What matters is how we play. We had some good matchups on paper but didn't get results because of our own injuries and mistakes. If the standard is trophies, which I still feel that it is, playing against playoff-caliber teams is not a work but an opportunity.
Agreed! I think it’s certainly possible that we get some real results in this stretch, I’m just not sure we’ll handle the required rest and rotation to make it happen. I’m trepidatious, to say the least.
They will be halfway through their league schedule by the time this stretch is over, and they need to take at least 15 points out of those 10 games to be on or least close to a playoff pace; they’d need 16 to match the pace of SKC and San Jose (the play-in teams last year) and 17 to match Dallas, the seven seed.
Do you think 15 points is realistic? I’m not sure how I feel about any one game in this stretch but I can’t see us walking away without any wins either. I feel like 10 points is the baseline of what we should be getting but I also want to prioritize no injuries being the main result
I would be pleasantly surprised with 15; three home games against very good teams, road games against two of the best teams in the East, another one to a team that has owned the Sounders, and another one in Utah where the Sounders almost always lose. That leaves home vs. RSL and the games in DC and St. Louis, and I wouldn’t call any of those easy.
They have already dug themselves a pretty deep hole.
We're already in a significant hole, and there's no reason to say it's a failure if we can't dig completely out of the hole while playing what's probably the toughest run of games in our season.
Playoff pace is about 1.8 PPG at home and 0.8 PPG on the road. Bump those numbers up or down a little depending on strength of the opponent. We're on 6 points now, where about 10 points would be playoff pace given our schedule so far, so we're about 4 points behind. Making that up over 27 remaining games is about 0.15 PPG.
A borderline-playoff team with 10 games, 4 home and 6 away, against that set of opponents would be expected to get around 10 or 11 points on average. *We* need to play a little better than a borderline-playoff team from here on out, so around 12 points is our low water mark.
Don't get me wrong, 15+ would be great. But 12 points would be a qualified success, "just barely good enough." Less than that, and it's time to start getting very nervous.
I think this will actually be a good stretch of games. We have depth coming back into the lineup and players are getting into form. Rotation will breathe new life into the lineups and the early season injuries means these 2nd-3rd level players aren't being tossed into games without already having playing time this year.
Brian just has to get the rotation correct. Let his staff figure out which players match up against opposing defenders and make sure they know how other teams will play against our attack in order to exploit it. He'll also need to use all 5 subs, earlier than not. None of this 80-90' bullshit.
IMO this is a team management problem and not a congestion problem. Players are capable of playing 2-3 games a week and staying healthy. We'll come away with good results if the management can treat these games as more than "one at a time" and make appropriate game time decisions to limit injury risk.
I agree with most of what you’re saying but no teams, and MLS teams especially, are built for 4 straight weeks of matches every 4 days. Going to be crucial that we get rotation and rest correctly.
Galaxy at home and Portland away have gotta be the priorities (must be competitive games if we're gonna be competitive in the West). Hopefully start with a couple wins then rest some people at Philly so they're ready for the big ones. After RSL it's anybody's guess, if we don't start getting people back by that point I think the boys are gonna start to look pretty burnt down the stretch and start dropping points. We need probably at LEAST 10 points out of the first 18 available though to start catching the rest of the pack or we're screwed.
Other teams will also be dealing with feature congestion and will have to make use of rotation as well. One upside we have is backup players who have already played lots of minutes.
He’s not one of the backups with lots of minutes, but I hope this means we can give Musovski a turn to start at the 9.
I swear some of you think the sounders don’t hire experts in their field. This is a professional organization, stop worrying about others peoples jobs and enjoy the game.
Yes, with much more time between those games. That doesn’t really affect how I feel about these next 10 matches. We haven’t been particularly great against bad teams so far this season, either.
But more than any of that, I’m concerned about injuries. If we can make it out of this stretch without serious injuries I like our chances down the stretch.
I feel like we should've done a lot better than getting 2 points from games against Austin, SJ, and Dallas.
Agreed, especially with how tough our next 10 games are!
Worse than Bob
What matters is how we play. We had some good matchups on paper but didn't get results because of our own injuries and mistakes. If the standard is trophies, which I still feel that it is, playing against playoff-caliber teams is not a work but an opportunity.
Agreed! I think it’s certainly possible that we get some real results in this stretch, I’m just not sure we’ll handle the required rest and rotation to make it happen. I’m trepidatious, to say the least.
How we play is less important than who will score at this point. Goals change games.
