that nice sentiment atmosphere. Yes, but there's a lot of reasons why I BBVA just wouldn't work. So what about Region's field and the stadium size is great eighty five hundred. The location is awesome, but like right by Railroad Park, you have good people brewing across the streets and it's a great location. It's a baseball field.

With baseball field comes in consistent pitch conditions, You're going to be really far away from the pitch like at all times there is other than what would be the right field wall, which it's going to be a very intimate atmosphere. And it doesn't fit the first Division Professional League standards because it's eighty five hundred people and it's a baseball field that I mentioned is the baseball field that said if you're desperate to get out of protective

setting um and you say we'll take anything. I don't think Region's field's a bad idea. The whole putting turf on the infield. It can cause injuries, it can cause issues, it looks bad, and it causes inconsistent play. That's all really bad. That's not great. But if you are on the boat of anything but protective, I actually think Regions Field wouldn't be a bad idea. Rick wid Field Okay, so just a little bit smaller than Regions. It's a great size and it's a historic landmark. And before you say,

while will we ever do that? Actually, the Cosmos which are coming back as New Jersey USL, they're coming back to play at a historic baseball field, and you know, I believe it's Miles uses Rickwood as their field. So it does have consistent use and it would be a nice tie into the community. I think that it would be really fun to see Rickwood be used constantly. And if Birmingham Legion FC want to be Birmingham's club, making Rickwood Field the field, I think it would be really cool. However,

it's a baseball field. It's still a baseball field. Some people wouldn't like the location. They would say I would never drive out there just to get shot for a minor league soccer game. I you know, while I don't agree with the location thing or the minor league soccer thing, people are going to say that, there's gonna be a lot of people who would say that, So you would probably have smaller attendances for these matches despite it being

such an incredible location. It's also a baseball field and it's not modern, Like it's been modernized, but it's not modern. So a lot of things that people have grown to enjoy about places like protective with it that's very modern, and like there's places to go with ac and all that kind of stuff, you're not going to get that here.

But if you're looking to be very Birmingham, it is very Birmingham, and it doesn't fit the first division professional league standards and there's no way to really expand it to fit it. It's just not going to happen. It's just when I had to stay a baseball field as it should, it should stay a baseball field. There's no buying the land and making it our own outlaying. This is way too historic of a spot to do that,

so I would be very against that in general. But if this was a temporary solution for Legion to build their own stadium, I think it would be actually really cool Legion Field. It's like Protective but worse. It's not the b JCC. It's the historical landmark Legion Legion f C at Legion Field. Wow. And if it's the first division professional league standards, a huge, huge stadium, the location isn't great. Again, some people would be like, I'll if I go out to Legion Field, I'll die. Okay, it's

it's not modern. It's been kind of modernized because of the like World Games and stuff, but also like it's Legion Field and I put turf on here. But actually it's very similar turf to what we have at Protective, which honestly a lot of players, including away players, seem to really like. Apparently it plays very similar to grass. It plays faster, but it's not very hard. If grass

doesn't like it, the ball doesn't bounce higher. There's not a lot of risk of injuries like there comes with with old astro turf, so in terms of turf, it's actually very good stuff, but also like it's Legion Field General crew Lock and I think that's how you pronounce it. This was Birmingham Southern's old stadium. Obviously Birmingham Southern no more. So if Legion were to buy this, it's probably fairly affordable if they wanted to go in on it and

make this the home of Legion FC. It is very small, so it's about sixteen hundred people can play can fit there, which does not even fit the USL Championship standards. The location again, some people would say, I'm not going out to Birmingham Southern. I'll die. You're going to lose fans from that, you just will. I do think it'd be a nice location. I think there's a lot of stuff that you can do. I think you can build on

the track. The track's not going to be used anymore, and if you wanted to use this particular location to build up to being the home of Birmingham Legion, I think it'd be awesome because it is at Birmingham Southern and that's a staple of the city and at least something would stay Birmingham there. And I do think that this, like the sports complex, would be affordable. Again, you would have to build it up pretty massively just to fit

USL Championship standards, not even thinking about First Division. Same thing goes from a go far field at a I say, Barrelson Soccer Park I believe, which has one set of stands. Everything else is just kind of general seating. It's about one thousand probably affordable. It's grass, It's actually decent grass. Legion played Tormenta there a few years ago in one of the worst matches I've ever seen in my life.

