CST Episode 385 - FC Cincinnati add CB following 2-0 loss at Inter Miami

[Music] well I uh guess it's time to get real for a bit this is the uh worst batch of matches we've seen from FC Cincinnati in quite a while uh FC Cincinnati of course fall to Miami two to nothing and if that was the headline a couple months ago or even a month and a half ago I I wouldn't think it'd be that big of a deal I imagine we were celebrating a 61 moment in time that ended up just being that a blip of joy and what has been a a pretty big rough patch all of a sudden recently and I have been reading what FC Cincinnati fans have been putting out there as well and it seems like the fan base is torn on uh which way to lean so tonight let's just take a moment to review the situation League's cup is done and dusted at the end of the day I don't think that was a key prize but one that we thought was attainable as of this weekend uh FC Cincinnati is very much on the outside uh looking in on the shield uh it would be fair for some uh that have called this race off so I think uh there's only one realistic trophy left for for the taking uh without a little bit of a Hail Mary and uh that will be what I think 2024 gets judged on you are listening to Cincinnati soccer talk I'm Boston Brazzle and I'm joined tonight by Brian beaten boach Bill Taylor and Jason Ashcraft we are going to dive into exactly what matters uh this fall because I think we need to burn some dreams and get real about uh some things FC Cincinnati has added a bit more talent to the player pool including a fresh move off the press tonight uh let's have a real discussion on if the club has enough did enough and can do enough uh to close out this season and uh get into the playoffs and see what happens first up we're going to bring in Brian Beach uh who will give us his best and worst on the week but also uh just tell us how he's doing how you doing bud I'm tired tonight it's been a long day and we just got off I don't know how it's been in Cincinnati today but it was a hot day here in Fort Wayne and I'm just getting off the soccer field at our high school where I've been coaching so it is a long long evening so I'm tired I think the somber start to this really fits my mood tonight so yeah we uh if we're jumping into our best and worst um gosh if I'm looking back I know we're going to talk about Miami a little bit tonight and talk about some other things but I was just glad when that final whistle blew that the game was over like it was just it was hard to watch uh the whole thing was from start to finish and so my best is the game's over and it's done um there's not a whole lot to pull out of that one for the best but um my worst is and this is I think we'll talk about this more too as we look about realistic expectations of our season and things but sticking with this formation that we've kind of shifted to with the sword formation that that worked against Miami the last time I think was that the first time probably saw the sword formation with Kubo and it worked with that personnel and we've just seen it fail over and over and over since then without that same Trio up top and The Supporting Cast coming out of the back on the wings um so just sticking with something when we've seen it fail over and over has been has been hard to watch that's my worst tonight no that's good yeah sorry about the somberness it's just it's just we usually take a pretty Pro optimistic approach and uh and I I I am I do want to be that way when there are things to be optimistic about because I'm not the kind of person that says oh we lost two games in a row the world's ending you know that stuff happens this is soccer it happens but we are looking at the first uh three game and now a four game you know losing streak under Pat Nan era and then we're going to the next game without two key players so there's a there's a reason to be somber and and we don't want to be the The Fanboys that uh always think everything's perfect uh you know there are times the club is gonna be going through a rough patch that's why we got Jason Ashcraft on here tonight because he's the realest person I know I I try to keep it real you know that's my motto in life keeping it real um a haton I think we need to get you one um well I I hate to keep keep it somber though but my best of the week was that it wasn't 4 a n um you know we this was one of those games where I hate to say it like I I was watching on my phone because my wife was watching a show and I didn't want to like disturb her so I was watching on my phone and within that first six minutes we're down 2-0 so I'm like well you know what I can do I can play a video game and watch on my phone at the same time because this game does not deserve my full attention um and what happened was I could not pay attention to it either like fully I messed up at the game too um yeah that was my best was it wasn't 40 when it definitely could have been my worst though um I'm one of the biggest like MLS Defenders online I love this league it's the best soccer league we've had in the US um warts and all there there are problems with it but I really wish I'm also a a pro wrestling fan and I know a work when I see one and I really wish that MLS would adhere to its own rules and not make up special rules for Miami and Lis Suarez should not have been in that game according to MLS rules because he did not play in the allar game and there was not like an excuse for it he should have been suspended for the next regular season match and had that been Lucho or had that been uh a guy from Columbus or a guy from Minnesota they would have been suspended but because it's a it's the next most famous player on Miami after Messi he gets to play and he had a hand not only both goals but he was a little so all over the pitch the entire night and the referees were just it was like in a wrestling match when the heel is healing it up and the referee is looking away um that's it makes this league a joke when they do stuff like that and it makes it very hard to like defend the league to the absolute worst people online glad you brought it up I've seen that tossed around especially right after the game and uh I I was so uh frustrated with um our lack of offense or our lack of chances that part of me was like does it matter I kind of want to just ask you guys that does it matter I would we have won the game without sorz are we just frustrated because that's a thing uh I get it I get the league we want to hold the league to a set standard and we're trying to figure out why that wasn't enforced but is that SC Cincinnati's problem that Soros was on the field or or do we have our own issues still I think we have our own issues but a rule is a rule like I'm not we play like crap that that goes that's obvious but Suarez was out there being a douche and you can't like he affected the game and he was not supposed to be out there like both things can be true yeah the the biggest and I'll just put this out there because we already see some comments in chat about it the official explanation I've seen given is that that was a ru rule MLS ad and League's