Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag

You know what? My kids play the FC25 game, and they can unpack these legend cards and whatever, and they'll be like, God, look at this old legend. I'm like, I've played against him, Slate.
Shut up, dude. Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen.
Volkswagen has long been a supporter of soccer in America and has proudly been a partner of U.S. soccer for the past five years.
Yes, LD, we are back. What's happening, brother?

We are back.

It's been a while.

Haven't seen you.

Good to see you, man.

Good to see you.

Happy New Year.

Happy New Year.

How was your New Year's Eve?

Are you a New Year's Eve guy?

I was a little bit sick, a little under the weather.

The family was too.

So I went to bed.

I mean, I always go to bed at nine on New Year's.

I'm boring.

We watch, I didn't even watch the New York ball drop.

I think the holidays end on Christmas. Who wants to go out for New Year's Eve? I ended up being forced to go out on New Year's Eve and my plan was to get home before the ball dropped.
Anyway, dinner went long.

So I had a champagne toast at midnight, and I was in the Uber at 12.03

because I was like, this is boring and dumb.

But anyway, I joke.

But New Year's scares me too.

Like, I don't like to be out, man.

And you were in New York?

Yeah.

I don't like to be out.

In New York, it would scare me.

Like, it just, it would scare me.

I got to say, I love my kids.

I love my kids.

Here it goes.

Here it goes.

I'm ready for it.

But the only thing I love more than my kids is the Monday morning after a break when they

go back to school.

I'm like, get out of here, bro.

Anybody who has kids and young kids, like, God, dude, they drove me absolutely crazy.

This is what Unfiltered is all about.

Well,

Thank you. Thank God they're back to school today.
Thank God. Reminder, guys, follow us on social media, Unfiltered Soccer.
Subscribe to the show on YouTube. Make sure you follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify.
If you like what we're doing, please leave a comment. What were you going to say? I cut you off.
No, it's fine. It's totally fine.
It's, you know, unfortunately for our children, they have privileged parents that they get to drive crazy because my mom, when she was out working two jobs it was like bro there's some soup in the pantry have at it i'll see you later yeah that's true all right simmy well you uh you were working this weekend final league um let's start with liverpool united um first half a little boring but second half god it was so fun it was just i love watching that when you're a fan and you're just sitting back watching. What were your thoughts? Yeah, it was awesome.
I mean, I think the game was slow to boil. Coming into the game, you, me, and everybody else was kind of like, how bad is this going to be, right? Liverpool flying high on merit and United just sinking like a stone and can't seem to get things right under Amarim.
And then you're also like, this is a derby. It's the biggest derby in British football, one of the biggest in the world.
And it's kind of like, when are they going to show up? They haven't had any leadership. They don't have any continuity on the field.
The least they can do is head it and kick it. They didn't do that against Newcastle.
So you're just like, whoa, big worry. There was some back and forth in the first half, a little bit boring, a little slow to boil, and then just fireworks in the second half.
And I'll be honest with you, Liverpool did everything I expected them to do because they're just a well-oiled machine going really well under slot. But United impressed me.
And maybe the bar is low. It is low for United.
But they impressed me in the sense that they rolled their sleeves up. They gave gave as good as they got they had chances to win the game uh they didn't crumble uh when the when the moment seemed to get too big um some good performances and even ruben alberman came out and f in the end and said like the bad news for these players is i now know they can do it right like you and i have been on teams where it's like oh boy we just set the standard so our training standard needs to be higher our match standards needs to be higher because you know what before this game i wasn't sure you could do it now i know you can so so then that begs the question like what is the issue right why why are you getting smacked by newcastle and then you go away to anfield and do that and look i know soccer is a unique sport right like in a league where there's a decent amount of parity anybody can win and anybody can compete on a day.
But it just doesn't make sense to me sometimes. That should be the minimum standard, that they compete that way.
And if you look at their roster, Tim, again, they're just not very good. They're just not.
That's right. I mean, they're just not compared to other teams.
Ultimately, in two years' time, I do believe Amram's the right guy. I think he'll get plenty of time.
in two years time right i do believe amram's right guy i think he'll get plenty of time in two years time 18 months time um guess what most of these players won't be there they'll be on this team will be unrecognizable um i mean the the issue at hand and you you mentioned that you hit the nail on the head against newcastle look we got the perform they got the performance against liverpool against newcastle. Ball got played in the box.
They didn't stop the cross and the ball got headed. We talk about like formations.
You're a central defender. Check your shoulder.
Grab a hold of someone's shirt and head the ball. That's got nothing to do with formations and 4-3-3s.
It has nothing to do with that. So like, you wondered all the time about who was going to step up for the Manchester United team and they didn't give you any real hope, but on the day, very good.
Yeah, they were good. All right, let's move on.
So there were a couple of controversial VAR decisions and this is starting, not starting. Some people just can't stand this stuff.
And I'm confused, to be honest, Tim, I'm confused. I've been out of the game a while, but just watching.
So the Joel Linton apparent handball that leads to the attack for Newcastle that leads to the Anthony Gordon goal. Ange was not happy after the game.
Tottenham manager, he said he's really angry, angriest I think I've ever been in my career, that they were denied the right rewards for a fantastic performance. Don't keep asking me about the decisions.
If you guys have no opinion about it, that's fine. I know you just want me to say something, but I'm not going to.
And he went on and on and on. So he didn't think it was a handball.
Your thoughts? As the angriest we've seen, we've seen Antipas Tocoglu. I thought, you know, we obviously ran the interview on NBC.
I thought he was out of order the way he spoke to the journalist. You know, his team is playing poorly at the minute.
They're on a poor run. And, you know, my big thing was, hey, listen, Ang, if you're going to have a pop at the referee, go on and be a big man and have a pop at the referee.
He wanted to kind of mask his words a little bit. And then the interviewer came back at him and he masked his words like, just say it.
Say it. It's no problem.
But anyway, it wasn't a handball for me. But look, by letter of the law, I think, Landon, to give some clarity to this, world football is governed by IFAB, right? But each individual league has their own governing body, their own lawmakers.
And the PJMOL in the Premier League is the governing law body.

