Adaptability has been a cornerstone of Chicago Fire head coach Veljko Paunovic's approach during his tenure with the club dating back to his winter 2015 arrival. In Saturday's 3-0 romp over the visiting New England Revolution, nowhere was that trait more on display than in the performance of forward Luis Solignac.
Solignac -- a No. 9 by trade -- put in one of his finest efforts in a Fire shirt, despite occupying a less familiar spot on the team's right wing. In a 72-minute outing, the Argentine helped give the Fire an early man advantage by drawing a New England ejection and additionally played key passes on both of the team's first two goals.
"I think it's a dream game," Solignac said of the team's performance. "Those games, sometimes you watch on TV and say, 'When am I going to have a game like this?' Dominating, having all the time the ball, possession. I feel really proud."
Solignac's play along the right touchline gave the Fire an edge before a goal was even scored. The 26-year-old forced New England defender Je-Vaughn Watson into a pair of clumsy, yellow card-inducing challenges just six minutes apart in the game's 21st and 27th minutes, ultimately leading to his ejection from the game.
"(It's) just being sharp, aggressive, and running all the time in behind," Solignac said. "It's not about movement, but it's being aggressive and being all the time ready to run. That's my key."
It took until the end of the first half for the Fire to capitalize on that one-man advantage, but it was Solignac -- cutting in from the right in the 45th minute -- that found midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger to set up the German Designated Player's second goal in three games and earn his first Fire assist.
Then, just moments after the second half began, Solignac struck again.
"The key was the second goal, the early goal, to kill the game and just control it. It was very important."
While he won't get credit for the assist on Nemanja Nikolic's goal, his ball in from the right put both Nikolic and Michael de Leeuw in a dangerous position to finish.
"I'm an attacking player," Solignac said. "I just try to do my best. Of course I say all the time that No. 9 is where I prefer, but if I have to play on the side, it's fine by me. They gave me some instructions, so I just try to do my best."
Without even getting on the scoresheet, the numbers back up the argument that Saturday's performance was one of Solignac's finest since his arrival in Chicago last August. According to Opta, Solignac's three chances created and 87.8% pass completion (34/39) are personal single-game highs with the club, and he added his first-ever Fire assist and drew the New England ejection to boot.
Deserving of equal credit for a solid outing from a not-as-familiar position was de Leeuw. The Dutchman -- traditionally employed centrally as some form of a No. 9 or 10 -- put in a a gritty 60-minute shift on the left wing and did a fair share of dirty work both ways to keep things moving. For Paunovic, the confidence displayed in his team's attacking depth and versatility paid off on the day.
"For today, we believed that both Michael and Lucho (Solignac) could give the team a certain amount of work offensively and defensively, and the consistency in doing that was very important for us," He said postgame. "I think the first and the second yellow card are coming from the consistency of attacking the wings. Then we exhausted the left flank of New England and we got what we wanted. We opened the game."
Solignac and the Fire will now prep for a three-match road trip, beginning with a trip to Toronto FC on Friday (April 21, 6:30 pm CT).
