Pepi Deal Crumbles, Spurs HELP Arsenal, and YOUR Questions Answered| Unfiltered Soccer

There were two players, LD, in the 2014 World Cup squad that shall remain nameless. They were MLS players. But they were linked to European clubs. One in particular was a Premier League club. And I remember having a conversation like, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it. They never did it and never materialized. It never happened. And I'm saying like, by the way, had you gone to said Premier League club, like your finances are sorted. You're done. 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 over five years. Welcome to Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim. I'm Tim. He's Landon, presented by Volkswagen. LD, something happened this weekend in the world of sports, and it concerned me, and I immediately thought of you. So I'm watching this boxing match, right? Yeah. and the guy literally gets his wig knocked like he's got a hair piece glued on and just takes a right hand and this thing goes whop and flops off so then it made me think of like you playing hockey and i was concerned i was concerned so i want to bring this up to you to say like extra glue if you're going to be playing sports let me uh let people peek behind the curtain so yeah it is it's it's an adhesive like a glue when it gets hot so if i get really hot so in hockey it's a good example i have a helmet on and you're sweating like crazy so there's this heat emitting yeah and then when i take my helmet off it's loose like i could pull it and move it and eventually when you cool off it like glues back down yeah but i was clearly hot and it just ripped right off and i think i saw him say something like something happened and my hair fell off like i put something on and my hair fell off so i had to get a wig real quick and i'm like bro you just went bald like you don't have to hide it like whatever but oh it's beautiful well listen here's another thing a soccer show but i question for you it's a hair look at your hair right like i'm not disclaimer i love love my head of head of nothing but if i went into your to see your guy your doc he's he's giving me like a full head of hair like i don't it's not just the top for me yeah you need the back too actually i don't even know if they could do that i just need a helmet that's actually a good question because you don't have any on the side or back or anything yeah i don't think you have a helmet i don't think you could do it it'd be like a lego piece on top anyway let's get back to the important stuff um glad my hair has not fallen off imagine if i was playing a game it's happening it happens all right welcome in you can follow us on social media and unfiltered soccer be sure to subscribe to the show on youtube and please follow us apple podcast spotify and you can email jordan as always at feedback at unfilteredsoccer.com all right timmy let's jump in usmnt on uslnt just this morning we get um an alert from our people on the show we thought peppy ricardo pepe to fulham was done last night turns out uh uh and the move according to fabricio romano easy for me to say is now off So PSV informed Fulham this morning, no green light, despite the agreed upon 37 million pound, no euro package, because PSV can't find a replacement and the deal is not proceeding. So just can you take people behind the scenes? Because I know you dealt with this a lot and you saw it a lot. Yeah. Why does this happen? How does this happen? How do these things happen? And I have some context from lower leagues in England with Lincoln City and my affiliation there. But curious what your thoughts are. Well, this happened. this gets said a lot in European football, right? There's some truth in it, but there's also sort of like it's a way to sweeten the deal, right? Because nobody's really going to know what irons you have in the fire, right? So if they're looking for a replacement for Pepe, they could say to the agent or Fulham, well, I ain't got a replacement yet. And normally what happens then is the agent or Fulham goes, would like 5 million more help you find a replacement? so this stuff happens it's always fascinating um because you don't really see it like you don't really often see it in the premier league so much because the premier has so much money like literally so much money so oftentimes you know you can like you're the big you're the biggest spend like if you're a premier club you're essentially the biggest spender on the planet right so like when you get money through the door let's say you go sell isak you know for 120 some odd million whatever it was you know you can then go into germany and france and spain and and all these other places and go buy a player like you're not going to have to worry about oh we're not going to get our guy so they always get their guy so so but that's the primary league so working the other way psv psv it might be true i these deals work sort of on a parallel plane right if they were if they've basically said to ricardo pepe and his agent yes he can go or if clubs are sniffing around yes he's for sale at a certain price that we think is fair 37 million euros they think is fair then obviously they're they're sort of simultaneously working to bring someone else in right so they're going to go to their their war room in their depth chart they're going to go all right who's the who's the the nine we won you know and they'll there'll be five number nines across the world right it'll be two in south america there'll be one in africa there'll be three in europe and they'll go down our checklist and i'm guessing they're doing that negotiations and it's not they're not quite getting it over the hump so i didn't pan out and and the other thing is these things it's inevitable they almost always happen late right at the end of the deadline so you're kind of leaving it because that's when deals get done in any industry time creates pressure and then people want to get deals done so it happens right at the end meanwhile if psv weren't able to finalize whoever they wanted yep then you can see what happened you know the analogy i use it's like when you're looking for a new home to buy sure and the only way you can afford it is once you sell your own home correct and so you go into escrow and you say okay it's contingent upon us selling our home you don't sell your home well then next thing you know but i want to i know it's this is not only a soccer show it's a housing show sure because you know i'm i'm and we're going to touch on alex freeman now these moves for me as a national team for me i i love the move i hate the timing six months before world i hate the time yeah january is a tough time anyway for i'm just saying for six months before the world cup you're alex freeman you're peppy you're in a good place you're playing every week you're performing you're doing well get through the world cup and then you can go and but but i will say from their standpoint these are you don't know if this opportunity is ever going to come again yeah you have the chance to go chase your dream make a bunch more money play in the Premier League or La Liga which is Alex Freeman is reportedly set to move to Villarreal now so for them I understand I'm just saying for me as a national team fan I don't like the timing I don't yeah look I hear you I think I think what this is a more holistic conversation and it's one that you and I have had And we both made decisions based on this sort of conversation. And I sort of believe there are, when you make these big