Houston Dynamo 0, FC Dallas 0: Rate the Players and Quick Thoughts

At the beginning of the year I introduced a new way for the Dynamo Theory community to be a part of Player Ratings. After matches everyone will get a chance to submit how each player did on a scale of 1 to 10 which will be averaged out in a later article. These ratings are interesting because we all view how players perform differently. Rating websites like WhoScored.com view things from an analytical perspective, but a statistic, even one as big as a goal, doesn’t quite tell the entire story as some goals are bigger and more important to a game than others. I think seeing how we as a community feel can create fun conversations. Of course, how we feel individually matters as well so please comment about player performances as you wish in the comments.

Quick Thoughts about the Game:

1) The Houston Dynamo did not look too different from the road-version that we’ve come to expect. Romell Quioto was a surprise scratch so the offense didn’t have quite the punch it usually has, but the problem wasn’t really with the forwards for much of the game. The lack of midfield support up the field stunted our ability to create chances and we were left with a few limited opportunities that were close. The wide forwards could have helped take themselves out of isolation by dropping back to help defend and build offense, something we saw later in the game working, but that’s not part of our game plan. The forwards must be ready to spring the counter at all times and only rarely help defend. That made it a little easier for Dallas to get off as many chances as they had and it hurt our ability to build up play. I will give a ton of credit to the defense that generally looked organized and was willing to put themselves in harm’s way to block shots. Tyler Deric was also spectacular in his return to the starting lineup.

2) Dallas came out to play…sort of. Dallas utilized a lot of high pressing in this game and were very aggressive considering they had a game earlier in the week (something you wouldn’t have known by looking at the game). They were active up the field, organized in the back, and the goalkeeping was spot on. The only area that was lacking was in their production. Apart from a few brilliant saves by Tyler Deric to keep FCD off the score sheet, Dallas could not hit the broad side of a barn with shots soaring over the goal and well left and right of the target. That really helped Houston because if just a few of these shots are on target, they could have made things more difficult for Tyler Deric.

3) Vicente Sanchez and Andrew Wenger both impacted the game positively as they brought in more of an attacking mentality which had been lacking. Sanchez moved up and down the field supporting both the defense and helped create for the offense. He passed the ball flawlessly and created some chances to steal a result in Frisco. Wenger didn’t actually get the ball at his feet often, but his movements opened things up for chances to score.

4) Even though we didn’t get the win in our rival’s stadium nor did we get our first win on the road, we did get a solid road point in a difficult place to play. Considering how we played for most of the game that’s a more than fair result.

Rate the Players: