But joining me now right off the top. You know it's gonna be football coming up this weekend, but a little RSL soccer and kind of a sneaky big match is Dallas is in town. Our next guest is the all time leading scorer from the Dallas Burn and now part of the brain trust at Rayale Salt Lake, Jason Christ on a Tuesday afternoon, Jay, Happy Tuesday, buddy.
How are you doing?
I'm doing great.
How are you Are you.
Still the all time leading scorer of the Dallas Burn FC Dallas franchise?
I think so. I think nobody else lasted as long as playing there as me. There was guys that scored more goals per season, but I don't think anybody else spent nine years there. So yeah, I think it's still fine.
Longevity is important, but you can't tell me. You don't know for sure. If somebody broke your record, you would know, Jay, right.
Yeah, I'm just trying to remember. I know Hydys Frera is close. Was close. Maybe that was a single season. There's something there that he's getting close to breaking my record on all right? Yeah?
Is there when RSL plays formerly the Dallas for an FC Dallas, does that conjure up any Jason christ weird feelings one.
Way or the other.
No, it doesn't anymore. After you've gone from that club to here, to New York, Orlando to Miami, your memory runs a little thin.
Fair enough, fair enough? All right?
Jay? You know, what do you say about Houston? What do you say about Saturday?
It was? It was bad.
Pablo owned it after the game during media. I don't know, man, it feels like you and I have been chatting on a weekly basis about a team that once upon a time out a fifteen game on beaten streak and was atop of the table in MLS, and now, Jay, it feels like there's a bit of a slide going on. What are your thoughts both on Houston over the weekend and where you guys are at from a macro level.
Yeah, not good, obviously not good. None of us are happy. I think all of us feel a bit of angst to the frustration. There's a whole lot of questioning now about where the problems lie and how we can move forward. But there's one thing that's clear in my mind after spending yesterday with the coaching staff is that we're all still in this very much together, and also there's a belief that this team can get back to where it
was before or even actually be better. I think it's it's typical that every MS team is going to go through a slide. We I feel like, have had been on a little bit of a prolonged one. As I've said now many times, for me, there's been some results that have gone our way or met perhaps maybe we weren't quite there, but to be fair, through this run, there's also been a result or too that actually felt we deserved more. In so now it's I think it's
a time just to continue to move forward. It's the time to realize that we're getting to the end of the season. It's a time for everybody to come together, really really together and understand one thing. In my opinion, I think it needs to be simplified now to the point where the players need to understand that you must out work the opponent. If we have a chance to win anything here, it's going to come through a collective effort.
It is not going to come through individual star players or star players.
So every sport matchups are real.
Oftentimes it's what leads to great results or fallen flat on your face if you just simply don't match up with another team very well, or the other team simply doesn't match up with you. I mean, it's just how it is. It doesn't matter what sport it is. What is it, Jay, Like, I think it's one five and three over the last nine for you guys against Houston, Like, what's have you been able to identify with why this club has been so problematic for you guys?
I think you know, as you talked about last week, I think for me, first and foremost is just the differences in climates last week. It was really difficult to go into the end of that week thinking about, oh, we've got a cold front coming through here in Salt Lake, so our guys are now training in fifty and sixty degree weather and they go down there for a ninety
degree game. So you could see from my perspective, you could see pretty clearly that there was a level of fatigue and exhaustion that just is it seems out of place, but it is what it is. And then I think there's also a little bit of the tactics of Houston and how good they are with the ball. We oftentimes are the are the dominant possession team and most of the matches that we play and we enjoy that, and
I think the guy's gaining confidence from that. And then we go play against a team like Houston in Houston and now they have the ball for the majority of the time, and so I think that creates a level of discomfort in our group and creates a level of lack of confidence that that ultimately hurts our team. So we've got to we've got to figure out a way to not allow that level of unconfidence, discomfort come in are come into our guys feelings and minds.
So I haven't addressed this, and we're gonna have Pablo on later in the week. I'll certainly ask him because this might be more of a question for him, and if it is, please go ahead and tell me. But you know, preseason then the start of the season, whether I had coaches or players on, a lot of the conversation was about this new system that Pablo and the new staff that he was given wanted to implement juxtaposed to what you guys tried to do over the past
few years. Is that system something that needs to be reevaluated.
What's the progress there?
Have you guys considered changing things up because look, I mean, it is what it is. The results haven't been there as of late. So let's talk about that for a second. Where are you at with this system that we seem to talk a lot about, you know, three months ago or so.
