Episode 18 - The Southern Derby: The tale of two halves.

[00:00:00] Welcome to Cannon Crue, a weekly podcast discussing the Charleston battery. Your host Granite will be joined by other defenders of the fleet from the Black and Yellow supporters section, and together they will help fortify and conquer the other cannon crew.

[00:00:34] Welcome to the Cannon Crue podcast. I'm Granite, and I'm joined today by Ryan. How are you, Ryan? Doing good, Granite. How are you? I'm doing okay. And Patrick, let's call it on everyone. Hey, it's party time here after a nice little outing. First half ready to

[00:00:54] leap into the big old barrel of beer. Second half, bada-bing, bada-bang. All of a sudden, attacking team comes out. The team we've been looking for for weeks now with the atmosphere, pre-match, a lot of fun, a lot of stuff going on. The regiment outdid themselves. Tacos.

[00:01:13] Toby was back there cooking. Tacos. Mike was cooking, all sorts of stuff. Beer. Everybody was out there having a good time. And then we walked in for fun and excitement, and we ended up getting Ryan, what are your thoughts on the first half?

[00:01:37] It was terrible. Honestly, I felt like we were slow. We were playing behind every time. Every time the ball would either go against us, being like North Carolina would be on the counter or

[00:01:49] even when we had the ball just trying to move the ball up the field. We just didn't have that ump or that caliber to actually attack forward and actually be a threat. I didn't feel like we

[00:02:01] were a threat at all in the first half. And this is a quote from our great coach, Ben Peerman. We were pathetic in the first half. Terrible coaching, terrible performance, terrible attitude. Yeah, I agree with that. It's definitely the attitude. That's

[00:02:17] what it is right there. Patrick, we were behind the goal like we usually perched up on our observation post and I was trying to avoid watching the match while it was going on because it was so bad.

[00:02:28] What are your thoughts? I think a great example is, well, like you guys said, I'll start with this. There was lackluster as hell the entire first half and then you see them put

[00:02:41] up the plus five minutes that we're playing five minutes of added time on the first half and worked on one nil, but North Carolina, as the five minutes is coming up, you could just see Charleston deflate. They attacked with three players against eight and got a goal

[00:02:59] off of us to end the half. I think that's just how it was going. It was like, I don't know why, but we turn off for these moments in time and just act like the game or

[00:03:10] the half is ending and then we get ill about it. Like no other team that we played does this. They just sit back and they're prepped and they're tenacious and they expect us to attack them, but we just kind of go at the half's gonna end and

[00:03:25] pal was I defeated at that. That moment in time, I think I looked at you, Greenit and I just went the worst half of football. That's how you're going to finish it off. They walk towards us clapping, fans are clapping and I think I said to you,

[00:03:44] what are we clapping for? I think that's kind of embarrassing the way we just ended that out. They didn't come off with a head tilt high. They come off of that look of like, boy,

[00:03:55] I'm glad that's over with. It was the great Southern Darby. Hey and Ryan, by the way, we saw the cup, got to touch it, got to crest it. I'll send you pictures.

[00:04:06] Jealous. Turns out it's held by somebody we all know. I'm not gonna tell you who it is, holding it again because we won. Yeah, that first half was just lackluster and I'll go back, terrible coaching, terrible performance, terrible attitude. I don't know,

[00:04:19] best way to sum that up. This is also coming off the back of like making a new signing who's going to help our attack and we're excited to see, hey, the defending's not the issue. The defending's been there.

[00:04:33] We just need a little extra push and attack. Maybe someone to motivate the guys and keep it a little fresh, keep it a little competitive up there. I think everyone in the stadium

[00:04:43] kind of had their head hung a little low just being like, it hasn't been our defending for eight straight weeks and all of a sudden now we're just getting, we're going into a half losing game.

[00:04:55] Not one nil where it's like, okay, we can get back to go down two nil at the last second of the half is really, it's this man-willing. It kind of just like kicks you in the gut.

