THOUGHTS ON THE FIRE: Both last Wednesday’s loss at the Red Bulls and last Saturday’s win against Houston were unquestionably better performances than the listless one against New England. The Fire played a 4-3-3 formation and the energy in attack was more pronounced Wednesday and at its most pronounced since the home opener on Saturday.
There are still some issues such as Gilberto, despite his assist on Alvarez’s goal, couldn’t finish off the Dynamo with the chances that he had. Possession is also an issue as there are times when the Fire simply need to hold the ball instead of trying to move too fast and be impatient. Still, it is refreshing to talk about a win. Otherwise, Nelson Rodriguez might have had to schedule a few more Roundtables in quick order.
THOUGHTS ON THE RED STARS: The Red Stars did set a league record of 485 minutes without conceding a goal before Kim Little converted a late penalty for Seattle–the first goal the Red Stars had conceded since the opening match in Houston. That is a team mark while Nicole Barnhart went 591 minutes without conceding in 2014 for FC Kansas City. The beat goes on for the Red Stars who are now joint-top with Washington, but Portland and Orlando are just a point behind. Just about everything is on song for the moment with the Red Stars just like it was last year at the beginning. Next up is a pair of home matches against Sky Blue FC and Portland.
CONFERENCE CALL: Chicago Fire head coach Veljko Paunovic’s held weekly conference call with the media will be Tuesday at 2pm. We have the summary late night on Tuesday.
SAINT LOUIS FC UPDATE: Irvin Herrera scored four goals in Saint Louis FC’s 5-2 victory of the Roughnecks in Tulsa. Tulsa played a man down for 74 minutes due to an early red card, but were ahead at halftime. Herrera netted three of his four goals in the second half. Saint Louis is now fourth in the USL Western Conference six points behind Wednesday’s opponent, Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2. The match at World Wide Technology Soccer Park is at 7:30pm.
MEDIA ROUNDTABLE: Last Friday, Fire general manager Nelson Rodriguez held a roundtable with members of the media at Toyota Park. The purpose was to have “an open and transparent communication as [they]could” with the media. Rodriguez said that the results were not good enough ‘yet’ with ‘yet’ the key word.
“Winning and losing is the ultimate measure of sports, but it’s not the only way to gauge progress,” said Rodriguez. It’s my job to see beyond the results, to see beyond wins and losses, to ensure that the foundation that we are building and the process that we are following is on track. And I can’t stress that enough because sometimes you can be on a winning streak and believe that everything is fine when it really isn’t, when the foundation is actually faulty. I need to ensure that we’re disciplined in our approach. I didn’t expect to be here, although we knew that there would be a point in time during the course of the year where results would not go our way. It’s one of the things I spoke to Pauno about before the season even started, that how we handle those moments are going to be the real indicators of the type of team that we will become.”
Rodriguez said that the Fire need to learn to make a play like Tommy McNamara’s strike in the home opener, Piatti’s 90th minute winner for Montreal, Blas Perez’s bicycle kick winner late for Vancouver, and even Lee Nguyen’s opening strike for New England. On that evidence, it has “taken a lot; to beat the Fire, but those teams did just that. However, Rodriguez sees progress beyond the results in that the team is committed and continues to have belief, but not the confidence as of yet.
“This is where I think my honesty and transparency sometimes get me into trouble and I should learn my lesson, but I’ll put myself into trouble. The group remains committed and the group continues to have belief. I wouldn’t say confident though because confidence is aided by success. We haven’t had enough success. So that’s why I keep saying we need to keep a play. We need someone to step up and either finish the expected so anyone of those chances where we think this is it or give us the unexpected, whether that be an unbelievable save, a game-saving tackle, a clearance off the line or a finish and a goal. I think that once we get that spark and once we experience success again then I think we stand a chance of building more sustainable momentum. The group is committed to each other. I’ll say it again, but that’s a good group of men in there. What we need is either the collective to step forward again and will us to another rung on the ladder or someone to drag the rest of the group. This is comments that I’ve made previously. This is where there are very special leaders in sport. And I don’t believe this is a criticism of the guys in our locker room, but there’s not a lot of guys like Mark Messier. They just aren’t. They’re not easy to find and when you find them they’re not easy to get. Why? Because no one wants to give them up. We can do it through a collective experience. I think we have the right collective in there and when we get it, when we get that spark, I think think more confidence will emerge and I believe you will see improved play as a result.”
Rodriguez maintains that he prefers not to be active in the Summer Transfer Window and be more active in January.
The Fire made offers to FC Groningen for Michael de Leeuw as early as April, but Gronigen initally decline since they deemed him key to make a run at a Europa League berth. Thus, the Fire were not able to make a deal until after the Primary Transfer Window closes. De Leeuw will be eligible to play for the Fire on July 4th.
Asked about finding a replacement for Academy Director Larry Sunderland who moved to Portland in the offseason, Rodriguez said he hopes to have someone in by August/September.
Expectations have not changed for Rodriguez from the preseason. Those expectations were for the Fire to contend for the playoffs come October.
“My expectations are unchanged. Again, we knew every team in this league runs into this patch where they don’t get a win. They might get some ties or have an unfortunate string of losses. It’s magnified because it’s the start of the season. It’s exacerbated by the fact that we are trying to do something a little bit differently with a new group. And by a new group I don’t just mean a new coaching staff. I mean a new group in the locker room. It would be foolish for me not to recognize for myself that that doesn’t make it more challenging, because it does.
“My expectations remain the same. My expectations are that when we hit October, we are competing for a playoff spot. That we are playing meaningful games in October. And that’s the same message I delivered to our ownership group when I met with them last week in Los Angeles. It’s the same message that Pauno believes. There is still no reason for us not to triumph. It’s just a matter of staying together, continuing the hard work and going back from that Parcell quote, do something, do something more. We need to learn to make one more play in a game to push us over the top.”
