No Fuel, No Legs, No Chance: Whitecaps vs Sounders analysis

No Fuel, No Legs, No Chance: Whitecaps vs Sounders analysis

Posted on October 3, 2024 by in MLS, VANCOUVER WHITECAPS with 0 Comments

There is no beating around the bush here – Wednesday’s 3-0 loss to Seattle Sounders was the worst home performance of the season from the Vancouver Whitecaps.

After a resounding display against Portland on Saturday, in which the ‘Caps were unlucky not to get all three points, this match felt like a shadow of a shadow of their normal selves. Tired legs, busy schedules, and missing stars all took their toll, but overall, it simply wasn’t good enough from the Blue and White, with scenes supporters never want to see in their home stadium.

No Energy Gives Seattle No Problem

Whilst the point of a busy schedule is often used as a cheap excuse for when teams perform poorly, it cannot be looked past for the Whitecaps in this game. They have been playing Saturday – Wednesday – Saturday for three straight weeks, including a midweek game where only Toronto, LAFC, and Sporting Kansas City played (the Canadian Championship final). Add some niggling injuries to some major players including Ryan Gauld, Stuart Armstrong, and Ali Ahmed, and you could almost forgive the Whitecaps if they weren’t firing at all cylinders on Wednesday.

The issue is, it wasn’t even just a case of not playing at their best. This was a case of playing at a new level of worse. The ‘Caps had a good first few minutes before Seattle settled into the match and began to take control. Players who usually have been solid defensively like Sebastian Berhalter, Ranko Veselinović, and even the unreplaceable Andrés Cubas were lethargic in getting into their positions.

“We didn’t have any energy, we struggled from the start,” admitted Vanni Sartini after the match. “We weren’t able to cover the distance like normally we do. We were always a little half late.”

Seattle were able to expose that through playing quickly into the wide areas. And while that is the natural weakness to a back three, the Whitecaps typically are good at nullifying those spaces by rapidly closing them down as soon as the ball gets there. The problem was that that was noticeably lacking for the majority of the game. That then began a trickle-down effect where players began to overcommit to cover those spaces, therefore opening spaces in the middle, and allowing Seattle to be able to switch the play at pace and carve chances through the middle.

In the attack, the Whitecaps did have their chances. Sam Adekugbe had some noticeable misses in the first half, while Seattle had to force a couple goal-line clearances and blocks themselves to keep the clean sheet. Had one of those chances, like the Pedro Vite shot that got blocked on the line, gone it, it could have very well changed the match. But sometimes you have to create your own luck, and the Whitecaps didn’t have enough in the tank to do so.

The second goal buried the team, with the third being that twist of the knife to make this result sting just a bit more. It left bitter tastes in the mouths of the fans, the players, and even Vanni Sartini, although he tried to be a little optimistic after the match.

“It’s better to have this bad performance and bad energy now, when we can put a remedy on it, than, you know, in a playoff game” pointed out Sartini.

While true, the performance still leaves some concerns for fans after the lack of wins in regular time in the last five games. The ‘Caps will need to dig deep to climb back up the table and ensure their place inside the Top 7 of the Western Conference.

Questionable Decisions Leave Fans Frustrated

Although it is simple to criticize, it is never easy to make the right decisions when you are the one in charge. As a newly-minted coach myself – even at the amateur level – it’s easy to point out issues when you’re not in the hot seat. But nevertheless, the responsibility for this loss has to considerably fall on Sartini and his choices both before and during the game. And he’s the first to admit it as well.

“We don’t have to put the blame or a lot of criticism on the players,” explained the coach. “Today, it’s more probably on me. We didn’t choose the right way to play, not because of the game, not because of the Sounders or whatever. The right way to play understanding the condition of the players, because some of them, they were probably extremely tired from the last two weeks, and that caught up with us.”

Fans were a little confused that, given the grueling nature of the schedule, certain players like Deiber Caicedo and Edier Ocampo hadn’t started the match. While the likes of Cubas, Sebastian Berhalter, and Fafa Picault had been doing pretty well up until that point, they had also been playing quite frequently during this long stretch – and it showed.

“We try to rely on guys that are doing really well, but maybe they needed a day off today,” conceded Sartini. “Every player’s gonna want to play, every player is gonna say ‘Yes, I’m ready to go’. But I need to be better in choosing the best 11 next time.”

But then fans became even more perplexed on how long it took Sartini to take off those tired players, waiting for the last 20 minutes to make significant changes, when Seattle had already scored all three goals. Many were questioning why Deiber Caicedo had only 13 minutes on the pitch, despite having arguably the most energy out of most players, and instead Sartini turned to Levonte Johnson as his first sub near the hour mark.

Those in-game decisions were arguably as culpable as the ones he made beforehand, as the Whitecaps never quite found a way back into the game until way too late. Nevertheless, every loss is a lesson to not only the players but also the coaches, and hopefully it becomes one that Sartini learns from quickly as another fast turnaround is upon him with Minnesota on Saturday.

Alarm Bells for Playoffs?

Last Saturday, the Whitecaps secured their playoff spot thanks to that point against Portland. Reaching the post-season is obviously something to be happy about, but everyone understands that it was the bare minimum to do so. The ‘Caps’ ambition is to go beyond that and reach the Top 4 so that they can secure a home playoff advantage and establish themselves as one of the best teams in the West.

And up until a few weeks ago, that looked like a very real possibility. The Whitecaps were just a few points behind the top four and had one-game advantage on a couple of the teams above them. But fast forward to the start of this month, and two points out of a possible 12 puts that ambition into serious jeopardy. Two poor losses both home and away against LA Galaxy and Seattle Sounders sandwich a Portland game that should have been a win, similar to the match against Dallas nearly a month ago.

The Whitecaps now sit in 7th, just one point above Minnesota and two points above Portland who sit in the play-in spots. The proximity of Minnesota’s position also makes Saturday another must-win game if the Whitecaps don’t want to be sucked into a battle for these last places, especially given their own expectations. The good news is that they still have a game in hand over everyone above and below them except for LAFC. The bad news is that it’s against the aforementioned LA side.

A win against Minnesota puts them level with Colorado in 6th and, if results go their way, they can still sneak into the Top 4 if they beat Real Salt Lake – who currently sit in fourth – on the final day of the season.

That dreaded match against LAFC on Thanksgiving weekend between those two fixtures could also be a massive decider, as this recent rival has had a tendency of getting one over the ‘Caps more often than not. With international breaks and recent suspensions also a feature, it could be a drastic climax to this Whitecaps season, with everything still on the table.

      
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Authored by: Felipe Vallejo

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