I’m utterly meh on the loss of Hogan herself. All three remaining keepers were fairly interchangeable. Arnold had better numbers but looked poor. Bixby was a tire fire in ‘23. Which one leaves is kinda “eenie-meenie”
But…
The deal itself looks weak. $40K in allocation $$ and a keeper for 10K and an international slot?
And the whole thing brings up the “who’s running this show?” We waived both draftee keepers then dump Hogan? Waive Hubly but sign a second-rate Brazilian CB? WTF?
The Thorns don’t seem to know what they’re doing, “2 goal” Arnold was a big mistake, she was a known sieve and it’s probably not a coincidence that the Thorn’s goalie coach is Australian and his dad just happens to be the Australian women’s national team goalie coach overseeing Arnold’s poor Olympic performance prior to picking her up. Hogan was in her first year of starting, she had 9 clean sheets, second most in the league, and that’s with Arnold’s four disastrous starts and those horrible games under Mike Norris. Imagine, she and the Thorns might have led in clean sheets if the Thorns had better leadership. They’ll stick with Bella but she’s a long way from being game ready.
My favorite Hogan memory is the 2021WICC final and Shelby blocked three Houston penalty kicks. When Charlie sunk the last penalty kick for Portland the team ran towards her and then past her and swarmed Shelby. But I think Charly appreciated that the hero of the moment was Shelby Hogan. Kling, Moultrie and Charly made penalty kicks and only Rachel Daley made a Houston penalty kick.
She was so good practicing against her team prior to the game they had Angrier replace her (once the best Keeper in world) so the players wouldn't lose their confidence.
Our Hobson's choice was three-hands on Vivek or the Maloof Brothers, who intentionally let them whither on the vine to then sell the club off to an out of state buyer. David Stern, smarting from the Sonics debacle, intervened and here we are.
I won't stick Vivek with the 2012-13 W/L record from when he took over in March until the end of the season. But since then? 139 games under .500. 2 winning seasons, 1 playoff appearance.
Remember Karina specifically saying she had a long term plan for her little gk academy? Just laugh thinking about all that . That was less than 6 months ago
So Houston is lapping us this offseason with regard to players, coaches, and the front office. Great. People assume that Portland will always be a premier WOSO destination, but I'm not so sure. What if Soph gets tired of this garbage and leaves? What if the owners are really cheap and really only care about the investment / development and not the gate revenue (meaning the product on the field)? I'm guessing that dreary, rainy weather for about half the year is not super appealing to a lot of young 20-somethings, too.
If a Houston falls in the forest and nobody is around to hear it, is there any sound?
2024: Last in the league, last in attendance, last in goals scored, tied for second to last in goals allowed. First in being Houston, sweet home of midnight humidity and petrochemical dreams.
What would that franchise be worth somewhere else, given it's now >$100MM to join the league? Asking for a friend
Yeah, Lily Realle is who I've mentioned multiple times here. A couple months back, she only followed Thorns, Seattle, and LA on social media. And she's good friends with half our squad. Thought we had a chance! Gotham is shedding players, but they're making a lot of good decisions about the players they're bringing in also...
Gonna be contrary here and say this is an objectively good move. You have three keepers of about equal quality an international spot out of one of them. Not sure why this would be viewed negatively outside of the salary dump.
It's more as part of the "you dump both your young cheap #3 keepers, THEN unload one of the remaining three leaving yourself without a young cheap #3 keeper". It's like signing a replacement-level Brazilian CB then waiving your veteran replacement-level CB.
Seems indicative of a lack of longer-range-than-tomorrow-morning-planning...
Hard for me to get annoyed about 3rd string keepers to be perfectly honest. They’re a dime a dozen.
We *know* the org is dysfunctional at the moment, but this particular deal (like most of what they’ve done in the offseason) doesn’t really make me feel, well, anything. I just find it funny how every transaction has become a referendum on the dysfunction. If they went out and traded for Naomi Girma or made a signing we all liked, those issues would still exist.
It’s just SO cumulative. Every one of these goofy deals except Hiatt is just hitting me over the head with the “we’re making this shit up as we go” derp hammer….
