Professional cycling has a term for it.
Un jour sans; “a day without”.
It’s that kind of day when you call on your legs and they won’t answer. When you push and struggle and pedal harder and still go backwards. When your arms feel like strings and your lungs burn and you look inside yourself to dig deep and there’s just…nothing there.
The Thorns had nothing in San Diego.
I’m not even sure how deep the squad was digging, but deep or not, what they found there was, literally, nothing.
No plan. No cohesion. No ferocity. No goals. No points.
Remember what we thought might be hopeful signs in the ACFC draw?
Illusion.
Nothing.
Remember this?
It’s like that clinical buildup in LA never happened. Like the whole squad forgot in a week how to play team soccer.
Instead in San Diego we got this; already down two goals in the 79th minute, Olivia Moultrie in possession deep in Wave territory after yet another San Diego turnover:
She’s got Christine Sinclair in front and Payton Linnehan to her right with space to, say, pass through to Sinclair while Linnehan moves to get open…
…to receive Sinclair’s cross just like Weaver had run onto Muller’s cross in LA and nail it past Kailen Sheridan – bing, bang, boom.
Or…Moultrie could just take a pointless 22-yard shot right at Sheridan.
Just like the pointless long shots she’d taken in the 19th minute.
And the 28th minute.
And the 49th minute.
And she would in the 93rd minute.
I sound like I’m picking on Moultrie, but she was just the most persistent futility-shooter. In the some 97 minutes:
7′ – Sam Coffey dinked a harmless effort right at Sheridan
19′ – Moultrie shanked wide right
28′ – Moultrie hoofed from distance right to Sheridan
33′ – Sauerbrunn skied over from 20 yards
41′ – Muller booted high and right from the top corner of the 18
49′ – Moultrie’s shot was blocked at the top of the 18
52′ – Weaver was blocked at the top of the 18
56′ – Fleming lofted a long shot right at Sheridan
61′ – Sauerbrunn skied over the bar again, this time from only four yards out
62′ – Fleming, right at Sheridan again
79′ – Moultrie, the shot in the photos above
83′ – Linnehan skied way over the crossbar
85′ – D’Aquila’s shot from the top of the box was partially blocked for Sheridan to take
86′ – Linnehan again, straight blast right at Sheridan
90+3′ – Moultrie with the long blast high and wide
You’ll notice what’s not there, right?
First, any real quality in all that blasting.
Despite getting shots from dangerous positions the actual shots were less than a third as good as they should have been – 0.43 post-shot on an xG of 1.7. For all her shooting Moultrie’s efforts come out something like less than a tenth of a chance of a goal per shot. That’s a whole lot of nothing.
Then, any sort of buildup, or passing, or cooperation, or, shit, any sort of tactics at all.
It looked like ten people out there freelancing, playing – again – like they’d barely shook hands before taking the field, taking shots because they had no other ideas.
I have no idea what the hell is going on inside this squad. What the hell do they do in training? ARE they even training? It doesn’t look like it! What was happening on Snapdragon’s atrociously-shitty “grass” last Saturday looked no more organized or disciplined than my kid’s U-8 team ever did.
I’ve watched this dog twice now and I still have no more idea what the Thorns’ “plan” was, or what they were actually doing, than when I did when I sat down on Saturday evening.
After 194 minutes of exhausting crap I’ve still got un jour sans. What the fuck happened in San Diego?
I got nothin’.
Short Passes
Per OPTA Portland was brutally out-passed for the second match in a row; this time connecting on 73% of 382 passes (compared to 76% of 396 passes in LA).
San Diego hit 83% of 532 passes (compare that to ACFC’s 80% of 495 passes).
Mind, San Diego is pretty shitty, so a lot of those pass strings went to a blue shirt or into touch or just nowhere. Portland was still worse.
Here’s our “vaudevillian cane” blogger andre carlisle – first, Portland:
If that. Frankly, I have no idea what the Bhathals think of this shitshow.
Now San Diego:
Helps when your opponent is cratering, too. But good enough for this mess.
Turnover and over.
Here’s how things are going
Opponent (Result) – 2024 | Turnovers |
Kansas City (L) | 43 |
Gotham (L) | 30 |
Louisville (D) | 54 |
Carolina (L) | 34 |
Houston (W) | No data |
Chicago (W) | No data |
Bay FC (W) | 41 |
Washington (W) | 26 |
Seattle (W) | 20 |
Houston (W) | 21 |
Orlando (L) | 28 |
North Carolina (W) | 27 |
Seattle (D) | 26 |
Kansas City (L) | 35 |
Utah (D) | 35 |
San Diego (W) | 30 |
Gotham (L) | 43 |
Bay FC (L) | 35 |
Washington (L) | 35 |
Chicago (L) | 35 |
Angel City (D) | 25 |
San Diego (L) | 34 |
Back into the shitter; 17 in each half.
