An experimental first preseason outing Thursday for the Chicago Fire left head coach Frank Yallop “very happy” as his team played Norwich City to a scoreless draw.
The Fire sent out two different lineups in each half in a closed-door-game at City’s Colney Training Centre. And although the hosts hit the woodwork once in each half, Yallop felt satisfied with the efforts of his 22 players against a Norwich group that included a handful of their first-teamers.
“It was very good,” Yallop told reporters on a conference call Thursday morning. “We had two completely different units starting the first half and the second, so 22 players got to play a 45-minute spell, which is always good to start with. I feel like some of the soccer we played and our continuity [was good], and after nine or 10 days of training I thought we were quite bright, played some good stuff, and getting a clean sheet is always important.
“We’re all very happy with the effort and what we did against a mixture of professionals, U-21s, and they’re in mid-season, so it was a good exercise.”
The Fire have invested heavily this offseason, with the majority of the expenditures at the attacking end of the pitch. And with the departures of Bakary Soumare, Patrick Ianni and Gonzalo Segares from last season’s back line, the Fire’s fortunes will depend largely on how quickly new acquisitions Adailton, Eric Gehrig and Joevin Jones adapt to life with the Men in Red.
All three started the first half, while Chris Ritter and recent SuperDraft recruit Matt Polster began the second half in the center of a youthful back four that also included Kingsley Bryce, another draft pick, at right back.
Not surprisingly, considering the scoreless game, Yallop picked out a handful of defenders who he said he was most impressed with.
“I thought there were some really good performances actually,” he admitted. “Eric Gehrig did a nice job at the back. I felt that Matt Polster in the second half had a good outing at center back, so that was obviously a position that I’ve got to find out quickly the depth. Adailton was solid next to Eric, so a clean sheet from both units was great.”
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Yallop was also quizzed about his formation against the Canaries.
“It was 4-3-3 playing Shaun [Maloney] underneath Kennedy [Igboananike] and Harry [Shipp], and Alex mixed in a little bit,” he said. “We had good numbers and good possession in the middle of the field, and that allowed JJ and Lovel [Palmer] to get forward. So yeah, it’s 4-3-3 as such but I’m learning about our players. Until you start working with guys you don’t know what they’re capable of. Now I’ve just got to figure out how to get all the best ones on the field.”
Getting some of his better players on the field will have to wait as both goalkeeper Sean Johnson and Designated Player forward David Accam are still on international duty with the USA and Ghana, respectively, while captain Jeff Larentowicz sat the game out with bruising to the knee.
Looking ahead to the Fire’s MLS opener against the LA Galaxy on March 6, Yallop acknowledged that the starting XI against Norwich would be pretty close to his strongest lineup.
“I just felt that I wanted to get the balance right to start with,” Yallop said. “I wanted to put out a team that liked goals, that would play well together, and it actually ended up that way, and it was good.
“So whether I start with two forwards – I might experiment and play with two forwards or one forward – I just wanted to see this group. This group is pretty close to the starting group. But we’ve got David Accam coming back and Jeff wasn’t there, so there’ll be some tweaks along the way.”
