LAFC vs Real Salt Lake: David Martinez Sold, Transfer Window Recap & Marc Dos Santos' Final Test

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1:01A beautifully designed Squarespace website is the difference between having a movie reviewing hobby and a movie reviewing career. Squarespace, because no matter what you're into, a website makes it real. Use offer code the difference for 30% off every plan in terms of conditions of life. I think that LAFC definitely improved their chances, and ultimately, it's really all on Mark dos Santos at this moment. He's got to put the pieces together. There really should be no more excuses. And so when these guys get up to speed, we should start to judge the team in terms of, okay, you've got the ingredients. What are you cooking for us now? Hello and welcome to Happy Foot Sad Foot Your LAFC Gateway Drug and the only LAFC podcast that has spent over a million dollars in game. I'm Darren Miller. I'm Vince Larosa. Travel Hellwig is travesting, but once again, he will be joining us via pre-recorded videos that he

2:03instructed us to play in case anything ever happened to him. Welcome to our preview of LAFC's MLS match this week. First, Vriel Salt Lake on Saturday, September 5th at 6.30 pm in Salt Lake City, the Abiza of the US. That's what they say. You can watch it on Apple TV and our live post game call in. Show starts 10 minutes after the final whistle at youtube.com slash at Happy Foot Sad Foot. Dress code for the post game show is of course our latest merch. Head on over to Happy Foot Sad Foot pod.com to check out what we've got. And if you want 15% off all March, plus a whole lot of other membership benefits or just want the best way to support the show the most, become a friend of the foot at patreon.com slash happy foot said foot. Later in the show, we'll discuss all this week's storylines and make some bets. But first, it's time for a listener, mandated banter, Darren, we just got back from a company retreat. Do you see your rested, replenished your ban. I do. I do what bandwidth is full. Is it? Is that what they say? Does I know people or bandwidth is empty? No one's ever talking about low bandwidth. Yeah, they're like I have. I know they say they do say

3:05we have low bandwidth. You know, I'm just saying you're just being with empty your full or is it lower high? Beats me, man. We need to go on another company retreat. Right. I mean, I'm going on a mini one this weekend because it's my birthday. So just a world-class better birthday. Is it too early to say? It is too early. My birthday is on Sunday. Sunday. This is big birthday is on Sunday. This is interesting. We went on a company retreat. We're all rested and rested and relaxed. And now Travis has already traveled again. He's already gone. And you are also traveling again within a week. And I am just home and didn't know about it and didn't know that you could do that. I feel like a dummy. I could have been traveling the world like you guys. We've talked about telling you. But then we realized who it at the show. That's right. And so we've just kind of. Yeah, that was all that was all implied. Yeah, we thought we thought you

4:08would figure we're like, well, we don't have to tell him like if we left, he's going to know that he could go to, right? But, but yeah, didn't but I guess I didn't put two to two together. I didn't. They say the the saying is I didn't get the memo. In this case, we did have a corporate retreat. We did talk a lot about memos. So this was a good situation for a memo. But I guess that didn't happen. How's the rest of your life going? I mean, my favorite part about the corporate retreat, let me just add before we move on from that is whenever somebody would ask me, so how do you know, Darren and Travis? I would say, well, let me tell you, we have a world famous MLS podcast that we do together. And they go, oh, yeah, I think I see your face before at the. Yeah. So the real the real version of the trip we want on is that we do a hangout that does include more people than just the people who run this podcast. And sometimes those people don't know. They're also really avid listeners of the show. But we did hang out on a lake and have a great time. And that was very fun. Yeah, let's do that again. We run a boat. Why do we do this

5:09instead? You know, I think if we could be out on a boat on a lake as frequently as we podcast, that would be the better choice. Yeah, we miss. I think if people have it in the cards to do that, that is the choice they make most of the time, right? I was literally going to say we missed the boat on that one. Oh nice. Stop myself. That'd be the second literal euphemism. Is that what it is? Wow. You can tell we're really not rested. No, no, we kind of work. We're not. We're very much like the team right now. I don't want to get too much soccer talk, but I feel like I think we played as much winning soccer as they did. Yeah. Go back once again. Sure. Really? I'm actually surprised. You're normally the one that's like, oh, I did this again, or I watched the game again. And I'm like, I write about these games sometimes. I don't even watch them that many times. Dare what are you doing? Yeah, I watched it. I also did sneak a good chunk of the game in during the trip, which was pretty well times to between activities. It was funny to be at

6:13dinner and have Travis be like, hey, Vince, I'm like, what's going on? He's like, he ended at zero, zero, and then have the rest of the people at table look at us like, who cares? Yeah, what are you guys doing? It's wrong with you guys. Get your bandwidth back. Yeah. They're all talking. This was an important company summit. You're heading the game. Well, I am excited to get back into this. Should we start the show? I actually am excited to talk about the team. So yeah, let's get gone. Yeah, big big transfer window special. You could call it. Oh, let's start the show. Actually, hold on a minute on this pod. We may talk about walkable cities and Sega Dreamcast and furry little dolls that we hate. But soccer matches aren't one with Sega Dreamcast and furry little dolls that we hate. Are you sure? I mean, there is, it guess it's possible that a doll has helped at some point. But they're one on tactics, Vince. You know this preparation, execution, and it's the same with just a jewelry law. It's the same with personal injury law boys. That's

