3rd Degree the Podcast #278

[00:00:00] Speaker A: But again, like this organization right now stinks. This team stinks. And part of why you stink is the last couple of years you've stopped developing players due to your first team. So it just made me mad. [00:00:24] Speaker B: Podcast, third degree, the third degree nap. [00:00:29] Speaker C: Podcast, the third degree nap, I guess. [00:00:35] Speaker B: Third degree, the third degree nap. I can. Well, hello there, FC Dallas Curious fan. Welcome to episode 278 of Third Degree, the podcast of not victory pod. Sorry. There he is, your favorite Dan Crook. Howdy, Dan. [00:00:55] Speaker C: Oh, hey, how's it going? [00:00:57] Speaker B: Good. And you, sir? Anything new in your world you'd like to share with the curious? [00:01:02] Speaker C: Oh, let me think about it for a minute. No, I'm good. [00:01:05] Speaker B: Okay. And your hero? My hero, everybody's hero. Editor, founder of Thirddegree.net, and the original soccer influencer himself, buzz Carrot coming, buzz. [00:01:16] Speaker A: Hey, Peter, let's, before we get into this whole thing, let's just mention that Thursday we're recording on Wednesday. Thursday is the anniversary of Bobby Ryan's death. A guy that dow still misses, this club still misses, and they've got a multiple people trying to fill his shoes and they still are not living up to it. And he's missed every year and all the time. So just want to bring it up and mention him. Rest in peace, Bobby. [00:01:39] Speaker B: I appreciate you doing that, but man, that's a way to be a bummer to start off a podcast. [00:01:43] Speaker A: Yeah, sorry to bring the podcast down right out of the gate, but yeah. [00:01:49] Speaker B: Well, all of that feels like a perfect segue into the topic to discuss, which is last Saturday's game. Colorado comes back from behind twice to beat Dallas in Frisco three to two. And I had this epiphany after watching the game buzz that if you were to try to find a one game example that epitomized the frustration and general morbidness of being a fan of this club. If you were to squish all 27 seasons into 190 minutes performance, all the good and the bad, that might have been the game to, to sample it by. [00:02:32] Speaker A: Yeah, it really is. Because I think that the things that plug dows in this game are things that often have plugged them over many, many years, which is they, they can from time to time, play pretty well. But then, as Peter Luxane said, we weren't good enough in both boxes. And that's something that's been true with this team for a long time. And they've, they've, they've never been super great at closing out games against really quality teams. They've never quite been clinical and great in front of goal. And they've never quite been 100% a lockdown team, not at the same time, certainly, as they've been good at finishing. And so, you're right, it was a hard one to swallow. I'm sure it was a hard one for the team to swallow, particularly because things are clicking so relatively well generally on offense in macro terms up until this game. And even though they scored a goal or two, it was not. It was not good enough offensively and it definitely was not good enough defensively. [00:03:27] Speaker B: Dan does that. Is that the final nail in the coffin of this season? [00:03:31] Speaker C: I think that came a while ago, didn't it? [00:03:34] Speaker B: I. Maybe. I don't. Maybe it's a nail in the coffin, maybe not the final one. But I think a lot of people were holding out hope that they still had a chance to make it into the playoffs. [00:03:45] Speaker C: It's the hope that gets, you know. [00:03:48] Speaker A: Well, mathematically they still do. They need, you know, roughly eleven points, which is not four wins, is three wins and a couple of ties. So they have seven games left. But, you know, you're going to have to play, I mean, to get four wins out of seven games or even 3.6 wins out of seven games. Sorry. Yeah, seven games. You have to play really, really well. I mean, that's well above 500. So. [00:04:11] Speaker B: All right. [00:04:11] Speaker A: You know, and this team has not been doing that all year. I mean, it was doing that under look same, but then obviously here's a stumble and the next three are tough, so it's. They've left themselves a very, very difficult slate, but it's not officially over. [00:04:26] Speaker C: I think we're missing the real story here, and that is that FC Dallas can officially no longer mathematically get first place in the west. [00:04:37] Speaker A: Fair. Fair. [00:04:39] Speaker B: Pour one out for first place. All right, well, okay. Yes, because I do think, buzz, you make a very good point. Point that the schedule does not make this path any easier for the team and also some of the intangibles, like pause being gone and call ups for this next game, et cetera, et cetera. Also having to play it in a place that they historically don't play well in, it's on turf, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But let's. You know, because part of what made the loss against Colorado such a fine example of the overall Dallas burn experience of the last 27 years is the fact that the team really did play well for large chunks of the season. In fact, I'd even argue that Moussa goal was one of the nicest goal scoring sequences in club history. So let's talk about what they did well on Saturday. [00:05:31] Speaker A: Well, Luxane is maintaining some consistency, and when he was missing a player, Paul Areola, I really like that he just brought in a player he didn't like, move four pieces to try and compensate for that. He just went with the consistency from the previous game when they had won and they just brought in Sam Junko, who ended up being my man of the match. I thought he was terrific. He had, he had a fake assist when his first shot fell to Farrington and he had a real assist, which is the player talking about that went to Musa. That was really nice. And then he had another one where he set up Moose even easier than the one missus scored on. And so the positive things are, you know, and some of it's related to the way Colorado chose to play, but the, the passing was really nice and crisp from Dallas. They passed a really high percentage. There was lots of line breaking going on. There was lots of progressive dribbling, you know, box to box. The performance was really good. All year Dallas has been really good about denying transition opportunities, but in this game that fell apart and Colorado basically played the way Dallas used to play under Nico, Steve is on the road, which was that they didn't really value the ball, but when they got the ball back, when they turned it over, they counter attacked, not counter attacked, transition really quickly and then got in the box and crashed the box. And that's exactly the way Dallas used to play. High percentage chances underneath on the road. So, you know, overall, enough shots were created, enough opportunities were created. They held Colorado to a reasonable 14 shots. And you can say box to box that they were the better team. Unfortunately, they were not the better team in the two boxes, as coach said. [00:07:08] Speaker B: Okay, sticking with the good things, I want to talk about the two additions to the team and show and Juan. The latter of the two clearly is a better upgrade to this team than I anticipated. He really has integrated quite quickly and brings something that the team has lacked. I have no idea what the long term plan is and the ability to sign him. I'm under the impression that part of the reason why he's here is that he wanted more money than Montreal was willing to give him, which doesn't bode well for Dallas, signing him long term if in fact they choose to do that and then show. I think my assessment is, is that as good as or as impressive as he was in the first game? Playing against a better midfield opponent this time, I think exposed a little bit more out of him and probably it was. I would say he was. In my mind, this was more of a Liam Frazier type performance. [00:08:07] Speaker A: I felt like it was a little better than that. But I think because the Rapids weren't very aggressive in midfield and played a relatively deep shape that he wasn't able to do much progressive play. You know, he kind of was in the game and then. And that was about it. I didn't really take a whole lot away from. I definitely. He was definitely nowhere near as good as he was against DC, but he was still two for two on take ons. He still had, you know, four progressive passes. You know, it was there. It just wasn't quite as successful as it was against DC. I think because of the compactness of the rapid shape. But. [00:08:45] Speaker B: And the DC is really bad compared to Colorado, too. [00:08:48] Speaker A: Yes, significantly worse, you know, and again, the way Colorado chose to play, they made it, you know, difficult and in the final third, more difficult for the final third for Dallas and less difficult in them at all. But I would agree that it wasn't as good. I don't think it was as bad as Frazier, you know, but I don't think Fraser is terrible. You know, I just don't think that it was a good game for him to show effectively. Even who was, of course, always awesome. Still had some pretty good numbers, still had numbers better than show, but it wasn't quite as high as the RMND is normally in a lot of categories just because of the way the game presented itself. I mean, Dallas had big stretches of, you know, possession that they're not used to having, you know, and they. I think. I think from time to time they get lulled into maybe passing around a little bit too much. But at the end of the day, I would agree that. I would agree that Juan was amazing and he was torching that rookie on the right. His Dallas is right. The final ball maybe needs a little bit of work, but that'll come with time. Not in terms of who's playing it poorly, just in terms of connection and understanding of how your teammates are going to play and how they want the ball and that kind of thing. So I'm not concerned about that overall. I thought you were. I agree with you that one was really good. His show was just average, but, you know, show still 25 and still learning his way in a league and a team. So I'll forgive a setback. Sorry, I step back in the second game. [00:10:15] Speaker B: All right, so this is the other thing