FC Dallas went down to Georgia and grabbed a point on the road. FCD continues to get results on the road against teams that they should get results against (i.e., teams lower in the standings).
“When it’s time to go you go. I don’t care if you have that moment to go on the break and you go attack. We’re not trying to conserve, we want to be smart. But when the moment is there, take it and steal it, you go do it. I instill that aggression, that belief in these guys to do that, and we almost did it tonight.”
FC Dallas Head Coach Eric Quill
Dallas now sits 6th in the West with 11th points and a 0 goal difference.
Let’s break it down.
Lineups and Tactics
Coach Eric Quill stuck with the Diamond-4 (or 4-3-1-2 as he calls it). There were no changes from last week’s win.
The big move came in the 58th minute when Quill brought on Anderson Julio, Bernie Kamungo, and Kaick for Leo Chu, Patrickson Delgado, and Sebastian Lletget. The important part here is that the shape changed to the coach’s preferred 4-2-3-1 with Kaick next to Ramiro and Kamungo/Julio on the wings.
“I thought our grinding nature was there too and we made the right adjustments to go 4-2-3-1, and bring pacey wingers on that gave us some stretch to the game. That got us in some dangerous moments, and Petar (Musa) got his goal right when we went to the structure change, so that was a big tactical change that worked.”
Coach Eric Quill
92nd minute, the final sub pair to help preserve the point, Lalas Abubakar and Logan Farrington on for Nolan Norris and Petar Musa.
Atlanta United in the 4-2-3-1 with Miguel Almiron at the 10.
66th minute, huge sub with Ronald Hernández, Ajani Fortune, Noah Cobb, and Alexey Miranchuk replacing Matthew Edwards, Bartosz Slisz, Stian Gregersen, and Xande Silva.
Final sub, 87th minute, Jamal Thiaré replaced Saba Lobjanidze.
Goals
0-1 Atlanta United goal. 17th minute. Miguel Almiron scored a PK after Oz Urhoghide committed a foul. Yes, it was a foul. Sure, it was a bit soft, but it’s a foul.
1-1 FC Dallas goal 60th minute. Nice combo as Kaick feeds Lucho Acosta, who feeds Petar Musa in the box. Musa’s 1st attempt is blocked, but he sticks with it and roofs the rebound for the no-assist goal.
Lo Bueno
My FC Dallas Man of the Match was Osaze Urhoghide. His presence was staggering. Physicality, mentality, aggression, never quit attitude, not backing down from anyone. Yes, he committed the PK foul, but more than made up for it in his overall performance. 66 touches led FCD, 94% passing, 2 intercepts, 1 block, 1 shot-creating action, 1 progressive carry, 1/1 on take-ons, 7 recoveries, and 12 clears. Amazing.
“It is his talent and his competitive nature and what he does back there. The guy needs to wear a fireman’s hat. His athleticism, ability, anticipation in space, ability to move with pacey wingers and nines is high level. His physical numbers are off the chart. He’s got the numbers of a winger and interior midfielder. His intensity is incredible. I love watching him grow. As he gets to know this league, he’s only gonna get better and better, which is even more scary to think about. His teammates are feeding off of him, the guys are loving him. He’s an amazing teammate, and he is consistent every single game. He’s him and that’s all you can ask for as a coach.”
Coach Eric Quill
I don’t know at what point I would stop praising Lucho Acosta, cause he’s probably going to have a line like this: 50 touches, 78% passing, 7 shot-creating actions, 5 progressive passes, 2 progressive carries, 2/4 take-ons, 4 key passes, and 6 progressive receptions.
Anderson Julio is a must-start. He’s a massive difference maker. He only had 8 touches in his 33 minutes, but his presence opened the game up and created space. His change of pace is needed to balance Musa and Acosta up the middle.
Nolan Norris took a step forward, looking more confident and composed. Yes, he can get exposed for pace, that’s his biggest weakness, although Latte Lath exposes a lot of people to pace. Norris had 64 touches, 80% passing, 6 progressive passes, 3 progressive carries, 1/1 take-ons, 4 passes into the final third, 3/3 on tackles, 3/5 on challenges, 3 blocks, 3/3 in aerial duels, 6 recoveries, and 7 clears.
“I felt good. I felt more comfortable and confident game by game. The coaching staff has shown their belief in me and so have the players, and my job is to repay them. It’s a dream come true to represent my hometown club every time I step on the field. And I just want to give everything my body has.”
Nolan Norris
Best game defensively on the season from Shaq Moore and Sebastian Ibeagha. I mean this praise in terms of positioning and coverage and less in terms of stats. Moore was 2/2 in tackles, 1/2 in challenges with 1 block, 1 intercept, and 2 clears. Ibby had 1 block, 1 intercept, and 7 clears.
This FC Dallas road form is hard to fathom. I think it all comes down to mentality. The ability to come from behind to tie or win a game at home is a great thing. Doing it on the road? Unreal. The team’s self-belief is staggering.
“Their pressure was getting to us early on and they had the better of the game in the first half. In a crowd of 50,000 people, at home, this is an electric attacking side in Atlanta, that when they smell blood, they become really hard to deal with. We withstood their wave.”
Coach Eric Quill
I don’t usually talk about the other team a lot, but I sure liked Tristan Muyumba. He would look so good as one of the 6’s in Quill’s 4-2-3-1.
Camino del Medio
The 4-2-3-1 for Dallas improved things, although some of that just Anderson Julio. The Ramiro/Kaick combo needs work for sure. Ramiro is just too limited in range for it, I think, and while Kaick will play into it eventually, it might be a bit early for the full rollout. So a work in progress.
Having low possession may not be as fun or sexy, FC Dallas lost that battle 42% to 58% on fbref (where all these stats come from). But they won the shots on target battle 2 to 1, but lost the xG battle. Holding Atlanta to just 10 total shots at home is impressive.
Muy Feo
Léo Chú, again, was disappointing. 16 touches in 57 minutes, 0 shot or goal creating actions, 0 progressive passes, 0 progressive carries, 0/1 in take-ons, 0 key passes, 0 passes into the final third or box.
This team needs another quality wing to be a legit playoff team. It’s probably too late for this window but certainly this summer there needs to be an upgrade. I would have thought that T. Scott would have gotten a look by now. I guess he’s just not ready? Bernie and Leo do nothing for me.
Agree. Scott seems to have regressed a little. He played some wing and now 9 for NTSC this season.
Thats why he needs to start Farrington!! I keep saying it and I am not sure why Kumungo and Chu get the start over him.
Also, the only thing I somewhat disagree with in the article is Kaick. I think he provided a lot of energy and chased the ball a lot. It also looked like he made more complete passes than a lot of others. The goal wouldn’t have happened without him.