Last weekend’s rivalry match – The Thorns of Portland versus The Damned Courage out of North Carolina – was one of the more entertaining scoreless draws I’ve ever seen.
Twice off the Portland woodwork, three potential penalty shouts, one an actual PK attempt and a penalty kick save, all wrapped in an open, end-to-end match between two clubs nearly level on the table.
The scoreline was nil-nil but there was a whole lot of shakin’ going on behind that scoreless line. Fun for the casual fan or neutral observer.
But.
I’m very much not casual or a neutral.
And when I go to Sofascore and see stuff like this:
Or to Henderson and see stuff like this:
I just want to bang my head against the wall. Portland with less than a third of the run of play? Less that half a post-shot xG off of over two goals worth of potentially dangerous opportunities? Jesus wept.
To make this wild rumpus even more frustrating, I saw some fine play from several Portland players that, as we saw on Matchday 2, was nerfed by a brutal lack of organization and tactical incoherence and, yes, I am fucking looking at you, Ken.
The trouble upfront is plain in the metrics; despite creating chances, nobody could finish.
The other problems I saw were largely in midfield. Despite abandoning his beloved 4-3-3 for a 4-4-2 diamond, Ken either didn’t train the troops to organize and defend it well, or they misunderstood his intentions, because we ended up seeing a lot of this; Carolina passing through the Thorns midfield at will.
Olivia Moultrie is already beaten, and Kaileigh Kurtz has multiple options, because Sam Coffey and Hina Sugita are marking space.
Kurtz picks out Denise O’Sullivan and drops a dime on her.
O’Sullivan already has Ashley Sanchez open to her right, and pushes up a simple pass to her. Notice the six black shirts now chasing the play? Yep.
Sanchez has Jadyn Shaw running into space, but chooses instead to dribble to the edge of the Thorns eighteen-yard box herself.
And so here’s Carolina, ready to have a crack, with multiple options open for the taking.
They didn’t take them, mind, at least not at first, passing around the outside of the box…until Hannah Betfort looped a header off the crossbar with Mackenzie Arnold well beaten for the third dangerous opportunity of Carolina’s night.
(O’Sullivan had fired close but wide in the ninth minute, and Natalia Staude caught Kaitlyn Torpey ballwatching in the 15th minute but Staude’s header went high.)
Five minutes after the Carolina attacking sequence shown above it was Carolina passing through Portland again, this time up to Meredith Speck in the northwest corner. Speck slotted inside to Shinomi Koyama.
Koyama looped a ball to Shaw…
who headed down to Betfort crashing the six-yard box.
Notice both Obaze and Sam Hiatt stranded; Obaze had been marking Betfort going up for Shinomi’s service, what Hiatt was doing I have no fucking idea. Betfort slammed a pointblank shot…
…and let’s now give a rose to Isabella Obaze, who stuck a boot out and got just enough of the ball to put it on the post instead of inside it giving Carolina the early lead.
Thanks, Iz!
We’ll talk about this when we discuss turnovers, but along with a midfield soft as church music the Thorns also showed a very familiar issue; difficulty reacting to the press. Carolina isn’t very good, but they love to possess. They want the ball. They crave it, and if you have it they will pester the shit out of you to get it.
Last weekend it worked like a mechanical ass-kicker. Press a Thorn, get a prize!
Couple of other things about this one, speaking of dumb prizes…
You don’t get a penalty, you don’t get a penalty, you…
We’ll talk about the PK that someone did get a bit more, but there were two other possible penalty-worthy contacts, the first in the 37th minute.
Hina-san pitched a typically-lovely Hina-ball up to a tear-assing Caiya Hanks. Hanks dribbled toward Casey Murphy’s right post as fullback Ryan Williams rode up her back and…
…over. Hanks went down and…
Nothing.
Center referee Elton Garcia seemed to chat with the VAR official (the guilty party from Matchday 2, Greg Dopka) for a bit but couldn’t be arsed to go peek at the monitor. Play on.
I can see where the “counterarguments” against a review come from; Williams is almost shoulder-to-shoulder, there’s very little arm-shove (Williams’ elbow? That’s another matter…) and Williams’ left boot looks like it gives the ball a tiny tap before Hanks rides the fucking nose plow.
