Second Opinion: The Trade
September 8th, 2009 . 2:07 pm . By: Dave DirWhen Buzz asked me to drop him a few articles on the state of soccer, I couldn’t decide what to name my articles and was stuck on “You can’t handle the Truth,” but thought it was to pretentious. As a professional coach you always find yourself being second-guessed. At the same time you usually surround yourself with people you trust for a second opinion. I am hoping the people who read this will find it a second opinion worth trusting, and worth debating, which is what makes the game special to me. Anyway, on to the latest move at FC Dallas. That is of course the much talked about trade of Drew Moor to Colorado. To analyze the Drew Moor trade I think you first have to look at the team as a whole, and where their needs are. I think any person knowledgeable of the personnel and recent history of this team would have thought the back line was the first place you had to go to build a solid foundation for the future. Yes, we are talking about the future. Talk about titles was, and is, pre-mature and naive at best. This team has had serious balance issues, which took time to create, that could not be fixed by simply working harder or by better attitudes. Often from the outside it seems this is a team with a gluttony of central midfielders that seems to be constantly discovering another international midfielder that plays very similar to the ones they have. FCD hasn’t really found that playmaker in the midfield since Oscar Pareja retired, but we’ll save that for another day. Let’s look at the problems in the back line. It was initially addressed by adding Torres and Purdy, and drafting George John in the off-season. Those additions, and Saragosa’s move to the back, were supposed to be the answers this season. Unfortunately, these players, whether they have an upside or not, do not have a proven history of success at the MLS level or such pedigree that their success would be without question. It is said in soccer, the middle is the spine of your team and the back line is your stability to that spine. Without that you have steps forward and back again, always appearing wobbly. To truly get where this team wants to go, I believe they have to stabilize that back line, get proven leadership down the middle of the park, and balance between the ability to defend and the ability to play out of the back. FCD had some time to fix this biggest need, but to be fair they had a lot of needs and you cannot address them all at once in this league. To get a true picture or grade of how the back was addressed, and thus asses this trade, will take time. But let’s start by considering your starting back four coming into the season: Saragosa, Moor, Purdy, and Torres/Wagner. None are currently still in place as starters. Consider that this is on a team that has one of the highest goals against averages in the league and I think we have a good barometer of how the off-season changes in the back have done. Since then however, the season has moved on and we have seen many upgrades. You have to compliment Coach Hyndman as Ricchetti’s move to the back was a very good choice even with his speed issues. Pablo has brought experience and leadership even if he has the occasional faux pas. Saying that, I believe he is sorely missed in the midfield defensively, where he was truly the only anchor this team had to keep the defense from often being isolated on runs out of the midfield. I am of the opinion that you see this defense left on its own to much, which leads to defenders being isolated consistently, which leads to them being exposed. To much time and to much space for the attackers is not good for any defender and this in turn has led to a number of rotating players at the center back spot before Hyndman settled on Ricchetti. The next addition of Davies to the back line appears to be a good addition for the future and has helped solidify the middle. The next problem was at left back where nobody could lock down the position consistently and the team seemed to get exposed regularly. Another kudo, as the addition of Benitez addressed that issue nicely, although they still have balance issues with his constant runs forward. Finally, the right side where Saragosa struggled and Drew Moor did seem the best option. Drew Moor played the middle a number of times and I thought it was his best position, but he was moved to the outside where many others feel he is best suited. My guess is the move was more to find the right balance for Ricchetti, but that is just a guess. As options became available into the central spot Moor appeared to be the best answer at right back. He had a small number of bad games on the outside, when he was isolated on occasion, but he was not alone in that. Moor is not known for tremendous speed, although calling him slow would not be accurate. He was a very good passer out of that position and adept at getting forward. From everything I heard he was also a strong leader and supporter of the staff in the locker room. Those leadership qualities cannot be overlooked on a team with few wins, as the locker room can go quickly without success to back the coach’s ideas. Of coarse the other part of analyzing this trade is whom FCD got and what they had to give up to get him. They gave up an awful lot to get Ugo Ihemelu. I was not a big believer in Ihemelu’s ability to be a top pro coming out of SMU, but I thought he played extremely well in LA and I feel I might have been mistaken about him. I had questions about him on the ball at SMU, but he seemed to be aware of his strengths and weaknesses on the field, and improved in that regard. In LA he was required to man-mark often and did it very well. He has speed, athleticism, and some bite to his game, which you need in a defender. So my problems with the trade are what FCD gave up to get a marker; how Ugo will do playing wide on the ball, where he will be required to get forward and be a good server at the very least; and how does this move address the balance of this team. I still believe FCD suffers from a midfield that is much better at attacking than it is balanced, and that in turn leads to many of the problems in defense. If Ihemelu was the final piece of the puzzle for a team on the edge of a championship then it might be worth the extras on top of Drew Moor. But on a team building for the future, giving up as much as they did toward that future has me hoping this is not change for the sake of change. I am sure many want me to mention Drew’s popularity as a factor in analyzing this trade, given the need to increase attendance. Drew is truly one of the finer human beings I have met, but I come from the school where the best product on the field should be the sole reason for a decision, and that product will be the biggest factor to putting people in the stands. Of coarse this is just my opinion. 32 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment |
Yes, this really is Dave Dir, former Dallas Burn coach, current US U20 goalkeper coach, and current FCD TV comentator.
