Phew! To my eye, Coffey was WOTM by a country mile - she was everywhere and of the 10 corners she took, Sheridan caught zero. Also good was Reyes (pretty great actually), Dunn, Weaver, and Sugita. Hubly had a very ragged first half with her awful passes leading directly to every chance SD had in that half. Better in the second half thankfully. Bixby was better although there were two cases where she retreated from a long ball that she could have charged and scooped. But nothing came of them, and she did as well an any keeper could on the goal. I will be curious to see John's ratings.
Sinclair needs to retire tonight. She contributed less than nothing, actually getting in the way a couple times. Almost no touches, no defense, no business being on that pitch. We win that game if Moultrie starts - we almost did anyway when she came in late.
The announcers said Norris's response to the "why Sinclair" question was "I have a wealth of riches". In other words, "I am obligated to start Sinclair every now and then, regardless of her contributions or other players' form. So I picked the most important game of the season so far to throw, and put her in for an hour of jogging." The announcers then proceeded to fawn over Sinclair, "She is always in the right place at the right time". Cite one single instance of that in this game, or just STFU. This stuff is getting really old.
Didn't coach last year call Sam "future captain"? She's the whole package, perhaps most obvious last night was our set piece game didn't suffer a sliver with Kling out (and Kling is one of the league's best).
She'll get an Olympico at some point. It's right there in her CV.
Coffey has been incredible this season. Her connection and defensive positioning is better than any midfielder I’ve watched in the NWSL. If you would have told me BC Sam Coffey would be this good defensively, I would have been stunned. Still can’t believe she fell to 12.
Every Coffey free kick, corner and cross is amazing. She just has such a perfect touch every time. I was noticing how on target she was last game, and just more of the same last night.
In the post match, Norris was asked about the Sinc for Moultrie swap, his answer is baffling:
“We knew the match wasn’t gonna be won in the first 30 minutes. … We looked for a bit of control and a bit of experience to start out. It was a tough choice.” -Mike Norris on Sinc starting tonight over Moultrie.
Sinclair still is opportunistic and that makes her stats less bad than they would be.
She changes the structure of our defense and you can’t continue to compromise the team because Sinclair is likely a top 3 player in NWSL history. I love Sinclair and want her involved in either the front office, ownership, or coaching staff when her career is done. She’s our 5th midfielder.
I agree entirely. It's painful to watch, knowing how great Sinclair has been since forever, her sticking around too long. She is not going to ruin her legacy, or anything like that. But I'd sure like her to go out on a high note, and that was last fall.
Perhaps after WWC she will pull the plug. Then we can expand the Ring of Honor, have parades, rename streets and erect a statue.
I agree that I would like to see Sinc remain a Thorn in some capacity after she retires, but if she cares about the team I wonder what her internal thoughts are after a game where the team becomes noticeably better once she leaves the pitch. I agree with the post below, she could have retired on such a high note last fall, and I am guessing that she is playing so she can actively be part of the Canadian WC roster and leave after this year.
On another note, I was glad to see Reyes get a full 90 because she is going to play a lot this summer.
I suspect she'll want to be part of the nascent Canadian league even more than she wants to stay around the Thorns. She has deep connections here, but I think it would mean a hell of a lot to her to get a league going in her home country. And that league could certainly use her star power, which remains undiminished in Canada.
An excellent point. Being a 'merican I keep forgetting that there is going to be a Canadian Women's futball league. And more power to them, and Christine, if she can help do some of the heavy lifting to get that league off the ground!
Let's get that going and have some competitions between the Women's American, Canadian and Mexican leagues!
Which is even more bizarre in context of the run of play, where Portland’s best opportunities came in the first 15 minutes! Had his squad been full strength instead of 10v11 they could have forced SDW to chase for 75 minutes!
Finish ladies, finish. Two, three good chances slipped away. Score first, make SD chase the game. Liv comes in, two shots on frame in less than 5 minutes. Why would you not want to put your best 11 out there at the start? Other priorities,I guess.
Carefully watch the replay of Reyes' header. She does something critical to putting the ball in the far side of the goal just beyond keeper's lunge. In mid jump, she pulls her knees up, throws her butt back, and pushes her head and torso down all in one motion as she makes contact. It gave her enough force to score.
Whether it was instinctual or by design, the move shows a level of sophistication you don’t see in a rookie.
The Hamida Nadim Memorial Fund, in honor of Dr. Nadia Nadim's late mum, provides support to refugee families in the Louisville area, including access to soccer for refugee kids and families.
The fund is managed by the LouCity & Racing Foundation, a 501(c)(3) of Soccer Holdings (parent company of Louisville City FC and Racing Louisville FC). This means that donations are fully tax deductible. Soccer Holdings and Louisville's former mayor have made the initial gifts.
With Gotham and the Spirit drawing, the NWSL has a *four*-way tie for second place, only one point behind Gotham in first. That means the five teams at the top are separated by a single point - and NC is only two points behind. Talk about a parity league!
Tier Two (We're Good if we get our shit together):
Portland - Friday might've been the best performance of the season. Still some things missing. Best underlying metrics in the league.
Reign - I actually don't know what to make of them. Get them on a bad day, and it's bad. Get them on a good day and it's bad for you. Second best underlying metrics in the league.
