When Buzz asked me to drop him a few articles on the state of soccer, I couldn’t decide what to name my articles and was stuck on “You can’t handle the Truth,” but I thought it was to pretentious. As a professional coach, you always find yourself being second-guessed. At the same time, you usually surround yourself with people you trust for a second opinion. I am hoping the people who read this will find it a second opinion worth trusting, and worth debating, which is what makes the game special to me.
Anyway, on to the latest move at FC Dallas. That is of course the much talked about trade of Drew Moor to Colorado. To analyze the Drew Moor trade I think you first have to look at the team as a whole, and where their needs are. I think any person knowledgeable of the personnel and recent history of this team would have thought the back line was the first place you had to go to build a solid foundation for the future.
Yes, we are talking about the future. Talk about titles was, and is, pre-mature and naive at best. This team has had serious balance issues, which took time to create, that could not be fixed by simply working harder or by better attitudes. Often from the outside, it seems this is a team with a gluttony of central midfielders that seems to be constantly discovering another international midfielder that plays very similar to the ones they have. FCD hasn’t really found that playmaker in the midfield since Oscar Pareja retired, but we’ll save that for another day.
Let’s look at the problems in the back line. It was initially addressed by adding Torres and Purdy, and drafting George John in the off-season. Those additions, and Saragosa’s move to the back, were supposed to be the answers this season. Unfortunately, these players, whether they have an upside or not, do not have a proven history of success at the MLS level or such pedigree that their success would be without question.
It is said in soccer, the middle is the spine of your team and the back line is your stability to that spine. Without that you have steps forward and back again, always appearing wobbly. To truly get where this team wants to go, I believe they have to stabilize that back line, get proven leadership down the middle of the park, and balance between the ability to defend and the ability to play out of the back. FCD had some time to fix this biggest need, but to be fair they had a lot of needs and you cannot address them all at once in this league.
To get a true picture or grade of how the back was addressed, and thus asses this trade will take time. But let’s start by considering your starting back four coming into the season: Saragosa, Moor, Purdy, and Torres/Wagner. None are currently still in place as starters. Consider that this is on a team that has one of the highest goals-against averages in the league and I think we have a good barometer of how the off-season changes in the back have done.
Since then, however, the season has moved on and we have seen many upgrades. You have to compliment Coach Hyndman as Ricchetti’s move to the back was a very good choice even with his speed issues. Pablo has brought experience and leadership even if he has the occasional faux pas. Saying that I believe he is sorely missed in the midfield defensively, where he was truly the only anchor this team had to keep the defense from often being isolated on runs out of the midfield. I am of the opinion that you see this defense left on its own to much, which leads to defenders being isolated consistently, which leads to them being exposed. To much time and to much space for the attackers is not good for any defender and this in turn has led to a number of rotating players at the center back spot before Hyndman settled on Ricchetti.
The next addition of Davies to the back line appears to be a good addition for the future and has helped solidify the middle. The next problem was at left back where nobody could lock down the position consistently and the team seemed to get exposed regularly. Another kudo, as the addition of Benitez addressed that issue nicely, although they still have balance issues with his constant runs forward. Finally, the right side where Saragosa struggled and Drew Moor did seem the best option.
Drew Moor played the middle a number of times and I thought it was his best position, but he was moved to the outside where many others feel he is best suited. My guess is the move was more to find the right balance for Ricchetti, but that is just a guess. As options became available into the central spot Moor appeared to be the best answer at right back. He had a small number of bad games on the outside when he was isolated on occasion, but he was not alone in that. Moor is not known for tremendous speed, although calling him slow would not be accurate. He was a very good passer out of that position and adept at getting forward. From everything I heard he was also a strong leader and supporter of the staff in the locker room. Those leadership qualities cannot be overlooked on a team with few wins, as the locker room can go quickly without success to back the coach’s ideas.
Of course, the other part of analyzing this trade is whom FCD got and what they had to give up to get him. They gave up an awful lot to get Ugo Ihemelu. I was not a big believer in Ihemelu’s ability to be a top pro coming out of SMU, but I thought he played extremely well in LA and I feel I might have been mistaken about him. I had questions about him on the ball at SMU, but he seemed to be aware of his strengths and weaknesses on the field and improved in that regard. In LA he was required to man-mark often and did it very well. He has speed, athleticism, and some bite to his game, which you need in a defender.
So my problems with the trade are what FCD gave up to get a marker; how Ugo will do playing wide on the ball, where he will be required to get forward and be a good server at the very least; and how does this move address the balance of this team. I still believe FCD suffers from a midfield that is much better at attacking than it is balanced, and that in turn leads to many of the problems in defense.
If Ihemelu was the final piece of the puzzle for a team on the edge of a championship then it might be worth the extras on top of Drew Moor. But on a team building for the future, giving up as much as they did toward that future has me hoping this is not change for the sake of change.
I am sure many want me to mention Drew’s popularity as a factor in analyzing this trade, given the need to increase attendance. Drew is truly one of the finer human beings I have met, but I come from the school where the best product on the field should be the sole reason for a decision, and that product will be the biggest factor to putting people in the stands.
Of course, this is just my second opinion.