Why did the Sounders lose MLS Cup?
It's been well over a week since the Sounders lost in the MLS Cup final to Toronto on December 9th. By most accounts the Sounders were thoroughly outplayed for the majority of the match. Despite Jozy Altidore's offside goal, many agreed that the Sounders "deserved to lose" a game in which they were so comprehensively dismantled.
After watching the game again, however, I'm not sure I agree with this notion. The Sounders weren't good by any measure, yet, they certainly weren't dominated and ruthlessly picked apart as you might have been led to believe. Still, there were holes in the Sounders tactical game plan that Toronto exploited and bad performances which ultimately led to their defeat that night. Here I'll analyze and show you why both the Sounders lost and seemingly played so poorly.
Pressure in Central Midfield
The original title for this section was supposed to be called transition. Having re-watched just over 30 minutes of MLS Cup, it seemed clear to me that dealing with Toronto in transition was the Sounders main tactical problem in this game. After all, the game winning goal, Jozy's left footed dagger from inside the area, had come from a Toronto counterattack. Throughout the first third of the match, Toronto had repeatedly exploited the spaces behind the Seattle central midfield partnership.
Yet, as I re-watched more and more, I realized two things: 1. Toronto stopped having success on the counter and started creating more from possession and 2. Toronto while having success on the counter, didn't have as much early success as I had previously thought. Sure, they had created chances; however, they didn't create as many quality chances as I had originally thought. Two of Toronto's few shots from inside the area came from a corner and inexplicable decision by Marshall to let the ball run past him on a hopeful ball from Victor Vasquez.
Toronto did apply pressure however. And when they did so it wasn't necessarily because the Sounders couldn't stop Toronto from transitioning quickly. Simply put, Seattle's CM duo, Gustav Svensson and Christian Roldan couldn't get close to the ball. And this occurred in a variety of forms:
Here Svensson fails to find an on-the-move Vasquez after a quick Toronto transition.
This time both Roldan and Svensson get caught too high up the field with Svensson in particular not recognizing the movement of Giovinco into the hole underneath the CBs. To add to to it, he dives in, allowing Giovinco to run towards goal freely and receive the return pass from Altidore at the top of the area.
Again, the CM duo fails to get pressure to the ball, nearly costing the Sounders had an incorrect offside decision not gone their way. Roldan is too slow to close down Giovinco after the pass from Osorio.
Here Altidore absolutely skins Svensson. Svensson had trouble defending in open space in this game, failing to register a single tackle.
After a fantastic piece of back-pressing by Osorio (which I'll touch on later), Toronto finds Vasquez between the lines. Roldan jumps into the wrong space while again, Svensson fails to adequately find and mark the playmaker (here Vasquez) in the hole behind him.
A few more times before the goal, the Sounders failed to adequately pressure the ball, with Roldan (and Rodriguez) both being culpable of jumping into the either non-existent or the wrong passing lanes. The goal, however, is the greatest illustration of the Sounders failings in central midfield:
The Sounders make a number of mistakes here, but none are more glaring than those made by both Svensson and Roldan. Roldan is slow to either pressure Vasquez or back-press Gio. Meanwhile, Svensson steps up to Vasquez and yet fails to step into the most obvious passing lane. In the end, neither player can get remotely near the ball and Gio slips Altidore in behind for the goal.
This stat line presents an accurate summation of their performances - 1 tackle and 4 interceptions combined.
Lodeiro Feels the Pressure
While the Sounders failed to get much pressure to the ball throughout, Toronto absolutely swarmed the Sounders attack. The trio of Bradley, Osorio, and Delgado combined for 10 tackles and 9 interceptions. Toronto's fullbacks got in the action as well combining for an additional 6 tackles and two interceptions. Just look at this:
Toronto were absolutely flying around defensively after every second ball. This had a particular effect on Lodeiro who just simply was overwhelmed by the Toronto pressure.
