So it's gonna be one of those days. All right, Basis dropped on a new round of SDH. John hear you there, apologies for the voice hot cold, hot, cold, hot cold reconstituted air, and it caught up with me this weekend. I am now in the land of the homeopathic stuff, and so we'll see what happens.
But it's gonna be an interesting day.
So Abe Gordon's gonna join us here in just a little bit and we'll break down everything that's on your collective mind when it comes to what happened this weekend. And there are a couple of different things that we're going to be getting into. Obviously, a will come in, we'll talk about all of the activity and what's on Abe's mind. After that we'll get into highlights and literally it's just the carlis Heel moment. But then there are the other things that we need to get into and discuss.
And Bart's going to join us an hour number two. But what I want to do is I want to do the discussion that we're gonna have about cards and calls. I want to do it in a way that is constructive. Sorry, I'm pouring my caffeine for the morning. So where do I put this so it doesn't spill? I'm sure wherever I put it's gonna spill anyway, all right, So in hour number two when Bart comes in, obviously we've got to do cards and calls, and there are a couple
of different things that we've got to get into. And what I want to do is I want to look at it from the perspective of going over the call and what could be going through an individual's mind in that moment. And there are a couple of things that I want to get into with Bart about decision making. And what I want to do is get into a discussion with Bart once again about the laws of the game and what folks might be thinking about in those moments.
So it's going to be one of those where you're.
Going to be looking at the laws of the game and going through the moments of the match and then remembering or reminding ourselves about in those moments what is transpiring and what the call can be one way or the other, and then try to walk through the call. And so we have and the and there are a couple of philosophical issues that I want to get into that are a part of it where you're looking at the idea of Okay, well you've got game management we've
got to get into. You have just the the idea of controlling a match that we've got to get into. So in reughing down here, when we get into cards and calls, then it's gonna be it's gonna be that discussion.
So we'll bring that in with Barten hour number two and kind of walk through it and take the events of what happened on the weekend so we can all be more informed or just and just you know, I'm not gonna say better educated, but just know where folks are coming from in these particular in these particular instances, and what folks are seeing. And so it was not a good day for Alexis to Silva. I'll go ahead
and say that I don't think it was. I'm sure if you asked Alexis to Silva, he would probably tell you otherwise. But we'll take the information that we have from his I'm not gonna say it's not manner, but just how he called the match, and then we'll take that information and go forward just about so we can
all be better informed and can understand. It's almost like a defensive driving course, so we can understand where folks are coming from and where the gaps can be, and where the gaps can be in a situation like this. So we'll get into that with Bart now number two, and so we'll go over everything that's on your mind from what happened this past weekend. Like I said, doesn't have to be at Land United, but at Lanty United.
It's obviously number one on the board. So we can talk about it Lanty United, we can talk about anything else in Major League Soccer.
We can talk about anything else going on in.
The world of soccer, killing and Bape with you know, there's you know, Killian and Bape got a red and obviously the world was falling down about it, but it points to a larger picture.
And I'll see if I can.
Find the Luis Enrique conversation that he had in the film room with Chillian and Bope, and that has always stuck with me about how and Bope is right there, but then he could he could be so much more. But there's, like I said, that conversation that Luis Enrique had with him in the film room that was caught on tape. I mean it wasn't one of these hidden camera things and someone's like sneaking a cell phone in or anything, but it was.
It was.
It was a nasty challenge, and it's just anytime you
have a moment like that. And I swear to god, I was looking at the Big fifty five this morning and it was on it was on a Spanish speaking sports network, and in that Spanish speaking sports network, they were wondering out loud, and of course I know this particular program and they like to kind of gin things up and they go they work in the extremes and it's, uh, you know schlock talk sports talk radio that is on television in Spain, and it was one of those is
this read a good thing for Killing and Bope? And I'm like, oh my god, are you kidding me? So Killing and Bape gets a red and there's a moment that with Louis and Rique when he was at PSG, it's like, you know, dude, we need you to help out in other places. I'll see if I can find
the conversation. But when Killing and Bape has a moment like he had that conversation that Luis will it wasn't really a conversation it was more in Boppe listening and Luis and Rique trying to make Killian and Bope understand about who he can be and how he needed to help PSG at the time, but it was it was an intriguing conversation, and so we'll get into that also. An hour number two, Jared Smith joining us early on a Monday morning. What's on your mind?
Oh that's just chaos of.
Course, uh so, uh feel free?
Uh?
Abe set to join us in a couple of minutes, So I do not hang up and be a part of the conversation when Abe joins us, and Abe was wondering, I think Abe was working early this morning, and so he said he might be joining us off of his phone as opposed to a normal computer laptops. So we'll see how we'll see how effective that is when it comes to Abe setting to join us here in just a little bit.
But you've had a couple of days to think about it. What's on your mind after the weekend?
Just it's disappointment, I think, I mean, it's it's it's as far as much frustration as anything. But I think it's kind of this weird feeling that everything's a juxtaposition in your head because it doesn't feel like it's a team that should have the worst start in their club's history, but it is. And you are what your record says you you are after eight games. It's just what it is. You can you can push back on it. And I think they're better than what their record is, but they
are what their record is. And it's coming down to mental mistakes again. It's coming down to little moments, some misfortune, which we'll talk to Bart about at some point. I think pro has pro has spit the bit a couple of times. But in a game where you had two goals wiped out, one of them correctly for sure. The Latte lo Ca call that one's now even that one's weird where I'm like, he's offside even if he wanted
to get back on side. He wasn't getting back on side because he was getting held, but he was offside. To fine with that. And you have two goals wiped away and you hit the woodwork twice, you generate almost three x G and it's one of those games where like I will put SoC into x G. You have to. This is the thing with statistics is you got to pick your spots with what you consider to be a worthwhile statistic and a not worthwhile you know, ex g.
Statistic you generated almost three. We had two goals wiped away, hitting the woodwork, forcing a couple of really good saves. You feel good if you if you would set that unfl good about what your offense was doing the area. For me, John, that you got to like take a really hard look at is going to be the defense. And yeah, we'll get into the officiating because one of my least favorite things on the face of Earth's one of my pet peeves is this whole thing of like
you have to overcome the officiating. It is this bullshit American ideal that we have that that like you're supposed to overcome all adversity and that you can't ever like point to any university when the literal mantra we used all the times correctly and it worked this way too.
Goals change games.
You get an early goal there, you've changed the tenor of the game. Against the New England team that had no interest in really playing, they came out with one particular idea they exploited based off of you made adjustments they had no interest in making further adjustments and going and actually playing that game because they hacked it down in the midfield like they were but like they were going to stop town trying to take trees down. Yeah,
it's zero interest in actually playing. Modern day Caleb Porter will never see the gates of Heaven. I think old school Caleb Porter from ten years ago would fight modern day Caleb Porter on the touch line, right, and he would do it proudly. But goals change games. You have a goal wiped away, it changes the game. That's how it works.
Yeah, you don't have to.
Pretend like like, well that got taken away, but we should still be able to do Yeah. Yeah, you would love to. You would love to live in that world, but you don't always live in that world. So yeah, goals change game. But for me, I think the thing is that the back line. You got to have some serious conversations about. I thought you looked better at three at the back, and I'm sure like there's gonna be a call to go to three at the back this week.
But styles make fights, and you're gonna have to figure out how you want to attack this Philadelphia team on the road.
Yeah, I mean it's Bradley Carnell you know what you're getting in too. But it's basically the same Philly. It's just with a different head coach and a Saint Louis Twitch.
Tom, we're gonna talk about the ref man, We're gonna talk about it because it's a goal that changed the full of the game. Like, I don't know what you want, man, Yeah, we'll talk about the other mischances. I mean, I'm here to talk about the problems with the defense, the problem that Miggy did not drop back into defending. So you had a manual latte a lot dropping back into defending.
It makes a careless challenge on uh On, on Carlos Hill. Yeah, because he drops back and he defends Miggie's staying up the field. He makes a careless challenge. It's the right call because there's contact. I'm not gonna argue that call at all. Like there's contact, it's at the edge of the box. Puts in the box. He nailed that. They went to var in his ear. They got it right. Is used perfectly there, Man. I give him, I give him all their flowers for that one. But you do
change the game. Win. You don't give a first goal. You hit the woodwork twice. You forced a couple of good saves.
That sucks.
I don't know how you didn't find a breakthrough. I don't, but you are what your record says you are right now, and you got to figure out the defense because as your offense is going to keep misfiring, as your offense is going to keep missfiring, you need your defense to stay locked in. And you haven't had that consistently. And it's been different guys like Look's been up and down. Derek Williams is banged up right now. But Derek Williams had a couple of really rough games where he made
mistakes that you can't make. I am personally of the opinion I would be fine. If you want to go through at the back with a Broms Sion and Noah Cobb, do it. If you want to play Noah Cob and Efrian Morales together and go twenty seventeen Philly style, do it. Put the kids out there. If guys are gonna make mistakes anyway, put my kids out there. Let them make
the mistakes and let them grow. Because one of them is already a comic ball national team player for Bolivia and the other ones a youth American national team player who has the potential to be more than that. Yeah, I'm fine playing those guys, but defense has got a not up.
Yep, he says.
If your offense is gonna misfire, the most important number you're gonna be able to have to you're gonna have to put up is that gooseg on the other end. And only once this year have you done it. And you did an amazing job of against Red Bulls. You didn't give up a shot on goal. You give up one shot on goal the entire weekend to both Red Bulls teams and walked away with one point because they got a deflected goal against the twos and didn't put
a shot on frame against the first team. That was great, but you've got to build on that, and you have to be better defensively. I mean this is getting back into, like Frank the Board's territory of I know what I have defensively, I know what I have offensively, and while we put the pieces together, we're going to be a little bit more pragmatic and then we'll open the engine up when we get a chance.
So you see how fired up jerib is ab.
Yeah, I agree with some of it. And I'm reading the comments and some of them I agree with and and some I don't. I don't know how much you guys got into before I popped on in regards to the goal that was taken away offside and all that.
No, and I'm getting yelled at when I bring that up, and not just here but anywhere, So I don't know. It's this thing like you know where I apparently if we bring that up, we'll make an excuses as opposed to telling a guy to do his job correctly. Well, I mean, look, actually be scoring more goals. I agree, but we're gonna talk about the shit that happened on Saturday.
Yeah.
Look, this is not the first instance of you had opportunities to put a game away and didn't do so, and obviously this costs you points, not just one, but potentially three. You hit the crossbar at you know, a half inch lower, and that's a goal from antay Lot. You hit the post a half inch a quarter inch
to the left, that's a goal from Jamal Tray. And I just disagree with this mindset that it's not a good team, they're not getting results, and I don't think those are the same things, and it's not here sitting and making excuses and this or that. A team that's not good has no hope. A team that's not good can't turn it around. I still feel like this team can turn it around. I do still feel like this
team has hope. And as we learn from the postseason run last year, if you could just get in and be healthy, you could see what happens.
Now.
No one's gonna sit here and say they'd be happy if the Lanta United it comes in as a seven seed or an eight seed and has to deal with that again, like, obviously that's fall falling short of expectations. But if that's what we're dealing with at the time, then so be it. And so look, if we're sitting here ten more games in and saying the exact same thing that they're putting together good performances but not getting results.
Now I start to maybe sit here and say, now, hold on, like, are the results ever gonna come?
But it has been disappointing, there's no way around that.
But I still think they're gonna find a way to turn it around. And at some point I will lose faith that they will turn it around. If it does come I'm not there just yet. And in terms of the quote controversial calls or whatever, I stand by this. It sounds like Jared, you're probably close to me on this as well. PK has to be given.
It just does oh for Carl's heel, Yeah, oh yeah, one hundred percent. He absolutely got that right. You cant be mad about it, but he got it right.
It starts in the box. There was contact to take a player down. Now is it bad defending in that moment with a player that's not even really running across the face of goal but almost away from goal. Yeah, it's bad defending. You can't create contact there, but it has to be given. I'm not mad at that call. I don't blame that call. I think it's the correct call.
It hurts you, but it's the correct call. I do have some issues with how they officiated the off sides and it just maybe I've all, maybe we've all it's not just me misunderstood the rule of intent and.
