City SC Posse - Ep27: We Owe Wallem an Apology: CITY Stuns Vancouver & Portland Is Next

Bright: Alright, kicking off today's show with an official apology. An apology to any of our listeners, anybody that I interacted with on social media about Wallum. we've we've been saying it pretty much all season that he doesn't deserve to be a starter on this team. I still don't know if that's true. I don't know if he does deserve to be a starter on this team, but he did have his best game of the season, I think. made the team of the match day along with Totland and the coaching staff, DeMay and and crew. he got his first goal the season, which was good to see. He was involved in a a couple of goals with a a secondary assist, I guess, if you will. came out with a rating of six point five. Pretty pretty good. Not not great or amazing, but But a big improvement over his, I think what was it? Was he a 4.5 last game or 4.9 the game before? And a lot of people online hammered me about my stance that he must be benched. And yes, hey, I'm happy he had a great game. I'm happy we came back and won that game. Again, I don't know if he's the long-term solution in this position. But it's it's good to see an improvement on on his end. And we'll have to see if he can continue to ride that. Now it won't be tonight in Portland because he is suspended. So again, we'll get a look at what what the lineup might look like. And we'll talk about that later in the episode without Wallum in it. But what were you what were you thinking when you were watching that matchup? I think the title of our last episode at some at somewhere in the title said Wallum must sit. And then he again he comes in, he gets gets the the third goal, gets involved in the second goal and in Totland's goal, so

Kev: Yeah, I think he played pretty well, honestly. I think there's gonna be some some listeners that are wondering where you are getting your ratings from because if you're on Fot Mob MO or FOT MOB, I

Bright: Right.

Kev: will say his game day rating was eight point four from them, which I think probably fits a little bit closer to what I saw on on Saturday.

Bright: Yeah, I don't know. I'll t I'll have to look into this. More or less, I was just using Google.

Kev: Mm, uh-huh.

Bright: It's easy. It's it's it's right there. It comes with the stats for the full game, comes with the lineup, comes with some some other stats and the the betting odds, and then the the player ratings, the timeline, who got yellow cards, all right here. So

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: So maybe the rating system on Google is slightly different. So, I mean, I don't think so. So, just going over the ratings real quick from this game against Vancouver, Betcher with a goal gets a seven. Totland with a goal and an assist gets the 7.1. Matan, who had a great game, gets a 6.9. Durkin, 6.7. Bumgardle, 6.5. Holsa 6'1, Edelman, 6-0, McNaughton 5-7, Polvera 5-8, Berkey, 5-2, Wallum, 6-5. That's what it's showing here, here on Google. And of course, Durkin and Wallum pick up the yellows, and now Wallum is suspended. But right, maybe I'll maybe I'll do some research on the actual rating system. Maybe there's something different there. I mean Fot Mob, they're they're an independent organization, right? So they're making their ratings and I know that they're they're trusted and all that. Google, maybe they're taking ratings from multiple places and plugging them in. Maybe they're the official MLS ratings. Like I don't I don't know. Man. This is a this is a basement podcast about soccer. I am not on ESPN one one or Apple TV

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: or anything like that reviewing this stuff. I go with the information that I can find in in a couple of minutes, right?

Kev: Just casually talking about it. It's a great point. That's very true, very true, right? I'll say like I'm looking at this Fot Mob rating. And a lot of those were overall, like if you put it in, you know, from highest to lowest, mirrored what this is showing, minus Wallum, who who they have second highest within the rating of the game. they had Cotlin starting at an eight five.

Bright: Yeah, a goal and an assist, he should be the the top rated player.

Kev: Wallum, Maton, and then it went into like Betcher and Durgen, finishing off kinda lowest player with with it being Hulse Hulsa.

Bright: Hope so, huh? Yeah.

Kev: so I don't know, maybe something to look at. this might be something, yeah, we need to bring up next time too. But yeah.

Bright: Yeah, we'll we'll double check it.

Kev: Let's let's bring it to next game, take a look, take a look at our notes and see which one kind of matches up a little closer to what we see.