And the way that the handball rule is written is if the arm's in a natural position, and

this is what I have been begging for.

And my counterpart, Robbie Musto, says it all the time.

You don't run with your arms tied by your side.

You're athletic.

You jump.

You sprint.

Your hands are all over the place.

So you have to be allowed to go into a tackle or make a movement

and have your arms be in what is considered a natural position.

And so Spurs lose the ball playing out of the back.

Bergvall sprints to the ball.

Joe Elton sprints into the ball. Bergvall gets there first and toes it because he wants to try and clear it out of the way.
And Joelinton sees that and breaks down and gets in a defensive position to get ready to go into a challenge. And his arm's down by his side.
He's long and lanky and gangly. His arm's down by his side.
The ball hits the back of his hand. It's not a handball.
It's not a handball any day of the week. So there was another one in the game too, which is, again, close proximity where Jacob Murphy smashes the ball off Livermento's hand.
But he knows nothing about it. He's in a natural position.
So I don't think – look, we know, and you've probably done it as a coach, there's a lot to complain about, and you mask your own team's performances by complaining about the referees. But not for me, it wasn't penalty.
Yeah, my biggest issue, Tim, is I still don't know and I've been in the game my whole life, right? And so there's still too much subjectivity because 100% that has been called a handball in the Premier League at some point this year. Sure.
And probably multiple, multiple times. And so that's what pisses off coaches, players, fans, whatever, is when is it and when isn't it? And ultimately, it is subjective.
And I personally, I hate that about sports and refereeing is there's too much subject. I watch the NFL.
You could call holding on every play, offensive holding. Of course.
And sometimes they do and sometimes they don't.

And you're like, whatever, maybe I need to get over it.

Maybe it's part of the game.

But the other, you know, I'd be curious to hear what the fans think.

Obviously, if you're a Spurs fan, you're going to be on one side of it.

João Pedro and William Saliba, they clashed in the box.

It was a really interesting play.

And João Pedro gets the ball, gets a slight head on it. They then come together.
Their heads come together. Saliba trying to head the ball as a second late and heads him.
Penalties awarded. Mikel Arteta, again, on the wrong side of it, said to the BBC, we're really disappointed with the decision that leads to the goal because i have never seen something like this in my life he touches the ball as well so what was your take on that one well it's it's an interesting play because i think what michael arteta is kind of saying which i which which i agree with is it's a it's a strange play like i don't know if we're going to see this again for a while right like it's yeah the way that you know well you know we'll have to find a link to it but basically Jao Pedro's going away from goal still in the penalty area he's getting surrounded by Arsenal players so he's a clever player right so as the ball's rolling to him he flicks it up on you know basically flicks it up off the ground onto his head and does this kind of like little juggling routine where he now wants to turn the corner and he heads it up in the air to go around the defender which is Saliba and at the same time Saliba tries to head the ball but he's a second late and he ends up smashing Jao Pedro in the head now the argument is as Jao Pedro flicks it it barely takes a little nick off of Saliba's head the argument which I agree with the referee and VAR is Saliba didn't head the ball the ball touched him but in in the action João Pedro played the ball around Saliba and it just happened to take a nick off of him he didn't defend it per se and the force in which he headed him also gets brought into account so I think it's a penalty i think if the ball is on the floor it's the same thing if you nick it around a defender and he gets a piece of it that doesn't necessarily mean that he's defended the ball if he takes off takes out the player there was a there was an interesting play in the euros last summer with england and in the game ball i think bounced across i think it was har Kane.
And he goes to strike it. And I forget who it was against.
But they slide or extend their leg to block it. So Harry Kane gets the shot away.
But as he does, the defender then follows through, doesn't block it, and just smashes Harry Kane. And what we're used to as players is that that's just given as a goal kick.

Like, you know, sometimes you're on a break,

and a guy comes sliding in, and you shoot it and miss it,

and in the follow-through of his slide, he just wipes you out.

My point in that one, and it went to VAR,

and there was a penalty ended up given,

is you don't have free reign as a defender

to just go flying into someone and smash them, right? And this was the same thing with Saliba. You have to time your challenges right.
If you're in the box, it's hard being a defender. I get it.
It's hard being a goalkeeper, but you have to time it right. And this one, he was a split second late.
And so when I first watched, I'm like, I don't know if that should be given. But also, defenders and anybody in the box needs to know you cannot just go smash someone after the play.
No, for you, and you make a great point. I mean, for the audience, you articulated that well.
I think what you have to bear in mind when you're watching football now is it is exactly that defenders don't have free reign. So referees are now taking into account the force, the angle of the tackle, right? Because you can get a piece of the ball and before defenders would get up from their slide and point to the ball, I got the ball, right? That's no longer the case.
You got to get a lot of the ball in order for it to not be a foul. Like if you get a piece of the ball and you take all of the player, it's likely a foul.
It's just the way it is now. Well, I think that reason is, too, is they don't want people getting hurt.

They don't want attacking players getting hurt.

And they want attacking play happening, right?

And that's the same in any sport you want.

That's what people are paying to come watch.

All right, we're at the midway point of the season-ish.

Biggest disappointments this far, I think, are pretty clear.

United, City, all of Manchester.

It's been pretty disappointing for me. Any other ones for you? I mean, Spurs have been disappointing too.
Yeah, I would say City. I just think the, I do think they'll, you know, they'll possibly come good City because they're just one of the most talented teams in the world.
But I think what, I think the reason it's the biggest surprise is, and you and I talked about this a little bit, so I'm repeating myself, but had you told me at the midway point that City were neck and neck at the top of the table, but they were second or third, a couple points off, I'd say, okay, I'll take that bet. but like for them to have fallen and not performed and it's,

it's mind blowing.

Like they've fallen so far now,

having said that I do think they're talented enough to make a, to make a run back half of the season, but it shocks me. Shocks me.
Biggest positive surprise for me, Forrest. I think that's a pretty obvious one.
Anyone else? Yeah. I agree with you on Forrest.
Again, would have never taken that bet that they're this high on merit because they're playing well at the midway point up until about 10 days ago i would have said chelsea i would have said like wow wow yeah mareska like what a job you've done but fair fair play to him but still not the biggest yeah i think forest for me all right let's do a these are real quick just answer your gut don't need to explain okay what is more likely this is gonna be interesting what's more likely city finish top four or our beloved everton get relegated uh city finishing top four for me yeah you know everton only a point ahead of the drop now. Yeah.
No, I know that.

