Comments on: Two big MLS trades ship scoring firepower to FC Dallas

By: wesbadia

wesbadia — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 20:00:37 +0000

Like a poor man’s Marvin Chavez? Maybe it’d work. It’d definitely make up for the lack of speed on the flanks since Chavez left. Not sure if anyone could comment directly on Castillo’s service, though. Has anyone seen him do that before? Usually he’s on the other end of things.

By: danielofthedale

danielofthedale — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 18:53:05 +0000

What about the idea of converting Fabian Castillo into a wide midfield player? He has great speed so he can cover the ground. Do you think he has the crossing ability to get in service to the forwards though?

By: mdac1012

mdac1012 — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 16:15:31 +0000

I have generally liked the off season moves the RBs have made so far, though this Cooper move does surprise me a little. I would hope there is another shoe to drop on the RBs end of things. While I think Cooper is a rather one dimensional and needs to be featured in order to be effective, 18 goals is still 18 goals as Steve pointed out.

By: Patrick Vollert

Patrick Vollert — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 09:22:27 +0000

FC Dallas has now the option to implement a strong offensive tactic… having 3 good strikers allows the team to keep a constant attacking mentality. It is not necessary to implement a 5-2-3 formation since the three of them (Perez, Cooper, and Hassli) have to play at the same time. I believe the team can implement a mentally where the ball will always try to reach the strikers without thinking about saving their energy for the 90 minutes since there is a good backup for the forward position.

By: mvktr2

mvktr2 — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 07:30:00 +0000

Nah, Dallas is gonna play a 5-2-3 formation. Pffffttt who needs midfielders!

By: drewvt6

drewvt6 — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 06:14:41 +0000

Hassli is Cooper to a T and possibly better…

By: boettcla

boettcla — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 00:43:13 +0000

Unfortunately, that space is already occupied by Ferreira, who was only around briefly when Cooper was there the first go-round. If Hyndman wishes to utilize Cooper as he did the first time he was in Dallas, it’s going to be Cooper as a target man. Which confounds this dual move even further because Hassli IS Cooper almost to a T. I cannot, for the life of me, see why Hyndman would put both Cooper and Hassli on the field at the same time, which means he would be benching a rather large portion of his payroll one way or another. If he DOES, for some reason, decide to put two target men on the field, then that leaves Perez benched… another head-shaker.

Steve is right — flank players in the midfield are the most needed, and unless they bring in true wingers (or some sort of gritty, workhorse type) to occupy those spaces, I fail to see the merit in these moves.

By: drewvt6

drewvt6 — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 23:29:03 +0000

Why are you worried? Cooper is perfectly fine with dropping deep into that CM role just like all the other 6’4/200lb #10/#7′s in the league and world.

By: Steve Davis

Steve Davis — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 21:59:35 +0000

Hard to disagree. I said last week that the flank MF area is alarmingly bare. (Word than Ramon Nunez is training with the team may help, although he will always see himself as a central type.) Seeing as they’ve moved so aggressively to shore up the front line, perhaps they have something in mind for linking the lines, too.

By: wesbadia

wesbadia — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 21:43:25 +0000

The problem I see with FCD now (besides their glut of forwards in the stable) is that there is absolutely no midfield to outlet to those big towers they just acquired. Besides Ferreira, they are immensely lax in the creativity department. Even a holding mid position is largely vacant, sans Luccin who’s a 33 year old injury prone newcomer to the league. Hollingshead is off to Sacramento; Shea skips across the pond; and the rest are young draft picks or academy players largely unproven in the profession. That leaves Jackson and Jacobson to do the work. And if you believe the talks of Jackson going to a defensive position, then that leaves him out as well.

Unless they’re looking to offload some of those strikers or defenders they have on the roster to acquire more midfield quality, I can’t see them competing even with the likes of Hassli and Cooper on the field. And, provided that midfield support comes in, the depth at those positions is lackluster at most, nonexistent at worst.

Hyndman has some major problems on his hands this year. And the salary cap probably factors in as well…