look good in the first half.

No, first half was not good.

He was very, you know, not influential.

I thought he wasn't getting in the right spots.

He had a couple of, you know, bad turnovers or...

So I really do think that he grew into the game.

But credit to him for staying, you know, positive.

It wasn't ideal that they had to wait till the second half to do it though.

yeah.

It is not far-fetched, people, with the injuries and everything.

So, yes, he's talking playoffs.

And, look, the reality is I don't want to put it right back on Brian because it is not his job necessarily to assess anything.

you know, players' muscles and the exhaustion in certain parts of the body.

I mean, that's the sports science department, right? They have data.

They have an exact number of, like, acids and stuff that go through your muscles and things like that that goes beyond his expertise, right? Right.

if he does not play well, it's, he might not get another start at the wing.

Suddenly, not only are you not running guys into the ground, but you're also able to even if the broader approach stays the same within a game, you're able to show different looks within that approach that it isn't, you know, strictly getting to the end line and playing a ball directly across the mouth of goal or a cutback, you know, creating different interchanges at the edge of the box and creating opportunities differently so that, teams can't just set up for one thing and expect that that's going to be all that okay

yeah i i totally agree you know it gives you different ways to attack the game it could bring you that super support rock that sometimes works so well for this team so yeah i think all of it has is elevated training as well i think that's another thing i've learned this week is that It's been very intense at training.

There was a shouting match between Hassani Dodson and Precky at one point of the training this week.

And, you know, it goes back to just, you know, it's 11 on 11, full field.

And you know how coaches sometimes will call, they're the refs out there, right? So either you call a foul or you don't, or be, you know, you're going to have to live with that.

And I think there was a moment where I might have missed what happened.

And then Hassani was complaining about the no call.

And that's really one of the things that they've struggled to do throughout this winless run.

I would say... underwhelming is maybe a fair way of putting it, but if you were to assess the moves as an entirety, let's start with you, Nico, what grade would you give the Sundance transfer window?

Yeah, look to me and I've, you know, been vocal and I've said this a couple of times on X. I had a whole life year, uh, life X open space yesterday where a lot of people chimed in on and, uh, I'm going to stick to a solid C.

Look, I think that you get a home run outside, let's call it a grand salami, if you will, when you get a franchise player at $6 million, to me is the best deal of the transfer window.

It could be a historic steal for a guy that can produce at the rate that He does.

I mean, look, I did an analogy.

You know, I love my analogies.

It feels like.

How do you assess this one, Nico?

They're saying it's at least three weeks, but the way he worded it, it's actually four weeks because he's already been out for a week, and it could be easily a couple more weeks until he's recovering, maybe more, right? It definitely seems like more than nothing, though, wouldn't you say?

No, it does.

You know, he cannot squeeze one last minute.

He was very savvy.

I'll give him credit.

He was very savvy in his wording, and, you know, he goes – three weeks and he goes pain tolerance.

And, you know, it's, it's a very good way to put it, but look, you're right.

What do you make of those trio though? And what do you think we should expect?

And that, for me, is very impressive of Craig Weibel, very impressive of the agents, very impressive of Albert Rusnak to make this all happen so that Jovelich could be a sounder.

Yeah, look, there is good things about it.

There's bad things about it.

I think it's a very positive move.

I think that it's more looking ahead even.

And I know that I'll probably get some negative commentary about that.

But if you really think about what you have in Albert Rusnak, he's a guy that, yes, he's not going to be someone who's going to take over a game.

We think this should be a team, a roster built to get back into the playoff picture and to potentially go on a run with Jovovich scoring goals up top.

What was your reaction to the Sounders getting their guy in Dejan Jovalic?

I was ecstatic from the moment that I heard that it was a possibility because, as you know, there was a couple of scenarios for this team, and the clearer paths did not have this team bringing in a DP because there wasn't a DP spot open.

So when I heard that they were going after Jovelich, a guy that I had been wanting this team to go after ever since he left LA Galaxy for the very first time within league, I was thinking that he was a perfect fit.

And mainly because of the profile of the player.

This Sounders team had their most successful performance rain with one Raul Rodriguez, a guy that had nothing on his mind but scoring.

That's what he did.

He wanted to put the ball in the back of the net.

What do you make of the Albert facet of all of this? Not just his willingness to take the extension, absolutely go through that, but also just the social teammate aspect of what Albert has done for this move.

And to have it, the rug pulled out a little bit was was kind of frustrating.

Yeah, first of all, fuck Fabrizio Romano.

I don't care about him at all.

How are you going to be like busting this news about Real Madrid and by your minutes, are you going to come and take the peace out of me, out of the Sounders? All of a sudden, not to mention the fact that he went early on this.

I mean, he went early on this.

Nothing was done.

I obviously put out the whole restructure that would demand a move like this one in terms of Albert's contract, something that I'm sure he did not even have in mind because I'm sure he just gets a call and he gets to just put it out and say, let's go.

I mean, that can't be a totally fun conversation for Jovalich to talk to some guys like, yeah, I know you're going to have to give up money for me to come play there, but it's worth it.

Where do we go from here? Nico?

Yeah.

Look, a guy that both you and I respect a lot that we will not name.

Then we talk, you know, I thought it said it best, like, you know, is there, a point like, can we drop enough? Can you fall far enough? I don't know.

I don't know if, I don't know.

I don't know if there's a, there's an end to the well, like, you know, you threw the coin and you still haven't heard it hit the bottom.

I don't know if, if you're going to hear the bottom, right? So it's just, it's difficult to just look at this team and be optimistic about anything.

But I guess that's out there.

forcing the game a little bit more, right? Just force it.

Exactly.

