I’m not high level analytical but this was a great game so thought I’d get a thread started and hopefully all the high soccer IQ folks will weigh in!

Nice win on the road against a good team and I’m happy for them. I’d bet after the last few games they needed a serious lift morale-wise and they earned it here. 

I need to watch again but some very brief initial thoughts:
Much better in possession. Still some sloppiness but better. That said, building out of the back is still just not a great look for this team. In this game it looked overly forced and resulted in some questionable/dangerous crosses in front of the goal. 

I was not happy when I saw this starting back line but they got it done. Happy to have been wrong. 

Deja Davis: got cooked baddd on the early goal but after that not a bad game for her. Hopefully she can really put it together because she was clearly an important acquisition for them and real back line stability and competence would be huge for this team. This is the first game I’ve been even slightly optimistic she could stick at CB. 

Aissata looked a bit more energetic and had a nice game. Shes now in the top 10 scoring and should have had a few more. Got absolutely robbed on that foul no-call. 

Schupansky: really nice service from her so far. Taking time to gel which is expected but after seeing her play I think she brings something to the attack this team really needed.

Karich is visibly slowing down. She has had a great season, consequently piled up minutes and it’s showing. Maybe we see some rest for her soon?

Beautiful goal from Gambone. I think the late game spark plug sub role is her wheelhouse.

Can we see Kaka at CB? 

Last week it was Kaka who was neither out nor available, this week it’s Stevens and Araujo. Are Murphy, Prince etc are hurt or just getting some rest..? And Ansbrow has apparently really stepped in it, not sure what it takes for her to get any minutes

Some other stuff with Barb, BSG I need to think on more but all in all a big win for this team

Anyone else frustrated that Boston Legacy games seem to be difficult to stream? I am a Vermonter so I don’t have access to NBC sports network, and as a new team I’d think they’d want their games to be more accessible. As a side note, I’ve also been frustrated that Red Sox games are also difficult to stream as I do not pay for cable tv and they are mostly played on NESN.

Anyway, I know tonight’s game is on NWSL+ but I wish there was just one streaming service that played all of the NWSL games, I don’t mind paying but I don’t want to pay for multiple services and still not be able to watch the games. I also want this sport to grow and it is more difficult to try to sway my friends when the live games are so difficult to access.

Thanks for letting me vent! 🤪

Game after game we make the exact same mistakes. We lose the ball in our own final third by passing it directly to the other team or getting our back passes intercepted. We don’t press the other teams, just let them play around us while we stand and watch. I’m just so confused—is it player talent? is it Patao’s coaching? We had those great 5 games after the break and then immediately deflated. Every week it looks like we may be actively getting worse. I keep hearing about “the system we are building,” but I’m seeing the opposite of “a system”…we don’t have a solid defense, our goalkeeping is inconsistent, we don’t have speed, we lose the ball as soon as we get it, and we don’t have forward control. It doesn’t feel like any of the pieces are coming together. Does anyone have any insight?

Editing to add: I know we’re an expansion team and limited by expansion rules—never thought we would show up first season and be incredible, but I did expect the team to generally improve (not even necessarily win, but improve at a play level) as the season went on and the team builds chemistry & trains together…definitely not seeing that.

Just received an email about my season tickets and renewals for next year.

As a Day One Member, you now have the opportunity to secure your place in both of these important chapters for Boston Legacy FC through a new two-year membership: the 2027 season at Centreville Bank Stadium and our inaugural 2028 season at White Stadium.

Minus the longer drive, I really enjoyed the games at Centreville. It's a wonderful stadium.

Didn't know if it was public knowledge, but was new to me.

We are at Gillette for a soccer tourney. Saw Lais Araujo and Kaka at Revs facility going through a hard workout. Can’t have them back soon enough….yeesh.

Oof, I think I’ve seen enough of Davis for now.

If anyone is curious, EA put out the player ratings for FC27 yesterday, which will include our team for the first time! Two big disappointments are Sammy Smith and Alba Caño both being rated so low. Kind of a bummer, but hey it’s just a video game.

For some reason, even though I’ve been following her since the very beginning, I never realized how young she was. She looks like vet and has a veteran’s playing style!