Gotham - They don't actually score enough
Spirit - MarPar is doing his thing
San Diego - When do people start to question if Stoney is getting as much as she can out of her team? Extremely mid underlying metrics.
Tier Three (We're a Work in Progress)
Houston - They're fine?
North Carolina - Also fine.
Louisville - The definition of midtable.
Orlando - Losing to Chicago is a thing you don't do if you're a playoff team.
Tier Four: (Dear God)
Chicago - Hey, they won a game!
Angel City - The "sporting club of the year" should probably try being good on the field. The underlying metrics actually hate Angel City; they're 11th in expected goal difference per 90.
KC - They actually have the 4th best xGD/90 in the league. They've probably been slightly unlucky but also when you lose 7 of 9 games and have already fired one head coach, this is the tier you're in. Still, good news about the training facilities!
With Reyes scoring the team now has 14 individuals who have scored at least one goal for the Thorns (including the pre season.) 12 if just the regular season as our one and only Challenge Cup game was a 1-0 loss. This does not include own goals. The list of players 0 goals is shorter than the list of at least 1 goal now.
Can you name all of the Thorns goal scorers up to this point?
From memory a good run. I made the caveat about no own goal to exclude Menges, as she has scored but only an own goal. Menges and Coffey have not yet scored this year, but the other 9 starters against the Wave have. Vasconcelos and Moultrie are correct and make 11 regular season scorers.
This leaves 1 person who has scored in the regular season and 2 of them who only scored in the 4-1 win over the USA U-23 team. A game that was forgettable.
I could swear Rocky scored a banger this year. But preseason? No clue. I was there, freezing, but can barely recall the match at all. I will guess Betfort and Izzy.
Izzy is also correct for preseason. She came on late and scored playing the central striker position. Made many people want to see her play more there and less on the wing. Haven't seen much of that since.
The one everyone has forgotten or never knew, this isn't the only place I have posted this question, is Meaghan Nally.
Claire Frickin' Emslie. She's been dynamite on her service from the corner and right side of the box this year, as we know all too well, but she just delivered a Pinoe Special -- an Olympico -- on Pinoe's home pitch. Jeezus. You go, ACFCNFT!
BTW, Props to Weaver for some excellent high pressure on Sheridan, blocking one ball and forcing her to waste another one. I also recall one 2nd half sequence when Weaver basically put pressure on everybody on San Diego's side of the field, just chasing the ball wherever it went. Crazy energy for that late in the match.
Speaking of which, I would have preferred to see Leon instead of Vasconcelos come on for Dunn to continue that kind of energy. I think it helped.
As I've said in the past, Kornieck is a blunt instrument out there. Not really all that maliciously...she's just not a slick or subtle mover and that makes her clatter into people. When that happens, the smaller (often by a LOT) player comes off the worst.
I’m less interested in motive than effects, and yes - she’s an active menace to her opponents.
Her predecessor, Shea Groom, found out the hard way the payback is a MF by injuring herself injuring other people. Since then she’s been less brutal. Unfortunately given her size I don’t see that happening to Korneick.
Yeah, that was the best I've seen from Sofia since she came to NWSL.
Kornan the Barbarian -- it's really pretty simple: no warning, just a yellow, on the first hard foul. Don't give her multiple warnings, just flash the yellow immediately.
It says something about NWSL refereeing that I was surprised/impressed when the ref actually gave the yellow after the warning and foul on Kuikka. Probably helped that Kornieck had some back-talk to the ref after the warning and that the foul was head-related.
That was a yellow against Sugita. She tapped the ball, but went through the leg to do it. Frankly, the ref does that and the rest of the nonsense likely does NOT happen
Just finished the game after missing it live- Can’t be mad at that at all. Dominant first half even with Sinc playing, Menges looking by far the best she has so far, some relatively cohesive midfield play against a real team for the first time in a while, and Reyes looked excellent. Most importantly, I thought Sam was awesome and didn’t seem particularly overwhelmed- Curious why SD didn’t start Shaw.
Obviously would like more than a point, but that was a very competent away performance (on an exceptionally slow pitch!) at a good team. Playing like that yields three points more often than not.
Oh, and give me how the Thorns play 10x/10 over that nasty bus-parking route 1 shell Stoney has the Wave playing.
Yeah, I am pretty happy with that. Menges, Natu, and ReyRey (that’s what I’m calling her) had pretty good shifts. Hubly…girl has been up and down this season, but more down than up imo. Looked better than our loss to HOU, but a he’s gotta pull it together a bit more. Sam and Dunn, whew! They were everywhere. I guess they kinda have to be when Sinc is in the midfield.
I’ll bet Stoney knew we’d press super high and likely be in their half most of the first 45 (which was true), this limiting time for her to really make an impact. Last time that happened to her with the Spirit game, she was visibly frustrated, and Stoney took her out at half. Throwing her on as soon as the press fades, after a Kornieck comes on also, and Portland is exhausted and/or has subs seems strategic and smart. If the game were 10-20 mins longer, I’ll bet it would’ve panned out for them. Our team was tired and I don’t think the full depth we have is as good as the full depth SD has…at least in the attack.
Also, yeah. The Thorns play fun soccer. Stoney’s brand is boring as hell. She’s got goodattackers, why the hell doesn’t she use them better? Their defense and offense is stacked…I think she could be doing a lot more.
