Houston Dynamo v. New York City FC, Saturday, March 25

Just as an update, that page no longer lists Sebas as a call-up

 

Beating at home an exhausted and leg-weary ATXFC was great, but fairly expected.

Beating at home a strong NYCFC on +1 would be a quality result.

 

They're struggling to find goals, which probably means they're going to explode for 4 against us with a Magno hattie.

 

i'm interested in how we will handle their "overload a side" plan. They do this pretty effectively (at least so far) and can pass their way out of a lot of jams. This has potential to be a frantic spastic game, especially for long stretches. I hope we are the ones that exploit a confused CB pairing or quickly turn a giveaway at midfield and it doesn't happen to us

 

3 straight games of Ferreira on the bench, safe to say Olson is not a fan?

Bloody Baird again.

At least Quinones and Raines get starts.

 

that's a stalemate unit. you may remember me talking about this team needs to commit one way or the other harder than they do. he's stuck 11 guys out there to defend. quinones is a poor attacker but he will run his butt off. ditto baird. this also hints i am right about raines though no one will admit it. ie that he could chase around and play 6 well.

maybe people have forgotten how barrett briefly rolled.

i would take it as a terminal critique of sebas that he's not starting twice in a row and the coach doesn't even see value in starting 10 defenders and then sebas to chase a goal. or conversely he lacks faith he would chase enough and would undermine the strategy. what some said about darwin. as i said the other day my beef is if we started out ambivalent at best why waste half a season on someone you give up on game 2. that's a lot of money in 1 player to carry half a year. grow a pair and end it in january. why do we go through the drama and charades.

i continue to think the sin of recent years was they played an attacking formation and were soft on defense but didn't commit enough money or talent to the attack to actually achieve the competing concept. a team not set up to defend but not that expensive or good at attacking is a recipe for sh*t.

 

That was a boring game for 85 minutes. I don't know how 2 teams manage to play the most lame version of soccer for that long. We got a look at Nelson and Brooklyn, can't say I saw any improvement over who they replaced. Here is what I do know, 2 straight shutouts. If I am not mistaken, NYCFC had 1 shot on goal entering the 90th minute.

I kinda see what he likes about Baird, but all he is doing is causing a distraction. He can't score or assist. Let's be real, we have only scored 3 goals in the last two home games, and two of those were Pens. So even if Baird is doing a good job running behind, it's not resulting in goals.

 

Funny how different people see the game differently. This was basically me last week. I thought they were significantly better this week. Was pretty clear they picked up some things scouting NYCFC that they thought they could exploit. In particular, on goal kicks they pushed up high to take away the ability to play out of the back. Have to assume they found the keeper to not be accurate hitting the ball long and not be comfortable with the ball at his feet. Pressed relentlessly when they did try to play out. Got one excellent chance for Raines out of it.

Thought Raines had a really good game, though I'm still confused as to whether he was playing forward, midfielder or winger. Quinones on the other hand was generally meh. Baird presses well, but you lose so much offensively I just don't think you can play him there.

Defended much better overall. Not dangerous enough going forward, though. Can't keep relying on penalties.

 

I’ve been to both home games.

Watching the Dynamo is brutal.

 

If winning is a symptom of boring soccer than so be it.
I confess Padre, winning in weeks 3 and 4 has now oddly allowed me to easily forget losing in weeks 1 and 2.
The old proverb that "Love covers a multitude of sins". Well so does winning!
Good on our new coach Olsen.

 

2014 - Following its 2-0 win over Austin with a 1-0 win over NYCFC, @HoustonDynamo have recorded consecutive shutout victories within a single regular season for the first time since March 8-15, 2014. Vintage. pic.twitter.com/jiKBncmgE9

— OptaJack⚽️ (@OptaJack) March 26, 2023

Nine years since the last consecutive shutout victories.

Nine. Years.

Probably says more about the past than the present but that jumps out.

 

9 years since consecutive shutouts? Wow.

As I watched I was very happy, and interested and entertained, by this game. I love tactical midfield battles. The Dynamo progression with the ball: breaking pressure, moving up the field, switching play, was the best I've seen in a long time.

The defensive organization I've not seen since Dom left. They defended as a team, good structure. Defended with 10. Really -- it has been soooo long.

Having said all that -- play in the defensive third doesn't quite look as solid as we want -- and chance creation in the attacking third is woeful. But I'm fine with that at this point. This is the foundation for play at home I want to see.

MLSsoccer.com has xG at 1.8 v 0.3. Holding NYCFC to 0.3 is impressive but I don't get it. In like the 4th minute NYC gets a corner, plays short and then into the near post with a great cross to Magno who absolutely whiffed on an open header with Clark lost deeper in the goal. No xG for that? The chart shows none. They also got no xG credit from the curler at the open goal that our team forked up in the second half. xG just cannot account for the actual situation of the game, position of defenders and GK, etc.

