Brought the Nasty: Houston 1:0 NYCFC

 

A night of contrast for the Houston Dynamo: beautiful stadium on a beautiful night with a team that managed to play stretches of beautiful soccer, but bring home an ugly 1:0 win.  On a night with no Coco Carrasquilla, no Ivan Franco, and against one of the stingiest defenses in MLS, the Dynamo managed the only chance that mattered and kept their second straight clean sheet at home.  Bringing the Nasty is rounding into form, as Ben Olsen has found a defensive unit and shape that is working at home

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

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There are lots of things to celebrate from this game, as well as some major causes of concern. Let's take a look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of this game.

The Good:

Brooklyn Raines makes his first MLS start.

Brooklyn Raines is the first teenager to ever start a game for the Houston Dynamo in an MLS match.  In a much-anticipated appearance, Raines had a mostly quiet first half.  Highlighted by his miss on the one good chance the Dynamo had created during the half that really stung, Raines otherwise was mostly unnoticeable during the first 45.  He came to life in the second.  Had a really nice move and a crafty pass through defenders on the buildup that led to the Pen.  Drew a couple of key fouls, and despite only having 27 touches found ways to impact the game.  Brooklyn just mistimed a couple of runs, and his teammates had a little trouble finding him on some of those deep balls. Most importantly didn't do anything that cost the team the win.  Raines took over Coco's duty of applying high pressure and making runs between the left CB and LB.  High energy, was active, impacted winning.  Overall a solid 74 minutes, hopefully he starts to get a few more shifts as the season progresses.

Artur

Artur is the backbone of what has been a dominating midfield.  The midfield trident has been extremely good in 3/4 games so far this year (Cinci, Austin, NYCFC) and Artur has ben the rock at the back end of it.  Defensively he was outstanding last night.  While the tackle and interception numbers aren't staggering (1 tackle, 2 interceptions), he was always in the right spot and gobbled up 11 loose balls in the midfield.  Artur was also instrumental on applying pressure to Keaton Parks and Alfredo Morales, virtually taking them out of the game.  Artur has also been creeping further upfield in possession and looking to make plays.  Took a big left-footed blast right before Corey Baird hit the cross bar, and who can forget his nutmeg/run against Austin F.C. Owning the midfield was key to this matchup, and none was more active or more important than Artur.

The Defensive Back 3 of Teenage, Bartlow, and Steres

It's an unconventional way to get to a 3 in the back lineup, but that's essentially what it is.  4-4-2 in defense, but 3 CB's staying home and protecting when we go forward.  While Steres began to venture forward at spots, having these three set the back line allowed Tate Schmitt to get down the wing and wreak havoc.  The three weren't called on to do a lot, but were always there when they needed to be.  Largely responsible for holding NYCFC to five shots (1 on target) for the entire game.  NYCFC went over 30 minutes without a single shot of any kind (from the 57th minute - 91st minute).  Add to that the fact that NYCFC only had 5 touches inside the box for the first 90 minutes of the game.  While Steve Clark will get credit for his 52nd Career Clean Sheet, the bulk of the work went to the midfield and these guys in the back.

Honorable Mention:

Ben Olsen's defensive game planning, Amine Bassi, HH being HH, and, it sounds weird since we lost the possession numbers, but the possession game was there when we needed it.

The Bad

Corey Baird

Baird did some really good things defensively.  His pressure on the Center Backs combined with the midfield activity of Raines, HH, and Artur really disrupted NYCFC's attack.  However, going forward Baird poses almost no threat of helping the Dynamo score. When he makes a run AND is onside, his decision-making has been extremely poor.  Had a chance to bury NYCFC and make it 2-0 but missed a poacher's goal and hit the woodwork, his only shot of the game.  He's not getting chances, he's not creating chances, he's not really even taking guys on.  He did draw 4 fouls, but other than that his stats were very meager.  45 touches, 8 possessions lost, 0 key passes, 0 shots on target, 1 offsides, 0/1 in taking guys on.  For four straight games here the striker position has been virtually nonexistent in the attack.

