Racing v Colo-Colo Pre Match Thoughts
Courtesy EM Dash Photography
I got about halfway through writing another post in lieu of the normal pregame piece where I outlined all of Racing’s ills and what I would do to tix them before I decided that I honestly couldn’t be bothered. I have all kinds of opinions that A) don’t matter and you don’t care about and B) wouldn’t make a difference even if they did make a coherent statement, so I will stick to the script and give you my usual loosely connected thoughts.
The piece I abandoned was going to be called “Summer Nadir”. I will give you the short version:
Racing is doomed
They have always been doomed
I have ideas to fix things but no real authority to see if they work or even could
Sparing you that rather negative read, I did want to include this bit inspired by Alan Spade who rhetorically asked in the Lavender Legion Slack “if everyone still wants to run through a brick wall”:
The “brick wall” lip service at the beginning of the season always felt bizarre to me. I am all for motivational coaches and tactics, but in reality, they make better Hollywood stories and motivational poster fodder than actually being effective. My response to players willing to run through a brick wall is always, “wouldn’t you rather not have a brick wall to run through?” I get that the metaphor is meant to provide motivation in difficult situations, but shouldn’t the job of a coach be to prevent the difficult situations?
Where do we find ourselves now? A very difficult situation. Does anybody on the team look like they want to take on a brick wall? Definitely not enough of them. Now seems to be the time to figure out how to approach the brick wall because it is there, and it seems impenetrable.
The energy seems sapped from this team. A team that requires constant motivation, is always going to be susceptible to down periods. It doesn’t make for good copy, but give me a team willing to figure out how to avoid the brick walls versus needing the energy to constantly run through them.
Racing really should be able to handle Colo-Colo, but I haven’t the foggiest idea about how Bev might approach this match. There is absolutely nothing at stake, but also the roster is so thin that I don’t think there are many ways to put out a starting lineup that is much different than normal, especially on defense. If I were her, I would try to find a way to give Erceg a night off. Bloomer should get the nod here too. Milliet could be given a break as well as Flint. Honestly it doesn’t matter, but if Racing are going to give the appearance of making a final push for the playoffs, those are the type of moves that I would expect to see.
As of this moment there is no update on new signings, but I still believe at least one is imminent. It may not be today, but I do think it gets done sooner rather than later.
