Apr 29, 2017; Seattle, WA, USA; Seattle Sounders forward Will Bruin (17) runs the ball out of the goal after scoring against the New England Revolution during the second half at CenturyLink Field. Mandatory Credit: Jennifer Buchanan-USA TODAY Sports

The Seattle Sounders made an attacking shift up front, resulting in six goals in the past two games. What did the shift do?

The defending MLS Cup Champions had a slower start to the season than most were expecting. In these first eight games of the season, Seattle has only picked up two wins, putting them in seventh place in the Western Conference. Other than the home win against the New York Red Bulls, the Seattle Sounders had a hard time creating offensively, scoring five goals in five matches (excluding the Red Bulls game).

After the loss to Vancouver, though, Seattle made a change tactically and since then the Rave Green have scored six goals in two games, igniting the offensive flare most Sounders fans expected to see at the beginning of the season.

Will Bruin Becomes Starter

Will Bruin joined the Sounders understanding that he would most likely become a substitute striker behind Jordan Morris, which is where he was used for the first six games of the season. Bruin was effective coming off the bench as well, scoring the late equalizer against the Montreal Impact and a consolidation goal against the Whitecaps.

Eventually, head coach Brian Schmetzer decided to give Will Bruin the chance to start. The former Houston Dynamo striker started up top, moving Jordan Morris out to the wing:

Should Will Bruin start on Sunday? What a fully healthy line-up could be for Sunday #LAvSEA pic.twitter.com/rJkC8Rg1gH — Matthew Nelson (@MattSoccerTalk) April 21, 2017

Bruin’s hold up play, which is significantly better than young and ever growing Jordan Morris, gave Seattle a different dynamic going forward. His play is reminiscent of Nelson Valdez’ role in last year’s MLS Cup run. Will Burin realizes his role and is very happy to be in it:

I think I can take some of the pressure off a lot of our creative guys and let them do their thing underneath me. My job is to occupy the center backs, keep the lines high and sneak in behind them if they’re playing too high

Will Bruin is also much more of a threat in the air as well. This adds a whole new dimension to Seattle’s attack. Though Morris has scored with his head, the threat that Bruin provides now forces the opposing defense to keep guessing and when Joevin Jones is serving in crosses the way he has been, it is good to have someone who can constantly be a threat at the end of those crosses.

Jordan Morris Moves to the Wing

As we said above, Bruin’s inclusion to the starting XI meant that Morris had to move out to the wing, a position he had played last season at the beginning of the year and once Nelson Valdez found his form going forward. Though Schmetzer and Morris have both stated that Morris’ best position is up top as a striker, his speed and quickness on the ball makes him quite a weapon on the wing for the Sounders to implement.

Morris started his time with the Sounders on the wing, with Valdez up top. Here, he wasn’t very effective at all and it wasn’t until he was moved to and out-and-out striker role did he start scoring goals with the Sounders. It was here where he build his confidence up and when Nelson Valdez hit his stride, Morris moved out to the wing again, but this time with much more success.

With Valdez’ move home the Paraguay, Morris moved back up top at the beginning of this season but was yet again not producing the way everyone expected him to. Now, with Bruin being put up top and Morris moving out wide once again, Morris is much effective going at the opposition. Seattle’s match against the LA Galaxy two weeks ago was the best we have seen him play all year and he was much more active against the New England Revolution last weekend.

Overall, Brian Schmetzer’s decision to move Morris to the wing and play Bruin up top seems to be working out very well so far. Expect to see this formation fairly often with the Sounders moving forward.