It's Always Something

Four more goals against since I assigned blame for all of Chicago's mistakes, and now you can add another demerit to Bakary Soumare for losing Chad Marshall, Jon Busch for not realizing Alejandro Moreno is really fast, and Tim Ward for leaving the far post unmarked against Seattle. I haven't taken a good look at Shalrie Joseph's goal, but I have a hunch that Wilman Conde decided to leave his mark to try to make the play, and missed, although there wasn't any help to be had on the far post, so I'll defer judgment on that one.

That puts the defensive breakdown leaderboard as follows (now including Jon Busch):

Jon Busch: 3
Bakary Soumare: 2
Brandon Prideaux: 2
Dasan Robinson: 2
Tim Ward: 2
Wilman Conde: 2
CJ Brown: 1
Gonzalo Segares: 1
John Thorrington: 1
Logan Pause: 1
Mike Banner: 1

Again, nobody is standing out here, which is what makes it so weird. Much like I think a truly good band is one that makes mistakes, only you never notice them, I think a good defense bends, but doesn't break. When someone makes a mistake for Chicago this season, too often no one is there to cover. I thought that, in general, the defending was much more decisive against Seattle. Guys were picking up switches better, and covering when guys were pinched in or had gotten forward. But it still wasn't enough to keep the ball out of the back of the net.

There are two threads here. First, the Fire can't seem to coalesce in the back they way they could last year. Second, the offense may need to give them more of a cushion, and it's not like they were without good chances against Seattle. Ideally, the offense and defense start to click at the same time, and Chicago runs roughshod over the rest of MLS for the balance of the season, but I'd settle for one or the other at this point.