Start things off today with a little soccer. A couple of points left on the table, left on the board last night, Jason Christ our guest on a Thursday Jay, Happy Thursday, buddy.
How are we doing?
I'm doing good. How are you spent?
I'm well, I'm well.
So there were moments last night, certainly there were uh and Minnesota badly needed at least a points.
You know they were gonna there, they were gonna be cooked. But let's just start in a vacuum.
Your takeaways from what I perceived to be a couple of points left on the table after that nil nil draw last night.
Yeah, I think the frustration kind of continues here and that we feel like, now that's three games in a row, to be honest, where we walk away with one point, feeling like we probably should have had nine points. So three points over three games where I think we should
have realistically had nine. So the frustration continues. But we do also have to look at it from somewhat of a bit more realistic perspective, and that Minnesota came in here last night extremely defensive, area ended it, extremely negative in their play and made things difficult for us. And they're a team that has now one four of their last five, and including us, that's four and a draw in their last six. So they're a team that has been trending very positively and they were no slouches.
So when and it, you know, it was pretty clear. I guess one of the old ways to say it is parking the bus. When a team does that, Jay, what's the best way to I mean, oftentimes it feels like the only way to crack a defensive lineup like that is with a little bit of luck, with some long ball or something.
But what's the.
Best way to go about your business to try to at least find one when a team clearly is playing a very defensive style of soccer.
Yeah, they played with a very deep back five, They played with the team that's had in the entire all that and other players were sitting in their own half of the field, and we've seen that earlier in the season. We saw that on several occasions, teams come here and prove come out with a very negative mindset and just proved to be very different to break down. So it does require us to do some different things that perhaps were not comfortable doing yet. And there are some things
like playing a bit more direct. There are some things like looking to play behind the opponent more and another idea is just to serve more balls in their pealty box. If they're content to defend their penalty box, perhaps we need to make some havock in that area, serve more balls there, and then just look for knockdowns. So those are all stuff that we've been discussing this morning in the early afternoon.
So Pablo made it a point both pregame and postgame to really point out the production of Matt Crooks and what Matt means to you guys.
And you know, it's interesting.
This is probably going to not make a ton of sense because you know, ultimately they play a different position, but it kind of reminds me a little bit of back in the day when Kyle would have a game, Kyle Beckerman would have a game where he didn't necessarily score a goal or have an assist, or even had a shot on goal or was even involved in the attack. And Kyle certainly was never a wallflower, but at times it was like, Okay, was Kyle involved enough?
And then you see the data after.
The game, you're like, Duderew just ran like seven miles and connected all these passes, and so yes, he wasn't involved up front, but certainly was doing what you were asking him to do. From your vantage point, What has Matt Crooks meant you guys? Even though you know three goals, five assists not horrible numbers, but it's they're not Chicho or Andres or Anderson or whatever numbers even Diego. But how would you articulate Jay, how important that is to what you guys are doing right now?
What s Matt's done over the past four or five games is really led by example, and I think that's what Pablo's talking about. He's become a bit of the talisman for our group, a guy that is showing the rest what type of effort and commitment it takes now to get points in these in these stretches of seasons. So he's a guy that has been there and done it at a very high level in England, and for me, he's he's he's performing at a different level than he
has from most of the season. His performances. Of course, we want statistics in the end for a player that plays in an attacking position, we'd like to see more system goals, but I think just just a level of commitment showing has to be commended. And when you look at the data, it doesn't lie. You know, he's just ranking right at the top, and you know, distances covered, high speed running, all of it.
All right, So ultimately, as you reference, you know, last night in a vacuum, frustrating, certainly, but this is something that does stretch back now for three matches where you've conceded late goals against Portland and Austin and couldn't find one against Minnesota, and Jay, I think, if we're honest,
it even goes back a little bit further. You know, I was asked the other day, are you more confident in RSL now to make a late playoff run than you were earlier in the season, And my response was like, well, early in the season they were beating everybody. You went fifteen straight without losing, an unbeaten streak that broke a club record. There was a stretch where it felt like if Chiacho only scored one goal, he had a bad game.
So I think, if we're honest, this stretch of you know, soccer that wasn't that isn't necessarily what we were seeing earlier on in the year.
Stretches back quite some time.
So let's now pan out from thirty thousand feet now that we've attacked last night in a vacuum.
What is it? Is it new players?
Is it Chichos suspension kind of hanging over his head?
Is it lack of form? Like? Is it competition?
Like?
What exactly would you attribute the lack of consistency to over the past I don't know, three or four weeks.
