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Can we Talk? (With Benton from Vamos Morados)
Photo by Anne Evans Courtesy of Racing Louisville FC
Each week Fleur-de-lis-FC will talk to someone who follows Racing FC in some capacity. This week, Benton from Vamos Morados joins me for a chat.
FDLFC: At the end of the 2nd week Racing were at the top of the league. They currently sit 9th, but tied for 4th on points. What is a reasonable expectation for the team this year?
Benton: Being an expansion side is an enormous uphill battle and has historically resulted in the new team hovering at the bottom of the table. In 2014, the Houston Dash finished last with only five wins and in 2016 the Orlando Pride finished their first season ninth (out of ten teams) with six wins. Realistically, I don’t expect Racing Louisville to be far from those performances. It a tough pill to swallow but asking for them to end up in the top half of the table is likely not feasible. Closer to the bottom is more likely and that hurts to type. With that said, I am optimistic about the vision for the team constructed by Coach Holly and James O’Connor as well as some of their early performances. If pressed for a prediction, I’d say they will land in seventh. This squad is capable of a few upsets, especially at home in Lynn Family Stadium.
FDLFC: Since the sixth club makes the playoffs this year, I think that should be the goal. I looked back over the NWSL standings from previous years and there were a couple of times that the 6th and 7th team were equal on Points. I know it's early, but do you think Racing should have done a little more damage limitation against NC knowing that Goal Difference could be a potential tie breaker?
Benton: I believe that Coach Holly deployed what he believed to be the best eleven as well as his ideal tactical setup. Unfortunately, I don’t believe there was much that could have been done to stop the bleed. Racing faced a top team, with their full roster, firing on all cylinders. As an expansion team, this was bound to happen. This will be a huge learning opportunity for the young team and a source of motivation in upcoming matches. They can see what went wrong in film review and adjust their strategy going forward or work to execute their plan better. That goal differential could come back to hurt Racing but there is still plenty of time to make up for that bad night.
FDLFC: If you've read my post about the last match, then you know that I am a big fan of using a back three when you might be the less talented team. With Gemma Bonner coming in, do you think there is any chance that Coach Holly changes formation now that his best eleven might change? I know a formation change isn't easy especially mid season, but to my eyes Racing has been exposed on the counter, and has been really susceptible to switches in play. What are you seeing on the defensive side of things?
Benton: During one of the Zoom call’s with Coach Holly shortly after being introduced as head coach, I asked him about formation and tactics. He stated that he is a fan of a back three formation but didn’t see it in Racing’s immediate future. I’d venture to guess that we likely won’t see that this season and will instead opt for the team to become more adept with their current strategy (but you never know). Gemma Bonner will certainly help and at a bare minimum provide Coach Holly with more options on the backline, however, I am personally a bit more concerned with the midfield and possession than defense. They are not winning the possession battle and keeping the ball out of their half. Too much pressure and defensive mistakes are bound to happen. Racing can’t expect Michelle Betos to put on a performance like she in their first win. Find a way to control the game a little more and I think there will be more offensive opportunities and a little less defensive pressure (easier said than done though).
FDLFC: Fair enough. To change the subject a bit, have you been paying attention to the NSWL Trading Cards market? I think all of the cards in Louisville sold out on the first day and now the packs that go for $9.99 retail are going for two to three times that on eBay. The creators of the cards, Parkside Cards have also sold out on the website. There seems to be a built-in rabid appetite for products and content. Are you at all surprised?
Benton: Yes, I am a bit surprised at the recent boom in the trading card market. I didn’t expect something that has been around for as long as trading cards to experience the same level of investment by consumers as cryptocurrencies and NTFs. I am happy that the NWSL was able to get into the action at the right time. It's disappointing that some of these cards are falling into the hands of individuals trying to make a quick buck rather than actual fans of the NWSL. Anything the league can do to expand their exposure will help them grow.
FDLFC: Do you have any thoughts about this week's match with Portland? Care to make a prediction?
Benton: Away at Portland has all the making for another long night. They were the 2021 Challenge Cup winners and are the second-best team in the league according to FiveThirtyEight. The thought of trying to contain Christine Sinclair, Canada’s all-time leading goal scorer, makes me nervous. I’m going to guess this match will not be as bad as the NC match. Thorns win 3-1 with Yuki finding the back of the net for Racing.
