Oscar Pareja may have helped establish the blueprint at FC Dallas of not being afraid to play young Homegrown products, but under new head coach Luchi Gonzalez, that strategy appears to be supercharged.
Yahoo Sports' Doug McIntyre spoke to members of the club on their strong start to the campaign, which is featuring more Homegrown players than ever playing a key role, in his "24 Thoughts" column this week, ahead of their clash against San Jose on Saturday (3:30 pm ET | Univision, Twitter in US; MLS LIVE on DAZN in Canada).
Of note, not only is greater trust being placed with young pros, but there's been a key tweak to the style of play under Gonzalez.
“The mentality that we had last year was to score one goal and kind of sit back and beat teams that way, especially in the away games,” defender Reggie Cannon said.
“This year we’re learning to take our game to them, to take more risks play out of the back, use our keeper. As uncomfortable as it may me, we’re trying to get away from the whole mentality that Oscar instilled in us. It’s not a bad thing: Oscar’s a great coach. I will always have the utmost respect for him.
“Luchi just brings a different approach,” Cannon added. “He’s more hands on with the video, with the tactics. Luchi’s more of a tactical coach were Oscar is more of a ‘just get it done’ kind of guy. He wants to destroy the opponent tactically, not physically like Oscar would. It’s a huge difference.”
McIntyre delves into Gonzalez's background, the competition he had to get the head coach job for the first team, and his deep ties with the club and the Dallas region, as well as other tidbits from around the league, in this week's "24 Thoughts" column.