The Attack

There was some really pretty combination play, and some quality plays from the midfield, but the Dynamo managed only 2 shots on target the entire game, and one was off a deflection on the back post.  The top three of Baird, Bassi and Quinones didn't combined for 1 shot, 1 key pass, and 2 passes completed into the penalty area.  Without Franco and Carrasquilla the attack lost a lot of punch and creative flair.  The top three have yet to create a goal in the run of play on the season.  

The Ugly

Steve Clark's one major gaffe

Luckily it didn't cost the Dynamo a goal, but right after Amine Bassi's pen Clark almost gave them one back.

Final Thoughts:

These are games the Dynamo usually don't win.  You can take both wins with a grain of salt (beating Austin F.C. on a short week and NYCFC after traveling across the country) but to post two straight clean sheets at home AND winning both hasn't been done in ten years.  This is a good stretch, and the Dynamo have a real chance to make it three in a row traveling to San Jose Earthquakes next weekend. Also, getting to listen to Glenn Davis on the call through Apple TV's new "Hometown Radio" feature was a game changer for me.  I now love this ap entirely.

𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐒 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐍💥🤘

¡Su energía fue increíble!#HoldItDown #ContraTodos pic.twitter.com/5Qj2rWMFcy

— Houston Dynamo FC (@HoustonDynamo) March 26, 2023

Next Up:

Until then.....

Thanks again for reading.

Remember to always #HoldItDown and stay #ForeverOrange

Brian

What team is this? Houston Dynamo 3:0 Austin FC

 

I've forgotten what that feels like.

:57 seconds is all it took.  :57 seconds for Griffen Dorsey to chase down a loose ball and bang it in the back of the net.  In a sequence that both jumped on you and seemed to take forever, the Dynamo outworked, outplayed and "out-wanted" Austin's Verde for the entire first half of the game.  Both of the opening goals for La Naranja were about effort and desire.  On this night, Houston just wanted to win. They wanted it worse than Austin did.  While many of the things we saw weren't that much different than what we've seen all year, on this night things actually worked out.  We can give credit to a Darwin Quintero start, we can attribute it to a new formation, but in reality, it just came down to putting the ball on target for once.  Desperate for a win, Tab pulled out some new tricks and the guys on the pitch rewarded him for it.  Whether this is a flash in the pan, luck, or a result from putting the right guys together, hopefully, we see more of this down the stretch.

The game opened with the Dynamo in possession.  It didn't take long to notice that Tab had them in a 4-2-3-1 with Quintero in the #10.  It also didn't long for Tab's side to go right after Austin FC:

• :10 seconds in - Adam Lundqvist turns the corner on the left flank and draws a foul.
• :36 seconds in - after a quick switch by Teenage Hadebe, Lundqvist goes directly at Pochettino again, winning a throw-in in the final third.
• :40 seconds in - Lundqvist finds Darwin Quintero in the middle of the box, Quintero wriggles in between two Austin FC defenders, fires a shot on target, Brad Stuver makes a tremendous save. Quintero nutmegged 2 AFC defenders on the play in an unbelievable effort in tight space.

:57 seconds in - Griffen Dorsey outruns the entire Austin FC defense, and despite being in the worse position to get the second ball, not only wins it but blasts one on target.  Stuver gets in position to save it, but instead knocks it into the corner netting.

It was a simply awesome start to the game.  We've seen this before (Coco Carasquilla vs. Minnesota), but with Austin FC's struggling attack you had to believe there was a real chance we could finish this game off.  Austin FC fired a warning shot in the 13th minute, which was from about 25 yards out and off to the left, but it was the first threatening possession Verde had.  Lundqvist immediately went back to work, completely turning Pochetino around before getting taken down hard and drawing a Yellow on the run.  Lundqvist was directly going after Austin's right flank early in this game, which was opening up Fafa and Quintero in the middle.  That's when things really opened up.  With Austin FC trying to build an attack and pushing numbers forward, Joe Corona managed to just knock a ball loose at midfield.  Teenage Hadebe one-touch blasted it deep downfield directly in between defenders Hector Jimenez and Julio Cascante.  Fafa Picault took off, and while his speed is what led to the goal, it was really just his effort.  Cascante took a lazy path to the ball, and instead of getting there and blasting it away, he tried to control it.  Cascante took a horrible touch and Fafa raced past him and took it directly off his foot.  It was really nice to see Fafa calmly split the two defenders and just punch it past a diving Stuver as many times this year he's been in this situation and tried to take extra touches or do too much with it.  It was simple, poised execution after a great effort play and it put the Dynamo up 2:0 twenty-four minutes into the game.

