BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – After a performance in which he admitted the Chicago Fire were “outplayed,” head coach Frank Yallop said he understood the growing frustrations of the fans with his team rooted to the foot of the Eastern Conference table.
Yallop was visibly and understandably downbeat after his side’s 1-0 reversal to conference rivals Columbus Crew SC on Wednesday, a result which consigned the hosts to their fifth home defeat of the season and leaves them with a 5-10-3 record, six points adrift of the playoff spots with 16 games to go.
“Yeah, I do, I’m frustrated as hell as well,” Yallop offered with typical honesty when asked about the frustration of the fans, which manifested itself with boos at the final whistle. “It pisses me off when we don’t play well, it pisses me off we don’t have our players on the field too. You get judged on what you play like. It’s not always the true picture, but I can’t say anything, because it’s excuses.
“We’re all injured, we’ve got guys away. It’s just very, very frustrating – and you’re playing a team that’s good, so you’ve got to be at your best.”
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The Fire's starting lineup was missing a string of key performers, including DPs Shaun Maloney (back) and David Accam (who came on in the 72nd minute), captain Jeff Larentowicz (neck), Adailton (suspended) and Joevin Jones (international duty with Trinidad & Tobago).
Striker Mike Magee was energetic in his second straight 90-minute outing since returning from injury, and afterward sympathized with his under-fire coach, highlighting the absence of important players as the main reason behind the side’s current lowly position. It’s worth noting that the Fire also have three games in hand on the New England Revolution, currently in sixth, so their current predicament could change dramatically if they were to win those games in hand.
“When you don’t get results, you hear things like that,” Magee said when asked if media speculation regarding Yallop’s position was seeping into the dressing room. “Before you hang him, I’d look at our roster and think it’s pretty good to be honest. We can keep saying that, but he hasn’t had anything close to resembling our first team. That’s got to be frustrating for him because he’s still supposed to get results.
“Let’s give him a chance with his team.”
Wednesday's 1-0 scoreline flattered the hosts as Crew SC, inspired by goalscorer Kei Kamara, dominated the first half and did enough in the second half to see the game out. Chicago's coach and teammates readily admitted that goalkeeper Sean Johnson “kept us in the game” with a series of fine saves.
“It was plain to see that they were a better side than us tonight – they had better players on the field, that were playing. We had six guys sitting watching,” Yallop lamented.
“That’s probably the worst we’ve played, first half, just not happy with the endeavor and the fight from the team, which I felt in the last five games we had. But tonight wasn’t to be, especially first half. Second half, we had a bit of a go, but we were totally outplayed tonight.”
The Fire have an opportunity to exact swift revenge as they travel to Columbus for the second time this year on Sunday (5 pm ET, ESPN2 in US, TSN2 in Canada). Having earned a 2-2 draw at MAPFRE Stadium in May, Yallop believes his team has what it takes to get something from the game.
“We’ve got to pick ourselves up and get ready for the next game, which is the big thing for us now,” he said. “We’ve got to make sure we don’t dwell on this one. We’ve got to look forward, we’ve got to go get a result in Columbus now. Obviously, it’s going to be tough, but we’re capable of doing it.”
Shane Murray covers the Chicago Fire for MLSsoccer.com.
