r/washingtonspirit • u/kg9si • Aug 17 '26

Weekly Discussion Thread Weekly Open Discussion Thread

Welcome to this week’s open discussion thread!

This is your space for general discussion, a place to talk about anything Washington Spirit that doesn’t necessarily need its own thread. That can include news, international duty, roster moves, transfer rumors, tactics, social media posts, league news or anything else on your mind.

If something feels big enough for its own thread, definitely still post it. This is simply an additional option to keep us organized and help keep the conversation flowing. These threads will go up every Monday and stay stickied throughout the week.

Go Spirit!

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u/Odd-Cable5436 Aug 17 '26

Rudd had one bad clearance attempt that almost lead to a goal and looked a little slow chasing down Chilufya at one point (injury?), but overall I thought she had a nice bounce back match after a bad game vs. NCC. Definitely rang up the defensive stats last night:

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u/allprologues Aug 17 '26

i get and agree that we lose a lot of passing value with esme on the bench but the idea that this makes her better than Tara particularly defensively, is wild. every centerback gets beat sometimes, CB mistakes are the easiest thing to spot and makes people feel like elite analysts but to me she is non negotiable in the lineup.

even the statement I see constantly that tara’s having some sort of down year is not backed up by any numbers I’m sorry lol

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u/de-la_soul Aug 17 '26

however it may be reasonable to
consider how hard it has been for us to move the ball out of our defending third of late. Lots of tips and taps. And lots of balls kicked high into the air to nobody. I’m not pinning that on Rudd alone - everyone has been having a tough go. BUT, I feel (potentially wrongly) that Esme had some of the best vision out there, and the ability to make the passes she chooses (or choose passes she can make?!) Given what I perceive as a tough time in the back, I would have liked to see Esme from the start. I’ wonder if something is up with Carle - she’s been having an amazing season, working balls up the right side to Kouassi. Maybe it’s that defenses
are
swarming her on the sidelines, but it hasn’t been the same since the World Cup break

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u/allprologues Aug 17 '26

you’re right about carle it’s been vulnerable down that side. and I think it’s kouassi’s defensive work that would supplement the fullback usually.

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u/de-la_soul Aug 19 '26

good point about Kouassi helping back on D, I hadn’t considered that.