I don’t buy them, for reasons we’ll go over in a bit.
The second didn’t-even-get-a-second-look came in the 80th minute, when a charging Pietra Tordin was chest-bumped on her butt by Staude. This time not even a VAR chat; went out for a Thorns corner, play on.
The one that did get called? A 73rd minute boot-knock in the box between Reina Reyes and Sanchez. Sanchez blew past Reyes, who stuck out a foot and caught Sanchez on the instep. If you want to watch it again, the play begins at about 5:20 on the highlight video here.
The thing is, while there was unquestionably contact between Reyes’ and Sanchez’s boots, Sanchez took so long to go down that Garcia let play go on for almost a half a minute before Dopka in the booth got his attention.
Reyes catches Sanchez on the foot. Sanchez takes one step, two steps…and suddenly she throws herself into a full-on knees-first dive and fall, like a goalscorer doing one of those knee-slide celebrations. So contact? Yes. But…
The foul looked soft because it was soft. At least as soft as the 37th minute Williams push on Hanks or the 80th minute Staude chest-bump on Tordin.
I’m not usually one to whine about officiating. Calls are like weather or the pitch; you get what you get and make the best of it. But these? If one is VAR-worthy they all were.
If the first two weren’t, neither was the third.
That they were treated so differently is what makes the effect of the treatment so different.
Short Passes
For the first time this season Portland was comprehensively outpassed; 76% completion of 358 passes to Carolina’s 82% of 479, consistent with the massive Carolina edge in possession, 58% to 42%.
It’s Wednesday evening and our “vaudevillian cane” blogger andre carlisle hasn’t posted his MD 03 analysis, so we’ll have to make do with the good people from Sofascore’s positioning charts. First Portland:
Hmm. I seem to recall saying last week “…still narrow AF…” and, yes, still narrow AF. That ridiculous conga line to the left side of the center circle, WTF..?
Forget it, Jake. It’s KenTown.
Update 4/3: Here’s our guy:
So nope. ASA saw the same problems. I’m pretty shocked at how much work Reyes did and how poorly she did it, both passing and receiving. Ouch.
Here’s The Damned:
This looks like an actual formation you could use to actually play soccer.
Here’s the ASA network; pretty much identical:
Not hard to figure out why the Thorns were pretty much bossed around most of the match, eh? Coaching! How does it work?
Turnover and over.
Here’s how things are going;
| Opponent (Result) – 2025 | Turnovers |
| Kansas City – Away (L) | 38 |
| Angel City – Home (D) | 38 |
| North Carolina – Home (D) | 32 |
A bit better, but not much.
Seventeen turnovers in the first half, 15 in the second. Carolina was pretty sloppy, too; 25 total, and actually out-lost Portland 18-to-17 in the first half.
The Thorns’ Biggest Loser was Reyes with five. Castellanos gave up four-and-a-half, Torpey four, Sugita and Hanks three each.
The “good news” of this bad-news joke is that only two were genuinely scary, and even then Carolina ended up being unable to do much with them.
press!
This match I didn’t just count the unforced turnovers. I couldn’t help noticing how Portland struggled to escape when Carolina pressed the player on the ball. I started counting how many of The Damned’s presses succeeded; I counted either a 1) Portland turnover (either from a tackle-for-loss or a mishit forced pass), or a 2) forced retreat or drop that killed off a progressive action, as a Carolina press “success”.
Here’s the results:
| Match time | Total Presses | Successful | Turnovers | Retreat/Drop |
| 0-15′ | 12 | 10 | 8 | 2 |
| 15-30′ | 6 | 6 | 5 | 1 |
| 30-45+5′ | 10 | 7 | 5 | 2 |
| 45-60′ | 6 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| 60-75′ | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 75-90+3′ | 9 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Total | 45 | 33 (73%) | 28 | 5 |
I didn’t track the Thorns’ press per se, but I have a total of 26 similar defensive actions as “pluses” for Portland players (either tackles, forechecking, or tackles-for-gain). So it looks from here like the Thorns pressed less, or were less successful, than Carolina, but it’s hard to really rely on this since I didn’t keep track of the failed Portland pressing.
