The Optimist Thread: We have a real chance of WINNING the East

That's right, I said it. Hater's gonna hate, etc. etc. but we are only 5 points out of first, with a game in hand on everybody ahead of us. Meaning that we are, in theory, less than 3 points behind anybody. Not to mention we play everyone in the East at least one, which will turn several games into potential 6 point swing games.

We are 3-1-1 in our last 5, including a tie that never should have been a tie, and a loss to a very good NY team. A game where we didn't have Flaco or MacDonald, two people who look set to be regular starters from here on out.

We play the bottom three teams a total of 4 more times (NEx2, PHI, and TOR). No reason we can't get all 12 points in those games. But for cautions sake, lets say we go 3-1-0 and get 9, That puts us at 47 points. That leaves 7 other games, if we go 3-1-2 or 3-2-1 and get 10 or 11 points from those, puting us at 57-58 points, I think we win the East.

I don't think the Dynamo have it in them to compete, though to be honest, I'm not sure how they are above us right now. Maybe I'm missing something

So our real competition are SKC and NY who are both very solid teams. But looking at their schedules, they still play each other three times. That means that one or both of them WILL drop several points.

Yes its early, yes a lot can happen in the 11 games between now and then, but I'm tired of constant negativity. Thought this might be nice for a change. We aren't doing that bad. We just got our 10th win, more than either of the last two years, and look on course to get several more.

Before today's game I did the math and we had two games in hand on KC plus one head-to-head. We won today, plus another win for the second game in hand then we beat KC in KC and we're ahead of them in the standings.

We got one obstacle out of the way today.

The roster changes are coming through and still time and room for another move if needed.

The Pause/Nyarko sub tells me either he has faith in his choices without 2 CDM or we need to find the replacement for Grazzini.

I don't like how they play. It's boring and looks like a League 2 club in England would Barcelona them easy.
There's no real creative player in there.

If Alex turns out to be that guy then they will be right up there at the end.

Or he'd run out of starting d-mids.

Or he recognized that Philly wasn't much of a threat up the middle.

We did finish with a 4-6-0 formation, for what that's worth.

A league 2 team in England would Barcelona the Fire??

He could have put Paladini in, he was on the bench last night. I think he realized that we needed to reinforce the attack, not the defense

They're gonna be just fine, Klopas is already channeling Yogi Berra:

"We need to stay near the top; those who slip up in trying to climb the standings, will most likely fall behind.”

The inclusion of "looks like" is crucial in my post.

More optimistic facts, via HTIOT's twitter

The Chicago Fire are tied for their 4th highest ever point total after 23 games.
2001: 41 points (finish: won Central division, lost in Semis)
2003: 39 points (finish: won East, Supporters Shield, lost in Final)
1998: 39 points (finish: second in the West, Won MLS cup)
2012: 38 points (finish: ???)
2008: 38 points (finish: second in the East, lost in Semis)
2009: 38 points (finish: second in the East, lost in Semis)

Can we win the Supporters Shield?

If not, then as long as we make the MLS cup I am good for the year.

Only 9 points behind SJ, with a game in hand and plenty still to play. Not eliminated, but probably unlikely, just based on how good they are right now. I think it comes down to SJ and SKC at the end.

That said, if we win our games in hand that we have compared to those above us, we could be as high as third right now.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/standings/supporters-shield

It would have been more likely, but for the stupid play at San Jose recently.

Points per game would be more meaningful. My guess is we're doing pretty well there too.

I for one am quite confident that a PPG table after 23 games would look very similar.

There are only 3 point totals there to compare. PPG for 41 points of 23 games is 1.78, for 39 points its 1.70 and for 38 is 1.65. In recent years, 1.6 has been the bar to make the post season. This year the table is a little odd, since there is a very big drop off in PPG between the top and bottom halves of the table. I like this site: http://settingthetable.info/

Our games against DC and Houston coming up will decide if we're going to finish 1 or 2 or end up in the 4 or 5 spot.

List of teams Barcelona can beat easily.

Manchester United

Every team in England not named Chelsea.
Real Madrid
Every other team in Spain.
So that's pretty good company.

Or did you mean, a league two side would out posses them like Barceloa? Lies.
I've watched League Two, it's almost as if they fine players who don't play longball. Name the number of League two with recent international caps to their name?

Jay Demerit was a star in League 2.

Jay Demerit never played in League 2.

Watford was in the Premiership and the Championship (which is the second tier in England, but is not League 2) when Demerit was there. Prior to playing at Watford, he played a few games for Northwood and Southall F.C. (both non-league teams).

League 2 is the fourth tier in England:
Premiership
Championship (aka npower Championship)
League 1
League 2
(Yeah, it's stupid, but I don't make the rules).

No, I don't think Accrington Stanley, Aldershot, Wycombe Wanderers, York, or any other League 2 side in England would "Barcelona" the Fire.

I would like to see AFC Wimbledon (currently in League 2) come to America to play the Fire.
Anyone who is not familiar with them should look them up. It is an interesting short history they have.

"looks like" and "would"

2 very different things.

I'd like for us to play AFC Hornchurch. So

We can just play Hollywood United. Have to bench our starting attackers if Vinnie Jones plays tho.

Bring on Barnet. I dare you.

Third is nice, but I prefer to be as high as a kite.