monumental decisions, there are lifetime security decisions. Yeah. And like smart football decisions, right? Like when you look at, and I know this for a fact, like you look at Matt, like a Matt Turner. Okay. he had the opportunity to basically make sure his kids were sorted taken care of for a long long time based on signing an extension at a club where he basically kind of knew might not play here i don't play here then i probably don't get an opportunity to play for national team but he made a decision and again that's not the whole decision we can ask matt that but like he made that decision i'm saying i'm okay with that so you know like if that if that's what you choose, then I'm okay with it. Now, the other side of it is, no, I'm going really good right now, playing in Orlando. If I keep this up, I'm going to play in the World Cup, and then, by the way, I can bet on myself, and if I have any sort of semblance of success in the World Cup, by the way, I think it's going to be Villarreal that's after me. I don't know. But here's the other thing. There were two players, LD, in the 2014 World Cup squad that shall remain nameless. they were mls players and i don't remember the exact sort of scenario but they were linked to european clubs one in particular was a premier league club and i remember having a conversation like do it do it do it do it do it they never did it and never materialized they never they never it never happened and i'm saying like by the way had you gone to said premier league club like your finances are sorted you're done you're done so anyway and it probably matters the stage of your career you're in for matt turner it's different these guys are young right right right so i don't know i mean it's i i understand it from their perspective i'm just saying for me listen i hope the best i really do if alex look i've said this about alex freeman every step of the way when he's given a challenge he meets it and exceeds it every step of the way and i don't see why this would be different and then you find out where his ceiling is maybe via real is his ceiling maybe it was orlando maybe it's real madrid or the primarily i don't know we're gonna find out So I'm curious, you guys think this move will help his chances of starting in the summer, hurt his chances of starting in the summer? I think if he doesn't get on the ground quickly and play and play and play, it's going to hurt his chances. But if he does, I mean, he's going to be a stud for this team. I will say this. Yeah, he will be a stud. And what you said about him accepting challenges and stepping up is right. I would say this directly to Alex Freeman. Get your head down and be successful. Because by the way, the reason I say that, no disrespect to Villarreal, because by the way, if he spends the next 10 years at Villarreal, brilliant. But in these leagues, Spain, Germany, Italy, when you're not playing for the big four and you're in the shop window every week and performing, the big four is like, no, you ain't going to stay there very long. Come to us. Not to say that he's going to be a Real Madrid or Barcelona player. But what I am saying is it's a known fact. If you're playing on a smaller team, not a small team, but if you're not one of the top two or three or four teams in those leagues, if you're performing well, they snatch you up. It's like Ajax. It's the same as that thing. Quickly. Hopefully he performs. Obviously from the standpoint of the World Cup, he gets settled in in terms of off the field, which is not easy when you go abroad. but by all accounts he's i mean we've spoken to him like phenomenal kid yeah he has a parent who played professionally so he has mentorship and this is what it's going to look like that now it's a different sport but this is what it's like this is how you do it this is how you integrate i would say alex if you're listening learn spanish as fast as you can if you don't already um that will help integrate you and then you know i i do think actually he is going to succeed i just don't I don't know if it's going to be in the next three or four months. And mom and dad, it's a beautiful place to live. Go settle your kid in. Go buy a house on the coast. Make sure for two or three years he's all right. And then come back. And then invite me and Timmy over to hang out. Okay, elsewhere with the U.S. men's national team players, Malik Tillman is starting to get on a roll, which is good because he was quiet for a bit, Timmy. He scored twice in the Champions League against Villarreal, actually, for Leverkusen. And then followed that up with a goal in the Bundesliga over on track to Frankfurt. uh paul carr um he's so good on twitter i will never call it x malik tillman is the only u.s international to score two goals in a uefa champions league game and he's now done it twice i was shocked last week i know last week against via real and then in 2024 against shaktar donetsk um very good to see this guy in form and we're starting to see a lot of our players round into form which is perfect timing it's sort of like that that surprised me i guess when I think about who else would have done it. B's played a bunch in the Champions League, but he's not a guy who's getting braces. Christian seems like the opposite. Christian would be the one. He's played a ton of Champions League games. Maybe Weston, but also to expect Weston to be on a stat line that says he scored two braces. Yeah, Christian would be the one that I would be surprised at that he didn't have it. By the way, it's hard to score two goals in any professional game. You score one goal and it's like, wow, great game. You score two, you're like, geez He's a special player, man He really is I really, really like I know You know, this is sort of like You know, when for all the ups and the downs of this team You're like, Weston's a really top player He's playing well Malik Tillman, a really top player Christian Pulisic I know Far and away the best player You start going through it and you're like If they get this, like They sort of get this click in, you know And again, going a little bit offbeat here But I do think every game is hard landing. It's pretty good in the World Cup. I think this team is going to take that first round and go smack a few teams around. I think they're going to play really well. And if they do that and all their individual players are sort of playing well and the collective is winning games, keeping clean sheets, scoring goals, I'm thinking I could go on a run here. Yeah. And my mind immediately goes to how does Pochettino get them all on the field? Yeah. Right. So like Tim Weah is playing every week. Where does he fit in? Freeman playing every week, hopefully for Villarreal and playing at Ohio. Then you got Tillman, Weston, who we'll talk about in a sec. Christian, you're probably going to have Tyler Adams. How do you get all these guys? You're going to have Flo on the field. So how do you get all these guys on the field together? What does that look like? Well, I would suggest that's what we've all been desperate for, right? Yeah. I think it's, we unfortunately haven't had it, so it might be slightly new, but, you know, to sort of illustrate what happened with Arsenal this weekend, right? Like Saka limps off in the warm-up with an injury. Like for like replacement, Matawake comes on, man, the match performance. Like, so my thought process is if one of them misses out, sure. But you know the World Cup LD, particularly first round, you're going to have to make changes. The games have been thick and