Houston, We Have A Problem

3 games, 11 goals allowed.  It really doesn't matter what our offense, which does look like its found itself, does if we have to win every game 4-3.  It might be time for a radical change on the back line, like benching both outside backs.  Bombito has had a rough patch but he's not getting any help from anyone else, and Maxso is our most consistent defender at the moment but he's having to play both CB and LB because Vines' defensive skill is completely gone.  Oh and Steffen is sliding from inconsistent to just bad.  He should have done more on the 3rd one.

Fundamentally though, this comes down to a midfield that has no teeth.  Ronan, Larraz, and Löffelsend can't stop the attacks coming through the middle.  Diack is the type of player who could, but he can't even make the gameday squad.  The 6 position was identified by a number of people, including me, as one of our needs this passed offseason and there's no sign we filled that hole with somebody Armas is comfortable playing.  So now we're going to have to figure out how to patch he defense together until the summer window opens and hope we can fix it there.

On offense, both Mihailovic and Navarro are currently on pace to have more goal involvements (goals+assists) than Rubio's team record 23 in 2022.  Though I expect Navarro to fall off because we have to think about taking him off of PK's after having his last two saved.  Maybe we keep him on but if he doesn't make his next 2-3 then he's got to be done.  Give Bassett the chance.  Of course that assumes we get 2-3 more this season, we lead the league with 7 and I don't think that's sustainable.

I realize this is less of a game review than a review of the team right now, but its hard to say much about the game we didn't see against Minnesota or FSL.  We do play better when coming from behind, so I wasn't too worried about the first goal.  But after we levelled the score it was one-way traffic the rest of the game.  Our subs, which were even putting normal starters in Bassett and Larraz back in, actually made things worse.  Our depth is non-existent in most positions.

Man of the Match: Djordje Mihailovic.  In a game like this you get the goal you get the award.