Agree. On the surface, I think a lot of the moves they’ve done to date are explainable with a big signing (with maybe the exception of Daiane which seems like a flyer on potential with her injury history), but we have no clue what the plan is and the way they’ve handled other things to date is what is problematic. They don’t seem to be keeping the players informed of their plan which is a bad precedent
If Hubly is asking for more money than she’s worth, I can see them moving on. A lot depends on the salary she was requesting.
The keeper decision. Don’t really care. Replacement level keepers are easy to find. OK with the international slot though I’d probably prefer the player who was friends with our stars if all things are equal.
Neither was obviously better than the other… seriously? Hogan goal per ave was half of what Arnold delivered and while Hogan had a winning record, Arnold could not deliver even a single win.
Points saved above expected /90 with Arnold at +.38 as opposed to (.03) for Hogan.
You could argue that Arnold’s positioning created more high danger chances but i think it was more corresponding with Becky being out which is concerning on its own
As Trail33 points out; the two keepers records have more to do with KenBall and the rest of the squad than their technical skills. Throw in distribution - Hogan was a hot mess as often as not - and it's nowhere near a Hogan dunk.
This isn’t Moneyball, sure, the team, and their competition impacts a goalies stats, but at the end of the day, it’s about winning, and they won more often than not with Hogan and they didn’t win with Arnold. Throw out those first four “MC led” games and I’m sure Hogan’s stats would improve. As for all the talk of “distribution” Arnold delivered F-all, and for some mysterious reason the Thorns posted nine shutouts with Hogan. With Arnold they earned one lousy point in four games and she almost single handily took the Thorns out of playoff contention. Team chemistry isn’t a stat but clearly the team delivered with Hogan. You can live and die with your stats but I’ll stick with results.
Using that logic, Bella Bixby will be the starting goaltender because she has a considerably better win percentage than Shelby Hogan and was in goal for championship runs.
Using that logic, I should blame Hogan for the loss to the underdog Gotham team in the playoffs. It’s the same logic you are using with Macca in the Chicago game. I personally thought Stengel’s strike couldn’t be saved but they lost a game they were favored to win
Now we know Bixby was likely pregnant during the Angel City game, do we consider that in her stat line?
I’d rather have traded Macca to Gotham personally, but was that an option? I think most of us don’t really care depending on whom they acquire with the international slot.
We could always resign AD Franch to be an insurance policy in case Macca isn’t up to being a player in this league
Let’s not be stupid. Bella’s higher winning percentage is based on the offensive juggernaut that the Thorns used to be, not the lack luster team Hogan got stuck with. My point is that with basically the same squad, the results with Shelby in goal, we’re significantly better than when Arnold was in goal, both in goals allowed and winning percentage. After all, in sports, winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.
As for blaming Hogan for the loss last season vs Gotham, perhaps you can blame that on the coaching staff for Hogan’s limited league game experience, only two starts in three years, before putting her in the net in that playoff game.
Bella had a lot to deal with in 2023. The 2022 semifinal loss came in mid-November, in the midst of personal tragedy. And, as you say, from the information she shared on IG, it's quite likely that she was pregnant by October 2023 and possibly sooner than that.
would have to look back but feel like spending 40k in allocation money and trading a player for 10k in transfer fees and the spot feels like a poor use of resources, and also a poor use of future planning for the squad, given the age profiles of the goalkeepers.
I don’t know that there’s a whole lot of difference future-wise between retaining 30 year old Arnold and 29 year old Bixby over 26 year old Hogan. I don’t love paying the 30K to dump Hogan but I assume this means they intend to use that spot on a new international….which isn’t inherently good, but still.
which again, comes back to a question of resources. For example, using an international spot to sign Daiane, on the face of it, doesn't seem like a smart use of resources.
My larger point, too, is that these are pretty crucial roster decisions that are being made, and they're being made either by a) the outgoing GM b) the head coach c) an unknown interim or d) a combination of all of the above. Some of those people might not be in this position in four months, and perhaps shouldn't be in these positions now.
Yes, this is the obvious issue. I can’t fix that issue however, so until they get a GM I’m looking at the moves as a “what would I do” situation. And I think Arnold and Bixby are minimally (if at all) worse than Hogan….and id rather have the international spot than one of the three meh keepers
I don’t believe any of us knows anything about Daiane other than she has been injured a lot, has questionable comparables, and was once sought after by the best teams in Europe for whatever reason. On the surface, I would have resigned Hubly over her for team chemistry.
