10 things on Chicago Fire

After an almost perfect month of August, the Montreal Impact ends its four-game stay at home and starts a busy September: seven games await Mauro Biello’s team in the coming weeks. Here are 10 things on Chicago Fire.
Context
Is the Fire messing up its season? It very well might be, if we look at the team’s current form: only one win has been recorded since July 1. While the results don’t go Chicago’s way, the manner is particularly worrying. The Fire’s defensive unit is shipping goals because of many individual and collective mistakes, like some juicy rebounds, missed clearances, lenient coverage and loose defensive lines. The amount of injuries in this department doesn’t help stop the bleeding: 11 conceded goals in four games leave very small chances of winning for Veljko Paunovic’s men. The Illinois club is still above the playoff line with a five-point lead over the Bleu-blanc-noir, but will soon have to add fuel to its fire…
Current form
L-L-L-L-W-L
Head coach
Veljko Paunovic (19-23-17 all-time as Chicago Fire head coach) became the team’s head coach on November 24, 2015, after leading Serbia to a U20 World Cup title in June. The Fire job is Paunovic’s very first at club level, but the Serbian coach did get acquainted with MLS in 2011, when he played 17 games for the Philadelphia Union before retiring. Pauno, who plied his trade at Partizan Belgrade, Atlético Madrid, Hannover and Rubin Kazan, among other clubs, has been tasked with making the Fire a ball-playing and proactive team – but mostly, he has to bring results: the club has only made the MLS Cup Playoffs once in the past seven seasons.
Current top scorer
Nemanja Nikolic (16)
Players to watch
1. Bastian Schweinsteiger (#31) – Obviously, you can’t afford to let the world champion slip from your field of view. He spreads the ball, he recovers the ball, he creates chances, he scores goals; he does everything in the midfield area.
2. Michael de Leeuw (#8) – Since joining MLS, the Dutch has been scoring at the respectable rate of one goal every four games.
3. David Accam (#11) – 14 goals, seven assists: watch out for the speedster on the wings.
Team profile
The Fire heated up the kitchen and created a new midfield from scratch after a miserable 2016 season. Trading for Dax, the Red Bulls’ captain, taking former Galaxy player Juninho (no, not that one from Lyon, he’s retired) on loan from Tijuana and, most of all, signing Schweinsteiger allowed Paunovic’s team to play with the ball. In the MLS top third for possession, Chicago is also lethal in front of goal, notably thanks to a dream season for Nikolic. There is a but, and it’s a big one for Wednesday’s tie: while at home, it’s all Fire, dropping only two points – against the Impact – in 2017, while playing away, it’s much more difficult, as a record of two wins, six losses and four draws shows. And out of the 28 goals conceded this season, 23 (!) have come outside Toyota Park.
In 2017:

*Source for all data is Opta
Tactical formation
With newcomers McCarthy, Juninho and Schweinsteiger, Paunovic always plays with three in the middle, either in a 4-3-3 or in a 4-2-3-1. Lineup against Minnesota United FC (August 26): Lampson; Doody, Dean, Kappelhof, Conner; Mihailovic, Schweinsteiger, McCarthy; Solignac, Nikolic, Accam.
Last game against the Impact
One, two, three nothing! The Fire’s last visit at Stade Saputo was a profitable one for the Impact and for Nacho Piatti, who scored a magnificent brace. If the attack clicked, we can talk about a complete collective performance: despite keeping the ball for almost two thirds of the game, Chicago only had two shots on target.
Injuries, absences and call-ups (as of August 31)
G Jorge Bava (elbow)
D Matt Polster (knee – day-to-day)
D Brandon Vincent (thigh)
D Matej Dekovic (adductor)
D Joao Meira (calf)
D Christian Dean (foot)
M Dax McCarthy (USMNT)
M Daniel Johnson (knee)
M John Goossens (ankle)
A David Accam (hip – day-to-day)
Upcoming games
Chicago Fire v New York Red Bulls (MLS, September 9)
Chicago Fire v D.C. United (MLS, September 16)
Philadelphia Union v Chicago Fire (MLS, September 23)