[00:05:05] You feel it and you can feel the whole stadium kind of be like, oh man, it's fireworks night. We're excited to be here and the guy, I don't know. I put it,

[00:05:15] we'll get to it but I'll put the second half on Coach Perriman because I do not want to be anyone in that room going into halftime. I'll say that. And if they got a little talking to, a little motivational talk, then they deserved it.

[00:05:29] They earned every bit of that motivational talk. What is that, nine and a half, almost 10 halves without scoring a goal? Yeah, close to it. And honestly, you know, seeing how the result ended, I want to go back and I would want to be one of those players in

[00:05:45] that locker room just to get to experience like that whole momentum change in a game because just like you said, Pat, you're going down two nothing going into halftime. Your head's going down. You realize that you're playing for a trophy and if you come back in the second

[00:05:59] half, a little flat foot and the other team scores early, you're done. You're done. 3-0, you're done. And to get your team flipped over that quick and still battle and not to give up that entire

[00:06:11] time in the second half is incredible. The other thing added to it was our pitch was shit too. There was brown spots and it looks really bad. We got to up our game on that too

[00:06:24] but what North Carolina didn't count on was two things. One, the dreaded 2-0 and how that affects you and how you get yourself in trouble when you get a little head like that.

[00:06:36] And then the ability to do a flying kick through the air studs out and you earn your second yellow card and all of a sudden it's game on. I left the stands. I was walking around to the other

[00:06:51] side to be by myself. I heard a whistle blow. I walked around the corner by the big video monitor there and I looked over and the guy's being escorted off where he's being carried off a little

[00:07:01] bit and saw a red card fly up in the air and I said, maybe I'll just watch a little bit from this spot. Try to be a great spot to watch from. I mean it's crazy. You're what 45 seconds into

[00:07:14] the second half and it's a normal aerial ball to the wing. There's nothing more to it and the guy just goes in on Seggbers and I don't know what he's thinking but I mean first and foremost, Glad Seggbers is not completely fucking destroyed on this play

[00:07:32] and like snapped in half because it was that reckless of a challenge. But second and foremost we're going into an entire second half. A man up now which gives you the confidence boost I think we needed because if we had to play that

[00:07:48] second half for another 10-15 minutes even maybe it's a different story but getting that momentum shift almost immediately I think really helped us out. I think it did. I mean obviously going man up also helps a lot but in this case I think the motivation behind it,

[00:08:06] it looked like a different team out there. I mean we were just connecting passes. We've been clamoring about for the last couple weeks is getting our midfield more in the attack. More than just Emilio but getting Chris Allen up there. Everybody pushing up. The fenders on the

[00:08:21] midline maybe a little more forward and that's what they did the second half. Watching the highlight stuff it was remarkable how much of a shift in the attack that we made in that

[00:08:32] second half and we've done in the last couple matches. Now what do you think for you was it a little more actually seeing Allen push forward and not just sit back as much because their

[00:08:42] first goal came from him pretty much attacking a ball that was a loose ball in the air in the box settling it and bringing it back down. Yeah absolutely so Allen I kind of that first goal

[00:08:55] that North Carolina got against this I kind of that's Allen's fault. I don't know if he didn't see the defender behind him. I don't know if that motivated him to all of a sudden be

[00:09:05] Superman but he is running into the box I think at that point we had four or five players in the box. Emilio traps pops it up for Allen. Allen passes it back over and he would just seem

[00:09:16] like a man possessed there for a little bit. You also got to think about it too like you guys just said you know you're going a man up and it completely changes to the game and for North

[00:09:25] Carolina they changed the game to where they had one less attacking person up front and they went back and had their four in the back and by doing that that allows Chris Allen to

[00:09:35] then move forward and take the pressure off of the back four and allow him to play more freely up front having that man free or being a man up. What we saw was people we saw people attacking

[00:09:47] into the box I mean actually moving with momentum into the box with and we have not seen that in 10 halves that has been a true 10 halves of not being able to see that. We haven't had that