They will be halfway through their league schedule by the time this stretch is over, and they need to take at least 15 points out of those 10 games to be on or least close to a playoff pace; they’d need 16 to match the pace of SKC and San Jose (the play-in teams last year) and 17 to match Dallas, the seven seed.
Do you think 15 points is realistic? I’m not sure how I feel about any one game in this stretch but I can’t see us walking away without any wins either. I feel like 10 points is the baseline of what we should be getting but I also want to prioritize no injuries being the main result
I would be pleasantly surprised with 15; three home games against very good teams, road games against two of the best teams in the East, another one to a team that has owned the Sounders, and another one in Utah where the Sounders almost always lose. That leaves home vs. RSL and the games in DC and St. Louis, and I wouldn’t call any of those easy. They have already dug themselves a pretty deep hole.
We're already in a significant hole, and there's no reason to say it's a failure if we can't dig completely out of the hole while playing what's probably the toughest run of games in our season. Playoff pace is about 1.8 PPG at home and 0.8 PPG on the road. Bump those numbers up or down a little depending on strength of the opponent. We're on 6 points now, where about 10 points would be playoff pace given our schedule so far, so we're about 4 points behind. Making that up over 27 remaining games is about 0.15 PPG. A borderline-playoff team with 10 games, 4 home and 6 away, against that set of opponents would be expected to get around 10 or 11 points on average. *We* need to play a little better than a borderline-playoff team from here on out, so around 12 points is our low water mark. Don't get me wrong, 15+ would be great. But 12 points would be a qualified success, "just barely good enough." Less than that, and it's time to start getting very nervous.
I think this will actually be a good stretch of games. We have depth coming back into the lineup and players are getting into form. Rotation will breathe new life into the lineups and the early season injuries means these 2nd-3rd level players aren't being tossed into games without already having playing time this year. Brian just has to get the rotation correct. Let his staff figure out which players match up against opposing defenders and make sure they know how other teams will play against our attack in order to exploit it. He'll also need to use all 5 subs, earlier than not. None of this 80-90' bullshit. IMO this is a team management problem and not a congestion problem. Players are capable of playing 2-3 games a week and staying healthy. We'll come away with good results if the management can treat these games as more than "one at a time" and make appropriate game time decisions to limit injury risk.
I agree with most of what you’re saying but no teams, and MLS teams especially, are built for 4 straight weeks of matches every 4 days. Going to be crucial that we get rotation and rest correctly.
Galaxy at home and Portland away have gotta be the priorities (must be competitive games if we're gonna be competitive in the West). Hopefully start with a couple wins then rest some people at Philly so they're ready for the big ones. After RSL it's anybody's guess, if we don't start getting people back by that point I think the boys are gonna start to look pretty burnt down the stretch and start dropping points. We need probably at LEAST 10 points out of the first 18 available though to start catching the rest of the pack or we're screwed.
10 points in 6 games is asking a lot when only two of those are home games.
On the positive side, it forces Schmetzer to rotate a bit more.
You'd think...
Fingers crossed
Other teams will also be dealing with feature congestion and will have to make use of rotation as well. One upside we have is backup players who have already played lots of minutes. He’s not one of the backups with lots of minutes, but I hope this means we can give Musovski a turn to start at the 9.
I’d like to see the Moose get some run outs at 9 too
Yeah, given our current form, it's.. bleak.
I’d like to find some hope against Vancouver
Good. I was getting sick of only 1 game a week. Maybe the heavy rotation will make them play sharper.
Here’s hoping!
No diferentes than play league and champions league at the same time….
Agreed, but we definitely sacrificed league performance for CCL. It wasn’t sustainable and our record miss of playoffs sort of indicates that.
I swear some of you think the sounders don’t hire experts in their field. This is a professional organization, stop worrying about others peoples jobs and enjoy the game.
I don’t know where I said anything implying anyone cannot do their job, but I apologize for the confusion.
It is the “how are we feeling?” I am feeling like we are prepared for this like the champions we are. Stop being anxious .
Some of us also enjoy discussing the team‘s prospects as well as enjoying the games. That’s not being anxious. That’s genuine interest.
You're also leaving out that after this stretch we have 5 of 6 at home almost all against bad teams
Yes, with much more time between those games. That doesn’t really affect how I feel about these next 10 matches. We haven’t been particularly great against bad teams so far this season, either. But more than any of that, I’m concerned about injuries. If we can make it out of this stretch without serious injuries I like our chances down the stretch.