Rising's loss to San Diego: Where now from here?

When Phoenix Rising suffers a loss, you have to brace yourself.

You know what’s coming next. You know the negativity about to unleash itself.

Saturday was no different as we opened up the comment section on our PHNX Rising postgame show.

“I’m tired of Rick saying he didn’t have the team ready,” one commenter said. “Fix it or get out.”

Ah, yes. The first inkling of the inevitable calls of “Schantz out!”

It really feels as though it gets earlier every year, doesn’t it?

We could sit here and refute parts of that, but it isn’t worth the time. Nobody is rationally calling for Rising to relieve its head coach of his duties after just three matches to open the season.

Let’s focus instead on the reality: Saturday was the type of underwhelming performance Rising’s fanbase isn’t used to…nor does it tolerate.

It was a performance that saw just one real chance created in the first half, as Greg Hurst’s shot went just past the post late on. There was very little meaningful possession. The defensive efforts on goals conceded seemed timid.

At the break, San Diego Loyal walked through the tunnel up by two. Frankly, they could have had another three.

Perhaps Rising’s coach summed up the shortfalls best.

“Couldn’t beat anybody individually,” Schantz said after the match. “Both wingers have struggled, couldn’t get by anybody. Arturo [Rodriguez] is holding on to the ball too much in the middle. They just weren’t playing simple. We weren’t playing fast. It was too slow.

“Then the shape got all messed up after we gave up the first goal. Nobody was doing their job and no one was playing their position. That’s all on me. It’s something that I have to fix real fast.”

Fast fixes are indeed required, as things get tougher from here. This weekend, Rising travels to San Antonio. The Texan club were one of the favorites in preseason to claim the league title, and have won their opening three matches.

San Antonio is also a city that Phoenix has never won in.

If Rising draws on Saturday, the team will be sitting on just four points out of four games. That matches the start of the 2019 season, which ultimately saw Rising claim the regular-season title. That year’s team could boast being undefeated over that stretch, however.

If Rising loses on Saturday, it will match the club’s slowest-ever start over four games. In 2016, Arizona United limped out of the gate, playing all four on the road and losing all but one. That year proved a dismal season played out in front of barely anybody at Peoria Sports Complex. United finished 13th out of 15 clubs in the Western Conference.

The stark contrast between what we’re currently seeing and the pedigree expected was addressed by Schantz as he spoke of his halftime team talk.

“I was really angry,” he said. “The emotion was poor. It wasn’t Phoenix Rising in the first half. We played with fear, and that’s not who we are.”

On the one hand, Schantz is right. The performance in the first half wasn’t what we know Phoenix Rising to be. This is a club that over recent years has struck fear into the heart of most clubs across USL, especially when playing at home.

The problem is that the performance is almost exactly what Rising has been for so much of this season to date.

An inability to switch into gear until the second half in these past two games only makes this harder. Last season, Rising scored first in 18 of its 32 regular-season matches. The club won all 18 of those games. Of the rest, one finished a scoreless draw, and in the 13 that Rising trailed first? Only two wins, with six draws and five losses.

Only four times did Rising win a match last year despite failing to score in the first half.

This season, we saw Phoenix come storming out of the gate against expansion side Monterey Bay. Ever since the interval in that match, there’s been almost nothing but disappointment.

That latter period against Monterey Bay was poor because it was difficult not to get complacent after taking a four-goal lead.

The loss in Vegas was poor because of the field conditions and ridiculous surroundings.

No excuse was put forward for the nature of Rising’s loss to San Diego. There simply wasn’t one.

Perhaps this is too negative. Rising has started slow before, and it’s not open to question that the team has talent above its results to date.

We know that Rick Schantz is capable of leading Rising out of this. We know that the squad has the ability to pick up form, go on a run and make the club proud.

The problem is that the league table doesn’t care about what you’re capable of. It doesn’t care about what you’ve achieved in previous years. The points column is unforgiving, not unlike the supporters fed on a diet of title challenges for years.

A loss to Las Vegas Lights was supposed to be the wakeup call. On Saturday, the team collectively reached over and hit the snooze button.

Eventually, if you hit the snooze button enough times, you’ll find yourself missing what you set an alarm for in the first place.

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