Previewing Houston Dynamo at Seattle Sounders with Sounder at Heart

(image via Seattle Sounders FC)

The Houston Dynamo are on the road once again, this time in the Pacific Northwest for a meeting with the Seattle Sounders. We talked to our friend Dave Clark from Sounder at Heart to get some insight on the Sounders ahead of tonight’s match.

The Sounders have hit a bit of a rough patch, going winless in their last five. What would you say is the cause of this run of form?

A lot of this is going to be addressed in the second question which delves into some tactics and personnel justification for the struggling attack. But there's also a mental funk. Some of these losses aren't from playing poorly. In a few of the matches with dropped points the team has played well, maybe even entertainingly, but they lose or draw from a lead. The head space isn't great right now, especially with the fans, but it is also appearing in postgame interviews with defensive players they've pointed out that they're doing their job and they know that when the offense is dysfunctional they have to keep their side of the scoreboard perfect. Which, they're doing a damn fine job of, but it isn't something that shows confidence when half the team is essentially pointing out failures of the other side of the squad. 

With that, the Sounders have been shut out in four of those last five matches. Does the offense miss Raul Ruidiaz that much when he is unavailable and who are some guys Seattle needs to step up to find the goals again?

I had to double-check your streak note, and now I'm depressed about the attack again, an attack that has scored more than one goal only once since April 8th. While some of that is on Raúl Ruidíaz's limited availability, more of that is on the lack of Cristian Roldan, who has grown into being the lynchpin to the offense. Without Roldan making runs behind, linking up and various injuries to Raúl, Jordan Morris and Héber the team is one dimensional in the attack. They'll try to spring Léo Chú on the left. Then they hope he gets in a dangerous cross. They keep repeating this singular path to goal and none of the attacking players are finishing his infrequent expressions of quality. He only has four games with 0.4 xA or higher. If an MLS team is only going to have a single route to goal the only way it can succeed is by having one of the greatest performers in history, not someone who started the season as a rotational player because everyone else was healthy.

Any time you watch Seattle play, Joao Paulo seems to have a standout performance. What makes the Brazilian midfielder so good in the way the Sounders play?

Watching João Paulo is like watching the waves roll into a sandy beach. It's calming. When he has the ball his passes are almost always progressive, just flowing forth knowing that there is space available and the Sounders will take it. He's smooth, with dribbling that is rarely exceptional, but always strong. Defensively his destruction is slow, patient. Other sixes in the league clatter into opponents, like car crashes. João Paulo wears people down, taking a little bit away from them each time they make the mistake of resistance. Still, his calm stylings have him the top five for tackles+interceptions per 90, showing that sometimes poetry can be just as effective as rock & roll in defense.

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We want to thank Dave for his time and wish our friends in Seattle the best of luck tonight. And make sure you check out our answers to their questions about the Dynamo on Sounder at Heart.