“The nights seem longer”
Courtesy NSWL
Match Haiku
A brief storm delay
Only postpones the slow start.
Running out the clock.
“The nights seem longer”
“Where Are They Now?” - Drawn to the Deep End, 1997
In a match with zero stakes, it is hard to know what to take away, so I will be brief. Racing has to employ more defenders that want to defend. Morris is a hybrid winger. Petersen is limited in her ability to defend one-on-one. Philippus and Gacioch are still learning and Wright’s best days are behind her.
Racing has scored more goals than they have in any other season and are capable of more. Sears left two on the pitch. I think a forward group of Fischer, Weber, McKeen, White and Lardner can get enough goals next season, but the defense has to not continually put them behind the 8-ball.
It was good to see DeMelo get more minutes and Philippus’ full debut was more than welcome. However, Boston showed why Racing is in danger of being left even further behind next season. You can see the ambition from the club in the types of moves they make. Racing’s ownership is just trying to keep its head above water.
Post Match Moment of the Match
Wright and Weber were available after the match. According to Wright there seemed to be a little confusion in how to deal with Boston’s setup which led to having her and Gacioch unintentionally having to cover each other’s part of the field. Bev didn’t quite confirm this, but she did mention that at halftime, she showed the team a specific clip to help them come out better prepared in the second half. Both Bev and the players thought the second half performance was better. I couldn’t tell much of a difference honestly.
The Taylor Flint Honorary Yellow Card of the Match
No yellow cards on the evening, so instead let’s talk about how this team misses Flint. At this point it seems like Taylor is done for the season. There isn’t any reason to bring her back at this point. Hodge is a decent deputy, but she doesn’t cover near as much space as Flint. The midfield on the evening looked particularly out of sorts and when Racing attacked effectively the midfield was bypassed for the most part. Flint doesn’t always stitch things together offensively, but she does get the ball moving in the right direction frequently. A midfield group anchored by Flint, O’Kane, Milliet, and DeMelo should improve on what we have seen this season. Again, it will be all for naught is the defense doesn’t get sorted out.
Madchester Song to Make You Feel Better
Okay, so not strictly a Madchester song, but it is from the era. This is New Order’s great lost single.
“Tell me what I’ve done”
Even though there are two matches to go, this season has felt over for a long time. An unprecedented winning run almost certainly kept Racing out of last place this season, but unless significant changes are made, they will be the odds-on favorite for that spot next year. Nobody wants to sit through many more matches where Louisville’s possession numbers are in the 30s. That is something fans are willing to suffer through for the sake of winning or if the club is in a relegation battle. On this team, it just seems depressing.
As I mentioned earlier, 37 goals is a decent return for a season, but giving up 54 is inexcusable. The problem with the 54 goals is that while several were bolts out of the blue, many more were ones that you could see coming due to a defensive lapse in the buildup. Last night’s goals by Boston were typical of the types of goals that Racing concedes too often: getting caught in space and not defending a second ball. Those seems correctable to me and yet here we are once again.