I think, yeah, I mean, I think that we should always be looking for answers and we should always be willing to challenge ourselves on whatever the issue can be. But what I'd say right now is that there has been a clear identification on one thing, and that's the work rate, and we can and those those numbers are right in front of your eyes. Some of the system talks, you can start to get into some of the greenness
of a lot of things. But when you have players that are being tracked by satellites or wearing GPS modules on their backs, and when a work level and a running level reaches a low point or is below average, and every time you do that you lose. That's where you start first. And so and like I said before, I think we need to be very simple and very clear about how we put ourselves in a position to
win games, and that is to outwork our opponent. It's very very clear, Spence, It's actually shocking to go back and look at the data and say align that data when it was below average, and then align that with the results. It's shockingly clear. If our guys don't outwork our opponents, we lose, as simple as that.
So I've got to ask a follow up because this is the first time hearing of this, and maybe I'm the last one to know about it, but I'm interested to know what that tracking system looks like, what the ideology is behind it, and if you could shed any light and more details on how you guys are utilizing that to really identify exactly what your problems are.
Yeah, so the players all wear GPS units on their back, some of them won't wear it just for collective bargaining agreement type stuff. There's information that maybe they don't want everybody to know out there. For the players that don't, their satellite tracking of their movements during every match. Oftentimes, as a fan, you'll see that because you'll see a player being subbed out and it'll give you his total distance. Usually it's ten kilometers, which are usually between ten and
fifteen kilometers that they've run per game. There's all kinds of other information that goes into that high speed running, high speed running per minute. There's all kinds of different data that can be looked at and analyzed and utilized. And so for us, we have several metrics that we track upon our game model, and when those metrics have dropped below a certain level, like a mean let's call it,
or an average, the results have been poor. And when those levels have been higher than our average are, our results have been good. And on top of that, when you put those metrics against our opponents, when our opponent's levels are higher than ours, they win. And so this is what I mean when I say I think we need simple and clear messages to the players right now and not as basically outwork your opponent and you give yourself a chance to win. If you don't, you won't.
So I'm very fascinated at this dynamic all of a sudden here. And I'm not going to ask you to put individual players out there, and I know you wouldn't need anyway, But has this data indicated that there are specific players that need to be spoken to in very uncertain terms and have some.
Of the.
Starting lineup, starting eleven and substitute decisions in line with the layers where the data reflects that maybe they're not working the way that they need to.
Yes, and yes it simple. Yes, those conversations need to happen, and they will or have already happened. And yes, some decisions will be made based upon whether or not you run. And that's as simple as you can be. I think what you do is you make it very clear for the players that you know, if you're not in the lineup, it's probably because you haven't been working hard enough. If you're brought out of a game, it's probably because you
haven't been running enough. And so it has to start with some certain level of something and that's where we're that's where we're starting it, and that's what we're holding onto right now is to just make that very very simple and very very clear.
Have you considered putting a GPS tracking device on Trey during home games?
We have not. It probably would be a little bit more worthy or times time well spent to put a blood pressure monitor on him.
Fair enough, Hey, as a guy who wants upon a time and I mean, for me, number nine should be retired, that's my opinion.
But whatever, As a guy for a long time who wore nine for.
RSL and scored goals for RSL. Are you getting what you need from Chicho? And attendant to the question when the suspension came down, I talked to several people with the club and several people outside of the club that pontificated like this is the type of thing that derails the season. I'm not trying to be over dramatic or hyperbolic, but the fact of the matter is he's not playing the way he was prior to. He's not standing, you know, he's not finding the back of the net prior to.
I can't speak to anything behind closed doors know what I ever tried to. But from a player and a leadership standpoint, are you getting what you need from your number nine?
The message that goes to Chicho is the same that goes to every other player in the group right now, that exact same message that it has to start with the work. It has to start with your willingness to do anything and everything possible for the team. It has to start with your commitment level. That commitment level, that work rate has not been to the same level that
it was before his suspension. And again, you know what you're doing is you're being very simple and very clear to say, if you give us that, the other stuff will come. And that just comes from my personal history of being a striker as well as being a coach of some pretty prolific strikers. That players like that go through slumps and oftentimes we can get them to focus on something else. What you'll find is you get the
work that you need. That would be great, but you can also get some of that confidence back when they're not worried just about scoring goals.
Interesting, well, yeah, I mean obviously you need them to find the back of the debt. I wonder if you could take us into the ongoing projects of breaking in new players. I mean, you guys had a busy transfer window. You took some very calculated risks, of course, getting rid of some players that were playing well for you for a premium and then bringing in players that you thought would fit in. So what don't we see about Lachlan
and Diogo? And you know, obviously we're kind of still waiting for Mark Duke to be on the ground consistently to train.
