Kara
0:08
And we. 10s Welcome to another episode of Queen's Pitch. I'm Kara and I'm
Bridget
0:22
Bridget, and it's been a rough weekend for all the Charlotte fans.
Kara
0:26
It is, but as a pink moon and I as pink, a pink full moon, a full pink moon. So it's all better, right? I gotta be positive because that game was not fun. It was not positive. The sun did come out though. It didn't rain during the game, so that's a
Bridget
0:39
positive. Yeah. You know, it's kind of bad when we're just talking about the weather. Yeah. Well, you know when you get there and you're just anticipating like the best of the best. And then the team decided not to show up. It's just heartbreaking. So you try to talk about other stuff as positive smile on your
Kara
0:57
lips as your ace is.
Bridget
0:59
It's hard to tell whether it felt worse than the Atlanta game at home last year, where we also lost 3 to 0. But then, like, we knew something wasn't right because people were played out of position. At least this one. People are playing the right positions, but still it just it didn't feel it felt demoralizing in in a few different ways. And not just because like again, they weren't trying, but we got burned. We gotta burn with our burn, burn, burn.
Kara
1:26
You need to call them back. But but that was a mean burn. Not being there had nothing to do with it. It had a lot to do with the fact that we don't know how to shoot. We don't know how to shoot goals. So, you know, we all have one shot on goal, then you're not going
Bridget
1:40
to win. Yeah. You know, I think we went into this season and we had Dean Smith. We're going into it. We've had, you know a great our best run of this any season of Charlotte FC so far in that points and wins and something to to be excited about. But you know what the bubble is burst. And I don't think that's because we have no hope. I don't think that's because, you know we're down on Dean Smith I think, you know, we just wrote a high. 1s And now honestly losing some games and not getting attacking in it looks legit. Like that's kind of what we expected out of this season. And now we know why choices were made in earlier games to start who we did. It's just that we're showing some holes and some trickiness lacking. And Minnesota did an excellent job to look at our tactics and go, hmm, we know what you're doing, we know how we can exploit it, and that's unfortunately where we got caught. It. Well, we just hung ourselves on that.
Kara
2:42
Yeah. We didn't do we don't know I don't know what we did. Are they you know, you win some you lose some. We're
Bridget
2:47
bound to lose. So Sunday Sunday turned into Sunday nine day. We were riding high. And it just like it's not as bad down on the ground. I was like yeah, yeah,
Kara
2:56
yeah I ain't what you think you are. So keep working. Do what you gotta do.
Bridget
3:01
Keep being humble people,
Kara
3:02
right? Like knock you down a couple. You know, I think we all in life need to be knocked down every now and then. And this just this just told us that. Look, you need to get back and do a better job. And maybe when we rise again, like the Phoenix, like Queen Charlotte rises again, we can. That's right. Come back with the, you know, knowing what we know from this game and the takeaways, which I don't know what the takeaways are. I said that we didn't shoot. So what's worse shooting 100 times and airmail in it or not shooting at
Bridget
3:35
all okay. Okay. But I have some points here on that because it's not the same. We didn't see the same game that we've seen in other. Matches. It was the fact that we couldn't get shots at all because they weren't even going in. I mean, like, there weren't chances to make the getting the chances was the hard part in this one. We had maybe like two. Well, two is like last year, 1s you know, like it was like we are our attacking options aren't there
Kara
4:10
right now. The two, one of them wingers and one of them was one of our left back. So like
Bridget
4:15
okay, okay, that's who's going to be our shooters. The zone right. What was everybody else. Right. Well and then Bill got a very nice attempt on a header that didn't happen. That got blocked by Minnesota. But like again that's one time. And that needs to be happening on every hopeful corner free kick. We
Kara
4:34
had a lot of corners. I think in the whole grand scheme of things we had, we had plenty of corners. We just don't know how to capitalize on corners,
Bridget
4:42
getting the delivery, having the opposition react in a way that gets us a goal doesn't
Kara
4:48
right, like when when inner Messi has a corner. So when Messi has a corner, everybody gets scared because they're intimidated. They're probably going to get it in right, because inner Messi likes to do that. But when we go up to do a corner, they're not worried about us. You know? They're like, we don't intimidate them, we don't scare them. So I would like to have that ability that when people played us, they don't want us to get a corner because, you know, Charlotte is going to kick that in or they're going to head it in. So let's keep them from getting corners. No one's scared of us. We don't
Bridget
5:19
scare people. We have to get mid before we can scare people. 2s Okay. 3s I think we're we're well below that. We're just occasionally getting lucky.
