While it felt wonderful to rescue a point and deny ACFC two of them at the last minute, we really should have done better. This draw felt like the fault of coaching. We didn't have our strongest lineup out there, with players out of position (Sugita and Sinclair as forwards), weird subs (leave in Sinclair, who was visibly tired and jogging around the field, and remove Dunn?!), and don't get me started on that Ertz goal. How many times in her career has she scored that goal anyway? Why was no one tracking her run? Did the team not spend the last week practicing defending that very goal? It reminded me all too much of Sawa's last-minute goal in the 2011 World Cup: defenders standing around like statues watching a corner kick while an attacker makes a diagonal run to get in front of everyone and tip the ball into the net.
In the bigger picture, we have the strongest roster in the league (Reign is close, but I think we edge them) and we should win a home game against a team like Angel City pretty handily. That we had to rely on a goalkeeper goal with seconds left in the game to eke out a draw is not a good sign.
Also, great to see Menges starting alongside Hubly. I hope Menges can get her minutes up to a full 90'.
- Bixby's goal helped offset some of her earlier gaffes. She really could have done better on the first two goals, and in particular her poor play on high crosses is a major weakness. (Her only major other weakness is retreating from through-balls that she could easily get.)
- How was Ertz's body slam on the second goal not yellow card, and not even a foul? There's this weird thing that refs do in that a goal getting scored seems to change the standard of what's a foul. Like, you can leap up over top of a defender to head the ball into the net, but if you did the same thing at the midline, the ref would rightly call a foul on you. Ertz's crash into Bixby was another example. Why do goals cancel out fouls?
- This ref was driving me nuts. He had the "no blood no foul" attitude for the most part, which was bad enough, but then he'd call a foul on fairly light contact. There was little consistency.
- Moultrie's pass to Weaver for the goal was a thing of beauty. In fact, that entire sequence was terrific - Moultrie's perfectly-weighted, perfectly-aimed pass, Weaver's first touch to get around Haračić, and Weaver's shot were all wonderful.
- Speaking of Weaver, she had a great game overall. Is Weaver slowly getting better technically? She's always had these kinds of touches in her (e.g., her goal to win the ICC two years ago), but they were rare; now I think they're happening more often, though I could be mistaken.
- I thought Rocky was pretty good too, though she too suffered from the "pass straight to the other team" disease that afflicted our entire midfield.
- How many NWSL teams have had goalkeepers score goals? Now we've had two!
- We gave up more goals today (3) than we had previously all season (2). Is this the Sauerbrunn Effect?
- We relinquished our lead in goals-against, as several teams have 3 or 4, though we still lead in goals-for and goal difference.
Bixby didn’t have a great match - thanks for the goal, tho! - but…
On the Thompson goal Hubly got absolutely torched, leaving Thompson to bore in unhindered and she’s deadly in the situation. Bixby shouldn’t concede her near post, tho, so call that 50% in Bixby.
On Johnson’s Ertz cleaned her out; that should have been a foul and no-goal. Nothing on Bixby there.
On the Ertz goal that’s a tough save; short range hard flick, maybe a quarter of the time the keeper can throw a hand out to block it…but that’s a goal that the defenders have to stop getting to Ertz’s head; call that one 50% on Bixby, too.
I don’t like how hesitant Bixby is claiming crosses, either. But I wonder if part of that is her build. She’s not very muscular, and I wonder if she has trouble fighting her way through the scrum, so she tends not to try?
Bella gave up two at the near post, but as you say, the Ertz goal was close range and difficult to stop. However, not being at the near post in the first place is a bit of a problem. The free kick was coming from that side, and her initial position was wonky. Nadine's got some work to do. Still, grabbing that late equalizer makes up for a lot.
Other notes:
AC's second goal not being overturned by VAR is a joke. The foul on Bixby could hardly have been more obvious.
Thompson's opener was well-times: they countered as Kuikka was upfield with the attack, and no way Hubly was ever going to stay with Thompson. Kelli's not slow, but not at that level of pace. But then as said above, Bella got beat near post. Very save-able goal...
Hina's PK was everything you'd expect from her: calm and perfectly placed, just enough pace to make it impossible to stop, even guessing the right way.
Moultrie's assist on Weaver's goal (which was finished perfectly) was superb. Olivia de Bruyne...
Frankly, if I'm Bixby I want Hubly to put her shoulder into Thompson and try to run her off the ball. You're right - she's never going to stay with her - so she's got to at least try to slow Thompson down or push her wide to let the rest of the backline recover.
