North Texas Soccer Club Is Not There Yet
After a promising couple of matches to start the season, North Texas have struggled on the road. Here are three questions facing the side over the next couple of weeks.
Going into the year, our hopes for North Texas Soccer Club were not high. Sure, we believed the team would improve from the Sam Sarver-led side that eked into the playoffs last season, but with a near complete roster overhaul, there were a ton of unknowns. The season would always be a work-in-progress.
In their opening match on the road against a very good Real Monarchs side, though, North Texas made a bit of a statement, grabbing a draw behind some stellar attacking spells and a debut performance from Edouard Nys. Nys would go on to claim a hat trick at home the next week. Still, a draw on the road against one of the better Next Pro teams got our attention.
Case in point - Real Monarchs have grabbed eight points since that bout, including a 5-0 demolition of Sporting Kansas City 2 on the road and a more recent 3-2 win against the Whitecaps 2. That draw looks great in retrospect.
But, after a solid home win over Rapids 2, North Texas hasn’t looked as promising. The season is early, and their two most recent road games have involved some weird circumstances (windy Austin) and solid opponents. There is no reason to panic, but there are questions.
The most important one is formation - what is the best formation for this squad?
On Saturday, against Dynamo 2, North Texas SC shook things up after the dismal but wind-ridden match against Austin by giving Ricky Louis his first start with the team. Louis had a stellar preaseason with the senior side, but he clearly needs some seasoning as he adapts to a new role. Enzo Newman also continued his comeback campaign, and Augusto Alvaro got precious minutes. All of this is to be expected.
But this formation for North Texas? It was not a winner, and it took me a bit to make sense of it.
Don’t rub your eyes - the media team are good people and do a difficult job. I assumed on first glance that Louis would get an opportunity at wing back, opposite Enzo Newman, but the TV feed gave us the following which was better:
Head coach John Gall obviously has some leeway in how to line up the guys, rather than settle on the senior team’s formation, but the lineup highlighted the pressure he probably faces to get a variety of guys on the field but also build team chemistry.
In the end, though, the formation didn’t work. North Texas SC had a decent enough first half, noted by Gall after the match, but they really struggled in the midfield. It could have just been a bad day where the ball wasn’t landing right, but turnovers killed North Texas’ momentum over and over. Nicholas Simmonds was sorely missed, as the promising striker helped in the first two matches with solid holdup play that allowed Natty James and Nys to advance the ball into dangerous areas.
The key question that Gall needs to answer - what is the best formation for this side that can slot in senior team players who need minutes but help the young midfield get more confidence?
Flowing from that, the defense, which should be a stout group, has given up seven goals so far in 4 games. That’s not a recipe for success at any level of the beautiful game. Is the issue goalkeeper leadership? Is it finding the right pairing of defenders on the back line? Is it just patience?
Slade Starnes subbed in during the second half - but in the midfield. For me, I really want to see him be the lock down leader on that back line, a task he is well suited for.
Obviously, there is plenty of time to figure it out, and two road losses in a row is going to happen. The Houston Dynamo 2 are also an excellent squad and confidently pressed and wore down North Texas. Chalk it up to a learning experience, but fans will want to see the team start building some consistency going forward.