After Stoney was announced, she gave an interview where she talked about how the NWSL was a very transitional league. But that her goals were to be sound defensively and play a more possession-based tactical style. So I find it hilarious that she's resorted to parking the bus and route 1 against the good teams.
It does work since low blocks are hard to play against, but it's so boring. But really she doesn't have great attacking midfielders who have more vision than just a flick on.
With Smith in a slump and Sinc instead of Moultrie the SDW submarine low block was impossible to break down. That’s frustrating but understandable.
What was irking was to see Stoney do the same exact thing she always does - go Route One over the top - and get burned anyway. Lucky that Menges made a terrific play to dispossess Morgan on the first one.
What was really encouraging was seeing Portland still going for the points after conceding in what must have been the most discouraging way possible. The history of this team was that they tended to hang their heads after something like that. This squad has been very different, and I’m happy to see that.
But how many times did we get burned by the long ball? Like, if you covering defender makes a good play, that's what's supposed to happen. I actually think we did a much better job than usual a) forcing San Diego to go long into midfield rather than over the top and b) making sure we won the second and third ball.
Twice definitively, and one of those two shipped a goal while the other forced a piece of individual defensive brilliance to prevent a point blank shot. In a game where the Thorns weren’t scoring? That was enough to damn near get no points at all.
Yeah, after SD scored, we definitely had a vibe of "We are NOT going to let this happen." And we didn't! Unfortunately the vibe disappeared once we scored, but it was good to see us even things up that way.
Yes, and to add to that how awesome the announcers thought Stoney was, such an excellent coach. Sorry but dropping 8-9 and counting on one superstar to score isn't exactly the pinnacle of coaching genius.
Good news: We're in first place! Just on goal difference, but that counts, especially since it's such a huge goal difference.
Bad news: We won't be in first anymore come Sunday. Either Gotham or the Spirit is guaranteed to pass us.
Good news: We'll still be in second place after Sunday. We'll be behind by either 1 point (Spirit-Gotham draw), 2 points (Spirit win), or 3 points (Gotham win).
Frustrating to play so well in attack and settle for the road point. And to see SDW do just what they always and what we should expect them to do - go direct over the top - and succeed twice (but with Menges bailing out the backline the first time...).
And why start Sinclair? I don't know if that made a huge difference, but having Moultrie's speed and aggression in there instead? Might have found the early goal...
I suspect the reason for starting Sinc is the difficulty of beating Sheridan and sneaking a ball past SD's bus.
Thorns weren''t as crisp tonight as last weekend. I suspect the difficulty of finding one-touch opportunities were a combination of SD's defense, the slow pitch, and fatigue as the match wore on.
Should have found a way to come away with all 3 points, but I'll gladly take 1 instead of 0.
Also thrilled with Reyna's match. She looked every bit the baller on both ends.
I disagree that there's no "rational logic" to it:
Moultrie doesn't yet score poacher's goals and she still tries to blast through things.
The logic/rationale is that Sinc might score a poacher's goal, and that might be enough to beat Sheridan. Also, Sinc is the one who steps to the spot to face Sheridan historically. That also might be enough to beat Sheridan.
I'm not saying it's the decision I would have made. I am saying it's probably part of the rationale/logic of Norris's decision.
Just because Norris has a way of rationalizing it doesn’t mean it’s actually logical or rational. There simply isn’t anything Sinc does better than Moultrie at this point.
I just don't have any idea what "rational logic" is. =) Is there a nonrational logic to which I have not been privy?
During last night's stream, in one of the few moments when it didn't cut out, they shared some quotes from Norris about how he's using Moultrie and why. He doesn't have any delusions about what Moultrie can do, no matter when she's in the match.
This could also be turned around the other way though…Sheridan knows exactly where Sinc is gonna put a pen (97% of the time, slow and low to the left.) I think it’d be a disadvantage having Sinc take pens against Sheridan at this point.
Sinc is 9 of 12 all-time in NWSL at the spot. Until 2021 (2 of 4), she was damn near automatic.
Sinc has been more democratic in distributing the PK opportunities in recent times, going back to 2021, but when Sheridan is in goal she takes the ball.
All-time in NWSL regular season, Sinc is 3 of 4 against Sheridan. So, no.
FWIW, Sinc is 3 of 3 against Naeher in NWSL regular season.
cmon' living in the past my friend. poacher goal? isn't that what Liv did last week. Liv is better in the attack in almost all aspects of the game than Sinclair. Her limited mobility makes her easy to defend and cut out penetrating angles. Liv challenges the backline and unbalances def in ways Sinclair can no longer do. Lastly, Smith or Dunn should be taking PKs, and just isn't that difficult that we need someone's special mentality to beat a top keeper.
(1) No, that's not what Liv did last week. We had several one-touch opportunities last week against a terrible defense. We scored as often as we did only because they were one-touch plays -- Naeher didn't have time to react. All props to Moultrie for being one of the people who cashed in last week, on a fast playing surface against a terrible opponent. I'm a huge Moultrie fan, and I think she's 100% special.