Several teams made inquiries about a possible trade for Sean Johnson, but Rodriguez said trading Johnson was never on the cards. Rodriguez also said that Johnson wasn’t “benched,” but Matt Lampson earned the first nine starts based on his performance in training and then Johnson won the start on Wednesday in training.
As for where a Designated Player fits into the equation, Rodriguez said that a DP should be the last piece to a puzzle and not the first piece.
“I believe that the Designated Players have to make a difference. They have to be difference makers so to me in our sport that means the creation and the finalization of goals. That’s not to say you can’t go away from that and you can’t get a playmaker, you can’t get a defensive midfielder or you can’t get a stud centerback. I’m not saying that because it does matter, the team, the circumstance and everything else, but in general that’s how I view it. I’ll just repeat what I said I think back in October. The DP has to finish the puzzle, not start it.”
In regards to owner Andrew Hauptman and his “patience,” Rodriguez had this to say:
“He is a proud man and his family is proud and they suffer when the team loses. On a personal level. Andell as a company is accustomed to success and this is why I think he is a great owner. I think he asks really good questions. I think he prods and pokes and wants to know there are contingencies. I also think that he has handled all of our requests reasonably. One request was we asked for a charter flight following the Red Bull game. After the three games in eight days. We gave them a rationale for why and then he approved it. I think that’s the way it should be. He wants to win and I don’t think he is sparing expense against that. I think the choices and the decisions that have come have all been well-meaning and they haven’t worked. I don’t know why that’s a reflection of him. If the players that we bring in don’t work, that’s a reflection of me and Pauno. Those are the choices that we are making. Those are the things that we’re asking for. If someone wants to say you should have taken the charter from Vancouver to New England instead of from New York, that’s a choice we made. That’s a decision we made. That’s what we thought was the best choice to make. That’s not Andrew Hauptman. That’s us. Look, is he disappointed in one win in the first 10 games? Yeah, you bet he is. What keeps him OK with it is that I communicate in advance. I say this is where I think we are. This is where we’re going. When things don’t go as I’ve diagramed, I think he appreciates that we don’t give excuses, but that we give not only reasons, but corrective measures.”
THOUGHTS: You can see the whole transcript by following the link. It’s clear that Rodriguez does have a plan and it going to stick with it as well he should since this is just 11 matches into a new regime. This team needed a complete rebuild and Rodriguez and Paunovic should be given the chance to mold the team and prepare it for future success. It’s apparent that Rodriguez is trying to build the team for long-term success the way the Cubs have been doing it in baseball the past few years.
I’ve said that Rodriguez’s toughest sell to fans was patience since they have little, if any, of it after the last six seasons. Indeed, fans were not to happy with the 1-5-4 start. Anxieties were exacerbated when Philadelphia and Colorado, both doormats last season, are both currently conference leaders. That said, it is completely foolish to start giving up on Rodriguez and Paunovic as it is foolish to expect the Fire were going to have anything similar to the turnaround DC United had from 2013 to 2014. Everyone and their brother-in-law wants to win and to win now and Rodriguez understands that, but young players (9 of the current squad is under 23) will make mistakes like the one Brandon Vincent made against NYCFC and the one Jonathan Campbell made against the Red Bulls that led to the goal.
Not having a lot of shots on goal doesn’t help, but apart from the match against New England, the Fire weren’t completely out of a match this season. Other teams have been making plays like the ones mentioned about, the Fire needs to do the same if they are going to turn one point to three in matches. It doesn’t help when David Accam is injured (or suspended) and John Goossens out as well and Gilberto not finding the net; but that means others need to make plays and it will take some time with the current squad. Hopefully, Michael de Leeuw will help come July on the attacking end. That said, we still feel the Fire need another central attacking midfielder (a #10) to help with the attack.
Where Rodriguez will get the most heat, is for saying Andrew Hautpman is a “great owner”. Hauptman’s past actions over the past few seasons suggests the opposite. He has only spent seven figures on two players ever and one of them (Shaun Maloney) got homesick and went back. The other is Gilberto and he is currently struggling. Designated Players have come and gone and have all been busts after Cuauhtemoc Blanco.
There are two different perceptions that are going around about Hauptman: That he is either a meddler who doesn’t give his employees space and/or he is incompetent and trusts the wrong people. The revolving door of players, coaches, and front office staff during his tenure has rankled many a Fire fan. The fact that he has not spoken to the media in over two years is disconcerting especially given the ways things have gone during that time. Indeed, there still is a bit of a disconnect between the club and its fans and Rodriguez is doing his best to help bridge that. Fans should at least listen to Rodriguez even though it’s something they might not like to hear. Neither Rodriguez, not Veljko Paunovic should be to blame for the team’s woes in previous seasons.
It does appear that Hauptman is patient and trusts the judgement of Rodriguez, who is a highly reputable person within US Soccer circles, and his appointment as general manager was well-regarded. We do hope Mr. Hauptman does give Nelson Rodriguez the time and the resources he needs to rebuild the Fire into a contender again. He owes at least that to the fans if not his own time to talk to the fans or media and not through COO Atul Khosla or VP of Communications Doug Hicks.
This is a rebuilding that will take time and Nelson Rodriguez and Veljko Paunovic do deserve time to implement their plans. There will be bumps in the road as evidenced by a 1-5-4 record to start and it likely means no playoffs at the end of this season, but if the long term result of this process is a team that contends for titles and is relevant again in both the US Soccer and Chicago sports scene on a regular basis, then slogging through a start like this will be well worth it.
That’s all for now. More later.