fast. So like you're going to have to – you're probably not going to name the same starting 11 three times. So, like, get in there and perform. Yeah, that's right. Before we get to Weston, and I want to hear your opinion on this. So last thing about Champions League So Benfica Real Madrid play last week Benfica ends up scoring a goal in stoppage time to win 4 that ends up taking them into the next round Yeah. Where they will play Real Madrid again, the team they just beat. Yeah. In a two-leg series. So the highlights from this game are insane. And for people who didn't see it, at the end of the game, they're winning 3-2. And they realize they need to score one more goal to get into the playoff, Benfica, against Real Madrid. And I think Real Madrid need to just keep them there to not drop into the playoff maybe. Anyway, Benfica's goalie goes up and scores a phenomenal header. I know you scored a goal because I was on the field that day, but you never scored in the opposing penalty area, did you? Yeah, it's too far to run. Might have pulled a hammy. But what's it like in those – I'm sure you went up a few times, right, into the box? yeah like a little bit and you feel dumb because you ain't really i was gonna say so what's the feeling there for like what are you thinking in that moment you do feel dumb because it looks it just looks dumb it looks running up there i also like see like i see like a bunch of my best friends in blue shirts like you're an idiot like why are you here you're not gonna help you they're like literally like jags is looking at me like you're not gonna help us i'm like dancing around thinking i'm gonna like make a darting runs in your post and then bang arm across the chest and I'm like, I'm like on the floor. It's better to just do it from your own penalty area. You know what I mean, Alvin? Yeah, you did it smart. Anyway, I just, when we see things like this, I want, if you're new to this game and you're listening, just go watch this. How could you not love this sport? I mean, it's just phenomenal. Yeah. I was watching a hockey game last night, Bruins, Tampa Bay. It was one of those outdoor games. Yeah. And the goalies got into a fight. I saw that. When you just see the goalies like really getting into it that way, it's so fun. So go watch that highlight. And then obviously it's going to be a phenomenal matchup now with everything that just happened. Okay, last thing here. Let's talk about Wes for a minute, Wes to McKinney. It's one of those things where when Christian was going through this patch a couple months ago, every week you look at your phone and you go, oh, he scored again. Oh, assist again. Oh, he's man of the match. Oh, oh, oh. And he's just in phenomenal form. He has four goals in his last eight games for Juve. It feels like more than that, but he's just been involved in everything. and it's weird to say this now, but there has been a time where we were kind of not sure if Wes was even going to be in the mix with the national team. But now you're saying, how do you leave him off the field, right? Yeah, yeah. But I think even when we were having those conversations, it was like he's the one or two most talented football players on that U.S. men's national team roster. That's not in question. No. The question was, and the questions were real, by the way, whether he likes it or not. The questions were, where is he? I think I made the point to you on this show. Give me the top 10 best national teams in the world and give me their top two players. They're there every single time of asking. Every week. Imagine going, bloody heck, Harry Kane's not been in the England squad for a year, or he's only been in once or twice. You'd be like, well, that don't make sense. So his talent has never been in question. It's whether he aligns with the manager, and it's a maturation process. He's getting older. He's understanding things. And you see it a lot. Some people fall by the wayside land, and we've seen so many players who just couldn't get their act together. But then some players do. some players do and that's through experience and through i went through it i wanted to be a tough guy all the time i wanted to be right all the time and eventually i was just like you're pretty good actually if you just shut the hell up and perform well things will happen and they did so you go through it every player goes through it right now he's in an incredible run i'm hoping that he sort of has this feeling inside it that that feels good to him you know and he'll keep pushing because only another couple months and then bang we're here so yeah i'm excited i'm excited like i said this team the team can do some special things because they are super talented you know you start to look at sort of what some of these players are doing and maybe the the glossiness of the golden generation has come off but when they play really well like this you sort of remind like okay well that's why people get excited yeah right and that's why people say it's the most talented and this is a golden generation and you're like hold on a sec they're not playing they don't play all the time they're not together but when they do this you're I'm like, Jesus Christ, he's playing at Juve, a top four team in Italy, and is probably the best player in the league over the last couple months. Christian has been the best player in the league for a few years. This is real stuff. We didn't do this in the past. All right, Tim, it is that time of the week, the unfiltered refresh sponsored by Coors Light. Choose chill, get Coors Light delivered. Go to Coors Light dot com slash U.S.L.N.T. this was an easy one this week yeah um what an epic player she was and what a career she had crystal dunn has announced her retirement she signed with psg from gotham in january 2025 unfortunately only made one appearance during the season um but here are her accomplishments is phenomenal she was truly a winner uh ncaa championship at unc three nwsl championships two with north carolina one with portland she won a world cup in 2019 an olympic gold medal in 2024 she was also named the 2015 nwsl mvp and she won a golden boot that year with 15 goals she won the golden boot she was like known as kind of an outside back but she won the golden boot that year um one she she had a great great career and great comments on instagram but the one that this just this just blows my mind when i read this she said i look forward to spending more time with my family and being a more present mom. And every time I hear that with these women, I've obviously lived with my mom, my sister, my wife now. These women are playing high-level soccer as a parent and as a mom, not just a parent. It's hard enough for guys I played with when they had kids. It's phenomenal. And it just blows my mind every time I read it, but she had a phenomenal career um happy for her now that she's looking forward to the next step yeah and i i got i got a chance to um get to know crystal and her family and you know i i think just a wonderful person and a champion and that's what that's what i think about her um she's a winner you know that the end of a cell mvp golden boot thing is is just incredible i mean it's it's sort of mind-blowing given like her career trajectory but i often i probably give more credit to to people like crystal where there's so much more ld expected from like so you go to unc you know what happens when you go to unc the legacy is long you have to win you have to win from the day you step on campus right and then you got to do that you got to