cup but it it is not in this year's rule book and Laurel failer did a little bit of homework for me appreciate it because I did not want to go dig through the League Cup rules and she said she cannot find it in the in the rule book this year so it it does seem like it was just like a like a what what what do they call that a a quiet change or a um a little bit of a ad bit if that is true and it's not in the rule book then technically MLS did a little sneaky Switcheroo but was before we knew it was going to be for Suarez you know it could have been for anybody really at that point that's the that's the closest explanation I've seen I have not done my own homework to verify whether it's true or not so what was the what's the explanation there on the rule that because he sat out during a leagues Cup match yeah there was a so leagues cup especially when it was new and put into place they MLS wanted to make sure that players didn't skip matches um and so that they put in basically they put in a rule that says if you skip any or you you miss any matches even if it's for injury in leagues cup you um can't play the next season game that matters so basically you get punished if you if you skip out on a league skip game Suarez didn't play got so under the old rules current rules depending on who you ask a lot of people don't think Suarez should have been playing this game and and and again to Jason's point it is on MLS regardless of whether it's a rule or not because they didn't tell anybody about it they didn't tell anybody about the change if they did make a change was it lusion or was it League's cup was it he set out the All-Star game was this situation though right yeah was it that is it All-Star Game roll yeah it's one of those things I can't remember the I can't remember the uh the uh actual thing but basically penalize you for not playing in one tournament one game and going into the next one Messi technically would have fallen under that I believe right so yeah except I think he's injured you have to have like an excuse or something like that yeah either the way it it's just Shady how the league rules are suddenly changed when you only find out about it Midway through the season kind of like we didn't know about our playoff format until this time last year so yeah yeah get it together it is the big I think it's the big thing that MLS does have to take strides on going in the next couple years I didn't plan on talking about this but I'm with you Jason fans are a lot better off when they understand the salary cap when they understand the rules when they can sit there and make logical decisions and do math on their team or I mean you do not see NFL fans really struggling with these Concepts like they I will say that's one League that's done a really good job uh whether it's for Fantasy or whatever else fans know most of the rules in that league and they don't really Bend or change all that much and if they do there is a big big announcement Every Spring about the rule changes and then they talk about it on TV ad nauseum for the next three months because they don't have anything else to talk about so EMES could do a better job of that saying like these are the rule changes for this year and then everybody in the media knows whether Suarez is supposed to start or not there shouldn't be that much uncertainty going into a match we we did not know if he was going to start six hours 12 hours before and uh that's crazy that's crazy we didn't know if a rule applied all right uh let's get uh Bill Taylor and he looks like he's uh been waiting for us to shut up and introduce him for a while now so hey man I'm just you know I'm I'm the guy that's gon to be positive right so I am gonna try to put little positive spin on the game in Miami you know we got two new pieces to the puzzle I mean aiam and what his second match gioi in his first match from a coaching standpoint I know what Pat Nan's trying to do right we're trying to incorporate these new pieces it's not going to happen after a week or two of practice they're going to require more game play to really get these guys involved and up to speed now with that said um you know I didn't mind the starting lineup um there were a lot of substitutions at halftime I didn't disagree with those uh fresh set of legs coming in but on the negative and don't forget guys we still have 48 points right I mean at this stage of the game we're in third while we may start to think that the shield is unobtainable I really think obviously the MLS Cup has to be the goal and we have to be playing better once we hit the playoffs so that's that's the good stuffff now the bad stuff is also from a coaching perspective which I'm sure Brian can probably back me up on this from a coaching perspective you've got to be ready to start the game you've got to be ready to finish the half you've got to be ready to start the half and you got to be ready to finish the game none of which FC looked prepared to do I knew Nan was not on the sideline he was in the box I'm sure he set the starting lineup and I'm sure he set the um substitutions that have to I'm sure his hand was in it but aazam especially in the back middle two key mistakes led to two goals um it just seemed like we came out slow and soft which is the polar opposite of the way it was when we played them here we came out ready to go they were flat down there we were definitely flat and then to go against 10 men for the majority of the match and I see some of the comments and for us not to put more shots on frame goalkeeper had a great game I'll give him that um but I still don't see us winning that match you know but I I certainly thought we should have at least put one in the back of the net I feel a lot better um about two to one than two-nil I know it's only one goal but I don't like the clean sheet for the other side so there's the The Good the Bad and the Ugly uh when it comes to to the play out there and uh as far as aosta and Yedlin Go I mean that's the other part of the ugly you know now we come home we got Montreal I think we lost bill yeah Bill your mic went out there buddy um but I I mean I know what he's saying the the the I think the real reason uh we're also still somber right now is because we know what that we know we know what the next game is and uh we know we're missing our star player and it's kind of like I don't want to write off that game I really really really don't because we haven't played it and technically we're not playing other Miami we're not playing at Columbus we're not playing an lafc we are playing a beatable team but just I mean I don't know if you feel this on the other end of this microphone you know everybody out there I just feel a little discouraged and beat down so we need Bill's Mike to come back so that he can he can uh uh cheer us back up so uh no I appreciate you guys for joining me tonight Cincinnati succer talk uh as it has been all year through good times and bad uh is supported by Apollo home and Beyond exercise um but uh Apollo home is been in the top half of uh our show sponsor and uh if you have an HVAC Plumbing or electrical need reach