Stuff like that.
But I just don't see a world in which it was a deflection or reactionary play from the New England defender. He played a bad ball, but he played a ball. It was intentional. I just don't see how you give that as off sides. But whether or not that's off sides, whether or not it takes a goal off the board. The team's got to stay focused. They can't concede four or five, six minutes later, whatever it was, and they've
got to find a way to finish opportunities. This is another one that is two to one, three to one at worst, and you're just not getting there again. You know how much I love XG there, John, but two point eight is not insignificant. Two point eight to be clean sheeted is something you have to address, and the players are saying the right things. Rodnie dla is saying the right things and trying to hold optimism that at
some point it will take a turn. At some point some of the luck will bounce Atlanta United's way, but so far it hasn't. They're off to the worst start in franchise history, including a home stand of three games against two of these teams.
Really bad. If we're gonna be straight honest, and you're only able to muster four points.
And I think Atlanta United fans have reason to be angry, they have reason to be frustrated, But I'm just not yet to where we have reason to lose hope or be pessimistic over the course of a season. If I have to get there, I will trust me, I'll turn but hopefully they'll bring me to that.
No, it's I'm gonna nuance this a bit, because that's what sports is. It's it's nuanced. Ultimately, it's a right now as we stay and I think it is an incredible selection of players and an incredible roster. They are not consistently playing like a team for me. They have moments where they are, but then there are too many moments where they are off balance, not on the same page.
And it just doesn't it doesn't feel like, it does not feel like, to belabor the metaphor, it does not feel like whatever we are putting in that mixing bowl is mixing the way we need to. Will it very likely, like I think there's too much talent for it not to. To your point about Rodnie dla and look, I watched that man manage at Celtic in twenty fourteen through twenty sixteen. Let me preface that by telling you twenty fourteen through
twenty sixteen, there was no Rangers. Rangers had ceased to exist like whatever fantasy you have about your greatest rival falling apart, was what happened to Rangers if you're a Celtics fan, because the club literally went into administration and bankruptcy and cease to exist at the restructure and start at the very bottom of the ladder. He was playing and coaching the far and away the most uh, the highest revenue and highest rostered team, and every single loss
was met with like brimstone and death. So I as far as Roddy goes, I don't think he's gonna be like I don't I personally don't think he's gonna be like sweating out, like, oh man, I gotta get this point. Like he's seen some shit. Now, does that mean that he's not gonna work shrug it that he's gonna shrug it off. No, I don't think so at all. I just think for me and my expectation from him is
that he's seen some shit. He is going to have a different toolbox maybe than other people on how to address that, and the trick is gonna be actually doing it and actually getting guys to sync up.
Well, a couple of things here, and that is from Ronnie Dila and from the players. There's frustration, but there's not panic, and I think that goes to what you're suggesting, Jared, and I think that's important. And the other thing, John, is something I told you and I've reminded you that I've told you as the season started, before it got going, and that is that you have to have patience and just look, I'm not gonna lie. It's taken a lot longer for this team to figure out what exactly is
going on, and they haven't figured it out yet. There's no doubt about that. I was hoping within four or five matches they would start to look like the team we need them to look like. That hasn't happened yet, and we're now through eight matches, so it's taken longer than I thought. But I've warned people at the very start, it's like, hey man, this feels like it's gonna take quite a long time for it to come together. And so we're not gonna panic at the start of the season.
Now we're getting to the point where it's a little bit beyond just the start the season and it hasn't come together. It doesn't mean it's not going to come together. And I think we've seen in recent seasons. You don't have to be that good for that long in stretches of the MLS season to make it to the playoffs. I mean, this is a team that fired a manager last season, had a horrible run under an interior manager, turned it around for a five game stretch, gets into
the playoffs and goes on a run. And so we are not even close to being in the desperation mode that last season's team was in. I still believe that they will figure it out. Can't figure it out, and when they do figure out, will be increasingly dangerous. Now that means they're no longer to play for the supporter shield. Fine,
they're probably not going to leave the MLS in scoring. Fine, But as long as we get to a point where they figure it out and they start to put stretches not just in games, but stretches of the calendar to get other where you're knocking off three point three point one point on the road, three point three point on the road, you're right and start to kind of get to where this team needs to be. But I think
it's important that they are unified. They have the exact same messages from manager onto the veteran players onto the younger players as well. And again, it's okay to be frustrated, It's it's okay to be, you know, bothered by the results. It's not okay to panic, and it's not okay to lose focus and lose the message. And they haven't been doing that, And that gives me a little bit of belief, because yeah, I am just like everyone else, emotional, frustrated
and becoming increasingly pessimistic about the chances. But I also have to remind myself, like I'm the I'm the one that said, hey, it's gonna take a while before this team is up and running full speed ahead. They haven't gotten there yet. I just hope that they can. And again, it's just a matter of finishing, right, Like you talk about the chances created and how dangerous they look, and
they're just not getting the end result. And I don't know how big of a difference it is between getting the end result and not getting the end result, but it just feels like if they start to get that end result, you can start to roll off three goal games, four goal games.
But they haven't been there yet.
And look, everyone's gonna say recent seasons, this and recent seasons that every season's different. I don't play by these nonsense trends when you're turning over half the team and your entire attack is new and Pedro Robindor played six games last year, whatever it was. I just don't go with these recent trends and what the team was last year or what the team was in twenty twenty two. This is this year's team. We're focusing on what the problem is now and how to address it.
You didn't know if you were going to be getting into something like this this morning, did Jabe.
Look, I've already fired Here's what the people don't know. I've already fired off three hours of live radio. We got to cry about a cy Young Award winner who throwing robs and bags faster than he's throwing fastballs.
So I'm fired up, We're ready.
I'm in playoff mode because of the Hawk's got a game tomorrow like I'm I'm I'm ready to roll.
And uh, people, I don't know if they were ready for me today.
It's all good, brother.
Look, Spencer Swellenbaker is gonna win the cy Young this year, and it's going to be tragic because I'll take it yeah, yeah, yeah, an important storm brother, But yeah, it it's a lot of it is just like I said, I think a lot of it is you have a The collection of
talent you have is very good. The youngsters you have are also very good, which is why I am very much the proponent of like, if if guys are not going to give you the performance you're looking for, then go with the kids, because they seem very interested in
doing just that. Full marks to Tristan, Melli and Ba who struggle last year is not good and proceeded to uh proceeded to once he once he got hurt, not be a guy who could stay on get back on the field because Jay Fortune just basically took his cookies from me. Tristan reacted the right way this year. It's been good. I need more from Sleash consistently. I'll tell you, man, the thing that I was begging for in that game and I didn't get it till like the eighty seventh
minute was Mattea's click absolutely putting someone on their ass. Yeah, I'm not saying you punched somebody or bite someone. By the way Luis Suarez bit someone this weekend, it was Yeah, that's honestly what makes it even better. But I'm not saying you got to hurt somebody, but this you gotta you got to you gotta get stuck the hell in on a tack when it's feeling. When you're in a game like this, when you're playing a team that has really no interest in playing, they don't call it what
it is. Man like you, you can you can spin it and say whatever you want. I've watched way too many of these kalb Porter teams that even his comments after the game about like convincing the players to buy into it, like there's no interest in doing jack shit. No, Like you got your penalty and you were able to get out there with a one nil Like okay, I mean it worked. You know when you people park the bus and bunker and break up play because it works,
They wouldn't do it if it didn't work. But in a game like that where the play is getting broken up, you're unable to find something even though you're creating chances. You're getting hacked down in the midfield to the tune of twenty fouls but two yellows, and none of them were for persistent infringement. When you're getting that game. It shouldn't take to the eighty something if minute for your uh, for someone to come off the bench and just put someone on their ass and try and change the tenor
of things. I guess I'm not saying you got to punch.
Somebody, but.
Bring some fire, damn man.
I mean, look, I get that you want to bring the attitude and all that stuff, but like, none of that's relevant to me if you're not able to score up top, Like you want to feel better about your team because you're spelling up to the physical challenge and whatever, like fine, but like you're still behind, Like like you're not in my opinion, you're not behind because you didn't bring a physical mindset or physical attitude or go toe to a toe to with a team that was fouling
you twenty times. Like finish your chances, man, and I think you'll start to see things go differently. I mean, I get what you're saying, you want to see a little bit more fight, but like I just want to see chances created turn it into goal created.
Like that's that's the bottom line.
Like I think this team, and I mentioned this, I think this team is playing okay defensively. I don't think they're right now at the top of their game. And a lot of that did had to do with mistakes from Derek Williams and some mistakes made on the road at Charlotte not from Derek and whatever. But like, this team's not a mess defensively, Like the breakdowns have been individual,
not as a unit. You've had some bad luck, some bad bounces, a couple things like that, but like, ultimately the attitude for me is irrelevant, Like you just need to score goals, and there's that's not an attitude thing. I think it's just maybe a little bit of confidence, maybe certainly some chemistry, and quite frankly a little bit of bad luck. And I think you can get one or two of those things to change in the right direction.
I still think this team can really move ahead quite quickly and start to rack up points, but they've got to get closer in terms of chances created turning into goals.
So a, what else is going on now that we've held you over and I apologize for that?
Well, no, I mean, look, I think we're all frustrated, and I mean we see this sometimes in other sports. Homestand didn't go the way you wanted and I'm just hoping that a two game road trip against two difficult teams, and like we've seen this from the Atlanta Hawks all season long. I think at times we saw this from the Atlanta Falcons, like Ken United at least showcase that they can play up or down to the lever or the competition. Obviously against New England they played down to
the level of the competition. But a very difficult road trip Philly and Orlando City and you're looking to play up to your level of competition, and maybe that's the case, but getting away from home maybe is some good news for Atlanta United. I'm actually gonna be out this week. I'm on a vacation with my father, but Garrett, we'll have you for a pregame and post game on Saturday, and just like always, is gonna be on ninety two
nine the game. He's got Madison Cruz hanging out there with him, so you'll be covered head to toe with the soccer down here. Family, and I look forward to watching this one kind of from afar and seeing if they can just convince Like I see all these messages that we got going on there, and it just feels like one win on the road can kind of change things and and and we'll see if they can put that together.
Uh, Saturday night, all right, so uh it's another minor league baseball or another baseball tour with your dad.
Yeah, minor league baseball.
We're heading to uh we're actually heading to Charlotte and uh so we'll see the Charlotte Knights, We'll see the Durham Bulls. Might even check out Greenville. We'll we'll see if we stop by on the way back. But uh, yeah, it should be pretty fun obviously.
So if you can hit the bull, hit bull, I'll work on it. Hit bullwind steak, hit to hit grass wind salad. That's how it always goes. As always, my friend. Great to see you on Moneys. We'll catch up with you soon.
Yep, see fellas.
Thanks.
All right, there goes Abe. And I know that we kept him long.
And I know that everybody there at Colony Score is gonna sit there and go where were you? And Abe's gonna have to sit there and say, well, you know, I was kind of busy.
No, Mike's probably sitting in his office going you just finished, didn't you, Because Mike's also Mike is also in the mode of getting ready for the Atlanta Hawks to do some very stupid basketball things, because to his point, I watched that Hawks team lose two games to the Washington Wizards this year, who were an abominable franchise, and then beat the Cleveland Cavaliers twice. Yeah, I can never sit here. I will never endorse the Atlanta cannot go on the
road and be Philly. I think it was two year ago, last year or two years ago they went up to Philly and went down like two or three nil, and damn near came back won. It's they're too Part of part of being maddeningly inconsistent is that at some point you're gonna do really good, stupid things. The part that's gonna make you want to pull your hair out is the fact that it's just not gonna because you might
you might get that in Philly. Like if you told me in Philly or Orlando, one of the two they put together the most complete performance of the season and get a road wind that is one of your signature performances of the year, and then follow that up with something mind numbingly frustrating. I would buy that for ten dollars because that's right now that's who they are.
Yeah, and that's what we're talking about this morning. I know everybody's fired up. Okay, So Abby wanted Niggy's stats. So here's Miggy's numbers from Saturday ninety minutes. The XG plus XA is a point seventy three, two shots on target, one shot off target, one block, one successful dribble, sixty one touches, seventy one percent accurate passing at twenty seven to thirty eight, three of four in his long balls, four of eight on his ground duels, and fouled three times.