You would have to build it massively. You would have to add in over four thousand seats just to be USSEL Championship compliant. And again same thing with the other place. Locations not amazing depending on who you are, But I think you can build something special here. This is very similar to what BBVA looked like before Legion. This field is very similar to what BBVA was And so if Legion wanted to have a footprint and build it up,

they've already done it before. They've used this footprint, before, they've done this, they've used it this blueprint, not footprint, they've used this blueprint before. Small area, small, kind of stadium and build it up to fit the requirements. They have done this. This would be honestly my prime candidate if they wanted to buy something pre established and build it up. But again there's gonna be people who would refuse to go to matches because of the location. Lost

in Field seventy five. Actually it's a decent place to watch matches. If you've ever been out to an FC Birmingham match, it's actually a pretty fun place to go. The stands built into the hill is classic. It's very Birmingham. It's very affordable to rent. It is a very affordable place to rent. It's AstroTurf. In fact, I believe it's the old astro turf that was originally at Legion Field before the Olympics. So like it's old AstroTurf. It's rough.

The locker rooms are awful. The facilities are not great for fans. Bathrooms are not ideal. Uh. You can bring up all the food trucks you'd ever want here, that's great. It has decent spots to set up cameras. It's not amazing, but you can do it. In fact, FC Birmingham sets up live streams every single week from here. It's possible.

It doesn't fit the first division professional league standards, but if you're looking for a stop gap before Legion FC is built, like Legion FC Stadium is built, and you're looking for somewhere that's affordable, this is it. It gives me very Keyworth vibes in terms of it's gritty, it's kind of nasty, but if you're willing to deal with it, I think Lost and Field would not be awful. Honestly you it's again affordable, and it's honestly not bad for fans.

I think God actually be a decent location for fans to go to. So it's an option the Hoover met Some people would love the location, so peop would hate it, but I think that location is a plus. It's a great size. It's just under eleven thousand at ten thy eight hundred, and hey, the parking lot is great for tailgating the cons. It's a baseball field kind of because sometimes it's a football field for Hoover, which means when the Hoover Bucks are playing, their Legion can't play there.

And I don't know how much work it would take to tear all the Hoover high stuff down and put it back up, and I know they kind of do that would protective already, but is that something we want to deal with for it to be a baseball field. It doesn't fit the first division Professional league standards, although it probably is close enough. I think that it will get a waiver and you'll be homeless for every single

SEC tournament. So already two full weeks, two to three weeks that legion would not be able to play at home. And honestly, the best time to play there, which is beginning of spring and people are just getting out of school or you know all that kind of sacificaning spring like the middle of May, so I people are getting ready to get out of school. It's not too hot yet, it's not miserable. You know. It is what it is, the Hoover meant. And here's the last one, Albert J.

Sloan Alumni Stadium, which is Miles Stadium. I kind of like this option. I gotta be honest with you. It's a great stadium size with eighty five hundred. There's no renovations needed for soccer. They already have the lines already on the field, and you would sit there and say, ah, football lines. I hate football lines. If you're looking for a stop gap location, it's not a bad idea. It's a small stadium that you don't have to renovate. You can bring in food trucks if they will let if

they'll allow you. There's so much space to bring in the food trucks there as far as I know. You can buy alcohol at these games. And the things that would kill people turf football lines location. People would one go out to Fairfield to go to matches, fine, and you'll be homeless for every Miles home football game, but you're al ay homeless for every UAB football game. If you're looking for a stop gap, I kind of like Albert J. Sloan Alumni Stadium. It Again, it's turf, you

don't have to pay for upkeep. It's a great size for eighty five hundred a sellout game. Again, it's gonna be one of the better attendances in the league. It's going to be a little bit better for fans. And there's no renovations needed. It's already done. You can just show up and play. If I'm Legion and I am looking at places to go, places that maybe I would like to use, I think Miles College their saving would be great. I think that for a year, Lawson could

be okay, but not great. I think one of the Birmingham Southern stadiums would be an awesome fit if they want to buy and build. If this is going to be the home of Legion FC forever, I think the two you are, the two Birmingham Southern stadiums would be amazing, and then the rest are kind of what they are. So if you're looking to buy, I think go far Field which is the Birmingham Southern Soccer Stadium, or General

krue Lock, which would be the old Football Stadium. Or if you're looking I think those would be the places to look at, already made places that are in Birmingham, or if you're looking for a stop gap, Albert J. Sloan alumni which is again Miles College. It's not a bad idea. I think there's a lot of issues that come with building a stadium. Obviously, if it was easy, they would have already done it. A couple things that

