And it was all yellow…

Angel City lost on the road to Racing Louisville 0-1. The Saturday matchup was a must-win game if the squad didn’t want to play with their backs fully up against the wall for the rest of the season. Unfortunately, Angel City walked away with nothing.

Going into the game, it was nice to see that the only people listed as unavailable on the availability report were Claire Emslie, Sydney Leroux, Savy King, and Ali Riley. Of course, it’s unfortunate to see Riley back out with injury, but the names that had piled up over the past couple weeks have largely returned to some level of availability for game day. Not enough to change the starting XI from last week, though.

Angel City started the match as they often do; conceding an early goal. Luckily for them, Racing was just a bit offside and the goal was disallowed. They woke up from there and played a relatively even first half against Louisville. Both teams seemed to have the same idea: press and go forward quickly.

This game was very physical in both directions. This was true of the previous time these two sides faced each other. I think that Kayla Fischer’s red card foul against Madison Hammond, generously called a “hair pull,” in that game is probably forever etched in NWSL lore. Center referee Shawn Tehini issued five yellow cards; four in the first half, and four total to Angel City players. How Racing’s Ary Borges didn’t end up with one by the end of the night, I do not know because Brazilian-on-Brazilian crime was ongoing throughout the match. Jokes aside, I think the thing I really want to point out is that Angel City looked increasingly frustrated with the way the game was being called as the game went on. It felt like it was slowly taking them out of the game mentally.

In the beginning though, there were some good passing sequences between Miyabi Moriya and Jun Endo, while Gisele Thompson brought dangerous dribbling and service down the right. Evelyn Shores covered a lot of ground to keep the press aggressive in the midfield. Endo, Thompson, Riley Tiernan, and Maiara Niehues had a couple of missed, but fair, chances. It seemed like there was something there to build upon. The first half ended 0.71 to 0.48 xG, 10 to 7 shots, and 3 to 1 shots on target all in Louisville’s favor. Angel City was obviously on the wrong side of things there, but not down and out by any means. Overall, they did a good job of absorbing Louisville’s aggressive press and finding a way through.

The second half was another story. Angel City seemed absolutely toothless, only taking three shots all half. Meanwhile, Louisville put the pressure on. Sara Doorsoun has looked better since her first start against the Courage, but her welcome to the league seems to get extended over a period of weeks. Right winger Emma Sears had been kept relatively quiet this match, but she picked Doorsoun’s pocket in Angel City’s build out and sent in a great cross to Sarah Weber who was ready for it right in front of the net. Great chance, great finish.

Shortly afterward there was a potential penalty kick called against Sarah Gorden, but VAR review overturned it as Captain got the ball. It was kind of hilarious watching Gorden watch the review on the jumbotron in Lynn Family Stadium and subsequently cheering for herself when the call was overturned. However, Angel City really wasn’t able to turn it around from that point on. Racing was up 1-0 and happy to pack into their box to make it even harder for Angel City to get any offense going. Credit to Gorden though for trying to up the pace and vary her distribution into the final third but nothing was clicking. Racing rode out the rest of the game to a big three points to keep them away from their nemesis, 9th place.

A common theme across Angel City’s passing networks over the past couple of matches, which is illustrated in this one as well, is one isolated forward in advanced positions while the others are sitting quite deep in comparison. It was frustrating to watch Sveindís Jónsdóttir lose duels and get dispossessed throughout the match, but part of the reality is that she often did not have any kind of numerical advantage going forward a lot of the time. It’s not just her though. Too many times others are approaching the final third without reinforcements or there is no one to cross to from the wide areas. Niehues is an interesting player but I don’t think that she’s ready physically to be starting in the NWSL, let alone be playing full games. This, however, is the trouble with the roster right now. Straus’s solution to the current minutes restrictions and injury return protocols is to have some players who don’t have the gas playing 90’s and others playing out of position to patch up holes. I think in if all of these players are good to go, my ideal lineup with this group would probably be:

I think that with some positional shifting around, they could still maintain their general shape with Niehues, Press, Endo, and Hodge coming off the bench when substitutes are needed. Nealy Martin is definitely a step in the right direction for this team, but this midfield still struggles in possession. For me, that kind of means without Vignola (or obviously Alyssa Thompson), Angel City does not have another player that has the pace to execute the high flying, flexible attack that Straus seems committed to right now. Pace up and down the wings is absolutely necessary to both progress the ball up the channels but also actually have players in and around the box to service when they arrive in the final third. Endo is great and I’m so happy she’s back, but I think she still needs time to get back to her full self and coming in as a substitute could help work up her form and minutes without breaking her. From observation, it can take a while longer before players are truly back, back after an ACL reconstruction even once they’ve returned to the pitch. I think it’s okay to be patient with her. Gorden’s return from her ACL repair into an excellent Iron Woman season is probably the exception rather than the normal.

Four games remain with 12 points left on the board. Angel City has to pretty much win the rest of their games if they want to have a solid shot at making it into the post-season. They could potentially still get in if they grab nine of 12, but they would be relying even more heavily on other teams to hit big skids. There’s a tough road ahead with Kansas City coming to Los Angeles next, followed by a generally rising Houston Dash still on the schedule. Straus and Angelina Anderson said in the post-match press conference that they haven’t given up, but it’s hard to watch a team go through so many concurrent shifts while working with a skeleton crew.

**Images courtesy of Angel City