play your four years or whatever it is and then you got to go into end of her cell and then you're supposed to win all she did and then and ever said was win three championships right then you're supposed to crack on and make it to the women's national team by the way they also just win so you know win the world cup win a gold medal i just it's impressive when i see people with this like grand expectation expectations for their career sort of exceed those and she's exceeded them and so what what an incredible career i hope she rides off into the sunset and just enjoys motherhood, enjoys family. You hope that she stays around the game because she just has too much. She has too much experience to just sort of go away. But after she exhales, somebody would be very, very smart to bring her back into the fold to help run a club. The most impressive thing was her ability to adapt and adjust and play wherever she was needed. And that's what winners do. So cheers to you, Crystal, for choosing chill. Congrats on retirement. it all right uh guys remember to subscribe we just had a meeting last week about all the things coming up for the world cup and uh it's going to be a lot lots of content lots of bonus content we're going to be there every step of the way so make sure you're subscribed so you see all of it let's take a break when we come back we're going to talk premier league the title race everything going on in the english football system right here on unfiltered soccer with landon and tim as always presented by volkswagen All right, LD, let's hop into some Premier League action this weekend. Some notable matches, Tottenham and Man City 2-2. What a game. What a game. What a game. It was, they're calling it a scorpion kick. It was just a wild sort of equalizer right at the death by Dominic Slanke. Man City draw again Arsenal I feel like Arsenal Like they were they were cruising and then they hit That button and now the convertible top Is down like they're just they're chilling right Now because obviously Villa Which I will May or may not get to they've lost So By the way doesn't it start to feel like This is just Arsenal's year Like when they slip up everyone else slips up Everybody else is starting to drop Points more it just feels like It's a strange Premier League year. It's all around with results. Yeah, it is. Yeah, it was a good game. What's going on at Tottenham is a strange problem. Can I ask you a question about Spurs? Tell me. Do you remember a couple of years ago with Ange when it was actually – I was at this game. I was in London for some reason. I was at Spurs City, and I remember everything going around the club. the Spurs fans were actually rooting against their team because what was it? Was it because they didn't want Arsenal to win? Yeah, something like that. And it kind of feels the same now a little bit. It's not as like pronounced, but they know they're not going anywhere. So they're like, well, we don't want Arsenal to win. That's the thing. Is that acceptable? Is that real? Is that like, that seems crazy to me. But I know there's such hatred between those clubs. There is. I can remember Liverpool going for the title when I was playing. And I think they were up with City. I don't remember what year it was. And it was City. And I just remember thinking, yeah, you're rooting so hard against your rival. To your point, what is Tottenham going to do this year? They catch form. They might maybe sneak into European plays. But it's different when you're rooting it. against your own team for that to happen i know it's one thing if you're watching from the outside and you want that but like that's that's how i hated these robbers i know it just makes me think like it's crazy it's crazy to me i don't know that must i wonder if that happens in sports here in america probably yeah i could say right like you're the raiders at the end of the year and you don't want the broncos to win sure sure playing whatever you're playing the charger or you're playing whatever the patriots and you're like i hope we lose today so the patriots are the number one seed you know like it's just crazy i think i think it happens i think it's i think it's human psychology no doubt um the other thing with spurs why why do they continue to do well i'm curious because like you played europa league a bit with everton too and like why are they so poor in the premier league now but they're still doing well in the champions league it's like what's your explanation for this is it just that i mean you can't say the champions leagues easier competition necessarily some games yes but you know it's bizarre i don't think anyone has it's one of those sort of enigmas that like no one has a real good answer for i just remember the only the only answer i have is like i just remember it like i love everton you know that and and you're a piece of that but there's some times when i just wasn't playing good it's couldn't wait to not be at goodison right because it's so hard it's so much pressure right and then so when you travel on the road and you know you're you're we're you know we're in the europa league a lot you know so you're in ukraine or you're in portugal you're like i don't know it's just you just like there's less it's hard to say there's less pressure because there always is but it's something very tangible about about you know the primer league and the expectations like like if you like if you're in a bad run of form right let's say let's say with everton we lost at home right and we're and we're in a bad run of form well when we go to Brighton the following weekend, that narrative follows us. It's weighing you down. If we're in a bad run of form in the Premier League and we end up going to play somewhere in Ukraine or as I said, Portugal or somewhere in Holland in the Europa League, that narrative is not following us. It's a whole different thing. We actually go onto the pitch without that pressure, if that makes sense. But the second we go back to England, we're like, oh, because the stats always come up. I give them every weekend. pool they've on you know winless in the last six and you're like oh my god we gotta win today so yeah yeah i don't know if it's apples to apples but there was one of the years i think it was 06 or 07 we were really bad with the galaxy really bad but they had this tournament i don't know what the hell they called it super league or something and it was a whole different tournament during the summer and we got to the final and lost but you it just felt like there was something exciting to play for like right now spurs feel like whether we win or lose in the league who cares we're going to finish you know 14th up to eighth or ninth and that's it and so like yeah just maybe it's a little more you know it happens like it happens everywhere i i remember before roberto martinez came to everton he took a wigan team that got relegated in the same season that they won i think they won the fa cup the fa cup against man city so like explain that one right they were terrible in in the in the premier league right but it's it's it's an interesting sort of again it's it's that psychology aspect of the pressure and um but we see it all the time like i told you guys earlier with the um benfica goalie scoring if you haven't seen dominic selenke's i guess they call it a scorpion whatever you call it um this goal is crazy because the ball is served behind him a bit and he it's the it's hard to describe but he just kind of flicks the outside of his foot and when it first happened to