Austin spent much of the rest of the half holding possession, occasionally finding ways through, and every time they did they ran into Teenage Hadebe.  Hadebe made several sliding tackles inside the box that shut down Austin attacks.  The Dynamo were playing extremely compact, extremely organized, and weren't letting anything come easy for Austin.  Every time Austin seemed to find space for a shot, there was an Orange shirt in front of it.  4 of the 6 shots Verde had in the first half were blocked by Dynamo defenders, and Michael Nelson went into the half protecting a clean sheet without even making a save.  The backline did exactly what it's needed to do all season: Keep Nelson clean.  The second goal had also allowed the Dynamo to relax and pack in on defense.  In almost every game this year the Dynamo have had to chase a second goal.  Pressing high and chasing balls all over the field for most of the first half, combined with the ridiculous heat and humidity inside BBVA has usually lead to us being worn out by half-time.  The second goal let us back off and pack in early in the game, and save legs for the second half.  

The second half saw a continuation of this theme: The Dynamo packing in and allowing Austin to hold the ball with their backline.  With Austin trying to build attacks and find cracks in the midfield, but the defense was particularly stingy in this game. Making 2 substitutions coming out for the second half to freshen up the midfield, Josh Wolff's team opened the second half with possession.  The Dynamo extended their defense just enough to not let Austin FC play between lines and force them to place accurate deep balls down the sideline. No matter where Austin passed the Dynamo defense was set and waiting. After a couple of dangerous AFC crosses into the box that found no one on the other end, Austin FC seemed to catch a break as Jimenez punched one downfield and found a streaking Cecilio Dominguez one v. one with Teenage.  Teenage not only chase him down and made a tremendous diving tackle with his back heel, he then popped the ball up to himself and fired a left-footed pass 35 yards downfield on the money to Joe Corona.  Corona corralled it, turned, and fired an excellent weighted ball to Fafa streaking down the left flank.  Fafa took one big touch, cut back inside, and fired a shot to the back post that Stuver barely got his fingertips on.  At the 52nd minute mark, Austin FC fired their first shot on target of the game.  Wade was sitting next to me screaming to pick up the man in the middle of the pitch just as they found him.  Alexander Ring, who had been very quiet up to this point, fired a perfect shot to the back post upper ninety that found a stretched-out Nelson's right hand.  The ensuing corner found a wide-open Pochetino at the back post, who slipped and had the ball bounce off his face out of bounds for a goal kick.  It seemed to be a sure-fire goal, and the Dynamo were extremely fortunate.  The game somewhat bogged down for the next ten minutes as the teams traded punches at midfield.  After Griffen Dorsey found Memo on a really nice chip pass into the teeth of Austin's backline (on a shot that went wide), Sebastian Berhalter blasted a pass downfield to a streaking Rodney Redes. Redes raced past Lundqvist and placed a perfect low cross into Dominguez who had Tim Parker beat and Michael Nelson dead to rights.  Nelson managed to knock it away, and after a deflection off the crossbar, Hadebe chased it down inside the six-yard box, turned, and fired a 40 pass downfield to Fafa.  Fafa held off his defender, let it bounce past both of them, then turned and it was off to the races.  With a numbers advantage and Urruti (middle of the field) and Memo (back post) making runs, there was a multitude of options available. Urruti looped to the outside, Fafa cut back inside, and got the ball on his right foot.  He placed it perfectly in the back-post corner and the Dynamo went up 3:0.  The fact that a team with 33% possession managed to put up 17 shots (7 on target) while holding the other team to only two shots on target the entire game was a testament to how efficient we were last night.