Kara
5:33
That's the problem. We didn't know we were low mid. We thought we was mid to high. And now we know that we're mid to low.
Bridget
5:40
Not on not on corners. Like never
Kara
5:42
know. It never been good on corners. And by the way Greg when he was supposed to play he was supposed to I think was supposed to be Scotty. And Scotty got a little hammy
Bridget
5:50
hammy pull before the game. So they said straight up in there because my daughter was like, when they did the announcements over the thing, when they zip bragged and everybody was like, gosh, Ray, no one knows how to say to you, I was ready. Everybody was like, whoa!
Kara
6:03
She was like, mama, he's not even supposed to be up there on that board. And I was like, I don't know. And they did a good thing with the graphics. They shot him in there real
Bridget
6:09
fast. Yeah. It's unfortunate that, you know, Scott Arfield couldn't play because the two of them together playing off each other is has been pretty well. But it is just funny how like, even with that, we we know there's some obvious improvements in this one. Just exposed a lot of it. First of all, the attacking options like we don't have connectivity and chemistry because it's all changed over. And so that is still like we have hope, but they're not hot. They're not dependable in these ways yet. It's it's it's just looking shaky, especially this game. And in any position just about we didn't connect and so were we. Just lucky last week getting those three goals or did Minnesota just have our number. And I think it just it's likely the latter because Minnesota they couldn't we couldn't play our ball since they were playing possession. They made us they made us, forced us into possession and then we weren't doing things with it. They played such a high defensive line and so we kept getting tripped out and caught offsides. We couldn't execute the same tricks that they were using against us, like our our ball and we gave them just way too much space defensively. And it was it. Killer combination, even if the supposed second goal was offside, either way, it was still it didn't even look like even if we had stayed the same at the 0 to 1, we wouldn't have gotten that second goal called offsides then. I still don't know that we could have won with what we had or even tied it up. You know, we interviewed. Yeah, last week. I haven't listened to that get on over and listen to. It was really fun. But we had talked to him and one of the things he said, like, sometimes when they're out there playing in the big leagues, that it's like playing basketball. It might seem like playing basketball sometimes. And when they were out there, I really did think at one point because they started hitting it. I think they had it in like 30 times in a row and each other. They kept heading it back and forth and I was like, use me in for real. I don't want to come watch a basketball game. Like, I don't want to see the ball up in the air all the time. I want to see it on the ground, in the net. And we didn't see that. It was just like a game of ping pong, right? Long game. And it wasn't like anything productive out of the ping pong. It was just ping pong.
Kara
8:29
Oh, we messed up.
Bridget
8:31
We didn't shoot. My friend was talking about that comparison with basketball, and she was like, what? And I was like, well, it's not it's not the scoring part. That is the comparison to basketball. It's kind of more the constant back and forth movement of the ball rather than. Proceeding down tactically and and confidently and trying to get. It's just kind of not controlling the ball, keeping it in the middle, kind of just hectic ness rather than the the back and forth on the court. It was just frustrating to watch. I was I sat on the board. I got blessed to be able to do that. And being from that perspective, I thought, this is, you know, great. We got to yell a lot. I'd have to yell a
Kara
9:14
lot. But it was just frustrating because you could see that something just seemed off. And I don't know what it was for
Bridget
9:21
guys. So Bridget, even with this, I guess before we go into the how tough this game was anymore, let's let's pull out some positive. Do you have any one you'd like to favor?
Kara
9:31
I'm going to favor. Clean them. I'm just kidding. 1s Could you imagine? Um, not that I'm not that I wanted to say anything bad about the guy. Um, my daughter talked to him afterwards. He had a rough night. Yeah. He did. And my daughter talked to him afterwards and asked him what he. I don't know why she asked him at that moment, but she did. She said, how do you get bounce back from losing a bad game? 2s You know. And you know, he dropped his water bottle as she was asking him, so kind of took him by surprise. But now he he did tell her that they just move on and go on. So anyway, he just had a side note that. But my first favorite. There are some favors, but I'm going to favor our new number 11 Liel Abada, because he just has that fire in that tenacity out there on the field. He's fast. He goes after the ball. He doesn't give up and I know he doesn't know. Like you said he doesn't have the chemistry with everybody yet. But he just doesn't give up. He's defending. He's offensive. He's in the mid. He's doing everything, even though he's not getting the ball where he needs to to shoot. He's he's out there trying to make things happen. And and so if any favors get any better, I think it needs to go to that little guy
Bridget
10:37
and he is little short.
Kara
10:39
No offense. So there's nothing wrong with it. Leo
Bridget
10:41
was one of the few people out there giving energy, and I think just trying to give everything he had and trying to make something happen and be creative and and even at to a point, like if he's the only one doing it, it doesn't work. And I think multiple instances of that happened with the team. I think it was effort by individuals, but not in a team cohesiveness. And so I think that's that was part of the issue that we had. But no, I definitely saw Leo trying to get in good areas, trying to create opportunities. They don't obviously don't work. But he did get an off target shot attempt and, you know, create some actual xG, um, expected goals, which we didn't have very much for this game. So the fact that some of his efforts created something, even if it didn't lead to a final something, again, you need more of that to to get the end. It's rough having him. This is only what what his third game.
Kara
11:46
Yes. Third game.
Bridget
11:47
That was a that was a that was a rough one. I hope he can come back from that too. I'm sure he's seen rough games in his time, but, uh, you know, your third game, you're excited about playing for a new team. You're a new DP, expected to have something that has to be pretty heavy on him, too. I mean, he's pretty young, and I mean, obviously it should ride on ends up more. But, you know, I really do think Leo was trying. Trying. And you know, he's still not 100% cemented in his chemistry and and work with the team that he's already having to come up to speed essentially in those areas. As far as individual effort, he was definitely trying.
Kara
12:28
So there's your favor. Here's your
Bridget
12:30
first favor. My favor. This match I think, has to go to our captain, Ashley Westwood, for a number of things. One, he was constantly trying to deliver the ball in the good places. I really enjoyed it that he was getting feisty in some areas because I think towards the end especially there just so much stoppage and so much fouls getting whistled, even though they're. Petty that it just stops our momentum, which is incredibly frustrating. And I think it got to everybody in this game at one point or another. But I still saw him trying to get some of that fire out in that frustration that I think everyone was feeling. So I think that diffused some of it. And I think he did it in a way that didn't get him a yellow card. So congratulations to that. Right. I
Kara
13:15
thought he did it for a second.
Bridget
13:18
I don't know. I just, you know, I thought that he was trying to make something happen. He he was trying to generate an attempt into the box, create chances. And and again, they don't they don't come off. They didn't have very many opportunities of that this game at all. So I think you have to give credit where that does happen. I mean, at 1.2, I saw him trying to shore up the backline when it was getting shaky, especially in that second half. So I thought that he was trying to hold things together, which is what you want your captain to do and to, to me, like he had extra work involved in this match to try and hold things together even while we're down 3 to 0. It's it's tough on the players attitudes and mentality for that. He's a
Kara
14:07
good captain. I think he's always got that mentality that he's going to go out there and give it his all. Even when we're down and about and he's he's just giving it everything. And he told me or he told us afterwards he almost got in trouble. You know, he wanted to strangle not really. And literally he wanted to strangle the, the ref because he felt like he wasn't giving the right calls. And it's got to be hard on him not to, you know, get those call, get those yellow cards. And he's done. Well I think he's not got a couple and like 1 or 2 weeks. Right. So he's he's maybe getting some ready soon I hope so. Anyway
Bridget
14:42
I like him a lot. I like
Kara
14:44
I like him I think he's the players feed off him and if he can I mean it's nice if he gets a little feisty every now and then as long as we're not getting red
Bridget
14:51
cards. I think Minnesota was playing a game of gamesmanship towards the end, which must have been frustrating everybody trying to make an attempt. And you can tell like the momentum was on our end for the last like maybe ten minutes, maybe 15 minutes or so. Minnesota wasn't getting as many chances. It was mostly staying on their side. Again, they're not great chances on our end, but. We couldn't continue to get more momentum, we couldn't make things move fast. And that's because of the rough, and that's because of the way Minnesota was, was committing those pesky little fouls and things and then trying not to let us. And I think the, the refs kind of let into that, I don't I obviously don't think it played into any result of the game at all, but I think it fed into us not being able to go with the pace we wanted towards the end to try and make something happen. I think they were still trying and that just prevented them from doing it. Do
Kara
15:49
you have any other favors or do you want me to give my honorable mentions?