And that's Migy's numbers. So there you go. So Abby wanted Miggy's numbers. On the day, punched.
A seven point one, which puts him in the higher range of folks.
No, it didn't count. Those one of the prettiest finishes of the year. Yeah, just foot around a ball. Yeah really nice.
Yep Out at a seven point nine, Brooks at a seven point eight. Uh midn' chook at a seven point two, Miggy slash and Gregorson at seven point one, Tristan at a seven point zero, and then everybody else was in the sixes. So that's your that's your rundown. We'll go into individual numbers if anybody else wants, So there you go.
Yeah.
Yeah, he had a couple turnovers that were bad man, and like I said, everybody did right now. It just it feels out of it feels I said in the discord. It feels like watching someone play music and they're like one sixteenth note behind the beat. Oh, and you can hear it and it's going to drive you up a wall.
Yeah.
So this was so because Tom's touching on this. This was one of my concerns when you brought Miggy back, is that al Maron is is. This is twenty twenty five version, and I'm not saying anyone here had this. So don't get defensive if you were expecting twenty eighteen Mickey, I have bad news for you.
He's not that guy anymore.
He's just not the same player, and you weren't asking him to do the same things. If you decide to go get wild, I know, I know there is the push to have the push to have Mickey play as the ten, have Manonchouk plays the eight. You better go get a destroying six then, because you're gonna have hemorrhage goals. More than you already are if you do that, because Benon Chruk is like you're you're asking him to play a deep line playmaker. I'm good with that. I think that fits him.
Well.
You need to make sure that you have a killer six, and I don't think that's that's Tristan's game. I don't think that's Bart's game. I think Jay can do it. But that's just like you need a different kind of six to sit man like as you are going to hemorrhage chances in that situation. Not to say that guys won't try and defend, but you're gonna need like a flat out destroyer to pull that off. And if you can do it, and if you decide to do it
and take a risk, I'm not opposed to it. But that's just something you got to consider about it, because like you just it's the same thing with like, hey, let's bring this back. It's the same thing like with watching with watching the New York Yankees at times last year and in the World series, where they decided, what if we had this amazing offense, great, what next? What about defense? We'll worry about that. What's the worst that could happen?
You get outscored eleven ten.
Well, know, the worst that could happen is the World Series where the Yankees just basically refuse to play defense consistently, including your center field or just dropping a ball and your pitcher refusing actively refusing to cover first base on a ground ball to the first baseman that wasn't going toward the bag. Oh my god, I I was over. I was like, I was my blood was boiling when everyone was blaming Aaron Judge for that. As if Garrett
Cole doesn't literally do like you. One of the the first things you do in spring training is PfP MH ball hit the first base. But if he's going away from the bag, or if it's a runner with speed, you get to the line and you you get to the first base line and then you cut up and you run along the line to the first base bag and you make yourself available for your pitcher.
Yeah.
So anyway, yeah, no, one of the drills that we did when I was in ball, that's what you did when you were a pitcher, balls in between first and second first baseman can't get to the bag in time, you you as a pitcher, or to run a straight line to the first base side run or run an arc and get there.
Make sure that you're in line and you're following to first.
Base being you have to keep in mind the defense with it. Yes and no, no, there, I don't mean like that. It's a I don't mean that. It's it is a flat out poorly constructed roster because you don't have a destroying six like what you had in what what what you had in mind was to play with those guys interchanging, and it doesn't they they do not tend to be interchanging in rhythm. So if the way to make it work is gonna be to do that, then you need to have someone who can sit back
and be an absolute wall defensively. And it's if that's not what you were expecting, that's not what you were expecting.
And that stinks.
But and then if you do you intended to play with two. You intended to play with two holding midfielders back there and let everyone else get forward. But if that's not working, you've got to make adjustments and you've got to figure some stuff out. You're gonna have to start like shaving puzzle pieces. Yeah, I mean, does it's very annoying?
Does it turn into a you know, does it turn into a three two three two?
Does it?
You know, does it turn into something like that? You know, do you start with your three center backs? And if you say, if you want your marauding six and you think that Jay's doing it, then that means that somebody's sitting unless you're gonna have like seventeen midfielders and play like a three seventeen to two one. So there's gonna
be questions when it comes to the lineup. If you if you want to do certain things, then you're going to have to rearrange your cards and figure out, okay, well, if if I want my six and I think it's Jay and it's a solo six, then someone's sitting. And so that's what you're looking at here. It's not just you know, if then it's okay, If it's not this, then it's this, and then you've got to figure out all these other pieces and how they're gonna try and fit.
Yeah, it's yeah, it's not that simple. It's unfortunately, and I think because because here's the thing as well, when we saw it in preseason, we everybody was excited. And what you were seeing in preseason was what basic structure of what you've done this year. It's not like you practice something in preseason. This isn't Ted Lasso where you decided to change your entire philosophy and went to like Dutch total football in the span of a week and made it work. Because it's a fictional TV.
Show, episodic characters, so one episode you get.
Yeah, but it's it's not like you. It's not like you went through preseason doing one thing and decided to just do an entirely different thing in the season I have. I have no idea how to fix them though, and if I did, I'm sure I would not be sitting here. But I'm also I'm also not sure, uh how you know, I'm not sure how how they go about dealing with that, and I'm I and abe and I will disagree with it. I'm still angry about the lack of a fight and this and honestly, John, for me, it goes back to
the Nashville game last year. We talked about, you know, the performances that were lackluster under Rob Valentino. That Nashville game at home where you lost I think two nil was one of the most disappointing performances I've ever seen from anyone in Atlanta United shirt because you lost to what was an objectively bad Nashville team and then proceeded to get like get manhandled by them, like they were
throwing tackles at you, trucking your guys from behind. You had knocking guys down left and right, and nobody did a damn thing about it. Now this goes back to like y'all want to take it back to like another sport again back in the day when the Falcons had these issues after Harvey Dahl left, where like Matt Ryan would get roughed and there was no offensive lineman like coming up to fight somebody. Nah, you got to protect a quarterback. And if in that game was Ron Rnandez,
I think got absolutely annihilated. If Ronal Hernandez is getting annihilated with a cheap shot, you don't have to go throw a punch, but you better damn well be in somebody's face and ask them if they want to have a problem about it. And I don't think you have those balls right now, and that's not okay for.
Me, And that to me is another issue.
You know it's well And then when Bart comes in an hour number two, and we'll discuss the after effects of that particular incident with you.
Tom, you might want to put it on met bud, because we are gonna have to talk about the not just that game. We'll talk about other officiating, but we are literally bringing Bart on it. We always talk about officiatings.
Yes, well, and so Tom just this is just a fair Yeah.
Well, but Tom, I want Tom and other stand that we are working two lanes of traffic. We're not combining the issues to create one thing to talk about. We're talking about instances that happen, understanding where pro is coming from, looking at the laws of the game, and understanding things philosophically. It happens to be in the context of the Atlanta United match, but I'm pulling it to the side.
I'm not. I'm not. You know, the the match itself is one thing.
Understanding where officials are coming from with their calls, and understanding the laws of the game so we can all look at the look at the game better. That's where Bart comes in in these discussions. Yes, Bart does come in with opinion.
Yes, the part's gonna be mad about the team in general, so you'll get that too.
Yeah, so you'll you'll get you'll get Bart's displeasure. But what I wanted to do and what we do with this segment, it just so happens. At this time, it's going to be more focused about events that occurred inside the Atlanta United match. It's to understand where referees are coming from, where the decisions are being made and specifically involving review and laws of the game, and where it comes in. It's not necessarily putting the fault on the official.
It's understanding where the official is coming from and understanding the laws of the game so in the future we can all be more informed when it comes to events like this. That's why that's what we're talking about here. It's two lanes of traffic. It's not going to be blending them together. It just so happens that it's in the Atlanta United match and it gives us things to talk about, So that's why we do it.
And again it's there the two lanes of traffic thing is also the fact.
That yeah, like it's.
Well ANLIO in this case, it's understanding why the call was made as well. And this is also why one of my favorite things every week and why I get really pissy with this league and with pro One of my favorite things every week is the Saturday when they do like the inside video review where they talk about, you know, here's the var calls that happened this week. And sometimes not consistently enough, but sometimes they'll like post the audio and the video of you can hear the
var and the center RAF talking about it. And that's what I want more of. I want that transparency, and not just transparency so we know what they're saying. This isn't like a black a black helicopter conspiracy of I need to know what they're saying. So they're going, hey, we gotta we gotta rig it against them. No, none of that shit. It's a Hey, what was the process? What the Oh, that's what they're looking for. That's why
they called that. Now we know going forward, Hey, if we get an situation like that, this is what we need to look for as fans because the laws of the game are changing every couple of years and they update descriptions and definitions, and we need to be as fans and as people in our case who are just people yelling at clouds, we need to be aware and need to be educated on why Yeah, like why did you make Oh, you made that call because X, Y
and Z absolutely the right decision. Cool, now we know for the future, Yeah, man, Like.
We'll talk.
Yeah, so yeah, we'll talk about the calls. We'll figure out like why they were made, what was the logic behind it?
Cool?
And again I am happy to keep talking about the fact that I am disappointed with and it's not the be all end all, Like my complaints about like my complaints about the the the physicality are not the be all end all. Obviously you have to put them on the back of that that's not the be all end all.
But that is one of my complaints is that I wanted in a game like that where where I felt like in New England was doing what New England was gonna do, and that they got stuck in in the middle of the second half they had like they had like I think like five or six foulsand like a hilarious short amount of time they are able to break up play, and it's hard to build a rhythm when play is getting broken up constantly. Yeah, how do you
deal with that? If they're going to break up play on you and knock you down every time you try and you know, like ah we oh you want to dribble, you start going to the midfield. Okay, you played a pass and it's not a true transition moment, So it's not gonna be a yellow card situation. How do you deal with that when a team is just going to be like bashing your skull in? It's hard because yeah, if persistent in fringeman is gonna get called, and that's
a discretion of the official. John. There are times for me like I'm I'm taking matters into my own hands. Brother, Yeah, that's me. That's how I'm gonna deal with this. Is And not to say you're gonna fight somebody, like I said, You're not saying you're gonna fight somebody or try and hurt somebody, but you're gonna get stuck in a tackle.
You're gonna throw somebody down. And if you gotta eat a yellow card to do it, even if you feel like you shouldn't have got a yellow card, if I gotta eat a yellow card to do it, and if that wakes people up or maybe changes the tenor of the game a bit, then so well be it. Man Like yellow card received and mission accomplished.
Yeah, And I mean, to your point, you're going into two matches on the road in Philly, and we know what Philly's gonna bring to the table. Philly's gonna be the same thing. It's gonna be slightly it's gonna be bullsy in with Bradley Carnell with a bit of a twist.
So we know what we're gonna have with Philly.
With Philly, with offense and ty Baribou, it's almost like two separate things. It's like they've cut they've cut a line, and it's like there's the Philly part and then there's this Offense that we were trying to figure out.
And Philly's gonna be weird too, man, because Daniel Gazdag's gone. Yeah, Like Daniel Gazdog was one of those difference makers for Philly. They just shipped him over to Columbus for four million for whatever the hell reason. I'm sorry, Rich, Sorry sorry, Rich, Like, I don't know why Philly does some of the things
they do, Like I work. My concern for people like Rich, the Philadelphia fans of the world, as there are a few of them, My concern for Philly is that they are going to basically end up being what Red Bulls were before before last year, which is a team that's gonna put together some really good stretches, some really stretches
because it's just part of the style, I think. But then I'm worried they're not gonna have that difference making like Emil Forstburg was that difference maker for Red Bulls, like that guy who could grab the game by the throat that Red Bulls missed four years, Like they went years without having that guy, and they tried so hard to make it work. But Philly had it, Like go back to the the the MLS Cup final against La
Philly had those difference makers. And if that, if that, if that MLS Cup haunts you the same way like the Super Bowl haunts me. I don't blame you because it was there, it was yours to win. You had it and Gareth Bale got off the back nine just long enough to ruin your hopes and dreams and that stinks. But I worry that Philly is not going to have those difference makers when it come push comes to shove in the playoffs. But they're winning games right now, so.
