Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #564: Is Poch gonna stick with the stay-home right back when Serge returns?

Episode Date: January 27, 2025

Plus Tyler and Bournemouth flying, Sargent back in the XI and scoring, Noahkai gets his first top-flight start for Augsburg, and much, much more with Vince, Watke and Belz.Vince made a companion video of relevant clips for Supporters Shield and Ultra levels on our Patreon page (see below).Think about joining us for at trip to Rome to see Lazio-Juventus and Roma-Milan in May. The battles for a Champions League spot may still be in play by then: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfp2O1bIr5KNSymt3ayP3ctERCooDo3ADM5Kf_kSHpmr6ITMg/viewform Skip the ads! Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon and get all episodes ad-free, plus any bonus episodes. Patrons at $5 a month or more also get access to Clip Notes, a video of key moments on the field we discuss on the show, plus all patrons get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made: https://www.patreon.com/scuffedAlso, check out Boots on the Ground, our USWNT-focused spinoff podcast headed up by Tara and Vince. They are cooking over there, you can listen here: https://boots-on-the-ground.simplecast.comAnd check out our MERCH, baby. We have better stuff than you might think: https://www.scuffedhq.com/store Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to the Scuff podcast where we talk about U.S. soccer. Hey, everybody, it's the Monday Review. How you doing? Vince? Waki. Go ahead, Waki. Well, you said you were named first. Yeah. So I thought, well, I'll let Vince go first.

No, no. I felt like we're on a streak now. Well, I'm doing well. I'm doing really well. There we go. You guys would be amazed how, um, I'm self-conscious I am about who I'm asking how they're doing first. This is like just a profoundly meaningless thing, but I'm over here, you know, twisting and

turning about it. Vince, how, Vince, how are you? Bells, I'm doing great. I'm going to go ahead and get this out the way. We, we have some big news here in the city of Louisville. Louisville City's first academy signee ever. Big brother of Josh Winder, Elijah Winder, bought by the LA Galaxy for $400,000 It may sound like a pittance to you This is the Not to me The the largest USL to MLS transfer

In the history of USL to MLS transfers I don't know how much they've actually been But Hey first of all 400,000 That's nothing to sneeze at Louisville City is just a small, you know, we don't have very rich benefactors, you know. We don't have billions of billions of dollars.

If we did, we'd be an MLS. Like, you know, I think everyone wants to go to MLS, but it's not in the cards. You don't have the billionaire for it. Don't have the billionaire for it. But that does not limit you, you know what I'm saying? A lot of people would see that and put an artificial limit on what you can be and how influential you can be to the, American soccer landscape. And look at us.

Largest USL to MLS transfer ever. Now, I've had some people ask, is it a winder thing or is it a Louisville thing? Well, I'll tell you this. We're linked together, man, you know? You can't break up the tooth. I mean, it's a debate as old as time, nature versus nurture. And nobody has had any definitive answer coming out one way or the other. So, damn it.

Number one, quit hating. Number two, love my club. I'm happy for Elijah because I was wondering to myself, suddenly I was wondering to myself, like, did he make the right decision? Like, bypassing college, signing with Louisville City. Like I said, our first ever academy signing. And he's just gotten better and better every year. In the Open Cup, I know we played Seattle's reserves,

but he was our best player on the pitch. He has the athleticism for it, technical ability. I think he's going to be, I think he's going to find his way in MLS and I'm happy. That's awesome. I mean, to see transfer fees from USL to MLS tick upward is, I think is a good sign for the future of the game, you know. How many more winders are there? I know it's not, you don't think it's a winder thing, but just to know. I think they only had two boys.

They had two boys and a girl from when I can tell. And so, yeah, Wander family done brought about $1.7 million back to the club, man. I mean, that's a pretty good return. Homegrown, real things to move the game forward. You know what I'm saying? This isn't just an entertainment product we're putting out. This isn't just, I don't know, some type of charity or something. We're actually out here trying to do stuff.

And I have proof of concept that our academy. can like do things you know it just isn't a a money grab you know yeah that's a real thing that's dope and and and we'll see we'll see about Josh people are high on Josh and Benfica it seems people with boots on the ground in Portugal I mean one one of these Portugal moves is going to pop off eventually at some point man we got reaching a critical mass man yeah I mean athleticism matters a lot for centerbacks yeah And we're going to get into that more later, I think. But first, first, I want to get into, well, I'll start with this.

We still don't know when Sergenio Dest is going to get back on the field. But Daniel Smith, great friend of the pod, has pointed out that PSV are selling two of their fullbacks this window. So it must not be too far away that Dest is coming back. Which brings me to this. I've been thinking a lot about the stay-at-home right back. back preference that Pachitino has displayed for the U.S. so far as coach. When Desk comes back, we'll find out whether that's, I mean, also what Pach says in press conferences when he's asked detailed questions about players or about scheme, he just can't

trust anything he says, you know? Right. He's completely, he's completely cagey. Very good natured about it, but he's just not giving us anything. So we don't know if he's going to stick with this three at the back. It's not really three at the back, but a stay-at-home right back, an asymmetrical back for when desk comes back. But I'm thinking more and more that it makes a lot of sense to do it even when desk comes back. Because for the reasons of depth and keeping everybody fresh, if you remember at the last World Cup, we ran ourselves ragged.

By the time we played the Netherlands, all the good players were totally gassed, including Jedi. including Dest himself. And I'm thinking if we can play more of a stay-at-home right back, that could be even Joe Scally. I sort of shudder as I say it, but yes, it could be Joe Scallie. It could be Joe Scalli. It could be No-key Banks. We'll get into him more later.

It could be Chris Richards. I have some misgivings about that too. It could even be Miles Robinson, you know, if he plays a lot of. card's right. To have somebody over at right back, go ahead. We have a lot of options if that's what we want to do. Right. That's what I'm thinking.

Then, I've always resisted this, but then you could play Dest as the right wing, which is, as we saw in January camp, when Indiana Vassel have played right wing. It was a defensive, more of a defensive right winger. It wasn't a wing back. It was still kind of a right wing, but it was someone. somebody who was a little bit more withdrawn, then you could play Dest in that position. Also, you could play way in that position.

Probably we will play way in that position. You could play Dest as the backup to Jedi as the inverted left fullback. So then you have, like, you know, you're not going to have all your best players on the field at the same time this way, which is why I've always resisted it, but you're going to have a fresher front seven over the course of a tournament because you're going to be able to rotate these guys.

And I'm thinking more and more about it, especially thinking, you know, just thinking about January camp and that inverted left fullback, the more defensive right winger. What do you guys think? Well, I will note you've timed this opinion just as we're getting desperate. back. I can't help but wonder, you know, is there some, I'm more just playing devil's advocate here.

