Sounders finally look better than their opponent in win over Union

It was far from perfect, but Seattle’s home victory over Philadelphia on Saturday was the first time this season that the Sounders truly looked better than their opponent.

Sure, the Union went down a man early in the second half thanks to Roland Alberg’s rough tackle on Cristian Roldan, but Seattle had more shots on target before the incident than after. The attacking trio of Oalex Anderson, Jordan Morris and Andres Ivanschitz clicked a little better, and Clint Dempsey seemed to even out his play more by getting forward more when necessary. The attacking players are finally starting to understand their roles under Sigi Schmid’s new system, and the 2-1 win was much deserved.

Recap: Sounders beat Union 2-1 | Photo gallery

Anderson earned his first start after a handful of impressive substitute appearances in the past few matches, and he looked solid all over the pitch. He didn’t have any shots on goal, but his creativity was solid and he was even helpful deeper in midfield and on defense when necessary. He used his speed to beat defenders and his technical ability helped him skip past opponents a couple of times. His most impressive moment was after using a bit of footwork to beat an opponent in midfield, but he followed it with an extremely poor pass forward that the defenders cut out easily.

Ivanschitz – who I’ve slated here a couple of times for his poor service both from corners and from open play – had probably his best match of the season against the Union. His corner in the first half was spot on, finding Chad Marshall unmarked at the far post for Seattle’s first goal. Even more impressive, though, was his through ball for Morris that was spot on. The Austrian midfielder knew that Morris had the pace and touch to latch on, and the pass was perfect. Ivanschitz is usually near the top of the charts in chances created for Seattle, but against the Union he was impressive with five of those. The tactics meant that he was trying fewer crosses than he sometimes does, but Ivanschitz was far more accurate with those he did attempt: four of five, including two of three on corners.

Morris, of course, had undoubtedly his best match in a Sounders shirt on Saturday. Scoring his first goal, and a winning one at that, was obviously part of that. But Morris was dangerous for much of the time he was on the pitch, and he led the team with three of three shots on target, including his goal. He had a moment in the first half when he held off a defender to bring down a long ball and then beat that same defender and another with his feet, only to finish with a fairly tame shot that was stopped easily.

One of the biggest reasons that each of the attackers was able to play so well was that they, along with Seattle’s midfielders, understood their roles and played them the way that Schmid wanted them to. Another shift in tactics seemed to be that Seattle moved to a bit of a 4-4-2 at times in order to have Dempsey play more as a striker when it was advantageous. This seemed especially obvious when the Sounders had Nelson Valdez, Joevin Jones and Herculez Gomez on. Jones and Gomez played more as wide midfielders, and Valdez joined Dempsey up top. While that worked to an extent, it should be noted that the cagiest moments of the match seemed to come in the final minutes when the team played with that shape.

Just like last week against the Houston Dynamo, Marshall also popped up when he was needed most and headed in his second goal of the season from Ivanschitz’s corner. It may not stay that way for long, but Marshall is currently the team’s top league scorer in 2016. Unfortunately for the Sounders, their defense as a whole regressed a little from its recently solid form when, right after Morris scored, Union forward Sebastien Le Toux waltzed into the box and fired in a goal from C.J. Sapong’s knockdown.

In the noise and chaos following the Sounders’ goal, it seems that there was a lapse in communication on defense as Le Toux was unmarked at the top of the box while both players marking Sapong allowed him to cleanly head the ball down for his teammate. It takes discipline and communication to stop stuff like that from happening on defense, and it’s not the first time it’s happened this season. They’re usually able to recover from those mistakes, but Brad Evans and Dylan Remick were especially poor in the moment and deserve some of the blame for the goal.

So even though it was, for once, Seattle’s offense that deserved the accolades from the match, the defense held on for the most part and managed to preserve three points. The Sounders will want to work on those things in training, because getting distracted by the hype and noise at home is a poor look for a team with an atmosphere like Seattle’s. Schmid will surely be drilling the team on set-piece communication and quickfire, unbalanced counterattack defending this week in advance of its trip to Colorado.

Other observations:

• The Sounders’ defense was impeccable in regards to stopping the Union’s crossing. Philadelphia only succeeded in finding an opponent with four of 28 attempted crosses.

• Seattle was far better at picking its crosses on offense as well, completing seven of 11 in the match, far better than it has in recent weeks. The Sounders took fewer of them, but their success rate was far better.

• Philadelphia coach Jim Curtin said after the match that he has told his players to stay on their feet more, but the Union conceded 15 fouls and earned four yellows for poor tackling, including the second yellow that saw Alberg sent off. Seattle was far more disciplined with its tackling, which allowed the Sounders to stay composed and finish the match with all 11 players on the pitch.

• Osvaldo Alonso was dominant in midfield again, marking his 200th MLS appearance with eight ball recoveries, an excellent 68 of 69 completed passes and three interceptions.

Spenser Davis also covers the Sounders for Sounder at Heart.