[00:09:58] urgency in the box and it was so fantastic to see. Right and I'm curious what you make of it because obviously we've talked a lot about the doctor in the past couple weeks and like his inability to

[00:10:14] I don't think his inability to finish but his inability to create space and it felt like this one the space was there and he didn't overthink it. He took like a one touch then a shot

[00:10:25] for his first two goals and they're very quick very almost training ask like you're playing a smaller side of the field what did you make of them? No I felt like he went right back into

[00:10:37] the New Mexico game. He fell right back into that moment where it was a quick get in his body's position turning his whole body around and just putting it low and keeping it low keeping it

[00:10:47] very simple and by doing that it allows you to not only create this space but then you're creating other opportunities for your team whereas like the rebound the deflections and picking those up in the box and getting everybody in by doing stuff like that you know he's playing

[00:11:07] exactly how we want him to play for this team and it it's amazing to see him be so happy and fall in love again with the passion for the team and everything and finding that momentum again going

[00:11:23] into the second half of the season because we needed it. Nahid did it agree 100% he took one touch to settle the ball and then took a shot and that's what we've been asking for is like don't

[00:11:34] dance around with it you see a little bit later on in the game he dances around with it we got lucky it was a pk because easily the defender could have just got a touch on it they wouldn't

[00:11:43] given a pk on that but when he's shooting he's shooting. I mean we also saw Marquette score for the first time in I don't know since he'd been scoring three goals a game

[00:11:57] about two months ago so what was it like we're still recording okay uh yeah so the second goal another thing we saw was our backs coming up and being a lot more aggressive that ball was in from

[00:12:16] DeSantis if I remember right and Nick found it his feet bounced around and did a fantastic didn't mess around with it did a fantastic shot hit that thing and rippled it back to the net.

[00:12:29] You notice how they didn't pass a bunch in the box too like just trying to get the ball to a different angle they just took their shots like they're supposed to and there's no messing about

[00:12:40] it. Yeah you know the whole match had 20 shots in the box 25 overall eight were on target but 20 shots inside the box it's incredible so we were doing a fantastic job there. I think if you look at

[00:12:54] the past however many games four or five games that were goalless and this stuff that you think like hitting the bar like the luck just not being on our side I think the luck was here because you're

[00:13:06] down yeah granted you have an extra player but the guys just kept going and the ball fell after that shot right back to Nick's feet where he could finish it so like a little bit of luck on

[00:13:19] our end but like well overdue luck that we have needed in the past four games that just hasn't gone away. Yeah and I hate using the term luck because luck is just I mean there's no such thing

[00:13:28] right but I often say when I'm watching a match the bounces aren't going our way when the other team's getting the bounces just because it's something a force I don't believe in luck

[00:13:38] but all of a sudden they're landing on our feet instead of the other team's feet and here was the great example bouncing around ended up on Nick's left foot. Well speaking of no luck

[00:13:49] Rodriguez came into the game I think sure did and I think that was that was the difference for me I don't know about you guys but it was about time almost immediate I mean we've been we've

[00:14:00] been wanting it we as fans have been wanting this moment for a while now it's been what six games it's been a while I mean I think he showed what we kind of talked about for a couple of podcasts

[00:14:14] in the previous view of just being a bigger presence like I know we kind of joked like between him and Akaza is he really that much bigger but I mean his presence just is bigger like it just

[00:14:27] seems bigger it seems like he drives the ball a little more dirty down the field where if he's drawing a guy he makes the ball at the exact time and just dodges the tackle and keeps going to

[00:14:40] receive the ball or create a little more space back for whoever he passed to and I mean like kudos to Myers for finishing these chances but like without Rodriguez I mean I don't know where

[00:14:53] he's sitting I think we end up tying this game that pass he did to MD and split the defense and put MD behind them all was fantastic that's one of the best passes I've seen so far from anybody

[00:15:04] on the battery it was just well placed well waited well timed and it was just amazing it was in MD did a great job finishing it the other person I think made a big difference is Jackson Conway