7:19what we're doing. When you've been injured, it's not about finding an attorney that yells the loudest. It's about building the right system, finding the right team members, experience, and so much more. A myriad law approaches every case like a championship side. They study the film, control possession, and when it's time, they strike like sunny once every six months. And if you been injured, don't just I mean, we hope that that age is badly over the rest of the season. We have to re record this. If you've been injured, don't just hope things work out. Have a game plan because when the goal is winning, sweating is the answer. I'm reading the ad copy for the first time. Nice job, fun. Just kidding. Go a myriad law by calling 866. Are we back? Or if it was a rough night, a six six, are we bad? One number for the nights when the foot is happy and one number for the nights when the foot is sad. Thanks for on a myriad. Let's start the show. All right. Well, as the more casually obsessed, LAFC fan on the show. I love LAFC and I'll never

8:20miss a match. But I don't have time to stay on top of all the advanced stats. Ross removes rumors, tactics, and off the field drama that I can't get from just watching the matches. When all I see watching a match is, okay, fine, I will once in a while miss a match, okay? But as far as I can tell, ball did not go in that French man did not flip. Did ball even get kicked? We'll never know. Luckily, my friends Travis, the human LAFC crazy wall and Vince, the LAFC Patrons' hint of tactics are here to catch me up on the most important storylines that live beneath the surface of every match. So we can all enjoy them so much more in a segment we call storylines. Well, Travis has sent another dispatch in from wherever he is in undisclosed location. He may disclose it, but just keep in mind that he's not really wherever he says he is. He's in a safe house somewhere. We've made sure of it. Yeah. Should we see what he's got to say? Let's do it.

9:21Darren, Vince, Vince, I come to you on this the most important week in LAFC history live from Lordship, Connecticut, where I'm visiting my mother, ball, currently wearing a t-shirt that my late father bought at Target that has been sitting in a drawer for two years because the humidity made me too sweaty to wear my own clothes for too long with some storylines for this week. And the first one is this. How do you say goodbye to David Martinez? News broke this week that we sold them to a Danish club whose name I refused to memorize for $8.5 million, about three times what we paid for him, a new record for the Danish league. The Danish league is of course in Denmark not to be confused with the Dutch league in Holland. No Danish team has paid this much for a player before. This is obviously lower than I think a lot of

10:25people thought we might get for him, but still a massive profit for a player that has been incredible at times and deeply frustrating at other times. I think we all miss David Martinez for a lot of reasons. We at this podcast never doubted him or his ability. We did say at the beginning of the year when he was playing that well, he's not going to be here at the end of the year. And the most predictable thing happened, right? We proved that we could bring a guy in from Central or South America for a certain price, sell him for a higher price, into Europe for a club that is known for selling. We also have sell-on clauses and a bunch of bonuses as well with this Danish club. Both of you guys I just want to talk you talk about how you're going to remember David Martinez and maybe your favorite moment with the guy and how you're feeling about this transfer. Okay. All right. Honestly, I think for me, this latest scent before his injury is the thing that I'll remember the most. There was a period of time where he was the one scoring the goals and he was he was on when everyone else was off and that I just remember that being such a heartening and exciting thing

11:27to see from him, even though I think we were pretty frustrated with the team at the time. But it kind of showed how much he'd grown over the years and how kind of like adult he'd become. And I think in general, he was a player who had this massive spark and excitement to his game that at his best, you could always see. You could see from farther in the stands that you then you could see most players on the team when they were at their best. So his potential and the exciting play was our always on display and it's something that you kind of need on a team. Like as a fan, you need that from somewhere. So he was just like clearly the guy that everyone was like, okay, he's got such a high ceiling. Like let's let's see where this goes. I think in another type of league with different roster rules, we would have gotten to see something like that. Potentially you don't get guys who stay who have that kind of potential who stay on a team for that long very often. So I think we were all kind of expecting this like Travis said. But I will remember him as that spark that is rare in MLS in general, but like has been rare for the team

12:28this past season. You got guys like blog on Sunday that you just expected from and you pay them for it. And then everybody else is like, who knows what'll happen. You need that sort of like unzunk hero that always steps up. And I kind of don't know where we're getting that from moving forward. So hopefully some of these new guys will do it. But you knew it would come from him what he could do it. So that's what I'll miss. That's what I'll miss the most. The swag. Yeah. I mean, he's such a technically gifted player like L.A.F.C. has has lost a big chunk of talent in what he brought to the team. I mean, you could in a lot of ways you could say he's probably the most technically gifted player after sunny, even more than belong of long as a little bit more power and athleticism. That's not to say that David Martinez wasn't some power in athleticism. I think he was deceptively strong much faster than a lot of people realized. And a lot of defenders found that out the hard way. And so he put them to shame. I think enough was it Crucise Zool where he skinned a defender or maybe it was one of the Mexican teams at home where he just put his head down, powered through.

