Speaker 1: It is time for a debut. If I had a
Speaker 1: drum roll in the drops, I would do it now.
Speaker 1: I don't have any kind of like official trumpet fanfare
Speaker 1: or anything like that. I don't have like the dudes,
Speaker 1: you know, like in the stereotypic middle aged movie where
Speaker 1: you have like the nine trumpeters that come into the
Speaker 1: hall and they always play like and for some reason
Speaker 1: they've all got the same trumpet, but they play different notes.
Speaker 1: I don't know how that works. But anyway, we would
Speaker 1: have like nine dudes or ten dudes on each and
Speaker 1: then we would have we would have a red carpet,
Speaker 1: obviously because of our guests. But first time ever on
Speaker 1: the on the Morning Show, we bring in Mark Fishkin,
Speaker 1: our friend from Seeing Red, as a part of the
Speaker 1: informational exchange program here at Major League Soccer that we
Speaker 1: do every single time out. Mark, Welcome to the Morning Show.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. It's great to be here. And
Speaker 2: what I didn't see any trumpeters on my way downstairs
Speaker 2: this morning, but that's it's a nice visual. For sure.
Speaker 1: They're they're they're in the FedEx that that is, they're
Speaker 1: they're on their way there. They might be there by
Speaker 1: the time you exit.
Speaker 3: Uh sounds good what I wanted to do.
Speaker 1: And I wanted to bring you on to help our
Speaker 1: folks have an education coming up for the matchup this
Speaker 1: weekend when Whipples come to town, and I mean this
Speaker 1: is going to be everything from pillar to post in
Speaker 1: you know, fifteen to twenty minutes, and just so we
Speaker 1: have educated watchers when it comes to everything at Mercedes
Speaker 1: ben Stadium. So when you look at match weeks one
Speaker 1: and two so far here in twenty twenty five, what
Speaker 1: are some of your larger takeaways when it comes to
Speaker 1: what you've seen with Red Bulls this year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I thought the Red So for your for your listeners,
Speaker 2: the Red Bulls went to Cincinnati on Day one and
Speaker 2: we're not able to score. They lost one nothing on
Speaker 2: a seventyeth minute restart goal by by Kevin Denkey where
Speaker 2: he chipped Coronell who was a half step slow coming
Speaker 2: off off his line, and New York did some interesting things.
Speaker 2: It was the first time that er Chuopomoting and Lewis
Speaker 2: Morgan and Eric Forsberg played together mL Forsburg played together
Speaker 2: at the top of the formation. Chuopomoting's first goal shot
Speaker 2: on goal attempt was a back heel, which was I
Speaker 2: think not really what we expected, but that's okay. Came
Speaker 2: home last Saturday and scored twice in the first twenty minutes,
Speaker 2: first thirty minutes rather against Nashville and just ended the game.
Speaker 2: The rest of the match was I guess a little
Speaker 2: bit kg. Nashville doesn't have a whole lot of attacking
Speaker 2: firepower to try and get on the board. They brought
Speaker 2: on thirty five year old Teal Bunbury in the seventy
Speaker 2: fifth minute, and while Bunbury has made his career scoring
Speaker 2: goals against New York, it was just too little, too late.
Speaker 2: New York lacked a little bit of sharpness in the
Speaker 2: final third over the last half hour of the game.
Speaker 2: But again you're up to nothing, just trying to prevent
Speaker 2: a collapse, and for Red Bull fans, I think I
Speaker 2: think it felt good. Mohamed Sofo, who was only playing
Speaker 2: doing and due to a knock on Morgan that kept
Speaker 2: him out of the lineup on Saturday. We don't really
Speaker 2: know the severity of that injury. We'll find out on
Speaker 2: Thursday when we meet with the team. But Sofo, in
Speaker 2: his first MLS start, scored his first MLS goal, cleaning
Speaker 2: up a shot off the post by Jupo, and Emil
Speaker 2: Forstburgh had a ridiculous curler into the far post past
Speaker 2: Joe Willis, which for so it always feels good to
Speaker 2: score past Joe Willis. And yeah, I mean it was
Speaker 2: a frigid night at Red Bull Arena. I think by
Speaker 2: the end of the game the temperature was in the twenties.
