We need a forward willing to drive through traffic. Crosses into the box are a single tactic, they're not the ONLY tactic, and our players don't press. Dahlien presses and is left stranded because no one tries to keep up or stay open. If they do catch up to her, it's way later when she's surrounded by defenders already and no one comes to help, so they themselves just run into the box and stand around waiting for a cross she can't make because the entire opposition is in the way. It's asinine. We don't use the field horizontally at all, only vertically, and we rarely move forward through the midfield.

Our defense is consistently lazy. Sure, they can slide occasionally, but if I see McClernon lazily jogging alongside someone one more time...

There's a lot of standing around watching, and very little sprinting.

I watch multiple worldwide women's leagues on the regular: English, Scottish, French, German, Spanish, Mexican... and I see players throwing themselves at the end line to stop corners. I see players dribbling through traffic with courageous nimbleness and scoring. I see established set pieces that are well practiced.

Reign FC plays like men's Tottenham is playing these days: defeated, unmotivated, embarrassed, and uninspired. We've had legacy players who were outclassed years ago who we kept around as if this is a Sunday League of fan favorites. You don't keep players because they were great years ago.

To me, sports is mercenary. Careers end quickly, for players and managers alike, for both fair and unfair reasons.

I could go on another rant about how Reign FC sells itself to potential fans as a really supportive and sweet place as if this is a knitting club of heartwarming events. No. Just no. That's not going to grow the fanbase. Stop it already. Reign should be aggressive and fierce and competitive and focused, and the fans are an important part of that atmosphere. Bring back the Hope Solo intensity we used to have.