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Do the Sounders miss Seba Le Toux?

SebastienLeToux 1 (ISIphotos.com)

Photo by ISIphotos.com

By JOSE M. ROMERO

The reeling Seattle Sounders continue to look to resolve its scoring deficiencies as it heads into the final two matches – both at home – before the World Cup break. 

While there were chances aplenty against San Jose at Qwest Field on May 22, the team's most recent MLS match was a stinker. Nine shots, only one of those on goal in a 1-0 loss to Colorado last Saturday in Commerce City. The Rave Green's night in the greater Denver area was epitomized by bruising forward Conor Casey bowling over Seattle defender Jeff Parke en route to the game-winning goal in the 63rd minute.

Seattle is 1-4-1 in its past six matches and talk of the sophomore slump or jinx or second-year blues, etc. is rampant. There is also talk that the Sounders, with one goal in its past four MLS matches, is missing the scoring punch that Sebastien Le Toux took with him to the Philadelphia Union when Seattle left the popular Frenchman unprotected in this year's expansion draft.

It's hard to quantify just what the infusion of Le Toux at forward, his more natural position though he was used mainly on the midfield wing last season, would mean to the 2010 Sounders given what they already have on the roster and what Le Toux's playing time would be.

But Le Toux is in the top 10 in the league in scoring with five goals, even though he's played in just six games. Last season he had one goal in 28 MLS matches but was more of a factor in U.S. Open Cup games. 

“I think it would be disingenuous to say we couldn’t use (five) goals and a couple of assists,” Sounders FC GM Adrian Hanauer told the Tacoma News Tribune. “That said, we certainly didn’t anticipate some of the injuries we’ve had.”

Periodic glances at Le Toux's Facebook page reveal posts that wish the Seattle USL-1 fan favorite well in Philly, and others pine for his return to the Northwest. "The Sounders need you," says one commenter.

Not happening. Not this year anyway. Seattle will have to find scoring from other sources if its established shooters, Fredy Montero and Steve Zakuani, can't increase their production. Those others, at least over the next couple of games, will have to be midfielders Brad Evans, Sanna Nyassi and Pat Noonan, with more needed from Freddie Ljungberg as far as creating opportunities for his mates.

There were some good signs of life in the Rave Green at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. Patrick Ianni almost converted in the 38th minute, Ljungberg might have scored off Zakuani's fine feed if not for the quickness of defender Marvell Wynne, who recovered to disrupt the shot, and Montero overshot the net in the 68th minute. The officials also opted not to call what could have been a handball in the box against the Rapids in the second half.

Still, nine goals for the season in 11 games and a failure to score at home in the past 266 minutes is not going to satisfy the masses in the Brougham End and everywhere else. The bright side is that Sounders FC's next two opponents are from the Eastern Conference, which is the weaker of the two thus far. It's New England (3-6-2) Saturday followed by the least successful team in MLS at present, D.C. United (2-8-0) on June 10, two teams which give Sounders FC a good shot at going into the break with six more points.

Comments

  1. I like the Sounder’s haters, they make me laugh.

    What a joke….the posts. I would never call the posters a joke, even though most are thinking it.

    5% ? More like 500-5,000%.

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  2. Oh and about the Sounders fans – The majority of 36,000 cheering their team on after getting drubbed 4-nil by LA speaks volumes to me about the quality and dedication of our fans.

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  3. I don’t think Seba would make or break our season, even if he was starting every game. We aren’t winning for a lot of reasons. Montero’s head is already in Europe and his first 6 games showed it. Hopefully he realizes that those opportunities are going to dry up if he plays like crap. He is real quality when he applies himself which he has over the last few games. Freddy L is a whole other issue. Its clear that the MLS refing has got him and he spends so much of the game just waiting to whine about the next dumb call. If he put that anger into his game he would be unstoppable. Sigi playing Evans up front for so many games was a mistake as well. He is a good attacking CM and is a major upgrade over Vagenas/Sturgis. Truth is we have had our chances and just haven’t take them which speaks good for the formation and set up, and puts the blame squarely on the shoulders of the players to step and perform.

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  4. FYI – I heard from a pretty reliable source that the Sounders would have cut Le Toux if Philly hadn’t drafted him as they didn’t want to continue to pay his 6-figure salary. Portland was going to look to pick him up if the MLS passed on him.

    Not that I’m bragging. The Timbers Army didn’t especially want him on the team. Regardless of his superior quality, they didn’t want an ex-Sounder featured.

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  5. I wouldnt say Sounders have the best fans, just the most. Go to there facebook page and you can count several people threatening to sell their season tickets. Now Toronto, those are some fans. Save their recent displays, they have been garbage since they joined and still manage to sell out most games. A fanbase isnt truly tested until a team has a losing season.

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  6. Yes on Matt is an idot.

    Yes on all MLS teams need fill stadiums.

    Yes on coach, Ljunberg and Adrian H.

    As far as LeToux goes, i think Montano, Fucito might have more to offer in the long run. Its possible that he could have actually scored a few of the dumb misses that LeVesque had but I don’t miss him that much. Besides, three of his goals came in one game and although that is great to have a hat trick and win a match, i would be more impressed if LeToux had scored those goals in 5 different games.

    IMO, after Nkufo gets here we need to dump LeVesque, Evans, Pass back Pete V. and Sturgis. If we had two experienced (better) players than that group of 4, we would be in better shape. Too soon to tell if Estrada and Seaman will pan out.

    P.S. Jose Romero, I am happy to see you are contributing to this blog and still writing about the Sounders.

