Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
Tue, 21 Jan 2025
The U.S. Men’s National Team triumph over Venezuela! On Unfiltered Soccer, Landon Donovan and Tim Howard discuss the USMNT 3-1 victory over Venezuela in Saturday’s friendly, including Miljevic’s penalty miss, and the goals from him, Jack McGlynn and Patrick Agyemang. Meanwhile across the Atlantic, Pulisic missed AC Milan’s loss to Juventus but Tim Weah did NOT miss! Tyler Adams is hitting his stride at Bournemouth, David Moyes’ Toffees showed Spurs who's boss, and Ruben Amorim said WHAT?! Plus – is Haaland coming for Alan Shearer’s record, Wilfried Zaha to MLS, US Open Cup questions in the AT&T Fan Connection, and NFL refereeing in Anything But Soccer! New episodes of Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim drop every Tuesday. Subscribe to the show on YouTube and follow on all your favorite podcast platforms. For bonus content and to send your mailbag questions in to the show, follow on all social media platforms @UnfilteredSoccer. (https://www.unfilteredsoccer.com). Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard is presented by Volkswagen. Learn more at https://bit.ly/4g8bZG3. Thank you to our additional sponsors: AT&T. Connecting Changes Everything. Visit att.com/guarantee to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
They didn't play well one step forward, two, three, or four steps back. They have no divine right to be anything other than just another team in the Premier League. Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen. Volkswagen has long been a supporter of soccer in America and has proudly been a partner of U.S. Soccer for the past five years.
LD, my man, what's happening? Yo. Listen, we're going to start off by talking some travel, because you know what? I think both of us were traveling this week.
Yes, we were.
Let me just say, for my sins, I was in Orlando. You'd never get me to Orlando unless my wonderful, amazing daughter was playing soccer, which she was. I was down there watching her ODP games. And yeah, didn't do a lot. Stayed in my hotel room because Orlando is not my place. Sorry about it.
I'm going to apologize to all of our fans ahead of time in Orlando and also New Orleans where I was. Also not my favorite place. I went to New Orleans one time for the Super Bowl.
Yeah.
And I was down there at like 6 a.m. the morning after down on Bourbon Street. And they had this machine, this vehicle, and they have this hose. And they go down the street and they literally just hose all the crap that's been sitting there all night into the gutters and the drains. And I was like, this is so disgusting, dude. It was so gross.
So what were you doing in New Orleans?
I had a speaking engagement. Actually, I did a really cool, there's a really bizarre, but an insurance company called We The People. put on this event every year. And insurance is just boring by nature, right? But it was so exciting. These people were so into it. They were partying all weekend. So I came in and did a keynote speaking.
Oh, I love it.
Good for you.
It was really fun, actually.
You got to send a recording of this. No, it was fun. All right, guys. Welcome back. Good to be here. Make sure you guys subscribe to the show on YouTube. Follow us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. As always, please leave a comment, like, review. It helps people find us. The show's doing really well and we want to Keep making sure people find us.
You can also email us at feedback at unfiltered soccer. We have our AT&T fan connection that we answer questions every week from you guys, so please keep that coming in. Big news on the weekend, Tim, Saturday. We're going to start with USLNT on USMNT. US played Venezuela. I would say overall, solid result.
People don't know how difficult it is to be fit and get through 70, 80, 90 minutes after only training for two weeks in preseason. So I thought overall it was a really... solid performance by the team. I think Pochettino will be pretty happy. Big standout for me, Jack McGlynn. He's interesting. Here in San Diego about It must have been six or seven years ago. I went to a U.S.
under-17, like, identification camp.
Okay.
And I remember seeing Jack. He was one of the names there, and he was the Eastern Region whatever guys. And I remember seeing him there, and I was like, God, he's talented. But he seems like he's kind of frail, thin. I don't know if he's going to make it. Clicked to the last few years. This kid's been on a pretty meteoric rise, and he capped it with a great performance on Saturday.
Yeah, he's a player that caught my eye over the summer, and I just think he's kind of got that X factor. And just because you have talent doesn't mean you're going to make it, right? You've got to rise through the ranks. You've got to take your lumps. But he seems to be doing it in a good way, and every time – He features, you know, he leaves you wanting more.
He leaves you feeling like, OK, there's growth here. Right. And I think that's that's the biggest that's the biggest takeaway. When you look at young players, it's like we know young players are going to kind of stumble and. the great performance is going to be few and far between you, you almost give them a little bit of license for that, but you want, you want to see growth.
And I think, I think he's got a lot of positivity in his game. I like his confidence. Yeah.
He's got like, he's like a little brash.
Yeah.
Cocky.
Yeah. I think you need that. You know, I've often said, you know, I, I label the people all shucks guys. Like guys who are just kind of like all shucks. They don't make it to an elite level. You've got to have arrogance and brashness to go on the field and think that you're the best. Like that's just – that's the nature of it. But I thought overall, you know, we've talked –
We've talked tirelessly about what January camp means. And I think overall it's, you talk about fitness. Can you, can you keep your fitness, try and get through 60, 70, 90 minutes, put in a good performance, win the game, not take too many injuries. And ultimately you have more time with the manager and the manager has more time with you. So I think that's right.
Three, one great victory, but ultimately success in the game.
Yeah. So we said last week, I said last week, there'll be two or three guys that you start to recognize in this camp. And if you're a U S national team fan, but not really an MLS diehard, you would have shown up and said, Oh, it's Jack McGlynn's. All right. And there will be two or three guys who come out of nowhere and just keep your eye on him. Right.
If he maybe gets another opportunity and does well, and then next thing you know, you can end up on a world cup roster. So Speaking of his brashness, there was an interesting moment with the penalty. So Marko Miljevic and Miljevic. There's a penalty in the game if you didn't see it. So he and Jack McGlynn get into a little tussle over it.
And ultimately, Jack McGlynn loses out and Miljevic ends up missing the penalty, right? And I got to tell you, Tim, I absolutely hate when this happens. First of all, I hate, hate, hate this. I've always hated it when guys fight over a penalty. Because, and I'll tell you why. What is the ultimate goal of a soccer game? To win the game. Yeah, of course. To win the game.
So I could care less if my grandma or grandpa take the penalty. Just put it in the net and let's win the game. Now, I took penalties a lot. But I couldn't care less. Sometimes I gave him to Robbie Keane. Sometimes I gave him to Clint Dempsey. It didn't matter. Let's just score the goal. And I hate that. And this is why I hate goal bonuses too.
I hate it because guys are like, oh, I got six grand riding on this. I'm going to steal the ball. I just hate it. And I'll just say Pochettino's done a great job. He said after the game, We didn't say anything about who would take the penalty in case we had one, but it was good because I think the argument showed the character. I mean, he was protecting the guys.
But your job as a coach is to tell someone you're taking the penalty. You have to because this situation is really ugly. I think it's really ugly. I just, I hate it.
Look, I've got strong feelings on this. I think, and I've seen it in my own teams, it's idiotic. It's idiotic. And it's an oversight in the game plan and preparation because... Because with all of the set pieces and all of the details in terms of tactics in the best teams and all the teams I've played on before you go out or in the team talk, it's,
You're on penalties, and if you're not on the pitch or if you've taken a knock, the second person's on penalties. That's it. There's no discussion. And oftentimes, when there is a tussle like that, then the manager afterwards, I've had this happen, then the manager's like, okay, we're setting and deciding who our penalty taker is. Like, to me, it's idiotic.