13:31The defender was like, I got it. I got a piece of him. And he just he ran through. He was able to run through the tackle. I have enough strength and still finish. Like he had some brilliant moments. You know, we talked about this when when Bogus left like a lot of bangers gone. Like the dude didn't get cheated when he hit when he hit his goals, right? Like he always seemed to score a spectacular goal. And then when you you added the fact that he was only 20 years old. He was one of the youngest starters on or the youngest starter. Like regular starter was David Martinez. And I think some of this just goes to show you how difficult this is because I remember when he first showed up. Everyone was like, this guy. He's the best player in Venezuela. He's there like savior. This is the guy that's going to bring them to another level. And immediately we thought, okay, he's just going to tear this leg up, right? Doesn't matter. Then you just had to stop for a second. Be like, well, he's just 18. He had to work through a lot of stuff. I give him so all the credit in the world. Like the mentality of who David Martinez was as a player, as a man, when he arrived and who he is now, I think he would say that LFC gave him a lot of that wherewithal that he's going to need because I also think my big

14:34takeaway from David Martinez is we have not seen the heights. Like he can still go farther. He can still add more to his game. We talked about this just before he got injured was like, was it discouraging or worrying that David Martinez was not going 90 minutes? And it was he should be a 90 minute player. He has all the talent. He has the physical capabilities. He just needs to add on some of that fitness and some of that just kind of like we were saying, another level, add another level to his game, become a 90 minute player. Someone that affects the game for 90 minutes doesn't come off the pitch. He needs to become a bit of a bollonga. Like this is the type of guy that should be playing weekend and week out and shouldn't be coming off the field unless it's to do a curtain call for a hat trick. That's the type of player he should be. And so I will remember him for the Leaps and Bounty took even knowing we all knew he could just knowing you can doesn't make it happen. And I think again, I just want to point out just how difficult it is to scout a talent and say that's a raw talent, but then to bring it to fruition, make it make that talent into a well-rounded player that doesn't just do cool tricks and dribble round players and score bangers but can like

15:39actively help his team and his teammates for 90 minutes. And I think LFC has put him well on his way. This is a very good sign of their ability to identify players and develop them. But I'm going to miss him. And I would be remiss and no offense to the Danish club Nordiclan who is a developmental club and is one of the primary developmental clubs in that area of the world. More, you know, farther north, not from a big five league like Italy, Spain, England, but I would all love to see him like in the Bundesliga. I guess that's that's my one bummer from all this is like how do I watch him now? I guess through highlights. If you would have gone to Bundesliga, we at least would have been able to watch him on actually did you know Bundesliga is on Fandango? Did you know Fandango has sports? No, I didn't. Well, we're all learning that together. I learned that the other day. Okay. Yeah, you can watch Bundesliga games on Fandango. What is Fandango? Like what how is that platform? I think it's connected to the movie platform and they now have their own stream because everyone has to have a streaming platform. I mean, we're working on ours,

16:41yeah, half of saffix. Yeah, that's up and running. I just wish I could watch it. I go, I was thinking I thought was like show times in your area. Fandango, you're home of Bundesliga. Of course. Also, I mentioned this in our text thread, but they really twisted the knife with it's such a photo of him watching a game from the stadium from his new team. And he's wearing the coolest hat ever. And I don't think that was necessary. I think that was in South Sanitary. I don't think he should have done that. He should have, well, he could have worn it, but like sent all of us one. That would have been. Remember him by it. Yes. Go look it up. He's wearing an a rapist hat. The food. Anyway, I guess it's time to say goodbye to this fine player. Navi Martinez. Yeah, still very nice. No, not dead. But dead to us. He's going to a place where you know, sometimes during the year, there's like two hours of light, but yeah, not dead.

17:43Yeah, well, however he described having his up to you, Vince, should we look at the next storyline? Yeah, I'm going to think about that while we watch Travis. I also agree that he was a perfect player with no flaws and never, ever made me upset. That brings us to our second storyline of the week, which is this. What did we do this transfer window? The transfer window closed last night. And I didn't stop LAFC from dropping a Jersey hat tip, whatever you want to call the hat tip video earlier today. I don't think it's been announced yet as of recording this video, who that player is. My guess is it's that 20 year old Brazilian striker that there were rumors for. But we also brought in on loan a guy from Swansea, who I'm calling Andy Moran 2.0, an attacking midfielder, brought in a bunch of other players. I want you to just talk about how you're feeling about this transfer window. I know there's some disappointment among fans, especially with Navi Martinez coming leaving a lack of attacking options coming in. How you feeling about this roster moving forward? Do you think this roster as currently constructed can win MLS Cup? Or is this just a holdover until next

18:48year where we could finally get a new DP? Soccer wise, I think it was Doyle accidentally, got hopes up for folks by saying we could sign a new DP with Martinez going out. That's not the case. Curious how you guys feel about. And maybe it wasn't the Brazilian player we got in. Maybe it's somebody else. I don't know as of recording this. How you feeling about the transfer window? Are we the best team in MLS or should we all just pack up and become Inter Miami fans? We are either the best team in MLS or the worst team. Those are the two options. No, in between. He was right about that last player was another attacking player. It was that's what he thought it was. It was in fact the Brazilian who are now calling Travis as Brazilian. Travis is Brazilian. That's his name. So we do have, it seems like one for one we lost our does and Martinez and now we have two more strikers. So that parts in even trade of sorts. Yeah, I mean, in some ways, there are in terms of transfer window transactions. They do kind of profile kind of like for like two a little bit. Well, more so the Brazilian I think you say his name is Thaylon or could be Thaylon. He's in the comments. He definitely

