Another game, another 1-0 loss for the Sounders. I have tried to sit and think of what to say, but I don't really have much. You see, I am of the belief that you are supposed to lose on the road. You win at home and look for ties on the road, especially when your opponent is one of the top teams in the league, as I believe NY is. So I am not overly concerned with a 1-0 loss to the Red Bulls in their home opener. And it's not like we were given any favors with our schedule.
While I am not going to panic, I do think we all need to be concerned with the lack of scoring. It is starting to sound like a broken record. We create chances, we just can't seem to score. Two games, two back-up keepers, 0 goals. We have made Josh Saunders and Greg Sutton look like All-Star keepers by shooting right at them. Ok, maybe they both made a nice save or two, but the Sounders should have been able to get at least one past them.
After the game was off, we turned on the Colorado-Portland game in hopes that the Timbers ineptness could make us feel better (Which luckily it did). What The Wife took away from the game was how Portland played with reckless abandon. She felt that they were playing with a chip on their shoulder...that they had had nothing to lose and that they were saying eff-you to the world. She said that she wished the Sounders played that hard.
I couldn't agree more with her assessment. Now, part of the reason the Timbers play that way is because they hate all the attention Seattle has gotten over the past two years...the other part is that they simply aren't that skilled. They have something to prove, just like the Sounders did in 2009. I think we all agree that this current Sounders team is more talented than the one in 2009. I think we can also agree that it is less hungry than the one in 2009.
I think this all goes into my theory that this team is a one-trick pony. We are uber-talented and can control the flow of play, but when things go wrong, we have no other ideas how to score goals. We never seem to play with reckless abandon. We don't score ugly goals and we have no change of pace coming off the bench. Instead, we have Roger Levesque, one of the few people who continues to work hiss ass off as if this was 2009, Lamar Neagle, Mauro Rosales and Miguel Montano. All fine players, but not any one I feel comfortable in to score a goal. I'm sorry - it's just not going to happen.
I know that regaining their hunger isn't going to make this team win games - as my boy Irish Mike says, it's all about finding a striker - but it would at least make me feel a little better. They will probably still make the playoffs, but these scoring droughts are enough to drive me crazy. I would love to see them change their style and bang some bodies, throw some elbows, and make their opponent make a mistake. You know, the same thing that Juninho and Juan Agudelo benefited from...come on guys, let's get some goals.
I'm not jumping off a bridge yet, but we need some goals this Friday against Houston
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Taking a step back, overall I thought we looked pretty well. I think highly of NY this year and was expecting a big time loss. Besides the two hiccups that resulted in the PK (great save Kasey!!) and the Agudelo goal I thought our defense played well. I also thought our midfield was really solid, but I am concerned about El Flacco being pulled again so early.
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