Practice Observations: Dark Skies Brewing
May 27th, 2008 . 2:44 pm . By: Buzz Carrick
When I arrived at training this morning it was about 86 and climbing toward 90 or more… but off in the horizon is a dark wall of clouds. If you grew up in Texas you now how this works, as long as the wind is from the south you’re fine. As soon as the wind turns from the north and the temp drops about 15 degrees in less than a minute it’s time to run for the hill. Sure enough two-thirds of the way though training the wind turns and the temp drops like a rock… and I’m off to a safer viewing angle. Two minutes later the sky opens up and the team goes running for the locker room. The media went into one of he visitor locker rooms and did interviews inside. News, Notes, & Observations- Dax McCarty was outside early before anyone else doing rehab that included a lot of abdominal strength moves and some jogging. Next week I bet he trains. - Dom Oduro is the cock of the walk today as he is interviewed by almost all the media and everyone else gets asked questions about hot form players. The FCD blog says Dom will appear as a guest on tonight’s SouthWest Kia SportsTalk hosted by Josh Roe. The show airs live on KFWD-52 at 6:30 pm with a replay at 11 pm. - There appears to be a strong reaction by Toja to being droped, he has an intensity today I haven’t seen in a while. The benching may have worked. - Break Shea and Blake Wagner are back. Brek is wearing some big yellow clown shoes today. (yes I am an old fuddy duddy). Shea says he grew up watching the Toulon Tournament on TV and it was a dream come true to play in it. That’s exactly how I feel about it actually, well except the playing in it part… I know it’s not as big a deal anymore, but I recall when Toulon was a real coup for the US to be there and how big a deal it was. Both players said they had not been able to talk to Morrow from France, but were planning to today. - Ferruzzi had both Shea and Wagner come right off the plane yesterday and do a session to get their bodies moving and adjusting to being back in Texas. They will both be available for tomorrow. - Saragosa’s broken hand aside, everyone else seems to be healthy. Knock on wood. - Ray Burse Jr. is supposed to be back for tomorrow’s game. No clue if he will play or not but he should at least be on the bench. With 3 games this week I’d be tempted to give him a game, just to make him feel a part of the team. Catching up with Marco FerruzziMarco is getting the coach speak down already… so translating it is easy. I’m curious if he’ll say something about this bit, Morrow never did. On Oduro’s streak:
Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator: The kids money, you wait and see. He came in the league with just speed, is he improving other areas?
Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator: We coached him up. With Rhine red card, what might your options be?
Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator: Like I’m telling you that. So can you tell us who those options might be? (Says Buzz, not giving up)
Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator: Not Dax. Is Wallace going to get a run or just spot duty?
Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator: I don’t know. How did Toja and Alvarez react to being dropped?
Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator: A good friend of mind once said, “This is a simple game. You throw the ball, you hit the ball, you catch the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes it rains.” Think about that for a minute. TrainingWarm up, jogging, stretching, then some sprints and quick cut sharpness stuff. After that was a 30 minute shoot gallery, which if you forget is the 30 yards full goal 5v5 (or 6/7) game with 5 players around the offensive end for each team. It’s quick, fast, aggressive, and fun as heck for players. And today it gets cut short by the weather. Ferruzzi plays his tactics very close and doesn’t show anything in training. I think he knows the team winning right now is more about spirit and attitude and less about tactical nuance. Anyway there has been very little if any full side walk through and tactical lessons since he took over… or at least there hasn’t been when I’m there. Since I think there’s no chance in hell he’s adapting training cause I’m there (hum, my arrogance know some bounds after all), I think I’m right about Ferruzzi thinking it’s more about spirit right now. Anyway, here’s the division from the shooting galley, of which we can’t take much. Green: Moor, Ricardinho, Wallace, Toja, Avila, Wagner, Shea, Wileman, Daniels, Cooper In fact as I type them out I think that might be a player made young vs. old with a touch of positional balance thrown in. Lineup PredictionWhen you have a player score three goals in two games I think it’s a absolute must you start him. Even if it’s just to reinforce the idea that the players in the best form play so your training stays competitive and you don’t lose the team. So I’ll bet a $1 Dom starts. Plus Dom said he was “looking forward” to playing 90 minutes when someone asked about starting versus subbing on… maybe he knows something. With Rhine out someone has to play right mid, you see above when I asked about options? Ferruzzi said someone who has played in midfield before and then mentioned Dax is hurt. That means Rocha almost certainly wide right despite the fact he was great as the a-mid last game. Also Toja’s good response this week means I’m going to bet he’s back in there. (Anyone for a long shot Alvarez wide right, Toja wide left, and leave Rocha in the middle? Nah, me neither.) Serioux goes back in the lineup, although Pitch wasn’t bad. Everyone else should stay the same, including Wallace. I wouldn’t bet on Burse, but I wouldn’t mind seeing him for a game. So I’m predicting…
I have a thought about what I might like to see a bit later… Thought of the DayI actually think it’s important to keep Anthony Wallace in the lineup. FCD started the year giving Wagner a run of what, 7 games? He made some steady improvement but didn’t lock the job down. Now we have seen a two game run for Wallace. I am of the belief he should get the same seven or eight game run to see if he can hold down the job by raising it to a level that will balance the team. Wallace has some serious range and can play nice defense. He just needs some time to progress at the first team level. He’s also got enough game to get to the end and can beat players on the run. Now if 8 games in Wally hasn’t locked down the spot then perhaps it’s time to try Brek Shea. Give the kid an 8 game run. As a last resort, pending a Wagenfuhr return, which is doubtful at best, then someone like an Alvarez or some other veteran can have the run up to the playoffs or go back to Wagner or Wallace depending on training. You see this time of year shouldn’t only be about results. Yes I know the coach just got fired for that, but as long as the team can maintain playoff standing who cares if they don’t win every game. Lineup Thought of the Day (aka Thought of the Day Two)The Rocha intensity at a-mid and the Toja intensity in training leaves me with a thought. I would like to see Saragosa play as a deep ball winning terrier, almost like a stopper really, with two linking players advance of him in Rocha and Toja. It will resemble the 3 man shape of last season that Toja was so effective in. For this game it would mean Avila would need to play right wing, or even Ricchetti. Might be worth a shot…
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BUZZ -hmm…I like your TOTD2 line-up, but I am intimidated by attack that Houston tends to bring in games against our beloved FCD.