Speaker 2: And you know, for there's a lot of energy in
Speaker 2: the stadium and a lot of excitement around this team
Speaker 2: and just to see what they can do. And now,
Speaker 2: I mean you can make the argument that this is
Speaker 2: I mean, Cincinnati certainly is a tough test, but Atlanta
Speaker 2: is a tough test as well, in a place where
Speaker 2: traditionally the Red Bulls have had a lot of success.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think if my math is correct, I think
Speaker 1: Atlanta has drawn points in only eight of eighteen matches lifetime,
Speaker 1: regardless of location. Yep, this particular matchup and how different
Speaker 1: and I'm kind of drifting back into last season to
Speaker 1: lead into this year. How different are Red Bulls with
Speaker 1: Emil Forsburg and without him? Because you were fourth in
Speaker 1: the East with him. He's out for three and a
Speaker 1: half months because of injury.
Speaker 3: It just to seven.
Speaker 1: Then you catch him healthy again, you make your way
Speaker 1: to the last match of the year. How different in
Speaker 1: quotation marks are they with him and without him?
Speaker 2: Yeah? No, it's it's literally everything for this team. This
Speaker 2: team was actually atop the East at one point early
Speaker 2: in the season last year with Forsburg and you're absolutely, John,
Speaker 2: I mean he without him, I think they won one
Speaker 2: or two matches over three and a half months. They
Speaker 2: were a very difficult team to beat last year. They
Speaker 2: only lost nine times during the regular season and then
Speaker 2: in MLS Cup for coming up one goal short at
Speaker 2: LA who was you know, without Rocky Pooge. But they
Speaker 2: were undefeated at your name here center in Carson all
Speaker 2: of last year. And so yeah, I mean there were
Speaker 2: plenty of pundits during New York's playoff run last year
Speaker 2: that were seemingly bewildered what happened. The team has come
Speaker 2: together and it's like, Yeah, the guy they're paying six
Speaker 2: million dollars a year is healthy and producing. He literally
Speaker 2: lifts everyone on the team. He creates spaces for people,
Speaker 2: he generates passing lines for people. He's a coach out
Speaker 2: on the field. He's doing everything that New York had
Speaker 2: hoped when he signed, and his leadership ability is really unmatched.
Speaker 2: He's done at the highest levels in the European Champions League,
Speaker 2: and so I just think he is he's he is clear,
Speaker 2: it is clearly his team and makes such a difference
Speaker 2: when he's out there and did score. A lot of
Speaker 2: his goals were on pens last year. But again, if
Speaker 2: we see more attempts and goals like we saw on
Speaker 2: Saturday night, I think Red Bull fans aud be really
Speaker 2: happy with what they've got this year.
Speaker 3: I was gonna say.
Speaker 1: I mean, the bottom line is if he's scoring from
Speaker 1: the spot, that means that chances are being created where
Speaker 1: defenses are panicking and have to make rash decisions air go.
Speaker 3: You end up with those kinds of opportunities mission impossible time.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: And for those of us that are of a certain vintage, yes,
Speaker 1: we used to watch this particular show in reruns. Our
Speaker 1: friend Jim Phelps otherwise known as Peter Graves, would be
Speaker 1: a particular message on a real to reel tape player
Speaker 1: and at the end of the message it would say
Speaker 1: that this tape is going to set a self destruct
Speaker 1: in fifteen seconds. So that is the that is the
Speaker 1: guidepost with which we will operate, even though it will
Speaker 1: live on forever on the media.
Speaker 2: Okay, gotcha.
Speaker 1: If you were Specter and you had to defend Forsburg,
Speaker 1: how would you do it? What have you seen that
Speaker 1: has handcuffed him and his creativity? And like I said,
Speaker 1: we can sit there and put up a curt and
Speaker 1: sit there and.
Speaker 3: Go No one in the Tri State can listen to that.
