So after sleeping on it for a day I think I feel a lot better. It also help that the team somewhat grew into the game during the second half. So all being said, I'll go a little easy and not hit the panic button after the first game of the season. P.S: I think Harvey did not start Utsugi because she has been in an out of camp. The same can be said for Fishlock but .... My ramblings This team needs an identity with the departure of Little. And that starts with recgonizing they are not as good any more and need to go back to the basics which involves grounding out wins. That being said, not sure what the mentality was for this game but the players looked tentative and at times darn right scared. It's understandable that they wanted to avoid the same start as last year so this was a team that was playing not to lose and it showed. Only bright spot in this game was Kopmeyer who is a brilliant shot stopper. Needs to work on that kicking game though. Mathias to the surprise of no one give up another penalty. This has to be 3 in the last 5-6 games. At some point Harvey has to make a change and can not keep rewarding such behaviour with starts and minutes. Hopefully Stott is someone who can play at RB. Rapinoe was criminally bad during that first half but in the second she played well. Fishlock was active during the first half but had to drop back to defend in the second. That should not happen. The others were OK I guess. All that said, I think the biggest takeaway from yesterday was the realization that Harvey has a Yanez problem. Basically without Little our offensive threat down the middle is none existent. That is not as bad as it sound as most teams will have weaknesses somewhere. However with Kawasumi and Rapinoe as the source of our offense, someone has to be the recipient of those crosses and that person is NOT Yanez as she does not have the pace. This explains why Harvey played Mathias as CF last year and why both Elston and Dallstream were played in that role yesterday. These players are not the solution as we found out last year. Harvey can continue trying players in that role including the rookie Katie Johnson who she's quite high on. Whatever it is, Harvey needs to make a decision pretty soon and stick with it or we are bound to see a repeat of last year where the lineup kept changing and the team did not gel until late in the season. Being the arm chair coach that I am, I'll like to see us switch to a 3 back which when you think about we DO have the players and it won't be different from how we play today anyway. We have enough centerbacks (Barnes, McNabb, Corsie, Stott, Bauer) to handle a 3 back. Also our fullbacks Pickett, Utsugi, Mathias, and Reed are offensive enough and our wingers Rapinoe and Kawasumi are not hopeless when it comes to defending. This formation eliminates Mathias (liability) and Pickett (neutral) so it's no big loss. It adds another offensive player as a runner (Dallstream, Johnson) or a target (Crummer) for Rapinoe and Kawasumi. This formation also leaves us with a ton of options Johnson/Crummer -> Dallstream Elston -> Yanez Pickett/Utsugi -> Rapinoe Mathias/Reed -> Kawasumi Hahn/Stott -> Utsugi Utsugi -> Nairn Stott/Bauer -> Any of the CBs
To answer your question on if this team is a play off team, honestly I think this is a mid table team. Meaning if all things hold true in the league, we will finish 5-6. However anything can happen so who knows. The players need to step up and show that they want this.
I think I've made my opinion on this perfectly clear in the past... so I'm not gonna harp on her. How she didn't decide from last season's play that she needed a better solution at RB than re-signing Mathias, is just... I don't know. I just expected better from Harvey. Everyone's switching to the 3 back! Seriously, though, I'd still rather see a traditional 4-4-2 with the current (available) roster. Just don't use Mathias at RB. Heck, I'd rather see Reed out there than Mathias...
My observations from the game: Utsumi is way better in the middle than at LB. I thought she had moments of pure brillance, including one chip to Rapinoe behind the defense that was sublime. She evaded pressure with ease, played very well, found ways to play forward passes. She is not Kim Little, but she may be one of the better midfielders in NWSL this year. Pickett is much improved.
Thanks for the insight. The more time passes the less annoyed I get with the result. Though it still galls at me that most of the problems yesterday were self inflicted and easily remedied. Start Utsugi and play a better right back. One question I had as it was not evident on the stream was we're did Stott play when she was subbed in?
I'll take this as a win. Hopefully she's not required to be heroic every game. Our vote for #NWSL POTW in week 1: Haley Kopmeyer! Voting breakdown:1. Haley Kopmeyer (SEA)2. Steph Labbe (WAS)3. Kealia Ohai (HOU) pic.twitter.com/gmZOVRvSEU— NWSL Media Association (@NWSLmedia) April 18, 2017
5-1!!! Is it going better than we expected? Ok, we just kept our perfect record vs hopeless (at least vs us) Dash, but anyway the score seems to state that we were convincing. Can't wait to watch highlights to get a rough idea (unluckily, for me it will be most often near impossible to watch the games live, because they're in the night for me in Europe) Looks like Blaze20's optimism was justified. Also, Harvey did indeed start Utsugi (and can it be a coincidence that Houston scored their lonely goal only after Rumi had been subbed out? ) and, regarding RB position, Stott replaced Mathias just before HT (although I read it was because of an injury: unhappy for Mathias, but could it be a blessing in disguise for Reign instead? ).
