Trail saw Lake in the midst of a bit of a road heavy portion of this schedule in Nashville last week, but they will be home coming up on Saturday against Toronto for a seven to thirty kick. It is cold today, but Saturday looks all right, so maybe Saturday night will get a little luck with the weather and time.
Now for our well, it's becoming a.
Very regular conversation with head coach over al saalt Lake. Pablo mash JOINNY on a Thursday afternoon. Bablo, Happy Thursday, sir.
How are you happy Thursdays?
Fen's doing great, Bud, appreciate the time.
So let's look back Nashville Nashville two to one final score looked good for a little bit. So before I get into some specific questions I have for you, now that you've had a chance to digest the loss and go back and look at the tape, would you like and what would you not like?
Pablo, Yeah, I think there is a lot of good stuff again, building off that La Galaxy game. I thought, you know, going on the road, Nashville is in a good run of form, you know, I think we played a really really well one to one into I think it was a seventy fifth minute where we scored a goal and it was called off sides after var so again the referee didn't call it in real time and
took it back, So now we're two to one. And then I think in the eighty eighth minute it was we gave Way just a very soft PK and you know, it ended up determining our fate in that game, which was really difficult to kind of stomach given the way that the guys played. And I think it's really important for our group, Spence, and really any team is putting together two good performances that get two really good results. Right, so three points are in this case, you know, three
points at home and one on the road. We take that and we can continue building. Where I felt like this week we had to go back and talk about, you know, very fundamental aspects of the game and and and you know how you have to walk gingerly in the box when your opponents have the ball in there, and you can't be clumsy, you got to move your feet, so a little step back, but I think overall it was a really good performance that was marred by some
you know, non calls. You know, there could have been a red card and that goal that they called back on bar and then our penalty kick. So definitely defined by a couple of moments in the games that you know, sealed our fate and that in that.
Game, Tom gets gets the goal in the twelfth and Diego gets that assist. So take us through what you what'd you like about that build up and you know, the the the redeeming thought of of Dom being able to find the back of the net and another assist for Diego.
Yeah, no, you know again, that's that's there's so many moments where you know, we saw that they wanted to get pressure on the ball and we had a we had a break through our we had to get through our midfield to get to our attacking midfielders, and that play was was textbook. Dio got on the ball, took
a good look at goal. Dom was there to clean it up and and one of the things that we've been working with Dom is in that final third area is making sure he's positioning is such that it's not too wide where we're actually threatening from that wide position. So kudos for him for really tightening that up and
being in a great position. And and again Joe getting on the ball, and I think if we get Gioke on the ball in the attacking third and we got guys like Luna and dom and and Ari or his SEUs, you know, crash in the box, we're gonna we're going to score goals and we're going to you know, create a lot of good opportunities. So it was a really good play that culminated into a really good goal.
Okay, the the goal that was called back. The off sides.
To walk us through that a little bit, and I felt bad for Jesus because he was so excited, you know, and it was it was a great ball, It was a great finish. And I didn't even uh, you know, watching it on TV in real time, I didn't even consider that that could have been an offside penalty. Uh So your your thoughts in the moment, and you went back and watched it, What do you make about that all went down?
Yeah, you know, it's it's it's it's really interesting because the whole purpose of v A r. Bar Is is to nig is to take back a play that was egregiously miscalled. And what's interesting with the off side is we don't have the technology in var in our league that has these lines that go across the field that they use to validate whether or not given the angle of the camera and all these things could be misleading, and so the fact that the line's been on the
ball side didn't raise his flag. And then you go back and watch it and you're, you know, sometimes you watch it with the understanding that it was like they called it off side, so you're looking at it from his off side, but it was for me, it's still you know, it's it's not what var is meant to be, especially for offside call where there's there's no objectivity other than using a camera that's at a slant, and because we don't use those lines that make it objective. So
that was really the disappointing part. But again, a really good play where a mecha finds Diego, Diego finds Diego, Diego releases Dom, and Dom woods in across behind the defense with his seu's finishing. I mean, it was like it was, you know, training ground type type play that that you know was eventually nullified. So it was a bit disappointing, but again, we create more of those actions. We're going to create more of those goals, all.