That said, It’s tough to say you like or dislike a player because of some twitter comments from fans. There are fans that criticize Sophia and Weaver, yet we all know how important they are.
My concern is the team doesn’t seem to be caring one bit for team chemistry. Trading away the best friends of your 3 best players as well as losing their vet role models seems like a lot of change. Sign the right players and it can be recovered, but this reminds me of Paulson’s lack of transparency.
Hopefully something is announced that makes the fan base or players happy because the past few days seems to have pissed off some of your key players
Daiane looks like a squad player. If we needed a replacement-level CB, why waive Hubly? I mean…unless Hubs asked for the earth and sky…seems like a move as dumb as waiving all your keeper depth then making a weak-ass deal to leave you without a #3 keeper!
She's 27, injury prone, and is playing in Brazil. She has played 180 minutes for the national team since 2021, and 0 since 2022. None of that indicates that she's ready to be a high quality starting player in the NWSL in 2025. It's a questionable use of a limited resource.
Tbf...Hogan was our #1. She took the spot multiple times during Bella's downward implosion (and then she became pregnant), and then she took the spot from Arnold after 5 or 6 pretty rough games.
The whole keeper rotation was a mess. Bixby was improving by late June, Arnold had minimal time to practice with the squad when she got tossed into the fire just as KenBall was cratering.
Then Arnold was injured and Hogan came back in just as the club pulled off two unlikely wins (the Orlando Trap Game and Sinc's Swan Song), so she looks better in the mirror.
But Hogan's 2024 was pretty weak overall. I think she would have started 2025 on the bench, with Bixby #3...
It’s worth a look at my keeper grade piece. Tl:dr Arnold had 1) better metrics and 2) shit luck because KenBall. Hogan and she are within spitting distance but if you combine the numbers with Arnold’s better distribution the 1/2 ranking is pretty clear. Hogan is not the obvious #1
If these figures are accurate, you have to think that the Thorns have freed up a lot of money with the departures of Sinclair, Sauerbruun, Klingenberg, and Hubly... money that can be used to re-sign Sophia (when it's time) and get her some more help all around the pitch.
Some big #s there and yeah, implicitly there should lots of space freed up.
Also pondering how an article dated 12.31.24 contains the following:
"While the 41-year-old may have called it quits for the Canadian National Team, Sinclair continues to do her most for the Portland Thorns. That sees her pocket a little over $360K per annum. Considering she has just years left to display her best on the pitch, we ought to praise the Cannucks icon for earning such a significant amount, surpassing even what many renowned youngsters aren’t earning today’s date!"
Feelings aside for a brief second this just show terrible management. Let’s ignore that Karina lied when she said she had a developmental plan for the gks and now they have zero younger gks. Let’s ignore how there’s no new Gm. Let’s ignore the reason they need more international spots is because they used on a questionable international described as depth. Trading your started for 10,000 is just absolutely crazy. I wonder if it’s incompetence or just pure determination to be this level of terrible.
I don’t believe anyone is saying that at all. I believe people are looking at the deal in isolation and saying they’d rather have the intl slot.
No one appears happy with the Macca or Daiane signing, but they virtually gave up the equivalent of a league average goaltender who wasn’t going to resign next year and nominal cash for the “elusive” international slot.
The bigger risk is did you piss off one of your best players by doing this since they don’t appear to be keeping people informed
This one still makes no sense to me. Kang has dumped a ton of money into this area and hired Scott to head it all. Yes, I know Spirit had injuries, but try though we might to make it otherwise bodies simply are not machines.
I've been wondering for a while if the head athletic trainer, or whoever is in charge of maintaining player fitness and avoiding injuries, is the most important person in the front office. Keeping your players able to play is crucial. I wonder if the departure of Pierre Soubrier after his medical violations cost us more than just Crystal Dunn.
I get it, there a horse a piece in your eyes, I can see that view, but Hogan is the baby of the bunch, those other two have topped out, so until you find someone significantly better, they should have eliminated the drama and the clubhouse grief and stuck with Hogan.
