I don’t have a whole lot of insight to offer into this game, other than you can more or less divide it into two parts: when Paco Craig was on the field, and when he wasn’t. Louisville City bagged three goals and generally shredded the Steel defense on the right while Craig was playing. Once he came off, the offense ground to a crawl, and Morados surrendered a goal because a Alexis and maybe Totsch were out of position. City had the same number of touches in the Steel 18 yard box in the first thirty minutes of the match as they did in the last hour, or the time Craig was on the field and the time he wasn’t.

Craig’s and the complications that arose from it highlight my concerns about depth on the roster from before the season started. There wasn’t another centerback on the bench to come on for Paco because Pat McMahon is injured, so Kyle Smith slid down from his wingback spot. That’s fine, Kyle can play that role. But there also isn’t another fullback/winger/other kind of defender on the bench to fill Kyle’s position on the right wing, either, because Shaun Francis is injured, too. That meant Cuatro had to play right wing. Cuatro’s best position is left attacking midfielder. He can play winger in a pinch, and did fine in this game, but it’s not ideal.

Rasmussen came on to fill in Cuatro’s spot in the attacking midfield. He played fine, and only missed one pass in the opponent’s half all game. He embarrassed a Steel defender not long after coming on in the first half, stepping over about six times before sending a ball on a platter to Kyle Smith that Smith would probably like to have back. But the attack just wasn’t nearly as effective once the changes began.

It didn’t need to be, of course. By that point, Morados had a 3-0 lead, their best start all season. For a half hour, we got a glimpse of what this team could look like when they’re really clicking. That’s without Luke Spencer starting, without Ownby starting, and down three other regular contributors in McMahon, Ballard, and Francis. City won the match 3-1 and the result was never once in doubt. I don’t know if Craig was injured, or is nursing something that’s been bothering him for a while that the coaches wanted to protect against. I watched the first half again, and didn’t see anything that that looked like any kind of acute injury. You could even chalk that sub up to smart management of minutes.

Other notes:

• I’m a big Alexis fan, but he’s not quite a finished product. If his confidence in his passing and decision-making improve, he won’t be long for USL.
• Kyle Smith is an animal. Won all 12 duels, played two positions really well, had a great assist on Ilic’s goal
• Speaking of Ilija, I’m really, really starting to like him playing right attacking midfielder. It’s almost more of a second striker role, but he does a good job running into the right channel and either finding a pass or creating his own chances. He led the team with three key passes last night.
• Cam doesn’t pack the stat sheet, but he’s making a habit of getting on the scoreboard, and that’s what counts.
• Paolo and Speedy doing Paolo and Speedy things.
• Seriously, can you imagine what it would look like if we played 90 minutes like we played the first 30? Goosebumps. The best is yet to come for this team.