But on the replay Bixby looks worse than she did live; badly positioned, weak dive. So more like 75% on her for that one. GOT to be better - she gets near-posted too often.
On the Ertz goal - I couldn't see this in real time - Bixby's there! She's positioned right, and even throws an arm up, but the shot's too pacey and just a seeing-eye bullet.
Oh, and to make matters worse on AC's second? I just looked at the NWSL site and the scorer overturned the Thompson award; it's being called an OG on Kuikka. Not Natu's night...
I didn't notice if Hubly was the last field player back on that one...perhaps worried about a DOGSO red? Otherwise, yeah, she should have accepted a yellow and stopped that attack.
I looked at the Ertz goal on replay, too...I think her positioning was a but (to her) left of ideal, but it was indeed close enough to make the block. Just not enough time. I don't really mind that goal: it was a well-executed play by AC. Sometimes you can defend pretty well and just get beat by good offense.
Norris' substitution decisions seem a bit wonky...but not bizarrely so. I think we just have to get used to Sincy being left out there for a good 15 minutes or more _after_ she's obviously gassed. It is what it is.
Another thing I noticed was a pretty off game by Kling. Lots of bad passes and out of sync with teammates. And those two into-the-stands shots in rapid succession were frustrating: on both of them her head was coming up literally before her foot hit the ball. If it had been a tee shot in golf, she'd have whiffed completely. Shockingly bad technique for a veteran you'd expect _not_ to get over-excited in the heat of the moment.
Smith coming back from the Baseball Draft, she needed a rest. Sauerbrunn out with a foot injury, fine. The starting lineup more or less picks itself.
I don't know if Menges is cleared for 90 yet. Nally coming in is fine. Moultrie for Dunn when Sinclair or Rocky was available, eh not my pick but there are many reasons I don't have the job.
Kuikka almost lost us all three points and came very close to a second yellow in practically no time at all. Otherwise did okay on the attack from my memory was mostly okay on defense.
Weaver was eating acres of space on the side doing her best and getting some decent cutbacks out of it. Great combination with Moultrie to take the lead we couldn't hold.
Ertz trying to make up for plowing threw Dunn, did a rather good job of doing that.
I was wondering pregame who is taking a PK with a Smith out. Cool and collected by Hina.
Bella Bixby Backheal! The greatest tie i have ever seen. I did not watch the Betos tie.
Hubly got burned by Thompson on the first goal.
Passes were going everywhere but to teammates. But for set pieces ACFC can't hit much to make it matter. I was a little relieved ACFC scored the 3rd given how much contact she took on the second. Drawing and that goal being the cause would have made me very unhappy.
Seeing how the game ended I am still ecstatic with the result. Thorns and Spirit only undefeated teams left.
Well we played a mediocre game, but our biggest rivals did too: Reign tied Louisville, Washington tied lowly Chicago, and SD *lost by two goals* to freaking *Orlando*, who had previously lost every single game this year. So we still top the table. At least for today; Gotham will pass us if they win their game in hand tomorrow, and that seems likely as it's against KC.
Somehow Gotham doesn't worry me a lot. Maybe I should start paying them more attention.
Sometimes you get lucky. But good teams make their own luck, and we were not very good for much of this match. I’ll grab that point and run like a thief! But I hope Norris had a better plan than we saw tonight.
I don't understand the whole plan tonight. Don't start your best team and then make sure your best players don't play together. Baffling. Win the game in front of you.
I thought it was a foul on TV, especially when they showed the replay. Ertz goes into Bixby who is going for the ball, and then Kuikka/ACFC Player knocks the ball into the goal. I don't know how they didn't review that one, seemed obvious from my POV. Should have been reviewed at least.
I think it made sense to pull out probably our two smallest players given how physical this game was trending.
On that track, given Ertz's early yellow and the increasingly hostile tone of the match, I'm disappointed that Norris didn't have us concertedly go at Ertz to try and rile her up and incite a 2nd.
That's true, and Moultrie more than justified her entrance with that lovely slide-rule pass.
Still not sure I wouldn't rather have had Menges out there; she's a backline organizer, and both the last two concessions (if you overlook the impossible-to-overlook Ertz foul) were largely on poor defensive organization on set pieces...
Damn but our defending looks appalling. Poor tackles, slack marking, people getting torched (Hubly) or coughing the ball up 30 yards from goal (Menges).
It’s the midfield again too- Sam doesn’t quite look like Sam, and Sinc is too slow and too attacking to play that other 8. Gonna be an issue against better teams.
