Welcome, and welcome to Richmond Kickers Weekly. My name is Darrell Grove and I'm joined by a man

who loves his ESPN Plus subscription. His name is Taylor Rockwell. Hello. Hello. I do indeed.

I wish it could respond to keyboard commands. Yeah, it doesn't quite well. It does not. The iPad app is

good, right? You can go backwards and forwards. I think that's the problem is I usually watch these

games on the iPad app. So then whenever I try to watch it on our monitor here in the office, I hit the forward and backward arrows. And Darrell laughs and laughs at my expense. It's because you kept doing it, even though it obviously wasn't working. Well, we've established that I'm smart. And there you go. That's what happens. So what game were you watching? What game were we watching? We were watching Forward Madison playing host to our Richmond Kickers. Yes. The Richmond Kickers getting a 1-0 win on the road. Yep. Three straight wins. We sent Forward Madison into retreat. Yeah, there you go. Backwood Madison. Yeah. For at least the last half an hour. We made them whatever the opposite of flamingos are. Is it work that way? I don't know if there's an opposite of flamingos. Penguins, I guess? Yes. The shorts, they waddle. That's it. The backwards penguins. Yes, exactly. They actually belong in cold weather. So, yeah, I should say the Madison, the atmosphere at the ground, I think there were nearly 5,000 people there, and they were all nice and close to the field. It looked nice and lively. It did, because, yeah, they had the wraparound, they had fans just behind the goal, they had fans in the stands, they had a giant dartboard that I'm assuming was for kicking soccer balls at. Yeah, I hope so. You got the vibe that it was like a fun atmosphere to enjoy a soccer game. I also saw behind one of the goals there was a bar called The Cross Bar. You know, I love a pun. That's all done.

Yeah.

That's well done.

It's pretty good. fun atmosphere to enjoy a soccer game. I also saw behind one of the goals, there was a bar called The Cross Bar.

You know, I love a pun.

That's well done.

Yeah.

That's well done.

It's pretty good, right?

You know what wasn't so good, though? The camera work. Not so much. I don't know if it's the camera position. It's not quite high enough for them. I like to see the formations. Things can be two things, my friend, because I think even though they were very close to the action,

so it made it hard to see a lot of what was going on.

It was also the case that there were those moments of like, oh yeah, I got to move the camera. Like, the ball would be passed, and then it was that frantic catch-up as fast as they could. Even for the Richmond kickers goal in the 69th minute, scored by Daniel Jackson, there's a moment where the ball is out of shot and you don't know what's happening. Yes. And I think also the replay camera, because there's always that like the wide angle such as it was for this game and then there's the secondary camera. The white angle such as it was. Yes. And then the secondary camera for this one when they showed us that replay, it was like as Daniel Jackson tries to go around the goalkeeper the first time.

But none of the build-up, nothing like that. So I think we were limited. We piece it together. Yeah. We piece it together. More or less. We figured out how the keyboard didn't work. That's worth noting. I shouldn't really be throwing shade at people when I'm still like, back button. Back button, no work. Let's do win the kick his formation. All right. We went with the back three again.

We could call it a 352, I I think is the best way to call it because the, so Luka being Hughes with the right, right ring back, left wing back. There wasn't very often them all the way back in a back five, right? So it really was like a three five two. Yeah, it was. I would almost say it goes to the like 351. It's like 3511, and one of those ones is Joe Garreto doing kind of whatever it was. And I would almost say it goes to the like 351, or it's like 3-5-1-1, and one of those ones is Joe Gallardo doing kind of whatever he wants. So it started with Gallardo underneath chin. I'd say when the kickers are defending, they're in a two. Yeah. Gallardo is level with chin. But when their kickers have possession, it seems like Gallardo has lots of freedom. He's essentially like Diego Maradona in 1986. Argentina played this formation. Exactly the same. But no, like, I should clarify. I didn't say that just to be like pedantic. Like, it was more of a one-one, but two. But what I mean more so is that I think this formation... He's like Calculan. Calculon is acting. That's who that is, right? Okay, cool. Making sure I know things. I can't quite do the beautiful voice that he has. Sorry, we're talking about Calculon some more. Yes, but I was making that distinction to note that I think the kickers have found a way to sort of get their defense solid, get enough numbers in midfield to be able to keep possession and not have some of the problems we've seen early in the season. But then it allows Guyardo to kind of float around and sort of occupy space. He doesn't have defensive responsibilities. Exactly. And that's what I think is so key. But he doesn't have to get all the way back to midfield and be in a shape. Yeah. But it allows him to sort of instead of do that, he can sort of notice like, oh, that centerback's too far forward or too far wide and I can occupy the space between and that will pull the other center back and that opens up space on the other side.

You can overload time. he can sort of notice like, oh, that centerback's too far forward or too far wide,

and I can occupy the space between, and that will pull the other center back, and that opens up space on the other side. He can overload sides. Exactly. I think he can pay attention to stuff off the ball, which allows him to find himself in better attacking positions. Yes. And then the other thing is there seems to me a lot more movement from the kickers midfield. And the key to this goal is the movement of Josh Hughes.

I believe it's Will Hughes.

No, it's not.

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