The Biggest Loser was Morgan Weaver with six, followed closely by Reyna Reyes with five. Sinc coughed up four, Kelli Hubly, Marie Muller, and Sam Coffey lost three each, and five others had one or a couple.
Corner Kicks
Three, one in the first half, two in the second, all long.
Time | Taker | Short/Long? | Result |
33′ | Moultrie | Long | Pinged off a couple of heads and out to Sauerbrunn, who blasted way over. |
56′ | Moultrie | Long | Poor delivery; wide and easily cleared |
85′ | Moultrie | Long | Another poor effort; well wide of goal and the crowd, cleared recycled, then cleared again. |
No better than anything else on this night of nothing.
Throw-Ins
Both sides took more throw-ins during the first half; Portland 13, San Diego 12. In the second Portland out-threw San Diego slightly, eight to seven
Of Portland’s throw-ins I had 13 (61.9%) connecting successfully and six (28.5%) going to the Wave. Two (9.5%) were “neutral”, going neither to Portland nor SDW (usually meaning either out for another throw close to the original spot, or pinging around to be decided by actions onfield).
San Diego completed 15 throws (78.9%) and lost four (21.1%). No “neutrals”.
Here’s how that’s going:
Opponent | Advantage gained | Advantage lost | Opponent gain | Opponent loss |
Kansas City | 62.5% | 8.3% | 59.2% | 40.1% |
Gotham | 62.8% | 22.8% | 57.1% | 38% |
Racing | 84.3% | 15.7% | 43.7% | 50% |
Carolina | 70.9% | 29.2% | 73% | 27% |
Houston | ||||
Chicago | ||||
Bay FC | 64.2% | 28.5% | 71.4% | 28.5% |
Washington | 41.6% | 58.3% | 62.5% | 34.3% |
Seattle | 71.4% | 14.2% | 80% | 20% |
Houston | 67.8% | 25% | 69.6% | 30.3% |
Orlando | 76% | 24% | 73% | 30.7% |
Carolina | 89.4% | 5.2% | 57.6% | 26.9% |
Seattle | 85.7% | 9.5% | 68.7% | 28.7% |
Kansas City | 70.7% | 29.3% | 72.7% | 27.3% |
Utah | 65.5% | 30% | 50% | 50% |
San Diego | ||||
Gotham | 47.6% | 28.6% | 50% | 35% |
BFC | 63.6% | 27.3% | 62% | 20% |
Washington | 60% | 40% | 72.2% | 27.8% |
Chicago | 75% | 15.6% | 36.6% | 50% |
Angel City | 68% | 27.3% | 81.8% | 7.4% |
San Diego | 61.9% | 28.5% | 78.9% | 21.1% |
Average | 67.6% | 24.6% | 63.1% | 30.7% |
Player Ratings and Comments
Before we go, first this – look at the totals, not the differentials.
Only one player – Moultrie – had a plus/minus rating in genuine double figures (+13/-6).
One.
Player.
Two more – Muller and Sauerbrunn – barely made it.
Nobody else.
Purely and simply, that’s a team that’s not even getting involved. A team that’s not having an impact on the match.
That’s a team with nothing.
Sinclair (81′ – +5/-1 : +2/-0 : +7/-1) Just like always, a handful of nice passes and flicks. But whatever nous Sinc had with Weaver in LA vanished like morning mist off a Southern California beach, and without width…
…it was all to easy for the Wave to keep Sinc and whatever else Portland’s “attack” consisted of penned in front of them and toothless.
Sinc wasn’t dangerous, but no one else in dirty blue shirts was, either. This one was really on the technical box, not the people in eighteen-yard-box, but the folks out there looked adrift and disconnected, too.
D’Aquila (9′ – +2/-1) Came in down two goals, was never likely to change that, and didn’t.
Weaver (74′ – +2/-0 : +3-2 : +5/-2) WTF? What is this?
I don’t think I’ve ever seen this version of Weaver. This is the, what…the “Unhappy Worrier”? The “Picking Grass and Acting Tame” version Weaver?
I get that your coach(es) didn’t help much, but this is just nothing at all. Nothing going forward, no energy, no nothing. What the hell was going on?