Bright: For sure. And and we will will we will give Wallum some credit for a a much improved game. some of the comments on social media and I love the comments, people that disagree. we got we got some Some thank yous. We got some what the hell are you talking about? That's that's what happens when you put yourself out there. we got some, hey, this was a good take until Wallum had the best game of the season. That was probably what I think is probably the most accurate is I do think it was a good take. I I mean this is this is what I was how I feel. And then yeah, he had a great game. He's on our team, and and I s I support him being a team player, having a great game. I do think the team is. played better and that maybe has benefited him over the last few games. But but we do know he's had he's had some giveaways. He I think he still is a little bit of a momentum killer in general. You can't just take one game and think this is the player that we have. You have to look over the course of the season. Yes, you also have to look over the course of this this 13 game on beaten streak, probably more more accurately, but

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: hey, prop props to the entire team. We went into a t a tough place to play and and really

Kev: It is cost.

Bright: took it to one of the best teams in in MLS. And yeah,

Kev: It was

Bright: it was fun to watch.

Kev: It was a tough go at the beginning though, wasn't it? I don't know about you, but I was like, boy. boy, we're

Bright: Yes. So I put a little bit of of extra money on this game because the odds I I felt like we were being so

Kev: It's quite

Bright: disrespected. I think we had plus four fifty odds and And I'm like, we're on this huge unbeaten run. And I understand Vancouver is the top team in the West going into this game

Kev: Mm-hmm.

Bright: and everything. But I and we're playing in Vancouver, but I'm like, plus four fifty. So normally I just bet five bucks. I put ten bucks down for us to win. And I did that probably in like the first minute. And then and then they immediately scored.

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: And I'm like, are you kidding me? And you could you could see it coming. They were pressing. We we're trying to be this team that plays out of the back. S we're better

Kev: Mm-hmm.

Bright: at it sometimes mo better more better than than other times, I guess. But but this one, Edelman had a terrible turnover. And and the guy came down, had a wide open shot, and put it past Berkey. And and I wasn't

Kev: It's a solid streak.

Bright: I wasn't feeling great about it after that, especially considering that they score a lot of goals and don't give up a lot of goals. And we we

Kev: Mm.

Bright: didn't necessarily recover right away either. It took us still about another fifteen minutes to grow into that game and even

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: get the ball into their half of the field. We couldn't even we couldn't break their press and and get into their half of the field.

Kev: Yeah, to your point, the way we wanted to play it out of our backfield, and then the way that they were pressing, I feel like always causes us some struggles in games. Like I'm always nervous as we're playing that ball in the backfield, as you probably always are, right? But more so I think with this team at times. So so after that goal, I think I said it on the last podcast, I was like, I'm nervous about like a five-nothing game. I I just

Bright: Mm-hmm.

Kev: ain't because they've had plenty of them. They've had plenty of them, five ones, whatever, four ones, three ones. It's like just don't be that game. You know, I wanna I wanna watch this freaking thing. I don't wanna go to bed at halftime because we're down four-nothing. and we turned it around. It was it was beautiful. We had some crisp passes. that fed the ball at the right place, you know, for for our first goal with with Betcher. I think that was Betcher's goal, right? Betcher, no, did was it Betcher's goal? It was Betcher's goal.

Bright: Mm-hmm. Yep. Yep. Betcher had the first one. Montan had a had a great pass. Yeah. And not afraid to make that pass.

Kev: Yeah. Mm Maton passed that ball just perfectly then.

Bright: Cause I think sometimes we've been afraid to make that

Kev: Possibly.

Bright: pass, or just not good enough to make that pass

Kev: Okay.

Bright: right in between two players. Betcher staying on side, and it was a great ball. No, not like that. Yeah.

Kev: Don't think I've seen it all season, have you? Like I don't think I've seen that pass to feed Butcher that way.

Bright: So that's again, that's a props to to Ray and and going and getting this guy. I think I think Montan really had the best game of of his season so far with us. now I know that's

Kev: It's all

Bright: that's not all that long, but he he was impressive. and he paid the price too.

