Sunday’s 3-0 defeat to Denver Summit FC ended Gotham’s club-record 10-match unbeaten streak. The loss allowed the rival Washington Spirit to close the gap between them and first-place Gotham to two points.
A single uncharacteristic defensive performance from Gotham isn’t something that supporters should be concerned about. Averaging just 0.86 goals per game over their past seven games, on the other hand, is a more worrying statistic.
But Gotham FC head coach Juan Carlos Amorós, his technical staff and players aren’t panicking.
Amorós: ‘We Need To Create More Clear-Cut Chances’
The 42-year-old tactician, who has guided the Bats to two NWSL championships, returned to the touchline on Sunday following a five-week parental leave.
Amorós knows that his talented squad is capable of being devastating in attack.
That wasn’t the case on Sunday, as the supply line to star forward Sam Kerr was cut off by a resolute Denver backline. Aside from uber-reliable midfielder Jaelin Howell, few Gotham players were anywhere near their typical standard.
“We need to create more clear-cut chances,” Amorós said following Sunday’s defeat. “Every game we normally have possession and we get to the point where we want to be on the ball, but we need to have more final-third entries, more clear-cut chances where we can produce more goals.
“That’s definitely something we want to address and push because we are the best team defending in the league, but we’re not the best team offensively in the league and we want to make sure that we go up in that category for sure.”
Gotham FC Need To Rediscover Their ‘Controlled Chaos’
Amorós believes that Gotham can recapture their ability to dictate games with their “controlled chaos” — highly coordinated, aggressive pressing that puts opponents on the back foot and creates overload opportunities in the final third.
“Losing a game can happen,” Amorós said. “It happens to all the teams. It’s not only about how you lose the game, it’s how you recover after that. That’s where we need to go to the next game and really show that personality and that football that we know we have in us and that we need to be better.”
Veteran midfielder Meredith Speck understands that Gotham can’t always rely on the backline and all-world goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger to be flawless in every single match. It’s about finding the right balance as a team.
“There’s a few execution moments, big moments where if we just do the little things right, we’re working on them in practice,” Speck explained. “Once everything starts to come together, the things we’ve been implementing and with the experience and talent that we have, those little moments once we start executing on will win games for sure.
“Figuring out the balance of being more aggressive and taking more risks, but also maintaining that solid backline because I do think that watching them work is so inspiring. They’re such a phenomenal backline and I have learned so much from them already.”
Gotham FC Turn Their Attention To Racing Louisville FC
With a visit to Racing Louisville FC next on Friday, it appears that Gotham already knows what adjustments are needed to get the goals flowing.
“We had a lot of tactical conversations on the field about shifting things here and there in the press, and hopefully we’ll just be able to tighten all that up before we head into Louisville,” midfielder Tess Boade said.
Kickoff for Friday’s contest at Lynn Family Stadium is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
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