I know that.

I get it.

But no, I say that with all honesty.

I don't think Everton will get relegated.

And I do think that Manchester City will make a run at some point

and be in the conversation.

Okay.

I think I agree with you.

And I think it's more about the other teams falling off than City.

City will make a run, but other teams will struggle at some point, etc.

Okay.

Ange Postacoglu gets the, or Tottenham win a trophy? Oof. I think, no, I don't think either of those things are happening, but that's not the game.
What's more likely? Tottenham win a trophy, I guess. I mean, our Premier League insider, David Ornstein, at NBC said emphatically that the board has 100% backed him and he's in absolutely zero danger.
I know that sometimes that's a kiss of death, but it didn't sound like that. It's almost always a kiss of death, by the way.
Yeah, but this sounded different. It was through back channels.
Okay, but at some point, how long can this go on where they're just a mid-table team with the way they spend? Yeah, I mean, it doesn't feel great. They have one way of playing, and it's plan A and do plan A better.
So, yeah. Yeah, okay.
All right. Manchester United get relegated? Oof.

Or Forrest win the Premier League?

What is more likely?

These are amazing questions.

You go.

I think it's more likely United get relegated.

In history or this season?

No, no.

This season.

Not in history.

United are…

Their roster is just not that good. And if it continues to go south, I mean, they fought the other day.
They really did. But if they had lost that game somehow, unluckily, I mean, things can get bad fast.
You know. You know how it is.
Yeah, yeah. I think there's no way in the world Manchester United gets relegated.
So Forrester are going to have to pull a Leicester for me in this one. Yeah, not in Forrerest to win the league.
It ain't happening. Well, United get relegated and it happened.
And no chance. All right, two more to go.
Liverpool have a actually trio of contract negotiations, I think, going on. So what happens first? They extend Mo Salah, they extend Virgil van Dijk, or they extend Trent Alexander-Arnold.
What's more likely? Mo Salah, this thing's funny. Mo Salah is one of the greatest of the greats.
Look, Trent Alexander-Arnold's going to Real Madrid. When? I don't know.
He's going to Real Madrid. Mo Salah, he spoke in the media in the mix zone for the first time in like forever a couple weeks ago you know and talked about his contract and then yesterday he scores the goal and he does that celebration then he prays and then he lays down and salutes it was it was all this weird like this is my last kind of hurrah thing and then he said he got interviewed this week and said what you know what's more important the champions league or the premier league and he said the premier league because you know like kind of like this this is the last this is the last time i'll do it like so he was emphatically saying it feels like he's negotiating in the media um van dyke is is is tried and tested he's a brilliant captain he's exactly what how you want uh your contract negotiations to go because we know nothing about virgil van not from liverpool not from his not from his side.
I think the answer is Liverpool extends Virgil van Dijk's contract. I think I agree with you.
I'm just, the Mo Salah thing is really disturbing to me. And because there are, this is how, there are two people.
It's either, I don't know if it's Mo Salah. I don't know if it's his agent.
I don't know who it is at Liverpool. I don't know if it's Arna Slott.
There are two people, one on each side, whose ego are getting in the way. And it could be on one side that's really pissing off the other.
Maybe Mo Salah's agent's saying we need a million pounds a week or he's not staying and being outlandish or maybe liverpool's saying no we'll give him 100 grand a week and that's it yeah and somebody somewhere is just their egos getting in the way and it's preventing this from happening yeah and this is crazy like they there has to be a coming together point where everyone says okay it's not exactly what we want but it's but it's good enough. Right, totally.
Like we're both okay with it.

Well, that's a negotiation.

That's what negotiation is.

But this should not be happening.

He's having the best Premier League start to a season ever.

And how is this happening?

Let me throw this wrinkle in

just to add on to what you're saying.

I think in certain moments,

there are outliers, right?

And I think this is a situation

where there's an outlier. And I think ultimately, if there's a solution, I THINK LITERALLY, I THINK LITERALLY, I THINK LITERALLY, I THINK LITERALLY, I THINK LITERALLY, I THINK LITERALLY, I THINK LIT no matter how good you are, you're caught.
We don't give you extra contracts. We don't give you extensions.
We don't give you extra years. That's how a lot of clubs do it.
And they're right because the numbers tell you at a certain age, people tail off, right? Now, you look at Mo Salah. Now, can he, because the end happens fast.
So can he fall off in the next 18 months? Sure. But he's looking at it.
His body's perfect. His lifestyle is perfect.
He's scoring goals at an unbelievable clip, which is consistent with what he's done before.

He's looking at it and going, forget,

I should get a raise and I should get more money

because look how well I'm doing.

So I agree with him, but I also agree with Liverpool saying,

hey, we have a wage structure.

We have a way of doing things

and we don't really want to break that

and set that precedent, but they might have to.

I think there's room for creativity in there somewhere, right?

Incentivize it like crazy, but that needs to happen. All right, let's move on MLS, Tim.
Yeah. Just coaching carousel going on.
Bradley Carnell was appointed at Philly. Yep.
The current teams without a head coach are Toronto FC, New York City FC, and the Whitecaps, Vancouver Whitecaps. Yeah.
Some recycled coaches in MLS. I want to hear your thoughts, and then I got some opinions.
Oh, I want to hear your thoughts. I know you're hot about this.
I know you're hot, hot about this. So Ronnie Dela went to Atlanta United.
He was at NYCFC before. Nico Estevez, this one's bizarre.
Now at Austin FC after getting fired by FC Dallas. Worst season.
Last year was so bizarre.. Greg Berhalter now at Chicago fire was at Columbus before, of course.
And our old coach, Bruce arena at the San Jose earthquakes. He coached Red Bull galaxy and new England revolution.
So thoughts on all that. In a, in a lot of ways, I think MLS can do better.
You know, I've, I've, I've, I've seen, I've heard, I've been a part of head coaching hiring.