19:53profiles as very similar to what we saw from David Martinez before he arrived. He's Derby Boy left footed big dribbling boy. His fingers very young, very raw. It looks like he does seem to have like a surprising amount of strength to him for being also a short king. I believe he's about five foot five. Five foot five really? Yeah, it doesn't play like it though. You know, David Martinez looked small at first and then like grew into his body. So we'll see, you know, he's just 20 years old, but he looks like one more for the future. Like a direct replacement for David Martinez, but especially when you look at the structure of the deal, the loan for this season, loan for the sprint season, it kind of seems like LFC's like, look, you're young. We're not expecting you to contribute a ton like get get used to the team, get used to a new country. And let's see you kind of get up to speed. I wouldn't be surprised. Like honestly, I would put over under of starts for him this season at like one and a half, maybe even half. I doubt he starts games. I think he plays in cameo appearances. I think they just kind of build him up and then they

20:53say, Hey, let's hit the ground running in that sprint season. And then that gives them the chance to decide, are we going to pull the trigger and bring this player in ahead of the change in the calendar during a summer window? So like the structure of that deal looks really good. What will disappoint fans though is like I legitimately do not feel he is meant to contribute in this season. If he does, it's icing on the cake, but I think that's not the expectation for him. The other players though, I I like the window. I know that a lot of people are going to say, I don't know these players. I never heard of these players. And my retort to that would be most MLS signings you have not heard of. There are the Levantowski's that show up. There's the Sunnies that show up. Most guys that came in this window, like you have not you've just not heard of because MLS is looking in talent pools in which only scouts and people that are really doing this day in and day out know about these players because that's the league that weren't we try to buy low and we try to sell high. We try to find talent that we as a league can afford were just not there yet. There still will be, you know, your DP signings of like I said, of the Levantowski's

21:55of the Sunnies of the Messies, but those are going to be few and far between. It's the guys doing most of the heavy lifting are going to be your kind of talents from places in the world in which you've not heard of. And so with that in mind, you just I want to I'd look at the window based on like what were LA of seasonings goalkeepers, no problems there. Defense feel very good. We have three centerbacks for two spots. I trust all three of them right now at fullback. I think bringing in Chabercot was a very good move. He's definitely an upgrade in terms of like offensive capabilities of our Eddie Segura. Yes, he has an air in him or two at times, but I think he is a very good one V1 defender when he switched on. I still love Ryan Hollings. He's had a little bit of a resurgence with surgery. Plenty out. But surgery is coming back. So as I see that, there was no need to do anything defensively in midfield. We were dealing with a problem where one worth thin because of injuries. Igor Jesus had a little bit of setback took a little bit longer to come back. Hopefully he's coming back in the next couple of weeks. But beyond that, like it's just a lot of players that there's just all around us. There's a reason why Eddie Segura was having to step in as your six

22:58is because as good as Mark Delgado, Tim Tillman and Matthew Schwanier can be all together or separately, they're all kind of the same. None of them profile as a very defensive midfielder. They all work very hard. They all can put in a shift defensively, but they don't think defense first. So they had to do something and they brought they have Eddie Segura. But then they bring in Sergio Vasquez who looking at his talents, he definitely profiles is slightly more defensive first. He seems to have a lot of range. I love, love the quick reflexes and reactions that he has. He seems to be switched on to when the ball turns over. And I think LFC really needs that because I think tactically, Mark Dos Santos has been risk of verse because he hasn't had that because he's afraid to afraid to leave someone back there. He didn't have an Igor like player or this do Sergio Vasquez like player where he felt like I can allow numbers to go for it because this guy's going to just run 20 yards and win the ball back quickly and then stop snuff out of transitioning just right back into the attack. So I like that move. Again, with them being all around us, they're not none of them are also very like it's not that they're not offensively minded because

24:00they do do a very good job of running from deep and crashing the box. None of them work in like really tight spaces. Tim Tillman can a little bit, but he's not much of a playmaker like Tim, Tim can receive in a tight space. He can hold the ball in a tight space. He won't turn it over too often in a tight space, but he's really better when he can get forward, receive forward, turn, and then drive into a space. They needed a guy that more from a standstill could play. The ball in and out a little bit of tempo, slotting passes. Hopefully that's Leo Valta, the finished player from Swansea. He seems to profile some more offensive players. So in that regard, that's a another area of need that can help the team. So now Mark dos Santos can say, well, do I want to have a six in there with two eights like a Tillman and Delgado who are going to that I'm going to be able to push further forward now. And that's how I'm going to get a little more offense. Am I going to run a six and I'm going to run a Delgado as more of a double pivot and I'm going to put Valta up there and allow him to kind of control the game and dictate the game between the lines. It gives him a little bit of just a little bit of play that he didn't have prior. And then see,

25:01we again, not quite a Nathan Ordoz replacement. I think he's a little bit more polished than Nathan has a little bit more in the toolbox. It seems he can he can pass a little bit more. He looks like a little bit better dribbler than Nathan. Well, CV is a better finisher. That's where Nathan really thrived. He could finish. And if this guy can finish, that would be great because watching the team against DC, it was interesting to see sunny play on the wing. The problem with sunny playing on the wing is you no longer had sunny at the nine. Sonny couldn't play both the wing and the nine. So there was no scoring threat through the middle. It'll be interesting to see if Mark dos Santos tries that again and runs with Seabew through the middle or he plays wide and you have sunny back at the nine. He just adds a layer, an extra layer of attack. I would love to see them maybe together both in the middle. We're sunny playing more like a support striker to the nine and he creates some more space for him. But I think most of all, it's like this roster was very thin going into this. And now once these players receive their visas, I think it gives Mark dos Santos an array of options, which allows the team to look different. I think he's a lot of the choices he's been making have been decided for him by the roster he has at his disposal. Now it's going to be we're going to get to see