Thanks again Benton. Benton is contributing writer for The Beautiful Game Network. Check out Benton’s site VamosMorados.com and follow him on Twitter @PurpleSDF.
What did I just watch?!?! (A guide to Yuki’s Racing Vlog.2 -Week3)
My terrible attempt at a painted logo. I am not an artist, but Yuki is.
For those of you unfamiliar (although if you’re reading this I can’t imagine who that might be), Yuki Nagasoto has her own YouTube Channel. It seems like she posts regularly and the content (at least in English) I can vouch for as being very entertaining. This week she posted a vlog on the trip to Cary, NC. Let’s check into Yuki and her teammates world…
0:10 - Yuki asks obviously the most influential figure in Louisville, Emina Ekic if she can do something about the lack of direct flights at Muhammad Ali International Airport. I did a little checking, and many of their future destinations will have direct flights: Orlando, Houston, NYC, Washington DC, and Chicago. However, I imagine the next trip (Portland) may be even a bit longer to endure. Better bring plenty to do on the plane. Having not flown in a while I was made aware that not all airlines are serving alcohol during flights. In fact Southwest just extended a ban on alcohol on flights. Come on people, behave yourselves! Nobody wants to be on an airplane for over 2 hours stone cold sober. I imagine our players abstain prior to the game regardless. If Emina can use her magic powers to increase the number of direct flights, I would be in favor of a direct flight to San Francisco.
0:40 - Babies! Aren’t they cute and so well behaved on the plane? I can’t imagine what it must be like to be a professional athlete with a young child. Well, they are in better shape than the rest of us, so maybe that gives them an advantage. I recently babysat a toddler. He was delightful, but it reminded me of why toddlers are the world’s greatest birth control measure, especially for those of us whose kids are much older.
0:59 - Queen Patch? I’ve got nothing on that one…Betos looks like all business, but does give a little smile.
1:15 - I feel distinctly unqualified to comment on the utterance made at the beginning of this section…best not to comment at all. The team seems relaxed during the team meeting. I hope they figured out how to arrange the chairs.
2:15 - “No Paparazzi, please!” This does beg the question, how much are the players getting recognized around town? To be completely honest, I am still putting names with faces. I think I should probably come up with a set up flash cards to make my game recaps better. I hate to rely strictly on the numbers.
2:26 - There is an Orlando City/Orlando Pride Pub in the Orlando Airport. What an awesome idea. Emina should wave her magic wand and get us a Racing Louisville themed pub at our wonderful airport! On second thought…why not a chain if we’re using magic.
2:39 - “Is he sleeping?” Yuki discovers The Traveler by Duane Hanson (1986). This piece used to be fully exposed, but is now encased in glass because so many people touched it. I am sure this adds to the confusion.
2:53 - “Don’t say that!” Neely Martin utters けつの穴, which phonetically is ketsu no ana. Uh…this is probably a reference to the famous shirt. It’s somewhat reassuring to see that when every generation learns a new language they start with the swear words.
3:15 Assistant Coach Gary Curneen shows off his keepie uppie skills. I am terrible at keepie uppie. My personal record might be 7 seconds. The current world record is 26 hours held by Dan Magness of England.
3:38 - The famous shirt makes its appearance on the vlog. Gary continues to run the team through the paces, as he wrote the book on training…literally.
4:15 - “How do you like Gary? Comments Pls.” I think Gary looks like a fine coach and the team looks ready to prepare hard for next week’s game at the Portland Thorns.
4:45 - It’s the Racing Louisville FC merchandise truck. Does it have a song to play like the ice cream truck to alert us when it’s in the neighborhood?
I rather enjoyed the vlog. If I missed something of note, you can add any additional insights by leaving a comment or connecting with me on twitter…@FleurdelisFC1.
M
The Lull
Win, lose or draw there is always an anticipation for the next game. If you win, you want to ride that momentum. If you draw, there is an eagerness to fine tune and make that little bit of difference that could result in a win. If you lose, stepping back onto the practice field to get ready for the next game is all you can think about. Well at least that's what I think it would be like. I never played competitively, and have only played pick up games for about 10 years.