That's nice. Yeah.
I think they lost this weekend. They lost in New York.
Oh Philly, did they it was a one?
Did they win or lose? There's one nil? Hang on, Philly has been kind of weird. Philly has been weird. But again that's that. I think it's that style, like you're gonna have good and bad.
Yeah you are, And I mean that's just it's you're gonna have pressing, have ty Brebo scoring like nine goals, you know, in format, and then it's gonna be shut down completely.
Uh Philly lost in my C one nil.
Yeah. Man, Okay, So this is the other thing I wanted to to get one of the other things that made me mad.
John.
Yeah, go back to that New York game in Atlanta, U, the one where everybody had their stomach pumped. Yes, I said as that game ended, that's the kind that was the kind of game that can galvanize, galvanize a locker room, like you're down by two goals, you come back. That was the kind of thing that could have gal that should have that can galvanize a locker room, and then
to draw and lose the next home matches. It just feels like you you let the air out of the balloon as quickly as possible and It's disappointing because on the back of that New York game, that felt like the kind of game where you look back on it and like, oh, that's when things got that's when things turned around, and just didn't. Man, that's disappointing, yes, because it felt like those should have been the moments.
Yeah, so anyway, go ahead. No, I mean, no, you're on a roll.
I'm I'm I'm just sitting here and letting everybody what what else. What I also like to do with Reaction Mondays is just let everybody speak their piece, whether it's in the twitch pitch or you know, guess that come on on the show. I just look, say your piece, get it off your chest, because I don't want you to hang on to it. It's it's count it's counterproductive to the the the physical and emotion well being. So look, whatever's on your mind, get it off your chest. Mondy toozy,
that's what it's there for. Just get it bent and go. I mean, because you don't want to hang onto something. That's just bad bad juju. If you hang onto something and it's all it's all there but it, you know, just get it off your chest. That's what reaction Mondys are for and you've been reacting well this morning.
I'm just sad. Well it should, but but it should. Yeah, I mean that's the thing that it should have. That felt like the kind of thing that would have galvanized you.
And then the the Dallas game was the Dallas game felt more like a microcosm of the season than this did this for I think it's the thing for me, Like, my frustration is obviously about like you know, getting stuck in on stuff, and I my my my issues with like Caleb Porter teams in general, notwithstanding a modern Caleb Porter, like Portland Cable Porter was actually a lot of fun.
My issues with with all that basically being that Dallas game felt more like a microcosm of Atlanta than and then this because that Dallas game was, that Dallas game was you got the early penalty, great, you dominated the first forty five minutes, like you should have absolutely blown Dallas out of that game, and the second half should have just basically been for kicks and giggles, and that
you didn't, you didn't finish it off. Yeah, that to me felt more like that to me felt more like the issue that we've seen this year of a team that is really good early in games. Can't put teams away, let them hang around. Somebody makes a mistake, and all
of a sudden, you're not winning games. So that that that one felt more like it to me, and this one just felt like a Oh, we gave up a dumb penalty and had a really weird game against a team that really had no interest in playing, and and being on the back of all the other stupid stuff just made it so much worse.
I guess.
Anyway, Yes, time to bring in Bart because Bart was That's like I caught Bart. I surprised he was doing something in the green room and I thought he was diving off camera. All right, Time to bring in Bart. It's our number two and Bart this morning. It's been interesting because they're sad. Yeah, he's Jared is sad. He's also pissed off. And what I want to do with you in addition to uh talk about PTJ and another you know, big f a cup, get into happy thing.
That's John. That's a happy thing.
Yeah.
Rory mckelroy won the Masters and it was Grand Slam. He looked so that was such a beautiful moment. Yeah, that guy dropped to his knees crying after he Uh so, I my complaint being this morning that like Bryson day Chambeau is complaining into Yahoo, Rory didn't talk to me the entire time. Like, yeah, Rory's trying not to throw up the entire time because actively choking away the masters, hitting an amazing shot and then choking it back at
alternating in the last five holes. He was just trying to throw up.
Brother, He's kind of focusing on something that, ain't you.
Yeah, he he didn't want to talk and he has a green jacket. You did want to talk and you choked on the back nine.
Yeah, yeah, anyway, had a Bryson probably needed to focus a little bit more on his own play, that's for sure.
Yeah. So anyway, so here here's here's here's Rory's back nine.
By the way, Bertie Bertie Bogey Parr double Bogie, Bertie Parr, Bertie Bogey.
That's his back nine.
Yeah, and that double was at best.
Double was one of the worst shots I've ever seen in my life.
Humboy just needed to say.
Dry Uh yeah, no, didn't.
Yeah, I was listening to it, you know. I will say the golf coverage, especially on the Masters on radio is really awesome. Mike Trico anchored that cover. I was listening to it on my way back from refereeing last night, and props to Mike Trico, Man, I think he's probably, for my money, the best play by play guy out there. And then you get the TV commentary with Jim Nance, who is definitely the best when it comes to golf.
That was that was fun. Hello friends, all right, so what you know what we want?
John? What are we talking about this morning speaking of up and down performances?
Yeah?
Well, what I want to do, and I mentioned this in our number one is lead off is when we do cards and calls and reffing down here, I want it to be an education. I wanted to look at the philosophy of officials and get into the thought.
John, how am I supposed to teach theory when they don't teach practic?
You know? And that's yeah, that's what Derek in the chat this morning.
Uh So what this may end up being is trying to get inside the head of Alexis to Silva and apply it to.
The I don't think well, okay boy.
Well, but like I said, what I want to do is.
Or has a dusty tone that he's going to pull out of like a hole in the wall that.
Just you know, to scare, right. I feel like that's what's going to happen. I used to so back in a previous life when I was in grad school, I tutored the student athletes of you. That was my grad assistantship, if you will. And because at Lenora Ryan University they made us take out least two philosophy classes on top of the political philosophy class I had to take for my polycy degree, you know, I got to I got to tutor a lot of kids in their philosophy classes.
All that to say is it don't mean shit if you don't apply it right. So, and that's where I think we're at today with this particular conversation right on multiple levels. And I hope we do go through the physical thing we saw happen on the field right offside, but then further, I think the more philosophical conversation. And I'll shout out rob Us three, who's kind of doesn't like to talk referees, but I think he hit the right tone with this is.
Why was var.
Intervening here? And I think that is the philosophical conversation we do need to get into is clear and obvious error? Yes, where was the clear and obvious error here?
Right? And that's and so.
Let me see if I've labeled the play correctly, and if I haven't, I'll dump out of it. But this is the play that I wanted to get into to discuss things and our starting point here with cards and calls and reffing down here. If I'm not mistaken, this is let me see. I think it's Josh and Jamie on Apple TV and Season Pass a.
Lot trying to put it in on the surface I'm at or.
Another cross going back post flipped away by Pison almroon.
The Galoberone.
Get to Albarone, so quickly just touch it back first time. It gives him the space and his body positioning to open up as he receives it, sets it perfectly in.
And this is still being checks.
This is going to var for possible offside.
And so what happened in this moment was when that ball initially came in from Latte Lot, the player received it for Atlanta was offside. So now before it gets to Almaron, there has to be a decision. But I think that ball was intentionally played back. Shouldn't a gate the off side? How was an interesting decision to fall with the other direction.
I reveal eighteen was offside position.
Prior to the g right on that decision.
So Jamie was on it from the absolute yes on the call from Apple TV plus.
All right, let's go from the beginning. Let's walk through it.
So, all right, so the the part in question is in Josh's call where he says the ball is flicked away by Tanner best threat. That is in in Josh this I'm using Josh's words here since we're since we're audio, So Josh says the ball was flicked away by Tanner Beeson and that was the defining action of this particular call. I'm not going to get the bar yet, but that is why it was referred to as off side.
Correct.
Now, well, we got into the discussion. I wanted to get into the idea of deliberate action, and that is where I think the defining idea is here, is defining action versus basically self defense. So run through the differences first and then we'll apply it to what happened in the match this weekend.
So here, let's start with what happened as we saw it on the field right, and the fact that there was a bad cross set into the box shocking. That was the storyline for Atlanta on that day. And the defender in some form or fashion gets in the way of the ball, causing a deflection that goes off to an offside Pedro Amadora. Pedro was in an offside position when the ball was originally kicked by his teammate. What we are looking at here is why did that ball
get to him? Because if it was a pass from a kick from his teammate right, he would be in an offside position in this incident, the defender I have a lot of issues with this, mainly physics.
We got time break them down.
It doesn't matter mainly physics, but the defender in this case, the ball clearly hits the defender. Yeah, and then the ball goes not just through his legs or close by, it makes a very long travel to Paedrominor And I think that to me is where I'm going to get
the most problematic like with this interpretation. So when we talk about a deliberate action, so the laws of the game say a player in an offside position receiving the ball from an opponent who deliberately played asterisk the ball, including by deliberate handball, is not considered to have gained an advantage unless it was a deliberate save by the goalkeeper. Right, So we know that if the goalkeeper saves it, you
can still be offside. We know that part asterisk deliberate play excluding deliberate handball, because that would obviously be a free kick, is when a player has control of the ball with the possibility of passing the ball to a teammate, gaining possession of the ball, or clearing the ball by
kicking or heading it. That is parentheses. An example, if the pass attempt to gain possession or clearance by the player in control of the ball is inaccurate or unsuccessful, which I think we can all agree that clearance was both inaccurate and unsuccessful.
It looked like a media game clearance someone who makes media game clearances.
If the possession or clearance is inaccurate or unsuccessful, this does not negate the fact that the player deliberately played the ball. So that is the general thing. Now we need to get into more of the kind of referee training. Part of this the following criteria should be used as appropriate of indicators of when that a player was in control of the ball and as a result, can be
considered to have quote deliberately played the ball. The ball traveled from distance and the player had a clear view of it. John, the cross shot whatever traveled from outside of the box to about two feet in front of the six right and as far as I know that player, the defender, there was no one really in between him and the shot. So I think that is very clearly a criteria met for a deliberate action. Okay, the ball
was not moving quickly this one. You could have a little bit of you know, it wasn't like it was just pass to him. It was moving somewhat quickly, but I think when you look at distance traveled, it wasn't that quick. The direction of the ball was not unexpected. I mean, look again, I can joke about Atlanta Nighted putting in bad crosses or whatever you want to talk about, but that was.
And those jokes will land better than the crosses will.
I mean they did, but I don't think that the direction of the ball was not unexpected. Right, you're defending from across slash shot from the top of the penalty area. That's not unexpected, and the player had time to coordinate their body movement, and I e. It was not a case of instinctive stretching or jumping. Now, I do think that you could say this was instinctive stretching or jumping,
right like, that's totally a fair thing. But I think when you look at the distance traveled and the speed the ball was going at, and also the fact that he clearly stretched to try to block a shot or clear the ball, one of the two, right like, this was an intentional in my opinion act. Now, intention doesn't matter, but I'm saying from my view as someone who has played this game for thirty years, this was intentional.
Right.
I've been playing this game since I was four, so it's been a while. Again, intention doesn't matter. We're talking deliberate versus attention. We can talk about John, you can go argue with you know, all the other English scholars about intentional versus deliberate. But anyway, for me, it was intentional. But we don't care about intentional. We're looking at deliberate. I think that the player had time to coordinate their
body movement. This clearly looked like an attempt to deliberately affect the flight and travel of the ball in some manner that was more than just deflect a shot. That's what we're kind of looking at here, right, Like, it's not like he's just getting the way to deflect a shot. The ball is outside of his frame of body, right, he has to type a step and a lunch to
get it. Yeah, he's fully fully there were multiple deliberate actions here, in my opinion, beyond just playing the ball and the other one John, And this is where when we talk about two things that we talked about specifically in this training. Playing with our feet or legs specifically, yes, we give less benefit of the doubt to the defender. Let's put it that way, because the sport is played
with our feet and legs. So a header, we're not as like, yes, if you're trying to head the ball, that can be deliberate, but we're understanding that heading the ball is kind of like a we're just trying to make a defensive action and let's see what happens. Not as much in control, whereas when the ball is at our feet in a sport of soccer, we assume some level of control can be had because that's how we
played this sport. The last part is important to me here the ball moving on the ground is easier to play than a ball near now, John, Yes, sir, Was this ball on the ground or in the air?