[00:15:17] and I didn't realize how big of a guy he is but when you start seeing them celebrate and you realize he is a monster of a god you know he's about time we started seeing that size right

[00:15:28] yeah so it's kind of interesting he come on towards come off at 46 minutes I don't know what happened to us he wasn't having a great match he had a good shot but all sudden there was that

[00:15:39] change I think it was at 46 minutes now that could have been a very tactical decision right there thinking that I'm going to pull one of my strong guys out from the wing and put more of a

[00:15:51] a body into the middle to be more physical and to challenge and to create those spaces those knockdown situations inside the box and you look at it I mean we had 20 shots inside the

[00:16:01] box so whatever he was thinking was was right just kind of looking at if you want to watch back some of the highlights it I know I know we're a man up but like almost this two forward attack helps

[00:16:13] us where Nick Marcanik had moved into it previous to anyone coming off and then you finally like put Jackson Conway on and ease your second striker up top that they have to worry about

[00:16:26] now granted they're down to 10 men but this is a different look we've been shouting for for a couple weeks now to like why not try it why not get this extra pressure up top with two big

[00:16:37] presences who can just attack the ball or like go for it kind of like what Jake gave us before we let him go like just that tenacity running at the ball like pressure the other team into

[00:16:49] making a mistake and we're on the forefront right away and I think we saw it tonight and it was phenomenal like there's not much more you can say than it was just flat out phenomenal

[00:17:00] one of the other interesting things was seedy seedy came in about 75 minutes he replaces Emilio now we talked when seedy showed up and look like I thought seedy played on the right

[00:17:13] when we looked at ryan you and I were looking at you know where a lot of his presence was and the former teams everything he was on he was on the right comes in on the left and man he would

[00:17:23] had chalk all over his boots because he was so far wide so far forward and he were that right back was for north calana he would just eat in that that guy up he would just kind of juke him and

[00:17:37] then get a step on him and then cross the ball in I think somebody said they're bringing a very experienced player to me that means a very old player this guy's 30 years old and he was

[00:17:46] school and these younger guys out there on the field it was great to watch but then in granite you can also look at that as a contest from peeramon saying hey you're new to the squad but what what

[00:17:58] can you really provide for us other than just playing on the right and testing them seeing if you want to play on this pitch you will play anywhere to get playing time and that's a perfect

[00:18:07] example for these young kids saying that I'm only a right winger or I'm only a striker this guy right here he's 30 years old he's mainly a right winger yet he goes right on the field gets his

[00:18:17] playing time on the left side and school's kids still and he does and I don't know if it was peerans coaching it was telling them say hey take it so why did they have to come out to you

[00:18:26] but that's what he did I mean he he was he was literally on the touch line the whole time yeah I think a good thing to remember is he is left footed and for the most part we are a team

[00:18:38] that loves to get the ball into the box from our wing so just having that strong presence because I mean we're used to seeing these highlights of him on the right wing driving the ball in and having

[00:18:49] these amazing curled shots kind of esch of a sopka type player but I think this is kind of what you talked about Ryan just like a little bit of a prudery around like go out there I want you

[00:19:03] to kick the ball in I want some of our attackers to attack it because maybe peerans like hey this is how we're going to use our system I also need these guys to step up and show me that I need to play

[00:19:14] them in the center give a good ball to him and I want to see them attack it and I think he absolutely dominated that left side and he drew the defender out every time because he has

[00:19:26] pace he has a dangerous left foot you can't just let him get easy crosses in exactly so this was MD's first goal since May 8th uh what was the other thing it was interesting our first half we were held

[00:19:40] only four shots so we had 25 all the other so we had 21 shots in the second half they're saving them all for a moment neither so that means we had at least 16 shots in the I don't know 16 plus

[00:19:52] shots inside the box in the second half I don't know if that what that means we'll say that though we'll claim that yeah we'll claim that the other that's insane the other cool thing was our pass