Right, now, over to the PK because it looked like you guys were going to escape with one at least, you know, instead of walking away with three. And look, you know, in every sport, a veteran player knows the way to massage the game to get calls in his favor or to get in the head of a young player, and that Luk Tah kid is a really, really good player.
But from my vantage point, it felt like he knew.
I think it was Nelson was kind of on his back and he initiates the contact and then just goes down in the most soccer dive annoying way of all time.
That's what I saw. You tell me what you saw.
No, I think you're right. I was angry at the call, but I was also angry at his cleverness, right, Like, I was angry at both of those things in one moment, because again it was super soft. But what but the thing, what you know, so just going back and looking at the play, and my conversation with the pivots is when you're recovering, so the balls, the balls on the left side of the box before it gets crossed, and you know, it's the old Wayne Gretzky skate to where the puck
is going. Don't skate to where the puck's at Like it's the same. You can use that for recovering pivots when you're when you're going from midfield to now into your box to recover is what does the what is the play saying where's the danger area? Where's the ball going to eventually go? Because that's where I want to That's where I want to run to. So that was the first problem, is his recovery wasn't in a position that was advantageous for us defensively. The second part was
because he wasn't proactive in his recovery. Then it's a reactionary it goes over his head and now he's just chasing the ball without really seeing the sight of the player. And then, like you said, Mouktar just does what veterans do and he realizes that he's coming full speed, and so he just gets in the way of Nelson's row, which is you know, it's it's cheap, but it's smart, you know, and and and that's the type of clever cleverness that that wins you games or wins you moments
that help you in games. And so that you know it was frustrating, but but again it's a good learning moment and if if that happens again, then then then we have some big problems. But I think for for all of our pivots who uh you know, they're they're they're learning, they're getting it, and we talk about it, we go through it on training field. So it's I think it's gonna be one of those moments that that we'll learn from and and won't happen again.
You know, I'm stretching my memory, Poplo, I'm getting a little bit older, but I seem to remember a midfielder with a little bite who played for the Colorado Rapids, who may or may not have at times enjoyed executing some shall we say, dark arts here or there? Is there a part of you that tips the cap to Mouktar and says well done, sir.
Yes, absolutely, That's why I said I was angry with this cleverness because it's it's genius and in and again, and then that's the thing that you know that that's what experience will bring you the same thing in the other box, right with with guys that have been around, they know like the angle of attacking the ball. So it's not just to recover the ball. That's that's just playing the game that's in front of you. But there's
a game that's happening within the game. And if you can get into that, if you get into that level, now you're multi dimensional and that's where you you know, you can you can really man, you know, you dictate what the referee calls, you know how to get under people's skin, and there's another game that's going on and so, uh, you know, fair play to Mutar and for us, definitely a learning moment.
So as far as the learning moment goes, like it's hard to even be mad at Nelson, right because like, what what's the lesson?
Do?
You just let him know?
Like, hey, when you're around a savvy vet, you've got to be a little frosty, like what what are the teaching what are the teaching talking points?
After something like that?
Babla, Yeah, no, that's a great point. So again, it's it's that moment was happened because his actions were reactionary. In other words, if he was recovering to a spot, so the ball gets played out to the left side right and as the weak side pivot, so the weak side sense for midfielder, You've got to get to a spot defensively that covers the back line. So that's the first part. That's really the teaching moment. So again, don't you know where the ball is? You know what's happening
over there. After two seconds you glanced there. Now you're spending the rest of your time recovering to a position where you identify Muktar. Because Mouktar was floating in between the lines, right, There wasn't a center back with him. He was just kind of floating between them. So as a pivot, I'm recovering to Muktar. That's my point of reference. Right, that's the danger guy in this moment that can affect
our defense. Right. So that's really the teaching moment. And then the other teaching moment is you don't try to win the ball in your penalty box. And I know that sounds counterintuitive, but you don't make tackles in your penalty box. What you're doing is you're literally playing and like cop defending, where you're moving your feet, you're using your arms in your hands to keep the player moving away from the box or to pass the ball to
another player that's outside the box. But anytime you go into challenge like to win a ball, you're putting yourself at the mercy of the referees discretion, right, and then all the dark arts from your opponent. So there's so many variables that come into play when you try to win the ball. Box, So we talk about moving our feet blocking the ball. You can block the ball, you can shuveer them out, but you just don't want to make tackles in the box.
