Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to this episode of Hammering Down a
Speaker 1: mat of Scaler Hodges and I'm hoping you're having a
Speaker 1: great great Hey, Hey, we got our first friendly done.
Speaker 1: The first friendly of the season versus Lane United is
Speaker 1: done where Legion lost two nil to Landey ninited and
Speaker 1: did not record a shot on target. But I am extremely,
Speaker 1: extremely bullish on this team. I think that this team
Speaker 1: has a lot of potential going forward. I just think
Speaker 1: this team has just so much that they can do.
Speaker 1: And I want to have a film study coming out
Speaker 1: later that's going to really break it down. But the
Speaker 1: big things that I want to take away from the match.
Speaker 1: And this might be a shorter episode because it's you
Speaker 1: can't really get into formations right now. Like the team
Speaker 1: started off in a four two three one where they
Speaker 1: had you know, Trial is number five as his mother
Speaker 1: knows him who I think his name is. Maybe it
Speaker 1: was like Robbie Robbie Moore Mora maybe possibly there there's
Speaker 1: a guy that played for Gonzaga that kind of fits
Speaker 1: the bill for for this but anyway, but we all
Speaker 1: just know him and love him as Trial is number
Speaker 1: five stupid And you also had oh my gosh, what's
Speaker 1: his name, Dawson McCartney starting as the other holding midfielder.
Speaker 1: This is of course because Kobe Hernandez Foster was out
Speaker 1: for this match assumingly injured. Same thing for A. J.
Speaker 1: Patterson who is out who you heard said on UH
Speaker 1: on the Red Mountain radio that he is injured and
Speaker 1: he's going to be back. And we also started off
Speaker 1: with Trey Garthen on the right hand side and placed
Speaker 1: up Passuer. So like there's there's a lot of missing
Speaker 1: pieces from this match and it's only our first three
Speaker 1: season match that we were and some people were getting
Speaker 1: a little upset over just kind of how way some
Speaker 1: things went. And I just need to remind people Elaine
Speaker 1: United has been in training for three weeks now. That
Speaker 1: was their second friendly. Legion have been in training for
Speaker 1: one week and that was their first friendly. Things are
Speaker 1: going to look way different. And this is a constantly
Speaker 1: and I side. After talking to some of the guys
Speaker 1: from soccer down here, where the expectations for this team
Speaker 1: is top four in MLS, I think Legion fans can
Speaker 1: be happy with what they saw, especially defensively. The goals
Speaker 1: that they conceded were honestly a really clever set piece
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm gonna when I have my film study,
Speaker 1: I'm want to break it down and I have a
Speaker 1: lot of stuff and I'm excited about breaking that down
Speaker 1: on But it's really clever. It's really really clever, and
Speaker 1: an old goal. That's it. Now you can sit there
Speaker 1: and say, well, there wasn't a shot on target. I'm
Speaker 1: willing to actually disagree with that. Where Yana Bazini, or
Speaker 1: as his mother knows him as Trial Is twenty eight,
Speaker 1: he those two got onto kind of the same page
Speaker 1: with Trialis fourteen. I love this time of year, and
Speaker 1: Yana Bazini again Trial Is twenty eight puts in a
Speaker 1: nice little shot that was destined for the bottom corner
Speaker 1: but ends up like getting cleared off the line. I
Speaker 1: think that that should be a shot on target. I
Speaker 1: really don't know why that's not a shot on target.
Speaker 1: I understand it's a quote unquote blocked shot. For to
Speaker 1: be a shot on target, the goalkeeper has to save it,
Speaker 1: which I think is a little silly sometimes. Anyway, not
Speaker 1: the point. I think that this team created a ton
Speaker 1: of pressure, and I think that's what you take away
Speaker 1: from this match is you can sit there and say, well,
Speaker 1: we're going to play a four or four to two
Speaker 1: three one maybe, But things may look different when you
Speaker 1: have Kobe hern and Nez Foster on the pitch right,
Speaker 1: you know, trial is number five, might not be in
Speaker 1: the might not be in the lineup. You may not
Speaker 1: have Dawson McCartney in the lineup. Maybe Dawson McCartney goes
Speaker 1: somewhere else, Maybe Enzo plays a little bit deeper. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of ways that this can flow. And the
Speaker 1: biggest thing that you need to know is that this
Speaker 1: team is going to press. And I was trying to
Speaker 1: figure out what they're like their press trigger is, and
Speaker 1: the best I can kind of find here is that
Speaker 1: this team kind of once it gets into the winged areas,
Speaker 1: they are hyper aggressive. They are trying to force teams
Speaker 1: to the touch line, and they are just trying to
Speaker 1: win the ball back. There were a lot of times
Speaker 1: where Legion forced Lanta United to play faster than they
Speaker 1: wanted to. They sped the game up, And so some
Speaker 1: people were sitting there and saying, well, Atlanta United just
Speaker 1: looks so much faster in the Legion because Legion made
Speaker 1: them play faster than Atlanta United wanted to. It was
Speaker 1: really impressive to watch, and I think one thing you
Speaker 1: did see was a gap in quality. And guys, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: I love this Legion team. I think this Legion team
Speaker 1: is better than some MLS teams. But when you're looking
Speaker 1: at a potential top four team in MLS versus a
Speaker 1: top four team in USL, there's a sizeable gap there.
