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ag167's avatar

Okay. I have a lot of problems with this game.

1. The refereeing in this league is a complete joke. Absolute garbage. The penalty call is probably fine, if soft. But the referee let Kansas City stop momentum at every dead ball. She was completely inconsistent. Saying that this league is the only women's league with VAR hides the fact that the referees are DIRECTLY affecting the product on the field because they cannot do the basics.

2. This club has known for...months? that they were going to lose Sophia Smith and Crystal Dunn and Hina Sugita among others. And yet what we have is a defender playing as a right winger, then a defender playing as one of the two attacking 10s and a center forward playing right wing. Which brings me to my next point...

3. The head coach's refusal to deviate from the system is completely bonkers. It's a system that barely works with the excellent players, but without them, it just doesn't work. I have all the respect for Sam Coffey in the world. She's a wonderful player. She's not an attacking 8 in the style of Crystal Dunn. She doesn't have the quick feet and speed in behind. So don't play her in that role; emphasize her strengths, and build a team that reacts to what you have, which includes a 6, in Taylor Porter, who cannot pass the way Coffey does (when we lost Sam Coffey last year, we had Hina who mitigated Porter's passing in midfield). Reyna Reyes is an excellent defender. Maybe she can play further upfront - in a team with Sophia Smith. Izzy D'Aquila has not yet been what we thought when drafted, and that's unfortunate. But then, change the system. React to what you have. Maybe that means a double pivot of Porter and Coffey, with two upfront. Our most threatening player was Morgan Weaver, and at a certain point you have to say, that's who we're going to play in behind too. It was all too comfortable for Kansas City because no one was looking to go in behind.

And this is my final thing. I have some sympathy for the head coach because this is, without Sophia and Dunn and Sugita and Sinc, a really bad attack. But not only is it a bad attack: it's an attack with players who don't have the profile that you need - the pace to run in behind, for example. I've seen a lot of average NWSL forwards who were far more threatening than Betfort and D'Aquila because they ran in behind with pace.

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Benno's avatar

Big game for the replacement players. After a poor showing against OL Reign, this is a chance to show that they belong and can contribute. I have to believe that there is going to be some fire from the players, and hopefully getting THAT game under the belt helps them to focus on playing a lot better going forward. If Weaver is able to go, that would be a huge boost to the scoring potential on this team. I'm hoping they really pull together and get going! Go Thorns!

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