Official Ezra Hendrickson Career Deathwatch Thread

Discussion in 'Chicago Fire' started by krolpolski, Nov 24, 2021.

  1. If Souquet can handle his corner of the field defensively it will reduce defensive responsibilities of whomever plays on the right wing. If that guy is Shaqiri it allows him to play where he seems to be most effective with minimal defense required. Whatever you lose with Sekulic's offense, you gain with the ability of your right winger to play more freely. You're not going to be pulled apart as much on counters because the CDMs & CMs don't have to cover the wing vacated by Sekulic. It appears this is the way Ezra wants to play and now he has a RB that will hold the fort.
     
  2. schroncar

    schroncar Member+

    Chicago Fire
    Mar 2, 2007
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I was hoping for a new RB who was a major upgrade and able to contribute on both offense and defense. I must confess to being disappointed. Fullbacks who can provide offense reduce the pressure on the other attackers. I am not expecting this from Souquet or Navarro. I hope I am wrong and they pleasantly surprise me.
     
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  3. bunge

    bunge BigSoccer Supporter

    Oct 24, 2000
    I don’t think you’re wrong and it concerns me we’ll still play with six defenders and four attackers.
     
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  4. Defenders have pressure, not attackers. Again, this is the way Ezra wants to play Attackers attack, defenders defend, and midfielders link. It seems to be an effective plan to succeed in MLS. Any quality 2 way fullback is either going to be a big hit under the cap, or will be gone soon enough. Remember, Ezra played fullback in MLS 1.0/2.0 with considerable success. It should be one position he knows exactly what he wants.
     
  5. You all seem to act like the projected starting XI are unable to cross the center line like Iowa 6 on 6 girls basketball from 40 years ago.
     
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  6. bunge

    bunge BigSoccer Supporter

    Oct 24, 2000
    It doesn’t matter where they can go when you sign someone as a LB who can’t attack. At that point no one WANTS him to get involved in the attack. We’ll just have to wait and see what he can do.

    As for two-way backs, correct if successful they’d move quickly to Europe like Frankowski. I say try Torres there some games to see if we can play a few games with the foot on the gas pedal.
     
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  7. Save the chance Torres doesn't go for the move I like the idea of going up a gear, especially at home.
     
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  8. milicz

    milicz Member+

    Dec 2, 2001
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Nat'l Team:
    Poland
    Maybe it's a great plan for MLS 1.O, but a poor one for the modern game, unless making the playoffs is the height of our ambition. Teams try to create overloads, Sekulic helped with that a ton, you can't do that with fullbacks that don't create danger. An attacking fullback forces the other teams winger to have to defend instead of attack, helping a teams defense and allowing for pressure up the field.
     
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  9. overlap_old_coach

    Chicago Fire
    United States
    May 2, 2022
    If our outside backs don't participate in the attack we are doing it (4-2-3-1) wrong.

    Then again, if our 10 stays out wide where the outside backs should attack, we have been doing it wrong.

    Regarding the backs, we really need a Julian Gressel, Kai Wagner...or even an end of career Daley Blind, Marcello12, etc...type signing(s)
     
  10. overlap_old_coach

    Chicago Fire
    United States
    May 2, 2022
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  11. Sekulic vs. Souquet is at worst a wash trading 60% attack for 60% defense. We play on an MLS 1.0 field for most of our home season. It's hard to expect jogo bonito at Soldier Field. I just believe it's the way Ezra wants to play
     
  12. milicz

    milicz Member+

    Dec 2, 2001
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Nat'l Team:
    Poland
    As Overlap has stated we're not using the formation correctly in that case. I don't think anyone is expecting jogo bonito.
     
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  13. Agree that the 4-2-3-1 is not best with fullbacks who are sub-optimal attackers. Quality aside though, I believe Ezra was happier with M. Navarro's fewer attacking foray's than Sekulic's greater number. He has said he's a defense coach first.
     
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  14. schroncar

    schroncar Member+

    Chicago Fire
    Mar 2, 2007
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I was hoping for 75-75. Did I miss Christmas?
     
  15. Yes, now work on next Christmas, or else . . . !
     
  16. overlap_old_coach

    Chicago Fire
    United States
    May 2, 2022
    #116 overlap_old_coach, Jan 18, 2023
    Last edited: Jan 18, 2023
    Ezra & Czichos presser
    https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1PlJQpedvDqGE

    Either being coy, or there is not a DP9 coming soon...he did follow it up with "hoping we can replace Duran by Mar4"

    Nice to hear Rafa again...reminded me we have an actual captain (again)!
     
  17. schroncar

    schroncar Member+

    Chicago Fire
    Mar 2, 2007
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    March 4 would mean DP might be integrated into the team by second half of season and would be disappointing.
     
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  18. overlap_old_coach

    Chicago Fire
    United States
    May 2, 2022
    Yea, my guess/interpretation is the "replace Duran by Mar4" comment actually means "a new U22 striker"...and they are going to "be careful" with the $DP$ slot, dragging it out to the second transfer window.

    Overall it's hard to be excited for how it's playing, despite it being good business, because Duran was the only thing to be excited about for the start of the season. Seems to put a lot of expectation/hope on Kacper and Jairo being much better this year...
     
  19. Gobernador Blanco

    Chicago Fire
    Mexico
    Jul 30, 2022
    Upper Midwest
    Nat'l Team:
    Mexico
    Jesse marsch available.
     
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  20. For his sake I hope he takes some time off from coaching.
     
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  21. Sting111

    Sting111 Member+

    Jan 17, 2011
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    After the time off, Chicago Fire might be a good way to get back into things. Jesse as Coach, perhaps Chris Armas as an Assistant Coach. Might be worth considering post Ezra.
     
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  22. Mac97

    Mac97 Member+

    Jul 15, 2014
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    And on the truly delirious side, PW as GM.

    (I can dream. At least until the alarm goes off.)
     
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  23. juicecrewallstar

    Chicago Fire
    United States
    Mar 1, 2019
    #123 juicecrewallstar, Feb 10, 2023
    Last edited: Feb 10, 2023
    not really sure where to drop this

    [​IMG]

    I read this as Kacper playing deeper than Shaq on the aggregate

    would be interesting to see the version with Duran

    shows Boris as a good passer, and of course Shaq


    edit: hmm...maybe not; Kacper only played 1600-odd minutes (Duran played 1360), so not exactly sure how to read the minutes/lineup thing
     
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  24. bunge

    bunge BigSoccer Supporter

    Oct 24, 2000
    Looks like Shaqiri and Sekulic were our best passers. Our strikers sucked at it but that’s not necessarily very important. I’m surprised at how mediocre our core four in the middle D look (CB & CDM).

    EDIT: I guess it’s just telling, not surprising.
     
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  25. juicecrewallstar

    Chicago Fire
    United States
    Mar 1, 2019
    I love Fede and he's probably my favorite player but passing is not his strength

    also, not sure this chart shows that our core four were bad passers as the color system tracks "pass value" -- no idea how it that is calculated, but looks like CBs across all teams don't rate highly on that metric

    presumably it's a stat that weights passes in the attacking zone higher
     
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