You have to have one penalty taker or two They need to be designated by the manager and that's it. There is no arguing. I don't think it's character. I don't, I think it's absurd. I really, really do. The only time, the only time that I ever, and by the way, you said you've, you are the penalty taker and you've given the ball to people. That's the person who has a responsibility.
They want to give it away. You can give it away. The only time I would ever say that a penalty taker should give the ball away is if his teammate is on, is on a hat trick. That's the only time for me because hat tricks are so special and so rare, but otherwise no, like take the penalty and be done with it. So, so there were two times. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Young kids. Yeah. Go ahead.
No, I'm okay. Yeah. Look, young kids. It's, um, you know, the other side of the argument is they're in the shop window. They want to get the goal. It's there. you know, it'd be their first or one of their first few goals with the national team. They want to impress the coach. So I get that side of it. It's not that big of a deal. I get it.
Then during the week, you know what? Go up to the coach and say, I'd really like to take penalties. Right? Or can we take some penalties? And whoever misses first doesn't get to take it. Sure. Don't do it on the field. There were two times, Tim, that I remember off the top of my head giving up penalties. One was we were beating Mexico 2-0. Yeah. Very end of the game.
And Clint had had a phenomenal game. And I was like, Clint, you want to take it? And of course, Clint was like, hell yeah, dog.
Give me the ball. Don't ask Clint. Clint will bang that thing.
The other time I did it was at the end of one of the finals in LA. We were up 2-1 against New England. And it was in extra time. Wow. And I hit a long ball from like midfield. And I think Robbie Keane or somebody went down and got fouled in the box. And I was so tired, dude. I couldn't even run to the 18 or the… I was like… I just looked from like 40 yards away. I pointed at Robbie.
And I was like… Your leg must have been gone. Same thing with Robbie. He's like, don't have to tell me twice.
Right, right, right.
Anyway, but otherwise, I mean… Yeah, I just… I didn't like that. It was unnecessary, I would say. An unnecessary way to put a little… damper on the game. But ultimately, I think great performance. Pochettino clearly had the team ready. They're motivated. And then they got another one again on Wednesday.
So well, and then also Patrick Ajamang, big credit to him, scored his first goal. Obviously, that's that's special for him, for his family, for everybody. So got to make mention of that as well. And hopefully that will continue into the next game.
Yeah. A couple guys left camp. We just want to mention this quickly. So John Tolkien got signed with Holstein Kiel in the Bundesliga. He left camp early. My assumption is he left so he could get there, get into preseason, get ready. So I totally understand that. Jalen Neal had a little injury. So he left camp. Understandable. The interesting one was Jesus Ferreira left.
And we talked about him a lot last week. Um, the, the quote was so that he can return or so that he can focus on returning to fitness. Um, so I was trying to dive into this. I spoke to someone at us soccer and they said that that is actually the truth. You know, they, they wanted him and he wanted to get up to full fitness ahead of the Sounders season. So, um,
It's an interesting one because I don't know if that means he didn't come in fit or was he carrying an injury? Because this was a big opportunity for him, Tim.
Yeah. It was. No, I think there... I know you spoke to some people at U.S. Soccer. I think there is... There are moments, particularly with this camp, you have a few more luxuries in terms of the management. And I've been a part of...
uh camps where sometimes a guy maybe comes in to be a part of the the team or be a part of the first week um maybe from the coaching staff to say hey you're on our radar type thing or hey we we like you and want you to be around the setup and it's an opportunity to come and be around the setup yeah actually maybe you're not completely fully fit so we're not going to push you um and look he's dealt with injuries
He's dealt with injuries last season. And so I do think that is important. And having, you know, again, I think that Pochettino's building bridges. We saw a little bit of that, we think, when he sent Christian Pulisic back to AC Milan before the Mexico game. And maybe he's doing that now with Seattle, right? Maybe he's saying, look, new times, new player. We're going to need him at some point.
And maybe... When we need to push them, we're going to need to lean on that. So there's all types of different things that go into these decisions.
But I will just say, I don't know whose decision it was, more his, more Pochettino, more Seattle, whatever. But then Ajumang scores, and now it's like, okay, you left the door open, right? And this is the way soccer works. It'd be interesting to see how those two progress throughout the year and what that looks like. Let's move over to Europe. Really, really happy all of us were if you're a U.S.
men's national team. Tyler Adams starting to get minutes again. He played really well against Newcastle. I thought he was – he's been very good, and he's helped Bournemouth a lot. in the last few weeks. So it looks like he is knock on wood, getting back to fitness, starting to play well. And if you're a national team fan, this is, this is crucial.
And this, this needs to continue for the next 18 months.
You know, it's hard. I, I find it difficult. Not that I ever tried. Right. But I find it difficult to criticize Tyler Adams because he always delivers. He just always delivers. Yeah. It's the, it's the mentality he has. It's the type of kid he is. Yeah. The difference is, though, I watched the game and there was something different. There was a sparkle.
I like to say he has the bit between his teeth, but he always has that. I think when you're fit, and we both know this, when you're fit, fit. Not like...
just getting by or still have a little bit of a niggle or maybe you're fit but in the back of your mind you're worried like that performance to me was tyler adams with zero worries zero concerns fully fit fully confident and and again it's he oftentimes has that but but dealing with the injuries that he's that he's had
you all that creeps into your mind um and mentally uh oftentimes that can that can affect your performance but this just you know when you talk about if you've ever seen tyler adams at his absolute best that that was him on the weekend and so like you're just thinking well done to himself the physio staff bournemouth getting him fit um and really being up to speed because he's a joy to watch and he's he's a special player he really truly is and so
As you said, for USMNT fans, like long may that continue.
Yeah, let's just, there's a part of me in the back of my brain is like, you're almost just waiting to just make sure he gets through the next game and gets through the next game. I just, I just hope it can continue. There was a US Derby in Italy, Milan and Juventus. Christian Pulisic didn't play. Constance Howe said there's nothing serious. They just didn't want to risk him. He's still, you know,
recovering. But Weston McKinney was fantastic. Tim Weah came off the bench and scored a great goal. Weston played right back, which is interesting. He's got, in my opinion, all the qualities to be a great right back, too. Kind of like Tyler Adams, to be honest. I feel like both of them could do that in a pinch, no problem.
The interesting thing for people to understand, so when you play as a central midfielder, you have people behind you that can put out fires too. So you have a little more leeway to take risks, take chances, go into tackles that you might not otherwise. When you play as a, not as a central defender, but when you play as an outside back, it's really interesting because
There are certain things that are very similar and very easy. The hardest thing, and I wasn't a defender, but the hardest thing people had to pick up was making sure you were with your line all the time. So the other three defenders or four defenders, depending on what system you're playing.
But you have to be watching across the back line all the time, knowing where you're, in this case, his left winger is defensive, the guy he's playing against.
Mm-hmm.
where he's at and then making sure you're staying with the line all the time. And that's not an easy thing that takes like lots and lots of time to practice, but he fit in perfectly. They got a shutout and I thought, I thought he was excellent.
