Montreal Impact coach Frank Klopas has reminded his players several times this season about the importance of remaining “even keel,” of not getting overly excited when they win and not getting too down on themselves when they lose.
This week the Impact were more upbeat than usual coming off back-to-back home wins—their very first wins of the year in Major League Soccer—but perhaps these latest triumphs made the Impact a little too relaxed for their own good.
After playing arguably their best game of the season against Dallas last weekend, the Impact played easily their worst on a wet and cold night in Chicago on Saturday, where they were thoroughly outplayed and defeated 3-0.
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And the score line could have been much worse.
“The team performance tonight was poor,” Klopas said. “We weren’t sharp, whether the field conditions played a part in it I don’t know, but we could have done better.”
The Chicago contest was an important one, a six-point game, because the Fire are, after all, a direct rival of the Impact in the Eastern Conference, battling with them for a place in the playoffs. But Montreal, with their slow and at times casual play, didn’t seem at all like a team ready to compete on the night; Chicago, by contrast, played (especially in the first half) with great tenacity, almost as if it was a playoff encounter.
That this was also a special homecoming game for Klopas, only makes the Impact’s tepid display all the more of a head scratcher.
Some of the Klopas’ decisions were also worthy of scrutiny, the most bizarre being the decision to play Nigel Reo-Coker out of position at right fullback, putting him up against Chicago’s most deadly player David Accam, who plays in left-midfield. That Accam would have the better of Reo-Coker all night was no surprise at all.
With midfielder Dilly Duka struggling to help Reo-Coker defend the constant and ferocious overlapping runs from left fullback Joevin Jones, Chicago essentially were given a free pass on Montreal’s right-hand side. Klopas later had the quicker Ambroise Oyongo, who started the game in an unusual role in left midfield, swap positions with Duka, with the results largely remaining the same.
Not being able to keep up with the frantic pace of the match, Marco Donadel endured a difficult time in midfield, and to compound the Impact’s issues, was senselessly sent off in the first half for two unnecessary tackles.
With a dubious penalty kick eight minutes later giving Chicago a 2-0 lead, the game was already over after 45 minutes.
“We were a bit slow to react in the middle and some of the matchups out wide were difficult,” midfielder Calum Mallace explained. “The red card, the penalty and the tough conditions made it a difficult game to play.”
Although they shouldn’t get too down on themselves after the loss, they need to take this game as a lesson that you can’t take a day off in MLS, even if only partially, without suffering the consequences.
Montreal’s dismal record on the road in MLS is, however, very troubling. They haven’t won a game away from home since Sep. 8, 2013, and have yet to even score a goal on the road in four games this year.
If the Impact are going to make the playoffs, they’ll need to show a lot more grit and quality away from Stade Saputo, starting with their four road games in June.
Nick Sabetti is a Montreal-based writer. Follow him on Twitter