This is a May that FC Dallas will want to forget as another defeat - this time 2-1 at the hands of Vancouver Whitecaps - sees FC Dallas fall to 0-4-2 for the month. So many pieces are missing with injuries and call ups that it's been hard for Coach Luchi Gonzalez to put out a side with a strong cohesive system that we saw at the start of the year.

Unfortunately, June isn't going to be a whole lot better with the U20 World Cup, Copa America, Toulon Tournament, and the Gold Cup taking away players.

Still, the Vancouver game was one FC Dallas could have won, perhaps should have won... and didn't.

Let's break it down.

Lineups and Tactics

FC Dallas continues the 4-3-3 (or 4-2-3-1 if you prefer) with two deeper mids behind a 10 in Pablo Aranguiz. Dom Badji and Michael Barrios were back on the wings bracketing Jesus Ferreira as the 9.

The real shocks came in the back where, in addition to Matt Hedges being suspended, Reto Ziegler was lost with some groin troubles. Ryan Hollingshead shifted into the middle alongside Bressan leaving John Nelson at left back.

The FC Dallas starting XI at Vancouver Whitecaps. (5-25-19) (FC Dallas / FCD)

In the 60th minute, Coach Gonzalez pulled Aranguiz for Zdenek Ondrasek shifting Jesus Ferreira back to the 10-role. In the 73rd minute Reggie Cannon, perhaps a bit tired and beat up, was replaced by Bryan Reynolds who had a great MLS debut last week.

Part of the Reynolds move was to try and take advantage of the lopsided shape FCD had been using after Ondrasek came on that left the whole right side open for Reynolds to attack. It looked something like this...

Lastly, chasing the game, the more attacking Thomas Roberts was brought on for Jacori Hayes in the 79th minute. That made the shape even wonkier as Roberts moved into the gap between Ferreira and Barrios leaving Acosta as a lone 6.

Vancouver Whitecaps used a pretty straight forward 3-5-2 formation.

Vancouver Whitecaps starting XI vs FC Dallas. (5-25-19) (VWFC / Vancouver Whitecaps)

Due to an injury, Victor Giro came on for Ali Adnan in the 42nd minute. Then later Theo Bair replaced Fredy Montero in the 71st minute and Felipe came on for Hwang In-Boem in the 82nd minutes as Vancouver defended their lead.

Goals

1-0 Vancouver Whitecaps goal. 30th minute. Ali Adnan splits a Reggie Cannon and Michael Barrios double team, dribbles into the box, and swings the ball to the back post for the goal. Perhaps a bit of let off or miscommunication by the two FCD defenders? Ryan Hollingshead needs to support his wide defender and charge this shot... and doesn't. Still, beauty of a shot by Adnan.

2-0 Vancouver Whitecaps goal. 39th minute. A simple ball in from the Caps right wing, but both Bressan and Ryan Hollingshead - who probably makes the mistake here - go for it, leaving Reggie Cannon with two attackers. It certainly doesn't help that Bressan's header is poor and falls to Fredy Montero. Montero back heels to Lucas Venuto who easily passes the ball into the net.

2-1 FC Dallas goal. 85th minute. A wonderful lead pass by Bryan Reynolds springs Dom Badji on the right. Badji gets a little luck with the defender's deflection, cuts inside, and scores. The best part of the goal is, of course, the John Nelson play that came before it. We'll get back to that.

El Bueno

Jacori Hayes was my Man of the Match for the 2nd week in a row. He was great defensively and played a compact, clean, simple offensive game with much of it linking and going forward. Fantastic work rate. If there's one thing he needs to improve its passes into the final third. 88% passing, 86 touches, 74 total passes, 3 for 4 on long balls, 1 shot, 2 dribbles, drew 2 fouls.

Same here. WHAT. A. SHIFT. he put in, eh? Tons of running, tidy on the ball — Steve Davis (@SteveDavis90) May 26, 2019

Bryan Acosta was just as good in midfield and was trying to carry more of the weight in the final third passing. Unfortunately, none of them really got there. 91 touches, 97% passing, 2 shots, 4 key passes - all on corners, 10 for 12 on long balls, 13 corners. He easily could have been Man of the Match as well. I did like the early corners he was taking too, low and driven with intensity. I think Acosta is tired though, his corners were lagging late on, maybe he needs a game off.

