Seattle Sounders 2016 season thread

[Smurf]

God we give away some really really crappy goals at the worst times. Why was Lyon not playing instead of the rookie, apart from one save he was suspect. 4-3-3 aint working.

This 433 isn't working.

It's because of what Si has been saying, and thats Square Peg-Round Holing players.

4231 fits much better IMO. Morris up top. Ivanschitz, Dempsey, Valdez in the line behind.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

God we give away some really really crappy goals at the worst times. Why was Lyon not playing instead of the rookie, apart from one save he was suspect. 4-3-3 aint working.

This 433 isn't working.

It's because of what Si has been saying, and thats Square Peg-Round Holing players.

4231 fits much better IMO. Morris up top. Ivanschitz, Dempsey, Valdez in the line behind.

I'm telling you guys, Sigi went to the 4-3-3 because Valdez is a liability in any other formation. His old ass legs can't play forward in a 4-4-2 and cover that much ground. Remember how much Oba ran his ass off in the 4-4-2 creating and causing chaos to the other club's backline?

Oba was the reason the 4-4-2 worked, even making up for Clint not running as much as a 2nd forward should. How do you expect us to play the same formation with two old forwards?

 

[knownone]

God we give away some really really crappy goals at the worst times. Why was Lyon not playing instead of the rookie, apart from one save he was suspect. 4-3-3 aint working.

This 433 isn't working.

It's because of what Si has been saying, and thats Square Peg-Round Holing players.

4231 fits much better IMO. Morris up top. Ivanschitz, Dempsey, Valdez in the line behind.

I'm telling you guys, Sigi went to the 4-3-3 because Valdez is a liability in any other formation. His old ass legs can't play forward in a 4-4-2 and cover that much ground. Remember how much Oba ran his ass off in the 4-4-2 creating and causing chaos to the other club's backline?

Oba was the reason the 4-4-2 worked, even making up for Clint not running as much as a 2nd forward should. How do you expect us to play the same formation with two old forwards?

Valdez would be ideal in a 4-4-2, he's great at being a traditional CF and would make an awesome pair with someone like Oba. The problem we have with the 4-4-2 is having three forwards, Valdez and Dempsey don't have the legs to play in the midfield and Morris doesn't have the skill set, in order to be effective Morris would need to play off Valdez which leaves Dempsey in limbo. That's why Sigi went with the 4-3-3, unfortunately we don't have a creative force to drive the attack which is where I believe our struggles are from.

 

[Uncle Si]

I'd say at this point putting Dempsey underneath your two strikers in a 4diamond2 (have i mentioned this yet?) is the best possible set up.

It's not ideal overall, but given that the front line set up is a little disjointed and that Dempsey, despite his age, has a great deal of experience for club (Fulham) and country in that #10 role it makes the most sense.

Will be interesting to see what Sigi does. I am not so sure that even bringing in a true, dynamic #10 gets the best of Dempsey and Morris where they are currently playing.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

God we give away some really really crappy goals at the worst times. Why was Lyon not playing instead of the rookie, apart from one save he was suspect. 4-3-3 aint working.

This 433 isn't working.

It's because of what Si has been saying, and thats Square Peg-Round Holing players.

4231 fits much better IMO. Morris up top. Ivanschitz, Dempsey, Valdez in the line behind.

I'm telling you guys, Sigi went to the 4-3-3 because Valdez is a liability in any other formation. His old ass legs can't play forward in a 4-4-2 and cover that much ground. Remember how much Oba ran his ass off in the 4-4-2 creating and causing chaos to the other club's backline?

Oba was the reason the 4-4-2 worked, even making up for Clint not running as much as a 2nd forward should. How do you expect us to play the same formation with two old forwards?

Valdez would be ideal in a 4-4-2, he's great at being a traditional CF and would make an awesome pair with someone like Oba. The problem we have with the 4-4-2 is having three forwards, Valdez and Dempsey don't have the legs to play in the midfield and Morris doesn't have the skill set, in order to be effective Morris would need to play off Valdez which leaves Dempsey in limbo. That's why Sigi went with the 4-3-3, unfortunately we don't have a creative force to drive the attack which is where I believe our struggles are from.

We're saying the same thing, Dempsey and Valdez are the interchangeable parts of a 4-4-2, not Oba. Thus the 4-3-3.

And Si, my guess is Dempsey doesn't want to drop back because that means less goals and more work.

Bottom line, if we can get a young speedy attacking CM to fit underneath and move Ivanschitz outside where he belongs? Then a 4-3-3 might work. But as of now it's a complete disaster.

 

[Smurf]

Sounders are reportedly monitoring Toulouse forward Wissam Ben Yedder.

Ben Yedder is a 25 year old forward who has scored at least 12 goals in the last 4 seasons, including being being runner up to the Ligue 1 Golden Boot (Zlatan) in 13/14.

He has been linked in the past with Tottenham and Barcelona, but nothing came from those talks.

Ben Yedder is primarily a forward, but has played midfield in a 4231 out wide. He plays more of a withdrawn forward similar to Fredy Montero and Clint Dempsey than he does a linking play maker like we are rumored to be after.


There would be a transfer fee, and it would be in the range of $8 million.

 

[SeatownJay]

Any predictions for tonight against Vancouver? I'm thinking 2-2 draw.

