"We have to find another way": Frank Klopas continues to search for answers
Nobody in Chicago wants to win more than Frank Klopas. That much is evident.
Unfortunately for him and the Fire, that is simply not happening right now. Last Wednesday’s loss extended the current winless run to six, while the team has been outscored 9-1 in that span and picked up just one point in five matches. In their last four games at home, Klopas’ team has failed to score a single goal.
Things are looking bleak for the Fire, a team that entered the season with so much optimism. Statement signings Hugo Cuypers and Kellyn Acosta turned heads around the league, moves for Allan Arigoni and Tobias Salquist seemed like they would be clever additions, and good roster management ensured that the team would be ready for opening day. Preseason went well, and an encouraging draw at Philadelphia seemed to be the start of a strong season.
Now, more than one-third of the way through the regular season, the Fire find themselves in a familiar situation: just one position clear of the basement of Major League Soccer, watching their playoffs hopes quickly evaporate before spring even turns to summer. The Fire have earned just seven points from their seven home games so far, well below par, and the fans are mounting pressure on the head coach and staff.
“From an emotional standpoint, it hits hard,” Klopas said after the loss to Charlotte on Wednesday. “Every loss hits close to home more than anything else and I care. So it's not easy to come here every day when results don't go your way and we just have to be honest. Right now, we just haven't found the right formula and a lot of it is on my shoulders.”
Klopas’ tone on Wednesday was noticeably different to previous losses. The Fire had, once again, been outplayed in a game they should probably have comfortably won, and were totally devoid of ideas in the attacking third. Captain Xherdan Shaqiri showed glimpses of quality, but his supporting cast didn’t provide much help; center forward and club-record signing Cuypers was once again left stranded on an island up front, and could not find the ball in dangerous positions.
The Fire were, as they have been for several weeks now, predictable. They were not set up tactically to compete with a Charlotte team coached by ex-Aston Villa and Leicester City boss Dean Smith, a problem considering their next test is against the class of MLS.
The Columbus Crew, reigning MLS Cup winners and CONCACAF Champions Cup finalists, represent not just the stiffest test in the league, but perhaps in the whole continent. They’re led by Klopas’ former Montréal Impact colleague Wilfried Nancy, MLS’ superstar head coach whose attractive and fluid brand of attacking soccer is symbolic of the Fire isn’t right now. Though the Fire put up a good fight against the Crew at their Ohio home in March, tonight’s game falls under rather different circumstances.
“The players care,” Klopas said Wednesday night, addressing fears that his players had mentally given up in light of the poor run. “If they were checked out, then I'd be the first one to check out myself, and I'd say, maybe you need to bring someone else in here. But that's not the case. The players are committed.”
Klopas also knows that his predecessor, Ezra Hendrickson, lost the confidence of the higher-ups at a similar stage last May with the team in a similar position. The only problem is that the Fire have a worse record now than they did this time last year, and with Nancy and the Crew in the other dugout tonight, the pressure is only likely to increase unless the Men in Red can produce a shock win.
“It's not going our way and we have to find a way,” Klopas said. “I have to find a way to get that, whether it's finding the right group of players, whether it's not always the best players, but it's just the right players in the right fit. And right now we haven't found them. I haven't found them.”