I know you have as well from a front office ownership standpoint in various roles. And I just think a lot of the things I hear, LD, in terms of how clubs go about the hiring process, I think they're overcooking it.
I think they're overthinking it. Um, I know for a fact and you know, in some of my playing days, it's like trying to reinvent

the wheel.

Every GM, every president, every owner wants to unearth the next best gem.

The hard process for me is so often, and we see this with the names that we've just read, it's about how you interview.

And that to me is a shame.

That to me is a shame because it should be about how you,

how you as a, as a hiring group can reference and back reference people who have worked

with this coach,

good and bad,

have enough wherewithal and Intel to,

to decipher some of that information. Right.
Cause if you talk to enough players, they're going to go, I hate this guy. Well, okay.
That doesn't mean he's not good. And you have to have enough layers.
Now, I don't think a lot of, a lot of ownership groups and executives have enough layers in the game to back channel. And so then it becomes all

about the interview process. And the person who can be lights out in an interview is the one that gets the job.
And I think that that's a scary thing. And I think we're seeing that.
Listen, I've lived this. I lived it three times.
And maybe at some point, we'll get into this more. But I three times interviewed for roles that I at the time really wanted.

And. maybe at some point we'll get into this more, but I three times interviewed for roles

that I, at the time, really wanted.

And in the end, other people were hired.

And I remember coming out of it thinking to myself,

how the f*** did they hire that person?

I'm thinking about, like, that guy's been, you know,

failed in MLS or never coached before or never this or that. And I had to go look in the guy's been, you know, failed in MLS or never coached before or never this or that.

And I had to go look in the mirror and say, you know, these people must have just interviewed really well.

And I must have interviewed really poorly.

And you just start to realize in all walks of life.

I remember a story, a club early in the 2000s was looking for a new GM.

And I was sitting with the owner and he said to me, you know, this guy presented a 300 page presentation on how he was going to turn our club around. And I was thinking to myself, there's no way this guy's going to be a good GM, dude.
I know him. We talk to anybody in the game.
It's not going to work out. And he was going on and on.
And I didn't know the guy well enough to say that to him, but I was thinking in my head, next thing you know, know they hire him it's a total disaster for a year or two and they end up firing him and i'm just thinking why don't you just call some people and ask around it's not the only thing but it could be a thing it's a listen hang on real quick there's you're sadly i'm looking out my window it's snowing which is amazing it's like a winter wonderland in new york you are not an East Coast guy. So Toronto and NYFC are out.
Why don't you put your name in the hat for Vancouver Whitecaps? Oh, no, no, no, no. Why? Why are we not going down that route? No, I'm good, dude.
I think you'd be a great hire. I'm done playing the game.
I'm done playing the game, dude. I'm done playing the game.
Because I don't want to, Tim, I don't want to do that. And I don't want to go into some interview and bullshit and do all that.
I would just say, guys, talk to people. Here's what I'm about.
Here's what we're about. Go look at our record.
You're a bad interviewer. I am.
I'm a terrible interviewer. I just had to figure it out.
Okay. I want to read this.
I did my research over the weekend. All right.
Awesome. Great.
All right. So these are the clubs that hired.

So Ronnie Dela

going to Atlanta.

So I just,

I was curious.

So I looked up

his all-time winning percentage.

50% winning percentage.

Now,

that doesn't seem like a lot.

That's a really high number

as a manager.

To win half of your games

is a really big deal.

For sure.

So kudos to Garth Loggerway

and Atlanta

for hiring someone who was adequate and good. Now you move to Nico Estevez.
Now he's young and he's less experienced. 39% winning percentage.
That's below average, not great. Okay, he didn't have a great roster, great team.
We'll see how he does. I'm kind of on the fence on that one.
Berhalter to Chicago, he has a 43%

all-time win percentage,

which is about average,

probably a little, right about

average. I like Greg.

I like the way Greg sets his team up and

how he coaches and all that stuff. Bruce Arena,

you know, people are, oh, why

would you hire Bruce? You know how many times

he's won 49% of

the games he's coached in his career.

His career.

Yeah.

Everywhere.

Yeah, everywhere.

I mean, he's going to win half the games.

He's proven, right?

So this is the one that just…

This is so bizarre to me.

The Bradney Carnell one, right?

So he's at Charlotte.

He took over NYC for a while.

Or sorry, New York Red Bull for a while.

Goes to Charlotte.

And now they hire him at Philly.

Guess what his all-time win percentage is? Over Jim Curtin, who was incredibly successful at Philly. Yes, correct.
37%. And I'm thinking to myself, Philly, why the hell are you hiring this guy? And why are you getting rid of Jim Curtin? And by the way, I don't know Jim well.
I have no skin in the game here. I'm just saying, this is so dumb to me.
What do you think? And by the way, so now Aaron Stanner and Bradley Carnell are both New York Red Bull guys, the GM and the head coach. Taking the Red Bull style to Philly, who's your arch rival.
If I'm a Philly fan, I'm thinking to myself, why the hell are they bringing Red Bull people? We don't want the Red Bull way. We want the Philly way, right? And Jim Curtin was a philly fan i'm thinking to myself why the hell are they bringing red bull people we don't want the red bull way we want the philly way right and and jim curtain was a philly guy just none of this makes sense to me well i think you hit the nail on the head it's going to be i i reckon that the philadelphia fans will who are notoriously um passionate i i think they'll probably give this experiment some time because they want a winner.
And obviously, it will probably lead to some exciting football. But to your point, they are Red Bull people.
The GM and the coach are Red Bull people. And if that doesn't start well, there'll be a lot of discontent.
I think those numbers, as you just mentioned. It might work out, Tim.
It might work out. I'm just like, if I'm, can you imagine Manchester United saying, you know what, Ruben Amram's not working.
Let's bring Pep over. People be like, no, no, no, no, no.
We'll take it. Even if we're going to win forever, we'll take anyone else but that, you know, it just, that was such a bizarre, such a bizarre hire to me.
Yeah. But what do I know? Anyway, let's go to break.
When we come back, we got US LNT on US

