FRISCO, Texas -- The record of new FC Dallas head coach Schellas Hyndman stands at 0-1-0 after Saturday night's 1-0 loss to the New York Red Bulls at Giants Stadium.
Even though FCD was outshot 12-4 by the Red Bulls and created just one legitimate scoring chance, Hyndman admitted that he found several positives on Monday as his team prepares for a Thursday trip to two-time MLS Cup champion Houston, a team the Hoops have never beaten in the Bayou City.
"I think that (goalkeeper) Dario (Sala) made a couple of great saves," he said. "I thought that our defense stayed in their shape. We lost the midfield battle, which is an issue, but they pressed us high so much and surprisingly, did that the whole game. I think with the field surface, we weren't able to connect the passes like we would have liked. But the players fought all the way to the end and that really showed character. When we got scored on, the heads didn't go down, they just continued."
Yet while Hyndman was concerned with losing the midfield battle, he did have praise for defensive midfielder Pablo Ricchetti for his solid performance.
"One of the players that I singled out was Pablo, who had a really good game against New York," he said. "His intensity was from the start to the end. He's one of those players that when we talk about fitness level, he's there. He's got extremely good work ethics and work rate. I thought he and Marcelo (Saragosa) were two guys that we can kind of look at and say to give the same effort that they do."
However, one thing the new Hoops boss wants to see his side do better is get more numbers forward.
"Yes, we are making subtle changes," he said. "Today, we're talking about instead of playing those square balls, playing more diagonal balls and getting forward. Every coach plans their training session off the past game and says these are the things we need to work on. We've been able to identify some things like getting more numbers in the attack. I thought our defense was good but we didn't get as much attack out of our fullbacks but they were under so much pressure that they probably didn't want to go."
Last week, Hyndman said that he wanted to see his outside backs get forward more. Bobby Rhine, who started at right back and Blake Wagner, the starting left back, did some of that at Giants Stadium but their presence in the attack wasn't a consistent one mainly because of the high pressure that New York put on FCD all night long.
"I think it's smart for a defender not to go forward too much when they see the pressure that is on them and that there is maybe no space," he said. "One of the things was that if the ball went out to Bobby (Rhine), we were pretty predictable. It didn't come back into the middle and go to the other side to Blake (Wagner) because they were shifting defensively and we never really moved the ball with their shift."
He added: "I think Bobby was a little bit better and it's because of the characteristics that he has. He was a forward at one time, a midfielder at one time and has those qualities. Now he's a defender and feels comfortable getting forward. That showed in his training today as well."
Hyndman was also disappointed by how tired his team looked as the match progressed.
"I do (think that fitness is something we need to work on)," he said. "I don't think we're as match-fit as we should be for being in the season. Sometimes, you work awfully hard in your preseason to get match fit but once you get into the season, you don't have any days to work on fitness because you have games. When you put in the fitness, you've got to put in recovery.
"I don't think they're match-fit the way they're capable of being but it's not something that I can impose on them like during preseason. What we're trying to do is take the training sessions and make them more intense by maybe going a little bit longer not in time but making the segments a little bit longer and more intense."
On Monday, defender Adrian Serioux returned to training after missing two weeks while away with the Canadian national team. Drew Moor missed the New York game because he was with the U.S. national team and Hyndman took notice of how much Moor got forward in yesterday's World Cup qualifier at Barbados.
In the past, Moor has played both at right back as well as in the middle. Rhine, who came into MLS as a forward in 1999 but converted to the back in 2005, has played exclusively at right back. But Hyndman feels that both could be part of the FCD attack.
"I think that's going to be a great question to be answered because I think Bobby (Rhine) has done some great things going forward and is going to continue getting forward," he said. "The thing that Drew (Moor) brings is that he's more of a natural defender, a gladiator and a ball winner. Are we going to be able to take Bobby and turn him into a true defender or are we going to be able to help Drew be involved in the attack more?
"I think we can probably help Drew get into the attack more than we can make Bobby into a 50/50, hard-nosed ball winner in the air. He's improved in those areas but I think it's not a natural place for him. I'm anxious to get Drew back but I thought (Aaron Pitchkolan) did a good job dealing with that as a center back."
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