I always want to remind people of. If the city of Birmingham or even Jefferson County pay a primary amount for Legion FC stadium, the b JCC would run it. If Birmingham or Jefferson County pay for primary amounts of the stadium, the BJCC would run it that. Yeah, so there is that if it was affordable to build in Birmingham, it would be done already, just simple as that. So if you want the stadium built by let's call it twenty twenty seven, give them a full year to build

a stadium. It's probably not going to be in Birmingham, I hate to say it, And that's going to lose fans depending on where you put it. If you put it not over the mountain, which is where a lot of the most influential fans are, those fans aren't going to come anymore. If you put it over the mountain, it's not going to be quote unquote in Birmingham anymore. And you're going to lose a lot of fans from that.

Because this is Birmingham Legion, not Mountain Brook Legion or Vestavia Hills Legion or whatever you want to call it legion. It's not Shelby County Legion FC. It's not Saint Clair Legion FC. It's not Coleman County FC. Thank God, that was an unnecessary shot at Coleman County. You can tell that. I'm a Walker guy, but you know, those are things to consider. Legion FC are in a rock and a heart, that's in a rock and a hard place. It's just the truth. And everybody's going to clamor for BBVA, but

it has issues. They're not gonna UAB is not going to sell it. They're just not. And if they did sell it, Legion might as well build their own stadium because it's probably going to take this similar cost if we're being completely honest. So that's kind of my thoughts on the stadium. I wanted to just kind of fully flesh that out of possible locations for Legion to go. That's not protective and I saw it. Just let you

guys know all that stuff. So if you are someone who watched the first this first episode that's on the stadiums, check out my film study that is going to be coming out right now. It's going to be on the YouTube channel. If you're a podcast player, let's go ahead and get into it, all right, So let's talk about the Rhode Island FC match. It ends up in a one one draw, both goals scored in the first half. And I will say this, I don't know if Legion

earned three points in this match. I think the second half was pretty dominant Legion, while the first half was well, I wouldn't even say dominant Rhode Island. It was just kind of abysmal Legion. The midfield performance was rough. That said, I thought that Turnbull and Tower Passer were out standing in this match, absolutely outstanding in this match. I thought Domas had a solid match as well. And the thing is is that what they needed from domis which is

kind of like that drop in dB connector. He's not really that kind of player. He can, but he's not that kind of player. But with the midfield issues that Legion were having in this match, was not the solution. I think there's a world where and I believe it was Sacramento where they brought an Enzo to come up top and he was kind of coming in and being

that connecting guy, which I could see working in this match. Honestly, I think that it could have been a solution, but you also don't want to take off Dominics, who just scored and I think that he was a great great fit. Trey Ho came in in the second half and I think it really livened things up. I think you saw what Trey Ho does bring to this team, but just in general, the midfield was just sloppy, just not connecting passes. The midfield press from Rhode Island was just absolutely eating

this Birmingham team alive. The second half was a very a slightly different story vary is a bit of an exaggeration, but with this, I wasn't able to go full deep dive into film like I normally do because CBS is very protective of their film and so I can't quite grab snippets from CBS like I could ESPN. So because of that, I'm kind of beholden to what is publicly available. So there's a lot of moments that I wasn't able

to get videos of, and I'm sorry about that. So I'm just kind of at the mercy of what the league has available. So with that, let's go ahead and into this film study. And we're starting pretty early on into this match, and I think it really just kind of shows the sloppiness of what we've seen in this match.

