In the continuation of our 2023 FC Dallas player recaps, we will now discuss Paxton Pomykal, a homegrown midfielder.
When you consider that this was Pomykal’s eighth season since signing his Homegrown deal in 2016, it is hard to believe that I am saying this. When everything is said and done, I believe that this season may have been one of the best seasons he has had to this point.
A breakdown of the statistics
over the second part of this season, Pomykal appeared to be hitting his stride, despite the fact that his number of appearances (24) and starts (19) were lower than they were over the previous two seasons. In many of the matches that were played at the end of the season, he was routinely one of the top players, if not the best player, on the field. In the middle of the field, he is responsible for a significant amount of the dirty labor. He accomplishes this by devising strategies to obstruct passing lanes, making tackles that others are unwilling to make, and then converting those stops into quality forward movements into the attack.
During the course of this season, Pomykal recorded three assists; however, the most impressive aspect for me was his passing. The accuracy of his passes increased to 86.4%, making him one of the greatest throwers on the team. This is a huge accomplishment, considering that he has progressed in that area by approximately ten percent since the 2021 season.
Emphasize the
To reiterate, Pomykal is not the type of player that is going to be included on the stat sheet for each and every game these days. On the other hand, what he does really well is locate the appropriate player in space to assist in setting up a goal such as this one on Decision Day vs LA.
In the year 2024, what can we anticipate from him?
I feel that the goals that Pomykal should strive to achieve are to continue to play in 25-30 games, to start the majority of those games, and to find methods to get back on the scoresheet through assists. Over the course of his career, he has never been able to record more than five assists in a single season. Furthermore, given that Alan Velasco is not expected to return until the late summer of 2024, FC Dallas will want the assistance of anybody they can get in order to generate opportunities in the attack.
Remarks to conclude
The fact that Pomykal is only 23 years old (and will shortly turn 24) is something that I find incomprehensible. After completing yet another season with the club, during which he was largely healthy, he is unquestionably reaching his full potential as a professional.
There is no doubt that Pomykal remains a leader on this team as well. The work that he does is exactly what you would expect from a central midfielder, as was indicated earlier. Additionally, I can assume that he will be back in the race for a call to the United States of America if he is able to discover methods to translate that labor into stuff on the scoresheet.
