With his Sounders in first place, unbeaten in eight games and clicking on all fronts, coach Brian Schmetzer faces a challenge integrating a plethora of newly acquired players into a lineup that doesn't require much fixing.
This is the kind of problem the Sounders had been hoping to have.
Riding an eight-game unbeaten streak, the first-place team is now attempting to work in some of the newer players they’ve acquired the past month. Some, like right back Kelvin Leerdam, have already become a fixture in the starting lineup. Others, like midfielders Victor Rodriguez and Calum Mallace, have yet to play a minute for their new squad.
And riding that fine line between breaking in the newcomers without messing with what’s worked so far is one of the bigger tasks second-year coach Brian Schmetzer faces with the stretch run approaching.
“It’s tough, it’s the toughest job for a coach,” Schmetzer said Tuesday as his Sounders worked out in Tukwila ahead of next Sunday’s home clash with Minnesota United FC. “But you know, those are good problems to have.”
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For now, the arrivals of Leerdam, Rodriguez, Mallace and Lamar Neagle have boosted the intensity level on a team that was already showing signs of peaking at the right time. Mallace and Neagle — who played at the tail end of Saturday’s 1-0 win over Sporting Kansas City, coincided with the return of midfielder Osvaldo Alonso from their injury ranks.
All of a sudden, the Sounders have a plethora of midfielders.
“It creates a lot of competition within the squad, which raises the level of the entire squad,” Schmetzer said. “Which is one of the things we’re preaching. And it’s also just common sense. Guys feel it and they all want to play. So, that drives the group.”
Midfielder Cristian Roldan said the current Sounders and new teammates have been adjusting to one another in training.
“You find strengths and weaknesses with every player,” he said. “Victor (Rodriguez) for example is a player like Harry Shipp, who likes to keep the ball a lot, is more of a center-mid playing out wide. Kelvin (Leerdam) is somewhat like (left back) Joevin (Jones). So, they’re similar in some ways, but you learn to adapt playing with each other day-in and day-out.
“I think our scouts have done a really good job of signing these players,” he added. “Because they’re really good human beings first and foremost, so that also helps integrating them with the team.”
But right now, with the Sounders firing on all fronts, it’s going to be tough for playmaker Rodriguez — a Targetted Allocation Money signing from La Liga in Spain — to get on the field much before the second half. The triangle of Jordan Morris, Clint Dempsey and Nicolas Lodeiro has worked well of late, with scoring machine Will Bruin perched up high.
Rodriguez’s best chance at starting would be at left wing if Morris is moved back up to striker and Bruin bumped to the bench. Or, if Lodeiro misses any games on the right wing with his pending call-up to the Uruguayan national side. For now, though, after a rough start, the defending MLS Cup champions don’t appear to need much tinkering.
The Sounders, at 10-7-7, are tied with Houston and Sporting Kansas City atop the Western Conference  at 37 points apiece. Close behind is FC Dallas at 35 points and with two games in-hand, followed by a 34-point Portland side that faces the Sounders at month’s end.
Roldan expects Sunday’s clash with Minnesota to be tougher than the 4-0 win posted by his Sounders on the road earlier this month. That game was a lot tighter than the final score, especially in a first half where Sounders keeper Stefan Frei made some huge saves to keep his team ahead.
Schmetzer warned that things should be a lot more intense every time out.
“All the teams now are fighting for those points and trying to make the playoffs and get into playoff positioning,” he said. “Games are going to get really competitive now. Really competitive.”
That’s still a good position for the Sounders compared to a year ago when they nearly had to win out just to make the playoffs. Schmetzer doesn’t feel there’s been a singular “turning point” this year, more like a couple — including a tie against New England and a win over D.C. United when down 3-0 in the second half each time.
Now, riding a team record 400-minute shutout streak and with just two losses their last 13 games, the Sounders are getting healthy and deep at the right time.
“If your team plays up to the potential, the results should take care of themselves,” Schmetzer said. “If you believe in your process and your team and the players that you have on your team. So, we believe in the process. We believe in our team. We’ll see how that all shakes out.”