I was hoping they might bring in a better F fleet than we have now lol (aside from Weaver), but I understand that's fantasyland. The bar is pretty low though, so wouldn't be surprised if an NTRP came in and looked better than D'Aquila, Betfort, Beckman, and/or Vasconcelos. I can't believe Betfort has been here for 3 years honestly....and…
I was hoping they might bring in a better F fleet than we have now lol (aside from Weaver), but I understand that's fantasyland. The bar is pretty low though, so wouldn't be surprised if an NTRP came in and looked better than D'Aquila, Betfort, Beckman, and/or Vasconcelos. I can't believe Betfort has been here for 3 years honestly....and I wouldn't be surprised if an NTRP came in and looked better. Vasconcelos was an NTRP last year and is still better than 3 of our other forwards as currently played (and is the only one who has scored out of the group.) Hell, OLR's two F NTRP's looked better than all of ours who played last night, although, the bar was low.
Some folks on the internets are saying the CB NTRP that was just brought in was one of the best CB's in the A-league, so it's not impossible that person looks better or has a higher ceiling than Nally or Provenzano. She's also 5'9", so if she's faster AND taller, we're halfway there lol. CC is lost, so might as well make it a try-out for players we bring in.
Of course, KK really needs some actual roster improvement, but I'm just not sure what we can expect there due to the sale dragging on, lack of know-how or connections, or sheer incompetence...so the best I feel like I can hope for is an NTRP that's better than what we have in a few positions....which again, ain't that hard to beat! Now that Horan is gone, we're at 25. That should def be held for a strong CB in the offseason, though I'd argue we should shed several of our players on our current roster for better depth as well. Also gonna lose 2 to the expansion draft.
Also noticed that OLR's brand new NTRP's were noticeably better than PTFC's reserves. So that's... not good.
Re Betfort: I was immediately a Betfort fan when we first saw her in the WICC a few years ago: a big strong fast player with a chip on her shoulder. Coach Wilkinson even featured her in those games as a Kornieck-like target for goal kicks to the center circle, a nice weapon to have.
But now seems like the aggression/joy has been coached out of her- without that, she just looks tentative and without the ability to create with the ball on her feet- kinda like what would happen if you played a CB up at forward in an emergency.
But
On the defensive end, last night Betfort (finally) got a body on Elyse Bennett (who was enjoying last night like the JV kid filling in on the freshman team) and muscled her into irrelevance on at least 1-2 cornerkicks that i saw. Was so refreshing to see a Thorns player other than perhaps Weaver with the physical strength/assertiveness not to get pushed around or run over by a big opposing forward in the box.
If an undrafted player who’s been playing pickup soccer for the six months since the draft can walk on and start playing better than the current reserves I’d be shocked. Seeing as how we’ve just been smacked in the face with how hard it is to find and field a truly top class player at a skill position like a Smiith or a Sugita, it’s obvious what sport shows us all the time; talent is a pyramid. For every great player there’s a dozen - or a hundred - good players. And for each of them there’s another dozen or hundred “decent” ones, and so on down to “can play rec league” to “can’t play at all “.
The Mana Shim/Bethany Balcer sorts of discoveries are celebrated precisely because they’re rare as fairies…
I’d love for some undrafted walk-on to be the Next Smith. But I wouldn’t bet the house on that happening.
I was hoping they might bring in a better F fleet than we have now lol (aside from Weaver), but I understand that's fantasyland. The bar is pretty low though, so wouldn't be surprised if an NTRP came in and looked better than D'Aquila, Betfort, Beckman, and/or Vasconcelos. I can't believe Betfort has been here for 3 years honestly....and I wouldn't be surprised if an NTRP came in and looked better. Vasconcelos was an NTRP last year and is still better than 3 of our other forwards as currently played (and is the only one who has scored out of the group.) Hell, OLR's two F NTRP's looked better than all of ours who played last night, although, the bar was low.
Some folks on the internets are saying the CB NTRP that was just brought in was one of the best CB's in the A-league, so it's not impossible that person looks better or has a higher ceiling than Nally or Provenzano. She's also 5'9", so if she's faster AND taller, we're halfway there lol. CC is lost, so might as well make it a try-out for players we bring in.
Of course, KK really needs some actual roster improvement, but I'm just not sure what we can expect there due to the sale dragging on, lack of know-how or connections, or sheer incompetence...so the best I feel like I can hope for is an NTRP that's better than what we have in a few positions....which again, ain't that hard to beat! Now that Horan is gone, we're at 25. That should def be held for a strong CB in the offseason, though I'd argue we should shed several of our players on our current roster for better depth as well. Also gonna lose 2 to the expansion draft.
Also noticed that OLR's brand new NTRP's were noticeably better than PTFC's reserves. So that's... not good.
Re Betfort: I was immediately a Betfort fan when we first saw her in the WICC a few years ago: a big strong fast player with a chip on her shoulder. Coach Wilkinson even featured her in those games as a Kornieck-like target for goal kicks to the center circle, a nice weapon to have.
But now seems like the aggression/joy has been coached out of her- without that, she just looks tentative and without the ability to create with the ball on her feet- kinda like what would happen if you played a CB up at forward in an emergency.
But
On the defensive end, last night Betfort (finally) got a body on Elyse Bennett (who was enjoying last night like the JV kid filling in on the freshman team) and muscled her into irrelevance on at least 1-2 cornerkicks that i saw. Was so refreshing to see a Thorns player other than perhaps Weaver with the physical strength/assertiveness not to get pushed around or run over by a big opposing forward in the box.
Need much more of that! Please!
If an undrafted player who’s been playing pickup soccer for the six months since the draft can walk on and start playing better than the current reserves I’d be shocked. Seeing as how we’ve just been smacked in the face with how hard it is to find and field a truly top class player at a skill position like a Smiith or a Sugita, it’s obvious what sport shows us all the time; talent is a pyramid. For every great player there’s a dozen - or a hundred - good players. And for each of them there’s another dozen or hundred “decent” ones, and so on down to “can play rec league” to “can’t play at all “.
The Mana Shim/Bethany Balcer sorts of discoveries are celebrated precisely because they’re rare as fairies…
I’d love for some undrafted walk-on to be the Next Smith. But I wouldn’t bet the house on that happening.