Very good write up coach
BRING BACK DIR!!!!
Thanks coach. More proof that 3rdDegree makes us the luckiest fans in the league in at least one regard…
Nice writeup, Dave. Thanks for sharing your insight with the FCD fanbase on a more detailed level.
A great snag for the site Buzz. He even slips in the occasional homophone like you do! And I bet you didn’t have to give up allocation money to get him.
It very well could be my fault on a few of those, I’m not exactly the best editor in the world.
I agree in the thanks. Its great Dave Dir is taking the time to write for 3rddegree, and the effort of Buzz and the 3rd contributors is much appreciated
I enjoyed the piece and look forward to more. And agree with most of what was said. I disagree that it can be stated we gave up too much.
The draft pick is useless compared to the two #1’s we still have. We also, still have a 2 and two 3’s. FCD has not proven that they can consistently draft well. FCD already has too many young players. So, I submit that the pick is an asset, and that the asset was used appropiately.
Regarding the allocation money: how can we judge? Was it $500 or $10,000,000 all we were told is that the Colorado coach said it was significant. What does that mean, and why should we beieve him (the Rapids coach)?
If Mr. Dir knows how much money was involved and if FCD could better spend that money he doesn’t say. He just gave a generic “…giving up as much as they did…”
My favorite part of the article was when he talked about our midfielders getting forward too much and the need for balance.
Thanks for the piece Dave!
wow. this is a different Dave Dir than we get on the tele. Buzz, you must have given him his fish and chips before he wrote this.
Good write-up Coach.
I hope your next editorial is about Schellas’ misspent youths (Shea and Avila).
Great article. Love the analysis. More, more, more…please.
First, I’m glad that Coach Dir took time out of his schedule to write this, and to contribute to 3rd Degree in general.
However, in reading the article, it looks as though he’s taking a swipe at McCarty via omission (saying that Ricchetti’s presence has been missed in the midfield, and that the defense has subsequently been hung out to dry too many times) because Dax is the defensive mid. Am I just reading too much into this, or is there really a problem with Dax in that position?
You’re not reading to much into it.
Good catch, John R. I noticed that as well. From the handful of minutes we saw against DCU with Dax and Richetti, I think Dax is best as the engine MF in a hybrid 3-man MF like we play in the 4-4-1-1. It means he doesn’t need to be a defensive stopper (a la Pablo), but can be scrappy and win his share of balls. Nor does he need to be the maestro (a la Ferreira), but has good vision and can make the occasional killer pass. Mostly, he does everything pretty well and links the front to the back, and the left to the right.
Some inciteful analysis. But at this point all is unproven and I fear it will be 2010 before we see what the SH master plan (using the term lightly) will bring us.
Dax is from the US – his time is limited here. Take your son to the game, and say ‘hey son look around, if you train hard one day you can play for FC Dallas.’ Then you realize that save for Dax there are no more American born players actually playing on the team. MLS as a domestic league is losing it’s significance as a venue for developing American players. Italy, France, etc… limit the Number of foreign players on a team. Ugo? Pablo? Ferrarie? Son of the wind? Whatever.. I guess someone else will be interested in following them…
pony2 — according to the roster there are 10 American born players. Most just aren’t starters… 4 are headed to the U-20 Cup (Peri is not US born)!
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Let me add mine to the chorus of voices complimenting 3rd Degree for this sort of insightful commentary from a guy who knows his stuff.
Dave:
How would you feel about coming to Chicago and coaching?
How does it feel to be the John Madden of US Soccer?
Thanks, Buzz! Thanks 3rd Degree! I love this site.
I think the only analysis that needs to be done is as to why a coach that took a team that was close ton honors in three straight seasons (Supporter’s Shield runner up in 2006, USOC Runners up in 2005 + 2007) has been allowed to continue to disassemble what was a team on the brink of success.