Yeah. Is this motivated by desk misgivings? No, no, I'm the least, I'm the least of the desk misgivings merchants, you know? For sure. Yeah. Yo, so I was real quick, I do just want to say, Bells, you put Tim Wea in the on the right wing, right? And I feel like you're forgetting what Pots said about the eye dominance, man.

That's true. I am forgetting that. That's important. That is important. So who knows what Pach has cooked up for the right wing? It's been Eunice Musa. That could open the spot for Dest. Oh, you want a Musa up there?

I do not want a Musa, but we have seen Eunice Musa play there. I vehemently do not want you. You just play in there. But we have seen him playing there. So yeah. We'll see. Theoretically, it seems like a desk could and should be a good winger. Teams don't tend to play him there, though.

Right. Is that a concern? Yeah, a little bit. But I guess the fact, because I don't want him to be in the one finishing chances necessarily, like, arriving and putting the ball in the back of the net. but the fact that the right winger under poch, whether it's been Musa or, you know, has he played way out there? I don't know if he's had the chance to.

Has been more withdrawn. I think it makes, you know, Dest is more involved in the buildup and if he plays right wing in the system that we've seen under potch. I think that's, I think that makes a lot of sense. But I also think it's just as important to have depth

for Jedi so that he doesn't you know he's not completely glassy-eyed by the time we get to our group's our first knockout round game you know because as indefatigable as he is he's still human and even he got tired man yep yeah and and so moose on the wing I mean really the way I look at it is we really have four like definitely good midfielders and those are Wes, Tyler, Musa, and Gio. And,

I mean, some people might even disagree about Gio, but I think he's good, and I think he's going to play. And so we have those four guys. They can rotate. They can spell each other a little bit. And then what maybe Malik and Johnny get thrown in there.

The only thing I do want to say, I guess, is I do believe if Serge is if Serge is on the pitch and not involved in buildup I think that's a mistake

yeah I guess that's what I would put like to the point to where I might even volunteer him for a stay at home right back position as funny as it sounds

because it's like but I think his true superpower is in the buildup not so much in the attack necessarily. Like he's not some type of master, chance creator, wizard or something like that. You know, he's fine. He can do some things.

You know, Bells, we were standing next to each other when he blasted that thing with his left foot in Columbus, I guess Costa Rica. Yeah, what a moment. We were also there when he played that perfectly weighted ball for Tim Weyer to hit off the post and then off the Costa Rican backup keeper's buttocks. but just watching his career, right?

You know, before he got injured, he was coming around with his crossing a little bit, left foot, right foot was able to hit DeYoung multiple times, you know, for headed goals or whatever. But I just don't think that's necessarily. His superpower is getting ball progression, getting us up the pitch. It's the middle third. Yeah, it's kind of the middle third. to the field. Yeah.

And if he is playing in an attacking position, I do think we lose that, and I don't want to lose that. Yeah, you don't want him out there starved for service, not getting the ball because we can't build it up to him, I think. I guess mainly what I'm saying here is just that you sacrifice, I think, with a stay-at-home right back that is not desks.

You sacrifice a little bit of quality in that first choice 11 because our centerbacks, centerback's kind of our weakest position, really. But over the course of a tournament, you win, I think, some significant gains when it comes to keeping everybody fresh. And we got to be thinking about that. We're not going to make him stay at home right back, are we?

Because I'm worried he could, he's not excited about, you know, the artistic stuff he's able to do. do, his head might float off to, who knows. He's going to have a, he's not going to want to stay at home. He's going to have a wandering eye. He's going to get restless. Yeah. You could do anything.

That's definitely going to happen. But I guess another thing, what was that? Panama. Panama match, the first one in Austin that I was president. You know, Eunice was coming back. It did, our impossession shape did kind of function as like a, you know, you know, a back three with Eunice really kind of functioning as a wingback. Like, you know, he was coming back in that traditional spot where you would see a fullback

slash wingback receiving the ball, you know. Right. That's what I'm saying. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. You could get the utility from surge that way. I don't know, man. And you know what? It's a good thing that I don't know. And it's a good thing that I don't have as much of a grasp on Pach's tactics as I did

Greg Burrhalters, you know. It was like, I could go to sleep and just envision what the team was going to look like, how we're going to set up, what everything looked like, who would be in what position at like all times, and they would never leave that position. And here, it's like, man, Posh could do anything. Pots could literally do anything. I mean, we saw him bring, we saw him invert Jetta, you know? I mean, at that point, anything's on the table.

Anything's on the table. I'm still exilarated by the Jedi inversion. It's thrilling. It's seen that Tim Rieme was too. Tim Rie was excited to talk about it. And so if he's like, if he's going to do that with Jedi, it's like, what is he going to do with search? I mean, there's endless possibilities, man.

So I'm just excited to see it. And I don't necessarily believe that like the stay-at-home right-back thing is what he's you know committed to yeah what he's committed to yeah I don't know another possibility

is you play Pulisik as a as a true 10 um and then you and then that adds freshness in the midfield uh because then you're not just relying remember how we relied on

MMA so completely at the last at the last World Cup and then ran them ragged so Pulisick in the midfield helps then you could play way on the left wing, Dest on the right wing, in that more defensive sort of right wing position. A lot of possibilities opened up if we allow ourselves to play a somewhat less talented player as that right back than Dest.

Let's bench him. What's bench him? I mean, I know there are some people who, I think it's a pretty small minority, but some people who want to do that. Bournemouth, man, just on fire on the south coast of England. They beat Nottingham Forest. You may not know this. Not everybody may know this.

Nottingham Forest is the third place team in the Premier League right now, even after this loss. They beat them five to nothing. Yeah. Just another, as the broadcaster said, another statement score line from Bournemouth. Tyler had two assists in this game. The first one, you know, first one, why don't you describe it, Vince? Because you were tweeting about it.

I mean, okay. It's a shameless assist, but we take them. Like, this one to me is way less shameless than the one last week. Okay? Like, he made the interception, got it off his foot, Cliver turn around scored. I thought this one was like, okay, Tyler collects the ball. It's from a Nottom Forrest throw in. Tyler basically wins the ball, looks up the field, sees Justin Cliveord in space, and he gets it off his foot, and he gets it to him.

And then Justin Clivebron. It's a good pass. It's in rhythm, into the space ahead of him. Now, Justin Cliveord. It just happens to be 75 yards from goal. He has to carry the ball 75 yards. But it's like, hey, Tyler got that thing off his foot and put him in the space and off he went. And nobody decided to step to Justin Cliver for whatever reason.

that thing into the... You like this one more than his interception assist? Yeah. Yeah, I'm a little... I'm with Chris on this. I mean, at least the interception he did... I don't know. They're both...

