Head coach Veljko Paunovic wanted to be very clear with how he felt about the Chicago Fire’s upcoming away match with New York City FC, their first Eastern Conference rematch of the season.
“What I’m going to say now, it’s very, I want you to understand well from the standpoint of somebody that is very competitive,” Paunovic said Monday on his weekly conference call. “We had our honor hurt the first game when we wanted to win our presentation to our fans and we lost the game to New York and our honor is hurt.
“So we feel like we have something there that we want to solve. Like a payback for us, is something that we are looking for this game. And we want to be competitive in this game, respectful, totally respectful for a great team and a great performance that New York had here, but we also we feel like there is something special about this game and we will prepare very well to (get) payback.”
The Fire and New York City opened the 2016 season against one another at Toyota Park a little more than a month ago, with NYCFC winning a wild 4-3 affair.
Here are some more Fire notes:
Preparing for the Yankee Stadium version of NYCFC
This Sunday’s contest shifts to the narrow confines of Yankee Stadium, where NYCFC (1-1-2) has only taken two points from three home games since they last saw the Fire (1-1-2). Those matches, however, have been notable for the 3-4-3 formation head coach Patrick Vieira has used to try to get the most out of his squad on their unique home field.
“They play differently when they play at home but they still, the essence of their players is very offensive and they have very good individual quality also and they know how to play as a team,” Paunovic said.
Paunovic said the coaching staff was planning on adjusting the dimensions of their practice field leading up to the match at Yankee Stadium but said, “that’s a smaller adjustment than playing against a great team who has now more players back.”
He also praised NYCFC despite its slow start. The two teams are tied on five points, with NYCFC sitting one spot ahead in the Eastern Conference standings due to more goals scored.
“We know that we are going to have a very, very difficult game,” Paunovic said. “We know we have a great opponent in front, an opponent that we respect and also great coach, great coaching staff there, playing in their stadium is going to be tough and also the conditions, the smaller field is something we have to adapt. But listen, after the game we had the last game on Saturday with the weather conditions that we had, I think we’re capable.”
Dealing with David Villa
After facing and shutting out two of the league’s better No. 9s, Kei Kamara and C.J. Sapong, in consecutive games, Paunovic was asked about how they will try to handle David Villa.
“There’s a lot of pieces in that,” Paunovic said. “But I will just say first is how the ball comes to Villa, that’s what you have to solve first. Then once the ball is close to Villa, how he moves and what he does in order to receive the ball, you have to solve this too. Then when he gets the ball, what he’s doing with the ball, how he’s doing it, how you have to prepare for that and how you can solve that and how you can actually help the guy who is challenged by Villa in one-to-one situations where he’s great, how you can help him with another player to solve the problem he can’t do it himself.
“So there’s a lot of pieces as you can see and I’m talking just generally. But he’s a great player and you have to know how, as a team to get to Villa, but it’s not only Villa, they have more players. (Khiry) Shelton in that game was difficult for us to defend his qualities and also (Thomas) McNamara, Mix (Diskerud), everyone in their team are capable of doing great things and they’re dangerous also.”
Shelton, McNamara and Diskerud were involved in three of NYCFC’s four goals in the opener against the Fire, as each tallied a goal and an assist.
Heading away from home
The Fire have gone on the road just once so far in the early goings of 2016, getting a 1-1 draw at Orlando City SC despite going down to 10 men.
“We prepare for every game differently for sure, but we want to win all our games,” Paunovic said. “And depending also on the players we have, depending on if there’s any issues with our roster and also depending on the opponent that we have. We prepare all the games differently but the same thing about all the games we want to win.
“And that fact, that playing and winning on the road is more difficult in this league is something that we are aware of, but we strongly believe that the best possible way to win the games on the road is to prepare, analyze the opponent, prepare the best we can from our standpoint, physically, technically, tactically, and then prepare our gameplan and execute it well.”
Accam closer to a return
Fire midfielder David Accam hasn’t appeared in a match since March 11, missing the last two MLS games and his international call for Ghana with a knee sprain.