Speaker 2: You know what, No, No, it's not complicated. I think
Speaker 2: you have to have two bodies on him at all times,
Speaker 2: and I think you have to prevent his forward vision
Speaker 2: as much as you can. New York has played moved
Speaker 2: over the playoff run to a five man three slash
Speaker 2: five man back line, and those two wingers Omar Valencia
Speaker 2: and it was Kim Harper who picked up a knock
Speaker 2: in the game. Be curious to who we see those
Speaker 2: guys are key passing recipient of Forstburg. He I would
Speaker 2: absolutely keep someone between him and Choopo Moting to make
Speaker 2: sure that that connection is blocked off. But I would
Speaker 2: just try to impede his field vision as much as
Speaker 2: you can. I don't know if that means that both
Speaker 2: central defensive mids are on him. Constantly bottling him up,
Speaker 2: making sure, you know, things don't go the right way,
Speaker 2: and I would just prevent him at all times from
Speaker 2: being able to carve up a defense. He doesn't need
Speaker 2: a lot of space. The ball just sits at his feet.
Speaker 2: He has incredible ball of control, so you know. But
Speaker 2: he's also not the quickest guy, and so for Atlanta's
Speaker 2: again central midfield to really get in his face to
Speaker 2: turn him away from the center of the field, I
Speaker 2: think you guys'll be in pretty decent instead.
Speaker 1: So it sounds like some combination of cleek or clik Sleash,
Speaker 1: Jay Fortune, Tristan william Bas somewhere those two sixes that
Speaker 1: Ronnie Dila likes to employ. Just make sure that they're
Speaker 1: keeping an eye on Forsburg. How underrated a keeper is
Speaker 1: Carlos Cornell.
Speaker 2: I think he's properly rated. I think I mean he
Speaker 2: is climbing up the all time Red Bull goal effectiveness
Speaker 2: goalkeeping charts. Obviously, he's never going to beat Lewis Robliss's
Speaker 2: streak of consecutive games or anything like that, but he
Speaker 2: really pulled his form together in the second half of
Speaker 2: last year. He was a little he went wanting during
Speaker 2: New York's forsburg less streak where wins were very difficult
Speaker 2: to come by, but as New York advanced through the playoffs,
Speaker 2: his form returned. He had a magnificent open net save
Speaker 2: in the Eastern Conference Final on Facundo Torres that really
Speaker 2: turned that entire match. I think he is. I mean,
Speaker 2: you can make the argument that he's a top ten
Speaker 2: goalkeeper in MLS. I think, depending on his form, I
Speaker 2: think he's He's definitely he's a premier shot stopper. He
Speaker 2: does well on penalties. Yeah, I mean, I'd take him
Speaker 2: over just about anyone in the league right now, for sure.
Speaker 1: Mark Fishkin from the Seeing Red Pod. You can follow
Speaker 1: them on the Blue Scott. You can follow them on
Speaker 1: the Bluebird, the Blue Sky, the the IG, the gram
Speaker 1: or the Insta, whatever the kids are calling it these days.
Speaker 3: You can shoot him emails.
Speaker 1: They're on the face Space, all the all the all
Speaker 1: the socials into YouTube's as well, so you can all
Speaker 1: of their content. Another couple of minutes with you, because
Speaker 1: I have burning questions, sir, please send them when it
Speaker 1: comes to this particular matchup. What concerns you the most
Speaker 1: as someone who has covered the Red Bulls as much
Speaker 1: as you have, and what are you the most confident
Speaker 1: about going into this matchup?
Speaker 2: I mean the attacking firepower that you guys have acquired
Speaker 2: and reacquired is spectacular, right, I mean we we haven't
Speaker 2: seen a guy like lattels Uh in the in the
Speaker 2: league in a little bit. Haha, n j rb he
Speaker 2: he maps. Oh, maps are so funny. Let me explain
Speaker 2: to your listeners. There is an area called the New
Speaker 2: York Metropolitan Area that encompass is not just New York,
Speaker 2: New Jersey, also the state of Connecticut. It's true. That's
Speaker 2: why they call it the Tri state area.