MNT. We got an American striker on the move.
Big time American striker. We'll tell you who it is and where he is going next right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim presented by Volkswagen.
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Okay, okay. It is time for USLNT on USMNT.
Anthony Robinson of Fulham and US Men's National Team takes home the US Soccer Male Player of the Year honors. Well done.
Deserved. Well deserved.
Yeah, I had a chance to interview him on behalf of US Soccer and NBC. We ran the interview.
Just a delight, an absolute delight to talk to. By the way, he was Fulham's Player of the Year last season.
Just so awesome to hear him speak and the joy on his face when he won the award. And, you know, it's an interesting one because he talked about and mentioned that like now sometimes wears a captain's armband for fulham um that like so much of the play goes down his side and it's it's like when you're that good and you become that dominant the the team naturally and also tactically they want to go down your side they want to play down your side because they trust you and we you and i have talked about with the u.s men's national National Team, leadership, trust, accountability.
Like, you know, when you can start having multiple players like that, pretty awesome. Pretty awesome.
What did you think about it? He just, you put his name on, as I said the other week, he's probably the first name on the team sheet right now at Fulham. You put him there when you're walking.
I'm getting goosebumps because, honestly, this is how I used to feel about you. When we were walking down the tunnel, you look back or you look forward and you see that guy and you're like, yep, we got it.
Like, no problem. He's dialed in.
Don't have to worry about him. And he has been phenomenal.
I'm so happy for him. Under the radar, for everyone else we talk about, under the radar, he just does his business, shows up, does his job every day.
I'm so happy for him. Congrats to you, Jedi Anthony Anthony.
Congrats. Fully, fully deserved and really happy for him.
Yeah. You know, the cool thing, Landon, is like it's fun.
And I know people always ask, right? But we've been getting asked since the beginning of time. When's the U.S.
going to produce another world-class player or a world-class player? And when is the U.S. going to win a World Cup? When you you're out and you're in the airports or you're shopping people that's what people talk to you about right and we always get that question and it's funny because your natural thought is like world-class world-class world-class okay it's got to be a number 10 or it's got to be a stranger right i think what we're starting to see and i mentioned this on air like he may be I think Kristen Pulisic is in that conversation.
Right. We talk about Gio Reyna in terms of generational talent.
But, but Anthony Robinson could, can be world-class is starting to get himself in that conversation. And for people, anybody, I don't think anybody is, but maybe people who are scoffing at that, like he's doing the business week in, week out for fun.
full and by the way rumors about city wanting him rumors about liverpool wanting him but by the way if he goes to liverpool and plays left back every week for liverpool he's a world-class left back like so so he's in that conversation and as an american as a former u.s men's national team player it's awesome it's awesome that we can have um one of our players mentioned in the same breath as world-class players. If you took out Andy Robertson at Liverpool and put him in, they're at worst the exact same team.
At worst. And I think they're probably better.
Yeah, I think he does well. I think he does well.
I think so too. In a big team.
And you can see him in City, no problem. problem so i think i think when you look across the premier league um it's always about players who are at those mid table clubs and the question is can they make the jump if they make the jump how will they do he's a player for me if anthony robinson makes the jump to a big six team i think he i think he flies i think he soars um trivia question for you based on on the u.s

soccer uh male player of the year who was the last defender to win this award and then you get bonus points if you get the year oh last defender does a defender ever won it it was a while ago it was a while ago um wow was a while ago. Wow.

Do goalkeepers count?

No.

I don't think so.

I'm probably way off.

But I'm going to say Alexi in like 96.

Way off.

Okay.

It's our era defender on our teams.

Central.

Central defender. 2006 is the hint.
Gooch? Yep. Gooch one? 2006.
One player of the year? Wow. I mean, Gooch, my phone.
I love Gooch. My phone's going to go off soon when Gooch hears that hint.
The surprise on your face is priceless. I mean, I love Gooch, dude.
I love, I've known him since I was 16,

but I was not expecting that.

I don't know when that was,

if that was in like the Milan days.

I don't know where it was.

It might've been at standard.

It might've been at standard liais.

Actually, to be fair,

he was really,

they had a really good run at standard.

And he must've been great

for the national team

and he was scoring a bunch of goals.

He's a rock.

Every set piece,

you were like,

yeah, he's going to score.

Yeah, he was at standard liais.

That's good. Yeah, our guy.
Christian's back, thank God, from injury. He scored the penalty, which was good.
One, not just scoring the penalty, but he took the penalty. He was very happy that he took the penalty.
71st minute, four minutes later, Yunus Musa had a deflected cross that went in and Milan now into the Supercopa final. It is today, actually, incidentally, in a few hours here, we'll watch against Inter Milan, the Milan derby.
So it's great to have him back. I'm curious for you, Tim, coaching change you just had.
He's had a bunch of coaches, man. I saw a stat on it.
I didn't write it down. But like in his career, he's had at least 10, I think maybe a dozen or 15 coaches in his career and just curious what do you think now it's hard to know what exactly it means but is this good bad i don't know he's playing at the best he's ever played so yeah i don't know if it's great yeah well i mean look the the good news is there was i was reading all sorts of wild reports about his injury and how he was going to be out months.
And I was thinking, this is not good. But the fact that he's recovered and playing is fantastic.
So obviously scoring, taking a penalty, brilliant from Christian. Look, the coaching change.
I think it's hard for a player like Christian Pulisic because coaching changes are one thing. If you're a middle-of-the-road guy and a, you're like, I'm just work hard and I'll get my name on a team sheet.
He's been a star or a star in the making most everywhere he's gone. He's either been the prodigy or up-and-coming star or actually the star.
So when a new coach comes in, there's so much pressure on you to perform and and and live up to that and have to like impress the coach because your your reputation precedes you so um and look he's done that he's lived up to it in fact i i've i've even said that at chelsea with all the coaching changes he kept getting the short end of the stick i thought his performances were fantastic and yet new coach after new coach after new coach so um yeah it's it's a difficult one i mean i i i'd be curious you know his own thoughts is it like old hat at this point or is it getting frustrating i was just thinking like i hope i really hope he doesn't you know he doesn't take it personally but like he's playing out of his mind so it has nothing to do with him like he can't play any better so i i guess just systematically what does it look like sergio conscious how's the

new the coach in now with paul fonseca out um training wise everything they like everything changes with everything right so whatever was happening yeah whatever was happening before was working well for him maybe not the team but for him for him so how does that change is that good, bad, I guess, you know, time will tell.