Well that is unfortunate RLFC! Up 2-0 at the half and then Racings best player this year (Demelo) gets a red and they have to play most of the second half down one and then give up the tying goal.
While it felt wonderful to rescue a point and deny ACFC two of them at the last minute, we really should have done better. This draw felt like the fault of coaching. We didn't have our strongest lineup out there, with players out of position (Sugita and Sinclair as forwards), weird subs (leave in Sinclair, who was visibly tired and jogging around the field, and remove Dunn?!), and don't get me started on that Ertz goal. How many times in her career has she scored that goal anyway? Why was no one tracking her run? Did the team not spend the last week practicing defending that very goal? It reminded me all too much of Sawa's last-minute goal in the 2011 World Cup: defenders standing around like statues watching a corner kick while an attacker makes a diagonal run to get in front of everyone and tip the ball into the net.
In the bigger picture, we have the strongest roster in the league (Reign is close, but I think we edge them) and we should win a home game against a team like Angel City pretty handily. That we had to rely on a goalkeeper goal with seconds left in the game to eke out a draw is not a good sign.
Also, great to see Menges starting alongside Hubly. I hope Menges can get her minutes up to a full 90'.
Other thoughts:
- Bixby's goal helped offset some of her earlier gaffes. She really could have done better on the first two goals, and in particular her poor play on high crosses is a major weakness. (Her only major other weakness is retreating from through-balls that she could easily get.)
- How was Ertz's body slam on the second goal not yellow card, and not even a foul? There's this weird thing that refs do in that a goal getting scored seems to change the standard of what's a foul. Like, you can leap up over top of a defender to head the ball into the net, but if you did the same thing at the midline, the ref would rightly call a foul on you. Ertz's crash into Bixby was another example. Why do goals cancel out fouls?
- This ref was driving me nuts. He had the "no blood no foul" attitude for the most part, which was bad enough, but then he'd call a foul on fairly light contact. There was little consistency.
- Moultrie's pass to Weaver for the goal was a thing of beauty. In fact, that entire sequence was terrific - Moultrie's perfectly-weighted, perfectly-aimed pass, Weaver's first touch to get around Haračić, and Weaver's shot were all wonderful.
- Speaking of Weaver, she had a great game overall. Is Weaver slowly getting better technically? She's always had these kinds of touches in her (e.g., her goal to win the ICC two years ago), but they were rare; now I think they're happening more often, though I could be mistaken.
- I thought Rocky was pretty good too, though she too suffered from the "pass straight to the other team" disease that afflicted our entire midfield.
- How many NWSL teams have had goalkeepers score goals? Now we've had two!
- We gave up more goals today (3) than we had previously all season (2). Is this the Sauerbrunn Effect?
- We relinquished our lead in goals-against, as several teams have 3 or 4, though we still lead in goals-for and goal difference.
Bixby didn’t have a great match - thanks for the goal, tho! - but…
On the Thompson goal Hubly got absolutely torched, leaving Thompson to bore in unhindered and she’s deadly in the situation. Bixby shouldn’t concede her near post, tho, so call that 50% in Bixby.
On Johnson’s Ertz cleaned her out; that should have been a foul and no-goal. Nothing on Bixby there.
On the Ertz goal that’s a tough save; short range hard flick, maybe a quarter of the time the keeper can throw a hand out to block it…but that’s a goal that the defenders have to stop getting to Ertz’s head; call that one 50% on Bixby, too.
I don’t like how hesitant Bixby is claiming crosses, either. But I wonder if part of that is her build. She’s not very muscular, and I wonder if she has trouble fighting her way through the scrum, so she tends not to try?
Bella gave up two at the near post, but as you say, the Ertz goal was close range and difficult to stop. However, not being at the near post in the first place is a bit of a problem. The free kick was coming from that side, and her initial position was wonky. Nadine's got some work to do. Still, grabbing that late equalizer makes up for a lot.
Other notes:
AC's second goal not being overturned by VAR is a joke. The foul on Bixby could hardly have been more obvious.
Thompson's opener was well-times: they countered as Kuikka was upfield with the attack, and no way Hubly was ever going to stay with Thompson. Kelli's not slow, but not at that level of pace. But then as said above, Bella got beat near post. Very save-able goal...
Hina's PK was everything you'd expect from her: calm and perfectly placed, just enough pace to make it impossible to stop, even guessing the right way.
