Through the first four weeks of the 2022 MLS season, Chicago Fire FC have stood out as one of the league's surprise early performers – thanks to their 2W-0L-2D record.
Getting off to a good start was one of the main priorities for the coaching staff during preseason camp, first-year head coach Ezra Hendrickson told reporters on Wednesday. With his team unbeaten through four matches and showcasing much-improved play on the defensive side of the ball, it's served to change the conversation around the club, both nationally and among the fan base.
"I think it's great for us," Hendrickson said. "As a staff, what we talked about before preseason and during preseason was how important for us, because of the most recent years and the lack of success we've had here at the club, to get off to a good start. When there's a new regime or a new staff like that, it helps players' confidence, our confidence as a staff. It also helps get buy-in because like I said it's a new regime, it's a new staff.
"And when the fans see that, then they get buy-in," he added. "We have really, really good fans but they want to see good football and they want to see us win, they don't want to see teams lose. What I've heard a lot from the fans is that a lot of these games, even the 0-0 ties would have ended in defeat for us in past years. So that's the mentality that we've changed, not only with the staff and the players, but also with the fans, because now the fans are expecting us to go out and win games."
The small sample size caveat still applies and Hendrickson said there's much to improve upon ahead of Saturday's matchup with FC Dallas at Soldier Field (3:30 pm ET | Univision, TUDN, Twitter), where they will look to retain possession of the Brimstone trophy.
For the strides they've appeared to make defensively, the coach said he's looking for more dynamism in attack, particularly as it pertains to the integration of offseason mega-signing Xherdan Shaqiri.
"Going forward on the attack, I think getting from mid-third into the final third has to improve and that calls for guys running off the ball," Hendrickson said. "We have a player in Shaq who's really good at finding that final pass. But I think a lot of times when we need to get him the ball or when we do get him the ball, we're not running off the ball effectively so we can get on the end of his passes because he's very good at making that final pass. So that's something we as a team have to improve on. And that includes getting our outside backs forward a little bit more."
To truly show they've arrived as an Eastern Conference contender, Chicago must sustain the early-season momentum, something Hendrickson said his team is conscious of looking ahead to the rest of the season.
"One of the things I mentioned when I took the job was that there will be growing pains," he said. "Fortunately for us, we haven't run into any of those growing pains as of yet, but there's still a lot that we have to do, there's still a lot of things that we have to be better at as a team and as a staff. As a coach there's still things that I'd like to see done better. That's why we keep working day in and day out, every week. Yes, we're happy for a good start, but we're not satisfied.
"We know there's a lot better soccer that we can play. We feel like we should have won at least one more game, especially that Miami game. So, we're definitely not satisfied, we're happy, but we know that there's some weaknesses we have to improve on because we know what it takes to be playing come October/November and right now we still have a lot more to do to get to that point. So, yes, we're happy, but not satisfied."