Kev: I I actually on on the app, I voted for him for Man of the Match because I thought

Bright: Yeah.

Kev: he had that impact on it and I understand, you know, Tlan, who's you know, one of my favorite players out there had such a good game, but

Bright: My too. I got his jersey. I said it from the get go. When we signed him, I went and got Totland's jersey because I was like, I like this kid. it's like he can

Kev: Did you Yeah.

Bright: play. I like his style of play. I like that he's a he's a box to box kind of a guy, right? Where he could play

Kev: Yeah. Yep.

Bright: on the attack and he can play the D. So I think he's kind of in the perse

Kev: Panel.

Bright: perfect position right now. And I know that we've we moved him to the other side. but but he's and we talked about that I think last episode too. But he's yeah, he's been solid

Kev: We didn't. Yeah.

Bright: and he brings a little bit of flexibility. So I don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but coming into tonight with Wallum out, you could move him back over to the right side to take

Kev: Think you do.

Bright: yeah, to take Wallem spot. So

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: So we'll have to see how that plays out. But yeah, Totlin had a a great game, no, no doubt about that. And and yeah, to take down the Western Conference champs, we've now beat Houston when they were top of the table, and we beat Vancouver while they've been top of the table. and again, doing it on the road. How much do you think the turf played a factor? So I didn't realize this until the game that they replaced that turf

Kev: Uhly.

Bright: during the World Cup break. So Vancouver is still, in theory, getting to know.

Kev: With news to it.

Bright: that turf a little bit. And I do think it was playing a little strange. It wa I felt like it was holding up the ball more than I was expecting. Normally when you're playing on turf, you're thinking the ball's gonna run.

Kev: Mm-hmm. Okay.

Bright: It's got it's got a lot of pace to it. And I wonder if that threw him off because we had a lot of intercepted passes. And and I think I think maybe we benefited from it a little. I always liked playing on turf. And maybe this is just me being cocky, but I we I always thought that I understood how the ball played on turf better than my competition. as a center

Kev: Sure.

Bright: as a center midfielder, I always I always felt like I could put the ball exactly where I wanted it on turf and let let my attacking guys run onto it.

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: that's how I always felt. So I don't know. I wonder

Kev: You're good.

Bright: if if We felt confident playing on turf this week and and I think it looked like it benefited us. Obviously we won the game.

Kev: I I will say as a center defender, I also enjoyed it because the ball would roll way beyond where the offensive player could get to it, probably as you were feeding it to him.

Bright: That must be it.

Kev: didn't I didn't have to worry about him taking it, so

Bright: I tell ya. Well

Kev: funny. No, it was awesome. It was it's such a good game. props to the team. I best best showing, I think. of the year obviously going against a top tier team and just ecstatic.

Bright: Yeah, and on a on a holiday weekend we were we were both out at a at a pool party barbecue family. We were we were probably tired. I know my wife tried to stay up with me. She was out I think the first five minutes or something like that.

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: And And so yeah, if you're gonna stay up for a game when you're you're tired like that and that you know the kids are waking you up first thing in the morning, it's it's a lot easier

Kev: yeah.

Bright: to do when you're winning and you're winning money and and all of those things.

Kev: And how cool was it to see our new guys? Navarro, Downs, Colsa, first start.

Bright: Yeah, Hulsa Hulsa gets his first start of the season. N Yeah, Navarro coming in off the bench. He's not used to that. I think they said like he's he's only done it twice in his MLS career or something like that. So

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: he's not a he's not a bench guy. So I think that's important to note as we talk about the lineup going in tonight. I thought Downs, he he played really good. I didn't I know he didn't didn't get a lot of minutes. He was more or less they threw him in there just to just to get get his first minutes with the with the

Kev: Yeah, you got it.

Bright: team. We were up three to one. There was only whatever it was, seven minutes to play or something like that. But

Kev: Six minutes left or something.

Bright: he had a shot on goal, one or two opportunities. so he seemed like he was hungry.

Kev: My party.

