I meant to get this game recap out earlier in the week, but it just didn’t happen so here’s a combo recap/ preview article instead.
If you remember last week I wrote about how the Fire’s season was like a road trip and the Atlanta game was when you have to stop for gas right after leaving home? Well, the game against New York is when the car breaks down and you’re stuck waiting on the side of the road for the tow truck.
There are a lot of things that can be said about what went wrong in Saturday’s 2-0 loss to the Red Bulls but the biggest concern is that the defense continues to give up cheap goals, and so far this season the offense has gotten worse in each game.
Most fans were pleased to see Mauricio Pineda in the starting lineup. It was a move that many people had been calling for considering the overall poor play of Kappelhof and Calvo, but instead of Pineda starting in place of either center back, he was playing in addition to the more senior pairing. And it seemed like Wicky might be straying away from his trusted 4-2-3-1 formation in favor of a back three.
The other option, and the one that Wicky ended up going with, was to play Pineda in midfield breaking up the generally successful pairing of Giménez, and Medrán at centermid. Admittedly, I could see the logic of playing a more solid defensive pairing at center-mid against the high pressing New York Red Bulls. Pineda could act as an extra layer of security if, and when the Fire gave up possession to New York.
In practice, I wouldn’t say that Giménez and Pineda were necessarily the problem but more that playing Medrán as a wide attacking player just didn’t work. Medrán ended up coming inside to play in a more comfortable position in the inside left channel, which could have helped the Fire possess the ball and play quick combinations through the middle, but really they just played right into the teeth of the New York press and couldn’t advance the ball out of their own half.
Unable to break the press
The game pattern was set early on and never really changed. The Fire would pass the ball around the back looking for a way through the Red Bulls, eventually moving the ball into the midfield third before turning it over and scrambling to deal with a Red Bull attack directly on goal. One of the only statistical areas the Fire actually led was possession, 56%, but it was mostly meaningless possession.
Red Bulls had 25 touches in the Fire penalty box, while the Fire only managed to record 7 touches inside of the Red Bulls box. It goes without saying that the more you are able to get the ball into dangerous areas near the other team’s goal, the more likely you are to score, and the Fire didn’t really get into any good scoring opportunities, especially in the second half.
I could go on, but I don’t really want to…last week’s game was about as bad as I’ve seen the Fire play in a while, and they were one of the bottom four teams in the Eastern Conference last year. Let’s hope that the tow truck arrives soon with some much needed repairs.
Philly Preview
So let’s move on to thinking about this Saturday’s noon kickoff at Soldier field against the Philadelphia Union. The Union only have one point so far this season and are one place above the Fire on goal difference, but they have shown their quality this season in the Concacaf Champions League by reaching the Semifinals earlier this week after defeating Atlanta United 4-1 on aggregate. The Union will be entering the game feeling confident that the Fire are just the team they need to play in order to jump start their League season.
The Fire, for their part, will likely attempt to return to basics and hope that returning to Soldier Field in front of fans again, can help them turn in at least a respectable display. However, there are a few changes that Wicky could make to the team.
Time for a youth movement?
We are one week closer to the return from injury for Ignacio Aliseda, Fabian Herbers, and new signing Stanislav Ivanov, but what might get Fire fans the most excited would be increased opportunities for some of the young homegrown players. Across the league this season there are examples of young players making an impact for their teams. One of the Red Bulls’ goals was scored by 17-year-old Caden Clark, maybe Wicky will feel inspired by his performance and select the Fire’s own 17-year-old homegrown player Brian Gutierrez.
The Fire are searching for a wide forward to play along with Berić, and Frankowski, until the injured trio mentioned above are able to return. So far, Offor and Medrán haven’t done enough in that position to warrant an automatic starting place so maybe “Guti” will be given his opportunity. Although I think it’s probably more likely to see him come off the bench once again this week.
Might as well try something new
Another change that Wicky might, and definitely should, make for Saturday is to bring Pineda in for Kappelhof as the right sided center-back. Calvo and Kappelhof have committed several errors in each game, and the Fire can’t afford to continue to give the opposition easy chances, but beyond that I expect to see a very similar lineup to the one that faced Atlanta two weeks ago.
It’s too early in the season to call this game a must win, but there really need to be signs that the Fire can stop the slide they are on, otherwise it’s going to be a long season.
