The latest MLS Castrol Index player rankings are out! Marco Pappa is rated the highest on the Chicago Fire at 24th in the league. What might surprise you, is that defender Cory Gibbs is right behind him at 25th in the league. Diego Chaves, Gonzalo Segares, and Jalil Anibaba round out the top 5 on the Fire squad. With all this talk of a weak back line... the Chicago Fire defenders have shown well in the latest Castrol Rankings. Likely due to his early season struggles, Sean Johnson falls near the bottom of the index for the squad while Logan Pause remains higher than Paladini and Bone. Additionally surprising, is how low Mikulic is ranked in the index, behind Cuesta and the defenders mentioned above. Many supporters had quoted Mikulic as the strongest of the back four.
My guess as to why the defenders are ranked higher than expected, is due to the constant pressure they have been facing. This gives them more opportunities to make tackles and interceptions that add to their score, but the constant pressure doesn't bode well for the score line.
Complete Chicago Fire Squad Castrol Index after the break along with Castrol's video explanation of analysis...