For fans, there is also usually a full week to obsess, agonize, and theorize about the next match on the schedule. My goal with this site is to (hopefully) fill that terrible void between matches. I am starting to formulate a schedule in my head where there is new content on the site 4 or 5 times per week to help with “The Lull” between games. I hopefully will have a surprise or two up my sleeve in the coming weeks so stay tuned.
What can you learn from a 5-0 defeat?
Three is a magic number . Yes, it is, it’s a magic number…
You can learn from a lopsided defeat, but I think you can learn more from a trend.
A quick perusal of the basic stats from Racing’s 7 games so far showed me some things that I expected, and some things that I didn’t. I was certain that Racing had lost the possession battle in all of their games, but they actually won the possession battle (albeit narrowly) in 2 of their draws: Home to Orlando 2-2 (51%) and Home to KC 0-0 (51%). In the previous game against NC at home, a 2-3 defeat, Racing had 48% possession. The Road paints a different picture. Washington (44%), Gotham (45%) and NC (39%) all road games show Racing struggling to hold possession away from home. The warning signs were also there in the 2-0 win vs Washington where they held possession for just 40% of the time.
The passing numbers in those games are even worse. Racing was out passed by 108 at Washington in the Challenge Cup, 101 by Gotham in the same competition, 165 in the victory against Washington, and 171 last night against NC. On the year Racing has been outshot by opponents 129-65. Those are the numbers.
However, you can’t just look at the numbers, you have to take into account what you see on the pitch. Here is the part where I remind you that I am not a soccer coach and very well may not have any idea what I am talking about. On the other hand…I have watched a lot of soccer. I also probably need to disclose a couple of other things about myself:
I am a huge Arsenal FC fan
I find club soccer much more compelling that international soccer
You may ask yourself what these two facts might have to do with anything, but let me assure you that they are important. Arsenal is (typically…ugh these last couple of years have been rough) one of the historically better teams in the English Premier League, but also haven’t been THE best in quite some while. What this means is that against weaker teams their tactics quite often look different than when they set up against Liverpool, Chelsea, or Man City. Beyond that, they quite often set up differently at home vs. on the road vs. these teams. Take Chelsea for example. Chelsea play in the Champions League final today, and have had a much better season that Arsenal. In fact they have had Arsenal’s number for quite some time in the league, but Arsenal defeated them twice this year (H 3-1, A 0-1). That second victory is the important one in this context, but more on that later.
The second fact is more of an insight about me I think. I find international soccer to be played with a different intensity than club soccer, at least in the qualifying and group stages of competitions. That isn’t a positive or a negative, just an observation. This is important because the league season in a grind. The level of competition can vary greatly at the international level, and let’s be honest here…the US Women’s National Team are bullies. I don’t mean that in a negative way, but in the way that means that they tend to dictate style and tempo through force and a talent gap sometimes. Theoretically in a league competition, the teams should be closer in skill and talent level with a pretty important distinction…an expansion team. Now that you know those two things about me, you can take or leave my analysis based on those or any other factor.
I promise to keep the digressions to a minimum (bar one important one) for the rest of this post.
I say all of this to frame up a brutal reality. Racing Louisville FC are going to be the second best team on the pitch several times this year. They won’t be able to dictate tempo. This shouldn’t be breaking news, but it still stings a little bit to type those words. That is why it is important to know who you are.
I attended the first NC game in person with my daughter. She played soccer a bit growing up, but isn’t what I would call a huge fan. However, she was there and heard (or completely ignored…which is her right) my commentary on the game. Here is what I saw in that 2-3 defeat.
NC loved to attack down the left
Racing was too narrow in defense, especially on the counter attack
So, going into last night’s game I wondered if Racing would set up any differently. The answer to that was a disappointing NOPE! The formation was 4-3-3 and they got run off the field. I thought NC was most dangerous when they used the width of the field, especially on the left side. A couple of times there seemed to be no Racing player on the right-hand defending/left-hand attacking side in the last third of the pitch. Any switch of possession from right to left was exposed.
With all of the items I stated above I want to congeal my thoughts into these basics facts
Racing is a team that struggles to hold possession, especially on the road
Racing is a team that get frequently gets out passed by 100 passes/game
Racing is a team that gets out shot 2 to 1
Now how do you combat this? I don’t have definitive answer, but many things have been tried and some quite successfully.