26:06the choices he's actually making. Now he still has some work to do and I would agree with people that are saying like I'm not totally happy with Mark dos Santos right now. But my caveat would be I fully believe this is a lot of the injuries have pushed his hand and he's doing the best with what he has in front of him. I think a lot of the choices are ones that I could explain away for this injury here or this player missing here. Now that he has these guys that is disposal, it's like it's all on him. Once these guys are in, how he plays them and what he gets out of them and what tune he gets out of this team is going to be on him. So if you are someone that does not believe in Mark dos Santos, you should almost welcome this because he had a window in which like he has no more excuses. And I think that that's the big takeaway here is I think LAFC plugged in the holes in all the positions they needed to. Are they heading shoulders more talented than Miami? No, did they get maybe a little bit closer? Possibly. Look at the end of the day though, it's the playoffs, they're, you know, it's winter go home. Anyone can win in this game. I think LAFC has given themselves a much better chance than they had. Let's say three weeks ago. Yeah, I mean, I think the

27:10thing with LAFC has always been if you unlock the team properly, they don't just get a little bit better. They like when they play properly to the ceiling that they actually have and to the way that they're supposed to be playing, they're like way better than they've been playing. If they can do that, then yeah, whereas it is in Miami, it's not a question. I think that's why everyone's been frustrated. It's like, we know how good this team could be. So either you get there or you don't. I think there's a world where we it's not like, oh, we're just incrementally better because these players are incrementally better. It's like they figure out the thing that they untie the not finally and then we're like as good as we actually are. So that's my hope. Yeah, I mean, I'm not, I'm not happy with them, but I'm also not like they haven't been objectively bad. Like they've been just kind of mid and that's really frustrating. I understand that from fans. Like LAFC's not supposed to be just mid, but they haven't been bad. And so the baseline of where they are and with these new players where they could be is in a is in a decent spot. I don't also say like looking around the West is so wide open other than the top spot. I think Vancouver

28:16has pretty much kind of wrapped up that top spot. I know Darren, you're going to tell me mathematically still possible. Of course, it's still possible and we'll take it. And I don't know what the hell you're talking about. But I just like I look around and do you trust any of those other teams the way that you think of like right now, Vancouver is in a league is in a level of the Miami's and the Nashville's those three teams are clearly the best three teams in MLS after that. It's wide. It really is wide open like Houston right now. A second. They're okay. You got teams here and there. They're like, oh, they're playing well. And that's kind of yeah. And we'll ideally we just become one of those teams and run away with it. Yeah, I just like to see. I mean, again, the players that they're bringing in their young, their athletic, the type of players that should be able to quickly adhere to this league and get up to speed quickly. They're not the type that are going to struggle with the pace and kind of the physicality of this league. So that bodes well for them. I just like, I don't want to say like they just needed bodies because I think they went out and got good players. But a lot of what LFC needed was a little bit of just some legs. And so I think that they added

29:16some legs and they also added some players that are that are interesting to watch whether you know their names or not. I look at their profiles and it fits into what LFC should should be lacking. Like a guy like Siebe, a guy that could, you know, crash the box that can get past his marker that can get some extra shots, maybe provide some cover for sunny and belong at times. Absolutely something LFC needed. Obviously, we've already talked about how big of a guy Sergio Vasquez can be for LFC's midfield in which you have three guys trying to do everything. They're trying to defend while also push the ball forward, but also being attacking midfielders. So I do like the window and I do like LFC's chances. I'm not saying that it's going to be a slim dunk. I mean, this is a, that sports baby moment. Like everybody has a chance in this league. But I think that LFC definitely improve their chances. And ultimately, it's really all at mark on on Mark dos Santos at this at this moment. Like he's got to put the pieces together. There really should be no more excuses. And so that's how we, when these guys get up to speed, we should start to judge the team in terms of, okay, you've got the ingredients. What are you cooking for us now?

30:19Maybe we give them some time with these guys. I don't know how much time, but we're due for a deep dive, maybe second segment in an episode pretty soon to maybe like really get into how we should evaluate the coach and potential changes with the coach as fans given that there's what 10 games left in the season. Yeah, I think that's fair. I mean, I don't think there's a world in which he's gone before the end of the season. But you know, once these players have all played a game or two, a real deep look at what Mark dos Santos has done and how he has worked with the, the way season goes, every season is going to have, you know, injuries, ups and downs, players moving. If he's able to demonstrate that he could get through a rough patch like this. And then the team is humming as we get into the playoffs, that bodes well for his prospects for next season. If he, if they just kind of linger and stay where they are and yes, they make the playoffs, then yeah, there's a real serious conversation that has to happen because this is going to happen every season. A coach has to face some adversity just like players have to on the field. They

31:19have to figure it out. I think he weathered it a little bit after the World Cup and then kind of went back into a trough. Some of it not his fault. But as I keep saying, once these players are up to speed, it really will be all on him and he will only have himself to, you know, either blame or to, you know, reap the benefits of coaching a team in which his fingerprints are. Hi, I'm Max Rush in the host of the Guardian Football Weekly, alongside me Barry Glenn Denning, my co-host, hey Barry. Hello. Now, although every American found us during the World Cup, for the two that didn't, what can they expect? Found us and fell in love with us, Max. They can expect three episodes each week of occasionally insightful analysis covering the Premier League, Champions League and beyond. Football Weekly is back. Watch on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts. Well, I can't be getting AI to production. Our competitors are already out of the key data. So, you know, AWS AI cuts through the noise with ready to use agents and the broadest set of AI tools. Stop overthinking. Start building. AWS AI is how.

