If there has been one characteristic that has defined the Brian Schmetzer era of the Seattle Sounders it’s the ethos of “being hard to beat” that he’s imparted on his players. There are many ways that this shows up, but perhaps the best illustration of it is in how effective they’ve traditionally been at grinding out results.
From the point of his taking over in 2016 through last season, the Sounders had averaged 1.64 points per game in matches that were decided by one goal or fewer. During that time, the Sounders had managed to claim at least one point in 78.