Fire Sidebar: Needs Improvement (Plus Gallery)

BRIDGEVIEW, IL-Half way home, that’s where the Chicago Fire stands midway through the 2019 season, but the big burning question is why does the club continue to underachieve?

The Chicago Fire has had a pretty good run at home this season which most its success has been pretty good. On the road, it’s completely different with the lack of finding points.

Chicago managed to pull out a point against visiting Real Salt Lake in a 1-1 draw at SeetGeek Stadium on Saturday night. It has left the club at 4-6-7, 19 points, halfway through its schedule with 17 matches remaining.

One of the team captains and midfielder Dax McCarty has a strong belief that the group can do a lot better.

“We’re all a little bit disappointed and a little bit frustrated with the first half of the season,” McCarty said. “We expect more. Let me put it simple as I possibly can, we expect more out of ourselves out of this locker room. I know that there’s more out there for us. Not the result we wanted and definitely a frustrated locker room. It’s been kind of the theme of the season. We kind of had some momentum a few weeks back, it’s dissipated a little bit and now the big break and losing in the Open Cup. It feels like we have to get going again.”

One of the big issues with the club sits in the final third of the field. That’s where the Fire is lacking to find goals. There are plenty of talented players up top, but the finishing is lacking so much which has led to the lack of success in the standings and finding any excitement lately.

“That’s why the best players in the world get paid the big bucks to put the goals into the back of the net,” McCarty added. “I think that we’re creating chances, I don’t think anybody that has watched us this year, think we’re not creating good chances. I just think we’re just not as fluid as we need to be in the attack. I think we lack a little rhythm at times. It’s almost that we rely a little bit too much of our players 1 v 1 ability, which is very good to get us in the box. Once we’re there, when teams are deep and it’s time to put the ball into the back of the net. We just lack a bit of that killer instinct.”

Still the Fire has the capability with its talented group. How can they find the ways of netting the goals?

“When we get chances on set pieces, transition, we’re just lacking in the final third,” McCarty said. “We’re going to keep going, because the chances are there.”

Memories of a couple of years ago, the Fire put together a nice solid winning streak that carried the team into the playoffs for the first time since 2012. During that run, the goals were being scored and victories were adding up.

Even a few weeks back, Chicago scored numerous goals against Colorado and New England.

‘I’m convinced we’re capable of scoring a lot of goals,” McCarty said. “We’ve had plenty of chances to put the ball into the back of the net. It’s a matter of guys getting one, getting two and getting the confidence of getting more.”

This group seems to be together at this point of the season according to Fire head coach Veljko Paunovic and McCarty, but the frustration of not coming up with three points at home can be considered a loss. The club has to pull together in the coming weeks and not only score goals but find some better results.

The Fire is still in the running for a playoff spot, but they have a lot of work to do in moving up the table in the Eastern Conference.