32:22Prolover. Yeah, and also at a certain point, it's like it becomes less and less subjective. The season is dwindling and you only have the season two. Like you're going to be looking back at the full season and being like, what it will either you have someone to show for yourself or you don't. And then how do you decide to explain it if you don't? Okay, let's go to the last storyline here. That brings us to our last storyline. I'm sure because Travis knew exactly had a segue between what we ended up talking about and what we're about to talk about now. I also agree. MDS out. I guess, Starrington out. Whatever you would say. Vince, I can't believe you said Starrington out crazy. That brings us to our final storyline of the week, which is what are we going to do against ourselves? Are we going to fucking try? We have one win and I believe eight games. Fans are obviously very upset. Club at the moment, they're tired, they're injured. We have new people coming in. None of which have visas yet. But soon we will have those new players. Vince, what do we need to know about RSL and how we

33:29match up against them? And also, I just want to discuss like, it does feel like MDS out as some real legs at the moment, right? They talked about it on MLS 360 that he's on the hot seat. We have two the best attacking players in the league and we can't score goals. That does speak to the something not entirely clicking with the way that we're setting up as a club. We're still in third place. A lot of people would, there's very few fans who would not trade without AFC at the moment. But I think we all see the writing on the wall that this isn't us as data bowl roster or streak for the club. What do we need to know about how we're performing MDS's role currently with the club? Is he on the hot seat? They're openly talking about it on MLS sanctioned Apple TV. How do we match up against real salt lake? All right, we did actually start to answer this. Yeah, I mean, but I still want to stress. I think ultimately it's too soon to talk about. I think you allow him to try to mesh with these players and see what the plan and see the way they were

34:35playing when he has a full roster. I don't think that all of this is on him. Although some of it is, some of the structure in which he puts in place, some of his risk of version has caused this team to be stalatized, but at the same time, that came against Portland. One of the best performances I've seen from LFC. They should win that game. It's zero zero against DC. I'll say this. I was somewhat surprised. DC was played pretty well. I think anyone that was in that stadium, if you're a DC fan, was probably like, oh, worse, this team been all year. That being said, LFC still had plenty of chances to win. Yes, they didn't score in that game, and yes, they do have two of the better scores, but like, Belonga had a breakaway. Didn't score. Sun had one cleared off the line. Had a couple of other chances. Like, Shwanier. Shwanier had another chance. There is some ball not going net. There is some these guys are maybe a little lacking on confidence. There is some. The legs aren't with them because they don't they don't have a full roster. And he's he's having to start guys like Jeremy Obobase at the nine. Like, I don't put that on Mark Dos Santos. If he had if he was able to

35:38make these transfers ahead of time and get them their visas as quickly as possible, I guarantee you one of these one if one if not all three of these signings probably would have featured in that game. And we might might have had a different team. So to Travis's point, yes, I think there is pressure. I think it's only, you know, him and the team to blame for that and in those regards, but now that they do have the reinforcements, I think you give a moment to get those guys going. And then we we reassess. I think that that will probably come in the next three or four games. As Travis already mentioned, those guys don't have their visas though. So we really got it. We got a way till they get on the show play like. Yeah, when they actually play. And again, I just want to reiterate, didn't play that poorly against DC. Definitely could have won that game. Definitely had chances to win that game. And then we're talking a little bit differently. But at a certain point, this is, I think I'm kind of agreeing with you kind of disagreeing with you at the same time here. Because on one hand, yes, it seems like with new players, there's our proof that like not only could he not figure it out what the players he was stuck with, but he also can't figure it out

36:41with the new players that he wanted theoretically to fix those problems that theoretically were not to fix. So if that happens, then there's that proof. But at a certain point, so maybe that's the answer to this question that's coming. But like at a certain point, it's like, it's not like not, it's not at all on him when players aren't finishing it. Like he's making decisions that lead to them having tired legs in some instances. We were complaining about that earlier in the season. And that came home to roost at a certain point. Like if not finishing becomes that consistent of a problem that a team has, it's not going to be a fluke over and over again. Like that sports baby can only happen so many times before it's not sports baby. It's coaching. So again, like we'll find out like do the new players have that problem? Oh, they do. Okay, it is the coaching. Well, I think we also have to make a delineation between not finishing and not creating chances. We do, but same thing, whatever the issue is, like any issue, not defending well enough, not

37:43having the right mentality, whatever it is, the players are responsible for part of it and the coach is responsible for part of it. And yeah, the finishing though is really just is a strong. I mean, there is some coaching to it, like getting getting some better looks, but it's it's a very strongly correlated with players and how they're going. And I'm not really disagreeing with you. I'm just maybe reiterating the point. Like I look at Mark Dos Santos, what he's done, and I can kind of understand, like if you were saying, well, at least he needs to be scoring more, they have son and boanga fair enough. I don't can't disagree with you there, but you got to remember, like the other teams know they have son and boanga too. So they're game planning for them. So then Mark Dos Santos has to game plan around that right to get his guys free. Well, let me, if you're the coach, Darren, that's where it is. And your like, okay, starts to become very limited. Yeah, you're like, I'm like, Darren, hey, man, you've got son and boanga and you're like, you're right. I do. How do I get them the ball? I'm like, well, maybe you just be a little bit more offensive. And you're like, sure, I'd love to be more offensive. Let me get Eddie Sagar on the ball. And let's be more expensive and let's start passing the ball around. Yeah. Yeah. And let's,

