I have to reply to myself here, but I am actually replying to the folks below me.

We have talked (over on STF and here) about the glut of midfield talent we had in 2017, and how Allie Long wound up coming off the bench.

The attempt to play Allie and Mandy as a dual pivot in 2017 didnt work, for whatever reason. The midseason shakeup of 2017 led to Allie going to the bench. And as John has noted, something seemed to happen with Allie that year too.

Even though it was well-known by late-Summer that Mandy would be leaving, Allie apparently had had enough and was out the door.

Allie wanted to be traded to Seattle, and allocated players seem to have some say where they go via trade. I am not sure if that’s official policy or if it’s just a good practice (given that they work for the USWNT rather than the club team), but they can request a trade if they’re not happy with the club where they are, and they can request a specific destination. Allie wanted Seattle, and our FO complied.

But then the question would be: how to get something approaching equivalent value for a disgrunted allocated player?

Foord had an excellent W-League season (9 goals, 4 assists), so on paper it looked like a great solution.

Foord sustained a lisfranc tear, which is a really difficult injury to come back from, but it can be done. Sam Kerr did it, of course.

Alas, Foord is no Kerr, and I think that was part of the FO’s flawed thinking – maybe we can get someone enough like Kerr here and develop her?

All I can say, from what I observed (and shared here) in mid-summer 2019 is that after more than a year of Foord being a Thorn, she still couldn’t do in a 1v1 light workout on an open goal what a good U13 striker should be able to do. And that was astonishing to me.

I mean, after all, this is a world-class player who has played in top leagues for top-level or near-top teams, who is a fixture on one of the top international sides, and who in the W-League had scored 9 goals in a single season. I know her previous NWSL profile didn’t suggest scoring potency, and our FO should have heeded that, but still, somebody like Foord should be able to shine in a light 1v1 workout.

Yes, it may have been a case of our FO and coaching staff trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, but again, these are not exceptional skills and Foord simply could not muster them.

True, it may have been that, on that particular day, Foord was pressing or overthinking, or she got rattled because of how bad she was doing while working with her head coach, etc.

However, I certainly couldn’t fault Parsons – he was out there working with her after practice and being really gentle and patient with her, from what I could see. And I have to believe he was doing it because he wasn’t getting that kind of production from Foord in matches or during trainings. I didn’t get the sense he was trying to evaluate her, so much as develop her.

That said, I do not think it unreasonable to expect that even if this isn’t your primary skill set, in a full year or more with a club and having gone through lots of hands-on work (via PT/rehab, at least), and having a coach who is clearly a good communicator and committed to working with players, she should have been able to display a skill level above a good U13 player while taking virtually unmarked shots on an open goal.

And, that, to me, is about “culture” and “fit” too.

Why?

If you want to be somewhere, and the coach tells you what he wants from you, you do your best to do it. If you don’t do it, then you don’t really want to be there. And failing on 80+% of your unmarked practice shots on an open goal from about 10 yards out strongly suggests not putting in the time.

Now… does this anecdote amount to data? Does this anecdote stand for any of the other players and their finishing problems during Black Autumn, and/or the relevancy “culture” comments Parsons has made?

I don’t have those answers.

Soccer is a funny game.

This expansion season is going to be very interesting and I think there is going to be a ton of movement.

I’d love to see us explore using allocation money to buy players. I like how it turned out with Morgan Weaver.

Courtney Peterson, the Virginia defender from Orlando, would be an interesting target.

I could be wrong, but I was so looking forward to Chris Henderson’s expansion draft look until I saw the results. Just don’t see name recognition as the primary strategy in protecting players.

Question; why three years for Rodriguez? Why not the standard one and one?

Sport being such a chancy business, signing a player for three years is either a huge expression of confidence…or a way to get stuck with a big payout if that player loses form or gets hurt or doesn’t evolve the way you like.

And, as we’ve seen with Carpenter…”locking in” a player who wants to move doesn’t really “lock in” anything.

I mean…I liked what I saw from Rodriguez in Utah. But I didn’t particularly like what the team looked like, and I think the team at full strength will likely look very different. So my thought would be go with one and one, see how she looks when we can field a full team next year…and THEN maybe offer a contract extension.

Besides…other than Europe – which, again, as we’ve seen with Carpenter, no NWSL contract will hold her – where’s she going to go?