I noticed quite quickly, and I don't know if this is something that I just haven't been paying attention or if in fact this was new when they play three in the back under Peter, has Tafari always been the right center back and ibiaga the middle center back? Has it always been played that way? [00:10:35] Speaker A: No, it's usually deformed. The right Tafari's in the middle. [00:10:39] Speaker B: So what was the switch there? [00:10:42] Speaker A: I mean, I didn't notice that that happened the whole game. Was it not just flipping in and out? [00:10:48] Speaker B: No, I thought it was the entire game, at least. Every time I paid attention, I was like, why is Abiago playing in the middle in, Tafari out in the right? [00:10:57] Speaker A: You know, I'm sure, yeah, the average position is showing that too. I just, I didn't register that. I would imagine it has to do with, you know, the certain qualities of other players, you know, on the other team. Their center forward is kind of a very physical kind of player. Maybe they felt Ib Yaga was stronger and would do a better job on him. I don't. I don't think he did. But, you know, Mulksane did not bring that up in the postgame press conference. So at this point, you know, in his conference to talk to media will be tomorrow. So we won't, you know, get a chance to ask him before then. So you are correct that generally Tafare is the center of those players. You know, Jonathan Lewis is on the left wing for them, who's a, you know, fringe of the national team level player. And maybe they felt Tafari could better handle him potentially. That would. That would be my guess because you're right, that is unusual. That's weird that I didn't register that. That's my badlandhouse. [00:12:00] Speaker B: Not at all. [00:12:01] Speaker A: I don't usually miss stuff like that. That's weird. [00:12:05] Speaker B: Let me. Oh, yeah. So I guess we should also talk about the elephant in the room, which was the very rare, especially this season, performance of one Martin paws. This was not his best. [00:12:18] Speaker A: Yeah. I can't help but wonder if maybe he just had his mind on other things because it was not a good game from him. He particularly gave up a lot of rebounds on shots and particularly he gave them up right back in front of him in the real danger area and they got a couple of goals off of rebounds. Usually he's much sure, more sure handed than that or pushing the ball to the side. I think he would probably agree that it was not a good performance on his part, and it definitely was not, you know, that's what coach was talking about. About we weren't good enough on the box on either end. You know, there's been so many games where he's bailed this team out, and I have some bigger thoughts on him I want to talk about later, but I agree that this was a definitely one of the poor performances by Paws. What about you, Dan? How did you think of him? [00:13:07] Speaker C: Yeah, sloppy. Yeah. Like you say, the two that he kind of pushed away, that ended up leading to goals just didn't. Didn't help, obviously, the first national team call up what left on. I think he left yesterday, so. Or let me say Tuesday since. This is timeless. Yeah, that may have just been that on his mind, who knows? But, yeah, he's been so consistent that you can kind of give him the benefit of the doubt. I think that's the second poor game he's had, really, this season. [00:13:44] Speaker B: Yeah, it's been pretty rare. And I also thought on that, the winning goal, it was a weird circumstance, you know, pause on, I think. How many times has it happened with him for Dallas? Is it two or three times he's come out to challenge for a ball and ended up getting a red card? Was it twice now? [00:14:01] Speaker A: Oh, man, I have no idea. [00:14:02] Speaker C: I think it's. They've only had one red card. This is. [00:14:04] Speaker B: Well, I don't mean just this season. Cause I think, like, it dates back to last season. I can think of at least two times, I think he's come out and challenged for a ball and ended up getting. I either a second yellow or red. I'm not 100% sure. I know it's happened at least once, but that's what made me think about that particular incident, uh, on Saturday night. Was he just. He almost pulled out of trying to do anything in that circumstance. I also think there's some poor communication between him and the whatever center back was tracking back to train. [00:14:34] Speaker A: It was tafari. [00:14:34] Speaker B: Tafari. Yeah. I think there was some poor communication there, but Pa's body language just appeared different from normal in that, and it made me wonder if he was trying to avoid what he had been guilty of before. [00:14:48] Speaker A: Well, certainly, you know, the commentator mentioned, said that, like, you know, he's got to come out and just clean that whole thing out. Just take out everybody. [00:14:57] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:14:58] Speaker A: You know, and certainly, like, if you're. If you're like, dude, I gotta fly to Indonesia in two days for my first ever call up. I'm gonna hesitate whether it's conscious or subconscious, you know, I hate to think that, but it's the way it happens. [00:15:09] Speaker B: Deion Sanders used to call that a business decision. [00:15:12] Speaker A: Yeah. You know, maybe in the heat of the moment you're like. It's, you know, not even consciously doing it. But it certainly occurred to me as I was watching it. You know, there's. That's a situation where he usually would. A lot of keepers would just wipe out both those guys and just take the whole play out. You know, you get your own center back, but you get the forward too, because basically that guy just need the ball. And it went in because both Tafare and Paz sort of stopped, you know, and hesitated. And that's a tough way to lose. [00:15:42] Speaker B: A. Oh my gosh. Well, it was a very. It was a very dallas way to lose a game that they should not have lost. [00:15:49] Speaker A: And, you know, I mean, yappy is a grown man. I mean, he's like 6263, you know, approaching 200 pounds probably. You know, so he is a bit intimidating. I mean, maybe pause. Just didn't want to risk that contact. [00:16:04] Speaker B: But yeah, they said, I think. I think they said on the broadcast he's 64175. [00:16:10] Speaker A: Yeah. And it ain't like a skinny 175. I mean, he's built so I can. I can see people hesitating when I get run over by that guy. He's a handful. [00:16:19] Speaker B: Yeah. It was a very unfortunate and an awful way to lose the game, but it was. It was one of those weird performances. It was. I don't know if either one of you got to watch the game and listen to Warren Barton, who's been covering MLS. Yeah, that's what I was talking about forever and ever. I mean, Warren knows this league just about as well as anybody else. And listening to Warren, who I guess now has done several Dallas games, you know, kind of pick the team apart in the formation. That was one of the big takeaways when we start to talk about the negatives of this game was part of the reason why I'm a little down on shows performance is, man, I just feel like for a 34 year old guy, Lara Mendy is being asked to do way too much on this team. Buzz and you know what I mean? [00:17:10] Speaker A: Yeah, he ran the most again. I mean, I certainly. That's the thing. It's like anybody you put in next to him will suffer by comparison. You know, that player needs to do a lot of work because, you know, our mini does a lot of work and you're gonna look really poor if you don't do it. So, you know, I don't. [00:17:26] Speaker B: But, but is alarming doing that much work because the. He's having to do, like, one and a half jobs? [00:17:33] Speaker A: No, I think it's just his nature. I mean, some of it is probably he's trying to make up for everybody else, but he's also a really fit guy and takes care of himself, you know? So he. He's always played this game. It's not like this is unusual for him. And he was, of course, excellent. It's, you know, you can read off any site you want. He was phenomenal. But. And he's one of the things that every single game is really good, and it's. It almost gets boring because he's so good all the time. And Warren was, of course, you know, salivating on the guy that I blame him because it's true. The guy's phenomenal. So, you know, if only he wasn't 34. But, yeah, his performance was. He was not the problem. He was fantastic. [00:18:09] Speaker B: I also thought Barton's comment about Tafari was so dead on about it was because it's something that we've talked about here on this podcast multiple times about Tafari, which is, he's this player with a lot of promise and attributes, but he's always going 100 miles an hour, and he just doesn't have a speed that lets him slow down and see what's going on around him and let the rest of the team kind of work with him. He's constantly in a state of. It almost looks like he's in a panic state all the time. [00:18:41] Speaker A: Yeah, I would just say that he doesn't have a lot of finesse. He just doesn't have a medium switch. It's only got a full on switch or an off switch. Safari does. So I think that's a valid criticism, um, of the guy. You know, it probably would help because I think Jafar feels like he has to do too much. [00:18:59] Speaker B: Yeah, I I just get the sense that if he would just take a beat and look for other passing options or quit, he just. There's too many touches in his game, and I really think there is actually a really, really good player in there. He just needs some coaching to get that part of that element out of his game. [00:19:18] Speaker A: Yeah, well, part of the problem is that he really feeds off of aggressiveness and having, like, a attack mindset, you know? So it's probably as hard for him to turn off that go, go, go, go mentality and then still play really well. He probably feels like he needs to play that way all the time. You know, I mean, for good, for in his favor. They are making him captain. When Ariel is out. I mean, it's. There's a lot of respect for the rest of the team there. So, you know, I do think he's Dallas's best defender, you know, regardless of the fact that I wish he could be better than he is, you know, with some finesse, with some flair. But, you know, at some point, I think he's not the issue with this team's defense. [00:19:56] Speaker B: I don't