[00:20:01] accuracy was at 85% to their 62 that's a high number because we were not just messing around passing around the horseshoe in the back we were woofing the ball to people and people were getting great touches on the ball and putting it onto the next person

[00:20:18] there was a noticeable absence though that we've seen match after match after match and that is good to Yaris is this a sign maybe it's a sign you want to you want to play the new guy a little bit

[00:20:36] exactly kind of what we talked about on the one of the previous ones go competition in there make these guys earn their places back it's not just a given I know it's a short squad but

[00:20:46] you got to earn it you want to be out there you got to prove every minute you're out there you're giving it your all yeah exactly because it's not like due to Yaris has hurt anything he's he's on he was there he dressed he's on the bench but

[00:21:00] you know we only are given how many subs did we take we take all five one took off five yeah yeah we took all five yeah they took them off yeah and you're gonna give you should give

[00:21:10] your new guy that that start over him and see what he's about and and test them like you're not just gonna put him in his position too you're gonna test him more and put him on the other side

[00:21:18] you know see what he's about from what I saw say these are totally different player than gets years he was he wasn't one's going to try to dribble the ball up in touch line end up losing it

[00:21:29] he was give the ball and he's going and he's running that's what he was doing I don't think gets yours gives you that no and I mean I think it was nice to give

[00:21:40] Segber is a little bit of a break too in this game right so oh yeah thanks came on at what 75th minute so we're giving them a solid 15 granted we didn't know it was gonna be an extra 10 at the

[00:21:52] end of the game but like as nice you're getting you're getting 15 20 minutes as a player a brand new player and segbers himself is getting what like almost 30 35 minutes take a little breather

[00:22:06] this guy's worked his ass off all year if there's anyone who needs it give him a little rest and I think these were not tactical so to speak changes but like hey we're definitely throwing the

[00:22:20] boss of it and we're winning this game but let's give a couple of our defenders a little break too which was nice to see the nice little match the trophy stayed the lads were hoisting it out

[00:22:30] there in the pitch everybody's screaming yelling and then they celebrated with some fireworks oh it's a lot of fun it was a totally different match at half from half time I was I was I know I

[00:22:41] don't leave matches no matter how bad it is but I needed a little spot by myself to console myself to you know and then watching that second half of five goals swing or seven goals basically

[00:22:55] it was just amazing amazing to watch yeah I think this is the best stat you can give is that we finally got the w back on the board Ryan do you have any final thoughts so proud of you

[00:23:07] MD I love you and I can't wait to get that jersey from you soon I can't wait to get that jersey and you can add your jersey first what's your jersey first I think you did a good job I mean dude

[00:23:17] you get another hat trick like that in the books second one of the season I'm excited for this man to go off yeah a big shout out to Leland Archer again the siren guy who's just out there

[00:23:28] killing it no matter what and lets everyone else take the recognition yeah another kind of cool thing was captain was the pk and it was noticed that I would assume it would probably be nick that

[00:23:42] would take it and the ball was handed to md that didn't go unnoticed by but that didn't get that did not go unnoticed by people so pretty cool get him a hat trick that's all I got

[00:23:57] uh Friday night we're gonna do a pre podcast this time we won't butcher it like we did last time and not get it out because of whatever happened to our engineer that was sacked three

[00:24:08] times the time before then we'll sack him again he keeps giving us trouble and we brought him back sound engineer so if you're like a sound engineer that really you know doesn't want any money

[00:24:21] like the last guy but has actually you know resume or cv or whatever just send it on to to granite here and I'll take a look at him if you're looking for a great summer internship

[00:24:33] and looking for a killer resume we got you yeah I can doctor any resume that may look killer okay y'all Friday night we'll get the pre-match podcast out going up against bernie hand legion and hopefully it's going to be a fantastic time get another w on uh

[00:24:53] let's score sheet where it's called that's all I got thanks guys all right peace later yeah

[00:25:37] we will sing before we we are the battery