BBVA exploded, and so did the guys on the field.  Hadebe sprinted to the sideline just to give Tab a bear hug soo big he picked him about 3 feet up off the ground.  Hadebe was hugging everyone like we'd just won MLS cup, and you knew at that point the game was over.  If stats from WhoScored.com are right, it was our first counterattacking goal of the season and it was a beauty.  The three points were much needed.  The fanbase has been soo down, soo frustrated, and soo cantankerous that I've gotten off of Dynamo Social Media.  This game gave us a brief glimpse of what this team could do, and gave us a week of relief before we take on Frisco next Saturday.  

Darwin's first start made a difference:

I'll be one of the first to say that Darwin has been disappointing this year.  He's still one of the most accurate shooters we have, and the only person on the squad capable of making dangerous passes into the final third with any sort of regularity.  Despite his struggles this year, his 5.74 shot creating actions/90 minutes greatly outpaces anyone else on the team and would be good for fourth in MLS.  While he has yet to register a goal or assist this year (he's only played 298 minutes), he's made a noticeable difference in the Dynamo attack when he's stepped on the field, especially over the last 3 weeks.  

Darwin has only managed 9 shots the entire season, and 3 of those came last night (all of them were on target).  He looked less frantic and much more relaxed and poised than we've seen him all year, and I'm hoping he can retain this spot for the rest of the year.  Tab and Brad Davis have both said recently that the problem with Darwin all year has been fitness, and it makes me wonder what's the issue's been.  Regardless, it was nice to see him play well last night.

For the Teenage haters out there, what are you watching?

If you wonder how good Teenage Hadebe is, just watch the games, please.  Watch him turn away attackers, watch him shut down dribbles, passing lanes, and areal balls.  Watch him fire left-footed bombs on a dime, and watch him stone an attacker only to turn and fire a laser between the lines. No, we haven't been winning, and no, it's not his fault.   He was ridiculous last night and has been almost all year.  He's been worth every single penny, he's 25, and we have him for 3 more years.  That's a good thing.

Urruti's struggles continue:

Urruti hasn't registered a goal or assist in his last 10 appearances (842 minutes) and has one goal in his last 12 appearances (1,042 minutes).  He hasn't put a shot on target in the last two games (10 shots in total) and four of his last five starts.  He had three really good opportunities last night, and only one of them was particularly close.  His breakaway in the 35th minute after another great Hadebe pass downfield found him one v. one with Nick Lima, he went right-footed, left post, and it went just wide. He's been outscored by Mattias Vera (3 goals) over this span, a player who entered the year with 0 career goals.  While people are constantly saying our defense is a failure, this season would be a different story if Urruti was finding the back of the net or even putting the ball on target with more regularity. His shots/90 (3.54) is the highest mark of his career, while his Efficiency rating (37.3%) is just above his career average and a significant drop off from his mark last year (54.5%).  Urruti had a good run in May and June, scoring 5 goals in 7 games, but has yet to find the back of the net since June 26th. Not only is he not scoring, but he's also not finding teammates either.  His 1 assist in 1700 minutes is also far off his mark as a regular starter.  Urruti has worked really hard this year, he's not afraid to press or trackback, and in no way can anyone question his effort.  He just needs to be much more efficient and composed on the ball.  

We are undefeated when:

Darwin starts, there are remnants of an NCAA game left on the field, it's low 80's at kickoff, and Fafa scores a brace.  If we can just make these things happen all year, we win out (sarcasm, relax Dynamo grumps.)

Final Thoughts:

There was a lot to take away from last night.  I found it weird that it seemed soo packed getting into the game, and the concourse seemed soo busy, yet it was a mostly empty stadium.  It was also somewhat embarrassing that Austin seemed to bring more fans than we did and their supporters section drowned out our entire crowd, even when they were down 3:0.  It honestly makes me a little jealous that we don't have a following like that in our own city.  Austin is a new club and has already built a fanbase that greatly surpasses ours.  I know how hard things have been here lately, but either we support this team or we don't.  We need more people to jump on the bus. With all the negativity on Dynamo Social media, our Supporters groups threatening each other on Twitter, the Jordan out crew, and the bag over their head wearers, at some point we just have to get together and actually support this team and this city. I know I'm a different kind of guy, but I'll show up and cheer regardless of who owns this team, who sits in the GM chair, or how good/bad they are on the field.  They're my team, they'll always be my team, and I could care less about every other team in all of the American continents and all except one in Europe.  Ted Segal's greatest challenge is building an actual fanbase. There were good crowds right after he bought the team that just disappeared. I'm hoping this city comes through.

