Seattle Sounders 2016 season thread

[SeatownJay]

Seattle has five guys called up for International duty.

Jamaica: Oniel Fisher & Damion Lowe
Trinidad & Tobago: Joevin Jones
United States: Jordan Morris
Uruguay: Nicolas Lodeiro

 

[Uncle Si]

Can one of the more knowledgeable soccer fans explain something to me? Seattle earned their penalty thanks to a handball in the box, but the player that committed the foul wasn't carded. I thought handballs in the box were an automatic booking. Am I wrong?

They are not.

Intentional handballs (meaning the player moved his hand away from his body and to the ball) in the box would lead to either a straight red for denying a goal scoring opportunity (if a goal) or a yellow if denying a cross. Any other unintentional handball (where the arms are not controlled by the player and left away from the body but not purposefully moving to the ball) are simply fouls in the box, like any other.

 

[SeatownJay]

Jordan Morris has been released from the US Camp and will be available for Seattle's game on Wednesday.

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

So Lodeiro and Morris are back for wednesday and a win clinches a play off spot?

 

[TransGenderHawkFan]

So Lodeiro and Morris are back for wednesday and a win clinches a play off spot?

You are correct.

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

Honestly think if Dempsey had stayed healthy we would be strong underdogs in the play offs under schmetz. We are finding more ways to win just now but I worry about our depth up front, especially if morris gets hurt or suspended. At this point though just making the dance is pretty amazing given how bad we have been and how far behind we were at points this year.

 

[Smurf]

Honestly think if Dempsey had stayed healthy we would be strong underdogs in the play offs under schmetz. We are finding more ways to win just now but I worry about our depth up front, especially if morris gets hurt or suspended. At this point though just making the dance is pretty amazing given how bad we have been and how far behind we were at points this year.

It's a credit to Schmetz to be honest. This team had no business making the playoffs when we dismissed Sigi...but now we are 3 points away from clinching and we are a dangerous team to play.

 

[knownone]

Honestly think if Dempsey had stayed healthy we would be strong underdogs in the play offs under schmetz. We are finding more ways to win just now but I worry about our depth up front, especially if morris gets hurt or suspended. At this point though just making the dance is pretty amazing given how bad we have been and how far behind we were at points this year.

It's a credit to Schmetz to be honest. This team had no business making the playoffs when we dismissed Sigi...but now we are 3 points away from clinching and we are a dangerous team to play.

Except most metrics showed that this team should make the playoffs :\

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

Sure it was as low as 30% at one point.

Not that it matters. Even if we aren't as talented as last year, i'm hoping schmetzer at least has the team showing up for the play offs this time. Feel like we were the Bengals of MLS under Sigi and crapped the bed each time or went away from what worked.

 

[knownone]

Most metrics had Seattle in the 50-80% range. The only ones that didn't were based on pretty unreliable math. I actually did a write up back in August looking at Seattle's roster with Lodeiro and created a model using different advanced metrics, which put Seattle in the playoffs with 50 points, Seattle currently sits at 45 with 2 games remaining.

I think it's easy for people to claim Seattle is not as talented as last year, or that somehow Schmetzer is a wizard whose making something out of nothing, these are the same people who thought the team was a talent black hole early in the season.

I said it numerous times when this team was slumping, I said it when they were winning, this is one of the most talented teams in MLS. The notion that they are not, or the notion that somehow Seattle only has 1DP while ignoring the fact that both Nelson Valdez, Ozzie Alonso, and Roman Torres, are all technically DP's is baffling to me. This is probably why most other MLS fans think Seattle fans are spoiled and clueless.

The debate for me comes down to this - was it Lodeiro / Torres / Flaco who helped turn Seattle around or is it Schmetzer? Personally, I think it's Lodeiro. I honestly believe Sigi has a similar turn around if given the chance with Lodeiro. Don't get me wrong I'm happy Sigi is gone, but the argument that Schmetzer deserves the job outright because the team performed better after adding a player who by most metrics has been the best player in MLS since his arrival is a little bit shortsighted. It would be like the fans in Cleveland blaming their coach for not winning 60+ games after Lebron left for Miami, and then praising the coach for winning 60+ games when Lebron returned... hmm... was it Lebron... or whoever the coach was.

I don't mean that as an insult to Schmetzer, I think he's got the team playing at a high level, by all accounts he's a great personality manager, the players seem to love him, he's an ideal spokesperson for Sounders Soccer and the community as a whole. Tactically, he's been pretty average, and I personally don't think he's a top 5 manager in this league, which is why I'm open to Seattle bringing someone else in should the right candidate come available.

