P/I/P Sounders vs LAF 7:30PM 7/20/2024

Does anyone want to volunteer to do the PIP for the MIN match? I won't be able to since final essays and projects are coming in for summer classes. But after that I will officially be off contract until September!

PDLV hadn't played at RM for us, but let's look beyond that then. Why are fixated on Rothrock or Chu? I never mentioned either of them (though I do think Chu would've done better than PDLV (which is not saying much). Our best lineup against LAF would've been something like Ruidiaz up top, RBW on the bench, Morris and PDLV (since Schmetzer was dead set on starting him despite his lack of fitness and lack of sharpness) on the wings, certainly not playing C.Roldan at RB so his bro there instead, and either CR on the bench or next to JP instead of Vargas). But hell, even with the lineup Schmetzer chose, he didn't make tactical changes; he just subbed out Nouhou and JP who were on cautions early. Could have, and arguably should have, switched the formation, gone more man-to-man so the players had some idea of what to do defensively, and dumped the play-out-of-the-back, run-it-up-the-wing, and cross-into-the-box-even-when-no-Sounders-are-there bullshit before the last, what, fifteen minutes.

If any of that had been done, might we have won? Meh...maybe. Would we have had such an abysmal squad performance? Probably not. But nothing I say matters anyway because Schmetzer set up the squad how he set them up, and we lost the match; besides, if anyone thinks that we had no shot at winning no matter what then all we are doing here is wasting time.

As much as the coach needs to select the best players, they need to play them at their best positions and needs implement tactics that have the best chance of working. It is a juggling act. But my point of criticism for this match is Schmetzer did none of that; while the idiom "hindsight is 20/20" holds true, it isn't a matter of hindsight to know changing around the squad (not due to injury), playing guys out of position, and changing tactics made what was always going to be a challenging match damn near impossible. But I digress.

As stated before, while I no longer believe in Schmetzer, I don't think he should be sacked midseason. Juarez is not a suitable replacement, not even as interim. But one of our priorities after the season should be bringing in a new head coach, ideally someone who could draw talent to the organization. But that seems as unlikely as the club signing an impactful DP.

As many have said (and the organization has all but admitted in interviews), the FO is not interested in investing in the first team--they are focused on growing their investment portfolio through real estate development with the ultimate goal of building and owning its own stadium at/near the Longacres training facility. If Seattle sports franchise history tells us anything, it is that when an organization gets to this point, it is more likely there will be talk of relocating or outright selling the team before there is talk of winning a(nother) championship. We have seen it with the Seahawks, Mariners, and even lost the Sonics. That is the direction I see this going unless significant, impactful changes across the organization happen before the 2025 season. Now, I have completely gone off topic. Apologies!

While we're off topic, I think the Longneckers Strip Mall will prove to be a disappointment for AH.

Sure he sees other owners negotiating deals to develop real estate projects around new stadiums but the key difference is that they are getting the taxpayers to bankroll those lucrative deals. The taxpayers fund the infrastructure for the development and pay for the stadiums giving the owner a sweetheart deal to take ticket revenue and concessions while the taxpayers are on the hook for maintenance. The owner can walk away to another locale (and will use that threat to extort more taxpayer $) but John Q public is stuck with an aging facility.

It's much tougher making the numbers pencil out long term / break even when you have to pay for construction and maintenance. Unico isn't going to do that for Adrian - they want to make as much as they can.

So maybe they can "double their business" but that doesn't mean AH will get a good return on his investment unless he can find some sucker to pay for it - I'll think he's an evil genius if he can swindle the taxpayers into somehow footing the bill.