Speaker 1: There just is. And I mean they bought Miguel Almaran
Speaker 1: mcgalmaron for like more than this entire team is worth,
Speaker 1: like all together, It's okay, it is really okay. And
Speaker 1: I think when you start getting into moments where you
Speaker 1: saw some of the crosses that Danny trey Hat was
Speaker 1: putting in, you saw some of the moments that you saw,
Speaker 1: especially with Steven Turnbull, he was so good where it
Speaker 1: was like, okay, this is kind of working out. I
Speaker 1: think that Ronald o'damis wasn't getting a lot of play
Speaker 1: through the middle of the pitch they were relying on.
Speaker 1: He was relying on a lot of crosses. But I
Speaker 1: also think that changes when you get a Kobe Hernan
Speaker 1: Nez Foster onto the field. I think that going through
Speaker 1: the middle of the pitch is going to be a
Speaker 1: lot easier with Kobe. I think that this is a
Speaker 1: team that has a lot going for it. There was
Speaker 1: some conversations about the center back that started in the
Speaker 1: first half. That was, if I do understand correctly, Ethan
Speaker 1: KOs who the reason he looks so good despite being
Speaker 1: from the US. He was born in the US. He
Speaker 1: has been playing in the League of Ireland, in the
Speaker 1: top tier of the League of Ireland for a year
Speaker 1: or so. Now he plays for Kerry FC. Just interesting stuff.
Speaker 1: I mean, dude played a full season, thirty four matches
Speaker 1: at center back. I mean he is a young player,
Speaker 1: twenty three years old. And I think one thing you
Speaker 1: should really take away from this match was how defensively
Speaker 1: solid they were. I mean, Fanwell looked good. Fanwell looked
Speaker 1: really good, honestly, and I can't believe I want to
Speaker 1: say this. Fanwell might have looked. Now, this is not fair.
Speaker 1: This is just so not fair. Just to understand I'm
Speaker 1: saying this. This is the level in which this defense played.
Speaker 1: That Fanwell weirdly looked like the weakest link. I don't
Speaker 1: think he is, by the way, but that's just what
Speaker 1: it looks like. Because Ethan coach played so well. Uh.
Speaker 1: Thiago Suarez Oh my gosh, I love Thiago's us. Don't
Speaker 1: fall in love with the Loney. Just don't do it,
Speaker 1: because you're gonna be heartbroken when they eventually leave you.
Speaker 1: And I'm falling in love with the Loney and my
Speaker 1: man of the match, Ramy's and Moudhah. His time over
Speaker 1: at Verda Bremen must have just took him from being
Speaker 1: a teenage boy to just a grown man who Ramy's
Speaker 1: just got the U seventeen call up. I think that
Speaker 1: just i Romy's was good. He was so good. What
Speaker 1: he was doing with the ball at his feet when
Speaker 1: he was playing center back was just wonderful. Last year
Speaker 1: we couldn't played Ramy's at center back. He was he
Speaker 1: just wasn't strong enough yet he was bodying grown men.