I also think, I also think, you you know as you grow and mature right like that's yeah you adapt there's a chat it's a new challenge like hey you know because you know as an older player when a new manager comes in the responsibility is like sit down with the gaffer figure out like what is it you need from me how can i continue to convey your message to the team and And so it might be a new challenge. Wild little staff.
I'm

certain I played against Sergio Constasso

when he was at Porto, which

tells you how old I am.

You know what?

My kids watch videos, and a little

aside here, they'll watch soccer videos in the morning,

and they'll be like,

they play the FC 24,

25 game, and they can

unpack these legend cards

and whatever, and they'll be like, God, look at

this old legend. I'm like, I played against

Thank you. they play the FC 24, 25 game, and they can unpack these legend cards and whatever, and they'll be like, God, look at this old legend.
I'm like, I played against him. He's like, shut up, dude.
This morning, he was like, Michael Bullock. I'm like, yeah, I played against him.
He's like, you played against him? Anyway, all right. So U.S.
men's national team striker Brandon Vasquez, finally, after weeks of rumors, on the move, leaving Monterey after just one season and going to Austin FC. Big fee.
Big fee. I think $10 million.
$10 million or something like that. He will now be the highest paid American in MLS, so congrats to him.
For you, Tim, where does he rank right now on the pecking order, strikers?

He had 14 goals in 49 appearances for Monterey.

Look, I think it's, in terms of the pecking order, it's slightly,

I was going to say up for grabs.

It's not slightly up for grabs.

But I think he gets himself in the shop window week in, week um in mls and again a big price tag big fee um i think there's a ton of there's a ton of pressure and spotlight on which is great i think that's a good thing um it's a hard question to answer because flow we we don't know flow balligan like i think he'll get he'll get back fit i think he'll be just as strong, but that rust takes a little bit of time.

Does he hit the ground running?

Does it take him longer to find his form?

I don't know.

I don't know that. Also a new coach, right?

New coach.

With Nick Westvez in Austin.

Just a lot of new to deal with.

I think it's good.

I think it's good to look for the U.S. men's national team.

It's good to have competition for places,

and the best possible thing is to have a bunch of strikers

who are hungry, who are arrogant, who want more time because, you know what, at their clubs they're scoring, so why not me? That would be a good thing if he can do that this season. Yeah, look, this goes back to what we've been talking about.
You've got to go somewhere where you're going to play. And he wasn't playing a lot at Monterey.
There's now 18 months to him, 18 months to the World Cup, which means every time you step on the field, it is an audition. Like you said, you're in the shop window.
And so he is going to play every week. You don't pay $10 million and make him the highest paid American in the league to not play.
So whether it was MLS or anywhere, another Mexican league team, anywhere, he needed to go where he was playing. It was the smart thing to do.
Now, if you think Pepe is number one on the list, maybe Flo healthy. And then if he's playing well and scoring well, he might be number three.
You know, like he might be. And so we'll see.
Time will tell, but he's coming into his prime. So I think this is a great move for him and excited to watch him go.

Absolutely.

All right, let's take another break.

When we get back, mailbag.

We've had a few weeks now of mailbag time for you guys to submit lots and lots of questions.

I've seen a lot of them on YouTube as well.

So stick around.

We'll be right back on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim presented by Volkswagen. Oh yeah.
You know what time it is. It's mailbag time.
And that means JR's favorite time of the week. Jordan, get on in here, please.
What's up guys? Howdy. Happy new year.
Happy New Year. Are you wearing a Milan jersey? I'm wearing the 125th anniversary shirt.
Santa brought it for Christmas. Are you like a Milan fan? Are you a Pulisic fan? Well, I'm a fan of really sweet looking shirts.
It's a dope shirt. The credit is wild.
How was your New Year? It was good. It was nice and quiet.
Champagne? Actually, not quiet. I don't know, Tim, how you felt about this, but we had the craziest thunder and lightning storm for New Year's Eve.
It was. It was.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We had it as well.
At first, I thought it was fireworks, but then I was like, oh, no, the sky's falling. Was that during the whole celebration? It was thunder and lightning? Like at midnight.
It was so wild. It was wild.
Terrible. That's ominous.
Imagine sitting in times square with no bathrooms no umbrellas tim you could not pay me enough like i see when they open the gate i'm like are you crazy you could and new york people don't go there no i'm sure we think those people from like san diego and stuff um jordan what do you got for Okay, I got a couple of different questions for you. Let's start with one that references something you were talking about earlier.
So we've got a question from Evan via YouTube. He said, do you guys think Anthony Robinson will sign for a big club in the summer? And do you guys rank him in the top three U.S.
left backs of all time? Oh, wow. Okay, I'll start, Tim.
I think there's every chance he goes. This is like the classic Premier League type of player, type of club that is going to move to a bigger club.
He's not up and coming, but he's in his prime doing well. Someone wants to get him for three or four years to be a top, top left back.
I think there's every chance he moves. Now, should he? I'm torn, right? Because he's the man.
He's playing every week. He's the captain at times.
He's leading. Does he go somewhere where he's battling and fighting it out every week? Let's just use Liverpool as an example.
Andy Robertson ain't going to lay down the red carpet and say, go ahead, pal. You can take my spot, no problem.
So I don't know if he should, but I think he will probably end up doing it. You? Yeah.
Go, go, go. He's earned it.
He's a young kid from Liverpool. He and I played together when he was a youngster at Everton.
He then put in his time, put in his work at Wigan and I think Bolton, you know, on loan when they were, they were, I think championship or league one at that time. And then he goes to Fulham.
Fulham's a brilliant football club, right? And so at this point, you don't move from Fulham to go sideways. You only move to go up.
And if Liverpool or City or any of those rumors are true, you absolutely go because you deserve it. And I think he, look, I think the way they play, as you mentioned, the way City play in terms of how he played, you know, playing that inverted fullback now, if you watch with Fulham.
Owebe will pull wide and he'll go underneath. And so he understands that role, which is how the big teams are playing.
I think he moves. I would be shocked if he doesn't move.
You know where he should go is United. I mean, as a wingback, he'd be absolutely perfect.
Is he in the top three of all time? I'm trying to think of... Give me some of the...
I don't even know. I think he's at the top.
I think he's at the top. Give me some of the best...
Well, Fabian Johnson, when he was at his best, was really good. Really good, but very short-lived.
Very short-lived. Yeah.
Vanny was there a long time. Was very good.
very good Frankie Haydick played left back