Maybe we start the first line-up and sub Avi on in this game. Avial is an offensive juggernaut, with nice feet and a fairly quick read of the game,but I don’t know how well he gets back on the defensive side of things. So my concern lies in the amount of defense he might need to bring to this game and not knowing what his capabilities are in defense.
What are your thoughts about his defensive play? Can he play both ways if needed?
Love the thought of Rocha and Toja working together as attacking/linking mids. Assuming FCD keeps 3 at the back, that leaves a lot of ground for Saragosa and Davino to cover even if Rocha and Toja do a decent job of tracking back. I’d be less worried if it was Serioux in Saragosa’s position and someone with more (read: any) speed in Davino’s position.
Did Alvarez show as much intensity or desire today as Toja? Any intensity or desire? How hard is he fighting to get a starting job back?
I actually thought that it should be Saragosa and Toja as deep middies, with Toja being the box-to-box guy and Rocha high. It plays to both Juan’s and Andre’s strengths, I think.
Now if you want to “position” Toja high, but he is still playing box to box but you are acknowledging his offensive forays, fair ’nuff.
buzz,
how do you think our defenders will do with Ching this weekend, since he’s been in much better form since earlier in the season? is he even in the States? so far, i cant tell if he’s in Europe for the Spain game from any reports that ive seen and he’s not on the England roster.
Here’s the line-up
…….Abe…Oduro
Alvarez…Toja…..Cooper
……Richetti…Saragosa
Serioux….Pitcholan….Moor
………Sala
I know there are couple of surprises but I’m trying to play the best 11 so no Davino.
My take on Wagner V Wallace is that they have been about equal in every area except for passing. I think Wallace’s accuracy on long cross field passes and balls over the top is a huge plus that Wagner just hasn’t displayed.
I have only seen Avila once (Chivas Reserve Game). While I was impressed by many aspects of his game, defense and tackling was definitely not one of him. For that reason he is slotted as an attacking mid option only in my mind. (I know, it’s not fare after one viewing, but that’s what I see).
i really liked how rocha performed at A-mid. and, to be honest, my belief is that toja is better deeper in the midfield.
as far as wally v. wagner, i’ve liked what i’ve seen from wally more. he doesn’t force things unlike blake, and tends to pass better.
Isn’t Serioux with the Canadian National Team?
buzz,
do you happen to know how the coaching search is going, and who you may have heard they’re looking at? something tells me 2 weeks to find the coach is too soon.
i wouldn’t be surprised if the big announcement in 2 weeks will be to announce marco to be the interim coach for teh rest of the year.
Serioux will play on Wednesday, though not Sunday in Colorado.
Chaz, Avila can play a high attacking a-mid or even wing, but he usually lines up deeper as a linking type two way midfielder. He can play some defense and get forward well from that deep spot. Good work rate.
Big B, I didn’t see any particular intensity out of Alvarez today, but he did look good last week. He tends to be a guy who needs a coach’s confidence. The benching might not go as well with him.
TT, Ching is of course the big problem. How FCD handles him may determine the outcome. We’ll have to see I suppose.
3nout, I know they have started the process in terms of putting a list together. But I don’t think anyone has interviewed as of yet.
3nOut, I agree. Toja is better when played deep..
Given our current shape/tactics, I prefer Rocha over Toja at A-Mid. For some reason Rocha has had problems with short passing, but he sends in great crosses and links up well with the attack…Much better creative force in the attack than Toja.
Toja is I feel a better ball winner than Rocha.. better than Richetti too. More importantly he links better with the attack than Richetti does.. Nothing against Pablo.. when he is on his game he is a great player..
Both Toja and Rocha need to work on their shooting though. Cooper’s backheel pass to Rocha in the RSL game was fantastic.. Rocha should have nailed that without breaking a sweat.
Buzz,
I just read Brian McBride has in a round’a’bout way stated he will return to the MLS (he just retierd from Fullham). Can you hit Hitch at the next practice on the possibility of filling the DP and using some of that Ruiz money to pull in the aging striker?
Of course I guess our priorities need to be in order, coach first, DP second…
Boneall, it’s virtually impossible for FCD to get McBride as they currently sit 7th on the allocation list.
Thanks Buzz, didn’t know that.