There were some nice touches again last night.  I loved turning the field orange, that was pretty great.  Hopefully, we show out for FC Frisco this weekend.  There'll be plenty of Frisco Fakes in the stadium again, and it'd be nice to have a derby feel, and maybe the guys have put something in motion here.

Thanks again for reading,

#HoldItDown and remember to stay #ForeverOrange
Brian

Matt Jordan: An empty cupboard, a depleted system, and too many misses. A look at his time in Houston.

What a year it's been right?  What are we at now, 15 games without a win?  Miserable heat, miserable fans, miserable product on the field, and a new owner usually formulate letting someone at the top go. I stopped writing game recaps, because it's basically the same every time: We fought hard, we had a couple of stupid mistakes that killed us, and we can't score goals.  It's been a couple of years now since we've had a dependable couple of goal scorers and I've forgotten what it feels like.  Heck.....I've forgotten what being good feels like.  I think we all knew it was a matter of time before someone's head hit the proverbial chopping block, and as the first ax has fallen I'm hoping that it comes with a flourishing of new activity.  So far Ted Segal is saying all the right things, I'm anxious to see if he can actually do the right things.  I talked early in the year how the problem with this team has been a lack of front office creativity and it's funny how people disagreed with me soo much then and are now pointing to Colorado Rapids as what we should aspire to be.  Hopefully the next group gets it right.

The cries had surfaced this year more than usual.  JORDAN OUT!  was now the new battle cry replacing BRENNER OUT, and TAB OUT has replaced DE LA HOYA OUT!.  While I agreed with the need for new ownership, and I also agree that Jordan should have be let go, do you really think it fixes anything? Does firing Tab suddenly make us a championship contender?  Does it even make us a playoff contender?  Does it even make us better next year?  No, no, and probably not.  You know what dumping everything right now is going to bring?  More losing.  If you told me we could dump Tab and get Pep Guardiola, Hansi Flick, Jose Mourinho, or Zinedine Zidane, I'd be all for it.  If you're going to dump Tab just for the sake of dumping Tab, what's the point? (I already hear you "TO MAKE A STATEMENT" shouters, that statement will just be more losing for the foreseeable future). If you dump Tab to hire a retread MLS coach, or a young guy looking for a chance,  I'll still take my chances with Tab.  With Matt Jordan, there are 5 reason's I somewhat gave him a break.  (1) Gabriel Brenner.  (2) Oscar De La Hoya (3) Ben Guill (4) James Harden (5) Jake Silverstein.  I don't know many GM's on the entire planet that would have thrived under these guys, and while I'm fully aware that Matt Jordan could have worked miracles.......I'm also fully aware that Matt Jordan needed divine intervention to succeed with that ownership group.  Seriously, only supernatural powers could have vaulted the Dynamo to a playoff contender with the complete lack of organizational leadership that was going on across the street from one of the best run turnarounds in sports history.  In my last post, we went over the Dynamo's complete failure in the draft.  If they could have landed just ONE of those guys, we'd be a completely different club.  Imagine this club with Jeremy Embobisse, or if Tim Parker would have joined the club 7 years ago.  Put Parker on the backline with Adolfo Machado during Wilmer Cabrera's time and we have a completely different team.  Imagine if we had landed Parker AND Long in 2014 and 2015.  But I digress.

What should the GM's job be?

