Seattle is struggling. Not just because the Western Conference is traditionally the harder side of the MLS table. Not just because a star player (Martins) and a few key role players (Neagle, Barrett, & Papa) left the team. Those are definitely factors, but a number of teams have dealt those issues in the past, including the Sounders, and still had strong runs. Seattle’s players simply are not working with together or in the formations we’ve seen so far.
Seattle sits in last place in the West. This from a team that has never finished worse than 4th in the conference, now sits 10th.