Bastian Schweinsteiger has gotten off to a solid start with the Chicago Fire, scoring two goals and adding an assist in his first six games. In the six games, the Fire have a record of 2-2-2 and they currently sit in sixth place in the Eastern Conference.
Taking a look at the Audi Player Index shows us that, at least so far, the Fire go as Schweinsteiger goes. Generally, in the games he has played well in, the Fire have won. The games he has not, the Fire have not.
This is not an uncommon occurrence. When a top player plays well, his team generally does well. What you try to avoid is being overly reliant on one player.
The sample sizes are too small to judge if the Fire are overly reliant on Schweinsteiger, but so far the indications are that this could be the case. The Fire have plenty of quality players including Dax McCarty, Juninho, David Accam and Nemanja Nikolic, who should be more than capable of taking on the responsibility when Schweinsteiger has an off night.
Head coach Veljko Paunovic will be hoping that the German legend will not have an off night on Saturday night against the Seattle Sounders (9 pm ET; ESPN2, ESPN Deportes in US | MLS LIVE in Canada).