think so is at this point, you're mostly concerned about the team's defensive qualities than anything else? [00:20:04] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. I had an epiphany about this team watching this game. I think this team is a horrible defensive team and has been a horrible defensive team for like three or four years. [00:20:15] Speaker B: And so is that what justifies Niko as Steve is his attitude and kind of direction of how he put this team together? As he was so worried about it defensively, he felt like he had to put them together that way just to protect it from itself. [00:20:32] Speaker A: I don't know if justifies it the right word, but I think that's what happened. You remember that the t defense was really bad under Lucci and they fired Lucie because, basically because the defense was really bad. And they're like that, we need to fix the defense. That was the thing, right? So we went out and got this coach and Nico Steves came in and said, okay, I'm gonna fix the defense. So he fixed the defense with tactics. He made the team defensive first. He sacrificed offense for defense. They got Martin Paws, who is a player, a keeper that covers up a lot of mistakes and helps make your defense look better than it is. So for the last three years, this team has put up really good defensive numbers and it's looked good defensively. But the minute that Nico Sevez left and they stopped doing that, and Peter Luxon opened up the soccer to let everybody play a complete full game and try and be good offensively, then the defense instantly got exposed again, and now we see that again. This demons is not very good. So this is what I think this team truly is. If you're going to play a balanced game and try and score goals, then you're going to show this defense is true quality and it's true quality is not that good. And it's a personal question, you know, and I. And I don't think it justifies the way Nico Steves play, but it certainly explains the way he played and explains why they weren't able to get a lot of goals other than when Jesus was on fire by himself and score an 18 and then he could do it and carry it. But other than that, they don't really have good offensive production. [00:21:52] Speaker B: This is more fun to watch, though, right, Dan? [00:21:56] Speaker C: I think so. It's a snoozy no nil. Pass it around and do Jackal. [00:22:03] Speaker B: Yeah, this is a. You know, ever since Peter Luxaine has taken over, this has been a much more entertaining team to watch, if all. If, albeit also frustrating at the same time. They've never lacked for goals in games, whether it be from them or against them. There's every game, I think the. What's the lowest scoring game that has happened since Luxaine has taken over? Is it two one? Is that what it is? [00:22:28] Speaker A: Oh, gosh. [00:22:29] Speaker B: I think that's. Hold on, I'm going to hit pause because now I want to know the answer to this, so I'm going to look it up real quick. Buzz, hold on. Don't go any. [00:22:39] Speaker A: Two against Juarez. [00:22:40] Speaker B: Let's see. [00:22:41] Speaker A: So 20 against the galaxy. [00:22:44] Speaker B: Yeah. One. One. Yeah. With the New England game. Yeah. So, I mean. [00:22:53] Speaker A: Well, that's the thing, too, is like this team produces opportunities, right? They had. I put in my breakdown, I think it was like 20 shots on goal. Shots, which is lots of opportunity, but they only got six of them on goal, which is less than a third. And you compare that to Colorado, who had 14 shots and they got eight of them on goal, which is over 50%. So we talk about this a lot with this team, right? You have to have good of shooting efficiency. And in this case, it's. They, they did get. They did take their time to get into the box, like, like something like 75, 80% of the shots came in the box. So they did that part, right, that they just didn't have. They just weren't performing. Like they didn't get their shots on goal. They didn't force saves out of the Colorado keeper, Stefan. So, like, the Colorado got eight shots on target, they forced saves out of the Dallas keeper and he rebounds and they scored. So this is a perfect example of why it matters that you shoot efficiently, why you get the ball on net and you make the keeper make saves. And you cannot have this third or quarter of your shots on target. Expect to win games if you fired it high and wide, you're not going to win, you know? And even though they managed to get two, they could have had many, many. They could have had 3456 if they would have got the ball on target. And they did not. [00:24:08] Speaker B: Yeah. It's in the last four league games, which are the two games after leagues, cup and the two games after Leagues cup, there have been 18 goals every. Those four games have averaged over four goals a game between the two teams. And in those four games, Dallas is one win, two losses and a draw. So that's what, that's what they are under loose luxe in the last four league games. And don't, we don't, we don't even talk about the two leagues cup games. [00:24:41] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, it's just those were so bad. Yeah, it's, you know, they've had a pretty good run on under look sand. It's certainly, it's way more entertaining. You know, he's surprisingly now seems to be locking into the three four three, especially since he got Juan here. [00:24:59] Speaker B: Does that surprise you that he is stuck with three in the back? [00:25:02] Speaker A: Yeah, it does. Because when I he, when I asked him about tactics, you know, when he first took over, he talked about how he wanted to play the way his mentors plays. And so I looked up his biggest two mentors and they all played fourth the back. They played versions of various versions of four, three, three. And we saw all year what a struggle the three of the back was. It wasn't working. It was really most of the time. Well, part of that was because he didn't have wingbacks, but now he's got Juan and because he's got guys getting healthy, he can now use Paul Areola as a wingback. And then they finally realized that Sam Junka is a better wing back than a center back and Marco Farfetch is a better center back than a wingback, which is actually, maybe not actually true because he's not very good center back. He's a really good outside back. He's a good outside back. He's just not. But Jung is a better wing back because Jung is better offensively. Um, so he's actually got people that can play wing back a couple of options, Luxain does. And so all of a sudden he's like, okay, that works. And then, you know, he likes two in the middle because Yara Mindy, being 34, can have somebody in there with him that works a little better, you know. And then some of the things that he's doing are probably related to where his best players are going to be long term. And that's going to be how you get Jesus Ferreira and Musa and Farrington and Belasco all on the field and playing, which is a tough and sequi, because he loves seeking. So he's going to have some tough questions up front eventually, but in the short term, you know, the main reason I thought he would give up on it was because the three of the back had been so bad. So bad. And then, but then they went on got Ron and he's really, really good at a wing back. So that's, let's say they're sticking with it for the rest of the season, basically. [00:26:31] Speaker B: So obviously the game had a bit of excitement in the fact that we saw the return of some players and a group of guys all on the field at the same time for the first time this season. So Petter Moussa came back. Jesus Ferreira got introduced into the game at halftime along with Musa. And then of course, you know, about 20 minutes later, Alan Velasco played the last ten minutes of the game. I guess first off, as I said earlier, that goal to make it two one. Boy howdy. That was a fantastic sequence. Jesus passed was absolutely killer, but the entire thing was one of the best goals I can remember in this club's history. [00:27:15] Speaker A: Well, it even starts with Moussa laying it off to Jesus. So he's at midfield and he still gets up there. And the, the leading pass, you're right, from Jesus, was just gorgeous. You know, it's just a really quality goal. They've had some really nice goals in terms of that kind of team play this season. There was one that Matt dot tweeted out like, I think it was against DC where they almost went end to end with it. So, you know, this team is capable of that kind of thing when they're on and that play in particular was really, was your cry. It was beautiful. It was a really nice one. And that, that, that finish by Musa is next level. That, that was ridiculous because his ball is going across his body and to time that and have it be just, just the lightest sort of touch to that other side. Let the momentum carry it. Yes, that's really difficult. Really hard. [00:28:00] Speaker B: So what, Moussa obviously back from his deal, any let. We'll just kind of run through it at your reactions to Jesus. [00:28:10] Speaker A: Jesus, good signs on Jesus. You know, he had, you know, it was just like. How many minutes was it? Let me, let me look real quick. 