Last week against CF Montreal, FC Dallas head coach Nico Estevez alluded to a slap in the face in their 2-1 loss. Fast forward to losing a second straight game in a downpour against the New York Red Bulls, and Estevez and his club are more frustrated than anything else.
Against Montreal, they were bad. Against New York, they were a tad unlucky at times. Either a bad call went against them. The rain slowed them down. Or the connections across the field just haven’t clicked yet.
Believe me, I had to rewatch this game with a fresh set of eyes. I was equally frustrated as many of you were on Saturday night. I came away with less frustration and more thoughts of needing to be patient with this team.
Let’s get into it.
Things take time to click
As good as things were in the preseason, we had to be realistic about how tough things could actually get once the season began. Maybe I was too optimistic about things. Maybe you were, too.
New formations, new players, new systems. They all take time. More than two months. Maybe longer when you factor in players just getting back into fitness after missing the preseason.
Saturday felt like a couple of steps forward, and maybe a couple steps backward. But following the game, some of the players weren’t pinning things on the rain or the bad calls as much as they were on how they have to improve themselves. Take this quote from Jesus Ferreira:
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