out to them they've been serving the Greater Cincinnati and Southern Dayton areas for 110 years and they would love for you to call them if you need anything tell them CS sent you we'd appreciate that all right um um I you know Jason you said that you we went down to nothing and and you had the thought like should I give up on this you know should I watch something should I do something else I've been there I had the thought myself I remember though the the two or three times this year that I felt like that and then Lucho turned the game around so I couldn't shut the game off because it's already happened it's 2024 FC Cincinnati can still somehow win a two nothing um uh you know being down to nothing uh that spark though he did you know the Lucho spark happened he came in the match uh Miami's down a player every the stage was set for the comeback it just Why didn't it happen I think that's what makes it so frustrating so I I know um rupes mentioned like we out we outshot them three to one it was something like like uh I've got it right here 16 shots to five and in the second half alone we had 10 shots to their one I mean how do you play against a team that is a man down you bring in a guy who is maybe uh has a case for League MVP and you can't get it done like you you just can't put even the lucky one that bounces off of someone in the back of the net I think that's what frustrated me the most about this entire match was like I kind of had that feeling too like oh we're up a man lucho's coming on maybe we're going to get back into it and then it just it nothing happened or I thought after League's cup Brian that Lucho would be healthy enough to just to rock it out I are you just devastated that's not the case I was hopeful man I I was with you I'm hopeful that he he's back and you know healthy but it he did not look himself in that match he wasn't moving he wasn't now granted I don't know that he had the the team around him that he's had starting the match um but no he didn't look healthy did I hear I know he's out next week did I hear he might be out a couple more weeks nursing this injury is that is there any truth to that rumor I saw some I don't even remember where I saw that but um so don't don't quote me on that I don't want to start that rumor but heard that he might because of his injury it it might be a little bit longer till we see him starting and playing a full 90 again so I I I do think that adds to my frustration my um I don't know my sense of not hopelessness but a little less Hope For The Shield a little less hope for the cup because I it wasn't just the Cincinnati game this weekend it was watching the Columbus match it was watching other MLS games other League Cup games and seeing players producing when we have nobody that's producing at that level it goes back to what we talked about last week did we miss something in this window that maybe could have given us the spark that we're seeing other teams come alive with that it's it's just hard seeing where we're at what we're missing and seeing other teams who have picked that place that person up and it's going to be hard to I think we're going to be Ching the whole time if we have a chance we're chasing from here on out and I don't know if we have the Personnel to do it yeah uh repes just mentioned a good point he said Justin play put out a uh a stat during uh I think what I think recently the FC Cincinnati has been up a man 172 minutes in the last two years and only scored one goal we're not we're not that team we're not that team that uh that gets through that shell if we are it's Lucho that does it and um and he's not himself as you said so figuring that out if if it if Lucho does have an injury uh I guess a little poll between you guys are are you changing strategy now if the only thing that matters is playoffs and doing the best you can getting the new players ready getting play The Players you want healthy then are you sitting Lucho from here hence forth until he's back and and and fully capable let's see if we got billback maybe he's got oh no sorry man um I man that's a tough question if he can't go 100% I'm not saying totally shut him down for the season or shut him down and hope for the playoffs because I mean I don't think we're close to clinching yet maybe of one or two wins we will oh that's really tough I say maybe force him to limit his minutes tell him hey you might only be playing 45 minutes for until we get to the playoffs um because he's just he is so beat up right now I think we pick our moments right maybe he does he's on the bench if we need him as a last resort I don't think we start him I think give him some time to to recoup but let's be honest we've seen an 80% Lucho still dominate a game uh which concerns me that we're not seeing even an 80% Lucho out there against Miami with the man down um so I I don't know what the reports are on his injury but if he's yeah if he's not even producing like he was at 80% it concerns me I think maybe he needs more time to sit and we bring him in closer to playoffs get his legs back under him before the the Playoff starts yeah I sorry go I mean right now I I think we're going to punt on the shield I think that's maybe a little Out Of Reach but we're only eight points out so I don't see Miami nose diving but I mean they could it's MLS and we have a few good weeks and then we're right back in the hunt um I think but we've also lost what five of our last eight includes League's cup so and almost as many players for the season yeah exactly the problem the problem TR to keep within the home field advantage I think has got to be your goal to rest of the way because that's that's doable and that's Eastern Conference the problem with the shield is that you've now got the you've now got the Galaxy that's passed you up on the on the western side so it's not it's not a Miami race it's it's an lafc's ahead Galaxy's ahead um that's the simulation out there out west yeah um you've got Miami ahead and then the crew don't look like they're going to really give up those games in hand you know uh they're the hottest freaking team going into this thing that's that's the problem at its core at its core what is the real problem uh that FC Cincinnati sees it's that the hot teams are getting hot and hotter um and just picked up pieces that we needed right LFC just picked up Jude and Galaxy just picked up Marco Roy like yeah picking up players that obviously we didn't had I don't think we had a shot at either one of those but we missed the mark on that that's they were hot before those players got there yeah and they're only getting better and the playoffs are not who is the best team a tournament we know that FC Cincinnati by far was the best team last season and they did not win MLS Cup why because the playoffs are just to who is the best team in this moment and and if we're going to have a realistic conversation FC Cincinnati needs to figure out how to be the best dang team come um playoffs come in come you know this fall and and that's where that's that's where I think they have to be shooting for they got to get Lucha good and healthy