Bridget
15:52
Yeah. Go ahead. I don't
Kara
15:54
think that anybody else, like, stood out and stood out, but I want to get one to brand Bronco. I don't think we've seen him in a minute. And he came in and I liked his tenacity and his fire. He couldn't. There wasn't much he could do when he got there. But I do like the fact that he when he did come in, he tried his little hard out and he tried. I think he almost got a yellow card too, because he was being a little feisty as well with the ref. I like seeing Brent Bronco out there on the field, and even if it is just to be a super sub, I feel like he gave us 110% every time and the other players feed off him and it makes them want to do well or do better. So I'm going to give a little honorable mention to Brent this time,
Bridget
16:34
maybe 13. It was great to see him back. I think having him out there really encourage the fans. You saw him get a bit of a cheer as he came on, because it's been a while since he's he's been with us. It's been like he went out in January. So it's been three months or so almost exactly to a point to miss him. And I don't think we thought we would be missing him that long, but it's nice to have him back. I hope he continues to stay healthy and then get more minutes and try to just be a different depth piece, especially on the defensive end. I think his leadership is fantastic and so I think we've we need that and he knows the team really well. And so I think he knows how to encourage it, especially the younger players. If so, if he's typically paired with. Some of our younger team team members. I think they look to him for that, that leadership and instruction, and then they're better able to do the jobs they need to do. So it was nice to see him, the person I kind of want to give some praise to this time. I do think Karen Vargas was trying to make things happen. Also. Again, individual effort. I don't think it's as much, uh, cohesive with the team. I don't think goal wise he was getting it in. But I think as far as trying to deliver things into someone else could create a goal. I think he was trying there, creating chances. He just wasn't as creative as other games we've seen. But again, if you don't have anyone willing to try that, then you don't get anywhere. I think part of the issue is that anyone we tried to make an attempt for was constantly trying to get offside, and, and it was just really tough since they Minnesota was playing such a high line and it hurts even more because they were trying the exact same thing on us. And it tended to work. But I think I think Karen was legitimately trying and delivering some things in. Unfortunately, they just they just don't go the way the Crown he
Kara
18:32
was trying out there. It's a little hard out. I don't think he did anything wrong. At least he had a shot. He was trying to take shots. He was trying to do what he could. I think they all were getting frustrated Sunday. I don't know, maybe it was just the weather. Maybe it just the Sunday. What did you say was the Sunday Scaries?
Bridget
18:49
Yeah, we totally had the Sunday Scaries both, I think, fan wise. And because people were leaving, we didn't have a regular fans. We didn't have our regular. Cheering in the supporters section as loud as normal and with the rain. And then just on the pitch, it didn't feel like the same liveliness from the team cohesiveness, the same team that that makes the fortress scary. Like all those things kind of come together. And so we had no 12th man. No, I don't think like we were pretty quiet for, for the, for the bank. And, you know, I think, I think we're an encouragement to them even when they're down at that moment. And I think it was just not that not that it's our fault for the result that in any way as fans. But I think that there they felt less encouragement because sometimes, you know, it's just the heart that that can pick you up in those moments. And, you know, I think I think the fans had troubled with it, too. I think there were a lot of people that just were like, okay, we can't we have to go home like it's a school night. Got to go back to work. I go back to school tomorrow. So they left early, especially when they already went down 3 to 0.
Kara
20:01
It was raining as well. Yeah you're down. You're like, oh let's go. There's
Bridget
20:05
people who travel for the games. It is.
Kara
20:07
It is what it is you have when some you lay some new hands on me last night, so should we even wrath anybody or since we've been, you know, kind of Debbie downers this week at this time? Or should we tell people who we
Bridget
20:22
want to pass? Got to be honest. You got to call it out. But I do want to say, I think that despite us being down three goals, I want to say I don't think there was fault. I think he did some he did well in some areas that he was also one on one with Minnesota players because they kept coming for us. They were not going to lay back down. Um, yeah. Once they got three, like they didn't park the bus, they kept trying to get attempts. And I think some of those was also prevented by Kaleena. As well. Like he couldn't prevent everything. Some of those were just in areas that he that were more on the defense to try and cover. Your goalkeeper can't do everything. A few of those were bound to go in. I just don't think they were his fault.