(2) I am talking about crafty, bag-of-tricks goals that any of us who have watched Sinclair over time know that she still has and that almost no one else does. I'm not saying I'd make the same decision as Norris. I'm trying to explain what I think Norris might have been thinking. I think he knew exactly what Stoney was going to do -- take advantage of a slow playing surface and use a low block from the beginning. Moultrie still tends to try to fire straight through such things; Sinc still has some other things, that Moultrie does not, that she'll try.
(3) As to the PKs, again, it's the CAPTAIN's decision as to who takes PKs. That is, unless we've abdicated tradition entirely and now turn over such decisions to an analytics department.
(4) Sinc has shown that she'll give the ball to others who are more reliable than she is (i.e., Nadim) and when she wants to encourage others to grow (Smith, Hina, Horan, and Beckie for Canada come to mind). She's also shown she'll take it herself depending on who the keeper is (i.e., Sheridan)
(5) But let's talk about analytics too. In terms of performance, I believe Sinc is 4th all-time in NWSL on PK percentage, behind Rapinoe, Nadim, and Little. Until 2021, Sinc was level with Rapinoe and Nadim as having only missed once in NWSL. Historically, these are people who don't miss from the spot.
(6) Sinc is one of the few players in the world who knows how to get the best of Sheridan consistently, and she knows her national teammate's tendencies better than anybody on the Thorns.
(7) Finally, yes, bagging PKs consistently is incredibly difficult. Ask Sam Kerr. Ask Alex Morgan. Ask Lindsey Horan. Ask Mal Swanson. Ask Rose Lavelle. Go look up their data on FBRef.
"(2) I am talking about crafty, bag-of-tricks goals that any of us who have watched Sinclair over time know that she still has and that almost no one else does. I'm not saying I'd make the same decision as Norris. I'm trying to explain what I think Norris might have been thinking. I think he knew exactly what Stoney was going to do -- take advantage of a slow playing surface and use a low block from the beginning. Moultrie still tends to try to fire straight through such things; Sinc still has some other things, that Moultrie does not, that she'll try.
(3) As to the PKs, again, it's the CAPTAIN's decision as to who takes PKs. That is, unless we've abdicated tradition entirely and now turn over such decisions to an analytics department."
But when's the last time Sinclair has done that? Her non penalty xG per 90 is .22 this season. It was .35 last season. Moultrie is at .54 this season, having been .25 last season!
Captain's shouldn't decide who takes penalties. In fact I don't think it's the case. That's a coaching decision and if that's being abdicated that's an issue.
As Kielbj pointed out; Moultrie is in top form right now. Sinc has been slumping since KC away. I don’t see how Sinc would be more useful breaking down San Diego and in fact she wasn’t.
Think I get this: If Gotham wins in DC they launch three points ahead of the three other teams now tied at 16 points; a draw puts them a point ahead of four teams, as Spirit joins those other three 16-pointers; a Spirit win vaults them two points of the four current 16-point teams (none of which is the Current).
Whew. Parity, I guess. Thorns form doesn't look good, with only two wins in the last six.
Phew! To my eye, Coffey was WOTM by a country mile - she was everywhere and of the 10 corners she took, Sheridan caught zero. Also good was Reyes (pretty great actually), Dunn, Weaver, and Sugita. Hubly had a very ragged first half with her awful passes leading directly to every chance SD had in that half. Better in the second half thankfully. Bixby was better although there were two cases where she retreated from a long ball that she could have charged and scooped. But nothing came of them, and she did as well an any keeper could on the goal. I will be curious to see John's ratings.
Sinclair needs to retire tonight. She contributed less than nothing, actually getting in the way a couple times. Almost no touches, no defense, no business being on that pitch. We win that game if Moultrie starts - we almost did anyway when she came in late.
The announcers said Norris's response to the "why Sinclair" question was "I have a wealth of riches". In other words, "I am obligated to start Sinclair every now and then, regardless of her contributions or other players' form. So I picked the most important game of the season so far to throw, and put her in for an hour of jogging." The announcers then proceeded to fawn over Sinclair, "She is always in the right place at the right time". Cite one single instance of that in this game, or just STFU. This stuff is getting really old.
Didn't coach last year call Sam "future captain"? She's the whole package, perhaps most obvious last night was our set piece game didn't suffer a sliver with Kling out (and Kling is one of the league's best).
She'll get an Olympico at some point. It's right there in her CV.
Coffey has been incredible this season. Her connection and defensive positioning is better than any midfielder I’ve watched in the NWSL. If you would have told me BC Sam Coffey would be this good defensively, I would have been stunned. Still can’t believe she fell to 12.
Every Coffey free kick, corner and cross is amazing. She just has such a perfect touch every time. I was noticing how on target she was last game, and just more of the same last night.
USWNT made a big mistake not keeping her for the WC. She's the real deal.
In the post match, Norris was asked about the Sinc for Moultrie swap, his answer is baffling:
“We knew the match wasn’t gonna be won in the first 30 minutes. … We looked for a bit of control and a bit of experience to start out. It was a tough choice.” -Mike Norris on Sinc starting tonight over Moultrie.
Sinclair still is opportunistic and that makes her stats less bad than they would be.
She changes the structure of our defense and you can’t continue to compromise the team because Sinclair is likely a top 3 player in NWSL history. I love Sinclair and want her involved in either the front office, ownership, or coaching staff when her career is done. She’s our 5th midfielder.
