Completely U.G.L.Y. - Dynamo 1 - Earthquake 2

 

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You Aint got no alibi

You Uglyyyyyyyyy....what what what.......you uglyyyyyyyyyy.

This Dynamo team, 5 games in, still has soo many questions that are nowhere near being answered.  Is it a team good enough to sneak into the playoffs?  What is going on with Sebastian Ferreira?  What formation are they even playing?  Can you win in this league without a #10, or a DP striker?  What does Ivan Franco put in his hair to make is so stinking amazing?  One thing that is absolutely certain though: they are going to play ugly.  It's turning many of us into absolute hypocrites (calm down, I'm mostly talking about myself) who love to win ugly but hate to lose that way.  This team threatens their opponent's goal about as much as my 7 lb pomeranian threatens everyone who dares to walk past my house.  They're aware that she's there, but no one is scared of her.  "NOBODY'S SCARED OF YOU BELLA" Is one of my most uttered phrases during the day.  And nobody is scared of our attack either.  When you decide who will start in your forward positions based on who can defend the best, there aren't going to be many goals scored.  This is a clock management, don't make mistakes, and hope your opponent doesn't score type of team.  They made that switch when they decided to start 3 CBs and a #9 who can press the way you want.  When it works, it's ugly and you pull points.  When it doesn't work, it's just ugly.  Either way, Ben Olsen has this team well-organized in defense and playing hard defensively.  What's missing is absolutely anything in the final third other than drawing a penalty. It's easy to point at the #9, but in reality, it's all three of them up top doing nothing to generate goals through the first five games.  It's easy to put the blame on Coco and HH as well, but in reality, they are playing the ball to guys who do nothing with it. When the ball leaves the feet of our two star midfielders, it usually goes into an albatross of turnovers.  Ben Olsen needs to find the right combination of players that can actually find the back of the net DURING the run of play.

This was a tough, physical game from the start.

It was ugly literally from the start.  Cade Cowells beautiful run and low cross nearly broke the game open before the clock even struck 2:00, but from the start, both teams were set on muddying up the opposition.  From the get-go, there were shoulders, grabs, heel kicks, slide tackles, and some good ol'fashioned shin guard checks.

Just look at the highlights of the first 20 minutes, they are all either tragic or fouls.

• Carrasquilla's foul 3:56 into the game.  He just grabbed Moreno by the head for no real reason at all. 
• Hadebe's Handball
• San Jose's double takedown of Raines (8:43) just outside the box.
• Espinosa's run in the box 14:10 (Hadebe's near pen #2)
• Mensah's foul 16:55
• Espinosa's cross that ended up 200 feet from where he wanted it @ 18:10.  

The only exciting plays in the first 30 minutes of the half came from San Jose, and the only thing the Dynamo could do to hold possession was to pass the ball between the back three.  The Dynamo could barely get the ball across midfield with any idea what to do with it, and when they did break the midfield line they could never break down San Jose's press.  The Earthquakes press was giving our back line a ton of problems, and if it wasn't for some tremendous play by Artur to just muscle the ball away from Espinosa and Ebobise inside the box, San Jose  might have broken through several times.  It wasn't until the 25 minute mark that HH began sitting between the lines of press and getting the ball at his feet that the Dynamo began to break through.  But time and time again, despite some nice back heels and through balls, Luchi González's defense was always there.

This game was physical.  31 combined fouls, 5 combined yellows, 3 PKs, 2 of which were for bad tackles in the box. Akapo's shoulder to Schmitt was an example (31st minute), and his yellow for taunting was a sign of what it meant to San Jose.  The Dynamo lost possession 134 times, a season high.  Led by Corey Baird's 16 on only 41 touches, the Dynamo simply could not end possessions with shots.  Too often they tried to do to much, get too cute, be too patient, when simply they needed to play direct and take guys on.  In the first half Ben Olsen's side managed just 2 shots from the run of play (0 on target).  