oh Bees

Bees was the best left back

when Bees played left back

the problem with Bees

is he was like

he was at one point

like a world class winger

you know he's like

I know

you know you guys came up together

and then he transitioned

to be a

brilliant left back

yeah

but

but

if you look at Anthony Robinson

he's

he is a left back

he's a left wing back

I mean that's who he is

and he is

Thank you. left back yeah um but but if you look at anthony robinson he's he's a left back he's a left wing back i mean that's who he is and he is prototypical of what you want i would put him i would put him as the best left back i know it's so it's so hard because he's you know he's he's he's youngish but nah i would put him up at the top you like that I thought that was great.
Thanks, Evan. Great question.
How about a question from Paul via email? When a team is in a bad run of form, how do you know when it's the fault of the players, the manager, or the ownership? That's such a great question. When a team, you know, a team is in a bad run of form.
Well, you need, I say historical,

but you need many years of context to know it's the ownership, right?

So the Jets are a prime example in the NFL.

Right now, United are a decent example of it, Manchester United.

But they're starting, it seems like they're starting to get it right,

but it starts with the owner. It always starts with the owner because they make the biggest hires.
They do. The Cowboys right now, Jerry Jones, you have to say he's the issue because he has too much control and he's micromanaging everything.
So if there's multiple years, in my opinion, that's the owner, within the run of a season, my biggest red flag for when it's a manager is when you go through long stretches of being bad. Because very good managers, after two or three losses, everybody's in the room, sit down, we're sorting this out now, we're not leaving until we get it sorted.
And when it's a bad manager, it'll go four losses, five without winning, seven without winning, eight losses, 10 without winning. And that's when you know it's really bad.
And that's also when you know there's bad leadership on the team. And so generally it's a mix because a good leader will go to the coach also and say, this ain't working.
We got to figure this out now.

Yeah.

So often it's on the coach.

Unfortunately, you know, a good manager, a good manager can galvanize a team.

And look, there's not a perfect science.

It's such a difficult question because I think everybody's at fault.

I think ownership, I think coach, I think players, ultimately managers get fired, right?

Like managers get fired more than players get turned over, more than owners sell the

club.

And managers get fired when they talk about the term losing the dressing room.

And that's a real thing.

It's kind of a blanket statement, but it's a real thing.

Losing the dressing room is basically, you get a bunch of human beings who sit in meeting rooms and locker rooms and buses and hotels, and they hear the same voice. And that voice no longer excites them.
It no longer jolts them. It no longer scares them.
Forget excitement. And they don't respect it.
No, they don't respect it. Fear and respect is what I played for, for my manager.
Most of my managers I feared, and the other ones I feared and respected, and that's why. And then all of a sudden, you can see it.
I'm going to guess, Landon, you've been on teams. I've been on teams where I could see it, and I'm just like, rock bottom has a trap door because I'm looking at these guys, and they're soulless.
Manager speaks, it walks out, and I'm'm looking around and I'm going, and as a senior leader, you try and do your best and you hope that you're not one of them, but oh, it's ugly. And so it's the manager, unfortunately.
Yeah. Speaking of managers, here is a question from Leonard via email.
David Moyes has been out of a job since leaving West Ham last May. If he were to come work in the U.S., where would be the best place for him? Moise.
Hmm. Good question.
It's a good question. It goes back to, I would say Houston, but we've got a great coach in Ben Olsen, so he's not going anywhere.
I think David Moyes at some point will end up in MLS. The problem is David Moyes is a brilliant football manager, right? Going back to the conversation LD and I just had at the beginning of this episode, there will be so many GMs and presidents and owners in the MLS.
When his name comes up, they'll go, he doesn't play an expansive brand of football. We want to go younger.
Listen, if you want to hire somebody to win you football matches, hire David Moyes. Honestly, he'd be a good fit, but he also, like Bruce Arena, like Greg Borhalter, he's going to need power.
He's going to need power because there's a likelihood that when he enters your football club, he is the most brilliant, intelligent soccer mind in the entire football club. So you're going to have to give him.
Oh, there's no question he is. You're going to have to give him more power as a GM, player selection, recruitment.
So, yeah. I think the important thing for him is a club and more important, a city and a culture that fits who he is, right? He is a blue collar working man, like going to LA or New York isn't going to work for Moyes.
Going to Philly works, going to Salt Lake works, going somewhere tough and rugged. And that's what works for him.
So he, because the town would be galvanized by that because that's who he is as a human being. Okay.
One last question for you. This one is from Ben via email.
And Ben is thinking about the fact that he thinks Everton missed a big opportunity by never properly marketing the club to the U S market. And so he wants to know if you guys think TFG will revisit this market with any real strategy now that they have bought the club or has the opportunity been missed? Ben, great question, Ben.
Love it. I'll let you tackle it.
I got my own thoughts on that. I struggle with clubs marketing to America and how they do it effectively.
And I'll tell you what I mean. So I've been a part of a few different ownership groups in Europe.
I was also part of Everton, right? And so how do you, without just saying we want to expand ourselves into the U.S. market, how do you actually put that into effect? It's hard.
I don't know that there are that many, like I'm not sure winning one season does it. I don't know that there's that many Leicester City fans now in America, Tim.
You go to the FanFest and you see it's still Liverpool, United, Arsenal, Spurs. I don't know how you do it effectively without spending tens and tens of millions of dollars marketing and just pushing it that hard and in the end I don't know if it's worth it then to a club to do that so you have to I guess it's all part of the calculation but I guess the best way is just years of success on the field not one year years and years and years and seeing them in Champions League or Europa League at the top of the premier league every week, I guess that's, that's the,

that's the only answer it seems like.

