FC Dallas' Tactical Trouble

I was asked on Twitter how Eric Quill can get more out of this roster. Here are some humble thoughts from a Football Manager addict.

Photo by Leo_Visions on Unsplash

I am no tactical wizard. The majority of my coaching experience is with young kids in a neighborhood rec level program where it was miraculous just to witness a string of passes in sequence. I’ve read the classic books, like Inverting the Pyramid, for instance, but most of my tactical knowledge comes from copious hours¹ of tweaking, rage-quitting, and winning it all in Football Manager. None of that really counts, of course.

I do watch a lot of soccer and agree with old footy friends like Jason Poon that the best camera angle is one that helps us nerds see as wide an angle as possible.

I don’t have easy answers for the current predicament facing FC Dallas, in other words, and I should end the article here. But this blog is free and fun. I love soccer.

And I was asked on social media how Quill could get more out of a team that has only won one game in the last ten.

Here’s some reflection, starting with an analysis of a few key minutes from FC Dallas’ home loss against Minnesota United FC… and some questionable potential tweaks.

Caveats

Tactics are important. Putting players in a position to succeed, in a tactical setup that can get the most out of their skills, is what a good coach does, but that doesn’t mean tactics can make a poor player necessarily better. At best, they can hide some deficiencies if you give a player a more focused or limited role.

This is also why player acquisition is incredibly important. If you get the wrong kind of player for a role in your formation, it’s not going to work!

If a player is in a poor run of form or if their mental state is not good, nothing may elevate them. When they make mistakes (and they will), your tactical setup can go out the window in an instant. Players stink it up even when the team is playing well. Such is life - such is football.

Injuries also play a big role and have factored heavily in FC Dallas’s struggle to get into rhythm with a strong, consistent starting eleven.

A good player in a bad tactical setup can be made to look pedestrian. Don’t be surprised if Olivier Giroud, after leaving Los Angeles FC, looks a lot better with Lille back in France, for instance.

Tactics, though, provide a blueprint for when things go wrong or at least a way to attack your opponent consistently. They allow the team to build rhythm, breaking down play into patterns that guide the team when other ideas come up short. They also help players know where to be in the different phases of play to support each other, finish opportunities, or be available. Some players can do incredible things with the ball at their feet - the rest need some structure to be successful.

Where FC Dallas Is Right Now

In general, I think Eric Quill has a tactical setup (at the moment) that should work and, at times, has borne fruit for FC Dallas this season. He’s tinkered a bit with three at the back, but the general idea is a kind of 4-3-3 or more likely a 4-1-2-1-2. This means we have four defenders on the back line, one defensive midfielder (sometimes two), two central midfielders, an attacking playmaker, and then two strikers.

Here’s what it looked like on Friday night:

This formation plays to the strengths of having a creative guy like Lucho Acosta, who you want to give freedom to move around, link up with different players, and create attacking opportunities. But there are problems here, too.

Width is an important thing to have in your tactical setup. You stretch the other team, not just vertically, but by forcing them to defend from sideline to sideline. When defenders get stretched out, there are spaces that open up in between players, maybe even behind them when they go to chase an opponent.

If you look at the setup above, the width you immediately see is from our full backs, Marco Farfan and Shaq Moore. Indeed, Moore is really good about getting forward, getting the ball on overlaps, and looking for crosses. Farfan had some aggressive moments in this one as well. That’s good, but getting your outside backs high up does open you to counterattacks. It’s all about balance and having outside backs who cover the whole pitch, an exhausting task, and/or at least have space covered by midfielders when players push wide and up the pitch.

In this setup, though, Petar Musa often roves around too. That’s not the end of the world, as he has created some solid opportunities. He actually has more assists (4), a lot more, than Lucho Acosta (1). Yikes! Logan Farrington is the vertical threat, trying to keep Minnesota’s central defenders honest, either to hold up the ball or to go after the ball if there is a pass that goes over their opponent’s central defense. Not a bad idea at all with Logan’s athleticism.

Of course, we’ve also seen formations earlier in the year where Musa is alone at the top with Anderson Julio as a winger and then another potential winger - Bernard Kamungo, Leo Chu, Logan Farrington, and Pedrinho - out wide. Their job is to create that width that can still work with outside backs launching forward. The problem is that none of those players are as good an attacking winger or inside forward as Julio is. It’s been an inconsistent mixed bag in this position, hence putting Logan or Kamungo in to focus on verticality.

The other challenge in this formation is placed on your midfielders. They need to be smart, active, and constantly moving — but with balance. Yes, Kaick is there as a safety valve with a job, hopefully, to snuff out counterattacks or cover for when the team gets stretched out. Sebastian Lletget has been a welcome return to the lineup with lots of veteran savvy and an ability to be dangerous in the attacking third, but he is still working his way back after injury. Is he fit enough to go the full 90? Patrickson Delgado is young and being trusted with lots of minutes but hasn’t quite wowed this season. Communication has to be spot on. If someone gets forward, someone else needs to fall back to cover out wide or behind.

