Charlotte FC Stock Up, Stock Down: The DPs power Charlotte FC into playoffs, Smith finds the course correction

By Brian Maurer

Photo Courtesy of Cisco Art

Charlotte FC clinched a home playoff game for the first time in club history last night versus the Chicago Fire. While the result was historical, the match was a bit of a needless roller coaster. Charlotte's attackers put on a show with some spectacular moments while the team also lost its composure.1

They walked away with the result and clinched a playoff berth. Their primary goal of the season was achieved. Now it's time to aim higher.

Here is the midweek's stock up, stock down:

Stock up

The DP front three

Karol Świderski, Liel Abada, and Pep Biel have all been under serious scrutiny since the Leagues Cup. The attack had been flat and much of the early season momentum was lost. During the last three games, the Designated Players have started to find their rhythm, and against Chicago, these three put on quite a show.

Świderski's first goal was one of the best team goals ever seen in Bank of America Stadium. It was clever interplay and flair in the box between the Polish international and Biel which led to Świderski's one-touch finish and opened the floodgates for more classy goals.

The three DPs have combined for six of the team's nine goals during their most recent three-game unbeaten streak. They have begun to rack up their tally against some of the weaker teams in the Eastern Conference. They need to maintain that momentum and ride it into the playoffs when they face top-tier competition.

Dean Smith

When a team loses momentum and wonders off course, the manager must find a solution to the problem. This was the major question asked of Dean Smith after Charlotte lost three in a row and went winless for six straight in MLS play.

The primary changes Smith made during their most recent three-game run were to add high work-rate midfielders Brandt Bronico and Júnior Urso into the starting eleven together alongside Ashley Westwood, and to shift Tim Ream over to left-back and return Andrew Privett to his center-back role.

These shifts have allowed the attacking three to stay up a bit higher with a bit more stability behind. It has also allowed Biel to drift in and attack the box while Nathan Byrne occupies the right wing. So far this shift has done well, but they have only faced one true test as a unit. Once this group plays in the playoffs we will truly see how well this structure holds up.

All you can do is play the teams in front of you, and Smith made the necessary changes against those teams and earned the necessary results to get the team feeling the momentum starting to build once again.

October Charlotte is the best Charlotte

Historically, October is Charlotte's best month. They are now 5-2-2 all-time in October which is 1.89 points per game. With two favorable matches remaining the Crown has an opportunity to build on that high average.

Stock down

Defensive woes

Charlotte FC has been dependent on their defense for most of the season. They have only kept one clean sheet in their last 13 MLS matches and have also been very dependent on Kristijan Kahlina standing on his head. It seems Charlotte has sacrificed about of their defensive stability to start finding goals but a successful run in the playoffs will require them to be stable while also able to find goals. The amount of attacking volume they are currently giving up will likely be more punishing against a good playoff opponent.

Losing emotional composure

While Charlotte FC looked resoundingly better than Chicago for much of the night, they still lost their composure at times. This led to goals against, and yellow cards as the team felt hard done by the referees. While the calls could be brought into question the coach and players will need to do a better job of keeping their composure in the playoffs. A better team will take advantage of them for losing their control the way they did drawing the amount of pointless yellow cards against the worst team in the Eastern Conference.