And this does kind of this is a fan, what could be the moment, but this ball comes to him and he tries to play it out to last, So but he just doesn't quite get enough on it, and obviously Famil Kavita ends up leaving this match with a hamstring injury. We haven't heard much update on that, but it didn't look great in the moment. But it leads to a turnover where the back line in the midfield

is not ready. So normally you would have Lasso kind of filling in this space at the top of the D and it's just not there right because this turnover left everybody out to dry a little bit. So with what I believe is that, I believe that's going to be Chicago Suarez kind of filling up that spot on the D. He's having to just kind of fill in space, doesn't quite pass it down, doesn't quite close it down, but the luckily the shot goes wide to the post. This is the kind of issue we were Legion were

suffering from all game long. Mistimed pass, easy counterattack and it's a shot on goal because there's no one to break it up in the midfield because the midfield's out of position because of the bad pass. Here we see the brilliance of what Briggs has been doing, and we talked a lot with the indie kind of film study where Legion are trying to get these long diagonal balls into the half space, go over the top long diagonal balls.

And I also mentioned that if the Legion are going to have Delgatto a net, they are only going to go as far as Delgado is going to let them go in terms of distribution. And I want you to check this out. Del Gatto takes a touch. It's a great pass back by Fanwell, I know, yeah, it's a pass back k or whatever. It's a nice passed back by Delgatto. He takes his touch and he knows where he's going. He knows good and well that somebody on the right hand side, a wing back or a winger

is making a run into the half space. So check this out. The ball goes along and here's where I want to slow it down. Now, I saw a little bit of confusion on why the back line was slow to react. I want you to look right above the center circle and you have two things. Yeah, right under the score bug is Stephen Payne. Stephen payin Stephen Payne, That's not who it is. Steven Turnbull. Stephen Payne plays

for Westchester from Birmingham. Stephen Turnbull is right underneath the score bug, and then there's Tyler Passer, and Tyler Passer makes this run just a little bit sooner than Turnbull, which kind of pulls the back line back. But they also know that Pastor is offside, so when this ball goes over the top, they don't know that Turnbull is on the right hand side making this run as well, which is why they were just a little bit slow to react. And look at how good of a ball

this is. And this is all created, yes, because Pastor was offside, But if you've ever if you're a young player listening to this, if you are someone who's in high school, middle school in the academy area, when coaches tell you make the run, even if the ball doesn't come to you, you're creating space. This is exactly what they talk about. Check this out. Yes, Pasture's offside, but

he made the run. It pulled the defense back. They know that he is offside, and without realizing that Turnbull was making the run because they were so caught up on Pasture, it left all the space right where they were standing. He is able to outpace a defender and get a touch out wide where he could have taken a shot but he has options. He knows that he has Damas making this run and it is a really nice chip in where all Damas has to do is headed away. And this was a fantastic ball by Turnbull.

There was a nice bit of physicality from him which we wouldn't be to see earlier this year because again he was super ill and lost a lot of weight. He bodies the player and is able to get in and make a nice pass. But again I just want you to notice again Delgatto looks for that half space run from the winged area. This space is not available if Pasture did not make his run in behind. That

space was created by a Pasture. It was filled in by Turnbull, who's able to use his pace to use his strength to win the ball forward and he's able to put in a nice cross and Domis has the easiest finish ever. To me, this is just as much a del Gatto's assists, but Turnbull does an amazing job. And what's not shown here is everybody went to celebrate with Turnbull, which was always fun to see. So here we have again where the midfield press and the really

aggressive intercepting from Rhode Island comes into play. Rhode Island intercepts the ball and it's an immediate countertack. This is how Rhode Island was living all night long. And this is where we kind of see the issues of this Birmingham team kind of pop up. The ball is just kind of rotating around and they're kind of in a set piece now. So, yes, the ball was given away cheaply. Let's not let's not forget this. The ball was given away cheaply. These are the moments that were costing Legion

all night long. However, do you want to applaud the defensive structure here, because look, ball was lost. You have Turnbull over here, we have lasts over here. You can see a Familkvida at the right hand side of your screen, and they were able to get back into position really well. Mensa was able to close down Brito over on this left hand side. Innzo was able to push out the ball carrier to again this left hand side, and from here you have five people in the back line, including

a holding midfielder in Lasso. Enzo is already cutting down a passing lane and so is Preston over here on the left hand side. When this Legion team is transitioning well, even after a counter attack or after being counterattacked, when they can transition properly, they cut out any scoring chance that Rhode Island could possibly have. You did not see that earlier in this game. But look, this counter attack

stalled out to absolute nothing. And you do see that there's a ball through, but again, family could be able to shield it out. I want you to see it in full time. I want you to see just whenever this works, whenever the structure works, it works. Well, just watch it in full time. It's a poor is a