Yeah. Interception, at least he did something special to intercept it, you know? Sure. Agree to disagree. Agree to disagree. But I'm giving them a little something in this. Of course, Justin had a lot to

but he but Tyler basically created the transition moment you know that's true yeah like like that that's all I'm saying that's all I'm saying he created the transition moment and then away bro went and then the second one I mean the second one was a it's a nice pass it was a really nice pass yeah nice past traditional like you know uh myrtle ball stuff you win the ball you dink that thing forward and uh this one just so happened to have a um It was perfectly dinked over the top. It had a nice little weight to it. And the dude did the rest.

Uttara. Did the rest. Yeah, Watar's, yeah. He still had two defenders to beat. But man, it was, yeah, the ball was curled into his path around the defender who was tracking him. Don't make a loose pass with Tyler in the midfield. Hey, man.

They kept saying that on the broadcast. Bournemouth is just, they just eat you up, you know. And it's true. He was terrorizing them out there. He was terrorizing them, man. And it's like, it's not, not every time he's, like, cleanly coming away with the ball.

It's just, like, multiple times where, like, not in the forest is trying to play through an area where Tyler Adams is. And it's just like, no. No, like, he's like, he's basically doing the equivalent of, like, you know, the cartoons

when somebody just throws a dude out of the house. Like, you know, like, try that somewhere else, bro. Try that somewhere else. It's not happening over here. May it long continue, man. It's beautiful watching Tyler back out on the field doing this thing. It really is. It's been such a rare thing over the last few years

for him to have an extended run of health. And, man, Bournemouth seventh in the Premier League, but only one point out of a Champions League spot. So really, they're one point out of third place. Remarkable. for a team that only, I think I read, they only have 13 true first team players available for matches right now because of all their injuries.

And it's fueled by Tyler. And this is something we complain about, not having guys who are the guy or one of the guys on their team, well, we have it. Yeah. I mean, there's other guys, too. But he's important.

He's very important. He is. No, he's the guy. He's the guy. I wouldn't say that. We don't all have to say it. One of us can say it. I was going to say earlier, Clyvert has five goals in the last two games,

and that he had the assist on the Wittara header. I mean, I guess if we're going to take away Tyler's interception assist from him, maybe he's not the guy. If we're going to discount all the things he does well. No, I'm not discounting nothing. Not discounting nothing. As a matter of fact, we got to opt-a-jack tweet. You got an opt-the-jack tweet.

We always love those. Tyler Adams is the first USM&T player to record three assists in a span of two Premier League appearances. Fit. It's a weak, weak closing word from them, kind of uncharacteristic. I do feel like they're losing their fastball, just a little bit. Unless maybe I'm just missing it. Sometimes I won't get it right away because it's so good. Doesn't seem like it, though, here.

They need to get into Marion Webster, for sure. He is a very good fit for what they need. need in that midfield though. And both of the assists, three of the assists, all three of the assists are him providing a platform for these like extremely dynamic attackers in front of him. And so yeah, it works pretty well.

I'm not saying the tweet does. I'm saying Tyler does at Bournemouth. Also more successful defensive actions per 90 than any midfielder in the top seven leagues. Dang. Okay. 14.6.3. Yeah. He got some studs in on an ankle, too.

I mean, he's, you know, he's devious out there as well. Bro, he blew up a, I got this, the videos coming back, y'all, this week. Now that I'm done with this, hellacious period of audits that I had at work. So he blew up a, like, Nottom Forest defensive midfielder. Just so crazy. Like, this is one of those instances where he didn't come away with the ball. But, you know, the centerback tried to pass. to, you know, the defensive midfielder, like, in between the two strikers or whatever.

You know, just a simple line breaking pass to you see from the centerback. Tyler, yeah, on his toes. As soon as that thing's played, bro, I mean, he blew this dude up. No foul. And, like, the ball just squirted back to the centerbacks. You know, he didn't come away with it. But once again, another one of those moments where it's like, yo, don't come in here, man. Don't come in here.

It was one time he was tracking a nottingham forest player at the top of the box. Well, really not the top of the box. He was probably like 10 yards away from the top of the box. And Tyler started getting on his horse and coming over that way. And I feel like bro got scared. And he just shot the ball. A terrible shot. You know, kill the promising attack.

But it's like, bro, Tyler's out there. They're on alert. Yeah, that reign of terror in the middle does. you know, it does tilt the field. I think there's a psychological component to it. I feel like we do got to say, despite these assists, I'm just going to say it. He's not doing too much with the ball otherwise. No.

He is not. But we appreciate everything. But we don't need him to. Exactly. No. Exactly. No. But don't.

Don't come at me with your willful misunderstanding of what the half turn is, please. Have people been coming at you for that? No, I'm not necessarily saying they are. I'm just saying don't. Don't do it. It's a warning. Bell's laying a law down. Our understanding of the game has matured so much that we don't even need.

We don't care if he does passes anymore. No. I will agree that what he gives you is so important that his, like, the fact that he's not so elegant on the half turn and really doesn't even try to do it right now for Bournemouth. It doesn't. It so far outweighs that. Right. Don't matter. Sergeant.

Josh Sargent's back. Got his first start since October 27th. and scored a brace. Beautiful afternoon in Norwich. He dragged a couple wide in the first half, one from the right, where he probably should have visited across the six for a teammate, and then one from the left that was really close. But then at the end of the first half,

kind of the current, he's standing, essentially, on the right side of the box just inside it, and the current of the game just kind of takes everybody away from him. Oh, brother. Nice little reverse pass from Emiliano Marcondis. What are you old brother me for? It's bad defending. I'll admit that.

The way you can use this flowery prose, Bill's. It was really nice. That was wonderful. No, no. It was beautiful. It was beautiful. But it's not about the pros. It's the fact that he's trying to fluff up what happened here on this, on this

John's Sergeant goal. Yeah. I mean, they lost track of him. I guess it's maybe more prosaic way to say. say it. But he takes a touch. He's free, just inside the box. Takes a touch, kind of bubbles it up in front of him, and he just smashes it on the volley low,

past the keeper, near post. Good strong finish. 1-0. He was kind of gasping for air at various points in the first half, so obviously not quite match fit, but he got his second goal, an answer to the Swansea Equalizer in the 63rd minute from a similar spot on the field,

just a worse angle, set up by a teammate on the break after some counterpressing. Takes a good first touch and then slots at far post instead of near. This one's a lovely finish. Then he comes off immediately. I would say, you know, two goals. It's great.

He was rarely involved outside of the goals. I think Norwich is still kind of struggling out there a bit. They did end up winning the game five to one, but they're not a well-oiled machine right now. He was six of seven passing on the day. But you got to see a little bit of that layoff link-up play that I think is so important from him. It just hasn't shown it for the U.S.?

Well, if he had accidentally, or not accidentally, if a couple of his shots had gone in over the course that he's passed, however many years, we might not be talking about it so much. That's true. And he did play quite well at the World Cup, which is really the most important thing. And if he's elusive enough to drift into space

against the flow of the game, what more could you ask for from a striker? Right. Just incredible subtlety from him there to swim against the current. So, I mean, that's big news that he's back in the starting lineup and scoring a couple goals.

Got to catch up with Ricardo on the goal scoring front. Oh, one other thing on Norwich is there are still only five points away from a playoff spot with 17 match days to go. So they could make a run at promotion. still. Love to see it. Speaking of Pepe,

speaking of Pepe, he scored his 11th goal of the season off the bench in stoppage time to make it 3-1. Ended up being the game winner because Nacbreda scored one more later in stoppage time.

This was just a well-timed run, good through ball from Saibari. Peppy just smashes it at the keeper. Feels like this was a saveable shot, but the keeper's leaning the wrong way and it kind of caroms off him

into the side netting. PSV is still four points clear at the top of the table, but they're laboring. Not the juggernaut they were last year. Richie has started both the last two games. I mean, he basically starts every game at right back. He's okay. He's all right.

I think the defensive questions are still there, and he seemed a little, in this game, seemed a little indifferent in the attack. like you just content to like lump across off off the nearest defender for a corner kick not beating anybody you know that long-term success

of PSV can breed that indifference maybe so that's how it happens next thing you know got the team sneaking up behind you and you're not lifting that trophy what's their trophy called I guess they don't all have names do they that's maybe no I'm sure it does have a name

He's got with a lot of consonants in it. Exactly. It's like the van dufen smirchen or something. I will say on Richie, you don't want to have defensive liabilities and be indifferent in the attack. Right. At the same time. I guess that's why I brought it up because I was like, you know, if you're going to be, you know, somewhat suspect defensively, at least be totally dynamic when you get the ball out wide.

But you know what, though? But you know what, though? PSV signed a dude from Roma. And Richie's still starting in front of him right now. I'm telling you, he's just going to hang around for 10 years. Pretty cool, in it? Yeah. No update on Malik's injury yet.

He's also in the category with Sergeant of, please show it for the national team next time you next chance you get. But, you know, he's had a good season. They do seem like they are intentionally or unintentionally or being very ominous about this ankle injury. You know, it's an ankle injury, but it's like, damn. They had to send him to Qatar to a specialist. Like, like, what's going on?

Yeah. I looked into the specialist. He's a, he's got like seven really good teams he consults for. Okay. So maybe they figure, and I'm just trying to be optimistic here, or paying this guy. We're going to send Malik. We're going to fly him to Dubai.

Is he just straight? orthopedic or is he just is he the ankle guy he does knee to ankle okay but i think his specialization might be ankle because you would think you'd have a just if you're a knee guy you're a knee guy yeah a lot of times yeah is dubar are dubai and katar really the turning into them like the capitals of the world i i think you can't be a capital of the world without debauchery but i think they have underground debauchery Yeah, okay. But we probably need above ground.

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. But for a certain faction of moneyed people, worldly money to people, yeah, you know, that might be taken over from like Monaco might need to watch their back or something, you know. Yeah, but New York. New York doesn't have to watch its back, does it? Never. All right, let's take a little break. Come back and talk about a bunch of centerback stuff, transfer rumors.

And when I say centerback stuff, I mean, no key being in the 11, the starting 11 for the first time in his young career, surpassing Gio Raina in Bundes League of Minutes on the season. Richards, five straight starts, Sundaas had a brace. Join the Patreon. Skip the ads. Throw your support behind the podcast, if you appreciate it. The links in the show notes. Short of that, just rate and review the podcast.

We'd appreciate that, too. We'll be back in a moment. All right, we're back. Let's get right to the transfer rumors. Wolves are very interested in signing John Eckerdosa. And as a reminder, Tottenham have a 25 million pound buy option. So they're significant... There are significant interest from wolves.

Got it. Pay and our testament is gaining interest from Lazio, Napoli, Torino, and Fantina. Hasn't back to Italy. Why? Why do they, why are they interested? A white man. Play ball. We talk of Italy.

You know, I mean, I mean, this is a, this is an Italian midfielder. If his name was Tanner Testman Norio, they would, they would be all over this fellow. He'd be in the, in the Italy squad, everything. But. Yeah, it was a smooth black quaff right here. That's right. Meanwhile, ever. have made an approach to sign Tim Wea.

Oh, don't go. They've done this like three times. That's crazy. So, I mean, it's nice to know Tim got a backup plan. Go ahead, walk him, sir. Meanwhile, Matthew Hoppe is currently on trial with their Vancouver Whitecaps. Transfer Facts. Luca Delatori is joining San Diego FC on a 12-month loan.

This has been a rumor fact for quite a while. And Leonard Maloney has signed a contract with Mines to 2028. I think that's a good fit for him. Is mine still in the Bundesliga? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Okay. What is he going to be transferred out of the Bundes?

Come on, baby. That's not Leonard. He's a gamer. Yeah. Go and make that move back to centerback, Leonard. We need you. Yeah. It would be beautiful to see.

He did not play in his first. uh, might's match, he was on the bench. Okay. Why don't we hit James Sands while we're, while we're talking about,

um, somewhat irrelevant midfielders. Oh, man. Come on. Slash centerbacks in the, in the Bundesliga. Arguably irrelevant. I'm not,

I don't want to be unkind. Well, uh, shout out to the Browns. I don't know if they call them that, but, uh, St.

Pauli, uh, played, uh, Union Berlin, which first of all, let me just say something about the Bundesliga. Bring,

bring, bring the 2018, 19, 19, 20 Bundesliga back, man. All these teams play like Sean Dice is managing. It's not an enjoyable experience. No, not even, I mean,

even Augsburg's games are pretty rough. What happened to the press, counterpress, up and down, back and forth, blah, blah, blah. I mean, it is, uh,

it's like, it's like a slightly more physical Italy? I don't even know what it. I don't want to invoke Italy's name with the slop I'm seeing in the Bundes League every week. It's very nasty, man. There's only like maybe three, four teams that want the ball. Just bring my beautiful league back, man.

