The Seattle Sounders will visit St. Louis City for the fourth time in their history on Saturday. Unlike the previous three meetings, though, this version of St. Louis City is one that’s a bit more interested in a progressive playing style. To help us understand it all, we reached out to our friends at Flyover Footy.
Notable injuries
Eduard Löwen should miss due to personal reasons. Fallou Fall and Tomas Ostrák will miss due to leg injuries. Non-injury limitations will include Cedric Teuchert on a minutes restrictions (may be up to around 45’ this week) and Mamadou Mbacke/Sergio Cordova are fit but haven’t featured yet so their ability to start is in question but will be sub options.
Team form
Good Week 1, bad Week 2. Against Charlotte at home, there was a lot of promise for the new possession/repress-system realized. Not polished, but promising. Wing play was positive, field tilt won and attacking presence was better than Charlotte. Lack of finishing was the primary issue.
Week 2 saw those same principles minus Marcel Hartel and it was a borderline abject failure. There was only one dangerous chance, the wings were neutralized, the backline exposed, there were many mistakes in decision making. With Hartel back we should see a marked improvement overall: ball progression, shot creating actions, and the press.
Key players
Roman Bürki - At 35, he’s still one of the best GKs, making at least two fantastic saves a game so far (plus regular saves). Hartel and Conrad Wallem are other very notable players. Hartel will raise the quality. Wallem on the right depends on service to him, but with the ball he’s one of our best dribblers and decision makers. Simon Becher as our striker should be key, but through two games has shown inconsistent borderline quality at best.
One thing opposing fans should know
It’s still a team evolving under a new style and leadership. Frenchman Yoann Damet continues to talk in terms of total weeks he’s had with the guys, which is up to eight now. So there should be a persistence to the desired identity of playing out of the back, wingplay, overloads and attempts at balance between transition and final-third possession. Off the ball, we look to quickly recover via a hard press but in rest defense it’s more methodical and compacted to begin. Bottom line, though, this team is craving a home win to really start the Damet era.
Projected lineup
3-4-2-1: Bürki; Polvara, Baumgartl, Orozco; Santos, Durkin, Edelman, Wallem; Hartel, Sangbin; Becher
