Going into this game, FC Dallas Coach Luchi Gonzalez said his team had to get a result in Chicago to stay in the playoff race.

Which is why the 4-0 mauling they took at the hands of the Chicago Fire is so disappointing. This really was one of the poorest performances of the year. Dallas didn't look remotely close to scoring at any time.

With the loss, Dallas is now 8th in the West and out of the playoffs as things currently stand.

"First thing, I have to say sorry to our fans. Very disappointed. We let our fans down and we feel it. It hurts. So we have accept it, we have to own it, but there's some I know about this group is that they respond." - Luchi Gonzalez

Let's break it down.

Lineups and Tactics

Surprisingly, to me at least, Coach Gonzalez changed the team that had been playing like gangbusters, dropping Brandon Servania for Paxton Pomykal.

FC Dallas starting XI at Chicago Fire. (9-14-19) (FCD / FC Dallas)

After the debacle of a 1st half, Gonzalez pulled Jesus Ferreira for Servania. Gonzalez tried to spark his team with Santiago Mosquera for Dom Badji in the 66th minute. Then in the 76th minute pulled Michael Barrios for Jacori Hayes... which must be a move to rest Barrios for the stretch run cause it's sure not for offense.

Chicago played a 4-2-3-1 with Bastian Schweinsteiger as a center back.

The Chicago Fire starting XI vs FC Dallas. (9-14-19) (MLS / MLS)

As Schweinsteiger tired out, Chicago brought on Djordje Mihailovic for him in the 66th minute. Then took off the two-goal scorer C.J. Sapong for Aleksandar Katai in the 73rd minute. Finally it was Marcelo replacing Francisco Calvo in the 80th minute.

Goals

1-0 Chicago Fire goal. 7th minute. There are three mistakes on this giveaway gift. A bad initial pass from Reggie Cannon, a Matt Hedges misread of the weight as he shows wide for the Luchi-Ball possession, and a misread by Jesse Gonzalez who assumed Hedges was going to clean it up. CJ Sapong will never score an easier goal.

2-0 Chicago Fire goal. 16th minute. Brandt Bronico's cross isn't closed down by anyone and Ryan Hollingshead let's Przemyslaw Frankowski get inside him for the easy goal.

3-0 Chicago Fire goal. 29th minute. A Fire corner kick. CJ Sapong beats Reggie Cannon to the header and the ball beats Jesse Gonzalez to the near post.

4-0 Chicago Fire goal. 39th minute. The 2nd effort ball into the box by Przemyslaw Frankowski finds unmarked Nemanja Nikolic for the header. The Dallas backline was out of alignment as some players stepped up and others didn't.

Make it four!@niko_nemanja gets in on the goalfest 🎯 pic.twitter.com/YaGLTbPywb — Chicago Fire (@ChicagoFire) September 14, 2019

El Bueno

The blue shorts look great. So much better than all white.

Um... yeah, that's all I got.

El Camino del Medio

When the opposing striker is as slow as Zdenek Ondrasek you can start 35-year-old Bastian Schweinsteiger at center back.

Muy Feo

I could just pile on and name a whole bunch of bad, but what would be the point. So here's a couple that really stood out.

It seems clear that playing a 6 with two 8/10 hybrids doesn't really work. Particularly if that 6 isn't Carlos Gruezo. FCD desperately missed a linking player, something that Coach Gonzalez fixed at halftime bringing on Brandon Servania for a 6/8/10 look.

It looked like Chicago played their two wings quite wide, atop the FCD outside backs and then brought their outside backs up underneath. FCD failed as a group to shift back in their defensive 4-5-1 as both Dom Badji and Michael Barrios didn't come back and defend the wide spaces enough until it was too late. And no midfielder rotated out to cover. Those wide overloads contributed to several of the goals.

Zdenek Ondrasek is a striker that needs service, he's not going to create separation and score. He had 30 touches, I've seen worse, Badji only had 20, but only two of Ondrasek's actions came in the box. But that's not on him. FCD was really poor at creating those chances for him they have excelled at of late. Heck, Cobra had three key passes on the day, tied with Barrios for the most. He just couldn't get any play where it counts, in close in the box.

Reggie Cannon looked mentally fatigued. He was way off his usual excellent game. 76% passing? Come on, he averages 85%. One cross, 1 for 6 on long balls, and didn't get down the line hardly at all.

FCD really missed Bryan Acosta's passing. Edwin Cerrillo was ok and did what he does, plugging up the middle and covering a lot of ground. But his best passing is to quickly find short passes to guys who can link... and FCD was kind of link'less in the first half. On the season Cerrillo passes at a higher clip than Acota, 92% to 87%... but it's the longer connections to the wings that are missing. Check out the charts and notice the Acosta longer passes to where Barrios and Badji are against FC Cincinnati.

Edwin Cerrillo passing vs Chicago Fire (left) and Bryan Acosta vs FC Cincinnati (right). (MLS / MLS)

In a game they were getting stomped, there was only one yellow card given in just the 5th minute when Pomykal kicked Schweinsteiger. Plus Dallas only committed 10 fouls. That's not a lot of fight in a team looking for the final playoff spot.

All right, that's enough. Let's move on.

Next Game

FC Dallas travels to Seattle for a Wednesday match against the Seattle Sounders. Seattle is 2nd in the Western Conference but only 6 points ahead of FC Dallas. Kickoff is set for 9:30 pm CT on Texas 21.

The good news is FC Dallas still controls their own fate. Win out - as unlikely as that is when they have a 3-10-2 road record - and they are in the playoffs.

"A lot of us are going to say we're going to put this game behind us, but we still have to look at the video and learn from our mistakes. We know there's a quick turnaround from here to Wednesday. We have to have the right mentality to learn from this game but also put it behind us and look forward for the next opportunity." - Edwin Cerrillo