Speaker 1: It was unbelievable. Not just that he was our set
Speaker 1: piece taker in the second half. Okay, go off, young
Speaker 1: king their sound about legion and letting the sixteen year
Speaker 1: old take set pieces. I miss you, Matthew. Speaking of Matthew,
Speaker 1: I think that we kind of got our confirmation that
Speaker 1: Matthew is gone. Jackson Robel Warble, I never know how
Speaker 1: I pronounce his last name starts with a w that
Speaker 1: freaks me out. He was wearing trial is number seventeen Jackson,
Speaker 1: who of course played with the Legion back in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one, just a few minutes, like legit cup of
Speaker 1: coffee when like as an academy player. Then he goes
Speaker 1: off to Watford, the college, not the team, and then
Speaker 1: he went off to Clemson, where I think he just
Speaker 1: graduated and he's done with his collegiate career. Jackson was back,
Speaker 1: looked pretty good, but he was wearing the seventeen, and
Speaker 1: unless Matthew was planning a kit number change, was like
Speaker 1: he's gone. That it hurts. It does hurt to see
Speaker 1: Matthew gone. But I also think this is the strongest
Speaker 1: position roster wise of this team could have been left in.
Speaker 1: And I kind of circle back. This round of Rommy's
Speaker 1: was just so good, so so good man that you know,
Speaker 1: I talked a lot about talents like Matthew don't come
Speaker 1: around very often. You know, you need to appreciate the
Speaker 1: young talents that you have, Rommy's in terms of like
Speaker 1: what kind of reputation he's going to build for himself,
Speaker 1: especially if he gets real deal minutes this year Rommy
Speaker 1: is my get more he might get be more recognized,
Speaker 1: more internationally acclaimed than Matthew. And that's not to say
Speaker 1: Matthew isn't good. It's just I think I think Romy's
Speaker 1: a mudha is that good? He just looks like a
Speaker 1: different from beast this year. I am just stunned at
Speaker 1: how good he looked. Tiago Suarez was awesome. He is
Speaker 1: fast and also six ' five he is about the
Speaker 1: same size as a Now's cornale. So when you think
Speaker 1: about set pieces, if you sign Ayana Bazzini, who again
Speaker 1: he was from Forest Green, he also played for the
Speaker 1: University of Vermont, if you look at Ayana Vazzini, which
Speaker 1: by the way, he would be the second of Vermont
Speaker 1: Green guy that comes to us, which I don't know,
Speaker 1: that's pretty cool if he does sign does two six
Speaker 1: y five guys that if you're chasing a game in
Speaker 1: the final few minutes, throw those guys into the into
Speaker 1: the box. Ay, hey, go get your head on something.
Speaker 1: And Romie's is not a slouch either. I mean I
Speaker 1: think he's taller than me at this point. Those are big,
Speaker 1: big bodies that you can throw into the box and
Speaker 1: win some And it's not to say that we won't
Speaker 1: miss Alex. I I miss Alex for a lot of reasons.
Speaker 1: But when we're talking about purely set pieces, I don't
Speaker 1: know this This team has the ability to be a
Speaker 1: weapon and the set pieces. I think just in general,
Speaker 1: you're going to see this team grow. What you saw
Speaker 1: out of Treyjo. He had a couple of moments that
Speaker 1: were really fine. Uh. One player that really stood up
Speaker 1: to me on the wings, of course, would be a
Speaker 1: Taboro Taco Preston. Preston was awesome. He was really causing
Speaker 1: issues for that back line that he had a couple
Speaker 1: of dribbles that just completely unlocked this this Atlanta United team.
Speaker 1: It was really impressive to watch he He just stuns
Speaker 1: me every now and then. He just kind of has
Speaker 1: the ball glued to him. In general, I think the
Speaker 1: biggest missing piece was a holding mid possibly a cam
Speaker 1: where I think that getting Kobe Hernandez Foster back changes
Speaker 1: a lot of that. I still think you're looking for
Speaker 1: a cam and maybe you say ends is enough. I
Speaker 1: don't think I love endSo there and some people are
Speaker 1: going to say put Danny Trejo there. I just don't
Speaker 1: think that gets the best out of tray Ho. I
Speaker 1: think it's not the best idea, but we'll see. I mean,
Speaker 1: things could shake out, and maybe this situation where we
Speaker 1: say we don't need a cam, We're just going to
Speaker 1: go to like a four to two four, have two
Speaker 1: holding mids, and we'll just bomb the wings, because that's
Speaker 1: what this entire match was. We were just going to
Speaker 1: work the wings, and that can work. Look at a
Speaker 1: Sacramento of Republic these last couple of years where they
Speaker 1: were winning matches on death by a billion crosses. You
Speaker 1: win that way, and maybe it's not as sexy. If
Speaker 1: some people want they want that tiki taka through the
Speaker 1: midfield and just a perfectly slid through to the middle
Speaker 1: of the pitch and you score a goal that way,
Speaker 1: it looks awesome. Aesthetics are beautiful, but goals is goals, babe.
