While it's easy to skew negative especially in the midst of a losing streak I too, thought that the team was generally better. We'll see if they can carry it home. It doesn't change the fact that this is a mismatched, mediocre team that relies on magic moments. We got one, they got two. Being at home can do that.
Best performance in a while against a good team, even if dropping the points in that manner on the road is backbreaking. Shape was good, midfield was functional, Hina and Reyes excellent. Key moments cost them: Iffy call on the first half goal, Soph's decision making was poor, Izzy's giveaway leading to the first and then missing an empty net, Müller not holding the line tight enough and keeping Rodman onside (watching it back, I think she probably deserves the largest piece of the blame pie). Can't bring total negatives like Sinc and Izzy on the field and expect to collect points.
But now --especially because they didn't get anything out of it-- they gotta play like that again next week. We'll see if they can.
I think it’s important for the club to take a positive from this; you’re right - it WAS better, and just a handful of errors on individual players who are, frankly, over their heads dropped the points.
Chicago is eminently beatable if they play more like this and less like BFC. But the heads need not to hang from this one.
Agree. Would like to see Coffey, Sugita, Moultrie combo given a few games to see if that works; likewise the front three. Can't keep changing and expect consistency to happen. And Linnehan needs to be first of the bench. Arnold is a step up. Now just get the defense figured out ffs.
In line with my expectations except they looked a lot more organized than prior games. Sugita WoM for sure. Reyes was impressive considering her task - nobody beats Rodman 100% of the time but she came close. In general, a much better performance than versus Bay, and against a better opponent with short rest and long travel.
Referee was world-class bad, calling stuff he clearly did not see. Izzy once again showing her value - I keep hoping she will improve but am left again wondering why she is still here. Hubly's middle initials are SMH.
So, I was thinking about this the other night at the CA match, where we had FIFA refs. Do we think they did a better job, or is it just too small a sample to extrapolate?
My unscientific method for determining that would be to count how many times during a (streamed) match I shout "Bullshit. Fuck you." (I hold my tongue at PP).
If I had fewer of those outbursts w/ FIFA, I say go w/ them.
In the final few minutes, I was saying to myself “regardless of the result, at least this was finally a fun game to watch.”
But, I gotta admit, that’s a deeply un-fun way to lose a game lol.
To be honest though, I’m kind of glad we don’t have a result to take from this game. Even though this was better than it had been, there are too many issues. These players, and to an even greater extent, this coaching staff, kinda need some tough love right now. I’m glad Gale doesn’t have a token point to hide behind.
if gun is watching end to end sloppy disorganized play that results in half chances (minus the d'acquia chance, sheesh, is she trying to play herself out of a job) then yeah that was fun.
They used four subs today: Müller who didn’t really help or hurt, Sinclair who was a net negative, Fleming who dogged it on their winning goal and Izzy. Obaze should have come in for the last ten to fifteen minutes and Linnehan just doesn’t get in at all. Other than that, the subs weren’t very inspiring. Somehow LeBlanc has turned this into a mediocre team with no depth. She'll probably get a new contract.
Just as I was thinking that grinding out the road point would be a huge morale boost I’m not sure that the loss - having done so well up to that point - might be really damaging. The term is “banked”; I’ll bet the Thorns felt they had that point in the bank and suddenly? Nothing.
Gee, who would guess you'd drop three at the death to a team that pays more than lip service to "ambition," or one that actually scoured the bloody earth for a permanent HC.
I wholly expected to drop points here, but it’s also pretty frustrating to have dropped not 1 but 3 winnable points, Hubly killed me, and we lost a lot of spark with Turner and Spaanstra off the field. Payne was hit or miss but largely survived, Reyna and Hina absolutely killed it, and Arnold didn’t do too shabby herself. Moultrie and D’Aquila missed several wide open shots, for as much as the Thorns had moments of getting exposed they easily could’ve walked with this one!
I would be in favor of loaning her to a USLSL side to see if she can get over the mental issues that are affecting her finishing. She's trying not to miss, and it shows.
It sucks, but any of three results would have been appropriate today. I honestly don't care that we're going home without a point. I don't think we're going to slip in the standings (though Seattle just got 3 points closer). This was so much better than we've seen from the Thorns in the regular season in months. Now we have to take 3 off of Chicago, because that's a 6-point match.
Like I said; my concern is that this will hit the team harder BECAUSE they did so much better. Walking off feeling like “shit, if that can’t get us even a point..!”
I hope you’re right. I hope they take heart from the performance not the result.