I agree. I think Hogan will improve with better coaching. Distribution is the easiest thing to improve. Macca isn't going to improve her shot-stopping and Bixby isn't going to become quicker.
For context about the quality of the Hogan trade...
"Portland Thorns FC have acquired Mexico National Team goalkeeper Emily Alvarado from the Houston Dash in exchange for $35,000 in allocation, as well as up to $50,000 in Intra-League Transfer Funds or Allocation Money if certain performance metrics are met."
And...
"We've mutually agreed to terminate the contract of Emily Alvarado, waiving the goalkeeper to allow her to pursue other opportunities abroad." (aka with Club TJ)
OT: Janine Beckie got married in December, it looks like it was a smaller ceremony in Mexico. From what I can see on social media in attendance was: Fleming, Sinc (and her partner), Kling (and her partner), and a few other canXNT players and their partners.
Dawn Scott performance Coach and Sports Scientist. She used to work with the USWNT. She set up the spirit with a whole team to help the players. I’m not sure why Spirit would let her go but she’s top in her field.
2025 is off to a rollicking start, so maybe the Bathals will stir from their winter slumbers and fire up the management machine. Is it still strapped to the shipping pallet?
Couple of thoughts.
I’m utterly meh on the loss of Hogan herself. All three remaining keepers were fairly interchangeable. Arnold had better numbers but looked poor. Bixby was a tire fire in ‘23. Which one leaves is kinda “eenie-meenie”
But…
The deal itself looks weak. $40K in allocation $$ and a keeper for 10K and an international slot?
And the whole thing brings up the “who’s running this show?” We waived both draftee keepers then dump Hogan? Waive Hubly but sign a second-rate Brazilian CB? WTF?
Who is doing this shit? Smith? Leblanc? WTF?
And it’s now January and . . . where’s the new GM?
The Thorns don’t seem to know what they’re doing, “2 goal” Arnold was a big mistake, she was a known sieve and it’s probably not a coincidence that the Thorn’s goalie coach is Australian and his dad just happens to be the Australian women’s national team goalie coach overseeing Arnold’s poor Olympic performance prior to picking her up. Hogan was in her first year of starting, she had 9 clean sheets, second most in the league, and that’s with Arnold’s four disastrous starts and those horrible games under Mike Norris. Imagine, she and the Thorns might have led in clean sheets if the Thorns had better leadership. They’ll stick with Bella but she’s a long way from being game ready.
Awww, Lindsey cleans up good!
https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fthe-beautiful-bride-v0-hsms9ctdvv9e1.jpeg%3Fwidth%3D1080%26crop%3Dsmart%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3De9b753e4c3e756e2b46d5952d284376f4854175e
https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fthe-beautiful-bride-v0-h97q8bfwxv9e1.jpeg%3Fwidth%3D1179%26format%3Dpjpg%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D197a2db4174fa15083c83eb9cca6addafe75dd91
A big day for the two of them indeed. Congrats to both!
"Lindsey cleans up good!"
----------------------------
Yikes!!!
My favorite Hogan memory is the 2021WICC final and Shelby blocked three Houston penalty kicks. When Charlie sunk the last penalty kick for Portland the team ran towards her and then past her and swarmed Shelby. But I think Charly appreciated that the hero of the moment was Shelby Hogan. Kling, Moultrie and Charly made penalty kicks and only Rachel Daley made a Houston penalty kick.
She was so good practicing against her team prior to the game they had Angrier replace her (once the best Keeper in world) so the players wouldn't lose their confidence.
I hope Shelby eventually winds up in Boston.
First there were 6….and now there are 2. What WAS the point in all that?
I suppose that someone gets to indulge a passion to go window shopping for another GK. Or three, as the case may be.
They were clearing space for the forthcoming draft. Wait, I'm being told....
;-D
Vivek Ranadive is holding on Line 1.
BTW, Kings dysfunction since Vivek took over as owner in March 2013:
Smart & Petrie
Malone & D'Alessandro
Malone/Corbin/Karl & D'Alessandro/Divac
Karl & Divac
Joerger & Divac
Walton & Divac
Walton & McNair
Walton/Gentry & McNair
Brown & McNair (2 winning seasons, 1 playoff appearance, 1 play-in appearance)
Brown/Christie & McNair
Throw in a Joe Dumars in there too.
