I'm responding to your post, but it's more to address the general attitude towards Ben Sweat. Not being a fan boy at all, because he's had some real issues defending, but let's look at the bigger picture, and it's that Sweat is simply one of our Developmental Squad guys that's been starting for nearly half the season. He literally makes the minimum salary in MLS and has been tasked with holding the fort in a system that requires massive amounts of offensive contribution from its outside backs while also playing sound defense. Mata has never been great at playing solid D because his tendency is to always bomb forward... and he's our starting LB making starters money. In fact, he's our *ONLY* outside back on the team that can be considered a starter per salary. At best, RJ's salary makes him a squad player and he's been benched by White who, like Sweat, is at the bottom of the salary structure, another Developmental Player ($4 less than Sweat). So while the club has gotten extremely lucky with the production of White, I'd say they have gotten a level of production from Sweat that is on par with what his salary should provide. Sweat should be the fill-in at LB when Mata is on international duty or needs a rest, but expecting lock-down results every game, when the MF is a total shambles, is unfairly critiquing the guy; it's the same as judging a kid 2 years out of law school that had to present to the Supreme Court because his boss is in the hospital with emergency surgery.
Really, the responsibility for our shitshow performances this year fall on the FO and PV for failing to stick the roster with quality backups, failure of giving new contracts/raises to guys not able to contribute, failure to manage in-game personnel decisions, and a failure to coach the team up on set pieces. For years the USMNT didn't have the talent to play offense, but they won games by playing solid defense and scoring on Set Pieces - it's not rocket science... games are totally won on dead-ball plays that are 50/50 which is a better percentage than attacking during the run of play.
Last thought..... next game I want Lopez to wear an orange jersey because he has the offensive responsibilities of a traffic cone. Everybody avoids him and detours around his spot on the field. When your CBs are more adept at bringing the ball forward, you've got serious problems to address.