July 11th, 2009 . 2:07 am . By: Buzz Carrick

I supervise five officers. That’s five different personalities. Five sets of problems. You can be number six if you act now. But I ain’t holding no hands, okay? I ain’t baby-sitting. - Alonzo Harris

With training moved up and fairly short session today, it’s not that hot by the time the session ends.  It is starting to get close though cause FCD came out 30 minutes late, which usually means they had a video session to start the training.

At least it gave me a chance to read my paper.

News, Notes and Observations

- Alvaro Sanchez is out jogging today, it’s the first time I’ve seen him in some time.  I would assume at this point he’ll return to training in the next week or so.

- Marcelo Saragosa runs hard on the side line, he’s got to be close.  Maybe this weekend he should be cleared, but not for the game I don’t think.

- Peri Marosevic also runs hard on the sideline.  He picked up a quad contusion with the u20s and then played a game with it.  He just needed a little recovery and should be fine next week.

- Dario Sala will start this Wednesday vs. Comunicaciones according to Hyndman.

- Leone Cruz is out this week.  He’s a kid from SMU I really like, he’s got the right stuff.  He first came out to train with FCD when he was 17.  IIRC Brian Haynes brought him up from Houston.  Cruz spent a season playing for someone in the classic league before going to SMU.  I think he sat out last season for an injury, but am not totally sure on that.  Glad to see him in camp.  Let’s see some more like him.

- Hyndman says they are trying to have Ricchetti bring the ball out of the back some, instead of just the wings.  They tried to get it working against NY, but both times ended up in turnovers (which I mentioned in my MMG). We had a bit of a chat about how the rotations cover, which I won’t bore you with.  But look and see if that continues this week, hopefully in a more positive manner.

- There is an agent out at training today that represents three players from El Salvador.  I have no idea which three. But I believe all are with their national team at the Gold Cup.

Catching Up with Schellas Hyndman

How important is it that you haven’t had 11v11 in some time?

It’s been real tough.  In fact I made a statement to Hitch when we went to play Midland, “I’m looking forward to playing midland because it will give some of my players a chance to play.”  Unfortunately I wasn’t able to do much coaching as far as stopping it, correcting it, whatever.  Because you do that in training.

I can’t remember the last time we had 11v11.  Now part of that is injuries, we’re numbers down.  It’s difficult to get one of the priorities we’ve been working on and that’s team shape.  Just today I had to pull the defenders out cause I couldn’t go 11v11 so it wouldn’t have been a big picture.  I drew it on the chalkboard, but I just think if you do it you will remember it.

Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator: I wish I had coached a local college team so I knew where I could find some local players that might want to practice with us.

The Window is about to open, do you have anything lined up in terms of moves?

Yeah.

This year we’re being a little more proactive to make some changes.  Whether it’s in league or international, I think we have identified players we are interested in pursuing.  Whether we can get it done or we can’t get it done…

We’ve been very active with the Gold Cup looking at players we’ve identified, whether it’s Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, Guadeloupe, or whatever it is. We’ve identified players we’ve put on our discovery list.  Now for us, we’ve identified those players before the Gold Cup.  So they were on our discovery list.  It’s not like, “Oh man, did you see #10 for Panama?  He’s a fantastic player.”  Well by the time we’d get him on our discovery list, three other teams have as well.

So we’ve really done, I think, a pretty good job with that.

Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator: We’ve gonna move fast the minute the window opens.

Can you talk about what you’re looking for?

I’d like to get back into a 4-4-2.  The 4-1-4-1 has been pretty successful for us.  I think it helps David [Ferreira] cause he’s flexible to get forward and he’s flexible to come back.  But it’s a lot of pressure on the loan striker.  And if the loan striker is contained then you really don’t have a strike force.

What I think we need is… I think we need a pure right sided flank player.  A player that can get up and down the line.  I think that could really add something to us for 90 minutes.

Then I think another need for us, that can make this team better, is a left sided full back.  We’ve gone through quite a few players trying to find the right person there.  Everybody has their strengths and everybody has their weaknesses, but the number one thing you’ve got to have from a left sided fullback, or any defender, is defending ability.  One v one defending, winning balls in the air, being good in the tackle.  Not jumping in, not getting exposed.  Understanding the defensive principles of pressure, cover, and balance.  Then you hope they can add something in the offensive part.  Keep the ball, good distribution, so forth.

Those for me would be the key, and I think we can always dream about getting another forward, so we can continue to think about the 4-4-2.

Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator: Right mid and left back.  Maybe striker.

FCD is #1 on the returning American list, Steve Cherundolo made a comment he might be interested in MLS.  Does he interest you and if not him who else?

[Cherundolo] definitely interests us, he’s a great player.  Not only is he a good defender, but he’s got great experience.  He’s also a player that can play a lot of different positions.  Not only is he a fullback, he can go into defending midfield… there’s so many qualities that he has.  Yes, of course.

A player like a DeMarcus Beasley would interest us too.  An attacking player that’s got athleticism and experience, and could maybe fill one of those holes that we’re looking for.  Left back, right midfield, he could play so many different positions.  I think as an attacking player he could do some nice things.

And then we’ll just have to wait and see if there are any other players interested in coming back.

Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator: Cherundolo wants to come back?!?  *sprints inside to make a phone call*

Training

After the warm up the team moves into the X pattern long passing/cross/finish drill.  This is a couple times a week drill for FCD these days.

After that it’s Corners practice, although mostly on defending them by the first team.

Green (defending): Ferreira, Cunningham, vdBergh, Ricchetti, Moor, John, Davies, Shea, McCarty, Rocha.
Blue (attacking): Wallace, Guarda, Wagner, Torres, Purdy, Cruz, Avila.

And that was about it.  Some players did some finishing.

Lineup Prediction

Everything I see and the coach has said tell me the first XI won’t change much.  The biggest decision spot up for grabs is center back where George John may possibly take the middle giving Kyle Davie perhaps a run at left back.  Give both the coach mentioning it and seeing it in training, I’d bet on John and Davies playing.

Thought of the Day

From a couple conversations I’ve had with Hyndman, it seems clear he’s far from satisfied with this roster as it is.  And I mean that beyond the two he mentioned, left back and right midfield.  I’m talking about the make up and complexion of the whole thing.  He seems to have a high level of dissatisfaction about some of it.  I get the feeling he wants to make several changes, a few by subtraction.

Reading between the line and listing to the wind, I think FCD has a couple moves lined up ready to go at the start of the window.  Maybe even sooner on the trade front.  We might even seen some activity next week I think with either a trade of a potential signing coming in for a quick look.  (at least that’s the vibe I’m getting).

I’m expect (and would bet on) at least two changes, maybe three.  And it won’t shock me to see as many as five roster moves before the freeze.

Categories: Practice Observations.

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