him i was watching in the airport coming home and i was thinking oh it must have an on goal like it must have come off the defender and i don't know if he knew a ton about it i can't say he absolutely knew to do that where he was putting it all that but you kind of just throw your foot at it and then you go oh yeah i meant to do that yeah but what a goal jesus what a goal what a goal yeah um other thing that happened on the weekend united in stoppage time crazy game bro crazy game crazy game and it felt honestly just watching it felt like old school united like they up they're doing well they tie they get fergie time or in this case whatever time you want to call it whoever's going to be the permanent manager um but they get the lots of stoppage time and score in the end and they're in the Champions League if the season stopped today. Yeah, and obviously the first two under Michael Carrick were difficult. Man City and Arsenal. This should have been more straightforward, but okay. Games are really straightforward, but they have a run now. I'm pretty certain. I don't have it right in front of me, but they have a run now. Again, even following the Arsenal game where I was like, they're playing Fulham. They've got some games where you're like, they could, you know, not that it's you can chalk up wins, but they could go. That's three wins on the bounce and i wouldn't be surprised they if they rack up another three or four in this next stretch so isn't confidence amazing it's the same group of players i mean obviously making some changes here and there but like it's the same guys same same squad man same squad guys it's just this and and and chelsea with rosenior now um six wins and a loss across all the competitions and and it's good for the premier league if these two clubs are good again and so and and chelsea were good i I didn't agree with the firing, but it's just – it's good. It's good when they're all playing well and doing well. And they came back from two goals down, by the way, to beat West Ham, which was really impressive. It's just strange that there were two goals down. I know. Yeah, I mean, the Michael Carradine thing is just like box office because it's just one of these things where you can't imagine they're going to give him the job until he – But, Tim, if this continues, is he not going to get the job? look i there's no scenario where like the fans allow them to hire someone else because if you think about if you're making that decision on united side you have karek doing well they're winning winning they're in champions league whatever and now you bring someone else in the downside is so massive right what if the person's terrible you're like well you had the guy right there yeah i know but they've done this one of us he's one of the you know how do you 12 years of this things have been so knee-jerky right like like look you can earn but amirim wasn't right and that didn't so they're gonna say well that didn't work out i'm just look there's there's a couple different scenarios for for various reasons because you know again if he if he does really well which he started off really well and continues and they get themselves in the Champions League, I would say yes, Michael Carrick himself would be able to knock on the board's door and say, guys, come on. I deserve part of this conversation. I wouldn't take that away from him. The board has to decide. They have to see it long-term. And United hasn't sort of been there for a long time in terms of that long-term vision. And quite frankly, I think and again I've been on record saying I don't think I like Michael Carrick a ton I don't think he necessarily deserves the job well I think they should go get a big manager right a guy a Southgate a Tuchel a Poch someone like that but again the problem is and this is where I think it helps Michael Carrick is the reason Amram left we've talked about this is because he wanted to be the manager, not the head coach. He didn't want to be dictated to. He wanted to be the manager. And the guys that I just mentioned are not coming to a football club, even as big as Man United, and go, all right, you guys tell me what players are assigned. You guys tell me how to play. No. So the board will run into the same problems if they go get a bigger manager. So that might help Michael Carrick. This might be an inflection point for that club, right, to say, okay, we're going to go the route now that Chelsea's gone, that Brentford, that Brighton, that these club, or are we going to be what we've always been, which is the manager dictates. It's going to be interesting to see. It's stoppage time sponsored by FanDuel. New customers can bet $5 and get $200 in bonus bets if you win. Download the FanDuel Sportsbook app to get started. All right, this weekend, Premier League, Liverpool, FC, and Man City. Liverpool are currently in sixth place trying to get into Champions League. They are 14 points off the Premier League table leader's arsenal after a decisive win at home over Newcastle this weekend, which was much needed. The defending champs needed a win after a loss to Bournemouth away and four straight draws in the Premier League prior to that. They're hosting City on Saturday at Anfield, always a tasty matchup. City are in second place, six points back now after they drew away to Spurs after being up 2-0 at halftime on Sunday. They have two wins, two draws, and a loss to Manchester United in their last five away Premier League games. I do think City come good here. It's a tough place to play, tough place to win. Liverpool always have the quality to beat City, but I think City win this game. I think it's a high-scoring affair. I think they go over the two-and-a-half goals. Erling Haaland, I know it's an easy pick, but I think he's going to score or have an assist. And then also, just a fun one to chuck in. I think the Seahawks win the Super Bowl this weekend. Sam Darnold playing very well. I think New England's had a bit of an easy run to the Super Bowl, and I think the Seahawks win the Super Bowl. So our very fun Unfiltered Soccer's EPL parlay this week with a Super Bowl pick is City to win over Liverpool, over two and a half goals, Erling Haaland to score or have an assist, and the special pick this week, I have the Seahawks to beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl. Don't forget to check out the full list of Unfiltered Soccer's Parlay on our socials later this week. It's time for the Fan Connection presented by AT&T. Every week we invite you, the listener, to connect with us by submitting your questions. At AT&T, connecting changes everything. And on USLNT, our connections with you will help grow the game. All right, Tim. The fans have spoken. Have they? You guys have all spoken, yeah. And they said less of Landon and Tim and more of Jordan. So we're going to listen to the fans. We are going to do a prolonged AT&T fan connection today. Jordan, come on in. We know you're back there. Welcome into the show. Jordan, they have said – you have told us the emails say we want more Jordan. That's not what I said. You know what, Landon? There's a song lyric, and I think this might be what Jordan's doing. So you know how you said the fans have spoken? We don't know that. You and I don't know that. So there's a song lyric that says when you own the information, you can bend it all you want. So she owns the information. That's right. You know what she told us, Landon? They want more. We don't know that. And we've asked for the login to the email multiple times, which we never receive. But