Yeah. And by the way, the caveat to that is if you've never seen how
italian teams defend it's not normal right like so you know in certain in certain countries you can go oh yeah chuck the guy right back and just stick no italians defend like nobody else on the planet and it's so systematic and it's so drilled so the fact you know again talk about big credit to weston the fact that he can just slot in and play well right like it's not an easy thing to do in italian football but you know i also think
He's kind of a Swiss army knife. He has, he has, he has so many is he can play so many positions and he plays them well. And I often wonder, like, is that a blessing or a curse? I think it's a blessing because you get on the pitch. Right. Um, and you have the ability to be available, um, to your manager and you're going to see more of the field, which is always the best thing for a player.
You know, I think the concern, um, cause what I care about is, is the U S men's national team is he's so good in that number eight role. If everyone's, if everyone's fit, uh, Um, his energy, his exuberance, his ability to make late runs into the box is goal scoring prowess. Like that to me, I think is, is where he's at his best. Certainly, certainly with the U S men's national team.
And so ideally you'd like for him to be getting as many reps and as many games in that position, but. Okay, the bottom line is he's playing and he's doing really well. Tim Weah, look, you know what it's like. Goal scorers, can you keep banging it in the back of the net?
And the more that he can do that at that level, which he's shown he can do and is doing, I mean, again, brilliant for him, brilliant for...
um the national team and then obviously christian conseil says it's um it doesn't seem serious which is obviously a great thing and the more opportunity he can get to you know get himself fit ready for the next game for for me that's the most important thing you know with tim wea um i think and you know i i haven't spoken to him so i don't know this is true after he got that red card
in Copa America. Yeah. That, you know, ultimately ended up to the U S ultimately getting knocked out and Berhalter getting fired. Yeah. He's just seems like a changed player, maybe in person. And again, I'm not, I'm just seeing, saying what I'm seeing from him. Yeah. But sometimes those moments, Tim, those are the best thing that can happen. I had, in 2002, we had a great World Cup.
In 2006, I had a terrible World Cup. And sometimes those down moments, you find out what you're made of. And it seems like he's come back. My response in that moment was like, I'm not letting that happen ever again. And it seems like he's got that same mentality. Like, you know what? That's not good enough, and I'm not going to let that happen again. So he's been on a tear, man.
And when he's in this kind of form, you just think about as you're putting together a team moving into the 2026 World Cup. If you have he and Christian on either side of whoever, who's playing well, Pepe or whoever, you start to get some real quality. And you get Weston, Tyler Adams, whoever, Moussa. there's some real quality now, and the front part of the field starts to look pretty good.
Yeah, I mean, you make a good point about Tim Weh. Look, the fact of the matter is, if you play at an elite level, right, in Europe and with your national team, that's an elite level, You're going to fail more times than you succeed. That's just the nature of the game. Day in and day out, training five times a week, playing once or twice a week for a decade or more.
You're going to fail more times than you succeed. And you have to be able in the big moments, right? When you get sent off or miss a sitter or whatever the case is, you have to be able to take the criticism in that moment and learn from it. Not, not, tell people to go stuff it, just understand the criticism, understand what you did wrong. If you feel you you've done wrong and change it.
And you sense that change. I think other people do as well. And that's, that's a sign of maturity. That's a sign of, of, uh, look, we're all, none of us are exempt from those tough moments. Right. But it's how you kind of, how, how you allow them to kind of shape and form, um, your future experiences and how you go about your business and he's doing it in the right way.
So I think that was a big moment for him and it's showing.
I see this too with college football player. We forget these are their kids. They're 18, 19, 20, 22. Weston McKinney had the same thing in Nashville a couple of years ago when he made some bad decisions off the field and got sent home from camp. And we all made those dumb decisions. I did it too. You did too. And you got to learn from it and grow.
Just one other quick note on the bad side of things. Malik Tillman suffered an ankle injury, it looks like, at PSV. And his manager, Peter Bosz, says he's probably going to be out for a while. So wishing him the best. And hopefully that doesn't last too long because he's been in good form too. And US Men's National Team fans definitely want that to continue. Yeah, wish him well.
All right, let's take a break. When we come back, we'll take a look back on what was a really big few days in the Premier League right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim presented by Volkswagen.
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Okay, LD, let's talk Premier League. Oh, boy. Manchester United won. Brighton, three. Yikes. They didn't play well. It is the classic one step forward, two, three, or four steps back for Manchester United. Of course, with Ruben Ameren being the coach. All the spotlight is on him. He had some interesting, interesting words to say after the game.
Let me read you this quote, and then I'm going to let you take off with this. He said, I know we can succeed, but we need to survive at this moment. I'm not naive. We need to survive now. We are the worst team. Let me read that again. We are the worst team maybe in the history of Manchester United. I know you want headlines, but I'm saying this because we have to acknowledge that and change that.
Here you go. That's your headline.
go um all right so i was watching the everton game which we'll get into up the toffees um and i was watching you know that on nbc they've got in the corner the scores up there so actually you don't even see that because you're working but so i saw united 1-1 and then i saw united 1 brighton 2 and And then it went back to 1-1. So I figured there was some VAR or whatever.
And the next thing I know, I look and it's 3-1 Brighton. And I was like, what is going on? So here's, I've said this over and over, Tim, and I'm going to say it again. They just aren't, they just don't have good enough players. It's like, again, I've compared them to the Dallas Cowboys, but the You just have this idea that they're supposed to be wherever they are, and nothing is given in life.
They have no divine right to be anything other than just another team in the Premier League. They have no divine right. And people have these crazy expectations of why are they this, why are they... Look at their roster. They're just not good enough. And so more than what Ruben Amorin said... The way he looks right now, he looks defeated, dude.
Like, when I watched the press conference versus his first press conference, and he knew. Like, he's not stupid. When he came in, he probably was looking at other rosters and going, oh, boy. But... Now, he's seeing it up close every day, and he probably thinks in his mind, Tim, he probably thinks he's got like three or four decent players for him. I mean, honestly.
And the rest, he's probably just not good enough.
Totally. Totally. Look, again, I read the comment. Let's pick some of this out. He said, we need to survive this moment. As soon as you start to mutter the word survive or survival, people are like, oh boy, relegation. I tend to think, and English is a second language and he speaks very good English.
Survive this moment means they're in a really low spot in terms of mentally and the morale of the club. And I think that's, I know that's what he's talking about. Survive this moment. This feeling. In our season, this feeling, the era of this club. You know, here's why I like him coming out and saying, what's the worst team maybe in the history of Manchester United?
Because that's what the facts are saying. And unfortunately, I have watched so many Manchester United managers, particularly the last one, Ayrton Hug, when you, me, and everyone else is reading this script, right? And he'll go, he'll stand up there and tell you, you're not seeing what you're reading. You're thinking, wait a minute, you can't keep trying to pull the wool over our eyes.
Like tell us what we, what we already know. Um, and so I do like the truth about that. And I do, I think it's clever. And here's why I've been around enough managers, particularly in England, um, You have to create your own narrative. This team isn't good enough. You just said it.
It's not good enough, nowhere near good enough to be a Manchester United team, to play in the Champions League, to win a title. And he knows that. He also knows that he has a very fundamental system that is completely flawed if he doesn't get the right players in. And he knows that that time is coming. January is probably not the right time to bring in the right players.