Oh?
I would say yes to both at times during the play, but specifically specifically when Tanner Beaston touched it.
Where was it? It was very much to me a on the ground situation, right, Like I mean again, this was not something he had to control with his chest, like the ball was not above his waist.
Yes, real point, you know, Yeah.
I just genuinely think that this was a missed opportunity, a missed call. Now we do have provisions that you know, they maybe could have said this was a safe. I don't think this is a safe because while it was an attempt to stop a shot, I don't think this was one of those times where this was just getting the way of a shot. Does that make sense?
Oh?
Absolutely, And I think his actions leading up to that to me, indicate intention to try to clear the ball. Now, when we talk about deliberate play, again, Walla is on the ground, he is trying to play it with his feet. To me, he is in control of this, whether or not he actively does it, well, it says it in there. This clearance doesn't have to be successful. The fact that you're bad at soccer doesn't mean the offside isn't the gate It because you performed the act itself doesn't matter.
If you're bad at performing the action, correct.
I think that is my problem the other thing, So that is the problem with the call on the field. But here's the thing. Call on the field was no offside. So whether or not the ar I saw that Amador was in an offside position or not, or whether or not the ar assumed, well, that looked like an intentional, deliberate action right from the defender, deliberate play. The call on the field was no offside. So that brings us to part two.
Okay, Part two, Var Yes.
And that's my question here is why did var intervene in here when this did not seem like a clear Because if there's debate over whether this was an attempted clearance or a save, right, because we talked about that save could be you just get in the way of a shot. If there's even a debate of that, well this is not clear and obvious then so I'm going to get to Michael Hedge Commas in a second when
John allows me to put on my fan hat. But for right now, as a referee, I think the problem here is you can debate whether or not this was a deliberate action, right. I don't think it's that debatable. I think it's very, in my opinion, clearly a deliberate action on the ball, an attempt to clear the ball. Right, he had the time, he had control of his body to do it, and the ball was on the ground, right feet. This was an attempt to clearance with his foot.
That's number one. The ball was on the ground, it came from a far distance, all these things that we kind of go through, This was a deliberate play, right. It just so happened that his bad clearance went to Page romidor yeah.
But that's the thing.
It's like, just because the clearance is bad doesn't mean it wasn't a yeah, it doesn't matter a clearance, and it doesn't matter that it went to a player who was in an offside position.
Correct.
So that is my issue then, is why did var intervene?
Because as we always say, and what is always told to viewer slash listeners, it has to be a clear and obvious error for var to intervene correct play.
So my issue here is John m hmm, clearly and obviously Pedro Amador is in an offside position. I think we all agree that we're not debating that the problem is the action by the defender is neither clearly nor obviously a save or a deliberate action. At very best, we can say it's somewhere debatable, which therefore means it's not clear and obvious an error. It is not clearly and obviously an error from what the decision on the field was, and Alexis of Silva screwed it up. That's
just I'm sorry. I don't have anything better to say about it. He deserves to be reprimanded for a lot of things in this game. He poorly managed the game from start to finish. And I'm sure we'll get into a penalty kit call later or a lack thereof. Yeah, because John, you were talking on the postgame show and I was nodding over well well the ninety two nine while I was both yelling at people in front of me to move their butts in the h in the
line to get out of the parking lot. I was agreeing with you, John, because but we'll get into that, Alexis of Silva did not get this correct. VR should not have intervened and the goal should have stood. Period in a story. I'm sorry. That is not, in my opinion, controversial. That is not a homer take.
This is a.
Bad application of the laws of the game and VR procedure and Alexis of Silva and his specifically, I'm calling him out because he was bad the entire He was bad the entire game. I counted three times before halftime, John that he told the new England goalkeeper to let's play ive. Did he ever get any real warning for a yellow card? I believe you know damn well that as soon as Brad Guzanne would have wasted two seconds
on a goalkick yellow card to him. And this continues my issue with with referees clearly not understanding what the hell of players trying to do in the field.
Okay, so now that we have gone through that particular play, do you.
Want to put your fan hat on or do you want to talk about your your PK question.
Yeah, well I'll talk about the fan I'll do the fan hat after we've.
Talked about it. Because yeah, you do both some fun because.
Because we have well you got forty minutes, we got forty five minutes here.
Well, my fan hat is just he's was terrible all game.
Yeah.
The referee hat is he did not manage the game well right from start to finish. And something we'll talk about when it comes to penalty kicks.
Right, So we'll get to the penalty kick in a bit, because that's down the line of game management.
Yeah, I want to. I want to get into when it.
There's another term we talked about. It was the word of the day.
John, Yes, game management when you have and when you have I you know, I don't I frankly do not know how Alexis de Silva manages a match.
And I don't know if.
The neat party doesn't.
Well, yeah, that's there, It's right, So I mean it's so, what was it?
What was it? Pro reference?
There were thirty fouls called in the game total, which is a lot even for what's his name that we had against Cincinnati. That would be a lot for him.
Yeah, because he loves well you re Senda Mendosa. I think it was twenty seven and a half. Yeah, thirty fouls is a lot of fouls to call.
In a game.
Let's just not quick trigger, Chris pencul.
Yeah, right, that was a lot of fouls, like clearly when the when the the problem is when the the allocation is ten to twenty.
Yeah, that's bad.
And only one time did I see anything so new only got two yellow cards. One is for a very deliberate foul, it seemed like, and I don't know if the other one was for.
The other one was for time wasting because it was after it was in that series of fouls, and I thought it had been given for a persistent friendship.
I thought it was.
It was not. One of the players kicked the ball into Henry County after the whistle blew.
Okay, so then that's we don't talk about that. There was a time, John that I think what stuck out to me was it was in the second half. It was not super late, but it was late enough. Alexi got taken out, and I mean taken out. There was no attempt to play the ball. To me, it was a very reckless challenge. And Da Silva decides that instead of giving a yellow card for a reckless challenge, he
warns the player, that's your third time no more. That is a yellow card Foulah, that wasn't a persistent infringement. It wasn't because one thing New England, the entire game got to just run people over with no real uh you know, punishment for it other than a foul sometimes sometimes because there could have been way more fouls called
let's just put it that way on New England. But that moment, right there was an example of the silver not managing this game while at all because he was it felt like he was so in over his head. He didn't know how to deal with this. Because that was a moment I forget the player. But it was on Alexia Moranchuk and it was in the middle of the field, but it was Moran Chuck's running by him and the guy just sticks his leg out in Tripson, there was no attempt to win the ball. It was
just to rind a foul. So it's not stopping a promising attack, but it's a reckless foul. It's a yellow card, especially that the game right when you can go what are you doing here? But instead he tries to warn him about persistent were past persistent infringement? One that was your twenty eighth fucking fallib game.
Sorry, I already blew, already blew the I blew the language thing like good again, like a couple a couple of minutes in here.
Monologue, Jared already gave us the EA. It's all good.
Look at the standings and I'm allowed to say that word.
Yeah, I mean again, you are as good as your record is right now.
But that was not a persistent infringement thing. That was a yellow card foul in the moment, and he decided to talk about that just it showed how out of his I don't I don't know if he was locked in or not, but like it was bad. It was just bad refereeing from start to finish. You know, you you can you can. Look, you're gonna have games that are gonna have a lot of fouls, right, especially against New England and Klea Porter. Calea Porter is a bad soccer coach at this point in time. I don't know
why people keep hiring him. He had great success in in Portland.
Portland teams were fun man.
Yes, name a successful stint he's had since sint.
You can't he won a Cup in Columbus during COVID, Right, he did do that, but that was also like that was kind of at the leading edge to Columbus is actually spending money and doing fun things.
Yeah, that's right. He did win a COVID.
Cut, Yes he did. And that was also that that team was very good. Yeah, and but the but they were more defensive because he has.
Gotten more and more and offensive he has. I mean, you look at you remember those he just I mean, look, he just hasn't, in my opinion, been a great coach and quite some time.
I know he won a game like this here a couple of years ago with Columbus. It came to it. Go back and look up. There's a game that Columbus being Atlanta to nil at home. They scored like the third minute on a long ball that connected. Oh yeah, yeah, didn't he basically shut up shop. They chose basically not to play and were just hitting long balls. Connected on another belong ball late in the game and won it to nil and like just like they were time wasting
from like the twentieth minute. Yep, he had no it was if I get an early lead, were shutting up shop.
Yeah, that was like the the Schmitzer match with Seattle at Mercedes Bens as well.
You have.
You know, we talk about and we talked about game management and missing calls and misapplication of rules and VAAR interventions and it's just it was, Frankly, it was all over the place when it came to when it came to this particular crew. And I'm going to and I will go ahead and say this, I'm going to go ahead and send a note and ask about the review process.
I want to know if it is a yearly.
Hopefully we get the Saturday Inside Inside the Pro thing for Greg Barkley, but we'll.
See inside the inside the ref studio where it's a news Yeah.
Well James Lifton should be brought back from the dead.
And host that though. Yeah, that'd be pretty good.
So John, I do want to before we move on to Yes, to David's point, Lucas Lerian was on those Columbus teams and Lucas zell Rion was basically a banshee possessed by the devil himself. And yeah, that those Columbus team was unholy anyway, go ahead.
Yeah, Columbus was. I mean that, look you get one of the butt I mean he has one now with Carlos Hill, like right, like he the entire game plan for New England, Carlos Hill does something brilliant.
Yes, and to be.
Fair to Atlanta, he had one one shot that was like oh and it really wasn't even that bad.
John.
I want to say this, how many fouls? What was how many fouls was the highest total do you think New England had coming into this game per like one game? What was it you think the highest total of all let's see so season this season. I'm guessing probably sixteen sixteen. Yeah, that was again, that was in a loss to Columbus.
Oh wow, I got it right, like out of the that was a loss.
To Columbus at home back in March. First. Okay, sixteen is a lot of fouls.
Uh huh, Yeah, that's true.
Twenty fouls in one game. That's obscene, that's that's grotesque, and for the referee to only give two yellow cards is embarrassing.
So we talked about this. I talked about it after the game, and God, I don't have the I don't
have enough headache medicine for this today. To get to get shouted down on this, not by YouTube but everyone else, not just on the chat, but in the world, I have to get on an airplane in like a couple hours anyway, to your point, the well, the thing I think the thing that annoyed me about the game management side of not just one particular call, but like the game management side of it is you have and this goes to a thing with Red Bulls, with Philadelphia all
those things. You have to know who you're I think I think referees have to know who they're officiating, yes, because like if you're officiating Philly or New York, you know you're going to be in for like, oh my god, I'm like that I'm gonna have like blisters from blowing this whistle because I'm gonna be doing it so much. Because everybody in their mother is going to be commit a foul a day. But a Caleb Porter team is going to commit all of the fouls in this situation.
When they have a one, they'll lead on the road, and they basically refuse to If Atlanta turned on the ball in the midfield, played more than one pass in the midfield, it was hack them down. Hack them down. It's hard to get a I don't know how to also explain that it's hard to get a flow in a sport when in a sport that's built on rhythm when there is no rhythm.
Correct, which was the entire point of their second half.
Yes, and that's not like to make an excuse because look, yeah Atlanta Ship put the ball in net. Yes, I agree with this, the thing that people keep yelling at me, I'm not disagreeing with you.
We have Yeah, we haven't a fan reaction part yet. Well you have, like we're talking referring at this point in time.
Yes, I agree, but it's tough. It's tough to build a rhythm when when you're literally anytime you try and build anything positive that you just can't. We see it in basketball when you're like and we get pissed off from basketball if a referee starts getting a really tight whistle, like let the game flow, well, but we want to see what we want to see the game. Uh.
By the way, d Silva averages courtesy of our friends at who scored. I finally found it. Da Silva averages twenty three fouls per match called.