38:44let's move numbers forward because I know Eddie can move the ball with some tempo and quick. Oh, wait, I'm not, I'm not trying to like slam Eddie. Like he's having to do a job. So like, Mark is putting him out there and being like, Eddie, I want you to be clean on the ball, but really you're here to make sure that we're solid defensively. And then to either side, I'm going to put Delgado and Chuanier and they're, they're both guys that are more like they want to play from a deeper position. They want to spray long balls. They also don't necessarily, they're not like, I think they work hard, but these guys aren't like guys that really eat up a lot of ground. So they have to kind of stay tight to Eddie. So like, just right there in the midfield, you're, you're already kind of up against it as a coach and saying like, yeah, I'd love to be more expensive. I'd love to knock the ball around. I'd love to open up spaces. If I do that, my midfielders are going to be completely out of the game with one bad pass. And so, would you see him happen? Would you see him happen? So he does have to like, I think what we forget is that these phases of the game are all connected. If I, if I want more offense, it means I got to do something with my defense to be solid defensively because there will be times when I turn the ball over and I need

39:46to defend LAFC. I don't think has been the best team defending transition in a, in a open way, meaning when they're, you know, pouring numbers forward and they're kind of expecting guys to just snuff out transition. So I think he's set up his team. I'll say it again, risk adverse. This is, and I can kind of see why, but to the point that we're both kind of reiterating here, is like, well, when you get the players that you want, if we don't see you start to open up the play and we don't see some more chances created, we don't see Boanga and Sonny getting on on the ball and into places in which their teammates are creating for them, well, that's, that is a failure of a coaching job at this point. But right now, I think it's some of some coaching, but I think right now a lot of it is personnel. And I, I, I, I reserve the right to be wrong. I could be wrong. He could get all the guys he wants and he could just, and it could still be bad. But I, I just, I think we have to reserve judgment until he has all the pieces until, and he can, he can really say, like, yeah, you're right, guys, let's, let's let them play. I got the midfielder's now that I feel like can pass the ball around. Let's go out and pass the ball around. And let's do that. I just

40:47don't think he's had those horses in his stable yet. This is Newton's Law of Tactics that you're describing. No tactics can be created or destroyed only transferred from one end of the field to the other. I mean, it's a really good, it's a really good analogy. I mean, that's how soccer works. Yeah, you famously, you know, number four, well, then if they win the ball back, that's less guys for you defend. Yes, they got to go farther down the field. But we've seen teams. I mean, it's a transition league. You get three V2. You can carve teams up, score your goal, and then sit back and defend the rest of the game. You can win games that way. At least he's won games that way. That's Newton's Law of Game State. Yeah. Yeah. 100%. Do we know? Oh, we're supposed to answer the RISO question probably, right? Oh, RISO. Yeah. You know, Newton thought of that law when a soccer ball fell from a tree and hit him in the head. Did you know that? Oh, did he eat the soccer ball after? Yeah, he ate it. Wow. Yeah. Newton. What a guy. No, I mean, he sure is like Newton. Yeah, long time. Make your rest in peace. RISO, what's going on with them? They're not in a great place either. I know

41:53Travis pointed out. In MLS play there are win lists in their last eight MLS matches. They've lost three in a row. They've also lost probably their most talented player in Xavier Gozo who went on to Crystal Palace in the Premier League. Very talented player. I made a great dribbler, lot of pace. You can see why a team like Crystal Palace would want him out there. He's probably going to play wing back for them. And I hope he does well. That being said, they're pretty good at home. So LFC has to be a weary of that. I'm assuming it's going to be sold out anytime sun comes to town to like the smaller markets. I mean, you know, let's be fair. I'm arguing pretty good. They do pretty well of the United States. Party Central. Yeah. And they do do they do they do pretty well on their own. So they do get pretty good numbers. But yeah, it's two teams struggling right now. Two teams. I want to grind out a victory. LFC is in the midst of playing, you know, mostly road games and a lot of them are against direct opponents. So these are games you have to win to keep pace

42:57with there with the Vancouver's and to, you know, solidify your place in the playoffs and hopefully get home games as many home games as possible. So this I don't want to be little the moment. But yeah, this is a weird like transition mode like with everybody trying to get players in trying to get visas. It's it's I'm not sure what to make of both LFC and RSL. So I'm going to have to grind it out a little bit. But I know RSL is a team that likes to have a lot of the ball. LFC obviously a team that likes to transition into the space behind teams that have a lot of the ball. So I think that's something to watch out for. It was exactly what happened when RSL was at LFC right after the workup break. They looked RSL looks slick. They looked dangerous. They did not finish and LFC punished them every time. So I wouldn't be surprised if that's the kind of game state that we go into and hopefully LFC can be sharpened and find the back of the net this time. All right. Those are our storylines for the match. When we come back, we're going to make some bets.

44:00Hi, my fans. Max here. Barry's here too. Hello. And now the Premier League is back. Barry Mini will be providing incredibly astute analysis three times a week wherever you get your podcast. Barry with the remaining 10 seconds of this ad, but can you provide some astute analysis? I think RSL is going to win the Premier League. And there you are for more hot takes like that. Watch your listen to football weekly wherever you get your podcasts. A beautifully designed Squarespace website is the difference between thinking about photography school and selling your portraits online. It's the difference between giving away those cookies you just made for free and running your cookie empire. A beautifully designed Squarespace website is the difference between having a movie reviewing hobby and a movie reviewing career. Squarespace, because no matter what you're into, a website makes it real. Use offer code the difference for 30% off select plans terms and conditions apply. And we're back. Now it's time for a segment called better than forget it.

