It’s been three weeks since we last record and, wow, has a lot happened. The Sounders have played four matches, going 1-0-3, made two huge signings and, most recently, suffered one particularly painful loss.

By now, you’ve surely heard that Chad Marshall has decided to retire, effective immediately. The decision, best we can tell, was a bit sudden, but also somewhat forced by the knowledge that there was some degredation going on in his surgically repaired knee. Marshall was one of just two players remaining from the Sounders 2014 double-winning squad, was still one of the best defenders in the league at the age of 34 and was genuinely considered one of the most popular player among teammates.

Luckily, it looks like the Sounders are in a good position to cover for his loss. Roman Torres has been playing well, going 90 minutes in all three games last week. The Sounders also have signed Marshall’s expected longterm replacement, Ecuador international Xavier Arreaga. Arreaga was one of two deadline day signings, with the other being Joevin Jones.

This week's music: Perry Como - "Seattle", "RVIVR - "Ocean Song", Woody Guthrie - "Roll On Columbia", "Your Journey Begins" - OurMusicBox (Jay Man) (CC BY 4.0)

Thanks to James Woollard, Sounders Public Address Announcer, for doing our sponsor reads. You can follow him on Twitter at @BritVoxUS - if you’re looking for a British Voice to advertise your business or non-profit, please reach out to him.

Want to hear the music from the show in their glorious, full versions? Check out the Nos Audietis playlist on Spotify!

This promised to be an important stretch for the Sounders in terms of determing just how good of a team they are. Unfortunately, I’m not sure I know too much more about them than we did at the start of this recent three-game stretch.

In a vacuum, claiming two points in three games when two of those games were at home is underwhelming, even if you consider that two of those games were against top of the table LAFC. But when you zoom out and recognize that they were playing short-handed and on short-rest, in addition to being down a man for most of Sunday’s game, I think it’s harder to come away with anything like a clear conclusion.

One thing I think we know is that this team is willing to run through that wall, for whatever that’s worth. Wednesday’s 2-2 tie with the San Jose Earthquakes was definitely disappointing, but they showed some serious spirit by erasing a two-goal lead after losing three players to injury. Similarly, I’m not going to get too excited about that 1-1 tie with LAFC, but they did manage to escape with a point despite playing down a man for 72 minutes.

We talked about the week that was, interview Sounders Academy Director Marc Nicholls and take your questions.

This week's music: Perry Como - "Seattle", "RVIVR - "Ocean Song", Woody Guthrie - "Roll On Columbia", "Your Journey Begins" - OurMusicBox (Jay Man) (CC BY 4.0)

Thanks to James Woollard, Sounders Public Address Announcer, for doing our sponsor reads. You can follow him on Twitter at @BritVoxUS - if you’re looking for a British Voice to advertise your business or non-profit, please reach out to him.

Want to hear the music from the show in their glorious, full versions? Check out the Nos Audietis playlist on Spotify!