But the summer and a windfall and getting players out. And I think the more he pushes that, Sir Jim Radcliffe and Ineosin Omar Barada and the powers that be in the hierarchy at Manchester United will listen to that. We'll probably already know that. But I think this continues to push his narrative. And I do. I like him as a manager.
And I certainly think you can't judge him as a manager in terms of his style and these players because these players don't fit. They don't fit his style. They don't fit at Manchester United. And the proof is in the pudding because they haven't forever. number of years now. So I like his honesty.
There's a, there's a fundamental issue when new managers come into a club that's struggling. Here's the fundamental issue. Generally speaking, you go after a type of manager who has been very, this is what's happened in modern soccer.
Yeah.
Very successful, unique, creative in the way they do things, very system oriented or, or doing the things they like to do. And the challenge is when you drop that, you take that manager and drop him into a team or her into a team that doesn't have the right ingredients to make the meal that you want, now there's a huge problem because you need to get results now.
And so my question for you is, when he first signed this deal, did he go to them and say, this is going to take one year, 18 months, two years. And if you're not okay with that, do not hire me because we're going to suffer in the interim. Because he's not David Moyes, and we'll talk about him, is the other end of that spectrum.
You can drop him in almost anywhere, and he's going to find a way to get results. Now, is it creative and new and progressive and everything that sexy managers are? No. But he will get results. And so... Did he say that? Is Manchester United willing to suffer now and take its blows now? And I've said this about other sports, Tim, too. I see it a lot in the NBA.
The Galaxy went through this for a long time. You try to plug one hole. And then you try to plug the next hole and then you try the next thing, you know, you're playing whack-a-mole all over as opposed to just blowing the whole thing up and starting over. So do you think he's had those conversations? Are they aware of, I mean, are they willing to wait and suffer?
Yeah. I tend to, I tend to think, I tend to think that Omar Barada and Sir Jim Radcliffe and the whole crew aren't naive to this. I think they took this club over from the sporting side, and I think they saw the holes and the flaws. And, you know, I often say with rock bottom, be careful because there's a trap door. And I think they understood that. I tend to think Omar...
Omar, excuse me, Ruben Amram would have had those honest conversation. He seems like it on the surface to say, look, this is the way I play. This is why you've you've come to get me. You've seen how my sporting teams play. I need I'm going to need certain players. Yeah, he probably said I think he probably said, you know what, there's. eight players in the squad that I think can do a job.
And he probably said, I can get, I can get a tune out of them. I think now having had some time with those players, that eight players, and that's an assumption is probably, he's probably realizing is like three, you know, like there's like three players that I would maybe keep around and, and, and, start, but ultimately, but again, it's difficult because with PSR, you can't change this overnight.
You can't get rid of this whole team and bring a whole new team in. Right. And so I think a lot of the players we see now come next season will either be out the door or We're sitting on the bench as squad players, good squad players. But I think we're going to see a lot of change. By the way, we don't see a lot of change in the summer. I've got more questions for another podcast.
Yeah.
All right, let's move on to the other team in Manchester. Manchester City are back!
Well, maybe not.
They absolutely battered Ipswich 6-0. Phil Foden was scintillating. They are unbeaten since Christmas. So four wins and two draws. They look better. It's Ipswich, so you're not getting too crazy about it. But do you feel like maybe it's turning a bit?
Um, yeah, I'm looking at the table now. I look to 12, 12 points behind Liverpool, right? Liverpool have the game in hand. We know that's emergency start Derby, which I think is rescheduled for the 11th or 12th of February. Um, City can't win the title this year.
I was going to say, are they looking at that or are they just looking at Champions League, right?
No, but it's Champions League. Like, Forrest on 44 points, City on 38. Like, there's every chance they overtake Forrest for third place and push, you know, are they able to push Arsenal a little bit? Probably not, but like, I tend to think Forrest, for as well as they're doing, will start to slowly digress, not implode. But yeah, I think City can get back to winning ways.
There's a click and a shift in this mentality. It's been so catastrophic, their fall from Grace, which is because they've set such high standards, which makes you feel like, oh my God. Yeah. they're getting some players out of the door, making one or two other signings. By the way, Pep Guardiola is still a genius. He didn't lose that in four months.
So if someone's asking me to bet against them, finding form, Holland banging in goals again, Phil Foden coming to the boil, them getting one or two other midfield replacements or another striker, like, you can ask me to bet against them going on a long unbeaten run. No, I won't. I won't do it. Cause I've seen it. I've seen it. So, um, yeah, I think they're slightly back. I felt I did. I did.
I felt for Ipswich on the weekend. I was talking to a buddy of mine who is an investor in the club. And I just thought like, Cause I've been on the other end of it. It was like three and a half time. And he rang me at halftime. And I thought, I thought like they got to keep it at like four because like four, four sucks. But like six is demoralizing. I I've, I've been there. I've been there.
And like, When I conceded three or four, I'm like, I kind of got a hand to that one. If we had done this and put ourselves in the right situation, maybe we could. When you get to six, I'm telling you, LD, you go home and look in the mirror. Well, that's a scary sight to look in the mirror after you concede a six. And you're like, I'm not really that good. And you start the mentality of the team.
So my worry for Ipswich, I know we're going a little bit off culture here. They have Liverpool next game. and then Southampton, and then Villa. So my hope for them is in the bottom three, The hope is that you get a performance at Liverpool. Don't think you'll win. Then you go into Southampton, the dreaded six pointer. Think you win that game if you're Ipswich.
And now all of a sudden you're playing Villa who are a better team. But then you're thinking, look, we've had a good performance against Liverpool. Didn't get the result. We won the game. We're supposed to win against Southampton. And now have we gained enough momentum into this Villa team against the Villa side and maybe get a result. But six is tough. But the focus is sitting in there for me.
Really good performance.
People don't realize that. To your point, the difference between three and six is massive psychologically. And fans are like, oh, it's only three. Let's get one back. And I'm like, no, no, no, no. Just don't get distracted. We had a game actually in Houston. You'll appreciate this. We had a game one year with the Galaxy in Houston. And after like 14 minutes, we were down 3-0.
And I was like, and we were not at it. You can't win. You know you can't win. No chance. Zero. And I remember I was the captain, so I pulled the team in and I just said, guys, I was picking my words carefully, but I was like, have some pride. Basically saying, don't get destroyed. But there was no like, we can still do this. I was like, we're losing today.
But let's just make sure this, I think it finished 3-0. But I was like, let's just make sure this doesn't happen.
That's incredible insight for our listeners. Because it's funny you say that. It makes me think of a time I was the opposite. Everton are playing in the Europa League against Sporting Lisbon. It's like Seamus Coleman's first European game. He's still just a young kid. We had a patchwork back before. We're getting beat 5-0, bro. 5-0. I'm chasing after the ball on goal kicks. I'm like, rah, rah.
Crazy American guy. We can do this. I'm like... People like my teammates are looking at me like, what are you doing? It's five mil. Like, and I remember in the dressing room afterward, like Dave, I'm always looking at me going, What was the point of that? And I was so heartbroken because I'm like, I don't know, maybe get one back.
That's such a classic American story. You know, like when I listen to games, when I listen to English commentators, when it's 2-0 and there's like, it's getting into extra time or added time, they're like, oh, win for Manchester City here. And in my mind, I'm like, no, no, they could still lose this game. Like, you know, like Americans are so dumb. But sometimes you do win when you're down 2-0.
