Gotham 0 Louisville 0 Post Match Thoughts
Courtesy USA Today Sports Images
Louisville escaped New Jersey with a point and were frankly fortunate to get it. As presently composed, it's difficult to see this team as much of a playoff threat but this weekend's results mean that they are still in the hunt.
Four different midfields in four matches isn't ever going to work in the present set up. Gotham looked like they were organized and could plug and play pieces, but Louisville's can't afford to make 3 changes and retain any cohesion. I think it's likely a system issue. In fact, I'm not sure Louisville’s best 11 are its best XI. I believe that next season we will see a roster that may have fewer famous names and more players that work in the system. Kgatlana is tremendously talented, but is isolated too much for my taste. Wang can’t demonstrate consistency and Nadim can't stay healthy enough to be relied upon to be a key contributor. None of these things are the players’ fault, but you have to think that these next few matches could be their last ones representing Louisville. I think Björkegren has to figure out the best group of players to see out the remainder of the season. Injuries have forced his hand, but the fact is that this current group of available players hasn’t figured out how to play together yet, so they attempt to rely on individual brilliance. Louisville fired speculative shots multiple times in a demonstration that they didn't trust their teammates to make the right run in the box.
The defense played well, but the back four struggled to convert anything into an attacking move. A few long balls worked out late in the match when Kgatlana could use her speed, but she rarely had any other option other that to try to take on defenders one-on-one to try to get a shot. The best opportunity of the match came from a cross into the box from Milliet to Monaghan, but she decided to pass instead of shoot and DeMelo's shot was blocked.
Pikkujämsä, Holloway, and Lester performed well, but Louisville missed Pickett's attacking flair and Howell's ball winning ability. Holloway had a shocking 42% pass completion rate but did just about everything else well. However, it would be difficult to picture Pickett below 60% in her worst match. Louisville has to have a healthy Howell to have any kind of shot at winning matches consistently. At this point in the season, every team has injury issues so using it as an excuse doesn't ring true even if it is factual on its face. For as visually pleasing as Gotham played and they really seemed to understand and play well in Juan Carlos Amorós's system, it ultimately didn't pay off any more for them. However, I would say that they dealt with their absentees better than Louisville did.
I would propose that there is no more margin for error, but who knows? Not since the inaugural season has a team finished first in the standings with a below 50% winning percentage. As things stand right now Portland is in first place with a 47% winning percentage. Last year the OL Reign managed a 50% winning percentage, down from 53% in 2021 (Portland). The league like to market this as “Chaos”, which is one of my least favorite words. I have taken the advice of Tom Benson and treated the word “Choas” how the Smurfs use the word “Smurf”, in essence a catch-all term when they can’t come up with anything more descriptive. Let me propose an alternative theory to chaos and claim that every team in the NWSL is just about bang average for the league and the results point to it. In my opinion, that isn’t very exciting to watch (although I am sure many people disagree). This league needs its top teams to be better and frankly I can’t see how the Red Stars have 5 wins. It does make the league unpredictable, but in the most frustrating way possible. All of that to say that you can’t quite write off Louisville’s playoff chances, but it’s not through anything the team has done particularly well. It’s just that every other team has refused to slam the door shut on their chances.
