The Case for the Back 4
Since the departure of Lucho Acosta last summer, Eric Quill and FC Dallas have been steadfast in their usage of a back 3.
But has the effectiveness of the back 3 run its course just under a year later?
Let’s look at a few reasons FC Dallas should consider returning to a back 4.
When fully healthy, the FC Dallas roster is absolutely equipped to play in a back-3 formation, whether that’s 3-4-3 or 3-5-2. The fully healthy team clearly has the capability to play effectively in that formation, and they showed it with their strong form early in the season.
However, the roster lacks depth in certain areas, and one in particular: left wingback. Dallas only has two “proper” left-wing-backs on the roster: Bernard Kamungo and Josh Torquato. Torquato has apparently been deemed too inexperienced to contribute heavily in 2026 and has spent the entire season with North Texas SC, leaving Kamungo as the only left wingback who can really provide what Eric Quill wants in that spot – a consistent attacking threat in the left channel. Kamungo has frustrated fans over the past year with his play at times, but the underlying stats show him as one of the most effective attacking wingbacks in MLS.
So, when Kamungo was ruled out with an injury that looks likely to keep him out at least through the World Cup break, Dallas was thrown a huge problem at left wingback. A number of players have been given a shot at it. They started with Deedson, a player who fits a similar profile as Kamungo, a left-footed converted winger with pace and a drive to get into the box. Over a long season, I think it is entirely possible Deedson could figure things out as a wingback. But in the short term, his defensive instincts are seriously lacking (it is abundantly clear he’s never been asked to play so far back defensively), and he constantly looks lost on the field.
The next options involve converting right-sided players like Shaq Moore and Herman Johansson to the left side. Both of these players are more than capable of putting in a solid shift at left wingback, but neither of them looks comfortable on that side, and for both, their attacking output is severely blunted on their weak side. It has created a situation in which teams just funnel FC Dallas’ attacking build-up through the left side, where they are far less effective.
Further up the pitch, Dallas has spent time playing both with two strikers, Logan Farrington and Petar Musa, with a “10” underneath, as well as playing with a single striker with two “10s” underneath him. On paper, either combination should provide effective attacking play and chance creation, and the “Perfect Pairington” has certainly done so at times in 2026.
But, with FCD’s current personnel, are they best suited to continue in this manner?
FCD’s newest player, Santiago Moreno, has been talked about as potentially effective as one of the two “10s” behind a lone striker. Still, based on the eye test, he looks far more comfortable in wider spaces playing as a winger. I certainly can’t, with what we’ve seen so far, see him being particularly effective as a single 10 underneath both Musa and Farrington. Playing a formation that gets him in his best spot seems to be a more effective use of his talents than trying to bring him further inside in those tighter spaces.
Further down the roster, you start to see more and more players being moved out of their more effective “natural” positions. Although injured, Anderson Julio’s best play in Dallas has been on the wing, while he’s looked ineffective as a striker. The aforementioned Kamungo certainly still fits more of a profile of a winger than a wingback, even though he’s taken great strides as a defender in the past year. Deedson, Sam Sarver, and Ricky Louis are also all struggling for minutes and for quality, being shoehorned into the wingback position. Even down at North Texas, players like Jaidyn Contreras and Daniel Baran are moved out of their normal positions to try to convert to wingback.
A couple of months ago, I would have undoubtedly said the back 3 was the path forward for Dallas, but the recent run of form has swayed me to some extent. It seems to have also swayed the coaching staff, as we’ve seen an increased usage of the back 4 in the second halves of games, typically as Dallas is chasing the game and trying to get more numbers forward into the attack.
The back 3 was instituted in 2025 to “stop the bleeding” defensively, as Dallas was conceding a frankly unsustainable number of goals. But so far in 2026, as Dallas has attempted to build on the foundation set in the back half of 2025 and turn more into a team that can use the ball in possession and not purely play against the ball on the counter, some of that defensive stability has dried up, but the offensive output hasn’t consistently been there, especially against the better sides Dallas has faced. Yes, Dallas has had games where they’ve dropped 3 and 4 goals, but they’ve also been shut out three times and held to a single goal twice, while keeping only two clean sheets through their first 10 games.
So, at this point, what is the back 3 actually providing for FC Dallas?
It is serving to get more defensive players on the field with the 3 center backs, but it isn’t consistently providing defensive stability, chance creation is all over the place from game to game and a good half dozen players on the roster are being shoehorned into playing wingback while Dallas, through 4 games with Bernie Kamungo, have yet to find an answer at the crucial left wingback position.
To be clear, the back 4 is not some sort of instant fix that is going to solve all of Dallas’ woes, but with the team slumping, I think it is time to give the back 4, whether that’s a 4-2-3-1, 4-4-2, or 4-3-3, another go.
It gets more players into spots where they have excelled in their careers, it should provide more attacking width with proper wingers on the field and fullbacks who can overlap in attack, and it should not massively compromise the defensive structure they’ve worked to achieve over the past 9 months.
I’d love to see something like this against the Red Bulls this weekend:
That backline should be very comfortable with each other at this point; this keeps the Cappis/Kaick midfield pairing going. They should be able to cover the ground to be effective in a 4-4-2. Herman Johansson, though brought in as a wingback, really fits the mold of a right-sided midfielder very well, too, and getting him into more attacking spaces is a win. This puts Santi Moreno on the wing, into wider spaces where he’s a bit more comfortable, while still allowing him to cut inside with his stronger right foot and, most importantly, keeping the Musa/Farrington partnership alive up top.
Again, is this a magic bullet?
Certainly not, but Dallas seems to have stagnated over the last month or so, and shaking things up tactically, even just for a brief time before the World Cup, might be just what they need to pick up some much-needed results against quality teams in the month of May.
What are your thoughts on how Dallas should set up tactically moving forward?
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Categorized:FC Dallas