Yeah. I mean, I mean, to kind of, kind of piggyback off that it's,

it's do the dollars make sense and love the American soccer fan.

I do. I'm one of them.
I see him every week.

We speak to him every week. You know,

so many of our listeners are the U S soccer fans. It, If you look at Everton's a good example, I think with the TFG group, I think there's a possibility of that.
You know, I think they're, you know, they're certainly, I believe they're Texas based. And I would imagine those conversations are being had.
The way to do it would be most likely having a plan to every single preseason year in America. Right.
But look, the fact of the matter is these teams get boatloads of money to go to Australia and to Asia and to different parts of Africa. Like they do.
Right. So, so, you know, if someone, if someone drops a load of money on Everton's plate and says, hey, we want to fly to Australia and play three games, and the other option is to go to America, but it's for like half the money, you know, in PSR, profit and sustainability era that we're in, these things matter.
But the fans matter. And so do you identify one or two U.S.
men's national team players that you think can play for Everton? And that brings more eyeballs? Possibly. But as you said, Landon, so much of that is strategic and manufactured.
But to your point, ultimately, they're an American-based group and they might have American ideas and they want to sell the club as much in England and Europe and globally as they do in

America. So that's a possibility.
I, I certainly hope that that's the case.

Awesome. Thanks guys.

Thanks JR.

You're leaving us. You're leaving us.

That's all you get.

Thank you.

All right, Timmy, anything but soccer.

I'm excited for this one.

This is going to be fun.

Me too.

I'm going to take some, I'm going to take hell for this. I'm certain, but that's what the comments are for.
All right. College football playoff.
Don't even have anything too specific. I just, let's just talk about it writ large.
It was, you know, we were watching it last week. We were watching it the week before.
Thoughts on. I can be specific.
Well, we can talk about the format. We can talk about the can talk about the games we can talk about i just i watched so much of it over the last two weeks consumed a lot so go ahead i okay here's the headline i'm gonna get slaughtered for but i think i and i'm roping you in because i i i don't think you love it but i don't think you hate my take.
My take is college football playoffs. I have college football playoff fatigue.
I said it. You have fatigue.
Here's what, hear me out. Hear me out.
There's so many games. There's so many, now it's the first year.
So maybe, maybe I'll know where to find the games. I know they've all been on my TV and all that.
And I've watched a bunch bunch of them there's so many games that the gloss has kind of come off for me and i just look at bowls in general right and and i watch these bowl games go away from the playoff for a second there's nobody any anything outside nobody anything outside of the bowl playoff series there's nobody at the games i watched a watched a bowl game the other day. There was nobody there.
This is the culmination of your career as a player, of your season. There was, I might get this wrong, there was a player from Louisville who didn't get paid his NIL money that he was promised in September, and he didn't go to the bowl game as like a protest.
It's become a farcece and and look it's become it's become professional football uh two basically and you know i also i'm a traditionalist when i look like the sugar bowl the rose bowl fiesta bowl cotton bowl orange bowl they don't mean anything anymore like i watched who was it that won the rose bowl uh was it no i can't remember ohio state oregon right yeah yeah so state yeah so ohio state wins the rose bowl and it's like they didn't really win the rose bowl they just won a quarter final and i'm like winning the rose but there's some people who literally spend their whole life saying i won the rose bowl and they'll be cut that it's going to get lost um yeah i mean look i love college football and i probably will get uh reinvigorated at, you know, watching the semifinals or finals. But it just seems like there's a lot of games.
I think I prefer four teams, but that's just me. But you're comparing it to what you're used to.
So it's not that many games. It's a few extra games.
Now, if you say the bowl season as a whole, like, yeah, OK, it's good for me because my son wants to sit on the couch and watch it so i don't have to do anything and just say hey babe he wants to watch he wants to watch the game yeah he's watching texas state against texas north texas yes yeah what the hell are we doing so i get that the bowl games have nobody there it's so sad the. The other thing, to your point, Tim, with NIL now,

a lot of these guys, if they're going pro, they just don't play.

They just don't play the game.

They don't want to play the game.

I know.

Now, a few other things.

When we were watching the Rose Bowl, my boys were like,

oh, look at that.

They get roses.

And I said, yeah, do you know why?

And they said, it's the Rose Bowl.

And then my boy goes, ha-ha, what do they get when they win the Sugar Bowl? I was like, oh, good one, mate. They just love sugar.
So I think here's the problem with the format. Here's the problem.
It is a big deal for, I'm going to say amateur athletes, even though they're getting paid now. It is a big deal for amateur athletes to know how to stay ready to play for three weeks.
Every team that played the week prior in the first round beat the team that had been off for three weeks, and they slaughtered them in most circumstances. So that is a big, big advantage.
And for pros, we would struggle with that if we had a week off or two weeks off. But for amateurs, they have no clue.
So they have to figure out how to fix that. I'm confident, Tim, after next week, when you watch the semis and the finals, you're going to be reinvigorated.
You're going to love college football again. Look, I'm just a traditionalist, but I have the foresight enough to know that college athletics is no longer college athletics.

No, I know. It's sad.

It's professional. It is in every way.

The money's too big. They're never going back to four teams.

This is only going to get bigger and better.

And I'm okay with it.

I've jumped ship.

I used to hate the fact that athletes were getting paid. That's for another time, college athletes.

But the train has left the station, and it ain't coming back.

So I'll get reinvigorated.

We'll talk more about it. But I have a little bit of fatigue at the moment.
All right. Here's one thing I want.
All the schools, stop promising NIL deals without a contract. If you want those players there for the ball games or whatever, you put it in their contract, right? These are professionals now.
They're professional contracts. I don't want to hear about, I'm suing him because he promised me a million dollars.
Well, guess what, dude? If he promised you a million dollars, get it in a contract, get an agent, stop complaining. All right.
Great to be back, Timmy. Happy New Year.
Happy 2025. Going to be an amazing year, bud.
Appreciate all of you here today. Leave us comments as always.
Remember to subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify,

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