Bright: Navarro, yeah, he didn't do too much. But again, I'm not I'm not too concerned about that. let him let him get a start. Maybe, maybe he starts tonight. I could see that. And again, we'll talk we'll talk lineup here in a minute. But yeah, Hulsa gets the start. Mm Matan gets the start. So I I thought we we threw out a a good team. Betcher obviously is on a a heater right now. Yeah, a hot streak at the moment. So and you

Kev: Peter. Peter. I still think the best thing you can do for him is feed that ball to him with his back towards the goal and let him whip around and shoot that ball. I don't know what it is about him, but when he's not looking at that goal, I think he's at his best. shooting the ball. Wasn't yeah,

Bright: We've seen a couple we've seen that a couple of times, haven't we? Yeah.

Kev: it wasn't this game. This game he had a great run up there, a great strike over the I think bottom left corner. If I remember correctly. But

Bright: Well, you know, he had a really good play before that, I'm pretty sure too. I th I think yeah, it was before the goal where he was on side and they checked this. And the ball kind of got plopped over the top and he ran onto it. And I thought

Kev: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Bright: he would he really clever play because he didn't try and settle the ball, didn't try and bring it down, just kind of stuck his leg out. And now, luckily or unlucky for us, luckily for

Kev: Yep. Unluckily.

Bright: Vancouver, their goalie kind of did the same thing and managed to make the save. But I thought it was a really clever play. And that is something else that Betcher does is that he's he could be sneaky. He can

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: be sneaking. He can score some really nice goals. Again, we've been on him a little bit because he hasn't scored consistently. But now we're

Kev: Mm-hmm.

Bright: seeing him score consistently. He's taking those chances and he is converting them into goals. So again, give us give us four more minutes. We'll get we'll get to the preview tonight against against Portland. But certainly now that you look at the the table coming off of that that win, and I've got it pulled up now. And really we should be in third place. By ourselves within striking distance of Houston. If it wasn't for that that late Yeah Dallas game and they're still

Kev: that's good.

Bright: they're still ahead of us by some metric. I'm not really sure what that metric is. Mo goal goals four, I guess maybe is the next tiebreaker. Yeah, because we're tied on on

Kev: Post war probably. No or

Bright: goal differential and LAFC, I don't necessarily understand why they get the benefit of being in third place, at least on the table, when they've played a game one game more than of us. I feel like Dallas and us should sh we should get the benefit of the doubt and we should be in third place. LAFC should be in fifth. whatever. I think that's all semantics at this

Kev: Yeah, it doesn't matter.

Bright: point. At the end of the season, you all y you end up playing the same amount of games. But right, so we come into tonight's game in Portland. We stayed in Portland or we stayed in the Pacific Northwest. So we didn't come

Kev: Server. Yeah.

Bright: home, right, with a midweek matchup. So we should be a little bit rested. We don't have that b all that big travel. We we don't have to worry about the time change. We've been in the time zone now for a couple of days. it so I I think that benefits us a a little bit. Portland obviously played over the weekend too, so they're you know, they're coming on the same the same rest we are. But thirty seven points, we've got a chance again to go right up to forty points, depending on what Houston does. I mean, we're we're right there, man. We're right there. And and I don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but we got Portland tonight. And then we've got Minnesota, who just lost to Portland 5'4 at home this weekend. So I'll be going to the game this weekend. Then then we have a week off, and then we play Toronto. Now we'll see here. I mean, let's look. I was gonna say I don't think they're necessarily doing all that great, eleventh place, but but they had a big, big game over the weekend against Chicago. Sgt. with the hat trick, which is really cool. Of course, Sgt. coming back to to St. Louis. and then we played New York. And then the galaxy before we have Vancouver again at home. So we've got a stretch of games here where we we could keep this going. I think if we kind of get past tonight, and I and I think we can beat Portland. We've I think we proved it with with the big win against Vancouver, but but it's a little bit of a trap game. A little I mean a little bit. Not not like a big one, but yes, that's exactly it. Yep. Yep. There's

Kev: Is this a Chuck Ward game? Yeah. Coming off of a coming off of a big win. Your opponent's a little lower in the standings. Right? It's a tough environment. Yep.

