#zerboni | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

gaysoccerhorse · 2 years ago

Text

Week 5 NWSL Recap Musings

The players of the NWSL continue to bring me LIFE. We're on week 5 of the 2023 season, and it very much feels like teams are cohering and closing the gaps between the league's early topdawgs and those who have felt a bit dis-integrated.

Gotham FC v. KC Current

My team, Gotham FC, struggled against a tenacious Kansas City Squad. KC's attacking trio of the second half, spearheaded by Debinha and bolstered by Kizer and Cooper, forced the Gotham backline into a state of perpetual chaos. I'm excited to see KC's midfield line continue to gel, and by "excited" I mean scared shitless; Hailie Mace and LaBonta are building something special and tenacious. Gotham's midfield, notably Allie Long, looked swamped in their efforts to dictate play in the midfield matchups with KC. Long played some soft, gambling defense, but she wasn't the only one. Bruninha surprised me with a particularly off game. She looked like she was playing ungrounded. I know what that feels like as a player and I hope she lets this one be a motivator going forward, because I usually love watching Bruninha play.

Some positives for Gotham included Taylor Smith. I thought she played courageously, especially in the first half, with her inscrutable dynamism all over the pitch. Trying to track and predict her runs is no small task. And I was elated to see her cheeky attempt at chipping the keeper in the waning minutes of the 1st half. She was involved in many of Gotham's best looks.

My second positive was Abby Smith's performance. I hope she takes the first half as proof of how she can come up big in dicey moments. She made that crucial mistake in the second half leading to Debinha's first goal, but overall her performance was scintillating this weekend and I hope her coaches gas her up for that. I also hope she and the backline do some trust-building work and work on sealing up some strategy for when forward lines like KC tear across their channels.

Another positive was K . Mewis with her deliciously textured and precise balls slicing into the open channels. I want the team to cohere around this superpower to mount a unified, unpredictable attack. That is, when Gotham sees one of her epic slicers, the forwards and supporting mids need to be making generative runs to get those quick secondary balls to limit the opposition's ability to get organized. We haven't seen that type of connectivity from Gotham this season (not yet.)

Amoros has ostensibly been touting an "all for one and one for all" ethos for his team, wherein the defense builds in with the attack for maximum creativity and overloads, and the attack gets the f*&$ back on defense. I thought Gotham overall executed this in the first half, except for some disappointing moments where players stopped play before the whistle. It was this unfortunate tendency that I think contextualizes Abby Smith's ill-advised decision to leave her posts to try to clear a wide ball which would then lead to KC's first goal. Smith had played a heroic first half. But the defensive breakdowns were frequent; I hypothesize that a deterioration of trust between her and the wide backline led her to try to handle the deep and wide ball, an overbite which cost the Bats dearly.

And then the Current really sunk their teeth and lurched the defense from side to side like a dog with a chew toy. Debinha's sneaky cutting runs were perfectly timed. And Kelley O'Hara, subbed in at 64' got picked off by Hailie Mace who'd been in the whole game, making her look like the tired one. I resentfully admire Mace here--- I saw O'Hara hang her head for a moment, stunned at the merciless pickpocket. Good for her, and I hope O'Hara can clean up and quicken her checks to the ball, especially with the imminent determination of the World Cup roster.

Farrelly subbed out Zerboni in the 86th minute, which in my opinion was too late. Zerboni put in some great work, but Farrelly has the ability to instill composure and connectivity. I wish she had been given more time to do so. The defensive subs meant little without an injection of leadership and grit in the midfield. I would have liked to see Nighswonger sub out Allie Long. I know that Long is a veteran leader, but she had a pretty disconnected game and a more equal refreshment between the back line and the midfield, in my unqualified opinion, might have been more effective than taking Ellie Jean out, who had a strong showing.

There's gonna be lots of tape for Gotham to study from this. Go Bats.

I wish I had time to write about the Angel City v. Thorns game... I'm still not over Julie Ertz coming back and the 3-3 upset scoreline was thrilling to watch. But alas, gotta go to work.