I agree entirely. It's painful to watch, knowing how great Sinclair has been since forever, her sticking around too long. She is not going to ruin her legacy, or anything like that. But I'd sure like her to go out on a high note, and that was last fall.
Perhaps after WWC she will pull the plug. Then we can expand the Ring of Honor, have parades, rename streets and erect a statue.
I agree here. And, what we're also seeing is that this midfield, despite its quality, is also actually pretty thin, especially now that Rocky is out.
I agree that I would like to see Sinc remain a Thorn in some capacity after she retires, but if she cares about the team I wonder what her internal thoughts are after a game where the team becomes noticeably better once she leaves the pitch. I agree with the post below, she could have retired on such a high note last fall, and I am guessing that she is playing so she can actively be part of the Canadian WC roster and leave after this year.
On another note, I was glad to see Reyes get a full 90 because she is going to play a lot this summer.
I suspect she'll want to be part of the nascent Canadian league even more than she wants to stay around the Thorns. She has deep connections here, but I think it would mean a hell of a lot to her to get a league going in her home country. And that league could certainly use her star power, which remains undiminished in Canada.
An excellent point. Being a 'merican I keep forgetting that there is going to be a Canadian Women's futball league. And more power to them, and Christine, if she can help do some of the heavy lifting to get that league off the ground!
Let's get that going and have some competitions between the Women's American, Canadian and Mexican leagues!
Which is even more bizarre in context of the run of play, where Portland’s best opportunities came in the first 15 minutes! Had his squad been full strength instead of 10v11 they could have forced SDW to chase for 75 minutes!
It's just his accent; what he meant was, "It's not my choice." /s
Finish ladies, finish. Two, three good chances slipped away. Score first, make SD chase the game. Liv comes in, two shots on frame in less than 5 minutes. Why would you not want to put your best 11 out there at the start? Other priorities,I guess.
Finish Ladies? We have Kuikka. Is there another?
(showing myself out now)
Actually, there is another. Pikkujarmsa, who pulled a hammy at the beginning of the April 22 match.
What a game of ups and downs.
First half: Up! Surely the Thorns will turn this dominance into a goal, right?
Halftime: Nope. Down.
66': Moultrie for Sinc! Up!
77': Vasconcelos for Sugita. Down.
80ish: Thorns looking very dangerous against tired Wave legs. Up!
86': Goal Wave. We fought hard, but we're going to take the L here. Waaaay down.
90': GOAL THORNS!! Reyes with the header! Waaaaaaaaaaay up!
Final whistle: I'll take the last-minute, come-from-behind road point and scamper home, thank you very much. Up!
Carefully watch the replay of Reyes' header. She does something critical to putting the ball in the far side of the goal just beyond keeper's lunge. In mid jump, she pulls her knees up, throws her butt back, and pushes her head and torso down all in one motion as she makes contact. It gave her enough force to score.
Whether it was instinctual or by design, the move shows a level of sophistication you don’t see in a rookie.
Start at the 4:10 mark . https://twitter.com/ThornsFC/status/1662321308833845250?s=20
OT: A great idea!
The Hamida Nadim Memorial Fund, in honor of Dr. Nadia Nadim's late mum, provides support to refugee families in the Louisville area, including access to soccer for refugee kids and families.
The fund is managed by the LouCity & Racing Foundation, a 501(c)(3) of Soccer Holdings (parent company of Louisville City FC and Racing Louisville FC). This means that donations are fully tax deductible. Soccer Holdings and Louisville's former mayor have made the initial gifts.
About: https://www.whas11.com/article/sports/nadia-nadim-refugee-fund-late-mother-racing-louisville-fc/417-c984d95a-15aa-42df-933b-b69622e73b1c
Donation Link: https://loucity.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a78d31332e43ca5d266c7587b&id=ffa78b12ce&e=a74e926661
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With Gotham and the Spirit drawing, the NWSL has a *four*-way tie for second place, only one point behind Gotham in first. That means the five teams at the top are separated by a single point - and NC is only two points behind. Talk about a parity league!
"I would like to extend to you an invitation to the Parity Party."
https://youtu.be/oFSWsKiWNBc?t=8
Let's hope it doesn't become a Parody Party.
Preposterous Power Rankings: Driven to Tiers
Tier 1: Scoreboard
Gotham - Thanks for Williams, KC! Thanks for Ryan, Portland! (and they're pretty deep too)
Tier 2: Between the 16s
DC Kang - not OL Kang good, but good
Portland - too much of roster devoted to non-contributing squad players
PSWST- hurting with Lavelle's ongoing absence
SD - Stoney is riding Sheridan, not the offense
Tier 3: Moving Up
NC - better than expected, just outside the 16s
Houston - slowly climbing, with recent wins against Portland and KC
Tier 4: Moving Down
Louisville - as many internationals as points
Orlando - still... farther along than expected
ACFCNFT - Haracic concedes 4 but is WOTM - yikes!
Tier 5: Wooden Spooning
Chicago - at least Naeher is sharp!
KCFUBAR- LLLWWWLLLLL
Tier One (Elite):
TBA (I'm not sure anyone is good)
Tier Two (We're Good if we get our shit together):
Portland - Friday might've been the best performance of the season. Still some things missing. Best underlying metrics in the league.