In an ideal world, the GM should simply be hiring support staff and signing players.  He should hire and be in charge of/responsible for (1) A scouting director (2) An academy director (3) The Head Coach.  What Matt Jordan was doing is actually 3 jobs in most soccer realms. He shouldn't have to scout/evaluate players, that should be the scouts' job.  And given the size of world soccer, they should have EUFA scouts, COMNEBOL scouts, and CONCACAF Scouts.  They should also have North American professional scouts (scouting MLS and USL), amateur scouts (scouting lower divisions and NCAA), and academy scouts.  If you want players, real players, we need a large and organized scouting network.  The GM should spend most of his time convincing players to come here, talking to agents, and signing players to deals. The academy director should be in charge of turning over every stone, building a network of players/teams to choose from, and acquiring all the best talent in the area.  I keep hearing about all this talent that's in the Houston area.  I see guys play in high school stadiums that I think could turn out to be something, but no one is scouting them.  I see players from this area go to college, but don't turn into anything.  Not even solid USL players. We need to figure this out, and the Dynamo need to get involved in youth development all over this city.  

Roster Building:

There are 6 essential roster-building functions in MLS.  (1) International Signings (2) Free Transfers (3) The Draft (4) The Academy (5) The use of TAM and GAM to both buy down player contracts and help get other MLS players (6) Trades.  This is what makes MLS unique in the soccer landscape, and whether you like it or not they are all valuable tools to build a roster here.  There are two essential MLS Systems that have completely failed this club: (1) The draft. (2) The Academy. Between the two, during Matt Jordan's time in office, they've produced 1 full-time starter (Memo) and one rotational player (Junqua).  Without any sort of investment from the ownership, International signings must be on the cheap. You can say that Matt Jordan has failed at this, but I don't necessarily agree.  You can try to not give him credit for Elis, Manotas, Vera, Lundkvist, Maric, and Quioto, but he did work deals to get them here.  He made a nice trade for Quintero, which worked out last year and this year seems to be the only person willing to make a dangerous pass in the final third even though few of them find the mark. He's had way too many misses as well, such as Bizama and Tomas Martinez, and made trades for guys like Zarek Valentine who wasn't really an upgrade at the position. What's really startling is that almost every year we have about 9 guys that walk on a free and no one else really wants.  

But I can't blame the total system failure on Matt Jordan necessarily, because I don't really know what Matt Jordan was working with.  Eddie Robinson stated during the game against Minnesota "....when I first came to work for the Dynamo all the Academy guys were part-time employees.....Seriously!"  Eddie Robinson didn't clarify in much detail, but he started working there in 2012.  I don't know who's doing the scouting for the draft, but I know the Dynamo need to hire a full-time, North American scout who actually knows what they're looking at.  The GM doesn't need to do that, a scout does. In most "Football Clubs" (You've got the FC on your name now, you get the tag I guess), your GM doesn't select the players your GM works the deals.  Your Scout, Sporting Director, and Coach select the players, the GM goes and gets them. Is he responsible for the draft?  Absolutely.  Should he be scouting players and deciding who we draft?  Nope.  Tab should have some impact.  His years of working with the US Youth systems should help him.  But that will also take some time to see the effects.  

International Singings:

Without any influx of young talent from the academy and the draft, Jordan's only option to bring young talent into the club was limited to fairly inexpensive international transfers and guys out of contract.  From MLS.com "In 2021, a total of 216 international roster slots are divided among the 27 clubs. These roster slots are tradable, in full season increments, such that some clubs may have more than eight and some clubs may have less than eight during any given season. With trades, there is no limit on the number of international roster slots on each club's roster."  The Dynamo currently have 6 International Player spots filled (Bajamich, Bizama, Carrasquila, Hadebe, Maric, Vera). 3 of those came in the last 12 months.  I would say that 4/6 have been hits, Bajamich still may pan out.  Bizama definitely didn't pan out, and was loaned to Charlotte this year.  At 27 years of age, we can say that was a bad move on all accounts.  Lundkvist has been a hit, but he no longer counts as an international, since he received his green card.  If we look at Jordan's track record on signings, getting Rommel Quioto here for TAM, landing Alberth Elis for $2.4 million (worth every penny and then some), and while he doesn't get full credit for Mauro Manotas, he did make the deal permanent by buying his full rights.  That basically bought out the sell-on clause in Mauro's contract.  That becomes important later on.  From 2014-2017 Jordan was basically working with a limited amount of Target Allocation Money to bring guys in.  
The majority of our best players during his time have been international signings, and a few of them were high-level talent gotten on the cheap. "But......but......MATT JORDAN DIDN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THAT!" I've heard it, I've read it, it's wrong.   He did what a GM should, he found a way to get them here and sign them to a contract.  GM's turn reports and recommendations into players on the pitch.  That's their real job.  Quioto, Elis, Hadebe, Machado, Struna, Lundkvist all came here and made an impact for cheap.  Have the Dynamo failed under his leadership? Absolutely, but this is one area where he actually somewhat performed at.  But....but...JORDAN BOTCHED THE ELIS AND MONATAS DEALS!  I'll say it again, he offered Elis the biggest contract in the history of the Dynamo.  Elis turned him down.  With months left on his contract, and Elis surely to walk away, he took the best deal he could.  He got $1.2 million for Elis, plus an added sell-on clause worth an undisclosed amount.  This could turn out to be a decent payday for the Dynamo.  As for Manotas, he got $4mil for a striker that had just scored 3 goals in 1800 minutes and had seen his production regress over the last three years.  By the way, that $4mil is by far the largest transfer fee in Dynamo history and the 17th largest in MLS history.  To put it in perspective, that's more than the $2.89 million RBNY got for Tyler Adams (and yes, I'm aware of the brother-in-law deal they got).  
Does he have a glowing record here?  Again, no.  But it's far from terrible. It's all he had to build with, he put all his chips in it, and some deals just haven't worked out.  Tomas Martinez didn't pan out.  Tomas Martinez was also relatively cheap ($1.8mil) compared to what other teams are paying for top level attacking talent in this league.  It's the 94th highest transfer fee paid on record in the history of MLS.  Tomas Martinez, Mateo Bajamich, and Jose Bizama really hurt when they don't hit and you don't have any money to spend.  That would be like using your rent money to buy a car and that car would drive above 25 MPH (Martinez) or blew up (Bizama) or you figured out a bike got you to work better (Bajamich). 

Trades:

This is another area where Matt Jordan was really poor.  Other than trading Kiki Struna for Maxi Urruti, there just haven't been any really smart trades done by this club in a long time.  Even Urruti for Struna has been a wash, as Urruti hasn't registered a goal or assist since July.  Trading Rommel Quioto for Victor Cabrera?  Terrible.  Tommy McNamara for Wilfred Zahibo?  Bad.  Zahibo is sitting at home without a club, and Tommy Mac is playing quality minutes for first place New England.  There are a bunch of other examples, but these are the most recent.  He's made a couple of nice moves for GAM, like getting Tim Parker from the Red Bulls, but there wasn't enough of this either.

Final Thoughts:

I know that many of you out there disagree, and think that getting rid of Matt Jordan will fix all of Houston's problems.  But the matter of fact is, the problems extend well beyond the GM's desk.  While Jordan definitely didn't do enough to help, he also didn't get the help he needed. I've read the angry ramblings on Reddit, Big Soccer, Twitter, and Discord.  Let me say this:  You are right, but you are also wrong.  

Glenn Davis said recently on his  August 31st Episode of his Podcast Soccer Matters "....I understand how this was emotional for many, many people and the focus was mainly on that....but I want to clarify a couple of things here. Uhm, Matt was hired by ownership, Matt was hired by a president, and....I think.....to just go after Matt Jordan...uhm....to me is missing the context of the big picture..."  This is what I've been trying to say for a couple of years now.  Was Matt Jordan bad?  Yes.  Did the results and this roster warrant him being let go?  Absolutely.  Was everything his fault?  Nope.  Owner Ted Segal also stated on the same Podcast that they were basically leaving no stone unturned in looking for ways to improve this club.  The club needs facility improvements, they need a bigger staff, and they actually need to split the GM duties into a Director of Operations and a Director of Sport.  One needs to oversee the day-to-day business dealings, the other needs to focus squarely on improving the club and finding players.  The world of football and even North American football is too big for this to be done with one guy, especially if you have large aspirations.  Segal has talked about expanding payroll, he's talked about improving the academy, he's talked about looking at every possible angle to make this better.  He's stated he wants an MLS bread GM that knows the ins and outs of this unique league, and hopefully he finds a good one.  

Until then,

#HoldItDown and stay #ForeverOrange

Brian