If you had Reynolds and Tessman ticket as the two leading FCD HGP in-terms of minutes played then you could have gotten some pretty good odds. 2020 HGP Minutes Reynolds - 773 (2019 - 112) Tessman - 773 Ferreira - 586 (2019 - 2453) Servania - 363 (2019 - 1118) Pepi - 253 (2019 - 71) Pomykal - 150 (2019 - 1876) Sealy - 34 Cerrillo - 17 (2019 - 918) Roberts - 0 (2019 - 237) Munjoma - 0
Technically Reggie is in 4th still at 450 minutes. At the end of the year when we talk about surprise minute totals for thread eligible HGP across the league................Reynolds should be near the top. Not even the most die-hard FCD supporter saw coming. People behind the scenes apparently did. I didn't. I thought it would be Nelson who picked up Cannon's minutes. The rest doesn't totally surprise me. Pomykal getting injured? Not a surprise. Ferreira's minutes decreasing after they signed Jara? Not a surprise. We've talked about the "Ferreira conundrum." Servania has had some minor injuries that gave him an uneven start. I bet those his numbers are going to start picking up.
I'm putting Araujo on the Senior Mexican National Team very soon. At least that's the rumor. He did have several lapses yesterday against SJ.
Can they sell Acosta this winter and put that money toward a winger? Between Tessmann and Servania there's really no reason to pay Acosta top money for meh performance.
Bwah. Sell to who? Certainly not within MLS. He's on a big contract. Gotta just have to sit his ass. I personally would love the midfield trio of Ricuarte, Servania, and Tessman to be tried. It's amazing how many of FCD's foreign signings are "meh." It doesn't matter who the GM is. Its been the last 3 or 4 GMs. Jara is well on his way to being another "meh" signings. Santos. Bressan. Mosquera. Meh, meh, meh. How about making a big deal of signing the new Brazilian keeper and then not using him. Meh. The most impactful foreign signing on this roster is Barrios. His club in Colombia, Uniautonoma, folded in 2015. FCD picked him up at the flea market, and he was a key contributor on a SS and USOC winner.
Sell back abroad or failing that loan them back for whatever fee they can get. It's not working. They're sucking up money and quite frankly I'd much rather see Sealy come on to try and change a game than Mosquera. Or watch Acosta suck the life out of any offensive movement in the middle of the pitch. Ricaurte has been good. I'll give them that but they could sell all the other foreign DPs and probably be better off for it.
I'd also like to see Sealy get a shot. Fafa tries real hard and comes close but he either needs to learn very quickly to relax slightly in front of goal and just place those easy shots and not hammer them and miss or it's time to move on. Mosquera is a sub at best now. After seeing how quickly Tessmann and Reynolds picked it up I really think Sealy might be ready from the few scrap minutes I've seen of him this year. He looks like another kid who has something.
Agree on Sealy. Picault has horrible production this year, 1g and 1a in over 700 minutes. That’s Diego Lainez levels of bad.
I think he has something but I'm not sure it's offensive production from the wing. I think he'd be useful as a wingback right now. Maybe let Reynolds and Sealy provide the width and play with two strikers and a bunch of mids, which I think could help Dallas get the right players on the field in the right places (Ferreira as a second striker, Ricuarte with potentially less defensive duties, Tessman guarding the back 3, etc).
I'd even try Ferreira out on the wing. I think he's too good to be playing as little as he is. Pepi on the wing hasn't been bad either.
They tried something like that earlier in the year and it was a complete failure until they went back to their normal 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 formations. All of the HG's have played those two formations almost exclusively at the academy level. Playing a bunch of new formations at the same time you're breaking in to MLS is too much. For more veteran teams it would work better.
I'd be open to rotating Sealy, Pepi, Ferreira and seeing who looks best/produces. I'm not sure even the coaching staff could tell you who would be best out there, so why not give them all a try and find what they've got. Playing twice a week means Barrios and Fafa both need the occasional game off so there should be minutes available.
Barrios deserves more time as he still is very dangerous. If he gets hot before the playoffs this team is dangerous. I've seen this clueless streak before with him he is very streaky but when on he's hard to stop. The key is getting a left winger going. BTW why are they not using Hollingshead more? I'd think a left right balance would be the best but they seem very right sided right now.