Kara
21:09
Yeah, I do. I jump because, you know, I like to give a goalkeeper a hard time even though my kid.
Bridget
21:13
Okay. Oh,
Kara
21:15
and then I was watching the Charlotte soccer show because they can't replay in that one that went in. And okay, so two of them I feel like it was just what it is. But that one, the cleaner did get a hand on it and it was a little he could have done a little bit better on that one, but for the most part, I think the rest of them, you know, I'll let him slide. I'm not going to blame the game on him. There was that one. He I just felt like which goal is that the second one. Okay. So you're saying he should have gotten he should have got a little bit more.
Bridget
21:44
Got a glove on that one. He should have done better on that one. Yeah, that was it. Speaking of that goal, I think we have to pick out the skull because in the comments after the match, Dean Smith says that he absolutely believes that that second goal shouldn't have been counted because it was offside. Now. No, I saw
Kara
22:03
it. It was very close. I mean, his shirt might have been offside a little bit,
Bridget
22:09
so I think I think there just wasn't a good enough camera. Yeah. Because in the replay that Apple played you can't see them both like you can't see the angle. I think it could have been offside. Um, and the one I guess let me point out who I'm talking to. So this is about the 48th minute. It's on the long cross. So the right back goes to make a big cross all the way to the left winger. Essentially, in that moment I think it comes off his foot and the guy's already past creating the offside. But it's so hard to tell because that guy is actually still fast, that by the time it comes off his foot, the camera isn't quite catching it. Then you have the overlapping runner, and then they deliver the pass back into the box for Ludd. So I don't really think a camera addresses what Dean Smith was trying to point out in that it's offside, and that maybe that's why VAR couldn't catch it, because it wasn't clear and obvious offside. That's probably what frustrated him to that that that counted in that way because he's used to that Premier League via our technology that he was making a point out. But if you're going to do that, you know, it's got to go everywhere in the league. I just don't see that happening. And that has to be frustrating because then it deliver things like this. But it is easy to say that that that goal just just like a balloon popping. 1s Rumpus. Yeah. Just have to come back from like, I think. I think the second goal absolutely led to that third goal. Yeah,
Kara
23:46
I think I did too, but
Bridget
23:47
we got to cover the ugly. All right. Bridget. Who are you asking this time? Okay, I'm just going to do it all in one, okay? I'm just going to rip the Band-Aid off. We're going to do better than what I am doing. A, B and B, the bill and the bracket.
Kara
24:01
Right then, Bill bill Bragg. However you want to look at
Bridget
24:03
it. They both just don't understand. I don't understand. Bill tries a little hard out, his little heart out. Got that little header trying to be cool. Oh, poor Bill. Still making mistakes back there where I feel like man wouldn't be making them. And I need you to do better plays laundering. I bet Brecht we're paying you way, way, way, way, way too much money and you're just not doing it. You're not doing it for me. You're supposed to be my Kevin De Braun. And you're definitely not even that. The. You're not even the Kevin of the Kevin. You're not even Kevin De Bruyne his hair out there okay. So
Kara
24:40
I'm going to need you to do a little bit
Bridget
24:41
better
Kara
24:42
all around for the 1.5 mil. So anyway my my two are going to Brighton. And Bill even though like like relatively speaking they didn't do anything worse than everybody else. Because it's a team effort. But those are my two. Okay. I'm gonna I'm gonna definitely kind of agree with you for one of them. I can see Bill doesn't have a great night. Bill is not well on the in the first goal. I can't give it all to Bill for that first goal. But I think he plays a part in it and that's why I want to call it out. Privett and Bill are two different heights on that back line, and in your center backs you have to keep that partnership. You have to keep that line. You have to keep stay in line with each other so that you're able to get that offside. And each of them, they get suckered in and they have different heights. So like Bill is ahead of it and they should be sticking together. Buddy buddy. He gets up there and he gets that goal because he gets by the shoulder and in between them that's that was a gaping hole and needs to be addressed. I hope it is addressed coming up. And I think this is where you really miss Melinda, because I think that the partnership between Andrew and Adele, that they work at, that. I think Melinda is very vocal and in keeping that communication and keeping that together. And I think Bern also plays a part in it. I think that's where you miss him. And it's funny because when I was rewatching this that the announcers for Apple were saying that basically he could be in the Premier League by summer, like he is that good of a center back, which that comment kind of surprised me, but that does. He is so visionary, and his work rate and in what he sees in the in the part that he plays in this team, that he could even be recruited by a Premier League team. Yeah, but we don't want to lose them.