While we weren't helped by the final decision of a penalty (and the lack of Coco getting one at the end of the first half), the game should never come down for that.  The Dynamo never owned the moment, the attack lacked purpose and passion.  The runs up top never got in behind, when we put together a nice combo play the person in space was always looking for something that wasn't there instead of just taking someone on and beating his man.  This attack actually took a step back last night, and that's almost impossible to do.  Olsen has to find a way to jumpstart this attack before next Saturday, or there is a chance that the Dynamo are going to be over their head before May. Let's take a look at a few of the keys from last night's game.

The Striker Position

Baird was pesky.  He drew the penalty and applied pressure to San Jose's back line at times.  Offensively however Baird was terrible.  I understand that Baird runs hard and defends from the front, but his runs almost never end up with him being onside and behind the defense.  Baird's hold-up play is spotty, and he rarely wins position on deep balls allowing him to hold possession.  Baird does occasionally occupy a CB on some of his runs, allowing Coco and HH to occupy the space in behind, but the biggest problem with Baird is what happens when the ball actually touches his feet.  Currently, he's a poacher who can't poach.  He doesn't create or generate anything offensively, his runs are currently all meaningless, and when he finds the ball in front of an open net he can't put one home.  Last night Sebas checked on and did absolutely nothing.  You could see him gesturing in frustration the second he checked on.  His pressing was terrible, his energy was bad, and his runs were nonexistant.  His hold-up play was OK and he did complete 4/5 passes, but never posed a threat at all and didn't change the game for the better when he checked on.  This position is a void on the offensive side of the ball, but it isn't the only void going forward.

Bassi, Franco, Quinones, and Raines and Schmitt.

This isn't a 4-3-3, and it's not a true 4-4-2.  While they are defending with 2 lines of four, the shift to a 3 man back line going forward is getting 6 guys in the box with regularity. It may be controversial to throw Bassi in here since he's scored 3 goals, however he hasn't done anything to generate a goal yet this year.  He didn't even draw the penalties (Biard, HH and Bartlow's header did), he simply scored them.  The formation switch has him tucking inside and playing centrally while Tate Schmitt gets down the wing.  Last night when Franco Escobar subbed on, they actually flipped the tactics and Bassi played more on the edge. Bassi only has 3 key passes on the year, and his Shot-Creating Actions/90 (2.02) is less than half of what we'd seen from him at Barnsley and Metz. (5.05 and 5.87).  On top of that, he's only taken 2 shots all year during open run.  He needs to be more assertive.  It's not that he's not being clinical, it's that he's not forcing action.  He needs to be one of the key offensive contributors in the attack and do something with the ball at his feet.

Raines looked lost for the most part on the wing last night.  Had one play early in the game where you saw the potential (when he got taken down, got up, ripped the ball away from a defender and kept going until the dragged him down just outside the box @ 8:43 in the game), but often had trouble just getting on the ball.  Cut inside once and missed HH on a perfect run to the outside, instead passing it directly to Michael Baldisimo.  He often had trouble simply getting the ball.  Franco looked no better upon checking on, giving the ball away roughly half (7/16) of the times he touched it.  Nelson Quinones has done nothing to show he can actually help this team in any way, and as much as I like Tate Schmitt his final play needs to be crisper.  His crosses are often just a tad misplaced, and his dribbles in the box often don't beat his man.  To be fair, there needs to be a better tip of the spear for any of these guys to succeed with the final ball.

Too much is being asked of the midfield.

HH, Coco, and Artur are doing their part.  While all three could be better, their job is to control the center of the field and play it up to guys who make plays.  Coco currently ranks 9th in the league in creating shots/90 (4.78), and HH is setting just behind him at 4.40.  Those actions are leading to actual shots or goals though, and that's not necessarily all their fault.  These two guys are box-box players, they aren't Thiago Almeda who stay forward, get forward, and use space around a striker to create for themselves.  They defend, get the ball at their feet, and progress it up to the forwards.  Because our forwards are struggling to do anything offensively, it's putting additional pressure on them to do create goals.  There's no doubt that HH and Coco can do more, but Bassi, Franco, Baird, Sebas, Quinones et all need to really step up.  

Next Up:

Until Then:

Thanks once again for reading.

Remember to always #HoldItDown and stay #ForeverOrange

Brian.