That's 9 coaches and 5 top executives in 12 years!
Our Hobson's choice was three-hands on Vivek or the Maloof Brothers, who intentionally let them whither on the vine to then sell the club off to an out of state buyer. David Stern, smarting from the Sonics debacle, intervened and here we are.
We need better billionaires.
I won't stick Vivek with the 2012-13 W/L record from when he took over in March until the end of the season. But since then? 139 games under .500. 2 winning seasons, 1 playoff appearance.
Remember Karina specifically saying she had a long term plan for her little gk academy? Just laugh thinking about all that . That was less than 6 months ago
Karina's G(immic)K Academy
This is all we know at the moment:
Gale is HC
Norris is Technical Director
Smith is wearing many hats
Martintez-Gloria is also wearing many hats
No one is GM
Sinclair, Sauerbruun, Klingenberg, Hubly, Kozal, Asman, D'Aquila, and Sheva are out
Daiane and Hiatt are in
Our backup GK, behind a shaky starting GK, is coming back from maternity leave
Camp starts in 3 weeks
Well we know that Houston has a new HC now! Lol. And a GM!
So Houston is lapping us this offseason with regard to players, coaches, and the front office. Great. People assume that Portland will always be a premier WOSO destination, but I'm not so sure. What if Soph gets tired of this garbage and leaves? What if the owners are really cheap and really only care about the investment / development and not the gate revenue (meaning the product on the field)? I'm guessing that dreary, rainy weather for about half the year is not super appealing to a lot of young 20-somethings, too.
If a Houston falls in the forest and nobody is around to hear it, is there any sound?
2024: Last in the league, last in attendance, last in goals scored, tied for second to last in goals allowed. First in being Houston, sweet home of midnight humidity and petrochemical dreams.
What would that franchise be worth somewhere else, given it's now >$100MM to join the league? Asking for a friend
Dash's new HC is Morgan Gautrat's husband, Fabrice. Is she still playing for Orlando or did she retire this offseason?
Gotham just signed a 1st Team All-American defender out of UCLA.
Yeah, Lily Realle is who I've mentioned multiple times here. A couple months back, she only followed Thorns, Seattle, and LA on social media. And she's good friends with half our squad. Thought we had a chance! Gotham is shedding players, but they're making a lot of good decisions about the players they're bringing in also...
And yeah Mo is still playing, afaik.
Ah, I thought it was somebody else. Was fooled by it being announced as news today, so I thought it was somebody in addition to Reale. My bad.
Reale reels in real error using ruse. That story up next, but first....
"I'm guessing that dreary, rainy weather for about half the year is not super appealing"
-----------------------------------------------
I'm in Corvallis today. OMG is dreary.
OTOH, look what's coming in the midwest.
Gonna be contrary here and say this is an objectively good move. You have three keepers of about equal quality an international spot out of one of them. Not sure why this would be viewed negatively outside of the salary dump.
It's more as part of the "you dump both your young cheap #3 keepers, THEN unload one of the remaining three leaving yourself without a young cheap #3 keeper". It's like signing a replacement-level Brazilian CB then waiving your veteran replacement-level CB.
Seems indicative of a lack of longer-range-than-tomorrow-morning-planning...
Hard for me to get annoyed about 3rd string keepers to be perfectly honest. They’re a dime a dozen.
We *know* the org is dysfunctional at the moment, but this particular deal (like most of what they’ve done in the offseason) doesn’t really make me feel, well, anything. I just find it funny how every transaction has become a referendum on the dysfunction. If they went out and traded for Naomi Girma or made a signing we all liked, those issues would still exist.
Point taken.
It’s just SO cumulative. Every one of these goofy deals except Hiatt is just hitting me over the head with the “we’re making this shit up as we go” derp hammer….
Agree. On the surface, I think a lot of the moves they’ve done to date are explainable with a big signing (with maybe the exception of Daiane which seems like a flyer on potential with her injury history), but we have no clue what the plan is and the way they’ve handled other things to date is what is problematic. They don’t seem to be keeping the players informed of their plan which is a bad precedent
If Hubly is asking for more money than she’s worth, I can see them moving on. A lot depends on the salary she was requesting.