Concede possession and “park the bus”: For those unfamiliar with the term, parking the bus basically is a derogatory term for having a purely defensive mindset, mostly to protect a lead or a point. Jose Mourinho’s teams used to be that master at this. There are two very glaring negatives: A) your team almost always needs to score first and B) It is like watching paint dry. Stoke City in their stint in the Premier league was a stubbornly negative team, but they did grind out a lot of draws and a few wins and avoided relegation for quite some time. I was delighted when they finally were.
Have an unbalanced formation: Racing needs help on the right defensive side, so theoretically Christy Holly could give his RB some extra cover on that side by employing a second MF to cheat to the right side. While this has been tried a few times, I can’t recall any team using it more than a one or two off situation.
A Back 3: To my eyes this is a solution that I would at least like to see attempted. Several teams play consistently with 3 Center Backs and a Left and Right Winger. Back to my final digression. Arsenal defeated Chelsea 0-1 this year at Stamford Bridge using a back 3 and in the 2020 FA Cup using a back 3. The 0-1 victory this year was really only notable for 2 reasons. The first was that Chelsea gifted Arsenal a hilarious goal, and secondly that Chelsea never really got close to scoring until they added extra attackers at the end of the game.
Here is what I think a back 3 would do for Racing:
You create defensive width naturally by having an extra CB on the field. The CBs have specific sections of the field to cover and the LCB and RCB have natural support from the Left and Right Wings (or Left and Right Backs if you like it stated that way).
You free up Emily Fox to attack even more. Emily would still have plenty of defensive work to do, but in attack she would be able to push even further forward with 3 CBs vs 2.
Guess who is coming to town! I don’t know much about Gemma Bonner yet other than she is an England International and she is a central defender. Slot her into a back three and give it a try.
I believe Racing is going to have to embrace being a counter attacking team, at least on the road. A change in formation would greatly help that.
I look forward to the 4-3-3 set up against Portland…
M
Racing @ NC Courage Player Ratings and Instant Analysis
The good news is that NWSL Official Cards are out…
Well there was bound to be a game or two like this during the season…
Congrats to the Courage for what I thought was a well played game by them, especially in the 2nd half. Racing seemed a bit off the pace from the beginning of the game and despite a decent spell in the later stages of the 1st half, tonight just wasn’t their night. It’s difficult to know how tough to be on the players from a rating perspective for a game like this. With dishonesty being the second best policy I guess you know where that leaves us.
Before we get to the player ratings, a few things I noticed:
LEFT, LEFT, LEFT! The Courage sure loved to attack down the left. If this was a surprise to anyone, they must not have watched the Challenge Cup match against NC. They did also find success down the right…once Fox was taken off in the 86th minute.
The Courage are a really good side. I was super impressed with Williams (above), Mewis (of course), Debinha (duh!) and Pickett.
Racing will have to find that fine balance between playing quickly and staying composed. It’s a fine line to walk. Tonight I was satisfied with the speed of play, but disappointed in the passing accuracy and composure.
When you allow 5 goals it’s hard to give much credit to the defense. To my (obviously uneducated) eyes I thought the problems were more around positioning and discipline than effort. The effort was there and the other things are coachable. It was a bit worrying that I saw the same issues in the previous game vs. the Courage.
Ratings (out of 10):
GK: Betos - Could really do nothing about any of the goals. Did have an uncharacteristic spill on a save in the 3rd minute.
Rating: 6
RB: Simon - There will surely be great games for her in this uniform, but this wasn’t one of them. Continually beaten for pace and out of position on several occasions. Could have used more help
Rating: 4
CB: Riehl - Had a good interception or two. Most of the inside out play left her blameless for the goals
Rating: 5
CB: Hendrix - Had a nice tackle in the sixth minute. See above.
Rating: 5
LB: Fox - Was dangerous in attack, and most of the attack for NC seemed to go down the opposite side of the field while she was on the pitch. Easy to see why she was the #1 overall draft pick in this year’s draft.
Rating: 7
MF: Milliet - Didn’t do Simon any favors. Subbed off at the same time.