30 minutes of play, which was, you know, not more like as I was expecting, but in that 30 minutes this time he had five shot creating actions and one goal creating action in just that 30 minutes. So that's a big improvement from the previous week when he had 30 minutes and baby, notice nothing. So that's really nice. That's good signs of life there. So I'm not worried about the direction he's trending. That's a good one. [00:28:43] Speaker B: I'm digging his growing out the colombian mullet, by the way, thing that he's done. [00:28:49] Speaker A: That is the weirdest looking. [00:28:51] Speaker B: He's always had a variation of that, but it's longer than typically is, so kudos. I'm jealous. [00:28:59] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, are you? [00:28:59] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:29:00] Speaker A: You go for that haircut? [00:29:00] Speaker B: Well, no, just the. He's got all that hair. It's pretty marvelous. It's like being jealous of Dan's beard. [00:29:06] Speaker C: I'm saying nothing. [00:29:09] Speaker B: By the way, Peter Moussa now, or Petter Moussa now, is fifth in the league and goal scoring 14 goals, by the way, which is pretty marvelous. [00:29:18] Speaker A: Yeah. That's the most ever by a rookie. Not a rookie. What's the word? You know, debut season, he passes. Christ. And I don't remember who the other person is. Damian Alvarez, I think. But the thing is, is like, the all time season leading record for Dallas is not as high as some other places. So he was seven games. He easily could break the single season scoring record here, which I think is 18 or nine. [00:29:41] Speaker B: Well, just to put into perspective, he's fifth behind Bonega at LAFC, who has 16 goals, but seven of Dennis's goals are pksh. [00:29:52] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:29:53] Speaker B: Honestly, Mooses is one, by the way. [00:29:56] Speaker A: Yeah. We should make the rest of the season about getting him the golden boot. Forget trying to win. [00:30:00] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:30:00] Speaker A: Just get boost. [00:30:01] Speaker B: He's only three behind Benteke, so. [00:30:04] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:30:05] Speaker B: If Dallas hadn't given up that crappy goal to get, he'd be. He'd be only two behind him. [00:30:13] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, he could, you know, that's fair. Golly, I can't do that. That's rude. [00:30:18] Speaker B: Sorry. [00:30:19] Speaker A: Yeah. He could have had another goal in this game. If he hadn't boned that wonderful cross junkie setup, it would have been the third one for Dallas. [00:30:25] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:30:26] Speaker A: So he's called bull in terms of the not getting the ball on net problem that they were having in this. [00:30:30] Speaker B: All right, so we saw Velasco for the first time, motor out there, huh? [00:30:38] Speaker A: You know what I'm gonna say? [00:30:40] Speaker B: But he's fat. [00:30:41] Speaker A: He's. Yes. [00:30:42] Speaker B: Oh, you thought he looked fat? [00:30:44] Speaker A: Yeah. He looks like a player that doesn't play the year. I didn't pick up. [00:30:49] Speaker B: I don't know. I didn't pick up on fitness, necessarily. I was just trying to see. [00:30:53] Speaker A: Oh, I did. [00:30:54] Speaker B: I was trying to see how his willingness to take on defenders and things like that, and it would. He, by and large, appeared to be the same player in terms of what he's going to put out there. [00:31:04] Speaker A: Yeah. His mentality is there, his touch is there, the ball skills are there. But he was missing that tiny little explosive verse, like when he made the cuts inside the center back, was able to block the cut like he had to. Like, cut, cut, cut and wasn't getting a shot off. Yeah, right. Usually cuts and shoots. Right? It wasn't there. You know, and then, you know, listen, it's, it's ridiculous to say fabulous. What I'm talking about is, like, in the cheeks of a player who is sat around for a year, they did not have that cut, you know, super low fat ratio, sunken in cheekbones. Like when. Remember when Paxton came back? You guys made fun of me when I showed you the two headshots. And you can tell the difference between a player that's in season long game form and one who's not. That's all it is. And Delgado is the same way. Like, I almost even recognized Delgado because he laid off for a month and a half and then lost. Whatever that cut look in his face was, he doesn't look the same. So, you know, it's just a sign that players aren't game fit. It's not a criticism of them as people. It just means that, like, like, if you had a game this weekend, it was like a must win game. You could not start. Alan, Vlad, there's no way. He could barely play 15 minutes probably at this point. So, you know, Delgado is the same way. Like, neither one of them is anywhere close to being able to start a game. [00:32:21] Speaker B: So he gets ten minutes here. Do you, and I know you'll talk about what you think's going to happen. You know, this, we talked about this a couple weeks ago because the next game is on the road and it's on turf. [00:32:33] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:32:34] Speaker B: And it just makes me wonder, do you even bother traveling him for this game or. [00:32:40] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, because you're out of players. I mean, you're missing too many bodies. [00:32:43] Speaker B: Is that what it. [00:32:43] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And the same thing. You put him on the bench and if the late game situation allows it, then you bring on. If it doesn't, it doesn't, you know, and Peter, look, saying's post game press conference was telling. He talked about how it was the first time they had all three DP's on this season. He said, but those players are all really, really important. We have to be really, really careful. We have to be slow and methodical and careful. And he's, what he said very specifically was the player that is the most fit will play. We'll start, you know, so he means. And he doesn't just mean fitness, he means healthiness. Right? So, like, even Ferreira, who's looking better, like, only got 30 minutes. So, like, there's no. None of those, you know, Ferrera, Velasco, Delgado, none of those guys are going to start until they prove they're the more fit, better choice to play 90 minutes. That's kind of what he was saying. He was saying that, like, yes, you want to bring them back, but you can't do it at their detriment, and you can't do it at the detriment of the team because we're trying to win games. We got to have guys that can compete and play at the highest level that they're capable of playing. And right now, those guys can't effectively, is what he was saying. So I think that's telling that that was, like, his number one quote about those guys was that, that, that fit, which doesn't mean fitness. It means, you know, game readiness, health capability of being and fighting and all that stuff. Yeah. [00:34:09] Speaker B: There is a big difference between a guy being available and available, if you know what I mean. And in the bum rush at the end of the season of trying to scrap for a playoff, the fact that you can't, while you have them on the bench, the idea that you don't feel like you can start Jesus or Velasco in those positions is. Does not bode well. [00:34:35] Speaker A: Yeah, think about it. If you're the coach and if you start any of those three players right now, you know, you have to sub them, period. So, like. And that limited. That limits your capabilities in terms of what you're going to do to respond to the game that you. And really, basically, your games are all must win games. I mean, no one's going to win seven, but you have to have a must win one game at a time mentality if you're going to get this thing done. So, you know, if they get eliminated, then you can have different discussions about, you know, let's. Let's play some guys and try and push their fitness that way. But, you know, when you're fighting for a job, in his case. Right. Or fighting to make that playoff spot, because that's going to get you the job, you know, you can't. You can't just sacrifice games to get those guys back. It's, you got to go. Your lineup has to be 100% on form and capable. [00:35:23] Speaker B: Would you tell anybody listening to this to hold out hope that Velasco will do something before the end of the season or pretty much what we're getting is what you're going to get until you see him sometime in 2025, man. [00:35:42] Speaker A: It's probably what, it's probably close to what you're going to get. I mean, obviously, the more he trains and the more he gets, you know, volume minutes that are going to push his, his fitness, the more likely he'll be able to contribute. The, the thing is, is like this late in the season, they're not training for that. They're training to maintain everybody and not get people more injured. They're not, they're not pushing long sessions and trying to really build a fitness base. You know, you have to do those things in stages. Usually they happen back in the spring. You don't just walk in and play hard and go, yeah, I'm back. Right. So, and, Dan, I know you've seen a lot of this, too, before, many times, is like, it's just, it's very difficult late in the season to come off of a long injury and, and be like, yeah, I'm game fit. Boom. You know what I mean? It's just, yeah. [00:36:30] Speaker C: Especially, I mean, the time he's got left is effectively pre season. There's just not a whole lot of time to get match fit and, and build his confidence back. [00:36:42] Speaker B: I mean, it just, it just all the more makes me, every time we talk about this, especially now that we're watching it play out and it just feels like it was so predictable, the idea that they didn't just ir him for the season and replace him, it just makes me, it's so frustrating because it just seems so obvious that this was how it's going. This was how it was going to go. [00:37:09] Speaker A: Yep. Yeah. Imagine how you feel if you're the guy that would ask that question and got looked at like you had three ads, like you were insane. Like, how dare you suggest we do that? And I'm like, and I thought to myself, I can't believe you haven't thought of that. [00:37:21] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, here's the, here's the other way to look at it. What if Dallas was having a really good season and was solidly a playoff team at this point and Velasco got healthy all of a sudden? You'd probably feel even more stupid that you had wasted. Wouldn't you have rather have had a really good, informed player helping you make a playoff push versus some kid coming off ACL surgery? Like, the thinking behind not making that move just gets more and more mysterious. And it was either just incompetence in kind of assessing it or they just didn't want to go out and have that would have put them in a position to go out and have to spend a bunch of money to replace him. [00:38:01] Speaker A: Well, that's part of it. Barton talked about that, about, you know, you can't in this league, it's like having guys of that value in that DP stature, you know, having those positions be empty, you know, and his has been empty the whole year and Jesus has been empty half the year, you know, it's just really handicapped team and that's the bottom line. You know, at least in the case. If you were having a good