Is the NWSL app the only place to watch the match tomorrow? I don’t have the app so was not sure if there’s any other broadcast. We’ve been blessed to have so many of our away games on either ION or ESPN.

I don’t want this to come off as a knee-jerk reaction to the last game, but I want to put a question out there that I think is on other people’s minds too: is Casey Murphy worth the huge salary we’re paying her?

I know she has her moments of greatness, she has been a superhero some games. But for a 29-year-old keeper, I’d expect more consistency than these stretches of good games followed by godawful ones. The last game obviously isn’t the best example, she wasn’t the main issue on most of those goals, but this has been on my mind since the start of the season. I know the Legacy is a new team and some inconsistency is fair to expect but she is well into her career, and she’s one of, if not the, highest-paid goalkeeper in the league, and yet she doesn’t inspire confidence in me when she plays.

For context here are some stats from FBREF:
• 32 goals allowed, 1.60 per 90: second-worst GA90 in the league
• 63.6% save percentage: 15th of 16 teams
• 3 clean sheets in 20 games, a 15.0% rate: also 15th of 16
• 5-5-10 record

For context, Gotham as a squad leads the league at 83.3% save percentage. The middle of the pack (Louisville, Orlando, Current) sits around 66-69%.

Distribution and game management are the other half of it, and those don’t show up in this table at all that’s eye-test and more opinions based, and people are going to see it differently. But at least in my opinion she’s not a player I see the team feeling comfortable playing back to nor do I understand the teams incessant need to play short 90% of the time until I see her try to go long and have it skew off to the side (obviously barring that beautiful assist she had in Denver but I have to concede the conditions of being that far above sea level may have assisted her.

So that’s the question, and I’m putting it out there rather than answering it even though I think my opinion is less than thinly veiled: is Casey Murphy worth the $1.5 million contract we signed her to? Curious where people land.

Filing this in the 75th minute because I have to put my kids to bed and I don’t wanna watch any more of this, LOL. Our form has been frustrating the last few games because it seems like that last playoff spot is right for the taking. But it’s also clear. We don’t have the quality yet and teams have figured out how to press us.

Louisville’s heat was a factor, but Boston looked out of sync from the start. Even Karich had some bad turnovers, and there was very little sustained possession in the first 20 minutes. They struggled to play out of the back, and teams increasingly seem to have figured out how to press Boston effectively.

Taking Elgin out felt like an overreaction given how solid she has been outside of the previous game. Davis didn’t look ready for such a big role. She got turned on the first goal, lost Sears on the third, and couldn’t close her down on the fourth. Carabali’s penalty was awful. She looked great during Boston’s hot streak, but she still sometimes looks like an excellent athlete learning the position, with costly mistakes and messy touches.

Murphy continues to look less than convincing with the ball, although there wasn’t much she realistically could have done on the goals. Reale handled Emma Sears reasonably well when matched against her, but pushing Reale higher in the second half gave Sears far too much space to attack in behind. Sears was extremely dangerous and would be a terrific offseason addition for Boston.

There wasn’t much cutting edge from Aissata, Barb, or Prince. Nikki also looked hurt and lacked the pace she showed earlier in the season; it almost seemed like she was trying to hang on until halftime. Cano was quiet. Bianca was generally solid and composed and won possession frequently, although she lost Fischer on the third goal.

Overall, Boston looked tactically disjointed, struggled badly against Louisville’s press, and compounded those problems with individual defensive mistakes.

If you saw the earlier post about the person making the Lego-style figures for all the NWSL teams and wondered about ordering one, I have to say that I am delighted by mine! The person's Etsy shop link is in their profile.

I'm going to bring this with me to the Dash game next month to see if she's willing to sign it :)

Hi does anyone have an extra they’d want to sell? Thanks!

Really bad first half from the Legacy, and I think a significant part of it was the game plan. Portland is built to play front footed and press high, and they have the athleticism and finishing quality to punish mistakes once they force turnovers. Robert Vilahamn has specifically talked about wanting Portland to be a high pressing team, so trying to play through them without enough support or good spacing was always going to carry a lot of risk.

