Racing 2 Pride 2 Post Match Thoughts
Opening matches are sometimes difficult to parse, especially when there is a new coach/system in place. I think Racing has plenty of room for improvement after a very interesting first match under Bev Yanez.
To my eyes, Racing didn’t look drastically different in their style of play when compared to last season. Maybe they were a little quicker in attack. Regardless, what stood out to me in the first half at least was Racing’s commitment to building from the back. The Racing players exhibited patience for the most part on the ball deep in their own territory. There was an occasional misplaced pass that tended to invite pressure from Orlando, but the team didn’t panic and held their ground for the most part. That being said, this team is not very good at building from the back yet. At least half of the Premier League tries to play the way Racing does, (starting with short passes from the goalkeeper, looking to keep possession and progress up the pitch with high percentage passes), but none of them got it right overnight. The teams at the top of the league make it look easy. The rest of the teams that attempt it often look foolish when they try it against better competition. The keys when playing out from the back is getting the 10 to drop deep to vary the attacking points and to have a 6 that can progress the ball up the pitch by multiple means. We have seen what Sav can do, and she was deep to start the movement for the opening goal. I am not convinced that the Baggett/Flint partnership is the right one to play this way. Bagget never seemed deeply involved in the possession or buildup and Flint’s body position when she received the ball too often led to a “return to sender” pass. Those aren’t always bad because sometimes they create space, but in this match didn’t lead to much. Personally, I think Flint is playing out of position. It’s early, so I am willing to give her the benefit of the doubt and she will probably look much different when Howell is fit enough to play along beside her. Based on her first half performance, I was surprised she lasted the full 90. Coaches often see things that we don’t and after the match Bev assessed her performance positively.
Uchenna Kanu put in a performance that I thought merited a Player of the Match recognition, but that award went to Elexa Bahr, who was just as deserving. Kanu looked like a different player from last season, and her work rate on the defensive end impressed me as much as her goal. More than once she used her physicality to muscle a Pride player off the ball and win possession. On her goal she demonstrated patience to stay onside and poise to place the ball past the Orlando keeper. Hopefully, it is a good sign of things to come from her. By all accounts she had a tremendous preseason, so here’s to hoping her good run of form continues.
Elexa Bahr scored on her debut, and it was a fine goal. However, she had the fewest touches of any Racing starter along with Turner (who also had a great debut.) What was frustrating to me (and I think had to be to her to some degree although she didn’t overly vocalize it) was that she was in loads of space quite frequently, but her teammates couldn’t find her. Part of the time, this was due to the Pride effectively applying ball pressure to Racing’s midfielders. After the match Bahr did express that if they could have found a way to play just a little quicker, that she felt that she could have exploited the space that the Pride was giving her even more. In future matches, I think her spacing and runs will present Howell and Pikkujämsä opportunities to find her with a long ball. I think there will be a real battle for starting minutes on the front line this season.
There were quite a few positives, especially in attack, but on the game management side Racing’s old habits are still popping up. Orlando’s first goal was just one of those freak goals that you can’t really blame a single player for. Milliet stuck with Abello pretty well and her cross wasn’t really dangerous until Pikkujämsä stuck a leg out to deflect the ball past Lund. However, on the second Fischer committed a silly foul that led to the free kick. Orlando really shouldn't be scoring from there down a player, but they did. Since Orlando dictated large portions of play it's difficult to say that a point for them is unfair. However, Racing needs to hold a lead with a player advantage and there really isn't any excuse for not taking all 3 points. What that tells me is that Racing isn't yet comfortable holding the ball while setting themselves up against the counter. The midfielders need to dictate possession when holding a lead, but too often it was Milliet who was holding the ball out wide. Ultimately the counterattacking danger came on her side.
