Thanks for the discussion of the Thorns keeper situation.
I think it's a tremendous mistake if the Thorns simply hand the starting position to Arnold.
I know she's coming here to start, and that the Thorns GK coach has a pre-existing relationship with her, but to me she needs to earn the spot.
Hogan's been increasingly dependable and Alvarado and Kozal look fully capable.
Arnold, on the other hand, didn't look great in Paris, had a rough season at West Ham, and hasn't done anything here yet.
So, what I would prefer is to see an open competition going into 2025 rather than disrupting the GK mix in 2024.
No sense throwing Arnold into the deep end when she's not been at her best and when Portland need to make a push down the stretch to try to get themselves into the top 4.
Unfortunately I'm not sure that's how it can work. There's no way to run some sort of "Keeper Survivor" show on matchday. The coaching staff will have to assess their players in training and make the call. We'll see which call they make when the league returns.
I honestly don't see this as a huge issue. As you point out, Hogan's form has improved since April. Any of the non-rookie keepers seem likely to be competent - IMO the backline needs to polishing up before stressing about the keepers..!
But we'll see in three weeks or so.
I'm just glad LeBlanc restrained herself from signing AMC. Once was enough, now Harvey can try and get goals out of her...
That's what I mean -- don't give the keys to Arnold just because you paid to bring her in.
Indeed, unless Arnold shows out in training compared to Hogan, or Hogan gets injured or becomes a complete dud in the next few matches, I'd say keep things as they are for the rest of 2024, then go into 2025 as an open competition for no. 1.
It looks like she played behind a pretty shifty backline at West Ham and the results were pretty ugly. So there's that.
FWIW, I think if she starts she'll be fine; she's at least replacement-level international grade.
The "still bugs me" about this is that we're a week+ into the summer transfer window and we're hearing nothing. If Arnold was a smash-and-grab opportunity, okay. But if Arnold is ALL we get...that's not so okay. We've got holes to fill and deadweight to shed, and that' s LeBlanc's job. We need to see her do more than pick up Canadians and random keepers...
Timbers get StL away, on Friday. The more I think about this tournament, the dumber it gets. The Timbers are a higher seed, and their reward is...a road game? And also, every single game of this tournament is played in the US? How is that even remotely fair to LigaMX?
Yeah, it's even goofier when you have something like the Timbers hosting Leon, and the announcer says, "technically this is club Leon's 'Home' game"....
Also appreciate the discussion of Fleming's brilliance for Canada. You've touched on why she shines for Canada but has struggled here. We don't need her here to do everything she does for Canada (e.g., cover 80% of the field). It will be interesting to see whether/how she fits back into our midfield situation.
Thanks for the discussion of the Thorns keeper situation.
I think it's a tremendous mistake if the Thorns simply hand the starting position to Arnold.
I know she's coming here to start, and that the Thorns GK coach has a pre-existing relationship with her, but to me she needs to earn the spot.
Hogan's been increasingly dependable and Alvarado and Kozal look fully capable.
Arnold, on the other hand, didn't look great in Paris, had a rough season at West Ham, and hasn't done anything here yet.
So, what I would prefer is to see an open competition going into 2025 rather than disrupting the GK mix in 2024.
No sense throwing Arnold into the deep end when she's not been at her best and when Portland need to make a push down the stretch to try to get themselves into the top 4.
Unfortunately I'm not sure that's how it can work. There's no way to run some sort of "Keeper Survivor" show on matchday. The coaching staff will have to assess their players in training and make the call. We'll see which call they make when the league returns.
I honestly don't see this as a huge issue. As you point out, Hogan's form has improved since April. Any of the non-rookie keepers seem likely to be competent - IMO the backline needs to polishing up before stressing about the keepers..!
But we'll see in three weeks or so.
I'm just glad LeBlanc restrained herself from signing AMC. Once was enough, now Harvey can try and get goals out of her...
That's what I mean -- don't give the keys to Arnold just because you paid to bring her in.
Indeed, unless Arnold shows out in training compared to Hogan, or Hogan gets injured or becomes a complete dud in the next few matches, I'd say keep things as they are for the rest of 2024, then go into 2025 as an open competition for no. 1.
They also did not pay a cent to bring her in beyond her salary, fwiw.
It looks like she played behind a pretty shifty backline at West Ham and the results were pretty ugly. So there's that.
FWIW, I think if she starts she'll be fine; she's at least replacement-level international grade.
The "still bugs me" about this is that we're a week+ into the summer transfer window and we're hearing nothing. If Arnold was a smash-and-grab opportunity, okay. But if Arnold is ALL we get...that's not so okay. We've got holes to fill and deadweight to shed, and that' s LeBlanc's job. We need to see her do more than pick up Canadians and random keepers...
That's been my view of Naeher in Chicago -- she gets lots of reps!
Games that count do not seem the best place to "test" keepers. I am very interested to see how this plays out
Timbers get StL away, on Friday. The more I think about this tournament, the dumber it gets. The Timbers are a higher seed, and their reward is...a road game? And also, every single game of this tournament is played in the US? How is that even remotely fair to LigaMX?
Yeah, it's even goofier when you have something like the Timbers hosting Leon, and the announcer says, "technically this is club Leon's 'Home' game"....
It *was* like 50% Mexican fans, though...
Also appreciate the discussion of Fleming's brilliance for Canada. You've touched on why she shines for Canada but has struggled here. We don't need her here to do everything she does for Canada (e.g., cover 80% of the field). It will be interesting to see whether/how she fits back into our midfield situation.