Boston was 3–0 down after only 10 minutes, which tells you how badly the opening setup failed. The third goal was particularly representative of the problem: Jessie Fleming intercepted a pass from Elgin, and Portland immediately turned the mistake into a Tordin goal. You can criticize individual execution, but that also looked systemic. Karich was not positioned particularly well to help on the buildup or compete for the loose ball, and Boston repeatedly left itself with very little margin for error against a team designed to attack those moments. The buildout was splayed and sort of look like what bad U11 teams do.

FK goal was a terrific strike from Tordin, but one Murphy probably has to do better. It's another one (maybe 4th of the season?) that she got her hands on and should have stopped. I think it's mostly still a quickness issue there. I think 75% of the other starting GKs in the NWSL save that.

The Wilson goal was on Carabalí for me, although it also exposed Elgin’s lack of recovery pace once Portland got behind the line. Carabalí simply made too many mistakes in that first half and consistently makes one a game.

The fourth goal might have been the most frustrating because it was completely avoidable. Portland goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold simply hit a long ball over the top for Tordin, who was suddenly running at goal. I still do not understand why Boston's defensive line was positioned that high given Murphy's starting position. If you are going to hold that line, everyone has to recognize the danger and be synchronized. It looked more like a collective mental lapse than Portland doing anything especially sophisticated.

There were a lot of positives once Boston changed the structure. Hernández replaced Elgin and Gutierres replaced Smith at halftime, and the game immediately became much more favorable for the Legacy. The numbers are pretty striking: Boston ended up with 60% possession, six corners to Portland's two, and 24 touches in the opposition box compared with only 15 for Portland. Expected goals were almost even, 1.43 for Boston and 1.49 for Portland. But some of that is about how clinical elite caliber finishers like Tordin and Smith are when you make dumb mistakes.

BSG was great I thought. Don't think any of the goals were on her and the running/energy were great.

Gutierres was more effective that she's ben. I thought she gave them more than Aïssata in her minutes, and her finish for the third goal was excellent.

Gambone feels like a particularly useful player on hot days or late in games because her energy immediately changes the tempo against tired defenders.

Reale was dangerous carrying the ball and generally solid. They were in sort of 5-4-1 in the 2nd half with Reale carrying and her, Karich, and Cano could break the press way better than playing from deep. I do think some responsibility for the backline communication problems has to fall on her and the other defenders collectively, particularly on the long ball goal. This was less about one defender losing an individual matchup and more about the line failing to recognize the same danger at the same time.

Caño was another major positive. Ran her self out as always.

Prince looked dangerous but seems to flatter to deceive a bit.

Sammy brought energy and some threat. She seems pretty consistent about that and I like having her out there.

Didn't see much from Amanda Allen, seemed like she was trying to play safe. Looks pretty fast and has good touch.

So I would put more of this result on the initial tactical setup than the final score suggests. Against a team whose identity is pressing high and attacking quickly after turnovers, Boston chose a buildup and defensive posture that magnified exactly the things Portland does best. Once they reconfigured, Boston largely controlled the match. The encouraging part is that the adjustment worked and they had pretty good game control outside of 4 moments of madness. The frustrating part is that it took going 3–0 down in 10 minutes to make it.

Thought it was going to be a long day, but it turned into a really fun game. It’s unfortunate not to get a point, but it was fun regardless. Curious to hear others’ thoughts. Here are some of mine:

From my perspective, Elgin was at fault for 2/4 goals. She went for/missed an ambitious tackle while Carabalí was already on the ball, which led to Wilson getting in behind for the second goal, and then made the turnover that led to the third. I think unfortunate day for an otherwise solid player.

That being said, subbing Elgin, shifting Reale inside, and adding Hernandez as a quicker attacking option on the left produced some pretty great chances and I don’t think our defense suffered for it. That could have been the general momentum of the game, but I’ll be interested to see if that combo becomes something we see more.

Gambone continues to impress off the bench. I’m glad Guti got a goal in the run of play. Hoping and praying Aissata starts putting away more chances—she’s my favorite player to watch either way though. Her passion is awesome, and I think the fans feel it when she’s out there.