M interesting before we get to the players that are not on your roster, because we have to get there at the moment.
Was Forrester unavailable?
Was it?
Was he hurt when you guys went to Nashville.
No, no, again, I think you know we've we've you know, he had a really good run of games and we weren't able to you know, produce enough attacking output. You know. So my conversation with him is we we just got to give other guys a try, Like we just got to figure out between Ari between Forrester hashus, who who's the guy that's going to get be the most compatible with the players that we currently have. But also, you know,
either creating a goal scoring opportunity or scoring himself. And so it was just basically coaches' decision as far as why Forster wasn't on the roster, so.
He went with Ari to start in Brea as the sub. Take us into that mentality and how do you analyze the way those two handle themselves.
Yeah, no, I think again, I think Ari again. My expectations for Ari's is what he's been doing, right if you know given you know his this is his first professional season, right, he played a few games in Australia, came over. So like, my expectation is that he's not going to come out of the gates and in his career in our league that's very difficult, and he gets more and more difficult every year. But he's going to be just banging goals left and right, like that's that's unrealistic, right.
But his runs are really really good, his hold the plays getting better with every game. He had a really good chance in the first half that just missed the post. So he's doing everything from at least my expectations. And so then the thought was his sus is a very technical guy. He's clever with his runs. Let's you know, I think already went sixty five sixty minutes. Let's let's give hasus a run here to see if we can't
get a hold of the ball. Because again, what Juzu's does is he does a really good job of bringing teammates into the game because he's technical, he reads the game. And so that was that was the thought with that decision.
Well, I wanted to ask you this because I asked Herd this earlier when he joined us. This week two part question, are you a fan? This is the wrong week for me to ask you this, but are you a fan of VAR? And if you are not, what are some changes you think they could make to the way that this system has kind of manifested itself to maybe improve on the product.
You know, to be honest, I think it was better before VAR. And I'll say that because you have the same feelings that you do now, right, but now there's this new technology, but it leaves both coaches feeling the same way that you did before there was this technology. Right, So it's like there's this review thing, but you know, like that for example that the red card review that was you know, rarely does it go to VAR if there's a red card where it's not a red card.
And they came back and gave him a yellow card, And so I'm like, wait a second, if you're a fourth official, is saying that that was an egregious file, that was a red card, well then give them a red card. But to go back and review it and not give a red card for that, I'm thinking, what's this whole process for? Like it? You know? And and again, like the red card we we had against Dari when
we played Dallas, it's the same thing. If you slow things down at the micro second, it looks a lot different than the and the actions that actually existed in real time. So I guess to answer your question, I'd like to because because both coaches, both teams, all fans, they're going to feel the same way after a VAAR call.
And I'm saying, can you capture the moment in real time, the feeling of the game and what that was, And you're still going to be wrong sometimes, but at least you caught it in real time, and it puts a notice now on referees to be a little bit more, you know, on top of the game, versus having somebody to fall back to to then give to them make a call that that was reviewed in macro seconds and maybe not the best angles as well, So I think I'm a fan of not having it.
I know it's been a little bit of a rough start, you know, through eight get three eight matches, But I wanted to ask you a macro question about these eight games. So you guys have analyzed and Kurt walked us through some numbers. Obviously Kurt's very analytically driven through eight games. What are you guys doing well?
Pablo? What you what do you like that you're seeing so far?