Linnehan (16′ – +2/-3) Well, all the folks who were crying for more Peeps got a quarter hour of her and very little else. Tried some stuff, looked raw, and in particular plonked two really poor crosses.
Moultrie (+5/-3 : +8/-3 : +13/-6) Well…not nothing, but…
…kind of “a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing”. Good energy, but poor shooting, and like everyone else in blue, for all that activity no real ideas how to work together to change the game state.
Again…a fail this comprehensive is a coaching failure. But Moultrie came closest of anyone else on the squad to shaking this match loose, and that wasn’t very close.
Fleming (88′ – +4/-0 : +2/-1 : +6/-1) Same problem everyone else had; just couldn’t get any traction, between lack of width, poor communication, predictable tactics, and overall lack of discipline, focus, and intensity. Normally I’d be on her for playing below her international levels, but everyone around her was augering in, so hard to pick on anyone in particular outside the technical box.
Spaanstra (2′ – +1/-1) No impact.
Coffey (+1/-0 : +4/-1 : +5/-1) San Diego made two goals out of nothing, which gives you the idea; the Thorns defending generally did what was needed.
Conceding on a freakish goal on a bloop-off-someone’s-sports-bra?
And a brutally unsaveable deflected-really-an-own-goal?
The best CDM in creation couldn’t help with that.
Muller (+2/-3 : +7/-0 : +9/-3) Like Coffey, generally decent defensive work on a bad night. Passing could have been better, and had two of the more dangerous turnovers in the 4th and 21st minutes, though.
Reyes (+2/-2 : +2/-3 : +4/-5) Kind of the same problems as Muller plus got skinned or caught upfield quite a bit.
Sauerbrunn (+2/-1 : +4/-3 : +6/-4) Betcha wish you had those 33rd and 61st minute misses back. On a night where nothing else was going in, well…
Hubly (81′- +2/-0 : +2/-1 : +4/-1) Well, no major derp, so yay, Hubs!
Payne (9′ – no rating) Nothing.
Obaze (+1/-1 : +0/-2 : +1/-3) Gawdawful deflection on the Barcenas shot for the dagger. Unlucky, but also kind of a “making your own luck” sort of thing; no better than anyone else in blue.
Arnold (+0/-1 :+0/-1 : +0/-2) You got kinda slagged in the Stumptown writeup, eh? “Mackenzie “Macca” Arnold had a few shaky moments in the first half…Macca looked uncomfortable most of the game…”
I don’t see it.
For one thing, San Diego were shit. They had four shots on goal, two of which were easy saves, one was a bizarre own-goal off Barcenas’ blast (technically “blocked” but on frame so not counted as an OG), and the fourth, well…
The thing I see isn’t “looking uncomfortable” or “shaky”. What I think is that you have difficulty deciding the safest action on a ball in the air.
That, in turn, seems to go back to you not having 1) great hands, and 2) a powerful jump.
You weren’t “uncomfortable most of the game” in San Diego. You had two bad moments.
In the 24th minute you had a floated cross coming in from your right. A powerful jump and sure hands could have collected it. Instead you barely got to full stretch and swatted at it.
But to box away you’d need to drive your arms hard at the ball just as it arrived. Instead your arms were already fully extended, so the ball bounced weakly off your fists and fell to a SDW throw-in.
On the Jones goal, kind of the same problem. With the ball coming down in the scrum, you needed a powerful run, a big jump, and either strong driving fists to shove attackers aside and box away or sure hands to catch. Instead…
…McNabb bodied you off because you jumped too late, too soft, and too low, and the ball looped off McNabb’s head onto Jones’ frontage and from there over Sam Coffey for the matchwinner.
I think this is a combination of technical issues (shifty handling) compounding judgement problems (not sure when to catch versus when to box, and unsure when to come out and when to stay). You are what you are; a fairly average, middle-of-the-road keeper.
The bottom line is your team is shaken and looks demoralized, and right now they need an absolute rock in the goal. That’s not you.
But that’s not Shelby Hogan, either. Or Kozal or whoever the hell else is on the roster. I don’t have a good answer for this problem, and I don’t think Ken does, either. This is on your General Manager, gang. She made the Arnold signing a bigger deal than it should have been, got everyone’s hopes up, and now y’all are paying for her mistakes.
Coach Ken:
“Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere…
…and somewhere hearts are light.
Somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout.
But there is no joy in Portland –
the mighty Thorns were just shut out.