I don’t think it’s difficult to understand, and I don’t think “culture” had anything – or anything more than a minor piece – to do with it and I don’t think it was Henry in particular; I think the FO just got her skillset wrong. They saw what they wanted to see, not what is there.

The Japanese term is “senshoubyou”, “victory disease”, the notion that whatever you do is going to work because you do it, of seeing what you believe, not what you’re seeing. And our FO has done it more than once.

They made a poor assessment of her abilities and her fit into the team. Then, when she got hurt, they made a panic buy with AMC and ran into the same problem; they needed a striker and they got a provider and second-option. Andressinha? Same issue – not a bad player, but a bad fit and with the wrong skills for what Parsons wanted to do with her.

We got Vero and Ano back in 2014; great players, poor fits, and their teams got hammered. We had players like Hanna Terry who sat around unused because we just didn’t know HOW to use them.

We’ve had some great drafts and made great deals in 2013 and 2016. But overall I’d give our FO not much better than a solid C+ for their entire tenure. For every Henry and Horan we’ve had a Foord or a Lussi; not bad in themselves, but just not a good fit with the team, and not really ways forward. We’ll see how they do in the coming autumn of the Plague Year.

I never really understood the Foord trade in the first place. It must have been culture driven, but she wasn’t someone that I ever thought was the top scoring option on a team.

To be blunt, I think they had so much success with Henry that it was natural to overstate the internationals that were left.

I do think the first thing the Thorns should do is take care of their international player that is here before they look at what options are out there to shore up the right back position considering how bad this pandemic position has been.

Maybe buying a draft pick or young player is the better use for the money.

So…here’s what I wrote (https://www.stumptownfooty.com/2018/2/6/16911878/thorns-fc-drafts-and-deals) about Foord way the hell back in February, 2018:

“Foord typically plays as a wide midfielder, either from the left or right flank (although she prefers the right side) and has played at right back, as well. Her rights were transferred to Portland from New Jersey as part of the Allie Long trade. Foord doesn’t seem to be a big scoring threat; in 46 matches over three seasons with Sky Blue she took a total of 16 shots and put 5 on target without scoring. “

Do maybe the “problem” had nothing to do with “the culture”, but that the Thorns FO completely mis-evaluated Foord and tried to pound her square peg into a round hole?

Y’think?

Re Coach Sinclair;
from what i’ve read/seen from/about her, she seems a “quiet leader” (just a really good player who doesn’t get involved with improving/chastising/imploring/motivating other players- she just goes out and does her job, is easy-going and humble. Doesn’t sound like someone with interest/mindset for coaching.

Klingenberg, however, has always seemed like a vocal leader (not just in huddles, but on the field) – given her playing resume, she might be a good coaching candidate. If that truly is the case, then it might be great for the team if she was on board with such a long-term plan, and as her first project, could mentor Pogarch into a solid eventual replacement at LB.

I think Parsons’s talk of “culture” is that some of the folks who are no longer with the club weren’t committed to the club, the vision, the plan, their roles, their training, etc., and that that contributed mightily to the club’s inability to finish.

That all said, it’s now time for me to share a story with all the Riveting denizens here…

At the conclusion of the 2019 Annual Member open practice I tarried and watched as Parsons worked out Foord 1-on-1, trying to get her to finish in the box. She took a fairly straightforward variety of shots, both right and left footed, off the dribble and coming toward the 6 from in front of the right post and the left post. Mind you, Parsons was supplying very light, paper-thin defense on Foord, there and no keeper in the goal, and no one else on the field. This went on for about 20 minutes, and Foord missed probably 80+% of her shots. She simply couldn’t put the biscuit in the basket. It was astonishing.

Now, is that just an inability to finish, or is that a sign that Foord (who is, after all, a long-time pro and Matilda) wasn’t working on the things that Parsons wanted and expected from her, and that Wilkinson had brought her in to provide or develop – in other words, she wasn’t committed to the “culture”?

I have no idea, but we had a lot of players here in 2019 who couldn’t or didn’t make it work here, and they’re now gone.

NWSL teams are allowed to return to training in their home cities on Aug 17. Possibility of friendlies, small tournaments, other matches this year.

Transfers and loans, of some duration or other, include Fishlock to a yet-to-be-named WSL club, Taylor to OL, Gunny to Iceland, and – of course – Mewis to Man City.

And… PTFC Annual Membership/Member Services Manager announced today that Aug 12 is her last day with the club.

I hear Wolkenkukusheim is beautiful this time of year.