Not 5. No, not 5. Yeah, go ahead.
Yeah, I want to talk about Holland because I think that's important. He signed a nine and a half year extension with City. So obviously it's this, you know, this half of the season plus the next half and then an extra nine. You know, he's showing a lot of trust in the club. The club's obviously showing a lot of trust in him. According to the New York Times, any release clause
from his last contract have been removed. That for me is a sticking point, LD, because he's the best striker in the world. It's, you know, you hear the rumors like Real Madrid, he won a couple of titles at City and then he's off to Spain. Like all of those claws have been gone, removed, which means he's not really going anywhere unless something drastic changes.
So help people understand. So a lot of times people have relegation clauses, right? which nobody expects City to ever get relegated. They also have, a lot of times players have a release clause, meaning if you pay a certain fee, the player's free. So it could say, the player can say, $100 million release clause. If anybody, my uncle, Real Madrid, my mom gives you $100 million, I am free.
But if all those have been removed, you're right, he's not going anywhere. So that's an interesting commitment because at some point Pep's going to be done.
Yeah.
Right. And you don't know who the next manager is.
No, by the way, relegation. No, you don't know who the next manager is. Oh, I didn't think about PSR, by the way. PSR with all the charges, which we should know soon. Could. They could. I mean, I think it'd be short-lived. Right.
I didn't think. Can you imagine Erling Haaland making like 600 grand a week playing in the Champions League?
I wonder, I'll tell you what, I wonder if I'm wondering how much it costs right now to get the rights to that documentary. Cause I, I reckon I could, I could do a season long documentary with city in the championship. That would be amazing. Yeah. And that this podcast would be a whole different kettle of fish, but, um, you know, the other, I think the other talking point about that, right.
Is, is this keeps him in the premier league for nine and a half years. Um, You know, Alan Shearer, and everyone's talking about the goal rate that Holland is on, you know, should Alan Shearer be nervous? I don't think so, right? Because Alan Shearer is 260 goals. You know, it's crazy. And he has a goal score. If you're saying it's crazy, you must know. I mean, Holland currently has 80 goals.
You know, in City's 16 remaining games, let's say he scores seven more goals, we're assuming, right? Ends the season with 24 for the year. 87 in total for the Premier League.
73.
73 behind him. He'd have to average 20 goals a season per season. And he'd pass Scheer in the last season of the contract, which is 20, 33, 24. I'm not betting on that. Yeah. I just don't see him at... Is he talented enough? Yes. I don't see him at the club for that long. I know these signs. It's got Bobby Bonilla written all over it.
He's been making money long into retirement. All right, let's move on to our tough A's. Up the tough A's. So David Moyes back at Goodison Park. God, it was such a... I mean, imagine... I know how I felt. I can imagine how you felt watching David Moyes at Everton again. It was just such a throwback. Absolutely destroyed Spurs in the first half.
Spurs got back into it a little bit at the end, but Everton won 3-2. I have a lot of thoughts about Everton, but let's start with Spurs. Sure. They've lost 12 of their last 22 league matches as a starting point. Last year, they lost 12 games total. We just have to ask the... How much longer are Spurs fans, management, ownership going to deal with this?
And Ange Postacogo seems like a very likable guy. But at some point, man, they're down at the bottom. I think they're 15th. They're just ahead of Everton. How long can they deal with this?
So interestingly enough, a dear friend of mine from London is a Spurs season ticket holder.
And... For all his sins.
For all his sins. And he... We had a conversation. And we've had a lot of Ange Postacoglu-Tottenham conversations on NBC and studio. Because it's like I said about Ten Hag. We are seeing... Landon, we're seeing something so richly with Tottenham. And Ange comes out every game and tells us we ain't seeing that. And so... I have a ton of thoughts on it.
And look, our Premier League insider, David Ornstein, said he's 100% safe, which again, I know the kiss of death is when ownership comes out, but it seems as if that's real. What would save him is they have Leicester next weekend. So that doesn't mean it's a win because of the way that they're playing. They're in both cups still.
I don't think they fire a manager who are in both tournaments, FA Cup. And I think they're leading in the EFL Cup after the first leg. So I don't think you sack a manager who's still going good on both fronts. The issue for me is... Every Premier League team, whether you like it or not, goes through an injury crisis. Every Premier League team does. Now, their injury list is long.
And you could argue that an injury list is long based on how they play, actually. But he's got defenders running the most high-intensity sprints of any defenders in the Premier League. So, okay. But my issue is, if you have an injury list that long... Right? You're now playing square pegs and round holes. You are.
You're getting guys to fill in who are in the midfield and now he's playing center back and left back. You're all over the place. The responsibility then lies on the manager to set his team up and say, hey, I know we play a high line. I know we play both of our fullbacks inverted. I know we go for it. But we haven't won in a while. And this is a problem. So we're going to go to Everton.
And I know we've got a young patchwork back line. We're going to go 4-4-2. We're going to get a result. Yes, our principle is going to be the same. Play between lines. Look to get forward when you can. Overlap on one side. Keep one of the fullbacks home. Maybe you both don't go. But the fact of the matter is, he's saying, no, I've got young players. I've got players in the wrong position.
And I'm still going to kind of hang them out to dry. And I think that's a massive problem. I think that's on the manager. And if he dissects it any other way, I think it's wrong.
It's really hard, Tim, for people. I see this in all walks of life. People who are extremely successful getting to the top have done it a certain way. And then when you get to the top and there's adversity, they don't want to change. And it happens at every level in all types of businesses and professions. And you see it all the time. And the reality is, is
In soccer, man, you have to have some ability to adapt. Yeah. And sometimes, you know, some man, there's a spectrum, right? So when I was coaching, most of the time, most managers are on the end of the spectrum where it's like every week they're changing everything about their team based on the opponent. Everything. How they train, everything they do. And over time, players are like, what are we?
What are we? We don't know what we are. But then there's quite a few managers now in world soccer who are on the other end of the spectrum. It's like, we are doing what we're doing. Amram is like this now, right? No matter what. Russell Martin at Southampton. No matter what, we are going to do this. And it feels like now there will be some coming back to the middle because you have to adjust.
Now teams are so good. When teams try to build out of the back, teams now have adapted to go after you so hard and so well-structured that they can pick you off and score goals. And that's the hardest thing to do in the sport. And you can score goals quickly and create big chances. So he's got to adapt, dude, or he's going to be gone.
The other part about that is – and this may be harsh but fair, LD – The Premier League is unrelenting. I would probably say the Bundesliga is as well, right? He has coached this style, which in a phone booth is a fun, entertaining style, right? But he hasn't done it at this level. And yes, fair play. He did it with Celtic. In Scotland, you have two dominant teams that monopolize the best players.
That's it. So he hasn't done it at this level where every single game you could get beat. He's not done it. And... My worry is that he's being so stubborn that it's worked other places that he has, that he doesn't take that 30,000 foot view because he's so close to it to see that maybe, maybe need to tweak a few things. So yeah. Interesting.
Pride cometh before the fall. Sure does. And yeah, we'll see what happens. All right, let's move into some MLS news and notes. First on the coaching front, Tim, NYCFC announced earlier this month that Pascal Janssen will be their new head coach. I don't know anything about him, but it sounds like you've spoken to some people who are high on him.
