Elias Saad

And we do have to talk about whatever.

I don't know what spell, what witch put on Elias Saad.

Okay.

I mean, do you think he's a good finisher? Because I don't.

I don't think actually people have really been talking about that enough.

Elias Saad is a DP.

He's there on loan.

And then I think the transfer buy option is like four or 5 million.

then they just put up 4-0 on Cincinnati, which, say what you will about Cincinnati, that's an impressive win, though.

Yeah, I like Elias Saad, the Tunisian left winger they brought in from Augsburg.

He's looked good.

He's looked good and fit into the system when he's played.

The sort of new thing now coming up with Nashville, and I was talking to somebody who works for the club on an elevator ride right before the second half started on Saturday, and he mentioned it as well, and we were kind of just chatting a little bit about the actual soccer.

It's just how the addition of Elias Saad changes what Nashville does in terms of where they can hurt you from the field.

And it's not just him, right? It's Reed Baker-Whiting, it's Andy Nahar, it's even Jason Palacios and Maxwell Edgy.

Because what you have now is goal scorers from different areas, but also different phases of the game.

when you talk about a team that's able to win in multiple ways, this is vital to that team.

So when you look at somebody coming in from the left side, matching Espinosa and even maybe surpassing Espinosa in terms of his dribbling ability, it really changes the way that the defenders see Nashville and protect that.

I mean, Elias Saad has been the number one nightmare to every right back he's faced since he came to Nashville.

He is one of those guys that just goes at his right back one time after time.

And by the way, Nashville's healthy for the first time since the start of the season.

And actually, they added Elias Saad, so they're the strongest they've been all season.

If Yazbek is back for 90 minutes, Tagseth is in for 90 minutes, Corcoran's off the bench, Mukhtar, Suraj, Espinoza, Saad, Reed Baker-Whiting, Palacios, Will Edgy...

I think this team

Well, looking at Nashville, running away with the Supporters Shield lead for quite some time, and they did make some additions in the summer to get even better.

It was just like, wow, how can they even improve on what they're already doing? They brought in Elias Saad on loan, a trade for Zidane.

And then the acquisition of Femara Kamara.

Is that how you say it? Saad's the only one I believe that has played a game, if I'm not mistaken.

I don't think FC Cincinnati fans should, should try to, I don't think FC Cincinnati will try to get greedy on this, nor should the expectations be greedy on it.

But yeah, from when your chat, you know, what, what, I guess anything to end on there as a takeaway from Tony?

Yeah, I mean, he even brought up Elias Saad, the newcomer that, I mean, he was the one, and like Nashville made three editions this summer window that we talked about.

And it was like surprising that they were doing so well and somehow had room to add these other pieces.

This game saw Patrick Yazbeck make his first start since missing three months due to injury with Matt Corcoran alongside in the midfield.

After playing several games in a row, including League's Cup matches, Ilyas Saad was given a break with Alex Will starting in the left wing spot instead.

Lovitz was once again the starting left back.

This game also marked the 200th regular season MLS appearance for one Hani Mukhtar, who at this point is a surefire MLS legend.

And just like that, Columbus was leading 2-1 with only 20 minutes in stoppage time left in the match.

Now, if you thought that losing the lead like that so late in the match would mean that this Nashville SC team would just roll over and fold and concede the loss, well, you haven't been paying attention this season or even this week.

Substitutes Ilyas Saad, Reed Baker Whiting, and Eddie Tagseth put the pressure on Columbus in the last third of the game.

And as regular time wound down, Nashville was putting a lot of pressure on an exhausted Columbus defense.