Seattle Sounders 2022 Season

[Threedee]

I figure we might as well get an updated thread to discuss the season.

-CONCACAF Champions
-Blew an opportunity to win the US Open
-Slow start to the MLS regular season
-Now settled into playoff contention at 7th place
-Opportunity to parlay our CONCACAF title into a World Championship

And this weekend we get Sporting KC at home.

 

[TransGenderHawkFan]

Dropped a tough one against Wast leading Montreal, but bounced back against Toronto today.

 

[hawkfan68]

Dropped one against the Timbers today but the awful referees had everything do with the outcome. They were slanted toward the Portland from the opening whistle. They blatantly missed a red card and penalty for Seattle but called it on the other end for Portland. Sounders were taking on 14 players today and held their own for the most part until the last 10-15 min. It's a shame that the refs thought they needed to decide the outcome instead of the players. It could have been a great match otherwise.

 

[TransGenderHawkFan]

That was ugly

 

[Threedee]

At least they weren't wearing pink.

 

[hawkfan68]

At least they weren't wearing pink.

Agreed. Those kits the Timbers wore were fugly.

 

[JustTheTip]

Dropped one against the Timbers today but the awful referees had everything do with the outcome. They were slanted toward the Portland from the opening whistle. They blatantly missed a red card and penalty for Seattle but called it on the other end for Portland. Sounders were taking on 14 players today and held their own for the most part until the last 10-15 min. It's a shame that the refs thought they needed to decide the outcome instead of the players. It could have been a great match otherwise.

None of which makes sense. You would think MLS would want the Sounders' confidence sky-high until the club WorldCup.

Of course, the official was Radford who seems to have a problem with the Sounders on an ongoing basis since the Dempsey incident.

 

[hawkfan68]

Sounders should have traded Nouhou instead of Brad Smith. Smith actually plays good defense. Can't say that for Nouhou.

 

[JustTheTip]

Sounders should have traded Nouhou instead of Brad Smith. Smith actually plays good defense. Can't say that for Nouhou.

For all of his raw talent, the bonehead mistakes are inexcusable and have cost the Sounders multiple games over the years. F'n Nouhou is often heard by my family when I am watching games.

 

[hawkfan68]

For all of his raw talent, the bonehead mistakes are inexcusable and have cost the Sounders multiple games over the years. F'n Nouhou is often heard by my family when I am watching games

Haha....Arreaga has steadily declined each year as well. The Sounders back line is not what it had been in the past. They are playing like they are just going through the motions since they won the CCL. It's like they are disinterested in anything else.

 

[JustTheTip]

F'n Nouhou. If you aren't going to pass it to Ruidíaz you better be damn sure your shot is going to make it to the back of the net.

 

[hawkfan68]

Ruidiaz got screwed on his goal early. The Sounders are floundering lately. No way they should be giving up points at home. Especially to mediocre teams like Real Salt Lake. At this rate, they may not make the playoffs for the first time in their history. Hopefully they keep the streak alive.

 

[Threedee]

Definitely looking like they will miss the MLS playoffs en route to competing for the world championship. If they were to somehow win, would that be some kind of statement for MLS (or is this a sandbagging conspiracy)?

 

[olyfan63]

Haven't followed the Sounders that much this season due to a cross country move... Most years they have a red-hot last 3rd of the season where they go on a winning and points streak. This season, they lose to RSL, they lose to Vancouver, they lose to Orlando City, they lose and lose some more to Portland, all the types of games they were winning in seasons past at crunch time. (at least a season split with Portland) What is crippling the usual Sounders end-of-season run this year?

* Players getting old and declining in their performance? (Which players?)
* Not as much overall team talent as in previous years? (Who are we missing badly?)
* Too many injuries to key players keeping them out of the lineup?
* Schmetzer has lost his touch, and players are tuning him out?
* Schmetzer hasn't evolved and the rest of the league is figuring out him and the Sounders?
* The club is too distracted by the club world championships, and focused on that instead of MLS play?
* Front office has made bets on DPs that have been busts?
* The rest of the league has gotten a little better, better players, coaching, and the Sounders are about as good as always, but no longer better than the rest?

Appreciate any insights, Thanks.

 

[JustTheTip]

Haven't followed the Sounders that much this season due to a cross country move... Most years they have a red-hot last 3rd of the season where they go on a winning and points streak. This season, they lose to RSL, they lose to Vancouver, they lose to Orlando City, they lose and lose some more to Portland, all the types of games they were winning in seasons past at crunch time. (at least a season split with Portland) What is crippling the usual Sounders end-of-season run this year?

* Players getting old and declining in their performance? (Which players?)

Lodeiro isn't what he used to be and the team still attempts to play like he is.

* Not as much overall team talent as in previous years? (Who are we missing badly?)

I think Joao Paulo going down was huge. While I don't think he had the skill that Lodeiro used to, I think he may have been having a larger impact on elevating everybody else on the field than Lodeiro ever did.
Injuries and national duty have had a large impact on Ruidiaz's impact.

* Schmetzer has lost his touch, and players are tuning him out?
* Schmetzer hasn't evolved and the rest of the league is figuring out him and the Sounders?

Don't really think either of these are true at this point, but if we see similar trends next season it will be something to seriously consider.

* The club is too distracted by the club world championships, and focused on that instead of MLS play?

I think this is a factor. I also think the effort and emotion put into winning concacaf exhausted them and has had a continued impact on them all season.

* Front office has made bets on DPs that have been busts?

Not sure one way or the other on how much of an impact this has been.

* The rest of the league has gotten a little better, better players, coaching, and the Sounders are about as good as always, but no longer better than the rest?

Appreciate any insights, Thanks.

I think this is also an important factor.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

IMO Paulo going down was the biggest factor to the disappointing regular season, seconded by too many key players missing important stretches of matches due to international call ups and injuries that lingered for weeks.

The Sounders look old and tired, this season took it's toll on guys like Lodeiro, Morris, Roldan, Arreaga, Ruidiaz, Rusnak...........and we probably held onto the key bench players like Montero, Bruin and Rowe who in the past have spelled the starters fantastically. Not this year.

Lagerway has a hell of an off season ahead of him deciding whether to keep the band together for the Champion's League match, or to blow a lot of it up and try and infuse this roster with some quality youth.

 

[olyfan63]

Thanks much, lots of stuff I didn't know! Between Joao Paolo going down and Ruidiaz missing lots of matches, that's probably a small handful of full points missed out on right there, and Lodeiro losing a half-step, that would lead to a whole bunch of little chemistry things with different lineups, goals not scored, and defensive "oops". Such a small margin it can be... I'm very glad to hear that people don't think it's Schmetzer that's the issue at this point.

 

[Threedee]

As I feared, no MLS playoffs. This season rests on their performance in the World Championship.

 

[JustTheTip]

Such a bittersweet season.