All the talk going into the 2024 season was how the FC Dallas attack needed to improve.
Former head coach Nico Estevez worked up a plan to get more attacking players on the field by switching to a 3-4-3 formation. As we all know now, that move didn’t pan out and with it and the slew of injuries, it cost him his job.
Interim manager Peter Luccin picked up those pieces and found ways to spark the Dallas attack, even when he was sticking with the 3-4-3. Players had a little bit more aggression to them and in the summer, Dallas had several games with multiple goals.
But was it really an improvement from 2023? Yes and mostly no. The goals did come as Petar Musa got a ton of them, and the team was good at being opportunistic and finishing the few chances they got in the penalty area. But the fact remains, this wasn’t an improved offense in 2024.
Here is a breakdown of how the team looked in the attack in 2024.
Drew Epperley
The main numbers
Goals Scored: 51 - They weren’t dead last (New England with 36 goals) or the top dogs (Miami with 78! goals). A very middle of the road figure from a very middle of the road attack.
Assists: 36 - Same as their scoring, very middle of the road.
Non-penalty xG: 37.1 - We talked a lot this year how bad FCD was in terms of xG, only New England, Austin and Toronto were worse.
Shots taken: 414 - What is amazing to me is that FC Dallas took more shots than Miami did in 2024 (Messi’s squad shot 399 total shots).
Shots on target: 146 - On the flip side, Miami had about 40 more shots on target.
Penalty kick goals: 5 - Dallas was five for six in penalties this season.
