EXPECTED OWN GOALS: NWSL Week 3 — Angel City is Top of the Table, and the Houston Dash are Evolving
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Managerial tactics / Squad rotation
The thing that alarmed me happened later in the press conference when Nick Cushing came in and talked about just he'd like to be the kind of manager who rotates, but he just never has been and he never will be. If he's admitting that he's never going to rotate ever this season, then we may have a problem.
Kansas City Current form
No team in our projection model has lost as many expected points as Kansas City has. They went from 53 projected points in preseason, and they're down to 45. That is a listless team. That is a team in a lot of trouble.
Chris Armas tactical criticism
What I see tactically from the Armas side is some intricate or complex passing that requires numbers up the field that then gets them caught out on the counter. So the problem with his ineffective style of attacking is that it is numbers reliant and it takes Kansas City's best asset, which was a defense that could absorb a limited number of attackers, and no longer exists.
Tactical analysis of Barbra Banda
Now that she's in her third season, center backs know how to defend Barbra Banda better. You do not see her getting player marked a lot. You don't see center backs trying to get touch tight and following her around the pitch. Sonnett played a much more like careful and cautious zonal system where Banda just did not end up having any real space.
NWSL season trends
Historically in the modern NWSL, teams with nine or ten points or 12 points through three or four games have never won the NWSL championship and only one of them has won a shield. So it's great that they got nine points, but let's just be mindful of how sports can evolve over the coming months.
NWSL match atmosphere
The ambiance, whether it was the sort of the NFL of it all, where they had a skydiving team, the Broncos have brought the ball game ball in. There was an F-15 flyover that was exceptionally loud. They were shooting fire behind both teams. It felt like where we should be going in terms of treating women's soccer like it is a huge deal.
Gotham FC tactical struggles
Gotham wins the ball back high up the pitch all the time and then they just do nothing, stuck in molasses trying to move it forward. Gotham clearly hasn't worked out their attacking tactics to any sense of cohesion.
Angel City vs. Houston Dash analysis
I think it is fair to say that both are better than we thought they were going to be. I don't think either of them is as good as they have appeared. Both are pretty sharply overperforming their peripherals.
Washington Spirit performance
Washington is of all teams who are being checked in the media for underperforming expectations, they're what top three, top four in non-penalty xG differential through these first four games. It's very clear that they're just underperforming results. Washington is going to be fine.