Back in early December, I wrote a post outlying all the positional holes in the FC Dallas roster as I saw them.
The article wasn’t meant to be a treatise on how FCD should go forward but rather an attempt at outlying the basic, fundamental needs of an MLS roster and how many specific pieces the club was missing.
FCD had a lot of roster holes last season. You can go read that article for the why but here is the list of what I said the club needed at the time.
1 center forward
1 right wing
1 Free-8/10
1 left back
2 center backs
2 goalkeepers
2 to 4 extra pieces
So how have Coach Nico Estevez and TD Andre Zanotta done filling the chart in? Let’s take a look.
Roter Build
This isn’t a depth chart.
Note: On Dec 8 “signing” wasn’t specific. Trade, draft picks, transfer, whatever, etc., work instead. “Signing” was just a general term for “get one.”
| Position | Dec 8 Status | Feb 14 Status |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | Jesus Ferreira | Jesus Ferreira |
| 9 | Franco Jara | Franco Jara |
| 9 | Young Player | Young Player |
| Wing | Jader Obrian | Jader Obrian |
| Wing | Szabolcs Schön | Szabolcs Schön |
| Wing | Kalil ElMedkhar | Kalil ElMedkhar |
| Wing | Signing | Paul Arriola (GAM Trade) |
| 8 | Paxton Pomykal | Paxton Pomykal |
| 8 | Brandon Servania | Brandon Servania |
| 8 | DP Signing | Competition needed |
| 8 | Signing | Tsiki Ntsabeleng (Drafted) |
| 6 | Facundo Quignón | Facundo Quignón |
| 6 | Edwin Cerrillo | Edwin Cerrillo |
| LB | Ryan Hollingshead | Marco Farfan (Trade) |
| LB | Signing | Isiah Parker (Drafted GA) |
| CB | Matt Hedges | Matt Hedges |
| CB | Jose Martinez | Jose Martinez |
| CB | Nkosi Tafari | Nkosi Tafari |
| CB | Vet Signing | Lucas Bartlett (Drafted but older) |
| CB | Young Signing | 5th center back |
| RB | Ema Twumasi | Ema Twumasi |
| RB | Signing | Nanu (Loan) |
| GK | Jimmy Maurer | Jimmy Maurer |
| GK | Loan? | Maarten Peas (Loan) |
| GK | Signing | Antonio Carrera (Homegrown) |
| Extra | Beni Redzic | Beni Redzic |
| Extra | Eddie Munjoma | Eddie Munjoma |
| Extra | Nicky Hernandez | Nicky Hernandez |
| Extra | Another wing | Alan Velasco (Transfer) |
| Extra | Whatever | Blaine Ferri? (Still in camp) |
On loan and not counted in the build: Thomas Roberts, Dante Sealy, Justin Che, and Collin Smith.
What’s Missing?
3rd String 9
Hopefully a young player.
I had thought a young pick or a Homegrown. For now, Coach Estevez seems content to use wings like Jader Obrian or Beni Redzic in this spot. Or a midfielder like Nickey Hernandez who is bigger and stronger.
An 8 Central Mid
This is the big missing piece but it can no longer be filled with a DP.
FCD needed two and drafted one. They do have some unproven depth in Nickey Hernandez and might potentially add Blaine Ferri. (Go ahead and sign Ferri, fellas, he’s been looking good.)
But I would like to see a game-ready player who can push Paxton Pomykal and Brandon Servania. Perhaps a U22 Initiative player similar in quality to Schön.
FCD might, hypothetically, leave this spot open waiting for Thomas Roberts to return. Can they afford to wait till May?
5th Center Back
I’ve long felt MLS teams should carry 5 center backs. Assuming Justin Che isn’t coming back, FCD needs one. I don’t see one in the Academy who can help.
Marco Farfan has played center back in a 3 and is left-footed, so for now he might be considered the emergency left center back if injuries hit FCD hard at this position like last year.
Conclusion
Los Toros could very well go wait and see mode as they don’t seem to be actively looking at anything in these positions at the minute.
But overall, they’ve done a nice job filling all the pieces in and in some cases have made some real quality upgrades.
Agreed they’ve done a good job. Moreover, they’ve done it largely with younger players (either in raw age or for the position (e.g., Paes)) and largely on club-friendly terms (except for maybe Velasco but that kind of comes with the territory of that kind of signing). So the first team has a lot of upside pretty much everywhere and will have flexibility moving forward both with players that are easy to jettison if necessary (loans, players on options, or low $$) and with certain contracts rolling off the books (Jara, Quignon, Martinez) in the next couple of seasons. The roster still has some small holes and it has a lot of unknowns, but the build makes sense and I think is a very good starting point for a cycle under a new manager. It’s certainly in a lot better shape that I was expecting it would be at the beginning of the offseason.
A depth chart at the #8 with all of Pomykal, Servania, Ferri, and Roberts getting playing time????? What a beautiful world we may soon live in.