I used to love watching the Bulls League every week. It didn't matter what game was on. You know you was going to have at least like four goals in it. You're going to be running up and down, back and forth. It's just, and now it's just a whole bunch of a slop. Leverkusen's pretty fun to watch. Yes. Got Byron, of course.

Frankfurt. Yeah. Dorman sucks. But after that, man, that's P.E. But, um, okay. So, Pauley, St. Pauli at home against, uh, Union Berlin, James Sands, got the start and the double pivot

next to Jackson Irvine once again. There wasn't as much, as wasn't as much, uh, hacking and fouling and just mucking things up as I was in the last match but he did well

he did well for what the game required you know he won a lot of he won a lot of balls in the air he was a physical presence out there he was running around he looks quite a bit larger than most of other people he was sharing the field with except for

for Jordan Pfeck of course Jordan Peefock starting this match had an opportunity to score and took too long to shoot and got a block. There's just not much there from James Sands right now, other than him running around and cleaning stuff up kind of as a six. He played the first half as a six, and then in the second half, he moved into the middle of their back three. He defended well there, no issues.

I mean, really, that's, that's, that's all I got to report. There's a couple. Good enough. Fair enough. A couple clips I'll put in a. video. He had like one interesting pass. So it sounds to me like I was going to ask, because he seemed to be, of course, it's too soon to know. Does he seem to be on track to stay their long term?

I think so. I mean, he's a, he's shown the ability already to play in two spots for them and do a job in the Bundes League. You know what I'm saying? It's just on, it's just on him to beat the Leonard Maloney. allegations. You know what I'm saying? Leonard Maloney and who's the one dude that used to play for back in the day,

back in like 2018. Danny Williams? No, no, 2018, 2019. Oh, Morales. Morales. Alfredo.

Alfredo. Okay. Yeah, he got to breathe the Alfredo Morales, Leonard Maloney allegations. You know what I'm saying? Because, I mean,

it's basically been proven that, you know, just getting out there in the Bundes League and doing a little running around. ain't doing too much. It's not enough, no.

But he is, I mean, he's going to have a great life. He's having a great life, I'm sure. The positional versatility might be his ticket, though. That's the thing. I saw, I'm just to do this rapid fire, but I saw Tolkien did get on the field as a sub for Holsteinkeel. Yes.

Up in that part of Germany. Before we leave too far away from transfer rumors, I just want to say Tenet Testament has not played since that one game where he was bad defensively. The one game where I said he had to seize it by the nuts and he didn't and he hasn't played since.

And I came at you a little bit for putting that too high up. It turns out that was the big story in the aftermath. It was exactly right. I apologize. I feel extremely vindicated. And speaking of not vindicated on my end, The keeper I drafted in our five was that didn't play.

But it don't matter. Oh, Matt Fries. Yeah. But everybody agreed he was the best keeper. That's the thing. Yeah, but, yeah, I guess no one's going to come at me for not taking Stefan. Also, it's over. I'm the only one that keeps bringing it up.

That's okay, man. The keeper is a keeper. Speaking of me not being vindicated, I did think Max Arfston looked pretty good. I kind of made fun of Doyle for picking him. He's all right. And I did, you know, he looked good in the attack for sure. Yeah, he's all right, man. He's not a bad player.

Let's get to No Key, though. He was in the starting 11 for Augsburg. His first start in Top Flight football. Like James Sands, he already has more Bundes League of Minutes than GioRana this season, which is just a crazy stat. It's so crazy, in fact, that USMNT only put it in a graphic. He's got some great graphics. He's got a good team there.

Or does he do it? I think he does it himself. He just has a great system. He's got to get a look behind the hood on this, on his operation. Yeah, we're going to get Arthur on the pod. He'd be up for it, I think. We've always had a good relationship. How good has Noki been?

And is it realistic to think he might have. actually make the World Cup roster next summer. I'm saying, just start getting him to camps. Yeah. He must. He must be in the next camp. Yeah, I'm with it. Yeah, we get him in, man.

Centerback, weakest position. And to me, it's like, can I say, without or doubt in my mind that he is definitely worse than Mark McKenzie? I can't. I cannot. No. No, I mean, there's, yeah, the comparisons to Richards and McKenzie are going to be natural and they're going to, they're already happening and they're going to happen more and more. I agree with the people who might say he's still unproven, still raw.

I mean, that's not controversial compared to someone like Richards who, you know, crazy that he already has almost 6,000 minutes of experience in the Bundes League and the Premier League. But I think, so it's possible he's behind them when it comes to decision making and positioning. I don't know that we have a ton of evidence that he's behind them in those ways, but it's possible. But what is 100% for sure is that he is ahead of, he's definitely ahead of Richards. And he's probably ahead of McKenzie, too, when it just comes to athleticism and, like, explosiveness, the ability to cover ground quickly and snuff things. out. I think it's, I think it's inarguable, but... Yeah, yeah, I think so. I've been thinking about

Chris lately. It's like, it's almost like Chris put on too much muscle. Like, he he's looking pretty stiff out there. And he's in space a lot, right? We've talked about this quite a bit. But, um,

yeah, I mean, no key. He's 6-3 pushing 6'4, you know, and just it just moves like I mean there's no problem you know we see him cover like a potential breakaway or something

that's like towards a touch line he's getting over there no issue like in situations where maybe he's like on the left and his like right center back is pushed up and they're coming down the right side here comes nokey you know what I'm saying putting the fire out no problem at all

um so yeah I would give that to him For sure right now. And this is just like a young, gangly kid, you know? Right. Right. He's going to put more muscle on.

He maybe he's a little, he's probably a little behind McKenzie when it comes to, like, the boxing out part of winning an aerial duel, you know? Because McKenzie, McKenzie does not. He's, you can't move him. But I'd say Richard's, I mean, I'd say Nokey's at least even with Richards on aerial stuff right now. maybe better. I mean, maybe that's a little more debatable. It's debatable. The passing probably had to give Richards the edge as like just a line-breaking passer,

but then you got you got to add in that no key can dribble past people. He didn't do it a ton this past weekend, but he can do it. We know he can. And as he gets more confident, he's going to do it more and more. which Chris was doing a little well I wouldn't call it like dribbling past people this weekend but he he was He did a little parallel

Yeah he was flexing his ball security a little bit But yeah different levels Like what Noki can bring is just different But I do like I don't know Bills when he breaks a line With his right foot Noki that is It's usually on point on target And it's getting to his intended

receiver You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I guess I just need to see more before I'll say he's as good as Richards at it. But it's not like Richard's perfect. Richards is perfect either. And McKenzie, you know, McKenzie, maybe the sweetest striker of the ball of the three with both feet. But he doesn't do as many.