Bright: They're sitting at eighth. Yeah, tough environment. I think that's always the big thing. Now, over the the last stretch of games against Portland, going back to last year and and years past, we actually hold the edge. So so that's that's something, I guess. We'll have to see. When we talk about power rankings, big jump for City here too. Up to up to fourth, which is which is pretty neat.

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: So the again you can kind of see that started the the year with six losses and and one win over our first ten games doesn't sound great. We were at the bottom of the barrel with the power rankings, but I think they can't ignore the run that we've been on plus the the big signings. And when you look about the you know, the teams that are ahead of us, Miami, with Suarez and Messi. You've got Vancouver and then the the big powerhouse with Nashville. So so no longer are we being disrespected across the league on this run. And and you know, I probably could have

Kev: I don't know how I don't know how you could disrespect us on this run.

Bright: Well, they did last week with our odds against Vancouver. And let me let me pull that up. Look at the odds now against Portland.

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: And I understand that Portland is not the same team as Vancouver. They're in eighth place. Vancouver was in first place. But they only had us like a fourteen percent chance to win on

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: the road. Well, now now we're looking at that thirty-six percent chance to win. They're giving Portland the slight edge just because they're the home team. But but that's still that's pretty close. That's more or less them saying fifty-one forty nine if you took the draw out of it, right?

Kev: Mm-hmm. Yep. Yeah.

Bright: So what what will you be doing tonight?

Kev: I'm actually a little surprised. I'm a little surprised it's not leaning in our favor just slightly.

Bright: Yeah, I think that's just the the home team advantage that the MLS seems to get. But again I

Kev: Perfect. I I'm gonna take advantage of it when it comes to betting. If that's truly what the betting line looks like, I'll take a win.

Bright: I well yeah. Yeah. I I think I'll I'll do the same. I'll bet on the win given the

Kev: I'm gonna take it now.

Bright: yeah, given the the streak that we've been on. Now let's let's talk lineup a little bit. Wha what do you do? I feel like we kinda have this this lineup conundrum now. Yes, Wallum is out. So that alone means that we have to make a change. We've kinda already talked about that. We could move Totland over. Santos could go in there. I don't he hasn't gotten any minutes, so I don't necessarily see that. What I want and and I I

Kev: Two.

Bright: w I do want two up top or I want Betcher to slide in just underneath, whether you want to call it a a false nine or or something like that or an

Kev: Mm-hmm.

Bright: attacking mid with Hulsa. So maybe you do play Navarro up top and then you play Betcher and Hulsa right underneath. So what do you do with Montan? Montan had a great game in that position. But I th I do think that he could come over and also take Wallum's spot, right? Or Ty

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: think he could play either either side of the field. And he I think he has enough energy, he has enough spark that he could he could play that position. He can cross the ball. So he he could play out wide.

Kev: Does he have the defensive does he have the defensive ability to do that?

Bright: You you could you could be sacrificing a little bit on the on the defensive. He'd be he'd be tak taking up some space maybe as opposed to being a great tackler of the ball or he obviously he

Kev: Mm. Mm-hmm.

Bright: doesn't have he's not a he's not a big guy, but he's

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: he's fast, he's quick, he brings a lot of pace, and I think he has the stamina that he can make those make those runs. Now you could Put Sangbin in that position? I don't know. That that doesn't we've we've seen him kind of outwide.

Kev: All right.

Bright: Right, but you don't necessarily see him coming back as much as as Wallum does. I think Hulsa has to play again. You gotta continue to give him minutes. So he's gonna play in that same position. And I I guess you could you could move to more of that traditional 4-4-2. You could put you could put fall back there. with Polvera, McNaughton, Bumgirdle, Fall. So then you got them them four. And then you have in the middle Durkin and Edelman, Totland and Matan.

Kev: You know who made it into the game? You know

Bright: Or wholesa.

Kev: who made it into the game last Saturday that we didn't mention?

Bright: Fall.

Kev: Fall.

Bright: Yeah, yeah. What with what four minutes to play?