 

[Smurf]

Any predictions for tonight against Vancouver? I'm thinking 2-2 draw.

Both teams are without any points, and I think that leads to an extremely open game.

I haven't paid much attention to the fitness of the lads this week so I'm not sure of the health of Evans, Friberg, Valdez and Morris, but I think Morris is the only one who plays.


I'm thinking we line up like this:

Dempsey, Morris, Kovar

Roldan, Ivanschitz, Alonso

Jones, Marshall, Scott, Mears

Frei


I think there will be goals, just a matter of who gets them.

I think Morris opens his account, and we see some quality play from Kovar.

I'm thinking 3-1 Sounders, Morris, Dempsey and Marshall the scorers.

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

3 points please, don't how how we earn them but we need to get our season started today.

 

[hawkfan68]

The Sounders will continue how they started this season so far....finding a way to lose games. The team is on a steady downward spiral from last year. Its the players and management. The team has way too much talent to be underachieving as they are. They are more talented than the Timbers but had to watch the Timbers hoist the MLS cup. A change from Sigi is needed and Lagerway hasn't impressed much either. None of the young guys are developed enough to be counted on and they sold their best player for peanuts. I'm still a fan but really disappointed in the play and direction of the team.

 

[SeatownJay]

So it's gonna be one of those games, huh? Vancouver up 1-0 thanks to a phantom foul and subsequent PK. Speaking of PKs, has Frei ever stopped one for Seattle?

 

[knownone]

Mark Geiger making the game about him again. How a guy whose been accused of match fixing in the World Cup and Gold Cup, has the reputation of being the best American referee is beyond me. He's both dictating and making the game about himself instead of the teams.

Seattle looks good. I will be incredibly pissed if this game ends 1-0

 

[SeatownJay]

If Seattle aren't in a playoff spot come June 1st when they have the break for the Copa America Centenario, do they finally fire Sigi?

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

I don't think we did much wrong but the ref really screwed us.

However, 1 goal from open play all season ain't gonna cut it. Wondering if going back to 4-4-2 might be an option until we get some more creative players in. Valdez and Dempsey up front and bring Morris on around 60 minutes and kill teams with his speed.

Still question why they let Oba go so late in the pre season. They should have told him he could go in the summer once they had someone lined up rather than scrambling around now.

 

[Uncle Si]

bring Morris off the bench?

 

[Smurf]

Sounders have never started a season 0-0-3 since joining MLS.


We've also never won MLS Cup.....so who knows...maybe thats the trick?

 

[Smurf]

Personally, I think Valdez is in pretty horrific form right now. His touch is a disaster, he's gotten in the way of a few of our own players at key moments (Marshall last night).

Morris can hold up the ball up top. I think its time to let the kid play his position. Let him be the lone striker and let Dempsey/Ivanschitz play off him.

If you bench a player, I think its Valdez.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

I've never been a blame the ref kind of fan, but I can't remember a more horrible performance from a ref than what I saw out of Geiger last night.

Having said that, we had plenty of opportunities to at least draw a pretty bad Vancouver side. I don't see any chemistry, terrible communication, frustration and just a bad Sounders club right now that only can score from free kicks. Other than that, all we do is wildly whip in low percentage cross after cross, no direct run of play at all.

PS. Hey Clint, you know that 5M a year we're paying you? It's not to miss on easy crosses 8 yards out.

 

[knownone]

Personally, I think Valdez is in pretty horrific form right now. His touch is a disaster, he's gotten in the way of a few of our own players at key moments (Marshall last night).

Morris can hold up the ball up top. I think its time to let the kid play his position. Let him be the lone striker and let Dempsey/Ivanschitz play off him.

If you bench a player, I think its Valdez.

I couldn't disagree more, Valdez has been our best forward by far, and I'm having a really hard time figuring out why people are scapegoating him. Dempsey misses a sitter, Morris shoots when he's got 3 people open in the box, Valdez competes his ass off has one or two bad touches and people blame him? I don't get it.

I understand that people are frustrated, but Seattle was unlucky to come away with one goal, and extremely unlucky to have a ref give away two goals. Last night I finally saw a team starting to put it all together, Ivanschitz had his best game as a Sounder. Valdez as a traditional CF was flat out dominant at times, his work rate and damn near perfect positioning are the reason Seattle had so many dangerous chances, and Ozzie is playing lights out and finally coming into the attack and taking the pressure off of Ivanschitz which is what I've been asking for since CCL.

losing 3 games sucks, but this team is good, SS good.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

I couldn't disagree more, Valdez has been our best forward by far, and I'm having a really hard time figuring out why people are scapegoating him. Dempsey misses a sitter, Morris shoots when he's got 3 people open in the box, Valdez competes his ass off has one or two bad touches and people blame him? I don't get it..

No one's criticizing Valdez for his heart or workrate. Dude's a hustler, always has been.

But his entire job in this formation is to sit up top, work one's two's, get his head on crosses as a target forward and most of all service Morris and Dempsey with deft passing.

Other than the workrate part, all I've seen out of Valdez is terrible passing, miscommunication and the inability to get on crosses..................or even hold up defenders, which is suppose to be his specialty.

We made the wrong choice in letting Oba go. We've gone from a dynamic press creating havok in our opponents 3rd with Clint and Oba making brilliant passes to each other, to a predictable low percentage run of the mill MLS club trying to run our offense through an aging brittle target forward.