Thread by @mls_sum

Looking through the #Sounders form guide and analyzing the losses/ties from Miami on (the games leading into and after the CCL final):

Miami 0-1 L: Rotated side, no offense
SJ 3-4 L: Frei error, Nouhou soft pen——————*JP gone*—————
Dal 0-2 L: 5-2-3, rotated side

1/

*MIA (H), SJ (A), DAL (A)*

COL (A) 0-1 L: 5-2-3, Ragen error coupled w/ big deflection, no VAR Raul PK
———-*Ruidiaz gone*——-
LAFC (H) 1-1 T: Nouhou CB error allowing equalizer
———*Obed gone*———
MTL (H) 1-2 L: Outplayed, lost after up
POR (H) 0-3 L: CM error (imo), Ragen red

2/

NSH (A) 0-1 L: 5-2-3, no offense
CHI (A) 0-1 L: CM error (imo) coupled with over aggressive Yeimar
LAFC (A) 1-2 L: outplayed, lost after up
ATL (A) 1-2 L: stoppage time go ahead conceded, CM error both goals (imo)
RSL (H) 1-2 L: bad corner(?) transition goal conceded

3/

LAG (A) 3-3 T: 5-3-2 (successful), Frei error, stoppage time PK conceded by Arreaga
POR (A) 1-2 L: 5-3-2, PK incorrectly awarded by VAR, loss after up
ORL (A) 2-3 L: 5-3-2, CM/CB error, loss after up by 2 same as SJ 3-4 L

4/

*I should have noted that Ruidiaz returned before the Atlanta match.

The big takeaways from this are:

1. The team has struggled to generate chances out of a back 5 to make up for big errors.
2. The CM partnerships have been largely responsible for costly team wide breakdowns..

…since the departure of Obed and JP. While the team has struggles prior, they tended to be fine for matches w/o rotation.
3. The team left points on the table rotating for CCL [NSH/RSL (not shown), Miami, and Dallas]
4. Every single defender including Alex has made something…

…close to a catastrophic error (Alex might not have made an individual error to the level of the others).
5. In games where the team employed a 4-2-3-1 and Raul was gone, non-Morris involved goal scoring/chance creation was hard to come by.