Despite some prognosticators' doubts, the Seattle Sounders made a run all the way to the MLS Cup Playoffs last season, eventually winning their first MLS Cup. They made this run after the arrival of Uruguayan playmaker Nicolas Lodeiro who, over the final three months of the season, was one of the two best players in MLS.
Lodeiro was the spark to an explosive Seattle Sounders attack, scoring four goals and assisting eight more. The remarkable part about all this is that he played just four games with US national team legend Clint Dempsey.
With Dempsey now back in the lineup, Lodeiro has struggled to make a similar impact.
It’s not like the midfielder has played poorly – he has contributed to eight Sounders goals (3 G, 5 A). But something just seems off in his game and while it’s clear that he and Dempsey are special players, their co-existence could be a problem Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer is trying to solve.
“That’s been our No. 1 challenge from the beginning of the year, to get all the pieces working in the right order,” Schmetzer said at training on Friday. “Early in the year, we had games where he have 600-700 passes and we’d still lose. The game against Orlando still leaves a bitter taste in our mouths but overall I thought we were pretty good, pretty dangerous.”
It’s not like Lodeiro and Dempsey haven’t worked wonders together in the past. In the four games the two did play together, the Sounders attack was deadly, scoring nine goals as Seattle went 3-0-1. Of course Dempsey was forced out of the lineup due to health issues and Lodeiro became the sole focal point of the Sounders attack. He added to his goal total in the playoffs, scoring four of the Sounders’ eight goals.
While Dempsey was out, Schmetzer decided to either place two wingers on the field, which provided width and allowed Lodeiro to operate centrally, or to play three central midfielders. The latter option gave Lodeiro complete freedom to roam, knowing that the center of the field was taken care of.
They were also more willing to play a counterattacking style, sitting back and letting Lodeiro find players like Jordan Morris in space. This season the Sounders have faced teams sitting back, willing to take on pressure while organized.
With Dempsey now back, the space Lodeiro usually likes to roam around in is also occupied by Dempsey. This has led to some uncomfortable moments, with one of the two starting on the wing but doing everything they can to push centrally.
You can see this switch in some of the numbers he has been putting up.
Year |
Through balls per 90 |
Open Play Crosses per 90 |
|---|---|---|
2017 |
.29 |
3.12 |
2016 |
.67 |
1.76 |
With the opposition having little time to adjust to the new Sounders attack, the two were able to float around and cause problems. Almost a year later the opposition has had a chance to scout Lodeiro, and how he likes to operate.
“I think now everybody has enough tape on him,” Schmetzer said. “They obviously do the scouting, do the research, find out where he likes to pick up the balls and stuff. Our guys, our sports science staff, they give us heat maps of every player that we’re going up against and I’m sure [our opponents] do the same.”
Even when there is an opening for Lodeiro and Dempsey to make a play this season, they haven’t been able to click.
It’s not like the Sounders haven’t put things together in the second half of the season, but some of the trends they are showing are worrying. They are averaging just 1.2 goals per game, putting them in a tie for 15th in MLS, and the aging center back duo of Roman Torres and Chad Marshall has been plagued by injuries.
Entering their Heineken Rivalry Week matchup against the Portland Timbers (10 pm ET; ESPN2 in US | MLS LIVE in Canada), Schmetzer, even while seeing some bright spots, knows work remains towards becoming an MLS Cup-caliber team again.
“I think it’s too late in the season to say it’s a work in progress. Those guys have got to figure it out now.”