Reign - I actually don't know what to make of them. Get them on a bad day, and it's bad. Get them on a good day and it's bad for you. Second best underlying metrics in the league.
Gotham - They don't actually score enough
Spirit - MarPar is doing his thing
San Diego - When do people start to question if Stoney is getting as much as she can out of her team? Extremely mid underlying metrics.
Tier Three (We're a Work in Progress)
Houston - They're fine?
North Carolina - Also fine.
Louisville - The definition of midtable.
Orlando - Losing to Chicago is a thing you don't do if you're a playoff team.
Tier Four: (Dear God)
Chicago - Hey, they won a game!
Angel City - The "sporting club of the year" should probably try being good on the field. The underlying metrics actually hate Angel City; they're 11th in expected goal difference per 90.
KC - They actually have the 4th best xGD/90 in the league. They've probably been slightly unlucky but also when you lose 7 of 9 games and have already fired one head coach, this is the tier you're in. Still, good news about the training facilities!
With Reyes scoring the team now has 14 individuals who have scored at least one goal for the Thorns (including the pre season.) 12 if just the regular season as our one and only Challenge Cup game was a 1-0 loss. This does not include own goals. The list of players 0 goals is shorter than the list of at least 1 goal now.
Can you name all of the Thorns goal scorers up to this point?
Without googling, I 'd say every player who started v. SD Wave except Menges, plus Rocky, Moultrie, and Porter = 13. Vasconselos #14?
From memory a good run. I made the caveat about no own goal to exclude Menges, as she has scored but only an own goal. Menges and Coffey have not yet scored this year, but the other 9 starters against the Wave have. Vasconcelos and Moultrie are correct and make 11 regular season scorers.
This leaves 1 person who has scored in the regular season and 2 of them who only scored in the 4-1 win over the USA U-23 team. A game that was forgettable.
I could swear Rocky scored a banger this year. But preseason? No clue. I was there, freezing, but can barely recall the match at all. I will guess Betfort and Izzy.
Rocky is correct rounding out the regular season.
Bixby, Smith, Weaver, Dunn, Kuikka, Hubly, Reyes, Hina, Sinclair, Moultrie, Vasconcelos, and Rodriguez.
Izzy is also correct for preseason. She came on late and scored playing the central striker position. Made many people want to see her play more there and less on the wing. Haven't seen much of that since.
The one everyone has forgotten or never knew, this isn't the only place I have posted this question, is Meaghan Nally.
So much going wrong for USWNT right now, but one thing that's going right is that Naeher is in top form.
Claire Frickin' Emslie. She's been dynamite on her service from the corner and right side of the box this year, as we know all too well, but she just delivered a Pinoe Special -- an Olympico -- on Pinoe's home pitch. Jeezus. You go, ACFCNFT!
Well that lead didn't last.
Every ACFC game I've watched this year Emslie has been good to superb. She's super important to that club.
BTW, Props to Weaver for some excellent high pressure on Sheridan, blocking one ball and forcing her to waste another one. I also recall one 2nd half sequence when Weaver basically put pressure on everybody on San Diego's side of the field, just chasing the ball wherever it went. Crazy energy for that late in the match.
Speaking of which, I would have preferred to see Leon instead of Vasconcelos come on for Dunn to continue that kind of energy. I think it helped.
Jakobsson is a beast, and props to Kuikka for largely fighting her off all match.
Korneick, OTOH, is a damn thug, and if PRO won’t card her for it she’s going to hurt someone again.
As I've said in the past, Kornieck is a blunt instrument out there. Not really all that maliciously...she's just not a slick or subtle mover and that makes her clatter into people. When that happens, the smaller (often by a LOT) player comes off the worst.
I’m less interested in motive than effects, and yes - she’s an active menace to her opponents.
Her predecessor, Shea Groom, found out the hard way the payback is a MF by injuring herself injuring other people. Since then she’s been less brutal. Unfortunately given her size I don’t see that happening to Korneick.
Yeah, that was the best I've seen from Sofia since she came to NWSL.
Kornan the Barbarian -- it's really pretty simple: no warning, just a yellow, on the first hard foul. Don't give her multiple warnings, just flash the yellow immediately.
It says something about NWSL refereeing that I was surprised/impressed when the ref actually gave the yellow after the warning and foul on Kuikka. Probably helped that Kornieck had some back-talk to the ref after the warning and that the foul was head-related.
That was a yellow against Sugita. She tapped the ball, but went through the leg to do it. Frankly, the ref does that and the rest of the nonsense likely does NOT happen
Just finished the game after missing it live- Can’t be mad at that at all. Dominant first half even with Sinc playing, Menges looking by far the best she has so far, some relatively cohesive midfield play against a real team for the first time in a while, and Reyes looked excellent. Most importantly, I thought Sam was awesome and didn’t seem particularly overwhelmed- Curious why SD didn’t start Shaw.
Obviously would like more than a point, but that was a very competent away performance (on an exceptionally slow pitch!) at a good team. Playing like that yields three points more often than not.
Oh, and give me how the Thorns play 10x/10 over that nasty bus-parking route 1 shell Stoney has the Wave playing.
