Apr 5, 2014; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Dynamo midfielder Ricardo Clark (13) reacts after scoring a goal during the first half against the FC Dallas at BBVA Compass Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

The morning after viewing of the Texas Derby match-up between the Houston Dynamo and FC Dallas did not look any better than the live viewing. FC Dallas indeed beat the Houston Dynamo by a score of 4-1 thanks to a little help from the man known as “Red Card” Ricardo Salazar. Still, the Dynamo did not respond well to the sending off of David Horst and conceded three goals over a pivotal ten minute stretch. That they came back to life thereafter was not particularly relevant as the match was already out of hand.

Looking back over the first three weeks of takeaways and this week, there are key themes beginning to emerge. One is the importance of Horst to the defense, the other is the struggles of Will Bruin, particularly where it comes to defending on set pieces.

If the Dynamo are missing Horst for this weekend’s match against New England, we could see a reversal of the 4-1 margin of victory that the Dynamo enjoyed against the Revolution here in Houston for the opener. Horst has quickly become the key cog in the Dynamo back line.

Adding to the Dynamo woes is the injury status of Brad Davis. Davis left Saturday’s match early with an ankle injury. Davis later posted an ominous sounding tweet seen below. There are no updates at this stage, but we will provide them as they come out this week. At a minimum, with Saturday’s match to take place on artificial turf there is a good chance that Davis will not play if it is a lingering ankle injury.

Your acquire strengths when facing challenges. — Brad Davis (@Brad_Davis11) April 7, 2014

My key takeaways from a horrendous Texas Derby are as follows:

David is Goliath

After only four matches, David Horst has emerged as the most important player in the Dynamo back line. In part this is due to the continued poor play of his partner in the middle, Jermaine Taylor. In part it has been his own play.

We all know that Horst has been dominant in the air, has shown the type of recovery skills that Bobby Boswell did not have and is a vocal part of the back line. There was a clear transition, however, in the Vancouver match where he went from being a part of the back line to being the fiery leader of the back line.

Mar 8, 2014; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Dynamo defender David Horst (18) chases the ball during the match against the New England Revolution at BBVA Compass Stadium. The Dynamo shut out the Revolution 4-0. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Horst offers up both a physical presence that is otherwise lacking in the back line as well as the qualities you look for in a leader: vocal, willing to get in players faces, leading by example. It was, therefore, no surprise that the back line essentially collapsed once he departed from the match. Horst’s presence was filled by a rookie in his debut match. While A.J. Cochran played well in his time on the pitch, there was no way that he could truly replace Horst. Taylor certainly was not going to replace him, given his own struggles at the moment. The result was a giant void and disorganization in the back line.

Unless Horst’s red card is rescinded, Cochran will most likely get the start with the news yesterday that Eric Brunner is out for 8 weeks following surgery on his ankle. The other option is to drop Ricardo Clark or Warren Creavalle into the back line, but that seems unlikely. If Davis is also unable to play, we could see the Dynamo revert to their favored 2013 formation of Clark and Creavalle together in the midfield to provide added cover for the back line.

Tally “the Wall” Cannot Actually Hit a Wall

Tally Hall is as good a shot stopper as there is in MLS. Despite this, three MLS keepers are ahead of him in the US National Team queue. There is one primary reason for this: Hall is as inaccurate a keeper as I have seen in top flight soccer when it comes to punts, goal kicks and throws. His punts and goal kicks go straight out of bounds far too often for a top flight keeper and he is incapable of picking out and hitting a target downfield.

Saturday night we saw how dangerous an accurate keeper can be. Time and time again FC Dallas picked on the height mismatch between left back Corey Ashe and Je-Vaughn Watson. On nearly every goal kick, FC Dallas’ keeper Chris Seitz picked out Watson, hit him accurately and immediately put Dallas on the attack. It became such a problem that at one point Ashe and Taylor switched roles so that Taylor could match up with Watson. Of course Watson still won the ball.

Hall knows this is a weakness, he has worked on that part of his game yet he has shown little improvement. As long as that remains the case, the Dynamo will be at a distinct disadvantage in this area of play and Hall will not be a US National Team member.

Bruin, Oh Bruin…

Mar 8, 2014; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Dynamo forward Will Bruin (12) dribbles the ball in the New England Revolution zone during the match at BBVA Compass Stadium. The Dynamo shut out the Revolution 4-0. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Saturday night was not Will Bruin’s best game. In fact I would go so far as to say that it was one of his worst games. However, putting aside the sloppy passing, the poor ball control, the messy dribbling; the focus remains on his set piece defending.

A week after being responsible for Vancouver’s opening goal, Bruin was back at it early on in this match. The Dynamo were very lucky to not concede an early goal. In the 18th minute, FC Dallas had a free kick from a dangerous spot. Dallas set a pick on Bruin, who got stuck and lost his man (David Texeira). Had Michel gone far post with his free kick, Dallas likely would have scored as Texeira was standing all alone with nobody near him.

In the second half, Bruin again lost Texeira on a corner kick far post. Texeira nearly scored if not for an outstanding diving save by Hall. On this play, Bruin was again taken out by a pick.

The point is this: teams have identified Bruin as a weak spot for the Dynamo in defending set pieces and they are going after him. If Bruin is not contributing offensively, and does not improve defensively, he becomes a liability for this team.

On another note, Bruin gets an assist on the Barnes own goal. Bruin saw where the corner kick was going, he peeled off his man, cut in front of Barnes, jumped into the air then seemed to close his eyes and duck his head too low. He whiffed on the header, leaving a surprised Barnes putting the ball in the net without ever knowing anything about it.

Click “Next” to check out the player ratings from the Dynamo loss.