MONTREAL—It’s not often that the Montreal Impact lose at home so when they do it’s always with a sense of heaviness, but Saturday’s 3-0 loss to the Chicago Fire was a whole other level of bad. It felt like a cataclysm.
With the exception of the New York Red Bulls’ 7-0 rout of cross-town rivals New York City FC at Yankee Stadium earlier this season, this was easily the most shocking result of the year in Major League Soccer. How do you lose so deservedly, by so emphatic a score line, to not only the worst side in the league, but to one that hadn’t won on the road in an extraordinary 39 games in all competitions since July 2014?
Even as he tried to offer explanations in the post-game press conference, Montreal coach Mauro Biello spoke in a tone that suggested utter bewilderment.
“I would like to apologize on my part and on the part of the players for this performance, because for me I am someone who when we have games like this it really hurts,” Biello said. “I was not happy about the way we played from the beginning to end. We played against a team that gave more than us. They won every ball. And in the end the performance was not enough for us, and for the fans I hope that we will not see a game like this again this year.”
From the Impact’s point of view, not one player had a good game; collectively, the team was poor in every aspect.
Along with the many basic errors in possession and in defensive coverage, the Impact’s 4-3-3 formation was poorly interpreted. Midfielders Hernan Bernardello, Marco Donadel and Calum Mallace weren’t in sync, playing often on the same line, which made the Impact’s manoeuvres far too uniform and predictable. In a three-man midfield system, at least one of the central midfielders needs to be able to jump in on the attack, but not one of Bernardello, Donadel or Mallace possesses those attacking qualities or instincts. On the few occasions where Mallace or Bernardello managed to insert themselves into dangerous positions in the final third, they weren’t able to produce the requisite action.
“It starts with the way we keep the ball in midfield; it wasn’t good enough to unbalance the opponent,” Biello said. “When things don’t go well; we immediately look for other solutions, looking for long balls. We have to be able to keep the ball better.”
With the lack of cohesion and precision in possession, the Impact’s attacking players were kept quiet. Chicago smartly maintained a medium-low defensive block, which inhibited forward Matteo Mancosu from doing what he does best: run in behind. Forced to play between the lines, Mancosu struggled. Ignacio Piatti wasn’t given much space to express his qualities either as he was carefully surveyed in the Fire’s tight defensive system. And Didier Drogba, save for some well taken free kicks, looked nothing like the player who scored a hat trick against Chicago just one year ago.
Defensively the Impact continued to look fragile. Laurent Ciman, still struggling with an ankle injury, hasn’t at all seemed himself since Belgium’s disappointing exit at Euro 2016. Wandrille Lefevre and Donny Toia showed some rust in their first games back for some time. And Hassoun Camara, who tried to offer the Impact some badly needed width on the right, had a difficult game and might be due for a break.
And it wasn’t just Camara that looked mentally and physically tired. The problem seemed much more widespread, something Biello admitted to after the game, and that’s worrying. Of course tactics can be fixed and players can have a bad game here and there, but it’s hard to quickly recover from fatigue. If the Impact are tired that’s a very big problem. With only 10 games remaining this is the point in the season where teams need to start finding their best form, and the Impact have looked far from their best over these last three weeks.
The last home win over Houston, the second worst team in the league (and another very bad away side) was less than convincing; and there was last week’s 3-1 loss to the Red Bulls as well. On these hot summer days, in a league that’s physically demanding, it probably doesn’t help to have seven players over the age of 30 in the starting 11.
The loss is made all the more bitter by a quick glance at the standings: New York City FC and Toronto FC both ended the day with important victories, solidifying their positions in first and second in the Eastern Conference, places which now, at this point, feel beyond the Impact’s grasp. At least, as Mancosu pointed out after the loss, in what was a mostly deserted locker room, there’s another game just a few days from now.
The Impact host D.C United on Wednesday, a hungry side not far below them in the standings. It’s a great opportunity to get back on track. However one can also imagine that recovering in such a short period of time from a blow as big as the one endured on Saturday night, which ended in a chorus of angry boos, won’t be a very easy thing.
Sportsnet’s Soccer Central podcast (featuring James Sharman, Thomas Dobby, Brendan Dunlop and John Molinaro) takes an in-depth look at the beautiful game and offers timely and thoughtful analysis on the sport’s biggest issues.