Speaker 3: So is this where I break up my Lloyd Lindsay
Speaker 3: young impression?
Speaker 2: Oh wow, that is taking me back. Hello, that's good stuff.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, okay, yeah, well thank you for your comment.
Speaker 2: Anyway, Yes, the Jets and Giants play in New Jersey too. Excellent,
Speaker 2: well done. Born in New York City. So you know,
Speaker 2: if you know, you know anyway, the attacking strength that
Speaker 2: you guys have and we've yet to see it really
Speaker 2: right round into form. Obviously, that's that's a challenge. I
Speaker 2: you know, I don't know how well Mickey is doing
Speaker 2: in his return obviously, you know, informed Joseph Martinez and
Speaker 2: all that is not there, So as that partnership starts
Speaker 2: to come together, I think that's going to be exciting.
Speaker 2: New York knows how to beat Ronnie Dila. They did
Speaker 2: it with some regularity during his time at City, for sure.
Speaker 2: I think, you know, I think Brad guzan is I
Speaker 2: don't think he's one of the top ten goalkeepers in
Speaker 2: MLS right now, and I don't I don't think that
Speaker 2: your listeners would be terribly insulted by that. I think
Speaker 2: the question is really who is going to be playing
Speaker 2: on the wings for New York. They've they've started Omar Valencia,
Speaker 2: who is a Red Bull, to promotion. He's done arguably Okay,
Speaker 2: Obviously he's a young kid. He's not going to be
Speaker 2: used to playing in front of the number of fans
Speaker 2: that I would imagine Atlanta will be bringing. It might
Speaker 2: be imposing for him. And then again, as I said
Speaker 2: with with Kim Harper, new York's kind of not so
Speaker 2: young player anymore. Who's continuing to run into for him?
Speaker 2: He got jacked up over the weekend New York interestingly
Speaker 2: enough that the injury to Harper happened right before halftime
Speaker 2: and Coachar's signaled to Dennis Yengar, who's a Norwegian youngster,
Speaker 2: to come and get ready, and then didn't sub him
Speaker 2: through first half injury time, and then at the after
Speaker 2: half they put he put Dylan Nilis on in his stead,
Speaker 2: which I think raised a lot of questions for for
Speaker 2: Red Bulls watchers. Again, you're up to nothing at half,
Speaker 2: You're not necessarily looking to do a lot of offensive damage.
Speaker 2: New York played about five minutes of first half injury
Speaker 2: time with that with ten men because Schwartz didn't want
Speaker 2: to make that change. So I thought that was really
Speaker 2: interesting till and Nilis of course really capable, certainly more
Speaker 2: defensive minded. You know, New York's press doesn't necessarily know
Speaker 2: how to play for coming in play for ties and
Speaker 2: so it'll it'll be interesting to see. I mean again,
Speaker 2: the first goal is so important to New York, so
Speaker 2: important to everyone in this game, but like really important
Speaker 2: to New York in the first match. And I realized
Speaker 2: I've straight from your question a little bit, John, But.
Speaker 3: Just good look and time it's all okay.
Speaker 2: To provide your listeners with a little more insight in
Speaker 2: the In the first game at Cincinnati, New York went
Speaker 2: down in the seventieth minute. Chupo Moting Forstburg and Morgan
Speaker 2: were on the field the entire match, and who New
Speaker 2: York brought on to try to make the difference was
Speaker 2: sixteen year old homegrown Julian Hall. And while New York
Speaker 2: has a lot of second choice depth players that came
Speaker 2: in late to training camping aren't necessarily fit, yet it
Speaker 2: just seemed like, oh, you're down to goal on the road.
Speaker 2: Attacking depth is definitely an area where New York is lacking,
Speaker 2: and so if Atlanta is able to get up one
Speaker 2: or even two, and as the game is getting late,
Speaker 2: it's going to be a real challenge for them to
Speaker 2: get back in to the match and make a difference. Again,
Speaker 2: Forrestb' will be great your promotings. Looking for his first goal.
