Firing Away: Chicago Fire at DC United

Let's see if I remember how to do this.

• [PREGAME] I'll go back and check after the match, but I'm pretty sure Dan Kelly introduced himself as Dave Kelly at the top of the broadcast. Yes. He got his own name wrong
• [1'] Ah, there's the Evan Whitfield I know and love. Try to get under DC's skin right away as a strategy.
• [5'] Jalil Anibaba has been getting forward on the right side quite a bit lately, and my hope is that he's getting a better sense of what to do with the ball. Offside notwithstanding, not a bad cross in for MacDonald.
• [6'] I didn't think Pajoy got the touch there. Looked like Berry nudged it towards his keeper. Evan's got it on the replay.
• [9'] Spacing in the midfield is looking a little weird. Nyarko does a good job to compensate from the weak side and gets fouled for his efforts.
• [12'] Midfield shape is still bugging me. Paladini and Pardo are sitting really deep, so you saw that clearing header from Segares just drop in a big patch of green, where DC was able to run on to it before Chris Rolfe was able to get back to it. It's also why Nyarko has been lunging across the field to get to balls, which is what got him that knock.
• [17'] I think we're definitely seeing a different dynamic without Fernandez out there. Rolfe is having a tough time connecting with anyone in possession. Nyarko and Pappa need to do a better job of finding space.
• [19'] GOAL DC UNITED. Chicago's defense just assumed that was a shot and didn't bother playing it all the way through. Segares didn't think DeRosario was a threat, and Berry didn't pick him up, either. Not at all sure what Johnson was thinking. Might need to check his peripheral vision when he gets back to Chicago.
• [24'] Evan's getting feisty tonight. If you're gonna foul a guy, make it count!
• [26'] Finally some combination play between Rolfe and MacDonald, but Sherjill was a bit too altruistic--it looked like he had room to turn on the ball and shoot instead of trying to float a pass to the back post.
• [29'] Wow, that was lucky. Pajoy looked way offside to me, but we didn't get a replay. Fortunately his touch let him down. Possibly because he thought he was offside.
• [31'] Good service from Pardo on the corner, but the Fire need to be more aggressive to the ball to get in front of the defenders and try to glance a header towards goal.
• [34'] Pretty sure the Pappa-Nyarko left-right swap has now been the go-to Fire tactic in the first half for at least four different Chicago coaches.
• [39'] Sorry Dan, but Chris Rolfe shouldn't be MacDonald's favorite target. The goal should.
• [45'] GOAL CHICAGO! Look at the post-up from Sherjill MacDonald. That's what made the difference on that play. Great composure from both Pappa with the pass and Paladini with the finish.
• [45'+] GOAL DC UNITED. Easy come, easy go. Nyarko's challenge was fine, but then Segares was on the wrong side to cover, which allowed Najar to get the cross off. Anibaba just wasn't set. Wasn't in a good position--didn't have his feet set to get a good jump at the ball and missed.
• [HALFTIME] Well, the goal was pretty. Other than that, way too much standing around. Players are getting bunched up in the back and at the edge of the attacking third. Heck, you could argue that this is why Anibaba's clearance deflected off of Pardo and fell to DC on the first goal.
• [HALFTIME] In the attack, there's maybe a bit too much of trying to let the game come to them, and it's not happening. All season, I've felt like it's just a matter of throwing guys on the field and letting them figure it out, and that hasn't worked too well. There needs to be a bit more of a coherent plan to the attack, and that means someone has to take charge and demand the ball. Rolfe was able to be that guy on Saturday, but he's been bottled up pretty effectively so far. So guys need to get wide to make it harder to collapse on him when he does get the ball. Or get Fernandez in there so the defense has somebody else to worry about, because they don't seem to fear Pappa or Nyarko so far.
• [48'] Once again, the Fire don't seem to be following the play all the way through, and almost got in trouble on a second effort again. Berry looked like he was the only guy back when the service came in.
• [52'] GOAL DC UNITED. Where the hell was Segares on that play? Rolfe isn't going to win defensive headers at the back post, ever. Bad enough that Sega's lazy jaunt back is what led to the corner kick in the first place. I miss pre-Cyprus Gonzalo.
• [54'] Pappa off the post. Better.
• [57'] MacDonald gets into space, but the two guys running with him--Pappa and Rolfe, I think--aren't moving into space to give him somewhere to go with it. DeRo then tries to embarrass another Fire goalkeeper from behind midfield.
• [59'] DC United is doing a good job of getting lots of bodies forward quickly. All the space at the top of the Fire's defensive third might be helping them accomplish that.
• [62'] On the other end, DC also getting bodies behind the ball defensively. So, DC just faster than Chicago all over the field.
• [64'] Lazy, lazy, lazy. The ball gets wide and the Fire's defense immediately powers down, thinking the threat is over. Pontius almost makes them pay as nobody picks him up.
• [66'] MacDonald posts up again, and it almost works again. And Even is completely on the money about the narrowness of the Fire's offense.
• [72'] Najar is having a great match, no question.
• [74'] Apparently Najar is getting a bit of a halo effect from his strong play, as the referee assumes Nyarko put the header over the bar. He didn't.
• [75'] GOAL CHICAGO! Wow, nobody picked up Segares at the far post, and a great service from Pardo. I think I saw Sega take wind measurements and then figure out the angle with a protractor. He had a ton of time to hit that one exactly right, and he did.
• [77'] The classic "you got him" play from the Chicago defense almost gifts DeRosario another goal.
• [83'] Friedrich with the big tackle on Pontius and the Fire are back the other way. Nyarko's cross has a bit too much zip on it, and Chris Rolfe tries to go "bullet time" on it before realizing he's not a character in The Matrix
• [84'] For fuck's sake, SECOND BALLS. The Fire make one defensive play, and everybody relaxes. Every damn time. Fernandez can't see Oduro in front of him, but then Rolfe with a rocket that Hamid just tips wide. Great strike.
• [87'] Alex almost pays immediate dividends. Feels like there's another goal in this one, but I have no idea which side will get it at this point. Could go either way.
• [90'] GOAL DC UNITED. That's clearly one way it could have gone. Defender in the way, weird backspin, but if Johnson gets a hand to it, he's got to do better. This whole "getting a hand to it but the ball goes in anyway" hopefully doesn't become the young keeper's calling card.
• [FULL TIME] Evan got it right. The Fire just got beaten all over the field. Not sure if it's the midweek game on the road, buying into their own hype after a run of good results, or what, but they just weren't working hard enough. Not concentrating on defense, not moving well off the ball on offense.
• [FULL TIME] All that said, you're still trying to work two new players into the system, and fill the void left by Logan Pause's injury. So there will be missteps during this period of mini-transition. Hopefully they don't become habit-forming, particularly the way the defense gave up on so many plays before those plays finished running their course.
• [FULL TIME] Went back and checked, and yes, Dan Kelly did get his name right. The inflection was just a little weird. But you believed it was entirely possible that he didn't.