Give Me Just Three Reasons

I'm trying to reduce the Fire's current run of form to one or two simple causes, but it's been difficult. Overall, there are probably three key factors at work here, but sometimes one or more of them are missing, and the team still gets a result.

Anyway, the first of the three keys is Tony Sanneh. I've defended Dave Sarachan an his "no-brainer" comment about the "Big Cat" when Sanneh was struggling through injuries, because you never just write off a National Team vet of his stature. So I'm not feeling vindicated as much as I am just really glad that Tony was able to come back from a rough couple of seasons and play at a level that some of us knew he was capable of.

Second on the list is formation. There seems to be a very noticeable difference in this team depending on whether they play a 4-4-2 or a 3-5-2, with the latter working much more effectively. Credit for this, aside from Sarachan making the change, goes to Sanneh, CJ Brown and rookie Dasan Robinson. You've got to have the right players to go with three in the back, and this combination has allowed for the change. When the team switches back to a 4-4-2, as they did for long stretches against the Galaxy this past Saturday, they leave a lot of space in the center of the field before the attack is met by the defensive midfield. Going in the other direction, it makes it much more difficult to build up any offense through the center of the field.

Finally, and this is tied to the other two pretty strongly, pushing Justin Mapp into the middle has been a bit of a revelation. He seems to be very comfortable and very effective in that role, and gets himself in better positions to get the ball from the players behind him than he typically does out on the flank. Which isn't to say he's not dangerous on the flank, just that he brings a different dynamic in the center. The problem here is that, with Thiago healthy, I don't think Dave has the will to sit his Brazilian playmaker, and I just don't think Mapp and Thiago play well together.

Then again, I don't think Thiago plays well with Chris Armas, either. In fact, I'm not entirely sure who Thiago plays well with, which is why I think that he's got to watch the Fire's success from the bench unless someone gets injured. The same goes for Jim Curtin, Gonzalo Segares and Zach Thornton, unless Sanneh, Robinson or Pickens stumble down the stretch. This isn't to say any of them are bad players -- although Segares seems to be off his game as of late -- but they've got teammates who are clearly outperforming them right now, and Dave's got to stay with the hot feet to close out the year.

Of course, the Galaxy match was a win, despite the 4-4-2 and Mapp playing the wing. And there's the matter of CJ Brown and Chris Armas having strong defensive seasons, Andy Herron finding his scoring touch, and Nate Jaqua giving a much different presence on the right side of the midfield than we've had in a while, and I mean that in a good way. So as loathe as I am to use the phrase, it's a bit of a perfect storm right now, and if Sarachan plays it right, that rain of Fire will net two trophies by season's end.