Well, I think it's a few things. I think that's an interesting comment to make about, you know, whether you think a team will make a deep run in the middle of a season. That's kind of an absurd comment. Actually, you're not going to know how you think a team's going to do at the end of the season until the end of the season, and so I would agree with the sentiment that it doesn't you know, it doesn't look like we are a team at the moment, at this moment that should be or is going to be
challenging for an MLS Cup. And that's frustrating because I think all of our dreams were aligned in the middle of the season, that we were in a really good spot, and if that could continue towards the end of the season, then I think we would all be feeling the same. Having said all of that, things can change very drastically at the at the flip of a switch. Really, things could go right for us this weekend and then go
right for us two weeks from now. And now you've got a little bit of momentum, because from my perspective, we do have the talent. The team is good enough, the players are good enough, the coaches are good enough to challenge for trophy this year. We just need some momentum, We need some positivity, and we need some confidence. And I think a lot of that, as we've talked about before, does come down to a little bit our leader up front. You know, he is in a bit of a slump.
I think we can go ahead and say that now where he hasn't scord to go in a very long time, and a lot of that comes through the inconsistent nature in which he's been playing. You know, he's suspended for the four games for what happened in the middle of the season. He comes back, he gets injured, he comes back from that, he gets suspended again for yellow card accumulation. So he just hasn't played minutes on a consistent basis that I think he needs in order to get hit his form back.
Jason, it's sports talk radio. The whole thing's absurd, Dude, Nothing about this is normal. You know, I've got to come up with topics, and you know, when it's August and I have to do four hours, we're going to talk about if rself can make a run.
The whole thing is absurd.
Now, So I didn't mean it that strong way. It's just kind of a funny comment. Hey, you know, if you're in the middle of the season, Hey, do you think the team's going to make a deep, deep runt in the playoffs? Well, I don't know. Talk to me like a lot closer to the playoffs. Yeah.
Have you ever seen that show where the boss would dress up as something and fool the staff into believing he's just one of the staff.
I think have you ever seen that?
Yeah?
I've got an idea.
Okay, for one day, I want you to come in here and do four hours of radio and I'm going to do your job, and let's see how absurd you are, Jason.
I mean, can you imagine how bad I would be at that spense? It would be unbelievable.
Equally bad is finding a striker in Argentina or something, so you know, you know, like for like there, Okay, specifically, what has to be better then over the past or the final couple of matches. What will you be looking for to give you a little bit more confidence that things are going better?
I think it's it's it's literally just a little bit more sharpness, a little bit more fine tune play. And maybe you know, if you were to say one thing, if you were to say, okay, what does a typical what do the typical performance look like on a team that has a bunch of new people and pieces, I would say that would be it. You lost some of
that you've lost summer. You're trying to gain some sharpness, some fluidity, some cohesion between the players, and I think we're just missing a little bit of that as well as just a little bit of confidence. And I think that confidence comes just through something good happening, and then I think the switch flips and everything moves in a really positive direction. So I still still believe that this group has it takes to challenge for a Cup. It's just that in these last couple of games, I don't
think we've put it together. And having said that, look, seventy minutes, two games in a row. For seventy minutes, we played very well to get two goal leads against Portland and against Austin away at Austin. It's just that last twenty minutes that crushed us. And then this last game, you know, we don't get the two goal lead, but we also don't suffer a late goal or a big step back towards the end of the game. So there are some provements. We just got to put it all together.
And I did want to ask you about the shutout because, as you reference to start out the interview, it's not like Minnesota was putting their best foot forward, but Zach was called upon a couple of times. Was it at least better last night from both Zach also the back four, and then I saw Chico really working hard defensively. I don't know if that's a point of emphasis, but was it a better defensive effort last night, even though Minnesota was not necessarily on the front foot much.
Yes, all three of those are correct. I think the penalty box are deep. Defending was much better last night, and that's a big improvement over the last two games. I think Zach looked very solid back there, which that's a very good thing for us. And Chicho has worked very hard both the last two matches when we don't have the ball, which is going to be critical.
So are you getting closer and closer to deciding who the keeper will be or have you decided? Are you going with the vet the rest of the way.
I think that's it's it's definitely. Pablo's decision is something that we talk about a lot, and you know, his direction as of a week ago or two weeks ago was, you know, Zach would get a game, and if Zach did well, we would continue. So I think that's where it lies right now. And that's that's the way it is. And in all kinds of positions in our game, anywhere where there's just there's no guarantees. You got to keep performing. This is professional sports.
Is it absurd to ask about positional decisions when there are games?
No, it's not absurd. That's a very good question. I'll look at your questions are absurd. It was just an absurd comment.
Okay, all right, Like I said, Like I said, all right.
One of the other things Pablo said about Crooks last night is that he's seen a lot of synergy between Crooks and Gonsalavez and Diogo, like that partnership in Pablo's eyes starting to really, you know, maybe even manifest more than meets the eye.
Have you kind of seen the.
Same, Yeah, I think Yeah, I thought Pablo was wrote from Singh Dominic the relationship between Matt and Dominic because Dominant plays.
Well, maybe that's what that was closer to him.
Yeah, they've got a really nice relationship. I think they've shown some really good combination play to get behind the opponents back for and it's something that they could just have talked a lot about.
