It’s been 12 days since Chicago Fire FC took down FC Cincinnati at Soldier Field.
Now they’re headed back to the lakefront for a very important two-game homestand to finish out Phase 1 of Major League Soccer’s return to play schedule on the heels of a gritty 0-0 draw at Cincinnati earlier this week.
They’ll look to make it four points in two games against a New England Revolution side that they’ve already seen this year, albeit almost 6 months ago to the day.
CARLES WOES
It’s no secret that the Revs have desperately missed the presence of Carles Gil.
The former Valencia and Aston Villa man was voted MLS Newcomer of the Year in 2019 and he underwent Achilles surgery about a month ago.
Gil’s absence has made them a bit more predictable in the attacking third and has put an enormous amount of pressure on Gustavo Bou, Adam Buksa and Cristian Penilla.
Bou is a very good player and can finish off a move just as well as he can set one up. However, his relationship with Buksa has yet to fully develop and Penilla has been forced to play a bit more of a playmaking role.
Buksa, the Polish DP, (who scored one of his only two goal this season against Chicago) has been struggling in front of net. He’s getting chances but simply hasn’t found the final touch when the moment asks the most.
New England still has plenty of talent to hurt you if given time and space but almost everything runs through Bou and teams have been keying in on that in recent weeks.
New England has only scored seven goals this season and are coming off a performance against NYCFC in which they fell 2-0.
SPACE OUT WIDE AND DELAYED RUNS
Last time out against NYCFC, Bruce Arena set his boys up in a 4-4-2 diamond. Former Fire man, Matt Polster, was holding, while Penilla was at the top of the diamond and Kelyn Rowe and Tommy McNamara were out wide.
Outside backs Dejuan Jones and Brandon Bye really enjoy getting forward. Jones especially enjoys this part of the job and sometimes can get caught out of position. Good news for Dejuan is that he has blazing pace and can make up ground in a hurry.
With all of this in mind, the Fire will most likely look to exploit space out wide and try to create one-on-ones and two-on-ones in wide spaces that either result in delivery or cutting inside.
In addition to exposing width, Chicago will have opportunities to find pockets in between the midfield and back line with delayed runs from their midfielders but especially for Álvaro Medrán. NYCFC, a number of times, caught New England outnumbered and unbalanced in the middle of the field with a bit of patience. There were times when the ball went out wide and if they didn’t go right at Jones and Bye, the rotation from the Revs in the midfield was late.
Medrán is arguably one of the Fire’s best players in tight quarters and usually finds those spots on the field but is either closed down quickly or tracked by the opposition. I think he will have an excellent opportunity to exploit New England given the precise balance that they have to maintain. Not to mention Bye and Jones will have to deal with the pace of Frankowski and intelligent runs of Herbers. These are all ingredients for Medrán to have a big game and slice this Revs defense.
DEFENSIVE ATTACKING
If we know anything about Bruce Arena teams it’s that they are athletic and execute set pieces.
The latter is so obvious and can really only be defended with focus, communication and sheer will.
The former is a bit more in-depth in the sense that Arena loves guys who are pacey and can get forward in a hurry. They’ll bait you into having possession, create turnovers and hit you quickly.
This requires a lot of focus on defending…while you have the ball. This may seem counter-intuitive but hear me out.
It is a phrase used all the time in world football and means that even when you are in possession, your players, especially those without the ball, are positioned to deal with a counter if/when necessary. This falls a lot on the outside backs and holding central midfielders who have a responsibility to defend but at the same time need to get involved in the attack.
This is very difficult to do but beyond necessary against a team like New England who prey on the teams that get too comfortable in possession.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I’m sure both Arena and Raphael Wicky would tell you that the results in Phase 1 have not been ideal to date.
New England has left points on the table including a 1-1 draw against Red Bulls in which they outplayed and outshot New York significantly but couldn’t find a game-winner.
The Fire have played well in large portions of games, but only put together one complete performance – the 3-0 victory over FCC.
All of this is to say that both teams are really in need of putting together some results and finding that ever-elusive rhythm in a rhythmless 2020.
I think this game will be open and for the taking. It will come down to who can minimize mistakes and finish their chances. Pretty simple, right?