Speaker 2: Hasn't played on turf yet. It'll be interesting to see
Speaker 2: how that goes. But you know, as for your listeners, yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean, New York Atlanta is a fantastic game always.
Speaker 2: New York hasn't won in Atlanta since twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2: It used to be that the Red Bulls would waltz
Speaker 2: into to Mercedes Benz and leave with at least to draw.
Speaker 2: This is a little bit new. I think New York's
Speaker 2: five to two and one all time in Atlanta, and
Speaker 2: so I think it says close to right. But they've lost,
Speaker 2: they've lost the last two. There used to be a
Speaker 2: place they were very comfortable except for that one.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, that one time. Uh yes, exactly.
Speaker 1: Itali sized baldface thirteen times new Roman font. The other
Speaker 1: question that I had for you has to do with
Speaker 1: the press. How different is it structurally or philosophically under
Speaker 1: Sandro Schwarz Then it has been in the past, say
Speaker 1: you know, under say Struber or Armis or however far
Speaker 1: back you How much of a tweak is there under
Speaker 1: Sandro's version? Then has been there in the past with others.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I'll say under Armis and Bradley Carnell,
Speaker 2: who's had a great start at both Saint Louis and
Speaker 2: now in Philly, I think blowing everyone's airback with the
Speaker 2: job that they've done Philly. Wow, four goals twice in.
Speaker 3: A row, That's what have you done with the Philadelphia Union?
Speaker 2: Yeah, because those fans were not looking forward to the
Speaker 2: season at all, and it's like, no, everything's fine, No,
Speaker 2: we're good, thank you. Yeah. I mean, over the last
Speaker 2: few years, and certainly last year, the Red Bulls have
Speaker 2: gotten a lot more comfortable possessing the ball against Nashville,
Speaker 2: who also doesn't want to possess the ball. Usually it
Speaker 2: was about fifty to fifty if I recall correctly from
Speaker 2: possession stats for the game. And so New York has
Speaker 2: the players now that can hold it, hold it, hold it,
Speaker 2: hold the ball, and they do generate scoring chances out
Speaker 2: of build up. But I mean, there were a number
Speaker 2: of situations against Nashville where five attacking minded players were
Speaker 2: all pressing all the way back to the keeper, earned
Speaker 2: a few throw ins, earned you know, a few goalkicks
Speaker 2: off the side, just from turning it up. It's it's
Speaker 2: definitely a little different. A bit of that is because
Speaker 2: of the formation. But you know, he's playing a you
Speaker 2: can say it's a three four three, you can say
Speaker 2: it's a three four one two, you can say it's
Speaker 2: a five. You can call it whatever you want. But
Speaker 2: more certainly more wing play than we've seen, more reliant
Speaker 2: on the wings. The central defensive midfielder for New York
Speaker 2: right now is Edelman and Stroud to homegrown players who
Speaker 2: are definitely more defensive minded. Felipe Carvajo, who scored a
Speaker 2: cracker of a goal for the Red Bulls in the playoffs,
Speaker 2: actually two goals, once against Columbus in Columbus last year
Speaker 2: in the playoffs and then a bomb against NYC. He's
Speaker 2: still working his way back to full fitness after injury
Speaker 2: that kept him out of MLS Cup, which really hurt
Speaker 2: New York. So you know his I don't think he's
Speaker 2: going to be ready to start. He can along with
Speaker 2: twenty minutes to play last week and a two goal lead,
Speaker 2: but he can be an offensive spark as well. Without him,
Speaker 2: you're not going to see Edelman and Stroud push up
Speaker 2: and press as much, which may leave Atlanta a little
Speaker 2: more from getting out of their back end.
Speaker 1: So now that we have, now that we've had all
Speaker 1: these kinds of discussions about all of the defense and everything,
Speaker 1: I anticipate that whatever the total is, we're just going
Speaker 1: to go over and it's going to be like one
Speaker 1: of these nine to eight thrillers or something.