here we are. Well, you guys don't check your email that often, so I don't know what you're talking about. That's true. Welcome in. All right, JR. Extended. Yeah, Brooklyn FC. Their men's team is starting in March. Their home opener is in Brooklyn in March. Coney Island? yeah may need it how do you say that something like that yeah brian mcbride is the is the um technical director for or or sporting director for both teams yeah i think is that right so hey by the way i um we should go though i want to go yeah you guys i want to go i make fun of new york a lot but i was watching nick's lakers last night from the garden it was the first nbc Sunday night basketball. It was awesome. They had, what's his name, Tracy Morgan? Yeah, Tracy Morgan. He did an opening salvo thing. I had goosebumps. I was like, this is rad. It's incredible. It's so cool. It's incredible. So Jordan, LeBron at MSG. So Jordan, we're going to go to Coney Island, watch a game, Brooklyn FC. We want field passes, though. I want to be down near the field. Ask Brian. And then we go get hot dogs. I'm going to be in New York a lot You are not getting me on the Cyclone though That is not happening I'm going to be in New York a lot So can I come too The next six months Social just jumped in the chat They want a selfie of me and Jordan On the Cyclone Selfie video You ever see those videos of people Passing out on roller coasters I don't think I would trust the Cyclone I love roller coasters like when i got my kids but i'm white knuckled like but you know you know when the you know when the you come down the thing and it flashes and you can buy the picture after it's me like this all right jared what do you got okay um i have a speak i have a couple of comments first that i would like to read from people um the first one is from katie via email katie said i'm currently watching this week's episode which is from last week and she said i'm noticing the super cool hoodie Jordan's wearing. I feel like I could also rock an unfiltered soccer hoodie myself. Do me a favor, said in my best Tim Howard voice, can you convince the powers that be to make one that I can buy? You can call me Tyler or Parker, whatever name comes to mind, and I will not email in a correction so long as I have my super cool unfiltered merch. We have it. You're right. I take it back. The people have spoken. I am storming. I'm taking a living with me because I'm a little afraid i'm storming into our boss's office and i'm saying we need more merch the people want it it's right there i have i have a few sweaters by the way i don't know if the sweater her size but i'm happy to send one hoodies katie send us your size so we can make sure that we get you something but yeah we need to we need to get some some merch in here um okay the next one is actually from someone called parker via email i like triple check this before I put it in. So Parker said, I'm writing in reference to the proposed offside rule in which the entire attacking player must be beyond the defender. I disagree with Mr. Donovan's assertion that this change would benefit the game. While it almost, while it would almost certainly result in more goals for top teams, I believe it would ultimately reduce the competitiveness of the league. Weaker teams would be incentivized to sit even deeper, in theory, making counterattacking goals for the underdog less likely rather than more common the likely outcome would be fewer upsets and a widening gap between the top and bottom of the table that's interesting i actually hadn't thought about it from the defending team's perspective how you would adapt right so like when they made goal kicks that you could play a goal kick inside your own box before you don't have to wait till it gets outside the box before you touch it like it changed everything in every way and i I was just thinking about the attacker. You can be way more aggressive, but I didn't think about defending. Maybe you do drop deeper. It's an interesting point. Here's the thing, and I used to want to remix it as well, and I like Arsene Wenger in terms of the daylight between defender and attacker. I think I'm in the minority. I just – given what we have, LD, that we have sort of one goal line – not goal line, I don't know, the semi-automated technology, and prior to that we had var where they could draw the lines you can argue about lines but at least you could sort of get like close enough and and then you're basically saying like any part of the body that legally can touch the ball so not your not your fingers not your elbow but like any you know basically cap sleeves sort of on the upper arm like if that's offside we have we have the ability to like see it pretty clearly right now so like i'm okay with that where we're offside this i don't know but yeah i mean like i was an advocate just for clarity i'm not advocating for what exactly arson wenger is saying i'm not saying it i'm just saying in general it's gotten so like millimeter specific where you're watching it and you're like okay maybe his toenail is offside but like it's a goal give it to the give it to the offensive player right and i don't know you don't want to have subjectivity because that's a problem but there's some you watch and you know come on man let the goal stand we want goals also how can the attacking player be aware of that they can't it's impossible you know like if you're if you're measuring millimeters yeah you know there's no it's when you're running know that yeah and and by the way there were so many times i would make a run and someone would play a ball and i'm like i'm offside and then i'd stop and i watch it back and i'm like i was half a yard onside right so you have no idea yeah right you have no idea okay This one's from Renee via email. In November, I bought four tickets to the US versus Australia game in Seattle due to information from your show. So thanks again. This is truly a once in a lifetime experience. Please let your audience know that hotels are outrageous. Most hotels are charging in the thousand dollar per night range for the games. I wonder if FIFA is getting a kickback on the line. I don't think so, Renee. I think that's just how capitalism works. Yeah, you're right. Anytime there's a big event, one big game or multiple games, hotels and everything's getting jacked up. That's just how it is. Look, I'm not – and by the way, I'm not saying it's completely apples to apples and Gianni Infantino likes to say this is like 100 and however many Super Bowls because every game is basically a Super Bowl with how many people watch. But that game in Seattle is basically a Super Bowl. It's a USA game in a home World Cup. I can promise you any Super Bowl because I've been – that's what the hotel rooms are. And it sucks. I'm not saying I like it. I'm not saying I agree with it. It's just the reality. When big conferences or big things happen in cities, the hotels get more expensive. It's just part of it. But we're glad you got tickets. It's going to be a heck of a game. It's a win. It's going to be amazing. You're going to go to Seattle, and you're going to watch a three-niller. Love that. It's going to be a great game. And by the way, that stadium of all stadiums and those fans, you are going to fall in love with this game like you never have. You're going to see a version of Chris Richards we've all been dreaming about getting to see live. There we go. Let's do a couple questions. This one is from Carlton via Instagram. He asks, if you had one chance to do one thing over in either of your