I was away from home last last so I was forced to be that person at a party watching the game on my phone. For that reason I missed a lot of details. But just to get it out of the way, this is the best our midfield has looked in maybe 2 years. It was fast, dynamic, fluid, and Houston had no idea what hit them. A couple more performances with this lineup (to prove it was not a fluke) and you'll be looking at the A team for this squad. Mathias left the game at around the 40 minute mark because of a knock to the head. She was replaced by Stott on the right. I can't comment very much on Stott as most of the Houston attack was on the left but I think Stott held her own. I thought she actually looked better going forward than Mathias. Don't look now but it seems Harvey is finally coming around to realizing that in order to do well in this league and have longevity, you have to trust the draft and play young players. McNabb played another 90 minutes and had a goal. Johnson also played ~20 minutes and had a goal as well. Pickett also had a great game on the left with Rapinoe who was on fire and was the woman of the match for me. Shout out to @Smallchief who is the earliest Reign-Rookie-Bandwagoner in history.
I have another question again for those who were playing attention, when Corsie was subbed in for Utsugi, where did she play? Did she play as a DM or as a CB with McNabb as DM?
McNabb stayed on the back line; Corsie was in midfield, where she was booked for a heavy tackle. (Didn't she do that last year too?)
It's funny, besides the yellow, I thought Corsie looked good at D-Mid, but tough to really judge in short minutes late when the game was decided. I think the Dash were missing Andressa in midfield. Jane Campbell at GK wasn't the cause for the loss, but didn't have a good game. I think offensively the Dash have been a directionless team for a long time. They have good players (O'Hai, Daly, and O'Sullivan) but I think they don't play to Hagen enough and she had the most dangerous chances of the game when they did. One thing the Reign need to clean up, I don't understand fouling outside our box when the attacker is dribbling away from goal? I think that was the case for both Fishlock and Corsie, just not necessary. For me, watching us give away unnecessary free kicks, it seemed like a goal was coming for the Dash. Seems like the Reign did this a lot last year too.
So apparently in addition to Mathias, Fishlock also picked up a knock on saturday. Good news is that it doesn't appear to be serious for both players. I must say I'm SHOCKED that the Reign are provided injury updates unprompted as the club is notoriously shitting about revealing who's hurt until you don't see them in the starting lineup on game day. https://thebold.net/reign-fc-injury-update-mathias-fishlock-8069a4bf7164
Thanks -- but I humbly recall that even a stopped clock is right twice a day. It's heartwarming to see unsung rookies get their moment of glory -- or maybe it will be more than a moment. Taylor Lytle of Sky Blue comes to mind. Undrafted, she showed up for tryouts, made the team, scored some goals, and is now in, IIRC, her 5th season. .
Well if we want to talk about "unsung" heroes and keep it topical I think the ultimate has to be Kopmeyer. Drafted in the latter rounds of the draft in 2013. Was waived that season but returned to tryouts the following season even knowing that she would be stuck behind Solo for the foreseeable future. Fast forward 5 years and here we are. I thought she had some questionable plays at the beginning of last year and appeared unsure of herself but all of that is gone this year. I'm not one to shout USWNT call up but if age was on her side I think she would be a good candidate as both Franch and Campbell are questionable right now. Someone like Smith is more likely to get the call up though
I've really wondered why players like Kopmeyer and Betos have been skipped over by Jane Campbell. Though to be fair, I still have no idea how Barnhart isn't the starting USWNT goalkeeper, so there is that.
Well, Betos honestly never had incredible stats. She has a few highlight-worthy saves, but in terms of reliability she's not in the same class as Kop. Campbell probably passed her by having a good career against peers that now has an asterisk next to it that she's faced more experienced players for the first time.
I'm not too worried about what happened to Campbell as the same happened to D'Angelo. Where Campbell should be concerned in terms of locking up the USWNT 3rd GK spot is that both of her peers (Franch and Smith) are starting for their respective teams while I doubt we will see her in another game anytime soon.
So I just double checked the nwsl website and to my surprise both Kopmeyer (June 28, 1990) and Franch (November 12, 1990) were born the same year so age should not be a factor in why she does receive a call up as a backup for Harris/Naeher. If their respective starts are anything to go by, she's making a strong case for herself.
Yeah, Kopmeyer is still young and has been playing at a high level. Even when she was Solo's backup, she filled in admirably. Personal opinion, I think she's the best to not get a look. But I'm still wondering about Barnhart.
I think during the window when Ellis and co where auditioning for players to replace Solo, Barnhart was hurt. Now it appears Ellis is committed to Harris/Naeher for the next cycle so Barnhart is unfortunately out. Given her age I think it is the right decision.
Can the NWSL Media stop voting for Reign players as POTW? I was hoping the team could fly under the radar this season given that most pundits don't have them making the playoffs. Winning back to back POTW will certainly make them public enemy numero 2. Not sure if this team can handle expectations to be frank. Our week 2 #NWSL POTW is @JessFishlock! Voting: 1. Jess Fishlock (SEA)2. Julie Ertz (CHI)3. Debinha (NC) pic.twitter.com/Y4yep7b5fk— NWSL Media Association (@NWSLmedia) April 25, 2017