Podcasts
Changing our predictions after two matches
Two losses to kickoff the year have our crew already walking back their optimism about Sporting KC in 2025.
It didn’t take long for the Shades of Blue crew to lose confidence. The season preview episode had everybody pumped up and feeling good about this season. Amazingly, that led to a unanimous prediction that Sporting KC will sneak into the playoffs this year. But some of our team is walking back that optimism after just two matches.
You may not believe that SKC will be good this season. I won’t argue with that. But you don’t have to be “good” to make the playoffs in Major League Soccer.
9th place is the mark. Nine out of fifteen teams. “Below average” will get the job done. They just have to finish higher than six teams in the West.
Call me crazy… but that’s doable.
The allure and intoxication of the preseason faded away for Carrie & Robert. Reality must have set in while standing in subzero temperatures. But Thad and I are staying strong.
Has your 2025 outlook changed after the first two matches?
This episode covers a lot of ground to kick off the year. We discuss each line of the team, recap & preview the upcoming matches, and even arguing about Daniel Salloi. Will he ever reach his former heights?
Please subscribe, rate, & review the KC Soccer Journal feed wherever you get your podcasts! Feel free to yell at Cody @ThatCodyTho, Thad @TheBackpost, and Robert @SpKCLife.
Last Week: 2025 Sporting KC Season Preview Podcast
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New Sporting KC Kit Numbers Unveiled
Sporting KC Sign 15-Year-Old Zamir Loyo Reynaga
Trying to Set a Sporting KC Depth Chart
Across State Lines: Thommy Signs with LA Galaxy
What is the Minimum Sporting KC Needs to do to be Roster Compliant
Malik Tillman heads goal class, Robinson struggles: USMNT Tracker pre-FIFA World Cup 2026
Another Week Passes Without a Sporting KC Signing
Sporting KC Add Two Defenders in Meyer and Reid
Regarding Salloi. You pointed out that Salloi is the player to dump on du jour. I think your assessment is fair…he hasn’t earned all the negative comments we have lumped his direction. That said, he wasn’t good last year and has started this year exactly the same. I think 18 months of consistently meh performance should earn him a spot on the bench.
Now we get to the crux of the matter because his performance earning the bench creates problems:
1) 1.3 million is too much to spend for a bench player
2) SKC has not brought in any wings that are clearly day 1 starters
3) SKC has zero wings that can create (or even cross)
4) SKC insists on playing up the wings…almost never through the middle
5) PV loves an inverted winger and Salloi on the RW is less of a threat than Salloi on the LW.
6) SKC has exactly one natural RW on the roster.
Some of this may not be true if Shapi turns out to be awesome, but he wasn’t lighting the world on fire in Greece and that league is rated well below MLS.
Can SKC be competitive with the current roster and the method of play that PV prefers? I really don’t think so. SKC will need to play through the middle using Manu, Joveljic, Davis and Ndembe to play off one another to create opportunities. I think Salloi and Thommy may benefit on the teams play if they figure this out and contribute, but neither of them will be able to make it happen up the wings. If SKC continues to play up the wings, I predict most attacks get thwarted before any ball gets into a danger area.
SKC needed to sign a really good wing in the offseason and they haven’t done it yet. JFR was crucial to the success of this team because he was individually dangerous on the wing, could create for other players and put an awesome ball into the box. Which wing on this roster has even one of those 3 traits?
I’m not ready to post about it online but I agree.
I really think that we were “scheduled” to introduce some new tactical wrinkles as long ago as 2022 but that various personnel issues delayed that and made us look identity-less as we were stuck basically making due with whatever we tactics the guys could execute.
My thinking is driven primarily by the way they’ve gone about building the spine during past tactical evolutions. When Vermes first took over he was using centerbacks as 6s and putting the high motor guys in front of them and using strikers in all three spots up top and finding outside backs who could cross and centerbacks who would smash people and then implemented that super aggressive high press smash-n-grab style that got us an MLS Cup then as they started switching to a more possession oriented style they brought in registas and put converted center mids in front of them and got centerbacks who came from defense-by-possession systems and wide guys with speed who could get in behind and take guys 1v1 and 9s who could drop back and play between the lines.
Then after 2021 the profile seemed to change again. Centerbacks and 6s who were more physical and could pass but didn’t have the line-splitting/deep lying playmaker pedigree, advanced mids who could dribble and hit the long pass and score on their own but didn’t really look for the through-ball, 9s who would play up high and pester centerbacks all day. They didn’t bring in any wingers of note but the guys they did bring or the guys they converted were players who played super direct who had speed and were looking to score more than anything else. Those profiles mostly hold true with the rebuild so far.
Jovelic is a straight up poacher. Garcia is great with the ball at his feet and has a killer long ball but has never really been a big assists man. Radoja is a safety-first 6 who is physical and aggressive defensively. Rosero and Fernandez are both strong tacklers who are good in the air and fancy themselves good in tight spaces but not really line-splitters. Even naming Pulskamp as the #1. He had one of the highest long-ball percentages in MLS in the games he started since he got here.
It really feels like they are bringing in players who will defend well and physically and then get the ball to the attacking half more quickly so guys can put the ball in the box so our #9 can steal some goals. Conceding possession in the first two games and finding most of our (very limited) joy through runs in behind from Salloi with Agada and Jovelic crashing the box after him seems to indicate that as well.
How all this applies to your post is basically that Salloi’s best career work came in that 2018 and 2021 season where we possessed a lot and created overloads where he could just catch and turn and put the ball toward goal because all the possession and buildup came behind him. Since we’ve brought in all these guys who aren’t here for possession or extended buildup he’s struggled. I think he’s a guy that could go to a Columbus or an Austin and absolutely feast. I just don’t think he fits what we’re trying to get around to doing anymore.