Yeah, I mean, some people on the inside that I know seem to really like him. So he's super buttoned up, dialed in, coached quite a lot in Hungary and Holland. And we know in Holland that tactically – And technically, those teams are spot on in the Eredivisie.
So if he can bring any of that to New York City, they've shown they're willing to go out and back their coaches in terms of getting the right players through the door to play that style. So I think Pascal Jensen is actually quite a good signing, and people on the inside are really, really excited about him. So apparently that hiring process went really well, and they got their guy.
Okay. Vancouver Whitecaps announced Jesper Sorensen as their new head coach. He coached at Brunby in the Danish Superliga. Interestingly, he finished fifth his first season. Then he finished second last year. And then they sacked him when he was in fifth this year. So interesting. Well, I don't know anything about him either.
Victim of his own success. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly.
I see a big trend in MLS where European sporting directors come in and then they want to hire a European coach. And for the most part, hasn't been crazy successful, but we'll see how both of those go. And then some interesting player news. Sounds like Charlotte FC are in talks with Wilfried Zaha. Yeah. I don't like it personally. I don't know how you feel. Not a fan.
I just, it just seems like he's passed it once he went to Galatasaray. Yeah. Felt like that was the end. But, God, is he talented, man.
Yeah. I mean, I think his home was at Crystal Palace. And it's a good home. Went to United in a tough transition moment after Sir Alex Ferguson. He was flying high. He was a little bit younger. Didn't work out for him, which didn't work out for a bunch of players, me included. But he was brilliant at Palace. I can say that. He was brilliant at Palace. That was his home. You know, what a...
I like it for Charlotte. What I would say is this, and you've more than anybody in MLS have dealt with this, right? This is one of those things where it's like, well, it gets hot in the summer here. Like there's going to be a kid at a college that's going to kick you and doesn't care that you're Wilfred Zaha. I, I, I like it. But also if you've ever seen him play, he plays with, he's at his best.
He's one of these guys that cheese himself up that he, he could start a fight in an empty house. He's just like anybody who touches him. He just wants to fight and be nasty because I think that gets him at his best. But again, that's going to happen to him every single game, you know? So I just wanted to, from a mentality standpoint, if he's,
Fully prepared for that, but again, talented, on the ball, tricky. I like it for sure.
It'd be fun to watch. Yeah, for sure. It felt like once he left Palace, he was like, all right, I'm on my way out.
We'll follow that one. That's what you worry about.
We thought for a few weeks here that Neymar might go to Chicago. It sounds like, I don't know if it's confirmed confirmed, but instead he's going to go to Santos in Brazil. Which means it's time for Carnival. Yes, the holiday. Sounds like he's going home to party.
I was going to say I'm happy for Chicago this didn't happen, but I think you mentioned that you might have heard something that Greg Berhalter was actually over in Saudi Arabia. I read a report, yeah, that he was over in Saudi Arabia. They were trying to make it happen. Obviously, Greg wanted it to happen. What I would say is... Thank God for unanswered prayers. I don't see.
And look, Greg is a good coach, and he probably thinks he can get the best out of anyone. That's what a good coach does. But that won't worry me.
Look, that had the classic, you know, a few exciting moments, good games, and the rest was total disaster. And his Saudi coach even said physically he can't do it anymore. And that's in Saudi, right? And so it's like, yeah, I mean, I think that was a bullet dodge there.
It also sounds like, and it's a little complicated, but it sounds like Atlanta United might be bringing back Miguel Almarone, who hasn't been playing as much at Newcastle. That seems like a good fit. He would love to be back there. It could be really interesting.
Yeah, that'd be fun. Look, I think Eddie Howe, who's a fantastic manager at Newcastle, kind of got the best out of Almarone the other year. year, maybe not his first season, not Eddie Howe's first season, but in the second season, Miguel Amarone hit the ground running. He was flying. He was assist goals. He was coming on. He was like drifting onto the inside. He was brilliant. He really wasn't.
And again, since then, Jacob Murphy's kind of taken over that right-hand side, which is fine. But he still has it. He still has it. If he's hungry and he's excited to be back in Atlanta, as you just mentioned, that could be a really fun one.
Well, he always felt like a guy who...
didn't matter where you were playing what the stakes whatever like he just came to play yeah it just feels like he just always comes to play and so it feels like a good fit there totally totally all right let's take another break when we come back we'll get into mailbag anything but soccer right here on unfiltered soccer with landon and tim presented by volkswagen
Hey there, Ryan Reynolds here. It's a new year, and you know what that means. No, not the diet. Resolutions. A way for us all to try and do a little bit better than we did last year. And my resolution, unlike Big Wireless, is to not be a raging a**hole. and raise the price of wireless on you every chance I get. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch.
It's time for the Fan Connection presented by AT&T. Every week, we invite you, the listener, to connect with us by submitting your questions. The best way to grow the game of soccer in the U.S. is to keep asking questions and keep talking about the sport we all love. At AT&T, connecting changes everything. And on USLNT, our connections with you will help grow the game. Jordan, get on in here.
This is your favorite segment of the week. Oh, new background. Wow. Please come on, Jordan. Jordan, I saved this. I saved this because I have a bone to pick with you and I knew that would throw you on live podcast. We are unfiltered. And I feel like some of the questions you... I've heard from some friends that we've gotten, you know, we've gotten a few... I have gotten a few not so nice comments.
And we're unfiltered. So I think you need to bring us some heat.
What? They're not good? They're too filtered?
No, I just think there's some people out there who maybe disagree with some things I or you have to say. I think we need to give them their just due and stay unfiltered. No question.
Oh, I see.
Okay.
How about I make a deal with you? Because I think the two of you know at this point, I like to be very buttoned up and prepared. So next week, we're going to be doing a mailbag episode.
Ooh.
And so how about next week I bring a little extra fire?
A little thunder. All right.
Deal.
I think the ones that I picked for this week are still pretty good.
Okay, good. All right.
All right. You guys ready?
We're ready.
Okay. So we're going to start with a question from Vince via email. I just wanted to get your take on if you think the LA Galaxy can repeat as MLS champions this next season. A lot of things went right in order for Galaxy to win the cup this year. And with not having Ricky Pooj for most of this next season, what do you think their odds of repeating are?
And Vince also wanted me to let you guys know that he's trying to boost the number of episodes in which we mentioned Ricky. And that's right.
As long as Landon's on, I'll be fine.
I'm happy, baby. Thank you, Vince. I'll start. As we've talked about many, many times, the key in MLS is getting into the playoffs and then getting in healthy. And you have to say everybody stays together. Most of the team stays together. And Ricky Pooja is back at the end of the season. As long as they're in the playoffs, it'd be hard to bet against them. I feel like the Galaxy could go anywhere.
and win a game, especially with that front four. And so far, we haven't dived in a lot yet, or dove in, dived in, dove in, a lot to MLS offseason. We will at a later date as we get closer to the season. But the Galaxy, in my opinion, made a massive upgrade and huge pickup by bringing Sean Davis over from Nashville, central midfielder who's just really, really good.
And so he's going to help them a lot. He's a classic MLS veteran who just helps you win games. So I wouldn't bet against him. Obviously, I'm biased, but I wouldn't bet against him.