The keeper decision. Don’t really care. Replacement level keepers are easy to find. OK with the international slot though I’d probably prefer the player who was friends with our stars if all things are equal.
I agree. I think Macca and Hogan were different, but neither was obviously better than the other.
I'd rather have the international spot, assuming (and I may be making an ass out of you and me) they use it on a key acquisition.
Neither was obviously better than the other… seriously? Hogan goal per ave was half of what Arnold delivered and while Hogan had a winning record, Arnold could not deliver even a single win.
Points saved above expected /90 with Arnold at +.38 as opposed to (.03) for Hogan.
You could argue that Arnold’s positioning created more high danger chances but i think it was more corresponding with Becky being out which is concerning on its own
As Trail33 points out; the two keepers records have more to do with KenBall and the rest of the squad than their technical skills. Throw in distribution - Hogan was a hot mess as often as not - and it's nowhere near a Hogan dunk.
This isn’t Moneyball, sure, the team, and their competition impacts a goalies stats, but at the end of the day, it’s about winning, and they won more often than not with Hogan and they didn’t win with Arnold. Throw out those first four “MC led” games and I’m sure Hogan’s stats would improve. As for all the talk of “distribution” Arnold delivered F-all, and for some mysterious reason the Thorns posted nine shutouts with Hogan. With Arnold they earned one lousy point in four games and she almost single handily took the Thorns out of playoff contention. Team chemistry isn’t a stat but clearly the team delivered with Hogan. You can live and die with your stats but I’ll stick with results.
Using that logic, Bella Bixby will be the starting goaltender because she has a considerably better win percentage than Shelby Hogan and was in goal for championship runs.
Using that logic, I should blame Hogan for the loss to the underdog Gotham team in the playoffs. It’s the same logic you are using with Macca in the Chicago game. I personally thought Stengel’s strike couldn’t be saved but they lost a game they were favored to win
Now we know Bixby was likely pregnant during the Angel City game, do we consider that in her stat line?
I’d rather have traded Macca to Gotham personally, but was that an option? I think most of us don’t really care depending on whom they acquire with the international slot.
We could always resign AD Franch to be an insurance policy in case Macca isn’t up to being a player in this league
Let’s not be stupid. Bella’s higher winning percentage is based on the offensive juggernaut that the Thorns used to be, not the lack luster team Hogan got stuck with. My point is that with basically the same squad, the results with Shelby in goal, we’re significantly better than when Arnold was in goal, both in goals allowed and winning percentage. After all, in sports, winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.
As for blaming Hogan for the loss last season vs Gotham, perhaps you can blame that on the coaching staff for Hogan’s limited league game experience, only two starts in three years, before putting her in the net in that playoff game.
Bella had a lot to deal with in 2023. The 2022 semifinal loss came in mid-November, in the midst of personal tragedy. And, as you say, from the information she shared on IG, it's quite likely that she was pregnant by October 2023 and possibly sooner than that.
would have to look back but feel like spending 40k in allocation money and trading a player for 10k in transfer fees and the spot feels like a poor use of resources, and also a poor use of future planning for the squad, given the age profiles of the goalkeepers.
I don’t know that there’s a whole lot of difference future-wise between retaining 30 year old Arnold and 29 year old Bixby over 26 year old Hogan. I don’t love paying the 30K to dump Hogan but I assume this means they intend to use that spot on a new international….which isn’t inherently good, but still.
which again, comes back to a question of resources. For example, using an international spot to sign Daiane, on the face of it, doesn't seem like a smart use of resources.
My larger point, too, is that these are pretty crucial roster decisions that are being made, and they're being made either by a) the outgoing GM b) the head coach c) an unknown interim or d) a combination of all of the above. Some of those people might not be in this position in four months, and perhaps shouldn't be in these positions now.
Yes, this is the obvious issue. I can’t fix that issue however, so until they get a GM I’m looking at the moves as a “what would I do” situation. And I think Arnold and Bixby are minimally (if at all) worse than Hogan….and id rather have the international spot than one of the three meh keepers
I don’t believe any of us knows anything about Daiane other than she has been injured a lot, has questionable comparables, and was once sought after by the best teams in Europe for whatever reason. On the surface, I would have resigned Hubly over her for team chemistry.