poorer giveaway. But we're already back in our structure. There's are a five men behind the ball, there's a holding midfielder above the d and Nowad Island isn't able to outpace Legion and able to make one of those cutting balls into the box that were really causing Legion issues. It's the same ball we saw earlier. Now we're going to see it later. How it doesn't work whenever transitions are slow, but look, nobody's there. Yes, this ball comes through,

but nothing comes of it. So let's check out when it doesn't work, and let's talk about why. Here you see pressing the ball is in the Martinez into Martinez has kind of been depressing midfielder all season long. This is very normal. But whenever Enzo goes up, somebody has to take his place. Now you would think it would be Lasso, which you see Lasso in the middle of the center circle right here, and I'm not. This is all with relative this is hindsight twenty twenty. I get

to have revisionist history for me. I think that if I were Lasso, I think that you probably and I'm gonna have to go back to this. If I am Lasso, I'm seeing Enzo Press, I'm probably moving to the center, like the to the center of the dot right, and he does do that eventually. But where you see Enzo leave his space, somebody has to fill in that space,

and that is Thiago Suarez. If you see Tiago Swarez, he's at the very bottom of the center circle here on the right hand side, and he is having to leave his center back position and a long ball over the top again transitions. We just saw a successful transition

from Birmingham. This is an unsuccessful transition because somebody kind of left somewhere open that wasn't supposed to be And it's a really nice ball it just kind of skips up well, and this is where we saw earlier Lasso was sitting at the front of the edge of the d. We already have five players behind the ball. Lasso is behind the play. If you look at where the referee is,

he's on the left hand side of the referee. When this, when the transition was smooth and connected Lasta was standing on top of the box, was standing on top of the d instead, Suarez is having to run back because he was filling in the position of Nzo. Inenzo was doing his job as a pressing midfielder. That's fine, but

you see what that causes here. We are able to see a touch inside with who I believe was If you saw that scored this ball and he was able to get a shot off without any kind of real pressure, you can kind of maybe say aj should have closed down a little bit harder, but I'm not really willing to do that. And let's be honest here, it's a nice finish. It's a really nice finish. But let's compare this transition moment right. Let's watch this one at full speed to where we see again no one is on

the center circle. The transition was slopped and it was because somebody didn't fill in a spot where they were supposed to. A long ball beats them. It's a goal. Compare that to earlier where you see here on this counter attacking opportunity, it was already cut off. There was nothing there, nothing available for Rhode Island. See like this is when you see Lasso is already on top of the d pause. When you have Enzo pushing over to this right hand side, the left hand side of the

field for Brito, there's nowhere for it to go. That was a good transition and what cost Legion here was a poor transition where everybody was all out of sorts. Suarez was filling in space like he was supposed to do, but that cost Legion, and that's what costs Legion this game. Now here we have an interesting moment where Bring has mentioned this idea of ruthlessness so many times, and Timothy Bellen has done a great rite up on this and so read that on Burningham sports dot Net and it's there.

But he mentioned ruthlessness as well, and this is where you're going to see it. You have pastors standing over the ball and he puts in a really nice ball and I think this was planned. So this is really nice set piece design. By the way, you have uh Aj Patterson who's off lining up offside, but it's just to kind of create a little bit of havoc and also kind of create a better better positioning for him because he doesn't quite have the pace of some of

the other players. So when this ball is coming in, he has a little bit of a head start. Look at this bank, he's on side. He starts off side, he's now on side, and he's able to move forward. He doesn't have to go that far. He doesn't have to work that far to get this far, and he heads it to Enzo Martinez. But Enslo slows up his run and just doesn't He's waiting to read the header as opposed to trusting the header. Right, He's waiting to

read the header, not trusting the header. Now, maybe Enzo's doing what they've done in training and that's that's not what Aj was supposed to do. But Aj puts this ball right where you think Enzo will be. Instead, Enzo slows his run to read and by the time that he recovers, Jackson Lee is able to recover pretty well. This was a moment of and Timothy kept using ruthlessness because that's the word that Briggs used. I think this is a moment of lack of trust. And that's not

