If I had to guess, there's a rude awakening coming Saturday. The Spirit are tremendously well-coached and those are the teams the Thorns struggle against.
But, I'm ultimately not *too* concerned- They've turned it around --if somewhat unconvincingly-- to the point where they have their first three game winning streak since 2021(!), got Sm…
If I had to guess, there's a rude awakening coming Saturday. The Spirit are tremendously well-coached and those are the teams the Thorns struggle against.
But, I'm ultimately not *too* concerned- They've turned it around --if somewhat unconvincingly-- to the point where they have their first three game winning streak since 2021(!), got Smith signed, and I've liked what I've seen from Linnehan, Obaze, and Müller. If they can get the manager hire right, the long-term ship is pointed in the right direction.
This is what I'm bracing for. We cannot play like that and expect to even get a draw. It'll be a heavy loss...I know they've been on the road a bit now, and it'll be the third game in a weeks time but those players that got some rest today who'll likely start will need to carry a lot (Sinc prob, Fleming, Obaze, Müller) and the players who played lots of minutes today, will likely start, and frankly need to have much better games (Brunn, Reyes, Hina) are gonna need to step their game up. Coffey needs to be cleaner as well. I also thought Janine has been a turnover machine game after game, and do that with Bethune, Sarr, and Rodman running the other way and our defense will collapse. We don't have the stability back there to be as messy as she's been. There are prob others also, I don't mean to single her out, but it's been a gripe of her play I've had since her first season and it's just the same as it was before.
What's annoying is that they're likely MORE tired because of the stupid decision to sit back after 10' than if we would've just kept letting our F's do what they do. How does coaching staff think we have the defense to sit back and absorb like that lol....
there's a gap starting to open up with the underlying numbers too. Pride .97 xGD/90, Current .75, Spirit .71, Courage .66, Louisville .60, Thorns .39. Everyone else is below 0.
That's a really small sample though, boosted heavily by Houston. I do think there is some increased confidence from winning games but as someone else said, you could've swapped these last two with the Gotham and Louisville games and that would probably have been more "fair."
If I had to guess, there's a rude awakening coming Saturday. The Spirit are tremendously well-coached and those are the teams the Thorns struggle against.
But, I'm ultimately not *too* concerned- They've turned it around --if somewhat unconvincingly-- to the point where they have their first three game winning streak since 2021(!), got Smith signed, and I've liked what I've seen from Linnehan, Obaze, and Müller. If they can get the manager hire right, the long-term ship is pointed in the right direction.
This is what I'm bracing for. We cannot play like that and expect to even get a draw. It'll be a heavy loss...I know they've been on the road a bit now, and it'll be the third game in a weeks time but those players that got some rest today who'll likely start will need to carry a lot (Sinc prob, Fleming, Obaze, Müller) and the players who played lots of minutes today, will likely start, and frankly need to have much better games (Brunn, Reyes, Hina) are gonna need to step their game up. Coffey needs to be cleaner as well. I also thought Janine has been a turnover machine game after game, and do that with Bethune, Sarr, and Rodman running the other way and our defense will collapse. We don't have the stability back there to be as messy as she's been. There are prob others also, I don't mean to single her out, but it's been a gripe of her play I've had since her first season and it's just the same as it was before.
What's annoying is that they're likely MORE tired because of the stupid decision to sit back after 10' than if we would've just kept letting our F's do what they do. How does coaching staff think we have the defense to sit back and absorb like that lol....
From my perspective, this is payback for the Gotham and Louisville game. Should have won both of those and lost this one in terms of caliber of play
there's a gap starting to open up with the underlying numbers too. Pride .97 xGD/90, Current .75, Spirit .71, Courage .66, Louisville .60, Thorns .39. Everyone else is below 0.
Also since Gale took over, the Thorns xGD/90 is at 0.73, up there with the Spirit and Courage. (You're also using FBRef's xGD, yes?)
Yep.
That's a really small sample though, boosted heavily by Houston. I do think there is some increased confidence from winning games but as someone else said, you could've swapped these last two with the Gotham and Louisville games and that would probably have been more "fair."