Let's be honest. None of them is just like diamond out there all the time. You know, these are rare occasions when something is when a true line breaking passes. Mark doesn't do as much nice stuff as you would want him to do, considering what he can do, you know? Right. A couple notes, a couple negative notes. I mean, mostly it was a good game from Nokey,

but he did have a pretty bad moment in the 53rd minute where he takes a loose touch on a bouncing ball over by the sideline, gets beat, and it leads to a big chance, in part because he just kind of blindly follows the ball and doesn't track the guy who had beaten him, who gets a return pass and then shoots. It's a pretty bad sequence for No Key. He had another one in the 60th third minute

where he gets beat on a through ball after a teammates giveaway and then kind of overruns it. There's a cutback and another good chance. This one is less of a ding than the other one, but because it's such a quick transition moment, it's hard to fault him too much for getting beat on the through ball. But it is a little bit of a ding. but but but all in all once again another pretty good performance from the man like you know what I'm saying it's yeah when you grade them on the curve and you put everything in balance 18 years old first starred blah blah blah I mean we have seen way way worse oh man like top five league debuts and I mean this is up there I mean it would have to be up there like I would have to be up there like I

wasn't around when Christian debut when West debuted, all the different type of stuff, but it got to be up there, man. I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Almost nobody was around when West debuted. It was like, I think I might have been the only person in America who watched it. But all the, there's four other people who are listening right now. Yeah, that's right. We are all here right now together.

I do think every time we talk about centerbacks, I think about what you. you said, Chris, about how brutal it is to be a centerback discussed on the Scuff podcast, because it's a... It comes from a position that we love, and we love all the young men who are out there working at it. That's right. Even if no key surpasses Chris Richards, and Richard becomes like a, you know, a depth option for the national team, he's still my favorite player on the team. Well...

And he was, once again voted the funniest player on the team. Yeah On your Instagram video They do a lot of It seems to happen a lot They don't need to keep asking Right Tyler Adam said

In the group chat It's mostly Chris Jedi And who was the other one And Tim Who do all the talking You know Everybody else

It just kind of lurks Okay Okay It makes it So He said Chris is just Always Send them memes

Well With regards to Chris I just feel like We gotta continue to let the cake bake, man We gotta continue let the cake bake I understand Whatever Whatever misgivings people may have

With how he's playing or whatever But I mean First of all This season It's probably going to be the case Where once again He surpasses You know, whatever minutes total he had

Whatever his highest minutes total was in the Bundesliga. So for the second straight season, you know, he's putting in minutes for Crystal Palace. And that's another thing with us in the centerbacks. We're always going to lift that cake,

keep baking. You got to, bro. You got, I mean, I mean, what is it? Like,

how many, 24, 25-year-old centerbacks just out here running it? Now, I will note that, like, his other two centerback partners

are 24 years old. I look this up for the day. I mean, but La Craw, La Craw had, didn't have a perfect game either. He did not. No. It's a, it's a tough, it's a tough position, man. Because should we just get right into it? Let's talk about, talk about that, the baking of that cake.

Because Richards started his fifth straight, Palace loss at home to Brentford. I think the thing that we probably should talk about the most is the goal, the header goal, the second goal for Brentford, from Shade. the German it was a header right in front of Richards Richards and Shada hit heads they both came off Richards didn't even get up for four minutes

after the knock Yeah So I mean he got his bell rung As they say He did walk off on his own So that's good But I hope he's You know head to head

Full speed head to head contact No joke Now the question is Should he have done better on this On this header I have a position on it but I want to hear your guys' thoughts. I think if you're taking full speed head to head,

I'm just going to not going to have any complaints. Yeah, and go ahead. I think it's a perfect ball, and it just beats LaCraw's leap. Richards isn't even marking shot at, like, a second before the ball arrives. So it's like a very fluid situation. He's not like he's loose, he's lost his marker. he has to decide as the ball is struck to come to Shada

because La Cros comes to the guy in front of him I'm relieved I thought we were about to be way too hard on the centerback I don't know what he can do differently I don't know what he can do differently here From like beginning to end he comes in like you said like we both said full speed He basically injures his head trying to get to it There's no lack of commitment there I will say shot it out was outleaped him like a half dozen times in this game. And that's where you see,

that's where the athleticism thing comes in. But I don't know that this particular goal was a good example of Richards being incapable of winning the aerial duel. It was. Yeah. But I will say he was watching him and Shada. And, you know, Brentford plays direct.

A lot of balls to the head of everybody. They were picking off. on actually. Yeah. And it looked like Tim Wea against, it kind of remind me of Tim Wea against, against Gallardo,

the Mexican left back and how we just like, yeah. Like, you could just, Tim, doing his thing in the air, man. You could just hit the thing

up to Tim in the air and he's going to win it. He's going to win it. That's how I was looking out there. Unfortunately, for Chris. I don't know. Shada can jump too.

I mean, to be fair, he can get up. He can jump. Yeah. I don't know what else I say about Cressman. I mean, he does look a little stiff. He mostly did fine in this game. Yeah. Pretty solid.

He got worked one time in space by Dom's Guard, but that's a good player. Big picture, he's starting games. They're winning most of the games. games he's started in the last few weeks. Chala was back at Chelsea, so got to imagine he'll keep playing. He's going to play. They're not

putting Rob Holden in. So, the man's playing, and I mean, it just is what it is. Once again, got to let the cake bake, man. I guess my question about the cake baking process is, like, when do you say,

ding, and the cake is done? 28, 29, 26. No, it never dings. I never dings, that's part of the deal. Okay. Tim Rima showed us. With us in the centerbacks. I guess that's true.

I guess that's true. Tim Rima showed us that, man. If you would have pulled that thing out too early, it would have been gooey in the middle. It would have been, it would have been gooey in the middle if you pulled that thing out in 2020. I mean, we tried. We did pull it off a little bit. Thank you. We shoved it back in there.

Nick of time. I don't know. Okay, fair boy. Well, I just feel like he's, he's earlier in his soccer career than a lot of people are like, admit it. Like, that's my thing. That's why I'm so adamant about it. It's like, he's a centerback. This man has played, this is like his fourth season for real.

As a full first team professional. And, you know, you just got to let it. And once again, you know, when he plays in a back four for the national team whatever literally has not played in the back four except for like maybe you say he got six thousand minutes here maybe 300 of his professional minutes I've been in a back four you know what I'm saying it's just there's a largely played in a back there's a lot of development that still needs to happen for Chris Richard so yeah that's I would it.