me saying that Zo doesn't trust AJ. That's not what I'm saying. I don't. I'm not saying that Inso thinks that AJ is a bad player. That's not what I'm saying. So don't get that twisted. Please. What I am saying, though, is that look at the where Enzo's run is going. AJ puts it right exactly where. If Inzo just continues his momentum, it's a goal, man, it's a goal, and it's really clever set piece design. If this is the way that this was supposed to be done, if Aj,

we're assuming AJ did his job correctly. Here, by the way, this is all just assuming that AJ did his job. That if Inso just continues his run exactly how he was, it's a goal. It's a tappen. Instead, it's still a draw versus leading are still drawing. Here's a nice little moment that I really enjoyed. Uh you see this nice little flick by Enzo, And again this is not an enso bad pod. Okay, this is just why you keep

an into Marketinez on the pitch. Just look at this, Look at two players on him, pass in and just to clever flick through and Rinaldo Damas is just offside, just offside. But you can see what this is supposed to be. You can see what this Legion team can do if this ball is just chipped a little bit earlier, if Ronaldo just holds his run just a little bit longer, it's a nice touch and a nice finish. I seriously I loved this moment and it's one of those things

of Braggs has said it. All the pieces are there and you can see how it works. Again, Into does a great job of just beating two men on him and also full credits a Rhode Island here for like for having a good line. But Ronaldo just misreaddit and he is just offside. It's legitimately a step, but a step is still offside. But still this is what you're seeing from this Legion team. He was a really nice

moment that I like. And this was after a Famil Cavida gets taken off and Jake Ruf comes on and I think you see why you want Jake Roof on the pitch and this also comes down to a very nice ball later if I'm remembering this correctly. So Trey Hoo gets it. It's a passed back by Mensa, goes over to Aj Patterson to Jake Ruf. Jake Ruf reads

the field. He fakes one way kind of bite to the fender, and if you look, this is really hard to tell, but if you look at Jake Ruf's body language, you can see that he's scanning the field just a little bit and he knows, and we've talked about this, that long ball, the long diagonal ball over the top. He knows that's what he's looking for and he sees

it coming on this coming over here right. So if he plays this ball at Thiago and this is where you can see it, Jake Ruf is already seeing this ball happen, but he knows he doesn't have the best chance on it. He then goes out to Aj where watch Lasso here. Laso is in the center of the circle. Check this out. Lasto immediately points play the ball. Play the ball, one touch, bang and it's Tower Pasher on

side and it's a wonderful run. But again, this doesn't happen without Jake also reading the defense right, AJ's here, Jake sees it, he sees where he's supposed to be, He fakes it, sees the run happening. AJ looks his head up last those pointing. Everybody sees the run. And this is what we're talking about, these long diagonal balls into half spaces entire Pastor's there, and let's be honest here, this is just an amazing save by Jackson Lee. If I if this is not for Save of the Week,

it it should be. It absolutely freaking should be, because this is a goal and this is another great team moment. This is another amazing moment by the team where unfortunately Pastor is just not rewarded. But it's a wonderful long diagonal ball by AJ touch and then just shot and Jackson Lee barely saves it onto the post and it's able to be cleared away. But again you're seeing what

this team can be doing. Here was a corner kick and I don't remember why I said, Oh, this is Enzo's like kind of hip chance and I think he mishits this I do. I don't think this is a shot, but it kind of works because if it's on target, it's a problem, but this is really clever and to me this looks like very clearly what the plan was. So short corner with trey Ho and I think pasture

and trey Ho gets it and instantly sees Inzo. From what I'm reading here, I think Enzo's trying to get this to the back post because check this out, there's no one there. There's a run happening. I think it's Aj Patterson, but I can't fully tell. There is this run happening to the back post that if this makes it to the back post, it is a tap in. Actually that might be Tiago Suarez, but I think he gets it just a little bit wrong. But this is two moments on set pieces that I think it's very

nice design and it was just a slid. I think this I think a slight, just kind of technique malfunction from Nzo, But it's a really nice curling ball that if it's on target, it's a straight up goal. Jackson Lee completely misreads it, just completely misreads it. But Enzo, I mean, it's very nice and it's I think it's supposed to be a pass to the back post, just slightly gets it wrong. Jackson Lee was way too trusting that this was going to go in, but are not

