Nico Estevez: We are learning through our failures

The FC Dallas head coach opened up on Thursday about the club's current losing streak.

Photo via FC Dallas

Losing streaks are part of sports. No one wants to have them when they happen, and every team tries to avoid them at all costs.

FC Dallas failed to avoid easy mistakes and poor defensive play during its four-game losing streak in the early stages of the 2024 season.

On Thursday, during his weekly press conference, FC Dallas head coach Nico Estevez discussed the team’s morale following last Saturday's loss to rivals Austin FC.

“Well, I think the beginning of the week: disappointment, because I think we fell we fell short,” said Estevez. “We did some good things in that game. Things that we can build through that. But other things that we're still making very, very, you know, silly mistakes, stupid mistakes where the opponent takes advantage. Right now, it's how it goes when you have confidence and you have results. Everything goes in your way, and when you don't have it, everything goes against you, and we have to deal with that.”

Estevez mentioned that he and his staff had several meetings with players both as a group and individually this week to help work through the mistakes that the club has been concerning thus far this season. The Spanish manager said by the middle of the week, the mood was better among the group.

Defensively, FC Dallas has given up ten goals through five games this season, nearly a third of what they gave up in the entire 2023 season. Estevez explained on Thursday that the team has to get back to basics with its defending and start winning its duels both on the ground and in the air.

“We have the numbers, we are well positioned, and we just lose duels,” said Estevez. “We are not winning those duels when before we did and this is why we were one of the best defending teams in the league. And now we're not because the first and basic thing is to win your duel, and this is what we are working on.“

FC Dallas remains on the road for a second straight week as they take on St. Louis CITY SC this weekend at CITYPARK. Last season, FC Dallas split the season series with the Missouri club in their expansion season. Bradley Carnell’s team has struggled a bit in its sophomore season in MLS, winning only once through six games.

Estevez knows that despite the early struggles, St. Louis will still be a tough team to face on Saturday in its home stadium.

“They're good in transition and on crosses, and I think they have quality plays on the top that can make the difference,” said Estevez. “On the other hand, they concede a lot of goals. Lately, they've had problems being stable in the backline.

“What I've seen is teams that had the opportunity to kill the game and to increase the score, they didn't, and that is when service becomes dangerous because they fight until the last moment.”

After only having 33% of the ball possession last weekend in Austin, Estevez expects St. Louis to give up the ball a bit more, but as a result, he knows his team has to be braver in how they transition the ball moving forward into the attack.

“We need to be really compact in a main block because they're going to give you the ball, you know, they are not a team that is going to possess the ball for a long time,” explained Estevez. “For us, it is going to be very important to win first and second balls. I hope we can deliver it the same way that we have trained because the training has been very good.”