Moultrie's assist on Weaver's goal (which was finished perfectly) was superb. Olivia de Bruyne...
Frankly, if I'm Bixby I want Hubly to put her shoulder into Thompson and try to run her off the ball. You're right - she's never going to stay with her - so she's got to at least try to slow Thompson down or push her wide to let the rest of the backline recover.
But on the replay Bixby looks worse than she did live; badly positioned, weak dive. So more like 75% on her for that one. GOT to be better - she gets near-posted too often.
On the Ertz goal - I couldn't see this in real time - Bixby's there! She's positioned right, and even throws an arm up, but the shot's too pacey and just a seeing-eye bullet.
Oh, and to make matters worse on AC's second? I just looked at the NWSL site and the scorer overturned the Thompson award; it's being called an OG on Kuikka. Not Natu's night...
I didn't notice if Hubly was the last field player back on that one...perhaps worried about a DOGSO red? Otherwise, yeah, she should have accepted a yellow and stopped that attack.
I looked at the Ertz goal on replay, too...I think her positioning was a but (to her) left of ideal, but it was indeed close enough to make the block. Just not enough time. I don't really mind that goal: it was a well-executed play by AC. Sometimes you can defend pretty well and just get beat by good offense.
Norris' substitution decisions seem a bit wonky...but not bizarrely so. I think we just have to get used to Sincy being left out there for a good 15 minutes or more _after_ she's obviously gassed. It is what it is.
Another thing I noticed was a pretty off game by Kling. Lots of bad passes and out of sync with teammates. And those two into-the-stands shots in rapid succession were frustrating: on both of them her head was coming up literally before her foot hit the ball. If it had been a tee shot in golf, she'd have whiffed completely. Shockingly bad technique for a veteran you'd expect _not_ to get over-excited in the heat of the moment.
Gotham move to the top of the table with a win tomorrow. Let that sink in.
Kristie is OK with 3rd. Lynn wants the top. Minute 27.10 @ Snacks E5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwAzAZTBvP0
Smith coming back from the Baseball Draft, she needed a rest. Sauerbrunn out with a foot injury, fine. The starting lineup more or less picks itself.
I don't know if Menges is cleared for 90 yet. Nally coming in is fine. Moultrie for Dunn when Sinclair or Rocky was available, eh not my pick but there are many reasons I don't have the job.
Kuikka almost lost us all three points and came very close to a second yellow in practically no time at all. Otherwise did okay on the attack from my memory was mostly okay on defense.
Weaver was eating acres of space on the side doing her best and getting some decent cutbacks out of it. Great combination with Moultrie to take the lead we couldn't hold.
Ertz trying to make up for plowing threw Dunn, did a rather good job of doing that.
I was wondering pregame who is taking a PK with a Smith out. Cool and collected by Hina.
Bella Bixby Backheal! The greatest tie i have ever seen. I did not watch the Betos tie.
Hubly got burned by Thompson on the first goal.
Passes were going everywhere but to teammates. But for set pieces ACFC can't hit much to make it matter. I was a little relieved ACFC scored the 3rd given how much contact she took on the second. Drawing and that goal being the cause would have made me very unhappy.
Seeing how the game ended I am still ecstatic with the result. Thorns and Spirit only undefeated teams left.
Well we played a mediocre game, but our biggest rivals did too: Reign tied Louisville, Washington tied lowly Chicago, and SD *lost by two goals* to freaking *Orlando*, who had previously lost every single game this year. So we still top the table. At least for today; Gotham will pass us if they win their game in hand tomorrow, and that seems likely as it's against KC.
Somehow Gotham doesn't worry me a lot. Maybe I should start paying them more attention.
Gotham are undefeated, yes, but 3 wins with only 5 goals and 2 of those against Orlando... I don't know, i just don't see that as very scary.
That's NWSL baby!
None of the top teams looked good today.
Not sure that makes me feel better.
Sometimes you get lucky. But good teams make their own luck, and we were not very good for much of this match. I’ll grab that point and run like a thief! But I hope Norris had a better plan than we saw tonight.
I don't understand the whole plan tonight. Don't start your best team and then make sure your best players don't play together. Baffling. Win the game in front of you.
Funny they showed Betos header goal n an earlier game. History repeats.
“…the second time as farce.”
Nah, ACFC's second goal was tragedy and the third was farce.
Lmfao we do not deserve that even a little bit
I’m okay with that after the Ertz foul on their second. But, yes. That was a very poor game from Portland.
Ummmm. Did that just happen??