Speaker 1: Goals is goals. If we score, who cares? Who cares?
Speaker 1: I think that was great. Dorado showed me a lot
Speaker 1: of good things. He was able to work some space
Speaker 1: and he came so close as scoring. I mean he
Speaker 1: was probably about two inches on the wrong side of
Speaker 1: the post from slotting it away. Dorado was really creating
Speaker 1: some stuff. Bazini was really played him through. I didn't
Speaker 1: get an id on who trial as fourteen was, but dude,
Speaker 1: as fast as lightning. He was awesome. A cool moment
Speaker 1: I saw was and I have it in the film
Speaker 1: Breakdown that's going to be coming out sometime this week
Speaker 1: where Trick Garthen and h Turnbull we're going down the
Speaker 1: right hand side and dreg Garth and basically Turnbull played
Speaker 1: it into Tregarthan and Turnbull goes to make the overlap
Speaker 1: and treg Garthan does not play him. He tries to
Speaker 1: just turn around and go to the midfield, and I mean,
Speaker 1: Turnabule was not mean, but it was coaching on the field.
Speaker 1: He said, look, you get that ball, you see me
Speaker 1: making that run, just play me, Just play me. I'm
Speaker 1: there because we need to put in a cross. I
Speaker 1: am there. Also, Turnbull had a couple of good recoveries.
Speaker 1: It was really fun to watch just in general, even
Speaker 1: though the goals did not happen, this match was fine.
Speaker 1: This team is fine, and we didn't really talk that
Speaker 1: much about, you know, what could have gone wrong, what
Speaker 1: could have been better? And I think one thing that
Speaker 1: we saw, and it was a difference from last year
Speaker 1: as well, where the gap between the first half team
Speaker 1: and the second half team. Sure, the first half team
Speaker 1: was able to put on a little bit more pressure,
Speaker 1: but I also think that was Atlanta United. It's kind
Speaker 1: of not their two team, but like their second eleven,
Speaker 1: and then we've had our best eleven, so the quality
Speaker 1: is a little closer. The second half was closer to
Speaker 1: Atlanta United's first team, not completely, but closer, and it
Speaker 1: was our kind of best or our second eleven, and
Speaker 1: the gap was not that far off each other. The
Speaker 1: first half legion had a little bit more success, but honestly,
Speaker 1: our best shots came in the second half. The gap
Speaker 1: between our trialists and our starters is not a billion
Speaker 1: miles away. Our depth is not far off from being
Speaker 1: our starters, and our starters include Ornaldo Damas and Danny Trejo.
Speaker 1: That's a great thing. That is a great thing, and
Speaker 1: I'm excited to see what this closed door friendly. Get
Speaker 1: your season tickets. By the way, they don't pay me
Speaker 1: to say that. I'm just saying it because I think
Speaker 1: you should just watched this team as much as you
Speaker 1: can before March eighth, I think that's the day anyway.
Speaker 1: I just really think that you should watch this team
Speaker 1: as much as you can because This team's gonna be
Speaker 1: so much fun. This next weekend, there's going to be
Speaker 1: Chattanooga FC. Who they are. They beat Atlanta United just
Speaker 1: last week. They have real talent on the pitch. I
Speaker 1: think this is gonna be an interesting test because I
Speaker 1: think Chattanooga is going to be prime to make a
Speaker 1: real MLS next pro run. So I think that this
Speaker 1: team is going to be a little bit closer to
Speaker 1: our level than Elana United was to us, and I
Speaker 1: think this is gonna be a good test. I think
Speaker 1: it's gonna be interesting to see what this team can do.
Speaker 1: But just go and watch them, because they're fine. Man.
Speaker 1: They are just so much fun. But that's really all
Speaker 1: I have. There's really not a lot of tactics we
Speaker 1: can break away from this because when you're dealing with
Speaker 1: trialists fourteen five, twenty seven six and I don't know
Speaker 1: name your trialist number, who is your favorite trialist? Tell
Speaker 1: me stupid? When you're just dealing with that, it's kind
Speaker 1: of hard to really break stuff down. So it's kind
Speaker 1: of the best I got. So thank you so much
Speaker 1: for listening. I appreciate you all. So next time, guys,
Speaker 1: keep paring it on.