April 1st, 2009 . 1:57 pm . By: Buzz Carrick

We need to be a little more constructive here, okay?  - John Connor

Today, FCD moves over to the Dr Pink field to get some work in on turf in preparation for the game this weekend at New England.  This stuff is terrific, Sprinturf it’s called, and it feels nothing like the crap Astro Turf I played on when younger.  No, it’s not the same as grass, but it’s not as far off as it might seem.

Still hate it though, compared to grass.

News, Notes and Observations

- Marcelo Saragosa is out jogging on the adidas field.  Hyndman says next week Marcelo might rejoin training, and them maybe make the playing field three or four weeks after that.

- Steve Purdy is “doubtful” with a hamstring. He isn’t at training today and I don’t expect him to play. 

- George John gets a shot today in Purdy’s spot, but Pitchkolan is obviously an option there.  John looks interesting there.  He shows some pace, is big and strong, and has terrific feet and touch for a big defender having played MF in college.  I’m sure there will be some rookie mistakes, but it’s an intriguing long term option.

- The team thinks Alvaro Sanchez will get his visa in the next week in time for the TFC game.  But he would need a second visa to Canada to go on that road trip, which isn’t real likely.

- Ray Burse is clearly lacking confidence.  He’s one of, if not the, quickest keepers side to side I’ve ever seen.  But he’s really inexperienced and his positioning needs work.  It’s going to take some time, but he has upside still.

- Josh Lambo looks quite good today, he’s really pressing Burse (is that helping or hurting?).  Lambo is looking very confident right now.  That gap might not be as big as some people think.

- Practice keeper Bryant Ruekner has to play center back today cause of the lack of bodies.

- Brek She was interesting up top, although he doesn’t score.  He’s more of a off striker type player but I like his movement.

- Marosevic is still making some very rookie decisions with the ball.

Hitch and Partners

I caught up with Hitch for a few minutes and he gave me some partner updates. 

- There is a action plan going forward with the CAP partnership to take it to even greater levels.  Hitch says both parties are really excited about this relationship and it’s potential.

- The River Plate top two front office types are going to be here next week for Dallas Cup and to (hopefully) finalize thier partnership with FCD. 

- The head of the T&T league is also going to be here for Dallas Cup, and Hitch says they are working on a plan to make that relationship more fruitful for both parties. 

- Hitch also says he has some conference calls with some European clubs who have read about the CAP deal and are interested in perhaps replicating it. 

- Also the president of Shanghai Shenhua is coming into town to meet with Hitch to talk possible deal.

Catching Up with Schellas Hyndman

Berhalter or Cherundolo?

You know what, that’s a good question. I think we’ve really put ourselves into a pretty good spot to be in that No. 2 spot. As I said to the players, we’re sitting 0-2 right now, but I think we could be sitting 2-0. Finishing opportunities, not giving up soft goals-it’s probably the two most important things every coach tells their team at any age, you’ve got to score goals when you get your chances and you can’t give up soft goals.

If there are players available in the back like those players you mentioned, obviously we’re interested.

Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator:  Either.

Have you been able to address the problem with balls over the top of the defense?

Well the first thing is that you recognize the balls are coming over the top. So what we did last week, we started pressuring the server. We tried to get our players to get in closer and maybe stop that quick, early ball over the top. That’s kind of hit and miss because if you move the ball quickly, somebody is free. It’s hard to shut the whole team down. So as we try to press a little bit with that idea, we give the opposition more space behind us to play the ball over the top. So you’re kind of going, well, what the hell. If we press, we get more space but if we don’t press, they’re going to find them anyway.

There’s got to be some communication with the center backs and I think that’s what it comes down to. If one’s going to the ball, the other one has got to support. If the other one is going to the ball, the other one has got to support, almost like you’re playing with a sweeper and that stops the ball from going over the top. That’s something that we haven’t been doing. But we hope to identify that and make that better.

Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator:  No, but we’re working on it.

Is George John is ready to play?

I don’t know. There’s two things that concern me about that. He didn’t have much preseason time with us because we wanted him really to get healthy. I think he’s probably 95%, so we’ve got that taken care of. The other thing is we’re going to an away environment, not a real comfort zone and going into a Field Turf environment. So there’s a few things, but from what I’m seeing out here, he’s doing fine. A lot of it is player selection and the personnel that you can select.

Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator:  Hum… No…  er… maybe…  ok, no.

Why did you pull Wagner at halftime on Sunday?

I think the rationale is that he’s on the field first and foremost, for defending and I didn’t think he defended really well. It’s kind of hard to defend when he seems to be overlapping and attacking way too much. One of the things that we’ve talked to Blake about is his services. You can see the conversation is taking some kind of effect because this is one of the first times he has stayed after practice and worked on his services. You overlap, attack, can’t get the ball past the first defender and you’re out of position. It doesn’t make sense, does it?