Kev: Maybe it was, Hey, we haven't seen in a little bit. Let's get some some time. Maybe they're thinking they need to put out there. I don't know.

Bright: Yeah, maybe. I I don't know.

Kev: Yeah. It was it was a surprise to see him. It wasn't a bad surprise. It was kinda cool to see him.

Bright: I think I think we all like fall. I think when

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: he's been on the field, we've seen him do some good things. He brings an extra

Kev: They were. I'd bring in.

Bright: extra big man on the attack for corners and and things like that.

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: So you throw him and Baumgardle up there. You know, start yeah.

Kev: Yep. I don't know. I was I was just kind of throwing it out there that, you know, they threw him threw him in. Maybe it

Bright: Well I

Kev: was to get him some minutes before they played him more this upcoming game.

Bright: I guess you could not start Navarro again, right? And just have Betcher up top, or you could not start Betcher and save him a little bit for the weekend. I mean, there's all those things when you're talking about a rotation. We've got a lot of games coming up here. I when I was reviewing

Kev: A lot of games.

Bright: the schedule, I didn't even mention next week's US Open Cup match against

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: against Colorado. So we have that on Wednesday too. I was only talking MLS. So lots of games.

Kev: How cool is it that we're bringing home two cups this year? Three if you want to include the blues.

Bright: Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. I'd be happy with any hardware for sure. But yeah, so I I don't know. I think now now we do. We do have that that big lineup question. You

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: Downs doesn't get the start. He he could come in if if you need something like I don't think that's a

Kev: he's not yeah.

Bright: a question.

Kev: He's probably not quite fit and fitness level there to start. I know I give him trouble sometimes for using that as an excuse, but I could see that one being being an actual thing. he's not a percent. I

Bright: Yeah. But I think that's the thing. Navarro is fit. He he knows the league. And I think that's what everybody said. Like he's ready to go. Yes, he doesn't necessarily know the complete system or Dame's style just yet. But sometimes where you're you're an a attacking striker like that, it doesn't matter. Get him the ball,

Kev: Doesn't matter. Yeah.

Bright: let him score some goals, right? It's yeah,

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: it's it's not necessarily as big of a deal when you're bringing in a a number ten or you know, your your key center midfielder playmaker, they need to know the style a little bit more.

Kev: Do you think they would ever say, Hey, look a little business decision? Don't start him until we're at home and then throw him in the lineup.

Bright: I don't think so. I think if if he gives you the best chance to win tonight, you start him. And that's the decision that that the the manager

Kev: He gives you the best chance to win, doesn't he?

Bright: has to make. But I I do understand the sentimental value of but he'll get his home he'll get his home debut regardless at some point. So I try not

Kev: Sure.

Bright: to think about that. When anytime you have a a big signing or you you draft a big player, whether it was football with the Rams or the you always

Kev: Doesn't matter. We're we're excited to see him.

Bright: yeah, you always want him to get the start. You don't want to be at that game where you think he's gonna play and then he doesn't. Then you're I remember

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: a anytime I went to the Cardinals games, if I'd got tickets, I was like, I hope it's a Wainwright start or I hope it's a carpenter start. I remember when Ankeel was a rookie and I was like, I'd be happy with an Ankeel start because they were fun to watch and and you knew

Kev: Mm-hmm.

Bright: and and starting pitchers, they you only get to see those games every so often. So it's a little bit

Kev: Sure.

Bright: little bit different than than hockey or or soccer or something like that. But but yeah,

Kev: Sacker. Yeah.

Bright: you want to see those guys play. So don't don't play him a bunch tonight and then sit on Saturday, then I think the fans would be upset if if he wasn't yeah.

Kev: Yeah. Yeah, there'd be an uproar for sure. Yeah, I I think you got a lot of flexibility going in tonight. You do have to keep in mind the number of games that we have coming up, but we do have the depth now to

Bright: Well I think that's the thing.

Kev: start filtering, you know, switching some of these guys in. You got, you know, Sangbin that could come in.

Bright: Yeah.

Kev: eat up a lot of minutes. obviously Downs now, Navarro,

Bright: Yep.

