It’s week 10 and most teams have hit double digit games. This matchweek featured two absolute non-penalty wreckings, an xG race chart for the sickos between the Current & Rahsing, a wild game between Angel City and the Spirit (plus a broken pass network), and the Orlando Pride losing the xG battle???

Yep, that all happened. Here’s what it all looked like according to StatsBomb’s xG race charts and passing networks.

nc courage 1-0 utah royals

Don’t let the fact that North Carolina can’t score goals distract you from the fact that this was a wrecking of epic proportion.

courage

Though North Carolina aren’t shy with committing numbers and often bomb their fullbacks forward, this back three to flood forward with numbers seems a new wrinkle to help them score. Sadly for them, it still took a center back making the right run in the box to get the only shot that found the net.

royals

Rekt.

bay fc 2-1 san diego wavé

Lol. I’m not saying I’m rooting for this to continue until Stoney plays attacking football but I’m also not not saying it either.

bay

Hopefully this game was a bit of a learning tool for Bay. The outside structure is solid and expansive (though you can see why there are so many gaps when they lose possession), but the match turned when Kiki Pickett found ways to play direct.

wavé

Mya Jones was a big standout, and could be a fun and unexpected attacking weapon that Stoney really needs with Alex Morgan still out and Jaedyn Shaw recently injured. Still, if defending is a team effort, so is attacking. Carusa is super isolated and María Sánchez is so deep she might be having flashbacks of Fran Alonso.

houston dash 0-2 portland thorns

Another no-penalty involved wrecking.

dash

Alonso is setting his team higher up the pitch, which is better, but there are still a whole lot of problems, such as everyone other than the defenders having negative pass OBV and being clustered together with no clear plan.

thorns

Sophia Smith didn’t score or assist, but that bright red circle shows how she can impact games even when not making direct goal contributions.

washington spirit 4-2 angel city fc

Didn’t expect this match to be what it was, and the final score and xG race chart tells that story beautifully lol.

spirit

Remember last week how swapped fullbacks broke the passing network? Well, the same thing happened here. But unlike last week where I could just switch to the first half pass network and still get a good picture of the structure, a forced Spirit substitution in the first half made that useless as well.

While the structure and passing connections are useless, pass OBV is not. This was probably Sarr’s best game in a Spirit shirt, and Bethune continues to be outrageous.

angel city

The Thompson sisters were cookin, which prompted Washington’s aforementioned fullback swap. That was dope, and hopefully Tweed continues giving them chances to wreak havoc together.

Sarah Gorden picked up an ankle injury and was subbed early, which is why the right side looks deserted. Interestingly, Tweed put Jasmyne Spencer on and pushed rookie Madison Curry into central defense. Here’s what the first half pass network looked like.

kc current 3-3 rahsing louisville

This chart should hang in commercial office buildings as an inspirational poster.

current

This is sort of more organized than we usually get from Kansas City, but a lot of traffic still flows to and from Izzy Rodriguez, which remains interesting.

rahsing

Pancaked.

nj/ny gotham fc 2-1 chicago red stars

Gotham definitely have gotten their groove back over the past few weeks, but not the goals to show for it. That changed here, and against a very solid defense.

gotham

Everyone but the central defenders hung out in Chicago’s half. Some of that by design from Chicago, but it’s still the kinda terror this Gotham team can enact. Also, given her last two goals, there might be a decision to make about getting Ella Stevens into the starting XI.

red stars

Chicago kept it compact and tight, while still staying connected to Mal Swanson, which is super important. It took a 90th minute header for them to suffer their first away loss, but they’ve very much building something.

(Also, this pass network doesn’t show it, but rookie Leilanni Nesbeth did a terrific job on Rose Lavelle.)

seattle reign 2-3 orlando pride

Raise your hand if you expected This Seattle Reign to win the xG battle with This Orlando Pride. Stop it put your hand down, you liar.

reign

Reign being hit with two early goals forced Laura Harvey to fight back. They posted their highest number of shot creating actions, and open play passes leading to shots. I know it was game state, but Orlando is not an easy defense to crack. Hopefully this gives Harvey confidence to trust her attack more than she has until this match.

pride

That right side COOKED. Banda is a terror (and posted her highest pass OBV yet), Emily Sams has been great, and the Pride got Adriana cooking as well. Also, rookie Ally Lemos put in work as well.

This is a complete team with multiple ways to harm a defense. We should all cower in fear. Except Pride fans, they should rejoice, and go to games.

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