SEATTLE – Following the Seattle Sounders’ latest disappointing loss – a 2-0 home defeat to New York City FC at CenturyLink Field on Saturday – Sounders captain Brad Evans didn’t hold back in his evaluation of his team’s recent form.
Evans lit into his side in his postgame remarks to reporters, citing a lack of effort and general air of complacency from the team during a stretch that has seen Seattle drop five of its last six league games.
“Certain guys are maybe okay with how it’s going,” Evans said. “Maybe they’ve been at teams before where losing is a tradition and you wait for next season to get a fresh start. But that doesn’t happen here. We don’t have losing seasons. We’re not okay with it.”
- HIGHLIGHTS: Sounders fall to NYCFC, 2-0
Saturday’s result was especially disappointing, Evans said, given the fact that the Sounders were back home at CenturyLink Field coming off last weekend’s 2-0 defeat to the New York Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena.
“I’ve never in a game had to scream so many times for people to wake up to the point where I almost lost my voice,” Evans said. “It should be given that you have to work your (expletive) off at home. Every ball, every bouncing ball, when you lose the ball, you’ve got to track back and win it.
“The givens aren’t there, and that’s why we’re losing games.”
The Sounders fell behind in controversial fashion on Saturday after NYCFC’s Frank Lampard had a 38th-minute goal upheld, despite adamant protests from Seattle that the ball had deflected off Lampard’s hand.
Schmid called Lampard’s finish “a handball goal,” but nonetheless said he was more concerned with his team’s stretch of listless attacking play that only continued on Saturday. Following the shutout against NYCFC, the Sounders have scored just three times in their last six games and have an MLS-low 13 goals on the season.
“I think [this stretch] has taken a toll on our confidence,” Schmid said. “I think other teams know that we’re struggling getting goals so they’re playing it tight in the back and hoping they can get one, thinking it’s going to be difficult for us.
“That’s just the way it’s been going. We’ve got to find a way to create our own luck and pull ourselves up.”
