After a 2:1 Loss to Sporting K.C., one thing is abundantly clear. It's time to change the focal point.

 

This isn't the first time we've seen this, and this isn't a snap reaction.  What we saw on Wednesday night was a litany of inefficient, ineffective play from the focal point of the attack.  Over the last few weeks, Coach Paulo Nagamura has hunkered down his defensive gameplay and looked to strike on the counter.  Even though the game plan has been thrown out the window twice in the last 4 games, you can see what he's been trying to build.  Some of this has been out of necessity due to squad rotation, Vera missing several games, and a lack of attacking creativity.  Some of it has been out of teams exploiting gaps in our 4-3-3 defense.  The plan, however, has inarguably worked.  Beating Nashville while down a man,  playing Seattle toe to toe (although coming out with a 0:1 loss at PNC), and trouncing L.A. Galaxy before heading into Wednesday night's matchup vs. Sporting K.C. in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.  

While it was ultimately the defense that faltered,  it was the inability to either hit on the counter or hold possession that really did the Dynamo in.  The focal point of that attack, Darwin Quintero, did little to change that.  We all know that Darwin can make plays nobody else on this team can make.  To be absolutely clear, when Quintero is at his best, he makes plays few in this league can make.  But those plays are becoming fewer and far between.  What's happening over the month of May with large amounts of frequency are several key things:

(1) Darwin is giving the ball away in key positions on the field.  There are too many flicks, punches, lobs, and dribbles that end up in possession of the defense.  Against Sporting, Darwin touched the ball 50 times and gave it back 15.  Against Seattle, 43 touches, 14 possessions lost.  He played pretty well against Nashville but still gave the ball away 12 times on 42 touches.  He was abysmal against DC United, giving up 17 possessions on 41 touches.  That basically equates to turning the ball over 1 out of every 3 touches (58/176).  On the year he's averaging 38.3 touches a game, and giving away 12.8 of them (33.4%). 

(2) DQ only plays hard in brief spurts.  While he's only playing about 60 minutes a game, he doesn't move often enough.  If you compare him to Nico Lodeiro, Darwin is mostly a statue up top.

(3) He spends too much time playing on top of Sebas, instead of underneath him looking to give him service.  This causes Sebas to break back to get the ball, hold up, and make the play to the forwards in front of him, or DQ.  

(4) When he does get under Sebas, he's not getting Sebas the ball often enough.  Darwin likes to shoot, DQ loves to make the fancy play.  Right now, he just needs to rely on the simple play of getting the ball to the right guy.  If it's not there, play it back and reset.

(5) DQ's passing accuracy is awful.  He's 232/336 (69.4%) on the season, and only hitting on 71.9% of his short passes.  For comparison, Memo (78.5%; 91.7%), Coco (82.7%; 86.7%), and Sebas (72.4%; 74.2%) all surpass his numbers.  The only regular with a worse passing efficiency is Thor.  While he's been better the last three games, Darwin needs to start finding the passing touch we saw his first year here.

What happens from here?

Honestly, the attack looks better without DQ on the field.  Against L.A. Galaxy, Paulo basically went without a #10 (playing Ceren at a 6/sweeper position, and almost playing Vera and Memo as double 8's).  This put Ferreira squarely at the focus of the attack.  Sebas responded beautifully, with a goal and 2 assists.  Memo did an amazing job getting on the ball and firing to guys ahead of him on the run.  While Sebas was by far the engine that drove that win, Memo was the ignition.  #8 hit Baird three times in the opening 10 minutes, knifing the Galaxy defense.  The attack has been at it's best this year when Sebas gets the ball in space at the top of the attacking third.  This gives him enough room to find guys ahead of him, chase and get back into the box.  Without DQ fighting him for the same spot, Sebas absolutely flourished.  Thor and Baird kept good space and made well-timed runs to really put pressure on Carson, California's back 4.  Memo simply did (and has been doing) what the Dynamo need Quintero to do.  Hit guys on the run.

With HH in tow, and all the fans speculating who's going to lose minutes, it could easily be Quintero. For this team to progress and make a push this year, Sebas has to be the focal point.  The most amazing point about Sebas' game against the Galaxy was how efficient he was passing the ball.  He only passed the ball 12 times (completing 10) the entire game, 4 of them went for point-blank shots.  HH will play under Sebas, giving him the room up top to operate.  If you've watched Herrera play, you know he can hit guys on time, on target, in space.  There is a high likely hood we see HH play with a rotation of Ceren/Vera at the 6, and Coco/Memo opposite him.  To give Sebas more space, simply take the #10 out of the picture and let your 8's connect up.  This let's you drop an extra defender in defending, get's good triangles all over the field, and let's Sebas be the primary focus of the attack.

Some notes on Wednesday night:

Wednesday night is a super frustrating loss.  I was absolutely sure at the half we were going to win.  I mean, Corey Baird scored a goal for Pete's sake.  It had to be destiny.  While we looked shaky at times, we also were holding like this team had done over the last 4 games.  The second 45' was a completely different story.  We struggled to get forward, and Johnny Russell was blistering us.  When he leveled the score on a great strike, we failed to close down space and pressure him.  The second off a no-brainer pen was a beautiful strike.  I never at one point felt like we were the better team after the second half opened.  

While it's frustrating, and we can blame the lineup, squad rotation, formation, etc.  The Dynamo just played a really compact schedule. Tired legs and lack of depth had to have come into play. I wanted to win this cup badly, and give us some hardware to put in the cabinet.  However, this could be a blessing in disguise.  The Dynamo greatly lack quality depth, and getting into a regular schedule with a more steady lineup should give them more consistency over the second half of the season.  They can also now just focus on one campaign, and throw all their chips in.

Brooklyn Raines is the real deal.

He might have been the best CM on the field Wednesday night.  And while he's been playing really well in the USOC, Wednesday night was by far his best performance. He hit on 36/40 passes, had 1 key pass, won 4/5 of his duels, had 2 tackles, drew a foul, and on 47 touches, only gave 4 of them up.  But besides the stats, Raines flys all over the field.  The youngster flat out chases everything with desperation.  He flys into challenges, he's calm on the ball, he has super quick feet and can take on defenders and get the ball to the next level.  While we have to wait for him to achieve his HG status (which nobody really seems to know what that means exactly), this guy has a future here.  Here's hoping we get to see it before Europe comes calling.  

Next Up:

Dynamo vs. Real Salt Lake

Saturday, May 28th @ 7:30 PM

Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy Utah

Until then, thanks again for reading.

#DejaloTodo, remember to #HoldItDown and stay #ForeverOrange.

Brian