That's Osorio there in all 3 sequences putting instant pressure on Lodeiro after a turnover or second ball. He had a monster first half, so much so, that Schmetzer opted to switch Lodeiro and Rodriguez at half just to get Lodeiro away from the young Canadian. It helped slightly as Delgado didn't close down the ball quite as quickly as Osorio. But, that quick pressure of Toronto had a huge impact on Lodeiro, whose close control was affected quite often, to the tune of 6 unsuccessful touches resulting in giveaways and 2 dispossessions as seen above.
Bruin/Fullbacks Struggle
In the interest of not making this post too GIF heavy, I tried to limit them in this section. Will Bruin and the fullbacks struggled immensely going forward in this game. Bad touches, bad passes, and poor crosses all littered the respective stat lines of all 3 players.
Upon re-watch, Will Bruin held up the ball slightly better than originally thought. I counted nearly 8 times when he was able to hold up the ball, either by a chest pass or aerial challenge with the CB. Still, he was poor overall, only completing 66.7% of his passes and taking poor touches as the game wore on. Often, these bad passes or mis-controls happened in critical moments.
Here, Will Bruin gets on the end of a clearance from Svensson. Despite, loads of time afforded by Bradley to control the ball, the Dancing Bear fails to take a single clean touch.
Bruin would finish the night with 3 unsuccessful touches and 1 dispossession. While perhaps the role he played in the Sounders relative inefficacy has been overstated, he certainly wasn't an overall net positive on this night.
For the fullbacks, the stat line tells the story: 1/10 in crossing and two hopeful shots from bad angles. Neither fullback was effective going forward. Leerdam opted for poor early crosses into the area going 0/7. Jones failed to provide the desired width and penetration down the left flank, often taking up too large of a role in possession by holding a deep position in front of Delgado. While both fullbacks were excellent in 1 vs. 1 defense, neither did much to push up and quickly support the wide players after they won second balls.
Toronto Press Unsettles Sounders Back 4
Toronto did a fantastic job of swarming around the ball as soon as it turned over. This was especially true in the middle third where Bradley, Osorio, Delgado, Beitashour, and Morrow were clearly instructed to heat seek the ball (go watch Morrow during the sequence right before Toronto's first goal). There were moments though where Seattle was able to gain possession and relieve pressure. If Toronto could not win the ball back immediately, they dropped Bradley and the shuttlers deep.
It was in these moments though that the front 3 of Toronto were able to press the Sounders midfield and back line. When they did, the Sounders struggled to move the ball effectively.
While these two GIFs illustrate Svensson's struggles in particular, the same was true for Roldan and the rest of the "back 4". Svensson and Roldan had spacing issues, often playing too wide in relation to other players or too flat in relation to each other. Both failed to play the ball accurately to either CBs feet. Meanwhile, neither Marshall nor Torres showed any ability to put a foot on the ball and play a splitting forward pass.
Toronto's diamond should have meant a numerical advantage for the Sounders to build play and start attacks. Instead, Toronto flipped the script, pressing effectively and forcing long balls from Torres or safe passes back to Frei from Marshall.
What does it mean for the Sounders?
Toronto came into MLS Cup with a well thought out tactical plan. They made the Sounders uncomfortable and exposed the Sounders biggest weaknesses. Schmetzer's personnel decisions may be questioned, but it was his lack of in-game adjustments which should receive the most scrutiny.
Clearly, the Sounders were out-manned in midfield. Bringing on Morris earlier, either to play either up top or even at winger while moving Lodeiro central, would have been a good option. It was also obvious that the Sounders had trouble building from the back. However, without a healthy Alonso, Schmetzer really only could have pulled Lodeiro deeper in order to remedy this issue. Moving into 2018, it may be in Schmetzer's best interest to play Lodeiro deeper, particularly if Garth Lagerway can find a DP attacking midfielder to play in the band of 3. With Bruin's struggles in the final and Morris' lack of productivity this year, perhaps Dempsey is moved up top to provide a different kind of threat and look in big games against top teams such as Toronto.
The good news for the Sounders is that despite their poor play in the final, they managed to stay in the game and only concede an offside goal and garbage time goal. If the entire organization can learn and improve from their mistakes in MLS Cup, they should be well positioned to compete in CCL and MLS league play in 2018.