So he should have felt that this was a lot of foul. Like seriously, as a referee, you should have an awareness of, oh, this is getting too many fouls, and you should also have an awareness of silly fouls the other one or two one or either team or committee, because this happens all the time where one a team does. They may not do it all the time, but it just comes up to a game where they're doing a certain thing a lot and you're like, we can't be
doing this, y'all. And at no point that he say, hey, you can't actually run through the back of a guy and go and it foul him because he called that a lot. John another set when it comes to fouls. Leo Campana, Yes, on the field for thirty three minutes, replaces Max Rudi, by the way, who got a yellow card. Rudy committed two thousand and fifty seven minutes. Compana committed three fouls in thirty three minutes. Let's a foul every
eleven minutes on top of everything else. No, yeah, no yellow card?
Right, yeah.
That's one of those things, is three fouls over the span of ninety minutes. Like Matt Polster, Okay, sure that's not three thousand and thirty three minutes. You committed three fouls after you came onto the field halfway through the second half. Bro, you gotta do something about that. And that that kind of encapsulates Alexis of Silva's inability to manage the match that was played in front of them.
Yeah, and I think it was Michael's quite you know a thing about like it if owner would ownership like ownership complaining about pro and two pro and look, one of the things that I think put Atlanta in trouble at one point in like twenty nineteen was when Darren Eels used to do his weekly segment on ninety two
to nine. More than once he went on ninety two to nine and put PRO on blast, Like there was a sequence of games in twenty nineteen where Atlanta got screwed by the whistle and back then PRO didn't have like the whole transparency thing about. Here were the calls this week. Apparently the league just reached out to Atlanta, was like, hey are bad, like PRO likes prose apologizing for this and like did it quietly And apparently Darren Eils used to just put that on blasts for anyone
who wanted it on the radio. That Pro reached out to us this week, it said they screwed up, not that it doesn't sitny good now so they are ready. They've never really been afraid of doing that.
Well, and that's them. Here is what are we gonna get from pro?
Oh?
Sorry, and this is where I'm I'm gonna pro You need to do better at training your referees in week in and week out. Alexis to Silva needs to be meeting with someone to coach him through why this game what happened? Because I'm sorry the application of OAR was terrible. But that's besides the fact that he managed this game
poorly from start to finish. He just did especially John to your point that I loved when we were talking about the penalty kick that didn't happen that Carlos Hill got right, Okay this one, yeah, because they're connected, Yeah they are. Your point was sure it's a foul and Abe was like, yeah it foul. Yeah, it's a foul.
Within the grand scheme of things that was not a foul for New England multiple times, including a late game foul where Stean Gregorson has stepped on from behind and then Newlyn almost gets the second goal out of it. So you mean, where was var to interview in that place? So you might want to know?
So you mean this play late in the match courtesy once again of Josh and Jamie on Apple TV plus an MLS still.
Alive Ringgerson goes down, there's.
No whistle and now it's a playaway for New Englands.
Lookmppana for the Revolution one on one with Gusin camp Pana.
It's taken by Gusin. Yeah, so that was the play for it. That's the play I think you're referring to.
Yeah, so if you're gonna call that penalty kick for an offensive player who's again same thing, kind of right, dribbling away from goal out of the penalty area, But then you're not gonna.
Call it there?
What are you doing? What are you doing?
That is?
That is the lack of consistency And again, why didn't a vaer step in there? Was it not a foul? That's a clear and obvious area. But it's clear and obvious to call back a goal because you may or may not think that there possibly maybe it was the same versus a deliberate action.
Also, I'm gonna put my bro I'm gonna put my broadcaster hat on for a minute.
Yeah, and.
Bitch about the I think is it Louisa brom who comes back and makes that stuff?
It is Louisa Brom gets on his horse.
Oh yeah, that's the only time he's ran in his entire career.
Here careful, Yeah.
Brom was Brom is a quiet little field mouse, But a Brom isn't making bomb scared decisions like Derek Williams has been. So I'm good with it to an extent. But dude, like the broadcast, like you know, saw Louisa Brom running eighty five miles to take that ball off of him in a one v one What the hell? Like you don't know, soul that don't know sell that there's just I was irate at the at the at the play by play call there of like it goes
Ane stops it. No, Louisa Brom rate eighty five miles and pulled it back and kept his team in it. I would dude, I am still irate at the way that moment was called. And yeah, like Guzanne gets to it and like turtles over it. Great job that defender, Like he in that situation, I've seen defenders say as screw it, I got better things to do with my life. Don't know, Sell this dude running that far back and
trying to keep his team in it. Yep, just absolutely awful play by play work, and you should be embarrassed.
A man that has nothing to do with the game.
I'm just pissy about it right now because you get a cool moment like that and you know, sell that shit.
No, no, Jared's not allowing no selling when it comes to effort Lake the man. All right, So we have discussed var We have discussed uh, the laws of the game or nothing else.
If you didn't see it, and you didn't see the brom take it, didn't dunk on Campana for just being bad at his job, because.
I mean he dribbled that ball into Brad's chest, no offense to Brad.
That was bad.
It was like, don't on him for that. Oh man didn't do that. I'm cool with it, But come on, man, like you're no selling that moment of a game. If Atlanta had gone down and found a late equalizer, you had nothing of that call to use as being a turning point or a defender backtracked his ass off to try and save things. Just come on, give me the emotion the moment deserve. For God's sake. I'm not asking for a lot from you, just but apparently I am.
Apparently you are yes, So I'm trying to think of So we talked about game management. We talked about the iniquity of calls, and that to me, the the the lack of logic applied. If once and once again I will I will stipulate that to me, the Carlos heel call was correct. It was just inside the eighteen where
you call that for a penalty, I'm fine. I know that there were some angles where he gave you a bit of a question about contact and lack thereof, but no, but if you're gonna call the Carlos heel and that being soft, that was I mean, it was a bump, but it was soft. Then at the same time that logic needs to be applied and it wasn't across the board here in multiple correct, So that was not applied.
When it came to that. And then just the the idea.
Of game management, where you know, and and I think that you're going to see in the next couple of months on the road. You're gonna see it in Philly because of how Philly operates. One surprised me if you saw it in Orlando, because Oscar pere Hi is no dummy. He's gonna look at film and he's gonna sit there and go, okay, we can bump them around and it's
not gonna get called. And so you're setting you're setting an idea up the next couple of matches here where okay, and I think that this is a test of pro and whoever's going to be in the middle here okay. So the teams were physical and it wasn't called until it was and then it was too late.
The other the other element that I have in here.
Is this, among others, the matteas click yellow first it well.
He earned it. We hearked about this, We talked about this part. I was happy with it. I needed someone to put someone's ass on the ground and he ate that yellow, and good. Someone needed to do it. But someone needed to do it forty minutes earlier.
But the issue separate from that discussing it from a refereeing standpoint.
Is jumping to the ground. It's yellow up. You're eating that yellow intentionally. You're eating that yellow to send a message. It's the right call. Call the yellow. It's fine. I have no beef with it. Sorry, John, but I'm but I'm not I'm not. I'm not debating that one being a yellow man.
No, no, the game, No, I'm not. I'm not debating the yellow either. I'm glad that Mateya's Click ended up hip checking somebody and sending a message. But the notion that you're going to give that card that late and not considering the other action that happened in the match. You're gonna give a yellow late to Matea's Click for what he did, but along the line of the match going backward for other for other events that were just as physical.
You did nothing right and that again that's my issue, as there were other There is at least two other obvious cautionable offenses that New England committed. Yeah, that we're not cautioned. Click did what he did because he knew what he was doing. I'm gonna I'm gonna switch into fan mode real quick here because I'm sorry. I'm pissed as hale. That is the stuff that Bart Sleish needs to be doing. I'm real sorry, and.
Don't be because we're we're I think we are about to have the same conversation.
Because I know Click has been sick, hurt sick again, right, He's the dude has not been healthy for five minutes since coming into Atlanta apparently, John, I think my issue and Jared, it seems like Bart Sleish is a very good soccer player. The dude is talented, He's got skill.
My question just comes to and this is where we're at at the season, right because, Jarrett, as you said, and I've said plenty of times during the last couple of years, when y'all swear to tell me that these this team is good, you're only as good as your record shows. Correct, Yeah, right now, right now, you are not a good soccer team because you are well below the playoff line. You don't win consistently at home. You're
coughing up points at home right to bad teams. Dallas, okay whatever, still should have beat them, right.
I don't know if you. I don't know if you were here. When I said earlier Dallas felt like the real micro cosm of the season, where you dominated the first forty five minutes, didn't put the game away, did something stupid and correct and gave it away. This one felt more like just a like we are in mister Magoo land.
Correct, But you're a bad team right now, sorry, you just are. Yeah, what does the record show? Because if we're calling new England a bad team. You're not that much better and they just beat you. So you know, it is what it is. We haven't scored from open play. Now you can debate if it should have counted or not, but haven't scored from open play in two damn matches. At some point someone has to start making decisions because we're past the Oh be patient, they'll figure it out.
I'm sorry, we just are because you're not getting results, and you can talk about, oh, well, you know, we're dominating matches, we're controlling matches, we've got possession, we're keep fine. You ain't winning, and I'm sorry. That just happens, right. Sometimes we see this in baseball all the time. Guys might be hitting all right, but you're not scoring runs. Sometimes you just got to adjust the line up a little bit, you know, you move someone to another spot
in the lineup. In this particular case, Ronnie Dila has some big decisions to make and it's one of two things. It's formation or personnel. Pick one. I don't think you do both. That would be a little too much, but one will probably also dictate the other. Are you going to change in formation from you know, the the four three three you know the three Yeah, you know, whatever you want to call it. Are you going to change from that or are you going to change players? Because
if we're if we're making personnel changes, I'm sorry. There were two to three players that I think you need to make changes on. One of them is bart Slash because he just is not cutting it as a defensive midfielder.
Sorry, just how it is.
Sorry, that's just where I'm at. The other one, and as much as I love him and I think the problem here is he is a fantastic offensive weapon, but holy hell, Brooks Lennon needs to we need to figure out how to run an attack that's not through Brooks Lennon crossing the ball, because that was the that was the sickness that had festered in this team all game was it was get the ball wide to Brooks, watch
him cross the ball in where are we going? And then to Milio's point, the next question is Alexian Miggy, you can't be on the field at the same time. Sorry, you got to figure out who's starting because and that's just what I'm looking at, because right now the problem is Alexiamiggy both like to occupy more central spaces and you're clogging things is up, you're running into each other.
You're not able to combine because you're too close to each other, which sounds counterintuitive, but when you start close to each other, the combination is going to work because you've got all the defenders there. It's just too easy to defend right now. And Atlani and added continues to create a lot of chances, but not a lot of quality chances. I mean, the goal we scored was a great goal, right, but that was a shot from distance and that's not the type of quality chances you want
to keep creating. You need to create more chances inside the penalty area. We're just not doing it.
Okay, go ahead, no, no, no one.
One of the things that it stuck out to me in preseason and listening and look, I know as as he does this for a living, I think Ronnie dial is and crows mark guy. I think he's an incorrectly smart soccer coach. He has again seen some shit in Celtic and in Scotland and Belgium. He has been through some wars that I think think I don't know if y'all fully at times understand how psychotic like the Scottish and Belgium.
Media can be. Anything we do to him here is just going to be.
Like a Sunday walk for that dude. Compared to what he's dealt with. I don't think that bothers him nearly as much as the performances. And I think he's a smart guy because in pre when I'm getting at here is in preseason. One of the things he harped on in the Birmingham game specifically was he made a point of building up Sleish. He talked a lot about him, about what he wanted from him, what he needed from him, and I think he understood that he needed Bart, not you.
I think he understood that he needed Sleish to be great, that that was going to be a fulcrumb with what this team did. And it hasn't been there.
And I hate I've really because I think again you can see he's very talented. He's actually pretty decent possession. It's just it's not to your point there where it needs to be. And the other problem is, as much as I love watching him on the field because he does move around a lot, but Yamba is not as dynamic when it comes to making progressive passes the way that bart needs, so you're just not getting that a lot from that central midfield spot, and it's it's what's hurting.
