THOUGHTS ON THE FIRE: Saturday’s 3-2 defeat to Vancouver Whitecaps highlights the need that the Fire need to bolster their squad in the coming transfer window. The defense was a step too slow against Alphonso Davies, Kei Kamara, and Yordy Reyna and let Richard Sanchez down. The Fire are giving the ball to Aleksandar Katai so they can get him in dangerous situations. However, mistakes in possession are also leading to dangerous situations.
Apart from the obvious (keeping Katai through at least the end of this season), they need to add depth to the defense and get a #10. Bastian Schweinsteiger cannot do everything and neither can Katai. Coach Veljko Paunovic is doing everything he can.
THOUGHTS ON THE RED STARS: Give Sam Kerr a chance, she’ll punish you. Winless Sky Blue FC gave her several chances and it resulted in a hat trick against her former team. The Red Stars are in a better position than at the start of the season now that their mainstays such as Julie Ertz, Casey Short, and Vanessa DiBernardo are coming back from injury. It will be interesting to see how things go once Morgan Brian is acclimated to Chicago. Right now, they are on the right side of the red line with seven to play. The good news is the next three are at home. The bad news is that the four after that are on the road. They will need to continue to show their mettle to emerge from the log jam for positions 2nd through 6th at the moment.
That’s all for now. More later.
