Week 5 recap: Not enough

In the Juan Carlos Amorós era, Gotham FC has lost games from a losing position twice in NWSL regular season play. The first time was last August against the Houston Dash, aided by an Emily Sonnett own goal, and the second time was this past weekend in a 2-1 loss against the Kansas City Current. A goal from Jaedyn Shaw in the 29th minute ended a 334-minute scoring drought for the Bats, but it ended up not being enough to salvage even a point out of this matchup. On the plus side, Gotham finally found the back of the net again after 3 games without scoring. But there are also a lot of negatives. What should we take away from this match?

First, the elephant in the room

In the 12th minute of the match, defender Kayla Duran went down with what has unfortunately been confirmed as a season-ending ACL injury. We wish Kayla a speedy recovery.

What this meant was a team that was already playing musical chairs with positions had to make even more adjustments. Center back Tierna Davidson replaced Duran in the 18th minute, pushing Jess Carter out wide to right back, and then left the game in the 61st as she is still working her way up to full fitness. While Davidson was on the pitch, Carter was playing in her first minutes at right back since the game that Davidson tore her own ACL in over a year ago. Once Davidson left, Sarah Schupansky came in and took Midge Purce’s spot on right wing, with Purce taking a shift at right back. Finally, once Purce came out in the 79th minute, the team just stopped playing with a right back altogether. And all of this was happening under assistant coach Shaun Harris as head coach Juan Carlos Amorós did not travel with the team this weekend because he was expecting the birth of his second child.

All of this is to say, the odds were definitely stacked against Gotham this game. And being able to regroup and score a goal is a huge accomplishment that the team should definitely be proud of. So with all of that in mind, let’s get into this game.

Gotham’s attack is getting better

The Bats posted their highest single-game xG total so far this season, with their 15 shots totaling 1.30 xG. This game also saw the most shots and shots on target from the team this year. After this loss, the energy at the post-game press conference was generally low, but players and coaches alike spoke of visible improvements in attack. 

Defender Jess Carter said, “We were a bit more patient on the ball at times. Sometimes we’ve been too quick to force crosses, but today we moved the ball better.” 4 of Gotham’s shots this game came off of crosses, and in total they had 8 crosses actually end up with another Bat, the highest for the team this season. 

The Bats’ first shot of the game came after a cross.

Besides the beautiful cross from Jaedyn Shaw, what we loved in this buildup was how intentional the players were with finding open players and making sure the Bats retained not just possession but meaningful possession. All of this cultivated in Jaelin Howell’s first shot on target of the season, with the midfielder generating 0.28 PSxG on this otherwise low-quality chance. 

What we didn’t love about this play was how Gotham seemed just a touch too slow in their movement, allowing the Kansas City defense to catch up and keep up with them. 

Another example of a brilliant cross came in the second half of the game. 

We see beautiful quick movements on the left side between Lilly Reale, Jordynn Dudley, Savannah McCaskill, and Rose Lavelle. Lavelle then manages to get ahead of her defender to create room for a beautiful low-driven ball across the box to Sarah Schupansky. Schupansky unfortunately shoots right into a defender but we loved seeing this chance-creation from the Bats.

Acting head coach Shaun Harris discussed “focusing on decision-making in the opposition half—understanding the defensive shape, whether we can play behind, into pockets, or into gaps.” Here’s what we saw of that.

First, in Gotham’s lone goal of the match, the Bats had ball movement that was good enough to stay a step ahead of the Kansas City defense and they were rewarded for it. Of course, Jaedyn Shaw’s excellent finish (0.41 PSxG on just 0.04 xG) didn’t hurt.

We also loved the ball movement here. In moments like these, it doesn’t look like both teams have an equal number of players on the pitch. The amount of space that the Bats were able to create off their movement alone was inspiring to see.

This play ends with Savannah McCaskill (again in tons and tons of space) delivering a great ball to striker Esther González’s head. The ball had the power and pace for the redirection to carry to goal, but unfortunately the part of the goal it ended up at was also where Current goalkeeper Lorena was positioned.

Gotham’s next chance came less than a minute later, and we again got to see some brilliant ball and off-ball movement from the Bats. This time, it resulted in Kansas City’s defense having to be reactive rather than proactive, as the Bats did an excellent job playing through and playing into its gaps. Esther drawing defenders in the box meant that Jaedyn Shaw was able to create a shooting window for herself with minimal effort. At the end of the day, it was a 0.04 xG chance that went over the bar, but 0.04 xG was all she needed for her goal earlier in the half. 