 

[Uncle Si]

The focus on predictive metrics is still being far overvalued. That said, it was Lodeiro.

Drab affair. Disappointing result, no?

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

That was disappointing as hell last night. Felt we dominated (although Houston had 2 really good chances). I think our lack of depth up front showed. Valdez is an expensive waste of a jersey and Anderson missed 2 golden chances.

Wasn't impressed with Friberg, looks every bit a depth player. Ozzy played well then got suckered into lashing out, was a really stupid red card at this point of the season.

Thought the back 4 played fine, although it's noticeable when we don't have a left back bombing forward to support.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

The focus on predictive metrics is still being far overvalued. That said, it was Lodeiro.

Drab affair. Disappointing result, no?

Very disappointing.

You have a chance to lock up a playoff spot, jump up above RSL in the standings to get home field advantage in the playoffs against one of the worst clubs in MLS playing a bunch of scrubs.........and not only do you lay an egg, but one of your best players loses his mind and now will miss the next even more important match.

What we learned last night is this club has terrible depth, couldn't overcome the absence of Flaco and Jones........and when Ivanschitz went down it was over. If Friberg isn't the worst player on our roster, I don't know who is.

 

[Smurf]

This thread amuses me....

 

[knownone]

The focus on predictive metrics is still being far overvalued. That said, it was Lodeiro.

Drab affair. Disappointing result, no?

In the stadium, HECK NO! watching the DVR after getting home... it was pretty bad.

 

[knownone]

The focus on predictive metrics is still being far overvalued. That said, it was Lodeiro.

Drab affair. Disappointing result, no?

Very disappointing.

You have a chance to lock up a playoff spot, jump up above RSL in the standings to get home field advantage in the playoffs against one of the worst clubs in MLS playing a bunch of scrubs.........and not only do you lay an egg, but one of your best players loses his mind and now will miss the next even more important match.

What we learned last night is this club has terrible depth, couldn't overcome the absence of Flaco and Jones........and when Ivanschitz went down it was over. If Friberg isn't the worst player on our roster, I don't know who is.

I would challenge the assertion of depth being an issue. Seattle dominated most of the game until Ozzie got sent off, not to mention losing Ivanschitz really hurt us early.

 

[knownone]

This thread amuses me....

Commentary without insight comes off as being intentionally divisive. Share your perspective, whether we all agree or disagree, the community as a whole is better off with diverse opinions, so long as we keep things civil! So tell us what's amusing, what you would do or change? Just don't sit on the sidelines and laugh at people for expressing their passion in a way that differs from your own.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

The focus on predictive metrics is still being far overvalued. That said, it was Lodeiro.

Drab affair. Disappointing result, no?

Very disappointing.

You have a chance to lock up a playoff spot, jump up above RSL in the standings to get home field advantage in the playoffs against one of the worst clubs in MLS playing a bunch of scrubs.........and not only do you lay an egg, but one of your best players loses his mind and now will miss the next even more important match.

What we learned last night is this club has terrible depth, couldn't overcome the absence of Flaco and Jones........and when Ivanschitz went down it was over. If Friberg isn't the worst player on our roster, I don't know who is.

I would challenge the assertion of depth being an issue. Seattle dominated most of the game until Ozzie got sent off, not to mention losing Ivanschitz really hurt us early.

You just proved my point, without Ivanschitz and Ozzie we had no answers on the bench.

But that's the MLS, no one has depth. MLS clubs can withstand missing 1-2 starters, but beyond that it's a gigantic drop off, this club included.

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

The focus on predictive metrics is still being far overvalued. That said, it was Lodeiro.

Drab affair. Disappointing result, no?

Very disappointing.

You have a chance to lock up a playoff spot, jump up above RSL in the standings to get home field advantage in the playoffs against one of the worst clubs in MLS playing a bunch of scrubs.........and not only do you lay an egg, but one of your best players loses his mind and now will miss the next even more important match.

What we learned last night is this club has terrible depth, couldn't overcome the absence of Flaco and Jones........and when Ivanschitz went down it was over. If Friberg isn't the worst player on our roster, I don't know who is.

I would challenge the assertion of depth being an issue. Seattle dominated most of the game until Ozzie got sent off, not to mention losing Ivanschitz really hurt us early.

So your happy with our forward line depth outwith Jordan Morris? I thought we were pretty comfortable most of the game but couldn't take our chances due to that lack of quality depth.

 

[Smurf]

We're down to 10 men and still the team controlling possession and the attacking flow of the game.

Yeah, Schmetzer has done nothing to transform this team, its all Lodeiro...


Right.