Louisville's End of Season Report Card
I attempted to do a report card piece last year, but I abandoned it for obvious reasons. This year I hope and expect a calmer offseason, but you never know. With these type of things, I always struggle with what kind of scale to use. I will spare you the internal debate and just say that I decided to use my usual Player Rating scale. Here is the range for some reference. A “10” would be an elite, MVP level season. A “6” is a met expectations like season. A “1” would be a catastrophic season where the player individually caused multiple losses while hurling abuse at the fans. Obviously there will be no “10"s or “1"s so the rankings will be in my normal 5-8 range. Why not just call it the “End of the Season Player Ratings”? Well, I want to expand my report card to include the coaching staff and GM.
Goalkeepers
Katie Lund-7: She might be the best keeper in the league from a stats and traditional goalkeeper-like things perspective. If you feel like that should warrant a higher rating you aren’t wrong, but the goalkeeper position is evolving and I would like to see her be more confident and accurate with her feet. She is also prone to lapses in concentration, which are probably the 2 things keeping her from the USWNT. Both of those things are fixable, so I expect an even better season from her next year. Since she wasn't called on to make as many saves this season, there are less highlights but that is a good thing. The highest praise that I can give her is that I would protect her in the expansion draft. If I were in charge of a team, I would have a general rule not protect any keepers in an expansion draft, but her tangibles are so much more valuable than the rest of the keepers in the league I would break it without thinking twice.
All others-N/A: If this team carries 4 keepers next year there should be a criminal investigation. To be fair, at no point this season did all four keepers count against Louisville's active roster. We honestly have no idea how any of the other keepers would do in an NWSL league match and if things go as planned we will never find out. One would assume that the club hoped to use one of the keepers to trade for roster protection, but I have a feeling that I'm not the only one who thinks you can find a keeper on another NWSL roster that will be unprotected. Louisville has many more desirable options for the 2 expansion clubs.
Defenders
Abby Erceg-8: My MVP and it isn't close. She brought stability to the back line and while she wasn't infallible, she was reliable. It never felt like the defense was held together with duct tape like the previous two seasons. To have her play every single minute in the league (along with Milliet) was vital to the defense's vast improvement from last year. She also scored some goals which is always a bonus for a defender, and she also captained the team 14 times either from the start or after Howell was subbed off. My favorite moment was her telling the touchline official what's what during the Orlando match. Maybe the team won't have to rely on her as much next season, but I expect that she will come through again if they do.
Carson Pickett-7: I was beyond excited when Louisville signed her and she had a fine season, but you have to admit that the team didn't get the most out of her strengths. Defensively she was probably better than advertised, but didn't find as many willing runners onto her final balls as she did in North Carolina. I talk in my (hopefully upcoming?) fourth quarter review for the State of Louisville about how Louisville's players need to work for each other more intentionally, and it is no more apparent than here. Many of her crosses needed willing runners and her teammates just didn't make them.
Lauren Milliet-7.5: i think we can put and end to the “playing out of position” narrative on Milliet. She may one day find herself back in the midfield, but the right back position is hers. The next coaching staff may decide to use her differently (whether that is sooner or later is unclear at the moment), and I expect her to do well there too. Milliet is a footballer in the best sense of the term. I think any player that has ever played with her would pick her for their “5-a-side” team. She just gives you effort and passion regardless of the role. Plus she has the skills to match. It is inevitable that she is going to have some mismatches on defense from time to time because all wing defenders do. Her biggest growth this year was to figure out how to overcome those and have a plan B.
Julia Lester-6: She was called on out of necessity this season versus being a full-time starter. Some of that was down to an injury she picked up in preseason and some of it was down to Pikkujämsä's play upon slotting in next to Erceg. She now finds herself as the 3rd choice center back, but still had 13 appearances and a decent amount of minutes. She played a key role, but is really probably best suited for a backup. However, she could also be taken in the expansion draft, which would put a dent in Louisville's roster. Her 2024 option has been exercised and I would like her to stick around for another season at least.
Elli Pikkujämsä-7: Elli filled in at multiple midfield roles this season, but primarily played at center back where she has the most value to the team. If she is playing in the holding or defensive midfielder role, you can just about guarantee that it means that she is filling in for an injury. I think Louisville is served by her flexibility to a great degree, but would be better served having someone else at #2 on the depth chart behind Howell at CDM. When Pikkujämsä moved to Howell's spot, there was a downgrade in 2 positions in my opinion. It was a slight one replacing Howell with her, but a more significant one on the back line, especially early in the season when Holloway was the replacement for her at center back. With all that said, she had a very good season and here's hoping she spends a full season in the same spot next year.