careers, what would it be? That sounded like the start of 8 Mile. that's where i was going ahead was not one chance to do one thing over i would when i was at leverkusen when i was young i wish i had a mentor or somebody who said look you're not gonna play because you're not good enough yet you're too young you need experience you got to stick it out deal with the hard times um keep doing well in practice and eventually you will get your chance now i'm glad everything worked out the way it did because that's why i'm sitting here today but I wish I had had that kind of guidance to help me understand that this is not going to be easy these are the reasons why and you going to be okay good answer tim regrets nothing well no i sort of going there um yeah i don't have a lot of regrets on this on the playing side i think maybe I don't I mean I you know I went to I played for two of the biggest clubs in the world the Metro Stars and Manchester United and then I went to you know and Everton was the perfect timing and like World Cups and I don't know I'm maybe you know maybe taking the year off but I needed it at that point so like i'm not sure i regret that um you've had a perfect career pal no no no congrats you know what maybe maybe in a perfect world i would have taken ld and you can appreciate this my my body wouldn't have let me do this so like it's sort of pie in the sky but like maybe gone to i've spent like three and a half seasons four seasons at denver and i you know once the game's gone it's gone right like maybe go back to them and just say look i will take the biggest most a massive pay cut to play another year you know i say that too like like i don't i don't at that point i didn't need i didn't need uh everyone needs a big contract but like i would have sacrificed maybe to be on like a like veteran minimum or whatever to play another year because once it's gone it's gone um but again my body wouldn't have allowed me to do that so it's behind the sky good question all right as i said tim the fans have spoken they want more jr so jr You stay right there. We're going to take a break. When we come back, we will continue with your questions right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim presented by Volkswagen. All right, we're back. JR, give us some more. Continue. More questions. More questions? Okay. More questions. this one is from Ramon via email and he would like to say something about the World Cup he says another reason people are so excited for the World Cup this year is that it will likely be the last one for many of the superstars Messi, CR7, Modric, heck maybe even Neymar who are you guys most excited to see perform maybe in their last World Cup ever and Landon and Tim how did it feel how did it feel playing your last world cup ever wait nabar still plays football that's not blasphemy by the way who does he play for he's in i actually had no idea is he in brazil santos or something i don't i'm gonna google it while you guys uh not gonna lie bro i play with it in the chat he plays for santos i play with some brazilians and like it you you can probably tested as landon they love the game they go at it hard they're brilliant they're usually successful and playing for the best clubs in the world right yeah and then they're like yo let me go play my guitar on the beach totally they do it's crazy like i know and and it's just kind of is what it is that's like the normal whatever or they're happy to just yeah like take a paycheck not play anymore totally just sit on the bench yeah i know i know i played with a bunch of them the question was who might be playing the last world cup that you're excited to see namar not as much but certainly cristiano and and leonard messi because what we forget when we're in it and this is i regret this about like michael jordan growing up i never saw him play live because i wasn't old enough to understand right now i'd be like i need to see him play live because it's just it doesn't happen and it could be i'm imagining at some point there will be someone we say is better than than Messi was or or or played the way Cristiano did for so many years but maybe not not in our lifetime and so I yeah to see those two perform one last time will be pretty special yeah um Ronaldo for me but also like not to make this about me but it's always about me but like we you know we got to United the same month we got to United in in July Manchester United in July of 2003 and like to see that young kid i think he was 18 was he like did you know right away he was really special yeah yeah like really special it was hard because because don't forget it who manchester was at the time they got special players special players like a dime a dozen but we did you know there were we played that was my first preseason so we did the tour of the u.s then we flew to portugal played sporting this kid was you know gary neville tells a great story he ran gary ragged and gary and a few of the other senior players after the game were like went to fergie like boss like drop everything like you have to get to play and and and they and they you know bought him from um sporting and yeah you know it was his work ethic man and i've never seen like i work hard i try and be the hardest working guy in the room nobody ever is but you try like this guy's he's obsessed he's obsessed like i've never i've literally never seen a human being in the sports realm work harder than this guy it's crazy and so i don't know i i'm i i have a soft spot for him it reminds me because people think like oh messi's just born with this talent or christiano's but any and he is he's born with like a special yeah physical ability and messy with certain techno but i um paul tenorio has a book coming out called the messy effect and in it there's a bunch of um anecdotes about players with inner miami who just speak about how competitive he is yeah and you forget that with messy like he's really because he's so smooth and it looks so easy he's like in training he'd be like guys this club world cup game against whatever and they're like what the hell do you care about it like he really cares or some whatever open cup game or whatever and it's it's just it's what makes those guys so special for sure i think the other part of that question that was asked was what was our last world cup game like oh yes yes you're right you're right tim yes good landon what was yours 2010 ghana yeah but neither one of you knew it was going to be your last problem was i didn't certainly last and you didn't either tim because 2018 you thought you were going to qualify right so like yeah yeah that's a great question I always say to people, most people don't retire. They just get cut or they're not good enough anymore. And we got to retire, but the national team, like, no, that was, yeah, I didn't realize it was my last World Cup game. So I would have certainly treated it differently. Mine was Belgium, so I'll just go off on that. Jesus. No, but you're right. Next question. I didn't think about it. Jarn, don't listen to this crap. We were hoping it was 2018. Right. You didn't know. But I mean, obviously phenomenal. I just, it's weird when you don't know. Yeah, you're right. Yeah, but I almost kind of wonder if it's better in its own way to be like, I'm just playing like it's a regular game versus like getting caught up in the emotion of knowing like this could be the last one. I'd still rather have three or four more games. Yeah, to be honest, though, I've always been like, people are like, would you want to know when