FC Dallas in 2024: Room for improvement
“Room for improvement” is a good thing in this case; it’s the reason FCD supporters can be excited
“Room for improvement” is usually a soft way of landing a blow.
Like, if I whipped up some sad, flavorless wings for my Super Bowl party and then asked excitedly how you liked them, your kindest self might say, “Well, maybe there’s room for improvement.” Which would mean, of course, they were awful.
In the case of FC Dallas in 2024 “room for improvement” is actually the way I’ll make a case for things potentially heading in a good direction. Because I’m not using “room for improvement” in any pejorative sense.
We know a high injury rate undercut FCD last year, helping explain a fall from 53 points to 46 in 2023. That was collective regression. But there were also instances of individual regression, plus one notable personnel miscalculation.
The good news is that individual regression was generally due to unfortunate circumstances, either injury related or general life stuff-related. Even through all that, FC Dallas did just enough to keep its head above water and claw its way into the playoffs. The forecast for 2024 leans toward “bright and sunny” when you consider that none of the dips from ‘23 are unrecoverable.
Course corrections in some very specific places seem plausible, if not outright likely, potentially helping push Nico Estévez’s team above last year’s 7th place finish in the 14-team West.
Let’s take the elements ripe for improvement one-by-one:
Jesus Ferreira
Look, there’s no other way to say it: Ferreira backslid a bit in 2023. That doesn’t mean, however, he had a “bad” year. His total of 12 goals plus 6 assists isn’t terrible. It’s just that it came after an 18-goal season.
In truth, his 18 goal contributions last year (goals + assists) was just six off his previous total (24 in 2023). And they came in 400 fewer minutes, the equivalent of 4.5 matches. It’s still regression, but not egregious regression – especially when we consider how progress isn’t always linear and that Ferreira is just 23 years old.
As we talked about yesterday, a huge rationale for FCD’s significant tactical change in 2024 was better usage of this guy’s high-level talent. Ferreira is more 9.5 than 9 or 10 in his ideal positioning. In other words, he’s just as useful as a chance creator as he is a chance finisher. Playing off a quality striker (Petar Musa!) and allowed more freedom to find effective pockets where he can arrive late into the 18 or dime out defense-opening passes, I’d wager a small fortune that Ferreira will have a better run in 2024.
The striker spot in general
It’s OK for clubs to make a personnel mistake. It happens. You just can’t double down on it. You can’t victimize yourself through “sunk cost” fallacy. All of which is to say: credit FCD for copping to the Jesus Jimenez error, cutting ties and moving on.
Whatever Musa is – plenty of reason to hope the club’s incoming record transfer signing will be a solid contributor up front, at very least – the front line will be better for his presence. It will be because, if for no other reason, the promise of contribution from Musa is allowing Ferreira to move into that aforementioned new role.
Paxton Pomykal
Here’s the thing about Pomykal in 2023: his performance was never poor. We just didn’t always get enough of it. Between a few minor injuries and the team’s prudence in managing his minutes, Pomykal made just 19 starts (and 24 appearances overall) last year.
When he was at his healthiest in March and April last year, Pomykal may well have been FC Dallas’ best player. Best this side of Maarten Paes at least. He was an absolute wrecking ball in midfield when FCD went on defense. In possession, his passing and ball progression was always useful.
Pomykal can hopefully be healthy enough for about 2500 minutes, which is where he landed in 2022. In that case, there’s one more area where Pomykal can progress: he needs to contribute more to the bottom line. Consider that his last goal was in 2021. Since then he’s recorded no goals and 8 assists, which isn’t outright awful for a box-to-box midfielder. But for a guy we always see as having national team potential, it’s not enough. And he knows it. Which is why he’ll work hard to improve those totals in 2024 – even if he’ll probably be playing a little deeper in the alignment.
Sebastian Lletget and Paul Arriola
We can put these two veterans roughly in the same basket: both had years where personal circumstances and a variety of injuries subtracted from their fulfillment of full potential.
To be sure, both had good matches in 2023 – they just didn’t string together enough of those full-effect performances. Arriola himself said toward the end of last year: the team’s big performers have to do more. He included himself.
Arriola and Lletget combined for 9 goal contributions last year – down from 24 the previous season. That’s a huge drop, especially for two players who were swimming in the deeper end of the U.S. national team pool not so long ago.
Clearly, even with adjusted roles in the new formation – and honestly we’ll have to wait and see where they best fit now – they can do more in ‘24. Much more.
Nkosi Tafari and Maarten Paes
Both of these guys were outstanding in 2023. But they both have such a high upside it’s no stretch to say they can deliver even more in ‘24. Not a lot more, simply because there’s less room for them to grow. Tafari, coming off his first U.S. national team call-up, just needs to clean up some passing inconsistencies, and Paes can do a little better in managing his body outside the goal area. Again, if they do exactly what they did in 2023, it’ll be fine and FC Dallas won’t suffer a bit for it. Then again, they’d both probably tell you there’s a higher level still to reach this year.
The “6” position
Asier Illarramendi isn’t going to be a destroyer in his defense screening. He’ll need someone beside him to hustle and kick shins and such; we talked about that one yesterday. But with the formation shift, and considering Illarramendi’s high quality passing and pace setting from the defensive midfield spot, we’re safe in saying the position will improve collectively in ‘24. Facundo Quignon had his moments, but he’s no Illarra.
The young guys
Finally, there is reason to believe Bernie Kamungo and Dante Sealy can add substantially to their resumes 2024. Kamungo’s 6 goals in fewer than 500 minutes of league play was simply outstanding. With more minutes (almost certain, barring injury) he’ll score more and hopefully add a few assists. As for Sealy, an impressive preseason and a position that looks tailor made for his 1 v 1 skills portends very good things.
FCD / MLS preview week:
Monday / Two big thoughts on FCD preseason