going to go in. But again, just a really nice mode from Enso here's a long ball that kind of causes Legion just a little bit of issue if I do remember correctly. Yeah, so touchdown here. And this was kind of the issue all night long. You have two players just right on top of each other, just two players just completely on top of each other. Lasso Mensa just kind of going for the same ball, their boats on top of each other. Mensa falls and it's an

immedia counter attacking opportunity. And I thought that Legion did a very good job in transition. Here again you see four men back. You see I believe that's Lasso coming in to fill in his midfield space, and it's a very nice tackle again by I think that's Aj Patterson, and it's wonderful stuff. But you see how these mishaps happened. But it was also a very good transition by Legion in the defense. So they're already kind of back to

not fully fair but sloppy midfield play. It kind of mints up, but still it's in the midfield midfield play, and it's a counter attacking opportunity. Legion does a great job of recovering. It's a very good job by Aj Patterson. Here's a throw in moment against sloppy They just another sloppy midfield moment where it's just a cheap turnover to throw in. Domas not fully able to control it because

of the press from Rhode Island. Rhode Island does a great job in a press and it's another transition moment where the ball's not quite picked off of the Rhode Island player now over to the right hand side and you're getting across into the back post. Nothing really ends up becoming of this where it just kind of ends up being ping pong across the pitch and it's just

a lot of volleyball all over the place. Holstad puts in a cross and if you saw misses a chance there at the very end, I've kind of forgot about that. I believe it if you saw anymore. But in general, you just kind of see the sloppy play that would lead to Rhode Island chances. And this is what kept Rhode Island in this match. Rhode Island did not The only thing that they really truly earned out of this

match was doing a great job in the midfield. Press they knew that if you press this midfield, they're going to have problems. But it's not like they were out playing Legion. They were just they were just waiting for Legion mistakes and it's worked for a lot of teams this year. It just wait for them to screw up again, throw in kind of a heavy touch. The press has a great job and again full credits of Rhode Island for forcing issues. But again you see here just a

mistake in the midfield creates a scoring opportunity. I kind of forgot how this one ended up, but yes, so like this one just goes to the back post again, a misplayed header by Turnbull. This one goes to the back post and it's a lot of ping pong. It's actually really nice cross in the end by Holstad who mensa kind of just gets body a little bit, but it's a nice cross in kick just goes over the bar. But it was moments like that all game long by

Birmingham in the midfield just being sloppy. Again, Rhode Island forced the issue, but it was just sloppy. But there you can also the moments of brilliance. You can see what's there. You can see lots of clever set pieces on. You can see what they're trying to do with the wingers and the wing backs trying to get into these spaces and those long diagonal balls. It's going to work.

It is going to work. Like I'm willing to stamp this while because Legion got a result out of this match because of the tactical changes that Mark Briggs has done, and even with that, it was a horrible midfield performance. Just to be completely honest, it was a horrible midfield performance and even that got to result away from home. Should you be getting all three points? Yes? Am I happy about just things not going well? Not getting all three points from a match that you know kind of

deserved it. Yeah. Pastor had two balls that went off the post that could have been goals. Jackson Lee had two fantastic saves. What can you do about that? I don't know. I think that Legion had earned it, had earned it through Pasture and Turnbull. I think that those were created moments. How are amazing? I just for me. If the midfield doesn't get it right, Legion are going to have issues getting all three points. But you are

one goalkeeping mistake. When I say mistakes, slightly misreading the ball by a centimeter from Legion winning that match to one, you are Tyler Pascher putting the ball just a little bit closer inside the far post from Legion winning that match to one. And that's what's with a horrible midfield performance. When it clicks, this is a good team when it clicks. This is a top four team in the East. But everybody has to be on the same page. The midfield has to make simple passes. The back line has to

transition adequately. We saw it all in this match. You saw the back line transition positively, so it's not like they're unable. You saw those long diagonal balls that Briggs once and it worked. But you also saw sloppiness, which Briggs has talked about since the day he got here. Was it going to take to fix it buy in or tear it apart at the end of the season. But if they can get most of these players bought in,

this is a playoff team. If everybody buys in, I can guarantee you they are going to be competing for a home playoff spot. Thank you all so much for watching. I appreciate you all. Thank you and thank you for watching this film study, and if you watch the stadium video, thank you for watching as well. If you're a podcast player, I really appreciate you so much. To next on, guys, keep hammering on.