So where are the people defending SH as a coach now that the fleeting winning streak is over, and this team has crashed back to earth against two of the better teams in the West? I mean the guy simply doesn't learn from his mistakes week to week, it's crazy. Again in a most win game, we choose to sub in defensive specialists, against a Seattle team that looked exhausted and uninterested in running in the heat. So dumb. Yeah Jackson should have scored a couple, but then again he is a right back the club has decided can play forward, so you reap what you sow there. Perhaps, perhaps we can now give the young kids some playing time the rest of the season to see if they should be around next, but I won't hold my breath. Instead we will run out the same lineup, trying to show everyone that the roster is fine as long as everyone is healthy, and look we finished just outside the playoffs! Brek looks so beaten down, it's really sad. He doesn't try to beat anyone with any sort of move other than drop the inside shoulder, and push the ball outside to use his pace. I don't know if it's a caring thing, or he is just worn out, but he looks like a shell of the player he was last year. Has getting the big contract changed his mindset?
He was the worst FCD player on the pitch Sunday, and I am huge fan of his. It really doesn't even look like he is having fun anymore. He doesn't change things up and come inside or try to combine with others as much...maybe he is just frustrated. Even using one move, he was able to get to the end line and put in some nice service that someone should have been closer to. I wonder if his time here should just mercifully end for all parties involved.
This combined with other observations is why I firmly believe he won't be here at the start of next season. I was mildly surprised he made it through the summer transfer window. As an FCD fan, I really hate to see him go and it obviously will be a detriment to the future silverware aspirations of the team. As a USMNT fan, though, I think it's time for him to move on. He needs better coaching and higher-level competition on a consistent basis to challenge him, motivate him and to grow every aspect his game.
Well after attempting to link up with our mids and forwards time and time again, only to run into open space and watch whoever he layed it off to bumble and stumble with the ball and lose it, and not get the return pass, why would he keep trying to lay it off? At a certain point it becomes a bad play. Problem is it's hard to attack 1v1 when there's 2-4 defenders shading you all the time, because no one is making runs or making themselves available as options. I've been harping on this for awhile, but I guess it was easy for some to ignore while we won a few games, even though in those games tactically we didn't improve much. We just did a better job on counter attacks and/or capitalizing on teams mistakes. But even when winning it's not like our goals were coming from great tactical buildups and movement. we still spent the majority of games losing the ball in mid flield and/or banging hopeless long balls over Jacksons head. Brek doesn't even fit in with SH's direct system. As a winger, a winger like Brek, you need a system which is possession based and plays through the ground, in the middle, and with mids who spray the ball out wide while guys in the center crash the box and give options. But in a direct, long ball type system without a true hold up striker, a winger is generally going to be at a loss. Did everyone see how involved Rosales and Montero were when we played Sea? How often they got the ball in space with options going forward? How when the balls were sprayed out wide and Rosales sent in crosses he had 2-3 options crashing the box and making runs? How Sea didn't keep Montero/Rosales involved by booting hopeless long balls all afternoon, but instead playing on the ground through the middle and hitting them out wide? How when the ball does go out wide they didn't all the sudden stop their runs like we do, but instead multiple guys were making runs into space providing options? That's the type of system Brek needs to play in. That's one reason why he looks better with the NT than FCD. Even though there's some direct play, the NT does at times play through the middle and spray the ball out wide. Or when Brek/LD on the wings get the ball without space they have guys they can link up with. When Brek gets the ball on the side and lays it off to a mid and darts down the line, it's the same thing he does with both club and country. The difference is with country he gets the return, and with club the mid loses the ball, can't get the ball of their feet fast enough or send it to the right, usually killing the attack. It's not imo that the NT players have more technical ability, which they do, but that isn't the main problem for seeing the difference. It's the IQ and the speed in which they read the game. Playing in Europe they realize how to combine to free up attackers, and know when the winger holds it up and lays it off to the mid, they're most likely next move is to juke the defender and spring free down the line. Yet our mids aside from DF still don't seem to understand that. Then when you add the fact that this isn't Europe, Brek is one of our top two players, we're better whne he's involved, it's even more midboggling that the team doesn't seem to understand how to use him, or worse, even to look for him and still not understand when he'll be open.
several years ago, SMU played a Sigi coached UCLA in a playoff game. SH's SMU subbed in players all during the game and his team mostly played long balls. Sigi played the same 11 players almost the entire game and his team kept the ball on the ground and hit players constantly running diagonals. Interestingly the 11 players for UCLA wore out the 16-17 SMU players and scored 3 late goals for the victory.
you could have just written "Shellas Hyndman Sucks". we all would have understood. Dont need anymore examples.
