Houston Dynamo has a good season so far since they fourth at MLS Western Conference. They recorded seven victories, three draws and three losses. Two out of the three defeats were ended with a 1-0. While the biggest loss was against LA Galaxy by 2-1. Thus they have not conceded many goals even if they got defeated. They only have 1.06 conceded goals per match and 1.7 scored goals per match. Now, this tactical analysis shows how they play and what issues they have.
Playing style and Squad
Houston Dynamo have a fairly possession-based style as they have an average 49% possession rate. Wilmer Cabrera’s man line up in a 4-2-3-1 with a usual double pivot in the middle when they are on the ball. In attacks, they focusing on the lateral zones and often aim to get behind the opponent’s shape. Another element of their play is the counter-attacks where mostly the wingers and the striker participate in it.
In defence, the wingers fall back to the flanks thus forming a 4-4-2 shape. They acting like a man and ball-oriented defence. During the defensive phase, the attacking midfielder joins the striker and usually occupies narrow but with the task to shift over to the later zones if the opponent tries to progress there.
As a part of a proactive possession phase, the centre-backs, usually Aljaž Struna and Maynor Figueroa drive forward on the ball. Once they are able to build out from the back, the full-backs, Adam Lundqvist and DeLaGarza push up next to the sideline and occupy high. In the midfield, Matias Vera is in a more defensive role, therefore he stays deep in front of the centre-backs or drop between them.
Usually, Kevin Garcia is his partner who has a more flexible role thus he could occupy high on the left half-space.