I was really concerned about the number of giveaways that he had. I know during the game, I was disappointed early and then when I watched the video, it was like the first six balls he had, he gave five away. Five away means five to them, so that’s a bit of a concern. If we’re playing a 4-4-2, one of the things you want is flank play. You want them to combine on the flank, overlap, get their crosses off and if you can’t connect that first ball, all that flank play is wasted.

Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator:  Poor passing.

Is Steve Purdy pressing a little bit?

I think Steve had a very good preseason. He got a little shook up with the Chicago game and it affects peoples’ confidence. The slippage issue from the Chicago game has been taken care of by wearing better boots with better studs. He didn’t have a good performance the other day because people were running behind him. I don’t think that’s just a Purdy thing. I think that’s a Torres thing and I think that would be anybody that’s playing center back if they are both pressing up, letting guys face the goal and run by them.

I think part of Steve is for a big guy, he probably hasn’t gotten a feel for how to use his body in this league. I think George could be that big guy who could use the body in the league. I also think quite honestly that Drew could help us in that center position through experience and I think Drew can help us in that center position through his body and how to play these players.

Unfortunately, we need a right-sided fullback and with Marcelo out, that hurts us. The encouraging thing too is that Purdy played his first two years in college as a right back. I think that may be kind of getting him out of the pressure of being in the center, trying to organize the defense and maybe getting him on the field somewhere else. He serves a great ball. He can knock a diagonal ball and has got good speed. That could be the next place for him.”

Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator:  We’ve started calling him Bibbentuckers.

Did Moor step up against Chivas compared to Week One?

I thought Drew probably was one of our best defenders. If I had to pick four defenders and had to rate them in order, I’d probably rate him No. 1. I think he had a better game. I’d hate to think that everyone else had a bad game, but I think he had a better game than he did in Chicago. And it seemed like in the Chicago game that they were going at him and in this game, they were going at our center backs.”

Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator:  Sure, but he’s our best defender anyway.

How’s Burse’s mentally?

You know, it’s an interesting thing, confidence. It’s something no one can give to you. You have to give it to yourself and the way you get it is to do the right things over and over again so you develop the confidence.

Look at Manchester United’s team. Look at those players and you average it. England’s national team, you average it. They’re playing at their level international games. Now it helps when Beckham has played over a 100 while everyone else has played only 10. But you average it and all of a sudden, it’s 50 between the two of them.

I think what happens is when you look at our team and average it to how many MLS games have they played? What did Ray play last year, two? So can we say just for the sake of argument that he’s played two MLS games in his career? How do you get confidence?

As a coach, I can be pissed or disappointed with players, but they’re not going to have a reality check and say that you know what, he was out of position on the second goal. He knows it and anyone who saw it knows it, but how could we get him not to be out of position the next time? It’s an interesting dilemma that we’re going through because when you look at our third ‘keeper, Josh Lambo, he’s not too far behind him. All Ray has on him is three games.”

Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator:  You know that scene at the end of Terminator 2, when the T1000 get frozen and shatters into thousands of little pieces?  Like that.

Training

Warm-up, stretching, and jogging of course.  Then some pass and move type drills.  After that is a possession game leading into a full field scrimmage to get the team used to turf.  Hyndman also taking a look at George John at first team CB.

Green:  Cooper, Cunningham, Ferreira, van den Bergh, Ricchetti, McCarty, Wagner, Torres, John, Moor.
Blue: Shea, Marosevic, Avila, Ferruzzi, Guarda, Rocha, Wallace, Ruekner, Pitchkolan, Dello-Russo

After 30 minutes or so, Moor swaps with Dello at right back.  (last chance Dello?)  Hyndman also runs an interesting experiment with a 4-4-1-1 kind of thing.  Rocha swaps with Cunningham and moves to right mid, Ferreira upto second striker.  McCarty moves into the middle next to Ricchetti is a flatter type midfield. Looks something like this.

Not at all 4-5-1 like, more 4-4-2 with Ferreira playing off Cooper. 

The gaffer obviously has some things on his mind.

Lineup Prediction

In the end I think that on the road, on turf, without a long preseason, is to much for Hyndman to put on John and Pitch will play.  McCarty stays at right mid and Cunningham up top.  But I wouldn’t bet much on it, cause it’s clearly up in the air.

Option include Moor middle with Dello right.  Pitch vs John… or both and Torres left.  Rocha vs McCarty.  last but not least the 4-4-1-1 with Ferreira as the off striker and Rocha as the wide right mid with Dax middle.

Thought of the Day

Hyndman isn’t done with this team.  The search for a defender is clear, as he really wants Moor central, but even beyond that. 

I just have his impression talking to him that he’s not satisfied with the shape yet.  The imbalance on the right for example, with McCarty drifting in.  The lack of experience and support at left back. 

I’m still picking up on some dissatisfaction from the head man.

Categories: Practice Observations.

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