I did a little investigation recently into FCD. Part one so to speak of the inner workings of the club. Part 2 & 3 will come before Christmas. Anyway, what I learned in part one is that any thought of Brek leaving FCD anytime before the last year of his contract is wrong. The FO sees Brek as the marketing golden boy (which he is) but I didn't get the feeling that many upstairs understand him as a player and how his development is maxed in Frisco.
You aren't wrong in the 2nd part, but the first part will change quickly if the league is offered a solid transfer fee.
Won't matter what the FO or Garber think if Brek's agent was smart and he has an affordable buyout, which is usually the amount left on the total contract. He's a 334K per, three years left I think after this season. So a smart agent would have set it up so that approximately a 1M bid would effectively buyout the remaining part of his contract, and he'd then be free to negotiate with other clubs. However, if his agent is an idiot and didn't leave him with an affordable buyout "out clause", then he is at the mercy of FCD and Garber, in which case he should fire his agent for leaving little flexibility in his last key development years as he'll be 25 when his contract is up. But FCD ownership has also come out and said if a player really wants to leave and there are offers, they won't hold the player against their wishes. Came out and said that last year during the John saga. This has been talked about at length in the YA forum.
They sell his image to the ticket buying public like he's the next Ronaldo yet the actions of the "committee" say to other teams "Brek is a problem child. Look at his behavior. Look how we must punish him." They believe they are his pimp and he's under control.
While I don't condone sitting him as punishment, I don't think anyone can argue that he hasn't acted like a child and a diva to say the least. He's a "man" who's read his own press and believes he is the greatest thing to happen to this club. Instead of letting this turn into confidence to help his game, he often sulks around like a little bitch. I love the kid, I think he has great potential but I dare him to go to Europe right now and see how well he does. It'll be Kenny Cooper 2.0, except Kenny had a much better attitude. We'll lose a great player but I won't shed any tears. I'm over him.
Honest question. Would attendance really drop that much without him? It's not high to begin with and in general has been disappointing for years. Does anyone really think if Brek were sold and those funds were reinvested that attendance would all the sudden drop to 9-10K? 11K? I mean, we had just over 12K with f'ing Seattle coming in last week, a weekend game, and a must win game in the playoff race. If more fans can't be bothered to come out for a game like that, then does anyone really think it's Brek Shea which is keeping fans coming out? I sure as hell don't. I'd also say this team is built so poorly and Brek doesn't fit into SH's system to the point that we might be better off selling him and reinvesting in 2-3 quality players, which we could if his 334K was off the books. BTW, did you actually talk to someone in the FO? If so, could you expand a little more on the conversation?
Isn't his agent former FC Dallas bench warmer, Spencer Wadsworth? Pretty sure he's pretty new to the business and may be pretty green when it comes to negotiation.
He is. But he used to work for Santio, which also represent Dempsey and Jozy, among others. He just switched over to Wasserman, which represent Landon, Gerrard and Alex Morgan among others. So while as an agent he might be inexperienced, his employers are not and have experience with players moving between leagues.
Of course Brek doesn't fit into the SH's system. Brek is not a SH guy. Is Brek the last player left of the pre-SH era?
Brek seemed to fit in fine last year....injuries (his turf toe along with team overall), lack of soccer IQ on the pitch due to those injuries, old and stodgy coaching, seeing how the other half lives with the USMNT and Arsenal, shooting commercials, weird watches - these have all played a role in where we are now. However, the fact remains that Brek is no longer enjoying the game or is fully engaged with FCD imo.
Just to point out something, him being the marketing face of the team has nothing to do with the ability to necessarily drive attendance. What it does is gives the general public a face to recognize as FC Dallas, so that when you see him on billboards, flyers, US Nats game, Adidas commercials, you say hey that guy plays for FC Dallas. It's brand recognition more than say Beckham attendance draw. Most teams don't have a player you can say, oh I would pay anything to see him play this weekend. It's something the team honestly has struggled with for a long time, they quasi used Cooper but not with any consistency. Then Luna for some reason popped up on most of their outdoor (which was probably one of the bigger mistakes in his development btw), years ago it was Kreis, Rhine, etc etc. The only player you can say Dallas ever had as a butts in seats draw was Hugo, and he was very much at the tail end of his career, and I don't think they did much advertising back then that I can recall.