To walk into to PHP and declare the entire roster inadequate has done nothing but give Hyndman the excuses he’s needed to try and cover his own inadequacies. He’s torn apart a club that needed only fine tuning for success, he’s done little to nothing to bring along the 6 GA players on the roster (in fact, only really Davies seems to be moving forward at all).
His continued practice of (overpaying) for ex-SMU players is an attempt to surround himself with people he can trust – trust not to play for him, but to not call him out for being a complete fraud at MLS level.
I don’t know whay anyone would tolerate the way he’s dismantled this team, under the auspicies of building for the future (Dave hits the nail on the head there).
A sad, sad situation….Hyndman and Hitchcock (and hell, Clark Hunt for that matter) all need to take one for the team and f*** off.
PS
Great coup Buzz – glad you took the time to write for the site Dave.
I’m a new follower of this site, but I have some information to share that I hope some will find helpful.
I have a friend who works for FCD who explained allocation money to me. As I you probably know, allocation money is salary money that is granted to teams in certain situations to allow them to exceed the salary cap. For example, FCD received allocation money when Cooper was sold to 1860 Munich.
All allocations have an use-it-or-lose-it expiration date. According to my friend all of the allocations that FCD sent to Colorado were just about to expire, so they had little value to FCD. However if a team trades an allocation the new team gets an extension on the allocation expiration. Therefore the allocations have significant value to Colorado.
Due to the Cooper sale (and perhaps other reasons) FCD reportedly still has a “truckload” of allocation money available. I don’t know much allocation money FCD has available, but my impression is that is it alot more than the “significant” amount they traded to Colorado. The key is FCD needs to use this money to bring in another quality player or two.
So if you think that Drew for Ugo straight up is a good deal, then the trade was a good deal. FCD didn’t overpay. The reality is the 2nd round pick and the allocation money that FCD included in the deal had little to no value to FCD.
Hope this helps.
My belief is the BusDriver is comfortable with what he knows, thus the resurgence of FC SMU. I agree with Dave that where the “best product on the field should be the sole reason for a decision” but BusDriver did not change the end product. FCD is not any better at this time.
I have a friend who works in Kansas City, and he said allocation money has no expiration date.
I echo some of 2pony’s sentiments, although I am okay with non-domestic born America citizens playing in MLS (Cunningham, Ihemelu). What I am not okay with is bringing in third-rate foreign “talent” to play as second-rate MLS players (Rocha, Saragosa, Guarda, Torres). Neither MLS nor US domestic talent benefits from those guys playing here. MLS benefits from second or third-rate foreigners like H. Moreno, Schelloto, Van den Bergh, and others who are first-rate MLS talent. FCD has been a bastian for over-paid and played no talent ace clowns for far too long.
I have a friend that works at McDonald’s and he has no clue what allocation money is.
Teddy… spot on
Tim… lol
From the MLS rules:
“A club receives allocation money for (1) poor performance during the preceding MLS regular season; (2) the transfer of a player to a club outside of MLS for value; (3) roster purposes due to expansion status; and/or (4) exceptional circumstances as approved by the Competition Committee.
Each year the MLS Competition Committee determines the allocation amount to be made available to each team. Allocation money can be traded by teams. Allocation money does not count against a team’s salary budget and can be used:
• To sign players new to MLS (that is, a player who did not play in MLS during the previous season).
• To re-sign an existing MLS player, with League approval.
• In connection with the exercise of an option to purchase a player’s rights or the extension of a player’s contact for the second year provided the player was new to MLS in the immediately prior year.
Allocation money cannot otherwise be used to buy down the salary budget number of players already under contract to the League, nor can allocation money be used to buy down the budget number of a Designated Player. ”
Does it expire? Well the rules do not specifically say, but this sounds like MLS does expire it somehow, “Each year the MLS Competition Committee determines the allocation amount to be made available to each team”.
Jones, the money doesn’t expire. but the position in the order drops down below any added this winter. So FCD’s #1 will be 7th or 8th this winter.
Question for Dave – what’s your beef with the foreign players? As somebody who gets most excited about FCD’s foreign acquisitions and players who’ve played at some pretty big international teams, you sound low rent or sour grapes with how critical you are, especially on the broadcasts, about the guys who weren’t lucky enough to be born here. Tell me one player on this team who’s better than Pablo, and you have the nerve to talk about his occasional faux pas? No offense, but Drew Moor had more than his fair share of defensive lapses, but I guess because he’s American so he’s better than Pablo? That’s the only explanation because what you’re saying is so ridiculous with all of your little digs. You sound really biased and make me root for the SI’s even more.