August 25th, 2009 . 5:50 pm . By: Buzz Carrick

They say you have to hit rock bottom before you get better. Unfortunately, I hit it on TV. - Danny Bonaduce

And so the long slow painful recovery begins as FC Dallas attempts to restore the recent mojo they destroyed with the lackluster performance in New York.  I think what’s so disappointing is that this was a game FCD should win.  These are three points FCD needs in their long shot dream for the 09 playoffs. And yet there was no heart, no balls, and no response when a team battling to not be the worst team in league history rises up for one game cause their coach resigned.

Anyway, today is warm again, although maybe not 100.  The media tent is broke, so it’s standing in the shade of a bush for today for part of the time.

Today is a recovery day, which is usually what happens on Monday for a Saturday game.  That means it’s a long run for the team and then starters get to quit/recover.  Everyone else keeps going for an hour session more.

News, Notes and Observations

- Daniel Hernandez is still around.

- George John is on the sideline rehabbing.  Hyndman says they took him to a muscle and joint specialist who works with the clients in getting the muscles back into proper position. John was limiting his walking and running motion because of some hip, leg, hamstring stuff.  This doc, with the FCD staff and some work at the Michael Johnson center, appears to have really helped.  The bus driver says John is feeling better and moving better than he has since he joined FCD.  He’s on pace to  return to training next week.John’s outside working when the team comes out and is still outside working when the team is long gone.

- Alvaro Sanchez is not to be seen, he’s inside doing something.  I hear FCD is having a meeting with him tomorrow.  I expect him to be placed on season ending IR.

- Hyndman says they are still efforting Heath Pearce.

- Hyndman also says FCD is working on other moves beyond Pearce.

- Brek Shea was included with the non-starters and worked hard.  Dax McCarty and Jeff Cunningham after about 20 minutes of not partaking in the shooting gallery, both joined back in training for about 45 more minutes.

- Shea and Peri Marosevic were the last two out running and doing 10 yard cone sprints.  No doubt pushing game fitness for the u20s.

- FCD says Marvin Chavez has all his stuff taken care of and he should be here Wednesday or Thursday.  But he also has two games with Honduras coming up against Trinidad and Mexico.

- Sports Psychologist Bill Besik (SP?) who worked with Man U in the Roy Keane era and then with Sunderland and some other clubs is going to speak to the team tomorrow.  Hyndman says he’s been a personal mentor for 14 years and the man SH goes to for guidance in his own life.  Red Bulls hired him to take a look at their organization, and he is in Dallas to do something at SMU.  So FCD is poaching him for a one day speech.  Apparently his specialty is team dynamics and chemistry.

Catching Up with Schellas Hyndman

Why sub Brek Shea so early?

I didn’t feel like we were controlling the midfield, the center midfield is what I meant.  It really wasn’t anything to do with Brek Shea’s play; it was, ok, if I’m going to put Andre on the field, I got to take somebody off.  I felt like we needed somebody a little more attack minded as far as being able to hold up and get some shots for us.  The thing that was concerning me, was Dave [van den Bergh] was coming all the way back taking free kicks back in our defense.  He should be up there with David [Ferreira].

So my mentality was, if we put Dave back on the left side can he beat Jeremy Hall with his technical ability and get the crosses off, which I thought he was doing.  And then can André get a little grip on the midfield and help us out.  Which I thought André had a pretty good game.

Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator: Cause we were sucking and I’m sure not taking van den Bergh off at New York.

Do you think maybe you started the game with the wrong personnel?

I don’t think so.  Our mentality was… you know what?  It’s always about a game is made up of players.  It’s the players game, talk to anybody.  It’s the players game, because who you put out there doesn’t mean… who you take off was a mistake.  It’s just a tactical adjustment.  You only have a few opportunities in the game to make tactical adjustments.  One of them is structure of play, another is player personnel.

Would it be that much of a concern to you if I subbed him at halftime?  So I thought we needed something at that point in time and I didn’t want to wait till halftime.

Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator: No, but we had the wrong guys, so… um… ok. Yes.

Can you comment on his reaction, why you sat him down and spoke to him?

Yeah, he was very, very disappointed.  Angry.  Emotional.  And [the sub] really had nothing to do with me saying, “you had a bad game.”  It was me doing a tactical change.

Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator: Can you blame him?  I sure don’t.

FCD had been on a fairly good run in the last few, even the Crew game, that’s a tough place to play.  What derailed your good momentum?  Cause this clearly wasn’t a very good game.

As I said to the media, I thought it was crap.  It’s probably to strong of a word to use.  I think we… didn’t play out best… because we had to catch up.

We gave up an early soft goal I thought was a preventable goal.  When the balls in the back of the net, the first thing you do is look and say, “well the goalie was in the wrong position.  He got lobbed.”  But we lose the ball in the center circle, when we had no reason for losing it.  So we lose the ball, we talked about the counter attacks in transition would be a problem, and Angel does a god job in finishing it.  So now we’re down but we catch up.

We go down again a second time, again on a break down, from a simple throw-in.  We didn’t have it marked, they combine, the guy gets a cross, and probably Jair knocked the ball in stead of Richards, and we’re down again.  We get caught up again.

They go down a man.  So why do I feel like it was a poor performance?  Cause everything was laid out for us to win the game.  They go down a man; they’re the least successful team in the league; they just had a coaching change, which we thought might be a problem as far as emotion, that it would give some players an opportunity; then instead of going for a tie we go for the win.  But when you look at the goal there were some mistakes made on that.  So we’re all pissed, and I’ve address attitude and I’ve address team chemistry, cause to me that game was lost on attitude and team chemistry.

It wasn’t lost with soccer ability.  People weren’t doing the right things, people weren’t covering up for each other. They had more of a bite to hang onto the tie than we had a bite to go with them.

Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator: We were crap.  Crap, crap, crap.

It seems like a recurring theme, that we talk about that a lot with this team, is mentality and attitude…

It’s been a recurring theme since I’ve been here.  Ok?

And it comes down to leadership. I think the leadership from the coaches, I think we’re doing everything we possibly can.  I don’t know if we’re getting it from the players.  And it may be the players, this selection of players.

Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator: We got a bunch of Nancies I’m trying my damndest to clear out of here..

Training

Training starts with a long run, 20 or more minutes.  After that the starters watch or play some soccer-volley ball.  (Sala is working one on one with the GK coach).  Everybody else does a shooting gallery drill with emphasis on the combination play, give and go.  You have to execute a wall pass before you can score.

Green: Rocha, Purdy, Guarda, Avila, Hernandez, Lambo
Blue: Wagner, Wallace, Shea, Marosevic, Torres, Burse.

Starters: Moor, Ricchetti, Davies, Benitez, McCarty, Harris, Ferreira, vdBergh, Cunningham.

After a quick team talk, the next drill is a pass and chase ball kind of drill, at which point Cunningham and McCarty jump back in and the other starters go inside.  Following that was some shooting; then a drill with a outlet pass, cross, and finish.

Lineup Prediction

Since FCD is off this weekend I’m skipping the lineup prediction.

Thought of the Day

I don’t blame Shea for being pissed.  He’s supposed to be pissed if he gets taken off like that.  If he hadn’t been pissed I would question him.  A player that’s not pissed probably shouldn’t have been out there.

It doesn’t sound like Hyndman is holding it against him in any way.  I would expect business as normal this week, except that Chavez is getting here and if he’s ready to go we might see him in, van den Bergh left, and Shea back on the bench.

Just in time for Shea to leave for the u20 Worlds, tear it up, and be sold for several million bucks.  The U20 Worlds is one of the biggest talent bazaars in World Soccer.  All the massive clubs will be scouting the tourney in depth.  I expect a couple US players to be snapped up, including Shea.

Categories: Practice Observations.

15 Comments

Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI

Leave a comment