and not Rusty so that means you can't sit them the whole time you got to have um your your new center backs working with Roman uh in in in the squad you have to figure out a way to get uh orano as creative as he used to be Kubo is sharp sharper than he has been and then of course the biggest problem that I think we haven't talked about here yet what on Earth where on Earth is Kevin Kelce Nico Kubo as forward what happen to the productivity we had I so much of that productivity came off the foot of Lucho aosta right him producing just underneath there and you know I've I've said it I don't know how many times on the show is Kelsey is a player that is a big body he's good in the air he seems to be good in the air he was initially that's when we saw him producing right um he's shown that he can hold up play uh he's he's a good strong forward he can hold up play when we need him to but it's not the style we've been playing recently and so I feel like we've thrown him out there kind of to the Wolves without a second Striker to play off of without balls being sent in the Box for him to get underneath and get on top of um I don't think we've seen the best from Kevin Kelce because we're not giving him the opportunity that maybe he needs which which concerns me for a young striker like are we setting him up for success or are we trying to slot him into a position that he's not he's not built for we're not playing to his strength right now I don't think so I think that's part of the problem with Kevin Kelce I think he's he's disappeared because we've stuck him in a position that we we've not set him up to succeed I think he's still trying to figure this whole thing out as a young player yeah he played better when we were playing two up top and I hope you would hope that with gioi coming in that maybe we switch back to that formation because to be honest that's when we were playing a little bit better than we had that one really good game in the sword formation as people are calling it and it seems like Nan wanted to stick with that but ever since then I don't think we've scored more than two goals a game with that so maybe go back to what brought you earlier in the season and that and hopefully give Kelsey an opportunity to shine I I I see the comment Nico was here for a week expecting him to come in guns blazing is ridiculous I I 100% agree I'm not trying to I'm not trying to throw the loss or FC Cincinnati's problems at Nico's feet I'm just saying that the club has to figure out a way to make him work with it's got to be Kelsey he's your money and and um and get to the playoffs and and get something going I don't know if you if you start sitting Kelsey who your other option is I think we've proven be's not it I think we've proven Santos isn't it outside of rare spark so I think you're stuck with these guys Kubo had a moment but that's not who I think I feel confident sitting up there uh for the rest of the year so I mean we're back to this except this time there's nothing else coming you know we had this we've had this conversation before but it was the summer window the summer window the summer you guys already beat this to death last week we're not going to launch into it again but we can say the Summer Wind is over this is the team we might get another free agent we got tonight um but uh let's just pretend that our Center back situation is solved like this is still a major issue bill you with us am I with you guys am I back yeah yeah there we gota yeah my tech works all right fantastic um I will tell you that from my perspective I I Boston I think you're absolutely right I think it's the starting 11 I think it's got to be a consistent starting 11 and they need minutes to play together that's what I'm building for right now because I'm looking at the playoffs maybe an MLS Cup run yeah definitely hasn't looked like it the last three weeks but um you know I think those guys just have to learn to play together and I totally agree it's gonna have to be two guys up front so I can't remember who said that um the one guy up front's just not going to work for this club and I think aazam I think he just needs to understand that the MLS is a different league and it plays differently uh it's just it's a little faster in the defensive third uh when they're attacking and there's going to be some overlapping runs and he's just got to learn to kind of play adapt and learn to play with his other Defenders and so I'm I'm hoping you know that all is not lost with uh Kelce he has not played well his last couple of outings when he saw minutes um so I'm just hoping that the guys that need to get minutes get those minutes during play and that they Excel I like I said this I don't know if you guys have looked forward in the schedule through September we've only got one week from now until the end of September where we have two matches where we have a Wednesday Saturday in my opinion that's a favorable setup it lets our guys get healthy it lets them get a lot of practice and hopefully we see the result so my big question is let's talk something a little more immediate what is the match look like to you guys on Saturday um that's tough because we're still missing we're missing two starters um Montreal just got throttled this in their last match it was like 5 nil I think to New England they're not a good team but this we've not played great against Bad teams this year so could go a long way though for a confidence building game it could it could and I think hopefully is uh our new guy teenage uh I'm gonna let Boston try to pronounce our Teenage Dream is he gonna get here um is it t t I can't May the first name it said he played for uh Houston and I follow this league pretty well I don't remember the guy at all I don't remember him either yeah hopefully he gets in soon yeah I watched some of just to get familiar with him I watched some of his highlights here and he based on the highlights saw might be our best attacking player on the pit he plays every everything as a center back every highlight I saw was him scoring a goal like he's up in the air almost biking the ball in he's scoring with his head he's sending cross like he looks like an attacking threat as a center back uh so maybe that means we'll score some goals maybe it means he gets too high up the pitch and we get exposed even more know that that that is the case though when we get at Center back I've seen that a lot the the highlight reels are them scoring and like that doesn't tell me anything yeah it's always nice when it happens but it's not you didn't sign him for that right right yeah I get what you're saying all right before hold on before we get a little further I always I always miss the second half of uh sponsor right at 9:30 so I'm trying to do my best to stay on track today but uh I do want to give a shout out to Beyond exercise our local uh Physical Therapy Fitness business uh that helps uh people stay active and injury free in fact they're uh they helped some of our local MLS MLS next and now FC Cincinnati Academy players with their health performance needs check out their Suite of services on go