#KKOutNow
#GaleOutNow
- Contract News - December 11, 2024
- 2024 Final Grades: Midfielders - December 10, 2024
- 2024 Final Grades: Defenders - December 4, 2024
Why again did we hire Arnold? Was it that the Aussie on staff (can’t remember who this is) thought bigly of her? Was it that KK saw her in the Olympics and made a decision based on that tiny data set? Was it that “Australian national team keeper” sounded really good? Was it “here’s a shiny bauble available on a free from one of the best teams in the WSL”? All of the above?
Surely it wasn’t that our roster lacked mid-tier goalkeepers.
I think the process went like this:
1) Hogan is a hot mess in March and April
2) Arnold is out of contract, and had a big WC w Australia, boosting her rep (didn’t she get tagged with something like “The Wall”?) plus she’s good playing out of the back, an issue with Angerer keepers.
3) None of the half-dozen others is reported ready to replace Hogan
4) KK sees this as an opportunity-purchase and makes it
I think the real issue is that she was always more who she was at West Ham (which is NOT a good team, tho, so complicates the issue…) and the FO missed Hogan’s slow improvement (tho her giveaway last night! Holy shit was that a March-April hot mess fuckup!) and touted Arnold as better than she is. Not her fault that our GM isn’t good at her job, but trouble all the same…
I don’t understand why we gave up Emi. She seemed great.
“Emi” as in Alvarado? What did she play here, one game? I recall she got the start in one of the goofy non-league games. Lemme look…
Yep. 90 minutes in the Tijuana match. One-sided slaughter, so no real way to tell whether she was good, bad, or indifferent.
My guess is that it was the same reason she didn’t catch on in Houston; just didn’t stand out in training.
Looking at that chart I see the formidable 3-6-1 formation, which isn’t far from the Ted Lasso 9-1 formation that was proposed. I’ve been looking at the past games where Sinc starts and it clearly shows that she requires the ball in a midfield position. That being the case I’m at a loss as to why they simply don’t play her as a 10 with real attacking players up front. Sure, it means that neither Sugita nor Moultre plays but at least it might clear up the logjam in the midfield. Its kind of crazy that professional coaches can’t figure this morass out, but we are where we are.
I hate to say it, but I think it would be better if this team didn’t make the playoffs and the house cleaning begins. We are in year two of regression and if nothing changes then the discussion begins about moving on from players as well as coaches and front office staff. Hard to believe we are here.
Thanks for al the work you are doing on these recaps. It can’t be easy to keep it up the past two years.
After this game I was almost at the end of hope for this team. Then came the Reddit gossip about the disfunction in the locker room, the toxic players, the distraction players and I had already given up on the coaching staff and front office even before LA. So yeah, I was about to crawl in a hole and hibernate until next season. Last night I stayed home to watch the debate and saw a bit of Becky Sauerbrunn talking about where the players mentality is at this point in the season. So even after watching the replay of last night’s terrible performance I am slightly hopeful that this team can still make us somewhat happy again. They have 4 more games all but one are winnable (ORL) and Becky thinks we can beat ORL. Hmmm, I don’t like to doubt Becky but I am definitely in a pessimistic mood, but I really doubt it even with a healthy Smith, Sugita and Morgan Weaver. A lot of my pessimism is the coaching, the depth and the fact that these young women don’t look like they have quit, they just look snake bitten and uncertain. But hey what if they do win out and pull a Gotham late season turn around. It could happen! Seriously, in my dreams only.
Sauerbrunn actually said that this dog’s breakfast can beat Orlando? Orlando?!?
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah (gasp) hahahahahahahahaha!!
I have a LOT less respect for ‘Brunn that a lot of other people here; I think that if she really was all that her backline would look a lot better than it does. But to say that? Now? That’s either 1) utterly fucking delusional, or 2) desperately trying to rally the troops. Either is pretty sad, because this fucker is holed below the waterline and sinking fast.
It’s what a captain says. You just don’t go to a game saying “there’s no way we can win this” even if that’s the truth. It’s a statement targeted at the team, not at fans. This is true of a lot of coach-speak after games, too.
You say it in the closed-door team meetings to fire up the troops.
In public? You say that “they’re a good team we respect” but that you’re gonna bring your A-game, leave it all on the field, blah blah…
You DON’T give their coach something to write on the whiteboard “So Sauerbrunn says her mob is gonna kick our ass…how you feelin’ about that..?”
So…I agree. I don’t think she believes it. And I don’t think she thinks WE believe it.