We might have to see how they look against Chicago
Any of the three midfielders need to pick that run up, I don't care who it is. Rodman had Reyes iso'd for a good five seconds, it wasn't like there wasn't time.
I'm not sure how one watches that goal and places the blame on Fleming, that's all I'm saying. Yeah, she could have chased a little harder, but she wasn't stopping the pass to Rodman regardless. From there, good run by Santos, good cross by Rodman, bad comms by the Thorns to leave someone unmarked.
Not talking about you specifically, but let's not act like she hasn't been a scapegoat the entire year. The Santos goal was also like, maybe 5% percent on her. Maaaybe could have worked a little harder to track Metayer, but it was really Sam who left Santos.
Weirdly I kind of agree with the announcers; I think this will be a boost for team morale. Solid performance against a good opponent and a D’Aquila crossbar away from three on the road.
Absolutely. Short week, long flight, opponent in 2nd, and they've played well enough to win or draw. You build off of this one and come home and destroy Chicago.
That “almost goal” by D’Aquila likely would have gone to VAR and I’m not sure if it was inside but this game is a sign of why she should be in the USL. WTF is Lindsay talking about?
So…
“Two announcements”? Could be contracts? Something from the transfer window that took a week and a half longer to finalize?
Also…match report from Washington up at Riveting! How full was the Thorns’ glass..?
While it's easy to skew negative especially in the midst of a losing streak I too, thought that the team was generally better. We'll see if they can carry it home. It doesn't change the fact that this is a mismatched, mediocre team that relies on magic moments. We got one, they got two. Being at home can do that.
Best performance in a while against a good team, even if dropping the points in that manner on the road is backbreaking. Shape was good, midfield was functional, Hina and Reyes excellent. Key moments cost them: Iffy call on the first half goal, Soph's decision making was poor, Izzy's giveaway leading to the first and then missing an empty net, Müller not holding the line tight enough and keeping Rodman onside (watching it back, I think she probably deserves the largest piece of the blame pie). Can't bring total negatives like Sinc and Izzy on the field and expect to collect points.
But now --especially because they didn't get anything out of it-- they gotta play like that again next week. We'll see if they can.
I think it’s important for the club to take a positive from this; you’re right - it WAS better, and just a handful of errors on individual players who are, frankly, over their heads dropped the points.
Chicago is eminently beatable if they play more like this and less like BFC. But the heads need not to hang from this one.
Fingers crossed.
Agree. Would like to see Coffey, Sugita, Moultrie combo given a few games to see if that works; likewise the front three. Can't keep changing and expect consistency to happen. And Linnehan needs to be first of the bench. Arnold is a step up. Now just get the defense figured out ffs.
In line with my expectations except they looked a lot more organized than prior games. Sugita WoM for sure. Reyes was impressive considering her task - nobody beats Rodman 100% of the time but she came close. In general, a much better performance than versus Bay, and against a better opponent with short rest and long travel.
Referee was world-class bad, calling stuff he clearly did not see. Izzy once again showing her value - I keep hoping she will improve but am left again wondering why she is still here. Hubly's middle initials are SMH.
So, I was thinking about this the other night at the CA match, where we had FIFA refs. Do we think they did a better job, or is it just too small a sample to extrapolate?
My unscientific method for determining that would be to count how many times during a (streamed) match I shout "Bullshit. Fuck you." (I hold my tongue at PP).
If I had fewer of those outbursts w/ FIFA, I say go w/ them.
I need a clicker for that lol
To be fair, I've shouted that at officiating crews during probably 95% of all the televised sporting events I've ever seen.
Two matches too small an N.
Probably would have moved back to 5th this weekend with a win today, as I think SD will beat NC tomorrow.
There's really not much damage from this loss, though.
Chicago will likely lose to Orlando, and even if they win we're still ahead of them and have the chance to take 3 from them on Friday.
BUT... we have to stop the bleeding NOW. Have 7 matches to go, which is long enough to be caught from behind by Chicago and 2 other teams.
Bay and AC are only 6 points back and Seattle are only 7 points back and they've gotten on a roll.
Our remaining matches are Chicago, @ AC, @ SD, Utah, Orlando, @ Racing, and AC.
Take those points 6-point swing matches off of Chicago and AC, and we should still make the playoffs.
I sure hope that big announcement this week is "We hired a impeccably connected football fanatic who's a business savant as our new GM."
I thought the big announcement was our owners being busy in another sport.
In the final few minutes, I was saying to myself “regardless of the result, at least this was finally a fun game to watch.”