Rebecca Holloway-5.5: This is the toughest rating I had to give. Let's talk about the good first. She came into preseason camp and beat out Satara Murray on the depth chart at center back (which might have had to do more with Murray, but she beat her regardless). That meant that she was an opening day starter which was something I don't think anyone who watched her during the first season thought was possible. She played well enough in the first two matches playing out of her natural position while Howell was getting back to full health. She came in again when Pickett was out, and that is tough to do when you aren’t getting a steady run of games. But…she always seems to have a mistake in her game. Too many times a glaring error cost Louisville a goal, or gave the opponent an easy chance. That merits a .5 point downgrade in my book.
Midfielders
Jaelin Howell-6.5: Jae probably played well enough to earn a 7 based on the matches in which she played, but she just didn't play often enough. As stated with Pikkujämsä, her absence usually means 2 positions are downgraded if Elli steps in for her. It demonstrates her importance to the team. She handled her first-year captaincy well. She was a terrific ambassador for the club. Since her value to the team is so high, her absences yield her a .5 point downgrade.
Savannah DeMelo-7: She was easily the pre-World Cup MVP for the team, but she never reached those heights after returning from the USWNT. I think she tries to do too much, and if you happened to catch my post match piece on San Diego you might have a little more insight into what I am about to say here. When Sav and Thembi both play tilted to the left side you have 2 dribblers that are very unlikely to see each other once they start their dribbling attack. I think this tended to bog things down a bit. I think the league has enough footage on her now to know how she likes to play and how to defend her in open play. It will be on her to change things up a bit next season.
Ary Borges-7: Full disclosure: I was skeptical of all of Louisville's new international players this season before I saw them play in an NWSL match. I include Kgatlana in this group as she never played for Louisville until this season. Pikkujämsä proved herself to be up to the task of an NWSL center back, Kgatlana's speed was as advertised but she hasn't scored enough to be called an overwhelming success and we’ll get to Kanu later. Borges impressed me as soon as she took the pitch in her first match. There is no magic formula for having success when you move to a new league, but she acted and played like she belonged from the get go. She had a tiny dip in form after the World Cup, but other than that her first season was an unqualified success. It will be interesting to see how she is deployed going forward because if she can score by moving further forward, then that is definitely what the team needs from her next season.
Kayla Fischer-6.5: It was a solid first year for Racing's only 2023 draft pick to make an impact on the team (the NWSL needs to start to phase out the draft by cutting it to 2 rounds/28 picks). She could be the immediate beneficiary if Borges moves further forward. She always brought energy, but did have the “deer in headlights” look a couple of times on defense. She will outgrow that and hopefully be used more in year two. I also think that she might not know her best position yet, so there is still plenty of upside.
Maddie Pokorny-6.5: Always full of energy and exactly the type of player you want to being on for the last 30 minutes of a match, Pokorny was a shrewd addition by Ryan Dell. I think she returns for another season. She will likely not start unless there are injuries, but her value as a sub is too good to pass up.
Jordan Baggett-6: At some point bad luck with injuries turns into “injury-prone”. I hope that isn't the case with Baggett, but she has to stay healthy in 2024 to have any chance of having her option for 2025 picked up. It's easy to see her quality when she is on the pitch. Being an overall number 3 pick means that the talent is there, but on this team she is likely only going to see substitute minutes like she did this year (other than the Challenge Cup matches). Her injury timing coinciding with Howell's was suboptimal, but I think Björkegren was always going to prefer playing Pikkujämsä in midfield and Lester at center back over Baggett in midfield and Pikkujämsä at center back.
Taylor Aylmer-5: Will likely be remembered for her costly errors over anything else. I don't think she would have been signed to complete the season without the injuries to Howell and Baggett. I can't imagine she is with the team next sesson.
Alex Chidiac-5: Barely played and didn't make much of an impact. She was a victim of the increased squad depth and quality.
Wang Shuang-6.5: You never knew what you were going to get with Wang. Sometimes she was brilliant and sometimes she was invisible. She dazzled everytime I saw her in practice and I'm not sure why it didn't always translate to the pitch when in mattered. I don’t think she will be back in Louisville next season, but might hang around in the league. If she does, she is just the type of player to score every time she plays against Louisville. On a more technically and tactically disciplined team, she likely shines like a diamond.
Forwards
Paige Monaghan-7: When Paige arrived in Louisville there seemed to be some expectation that she would switch to a defensive role. She was even listed as a defender until midway through the season. Regardless, she played in her natural role and contributed 3 goals in the league and a goal and 2 assists in the Challenge Cup. She appeared in all 22 league matches logging 58% of the available minutes. In my mind that is a solid season, but the player Gotham picked at 4 (Louisville acquired Monaghan, $150,000 in allocation money and an international spot through this trade) was Jenna Nighswonger who arguably had a better season (77% of the available minutes and 3 goals from midfield). She also coined “Big Purp”, so she gets a bonus point for that.
