Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Preseason Look: Chicago Fire

Chicago is going into this season with an incomplete roster. Recent pickup Przemyslaw Frankowski is not nearly enough to make this team anywhere close to ready. The team is missing starting players at right and left back, central midfield, goalkeeper as well as a number 10.

It's entirely possible that Chicago plans to try and move Schweinsteiger back up into the midfield, but they have absolutely nothing to backfill his CB spot (of which he inexplicably filled last season). I do think the Argentinian Nicolás Del Grecco pick up mid-year last year was an attempt to fix that, maybe? He never made an app in MLS and was passed along to the Tulsa Roughnecks.

Perhaps it's better to look at what the Fire have going for them. Nikolic up top. Katai out on the right. It pains me to say it, but Schweinsteiger is a part-time player and playing in a hard position to have much impact on results, given his skill.


Player Ratings (avg)TransferMarkt Value (000)
TeamStartersBenchStartersBench
1ATL70.965.9$ 52,497$ 6,067
2TFC70.565.7$ 25,027$ 4,315
3NYR69.764.9$ 20,192$ 3,745
4CLB69.366.2$ 24,671$ 4,180
5NER68.764.5$ 13,278$ 5,115
6PHI68.056.1$ 10,339$ 5,297
7CHI67.863.7$ 17,022$ 3,955
8FCC67.564.7$ 11,014$ 4,383 

As it stands, Chicago is barely above expansion side FC Cincinnati. It's not going to take just one or two signings to make them competitive. The need half the starting lineup.

RatingNamePositionFM19FIFAWS
73MarceloCentre-Back737569
73Bastian SchweinsteigerCentral Midfield738071
72Nemanja NikolicCentre-Forward727567
72Dax McCartyCentral Midfield727469
71Aleksandar KataiRight Winger707571
68Przemyslaw FrankowskiRight Winger687064
67Marcos UreñaCentre-Forward636867
65Cristian MartínezRight Midfield596567
64Raheem EdwardsLeft Winger616467
64Fabian HerbersRight Winger626664
64Nicolas HaslerCentral Midfield636664
63Diego CamposRight-Back546365
63Grant LillardCentre-Back636366
63Jorge CorralesLeft-Back616366
63Mo AdamsCentral Midfield626365
63Richard SánchezGoalkeeper606363
63Brandt BronicoCentral Midfield636265
62Djordje MihailovicAttacking Midfield626269
62Stefan ClevelandGoalkeeper596268
61Nicolás Del GreccoCentre-Back61660
60Amando MorenoLeft Winger596360
60Elliot CollierAttacking Midfield586064
0Jeremiah GutjahrMidfielder000











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