But, I gotta admit, that’s a deeply un-fun way to lose a game lol.
To be honest though, I’m kind of glad we don’t have a result to take from this game. Even though this was better than it had been, there are too many issues. These players, and to an even greater extent, this coaching staff, kinda need some tough love right now. I’m glad Gale doesn’t have a token point to hide behind.
if gun is watching end to end sloppy disorganized play that results in half chances (minus the d'acquia chance, sheesh, is she trying to play herself out of a job) then yeah that was fun.
When I say it was a fun game to watch, I mean the whole game — both teams. The Spirit are fun to watch lol.
They used four subs today: Müller who didn’t really help or hurt, Sinclair who was a net negative, Fleming who dogged it on their winning goal and Izzy. Obaze should have come in for the last ten to fifteen minutes and Linnehan just doesn’t get in at all. Other than that, the subs weren’t very inspiring. Somehow LeBlanc has turned this into a mediocre team with no depth. She'll probably get a new contract.
yes seeing fleming not work back to defend on the lsst goal after coming in as a late sub was the nail in the coffin for me.....
Remember when we lost 3 in 4 to start the season and they fired (promoted?) Mike? Well...it's now been 3 in a row for Gale.
And that was a game that could've been won (or at least drawn) with much better sub patterns in that 2nd half.
Yep. As I've pointed out down below, the Spirit's goals have a whole bunch to do with bad play by subs.
Just as I was thinking that grinding out the road point would be a huge morale boost I’m not sure that the loss - having done so well up to that point - might be really damaging. The term is “banked”; I’ll bet the Thorns felt they had that point in the bank and suddenly? Nothing.
Well…shit.
Gee, who would guess you'd drop three at the death to a team that pays more than lip service to "ambition," or one that actually scoured the bloody earth for a permanent HC.
Disappointing but better.
I wholly expected to drop points here, but it’s also pretty frustrating to have dropped not 1 but 3 winnable points, Hubly killed me, and we lost a lot of spark with Turner and Spaanstra off the field. Payne was hit or miss but largely survived, Reyna and Hina absolutely killed it, and Arnold didn’t do too shabby herself. Moultrie and D’Aquila missed several wide open shots, for as much as the Thorns had moments of getting exposed they easily could’ve walked with this one!
Gale's impact subs: Izzy responsible for the equalizer, Fleming useless and lazy on the winner.
I think I've seen enough of D'Aquila at this point. We need to move on from her.
I would be in favor of loaning her to a USLSL side to see if she can get over the mental issues that are affecting her finishing. She's trying not to miss, and it shows.
Can Ken miss the flight back?
What's Ken's record against the top 8 teams in the league?
A good question for a reporter to ask about...
Watch-the Spirit will win it all and they'll use the home W vs. them to justify a ten year extension.
Much better from the team. Rob still picking Izzy wide is a fireable offense when Payton is right there.
And Izzy just gets in the way of Hina drifting forward into that space from the midfield.
Deserved a point at least.
All that good hard work and now..?
Gutting. Just gutting.
It sucks, but any of three results would have been appropriate today. I honestly don't care that we're going home without a point. I don't think we're going to slip in the standings (though Seattle just got 3 points closer). This was so much better than we've seen from the Thorns in the regular season in months. Now we have to take 3 off of Chicago, because that's a 6-point match.
Like I said; my concern is that this will hit the team harder BECAUSE they did so much better. Walking off feeling like “shit, if that can’t get us even a point..!”
I hope you’re right. I hope they take heart from the performance not the result.
We might have to see how they look against Chicago
It's gut-check time, for sure.
Agree, sorta...but those "something to build from" haves should be happening at a lot earlier point in the season.
True. But there's still 7 matches to go, and as Gotham showed last year all you have to do is get hot at the end.
Yeah, shield is out, but if they can get hot right at the end maybe they can then win 3 in a row lol.
I think our depth will do us in, though. We lack quality to start, and as subs in a lot of positions to go 3 in a row.
True. Sadly, our experience since 2013 has been spotty. Yes in 2017 and 2022, no in 2018 and 2019 and 2021.
Lol, this team is not getting hot at the end... At best we'll limp into the playoffs and get obliterated in the first round.
Didn't say they were. I'm saying that that you can sneak into the playoffs and run the table.
Fuck me.
3 L's y'all. Bummer.
Wide, wide open.
Not a Thorn within 3 meters of Santos on that one.
Not a hair of Leicy Santos above 5'2" of the ground either, lol...
