HOUSTON – When the Houston Dynamo named the Scottish-born Owen Coyle the team’s new manager Monday, it begged the question of whether the club would return to a direct style of play.
And with the direct-style of the British game having gone the way of acid-wash jeans in the US, it would be easy to say the perception was, “Here we go again.”
But Coyle, the former Bolton and Burnley manager, was quick to dispel those notions when he was introduced to the media Tuesday.
“My teams aren’t direct,” Coyle said. “You only have to look back to my Burnley team. My Burnley team passed and moved the ball, and that’s the way I’ve played. My teams have always had that level of excitement. I went into Bolton Wanderers, who had played a direct style, and I changed that. Stuart Holden, Jack Wilshere and Daniel Sturridge, those boys didn’t play a direct style.
“You’ll have people that have that opinion for whatever reason, but the bottom line is that my teams have always been pleasing to the eye and that’s what we want to be again.”
Coyle’s track record certainly backs his claims. When he’s had the tools, his teams have been sharp and showed a propensity to push the play when it was there.
There are no Wilsheres or Sturridges on the Dynamo roster at the moment, and that caliber of player is likely not around the corner. However, the club does have attacking talent in the likes of World Cup players Brad Davis and Boniek Garcia as well technically gifted playmakers in Giles Barnes and the talented but previously unutilized Alexander Lopez.
“The bottom line’s we’re going to be balanced. We’re going to have a system we work hard at that can be effective, and we think can win games,” Coyle said. “We certainly want to be pleasing to the eye, but we’ve got to recognize that it’s one of those that we take steps before we can run.
“The best sight in football is the ball hitting the back of the net,” Coyle continued. “Second to that is it’s a winger taking a full back on and getting to the byline because we all get out of our seats and get excited.”
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While the attack will get people out of their seats, Coyle’s biggest challenge will likely be keep that splashing sound from coming from his own net.
Houston’s undoing in 2014, outside of a rash of absences, was a defense that gave up a franchise-worst 58 goals. While the new Dynamo boss paid lip service to wanting to improve all areas, it’s clear if his defense isn’t shored up, success is not likely to come.
According to Coyle that is one area that will be addressed this offseason.
Then it will be up to Coyle to put the pieces together – and in doing so perhaps dispel the stigma surrounding British coaches.
“Regardless of what league or competition you’re in, if you can coach, you can coach,” Coyle said. “It’s a huge challenge. In many ways I’m delighted people keep mentioning that. I’m here and if it’s to prove a point then it’s to prove a point.”
Darrell Lovell covers the Houston Dynamo for MLSsoccer.com.
