“They [St. Louis] were stronger in challenges, won more aerial duels and had the better edge. Credit to them, they came in with something to prove and showed it.”
FC Dallas head coach Eric Quill
It was quite a flat performance from FC Dallas against St Louis City this weekend. The previous week’s fantastic performance from DC didn’t carry over. I won’t go so far as to call it poor, just average. But average at home isn’t good.
Was FCD looking ahead to the tougher schedule of the next month? This one sure looks like a trap game in hindsight (and as a couple of people predicted).
FC Dallas is tied for 6th with the Colorado Rapids on 12 points, but technically behind on tiebreakers. At least Dallas remains unbeaten over the last 10 home matches in MLS regular-season play dating back to Aug. 9, 2025.
Lo Bueno
My Man of the Match for FC Dallas was Michael Collodi. His official save total was 4, and most of them were fantastic, big saves. His body language was improved, and he looked confident again on the ball. His 63% passing was worse than Roman Burki (83%), but FCD continues to play very aggressively out of the back.
“Personally, I think there were a lot of good defensive actions. I thought we defended well in most moments, except for the goal, and there’s always room to improve. Even when there are shots, there’s always room to be better.”
Michael Collodi
Nolan Norris played quite well with 13 defensive contributions. He has to do quite a bit of work covering up for Deedson’s poor defense. FCD basically built through him as his 68 touches led the team. 77% passing, 8 balls into the final third, but just 1 fo 9 on long balls. Maybe he’s trying to do too much? Let’s play just a touch more simply kid.
“Nolan has a lot of years ahead of him in this league, and he’s getting better every day. He’s a fighter and never stops. He always shows up, and he has a great mentality. Nolan is a player we value highly, and he’s going to keep improving.”
Coach Quill
Camino del Medio
Shaq Moore had a solid game for me, particularly because he swapped around, playing both sides at wingback. 87% passing, 8 passes into the final third. But only 2 defensive contributions. Sebastian Ibeagha, Moore’s center back replacement, was fine as well with 7 defensive contributions, including 5 clears (mostly headers). They were both… fine. But FCD is better for me with Moore at CB and Herman Johansson at wingback.
As I mentioned in my 3 things (see below), Louicius Deedson‘s performance reminded me of early days of Bernie Kamungo. Poor defense, both individually and in team concept, but got forward and scored. With Kaumgo out “a while,” coach Eric Quill has a real problem at left wing back as there’s no good backup. Does he stick with Deedson’s flawed game or stick with the average combo of Ibeagha/Moore at CB/WB?
“I’ve been trying to adapt and listen to the guys and the coaches, and they’ve been helping me a lot. I told the coach I was open to learning the position, and when I get my chance, I’ll do my best.”
Louicius Deedson
Good subs by Coach Quill; Santiago Moreno and Joaquín Valiente woke the offense up. Herman Johansson shored up the wingback defense. They should have come earlier; they didn’t have enough time. With that horrible 1st half, I would have liked to see those two moves at halftime.
“It wasn’t a night where we had much rhythm, so no one really stood out. But in the last 30 minutes, we played better, broke them down, and got into the box. We were knocking on the door, and with a little more time, maybe we find a second goal.”
Coach Quill
Muy Feo
Poor chance creation and finishing. As almost always is the case, FCD was outpossessed (59% yo 41%), but that’s fine. The real issue came in chance creation and finishing. FCD had 11 shots, a bit low for a home game, but what really killed the game for FCD was just 3 shots on target. As we always say, we want to see 50% on target. The low shooting meant their 1.44 xG didn’t translate to a 2nd goal. Compare that to St Louis, which had 5 of 10 on target, with their 1.28 xG.
“It was a flat performance, and I’m sorry to the fans because we expect to win at home. We know we’re capable of beating anyone. I’ll look at myself and our preparation as well. This group is resilient and works hard. It just wasn’t our night, but we’ll be better next weekend.”
Coach Quill
Patrickson Delgado was quite poor, again, for me. We can live with 64% passing out of a guy playing the 10. But am xA of 0.1, 0 passes into the final third, 1 chance created, 2 touches in the box, 0/1 on dribbles, 1/5 on crosses, and a massive ZERO defensive contributions is not good. A paltry 2 recoveries and 2/5 on ground duels, and 2/8 on aerial duels. That’s just bad for a guy trying to be the playmaker.
We’ve been watching the ascendency of Logan Farrington this season, but this one was a stinker. Timo Baumgartl (who was amazing) and Dante Polvara may have had a lot more to do with that than Farrington himself. Farrington: 28 touches, 1 in the box, 1 shot off target, 1 chance created, 1/4 on dribbles, and 0/1 on accurate crosses. He also had the blown marking on the City goal.
FCD lost the duals, what I call the “dawg” stats (in honor of Coach Quill, who loves that phrase). Total duels won: 50 for City to 42 for FCD. Ground duel PCT: 55% to 45%. Aerial duels: 54% to 46%. Most of the imbalance in almost all stats came in the 1st half. Take out Deedon’s goal, and FC got smoked for the 1st 45 and didn’t really improve till the subs came at the 67th minute.
“I just spoke to the group, and I didn’t recognize us in the first 45 minutes. The team you’ve been watching had not lost its mentality in any half this season, but we did tonight.”
Coach Quill
Over compensation for Bernie being out? That was a disjointed starting 11 Any news on Ramiro?