Austin, TX - An anonymous Austin FC player secretly took down the motivational MLS Website pre-season predictions taped to the wall of the team locker room as the team slipped further down the table this weekend.

“So as it turns out, the predictions were not especially motivating this year,” stated one anonymous Austin player. “I was really going to have a go at Charles Boehm for placing us 5th, but …. well… um…. as it turns out he may have had more belief in this team than we players did.”

Sources say that Austin players who believed they didn’t have enough respect from national pundits last season thought that perhaps they had too much respect this season.

“I think that we really need to take Kljestan and Ortiz to task here,” stated one Austin defender. “Clearly we weren’t going to be 1st in the West. They should take the blame for this team underperforming their rankings like when we blame them for underrating us when we exceed their rankings. It’s completely logical.”

The Nutmeg News will have more on this as Austin are ranked in the middle of the conference for the 2024 season and the players claim those rankings as disrespectful bulletin board material… unless they lose again.