And, yeah, you need some central defenders who are going to be smart, ready to run, and good at clearing balls or just getting the ball back into play. I’m not sure we have that in Sebastian Ibeagha and Lalas Abubakar at the moment - both are veterans, yes, but haven’t looked MLS quality as of late. When they have pushed up high to be involved in cycling the ball around, their speed becomes a liability. No one is frightened of their defending ability. I am not a fan when they go wide too, as their recovery speed when things go south is poor.

On Friday night, ahead of fireworks, the peformance from FC Dallas wasn’t all bad. Logan Farrington had a really solid game and is unlucky not to have two goals. Patrickson should have scored. But there were mistakes too. Lots of mistakes.

Just looking at the highlights, since I can’t get screen caps from the AppleTV app, here are a few:

In the 4th minute, Minnesota United is pressing high up the field, going directly at the weak links on the back line in Abubakar and Ibeagha. Kaick is deep as well. Notice how deep Ibeagha is in response, likely trying to present himself as a passing option to Shaq Moore.

FC Dallas just won the ball back. Shaq Moore passes the ball to Kaick, whose job it is to turn and get the ball up the field. Unfortunately, he rushes and passes it directly to a Minnesota player, and a counterattack (MUFC’s bread and butter) is on. Maarten Paes gets a big save to keep it from being 1-0 to the visitors.

Here is the classic example — it doesn’t matter what tactics Quill instructs the team with if your player just passes the ball to the other team. Is the moment too much for him? Is he just young and these are the lumps you have to live with until he gains wisdom and maturity to do better?

Also, I am not enamored with Patrickson Delgado… waiting, watching, hands on his legs? Hard to tell what is up. Standing around when your teammate could use an open option is strange.

Remember that true soccer sickos love those wide angles? Here’s an example. This is around the 14th minute when Logan Farrington is unlucky not to get a goal. But notice the positioning here, especially the width. Lucho Acosta is deep, closer to the halfway line, and he serves up a great ball to an advanced Marco Farfan, who gets to the touchline and slashes in a great cross. Logan Farrington, the only striker occupying central defenders, makes his run across the near post, controls the ball, and blasts a shot that is deflected by Minnesota’s goalkeeper. A follow-up header by Shaq Moore, starting his run almost parallel to Farfan, goes high.

Look - it’s a solid attacking sequence and credit to Lucho, Farfan, and Logan for making the most of it. But I also have questions.

At the beginning, Petar Musa is coming to Lucho to open himself to receive the ball, but once Lucho goes to Farfan, Musa leisurely jogs back into the play.

Here it is, seconds later:

Again, credit to Logan for a hell of a run to get on that cross and get a shot on goal with two Minnesota defenders immediately around him and a couple more in vicinity.

But Musa should be in the box. It’s his job! As soon as Lucho passes, he needs to turn and sprint as fast as he can to get into an attacking position, maybe drawing one or two defenders toward him. Hell, Shaq Moore still has a ways to go, and he gets a header after the ball is parried away. Who is going to win second balls? Why are we depending on our outside back to serve as a striker against a team that desires nothing more than to run at you on the counter?

If players are too far out to get into position, that is a sign of a disconnect. It’s hard to score goals when it’s one attacker against three or four defenders. It can happen — we’ve seen Musa do some things, but part of the goal of tactics is to create patterns that tilt the numbers in your favor. I’m not sure we are seeing that right now. I’m not sure if this is the pattern that FC Dallas really wants to make their hallmark.

The problem with Lucho’s positioning is that if the ball is turned over, Lucho will need to step into the gap and defend the space out wide left by a super aggressive Marco Farfan. He isn’t going to do that, folks.

And again, Logan did everything right here. He ends up with a wide open look that goes directly to St Clair. Unfortunate.

Here’s another counterattack by Minnesota:

Minnesota simply bypasses FC Dallas’ midfield, which is disjointededly trying to high press and not communicating well. Kaick is high up the field, leaving his defenders in trouble after failing to make a tackle. Patrickson Delgado is behind the play. Sebastian Lletget is on the other side of the field. Really, the whole sequence begins because Dayne St. Clair is a smart soccer player and witnesses a listless, disorganized press that is easily beaten with a throw to a wide-open midfielder who is able to pass the ball immediately to an attacker. Right down the middle. Paes has to save everyone’s butt again with a save.

What is the plan here? If you are going to press and try to win the ball, you need to practice that. You need to know where to be. You need to make your opponent’s life difficult, not easier. If you aren’t going to be good at it, then at least keep numbers in your favor. Kaick doesn’t need to be that high.

Part of the problem is that I think Quill knows that Ibeagha and Abubakar are a liability to get beaten at this stage of their careers, so those two stay deeper, which in turn creates an enormous amount of space for Minnesota to run into. Typically for a high press, you want to compress the field so you have players closer together, including your defenders in a high line. Unfortunately, our CBs have burned us too many times by getting beat when they are up the field. Remember Abubakar’s red card? Ibeagha’s red card? Do we have the personnel to press?

Of course, what ultimately did FC Dallas in during this game was set-piece defending, an inability to communicate and protect the back post, the most basic thing you have to defend on those kinds of plays. And they messed it up twice. That’s a lack of leadership.