Similarly, Raines open shot in the first half from inside the box after the GK turnover gets almost no xG credit. I don't understand that. My guess is the average MLSr scores that goal at least 1/3 of the time.

I'm realistic about what I am seeing. While beating NYCFC at home is a great result, we were a tad lucky not to concede at least once. Further, attacking third play needs to improve. But it all starts with solid MF play and that looks so much better than anytime in a longtime.

Umm ... Artur is really playing well in these last two games. He was very good last night. Solid with the ball, breaking up plays, and showing great positioning and anticipation. Covering ground.

I read a good The Atheletic article about STLC and the four-year process of building that team. Because the Dynamo have been around so much longer we tend to lose sight that the current Dynamo have been built in only about 16 months. And it is harder to fix than build from scratch.

 

Take a look at the xG chart here: https://www.mlssoccer.com/competitions/mls-regular-season/2023/matches/houvsnyc-03-25-2023/stats

Right after the Houston goal is the Rodriquez shot from the top of the box with Clark out on walk-about. Almost zero xG for that situation. huh? Even spinning away from a defender the average MLSr scores that at least 1 in 4.

 

well well well....looky what we got here!! Two wins in a row. Two shoutout wins at that!
It's been a looooong time since this team has looked like they have any semblance of a workable plan.

The organization that was on display seemed intentional and disciplined. The lines moved cleanly and compactly leaving NY with zero ideas in the final third. I haven't seem us completely discredit another teams offensive plan like that in ages. What a complete turn around from just a year ago.

also---we have almost no hope scoring in the run of play. If we had even an average forward we might make the playoffs. I guess we needed to go out and get another defender but having any type of forward is the highest of priorities right now IMO.

Baird is trash. Rinse and repeat.
Sebas is trash. Rinse and repeat.

HH was incredible this game. I wish he would look to take the field when he has possession instead of always looking to pass first, especially with dunces like Baird not being able to read the game. This is a mild critique as now his benefits far far outweigh the negatives. He really has started to get comfortable with whats around him and its fun to watch.

I too wish we played any type of more exciting soccer but the way we are playing is the only way to play & have a chance to win. Muddy the waters & get lucky. It's worked two games in a row.

Schmitt is straight balling & there is no better bang for the buck on this team

PS

FAR fewer fans in the stands this game. Beautiful weather & great night to watch a game despite the ugly kits

 

There were far fewer fans, it was easily noticeable. Also, I'm going to make a decision here, I don't like new club, I can see all the people in there through the windows hanging out in there and not in their seats. With the way the cameras point, those seats are the most visible on T.V and it makes the stadium look less full than it actually is.

Also, last week someone made the comment that Segal could just be spending money to sell the club after the World Cup. So? Who cares, an owner that wants to raise the quality has to spend money, has to make his club have a bigger footprint so what the hell do we care? Jerry Jones himself (who I think everyone knows would make a deal with the Devil to win a SB) would be doing the same things. HH was brought in at a very high cost. Anyone still doubting that move is just hopelessly depressed and can't be helped. This new guy seems to be legit by all standards. Who cares if Segal is just looking to sell in a few years. I for one don't think he is doing that. The dude hangs out with the supporters before games, an business only owner wouldn't bother.

 

I think folks are just jaded and overly skeptical. He's a real estate guy, of course he's trying to make our stadium freaking sweet. That's what he does. But he's poured money into every single portion of this club.

*Massive Stadium Upgrades literally everywhere.
*Totally retooled the business office
*New GM
*First Technical Director in team history.
*New Positions created on the sporting side for both Dash and Dynamo
*Biggest transfer fee ever paid, people said he was probably done spending money, so he just dropped a cool million on a new CB. He's paid 3 of the 5 highest transfer fees in club history and he hasn't been here that long.
*Highest Salary ever paid.
*Spending money on the academy, and it's already paying off (Raines).
*Actually spending money on HD2 as well. He's going after players from all over south America to fill the squad.

People are never going to be happy. Some of the same people trashing Segal also trashed the old ownership for doing nothing and ruining the club. I seriously think some of our "fans" are really just fans of complaining.

 

Which is justified because Brener did exactly those things. I’ve been critical of Segal because it’s the results on the field that I make judgements off of and that still hasn’t arrived yet.

 

The biggest and highest funded clubs in the world miss with their rosters all the time. The miss less sure, but they are usually pulling already proven talent.

 

I don't get how you can be critical of Segal, he isn't the GM. He knows he isn't qualified for that job.

 

Don't know why I quoted you twice in two separate posts. Vodka must be hitting early tonight. Sorry

 

I don't care if people a critical of the results, but I also believe in giving credit where it's due. These guys are at least trying to turn things around. I feel pretty confident it'll happen, I just don't think it's going to be where we want yet this year.

 

I'm with you. Lower bowl was completely full for the Dash tonight except for the club sections. People who weren't there were texting me asking why the stadium was empty as all they saw on TV was the East Club. The optics on TV are terrible.