Welcome back to the NWSL! This first game week back has not exactly been the chaotic return that fans were hoping for, but it’s nice to be back stateside.

This meeting between the Seattle Reign and Angel City was kind of a slog. Unfortunately for everyone watching, the xG broke down to 0.56 to 0.19 for Seattle and Los Angeles, respectively. So… not exactly the most inspiring performance for either side to say the least. Five of Angel City’s eight shots on target were taken from well outside the box. All were categorized as poor chances. So yeah, not particularly fun. 

Straus has really been getting a full download on the breadth of the NWSL experience since his arrival. On Friday he got “Harv’d.” No one had a particularly stand out game on either side per the g+ ratings. Seattle’s chances were also all either rated as “poor” or “average.” However, Seattle managed to grab a goal thanks to Welsh hero Jess Fishlock, and then they did what they do best, locked it down and rode out the rest of the game. On the Seattle side, it was nice to see the much needed injection of energy into the game from Fishlock, the return of Sofia Huerta, the debut for Mia Fishel, and the defensive effort Madison Curry took to her old teammates.

The starting XI on Friday was the same one that was rolled out against the Carolina Ascent the weekend before. The first 15-20 minutes of this game is probably what Angel City will ideally be doing for longer and more consistently in the future. They were looking organized, progressing the ball through the thirds, switching the play with a variety of passing types, dynamically attacking, and running all over the Reign in the press. It looked good! However, Seattle made some adjustments to deal with the press, particularly in the midfield, and it completely took the wind out of Angel City’s sails and they weren’t able to come up with an answer. It became long balls over the top to no one. When it did find a player, they decided to take a soft shot from outside the box. This is likely due to the Reign doing well to pack the box and keep Angel City out of dangerous areas.

Defensively, I personally thought that the center back pairing of Alanna Kennedy and Sarah Gorden was a step up from Megan Reid. For whatever reason, Gorden and Reid just don’t work as well together. That means that Madison Hammond was taking over defensive midfield. I think that she, in general this season, looks better than last season. However, I still don’t know if I’m convinced with her being the only 6. Straus seems to rate her though. My feeling, though, is that if incoming German international Sara Doorsoun gels with Gorden, then Kennedy will be bumped back into the midfield.

Despite some big saves and nice snags by goalkeeper Angelina Anderson, the team conceded two goals. First off of an inability to clear a rebounded shot, and second off of a set piece. Evelyn Shores had a bit of a shaky NWSL debut and her connection with Alyssa Thompson on the left didn’t shine as much as it did during the friendly. It will be interesting to see exactly where Shores fits in. Does Straus already rate her more than MA Vignola, or is Vignola on a bit of a minutes restriction? She has had some durability struggles in the past. Will we see Shores in the midfield at all? Only time will tell on that one.

Let’s talk about some things that are maybe a little more fun. Jun Endo is back! She played a fairly solid 60 minutes in her return to the field after tearing her ACL. In an effort to have both Endo and A. Thompson on the field at the same time, she was deployed centrally which isn’t her typical position. Perhaps due to Endo’s more natural position on the left and Sveindís Jane Jónsdóttir’s ability to play across the front line, there was a lot more fluidity among the frontline players and they were interchanging with each other fairly frequently. Kennedy Fuller had a great game, breaking up play, ball winning, and joining into the buildup.

There was a lot of newness in the lineup. There were essentially four new players to the starting XI, if you include Hammond, three players playing out of their typical positions, if you include Kennedy, and a lot of new ideas being implemented. Viewers could probably tell that rookie Riley Tiernan, wasn’t looking quite at home in this new structure yet. However, it’s important to remember that Tiernan was quiet in her first couple games before something clicked. While Miyabi Moriya is growing in comfort within the NWSL, she’s still no Gisele Thompson in terms of offensive production.

It will take time for all of this to gel, and if it doesn’t, Straus has more tweaking to do. We saw the potential of all this change at the beginning of this game. Hopefully with time, this crop of players can get used to each other and this system and look as fun as they did in the first 20 minutes of this game for a full 90.