5 takeaways from LAFC’s 3-1 loss at Chicago Fire

Three straight goals stunned Los Angeles Football Club as they were beaten by the Chicago Fire, 3-1 over the weekend in Chicago.

With that, here are our five takeaways from the demoralizing loss.

The trap game

By all accounts, this should have been a win for LAFC, but perhaps they were overlooking the Fire and ahead to conference matchups with Colorado Rapids and Houston Dynamo in the coming weeks.

Needless to say, this is not how Bob Bradley and the crew want to limp into the playoffs.

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Not staying on the ball

LAFC started the game okay, but they soon collapsed after Djordje Mihailovic’s goal in the 20th minute. Things seemed to get worse after Nemanja Nicolic’s penalty in the 29th minute.

The bottom line is LAFC strayed away from our game after that point. They gave Chicago too much space in the midfield and allowed them to dictate the tempo of the game.

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Clearance

There was something definitely wrong with the defense as it was a constant struggle to clear our of LAFC’s own area.

That said, Milhailovic’s golazo was a tremendous strike and there was really nothing Tyler Miller could do about it.

But, it all started because we couldn’t clear the line, which is a big problem.

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Midfield chemistry

For some odd reason the midfield was a shambles against Chicago.

There seemed to be no communication between Benny Feilhaber, Andre Horta and Eduard Atuesta. On top of that, they failed to really communicate with the rest of the team. There was no press and a complete lack of urgency after the first 20 minutes of the match.

Limping along

Let’s put this into perspective: LAFC’s place in the playoffs is certainly not secured.

Right now, they are two points back of Sporting Kansas City for the second seed in the playoffs, but Portland is just two back themselves, meaning LAFC could drop to as low as fourth or even fifth depending on the outcome of the next week’s matches.

LAFC have to focus more on closing down these matches and finishing stronger. It is what they will have to do in the playoffs and it makes more sense to build that momentum now and not wait.

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