beyond exercise.com and I thank you uh for uh sponsoring us uh as well sorry Brian dive right into your are you still on the center back discussion um no I was gonna address kind of the the what we see up top there in the sword formation and then flipping it with the two up top so I'm hoping you asked about this next week I'm hoping maybe we see Nico up top with with Kelsey and Man Without Lucho I think you have to play probably Kubo at that number 10 but without Yedlin kubo's probably gonna slot back to the right back position potentially unless uh I don't know what's going on with pal maybe he's back um I I don't know that we have another number 10 unless we put Luca in there uh but I think the thing that we saw with the the sword formation that worked it wasn't really that we had a lone Striker with two players underneath those three played so fluidly together it was that we had three Strikers or three midfielders really they played so fluid and again I think the the rest of the Personnel that we have I don't think play that way so I we have to go back to the two up top I think with the Personnel that we have until at least until Lucho gets healthy in his back so uh you ask Bill about Montreal man I'd love to see what Nico can do up top with a second Striker we heard that last week uh from uh the guy from St Louis uh the the podcast whatever the flyover whatever we call yes yeah fly over footy talked about him working as a two- Striker system and that plays to his strengths I think it plays to Kelsey's strengths too so maybe we invert the top of that that Spear and see what happens this week against Montreal yeah I like that um and thanks Bill for for asking that it's a solid question uh looking forward to this weekend this weekend we probably can feel a little bit better this weekend if we play our cards right even without Lucha Costa and then and then maybe next week you'll listen to the show and you'll hear us uh have a little bit more fight as as we look forward into the uh the playoffs by the way my official uh Boston pronounciation which I think is pretty close to being correct I think Jason's correct it's teenage hadab hadab is is how I would say it uh and how I heard it in the Houston video so I cheated a little bit but that is um that is uh the Houston pronunciation of our new center back so if you're out there wondering like I was oh crap as soon as I saw him as soon as I saw him I said why is it never John Smith and he is I think he's gonna be a good addition um he being familiar with the league is is a huge plus the fact that he was like starting for Houston is is a plus and hopeful I think that's been one of our problems since miiaa went down is we don't have a solid core of center backs we've had we had uh Robinson who was a good Center back now we've got Cheeto in now we got uh Teenage in and I think that's how he pronounces his name I don't know um but we've got them in and I think that's been part of the problem you're throwing out Kip Keller you're throwing out Ian Murphy those guys are decent guys but I don't think they're day-to-day starters for this team and yeah that that should help I would hope after today are you feeling better about the center back situation you know is the current Squad of guys going to hold up to Suarez next time I feel better about it having another depth piece there uh I don't know that I feel solid about it I feel like we're doing our best right now to stack that line just to hold players off like we didn't we got gioken I don't want to say we didn't do anything up front but it's like I feel like we're bringing in Defenders just to hold the score lower because we're not we don't have the attacking prowess right now up top so um you know I think if I can for a second go back to who's going to be that number 10 maybe it's it's Kubo I saw on the chat somebody suggested dto and I do think that is a good option if Kubo has to slot out we've seen dto grow this season I don't know if he's the the guy yet but I think he's the guy that could get some passes through with two new PE two new players in front of him that don't have connection with Lucho like you know what I mean like you got chemistry with Lucho aosta and lucho's on the bench who's going to get in the ball maybe dto is the guy that can work with those two at least for now and build some chemistry I it'll take a couple games probably um but it's he's he's starting with two new two new Strikers starting from scratch let's see what he can do I want so bad for Dada to be the guy I really do I really do but it just seems like like when he shoots he's always off off Target or or he's shooting at the wrong time or I mean maybe it's just he needs another year or two and that probably is the case it's just like some I want to push him faster than he's going I think yeah and he doesn't need to be the guy to score though I mean he needs to be scoring would be great but if he can be the guy that to distribute the ball well that would go a long way to helping him you know be a solid starter for this team Clifford Adams says St needs 10 to 15 more pounds I don't know about that it's soccer man the best player best player in the world right or to ever play is Messi and he's like 5 foot4 and maybe weighs 150 pounds so and wet so yeah yeah I you know if you put weight on the Dives don't look as good yeah right D's getting really good at flopping um taking hard hits but making them look worse than they are he puts some weight on that's not gonna not going to work for him I can tell you as being someone who's carrying more than I really should wears out your knees and ankles a lot quicker when when you got too much on you Jose is asking what we need in the winter window dude if we start talking about that already we won't have a show this fall I'm also not that pessimistic I may sound pessimistic tonight but I'm not that pessimistic I'm not ready to give up a fight because the MLS Playoffs can just be that strange and that weird and I don't think FC Cincinnati is a bad team I just don't feel confident that they are um the team like I did last year I don't think that they're uh marching in to the postseason as the strongest or one of the top two three strongest I think they're down in that four to five range right now and um in danger of falling to six or seven if they don't put a something together here and the team has changed a lot though yeah I mean this is going to be a good reset week I think for everybody involved because then you've got I'm reading the schedule right you do have a week off and then you've got hell is real so this would be a good week to get get your mind right get everything in order because you know the following week is the hottest team in the league has coming to town and you don't want to look bad against them any comments about that League Cup Final guys did you guys have the opportunity to watch that game I refus to watch finals with Columbus in them that was dude that was who was in that match yeah I I mean I'm just I I look at them and then I look at the game against Miami and I mean right now we're not on the same we're not