Nadia Nadim-5: Dr. Nadim never seemed to fit into this season's set-up due to her injury recovery. That's not her fault, but she probably isn't part of Louisville's plans in 2024.
Thembi Kgatlana-6.5: “Pikachu” (Nadim's nickname for Thembi) came in with all kinds of energy, but as electric as she was at times she probably will be disappointed in her goal and assist return on the season. If she sticks around (I believe that wealthy European clubs may inquire about her availability this offseason, and one could make an offer that Dell shouldn't refuse) she will need to adapt to her teammates and vice versa. Additionally, she defends like she is actively trying to pick up a yellow card, so she will need to fix that too.
Emina Ekic-5: While I have lived in Louisville most of my life, I am not “from” here and therefore I don't have any kind of weird emotional attachment to my high school or any player that went to high school in Louisville. Renamed “Player X” and stripped of her background, I think people would be ready to move on. She was injured in Australia and had next to zero impact on Louisville's season. She still has time to turn things around, but may want to pursue playing time elsewhere to get back to her best.
Jessica McDonald-5: Jess can look back on a long and successful career, but she obviously wasn't able to contribute much on the field this season. She might have another season in her, but it will likely be in another league.
Parker Goins-6: Her goals/minute rate (.7 per 90 min) was the best on the team, but she only logged 387 minutes in 15 appearances in the league and cup. One of the expansion teams could take a flyer on her and try to turn her into CeCe Kizer, or she could stay here and try to fight her way up the depth chart. I would like to see he subbed on earlier in matches if she stays in Louisville in her current role.
Kirsten Davis-7: She needlessly dropped behind Nadim on the depth chart, but still contributed after that decision. She scored the most goals from open play, which in my mind makes her extremely valuable. I expect a jump again next season. I just think she needs the right coach/coaching. She would likely be helped, not hindered by adding an additional goal scorer to this team. If teams still played 4-4-2, she would be and ideal strike partner. She still needs to improve her decision making a bit, but when playing instinctually she seems consistently dangerous.
Uchenna Kanu-5: I don't know how you describe her season as anything other than disappointing. She lost her confidence early and I don't think she ever got it back. My gut tells me that the jump in competition was too much for her. Maybe she can rebound, but I wouldn't base my roster planning on it.
Staff
Kim Björkegren-5: I don't think Coach Björkegren did a “bad” job, but I do think it was a below league-average coaching performance, hence the rating. Talking to him one-on-one, you can see how well her understands the game and individual players strengths and weaknesses, but somehow I just don't think the players responded to his coaching, especially in the latter half of the season. We haven't seen an announcement from the club yet, but I can imagine that they could easily decide to mutually part ways. His contract is up, so he really can't be “fired” but in essence not renewing it achieves the same end. In my opinion, the players stopped listening to him. That's a condition where assigning blame or fault is pointless. There have been plenty of great coaches who have lost their team's trust and attention. This best intangible measuring stick I come come up with is Was the team better than the sum of its parts? In Louisville's case, I believe that the answer to that question was pretty clearly “No”. That accountability falls on the coach whether it's fair or not. Regardless if Coach Björkegren somehow keeps his job or not next season this club has to make the playoffs or whoever the coach is will surely be looking for new work.
Bev Yanez-6: The players seem to like her. The practices are better (in my limited observations) when she is there. However, tell me who made a huge leap forward. You can argue that Howell, Milliet, and Davis were improved, but was it so much that you couldn't call it natural growth? I think we'll be able to judge her more accurately next season, thus the neutral rating.
Sergio Gonzalez-6: Louisville's corners and set pieces were more effective this year than any previous year. Katie Lund was the top keeper in the league, so it's hard to say anything overtly negative about the job he has done in Louisville. However, where are the back post runners? Either it isn't being coached (which I highly doubt) or it hasn't been implemented effectively, which is likely a communication issue. I think some of the tuning out of coaching instructions probably bled over to set piece instructions. That isn't necessarily his fault, but it is in his purview, thus the average rating.
Ryan Dell-7: He hasn't had a full season yet, so this offseason will be the first chance to see what he can do from a squad building perspective (Baggett, Pokorny and Aylmer aside). On the communication front, he has been excellent. He is approachable at pretty much any time, (I bumped into him on the street and had 30 second conversation with him out of the blue not long after he started). He seems genuinely interested in the fans’ opinion and has actively worked to make it easier for the club to get a combined City/Racing ticket option for next season. The players seems to like him and trust him as well. I've told him multiple times (he asked) that the team needs to make the playoffs next season to keep the fans involved. I expect that he will do everything in his power to make it happen.