I was going to say no bias there. I mean, naturally, I would say they have a good chance, but they have to get through Houston in the West, and that's going to be a problem given the team that Pat Onstead is putting on the field.
um ben olsen is going to uh lead the charge so save it could be tough it could be tough for them but uh repeating is always hard i think it's always repeating is is extremely because there's psychologically just so people understand it is so hard to be motivated excited and up for every game for a year and then when you win there's a natural it's just human psychology like oh we did it
And to then have that same chip on your shoulder and go after it again when you have a target on your back, because now everyone's like, oh, we're playing the champs. Oh, the champs are coming to town. It's really hard.
Yeah, but I also think, well, one, we know how great of a coach Greg Vanney is. I think not having their best player is actually going to give him a little fuel for fire. He's going to be able to drive those players. Almost reverse psychology and basically say, don't drop your standards. We know it's going to be tough, but we've done it before. We can do it again.
And then, by the way, they get this massive boost at some point in the season. So, yeah, it's hard, though.
OK, how about a question from YouTube? This one is from Ryan. What venue in the US as a US men's national team player has been your favorite to play in? And if you were still an active player, what new stadium do you wish you could play in as a US men's national team player?
Great question. Yeah. Well, outside of Dignity Health Sports Park, because that was that was home for so many years for me. I would say Kansas City, supporting Kansas City for me. The close confines, the crowd was fantastic. It gets a little like dark and shadowy because it's kind of set in a little bit. So I just, I loved playing there. And that would be my answer for when I was playing.
What new stadium? Um, Nashville's was pretty cool when I went to visit, that'd be a cool stadium to play in. Um, maybe Cincinnati and Austin also looks really cool too.
Yeah. I mean, I don't think you can ever get too far away from, um, Columbus crew stadium for everything it meant to, uh, me as a player and, and, you know, my teammates, one being Landon. And, you know, we, we have never in this country had a national stadium, um, which hopefully will change in the future. But again, that will also take time.
You go to these countries and you play in a national stadium and these things were built just from brick and concrete and they're old and they have, they have character and they have meaning. And we've never had that in America and based on performances and results and, and, Dos Acero and... Well, we kind of... Yeah, we kind of did have it in Columbus. We created that in Columbus.
And, you know, the... And I say that because the feeling was we're going to play Mexico in Columbus or we're going to win. Like, there was just... There was never a sense of anything other than that mentality. And it did. It had everything to do with it was small and metal and we knew it was going to be cold. And so, as a player, you walked off that bus match day minus one or...
Um, you know, or pregame, you just felt the chill in the air and you thought we're going to win. And so that for me was, uh, I think Cincinnati, you know, in terms of new stadiums, I just haven't been, uh, to a lot of them, but I think Cincinnati seems like they've got a cool thing going. So maybe, maybe I'll get to visit, um, this season, but certainly, um, playing would have been cool.
Okay. Last one is from Matthew via email. You talked about the importance of the FA cup and the history of it on last week's episode. How do you feel about the U.S. Open Cup and MLS only sending a few clubs while prioritizing League's Cup?
Go ahead, Tim. No, after you. I'm going backseat in this one.
All right, here's my feelings. This is complicated. And we live in a society now where everybody wants to take a side. Everyone wants black or white or paper or plastic or red or green or whatever. And this is very complicated. So I'm going to give you fans' perspective, which I think fans love this tournament. I'm going to give you a player's perspective.
Players in MLS, until you get to the quarterfinals, are like, this is annoying. It's just annoying because we don't have the history. They don't feel the same way they feel about the FA Cup in England. Players from San Diego Loyal, when we were in the second division, loved it. The teams we played below them in NPSL or in lower divisions loved it because they had a chance to do something special.
MLS owners hate it because they lose money. Now, maybe there's some sentimental like, oh, we can grow this and this can be special. MLS as a whole, as an entity, hates it because they lose money. There's not a lot of prestige behind it. There's nobody in the stands until you get to the final.
And then it's just fixture congestion where they could fill those dates with something like the League's Cup. So it's a really complicated dynamic. Me personally... I love it, and I would like to see actually more money put into it. MLS teams take it more seriously and help it grow together.
I understand MLS's side of it, but I think overall the right thing to do would be to invest money in it, U.S. soccer, MLS, and make it bigger and better and more valuable. And then in 30 years, we'll look back and go, thank God we did that. And the last thing we want is for this thing to peter out.
Well, I mean, it's hard to add to that explanation, which was thorough and insightful. I think that just from the value of the tournament, I like it. I like that when you... There's a dollars and cents aspect to this, so that has to stay on one side of the line. I mean, that's a completely different part of the conversation. From the player side, again, I've been on...
on teams in MLS where you just think we're probably not going to win the league here, but this is a really awesome opportunity for us to have a cup run and win a cup. Um, you know, being an owner in Memphis, winning an open cup game, even a one round beating an MLS team, like it drives your season tickets. It drives, um, excitement in the city. So like that, that, that plays a huge factor.
And I know with, with Houston, obviously they won the open cup before, right before I got there, but that's a huge deal for our club, the Houston Dynamo and for the city. So I think there's, look, there's two parts of the conversation that ultimately have to get married, but I like the tournament.
All right. Thanks very much. Don't forget next week. We're doing lots of mailbag questions. So let the people know what you want to hear about.
Love that. Also, we need you guys to send in your questions. We're going to have an episode. on February 4th about promotion relegation. Oh, yeah. Good point. Promotion relegation. I'm excited about this. Who doesn't want to talk about that, bud? It's awesome. We're going to light a few fires. It's what everybody wants to talk about. I think it's so exciting on both sides of the argument.
So we're going to have a lot to say about that.
We need questions. So send in questions, guys. Even basic, like what is it? What does it mean? Super important. Or as complicated as you want so that we can dive into it and talk about it. We're going to have some. guests on and we're going to do a big thing on it. So it should be fun.
Feedback at unfiltered soccer.com is how you get your questions on the mailbag. Anyway, you're such a producer. Yeah. That's my job.
Love it. Love it. Jay. All right.
I'm out of here.
Bye guys. All right, Timmy, anything but soccer ABS this week. Um, couple interesting things. First thing I want to talk about. All right. I love this stuff. Alright, so I was watching the NFL games this weekend. Kansas City Chiefs win at home. Patrick Mahomes is... I love him. I love everything about him. I know he's very polarizing. And you know why people are so annoyed by him, Tim?
It's because he's so good at winning. Totally. He's good at winning. He is good. But I love it because when I played... I cared about winning. I cared about winning. Like I wanted to win. You can have all your goal scoring and all this BS and all that. I wanted championships, right? And like, he doesn't care if he goes 11 for 18 and has a pick, but they win. He couldn't care less.
And most people and young players in our society are now like, I want the Instagram photo of me scoring the goal and all that. And like, even if we lose 4-1, I scored the goal and here's the highlights and all that. And it's just BS, right? And so he just cares about winning. Now, what comes with that is he's always stretching the line, dude.
He's always towing the line of what's legal, what's not. And so there are a lot of calls that he gets, the Chiefs get, that drive people absolutely crazy. And he puts the refs in tough positions.
If you ain't cheating, you ain't trying, but keep going. That's true.
