More Of The Same

Heading into this afternoon's clash with Toronto FC, I'm still not sure if there are any big moves Denis Hamlett might make to squeeze the extra juice he needs out of his Fire team. They've been playing pretty sound soccer, for the most part, and yet five draws in a row, with three blown leads among them, are clearly not good results.

The problem is that it's not anyone's fault, individually. Shaking up a lineup isn't going to do a damn bit of good, mostly because the breakdowns have been so evenly distributed among defenders as to make punishing one player (unless its Wilman Conde, of course) moot, while the necessity of starting McBride and Blanco doesn't allow for experimentation up front past picking between Chris Rolfe and Patrick Nyarko.

Somebody, somewhere -- preferably Denis Hamlett, in the locker room, with the clipboard -- has to inspire this team to do one of two things. As a first step, either they have to score more goals, or make less defensive mistakes. And they only need one instance of either, although I would also settle for both.

The other weird thing is that the earlier part of the season saw the Fire getting into a hole and then digging back out, while this last stretch has seen them start well but finish worse. They've gone from salvaging points to sacrificing them. I'm not sure, but I almost think that giving up an early goal in Toronto might be what they need to pull them out of this funk.