St. Louis City SC put on another defensive clinic as they posted a 1-0 win over the Seattle Sounders on Saturday night at Energizer Park. It was a match that came with a few surprises, including the absence of Roman Bürki, who suffered a fracture in his hand during training on Friday. The injury forced the team to call upon Ben Lundt, who was solid when called up on the win. Lundt recorded just a single save in the match, which head coach Olof Mellberg credited to his teams’ defensive effort.
“I thought we defended extremely well today and conceded very few chances,” he said after the match. “The strategy Is not to concede chances and goals. We’re trying to have the best set up; formation and personnel possible to do that,” he expanded. “Against good sides like this, on the ball, you end up defending for long periods of time. We have to deal with that like we did today.”
While the visitors had 15 shots in the match, only 1 of them was on target and Seattle was held to just .07 expected goals (xG) on the night. The defensive performance is the second time in four matches that City has held opponents to less than one xG and made the club just the third in MLS history to start a season with four consecutive clean sheets; something Mellberg attributes to work done in the preseason.
“I think we have a lot of players who are, individually, really good at defending,” Mellberg said. “I thought we found a formation early on that suited the squad in defending and we’ve been able to build on that.”
Midfielder Edu Löwen, who netted the only goal of the match, praised the team after the match for maintaining composure.
Courtesy Will Bramlett / WorkIntheMorning
“In a moment like this, the goalkeeper doesn’t get the chance to play often because you don’t rotate the keeper,” he said. “It was really important that the team didn’t freak out; that we gave him a lot of confidence.”
It was the first start of the season and his first MLS clean sheet. While he wasn’t happy about the circumstances that led to it; he said that he felt ready if called upon.
“I always try to prepare as good as possible every week,” he said. “You never know what happens and it’s my job to be ready if something happens. I’ll try my best to replace him and get as many points as possible.
He was also quick to praise the defense in front of him after needing to make just a single save in the win.
“It’s never the goalkeeper alone,” he said. “It’s really the whole team. The defensive line is amazing; everyone is working hard from top to bottom. They made it easy.”
Lowen Hits the Mark
Löwen’s goal came from a spectacular free kick in the 15th minute. The German midfielder curled an effort on goal from around 30 yards out that Seattle keeper Stefan Frei was unable to get a hand to. It was Löwen’s first goal of the season, which he was quick to credit to work he’s put in on the training pitch and on changing his outlook about the opportunities.
“I trained on it last week,” he said. “Last year, I was kind of struggling a little bit because I put too much pressure on myself,” he reflected. “When I hit a really good free kick, and it didn’t go I was kind of upset with myself; like I missed a penalty. But it didn’t help me in the end. I put too much pressure on myself and was too tense. So I’m just trying to wait for the opportunity and to be focused in the moment.”
Outside of that goal, City managed just 5 additional attempts on goal, which Löwen said must be an area of focus moving forward.
“With the ball, this is something that we have to improve,” he said. “We are not a team that has to stay back and always just defend. We can be more proactive in pressing, winning the ball but then also keeping it because we have a lot of good technical players who are able to keep the ball.”
City improves to 2-2-0 on the season and sits tied for 2nd place in the Western Conference. St. Louis will look to keep the momentum going when they travel to Subaru Park to face the Philadelphia Union next weekend..
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