We gave teams a pass in week one of the 2019 Major League Soccer season, but now that the season is two weeks old, it is time to roll up our sleeves, dig deep and look at a some tactical observations from around the league. We are going to get into all sorts of topics from this past week’s MLS action: Good things, bad things and probably a handful of way-too-specific things. Let’s get started.



Chicago’s risk-averse center backs



The Chicago Fire’s 1-1 draw with Orlando City left me feeling unsatisfied. Yes, a point is better than nothing, but Chicago has the talent to be so much more than a team that barely manages to salvage a point at home against Orlando. Playing out of a 4-2-3-1 formation, the Fire have the potential to play some attractive, effective, attacking soccer.



They have goal-scoring strikers, a mixture of creativity, physicality and pace on the wings and a central midfield trio capable of dictating a game’s...