He puts himself in positions where he might get hit a second late. He might just be about to step out of bounds, but then stop for a second, get hit, and go flying. He dove this weekend on the sideline, which I don't want to hear anyone tell me that soccer players dive anymore because he dove too, and I don't want to hear it anymore. But I love him, and it was interesting during the podcast because
when he got two Houston Texans, Will Anderson and someone else, came together on him to hit him and actually hit each other. It looked pretty bad in real life. And the ref threw a flag. They can't review it in that specific instance. But during the broadcast, Troy Aikman goes, oh, come on, man. And Troy was a quarterback. And so he hated it. And it's a part of the game.
But what I would say to people who don't like it, is then go earn it the way he has and the Chiefs have. Right? Michael Jordan used to get all those fouls, too. Like these little hand-check fouls and whatever. And it's like, then you go be that guy. Josh Allen, go into Kansas City this weekend and beat them and win a Super Bowl. Crazy. And you'll get all those little calls, too.
Yep. Yep. There are a lot of things I hate. Let me start by saying that. I hate NFL refereeing. I hate it. So much so, I remember getting on this rant. And I text my producer at NBC, Pierre Moussa, the great Pierre Moussa. And he's produced more NFL games than you've ever seen in Premier League games. And I think he was like, why are you calling me? And I was like, hang on a second. Listen.
With the Premier League, from being in England, all they do is talk about refereeing. You talk about the game, you talk about refereeing. And then what beer you're going to have in the pub. That's all anyone cares about, right? So referees' decisions are huge in the Premier League, right? And in soccer in general. And I was saying to myself, these guys get let off the hook so often. NFL referees.
Pass interference that wasn't pass interference? Well, they're just going to be a spot foul, 15 yards, whatever it is. Let's get on with it. Yeah, but that put them in field goal position, and then they won the game. Like, it's so annoying when you see some of these things from the refereeing standpoint.
What I would say about Patrick Mahomes is we must be on the same page because I, before this became headline news, I would think that all the time. I'd be like, why don't you just, this linebacker's running, a million miles an hour at you just tiptoe the sideline, step out of bounds and get hit. Because by the way, referee's going to call, um, what is it? Roughing or late hit or whatever it is.
Yeah. Referee's going to call it. So you might as well use that to your advantage. Listen, every, every advantage is, is important. And by the way, your, your, your quarterback can do it too. Cause quarterbacks are protected. So, um, You know, I love, I'm obviously a Giants fan, but I love what Patrick Mahomes is doing. It's exciting. Love him or hate him.
I tell my daughter all the time, like, if they're hating on you, you're doing something right. So, you know, it's, I don't, I think it'd be really hard for them to three-peat, but by God, they got every chance to do it.
We both played with a guy, defender Jeff Agus. Goose. Goose was so good at this, Tim. I played with him in San Jose. So long ball gets hit over the top, and he would be chasing it down, and the forward would be chasing, and the forward was behind him. So Jeff had the angle on the ball. He would slow down. He would wait till the striker, barely any contact.
And he would just fall straight on the ball. And he's running back towards his own goal. And people have to remember, referees are human first. Yes, it's their job, whatever. But there's so much subjectivity. It's not black and white. So he would just wait for contact, fall on the ball, grab the ball with his hands. And the ref had no choice. I swear to you,
Maybe once in four years did that not get called. And he did it five or six times a game.
And now it happens in global football everywhere. You're like, just don't touch the guy because he's going to go out. Correct.
So you wait for the contact. You fall down. And it's like, okay, is that cheating? No. Is it using the rules to your advantage?
Yeah.
I'm here for it. Yeah. So if you don't want it, then don't touch him.
Better refrain. I want better refrain.
It's going to be interesting to see how it plays out. I am actually, incidentally, I just told my son last night, I'm going to the game this weekend. Wait, in Kansas City? In Kansas City. Oh.
Yeah.
So I'm taking my boy, who is a huge Patrick Mahomes fan. Shout out to the Hunt family, who are the owners of FC Dallas, because they were able to hook us up with tickets. So it's going to be so funny.
You're a poor son. He's a Galaxy fan. He's a Kansas City fan. You're setting him up for massive, massive… He's a LeBron fan too, isn't he? Tell me. He's a LeBron fan.
But you know what he said to me last night? So I told him last night. He was like, what? We get to go see Patrick Mahomes play live? I said, yeah. And he said, a couple times we've taken him to New York. Or one time we took him to New York. And one time we took him to Cabo. And we are not like this. But it just worked out where… We brought him and he sat in first class with us.
So he goes, dad, are we going to, we're going to sit in one of those seats, right? With the big seats and they bring us food the whole time. And I was like, you know, Tal, no, we're flying Southwest this time. But we're sitting there. He was devastated. He's like, what?
I didn't even know people sat back there. Shout out to Southwest. If you're listening to the podcast, you know, we take upgrade vouchers.
All right, last thing. I just want to real quick. The Eagles game yesterday, I don't know if you noticed, but A.J. Brown, wide receiver for the Eagles, showed up to the game in an old-school Honda Accord. I was just thinking to myself, like, dude, he's just like one of us. Yeah, good one. Except I ain't.
except he ain't but i love that dude he showed up in the honda accord i can't imagine like side note did did he get stuck in the snow because i'm guessing that honda accord yeah i don't have did not get make it out of the parking lot no chance i guess he made it but i just love that dude like i love that guy and and look i mean you kind of get to a point and you probably deal with this too like
It's nice to have great things, whatever, but you just want to be comfortable. And he probably just loves driving the car. He just drives it. I had a teammate, Todd Dunavant, who drove, I don't even know what it was. Some old car. It had like 300,000 miles. Literally, Tim, for 10 years at the Galaxy. And I'm like, Todd, you're making a couple hundred grand now. Can you just buy something?
Like just something decent? It doesn't have to be like nice, but like you just did. So I'll give one good story about cars. I think you have one too.
Yeah, I do. I played with a guy at Everton, Mohamed Bezic. And it was when Roberto Martinez was the manager. My guy comes strolling in in a white Lambo. Gorgeous. Gorgeous, right? And he whips it into the player's parking lot, just gets out, strolling with it a little bit of time, wash bag, everything's cool. That was my guy too. And sure enough, next day, Mo ain't got the Lambo.
So we're like, where'd your Lambo go? And he's like, the gaffer said I have to get rid of it. What? Roberto Martinez was like, he saw because, you know, with the manager's office. Yeah, you can see that. He said, the seat's too low. You're going to have hamstring injuries. And he made him sell it. Because he thought it was physically bad for him? Yeah. God bless him.
I thought he was going to say it was too flashy. Mo was one of the best guys I ever played with. He was like, okay, I sold the land. Poor fella.
We had a guy in San Jose. We drafted him. I don't know. I think it was the first overall pick maybe or second overall pick to us. And Chris Carrieri. So he shows up.
I know him from North Carolina or something.
Yes, exactly. So he shows up his first day. And it's like preseason. It's like February, March. Top down this like bright red Corvette. And like for a guy who was making like 30 grand, we were like, where the hell did he get all this money? So we were all humble. Like nobody was making money back then in MLS.
He shows up in this bright red Corvette strolling in and it was like, dude, you really, that's the first impression you want to make. So we called him Corvetti forever. I think he played in the league for like two years.
I remember that.
It's absolutely Corvetti. All right, guys, it's been fun. Thanks again for all the feedback, all the questions, and the AT&T fan connection. We appreciate all you guys being with us. Remember to subscribe, like, comment on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks again, everyone.
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