Big, Big, Big, game on Sunday in the Emerald City for RSL. Seattle has a much easier closing final 10 games than RSL so 3 points is a must if you want to make their ability to catch RSL as difficult as possible. RSL with one (1) win in June and one (1) win in July and 3 draws and 5 loses in that time over 10 games. That's 9 points since the end of May. That's a cement shoes over board while "fishing" type fall down the table. 10 games left with 5 away and 5 at home alternating starting Sunday away to the not as good as expected Sounders. And the schedule only gets tougher. VAN Home FCD Away MINN Home LAFC Away DC Rooney's Home ATX Away CINCY Home LAG Away PTFC Home RSL is only 4 points out of 11th place, 3 points out of 3rd and 17 out of 1st. 4-2 RSL as they bring the LAFC effort to Seattle and magic restored to the season.
Wish I could be this optimistic. I'm hoping RSL scores and doesn't give up more than 2 goals. Sunday Road match Turf Opponent is good This isn't lining up well for RSL.
I have a bad feeling that Rusnak is going to have himself a game in this one. Seattle will be pissed after their loss to Atlanta. A win here vaults them ahead of RSL. I see this going poorly. Who knows, though, RSL has shown a history of doing ok in Seattle in the past. 2-1 Seattle with a late winner from Rusnak on a pen
Seattle's good, but they're not LAFC. Maybe playing that side last week, will help us improve this week. Perhaps we squeak out a draw...but IMO we will continue to see more of what FCD did to us (extra pressure on our central midfielders, and packing the box to defeat the aerial game).
Clearly crossing the ball into the 6 without Wood and Kreilach isn't working well. Honest tactics question. What is the counter strategy when the other team is packing it in? Is it just shoot from further out? Speed on the counter? What should we be seeing if teams continue those strategies against us.
If someone has the answer to this then they'd solve the problem of Man City never winning the Champions League... But really, there are a couple methods that teams try to break a low block. Most notably is having creative players through the middle that can pull out defenders, create gaps, and then slice through. Man City vs West Ham type stuff. Good write up here on methods to break a low block For RSL, the approach from Pablo has been to use width to stretch the defending team out and then try to pass/cross into the gaps created.
Seattle hasn't been hitting their potential all year. After CCL they have been in a funk of focus, I'd say. This is the time of year, though, where they either decide to break that funk or be a playoff borderline team. I look at that roster and think it's the former. Which scares me because this game gives them a very easy path to being back in the playoff grouping. The bulletin board for this game should just say "6-pointer for playoffs". For both teams. This is the type of game where we see just how good of a coach Pablo is. A draw really does nothing for Seattle, so they'll be aggressive. I think Pablo sticks to his guns on lineup, but if I was picking I'd go with this: Julio Luna Savarino Meram Ruiz Chang Brody Silva Glad Herrera MacMath Loffelsend is the unfortunate victim here - but it's not like he's coming off a great performance against LAFC. Julio / Cordova up top is a tossup to me, honestly. I want Luna on the field for creativity
Love the formation idea, might be time to try something different. Cordova is clearly not a single forward, but I'm not sure Julio is either. I don't know about the defensive capability of the midfield, but it's not like they've been shutting down teams lately. I honestly think they played pretty well on Saturday, so we shouldn't expect Pablo to change things based on the unflattering scoreline. However, I wouldn't be surprised if Pablo throws a curve due to the number of minutes on some of the vets' legs (plus the turf) and we see a lineup nobody predicted. It's about 2 weeks out, but RSL does have 6 games from 8/27-9/17.
I think Seattle will be aggressive so Julio is my pick to hit them on counters it’ll be the same 4231 we’ve seen for the last little bit though. Chang replacing one of the forwards in the lafc game
What about Meram in the middle of the field with 2 of Chang, Savarino and Cordova on the wings? Kind of surprised we haven't seen that. Meram and Luna each play a half. Seems like the way to go until Wood or Musovski are back.
This is a really big game for RSL. By the end of the evening on Sunday they could be either close to or in 3rd place with victory over Seattle OR in 7th just one point over the line with teams like LA, Vancouver, and Colorado breathing down their neck. If results on Saturday don't go their way the pressure could be rather immense for RSL to get a result. Should be fun!
I'm typically the guy that doesn't like saying that a player has to play a specific spot. I think the whole "natural [insert spot]" is moronic... so naturally I'm gonna say that I don't know where else Meram plays other than left mid / left wing.
I am not a fan of playing in the last game of the weekend. Gives me no chance to work the yucks out if we lay an egg in the game. Ah, well.
MacMath Herrera Glad Silva Brody Chang Ruiz Loeffelsend Meram Savarino Cordova Bench: Gomez; Kappelhoff, Holt; Caldwell, Besler, Luna, Hidalgo; Julio, Rubin A full bench!
What a joke. Silva's early season form is long gone. Off the crossbar and then off MacMath's head, and we're down early again.
Meram with all the time in the world doesn’t even look up as he clears it directly to a Sounders player.
Bizarre sequence. Garbage free kick from Seattle, equally bad ball right back to them, they dribble it out of bounds.