Yeah, I am pretty happy with that. Menges, Natu, and ReyRey (that’s what I’m calling her) had pretty good shifts. Hubly…girl has been up and down this season, but more down than up imo. Looked better than our loss to HOU, but a he’s gotta pull it together a bit more. Sam and Dunn, whew! They were everywhere. I guess they kinda have to be when Sinc is in the midfield.
I’ll bet Stoney knew we’d press super high and likely be in their half most of the first 45 (which was true), this limiting time for her to really make an impact. Last time that happened to her with the Spirit game, she was visibly frustrated, and Stoney took her out at half. Throwing her on as soon as the press fades, after a Kornieck comes on also, and Portland is exhausted and/or has subs seems strategic and smart. If the game were 10-20 mins longer, I’ll bet it would’ve panned out for them. Our team was tired and I don’t think the full depth we have is as good as the full depth SD has…at least in the attack.
Also, yeah. The Thorns play fun soccer. Stoney’s brand is boring as hell. She’s got goodattackers, why the hell doesn’t she use them better? Their defense and offense is stacked…I think she could be doing a lot more.
After Stoney was announced, she gave an interview where she talked about how the NWSL was a very transitional league. But that her goals were to be sound defensively and play a more possession-based tactical style. So I find it hilarious that she's resorted to parking the bus and route 1 against the good teams.
It does work since low blocks are hard to play against, but it's so boring. But really she doesn't have great attacking midfielders who have more vision than just a flick on.
It’s effective considering her midfield. I don’t think she has a choice.
With Smith in a slump and Sinc instead of Moultrie the SDW submarine low block was impossible to break down. That’s frustrating but understandable.
What was irking was to see Stoney do the same exact thing she always does - go Route One over the top - and get burned anyway. Lucky that Menges made a terrific play to dispossess Morgan on the first one.
What was really encouraging was seeing Portland still going for the points after conceding in what must have been the most discouraging way possible. The history of this team was that they tended to hang their heads after something like that. This squad has been very different, and I’m happy to see that.
But how many times did we get burned by the long ball? Like, if you covering defender makes a good play, that's what's supposed to happen. I actually think we did a much better job than usual a) forcing San Diego to go long into midfield rather than over the top and b) making sure we won the second and third ball.
Twice definitively, and one of those two shipped a goal while the other forced a piece of individual defensive brilliance to prevent a point blank shot. In a game where the Thorns weren’t scoring? That was enough to damn near get no points at all.
The second one is hardly a long ball. It's a passage of play in midfield and then a quick ball over.
Yeah, after SD scored, we definitely had a vibe of "We are NOT going to let this happen." And we didn't! Unfortunately the vibe disappeared once we scored, but it was good to see us even things up that way.
Yes, and to add to that how awesome the announcers thought Stoney was, such an excellent coach. Sorry but dropping 8-9 and counting on one superstar to score isn't exactly the pinnacle of coaching genius.
100% spot on
Good news / bad news division
Good news: We're in first place! Just on goal difference, but that counts, especially since it's such a huge goal difference.
Bad news: We won't be in first anymore come Sunday. Either Gotham or the Spirit is guaranteed to pass us.
Good news: We'll still be in second place after Sunday. We'll be behind by either 1 point (Spirit-Gotham draw), 2 points (Spirit win), or 3 points (Gotham win).
Frustrating to play so well in attack and settle for the road point. And to see SDW do just what they always and what we should expect them to do - go direct over the top - and succeed twice (but with Menges bailing out the backline the first time...).
And why start Sinclair? I don't know if that made a huge difference, but having Moultrie's speed and aggression in there instead? Might have found the early goal...
I'll take the point. But...dammit....
I suspect the reason for starting Sinc is the difficulty of beating Sheridan and sneaking a ball past SD's bus.
Thorns weren''t as crisp tonight as last weekend. I suspect the difficulty of finding one-touch opportunities were a combination of SD's defense, the slow pitch, and fatigue as the match wore on.
Should have found a way to come away with all 3 points, but I'll gladly take 1 instead of 0.
Also thrilled with Reyna's match. She looked every bit the baller on both ends.
Thing is...Moultrie is the best pure finisher on the team imo, including Sinc.
There's no rational logic for playing Sinc over Moultrie at this point lol
I disagree that there's no "rational logic" to it:
Moultrie doesn't yet score poacher's goals and she still tries to blast through things.
The logic/rationale is that Sinc might score a poacher's goal, and that might be enough to beat Sheridan. Also, Sinc is the one who steps to the spot to face Sheridan historically. That also might be enough to beat Sheridan.
I'm not saying it's the decision I would have made. I am saying it's probably part of the rationale/logic of Norris's decision.
Smith should step to the spot if she's on the field. For both present and future benefit.
It's still the Captain's call to make.
What should be telling to everybody, though, is that Sinc doesn't do this or make these decisions on ego. When Nadim was here, Nadim took the PKs.
and Sinc should step down from captains role if cant make good decisions for team
And Sinc has chosen other players for PKs many, many times, for both Canada and Thorns.
Just because Norris has a way of rationalizing it doesn’t mean it’s actually logical or rational. There simply isn’t anything Sinc does better than Moultrie at this point.
I just don't have any idea what "rational logic" is. =) Is there a nonrational logic to which I have not been privy?
