Dallas, TX

The basics of the FC Dallas 3-4-3 – 3rd Degree

Published

7 months ago

February 11, 2024

The basics of the FC Dallas 3-4-3 – 3rd Degree

Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Dante Sealy.

With FC Dallas continuing to use the 3-4-3 at such a high rate this spring – about 90% of the time – I figure it’s time to talk about how it works. It’s not a widely used shape and many people may not be familiar with it.

This isn’t going to be a nuanced breakdown, there are small tweaks and subtleties to how FCD plays that might change from game to game and/or player to player. Coach Nico Estevez will even use hybrid positions with flex roles.

But for the portion of our audience that’s not familiar with it, it’s worth taking a macro gander at the basics of the 3-4-3…

Or as FC Dallas calls the shape on socials, presumably cause the Coach identified it this way, the 5-2-2-1.

So Is It 3-4-3 or 5-2-2-1?

They are the same thing. We use 3-4-3 for simplicity.

Here, let me show you. First, the base 3-4-3. Three center backs, two wingbacks, a double pivot in front (two six/eight types), and a front three.

Here is the shape (left) with the 3-4-3 groupings circled and (right) with the 5-2-2-1 circled.

See? Same thing.

Tactics are fluid.

The Basic Shifts

As always these days, FC Dallas is about transition and a fluid shape that changes as they get forward or back.

First, let’s talk wingbacks. They are the ones who drive this shape. They are given the entire wide space, end line to end line, to operate. They have complete responsibility for these wide areas. It’s in the name, “wing” and “back.”

Yes, it’s physically demanding.

You can easily see why the wingbacks need to be quite vertical with an engine to run and will to work. They are responsible for getting forward into the attack and getting back on defense.

The Attack

When the wingbacks get forward…

By using this system you get the same front-5 shape as last year in the attacking phase but without making your 8s overwork themselves (the wingbacks do the work).

Instead, the double pivot is more stable with less demand getting forward and you outnumber the opposition 4v3 in midfield. Something that should benefit Asier Illarramendi, for example, as well as Paxton Pomykal.

The Low Block

Then on defense, the wingbacks compress back into a low block just like Coach Estevez likes.

A.k.a, the 5-4-1.

While the wingbacks are the engine of this formation, there is another key to making it all work: the 10s.

The 10 Key

The front three – more specifically the position of the 10s – is the key and that’s why Coach and FCD specifically say “2-1” up top and not the simplified “3” we say.

These two players – who in a 4-3-3 were wingers – are in this 3-4-3 underneath the 9 playing as double 10 attacking mids. In the attacking phase, the wingbacks occupy the wide spaces leaving the 10s underneath in the half spaces.

This halfspace underneath role for Jesus Ferreira is, perhaps, the most important reason to choose this formation. Paul Arriola, Alan Velasco, Enes Sali, and Sebastian Lletget should also like it.

When FCD’s 3-4-3 Goes Wrong

Yet, as we saw last year, when the 3-4-3 is misplayed, it can be a disaster.

So what makes this disaster happen?

When the other two front players get it wrong and occupy the wide spaces… like they did last year. Like this.

That width wrecks the tactics.

Why? Allow me to show you.

By taking up the wide wing spaces, the “wings” block the wingbacks, making said wingbacks one-dimensional and static. It turns the wingbacks into normal outside backs and disarms their attacking danger, defeating the tactical purpose of the 3-4-3.

And on top of that, by taking up the wide space, the “wings” abandon the midfield – notably the massively important “zone 14” under the striker atop the opposition box – and leave the double pivot isolated in the middle and outnumbered 3 versus 2 for the bulk of the game.

Your team will end up with very little possession, dominated in midfield, facing a team that can carve you apart, right up the gut.

That’s not good.

A Depth Chart

Now that we understand how it works, let’s look at how will it deploy with players in it. Let’s plug in some names.

Don’t take the above as set in stone and it’s not complete with 30 names. There are still two weeks left before the season starts, several injuries, positions are up for challenges, and the tactics and personnel are quite obviously going to change as the season wears on.

Who knows how much we will even see this formation once the battle lines are crossed.

Heck, Ferreira isn’t even healthy yet. Let’s see what the club does against DC United in the final tune-up game next weekend.

But hopefully, you now know what to look for when FCD does roll out the 3-4-3.

P.S.

Yes, FCD needs another center back if they are going to play this way. See center back, left.

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Dallas, TX

Man dies after being shot in head in Dallas

Published

8 hours ago

August 31, 2024

Press Room

Man dies after being shot in head in Dallas

CBS News Texas

Live

DALLAS — The Dallas Police Department is investigating a shooting that left one man dead.

Police reported that officers responded to a call about the shooting on I-30 at North Westmoreland Road around 6:30 a.m. Saturday.

Preliminary investigations revealed that a man had been shot in the head. Dallas Fire Rescue transported him to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

No arrests have been made, and the investigation is ongoing.

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Dallas, TX

Slain Dallas Police Officer remembered for servant's heart at Friday night vigil

Published

19 hours ago

August 30, 2024

Press Room

Slain Dallas Police Officer remembered for servant's heart at Friday night vigil

In an Oak Cliff parking lot turned memorial, two families united to honor Darron Burks, a man who left an indelible mark in both the fraternity brotherhood and the world of law enforcement.