That said, It’s tough to say you like or dislike a player because of some twitter comments from fans. There are fans that criticize Sophia and Weaver, yet we all know how important they are.
My concern is the team doesn’t seem to be caring one bit for team chemistry. Trading away the best friends of your 3 best players as well as losing their vet role models seems like a lot of change. Sign the right players and it can be recovered, but this reminds me of Paulson’s lack of transparency.
Hopefully something is announced that makes the fan base or players happy because the past few days seems to have pissed off some of your key players
Daiane looks like a squad player. If we needed a replacement-level CB, why waive Hubly? I mean…unless Hubs asked for the earth and sky…seems like a move as dumb as waiving all your keeper depth then making a weak-ass deal to leave you without a #3 keeper!
Is Daiane friends with any other Brazilians we might hope to add to the roster? (Hello, Kerolin)
why would kerolin join portland lol? she can stay in north carolina - a better team, with better players and a better head coach - or go to Europe.
She's 27, injury prone, and is playing in Brazil. She has played 180 minutes for the national team since 2021, and 0 since 2022. None of that indicates that she's ready to be a high quality starting player in the NWSL in 2025. It's a questionable use of a limited resource.
We just secured that limited resource for a league average goaltender and the allocation price for lower than the 47th pick in last years draft.
It sounds like Hogan isn’t upset at the move. Can easily see her asking for the trade now that Angerer is gone. She came here to be part of Ice Bear U
Curious what Hubly was asking salary wise and what Daiane signed for. It doesn’t help that the explanations are not coming for any of the moves.
Particularly after waiving both Asman and Kozal. Both young, probably cheap…
Asman got signed by Orlando the very next day!
Which I thought was odd since of the two Kozal had an actual record of pro appearances…but apparently Asman impressed Orlando more…
But the sequence overall - dump young keepers then shop your #2 leaving us without a #3 young keeper - reeks of “plan? Oh, wait…do we have a plan..?”
Tbf...Hogan was our #1. She took the spot multiple times during Bella's downward implosion (and then she became pregnant), and then she took the spot from Arnold after 5 or 6 pretty rough games.
But yes....plan? No lol
Obviously the plan is to target whichever of City's 'keepers, Khiara Keating or Ayaka Yamashita _doesn't_ lock up the starting role there.
Follow me for more delusional meandering...
The whole keeper rotation was a mess. Bixby was improving by late June, Arnold had minimal time to practice with the squad when she got tossed into the fire just as KenBall was cratering.
Then Arnold was injured and Hogan came back in just as the club pulled off two unlikely wins (the Orlando Trap Game and Sinc's Swan Song), so she looks better in the mirror.
But Hogan's 2024 was pretty weak overall. I think she would have started 2025 on the bench, with Bixby #3...
It’s worth a look at my keeper grade piece. Tl:dr Arnold had 1) better metrics and 2) shit luck because KenBall. Hogan and she are within spitting distance but if you combine the numbers with Arnold’s better distribution the 1/2 ranking is pretty clear. Hogan is not the obvious #1
Here's hoping the first full workweek of the new year brings good news on the Thorns' GM and HC searches.
https://www.essentiallysports.com/soccer-football-news-unveiling-the-top-ten-highest-paid-nwsl-players-of-with-sophia-smith-leading-the-pack/
If these figures are accurate, you have to think that the Thorns have freed up a lot of money with the departures of Sinclair, Sauerbruun, Klingenberg, and Hubly... money that can be used to re-sign Sophia (when it's time) and get her some more help all around the pitch.
Some big #s there and yeah, implicitly there should lots of space freed up.
Also pondering how an article dated 12.31.24 contains the following:
"While the 41-year-old may have called it quits for the Canadian National Team, Sinclair continues to do her most for the Portland Thorns. That sees her pocket a little over $360K per annum. Considering she has just years left to display her best on the pitch, we ought to praise the Cannucks icon for earning such a significant amount, surpassing even what many renowned youngsters aren’t earning today’s date!"
We won't know the whole story until we see who they use the brand new international slot on.
