What we see at home:
Simply put, the Dynamo are the best Defensive team in the league at home. They've given up a league-low 2 goals in 9 games, have outscored their opponents 13-2, and are 7-1-1 in the friendly confines of Shell Energy Stadium. Playing primarily in a mid-low block, taking very few risks going forward, the team is simply grinding out games consistently in front of #ForeverOrange fandom. One of their losses came with only 9 men on the field (1-0 vs. Seattle). They've made Shell more than a fortress, they are making teams not want to come to play here.......and it's not really summer. We haven't had much to be cautiously optimistic about for a while, but this trend is a positive one. Recently, putting up 4 on Minnesota's stingy defense AND beating Broccoli F.C. felt good! While I can't foresee this team being this good at home for the entire year with all this travel and short weeks, they will remain good enough to stay in the playoff hunt.
Rough Times Ahead:
They've got one of the ingredients for making the playoffs down, but the rest of it is nowhere near ready. Unfortunately, there's an entire load road games on short rest coming up, as The Dynamo have some brutal stretches in June and July. Only four of their next ten matches are in Houston. Their next 6 MLS games are a meat grinder, with St. Louis (3rd best in the league @ 1.92 points/match), then back-to-back with LAFC (best in the Western Conference @ 2.08 points/match) over a 4-day stretch, and especially after a short rest with Chicago smashed in prior to it on June 6th. There are soo many short rest weeks in June and July, before having a month off to start August. Road games, short weeks, summer heating up, and we are about to really find out what this team is made of.
Why we shouldn't give up.....yet.
(1) Ibrahim Aliyu is good. He's changing this attack in a positive way with his runs, his first touch, and his pace. Opponents not only have to worry about his speed, but he also knows how to do something with it in pockets of space dropping back to the ball. He's not only creating shots for himself and being aggressive, but he's opening up gaps for Bassi, Baird and HH as well.
(2) Corey Baird is starting to score. There were a lot of people poo-pooing his hat trick against Minnesota, but he came back and scored a nice one against Vancouver before the wheels fell off.
(3) This game was part of a scheduling nightmare by MLS. To go from Houston to Vancouver on a short week is extremely harsh. Play Saturday night -> fly 2,000 miles, play one of the best home teams in MLS -> Vancouver is really good at home, we played terribly and looked like we had just traveled 2,000 miles on short rest.
(4) Steve Clark (minus Wednesday night) had been playing extremely well since the first two games of the year when I questioned whether or not he had anything left. He was
Why the sky is falling.
(1) Micael has been trending downward for a couple of weeks, and played terribly on Wednesday night. I understand why Ben Olsen is trying to get him in the lineup, because with Escobar, Bartlow, Sviatchenko, and Steres, there's not a left-footer in the lineup. Micael at CB was even showing cracks against Austin, but he was able to make plays when needed. Playing both Steres and Escobar at FB severely limits what you can do forward, and Escobar is better on the right side. Micael has been getting a lot of time since Teenage got hurt, but it might be time for Sviatchenko to step in.
(2) The card situation is getting completely out of hand. While the Dynamo are actually improving in the Yellow Card situation over a year ago, the red accumulation of 4 (and don't forget about the one in the Open Cup) not only lead the league but would have been good for 3rd most in the league last year......for the entire season. While two of them (HH's second yellow vs. Seattle & Nelson's from Saturday) were extremely petty, it's something they have to get under control. (rant about this later)
(3) The team, who had been fighting for 90 minutes in every game, flat-out quit on Wednesday night. Not only did they quit, but to give up a goal in under 18 seconds to start BOTH halves is flat-out embarrassing.
(4) This team is winless on the road and has lost 5 of 7. Winning on the road has been something this team simply can't do for more than a decade, and Ben Olsen has to find a way to start pulling at least 1 point from these games.
Final Thoughts:
It's a long season, there are 20+ games left, and we haven't even gotten into the heat of summer yet. This team is set up defensively really well, and they are attacking better of late. I think we saw some of that in the first half before they gave up a goal 18 seconds in the second half and threw things out of the window. Wednesday night was a chaotic game where Vancouver banged the ball deep and it paid off. Bartlow, Artur, and Escobar have logged a ton of minutes lately and were on short rest. The best thing for us, and for the team to do, is burn the Vancouver tape and never watch it again. Let's just get ready for St. Louis on Saturday and figure out how to pull points on the road.
Final Rant:
Major League Soccer is the softest officiated league on the planet, and there is enormous inconsistency in Yellows, Reds, and sometimes even fouls. Not only the quantity of reds given in this league are ridiculous, but the standard by which reds are given is soo low that it makes the league hard to watch. Add to that the fact that calls are soo inconsistently given you don't even know what is a card or not. Take Wednesday night for example. Cordova, sitting on a yellow, toe pokes Steve Clark who had just fell on the ball. Not only is there no card given, there's nothing given at all except a yellow to Clark who asked where the call was. I'm not a "The Refs hate us" guy, but I am a "ProReferees are embarrassing this league and the standard of officiating has to dramatically improve" guy. The refereeing makes games choppy, it's creating a league where diving is encouraged because of the ease in which cards are given. While I am holding back on how all of our sports leagues have gotten ridiculously soft over the years, MLS has global standards by which to compare themselves and compete in. I both of these areas they are currently fighting a losing battle.
Thanks again for reading,
Remember to always #HoldItDown and stay #ForeverOrange
Brian
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