you're going to die or whatever? I'm like, yeah, I want to know because I want to live my life that way. And some people don't. And it's an interesting philosophical question. But I would have liked to have known that that was my last run. I would have personally. Don't worry. I'll let you know when your last podcast is. We cannot end this segment without doing a couple of new rules. I feel like I look forward to this now every week. The new rules are wild. All right. Go on. Okay. This one is from Matt via email. I will also just say I like Matt got straight to the point with his new rule. but there were some other people who had the same new rule, but they wrote me a novel. And while I appreciate them and they're fun to read, this is good for the podcast. So good job, Matt. Matt says a great rule change would be if you draw the PK, you take the PK unless you're injured. But if you're so injured, you cannot take the PK. You must leave the game. Come on. You're an athlete. Step up. Take the PK. are you saying you're saying this is a rule that football like soccer would have to implement or your team and your manager implements this he did not specify but i think it should be it can't be like a managerial thing i think it should be like a you're in soccer that's just the rule that's the rule oh that would be interesting so what's interesting with my kids club they're eight years old any foul anywhere that's that is drawn that they get it's not a handball or something they all go oh me me coach coach coach and he's like you drew the foul you take it whoever drew it and it it i i'm all about creating more clarity in those moments because disaster so i like it from actually from a managerial standpoint you draw the foul you take it there's some jr there are some players who are crazy superstitious and they'll say played with many who said like if i get fouled i do not want to take it if i'm the one who gets fouled i do not want to it's a weird like i don't know what it's about but they just didn't want to take it so yeah don't love it but that's it you know me i like i like why don't you love it because i like the fact that there's a there's a there's a predetermined penalty taker on every team and then a secondary one that's it yeah but what about the ones that don't have a predetermined they all fight over it every they all do they everyone does except the stupid the stupid ones but this would this would eliminate that that's what she's saying clear it up like if you got fouled you're taking the pk it doesn't matter and you need to be ready to do that no i play with some donkeys let me tell you if one of those guys got no that's what i was thinking imagine your center backs gets out in the box on a corner grabbing the ball no chance sorry omar you're not taking it i can't be just catching strays um all right jr hold on one more okay i told you the fans want and jordan says they want more um also because my email the email is like getting out of control i need to get some of these out of there um so this one's from otto via email my suggested rule change is that anytime a referee feels he has to go over to talk to two players who are wrestling before a corner kick then both the opposing players must exit the penalty area while the corner kick is love that love that love that because it drives me crazy when the i'm like don't blow the whistle don't just call a penalty or call a foul they know they can't do it like stop just it's all like performative i hate it i hate that so i love it good if i have to go stop it you're both out bye that'd be great it's like two v two in the box by the time the corner gets taken yeah but it's like it would but it would be like so hang on hang on i'm trying to work this out i was i was i thought it was terrible but i'm trying to work it out so who get so if i'm a defender and land is my attacker and i grip him up what happens i get kicked out if both of the he's saying like if there are two players who are wrestling then the two opposing players both have to step out of the penalty area while the corner kick is taken oh tim's making a good point though yeah if i'm a defender i could just grab him and make sure they're rough because i don't want him in there i'm taking the three best headers and i'm getting the grips with them right and i'm going oh we got to go out of the box guys see anytime there's a new rule people take advantage of people take advantage unless ld unless you're being shown to be passive which again is subjective it's all subjective how about okay jordan yeah go on auto auto how about this the person who is at fault initially for creating they get kicked out So now you're either a player up or a player down. Love that. That's not bad. I like that. What about – oh, we're going to end the show with this. This is so stupid. Your idea was really good. What about as the game starts to dwindle down? I haven't worked this out yet, right? You have to limit – so it basically goes from like three versus three in the box. The ball has to be served in the box. And then it goes like two versus two. And then one versus one. On corners. On a corner. Like one versus one. Like in the last 20 minutes, last 10 minutes. I don't even know what to talk about anymore. Love it. Whatever. No. No. Keep it as is. Okay. Well, Otto and Matt, I tried with your new rules, but Tim's not having either one of them. I am. I'm open. I'm very open-minded. Tim's very closed-minded. You can send your new rules, your questions, your angry comments. Thank you to the person who sent me an email asking if I was over my head cold. Yes, I'm fine now. Thank you very much. to unfiltered no what is it feedback and unfiltered soccer.com yes maybe i'm not over that head cold never mind all right i'm getting out i can produce the show if you want jr oh good all right bye jr thanks for giving the fans what they need okay timmy before we get out of here promo it's a promo time this weekend when do you head out by the way i'm leaving today oh you're even today i'm going to napa i'm going to napa oh let's go yeah a few bottles of red i was happy bottle of red bottle of white that's billy's all new york oh sorry all right um we are going to be at the super bowl this weekend not actually at the super bowl but on saturday we are having a free live show saturday the 7th from 2 to 4 p.m pacific time we have some very interesting and special guests will be joining us. I think you guys are going to like them. You can find us at St. Joseph's Art Society. It's at 1401 Howard Street in San Fran. Learn more. Write this down. Ampsportsblockparty.com Ampsportsblockparty.com So if you want to go free, hang out. We'll be there. Tim will be signing all your autographs and taking pictures. And it's going to be a lot of fun. So I hope you guys are there. life's gonna be a lot of fun yeah all right thanks guys for being with us another great show we appreciate you guys as always remember to subscribe on youtube apple podcast spotify anywhere you get your pods we have lots and lots of bonus content coming in the next five months i told you guys as the summer approaches make sure you follow the show across all social media at unfiltered soccer for all the bonus content thank you to our presenting sponsor vw our fan connection sponsor at&t and our stoppage time sponsor fanduel yeah great show thanks everybody uh thank you to our unfiltered refresh sponsor cores light our additional sponsor airbnb have an amazing week as always we'll be back next tuesday with another edition of unfiltered soccer