Win, lose or draw, the Fire need something to feel good about.
Entering Thursday night’s game at D.C. United, the Fire are winless and have dropped three straight. They’ve been outscored 9-1 since registering the first two goals of the season and hard questions are coming up about the direction of the team as a result of the slow start.
So anything positive Thursday would go a long way and give the Fire something good to use as a foundation. There were some bright spots during the first two games of the season, but the recent 2-0 losses to the Red Bulls and Union have been short of tangible progress.
“Our last two performances have not been good enough,” goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth said. “For us, it’s putting in a good performance and starting to move in the right direction, and being tuned in for 90 minutes and playing to our strengths and doing the things that we do well and trying to exploit the things that they don’t do so well.”
Unfortunately, it’s hard to find what the Fire are doing well to begin the season.
The issues with the team so far have been well-documented, even as the lineup has changed for both tactical and health reasons. The Fire (0-3-1, 1 point) have struggled to convert enough chances to score and they’ve leaked opportunities in front of Shuttleworth. Somehow, because of communication and concentration breakdowns on a play that’s considered easier to defend, they’ve given up three goals that started from throw-ins, adding an unnecessary degree of difficulty to their task.
Those problems have led to obvious and understandable frustration and a need for something to change before another season spins out of control. Coach Raphael Wicky said Wednesday he feels he still has the support of club brass, and emphasized that the players are giving the necessary effort and receiving the coaching staff’s message.
“The team wants to do or does the things we are asking them to do,” Wicky said. “I don’t feel a team which doesn’t care. I don’t feel a team which doesn’t fight, which doesn’t work together, and that’s not at all what I feel.”
Regardless, something has to be different. And soon.
For most teams, DC United (1-3-0, 3 points) would figure to be a prime chance to pick up three points. In its first season under new coach Hernan Losada, D.C. has dropped three straight as it tries to recover from last year’s 13th-place finish in the Eastern Conference.
The Fire, however, have to make their own fixes to take advantage.
“This is the only way we can go forward,” Wicky said. “We speak with the players, what has to be better. We work on it and then yes, then it’s on the players not to make these mistakes and we have to start [Thursday] with that. That’s the reality.”
NOTE: Wicky said the Fire received their second round of COVID-19 vaccinations after Saturday’s game and that “almost everyone” is fully inoculated.