Bridget
26:32
Right. So to me it's a little like, okay, well he's some glue that's holding us together. And even Bill, despite the fact that he, he can be pretty steady and he can fill in, he can't be Miranda. And maybe that's the reason why our defense got shored up so well. Like, and having him and burn out makes it even harder. Not that that's anything against Lindsey. I think Lindsey is a great fill in. I just don't think maybe he's as communicating to the other two, whereas I think. Burn howlers all over the place, and sometimes his speed rate fills in for those two center backs when they do get caught out in other areas. But going back to Bill, I think the third goal, I think the third goal was Bill's fault. Again, not that any person can be like, oh, that goal is definitely your fault. But I think that in that moment that header comes in, bill lets his man get on the other side of him to catch the header, and he is just behind him, behind him stepping into it and he's unable to defend against it. Could Milan to do a better job? He is taller than him, I'm not sure. But either way, like in that moment, Bill's he's he's too slow in that moment. But I don't think any anything could be just just one man.
Kara
27:51
No, it's a team
Bridget
27:52
effort. Right. Team effort, team loss. I think in that moment, it is Bill's unfortunate circumstance. Bill. Poor Bill. Bill is also the only other person to get a shot on target in this entire match. So the Minnesota goalkeeper blocks it. But still Bill was there. Bill across. He made the header. He tried okay. So he made an effort positively toward the offense where we did not have it. So I think you have to you have to add that to his tally
Kara
28:22
okay. Give me the hair I'm going to Brian.
Bridget
28:28
Oh Brecht. He does need to be better. But is it his fault to be better, or is he? Is he used in the wrong way?
Kara
28:37
Is he our ten? I
Bridget
28:39
don't think he's our top ten. I think he's just to fill
Kara
28:42
in when he picks out a starting lineup.
Bridget
28:45
Yeah, him or our field. I think this is because of their vision. This is not because of their immense talent at the ten. Like they are not the knock it out of the park. That's a baseball reference. Sorry, Carol. No,
Kara
29:00
my wife spends much money on
Bridget
29:01
him. Again, I think he has great vision as far as, like wise and and leadership. And he saw some areas where he was delivering them to places that had space to be able to get something off into the box. That was him. So like sometimes he is, if you're saying in a lead up, the shot is the last one. So we'll we'll go say, that's a one and you back up a step to a two, which is the assist right. He's usually the three. He's that secondary assist. And that's usually delivering. It's either him or our field sometimes. But I mean you know not that there's someone else is also there doing it. There are but usually especially this one. He was giving some great opportunities to others. They don't use them well. His vision is there. I think if you don't have him, then you don't have some of these other visions at all and and other deliveries into the box. I don't I just don't think they were very good. I think Brecht had some opportunities getting into the box and moving it forward in that manner. I just think he was delivering it into space so that someone can then push that chance forward. It's just then that was going awry, or this the next ball was going awry so that no one could get a shot off. It just it doesn't amount to anything if those don't connect, if that next person doesn't doesn't do anything with it. I'm not sure if it's just him and he needs to be better. I just think that we need a a better person in the middle. I think he isn't it. He's trying to fill in and but he is not the talent that we need to connect all those pieces. I agree, I don't want to say that that's his fault though. I think that's more on the hopeful summer window that we've been trying to pursue. Yeah, that person that fell through in the, you know, in the winter window that we were trying to get, I think he is the fill in the gap. And so he's going to get crap for filling in the gap. Oh
Kara
31:02
my. To rest okay losers. Why is not a person again. Because I don't think in this game you can really pick I think it's a team effort. The team it's just it's just team. And so in this way you can't pin it on a person because it's not one person not doing what they need to do. It's more like this was the area that that they needed to get Minnesota to work at, and it didn't happen. So mine is that they didn't get enough width and. Minnesota forced them into possession that they don't do as much with. And so far in this season, we have not been wanting to take possession and then deliver and push something into the box and make something happen that way. We have been using transitions, using speed, trying to be fast and quick as far as like being patient and breaking things down when we were in possession. We've struggled with that. I think it's too much pressure. And then so then the pass goes awry or it's just given away. And like that happened so many more times, like we might have actually needed, for example, a McKinsey gains this game because we needed the players to go all the way quickly to the end line and then wide to make the Minnesota work due to their high line. Like we just didn't have enough. A person that had enough speed and the right timing and the area to put the ball in correctly so that the goalkeeper and the Minnesota player wasn't able to get to it. We just couldn't use our patients to deliver it and break it down. I'm not sure that we have that. And maybe that's what we need to work on. The first half really wasn't so bad. It's just we were caught out at that one goal. It's just the second half. Like once they get that second goal, then the momentum is just here. And I think two that Minnesota was just easily able to read what we're doing. Yeah, they know exactly what we're
Bridget
32:51
doing. They were able to cut off so many through passes and we were just still trying the through passes. Minnesota's men were so tight and so there wasn't that space. So you really needed to pull it wider and pull it longer so that they had more space. And we just couldn't we didn't have the pieces to do that or they weren't delivering them the right way to do that.