Feelings aside for a brief second this just show terrible management. Let’s ignore that Karina lied when she said she had a developmental plan for the gks and now they have zero younger gks. Let’s ignore how there’s no new Gm. Let’s ignore the reason they need more international spots is because they used on a questionable international described as depth. Trading your started for 10,000 is just absolutely crazy. I wonder if it’s incompetence or just pure determination to be this level of terrible.
"Let’s ignore the reason they need more international spots is because they used on a questionable international described as depth."
Macca or Daiane? /s
I don’t believe anyone is saying that at all. I believe people are looking at the deal in isolation and saying they’d rather have the intl slot.
No one appears happy with the Macca or Daiane signing, but they virtually gave up the equivalent of a league average goaltender who wasn’t going to resign next year and nominal cash for the “elusive” international slot.
The bigger risk is did you piss off one of your best players by doing this since they don’t appear to be keeping people informed
All that and getting your core players upset ( and Sam on her birthday no less). Things are bad
This one still makes no sense to me. Kang has dumped a ton of money into this area and hired Scott to head it all. Yes, I know Spirit had injuries, but try though we might to make it otherwise bodies simply are not machines.
https://bsky.app/profile/ellabrockway.bsky.social/post/3leovbpo4ek2u
I've been wondering for a while if the head athletic trainer, or whoever is in charge of maintaining player fitness and avoiding injuries, is the most important person in the front office. Keeping your players able to play is crucial. I wonder if the departure of Pierre Soubrier after his medical violations cost us more than just Crystal Dunn.
I get it, there a horse a piece in your eyes, I can see that view, but Hogan is the baby of the bunch, those other two have topped out, so until you find someone significantly better, they should have eliminated the drama and the clubhouse grief and stuck with Hogan.
Way too early in life for Bixby to have "topped out." For goalkeepers, 29-years old is still a spring chicken.
Plus, Bella remains 6 feet tall. Personally like that in a keeper.
You’ve obviously have not seen the postpartum Bella.
Has anyone? ;-)
Note: Amy Rodriguez turned out to be better postpartum.
I agree. I think Hogan will improve with better coaching. Distribution is the easiest thing to improve. Macca isn't going to improve her shot-stopping and Bixby isn't going to become quicker.
For context about the quality of the Hogan trade...
"Portland Thorns FC have acquired Mexico National Team goalkeeper Emily Alvarado from the Houston Dash in exchange for $35,000 in allocation, as well as up to $50,000 in Intra-League Transfer Funds or Allocation Money if certain performance metrics are met."
And...
"We've mutually agreed to terminate the contract of Emily Alvarado, waiving the goalkeeper to allow her to pursue other opportunities abroad." (aka with Club TJ)
OT: Janine Beckie got married in December, it looks like it was a smaller ceremony in Mexico. From what I can see on social media in attendance was: Fleming, Sinc (and her partner), Kling (and her partner), and a few other canXNT players and their partners.
Dawns contract expired with the Spirit. If the owners have it in them to show any ambition the opportunity is right there
Scott would be an amazing add to them Thorn’s staff. Talk about experience and qualifications.
Indeed, Dawn is a big time hire that the Bhathals should be looking to make. There just hasn’t been any big hires to show they are serious.
Dawn Scott? How on earth did Kang let her contract lapse? She hasn't been there that long.
1) It's probably a role that is underappreciated.
2) The team suffered from some injuries that arguably prevented their winning the championship.
Who is Dawns?
Dawn Scott performance Coach and Sports Scientist. She used to work with the USWNT. She set up the spirit with a whole team to help the players. I’m not sure why Spirit would let her go but she’s top in her field.
She'd be a real get. Only getters get to try and get her. Know any getters?
https://www.fifatrainingcentre.com/en/game/tournaments/fifa-womens-world-cup/2023/post-tournament-analysis/interviews/dawn-scott-on-the-evolving-physical-demands-in-womens-football.php
Know any getters?
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Uhhhh...not...in...Thorns'...offices...?
Their get done got gone.
2025 is off to a rollicking start, so maybe the Bathals will stir from their winter slumbers and fire up the management machine. Is it still strapped to the shipping pallet?
That was the only Dawn I could find, and I couldn't believe that's who you meant. Yeah, that's shocking.
It's possible Kang Charm has let her down here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawn_Scott