I guess the “good news” piece of this is that Portland got better later in the game. We’ll discuss in comments, but I think some (or a big) part of that was replacing Castellanos with Fleming at around the hour mark.
I’m curious about this, so I’ll continue to track the opponent press, and next match I’ll include a stat for the Thorns as well.
Corner Kicks
Eight, four in each half. All long.
| Time | Taker | Short/Long? | Result |
| 11′ | Moultrie | Long | Onto Hina’s head; her header was fairly tame and wide right. |
| 13′ | Moultrie | Long | Hiatt’s head this time, and the header was wide left instead. |
| 21′ | Moutrie | Long | Pinged off heads, finally dropped out to Moultrie. Her pass to Sugita produced a shot, blocked then cleared away |
| 45+1′ | Moultrie | Long | Onto Turner’s head, headed over. |
| 64′ | Moultrie | Long | Long sequence of attack ending with a Moultrie effort blocked over the byline for a corner. |
| 65′ | Moultrie | Long | Into the pack, cleared out to Hina whose long cross went out for a goal kick. |
| 80′ | Moultrie | Long | Into the pack again, cleared again, lost again. |
| 90+1′ | Moultrie | Long | Right to Murphy |
A trio of soft headers, a couple of blocked shots. Not much, really.
Player Ratings and Comments
Hanks (75′ – +5/-1 : +3/-1 : +8/-1) We’ve discussed the non-penalty, but overall the young forward struggled to find space and connection with her teammates. Part of it was, I think, that playing a narrower two-forward front meant that the space along the flanks Hanks exploited against Angel City was missing.
Not bad exactly, but not the fire she brought to the previous game.
Spaanstra (15′ – +1/-0) No impact.
Turner (75′ – +8/-2 : +1/-0 : +9/-2) Had the most opportunities of any Thorn in the first half; three shots, 0.23 xG. Post-shot xG? Zero; two blocked, the third the injury time header over the bar. Faded badly in the second half, so the sub off was timely.
Tordin (15′ – +2/-1) Unfortunately Pietra Tordin continued Turner’s run of form; three shots, two blocked, one off-frame, 0.18xG, 0.0PSxG.
Moultrie (+8/-1 : +11/-2 : +19/-3) Woman of the Match. Lots of good work, but not on goal. I’d like to see Livvy take a crack more often. If her opponents don’t have to fear that they’ll let her tool the ball around and mark her teammates against the shot. That makes things difficult for everyone.
Credit for good defensive work, too; not a Moultrie positive until this year.
Castellanos (59′ – +1/-4 : +2/-2 : +3/-6) So far the reign of “Queen Deyna” has been a single match, making Lady Jane Grey look like Victoria Regina. Soft as jello, easily dispossessed, and seldom in threatening positions, last Saturday Castellanos looked like all the negative reviews she earned at her last two gigs.
Not sure what happened, but I’m wondering if the formless mass that is GaleBall isn’t getting in her head. Or maybe she just is who her detractors said she was. I hope not. The squad needs her to be better or Ken has to bench her for…
Fleming (31′ – +7/-0) Solid work in relief with the caveat, like Moultrie, she didn’t really put the Damned goal in danger. Tough in possession and on the tackle, smart, effective passes. At the moment looking like the better option than Castellanos.
Coffey (+2/-1 : +7/-2 : +9/-3) We’ve gone over the whole midfield problem. Without support it’s too easy for opponents to pass around Coffey, especially a well-organized possession machine like Nahas’ Carolina. I’m frankly not sure how much of this is Coffey and how much is Ken, but the effect is nerfing one of the best #6’s in the sport.
Sugita (+10/-0 : +7/-0 :+17/-0) Another sip from a vintage Hina-san-kinapaku-iri.
Again, though…if the Thorns are going to score (which, at this moment, stands at about 0.6G/game, so they’re not scoring…) they’re going to need all hands. Hina-san has a good rifle, I’d like to see her shoot it more often, too.
