Nicolás Lodeiro

You, you hit on it earlier, but to me, this game was a great example of how he's changing this team, not just with the goals on the field, but changing the personality of this team, Jackson.

I think beyond the goals, uh, when we talk about the intensity he brings, the competitive edge and the leadership on the field, it reminds me a lot of what Seattle lost when Nicolás Lodeiro departed.

And that's something that we have talked about a lot on this show as well is, uh, you know, there's the on-field aspect and production that Nicolás Lodeiro brought to this team, but there was also the, the captaincy, the standard setting, the sort of, "I'm not gonna let things like a 5-1 defeat at home to Portland happen ever," you know? And I do think that, uh, that's something that they've...

it's not easy to replace, to be fair.

Uh, it's very hard to find guys who can deliver that type of intensity and competitive edge and leadership and, you know, do they have a guy in Dejan Joveljić who can offer those things? I, I really, I really think so.

So therefore, bec- that, that's how you justify the stat sheet production being meaningless, is it's m- it's bad team merchanting and he's lazy.

Well, this was a good team, and he apparently covered 6.4 miles of dis- I, I'm not, I'm not saying he's, like, a work rate player.

If anything, I feel like I've conceded the fact that he's not really this two-way defensive presence like Nicolás Lodeiro.

Get the, get the, we'll get the queue rolling in a second here Uh, but I did wanna finish the thought that I had on...

What, uh, that I was cooking on in between the pressers, which is regarding Decky because he, he brings something to this team beyond just the goal scoring, okay? What have we talked about in the post Nico Lodeiro era? In the post Nico Lodeiro era, it wasn't the on-field production and the on-field presence only that left a void.

It was a standard setter, a guy who doesn't accept losing, who doesn't accept subpar performances, who won't let that type of stuff happen because of the type of leader that he is.

I don't wanna say Dejan Joveljic is for sure that guy or for sure gonna be that guy or already is that guy, but he really seems like that guy to me.

That's why they're so high up in the table.

They're just such a unpredictable team.

And with a player that is very, uh, that is kind of similar to Nico Lodeiro, I'll be honest, a- and Carlos Gil as well, um, numbers wise as well.

He, uh...

[laughs] But, you know, Clint Dempsey.

You know, Nico Lodeiro I think au- automatic.

Automatic.

But, like, will Román Tor- Torres get in? That's...

Was it something that triggered the growth of that over time? What was it that helped make that become what it is?

Well, I think the top players on the, the Nico Lodeiros, the Clint Dempseys, the Jordan Morrises, the Obafemi Martins, Román Torres, like all the veteran core guys set the standard, and it trickles down.

It's a trickle-down effect.

Everybody says, "Oh, this is what it takes." Everybody looking up, seeing the top guys performing every day at training, Tuesday morning, five V five, being pissed off they don't win.

And, and I've, I've seen this before, right? I've, I...

We talked about it, I think, last time, um, maybe a couple episodes ago, where the, the, the best s- mid-season signing of all time for me was Nico Lodeiro, not only because of the amazing player that he was, but he turned a Seattle Sounders that was very close to last place, if not last place, and they became MLS Cup champions, and he was an enormous part of that, right? And so I'm not saying that Leo Valta is gonna be able to do the same thing, because you do have some other integral pieces, but maybe he could be a little bit of that glue that kind of brings things together, and the attack becomes a little bit more cohesive than we've seen up until now.

Um, I'm very hopeful but tempered as well.

I don't think one guy's gonna fix everything.