Fair enough, fair enough. And I mean, we're talking about a player who's starting Premier League games for a good, like a solid Premier League team. There's really nothing to be sad about. He just, you know, turns 25 during Nations League this March. Yeah, what's the birthday? March 28th or something? 28, yeah. Two days before mine.

Hmm. I forget when your birthday is again, Chris. When is it? Oh, come on. September 7th. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Mark McKenzie started in a 2-1 loss to Montpellier. Neither goal was on him.

He did have an early mix-up with the goalkeeper where his back pass was too soft, and it got nabbed leading to a big chance, and just a miraculous diving save from the keeper. But that's all I got on Mark. Alex Sendeos had a brace and an assist in Club America's Group Americas 4-1 win over Santos Laguna just thumped a couple of them in from the six you know good balls across

I'm going rapid fire guys Stop me if you dare Leeds is The big news for them is that Sheffield United lost at home Which means Leeds has a chance later this afternoon To extend their lead In the championship

Giovanni started in Champions League, but it was such a forgettable performance from him and from Dortmund that I can't see much to discuss about it. He then didn't play over the weekend. And thus fell behind James Sands and Nokey Banks when it came to minutes for the season.

Liz has a quick note. She said, and I quote, last week, Bell's incorrectly stated I thought Gio was rounding into form when I actually was just quoting a tweet. Just wanted to clear that up. And that got me to agree with it. Poulsick scored another penalty.

He seemed uncontested as well. What's, oh, was it? As far as we could tell, I think he's just that he's got it. I think he's fully claimed the taker position. Beautiful. It did. Dude has not missed a penalty yet in a competitive match. It's a...

Still missed the one in the friendly or the... some sort of preseason game against Monzo, of course. Yep. Yeah. Who could forget? But it was still kicked back in. It's just a shame we always have to say competitive match. Is it a shame?

I mean... We don't even have to say it. Never missed penalty. Never miss a penalty, man. Who cares about preseason? Yeah. Don't worry about that. I mean, that's where you get ready for the real season.

You know what I'm saying? I think I might have had like an official name for it. There might have been a little trophy or something. Yeah But, you know So yeah Who cares about preseason But also this

This preseason information I'm about to give Is very important Kevin Sullivan Started in The Philadelphia Union First Team's Preseason game

Against somebody Some acronym Of a team Okay And it does appear He is In line for A serious role

In Major League Soccer Beautiful Beautiful Am I correct that McLean didn't start? I don't want to get into reading pre-season two leaves here. No, he was. He did start. He did start.

Oh. We got to going back to A.C. Milan real quick. Musa had a beautifully weighted through ball to assist Rangers goal over the weekend, which Milan won three to two. Beautiful. I saw someone discounting it because Rangers pointed. Yeah, I saw someone discounting it because Rangers pointed. Yeah. somebody else discounting it because the window is too wide.

Still, the weight has to be perfect, you know? I mean... That was a hell of a ball, bro. I'm giving it to... Yeah, easy to say that from the couch, America. That's right. But Eunice started in midfield, in the midfield for this match. And then I think towards the end of the match was moved to right back.

It moved into some type of 4-4-2 or something, and Chuck Waze was the right mid or whatever. But as you can see, even though Eunice was technically playing right back at the time that the success was played, where was he? He was in the middle of that pitch and played that ball. I know Mr. Conchisal has to be taking note of this. also just in general Eunice played pretty damn well

in this match I thought good um there's a couple things they'll be in the video there's a couple maybe a couple choices he could have made better like he had a nice combination up the right side classic combination where like between a right wing and like a

right midfielder plays it to Eunice um Eunice plays it back like down the line right into the like by the corner flag type of thing and it looked nice

but when you see it when Eunice first gets it back if he looks to his left he had Rangers and somebody else like basically wide open and if he looks to his left and plays it to his left Milan's basically off to the races like going down the teeth of the Parma defense and

able to fashion probably a pretty good scoring chance from that. Whereas, you know, he just plays the right winger down the line and then nothing really comes, nothing really comes of it. But, you know, this is why we need him to play in the midfield more so he can hone these decisions. Right. But other than that, other than that, I thought he played pretty great, to be honest with you. And this comes after playing right wing in the Champions League where it's like, hey, conscious

sell, come on, man. Just don't. He don't like, potch. He almost scored. He was like two centimeters from scoring a really nice goal. Yeah, that don't mean nothing, though. Because it was just, it was, it was just like a hit from outside of the box, you know, a speculative, whatever. Any time he had to make like a conventional decision in a conventional attacking position, he made like the wrong one.

It's like, he just don't got those instincts, man. Why are you playing in my right wing? Stop. Stop it. Get some help. I'm just Anyway Played a man at midfield

Yeah And and profit Yeah Well They followed the advice I noticed Conce Sao also Got in a bit of a dust up with Davide Calabria Yeah

Wanted to fight with him Ran after him Yeah Calabria is the guy Who you know The kind of elder statesman At C. Milan plays right back I still kind of have a little bit of a grudge against him

because he was always the one who played when Desk was there and Desk. And it's just a reminder of how fickle all these things are. You know, like everybody who was involved in Desk not playing at A.C. Milan, a mere what? Two years ago? Was it even that long ago? It's going to be gone by the end of the season, you know?

The managers, like, we've had like three managers since then. Calabria is going to be gone if yesterday's thing was any indication. He's also old, so I think he's going to be gone eventually anyway. And there are quotes after they both tried to make it sound

like everything was going to be okay, but... Didn't look okay. Didn't look. I would love to know what he said. Somebody was... Somebody on the... one of the A.C. Milan subredits was saying

that Collabry didn't agree with his substitution patterns. I don't know. Who knows? Yeah. Claibri's old, man. I mean, sure, he's probably some kind of spiritual leader or something, but. I mean, he did move Eunice back to right back instead of putting Claibri in the game.

Like, I don't know. Maybe he was just feeling that. Yeah. But, I mean, regardless of whether he's playing wing, right back, right wing back, midfield, or whatever, he's in, he's conscious south's guy, Eunice's. Yeah. The kiss on the neck sealed it after they won the Super Cup.

But Conscious style just keeps proving it and proving it week after week. Dude, Eunice, like we've said many times, an extremely lovable person. I can't imagine being his coach

and not having him be your guy. Pulisic documentary, episode two. Chris, I understand you've prepared a full review of the episode. I did. I have not.

Oh, you mean for right now? I think it's good. Do you? My one complaint is this was billed as a going to be behind the scenes look, following pool of six. It turns out just more of a bio biography. Oh.

I guess we'll see how the rest of the episodes go. This one was about his time at Dortmund. It was pretty well done. So it's worth watching. Yeah. Okay. Now, it's, if you've, probably if you listen to this podcast, you already know everything in it. Mm-hmm.

