The old cliche “Defense wins championships” isn’t necessarily true, especially in a league format like the Premier league, where the highest scoring teams usually top the table. A playoff system like MLS arguably puts more importance on defense, since limiting goals in a small sample size over a few games can win you the title.
But maybe we can rework the old cliche to something a little less catchy and a little more accurate, “Defense is the cornerstone of a quality team, and establishing a defensive identity that the whole team buys into is the first step towards being competitive.” There, print that on the championship t-shirts at the end of the season.
At least, that seems to be the approach that Ezra Hendrickson has taken this year, and it makes a lot of sense. A good coach can implement a defensive strategy with a new team more quickly and easily than he can make them into a free flowing attacking team. Plus the defensive system informs the way a team will play when they have the ball. And as we are seeing this season, keeping games low scoring ensures that you are always in the game, giving the offense some time to gel, integrate new players and wait for Jairo Torres to give the team an added boost in May.
Defense is hard to write about because it relies much more on collective actions than offense, and it doesn’t have the flashy moments that stand out in the same way as offense. From a stats perspective it’s also harder to quantify what a player is doing without the ball than it is when they have it. So with that caveat out of the way let’s talk about the defense.
Finding the Balance
It is impossible to defend the entire field so teams are forced to choose where, when and how often they want to attempt to win the ball back from the opposition. This is one of the things that makes soccer fun. Teams can choose many different models to accomplish the overall goal of stopping the other team from scoring and then going on to score goals themselves.
On resets, goal kicks, throw ins, set pieces or when they are under sustained pressure from the opposition the Fire shift from a 4-2-3-1 with the ball to a 4-4-2 shape without it. Xherdan Shaqiri and Kacper Przybylko stay high, while Fabian Herbers and Stanislav Ivanov drop back into midfield. From this position they are able to defend with 8 players, instead of just 6 if Herbers and Ivanov stayed higher.
Applying Pressure
Switching from a 4-2-3-1 to a 4-4-2 without the ball isn’t uncommon, but they have been successful at limiting quality chances on goal by staying organized and engaging with teams before they are able to enter the defensive third. This is part of the reason why the Fire are among the league leaders in midfield pressures, and tackles.
The shape and structure coupled with the solid, reliable cover provided by Wyatt Omsberg and Rafael Czichos allows the midfielders to be especially aggressive once other teams enter into the middle of the field. They are second in the league in tackles + interceptions behind NYRB and fourth in tackles in the middle third. (per Fbref)
In Gaston Gimenez and Mauricio Pineda the Fire have two defensively minded players in the middle of the field, ready to break up the opposition play. Also Omsberg in particular has done a nice job of being aggressive, and playing tight to his man without fouling. It will be interesting to see how Federico Navarro impacts the midfield balance once he is given more minutes. On paper he should be able to regain possession and cover more ground than either Pineda or Gimenez.
Here is the key though: once a player pressures the opposition, everyone else is on their toes ready to step in and make an interception. The whole defense has to be connected.
This can create some frantic moments but as long as everyone is ready to step in and respond, then the Fire will be successful in winning the ball back and quickly playing forward to transition into attack. If the ball goes out of play or the opposition resets by playing the ball back to the center backs, or goalkeeper then the Fire reset into their base 4-4-2 shape.
So why not continue to press, and press high all over the field? It’s all about risk v. reward here. If the Fire commit numbers higher up the field and they are played through there is more space for the backline to cover and they’ll be giving away more high quality chances. The other thing to consider is that the Fire’s forward players, Shaqiri, and Przybylko aren’t really the kind of players who are going to lead a successful high press.
Is it effective?
This might seem like a dumb question, because you know, they haven’t been scored on yet, but how good is the Fire’s defense? Clearly this style of defense has been successful thus far, but is it sustainable, or have the Fire merely been lucky. They are eighth in the league with 3.0 expected goals (xg) against and 15th in the amount of shots given up. Both of those stats are usually pretty good indicators if a defense is effective or not.
Another thing to note is that teams have actually hit the target on a smaller percentage of their shots against the Fire than any other team in the league, only testing Gaga Slonina 16% of the time. So have the Fire just gotten lucky to play against poor finishing, or are they forcing opponents into bad shots? (per fbref)
The boring answer is yes and yes. The underlying numbers don’t suggest that they are the best defense in the league, but we probably already knew that. However, they are at the very least average or above average. Time will tell how long they can keep this streak going. The good news is that playing with a clear identity, and togetherness should pay off in the long run and maximize the team’s effectiveness.
And remember the old cliche, “Defense is the cornerstone of a quality team, and establishing a defensive identity that the whole team buys into is the first step towards being competitive.”
How to Watch: Chicago Fire v. Sporting Kansas City
Date: Saturday 3/19
Time: 5 p.m. ct
Local: WGN, and the Chicago Fire app
Nationally: Streaming on ESPN+
If you want to record and or watch the replay of the game
Local: Out of luck unless you have cable
National: ESPN+