But at the end of the day, coach Harris noted that, “we’re still dealing with the same issue—getting chances but not putting them away.

Rookie Jordynn Dudley has great initiative and great awareness here to use her pace to just slide through Kansas City’s defenseless midfield. But while we did see some improved decision-making from Gotham in this game, this finish was not one of them. Dudley had wide open passing options on either side of her and instead opted for an unlikely shot right at a defender.

Gotham’s last shot of the game came from perhaps the least-likely source. Kansas City goalkeeper Lorena was unfazed by many of Gotham’s efforts on target, but she was somehow not able to hold onto goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger’s shot from 30 yards out. The Bats’ most powerful striker is their goalkeeper. Go figure.

Harris remained optimistic though. On the Bats’ season so far, he said, “we believe in the process and the way we’re playing. The improvements are there — it’s just about finishing those chances.” And to his credit, the Bats are improving. It’s just a question of whether it’s happening fast enough.

Gotham’s defense needs to tighten up

Speaking on the defense in this game, acting head coach Shaun Harris observed, “we had lapses in concentration in two key moments and were punished for it.” Let’s take a look at those two lapses.

The first goal Gotham conceded in this game was about 15 minutes after Jess Carter made the switch from center back to right back for the first time in over a year. Carter finds herself way out of position and not fast enough to recover. Kansas City exploits that empty space with ease, especially since the target Temwa Chawinga is dangerous enough to necessitate the double-team. Allowing three opponents to have no defenders between them and the goal is not necessarily something Gotham should make a habit, though.

A minute before Tierna Davidson gets taken off, she has a very unfortunate giveaway in a very dangerous position. Kansas City transitions from defense to offense much quicker than Gotham can do the opposite, and while Lilly Reale does a decent job recovering, the ball still finds the back of the net. Gotham is not quick enough to react, Kansas City is way too incisive to let an opportunity like that go to waste, and suddenly a game that Gotham stood to earn three points from has flipped completely. Harris was right when he mentioned that the team “need[ed] to manage transitions better.”

Where we don’t entirely agree with him is his assessment that the lapses in concentration were limited to those two key moments. Defender Jess Carter’s perspective on the situation is perhaps a little more accurate, as she noted that, “there were a few controllables that we didn’t manage well today, especially defensively. That’s where the frustration comes from—things we could have done better.”

Gotham could have conceded as early as the fifth minute of the game, as Gotham’s left side gave Kansas City all the room in the world to set up a great cross. The ensuing shot misses by the finest of margins, hitting the post instead of the back of the net.

This giveaway by Savannah McCaskill is surely the result of a lapse in concentration. Gotham could have gone down 5 minutes before they actually did had this shot not been deflected away from goal by Emily Sonnett. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough of a learning experience for the Bats to avoid a very similar mistake a few minutes later.

The Bats aren’t technically outnumbered here, but it sure feels like they are because nobody is watching out for the runner on Kansas City’s right side. Forward Haley Hopkins slips into the box seemingly completely undetected and by the time the ball gets to her, there is nothing any defender in black and sky blue can do. Goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger was the only reason this game wasn’t completely lost in the 83rd minute.

When Gotham’s defense is on, it can be suffocating. What’s concerning is seeing this back line concede two goals in two of its first five games of the season. It’s hard to overstate the impact that Kayla Duran’s injury must have had on this team, both logistically and emotionally. We’re not going to ding Gotham for this performance, but we’re definitely hoping that we see much fewer of these lapses and mistakes going forward.

Looking ahead to next match

Gotham next plays at home against Bay FC on Saturday, April 25th at 1 PM ET, also broadcast nationally on CBS. Bay currently sits in 10th in standings, with 2 wins and 2 losses so far this season. While their most recent match ended in a 2-0 loss to the Washington Spirit, offseason acquisitions Claire Hutton and Alex Pfeiffer have already made a huge impact for the team and will definitely pose a challenge to the Bats. Hopefully the international break will provide a much-needed reset for Gotham to rebuild some chemistry and consistency.

Thumbnail courtesy of Gotham FC.