season, maybe you'd be like, you know what? We're going to give Laska back and he's going to be a ten minute threat guy for us off the bench as we make this playoff push because we're a good team already, you know. So it actually might even be more, a little more palpable, you know, swallowable if you actually felt like he could really give you something. But like, what you need now is someone that can play a game and win a whole game and he's not going to get that for you, right? You know, that's not what you need. You know, there's a chance Jesus could do that. Jesus could get, you know, push. If he can push past half a game, this game, and the signs of life he showed. If he can get back to where he can bang in a few goals for you on top of whatever Moose is doing, you know, then Jesus can give you a real chance to have a starter who can do something for you. But I don't think based on what I'm seeing from Blasco, I don't think, you know, in ten minutes, you know, let's say next game he gets 15, but I wouldn't do it on turf, but 20 maybe. It's like it's just going to be, you know, it'll be four games left, maybe even less, before he's ready to actually start. And even then he probably won't be like, I can go 90 minutes and be dominant, you know? [00:39:21] Speaker B: Yeah. Before we leave the game, I just wanted to. I feel like this hasn't been talked about enough. I know we've talked about it a little bit, but just the resurgence of legit back to his quality, I don't, I don't know if he's MLS eleven best level or anything like that, but he's such a. He's better than just a dude now. He's a guy that is actually contributing and playing well. And, you know, he's just one tier down from being a real star. But it is so far from what we lost from him from the beginning of last season. It's. It's really good to see. I don't know how or what's happened. I don't know if it was Luxane or if it's just him figuring out on its own. It's really good to see him playing this well. [00:40:07] Speaker A: Dude, in this game, he was 98% passing, which is staggering, but that in itself isn't important. It's the eleven progressive passes, twelve two progressive carries, four shot, creating ashes. The dude is playing lights out. He's a lock starter on this team. Like, in a year ago, we were talking about how to get rid of him, and now it's like, dude, he's one of their best players now. You gotta. He's. Now, I'm very comfortable keeping this guy going forward, even though he's at 30. I. Yeah, two or three, because he takes care of himself. You got two or three good years out of this guy if he can maintain this level, honestly, you know, and maybe there's something to be said for Yara Mindy as an example to him of like, look, you can still do it if you take care of yourself, right? And. And we knew all along, right, that when he was having the bad season, it wasn't about on field, it was about off field. It was about something with his mentality, his personal life. Right. We all know what happened, what it was all about. And now, a year and a half later, bring it up. He's now found still, but too much. [00:40:59] Speaker B: It's. Don't bring it up. [00:41:00] Speaker A: I know, I know, but he's playing fantastic. And like. And when we talked about this team being FC dudes, it was because none of the special players were being special. Well, in addition to guys coming back from injuries, you have some guys that just found their form. Again, analogy, that is being special, you know, and he's above that DP threshold. Even though he's in buy down, he's above that line. So you need him to be special, and he is special. [00:41:22] Speaker B: Dan, anything about the Colorado game that you want to throw in there? Cause you've been awfully quiet about it. It sounds like it. It broke your little heart. [00:41:29] Speaker C: No, I think 45 minutes is enough. On it. [00:41:31] Speaker B: Okay, very good. Well, let's move on to the task at hand, which is the road trip, the aforementioned road trip to Vancouver. And I know I saw somewhere in your discord. People pointing out the fact that Vancouver's got a whole bunch of people missing for this particular game, but so does Dallas. Yeah, I mean, how many call ups does Dallas have? [00:41:53] Speaker A: Four. Delgado is with Ecuador, which is not a big deal because he was hurt. Sante, who was a central midfield depth piece, is gone, but the two important ones are pause and show. And show being gone makes Santa being gone more important, you know, because Frazier still hurts. So you're all of a sudden now you're really light in midfield again. So the two big questions, of course, are Jimmy versus Antonio Carrera in mid, in goal. Antonio played for North Texas last game. You know, it's saved a PK and the shootout the end of the game to get the tie. Bonus point. Also had a moment or two that was slightly shaky. The question is, how much confidence do you have in Jimmy at this point? So that's a tough, tough call. [00:42:39] Speaker B: Is Jimmy played yet this season? [00:42:41] Speaker A: I don't think so, no. I think pause hasn't left or been suspended or anything. So that that's a tough decision, and I can't begin to tell you what they're going to do. My guess, my gut instinct is, because you're trying to luxe trying to win a job, that he'll go with the old standby veteran player and not risk a 20 year old, even if it's a 20 year old you think is going to be a good player for your team in the future. And then the other question is, of course, because show is gone and Santa is gone, and Frazier's hurt and Delgado and Paxton's hurt, and Delgado is gone. That's five guys that could play next to Yuri Mindy. It's like, who do you put in there? Well, I think the easy answer is legit. He played really well back there next to yar Mendy a couple of times. I think that's pretty straightforward. In fact, um, you know, you could put, uh, sec and sibling back there. He used to do that under Nico Sevez, but under look saying he does not under look saying he's been up high, been much better up high. So, obvious answer for me is move legit back in there, unless you want to put Nolan Norris out. Nola started for, uh. Started for at center, back for north Texas last game, which we need to talk about. Um, so you could put Norris out there, because then you don't have to change your front line. Then you could leave legit up high. But Farrington's playing really well, so maybe the answer is to put Farrington on up top with Musa and Sikhi. And then you can drop legit in the midfield next to Yarmindy, you know, and. And then you can play pretty much the same team you did before. Right. Ariel will be back, so he comes back on for Junka. Your back three is the same, Juan's the same. He'll want to do gangbusters up there, of course, in Canada because, you know, it's not Montreal, it's at least a canadian team. So I think those are the. I think that's how you fix relative fixes, relative term fix. Your two problems is that I'm going to guess Maurer and I'm going to say drop legit in the midfield with that. That way Farrington starts and all's good. [00:44:37] Speaker B: Well, you know, unfortunately Vancouver did Dallas a favor by beating Austin in Austin last weekend and Dallas did not capitalize on that. But they are three, one and one in their last five games and they are in fifth place. They've had a really good season for Vancouver and it will be a tough task with all the. I mean, you know, it's just going to be. It's going to be a hard one to watch, I think buzz it is. [00:45:05] Speaker A: You know, the turf is never a good spot and Vancouver is a good team. Dan can tell us a lot more about them. It's just like, you know, the pieces that are missing for Dallas do create a bit of a problem, but I think it's a solvable problem as we just talked about. The pause, of course, is the one that's really going to be the big issue. Hopefully Jimmy is up for it, but this is going to be a very, very difficult game. Dan, I know you know a lot more about Vancouver. [00:45:30] Speaker C: Yeah, I think honestly, I think they're harder hit by international call ups. They are going to miss five players. Ryan Gould who is number two, second top scorer, top assist designated player Pedro Vitae, Andres Kubas, Fafa Pico who's having a actually pretty solid season for them. And Ali Ahmed. The, the big one really for them is Brian White. As of yesterday he was still in concussion protocol. He is that. He is their top scorer with twelve goals I think on the year. Effectively they're missing their entire front five in a, in a three, four three right now. So, you know, they're struggling a little bit. They did sign Stuart Armstrong as a DP who was with Southampton last year, played six years as a regular starter in the Premier League, 40 odd games in the Championship last year. Absolute assist machine, I think. Well, I think last year he had six goals, seven assists. [00:46:36] Speaker B: He's a nice player. [00:46:38] Speaker C: Very, very nice player. He himself has said, hey, he's not matched, fit. He left Southampton in the summer. He hasn't played a game since his time at the european championships. He didn't play a ton. But I mean, I think they've got nine games left now or seven games left, whatever, that they're gonna want something from him starting this weekend. Special. [00:47:07] Speaker B: I was just gonna throw out there a few because I'm always the one that throws out the glimmer of hope. [00:47:15] Speaker A: Fucking race. [00:47:16] Speaker B: Vancouver is crummy at home. They're five, two and four. They are 12th in the west. They're only better than Houston and San Jose. Athenae. [00:47:26] Speaker A: They hate turf. [00:47:27] Speaker B: I guess. They hate turf too. Amazing. So there's, between Dan's injury list or absentee list and, and their home record, maybe there's, maybe there's something for Dallas to hold. [00:47:38] Speaker A: That road record is incredible, though. [00:47:40] Speaker B: It is as compared to Dallas's road record. [00:47:43] Speaker C: They're kind of a funky style of play as well. Do not, do not run with the ball at all. Furious runs into the box. Furious. Sorry. Second fewest carries into the attack in third in the whole league. Second fewest progressive carries. They have the most completed crosses in MLS, nearly double. FC Dallas. Sorry. Like 50% more than FC Dallas