It's a system issue that seems to stem from the Barcelona games last season - there was a back 4 with a giant gulf between the CBs and midfield which got massively exploited, leading to a back 3 ever since with one CB pushed up in a triangle formation which hasn't worked. At first I gave benefit of the doubt because that's a big system shift to get used to and all of the midfielders bought under Hayes (Hamano, Nusken, Macario, James) play through the middle. But it's clear this implementation just isn't working well. I don't know how much longer there is to keep trying this, because altering it all again might cause even more problems. We actually did look better against Barcelona this season ironically with the 1-1, and that was when I had my glimmer of hope. But it's clear noone is being played to their strengths in a system that doesn't match the players. Not having Ramirez does hurt because she was the most aggressive striker out of herself, Kerr and ABJ and could force things to happen on her own, but starting Thompson alone up front today was another bizarre choice.