on the same level as either one of those teams we knew they were going to be teams to watch this year but you know I I we there's no way I don't we couldn't have played with either one of those teams on that night not not where we are currently cooo Hernandez scares the crap out of me especially with a not a piece together backline but a brand new backline cooo Hernandez scares the crap out of me the guy moves well he passes well he gets in spaces that you don't you just don't see him coming um yeah so I that scares me a little bit looking ahead that far uh let's take it a week at a time and see what we can build and uh yeah and let's let's see see if we can get some offensive let's see if we can pose a threat offensively to because I don't know that we're holding cooo back right now at this time Boston you mentioned we have a whole new team right a lot of changes to this team just a second ago it is strange to think at the beginning of the Season we were saying the same thing like there's so many changes we lost so many players what's our starting lineup going to look like who are we bringing in and we're having those same conversations now just pass halfway in the season we've got a whole new team like none of the guys well about half the team that was starting at the beginning of the season is not starting at least currently due to injury or yellow card suspension we've got two new center backs um guys aren't playing at the level that they were it is strange to think how much turnover we've seen in this team this year when we came out questioning if we were going to be as good as we were last year and about a month or month and a half in we're going we're better than we were last year to now going is there any hope for the playoffs at this point yeah um and I might feel a lot better when chemistry gels a few more things in this fall I really don't think it's it's hopeless I think the center back situation is probably Overkill uh fixed slash added onto and now it's a matter of getting those guys MLS adjusted or uh FC Cincinnati adjusted with Roman zantana whatever whatever the issue is there I think it can be solidified um I don't know if you guys agree with me there but I think that that can be fixed and that's an easier fix getting someone it just takes one to relieve the pressure off Lucho aosta someone that decides they're going to take that ownership of that front five and uh or if or if if if opposing teams have to worry about orano aosta and a third per a third player then we're back we're back boys because they can't defend it all and right now um if your goal is just to shut down Lucha aosta and no one else comes calling and answering then you can do it and I think there's plenty of teams that have approved they can do it but you guys just talked about Columbus we beat him and we shut down Hernandez we have to get back to that FC Cincinnati if we want and that's what gives me a little bit of hope that one game that I attended against the crew I know they're beatable I know they're beatable it's just a matter of as FC since going to get there do they have enough pieces to get there uh to get the job done and uh you can I I think it's fair if you're if you're a pessimist and you say no not without miasa not without miles and miasa combination you know um you have a you have a you have a point but I mean I'm just I'm looking at the lineup from when we played at Columbus and assuming like things are about the same really the only starter we're missing we're missing two starters from that match and that's Matt meaza and Alvis pal and that's a team that really they beat Columbus and it never really looked close um and your subs were Kelsey Valenzuela and Malik Pinto so you didn't have DeAndre Yedlin out there you didn't have you know I don't think Miles Robinson played but now we've got a miiaa is a big hold to fill but he's filled I mean we've got extra duct tape on the backline now so hopefully it'll hold together I just I think one of the things is that we were very spoiled last year and like there was a point last year where we were what a game or two away from setting the alltime wins record and then this year there was a point where we were like a game or two away from setting the alltime like Road winds or something something like that y y we've been incredibly spoiled so we're not used to a run of bad form except the only time we know what that feels like was back in the battle days of The Wooden Spoon era and I think that for a lot of us there's like PTSD from that and you're like oh no I remember what this feels like to play poorly I don't want to go back to that um but yeah I mean it the good thing is it's MLS and this isn't like brenford going to play Manchester City right like and teams are beatable yeah well there's plenty of I mean there is plenty of time for us to kind of put the pieces back together so I do like that point and you know the MLS is all about Peaks and valleys it always has been you see teams Ascend and then you see them hit a rough patch could be due to injury could be due to suspension I mean it doesn't matter what it is you're not going to win every game right you're not going to win every game in a season you're not going to go undefeated it's just not going to happen you don't have that consistency over the Long Haul I mean as long as we rebuild we focus on what needs to be done on the field we put the thing I will let's drop back to the negative real quick sorry Boston um the passion I just want to see a passionate 90 minutes and I definitely did not see a passionate 90 minutes down in Miami you know I just want to see play from you know second one to the final whistle so that's that's when I want to see that that's what I want to see out of this team is wanting to be there wanting to play hard you know I don't care if you're exhausted at halftime maybe then you take a sub the 75 minutes I'm okay with that as long as it's a fantastic up and down the field 75 minutes that's why we have substitutions available not to change the whole outcome of a match so I I there's plenty plent of time for us to to get it back on track and make a really good run um into the postseason I'm confident that we will get there I Boston I think the difference too in that Columbus match the last one was we were riding high right we had a spark we had a passion like Bill was saying that I think has been it seems to be lacking team morale looks to be down a little bit just just the eye test I don't know what goes on in the locker room I don't know what goes on at the practice pitch but without out there leading the way maybe it's because of his injury he doesn't have the the energy maybe it's just his absence out there I don't know um and a team that depends on one player not just for play on the field but for team morale is is difficult when you lose him uh so that's that's the thing that scares me a little bit though is the lack of passion the lack of chemistry that we're seeing but and the lack of spark really um that I seeing more in other teams that we're going to face coming up like I see that spark I see it clicking