has. Other than that, statistically, every category, FC Dallas and Vancouver are like within two places of each other. [00:48:13] Speaker B: Interesting. [00:48:14] Speaker A: You know who else has got a screwy record like that as Houston. They've only got four home. [00:48:19] Speaker B: Hmm. Yeah. Vancouver's first in the west as a road team. Seven, three and four. Wow. That is impressive. [00:48:29] Speaker A: You did it again. There's seven, four and three. [00:48:31] Speaker B: Oh, sorry. I'm reading. I'm looking at fat mob. Seven, four and three. Sorry. Yeah, yeah, that's nuts. I had been reverting. Yeah. Anyway, all right, so that's what you're feeling for the Vancouver game Saturday. And that is because it's in Vancouver. Don't forget, it's a late, late game. It's not till 930 on the Apple tv. So there you go. Maybe Dallas will actually wear their primary kit for this game now. [00:49:01] Speaker C: They're better off in white playing against the team. It plays in white. It works so well. Conceding their red to play against the team in red. [00:49:13] Speaker B: All right, let's. Anything else about that buzz you want to get into? [00:49:18] Speaker A: Well, I want to get into something on the north Texas game that's related to FC Dallas. [00:49:22] Speaker B: Okay. [00:49:23] Speaker A: I think it's important. So the North Texas game this weekend, Carl Sante and Nolan Norris went down to that team. And I'm going to, I'm going to point out something about the position those two guys played, but I think it's important to say that it's not about them as individuals. So what happened was, as Nolan Norris was started at center back and Carl Sante was started at holding mid at the 6th, and by the way, at mid at halftime, I think roughly they moved Norris back up into midfield. But the. Here's the thing, the red flag it raises for me, Nolan Norris, after he was signed by this organization and Nico Sevez, they, they, as an organization, eventually decided that he was a six. That was his spot. They've been working him in the midfield, they've been developing him as a six. They didn't want him at center back. They didn't want him at left back. Carlos Sante was a holding mid for North Texas SC for like two or three seasons at Dallas. Was not interested. They didn't think he was good enough. And then they tried him at center back for like four or five games last year or even earlier, excuse me, earlier this year even more, and they were like, wow, this looks great. That's interesting. Let's sign him. And they signed him. And literally the next time I was practice, I had a conversation with coach Nico Stevens about how great he looked at center back and how excited they were about his potential at center back. And since then, Carlos Dante has played six games as a holding mid for FC Dallas and he went back to North Texas and he started as a holy mid for North Texas. And Norris, who's the holding mid, normally started at center back. And again, these guys are both sort of young. You can change your mind about where they want to play as organization, but it raises the question who the hell is making these decisions? Like, how is it that you're signing a guy and saying, this is the development path we're choosing, and then you have an interim coach take over and immediately not use either player in those positions, and then you send them down in North Texas to not be used in those positions? So I get the idea that you want to have coaches have freedom to try and win games however they feel they need to. But at the same time, it's like you're talking about developing players. These are not finished, complete players. So, like, how is there not, who was in charge of deciding organizationally where players are playing and developing those players long term for the betterment of the club? It just raised this massive red flag that nobody is doing that, that they just like, whatever you want after I get you a player, I don't care, do what you want. Right? And it just, that kind of thinking often happens all up and down this organization. You know, we talk about guys that are like, oh, that guy was interesting at playing this position. We're going to sign him for North Texas out of the academy. And then he doesn't play that position for North Texas, plays somewhere else. And it just, sometimes it raises these red flags for me. It gets me all TED talk preachy here on my soapbox that I'm like, you know, again, I don't mind if you change your mind about where Norris wants to play. I don't mind if you change your mind about rock House Sunday wants to play, that's okay. But to like to sign them to be certain things and then never use them in those positions, then why did you sign them? Right? There's a, there's a disconnect there and it's just. And people, some people I know are pushing back like, oh, well, no one's ever played center back with U. Get that? And Carl's played a bunch for look, saying likes a better holding bid. That's great. But again, like, this organization right now stinks. This team stinks. And part of why you stink is the last couple of years you've stopped developing players due to your first team. So. Well, it just made me mad. [00:52:49] Speaker B: No, I. And I get your frustration, but it's also reflective of how much this team has changed since Paria left. [00:52:56] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:52:56] Speaker B: That entire structure that Oscar helped build has by and large, just kind of eroded since his departure, which now was what, how many years ago? Almost six years ago. Yeah. [00:53:10] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. Three for Lucci and three for Nico. Seven. [00:53:15] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:53:15] Speaker A: And you can even go back. This is not a new problem. Remember when Brian Reynolds was signed with the idea that they were gonna, they decided they were gonna convert him to right back. And then the first couple times he got into a game, they put him on a wing, right. It's like, okay, maybe you can, but I could, you can give me reasons why an individual, you know, you could. Oh, I don't want to bring him back. Or defense, I'll put up high. It's not gonna make deal if he burns us or whatever. But it's like that was one guy, not multiple guys. And it just, it makes me scratch my head like I was. I looked back at the press releases from this summer signings, both show and Juan. There are no quotes. There's no statements by a TD or an owner or a head of sports or a head coach. Nobody's talking about why these moves were made and what they're going to bring to the organization. I mean, the digital media guys did it. They wrote about what the guys bring and what they're going to bring in the organization. But, like, I'm just sitting here going, who's in charge? Like, who's making the decisions? Is it the, is it the interim coach making all these calls? A guy who might not be here in another month and a half? You know, I just, I just got really frustrated by that, you know, particularly because I think Carl Sante is being done dirty, because I don't think Carl Sante is an MLS grade holding mid. I think he has potential to be an MLS grade center back and they will not play him back there since they've signed him. They only played him at center, at center mid, which was the thing they were, they were not interested in. The whole time he was with North. [00:54:46] Speaker B: Texas, did he, do they play three in the back with North Texas? [00:54:53] Speaker A: Yeah, usually because they've, they tend to imitate the first team. So if the first team is doing, you know, a standard formation, more often than not that they tend to fall. [00:55:01] Speaker B: So it's not because he hasn't been playing as a right center back in a three or anything like that. [00:55:06] Speaker A: Well, you know, that's the thing with Nolan is like, they put Nolan as a. I think he was the left center back for North Texas, which is what he did at the Concord for the U 20s, but most of the time he was the U 20 plays left back. Well, they know they don't want him there, you know, and like I said, they had to make an adjustment because North Texas proceeded to get stomped early by Colorado and they had to make an adjustment and put Nolan up in the midfield and drank it back in the game and they brought in a couple subs and it all worked and they got back in the, the game. I say, well, why was Nolan not playing in the midfield? Why now, all of a sudden, are we now trying to make Nolan a center back? You know, other than like, you know, if organizationally they've changed their minds and they want to go a different direction, that's okay. But nothing in the entire organization has indicated that is this thing, you know, and so it's, you know, he trains as a midfielder for North Texas se, I mean, for, sorry, for FC Dallas, you know, as far as they know, they just sent him down there and stuck him in the back. You know, it's just, it's just. [00:56:00] Speaker B: Well, I. There's been an interesting conversation that's been taking place that I've been watching in your discord. I think it was today about Luxane and people's attitude about whether or not they think he's the right guy for the job and whether they're comfortable with him taking the gig. And it appears by and large that, that at least in your discord buzz, the curious have decided he's all right. We'll go ahead and let. We'll go ahead and take him, which feels, which I think is good and also a bit depressing all at the same time, if that makes any sense. [00:56:38] Speaker A: Yeah, I know what you mean because I think you feel like people are saying that, like, that's about the best we're going to get. And I actually think that Loxain's done a pretty decent job. You know, I, and I. But I agree with that assessment. They're like, it's very unlikely there's something better available unless you go out and try and buy somebody out. You know, there's not, I don't think there's going to be somebody calling that's going to do what Luxane does. You know, the bottom line, though, is the people that have to be convinced are, there's only two of them. It's, it's, well, three. Three. Dan, the two hunts, Dan Clark Hunt and Andre Zonata. And if they're not convinced, then he's not going to get it. And the thing is, they sat in that press conference when they fired Nico Stephens