And then you add the fact that you know, I think if I could summarize this team in one incentive, it would be we're very good at giving up stupid goals, but by god, we cannot punish a team for this for our lives. And teams make so many stupid mistakes in MLS. That's just how this works. MLS is not
a great defensive league. We all know this. At Landing added, every goal we've scored this season seems like it's some magic effort that we had to create instead of just a lot of the goals that we get conceded where we beat one player and then all of a sudden it's we're in on goal against brad and and they've conceded. And that is the frustrating part as the fan is going, why are we giving up goals so easily? Yet it's a monumental effort for us to get even a shot off.
You know, yeah, it's it's exhausting. I don't I don't know what you do because I mentioned earlier, if you want, because I know I know it's been the article and it's been kind of the flavor of.
The last few weeks.
To do.
To play in the key at the ten drops, let's say back to like a deep lying climaker. I will repeat again, that's fun offensively. Yeah, but if you think you're shipping goals now, you don't have a destroying six who can sit back there as the other midfielder and you're gonna need that.
No, And that's one of those things too where we talk about patients, and I think there's patients for like I do think we're approaching from a coaching even aspect of the patience of hoping things just met like gel and the system and everything takes hold. I think we're either past that or approaching being past that. Is that a fair situation evaluation? So then, Jared, I think for me the question is again, what does that change? Because I agree with you. I think Alexi being a deeper
player I think would be fun. Like I think, actually yeah, because I mean, look, the dude is not fast, bless his little heart, but he is not that Fun's possibly technical, but yeah, and having that as a kind of an eight or a deeper lying playmaker could be fun to watch.
And then you have Miggi up top, which I do think that we've seen Miggy wants to be more central, and I think that's actually a great, a better place for him to play in this league because Homeboy can just blow by some defenders more than anyone else can. I mean, he loves to take someone on, and I think doing being able to do that in the middle of the field with a guy like Latte a lot who if you just slip them, you know, a nice little slip in can undo a defense because he's just
so quick, not even fast quick, dude is quick. I mean that there. It is fun to watch him get like somehow three steps on a player before the ball has been passed, you know. And I just don't think Alexi is able to do that whereas Mikey can. So that that is certainly the question of what do you do with both of these really expensive, good attacking players.
Don't I don't, I don't know.
I think it's I think it's also safe to say Jared that right now, again, what eight games in the season, nine points, it's not great. I think if I could identify two things that we need to change, three things really one is figure out who's who you're attacking. People are and were because I think we've all agreed that Miggie and Alexi playing together is just not causing. It's
not creating the fluidity we thought it would. But I do think that when you look at the summer, because we know Garth loves the summer transfer window, we know Garth loves the summer.
This summer could be bloody.
Just so we're clear, I think when you're looking at the summer, you have to look at two specific positions, and one of them is a defensive midfielder and the other one is center back. Because I'm sorry, right now we have half of a starting center back because I'm gonna call out Sion a little bit too. I think he's been good, he should be called out, but I don't think he's been great. He's been culpable for some
of these defense firs. Luisa Brom refuses to engage on a defensive action and that annoys me more than anything. And Derek Williams can't judge the fly of a ball to save his life. So those are center backs right now are not what they need to be to be
competitive in this league. And that's causing more problems than it should, especially when Brooks and Pedro are going up the field so much so when you look at the summer transfer window, which again we're our April, we're looking forward to June already or July already a better center back.
And I mean, as much as we want to have pretty you know, pretty passing, great, you kind of just need a dude who's gonna knock someone over now then, you know, And that's unfortunately what Bart's not willing to do. Maybe you go get some of the someone like that in the transfer window.
You need a he would I shouldn't say you need it would be I would be okay if you went and found a Jose Martinez.
Like I think the problem is Yeah, I think the problem, Jared is that works in MLS. You know what I'm saying?
Yeah, absolutely, yes, I mean, and you.
Can try to play like you're playing in the Dutch League, but you're not. You're playing an MLS. You gotta have a destroyer.
Ye Is there anything Bart that we missed when it came to laws of the game game management?
I still think they missed that handball in the box.
But what I yeah, I'm with you, Jared, I think what bothers me is that wasn't reviewed. Does that make sense?
Yeah?
Yeah, It's one of those that because I I do remind people they review everything. Yes, like VARs Var is not like sitting there with a sandwich and doing nothing with their time there sandwich. To be fair, I would love if I was Vara beating a sandwich all the time. But I'm also of the opinion.
That for that initial that initial shot where they're inside yeah and you're you're sitting there in your head just having a sandwich.
Beginning, that's one of those where personally, I would have been very happy if we talk about this with like managing the managing the game you're in. Take it to the monitor just like just because the game is calling for in that moment, you know.
And like yes, because there wasn't even a referee, the ref going up to his you know, even like hey they're checking, because if you go hey they're checking, you go no, it wasn't because again, is that clear and obvious?
That's the key?
I don't know.
But then you're telling me that the off side was clear and obvious, So which one is? You know, if we're if we're going based on what our gut tells us. Fine, but I man, that's not a I'm with you, Jared, like that that to me the handle because it happened right in front of me. Yeah, I don't. I couldn't tell exactly how far away from the body his arm was, but it hit his arm.
I mean you know, yeah, I thought it was away from his body. I thought, Okay, I thought I do too, because it's coming off with deflection and maybe that's what their thinking was with it. But I felt like that was like one of those like you take it to the like, take it to the monitor, let them know, like, hey, they're looking at it.
Yeah.
No one really seemed to notice anything until like the next things to play anyway, So whatever.
Well, and also to to this is where Atlanta needs to take a beat too, because I think we get again game state. We're very frantic at that point. Settle down and wait to take that corner kick. You know what I'm saying, Allow var and the referee an.
Opportunity to have given time to think about Yeah.
I mean we see this in the NFL a lot of times where a team will wait a beat to get the play in.
Right you know, or or what they'll do is if they think that it's going to get flipped, you're going to try to get up there and do a quick huddle.
And get a quick snap so it doesn't get reviewed.
Well, Aaron is so good at that when he was not, like on his vision quest like a raccoon on.
Yes, all right, so in cards and calls and anything else that we've missed now that we've discussed everything this week, anyway, my my plan is to try and catch up with pro and just find out about the review process and find out, Okay, how many times you know, is it the end the year? Is it a consistent thing? Do you help you know? Do you call folks?
You know?
I would like to know that too, is what is the continual education process? Because there should be.
Yeah in the and so right now, just looking at the numbers, Alexis de Silva has had six matches where he's been the man in the middle twenty three on average, and that man well, but but the thing is twenty three is eighteenth out of twenty six. He is eighteenth out of twenty six center reps for fouls per match called and right, the number one is Alio Raghin, who has only had one appearance in the middle, and he called thirty three fouls.
He is far and away.
You know the game did he have?
Oh, let's find out, shall we? It was.
Chicago Fire and CF Montreal January February, March thirtieth. Interesting, so he called the Fire in Montreal match and called thirty three fouls.
Interesting, that was such a high foul game.
But yeah, yeah, and after that it's Rosindo Mendosa who averages thirty point eight, Joe Dickerson who averages thirty in a quarter, Philip Duyich who's twenty eight point one four over seven matches, that's why it's a point one four, and Ricardo Fieriro at twenty seven and a half. We have had Rosindo Mendosa, Philip Duyich, and Ricardo Fieriro in
the middle for the matches against Atlanta United. And this was a point that was brought up in the chat, is that you would think that center refs know what they're getting into with the teams that are on the field. Yet, even if you don't have four knowledge at least bart to your point earlier in this discussion that if there's a lot of fouls being had.
There are a lot of fouls being made, then you.
Should kind of, oh, I don't know, use your card a little more than you would otherwise.
Yeah, there were Atlanta United the most. The player that committed the most fouls was Peter Armador at two. No one else committed more than.
I was expecting to hear of Manuel Latte a lot, to be honest, because he's a he is a bit of a spark plug.
When it comes to So here's yella committed one foul. You know what that foul was?
Yeah, I do.
Yeah, you know why because Miguel decided to hang back offensively.
Here's here's your numbers in the middle of the match, when Caleb Porter just decided to pack things up, go to the Laredo garage, grab as many Marta buses as possible and bring them on. So it was seven fouls from New England in the first eleven minutes of the second half, one yellow, twenty fouls, two yellows. Between the fortieth and the sixtieth minute, New England committed ten fouls. So that's five minutes leading into halftime and the first fifteen of the second half.
It was a lot. John New England committed ten fouls.
That's a lot, and I want people to understand that is a lot of fouls within a short period of time, right, and he did nothing to manage that. And that's kind of again. The problem is is there was no hey, call the captain over, Hey, that's enough, we fouled to him. Alexi got foiled five times five.
I don't know Ezekiel Barco led the universe in fouls when he was here at all I heard from people was complaining that Ezekiel Barko gets filed a lot and goes down a lot. Well, carls Hel could have kept this, like I said, this story of the game, carls Hel could have kept his footing in the box if he wanted to. He understood the moment he went down, which
good for him. He understood the moment it Land almost gave up a goal in the end of the first half where Manuel lat got very clearly fouled, but he tried to keep his feet And this is this, this is very much like the Alpharetta Dad shit of like keep your.
Feet in the game. This weekend fit.
Well, he tried to keep his feet and you know what happened. He lost his balance, fell down, They picked up the ball almost scored going the other way. So there you go.
There.
I got like, keep you don't have to feel contact, you go down man. You don't have to be enough for red Dad.
No, of course you do.
I mean see, And we haven't even talked about like the killing and bape Rad. We haven't talked about the latitiate contact from behind in the Women's FA Cup. I haven't talked about oh, the head injuries that happened in Columbus and Saint Louis, where the time that players were off the field was completely and totally apparently just random. And uh one was forty eight seconds and the other was two minutes before they were allowed back in.
So there's there's still there's still stuff on the table. Bart.
We had barely scratched the surface, but I thought it was but but I thought.
It was also kept Bart for an hour.
Well yeah, But the thing is, when there's a lot to talk about and set and like I said, I wanted to take it with two lanes. I wanted to it just so happens that they intersect. Yes, we were talking about the match. Yes, we're talking about the refereeing but I wanted to talk about the refereeing in the sense of the overarching ideas, and yes, they happened to apply to the match that we were all a part
of on Saturday. So that was that was why I wanted to do this this way today, and I borrowed you for an hour.
Are you gonna get in trouble now?
I'll be all right, I will, But I was I was answering emails and a response to.
Though, you know, okay, all right, I will support bart in the sense that I agree that, and I agreathing fully that. Uh, as you go into the summer, this summer window could get see in terms of players coming in and out, because if guys aren't doing the job, I am always a proponent of it. If guy doing the job, I'm gonna find someone who will.
Yeah.
If ain't you, I'll find I'll find something. I'll find your replacement for you. Six and center back is where I'm looking as well. I think Derek Williams just lost a step and I love I love Derek. Good dude. I thought he was really.
Good last year.
Oh yeah before yeah, so finish your point.
I thought, Derek, I thought what Derek was really good last year. I think Derek's losing a step and I I like him as a clubhouse guy. I don't think the number is very big on him. I'm fine with Derek, but Deane hasn't been healthy or consistent enough. I like a bron but he's more of a passive defender. I would be fine if you went and if you went and got someone and started them next to Noah Cobb and let the kid play.
I'm here for it, man, Okay. One point that we didn't get into. David brought it up in the in the jet. I'm glad he did the late sub involving you get to get mad at Campana. The sub involving Campana in a Rudy where Maxi and Rudy decided he wanted to take his time, and you know you're supposed to be leaving the field in a certain length of time, and Maxia Rudy when he was told to hurry up
to go off, he slowed down. So the substitution rule, once again, you're milking the clock and you're doing all these things and you're not getting carted for that either. So once again it gets back to game management and reading the room and it was not read very well.
I mean, that's not even reading the ring, John, that's applying the rules as MLS has listened.
It's like, dude, get off.
But you know, hey, alexisis Silva did whatever the hell he wanted to do that game, and no one could tell him different. That was just the problem is that he was out there vibin. That's what I mean. He was just I mean, that's sincerely. The dude seemed like he was just cashing a page, collecting a page.
He was vibing.
And I'll be honest, I've had games like that, but usually no offense of the U ten. You know, tournament games where I just out there to run five games and six games in a row and make sure that you know, the players aren't picking their noses too much. Ew they're nine years old, John, what else do you expect them to do?