“This crowd speaks highly of him and everyone knows what Brother Burks stood for. He was a pure guy. He was very pure,” said Kenneth McCloud.

Dozens gathered in the For Oak Cliff parking lot on Friday for a candlelight vigil to remember Burks, who was gunned down just feet from where he was standing just a few nights earlier.

“It hurts. I think I’m cried out today,” said Fredrick Bishop.

Bishop first met Burks through the brotherhood of Omega Psi Phi.

Although they never crossed paths at Paul Quinn College, as alumni, they both shared a commitment to their fraternity’s mission of service.

At a homecoming a couple of years ago, Bishop said that shared passion for helping others further bonded the friends when Burks sought Bishop’s help joining the Dallas Police Department.

After more than 20 years, Bishop is honorably retired from the force.

“He got to the point where he said let me see where I can do more and he wanted to serve more,” he said.

At Friday’s vigil, the men and women of Burks’s police academy class stood shoulder to shoulder with his fraternity brothers and those who knew him from his nearly two decades-long career as an educator and coach.

As they lit candles and shared stories and prayers, loved ones encouraged each other to focus on memories of good times rather than dwelling in sadness.

It’s just one of the ways they said their friend and brother would want to be remembered.

“Work to continue his vision. His vision of service to young people. His service to making a mark here in this city,” said Dallas City Council member Carolyn King Arnold.

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Dallas, TX

A timeline of Oak Cliff shooting that left Dallas police officer dead

Published

1 day ago

August 30, 2024

Press Room

A timeline of Oak Cliff shooting that left Dallas police officer dead

A Dallas police officer was killed in a shooting in southeast Oak Cliff on Thursday night.

On Friday morning, his mother confirmed to The Dallas Morning News that her son Darron Burks, 46, was the officer fatally shot outside the “For Oak Cliff” community center.

Two other officers were wounded in the shooting and are hospitalized. One was in critical condition and the other was listed as stable on Friday morning, Dallas police spokesperson Kristin Lowman said.

Here’s how the events unfolded late Thursday and early Friday:

Thursday, Aug. 29

10:10 p.m.: Dozens of units respond to an assist officer call in the 900 block of East Ledbetter Drive, near South Marsalis Avenue, according to an online police call log. (The News counted more than 95 units ultimately responded to the shooting.)

Photos: Dallas police investigate Oak Cliff shooting scene

Responding officers find an officer shot in his marked patrol vehicle, Lowman confirms at a news conference early Friday. They exchange gunfire with a shooter, and two other officers are shot.

10:35: p.m.: Police pursuit of a suspect enters Lewisville, according to Lewisville Police Department spokesperson Rachel Roberts.

10:38 p.m.: The chase ends in the northbound lane of Interstate 35E just north of State Highway 121 Business.

The suspect exited a vehicle with a long gun, Lowman said, and Dallas officers shot and killed him.

Friday, Aug. 30

12:20 a.m.: In a post on Facebook, the Lewisville Police Department confirms that none of its officers were involved in the chase.

12:28 a.m.: In a post on X, DPD announces it is investigating an officer-involved shooting.

1:15 a.m.: Dozens of Dallas police officers stand quietly outside the emergency room entrance to Methodist Dallas Medical Center. Squad cars line the block leading up to the hospital, their emergency lights flashing.

Photos: Police officers gather outside Methodist Hospital emergency room

3:15 a.m.: DPD holds a news conference outside Methodist hospital and confirm the shooting, the chase and the officer’s death.

“Our department is hurting,” Lowman said. “We ask tonight and this morning for the thoughts and prayers of our city, for not only those who are recovering in the hospital, but for our fallen, for their family and for their loved ones, and for us as a department as well.”

4:00 a.m.: A procession begins to lead the fallen officer from Methodist hospital to the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s office.

Family members of the deceased Dallas police officer wait outside of the Dallas County... — Family members of the deceased Dallas police officer wait outside of the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s office early Friday for the arrival of fallen Dallas police Officer Darron Burks.(Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer)

5:07 a.m.: Dallas police Chief Eddie García posts a tribute on X with the caption “No words.” He attaches a photo of a Dallas police badge above the city of Dallas with a dark blue line across the center.

7:30 a.m.: The Lewisville Police Department says the “roadway is clear” and “traffic is flowing freely” in an update to its 12:20 a.m. Facebook post.

9:13 a.m.: U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who represents the area where the shooting happened, writes on X that she is “heartbroken for the family and friends of the officer lost last night.”

“This epidemic of gun violence must end,” she also wrote.

9:23 a.m.: Gov. Greg Abbott posts to X to honor the fallen officer.

“Our hearts are with the @DallasPD & the entire Dallas community,” he wrote.

10:10 a.m.: In a statement posted to X, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson calls for city flags to be flown at half-staff.

“Dallas has lost a hero,” he wrote.

11:12 a.m.: Burks’ mother confirms to The News that her son was the officer killed in Thursday’s shooting.

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