The Quakes were on a bit of an uptick anyway coming in, and when you add in the fact San Jose is clearly FC Dallas's bogey team - two of the Quakes four wins last year came against FCD - it was probably a foregone conclusion that this game wasn't going to go well for Dallas.

Sure enough, San Jose's man marking defense befuddled FCD's attack and their defensive concept turned FCD one dimensional in the second half.

So while the 0-0 result FCD got a point, it most certainly wasn't a positive game for Dallas.

Let's break it down.

Lineups and Tactics

Your Toros returned to the 4-3-3 back at home but with a wrinkle up front. As I talked about as a hypothetical this week on twitter and our podcast, Coach Luchi Gonzalez shifted Paxton Pomykal to left wing - a position he excelled at for the US U20s in the Concacaf U20 Championships - which allowed FCD to get Bryan Acosta back on the pitch and keep Edwin Cerrillo in the starting XI.

The FC Dallas starting XI vs San Jose. (4-27-19) (FCD / FC Dallas)

Paxton we tried during the week on him being a full winger and give us [Bryan] Acosta more as a 10, [Carlos] Gruezo as an 8and Edwin [Cerrillo] as a 6, but defensively as a double-6. It looked good during training and Paxton was giving us that extra midfield player, so in the man-marking we wanted Paxton to give us that extra player in the midfield to break that. - Coach Luchi Gonzalez.

Just like I drew it up, thanks, coach!

Given how good Cerrillo and Gruezo look as a pair, and how good Acosta is... and the relative meh performances of anyone else at LW... I can't help but wonder again if Paxton at LW would be worth a look. pic.twitter.com/RcsQ1Hb8ZR — 3rd Degree (@3rdDegreeNet) April 25, 2019

At halftime, a hamstring injury to Pomykal forced Coach Gonzalez's hand and he brought on Dom Badji at left wing in a straight swap.

Then in the 64th minute, Gonzalez brought on Santiago Mosquera for Bryan Acosta likely because Acosta's coming back from an injury and was on a minute restriction. Then for the last sub, Pablo Arnaguiz came on in the 78th minute for Jesus Ferreira to try and get some through balls to Badji and Michael Barrios.

San Jose used a 4-1-4-1 formation although when you use a man marking system it doesn't stay super locked into the shape.

The San Jose Earthquakes starting XI at FC Dallas. (4-27-19) (MLS / MLS)

Judson for Shea Salinas in the 69th minute was pretty straight forward. But SJ went for the win late bringing on an extra attacker, goal poacher Chris Wondolowski, for mid Mangnus Ericksson and then an extra mid, Valeri Qazaishvili, for defender Harold Cummings in the 84th and 87th minutes.

Goals

None.

El Bueno

Man of the Match for me was Matt Hedges. He was a beast I thought, holding the backline together and playing some strong defense. 5 clearances and 1 intercept. 86% passing, even with the pressure. His 59 touches led FCD. 3 for 5 on long balls and 1 key pass. Nice job Cap.

Apparently, there's a scarf for the Man of the Match.

Jesse Gonzalez made two very nice saves to keep FCD equal. You can't knock his shot-stopping ability, it really is top notch. One of the best pure shot stoppers we've seen at FCD. His 75.9% save percentage this season is second in the league to Zack Steffen at 80%.

Bryan Acosta looked great in his 64 minutes. As I mentioned, there must have been a minute target on him because I thought he as FCD's best mid in this one. Some of his cross-field passes, trying to shift play, were just beautiful. 76% passing, 5 for 8 long balls, 3 tackles, 2 shots, on 36 total touches.

Paxton Pomykal looked quite comfortable on the wing, swapping sides with Michael Barrios multiple times. Up until he got hurt, Pomykal was giving the San Jose defense trouble on the right side combining with Cannon and Ferreira. If Pomykal doesn't injure his hammy this game probably ends differently. I can't give you a specific time of the injury, but I noticed Pomykal reach for it while jogging with about 5 minutes left and he was quite static over the later stages of the 1st half. Even with that Pomykal had 81% passing, 1 key pass, 1 dribble, 1 tackle, 1 clear, and drew 2 fouls all on only 27 touches.

Paxton [Pomykal] tweaked his hamstring, it doesn't look too serious, so it was out of caution. It wasn't worth pushing. - Coach Luchi Gonzalez

Michael Barrios was Michael Barrios. Terrific as usual. He didn't have anyone really helping him in the 2nd half and was unable to steal the game.

The TIFO was awesome this week. BR19.

