Three things to watch: Sounders return home vs NYCFC

It seems like I’ve approached the past few Sounders league matches in a similar way: they’re playing a team from the Eastern Conference, which has generally been weaker so far this season, so the Sounders should be able to handle their opponents efficiently. I honestly believed that every time, but out of the last three league matches against East teams, Seattle won one and lost the other two.

No longer are the Sounders simply getting bad results for a good team. They’re just not a very good team this season. Last week’s 2-0 loss against the New York Red Bulls gave us a much better idea of Seattle’s quality compared to the rest of the league.

This Saturday’s opponent, NYCFC, has had a solid start to the season, though it’s also had its fair share of bad results. A humiliating 7-0 loss to local rivals the Red Bulls was the worst, but the 1-0 loss to the New York Cosmos in the Open Cup was the icing on the cake. New head coach Patrick Vieira has done his best to steady the ship, though, and the club actually sits at a respectable third place in the East.

NYCFC came into MLS riding the hype train of its money and its star designated players: Frank Lampard, Andrea Pirlo and David Villa. Of the trio, only Villa has made much of an impact since joining the club last year for its inaugural season. I’m not sure if it’s a harbinger of things to come for the club, but all three designated players scored a goal in last week’s 3-2 win over Philadelphia.

Here are three things to consider for Saturday’s 2 p.m. match at CenturyLink Field (pregame coverage on KIRO Radio 97.3 FM begins at 1:30):

1. No accuracy, no win.

Against the Red Bulls, the Sounders had 16 shots but only three on target. This was due to both poor quality of chances created as well as horrible finishing. Compare this to their opponents, who also had fairly poor accuracy with three shots on target from 11 shots. The difference is that two of those shots on target were goals. Stats aren’t everything, and every match and situation is different, but it’s pretty indisputable that the Sounders are simply awful at finishing. They won’t have Clint Dempsey back for the weekend (not that his finishing for Seattle has been particularly good), so I expect to see Jordan Morris and Herculez Gomez getting the nod up top. Nelson Valdez may be healthy enough to play, but he’s been horrendous in his few appearances this season. Gomez works hard and actually makes things happen, whereas Valdez simply heads long balls into oblivion while his teammates look on in frustration.

2. Evans vs. Villa.

In contrast to the Sounders’ lack of goals, NYCFC’s Villa has been on fire this season. He currently leads the league with 11 goals and, according to WhoScored.com, he also leads the league in “contribution” percentage (how many goals he was involved in) with 44 percent. This is another player that people were pretty unsure about from the beginning. He joined in the twilight of his career, perpetuating the cliche that MLS is a “retirement league.” But luckily for NYCFC, Villa on the downslope of his career is still one of the best in all of MLS. The Sounders’ defense will have its hands full with the Spaniard, and Brad Evans will likely be tasked with keeping a close eye on him for 90 minutes. Villa is a very well-rounded player, even at 34 years old. He can finish from anywhere around the box, and he’s always dangerous on set pieces. Chad Marshall and Evans can win the aerial duels against him, but Villa’s technique on the ball could create chances like Mike Grella’s second goal for the Red Bulls against Seattle last week. There is no room for mistakes against a player like Villa, and even a single slip-up by the Seattle defense could cost the home side three points.

3. Is the Joevin Jones winger experience over?

After a handful of excellent substitute appearances up top for Seattle, Joevin Jones got the nod from Sigi Schmid to start in a left-wing position against the Red Bulls last week. Jones didn’t make much of an impact on the match, and it seems like his abilities in those positions are dependent on his opponents’ own speed and fatigue level. He needs to find ways to make things happen that aren’t purely speed-related, and he needs to work on creating space and working the ball into the box rather than flying down the wing at every possible opportunity. Dylan Remick, who replaced Jones at left-back for the last couple matches, didn’t look great in that position against the Red Bulls. I think we may see Jones move back to left-back against NYCFC, probably to be pushed forward later if the Sounders are pressing for a late goal. In his stead, I think we’ll see Gomez or Oalex Anderson. NYCFC’s defense isn’t the strongest in the league, and Schmid will be looking to exploit as many specific weaknesses as he can.

Spenser Davis also covers the Sounders for Sounder at Heart.