ACFC 1-1 Orlando Pride

This one definitely felt like 2 points lost, rather than 1 point gained. Conceding the equalizer in the 88’ is obviously tough, and nobody needs me to say that it’s a mistake to leave Marta unmarked. Of course it is. She’s one of the best, if not the best, players of all time. The question is, how did this happen? Was it a breakdown or was there a miscommunication on who was marking who? It looked like it was Katie Johnson who was supposed to be on Marta, and as she had come off the bench, I wonder if there was a gap, somehow, in communicating responsibility. There’s not really any explanation, though, that feels acceptable. There’s also the issue that this may be the weakest team, at least on paper, that Orlando will field all season. They don’t have Barbra Banda yet. They had a makeshift backline, especially with Kylie Strom suspended for this match. I think she’s one of the best fullbacks in the league, and she was a big part of their victory of Angel City last season. But despite those misses, Angel City couldn’t capitalize.

So, let’s look at some positives, and all stats are from FBRef. Angel City had 1.8 xG compared to 0.7 xG for Orlando. Even if we subtract the 0.8 xG for the penalty, Angel City still comes out on top. I also think that the penalty was a good thing. Last year, Angel City were only awarded two penalty kicks and converted one. So we’re well ahead of pace this season. I’m generally of the opinion that good teams need to be able to consistently generate goals from open play, but I’d also like to see us at least closer to league average in penalties earned. I think that when you get opposing defenses playing with more desperation, you earn more penalties. And opposing defenses get more desperate when your offense is playing well. So, I think that earning the penalty is a good marker, and for most of the match, it looked like that was going to be enough.

I also think that Madison Curry deserves a mention. She came in right at the end, and probably wouldn’t have seen the field were it not for Vignola’s injury (fingers crossed that it’s not serious!). Curry was the only one of our draftees that we actually signed, even though she was actually the one that we selected last. She only played 13 minutes, but actually led the team with 4 tackles despite playing such a brief appearance. Orlando was throwing everything at our defense during that stretch, and I thought that she generally held up well in a difficult situation for a debut. I was especially impressed with some of her tackles inside the box; a player with less confidence wouldn’t have attempted that. Not to say that she wasn’t ever beat, but it was challenging, and I think that she showed she can play at this level.

Unfortunately, I saw more negatives than positives in this match. In particular, I can’t help but feel like this team is playing with the handbrake on. Alyssa Thompson, especially, is making life harder than it needs to be. It seems like she’s always trying to take on three defenders at a time, and then score. In this game she took three shots with the respective xG scores of .04, .08, and .03. Two shots were off target and one was saved. Conversely, she had two opportunities to lay the ball off for teammates, once to Bright and once for Emslie, that I think could both have been assists, but in both cases she kept the ball for herself. The opportunity to pass to Bright, in the 25th minute, really looked like a surefire goal. Bright was completely open in the middle with the goalie out of position, but Thompson opted to take on the last defender, and lost. I get that forwards want to score, but I think that she’ll find that the more she combines with her teammates, the more chances she’ll get for herself. She doesn’t need to take every attack on her own shoulders. She did actually lay a pass off to Katie Johnson towards the end, but it led to nothing, as Johnson was not expecting a pass and was completely flat footed. Thompson also had the worst Passing Completion Percentage (52.2% on 12 of 23 passing), and she was dispossessed more than any other ACFC player (4 times). If she can stop trying to force low percentage options and let the game come to her, I think that she’ll have more success and hopefully have a smile on her face too. Right now she looks like she’s playing with a lot of frustration. Maybe once she gets that first goal it will takes some of the pressure off, and she might turn it around.

Another aspect of this game that I think needs to be discussed is Anderson’s distribution. She had a couple of nervy moments, especially with a bad giveaway that led to a Marta goal that was correctly ruled out for a foul on Paige Nielsen in the buildup. But it was definitely a warning. Overall, Anderson finished with 50 of 60 on her passes. I think this is a concern, but for me, Anderson should remain the #1. This is mostly down to the fact that I don’t think that Haracic is particularly better at distribution. I also think that Anderson is the superior shot stopper, and this is only her second season as a pro. I think that the team is best served by giving her the minutes to get better at her passing.

And finally, I was pretty disappointed with Messiah Bright’s first start, but it did give me some hope. Her finishing and her first touch both seemed to let her down. She had an xG of .53 in 59 minutes. She also had a great chance when Dougherty Howard put her through, but she couldn’t control it. I did think that she was getting into good positions, though, and she was occupying the centerbacks. I thought that overall, the attack had more structure with Bright on the field. And this might actually describe my feelings of the team overall: pretty disappointed, but there are reasons to be optimistic. After two games, Angel City is 10th in the table, with only 1 Goal Scored, and -1 Goal Differential, but on the other hand, we’re third in the league in xG, fourth in xG Against, and second in xG Differential. At some point we’re going to have to start getting some results.

Note: I’ve added a page with explanations of some of the terms and statistics I use, and I’ll try to link to that when I use them.