and said that this is the playoff team. They drew the line. Right? It was, it was make the playoffs, do some good stuff in cups, and then you can get the job that he's playing for. This job. They, they set the line and they said, this is a playoff roster. So unless they've moved the line, you know, he's pretty much going to have to win, get in to get it, you know, so it may be that it's a moot point whether we all think it's, well, that's probably the best option available. You know, are there, I hate to use the word egos, but are they going to be willing to accept that, like, we think this is a playoff roster, therefore, if you don't make it, we'll still keep you? I don't know that they will. Will they have changed their thinking enough to believe that that's no longer the case. Like, if they get to the season, they're like, oh, maybe it's not a playoff roster. So. Okay, Peter, you're good. [00:58:03] Speaker B: Yeah. I think it's disappointing that there's almost, like, this Stockholm syndrome going on within the fan base because everybody's just okay settling, hiring another guy that doesn't have any experience and thinking he's okay for the job. I mean, sure, Luxane's done some really nice things and gotten some players to play well, but we've. It's happened so many times where they've gone out and hired a guy that is using this as a career resume builder and not somebody that actually knows and says, I've done this before, that I just feel like it's a. The insanity thing. We're just doing it all over again. And that. And. And that's where I think I get frustrated for the fans who are like, well, you know, considering what else is probably going to come down the pipe if we. You know, he's probably the best choice, so let's just go ahead and stick with him. And I I think that's kind of a bummer. [00:58:55] Speaker A: Yeah. But I don't think that they're necessarily wrong, because I think that. Oh, no. Yeah. [00:59:00] Speaker B: Buzz, don't get me wrong. They are not wrong for failing this way, but it is. It sucks that that is the default setting that we all have to fall into because we know we're not going to get better. [00:59:11] Speaker A: Well, you know, for. For me, I like the way guys are responding to him. I like the offensiveness of the boys bringing the table. I like his interest in playing kids and getting the academy pipeline going again. He knows this system. He knows his club. You know, unless you get a money whip, quill, you know, I'm to the point now that I'm like, great, let's go look sane. But what I'm saying is, I don't know that they are. You know, they drew a line in the sand. Are they now going to wipe the line away and draw the line again somewhere else, like, easier to get across? [00:59:41] Speaker B: Yeah. But here's the question I have and is if Nico Esteve is. Wanted to. I mean, here's the reality. They're. They're one, two, and one in their last four league games. They are bleeding goals at an exponential race. They're scoring a lot more goals, too. But I had this weird feeling that Nico Estevez is just looking at the tv going, yeah, I could have played that way, too. And we probably be in the exact same position we're in now. And so I was trying to get us in a better position by playing more defensively. So again, I agree that he has this team playing more entertaining soccer, but I don't necessarily know if I feel like this is some sort of indicator that he's the right guy for the job or a better manager. [01:00:25] Speaker A: Yeah, no, I don't either. Again, you know, I think he's dealing with a slightly convoluted deck, too. Dan, where are you on all this? [01:00:33] Speaker C: Let's see. Yeah, I think I'm with the consensus they're not going to go out and get a world beater. It wouldn't make sense. They don't get out and get world beaten players. He's doing a pretty solid job. There's been a few misses, but, you know, it's not really the best year. It's not like he's inherited a supporter shield winning roster with five games to go in, a lead to give up. It's, hey, there is actually zero chance of the playoffs. Wow. You've got it. Like, to within a couple of points. Okay. Okay. He's situationally the best candidate right now. [01:01:16] Speaker B: Best example of my point right there. Yeah, yeah. [01:01:20] Speaker C: I, I mean, that's the thing. It's, it's not so much the. If you think about Man United, right, if Eric ten Hag does absolutely horrible this season, doesn't have an FA cup to fall back on, the fans go nuts, right? They demand change and maybe Ratcliffe listens to them, maybe he doesn't. And fans go on about, oh, we need change further up. [01:01:45] Speaker B: That might happen all already before Halloween. [01:01:49] Speaker C: The hunts aren't going to listen to that. They're not going to care. They're not, they're not ever going to consider selling or rocking the boat. So, yeah, it's, I mean, it's settling, but it's, the reality of the situation is there aren't going to be earth shattering, paradigm shifting changes and suddenly, you know, Pochettino is brought in or something crazy. [01:02:17] Speaker B: No, and I. Yeah, I, again, that's exactly my point is that, is that I'm. Yeah, I don't know. It's frustrating. It is really, really frustrating. And it's disappointing that we can't, we can't have the hope that they'll figure out a better way of moving forward with the coaching thing. I think I felt like they tried to do that with Estevez. He was kind of an out of the, to some degree an out of the box hire for them. He didn't necessarily have that much more experience or a higher level of experience, but he was at least somebody outside of unfamiliar outside the family. [01:02:57] Speaker C: I think one thing as well to consider is, you know, Buzz had mentioned it kind of knocking down and getting away from everything that Oscar was brought into to rebuild and to get up to that place, that pipeline. Well, Lucind, sorry. Luxane's a guy that is fully, fully immersed in that. You've got two players in the first team squad that played for him as 13 year olds. If anyone's going to kind of get it back to that place and be willing to go with the, the homegrown city mantra, it's gonna be him. It's not gonna be someone like Niko that comes in from the outside and like, eh, you know, I have, I have no loyalty to this system. I'm just gonna try and do what I think. [01:03:48] Speaker A: Peter, I do think it's 100% fair or correct your, your take and your feeling. I think it's 100% okay to feel that way and also recognize that probably luxe about the best you're going to get, you know? [01:04:04] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:04:04] Speaker A: Like those two things can both be right. [01:04:06] Speaker B: Absolutely can both be true. But I am. But, but I also at the same time, like I said, I don't know if there's any real evidence the changes that he's made have made this team more entertaining, but it hasn't made them a better team. You see what I'm saying? Like, they're still losing a lot of games and giving up a ton of goals. This isn't a sustainable path forward. And I don't know, and I, and I feel like he's getting a lot of credit for getting guys to play better, but they still are unlikely to make the playoffs. [01:04:42] Speaker A: Yeah, I think it was at six five and one now under him and in the regular season play, you know, so, you know, that's slightly better than they were before. You know, it's above 500. So, you know, there. If you, if you extrapolate that record out over the course of the season, then that's. That is a playoff team, you know. So I grant you that, that there's a lot of issues still, you know, and I. And he's definitely sacrificed some defense for some offense, which has been a lot more fun. So, you know, again, though, I hate to be a dead horse on this. It's like we're not the ones that are deciding. This is like have, have the hunts and Zenana move the line because they publicly stated what the line was. So, you know, looks ain't even going to get a shot at it. Like, if he doesn't get the playoffs, are they even going to consider. Well, it's hard. [01:05:31] Speaker B: Yeah. And unfortunately, the people whose jobs should be on the line are the two people whose jobs are not on the line. [01:05:37] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:05:38] Speaker B: Probably two terrible hires. [01:05:42] Speaker A: Yeah. I did look up the winning percentage of the technical deckers that have been here. Zenada has the lowest winning percentage of the three. [01:05:49] Speaker B: Yeah. And Dan hired, you know. [01:05:52] Speaker A: Yeah. So I didn't do it. [01:05:53] Speaker B: No, not yet. [01:05:54] Speaker A: The previous, previous two, Gorman and Klavijo both had about 1.5 points per game and Zonatas is about 1.3. Now, granted, they're not responsible for what the coaches do, but, you know, they're in charge of football as an organization. So in the end, there should be. [01:06:11] Speaker C: Ultimately, Zanata's doing what his reputation suggested. He's getting good money for players, outgoing, he's bringing in cheaper pieces. And there's a net gain, sort of. It depends what they're looking for. Do they want, you know, do they want a winning team or do they want a playoff team that isn't a complete cash drain? [01:06:39] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:06:40] Speaker B: All right. Well, there you go. 930 Saturday night. Let's see what happens. Whatever. Last but not least, Dallas Trinity had their game against Barcelona last Friday. A whole lot of weird talking points about this. I don't know, Dan, you were actually there. What are your overall observations of that particular evening? [01:07:07] Speaker C: I mean, five of the players that played in that game just got nominated for the Ballon Dor today. So, you know, none of which play. [01:07:15] Speaker B: For Dallas Trinity, though we should. [01:07:16] Speaker A: What? [01:07:17] Speaker C: Unsurprisingly, but, you know, you got to see 60 minutes, the first start of preseason for both Alexia Pete and Aytana bon Marty. That's three ballon doors. The last three Ballon doors in existence right there. Patricia Giaro, she scored. I can't remember exactly how long she played, but, you know, she's nominated. Caroline Graham Hansen came on as a sub. And I'm gonna butcher this because it's polish. Eva Padro came