But you could be impressed by, oh, someone who doesn't follow that closely, this would be pretty good. They probably enjoy this. Yeah. And then you get enjoyment from that. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, that can be fun. So, what's the, like, what's the key, sort of the key moment in the,

the episode. For me, the big thing I learned from it was Juergen Klinzmann used the idiom when he was talking about Pulcic being thrown in the first team. He said, in Germany, we throw them in the cold water. And then I looked into that. That's what they say for throw into the deep end in Germany. Hmm. Yeah.

It could be kind of annoying if you didn't know that that was the German form of the idiom. because it's just like Yergen can't you just pay attention to his like well he did what threw me is he said I think he combined the two idioms he said throw him in the cold water and let him swim

yeah so this is like Yergan now they got Yergan like in a room in a chair yeah the show is almost entirely different talking heads okay okay you can tell their strategy was all right we need to have, we're not going to get a ton out of pool of six. Yes.

If we hear from them twice, three times, that's going to need to be enough for us. Yeah. And it works. They got the entire serriad desk, migrella. They got Yergen Klopp in there. Wow. So, so I, I'm struck, like when, if throw him in the deep end or throw him in cold water are roughly equivalent in how they're used. just how much less lethal the German version is, you know?

Well, except throw them in the deep end comes from our swimming pools. You're not actually going to drown in the swimming pool, right? Yeah, you definitely can drown in a swimming pool. You can. But the cold water thing, it's more about them adjusting to the shock. Yeah. of it. And in America, it's like either you succeed or you die.

Yes. Because if you throw someone in the deep end, they can't swim, they will. That's my understanding. They will perish. Yeah, I spent some time Googling it. It's a little bit tough. I had to get chat, GPT involved. They were throwing out suggestions.

Then you go Google those. I think I've confirmed all the facts here. Beautiful. How old is throw them in the cold? water. Let's go back to like the 1700s but then literacy in Germany picked up

a lot in the 1800s and that's when it really took off. And throw them in the deep end comes from basically the started appearing in the 40s but then the 50s it stuck. As pools became a little more common.

Yeah did it bring back warm members? memories of those early days for Pulisicay? One thing I had forgotten. I assume they were showing the right clip. When he scored his debut goal, he did a pretty embarrassing dance. He did a dab or the, is it, where you go like that? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Is it embarrassing? If you saw it, it was embarrassing. Okay. Well, I mean... I still remember his first goal in the Bundes League, it was like a near post, kind of a sneaky little strike. I think they might have showed a different... Celebration.

But they made it seem like that was the first celebration. I'll have to check on it. I mean, he was like, what? He was 16, right? Yeah. I mean, you know, you go back far enough on my face, but it's going to be some, going to be some embarrassing stuff on there, too. That's a, that cake is still batter at that point.

For sure. The noodle. Yeah, yeah, you're, yeah. Yeah, but I don't think he's ever going to bake into a great, dancer no matter how much time we give I'm like do I want to talk about Trump or no I don't

I forgot about that I wasn't thinking about that I have a Pulisic's pick for Director of National Intelligence looks like she might be in trouble though we're going to get topical here doesn't seem like she has the support on the hill hmm all right well

hey real quick let's do Juventus. I don't have much to say about it. Vince, what do you got? Yeah. Okay. Wes started right back and a 2-1 loss to Napoli. Real quick, I just want to say I love watching Conte teams play, number one, and I love watching this Napoli team.

Napoli was almost my team. Y'all don't know if y'all know this. But I was close to pulling the trigger on Napoli being like my squad, number one, birthplace of pizza. Number two, not a, not a traditional power, but a decent enough team, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. I didn't pull it. I didn't pull the trigger, but I got a soft spot in my heart for Napoli.

But, I mean, Conte, man, it's just such a good team. They don't give you anything. They don't budge an inch. You know, everything, everything on like every inch of the field is contested. They got dual winners all over the pitch. They're just going to beat you up. And in order to cut them up to even get like a scoring chance, you've got to do something.

They got to be some class involved, right? They got to be something coming out from the unexpected. And you know who provided the class in this match to get UVA their one goal? Weston McKinney. That's right. Our own. Weston McKinney. Along the touchline,

Napoli thought they had them corralled. Three people around them. Three people around them. And what does West do? He shifts that, he kind of takes the ball, shifts that thing on to his left foot. I think he megs, Polytono, he megs a Napoli player, essentially. Ball squirts out to Coop Miners,

and because there was three people over there trying to basically jump Weston, once the ball squeezes through the Coop Miners, Uve is off and running and it's hard to get off and running against Napoli and a lot of stuff happens after that that leads to the to the UVA goal but that whole

opportunity was created by Western McKinney no doubt about it now otherwise he was getting roasted by David Nairas over there right back I mean getting cooked he was getting cooked over there right back

David Nairis was having was having a good time. And yeah, other than that, I mean, not the best West game, I would say. So maybe there's limits to how much he should play fullback over the course of a season. Probably. He's been really good. He's been really good so far. Yeah, you know, the good teams where you got people on the wings that are able to, you know, to expose you. Then it's, then it might become an issue.

But, yeah, other than that, didn't have the best game. Tim did not play in this match. He started against Brugge in the Champions League. Didn't really do anything. Right. After that big goal last weekend. Waki, you noticed this, but there was an interview with Wes in the athletic. O'Keefe, the writer's name is O'Keefe, he somehow has, you know, occasionally cranks these out.

Interviews with important national team players. There's a quote towards the end of it where Wes says, you know, basically I'm not thinking about, I'm only thinking about the next match. I'm not thinking about the future too much. He said, it's like when people ask me about the World Cup. I always say life is life and anything can happen. I can speak about it all I want. And maybe I'm not even playing at it or on the roster, which is kind of funny.

Just notable to me that he would say that. Of course, he's playing at the World Cup and on the roster, you know, unless he gets hurt. Hey, man, this is the type of humility that having your parking spot taken can, can, you know what I'm saying? It's only, only that type of life experience can humble you to that point, you know? Yeah. Or it's like, man, I had a good season for YuVe last year. And then this year, once again, I'm starting from square one. And maybe he wouldn't feel this way if Greg Burrhalto was managing.

Maybe we wouldn't get this quote if it was Greg as a manager. But with Potch, he's like, hey, anything can happen. I need be on my P's and Q's. And that's what we need from West McKinney. We need him to be on his P's and Q's specifically for the national team in games that do not matter. All right. I think that's it, right? That's it.

Thanks, everybody, for listening. We'll see you.