But just walk us through this. Obviously, it's a process to.
Get teammates familiar with each other and acclimated to the altitude, acclimated to the community. All the things take time. I understand that where we actually with the continued to implement implementation of your five signings during the summer transfer window.
Well, I think what we've seen is we've seen good signs from all of the players individually and within the group, but not consistently yet. And so that's what I would hold on to. That's what we are holding onto that We've seen a game and a half of Diogo that was quite good. We've seen sixty minutes from Javane that was really good. We've seen Dominic come off the bench now at Houston and have a really positive contribution. He
looked bright. We've seen Lachlan probably arguably are only what I would say above average player at Houston was Lachlan and so in a couple of games we've seen moments from him as well, but we haven't seen it, you know, over a stretch of a couple of games, and we haven't seen consistency, and we haven't seen the group altogether firing and all cylinders. So we've seen the snapshots, but now we need to see the whole movie.
Do you feel like you're getting buy in, Do you feel like you have trust in that locker room. I mean, you can't win trophies, You can't win much if you don't trust your teammates, if you don't trust your coaches, if you don't trust your coaching staff, and Jay, you know the deal man. When the results go the other way, I've got to ask you these questions. Do you feel like the group trusts each other? Do you have the locker room.
One hundred percent? I mean I won't speak to the locker room because that's no longer my domain. My domain is the coaching staff, and my domain is what I think of the players based upon what to see in the training sessions and the matches. And I don't see all the training sessions either. But we started the conversation with one thing that we're clear on. We are all still very much together in this. So absolutely the trust
is there for the coaching staff. The trust is there that we have the requisite level of talent, and the knowledge is there that these players are all capable of doing exactly what's demanded of them. If we think we're going to have a chance to win, it's just about them doing it now. It is not a question about ken. It is a question of will or will not.
So when last we spoke, and I want to revisit
this throughout the course of the season. You know, Pablo himself shared with me the detail of like waiting for his Kyle Beckerman, waiting for his Jason christ waiting for his Pablo Master money, like the guy who is on the team that isn't afraid to m f the teammate if things aren't going well, even if you're a little bit afraid to offend somebody in the sake of competition, or the same of winning in the sake of competition and the sake of getting results and winning any sport,
any level. You got a couple of those dogs. You got a couple of those guys. You know, I feel like Catronos might be one. But I don't know what's the what's the update on this search for the uh, the bite and the toughness you're gonna you're gonna need if you want to lift a trophy.
It's still ongoing, Spence, and I would say, you know, again, like I said last week, this is the time of the season that players either step forward or step back, right. This is the time of the season. This is where big players make big plays in big games, and so the answer is to be determined, and the opportunity is there for all the players to step forward and be counted.
All right, before I say you lose, tell me about Dallas. You know the record isn't great, they're outside the playoff line. But of course you know right now, it doesn't matter who you're playing. You gotta get three. You gotta get three at home. It's a big It's like a sneaky big match Jay tomorrow. So tell me about Dallas. What do you guys need to need to do to get all three? Take care of your home field.
This is a big game. It's not sneaky big. It's a big game. As in, all of the games are going forward are big games for us because this is about making it into the playoffs and giving ourselves the best chance to win something in the playoffs, which means home field advantage. So every game is massive. Dallas is an interesting team because they had a good season last year. They came in this season and really struggled to kind of find their way. They've had a lot of injuries
with some of their most important players. From what I gather now, they've got all their best players back and are all healthy. They've been on a run of good form. So you know, it's a team that seems to be heading forward and we seem to be heading sideways or backwards. So it's time to arrest all of that. It is time too, As I said before, it's time to simplify, simplify and clarify, and it is time for players to step forward and make their mark.
All right, my guy, well be pulling for He's always appreciate the time today and good luck tomorrow.
Okay, all right, buddy, take care.
Jason christ Right, I'll salt Lake. It's a big one tomorrow. If you guys are looking for something to do on a Wednesday evening, go to RSL dot com for.
Single game ticket options.
Excuse me, Dallas is in town and RSL badly needs a win as a result of the recent slide.
Rayel saw Lake is still in fourth.
You need a top four slot to get a home playoff match, but Seattle is lurking and they're good, so is Vancouver. Houston is now up there as well, and Portland has kind of turned it on. So RSL in a virtual tie with Colorado one point behind LAFC in a full eight points beyond the galaxy. You have really turned it on. But Rayal saw Lake badly in need of a win. Coming up tomorrow, RSL dot com. Let's pack the place all right. Before we catch a break, I want to tell you about my friends at Prize Picks.
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