Barrios is a good player, but I think FC Dallas needs to build around their strengths, and not build around one effective player that inconveniences the rest of the team. Barrios is their only starting caliber winger at this point. They should try building a formation that asks their fullbacks/wingbacks to provide the width. Reynolds is the type of player thats more of a wingback than fullback. Hollingshead is more of a utility player, and not a real LB. I think he'd be more comfortable as a LWB than LB. I think some type of 3-4-1-2/3-4-2-1 formation with two of Tessmann/Servania/Santos as the CM's, Reynolds at RWB, Hollingshead at LWB, and then some combination in the front three of Barrios, Ferreira, Pepi, Jara. They can sprinkle in players like Ricuarte, Picault, Mosquera, Santos, Nelson, Sealy where needed.
Problem is every time they've tried 3 at the back they've looked awful defensively. I mean downright amateur hour. More combination from Hohead and Reynolds is needed but playing around the edges is useless if the middle has to be bypassed because Acosta/Santos don't dominate the midfield and control possession. IMO they're not good passers and that cripples everything. They're going to give Jara every opportunity to be the 9 they need so sell the dross and buy a legit winger or throw Pepi/Sealy in the deep end and see if they can swim out wide opposite Barrios.
I think people often underestimate the importance and quality of Barrios. In 2019 he finished 4th in MLS in assists. He's one the biggest "chance creators" in the league. For me its pretty simple. Keep the formation and squad that just beat SKC. Simply try some other guys on the left wing. Plenty of options on the roster. I think we'll probably give Mosquera another try when he's back.
I'd admit it. I'm a Barrios hater. Last year he was fantastic. All props to him, but this year he's been abysmal. Horrible first touch. Poor shooting. Weak passing, seems to pick the wrong choice to pass/shoot when in the box, and just awful in the one on one situations he does manage to create. He's got a ton of miles on his legs. He does run all day but I think his age and mileage is catching up and the best of Barrios is behind him. A bold GM sells him this winter while you can still, hopefully, get a good price and brings in a legit DP level winger to replace him and Mosquera. I know Sealy is hit or miss but man, considering how poor Dallas has been offensively, give him a start and see how it goes. You can always pull him at halftime or 60 minutes if he's absent all game long. Time to see what you have there with him and Pepi. Fafa and Barrios aren't getting it done. Do something else.
Really disappointed by their young contingent. I know about covid & Pax getting hurt, but they've been soo lackluster outside Reynolds. Gotta admit they've gotten out-played by their vet counterparts, foreign like Ricaurte or domestic such as Hollingshead. Pepi has had a major sophomore slump. Growing into his body (gained too much weight at once I think) & under pressure of expectations he's abdicated his responsibility of being a striker so often. Just passes out of good situations. Ferreira's just been a guy. Even more anonymous than last year. He struggles to make an imprint on games consistently.
Ferreira suffers from not having a role on this team. We talked about the "Ferreira conundrum" at the start of the season. The changed formation to 3-5-2 type after leaving COVID isolation, and that allowed Ferreira to play as a support striker in combination with Cobra or Jara. But that formation didn't suit the rest of the team, and they sucked. So they went back to their 4-3-3 type of formation and there is no place for Ferreira. They can start him in central midfield, but he's not a midfielder. They can start him on the wing, but he's not a winger. Luchi has his starting #9 in Jara, and also his backup #9 in Pepi. Pepi is still really young. Still figuring things out. I'm not worried about him. Three players I'm worried about. Pomykal because he can't stay healthy. Ferreira because he doesn't have a role. Servania, because he seems to have lost all mojo. Servania and Ferreira played so well last season that they were not just locks for the U23 team (Servania was hurt and not named)...............but both were invited to January USMNT camp. Luchi HAS TO figure out how to get them back on track. If Ferreira plays, he has to be the #9. It has to be for a run of games, not just every 4th game. And that means benching the guy Dan Hunt just spent his record transfer fee on. Tough decision for a young coach.
By the way, just as a little questioning addendum to the above comment...................Ferreira and Servania are two players that we know had COVID. I don't know if that's affected their performance, but its true nonetheless. In other sports it seemed like some players were greatly effected and some not at all. Joey Gallo never got in rhythm after he returned from COVID and had a dismal year. Just for a DFW example...................