Racing 0 Wave 0 Post Match Thoughts
Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Shaw
Four draws in four matches isn’t the ideal way to start a season, but Racing fought back from a lackluster first half to make the second one much more entertaining. The team still needs to find a way to put two good halves together, but a squad that is getting healthier in attack gives Coach Yanez some options as the season progresses.
I mentioned in my first player rating post of the season that I likely needed some time to figure out how to evaluate Taylor Flint. She doesn’t necessarily play like a traditional midfielder, so that took some getting used to from me. I still stand by my earlier ratings of her performances, but now knowing what to expect and what not to expect allows me to more fairly rate her performances. I don’t think any reasonable person can disagree that her performance last night was clearly her best yet. Earlier in the week, the club tweeted out a graphic demonstrating her “impact” in the first few matches. Being that it was messaging from the club, it was clearly slanted to show the statistical categories where she excelled. Even so, I was surprised that she was at the top in so many categories. I tend to think of a midfielder’s role as a player that stiches things together, but Taylor’s strengths are clearly in disrupting things. Once I wrapped my head around that, I saw her most recent match much differently. Don’t get me wrong, she is still learning how to stitch herself into the possession fabric of the team, but when it comes to disrupting the opponent, she is clearly becoming a true force. If she can continue to improve her offensive touches, (and they were clearly better in this match) she could be an even bigger force.
Savannah DeMelo on the other hand is still looking to find her form. She is the team’s offensive engine, but a couple of times in the match she slowed down things when speed would have been more prudent. If we are honest with ourselves, she hasn’t been the same since her absence from the team to play in the World Cup. It’s difficult to say if one thing has anything to do with the other, but the drop in form has been noticeable. Racing needs her to recapture her early career form. She will never be a liability on the pitch, and the team is clearly better with her on the field, but she has to learn to play with this group of players because at the moment her teammates are getting into better scoring positions than she is. Perhaps her early success led to her feeling that she has to do too much. Honestly, if she gets her head up a little more when she is on the ball, she will be fine.
The crowd was really good last night, but it took some questionable officiating to really get them involved. Flint’s goal was correctly ruled offside, but there were some other baffling decisions that disrupted the flow of the match. Personally, I don’t think they were enough to impact the outcome, but you would always rather be unaware of the officiating crew that blatantly aware of them.
The first half attack for Racing was anemic, so it was good to see Bev pull the trigger on a halftime sub with Sears entering for Turner. Things immediately got better, and Sears had a couple of good looks early in the second half. Borges had a brief cameo and was close to scoring but a fantastic save from Sheridan prevented a storybook return. I guess the message is that the attacking options off the bench look to be good enough to change matches.
