FRISCO - The MLS calendar hits Week 7 this week and after an unheard-of four-game homestead the open the 2018 season, FC Dallas will hit the road for their first trip of the year.
“It’s a little weird,” midfielder Jacori Hayes said. “Its kind of like we’re not used to the hotels anymore, we aren’t used to the traveling, so its definitely a new experience for us. This first part so hopefully we go in there and try to get the three points in New England.”
It’s not only the trip itself, though, that will likely be a new experience for Dallas. Despite three straight games with the same starting lineup on the field, Oscar Pareja and Co. could use this weekend’s game to showcase some of the many different looks they’ve worked on in preseason and the early bye weeks on their schedule.
FCD has continued to create chances over their first four matches, but hasn’t been able to find the back of the net at even strength more than once a week. Given the success in the final 20 minutes against Colorado with a shift in shape, it might be just the opportunity to experiment with an altered formation away from home.
“The systems are not similar to what they were 20 years ago. Pretty much every team had the same format and the game was more rigid,” Pareja told me last week on the subject of using different formations and personnel on the field based around a game plan for specific opponents. “Now you need to think more about those options, not just with our team but with the opponent that makes you be on your toes more. We try to pertain to those, not face every team and game with the same formation. We try to nurse the boys in that part and they’re doing a great job in that adaptation and being flexible in different ways.”
Just how adapted this weekend’s lineup could be for the opponent remains to be seen as the week progresses.
One thing that is for sure, though, is the Revs team FCD faces this weekend is much different than years past.
First-year coach Brad Friedel has his side out to a 3-1-1 start, including a four-match unbeaten run since their nine-man loss in Week 1. They’ve used three different formations of their own in that stretch, but seem to have settled on a 4-1-4-1 look that’s started in their last two games.
“New England is a team who has won a few games and a couple of them at home. We are going to feel that it is well known that it’s their turf,” Pareja said of this weekend’s match. “We [are trying] to plan the game and see not just in the lineup but what is the game plan that we can put together in order to get the points that we want.”
“They are a very strong team, a very physical team we are just going to have to adapt to it and I have no doubt the team is going to be ready for it,” said Reggie Cannon. “We are always going to push and go all the way to the level that we bring and that energy that they bring, so we are ready for the challenge.”