45:00Better than forget it. Every week we end the show with a bet for this week's games when we can outlandish prediction something that almost definitely will not happen but could. Each week we all put out $5 if no one hits the my rolls over the next week and eventually by the time someone's a weird prediction comes true, they might win a good chunk of change. No one's bet cash last week. So we are we're past the hundo. We're at $105 for the pool. And we're we're looking at beautiful Salt Lake City. Although Salt Lake City actually is I've been joking about Salt Lake City, but it is actually beautiful. At least the scenery like when you look far out there, that's a weird city. Like when you look like where you are, it's not great. But like the mountains are really nice. It's clean. It is clean. Very clean city. So it's a young city too. Every time I go there, I'm always surprised like a lot of young people walking around. Oh, I thought you made like the city. The city hasn't been around for that law. No, no, no. Travis actually sends in a bet. Should we start with his? Yeah, we should. Okay, let's start with Travis's bet. I forgot to do bet it and forget it. And here's my bet

46:04from my weird hotel room that is actually a motel that they put art like that in and then they pretend it's fancier than it is. I feel very confident in this bet. L.A.F.C. will get two red cards. Whoa. Against RSL this weekend. L.A.F.C. two red cards against. Oh, shit. Wow. I do not see that one coming. No. Okay. All right. I don't love it. He didn't say we would lose though. So maybe we could get two red cards and win. I'm down. That's right. We still could do that. Yeah, it's awesome. Yeah, maybe things get get wild after we've already got it wrapped up, you know. Yeah. Maybe one red card is MDS. Oh, fair. People would love that. Then they go on to like score five goals. I like. Oh, that was so funny. Oh, no, you're so lucky to get the red card. They start playing well. I mean, if there's going to be a game to do it, do this one. I won't be there. You do whatever you want. Vince won't be there. Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness. That makes me want to change my bets somehow. But I don't know what that will

47:05help what I would do. Well, I have a bet that I came up with just before we started recording, because it came into my feed from L.A.F.C. It was the last time L.A.F.C. was in Salt Lake City. And Sunny was on the field. He scored a hat trick. Oh, I'm going to go with Sunny hat trick. Oh, I love it. Just loves playing in that thin air. Can kick the ball really hard and kick it even harder in the thinner air. Why not? It's thin, but it's not too thin. You know what I mean? Just the right amount of thinness. It's a dry heat. It's a dry thin. Dry thin. We used to be able to say it's a dry heat about L.A. But now it's not. It's a real wet heat these days. Disgusting. It's a thick wet heat. Oh, okay. Actually, thin air boats well for the bet that I stopped short of last week. And I'll go for this week. Google Erie's assist or goal. Yeah, I'll give you a little bit of your Google Erie's goal contribution. Yeah, I'm going to make a this week. Uh, you know, I'm going to go on on a limb and say Travis will be okay with me saying you can have

48:05both. Thank you so much. Um, when, you know, when we're down to players from the red cards and we need him to come up and head the ball in off a corner. I think Travis is going to come like he's normally the comis of these bets. But with him gone, I will, I will take, take over the role and I will allow it. Beautiful. All right. Well, we shall see what happens. That's our show. Our theme music is done by the insane team of James Valentine, Nate Walcott and Louis Palmer. If you made it this far into the episode, chances are you're enjoying the show. If that's true and you want to show your support, please consider becoming your friend of the foot at patreon.com slash happy foot said foot or pick up from half of Sapphire inspired merch by going to happyfootsetfootpod.com and he support really goes a long way to keeping this show going in the community growing. If you are a patreon subscriber, you haven't checked out the discord yet. I don't know why not. That's the best part. Go check it out. It's the best place on the internet. Thanks again. We'll see you in Salt Lake City. Abytha. I don't even know where that bit came from. I took it too far, but it's

49:06not based on anything at all. Vince will see you in two weeks. Well, there's a made-week game. It's me. I'm not dying. Vince? I mean, I can't am. We'll really miss you. Yeah, I'm turning 42. It's pretty old. 42! I'm close. I'm close to dying. I'm close to dying. Right? I love you. Bye. Hi, podvans. Max Russian here from the chart. Topping Guardian for the weekly podcast. Don't not to cry. If you enjoy the World Cup with us, you'll be glad to know we're back for the new Premier League season. Expect three episodes a week. Questionable predictions and the biggest stories in soccer from the Premier League to the Champions League and beyond. Watch now on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts. Is there anything better than your team bringing home a W? How about a personal W for your health? If you're 45 or older at an average risk, it's time to screen for colon cancer.

50:09Now the number one cancer killer of people under 50 in the US. It's easy to put off when screening feels like a hassle, but Colorguard Plus makes it simple. It's not invasive. Requires no prep can be completed at home in about 15 minutes and is 95% effective. Talk to your healthcare provider or request Colorguard Plus online. Rx only. Why can't we get AI to production? Our competitors are already out. We keep data secure. AWS AI cuts through the noise. Ready to use agents and the broadest set of AI tools. Stop overthinking. Start building. AWS AI is how.