During last night's stream, in one of the few moments when it didn't cut out, they shared some quotes from Norris about how he's using Moultrie and why. He doesn't have any delusions about what Moultrie can do, no matter when she's in the match.
it is the lack of rational thought involving starting Sinc. At this point not seeing much of role for her during any competitive match.
Lol I think any rationalization that leads to Sinc starting is by definition *not* logical
This could also be turned around the other way though…Sheridan knows exactly where Sinc is gonna put a pen (97% of the time, slow and low to the left.) I think it’d be a disadvantage having Sinc take pens against Sheridan at this point.
It COULD be, but it's not been.
Let's go to the data....
FBRef shows...
Sinc is 9 of 12 all-time in NWSL at the spot. Until 2021 (2 of 4), she was damn near automatic.
Sinc has been more democratic in distributing the PK opportunities in recent times, going back to 2021, but when Sheridan is in goal she takes the ball.
All-time in NWSL regular season, Sinc is 3 of 4 against Sheridan. So, no.
FWIW, Sinc is 3 of 3 against Naeher in NWSL regular season.
cmon' living in the past my friend. poacher goal? isn't that what Liv did last week. Liv is better in the attack in almost all aspects of the game than Sinclair. Her limited mobility makes her easy to defend and cut out penetrating angles. Liv challenges the backline and unbalances def in ways Sinclair can no longer do. Lastly, Smith or Dunn should be taking PKs, and just isn't that difficult that we need someone's special mentality to beat a top keeper.
You packed a lot in here, so bear with me....
(1) No, that's not what Liv did last week. We had several one-touch opportunities last week against a terrible defense. We scored as often as we did only because they were one-touch plays -- Naeher didn't have time to react. All props to Moultrie for being one of the people who cashed in last week, on a fast playing surface against a terrible opponent. I'm a huge Moultrie fan, and I think she's 100% special.
(2) I am talking about crafty, bag-of-tricks goals that any of us who have watched Sinclair over time know that she still has and that almost no one else does. I'm not saying I'd make the same decision as Norris. I'm trying to explain what I think Norris might have been thinking. I think he knew exactly what Stoney was going to do -- take advantage of a slow playing surface and use a low block from the beginning. Moultrie still tends to try to fire straight through such things; Sinc still has some other things, that Moultrie does not, that she'll try.
(3) As to the PKs, again, it's the CAPTAIN's decision as to who takes PKs. That is, unless we've abdicated tradition entirely and now turn over such decisions to an analytics department.
(4) Sinc has shown that she'll give the ball to others who are more reliable than she is (i.e., Nadim) and when she wants to encourage others to grow (Smith, Hina, Horan, and Beckie for Canada come to mind). She's also shown she'll take it herself depending on who the keeper is (i.e., Sheridan)
(5) But let's talk about analytics too. In terms of performance, I believe Sinc is 4th all-time in NWSL on PK percentage, behind Rapinoe, Nadim, and Little. Until 2021, Sinc was level with Rapinoe and Nadim as having only missed once in NWSL. Historically, these are people who don't miss from the spot.
(6) Sinc is one of the few players in the world who knows how to get the best of Sheridan consistently, and she knows her national teammate's tendencies better than anybody on the Thorns.
(7) Finally, yes, bagging PKs consistently is incredibly difficult. Ask Sam Kerr. Ask Alex Morgan. Ask Lindsey Horan. Ask Mal Swanson. Ask Rose Lavelle. Go look up their data on FBRef.
"(2) I am talking about crafty, bag-of-tricks goals that any of us who have watched Sinclair over time know that she still has and that almost no one else does. I'm not saying I'd make the same decision as Norris. I'm trying to explain what I think Norris might have been thinking. I think he knew exactly what Stoney was going to do -- take advantage of a slow playing surface and use a low block from the beginning. Moultrie still tends to try to fire straight through such things; Sinc still has some other things, that Moultrie does not, that she'll try.
(3) As to the PKs, again, it's the CAPTAIN's decision as to who takes PKs. That is, unless we've abdicated tradition entirely and now turn over such decisions to an analytics department."
But when's the last time Sinclair has done that? Her non penalty xG per 90 is .22 this season. It was .35 last season. Moultrie is at .54 this season, having been .25 last season!
Captain's shouldn't decide who takes penalties. In fact I don't think it's the case. That's a coaching decision and if that's being abdicated that's an issue.
pks should be coaches decision kot captains. example Haaland takes all kicks for Man City but is not the captain, that is Peps decision
As Kielbj pointed out; Moultrie is in top form right now. Sinc has been slumping since KC away. I don’t see how Sinc would be more useful breaking down San Diego and in fact she wasn’t.
Think I get this: If Gotham wins in DC they launch three points ahead of the three other teams now tied at 16 points; a draw puts them a point ahead of four teams, as Spirit joins those other three 16-pointers; a Spirit win vaults them two points of the four current 16-point teams (none of which is the Current).
Whew. Parity, I guess. Thorns form doesn't look good, with only two wins in the last six.
And 3 road games coming up. Hoping for some results.
Yeah, NWSL 2023 is a parity party. Next year, with expansion, should be probably even more so.
Taking a peek at the table, I can't help but notice that NC is creeping up on that group-of-16s.