NWSL Week 11 was the last set of matches before an international break. Fran Alonso has been fighting for his life and probably saved his job, while Utah and Bay FC continue to be very different varieties of hot messes but hot messes nonetheless.

The Spirit are doing a weird thing, Casey Stoney’s attacking gameplan caught everyone off guard (even maybe her players), and the Thorns should feel both good and bad about their Sophia Smith-less effort against Barbra Banda and Orlando Pride.

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

angel city 0-0 san diego wavé

I’m sad because for the first ~hour the Wavé played attacking soccer but María Sánchez missed their two biggest chances, Elyse Bennett & Alex Morgan missed their next three highest value shots, the team never scored and I dunno if Casey Stoney will ever do this again :(

angel city

xG schmex gee, Angel City started with rookie fullback Madi Curry at center back, were pushed deep all game, and still survived with a point. In isolation all that is encouraging, but the team seems to have reached a plateau under Tweed.

wavé

All but two outfield players in the opposition’s half with damn near everyone lit up red with sweet, sweet high pass on ball value (OBV), even GK Kailen Sheridan. However, look at how few passing connections there actually were. Stoney asked them to do something different and they did, but without consistent attacking patterns or familiarity it was all a bit Bambi on ice.

orlando pride 2-1 portland thorns

Soph Smith missing this match due to injury kept it from being the Michael Buffer-worthy bout it was intended to be. Orlando didn’t care tho, and proceeded to continue its quest for world/xG domination.

pride

Service to Banda was pretty well cut off, it just so happens that she’s absurdly good and can find a way to score two goals regardless.

thorns

Without Soph this was the best the Thorns could do. They mucked up midfield and cut off the supply to Banda as much as they could, but didn’t have a consistent threat at the other end. But no consistent threat doesn’t mean they didn’t carve out the odd quality chance.

In fact, 1.11 xG of their 1.53 total came from three shots, and only one found the back of the net. Gameplan: executed. Finishing? Ah, well, nevertheless.

washington spirit 3-2 seattle reign

The Spirit are doing an interesting thing where they go ham early in matches then the attack clocks out midway through the second half and they hang on. It’s worked, but it doesn’t feel like a particularly sustainable thing in this league.

spirit

One sweet glorious day Trinity Rodman will be able to consistently join the Croix + Ouleye show, but this day was not that day. Still, Croix Bethune continues to be unimaginably good, and dropped another goal and another assist.

reign

Going down 3-0 in the first half will force anyone to fight back, and that’s what Reign did. Tziarra King had a great game and was the reason Rodman was pushed back so far. One day Harvey will let someone join King, but this day was not that day.

houston dash 3-0 nc courage

Nahas? Alonso?? Sean??? FRAN????

dash

Honestly, hilarious.

courage

Lost in the sauce.

bay fc 0-2 nj/ny gotham fc

Not sure if back-to-back +.90 xG chances have ever happened before but that’s what Ella Stevens did. Her two shots, which became the only goals, were responsible for 1.89 of Gotham’s 2.10 overall.

bay

Bay are hilarious because this looks very good. Expansive, lots of connections between players, multiple triangles, nearly everyone with high pass OBV – yet somehow it all only led to .79 xG. Heavens.

gotham

Gotham didn’t create much at all, and to be honest this attacking performance was bailed out by Ella Stevens, but defensively they managed to make all of Bay’s passing count for very little.

chicago red stars 0-1 rahsing louisville

I love this race chart. Emma Sears’s absurd strike woke up Chicago’s attack and both teams went back and forth until the final whistle.

red stars

The Red Stars’ current style of play is susceptible to conceding a low xG banger then having to figure out how to cohesively expand their structure. Unfortunately that happened, and they couldn’t figure it out, with every attacking player not named Mallory Swanson left starved for passes.

rahsing

Gotta be honest, I’m not sure what Bev Yanez is doing with her XIs but they put Chicago under a lot of pressure and got a lot of quality passing, but needed a .03 xG banger to get a narrow win.

utah royals 0-1 kc current

Sweet merciful Lord.

royals

Pushed deep, no outlet, no effective passing. Yikes.

current

Extremely funny to dominate as much as they did with this, but that’s a testament to high pressing and Utah being very bad.

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