HOUSTON – Seeking a third successive victory, Adrian Heath picked the same starting lineup for the third time in a row. But key ingredients were missing from the winning formula on Saturday night.
"I didn't think we were very good this evening. I thought we had a lack of energy all over the field, lack of desire to win the game," the head coach said.
Back-to-back wins over the Montreal Impact and FC Dallas fed the narrative that Minnesota United FC is stabilizing and improving after a sometimes chastening first season in MLS.
Yet this 2-1 loss to the Houston Dynamo was far less tight than the score implies. The result and performance were poor enough to have Heath eyeing a winter overhaul.
"It's another timely reminder for me that we're not good enough and we need to get better and the offseason can't come quickly enough for me in terms of trying to shake this roster up, because that wasn't acceptable for me tonight," he said.
The Loons did not muster a shot on target until the 51st minute.
"Our front four, who were excellent last week and had a lot of praise given to them, didn't do enough. I didn't feel as though we wanted it badly enough from the very first whistle," Heath said.
The defeat came a week after a 4-1 win over FC Dallas. While Houston's victory moved the Dynamo into the top six and its home form is formidable, it had played on Wednesday and not won in the previous six matches.