Sounders unable to find creative rhythm in goalless draw with Austin FC

Sounders FC ( 5-0-3, 18 points)  drew their second consecutive game Sunday night with Austin FC( 2-4-1,7 points) at Lumen Field Sunday night.  In what is becoming an all too familiar pattern for the Rave Green the team is playing good defense, some decent midfield possession, and then sputtering in the final third. In Sunday’s draw with Austin FC, the Sounders had 16 shots with only two on goal.

The Sounders are simply running out of ideas in the last third of the field. The growing concern for head coach Brian Schmetzer and the rest of the coaching staff is that it’s not just one thing but a lot of little things.

“Probably be a little cleaner. We missed a couple of passes again. I thought we created some good half-chances, but the final pass wasn’t there. The decision-making sometimes of our players, whether their first touch takes them away from the goal or they turn the corner,  Schmetzer said after the game.”

“ You saw that one time when Cristian [Roldan] got around [Alex] Ring and attacked the goal. Brad [Smith] I think can do that more often. I think that just the amount of numbers we have in the box, because Fredy [Montero] was playing in the pocket next to Cristian, so did we get enough numbers in the box. There are certain little things that we want to do to make sure that we stay goal dangerous for sure.”

TEAM CLOGGING UP MIDDLE

One strategy opponents are employing against the Sounders is to press high and clog the passing lane to slow down Seattle’s counterattack. The Sounders like to attack the opponent by pushing wingback Brad Smith and Alex Roldan up the field and spreading the defense. The counter-attacking style has netted the Sounders the best record in the Western Conference and MLS.

PRECISION PASSING

What is needed is more precision passing in the middle of the pitch when teams are pressing the Sounders backline. The precision passing must be done with velocity from side to side to keep the opponent off balance and give time for forwards  Raul Ruidiaz, Will Bruin, and Fred Montero to make runs inside the box. On Sunday  Schmetzer elected to start Montero over Bruin so that he can become familiar with the  Sounders attacking style. The Sounders will be without Ruidiaz for several games due to international duty with the Peruvian national team. The Sounders will pause play for the International break until June 19^th when they travel to LA to face the Galaxy. Montero and  Bruin will spearhead the Sounders attack while Ruidiaz is away.

SOLID BACKLINE

One thing that has been consistent in this young season is the Sounder’s solid defensive play.  Goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland has done an admirable job of filling in for Stefan Frei. Cleveland made a point-blank range save on Austin FC forward Jared Stroud’s right-footed shot to preserve the point for the Sounders. A VAR decision in the 77th minute nullified what looked like a game-winning goal by Fredy Montero. Middle Joao Paulo sliced through the Austin FC defense and deftly slid a through ball that found a wide-open Montero who slid the ball into the back of the goal. After the drama was settled the two sides spent the rest of the game plus the seven minutes of stoppage time playing for half of the shares.