First up the playoff talk. Most of you know I mention Sportsclubstats.com when I talk about playoff chances for each club. I followed that site regularly last year and again this season, so far it’s been pretty good at showing how each club is doing and what they need to do to get in the playoffs.

Well, another interesting site has popped up. Playoffstatus.com has an interesting MLS section on a few different things including playoff chances. They break things down a little differently and probably not as flashy as the other site but still worth looking at if you get the chance.

Below is what they have for playoff chances.

I know the font is a little small towards the bottom so I will explain it a little more.

The red X means the club has no shot in hell at making the playoffs (New York), the numbers in red with a percentage mean the club has no control over their own destiny at reaching a certain playoff spot, while on the flips side a number in green means the club does control their own destiny. One would argue every club controls their own fate no matter what but we will go with what they have for this time for argument sake.

Most interesting thing that I gathered from this is Chivas’ chances to crash the western conference automatic bid party this year. They were a lock the first months of the season to do so before their summer decline but now they could be back on the way up. It also doesn’t hurt that they have a real easy schedule from here on out (home games against New York, San Jose, KC; and a road trip to Chicago who owns one of the worst home records).

Still plenty of soccer to be played and nothing is really locked up except for New York’s elimination from the playoffs this year.

Blanco Not Ruling Out Chicago Return?

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We all recall this quote from back in the winter:

“My contract will be done [after the 2009 season] and I will leave happy because I have great teammates. It’s a decision I made. I’m going to look for other options. I want to return to Mexico or see offers from another [MLS] team, but this is my last year with the Fire.”

Now it sounds like Blanco is taking a step back from that comment. Sounds like this season he has learned to love the Windy City a bit more than he thought he would and now he could be returning to the club even though his contract will be up. Do I see him re-signing with the Fire this winter? Maybe, its really too early to tell with him but with the amount of time he is getting with the Mexican national team I wouldn’t be shocked to see him stick around here.

I still don’t like the guy but I honestly wouldn’t mind seeing him stick around for another year.

Peter Wilt Talking New York

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I’ve always been a big Peter Wilt guy. He’s one of those guys that really loves the game here and does a very good job hyping it up in whatever position he is doing. Right now he is with the WPS’s Chicago Red Stars (great name by the way) but he isn’t ruling out a return to MLS, possibly with New York. Honestly, Peter stay in Chicago.

Purdy Gets Released and Re-signed All In A Week

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Must have been a rough few days for Steve Purdy. First you learn your getting let go by FC Dallas but now your being brought back so the club can place injured defender Anthony Wallace on the IR. Interesting nonetheless but I do kind of see this as a move for the future and not the present for FC Dallas. I kind of thing this is Dallas preparing for the up-coming expansion draft later this year. I know call me crazy but I just see this move being something like that.

Mainly it comes down to a few factors but most ultimately end up with a lot of blame on head coach Schellas Hyndman.

Now I am not calling for a dismissal of Hyndman, not yet at least. I think every coach for the most part needs a decent amount of time to figure out what they need to do to get the club in a position to win and be successful. If the coach isn’t able to do that after I would say at least two seasons then it may be time for them to go. Maybe even two seasons isn’t long enough in some cases.

But with Hyndman we knew down here in Dallas what we were getting into. A long-time college coach that knows the game well but never won any major championships on the college level. The FCD job was his for the taking for a few years and once he finally was in the position to do it he finally took it.

The more I view this club and see how Hyndman coaches I know the man can do it but I am starting to believe he just may not be able to do it on this sort of level. He typically out thinks the room in a league that if you can keep things simple enough you can typically win. Look at the coaches that are successful. Most usually have a veteran keeper, a tight defense, a midfield that holds onto possesion and creates offense and is also physically tough and finally has strikers that are hungry around the penality box.

Hyndman has those kinds of players but he out thinks the room in the sense that he thinks too much about how to be defensive and how to maintain possession over periods of time. It may not help that he has an assistant coach that typically out thought the room in his time at RSL. Yes John Ellinger typicallty was the type of coach that thought too hard about how to make his expansion club into a winning club instead of getting the right peices in place to become a winner. Instead he breaded a culture at Salt Lake that the club is finally getting over under Jason Kreis.

But back to Hyndman here. He’s also being too stubborn about a formation that clearly isn’t working with his core group of players, which results in a lack of creativity on the offensive side of the ball and it ends up putting more pressure on a defense that could be good if they weren’t always put into a position to have to defend so much during a game.

And since he isn’t parting with his formation the club continues to have issues creating offense and finding a good enough partner for Kenny Cooper. They also continue to have issues on the right side of the field, not to mention the wing backs in defense. Then you have guys like Pablo Ricchetti that are currently on pace to break down by mid-July.

A lot of moves just aren’t working under Hyndman. The club is loaded with talent that sort of reminds me of a few New York Rangers teams from a few years ago. Lots of talent but couldn’t get the W’s. Some of it has to do with talent not being on form yet, which is also sort of ridiculous for being this far into a season, and some has to do with the talent just not being that good to begin with.

The club has plenty of young guys that also need to see time. Hell the Red Stripes have a handful of players on the US U-20 club that see more time with that team than with this team. I’d honestly love to see the likes of Josh Lambo, Kyle Davies, Brek Shea, Peri Marosevic, and Eric Avila mixed in more with Cooper, Dave van den Burgh and Drew Moor.

I think some things need to be shook up with this club to get it going here. I kind of think had the club gotten rid of a guy like Dax McCarty in the off season the midfield wouldn’t be as big of a mess as it is now and maybe the formation would be working for them. Maybe also making some other moves like dumping guys like Marcelo Saragosa. Or even cur your losses with someone like Steve Purdy or Daniel Torres, two guys that clear aren’t working out like Hyndman and GM Micheal Hitchcock had hoped for earlier this season.

I’m sure there are plenty of other things that club could do right now to improve. The talent is in place but sometimes it does boil down to coaching. And when you out think the room on things or making things too complicated for yourself you typically end up in a mess like FC Dallas is in at the moment.

It’s a shame too because there is a lot of good talent on this roster that deserves better. And not to mention the fans deserve better.

Edit: One final note…Hyndman’s all-time record with FCD is currently 5-12-9. At first I thought giving him more time would be fine but that is a terrilbe record for any coach. Even Steve Morrow

From the team’s blog:

In another move today, FC Dallas picked up 23-year-old defender Steve Purdy. Purdy comes to FCD from 1860 Munich of Germany’s Bundesliga 2. The central defender signed with 1860 Munich in January 2007 after playing four years at the University of California (2003-2006).

Interesting. Once I get more on this I will pass it along to you all.