on as a sub late in the game. You know, they lost 60. Barcelona have failed to score at least five goals once, and that was against AC Milan in preseason. So far they have battered teams and that's the strongest lineup they've put out in preseason so far. So interesting game. Kind of encouraging on the Dallas Trinity side is they want to. They want to play out the back so badly, Amber Brooks said after the game. That's their identity it's hard to get out of. But they did start to go long at some points in the game. They did get a few attacks on gold. Crowd went absolutely crazy, I guess, you know, addressing the crowd, 5000 and some announced, honestly, it looked like butts and seats. It didn't look like the inflated ticket distributed number. Obviously, 80% of those people are wearing Barcelona jerseys because Dallas Trinity doesn't sell jerseys yet. Kind of a little bit of a missed opportunity there. I will say though, going down to fieldside towards the end of the game, a lot of people in Barcelona jerseys holding Dallas Trinity signs. A lot of people in Barcelona jersey is trying to call over Dallas Trinity players by name to get autographs. There is an awareness between among the women's soccer crowd in Dallas, apparently. [01:09:20] Speaker B: All right, so I am, you know, I don't want anybody to misunderstand my mood, my feelings about this, because I am very excited about this team and I'm very hopeful about its future. But considering it was Barcelona, I don't know what the takeaway is that they only got 5800 people to show up for that game on a Friday night. [01:09:47] Speaker C: I think the only takeaway you can have is this weekend. That was the first night of high school football in Texas. That's a serious contributing factor. It was Labour Day weekend. So a lot of people, I mean, there's people in the discord who bought season tickets and they didn't go because they had Labor Day plans. They were heading out of town. The whole third party thing was a little bit weird. The ticket prices were up and down. It was a little bit disorganized. Chaos between. It's never say never was the promoter and fair park, the Dallas Trinity people, just kind of standing in the middle watching everything go between those two sides was a little bit interesting to see. Yeah. Yeah, it's. It's a difficult one. And they've got. I think their schedule is gonna play against them quite a little bit because they've got a Wednesday game, a couple of Friday games, a couple of Sundays. I think maybe two or three Saturday games. Everything avoids FC Dallas schedule, which is smart, is incredibly smart. I mean, that's the biggest game in town as far as soccer. You avoid that at all costs. But, yeah, I've had some people express to me that that schedule just isn't conducive for them doing anything other than watching the team on Peacock. [01:11:13] Speaker B: Yeah, it's, playing in the Cotton bowl is cool, but it's also a real problem just because of the fact of it's just immense size and even, you know, um, when the burn was playing there back in the day, remember, it was when the burn played there, it wasn't a 92,000 seat stadium, it was a 75. Was it 75 back then, Buzz? [01:11:39] Speaker A: Something like that? [01:11:40] Speaker B: I don't know. Yeah. So, I mean, it actually is an even more. There's even more empty space now than when the burn played back then. And I. I just. I'm. I do worry about their decision to play there and what it's going to end up doing in terms of the vibe and how much people want to go attend the games there. I. It's all very much TBD. And, Dan, you're probably right. This weekend's probably a much better barometer to decide how this thing's going to go. I don't know. What? I don't know. I just. I would think if I was the Neil family, I would have been disappointed. At 5800 for Barcelona? [01:12:18] Speaker C: Yeah, for sure. I think there's also a little difficulty that they're undergoing that renovation. I think it finishes August of next year. Perfect example is my parking lot. My parking pass for the media lot was gate five. Lot five a, the one that's by the lagoon. You walk across and then you're at combo. Or if you do like the Broadway Dallas shows, it's. It's that parking lot. I got there and the gate was closed. Speaking of John Arnold, he was parked in that lot. I was not. I got sent round to gate two, which is. I don't even know what that parking lot is because it's. It's that really long one that goes down by the livestock shed. So I had the three quarter mile walk from where I parked to the stadium. [01:13:07] Speaker B: Good Lord. [01:13:08] Speaker C: It's a construction site, right. I was talking to one of the fair park security people and they said, hey, you know, we honestly didn't think that this side of the stadium was going to be accessible. They thought a press box. We were going to have to go through the whole stadium for the press box. But on the day the contractors moved all of the equipment from where the staging area was to, I think they put it in like the. Where we normally have media parking. Lot twelve. I had to walk through the construction site to get to the press box elevator on the side. The fans go in. There was one entrance, so there was a team store. Bits up. There's not that whole. You know how when Jerome Elenas came in, they started doing the little tailgate activities on Doctor pink and expanded stuff on the north end at Toyota Stadium. Try and make it more engaging. Try and get families a little more involved. There's just no space for any of that. That's going to be kind of difficult for them. It would be a very cool to have the open space to encourage people to tailgate, to kind of have something organized, be a little bit more engaging as a club with the fan base and build that rapport, but that just doesn't seem a possibility, at least for the next year. [01:14:28] Speaker B: Well, they have their home opener this Saturday night at 07:00. You can go to the Cotton bowl, check the game out, then pedal home real fast and watch Dallas play on tv against Vancouver. The Trinity game is also on Peacock, by the way, so tickets are on sale if you want to go to that. [01:14:47] Speaker C: And it may be a pretty good game, a good bounce back game for Dallas. It's against DC Power FC. They've played two games in the league. They haven't scored a goal yet. They've lost one nil at Carolina ascent. They had a goalless draw at Tampa Bay sun, who Dallas absolutely dominated and really should have won against. I think the only real player of note for them is Katie de Wong. She was really, really solid. Us under 20, played last season with Minnesota, Aurora in the USLW League and took the step up. I think she was drafted by the Portland Thorns. They're just. Yeah, they. It seems a game that Dallas should succeed in. [01:15:35] Speaker B: Okay, well, we look forward to that. And we get to see their new kits for the first time, at least, the homeless. Right? [01:15:44] Speaker C: Hey, be away with the Black Sox was a. It was an interesting change up. [01:15:48] Speaker B: Yeah. I think the Black Sox are what they're going to wear with the. With the highly predictable shorts and shirts that are about to show up that I've seen the mock up of, but I. But they have not revealed. And I know they've done a series of sponsor announcements, but they haven't announced the home, the actual game jerseys yet, have they? [01:16:11] Speaker A: Not that I don't know. [01:16:12] Speaker B: Okay. All right. Very good. Well, best of luck to them. Rooting for them. Go. Go, Trinity. All right. Anything else, boys, before we knock this one out? [01:16:22] Speaker A: Well, North Texas SC became the first MLS next pro team to clinch a playoff spot. They're in first place. [01:16:27] Speaker B: Congratulations. [01:16:28] Speaker A: They're quite good. Even. You know, there's a bunch of guys that. That are signed to homegrown deals who I think are going to over the next few years be parts of the first team. So they are enjoyable to watch. They are better than most teams. They play down there. And the second thing is that your buddy Michael Hitchcock is doing another. My buddy team here. Yeah. Here in Dallas. You know, it doesn't have a name yet, but you can go over for the team name. It's going to be in McKinney. It probably will play probably in NPSL, but I don't know if that's determined yet. It's that kind of team. It's just, it continues to vest in local small community pro teams. So there's going to move to another, you know, MPSL level team here in Dallas for people to watch. So I just. It's worth a mention. If you're up in the McKinney area, it'll be your Vercaros or your Denton Diablos. And your models may vary depending on. [01:17:15] Speaker C: With a worse name, local sock. [01:17:17] Speaker A: Well, it depends on what name they. [01:17:18] Speaker C: Pick, but I don't know. [01:17:19] Speaker A: I didn't love any of the four options myself, but the badges all look. [01:17:23] Speaker C: Cool, but the names. [01:17:24] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:17:26] Speaker B: All right, boys. Well, very, very good. That's a good hour or so of Dallas talk. All right, anything else? Going once, going twice. All right, very good. Dan, thanks for all the good insight and sharing your experience at the cotton bowl the other day. [01:17:45] Speaker C: Thank you for keeping it on track and making us sound happy and good buzz. Not happy. [01:17:53] Speaker B: Well, I know what you mean. Yeah, I get you. My pleasure, Dan. And thank you, Buzz, as always. You're the best, bud. [01:18:02] Speaker A: Oh, thanks, man. I appreciate you guys both being here for this. [01:18:04] Speaker B: And are we going to kick this thing to does the day later release it start next week? [01:18:11] Speaker A: It probably starts next week. We'll probably record on Thursday next week with a pod dropping on Friday. [01:18:15] Speaker B: All right, there you go. All right, FC Dallas. Curious fans, keep your chins up. Let's see what happens this weekend, and we will speak to you next week on another episode of third degree, the podcast. [01:18:25] Speaker C: New schedule, same optimism. Third degree, the third degree nerd podcast. [01:18:32] Speaker B: Third angry. The third degree. [01:18:34] Speaker C: Never get. [01:18:40] Speaker B: Third degree. Third degree nap, I guess.