You? John?
I had I had a game.
My game.
Luckily I wasn't the center for this seven minutes then we had a kid get hurt to the pat point that he had to leave the match and go to a hospital. Non contact injury. Non contact injury, had to throw out a parent because I decided to come onto the field. Wow, had a red card in the final minute of we were in like five minutes of stoppage time because said parent had to give a red card for a dog so penalty kick. So had an interesting Sunday as well.
Yes, so again I wasn't the.
Center, so the reporting wasn't my job.
Do you ever have those where you like, you have a game like that and you look at the center and go, oh god, I'm.
Not you today.
Yeah. I literally said that to him. Afterwards. I was like, well, don't call me if you need help with the reports.
Yeah.
Not Yeah, Hey, listen to all parents. Don't come onto the field. That's not where your space is. Your spaces on the sideline. And when you're four yards under the field, and then get bad at me for telling you to get off the field, Oh my god, you don't get to do that. So I hope that person enjoys his hopeful suspension.
Wow. That's tremendous soccer for USPOD. You gotta plug.
Recording tonight about the women's national team performances and not results, performances evaluating players.
How did you feel about Mariusia Puchatino being there for that game Saturday?
Wow?
I'm sure some Spurs fans felt very familiar.
Yes, all right, so hopefully we didn't get you into trouble. I'm glad you were answering emails and making sure that everything was fine. Which one of the two of you had the dog that would that had just had the bath.
Oh, it's not a dog, it's a rabbit.
Okay, So oh so the rabbit just had a bath.
No, we didn't have a bath. He just uh, she was sent by Mephistopheles to punish me. It's her entire her entire existence is built on making me suffer and her So with with a rabbit, you you, we feed them Timothy hay throughout the day, and so I just given her some Timothy Hay and she decided that she was just going to grab the metal hayholder that hangs on her letter box and just start yeating that thing around the cage.
So that's what happened, okay, all right, So Bart, thanks again, have a good time recording tonight, and obviously we will turn that as quickly as humanly possible as we always do.
That's my that's my job, John, all.
Right, Uh, be good, my friend. Thanks for hanging out for an entire hour because I know there was a lot to talk about.
I'm glad I get to talk about with y'all here. I hope everyone Monday go outside and touch grass today. I mean, that's sincerely not in it's kindescending way. Enjoy the weather. If you can't take double up on those allergy degrees. Yeah, double up on the allergy medicine had outside.
Yes, and don't go from hot to cold. The hot.
By the way, this is my coffee mug, but I can't drink out of it on this side. So I acquired a waffle House coffee mug.
Finally, I need to get one before I leave.
Yes, yes you do. Uh, I don't.
I won't tell you.
How I cured that.
John, There's not gonna be a waffle house.
In my life, but you will have in and out. I believe this is true. So there's a there's a trade waffle houses.
I need to open a waffle house, that's what that's what I want to do.
See that would be tremendous. Oh, that'd be great.
Jared is a franchisey for waffle House in Utah.
Yeah, we're doing it. Yes you are.
I believe that you can match the energy you needed.
So absolutely, Well what you do.
Is you you just decaf coffee because Mormons.
Well no, but what you do is you make sure that you find some great prospects here and you use your waffle house allocation money.
You use your wham to.
Get them over Georgia to work the waffle houses in Utah.
That's how you do it.
Yeah, yeah, Derek, it's a lot of it's a lot of rabbit poop, it is. But we we they're they're they're litter box trained, so we uh we just have a like a big plastic litter box and just use equine pine corse pellets from like tractors supply at a couple of days. And yeah, you're good.
Wow, Okay, all right, Bart, be good to see thanks again. We'll catch up with you tonight. Socker for us po D thanks for all of the intel.
Be good. All right. So that's Bart.
Jared let me go through gossip rumors and want to watch And it's been a fun day. And I know that we hit the E rating in the first four minutes, but sometimes you got to do that.
Fun is a fluid term, but carry.
On, Yes, thank you, sir. The fact that we had Jared for the full two hours. That was always fun. Soccer on TV today will go over rumors as well. And if you saw the killing and Bape challenge that
was pretty nasty. Go back in social media if you can and find the uh if there's a Luis en Rique when Mbope was at PSG had him in the film room and he was talking him up and down, trying to instill the star that you know, what he really could be, but that also meant helping out on defense and being a two way player, and you can it's Enrique, Luis en Rique. He was letting Embape have it and Boppi was just like, uh huh, I don't
think that ever sunk in. But so when you have a moment like we saw with Himbappe this past weekend, Yeah, so go back and see if you can find the Luis and Rique conversation where he literally is in in Bape's face about being a two way player. That was the first thing that stuck in my head when I saw the challenge from Mbappe on this weekend. All right, what to watch, where to watch it, how to watch it?
Gossip BERMANINU window and we're out of here uh and being an Espanol simulcasting League du Bastia and Lavallet two forty five. If you don't have BN Newester tel a CEO for the fans LEGA one, LGA one, Max Pro, Our buddy Nino Torres at Gold TV, tay say all of that, you can get it at Finances FNTZ, dot co slash Soccer down here helps them out, helps us out, and it helps you out with your continuing degenerate viewing habits.
When it comes to leagues around the world, CBS Sports Network has Monday Night Football in the Championship Whole City in Coventry. Our buddy John Nason, I'm sure he is gonna be watching that one. At three o'clock Borne North and Fulham.
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On USA Network Espen deport This, Atletico Madrid and Via Delite is it three? Fox deport This, syriatt two forty five, Peru Promira at eight o'clock, a Lean Zelma and Deportivo Garcia, Laso Gold TV, Portuguese Premiara Rossing and Liverpool and Defense or Defense or Sporting in Sero doubleheader two thirty and five.
Universo simulcasting the Premier League ESPN Plus simulcasting Athletian via the Lead, as well as at two twenty Huesca and Malaga and League du League Spanish Loliga Dose, NBC Sports dot Com simulcasting Premier League Paramount Plus simul casting the
English Championship. Generation Adidas Cup is going on right now on MLS's YouTube channel to LUSA Minnesota United You sixteens, followed by Bayern Munich in Saint Louis City's U sixteens, Monterey and FC Cincinnatis U eighteens and Paul Marrison the Dynamos U eighteens at four thirty women does own USA German fron Bundesliga at noon, Bayer Livercusan and Cologne Vick s Heslega, Mxfeminial at ten o'clock, Monterrey and Cadetto now
also Gossip Berman and Nuendo for today. Let's see if there's any I know this will shock you, but Accorea. According to Florid Plettenberg at Sky Sports Germany, Messi and friends are very interested in signing Kevin de Brune on a free We've talked about it and we've talked about
how it could work. It would have to be one of those Latani deals, or it would have to be one of the just if you're going to sign him for a long term deal, it's going to have to be one of those where he slides in under the AM this year and he's an AM player, and then you sign him because you don't know who's coming back among the Gulfstream Galacticos next year because they're thirty four
to thirty six and thirty seven, so we'll see. Al Nasser could make a move for Luis Diaz as an alternative to Venisius Junior, Everton and Ipswich and the Three Letter Paper latest to join the club. U twenty one striker Liam de Lapp could be Ipswich. Newcastle interested in racing gink In Grease midfield or Constantinos corretzis facing competition from Bayern munichnopoly in the Premier League. That's the Three
Letter Paper. Take the information at your own peril. Newcastle sent scouts to watch ya Ya Fofana at Anger as they want to strengthen their goalkeeping options. Arsenal's interested in i Ax's nineteen year old Jarell Hatto this summer, although any potential deal for the defender likely to Hinge in
the future of Yaka. Kivior Gunners also have no plans to sign on loan Chelsea as rahiem Sterling on a permanent basis Chelsea and born with willing to pay thirty five million euro to sign Johnny We know him as Johnny or Johnny Cardoso from Raal Bettist and that's from shahes in Spanish.
Jared's joining us again? What did I miss?
Uh? No, I think that's it. Yeah, man, I don't know what to do with myself now that now that most of the laws signed this deal.
Yeah, I know.
Now where am I going to get my drama?
Well, you're probably gonna get your drama with de Bruna.
We talked about this. We talked about this off air. I think it was Jason said that Lionel Messi is about to get the world's most expensive babysitter and they're gonna fit under the cat like debrun is gonna be on like a vet minimum getting paid an Apple stock.
Well, I mean they've got an is, They've got an ish ton of AM so for this half season they can pay him and he's an AM player and everything's fine. Uh, it's it's gonna have to be one of those lots ony deals where he's an a player in year one and then you figure out who's not staying and then he turns into a DP or something like that.
You let me tell you if that's what they do. And I think you're right, John, I think you're right. The other owners in this league are going to be so pissed off they won't be able to see straight. Of course, if you manipulate this into a one year Kevin de Bruyn, a deal where he's making not a lot of money for the half year, and then you brand to bring him in as a full DP next year.
Mm hmm. They're uh, not confirmed coming to Miami there, but but he's he's been Miami is allegedly interested in bringing him in.
Yes, but they don't have it.
They to do it, he'd have to be on a very very friendly number. But because of as John said, John's I think John's dead on. Because of the the am they have. You could do him on a six month deal for not a lot of money, have him come in and be a super friend and then uh and then signing to a DP deal. No, Derek, I couldn't let it go, because the only thing funnier than Kevin de Bruna coming here is if Kevin de Bruna comes here and Messi and Friends still lose in the first round.
That right now, Messi and Friends have just over that. Messi and Friends right now just have over three million, one hundred thousand and AM available, so they can If you want to spend two and a half on that, two and a half of it and get Katie b then you, yeah, two and a half for half a season. Then that's like that getting paid five next year whatever, if you want to extrapolate it.
But I think it's.
Gonna be an AM deal and you've got AM to spend.
LAG does not, and so it's something like.
G LAG went all in on the playoffs last year and they got a trophy. Like, I know, it's fun to make fun of the Galaxy right now because they're bad, Like they're bad bad. I know it's fun, but guess what they hung a banner.
Yeah you can.
You can sit there and smile through it all when you hung a banner, at least for a while.
Yeah.
So yeah, But right now, looking at the AM numbers as of the end of February, three point one three million, one hundred and fifty and forty two dollars. So if you signed Kevin to Bruna for eight hundred and forty two dollars a GAM and then you know, extrapolated at whatever next year, it's gonna have to be again, it's gonna have to be an AM deal for the half season he comes in, helps him out out, signs to the MEGA deal next year for two years after that
or whatever. So I mean, that's I mean, that's that's you know, if if if, and that is once again it has been it has been shared by a bunch of different sources that there's interest shocking that that would happen.
Yeah, David, there is an AM liment that you can do. But what But what we mean by that is like, yeah, you could you could pay him more than like the league minimum because they have the AM to eat it. But you couldn't put him on a DP deal obviously, but you could. You could have him eat a bunch of AM for half a year and then decide, uh, you know, in in January that ah, well so well you know so and so is leaving. So now we got an open DP spot. So now here's Kevin the
brawn on a full year deal. And yeah, if you tell him, I, hey man, you want to come play with us, take some take a little less money and come play with us for half a year, you know, and try and win a trophy.
Yep.
And when you're Miami, you're able to in this current situation, this current iteration of Miami is able to do that.
With guys like that, we'll do all right, We're out. That's a funday, Jared, you get the last words.
Oh, to reiterate Bart's thing, make sure we're touching grass and not in the mean way, but like, go outside, enjoy the weather, get some fresh air in your lungs. Of course you're alergi medicine, yes, miles may vary and yeah, have fun.
Yes.
So for Jared, I'm John. Thanks to Bart, thanks to a Thanks to y'all. It was a spirited discussion. It always is on Mondays. Whether that's why we call it reaction Monday's one way or the other, it's a reaction.
Back at it again tomorrow, we'll talk about the rest of Major League Soccer.
If there's anything left over from everything that happened today, we'll talk about that then. So for Jarrett, who is here for the entire time except for when he had to dump out to take a meeting and then leave the meeting.
I'm John. Play safe, everybody, moch aplatyall since the seen of the show.
That means they didn't