One final moment, Patrickson Delgado hitting a beautiful ball that smashed the cross bar - unlucky not to have tied this one up:

This looks better with five FC Dallas players in attacking and threatening positions.

Petar Musa starts the sequence with an amazing cross-field ball to Lucho Acosta on the wing. He does sprint this time to be in a position to impact the play. Game state certainly plays a role here - the team was pushing everything forward for an equalizer. Imagine these kinds of sequences earlier on, though, with a commitment, including from Lucho Acosta, to get higher up in attacking positions.

Really, Delgado probably had an option here or two for a pass with the players around him, but credit to him for a nice shot attempt. Unlucky.

As a summary, if FC Dallas had done basic set-piece defending in this one, there is a chance they would walk out of there with an uneven but feisty 1-0 win at home. As Quill has said time and time again, the team shuts off in key moments. What is disappointing is that it is veteran defenders who are shutting off, not communicating, or just not being locked in. That’s really letting the team down time and time again.

And that should tell fans that, hey, it is bad right now — but it isn’t all bad.

All Solutions Begin with the Lucho Acosta Question

Where Lucho goes, so does this team.

Not necessarily because Lucho has been the creative wizard or goal scorer the team needs, but because he was such an investment, there may be limited options in how to utilize him.

If Quill can bench him, then new options present themselves, and frankly, with the way Quill wants the team to play, Lucho in some ways does not fit. He doesn’t provide much defensively. That’s never been his game. That was covered very well by the radio broadcast team in their most recent post-game show - credit to Steve Davis for laying it out there. Lucho is not a “DAWG” in all phases of the pitch. Has he even been the team leader that this group really needs?

But with the expenditure on Lucho and his profile, benching him would be a gutsy move and maybe one that would thrust more blame on the front office. I’m not sure a first-year head coach has that kind of power. And not sure he wants to make that call.

So if you are going with Lucho, how do you use him in this lineup, knowing that he won’t give you a lot defensively? Using this formation or one similar to it is probably Quill’s best bet for now.

Additions to this roster are rumored to be on the way, and if true, that at least gives hope for a player that offers something new while other guys get healthy. A new winger would let FC Dallas return to using more width and create up to three attacking players in and near the opponent’s goal for Acosta to utilize. Another midfielder who can be creative would be great. Until that happens, though, Quill is limited to the tools in his toolbox.

That leaves the rest of the players around Acosta for tweaks to be made, and that is a tall task. Maybe it does start with simplifying things for a few players.

Here are some ideas:

• I want Petar Musa to stay further up. Yes, he can create. If he wants to create, then you bench Lucho and let Musa play that role as a chance creator. Let Logan and Kamungo work together up top. If you don’t want to bench Lucho, then I need Musa and Logan to be ready to use all of their skills to hold up play, win balls, and get in dangerous positions. I want our opponents to be on edge. If one striker is in the box, the other needs to be there too. Really, counter-attacking football may be our best bet until things improve.

• We need more from the midfield clearly, and simplifying things for Kaick is a start. His job is to end counterattacks, protect the back line, and shuffle the ball as quickly as possible back into play. I’d tell him to rarely get into the opponent’s half. Stay back, stay back, stay back. Practice your long balls. We won’t be about possession football the rest of the season. We have two strikers who can win headers - send it their way. His job is to minimize our central defenders, who, until Osaze gets back, aren’t really at the level the team needs. And frankly, he’s the team’s future - we can take the lumps while he gets better. Early season Kaick played with tons of energy and confidence. His recent red card may have rattled his confidence.

• The rest of the midfield is a challenge. Maybe Ramiro returns and can lift the load of the young Kaick, but we need at least one midfielder to be dynamic and on the move. In some of the sequences on Friday night, Patrickson and Lletget were not as influential as they could be. I’d rather one of the midfielders be making the run to the back post than the other full back, but since Shaq Moore has scored this season, maybe that’s dumb. Communication has been an issue, so Quill needs to really think about limiting that downside. If Ramiro is ready to start, give him that more conservative role to shield the back line, let Kaick run his young legs off chasing down players and balls, and use Sebastian Lletget as the creative player coming out of the midfield with late runs into the box instead of your other outside back.

• I love that our full-backs get high and wide, but this adds to the problem of freezing our midfield. I don’t mind one outside back getting forward at a time, but both? When both possess far more speed than our central defenders? When our central midfield is not playing well? Not a fan. Let’s simplify. At this point, a few 0-0 draws, even at home, would be an improvement.

• Finally, consider giving the captain’s armband to someone else - a player who is going to be in the thick of it and be the vocal leader this team needs. Watching FC Dallas players walk away after the team gave up the opening goal to Minnesota is telling right now. Lucho looked and then turned in disgust. I know it is disappointing, but who is going to hold teammates accountable?

My hope is that Quill and company can figure things out sooner rather than later. I hope that fans can realize that even in this awful run, there are some positives. And we pray that the summer transfer window offers immediate improvement to a team that needs an injection of life and leadership.

What are your thoughts on my tactical meanderings? What would you add? What would you critique?

1. I am not going to tell you how many hours, because every time I open Steam, I am ashamed at its growing size.