Quickest of thoughts on an away draw

by Dave Clark on Aug 23, 2009 7:54 PM PDT in Sounders: MLS Regular Season

Good teams win at home and draw on the road. Currently Seattle is literally drawing 100% of matches on the road, earning 1 point per match. They are earning 1.83 points per match at home.

THIS DOESN"T MEAN THEY ARE A GOOD TEAM.

Good teams finish. Good teams win when they outplay their opponent.

The Crew would have put away Houston tonight. They are a good team. Houston would have put away an opponent that played like Houston tonight. The Galaxy, Chivas, and Fire might have done it. Seattle should have won.

Zakuani's miss was brutal. Le Toux's opportunity late was ~~pathetic~~ a great opportunity. He should have passed after an amazing run and grit he showed, instead it went for not. Ljungberg's miss early in the early going put the whole second half of the season in context.

Earlier today I talked about a three tier league. Seattle isn't in that top tier. They aren't competing for the Supporters Shield. IF they win hosting Toronto and away against Columbus they are again in the running. But for now it is a battle for the West #2 and the Wild Card.

Honestly, in year one as an expansion team, that's good enough.

Clare over at ProstAmerika has me doing the player ratings. They will be up later ~~tonight~~.

Full match analysis tomorrow.

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I think we’re a couple pieces away from being a complete team. I’ve heard talk (I don’t remember from where) that Ching would be open to a return to Seattle in the offseason. That would be a giant upgrade for us up front. Jaqua’s done fairly well, and the goal he scored today was very useful, but Ching would play as a more traditional target forward and give up much more of an aerial threat. Jaqua just doesn’t have any aptitude with headers; they just aren’t a part of his skill set.

by CarlosT on Aug 23, 2009 8:51 PM PDT reply actions

You’re right, we do have the “draw on the road” part down. It’s the winning at home part that has given us trouble.

This was a good point. Hopefully we can build on it. I’ll be at the TFC game, and I’ll be expecting a win. They haven’t won at a game I’ve attended since RSL. Except for Portland, but that doesn’t fully count since it’s USOC.

by Cornchops on Aug 23, 2009 10:38 PM PDT reply actions

7th best home record. 8th best road record. Both by Points Per Match.

by sounderatheart on Aug 24, 2009 7:28 AM PDT up reply actions

It’s the key thing in football you have to take your chances. Look at Manchester United the other night losing to Burnley!

by FG on Aug 24, 2009 9:24 AM PDT reply actions

If you asked me before we played any games if I’d be happy with the Sounders being 8-6-9 at this point, I would say I’d be ecstatic!

I think it’s frustrating because everyone realizes how much talent we have on the team. There’s some maturing that has to happen. We’ve given away some points that would put us in that top tier, and we got to learn to not give those away so easily.

by pj on Aug 25, 2009 11:09 AM PDT reply actions

That’s a good point. People are frustrated right now because we’re getting bad results when we know we’re capable of more.
Dave, where were we in home and away rankings in points per match before this recent run of bad or mediocre results? It seemed to me we were in pretty good position before the All-Star Game.

by CarlosT on Aug 25, 2009 3:53 PM PDT reply actions