El Camino del Medio

Edin Cerrillo continues to play a quality, clean, and relatively simple holding mid game. His 91% passing against led FCD (tied with Cannon). His 4 tackles led both teams (Acosta 3). Essentially, he's playing at 18 the way Victor Ulloa was last year at 27. But in Coach Gonzalez's system that may not be enough. If he can't combine forward and spring attackers even playing as a 6 he may have to make way. Gruezo as a single pivot, where he excels, frees up both Acosta and Pomykal. That's something FCD has missed while Acosta has been out. Stay tuned as this could be an interesting decision for Coach Gonzalez.

Three of the last four games now, FC Dallas has trailed in possession. Of those three games with the losing possession, Dallas earned a win (ATL), a tie (SJ), and a loss (PHI) so it's hard for me to say for sure it's a bad thing. They have been forced to play even more youth of late... which might continue once call ups start to happen.

There were questions asked about the heat... but that shouldn't affect FC Dallas much. That heat is their home field advantage. They should be used to it. It's the other team that should wilt. A young Dallas team should be fit and easily handle 85 degrees. If Dallas was more tired and more affected than San Jose they some serious questions need to be asked about conditioning.

I think it [the weather] affected both teams today. It wasn't the most pleasant weather, but we are both young teams that like to run and be constantly moving. The game was flowing but it seemed they [FC Dallas] were getting worn out by the weather. We physically felt great and, for most of the second half of the game, I felt like were dominating in their area. - Earthquakes goalkeeper Daniel Vega

Ok, that sounds bad.

I hated seeing Hedges and Gonzalez killing time and playing for the tie at home. But given the way the game was going all for San Jose at that point it was probably necessary.

Muy Feo

San Jose's man marking system totally confounded the FCD attack. When you get outshot 13 to 11 at home that means something has gone wrong. FCD only had one shot on goal in the first half, and that came from Acosta 28 seconds into the game. Thankfully the quakes aren't great finishers, with only 2 shots on target. 5 of FCD's shots came from defenders. That's a bad sign. So even though FCD created some "chances" it wasn't really going the way it should at home.

Only 4 crosses from FCD compared to 28 from San Jose. 8 corners for SJ, just 1 for Dallas. The Quakes only had 4 crosses in the 1st half and 24 in the 2nd. The longer the game went the more FCD started to collapse and more balls the quakes fired into the box.

Once again FCD came out flatter in the 2nd half. Losing the edge and liveliness of the 1st half. The longer the game went the more FCD just stayed in a deep block. I could see Coach Gonzalez getting more and more animated on the sideline, gesturing wildly, imploring his team to step up the field; to bring their defensive line to midfield and support the attack; to try and stifle San Jose when they got the ball back.

The 2nd half, they continued their man-marking. We played into their hands, were less mobile, played more in front of them and there weren't movements in behind their midfield or last line. When we do that, the pressure catches up and we lose possession in front of them which allowed them to have transitions to go in goal and their attacks or sequences of recovery straight down the midfield or flank. - Coach Luchi Gonzalez.

One thing San Jose did, that I found tactically fascinating, was completely kill the FCD build out from the back. They did it quite simply by having a midfielder run out and cover up Reto Ziegler and Matt Hedges as they moved wide to start the build. That should have opened the middle for FCD. But with the young Cerrillo being the holding mid dropping into the gap with a man marker covering him and a striker clogging the channel, there wasn't space to connect a pass. This tactic completely shut down the normal FCD play. FCD was forced to play long ball. I'm going to show you Jesse Gonzalez's pass chart, not to pick on him, it's not his fault. But to show you how much Gonzalez was forced to start booting it. He was 74% in passing on the day, that's pretty good considering how often he was forced to go long.

And now the four FCD defenders 1st half and 2nd half to hammer home the above point. The left side, Hollingshead and Ziegler, was shot all game and had almost no build. Perhaps because of how far forward Hollingshead was playing trying to break the man marking system? Hedges and Cannon were trying to build out in the first half and then in the 2nd, poof, it was gone. It's going to be back to the drawing board for Coach Gonzalez if other teams adopt this marking strategy, which you can bet they will do.

The FC Dallas back four passing against San Jose, first half left, 2nd half right. (4-27-19) (MLS / MLS)

FCD's three subs didn't really deliver. I liked the concept of the third one, even tweeting about the idea before it happened, Aranguiz on for Ferreira to try and find Badji or Barrios behind the D. But Pablo didn't really connect with anyone in the final third or get a key pass. He had 8 total touches and 100% passing. Plus he at least had a shot in his 10 minutes of play, neither Mosquera (26 minutes) or Badji (45 minutes) managed one. Mosquera had a little more activity in the final third than Badji did. But overall I think it's safe to say all three subs had little impact.

Hamstring injuries. That's 5 now. It was already a worry and clearly, it's now a BIG problem.

Next Game

FC Dallas travels to Houston to take on rival Dynamo on Saturday, May 4th. Kickoff is at 3 pm CT on Univision. Dynamo is 4-0-1 at home this year, so a tough task is ahead for FC Dallas.