There has been a revolving door at RB this year with Reyna, Nally, and Natu all making starts and appearances.
My point was there is a huge drop off between Becky and the next starter/replacement at CB.
Becky isn't going to fix everything, but the xG with and without her has started to creep up slightly and the backline has been a bit more unorganized. Her presence benefits the team way more than without.
Bixby is the key to all of this, as I think Portland has 2 starters with Shelby Hogan as well. If she doesn't come off her line a lot today, that means Hubly and Menges/Nally will have to win headers against Salmon consistently...
That CB depth chart drop off makes me so sad: at one point, a few years back and at the height of her career, Menges was the best CB in the league and her lack of caps remains the worst snub in USWNT history for me. She has had a horrible time trying to recover from injury and there's still some rust on her game.
I continue to believe she'll get substantially better. Likely never to where she was in 2017, but she's only 30 and has played barely any soccer for two years. It's not like she's a 35 year old trying to salvage the last year of her career.
Her issues certainly look primarily like rust to me- Bad tackling technique (like against Wingate on Saturday), the occasional errant pass, etc etc.
In the past I’d have disagreed; Menges was as good or better, and I’d have taken Menges/Hubly as soon or sooner than Brunn/Hubly.
This season, unfortunately, you’re right. Menges has been a tire fire, and so the dropoff from Brunn - whether or not you rate her as highly as she is often rated here - really is precipitous.
That relies largely on two matches, the xG-against of which combined is barely 2. So the primary defensive issue isn’t the backline giving up better looks, something we can blame on a lack of Sauerbrunn, but a combination of freakish bad luck and Bixby’s troubles. It’s correlation, not causation.
There has been a revolving door at RB this year with Reyna, Nally, and Natu all making starts and appearances.
My point was there is a huge drop off between Becky and the next starter/replacement at CB.
Becky isn't going to fix everything, but the xG with and without her has started to creep up slightly and the backline has been a bit more unorganized. Her presence benefits the team way more than without.
Bixby is the key to all of this, as I think Portland has 2 starters with Shelby Hogan as well. If she doesn't come off her line a lot today, that means Hubly and Menges/Nally will have to win headers against Salmon consistently...
That CB depth chart drop off makes me so sad: at one point, a few years back and at the height of her career, Menges was the best CB in the league and her lack of caps remains the worst snub in USWNT history for me. She has had a horrible time trying to recover from injury and there's still some rust on her game.
Facts.
I think she can still get back to a high level, will take more reps and games for sure though.
I continue to believe she'll get substantially better. Likely never to where she was in 2017, but she's only 30 and has played barely any soccer for two years. It's not like she's a 35 year old trying to salvage the last year of her career.
Her issues certainly look primarily like rust to me- Bad tackling technique (like against Wingate on Saturday), the occasional errant pass, etc etc.
I think a lot depton her staying healthy. So far that’s been a problem. I want to believe she can; she’s always been a personal favorite.
In the past I’d have disagreed; Menges was as good or better, and I’d have taken Menges/Hubly as soon or sooner than Brunn/Hubly.
This season, unfortunately, you’re right. Menges has been a tire fire, and so the dropoff from Brunn - whether or not you rate her as highly as she is often rated here - really is precipitous.
Becky leads and organizes and the all-important goals against have gone from 2 to 8 with her missing. And that's not nothing.
That relies largely on two matches, the xG-against of which combined is barely 2. So the primary defensive issue isn’t the backline giving up better looks, something we can blame on a lack of Sauerbrunn, but a combination of freakish bad luck and Bixby’s troubles. It’s correlation, not causation.