Every team is looking to find out what their best formation is before the next MLS season gets underway.

Seattle Sounders played a friendly game the previous weekend versus Sporting Kansas and their formation there suggested that they might be going to put little more emphasis on their defence this season.

It was old fashioned approach by Seattle in that game, getting five guys to play in the deep and only a couple upfront.

Of course, it was only a friendly and thus, nobody would want to read too much into that.

The boss Sigi Schmid also clarified later that the formation was not a sign of things to come. It was just that he wanted to try something different and that’s why he went with so many players in the backline.

According to Schmid, you don’t play with a fixed formation. A lot depends on the conditions, on the opposition you are up against and what sort of players you have got in your ranks.

Schmid was quoted as saying, “You have to see what your strengths and weaknesses are and on the basis of that, you make your formations. At times, you have to play a few more players in the defensive positions than you normally do. It’s the circumstances on which things depend.”

“It’s not about attacking all the time. At times, you just have to be steady and try to break the opposition out.”

“We wanted to put more than four defenders out there and see how it works.”

The Sounders were the table leaders in the Western Conference last season finishing 3 points clear at the top.

They should be able to do the same again. They look more balanced than any other team in America at the moment.