Speaker 2: I do not think so, no, I mean, we were
Speaker 2: going to do our show tonight for the week Christine read,
Speaker 2: but we're talking to Jason later in the tomorrow for
Speaker 2: our show as guest. But yeah, I mean, I think
Speaker 2: to one is probably right, unless you know La Te
Speaker 2: Last breaks out and you know tattoos New York. I
Speaker 2: don't know how many Gye's speed is. As a thirty
Speaker 2: one year old, I would imagine he's slightly less blinding.
Speaker 2: But it'll be interesting to see the matchup. Whoever's matched
Speaker 2: up on Valencia on the left side of New York's
Speaker 2: defense will have some room.
Speaker 3: To operate well, and that could be.
Speaker 1: That doesn't matter. I think how Atlanta United will line up.
Speaker 1: I think you're gonna see Miggy on the left. I
Speaker 1: think you're gonna see Saba on the left. You're gonna
Speaker 1: see them interchange. Latte Lott's gonna want to run behind
Speaker 1: defenders and create havoc, you know, doing his thing. He's
Speaker 1: not afraid to press, He's not afraid to run up
Speaker 1: there and get in somebody's face. He likes to run
Speaker 1: in behind. But yeah, I think you're gonna see a
Speaker 1: lot of You're gonna see a lot of inner play.
Speaker 1: You're gonna see a lot of switch. It's gonna be okay,
Speaker 1: who's got him here, who's got him here? That kind
Speaker 1: of a thing to kind of create confusion. You have
Speaker 1: Miggy either on his left, on his dominant left with
Speaker 1: his left foot going up against the defensive right, or
Speaker 1: you have him go up against to set up his
Speaker 1: left foot being set up.
Speaker 3: On the right hand side. So I think that there
Speaker 3: are a lot of interesting chess matches here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it'll be good. I mean, and I'll just say this,
Speaker 2: and Sandra Schwartz is a terrific tactical coach. He has
Speaker 2: really proven adaptability. His team is bought in. He's one
Speaker 2: of the friendliest, happiest, nicest Germans I've ever met. He
Speaker 2: loves to joke. It's a very light around the team.
Speaker 2: And you know, I mean we get our foreign born
Speaker 2: coaches and no one coaches here for more than four
Speaker 2: I mean, when Jesse started twenty eighteen, he started his
Speaker 2: fourth season with New York and that had never been
Speaker 2: done before. So, I mean, we're not expecting Sandra to
Speaker 2: stay past next year, but he's been a breath of
Speaker 2: fresh air. And I think Red Bull fans, clearly with
Speaker 2: the playoff run last year, really.
Speaker 3: Really happy with him, no doubt about it.
Speaker 2: All.
Speaker 1: Right, cut the promo for me, working folks, follow you
Speaker 1: and everything that you guys do up there to get
Speaker 1: everybody smart and keep them smart.
Speaker 2: Sure, I know your fans are very very excited to
Speaker 2: follow the Red Bulls. Every week it's Seeing Red and
Speaker 2: Why just about on every platform you got. We are
Speaker 2: no longer posting at that other place, and we're on
Speaker 2: Blue Sky where we're finding a lot of og soccer.
Speaker 2: Twitter is reconstituting. And I don't know if you guys
Speaker 2: joined the league in time for og soccer Twitter, but
Speaker 2: it was pretty great. And we encourage you to follow
Speaker 2: us at Seeing Red and Y at Blue Sky or
Speaker 2: on the IG as you said, the kids say, and
Speaker 2: Seeing Red n Why on YouTube as well, where we're
Speaker 2: growing to our audience. So thank you so much for
Speaker 2: having me.
Speaker 3: John anytime, my friend.
Speaker 1: And like I said, this link is a universal so
Speaker 1: that Friday free for all that I'm trying to have structured. Basically,
Speaker 1: you come in, you sit there and you know your
Speaker 1: rage for a couple of minutes, and then you check out. Literally,
Speaker 1: it's like the express lane for views on a Friday.
Speaker 2: Excellent, let's do it.
Speaker 1: Great to see you, my friend. Don't be a stranger.
Speaker 1: We'll catch up soon and we will talk down the road.
Speaker 3: Okay, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2: Have a good day everyone,