because I've allowed myself to watch other matches this weekend I think that's what scares me the most is maybe I shouldn't maybe I should just not watch other teams just focus on Cincinnati and try and figure out their their issues and not compare them but I'm seeing a spark in other teams that we seem to have lost this late in the season hopefully we can regain it but yeah I I think I think so and and keep in mind the last match we lost it was League's cup at home versus Philadelphia Union and it's the lowest crowd lowest attendance crowd I've seen all all year so if even if you're the players and you're used to 20 plus thousand screaming fans and then you go into that match versus Philly and 11 show up or you know are sitting in the seats and it's just kind I mean I'll be honest tql stadium was kind of M the the even the the prior game the prior two games were way bigger uh in leagues cup that was one I think everybody had to pay out of pocket and it was a midweek game and it just it wasn't there um I get it it was for was first night of school night or something somebody told me I don't have kids but uh I heard it was like the first night uh kids going back to school and so it just it fell on a really bad week and getting the players back home versus uh a more crummy team might just be what we need to spark things back up again and yeah you have to have conf if you don't have confidence going in the playoffs then I don't I don't care how good of a team you are I think you're very beatable in this league the players have to really believe in themselves that they can do anything and you see you know I can't even go into how many years in Major League Soccer you've seen the hot team win the cup it's over and over and over again um and that's what FC Cincinnati has to figure out how to be and if they start banging in goals from three different players I think that's where they get it back yeah all is so I've seen this name a lot in the comments so I'll just ask it is Brett Hy the answer he he's got spark you know if that's what you guys want he will fight he will have spark I don't think talent-wise he's there yet he's young but he he does fight and he has spark and he brings something in sometimes I wouldn't start him but if that's what you need is you need somebody uh with some some power I mean Assad all day if if we can get him back getting Assad back getting a Costa healthy um getting orano rest if he needs it and then making the big push uh that's that's enough for me I'm not as down on um um the center back mistakes I think you have uh everybody's beating up on the poor guy uh this week and last week and I get it but uh he's new he's newish FC Cincinnati and then and the teams that are pressing us all of a sudden so he also got totally run over Cheeto and that first goal just got lit up from behind and I was surprised they didn't call that um so mistake or not the dude got laid out and yeah I'd rather it happen now later I think I think he's got the confidence to do the job he's not gonna he's not gonna be shaken and we've seen I don't think in his first two games he missed a pass like the dude can put a ball on point even from distance he put the one to Kubo the Kubo turned and scored a few matches ago I think it was his second match so Cheeto I I have confidence in him maybe with another guy next to him um we'll see what happens but I don't think I think our our back line is shorted up as as much as it's going to get I don't think that's our issue anymore right you guys ready just for a temporary safety measure to go to a four a four back line I I saw that thrown out here now that you've got all these extra center backs you could theoretically uh do Murphy um um Robinson and then and yeah yeah I think you could yeah I'm not opposed to it there was a time FC Cincinnati played very defensive and then just tried to pick up that one goal I'm not against doing that again that's what we've already radically changed our formation once this year let's do it again just try it might hurt your brain but there was a time that's the thing though Jason I think we changed the formation to fit the Personnel that we have back line and maybe now's the time because we don't have that Personnel out there running together we change something and maybe get that spark back yeah it's I mean I think we do have the Personnel for it I mean if you if you give the other team the ball you're the one playing defensive and then you have orano aasta and whoever Santos or whoever playing Counterattack soccer we could be that team well our our transition has been lacking I don't know you can go either way but the last few weeks we have shown that our transitional game is is an issue yeah and we need to work on that a 442 I saw it in the comments a 442 does solve some of that because it takes away those long transitions where we miss out on speed in origano it seems like he's just a step slower than I saw him a month ago and you guys any thoughts on that I mean maybe it's just the length of the MLS season is starting to wear on him because he he's not he's playing most of the minutes he's he's played a lot a lot a lot yeah plus he's probably getting the crap kicked out of his ankles too just like Lucho so he's the only one I'm worried about that I think you know you he's the one I W kind of wish would get suspended for a week because I think he could use it yeah I guess everybody did just get a couple weeks off right cuz we fell leaks cup early so hopefully hopefully everybody's feeling a little bit better all right so we'd be remiss if we didn't mention uh um Teenage had hadab uh left foot center back uh former uh DP of Houston Dynamo the reason I want to bring it up is we've had some um some puzzle some puzzled looks amongst ourselves and I I think people that look at salary cap budgets uh are are asking themselves why on Earth would FC Cincinnati possibly sign another high salary uh player uh in the backline you're looking at uh miiaa um Mur uh Robinson now had all with about a million dollar salary if if he makes what he made last year he had a 1.2 million doll salary last year but he is a free agent maybe he had less options maybe he took what he can take uh if it if it just was a a a pickup for the season it makees sense but no there's um he's signed next year so you're gonna have to pay the full salary next year and then FC Cincinnati have an option the year after that so somebody's going right I mean you're not going to have all this money sitting on the back line taking up roster it's really rostered heavy money that that's the reason it's not going to work miles Robinson uh miiaa somebody um won't be here in 2025 Robinson's contract is up at the end of this season he was only a one-year guy I think that the rumor the scuttlebutt was when he signed that this was just sort of a stopover for him hoping to go to Europe so I would imagine that he's going to try to do that especially when you have a new US Men's National Team coach who is like is a European guy I mean he's he's Argentinian but he's coach coached a lot in Europe and he's probably going to want the