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  7. There are so many ways to count and discount the Sounders ZEROs here in the spin room.
    Here’s this year,
    0
    0
    0
    0
    0

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  8. Matt, you’re an idiot. Feel better? 😀

    Dont attack the fans. We get it, you feel threatened or are jealous by the people in the seats at Qwest. I fail to see how the number of people at Qwest bothers so many. Growth of the MLS is good, we need every stadium to fill up like Qwest does. Color me confused at the fact everyone outside of Seattle wants us to fail and all the fans to go away. If you want a small league with few fans, go root for the USL.

    Re: LeToux… We definitely miss him, but he’s not the reason we’re struggling. Our coach has lost the team, Ljungberg’s attitude is killing the team, and Adrian’s reluctance to make any offseason moves to improve the team have all contributed. Of course injuries haven’t helped…

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  9. IF Seattle had kept Seba and Sigi played him at forward (which was never going to happen) I think Le Toux would have been Seattle’s leading scorer at this point.

    Many people don’t realize that Le Toux was a backline player until he came to the USL Sounders. He’s only 4 years being an offensive player with a ton of natural ability and tremendous upside.

    As for Jaqua, he is also missed. Haters forget he scored 9 goals and had 7 assists last year. 5th leading scorer in MLS I believe. More than that, he was a big Physical presence teams had to pay attention to, creating space and opportunities for the Monteros of the team.

    Le Toux and Jaqua represent heart hustle and grit, all traits currently missing from the squad.

    Always great to see Jose’s work on SBI

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  10. The team needs to finish some bloody chances, pure and simple. Everyone wants to raise hell and cry that we can’t get a win–true, but the fact is that we have held our own or been the better side in the majority of our matches. However, as we all know, football isn’t a sport that rewards the “better side” every time.

    We have no excuses. We can’t finish, we can’t win. We need players to be more composed in the box, more aggressive in the offensive third, and to leave it all on the pitch.

    The goals and wins will come. Getting Jaqua and Nkufo will help give us a bit more going forward; but this team isn’t broken, just going through a very tough run of poor finishing and bad luck.

    Come on you Sounders!

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  11. I would argue maybe 5% of your 36k actually care…The rest probably couldn’t even name more than 4 players on the team:

    Montero/Keller/Ljungberg/????

    Plastic grass…Plastic fans.

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  12. Look at Sigi Schmid if you want to understand most of Seattle’s problems. He would probably have Le Toux on the bench most of the time anyway. He is the most overrated coach in MLS history.

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  13. The Sounders DO NOT play a very good possession game. For the most part, Sounders only dominate possession when they go down a point or two and the other team bunkers to secure the win. Our backs and mids dont feed our wingers and strikers consistently, and all too often our defense capitulates at very crucial moments of the game. Anyone who regularly watches the Sounders, and is honest, would tell you that these problems started last year, and the team management did nothing in the off season to rectify the problems.

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  14. “Seattle and MLS will suffer putting such a poor product in front of MLS’ greatest fan base.”

    Newsflash… winning an MLS cup is a lot more difficult than people think. You can complain that MLS has let it’s greatest fan base down, or understand the challenge and savor success when earned.

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  15. At least 36,000 care a lot.

    NKufo’s attidude had to give us hope.

    His promise to what Seattle could expect:

    “A lot of goals”

    Exactly what is needed to get Seattle back on track to win MLS Cup this Nov.

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  16. The numbers don’t lie. Attacking would include finishing in my mind and they’re at or near the bottom as stated previously. The numbers are there, look at them, a lot of zeros, and more at home than anyone else, according to the MLS stat guy.

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  17. I disagree that the Sounders have been a “poor attacking” club. We dominate most games (with some obvious exceptions) and create tons of chances. But, we are afraid of the box for some reason and nobody will debate the lack of finishing.

    The thing that has changed from last year to this is effort. There is none. (with the exception of Alonso, Evans, Riley, Ianni, Zakuani, imo)

    Freddie is embarassing most games. Not just his whining, but his terrible first touch that he’s discovered this year. Hopefully Nkufo will help him return to the last half of last season form.

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  18. “… sophomore slump or jinx or second-year blues…”
    it is not. Sounders have been a poor attacking and finishing club since mid term 2009, even with LeToux. Someone at an MLS site ran the numbers and Seattle is near the bottom for scoring at home for years 2009/2010 combined. Their home scoring record is a tragedy with their great attendance numbers. They have at least 5 goose-eggs this year, I believe. The problem is deep and encompasses players, tactics, and management. Seattle and MLS will suffer putting such a poor product in front of MLS’ greatest fan base.

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  19. Missed may be too strong. However, Seba would be a better option than Levesque. His skill and pace is far better the Roger. Protecting Roger over Le toux was the mistake.

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  20. Yes. I said we’d miss him before he got picked, but I think we miss him more than I even thought we would. He brings energy which is lacking more than a “target forward” and can put the ball on frame when he’s in his natural position (which he never did last year).

    We have lot’s of guys with good enough first touches, we need somebody that can put a shot on frame and poke in loose balls. Le Toux would have been that guy.

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  21. No, they don’t miss him. What they need, which is what they also lacked last year is a target forward who can hold the ball up top and score in the air off of set pieces. Let’s hope Blaise Nkufo can do this. Jaqua is a big guy, but he plays like he’s 1/2 his size and is terrible with his head.

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  22. As you watch Seba warm up, you’ll notice that he is pretty much the most skilled player on the field. His ball dribbling skills are just absurd. His biggest issues have been with confidence and that was a major factor for him last season in MLS play. Having watched him his entire career, I don’t see him continuing on this tear much past the break. His speed, skill, and workrate are undoubtedly a surprise to nearly every team he plays against, since he hasn’t played against most of them. The second time around will be a whole lot tougher for him, particularly once they find out that he will shy away from physical play.

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