Kara
33:11
Well, hopefully Dana will figure it out this week. Good Ole Dino got his work cut out for
Bridget
33:17
him. It's just rough, you know. And the other comment that he he made after the match that my mind kind of exploded a little. He takes off Diani and Djibril has been doing pretty well for the crown, but he switches Donny for branch. Right. And Brandt is more of a defensive piece. I feel like Donny has been more offensive in what he's offered. Yeah, and so that had to that had to change toward the end. And I think that's probably where Ashley was taking more of that role. Yeah. Which is kind of, you know, that's new. And I think he's pushed into that. But in Donny coming out like he was mentioning that he got like leggy and he wasn't making recovery runs as quickly or as well that, that he expected. And so that's why he pulled him out. But it was also that he was the one getting into the like. To me, he was the one getting into the box. And why is he the one that's trying to create and get into the box and not anyone else? Like he said after the match, like, I don't want my six to be doing that. And I was like, oh yeah, that's a great point. I mean, I mean, he's tall. It's not like it's not like getting a header on a, you know, free kick or whatever set piece. It's more that he was trying to be the one to make those overlapping runs. And I don't think that was necessarily a strong
Kara
34:37
thing to leggy is how he said it.
Bridget
34:39
It should. Yeah. It was just really strange how to do that. And I don't think that's how we wanted them to do. It's just like, why aren't the other people creating? Why is Dion doing that job? Because he's seeing that someone isn't
Kara
34:53
I don't know, he said he was leggy either. He meant to, but he did not mean tired when he said leggy. Yeah. Recovery runs. Yeah I think he was just saying that he wasn't doing as quickly as he expected or as he does normally. So he pulled him out in favor of Brant to one given minutes. Give Brant the chance and to rest Yanni like maybe if something's wrong, maybe he's not feeling 100% or whatever. Like then that gives him the opportunity to reset some of that. He just didn't have as good of a match this time, which he's had such. He's been so dependable and steady. That and maybe to that because we didn't have the space. He didn't he wasn't able to utilize it in the way that we expect from him. I don't know, but I don't like that Minnesota had our number in that way. No, and I do not want any other team to use it against us in this way because it was painful.
Bridget
35:42
And I want a Band-Aid on that.
Kara
35:44
Need a fixed don't want to do that on the baseball field. So yeah, we'll fix it. I'm sure they'll fix it. Don't fix it. Anyways, we're going to the baseball. The baseball field this weekend kind of go play on in Yankee Stadium.
Bridget
35:58
I hate that I hate that so much. We lost the last time we played like Yankee Stadium. I think that you can't do that with. It's just so narrow. It
Kara
36:08
looks janky on me too. I can't stand it.
Bridget
36:11
It is. It's not right.
Kara
36:13
But hey, it is what it is. Maybe we'll come back and we'll win and we'll figure this game out. We do have hope in the team. We love the team. We think we'll come back. We think we'll bounce back. We. We think we still have I think we still have a chance. We got this. We just have one bad day.
Bridget
36:30
But I'm also looking forward to the summer and seeing who we can get.
Kara
36:34
Okay, well we are too, but we're being optimistic for right now at the place we're at,
Bridget
36:38
sure, especially through this couple home matches after this weekend. You know, we've really got to build up these points. We
Kara
36:43
gotta do the best that we can do. On that note, everybody have a great week. Be safe. And until next time for The Crown.
Bridget
36:52
Thank you for listening. Bye bye bye. 2s You.