I thought both Michael Barrios and Dom Badji played fairly well. But for some reason, in the same amount of game time, Barrios has more than twice Badji's touches - 67 to 26. I doubt Barrios is twice as open, I honestly just think Badji's teammates need to have a little more faith in him and pass him the ball more. Barrios does drift wider so it's easier to find him, but... Shots? 2 each. Dribbles? 2 each. Where Barrios wins out is on passing, 87% to 77% with 4 key passes to 1. But still, Badji spent the latter part of the game in the center channel. Let's see some more Baji on ball action, he's playing fairly well as a wing.

John Nelson was quite good on the left wing, making more forward runs than we have seen from him before. More good crosses, some quality forward play. The kid continues to make strides. And the effort to recover and save the late goal - which led to FCD's goal on the other end - was just downright pure guts. Granted it was his own poor back pass that led to the play, but the effort to recover is tremendous.

Bryan Reynolds looked pretty good again. Only a few touches in 17 minutes, but the verticality is there. With Hedges back this week, give the kid a game. Let's see him go 90, see if he's a viable option if Cannon goes to the Gold Cup.

Bressan had a pretty good night, but not great. 2 shots, 1 on goal, 1 key pass, 89% passing, and 6 aerials won. 95 touches, 13 for 15 on long balls, 4 tackles, 5 intercepts, 3 clearances, 1 block. 4 fouls though, need to clean that up, and a couple of his clearances weren't great. But still, solid.

El Camino del Medio

Playing out of position, Ryan Hollingshead was a shockingly good on the ball with 98% passing and 4 for 5 on long balls. His 100 touches led FCD, 2 shots, 1 on goal. 2 tackles, 1 intercept, 2 clears and only 1 foul committed... That's solid play given he's never played center back that we know of. But on both goals he could have done better and he contributed to the breakdowns. The first one, not coming out to support the wide defenders and on the 2nd moving to the cross and leaving his attacker, Fredy Montero. If Matt Hedges is in there is either of those goals give up?

Reggie Cannon also looks a little tired to me. The kid works so hard and he wasn't getting the usual inside help with Matt Hedges not in this one. I think Canon could use a game off too. Coach Gonzalez's system leaves the outside backs more exposed and requires them to play end to end all game. Cannon didn't play poorly but I'd like to see him given a game to recover. He just might have the Gold Cup coming up anyway.

Luchi-Ball was in full effect and in dominant form. 60% possession to 40%, 90% passing accuracy to 79%, 623 passes to 424, 35 crosses (35!) to just 5... 13 corners and 0 for the Caps. The Caps had to make 40 clearances to just 7 for FCD. The game wasn't physical either, just 20 total fouls. Everything stat wise says FCD dominated just as planned... they just failed to score and made two big errors in the back.

Sometimes soccer is a really simple game.

Muy Feo

I didn't like Pablo Aranguiz being subbed off for Zdenek Ondrasek. Aranguiz was covering a lot of territory and was one of the few FCD players that actually managed to connect a pass or two into the final third (see chart). 83% passing, not bad for a #10. 45 touches, 4 for 4 on long balls. I considered comparing Aranguiz's passing chart to Jesus Ferreira as the 10, but by that time the Caps were low block bunkering and it won't be a fair - or telling - comparison. Ondrasek over 30 minutes of play... 6 touches, 0 shots, 0 dribbles, 4 passes, 1 cross, and 3 fouls committed...

I do know one thing, Aranguiz was pissed going off and I don't blame him for that.

FCD's shooting efficiency was way off on this one. Let's ignore for now that FC Dallas has only 150 shots on the year, 2nd to last in MLS just ahead of FC Cincinnati. Against the Caps... 20 shots, that's good. But only 4 on target, that's... not. FCD on the season needs about 2.7 shots to get one shot on goal, that's actually top 5 in MLS for efficiency this season. But not in this one, 5 shots per 1 shot on goal. Perhaps just a rough shooting night? We can hope.

By the way, FCD's rate of 8.3 shots per goal is 9th best in MLS... That's a pretty good conversion rate. So let's see some more shots created, fellas.

Next Game

FC Dallas hosts the 2nd in the West Seattle Sounders on Saturday at 7 pm CT at Toyota Stadium minus Pablo Aranguiz who just got called up to Chile's U23 team. Thomas Roberts, you're up.

TV Broadcast on TXA 21 and the FCD Network.