Just take it upon yourself.

That is your – you know, burden to bear.

You are the highest paid player, man.

And so you, you have to do more.

You got to shoot better.

But man, if the Sounders don't win this game, I think you've got to get really, really worried about them honestly breaking the MLS record of straight losses, which is 12, because the schedule is not going to get any easier in the immediate future.

So Nico, what was your impression of the crowd and the, and everything?

Look, first of all, to your point on the lineup, I was slightly surprised, not incredibly surprised because Gabriel Milito, if anything is looking for, a lot of positives to keep his job.

It is, you know, that job, it comes with a lot of responsibility in Liga MX, you know, just about every single coaching job, it tends to start off with your seat pretty hot.

And so there has been a lot of, discourse on Gabriel Milito.

And so he was looking for probably something else to add to his bag and trying to keep his job.

But hey, man, from Piojo Alvarado to Brian Gutierrez, that was a pretty good lineup that the Sounders were facing.

And so let's start with the big elephant in the room.

I'm going to let you kind of take it from there.

seven losses in a row? Seven losses in a row.

Seven losses in a row.

Seven losses in a row.

It's unprecedented.

You have had some scandalous losses like you did against Portland at home.

You have literally looked like a team that's in a free fall.

And, you know, we've gotten here because you were always pushing the limit of where your team was at.

You, you wanted to say a piece on it and I'm just going to let you say your piece.

We need to be shooting higher than that.

Yeah, it's exactly what I want to relay, right? I want to make sure that people have the expectation of a guy that could potentially come in and help this team out.

But at the end of the day, I'm going to – and this might bite me in the behind, but – Real Salt Lake today is not the Real Salt Lake of five years ago, right? The amount of money they put into that roster is substantial.

Now, that hasn't necessarily reflected into wins or championships, but the team is... entertaining and it's an offensive attacking team.

And those guys here in Seattle is, is kind of what I want to see.

I want to see you go out there and get guys that are going to come in and perform and you spend, you know, 20, 30 million in a total for three or four guys.

But unless there is a new investor group that comes in, That's not going to be the case, Jeremiah.

And I hope a game like this is, like I said, a wake up call.

I just, I was very, very disappointed and I think embarrassed is the right word.

Yeah, look, the individual performances were...

Atrocious.

Tim Rehm was awful.

Matt Freeze was awful.

Pulisic was uninspiring and a ghost for the majority of that game.

Just as bad, maybe awful, you could add to that too, because he's supposed to be your best player.

a

We had two goals and it was, it was some of the most exciting soccer that I have witnessed in person ever, frankly.

Yeah, look, I, uh, was not able to go cause I, uh, had the day off from my world cup coverage.

So I definitely took that to just be home and finish building my trigger that I needed to finish building.

Uh, but watching the game, uh, it was evident that, uh, It was a full house, and there was the sections of a lot of the Iranian supporters and the Egyptians who, from the first game, not only are they organized, but they have chants, they have costumes, and they have all these other things, a ton of kids that are kind of part of it.

The way they handled their march and things like that.

So although I wasn't there, I could definitely see them being the group that was more organized.

And throughout the game, I mean, you could hear it in the broadcast how lively it was.

I mean, that was really, I think, my takeaway from this is the way that people get so excited to see their team in the World Cup that they're willing to do just about anything to get to the games.

A lot.

So to your point, yes, uh, uh, there are some big conclusions that go even back to this last LAFC game and, a- and that's one of them, is you don't have currently a guy that's gonna take over a game.

And even if there has been glimpses from Jesús, there have been, uh, glimpses from when Cristian Roldán is, uh, you know, at his best, and he's getting a couple of wide open headers or, you know, shots inside the 18 on a cross.

He could put the ball in the back of the net.

Snyder's had, had moments.

There isn't really a guy that game in, game out is gonna just take over.

Number two of what I learned this week is that the Sounders have still...

No games-

Until we have games again.

And this is all in line with the what we learned this week conclusions of the last three months, and I'd like to put those in some sort of bullet put, uh, uh, form, uh, bullet point form.

And it's, what we have here at the striker position is fine, but it's not great, and it hasn't produced.

Number two, it's anyone's job to have it.

Nobody wants it or nobody has owned it yet.

And number three, although maybe there's a possibility that these guys do get hot, there's a need for something different and for another guy to come in and have either a different profile, dynamic, production, whatever it may be, but you need something at least to put more fire under these guys or just to have a guy for the future.

And hopefully, there's enough scouting that you can put together and enough resources to go right next to that in order to bring the next best thing.

That does.

It, it's becoming a thing

...

the nine situation, but I understand that Jordan Morris, because of his name, the DP title, there's a lot of pressure and expectation because his name correlates with all-time leading scorer.

So, you think goals.

And I understand that, a- a- I've said this myself, I think decisiveness has not been there for him recently.

He has had opportunities in front of goal that he hasn't put away.

But I think if you look at the overall body of work, it's been pretty good.

That's critical

Right.

So you're hoping that that's what happens.

And, and this is the way that San Diego FC can do that.

I think set pieces are gonna be key.

Uh, when it comes to just delivery into the box, whether it's to free kicks or corners, um, Ingversten is a very good player on air.

I think that Dryer has phenomenal delivery.

You got McVey, you got Dua, you got a lot of players that can really beat you up top, so you gotta take care of that.

50.

The, the, the willingness to let players go-

Minor tech difficulties, chat.

Minor tech difficulties, but we are fixing it right now.

We are fixing it right now.

I don't have a mic on, so it's gonna sound bad, but always laptop which we had the stream going on died, so we're plugging it back in.

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My- [laughs] I'm just talking to no one.

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