Rating: 4
MF: Ollofsson - Had a really good first half, but as the middle of the field opened up late she disappeared a bit.
Rating: 5
MF: McCaskill - Feisty, and quick on the ball. She didn’t linger in possession as much as she did in the previous games. If Racing were ever going to score, it was going to come through her. Hit a cracking effort late that was a yard or so wide. Worked her legs to death. Her best effort in a Racing uniform so far.
Rating (Woman of the Match): 8
LW: Yuki - Fought really hard and showed good toughness. Not given much service.
Rating: 6
RW: McClure - Unfortunately rather anonymous…subbed off early.
Rating: 5
F: Cece - Wasn’t given much to do, but still worked hard.
Rating: 6
Subs: Ekic (53’) - 6 /Martin (53’) had a slip that led to the second goal - 5/ Baucom - NR/Kara - NR
Welcome to Fleur de lis FC
This is the first post. I hope it will be the first of many posts. I am new to blogging, running a website, and many of the other technical things that make an idea that seems simple, actually quite complex. However, there has to be a first post and this is it. Hopefully other posts will be more insightful, relevant and useful.
The idea behind this website is really simple. It is a fan blog. I will post about Racing Louisville FC. Some of the posts will be news related. Some of the posts will be one person’s opinion on the games and other activities around the club. Some of the posts I’m sure will be digressions.
Hopefully they won’t be as boring as this one.
The week that was - Week 2
This week has been a special one for Racing. It has seen a first goal, a first win, a first player of the week. Here’s a quick recap by the numbers:
1 - A first goal in league competition. That is always special, but it helps when the goal itself is special. Emina Ekic’s effort was just that. It was also the first win and the first home win.
2- This was the second clean sheet in a row in the league and the third overall. The defensive effort for the game against the Spirit was a collective effort. Michelle Betos as the last line of defense was the official Racing “Woman of the match”, but there were several other blocks inside the 18 yard box that prevented goals. More on this later…
3 - There were exactly 3 on target. Spirit keeper Aubrey Bledsoe didn’t have much to do on the night other than pick the ball out of her on net. Racing was efficient with their shots, but you would like to see more attempts on target.
4 - WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAGUE, SAID WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAGUE…or at least we were until the Pride victory last night. 4 points from 2 games is a decent return especially for an expansion side. I believe the home crowds might be enough to expect some wins at home. The road form will be tested over the next couple of matches. It’s hard to gage this early, but I believe the league looks fairly balanced. It would be overly pessimistic to consider any road victory out of Racing’s reach.
7 - There were seven total shots vs. the Spirit. Racing seemed to get into some good spots during the game, but you would like to see more attempts on goal. Being outshot 4 to 1 is not a recipe for success.
10 - Michelle Betos made 10 saves, which is currently a NWSL season high through Wednesday’s game. A new/young team will quite have to rely on an experienced keeper in goal. It appears that Racing certainly has an excellent one.
29 - If the plan is to concede 29 shots on goal and win, then I would say that plan is flawed. Racing was beaten on the stats sheet in all critical categories except for the most important one. The possession was roughly at 40/60 split, which I am sure a little concerning for Coach Holly. Racing was also out passed by over 150 passes. The Spirit has 10 more corners. At the game I didn’t consider Racing lucky to win, but there was a around the 70th minute when I could sense a goal was eminent. If you have watched enough soccer (football) you know that you can get that feeling that a goal is on its way. I commented to my wife who was with me at the game that if Racing didn’t score very soon, there was very likely to be a Spirit goal in the next few minutes. Of course what needed to happed for a Racing win is exactly what happened next. Racing got a goal against the run of play, and another shortly after on the counter when the Spirit began to chase the game. If you watch enough soccer, you see this happed from time to time as well. It’s a great feeling to win a game you probably should have lost or drawn, but I imagine the long term plan for Racing is to control the possession like their brother club LouCity and to out shoot their opponents. It may be a long season if the stats for the game vs. the Washington Spirit repeat themselves.
100 - After that bummer of a paragraph I want to reiterate that I am 100% behind this club. I was on the phone the first day season tickets went on sale, and I bought the best seats I could get. I didn’t expect many wins this season, so each one will be a delight. You never know, maybe this team is special. Scratch that…I know this team is special no matter where they are in the table.
M