Well THAT was insane!
There needs to be some serious thinking after this. This was a preventable draw. Lots of issues to address.
A what now? WOOO!!
Edited to reflect the utter fucking weirdness
Draw or lose, this has been awful all around- don’t know if I’ve ever seen so many misplaced passes
Haracic down…???
Leon for Rodriguez
Not looking good. Eight minutes and change and down a goal, and nothing really coherent in attack.
Classic thorns on set pieces good lord
Now Ertz puts AC ahead on another setpiece.
Can someone watching on tv tell us whether that should’ve stood?
I thought it was a foul on TV, especially when they showed the replay. Ertz goes into Bixby who is going for the ball, and then Kuikka/ACFC Player knocks the ball into the goal. I don't know how they didn't review that one, seemed obvious from my POV. Should have been reviewed at least.
It should not have. Ertz kept Bella from raising her hands. Clear foul.
Reply here looked bad. Ertz threw her body at Bixby, no attempt to play the ball.
Ertz was already on a yellow. I thought that was another one
Meh. Not sure given that it wasn’t even whistled up. Thought it looked like a pretty obvious foul, yellow or not.
No idea how that stands.
Can’t tell if that was a foul or not, but that’s two on Bella
Ertz cleaned her out pretty good…
Ertz takes Bixby out and Katie Johnson equalizes.
Poor defending on the corner , tho.
Okay…now is not the time to get shifty in back!
Well, Moultrie and Weaver had something to say about that “play for a draw” shit.
Doesn’t get much better than that
Holy fuck what a pass moultrie!
Olivia de Bruyne...
This is a 4-1-2-1-2....not sure about it
Feels like we’re playing for the draw.
Nah, very much not- they’re just not playing well.
Weird. 56th minute triple sub; Smith for Sugita (mmmokay…), Moultrie for Dunn (why?), Nally for Menges (WHYYYY?)
I think it made sense to pull out probably our two smallest players given how physical this game was trending.
On that track, given Ertz's early yellow and the increasingly hostile tone of the match, I'm disappointed that Norris didn't have us concertedly go at Ertz to try and rile her up and incite a 2nd.
That's true, and Moultrie more than justified her entrance with that lovely slide-rule pass.
Still not sure I wouldn't rather have had Menges out there; she's a backline organizer, and both the last two concessions (if you overlook the impossible-to-overlook Ertz foul) were largely on poor defensive organization on set pieces...
Damn but our defending looks appalling. Poor tackles, slack marking, people getting torched (Hubly) or coughing the ball up 30 yards from goal (Menges).
It’s the midfield again too- Sam doesn’t quite look like Sam, and Sinc is too slow and too attacking to play that other 8. Gonna be an issue against better teams.
The division of work is uneven; Dunn and Sinc aren’t doing much defending (and Sinc’s pace is showing, yes…) so Coffey is overloaded…
I was hoping Rocky would help, but she hasn’t really. Think it’s more of a Sinc/Dunn issue
No, it’s Rocky, too. She’s been shockingly useless.
Of course as soon as I type that she makes a couple of great tackles.
Alright we probably don’t deserve to be level, put Soph in and let’s be done with NFTFC
Gotta say, Ertz looks like Ertz. Credit to her
(Including the tackle on the PK)
Well that was fun to watch. Weird.
Wrong thread lol
Hina converts. 1-all
Ertz chops Dunn in the penalty area.
Our center backs are not having a terrific night.
Thankfully ACFC is struggling with crosses after beating the outside back.
Thompson utterly torched Hubly on the goal, so no cross needed. But Natu isn’t handling Thompson well, either.
Agree. I was talking about the rest of the half.
Thompson is like 75% of what it must be like playing Soph and the thorns are not handling it well
Their press is working like damnation aided by some truly sloppy touches.
Well, shit. Thompson beats Hubly like a drum and then Bixby to her near post. Down a goal in the 10th minute.
Christ Bella
Turnovers are killing us.
That was ugly.
Well that is unfortunate RLFC! Up 2-0 at the half and then Racings best player this year (Demelo) gets a red and they have to play most of the second half down one and then give up the tying goal.
“Racing To Find A Way To Drop Points”; the Louisville Story!
Gotta give the AC traveling supporters their props; they lugged the big drum all the way from La Brea. Serious South End thunder.
So no Smith. Sinc-Weaver-Hina up front, Rocky in the Sinc spot. Menges for Sauerbrunn.
I’m kind of…okay? Hopefully Sinc comes off before the hour.