I am coming to accept that this is a team, and club, in serious flux.
The roster has many players who are not contributing much, if anything at all, for various reasons -- too young, too old, too green, too injured, too misfitting, too something.
The club is for sale. The coach, the staff, the GM, all are on one-year deals.
I am coming to accept that this is a team, and club, in serious flux.
The roster has many players who are not contributing much, if anything at all, for various reasons -- too young, too old, too green, too injured, too misfitting, too something.
The club is for sale. The coach, the staff, the GM, all are on one-year deals.
And, all teams in all sports have their ups and downs. True greatness is rare. There is a lot of talent here, but I do not get the sense that this is a great team.
Finally, last night I became convinced that this team would greatly benefit from Lindsey Horan's return.
In a weird way last season might have been the worst possible outcome for this roster.
We knew there was a lot of issues with depth in 2022. Porter, Provenzano, Nally, Beckman...none of them looked particularly ready for prime time. Not "tire-fire" awful...but not particularly starting-quality great.
Plus...Sinc.
But...then the club won it all.
Hard to stan a complete rebuild of a defending champion team. Plus the sale. So...no real work trying to figure out how to upgrade the roster.
I don't see this as any "less great" than 2022's side...and that's kind of the thing. That group played a monster game against San Diego and then ran into a KC whose troubles had been papered over until the Final. I think the problems were there, then, but a combination of good luck, good play, and Smith having a monster season, kept that from being obvious...
And ANY team would benefit from Horan in the XI. Whether that's realistic to plan on? I'm very much unsure.
Agree ... but a tough balancing act. It is difficult to argue with success and trophies. Teams that are almost there who tinker too much may keep themselves from ever breaking through to win a trophy. Teams that are still able to paper over the weaknesses and win are revered, but at some point the paper gets wet and it falls apart.
Overall, the Thorns are an amazing club and have been excellent since this league started 11 years ago. Not only have they been consistently good, very good or great on the field, lets face it - the fans carried the league for a long time and have made it last 11 years, to a point where expansion sides can finally carry some of that weight too and grow the league (because 1200 people showing up at a HS stadium in Chicago or KC or W. NY or Boston certainly wasn't doing it). That churn is normal for long term stable leagues ... so I don't want to make too big of a deal over it, but that Portland always brings out 10-20k fans while the rest of the league could only pull 25-50% of that on a good night says a lot for the club.
Definitely a team in flux with some really good pieces who just might be able to put things together for another run again in a few months ... but realistically probably an early playoff knock out with some focused rebuilding to do in order to be at the top again.
Not sure I want Horan back. Another log in the midfield logjam. Would Sinc sit if Horan came back? Nope. Would Dunn sit if Horan came back? Doubtful. Someone guarantee our teenage phenom wouldn’t say .”.I’m done with this” then, yea, bring Horan back. (Though I think it’s a moot point. I don’t see her returning for any number of reasons.)
I am coming to accept that this is a team, and club, in serious flux.
The roster has many players who are not contributing much, if anything at all, for various reasons -- too young, too old, too green, too injured, too misfitting, too something.
The club is for sale. The coach, the staff, the GM, all are on one-year deals.
And, all teams in all sports have their ups and downs. True greatness is rare. There is a lot of talent here, but I do not get the sense that this is a great team.
Finally, last night I became convinced that this team would greatly benefit from Lindsey Horan's return.
In a weird way last season might have been the worst possible outcome for this roster.
We knew there was a lot of issues with depth in 2022. Porter, Provenzano, Nally, Beckman...none of them looked particularly ready for prime time. Not "tire-fire" awful...but not particularly starting-quality great.
Plus...Sinc.
But...then the club won it all.
Hard to stan a complete rebuild of a defending champion team. Plus the sale. So...no real work trying to figure out how to upgrade the roster.
I don't see this as any "less great" than 2022's side...and that's kind of the thing. That group played a monster game against San Diego and then ran into a KC whose troubles had been papered over until the Final. I think the problems were there, then, but a combination of good luck, good play, and Smith having a monster season, kept that from being obvious...
And ANY team would benefit from Horan in the XI. Whether that's realistic to plan on? I'm very much unsure.
Agree ... but a tough balancing act. It is difficult to argue with success and trophies. Teams that are almost there who tinker too much may keep themselves from ever breaking through to win a trophy. Teams that are still able to paper over the weaknesses and win are revered, but at some point the paper gets wet and it falls apart.
Overall, the Thorns are an amazing club and have been excellent since this league started 11 years ago. Not only have they been consistently good, very good or great on the field, lets face it - the fans carried the league for a long time and have made it last 11 years, to a point where expansion sides can finally carry some of that weight too and grow the league (because 1200 people showing up at a HS stadium in Chicago or KC or W. NY or Boston certainly wasn't doing it). That churn is normal for long term stable leagues ... so I don't want to make too big of a deal over it, but that Portland always brings out 10-20k fans while the rest of the league could only pull 25-50% of that on a good night says a lot for the club.
Definitely a team in flux with some really good pieces who just might be able to put things together for another run again in a few months ... but realistically probably an early playoff knock out with some focused rebuilding to do in order to be at the top again.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1657425049459073024
Horan witnesses the end of the Chief OLigarche
Not sure I want Horan back. Another log in the midfield logjam. Would Sinc sit if Horan came back? Nope. Would Dunn sit if Horan came back? Doubtful. Someone guarantee our teenage phenom wouldn’t say .”.I’m done with this” then, yea, bring Horan back. (Though I think it’s a moot point. I don’t see her returning for any number of reasons.)