Well? Again, I think between the boxes we're doing we're doing we're doing well. In other words, the stats that aren't significant to results, I know. So like, our ability to control the game with the ball has been really good, both home and away. Defending between the boxes has has improved drastically in the last four games, so that parts really well. So just going over the game, uh, you know, six of the nine chances that that Nashville had against
US came from dead ball situations, which are throwings. Uh, their goalkick set pieces, second phase set pieces, so like, these are all controllable moments where we actually have a chance to set up. So that's that's been the difficult part, you know, And and so that's what we focus on this week is and we use the slogan when the ball is dead, we come alive. Right when the ball is dead, you think I'm gonna get my chance to rest, but no, this is when you come alive because this
is when we're conceding our most chances. So I think the area is where we've been deficient. Obviously, you know, scoring goals has been another area. But I think again the rhythm of play has been better, the chances have improved, the quality of chances have improved, So I think we're trending in the right direction. And this is what I alluded to at the beginning is you've got to put two good games together with two wins in order to validate the work, and the belief system goes up and
the confidence goes up. And that's why I think the result against Nashville left the bat taste in our mouths because I think we're on the cusp of really finding our form, finding our way, and getting.
Good results before we get to Toronto.
Your opponent on Saturday, the way you kind of broke down where you feel like you guys are excelling, does indicate you might have a hole on your roster, and of course I will ask you once again, and I know you might get sick of it. I had to ask Kurt this week, and I feel like you want to strangle me through the phone. But Pablo, we're less than a week away, man, and we just are. And then that window closes. Then you have to wait until the summer, and the season might be tough to get
back at that point, as you know. So for the RSL fans that are glued to the radio waiting for the one question, they probably have been wanting me to ask you for twenty minutes. Now, what is the progress? Where are we at? Our reinforcements on the way.
So I might get in trouble for saying this, but I've been told that we are going to get a big player across the line. Okay, So now that's me probably speaking out of turn, because again, like these things spent, like I've said all along, and that's why I've been hesitant. It's there. There's so much that has to go through. But I've been but I've been told that that we're going to get this across the line. Those are our expectations. So I'm going with that, and this player could be
coming at a better time. Like I said, I think we're really moving in the right direction with the way we want to play and all these things and him coming into that's that's that's confident, and that's you know, building towards something special. I think is a great environment for which to come into the group. And and and there's also a possibility of adding a little bit more experience to the roster, and that hasn't been yet solidified, but I think we're close there as well. So I'm optimistic.
I'm an eternal optimist. I feel like we're gonna we're gonna turn things around shortly here. I feel like these we're gonna get a couple of players in and uh, we'll be moving full steam.
Ads music to our ears before I set you loose.
Uh.
Toronto rolls into town on Saturday and they have not won the game all year. They've played eight games, they've lost four, they've drawn for I'm not one, based off of my experience at MLS to say a game in April as a must win, but this feels like there's maybe a little heightened pressure for you on Saturday night.
Is that fair?
Yeah? I mean, just based upon the fact that we're we're we're we're we're doing everything that we're asked that's being added of the guys, they're they're doing, they're they're putting in all the work. And you know, we're up against the Toronto team that have actually had three or four good results in a row. And results I mean they've they've drawn, they haven't won, but they've played some really good stuff and they've played against some really difficult teams.
Right they went to Miami and got to draw in Miami, which they probably should have won that game. So again, in MLS, there's no there's there's no easy game. So we've got to be on top of ours in order to beat these guys. But but but yeah, I feel like obviously, you know, we're we didn't get out to
the start that we'd like. But again, I think it's it's calm when bullets are flying, making sure that we're doing all the little things that we can we can't control to put ourselves in the best position to win this game on Saturday.
All right, my guy, Well, I appreciate the time, have a good final couple of days in training and then best of lux Saturday night.
Okay, thanks Ben, appreciate it, but.
Pablo Master Rennie if you missed it.
He said he has been told a big player will be signed prior to the transfer win into closing, which is six days away from right down,