Where the hell are Coffey and Fleming there?
I thought it was Muller who backed off, but can’t disagree with bad positioning of other players to leave her that wide open
Fleming was literally jogging right next to them like she had been playing a full 90. Just so lazy. No aggression at all. No urgency.
Any of the three midfielders need to pick that run up, I don't care who it is. Rodman had Reyes iso'd for a good five seconds, it wasn't like there wasn't time.
Fleming was literally 2 yards away, it was her mark that created that play. She just pulled off...no attempt to get the ball.
But yeah, a whole lot wrong in that sequence...
What are you talking about? Watching the replay, she was on the opposite side of the field from Santos! She was the one who passed Rodman onto Reyes!
I meant leading up to that play. Cross would've never happened had she actually attempted to defend the player right next to her.
I'm not picking on her, damn! I've called out multiple players in the moment during this game...
I'm not sure how one watches that goal and places the blame on Fleming, that's all I'm saying. Yeah, she could have chased a little harder, but she wasn't stopping the pass to Rodman regardless. From there, good run by Santos, good cross by Rodman, bad comms by the Thorns to leave someone unmarked.
Exactly. If anybody is unmarked in a dangerous spot, it's anybody's responsibility to pick them up.
Can't get rid of her any too soon.
How are we blaming a player who played 6 minutes instead of everyone else on the pitch? So many chances went amiss in the game.
We're blaming her for lazy play on the winning goal. Duh. That doesn't mean no one's acknowledging missed chances and other derps. Fuck sake...
Fleming's expectation-to-performance ratio is the worst on the team.
She's the scapegoat for most people here, ya just kind of have to accept it at this point lol
That's not fair. I said she was lazy on that play because she was.
I've criticized literally every player during this game lol, c'mon.
Not talking about you specifically, but let's not act like she hasn't been a scapegoat the entire year. The Santos goal was also like, maybe 5% percent on her. Maaaybe could have worked a little harder to track Metayer, but it was really Sam who left Santos.
Ouch, we had our chances.
Please be offside Rodman!
Rats but it's more reflective of the game. A moral victory would have been nice though.
Ugh
Jessie man....please run. Lazy chasing.
Boy, Gale sure knows how to make those impact subs, huh?
Oh fuck no! C’mon! Goddamnit!!!!!
Yep. But in reality we're only going home with one point less than seemed likely.
Well. Crap.
Lovely offside goal by Sinclair. Offside by a good 10 feet.
*sigh*
Sinc does do offside good though.
Weirdly I kind of agree with the announcers; I think this will be a boost for team morale. Solid performance against a good opponent and a D’Aquila crossbar away from three on the road.
It def LOOKS better...and a team knows when they look better as opposed to getting a draw (or even a win) while still looking garbage.
Absolutely. Short week, long flight, opponent in 2nd, and they've played well enough to win or draw. You build off of this one and come home and destroy Chicago.
Holy crap, Reyes. Do this ALL the time!
Hear of the moment but I’d be okay if we left D’Aquila in Washington a la USC era Lane Kiffen
Again...I'd swap and drop D'Aquila for Kizer, since she's available. Obv we need more/better F subs and I prefer her over half our F's tbh.
Fuckin Reyes again man, absolutely stones Rodman
She's been excellent.
I'm sold on Arnold.
Yeah, agree am now seeing her qualities.
As her organizing role grows we could see further growth.
Damn Izzy.
If that's Sinc, it's 2-1.
Payton
tbf Sinc cannot keep up with Soph enough to be in that space lol
That's why Soph tries to do shit by herself lol
Splitting points would be fair result. Game was there for taking for both teams.
That’s why Smith doesn’t pass. Christ what a missed opportunity!
Izzy is not at the level of this league.
No, she's not. It's not skill. It's mentality.
Wide open omg
Just in case you were thinking Izzy couldn't be any more of a waste of a roster spot...
I can't deal with this shit man cmon Izzy
Just keep your head over the ball good god
Yeah, if you just practice leaning forward when you shoot, it becomes an ingrained habit to keep it low. I learned that when I was 12!
Nooooooo
That “almost goal” by D’Aquila likely would have gone to VAR and I’m not sure if it was inside but this game is a sign of why she should be in the USL. WTF is Lindsay talking about?
For love's sake. What?
Izzy come on, why?!?
Sinc doesn't even try to chase the flick on header good lord.
Man, I like Morris. Why didn't we draft her lol.
Someone had her eye on seven different GKs