I wish i were at the game to yell “YOUR NOT FIT TO WEAR THE SHIRT!” and “YOU’LL BE SACKED IN THE MORNING!”
This was an incredibly uninspiring display of soccer . . . coupled with our early exit from the usoc, shouldn’t SH’s head be on the chopping block? I understand that people will argue that he hasn’t had enough time to get his system into place, but his decisions, record, and lack of team confidence speaks for itself. Does he have what it takes to coach professionally?
Unfortunatley, i don’t know if a coaching change could help the lack of confidence on the field. are we just that far behind in talent? is it formations, discipline, fitness? At the start of the year i had great expectations for this team . . . it seems inevitable that this is a rebuilding year and another few year will have to wait for champions league football.

I only saw the second half; but I thought John played pretty damn good D !?

Buzz,

I was glad to see that SH went back to a formation that allows for possession and a free flowing style. Hopefully, the players will find it in their hearts to play that way.

I fear we are very close to the team quitting on SH. We will know soon. I hope that the team can pull together and “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.” I just don’t see the locker room personalities to do that. It’s not just the coach. FCD needs players with the personality to hold the other players and themselves accountable. It takes more than one and I don’t see even that many.

And the worst part is that Ferreira is definitely a good player, but he’s getting knocked off the ball so easily, and the refs aren’t giving him the benefit of the doubt because of his size. It’s also disconcerting that we don’t look confident trying to build an attack. So many hopeful long balls from Wagner, Purdy and Moor, so little in return. I thought George John looked good again, so that’s a positive. On paper Cunningham and Cooper should be a good pairing, but the ball has got to go through the midfield for it to work.

Just a clarification, I believe the lone “shot” was actually a header and it was from Purdy of all people, not Cooper… Pretty sure of this.

Yeah.. was about to say that I’m pretty sure the header was Purdy’s. Cooper had that one great chance on goal that he somehow messed up.

Seemed like it wasn’t until Dax came on that the midfield really started to loosen up for Dallas.

If you’re talking about Marcello’s strike to Boswell, while I saw it, I thought it was unintentional.. but maybe Marcello sold me on it.

I sort of felt that this was a slightly better than the DCU performance (but still awful) – the defense looked a little more solid, but I think this was more about George John than anything else. Who would have thought that a rookie would become our most solid defender.

What’s really sad is that I thought this was FCD’s best effort of the season. They battled but Houston is Houston and it takes effort and talent to beat those guys. In 2003 we won 6 games and two of those after CC took over so let’s see if we can beat that. We need 5 more in 22 matches so it won’t be easy the match that level.

Hey everyone, thanks for your thoughts. Buzz worked over the weekend, and didn’t change the name to mine on the article. He’s excused, though, because he’s nice enough to allow me to write for him.

Nathan,
I thought the same thing as you: that McCarty’s insertion loosened up the midfield. But also, by that point, Houston was packed in, so I think Houston’s tactics had something to do with it as well. Even still, Dallas kept going through Van Den Berg on the left. Almost no balls came through the center and none on the right.

JC,
I think you’re spot on with your comments about Ferreira getting knocked off the ball. Which is why I think he’s better suited in a higher position. He has the ability to make the killer pass, but his touches in midfield too often saw him lose the ball from physical play against him.

Nathan,
Yes, Marcelo’s shot to Boswell was the one which I wrote about. I can’t bring myself to watch it again. One replay was ugly enough. Convincing too.

Crazy Al,
Your commentary about lack of leadership on the field is very well taken. Very astute, in my opinion.

Peter,
Dammitt. I never make a mistake. Ever! Ok, maybe once.

Thanks again, everyone!

I think that Dax did a nice job of moving around and making himself available for his teammates. While it’s true that Houston was shutting down shop at this point, I don’t think it was a mere coincidence that Ferreira’s best minutes came once Dax entered the match. A good holding player really can get a team find its rhythym and that’s what seemed to happen at that point in the match.

This team looks berefit of any belief that they can win. You can see it in the body language of the players. Unfortunately, I think that they have lost confidence in SH and you can definitely see it in their performance.

My bad on the by line. I posted in a hurry after getting little sleep.

What I noticed about Dax was that he would actually show to the player with the ball. Consistently throughout the match it seemed like we were playing too slow; getting the ball then reacting to where we need to be and where the ball should be played. Dax seemed to help pick up our tempo while providing side-to-side movement of the ball and not just another player making vertical runs.

the question is will anyone on the coaching staff realize that Dax on the bench is NOT the answer. The midfield is the best part of the team, the fact that cooper ruins almost any attack that is drummed up is not the midfields fault.. Need another real forward to play with cooper or goals will be limited, which with this defense is a disastrous combo

Bottom line is this coach has had a year to “implement” his “system” (which seems to consist of bringing in below average players), he has proven himself to be totally clueless when it comes to the pro game. Hate to break it to everyone but he lost the respect of the team well before this season ever started.. Ask any of the players privately

Horrible and embarassing! That is all I can say to describe that effort to a old and over-rated Dynamo team. The middle field was no where to be seen. Saragosa was playing like a CB and not pushing up enough and Ferraira (The Gnat) was…swatted around and could not do anything productive. George John, Burse, and Dax were my STARS of the game [If you can have one after that performance].

