Before this afternoon’s Louisville City preview, a couple items from yesterday’s training that was open to the media (for post-practice interviews, see Gary Smith/Liam Doyle interviews and Lebo Moloto transcript).
This team is filled with leaders
It should come as no surprise that defensive midfielder Michael Reed is the team’s captain – the former San Antonio FC captain is an experienced vet (a second-division lifer to this point with NASL and USL experience), obviously has captaincy experience at his previous club, and is very much the steady hand in the middle of the pitch that you’d like to see out of the on-field leader.
Something that I’ve noticed throughout training sessions though – and Gary Smith alluded to it yesterday – is that there’s not only a genuine love for each other among the players, but a desire throughout the roster to help each other improve. Smith mentioned Shroot working with Lebo Moloto after practice yesterday, we’ve seen it with Kosuke Kimura giving instruction to younger teammates when the rest of the squad has already hit the showers (right), and if not for the difficulty of directing the entire team from within the goal, keeper Matt Pickens would have been an outstanding choice for captain himself.
I predicted this in some of the player signing stories, but there’s a responsibility in leadership for the older players in potentially helping their younger teammates pick up on the mental and tactical sides of the game to help their careers last as long as possible (and reach higher levels more quickly).
NSC is expecting a different kind of challenge
That’s not just a level of intensity ratcheted up due to the arrival of games that actually count, and not just a greater level of talent from LCFC than some of the preseason opponents. The Lou is also going to present a tactical challenge, too.
Like last week’s training session featured plenty of practice in cross-field service from the centerbacks to the strikers – and we saw that plenty in the game against Chattanooga – this week’s revolved largely around dealing with a high press from the opposing offensive personnel. Look for NSC to show a focus on getting the ball out quickly when playing out of the back.
Louisville is the most tactically similar club to NSC (with a 5-3-2 or 3-5-2, however you want to classify it), so while the Boys in Gold are used to seeing it and know the ins and outs of what the formation wants to accomplish, they haven’t gone against it in full-go action yet. The amount of space available for wingbacks to roam up and down the flanks will be the biggest difference – Louisville will probably be the first team that truly wants to match them in workrate out there – but NSC will be ready to make the necessary adjustments to still find success wide.
Just how much that translates into turning defense into offense could play a major role in determining the outcome of the game.
Injury report
NSC buried this a little bit in their game notes (sorry for putting y’all out there like this!), but there was an update to the injury report. Jordan Dunstan is out – probably not a surprise given he missed the last friendly – while both London Woodberry and Bradley Bourgeois are questionable with leg injuries. That means seriously diminished centerback depth.
My personal speculation is that Woodberry will be hale enough to make the starting lineup, and the question becomes if Bourgeois is in the 18 or out altogether (since he fell into the latter category for part of Spring). That puts Ryan James and Michael DeGraffenreidt in a situation where they’ll probably be pulled into the lineup away from their natural positions (outside back for both, though they’ve also each played some centerback), just to have the depth for subs at all.
For club and community
I’ll get into this a bit more in a later column (asked a few different questions about it for that purpose yesterday), but I was pleasantly surprised with the level of commitment that personnel from the club – players and coaches – have to the Nashville community. That’s not to say that I thought they considered it just a place to punch the clock, but they’re truly interested in giving back and being a part of the community.
Stay tuned for that in the coming days.
Stay tuned later this afternoon for the full game preview.
Club and Country 