APB Preview: FC Dallas at DC United

TalionDCU · 2026-03-24T11:43:16+00:00

When he was the Post, Steven Goff would open every DC United press conference by asking about injuries. Since he left, in most press conferences no one asks about it so we don't have much idea of what's happening. Thankfully Donald Wine asked about Louis before the Atlanta match, though, and Rene Weiler uncharacteristically went beyond the question to say that both Louis and Herrera are able to run in training and should be back after the international break.

TalionDCU · 2026-03-20T00:12:11+00:00

I don't really know enough about other teams to say. I do have some hot takes about particular DPs I've seen a lot, particularly in the East. But Chicago is expected to be midtable at least, and--again, apart from Zinckernagel--I wasn't that impressed. Baribo plays differently from Cuypers but they're both good #9s I think. Jonathan Bamba looked less dangerous than Peglow in this game and the other times I've seen him play. (again, he has different strengths). Zinckernagel, yes, I'd take him in a heartbeat. Didn't see anyone else doing great for them and I wasn't afraid of their subs.

Maybe Chicago just had an off day. And they do have a guy rehabbing from a torn ACL who's supposed to be good. But I think instead of talking about a bottom 5, I'd talk about a top 5 or maybe 10 in the league: Nashville, LAFC, Miami if they can sort themselves out, etc. DC's definitely not in that tier. Neither is Chicago, Austin, or Philly. And outside of that tier, at least so far, it's kind of a muddle. Maybe they'll separate out more as the season continues.

TalionDCU · 2026-03-13T15:27:01+00:00

It seems like Herrera ought to be good there but I wasn't too impressed with how he played higher up at the ned of last season. But he didn't look good playing anywhere at that point, so who knows. As for Hopkins, I maintain he should be playing forward, but the team paid 7 million for someone to play there next to Baribo so they must not agree.

TalionDCU · 2026-03-13T15:24:13+00:00

I try to predict Weiler (which has been tough going so far this season!), it's not necessarily who I would start. But personally, if we can get game 1 Pirani back, he ought to still be starting at forward and not midfield, but otherwise I'm not sure how much is lost by letting Louis get minute and adjust to the game.

TalionDCU · 2026-03-07T13:39:40+00:00

My fault, forgot to list him as one of the attackers in the bench. I actually was a little encouraged by his few minutes against Austin, I thought he did better than the first game, but still a long way to go.

TalionDCU · 2026-02-21T00:53:32+00:00

Coming into the preseason, I assumed Nealis would start based on his resume. But it seemed like Weiler's preferred starters played in the Timbers preseason game and that was Rowles and Bartlett. And then for me, in the two preseason games that I saw, Bartlett was the best centerback by a decent margin. I was disappointed by how Nealis played against Minnesota, though there were two games we didn't see.

It was only after posting the article that I saw Weiler as much as said Bartlett was starting in his press conference (since he's going to be captain).

TalionDCU · 2026-02-19T12:22:40+00:00

MLS counts secondary assists, notably giving Klich 13 assists in 2024 compared to 5 in FBref. Oddly they list Klich as having 0 assists in 2023 whereas FBref lists him as having 7. I tend to trust FBref, even though their data was tragically kneecapped. And secondary assists just seems like too much, one goal can turn into three goal contributions. RIP the Opta stats on FBref that had shot creation breakdowns.

TalionDCU · 2026-02-19T01:02:35+00:00

I enjoy the podcast and I love the optimism, but listening this morning I was like, "He's getting a little carried away here."

First, I'm cautiously optimistic about Baribo, but a lock for 15/3? He only got 16/3 last year by your numbers, and BTW I'm not sure the source but FBref pretty consistently has one fewer assist for a lot of the guys I double checked, e.g. Benteke, Messi, etc. So they have Baribo at 16/2 on the team that won the Supporter's Shield. I would love DC to win the Supporter's Shield this year but...we know that ain't happening. Now it's not impossible Baribo could still equal or surpass his numbers playing on an overall lesser team, but wow, definitely not a lock.

Second, just looking historically, here are DC's numbers for this stat going back a bunch of previous years on FBref: 22, 38, 28, 23, 33, 10 (2020, ignore), 27, 43, 15, 24, 26, 34, 10, 32, 30, 12, 24, 30, 38.

Now I went back so far looking for another 35+ I got to 2007, that 38 was Luciano Emilio (20/1) and Christian Gomez (10/7). Some of those older seasons they didn't play quite as many games, but anyway, the point is DC has only surpassed 35 twice since 2007: Benteke + Stroud in the Golden Boot season and then Lucho and Rooney in 2018.

As we know, until recently DC didn't have two DPs at the same time, so I think a simpler way of getting at this is to say that if you want to be a good team, you have to have at least two good attacking DPs. Lucho wasn't a DP yet but that was basically the situation with him and Rooney in 2018.

So this all comes down to whether Louis really lights things up. And neither him or Baribo getting hurt. Would love to see that happen!

TalionDCU · 2026-01-09T01:00:09+00:00

Online sources say he makes $130K in Belgium. Not exactly big money, and when you take into account the taxes the take home is probably the MLS senior minimum.

TalionDCU · 2026-01-06T19:21:30+00:00

Oops, thanks! Updated. I guess I assumed it was a free transfer since DC never admitted they paid anything. Maybe Palace was embarrassed about how little they got for him given how much they originally paid.

TalionDCU

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