Apr 12, 2014; Foxborough, MA, USA; Houston Dynamo midfielder Giles Barnes (23) controls the ball during the second half against the New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

If you have listened to the Generation Orange podcast this week then you will have some idea of my takeaways from the Dynamo loss to New England. More troubling than the loss itself were the statistics: zero shots on goal, only 73% passing accuracy to New England’s 77%, prior to the 70th minute the Revs won possession in every 5 minute increment bar 3.

The Revolution controlled the midfield in this match which made it difficult for the Dynamo to get the ball forward to Will Bruin and Giles Barnes. Ultimately, the Dynamo had to resort to ineffective long balls to get the ball forward or rely on Barnes coming deep to get the ball.

Still, the Dynamo defended well enough for 68 minutes to earn a draw, then the wheels came off again. My takeaways for this week.

Costly Mental Errors

Defensively, the Dynamo have generally played well enough to be undefeated at this stage of the season. In road matches at Vancouver and New England, the Dynamo limited the opposition to few quality scoring opportunities. Against FC Dallas, again the Dynamo held the opposition relatively in check until they collapsed after David Horst’s red card.

In each of these three matches, mental errors – both on set pieces and in the normal run of play – have caused the Dynamo to drop points. Jermaine Taylor, sadly, has been a common denominator in many (not all) of these mistakes. It was no different Saturday night as Taylor played a role in both New England goals.

On Kevin Alston’s opener in the 68th minute, Taylor allowed himself to get muscled off the ball inside the penalty box by Teal Bunbury which resulted in the defender completely missing the ball on his attempted clearance. Alston, making a run into the box, picked up the loose ball and easily slotted it by Tally Hall for his first MLS goal.

Apr 12, 2014; Foxborough, MA, USA; New England Revolution midfielder Scott Caldwell (6) and Houston Dynamo midfielder Giles Barnes (23) work for the ball in the second half at Gillette Stadium. New England Revolution defeated the Houston Dynamo 2-0. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

In fairness to Taylor, he was not the only person who dropped the ball on this sequence of play. Tony Cascio had been tracking Alston during a give and go with Lee Nguyen which started the sequence. However, he failed to track Alston all the way into the box, leaving the New England player on his own.

These are two mistakes that should not have been made. Had either player performed in that sequence, the goal could easily have been avoided. Instead, the Dynamo ruined what had otherwise been a strong performance defensively.

On the second goal, Taylor appeared to completely give up on the long ball to Jerry Bengston and could be seen in frame lightly jogging back after the Revolution forward. Taylor seemed to think the play was offsides, however one of the first things we teach young players is to play until the whistle. While Taylor gave up on the play, A.J. Cochran ran hard all the way back into the net and made a diving attempt to stop Bengston’s shot.

Again, Taylor was not alone in conspiring to gift New England a goal. Hall exercised poor judgement in coming out of the box to clear the ball, only to be beaten by Bengston.

The Dynamo must stop gifting goals to the opposition, especially on the road. A good starting point would be to cut one of the problems out of the equation: Taylor. The Jamaican has under performed all season long.

Dom Kinnear has shown time and time again that once you are established as a regular, it is difficult to lose your spot. However, now is the time to shift to the defensive partnership of the future for the Dynamo and give a Horst/Cochran pairing a shot. Cochran deserves the opportunity to win the job based on his play this weekend relative to that of Taylor over the first 5 matches of the season.

It is the Tactics

The Dynamo offense has been toothless since the opener, scoring only from a ricochet off the foot of Eric Miller and two set pieces. Opponents have controlled the midfield, especially away from home, and made it difficult for the Dynamo to play the ball to the forwards without resorting to long balls or having a forward drop deep.

MLS sides have been quickly adopting the 5-man midfield systems that are generally favored in Europe at the moment. The Dynamo classic 4 man midfield is simply outnumbered. For all his trickery on the ball, Boniek Garcia can’t turn without running into another defender. Passing lanes are being cut off and the Dynamo are conceding possession far too easily in the center of the pitch.

Apr 12, 2014; Foxborough, MA, USA; Houston Dynamo defender A.J. Cochran (16) works for the ball against New England Revolution forward Saer Sene (39) during the second half at Gillette Stadium. New England Revolution defeated the Houston Dynamo 2-0. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

It is quickly approaching time for the Dynamo to consider how to get better use out of the midfield depth they possess on the roster and match opponents by setting out in a 5-man midfield system.

Of course the stumbling block is that any system that employs a lone striker is problematic in that the Dynamo lack a true lone striker on the roster at the moment (Mark Sherrod has the characteristics but is too young and untested at this stage to be considered a viable option).

This is something for the Dynamo to seek to address in the trade/transfer market or continue to struggle in the midfield for the rest of the season.

Substitutes

I was less than enamored with the substitutes used by Kinnear during the match. Once the Dynamo went down 1-0, Kinnear’s first move was to remove Cascio and put a defensive midfielder (Warren Creavalle) into the match.

While Cascio had little impact on the match, putting Creavalle in and pushing Ricardo Clark forward seemed a curious move, especially when a truly attacking move was called for.

Later, Kinnear did put Omar Cummings into the match and drop Giles Barnes into the midfield. However, as the Dynamo struggled to break down the Revolution defense, Kinnear left two players on the bench who might have helped in the situation and instead failed to use his final substitution.

The first was Alex Lopez, who has proven to be a technically skilled passer. A Lopez pass might well have been capable of unlocking the Revolution defense where others could not.

The second option was Mark Sherrod. When the Dynamo began pumping balls into the box, there was nobody powerful enough in the air to get on the end of them. Sherrod would have been the perfect option given the situation. Instead, he sat and watched and the Dynamo failed to get a shot on target.

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