Before picking up the injury, the 25-year-old started the season with two goals and an assist in two games. On Monday, Paunovic said Accam could be ready for Sunday’s match with NYCFC but wouldn’t say for sure.
“He is in the final phase of his recovery,” Paunovic said. “We will see if he can be ready for this game, still not full go. … But we will say he is recovering very well, final phase, and we will see this week day by day how he performs and see if he can be ready for this game.”
Paunovic praises Stephens, midfield play
Michael Stephens got his first start of the season against the Union and was involved in the buildup to the game’s lone goal.
“Being his first start of the season, I think he did very well,” Paunovic said. “I think the energy and his attitude was contagious to the rest of the guys. The whole midfield, (Razvan) Cocis and (Matt) Polster too, I think was something that we improved in our game and that helped us have more possession and create more opportunities too.”
The coach also used a question about Stephens to branch out and talk about the interchanging nature of the squad thus far.
“Everybody has a role and everybody has to be available for the team needs him to give his best. I can tell you so far we are very happy with everyone, how they understand that everyone has to earn their role and not only in the game but during the week practicing and preparing for the game.”
Cocis playing more advanced
Another piece of that rotating midfield was Razvan Cocis, who captained the team against the Philadelphia Union after missing the last two games. Cocis played in a more advanced role against the Union than in his two previous appearances, and Paunovic made it sound like that’s where he will be deployed going forward.
“Razvan played at that position a long time ago I can say now, he played and he performed very well,” Paunovic said. “I think Razvan has a very good shot from distance and he is capable also to attack the box and to score goals and that’s what we encouraged him and we wanted to do this game, but not only for this game for the future too. That’s something, a part of his game that we wanted to recover and we’re working on that because he can be very useful for the team and very efficient also. We saw in this game that he can do that and we are very happy about it because that increases more our possibilities and our game in midfield.”
After the match on Saturday, Cocis had commented on the adjustment, saying, “I played that position a long time before, I’m used to it. I played a lot of positions when I was young and even after, so I’m used to playing different positions. I felt OK, I enjoyed it.”
Polster recovering from busy schedule
Saturday’s match was Fire midfielder Matt Polster’s fourth 90-minute outing in the span of 15 days, between MLS action in Bridgeview and two games with the U.S. U-23 National Team in Colombia and Texas. Despite the recent mileage, Paunovic said he expected Polster to be fine for the NYCFC match.
“We’re still working with Matt’s recovery and reintegration to what is normal club weekly routine after being with the national team where we believe he did a great job,” Paunovic said. “He came obviously a little bit emotionally a little more exhausted, but he’s a great guy as I said before and he’s doing very well with his recovery and reintegration. So in a couple days here he’ll be fine and ready to go fully with the rest of the guys and so far there is no issue for him to be in the roster for the next game.”
Formation and possession
After using three centerbacks against the Columbus Crew, the Fire returned to a 4-2-3-1 against the Union.
“With that system, playing four at the back … our team feels more comfortable on the field in possession,” Paunovic said.
He also said while the team’s 53.9 percent possession (aided by being up a man) against the Union was better than previous weeks, it is still an area he wants to see more growth.
“We improved, but I’m not happy how we, especially during the game there’s some situations you have to take control of the game and have the possession,” Paunovic said. “Those situation happen during the game many times and this is how we determine actually if our possession was effective, efficient and if it was helpful for us.”
Then, drawing some laughs he said, simply, “If you want to have a clean sheet just keep the ball in your possession. That’s not easy. That’s how possession actually helps defensively too.”
Thanking Philadelphia
Paunovic was asked about getting his first MLS coaching win against the lone MLS side he appeared for at the end of his playing days.
“I’m so grateful to Philly that they gave me that opportunity to finish my career in the best possible way,” Paunovic said. “Where I and my family we have been treated so well, had a great year as a team, reaching playoffs that year, and enjoying playing soccer with Piotr Nowak as coach and the rest of the guys it was a great year for us. That was my last year and I’m very very grateful for that.
“And then from then to now, when the roles are different, playing against Philly and getting that first win, increased somehow that gratitude that I have for the club and for the city and also for the fans that treated me very well. It’s something, symbolic maybe.”