—COOPER— Another poor performance. Yes, he needs to mid field to give him the ball and make him more productive. However, he missed yet another point-blank scoring opportunity. Oh, and could Kenny stay on his feet for more than one second when he has the ball? He’s 6′3″, PLAY LIKE IT!

—CUNNINGHAM— We are sending the wrong type of balls to him. All night we were playing to his feet which isnt why he is in there. He is in their for speed and scoring only. It would be nice if we would send an accurate through ball every once in a while to utilize him.

—VANDENBERGH— His worst performance as a member of FCD in my opinion. He just wasnt himself. But, when the center of the midfield was getting dominated like it was, its hard to do much out wide.

—ROCHA— How much longer is he going to be starting? Once again playing for himself, being fancy, not getting back on defense, and not challenging attackers what so ever on the defensive 1/3 of the field. Availla needs to be playing instead of a guy who thinks he is better than he is.

—GNAT—Got dominated. I dont know where to play him. He cant control the middle because he isnt strong enough to get a solid touch on the ball and maintain possesion. The same for being a forward. I think he is at his best when we float him as a third forward with two center mids behind him. That way he has more space.

—DAX— Great game. He provided the jolt offensively. I felt that we might get dominated in the middle if he didnt get the start. He is a strong player for his size, can win the air balls, and can distribute and make plays; Which is exactly what he did when he came in the game. I am going to go out on a limb, but I am pretty sure Dax will be starting next weekend.

—SARAGOSA—ummmm…Were we playing with 3 CB’s? Seriously, does Saragosa know what a defensive mid-fielder is supposed to do? Absolutely terrible. He was the main reason the middle got toren to pieces. He left this HUGE GAP between him and Ferraira. I cant wait for Richetti to come back.

—WAGNER— Is the Black Wagner experiment done yet? He turns over the ball way too much, gets out of position way too much, and could he please send a pass/long ball to the right colored jerseys? But then again, he could be color blind. Put in Davies.

—George John— Solid effort by GJ. He was physical and won just about every 50-50 ball in the air. Cant wait to see how he looks 5 years from now.

—Purdy— Great job on defending that cross, wasnt it? The same mistakes every game by the defense. Arent you supposed to be closer than 10 yards from the opposing player on a cross? Purdy must have thought otherwise.

—Moore— Why do we keep switching him so much? He is best at CB!!!!! If you play him at RB, you will just get an average game like he played Saturday night. Is SH on drugs? Can he not see what we see?

—BURSE— Back to back solid performances. He made several nice saves and had no chance on the goal.

—S.H.— Could he start feeling the pressure? Does he know what he is doing? We need to do two things : 1.) Fire S.H. AND 2.) Start making statements whoever the new coach will be (Sooner rather than later). By statements I mean pulling Kenny Cooper or pulling Drew Moore or one of the stars and leaders on this team. Maybe that will wake this team up. I dont know, but something needs to be done.

Playing a 3-5-2 when McCarty came in really seemed to open up the flow for FCD, particularly in the midfield. Ferreira could play forward more and focus on offense, McCarty went two ways, and Saragosa helped out the three-man backline.

It may sound crazy, but why not put Shea in there with Cooper at forward? No offense to Kenny, but it’d give FCD at least one guy up top with both size and the desire to go for headers off VDB’s crosses. Shea’s got great range, too, so you wouldn’t lose much pace by swapping an aging Cunningham for him.

It’s a risk because of the defensive weaknesses Dallas has, but I think the 3-5-2 is something Schellas should consider given the team’s current offensive struggles.

Baseball has this concept of VORP (Value Over Replacement Player), which is a measure of what the player brings to the table as compared to the performance of a replacement player. You contribute more than a stiff, your VORP’s positive; less, you have a negative VORP.

How many of the FCD players who actually see the pitch would actually have a positive VORP? Another way to think of this is: how many of the players who actually see the pitch for FCD could start for any of the middle of the table teams?

My contention? Cooper, vdb, (healthy) Pablo, and (maybe) Moor. I’d like to extend this to Rocha and Ferreira, but I’m hard-pressed at this trying to justify subbing them into, say, the RSL or Dynapoo lineup.

(BTW, I know it’d be hard to compute meaningful VORPs based only on Goals and Assists (since the median player probably has 0 Gs, 0 As after 8 games), but if we looked at 50/50s won, passes intercepted, turnovers, foul-to-fouled ratio, we could probably get a good idea.)

Some Random Thoughts: I did not see a lack of confidence – I saw a lack of certainty about HOW to achieve what they BELIEVE they can.

Dario and Ricchetti are the players who have the personality to hold themselves and others responsible and accountable for what happens on the field. I do not see the team quitting on themselves yet – but each and every one of us needs to do every thing we can to build their confidence and support the team during the game.

Cooper would have done better with his chance in the second half if Ferreira hadn’t played the ball behind him. Cooper had to reach back at full spring to try and get his body around the ball. If Ferreira would have played the ball a half step faster Cooper would have received the ball at full sprint facing Onstad with the ball at his feet.

We were better in the back because Saragosa wasnt there. We were worse in the middle because Saragosa was there. Ferreira needs to play up top just so Dax can play the AM role. He wasnt great against DC but he is the best we got right now & that was only one game. Hopefully Pablo will be healthy for Saturday & Saragosa will stay on the bench.