Houston Dynamo problems not limited to just attack, says Fafa Picault | OneFootball

Houston Dynamo forward Fafa Picault believes his side's recent struggles have been down to 'overall' performances, not just a lack of edge in the final third.

The Dynamo head into Saturday's home tie against CF Montreal on a run of just one win in their last eight MLS matches, losing six and drawing the other. During that time, Houston have found the net just nine times and scored more than once in a single match on only two occasions.

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However, the Dynamo have also allowed a massive 20 goals during that eight-game stretch and have become prone to giving up leads and conceding late. With that in mind, Picault feels it's unfair to lay all the blame in just one area.

"It's just a complete struggle, to be honest. I think we scored some goals and somehow still, the last game is a perfect example, we scored and still somehow in the last three minutes managed to blow a win," Picault told reporters.

"I don't think it's just attacking struggles or defensive, it's just complete overall not finding ways to win games, putting it pretty simply. In the last games that I scored, I think the last two or three, they've led to losses. So, I can say I've scored but we're still losing. We have to figure out ways to win games and close them out."

Head coach Paulo Nagamura agrees, highlighting a particular defensive weakness in 'transition moments', with the Dynamo caught short at the back when pushing forward in search of goals.

"It's a variety of things. I have been saying this throughout the year, we are struggling in the final third as a team. We are trying to fix this, believe me, every week to improve that part of our game," he said, adding: "Lately, in the last few games we got caught up in transition moments where teams punished us. We got to make sure that we are a team that when we're going forward, we're organized and we're denying transition moments for those teams."

Nagamura is even more anxious to shore up the Dynamo in transition ahead of the visit of Montreal, who have considerable quality to hurt the very best in MLS on the break.

"Especially against a team like Montreal, who is really good in counterattacks with (Romell) Quioto, Mason Toye, (Kei) Kamara, and Djordje Mihailovic," Nagamura continued. "It's a combination of things. A lot that we can fix and hopefully we show progress in this game against Montreal."