So how has the because you know, it's a good problem for Pablo to have, He's he's got a lot of options in the attacking third when it comes to both the existing players you've had and the new players
you brought in. Talk about that process, how it's going with Dominic and Lochlin and Diogo and uh, you know, in combination and conjunction with Diego and Anderson and Chicho are the guys that have been here, uh, and just how that how that group is kind of coming together, because obviously it's going to be paramount if you guys want to win something big that those guys are connected.
Yeah, you know. I think if we go back two games ago versus Portland, then we talk about Austin to finish both those games with two goals and the show those games. I thought we were looking at some really positive things. And then obviously we're upset. We're upset with last night because I don't think we generated enough goal chances. Forget about goals, but I don't think we showed the same type of stuff. Now we have to remember the
opponent was different. The opponent was very, very deep, as I said, with a back five and two central until players in front of them. So in essence, it was a It was a hard game to try to create chances. But we we still need to and certainly when we're at home we need to. So I think the relationships
are moving forward. I think it is a It does make for a difficult coaches decisions because I believe that we have we have a very high number of quality attacking players, and not all of them get to play together at the same time.
How has the locker room to your knowledge, I know that's Pablo's sacred space, but has there been buy in from everybody? Understand standing that you know, certain players are going to come in and take your spot, and sometimes you're going to start, sometimes you're going to come in as a sub. I mean, does it feel like Pablo is getting to buy in from the group that he needs?
Yeah? I mean how you judge that is based upon the performances that you see, Right, So persons like myself and you, we watched the games and see how a player like Diego Luno comes off the bench last night, how does he respond in that situation? And last weekend it was Diogo coming off the bench. And I would say that in both cases, those guys come in wanting to positively affect it and you could see it through
their energy and their efforts. So it appears that all the guys understand that this is this is the game of soccer at the highest level. Is you know, you're not always going to start every game. So so far, it seems like it's been a good situation.
I've got to go back to Chicho.
You referenced him earlier in the interview, but it's just it's, you know, a very simple thing to say that he is super important to everything you do, both on and off the field, and you know, it's been a long time since we've seen him look the way he looked prior to this, when he was scoring a lot of goals, he was providing a lot of service, and he was really in the mix for MVP and looked like a sure bet to break RSL single season goal record and
maybe even lead the league and goals. Most of those things are gone by the wayside. Now what do you attribute that most to and what do you want to see from him badly over the final couple of matches in the regular season.
Man, I tell you what, I'd like something to just go off of his off of his chest, or his knee, or the back of his butt, whatever it is, and end up in the goal. Because, as I said, I think it's it's just that that mindset of something positive happening to him or for him that could completely open everything up. So I was hopeful that it was coming
last night. It's interesting that we went to Austin and the coaches brought him out of the game because he would just look like he was fatiguing, and then five minutes later we get a penalty, So you know, if he had been on the field for that, perhaps he takes the penalty and perhaps we're moving forward with him, but unfortunately not to be the case. So I really just think it's just a matter of something happening, right because you know, a couple of weeks ago, what I
told you I wasn't. We weren't really happy with the work rate we were getting from him, and we wanted him to just focus on that, and we've gotten that in the last two games. So I think that's a step in the right direction. Now it's just about something positive happening, all right.
Jay, Before I set you loose a couple of matches left.
When you look at the table, you know some of the things that were within reach are no longer. You're not going to catch either LA team. The Galaxy have pulled away. LAFC has a game in hand and a two point lead. I suppose some things stranger could happen, but ultimately there are six points left up for grabs. You guys are at four now, Houston is only two behind you, Colorado is only three. How important is it for you to keep that top four status to at least host your first home playoff match.
It's critical, It's absolutely critical. So for us, we believe that to have the to give ourselves the best chance to make a run in the playoffs. We need to have home field advantage. You don't have home field advantage unless you finish in the top four. There's something else that's out there for us, and that if we can pick up six points, we can break an all time record for RSL as the highest point standings ever ever
gained in a single season. So I'm hoping that's out for the player, out there for the players, because that's that's called making history.
Yes, sir, all right, Jay, thanks for stopping by and insulting me as.
Well as come.
I apologize.
Look you know me, I'm gonna mess with you no matter what. So thank you for the time and have a great weekend.
Okay, all right, YouTube, bye bye?
All right, Jason Christ RSL leaving a couple of more points on the table last night. You know, I kind of alluded to this with Jason. It just hasn't been good enough for a while.
You know.
They got the Dallas win now three straight draws, They got smoked by Houston prior to and we can go back and forth, but for my money, they have not looked really top shelf since maybe late June early July. Can we go that far back, but hopefully they can at least host a home playoff match. I know most everyone around here is focused on football, but if you've ever been to a playoff home soccer match, I know some of you are rolling your eyes because your football, bros.
And soccer is lame. It's really fun.
So I'm at least hoping they can do that back in action, coming up against the worst team in Major League Soccer San Jose, and then they'll finish it off after a little break against Vancouver and then it's signed for playoff soccer.