Kev: Becher, Matan, Holse, all sitting you know up top a little not up top but in attacking positions

Bright: Right.

Kev: it's exciting it's fun

Bright: Yeah, yeah. I I think that's I think that's the the point is we do have a little bit more of that depth now. You go out and you spend big money and all of a sudden Betcher, and again, I know he's on a streak now, but earlier in the season, you're like, the he'd be great if he came in in a tight match in the sixty fifth, seventieth minute, right? And and

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: now you have that you have that flexibility. If Hulsa doesn't start a game, it's not the end of the world. If Yeah, if fall has to come, sure.

Kev: I mean, you'd you'd expect him to most games, but if he doesn't, that's fine. Get him a break. Let him let him come in if he needs to come in or give him give him the night off.

Bright: Right, right. You could even play him in a a Durkin Edelman position or Matan. We've seen that when Durkin was suspended. So these are the things that happen over the course of the season. You're gonna have some injuries, you're gonna need some squad rotation, you're gonna have yellow card suspensions and and things like that. So not every lineup is gonna be exactly the same, but I think that's exactly what you're talking about. We have more flexibility now with where we're playing players with the the depth and who can be rotation guys who can be starters and and the way that some of the guys are playing

Kev: Just some exciting players.

Bright: right now we haven't seen it a hundred percent from holsa just yet but we will he

Kev: Yep.

Bright: he did get a goal a couple of games ago but especially the way that betcher's playing right now you can't sit them You gotta get in there, get some minutes, give an opportunity to score and and that gives us a lot more a lot more strength, a lot more flexibility, a lot more offensive skill sets. So let's keep it rolling.

Kev: Yep.

Bright: Let's keep it rolling tonight. hopefully we can come we can come back on Friday morning, review another win and and preview Saturday night night's matchup against Minnesota, which is a game at home that we should be winning. weather should be should be good. I'm looking forward to it. And it's It's another I'm going out all weekend. I I've got Friday night plans. Now I've got Saturday night plans. right.

Kev: Yeah, I'm gonna be at the the cards game on Saturday, so I'm gonna have to catch the game on the replay or at least keep up with it on my phone Saturday night.

Bright: I feel like there was something else this next Saturday night, the nineteenth. So I'll be at I'll be at that game too. Jerry Seinfeld's in town. I was like, I I would like to go see I've seen Seinfeld before, at the Fox,

Kev: Yeah. Well

Bright: but

Kev: there's an opportunity, you know, I could probably take that. No, I'm on vacation.

Bright: Yep. Yeah. I know. I don't know that I wanna sell the tickets or miss a game either. I've seen Seinfeld, I don't know. Maybe if he was doing like a matinee, if he did like a two o'clock. We've done that before where we've gone and seen a show at the Fox, a matinee at the Fox, and then just stayed downtown. So that that'll go from like two till

Kev: Mechanical.

Bright: four or four thirty and then boom. And

Kev: Mm-hmm.

Bright: and it ends up being a full day of drinking and stuff like that. And we ha usually have to change 'cause you're dressed up for the fox and then you gotta go put your soccer gear on. And

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: you gotta deal with some of the logistics there. But yeah, it's a it's a pretty good day. It ends up being a a a full day. So that's always that's always fun. So yeah. Alright. That's

Kev: I like it. Well, decisions, decisions, so

Bright: right. Well let's I'll be up late tonight. So 9 30 9 30 start tonight. I think I we didn't necessarily talk about the the specifics but possession we're pretty much right in line with with Portland shots on goal even total shots even Passing accuracy, they've got a slight edge. Corners we have a slight edge. Crosses even. I know, I know. Expected ex I I I do agree. We're we're playing catch up a little bit at

Kev: None of this matters. 'Cause it's a completely different team. I mean it is and it isn't, right? Like you we've got had so many shifts that like it's all irrelevant at this point in time. So let's see what it comes to.

Bright: Yeah. Yep. Yep. I agree. Let's just let's just keep keep our momentum going, roll right into tonight and and take it take it to Portland. Sounds like a plan.

Kev: Lig it. Let's get it.