players to be based over there as much as possible yeah and who knows coming back from an injury like mgas what what is he gonna be next year um we hope he's the same as he was prior to injury but you never know and losing Haggin too so we've lost two center backs and again with Robinson likely going next year I think we I think it's a good pickup to shore up that back line for another season I live for the day though I'm not I'm not bashing the pickup just so you guys know I'm I'm I'm I'm questioning the the salary yeah the plan the pickup the pickup made me raise my eyebrows only because it it won't work next year unless you let unless you make room I live for the day though when MLS moves past this oh no we're paying $750,000 for this guy how is that gonna affect the budget like you you don't people don't make those comments about the NBA and the NFL and stuff but because we have such a cheap league and I know Boston loves a good spreadsheet so you know that's fair I live for the day when we when we move past all that yeah I'm just prepped for a little bit of a different team in 2025 maybe that's a good thing but uh I think I think I see financial decisions being made that kind of clearly spell out that certain things things won't be able to work next year that that is different to me than last year last year we only lost players because we sold them or we had to that you know they wanted to move on to bigger and better things so I think this offseason regardless of what we win we're going to have um cap moves made that's a little bit different it'll be fun to talk about later it'll be fun to talk about later when we have nothing else to talk about but um all right so anything else you uh three have on things that you definitely uh believe need improved in the next month because I want all I want everybody listen to this podcast to really pinpoint one or two issues that you know if these things are fixed we are fine as we go into the playoffs we could we we could theoretically beat the crew in in Miami lafc on any given week if dot dot dot dot so I can I'll go ahead and chime in first on that on kind of a final thoughts type thing you know we have to go and establish I I want to see the same lineup I want to see the same formation and I want to see us give it time to work I mean this is our chance to kind of experiment with that sort of item let's see if a 442 Works let's see if a 433 works whatever we're going to do let's go with it let's stick with it let's give the starting 11 a chance to prove they can and if they can't then you move one little piece not changing a whole line out uh that's that's just my thought I just want to see some consistency and I want to see the guys that want to play be out there on the on the pitch yeah thanks Bill appreciate it um a healthy Lucho changes a lot a healthy Lucho aosta changes a lot of things so I think we need to give him time to get healthy and piece together whatever we need to do in the that Central Midfield whether it's D or Kubo or a combo of the two and throw Luca in there for a game or to I don't know a healthy Lucho changes the game a lot I think uh as far as formation goes maybe I I haven't seen Pat Nan be stubborn about a formation before we' we've seen him flip this year um but in the years that we dealt with the 4-33 and we were just stubborn and we were going to stick with that no matter what um that was that was hard because we didn't have the Personnel to play it and we just had to endure it over and over and over and see it not work over and over and over and so I don't I don't put a pass Pat into change formation uh If he if he sees it necessary I trust what he's doing um but I think again whether we change formation or not a healthy Lucho changes a lot of things so going into the playoffs we got to do what we got to do to get him back to 80% I'll take 85% even better 100% would be phenomenal yeah I think everybody's covered it I mean what I want to see what could be improved I think oh gez all of our attitude I mean like I mentioned earlier it's PTSD from before but we're still like in a good spot to have HomeField advantage through most of the playoffs we win one or two matches coming up we clinch at playoff spot pretty much um and it may not be I think we went in the season thinking you know we were going to be a lot better than what we are but I don't think anybody could have foreseen the other teams being as good as they are this year um and so like just enjoy the ride we've got we've got some really winnable games coming up and if everybody's healthy you know Nashville's coming up Orlando like we we've got some um really winnable matches and some fun ones I just saw Justin's comment let's hope they're fun yes let's hope they're fun yeah I want to say just still got hell is real man we we're gonna have to pull out all the stops for that one as fans Jo who's he R who's he razing about steno and JoJo that's a throwback right there oh yeah yeah Joe J could beat anybody and then he'd cross dribble over the end line yeah um obviously Chris Albright had bigger and better things he wanted this last window it didn't happen um you know I think fans are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for one window and but they're going to expect a lot now this winter right especially if FC Cincinnati honestly I think if FC Cincinnati wins the cup I think fans will still realize that the team needs to improve and be built around uh some key players a little bit better moving forward so uh it's going to be an interesting uh battle to watch I think uh win a couple key matches I would love to see him win this weekend get some confidence if you win Hell Is Real uh oh my goodness I think FC Cincinnati will be roaring back uh the club the fans and you'll see a confidence boost unlike any other as we go and that's what you really want going into going into the postseason so that would be great obviously we're going to need uh a few things on the field to start clicking for that to happen uh I'm not willing to uh sign off and and write the season off yet uh cancel the podcast early for the rest of the year it's not it's not it's not happening I'm a Believer uh Lucho cost has made me a believer of FC Cincinnati any any week is possible anything can happen and then you you still have some real real talent on this team and if they can put it back together we're good guys we're good so I know we were down but we're going to put ourselves back together and we're going to have a fun fun show next week right right yes is that the answer you're looking for yes yes hey I'm I'm in this with all of you that are listening we'll we'll talk ourselves through it we we we we are uh happy when we win we're sad when we lose and it's all because we care and we all care a lot uh I've never seen a more passionate Bunch than FC Cincinnati fans they're ready to to die on The Sword after a loss because it hurts so bad but it's because you care so much so uh cool group of fans um build the Hope back up and uh let's not uh let's not fall apart on ourselves I guess we'll see you next week and uh we look forward to it