Reyes (+6/-3 : +5/-2 : +11/-5) Probably the best, certainly the busiest, of the backs. Had the PK gone differently, well…as the saying goes, one awshit cancels a thousand attaboys. But it didn’t, so. Well played.
Obaze (+4/-3 : +2/-0 : +6/-3) On the other hand (or foot…) Obaze’s block of the Betfort post pays for a lot of awshits. Which she didn’t have, really. Solid match.
Hiatt (+0/-3 : +1/-2 : +1/-4) A very Hublyesque mixture of decent centerback play punctuated with horrific derps, both awful short clearances in the second half plus the failure to track Shaw in the 31st minute that ended up forcing Arnold to dive and punch a Shaw shot around her post. Not Hiatt’s best work.
Torpey (+5/-5 : +4/-1 : +9/-6) Last week I was ready to give up on the Matilda. This time? Enh…not terrific, not awful. Brings a lot going forward, but makes a lot of defensive errors, which since she’s a back is kind of a problem. But better than the first two games, so let’s see how she shapes.
Arnold (+2/-1 : +2/-1 : +4/-2) In her match against Chicago here last season I wrote:
“The Prime announcers were all about how Arnold “started the wrong way” as Swanson approached the ball:
I don’t think it was “wrong” at all; I think Arnold was baiting Swanson.
That’s a controlled step. I think Arnold wanted Swanson to think she was diving to her (Arnold’s) left so Swanson would play a safe, easy shot well inside Arnold’s right post.”
Someone (like, ummm…maybe her team’s keeper coach..?) should have given Jadyn Shaw that little bit of history, because…
Arnold did the same exact thing to Shaw from the spot. Given the ridiculous way the penalties/non-penalties were called/not called? That’s justice. So here’s a pint to you, Macca! Oi! Oi! Oi!.
Okay, now. As I wrote last week…I really wonder if one of Arnold’s issues isn’t situational awareness.
She’s terrific against the spot. But from the run of play? Decent but not nearly as boss. She got damn lucky on the Betfort crossbar; her jump was too low and too late. Overall she’s still at least a decent starting NWSL keeper, and, yes, she’s good against the penalty. But I’m not going to say she won’t have other issues down the season.
Coach Ken: I’m not sure what more I can say. Sam Coffey’s face in the photo above is giving you a big ol’ hint, though, bro.
Once again we see a team with fine individual play and players that struggles against a gormless chowder of shapeless disorganization and what looks like a failure of collective training. Too many times we’ve seen good performances left hanging by what looks like a lack of understanding amongst the squad about who’s doing what when.
This time I’ll cut you some tiny slack; the post-shot xG suggests some of this home draw rests on your shooters.
Still…the ultimate responsibility is yours. If your forwards can’t convert? Jesus, man; you’ve got forwards dropping out of the fucking trees! If you train Forward A in tactics that enables her to create chances and she can’t finish? Plug in Forward B!
This match also drives home the degree to which you need to sort your midfield out.
Castellanos looks out of form and out of ideas. You either need to tighten up her shot group or consider starting Fleming over her. Coffey needs some help, too. Moultrie and Sugita need to start threatening the enemy goal until your forwards can start producing.
You’ve got nearly two weeks before your outfit goes to Mormonland to play the dire Royals. Even on the road that should be a sure win. Utah is legitimately crap, and to return without all the points?
Well..?
- Thorns FC: Ungood and Unlucky - April 20, 2025
- Thorns FC: It’s a Magic Number - April 16, 2025
- Thorns FC: Whole Lotta Nothin’ - April 2, 2025
Agreed about Sugita– she’s amazing at what she does, but could be even more amazing if she scored goals more often. Occasionally I get frustrated with her when she chooses to dance on the ball in the box, looking for the perfect pass, instead of just effing blasting it at goal.
Regardless, she’s still a joy to watch.
Wonder how much of that is because of her immersion in the Japanese system of play which looks to use multiple options to create and how much is Ken insisting she feed the forwards? The chaotic mess that is his “system” makes it hard to tell.
I loved Betfort’s athleticism and effort on that header, but you should rewatch it. If the header would have gone at an angle where it would have gone in .. Macca would have gotten a hand on it easily.
I thought Obaze bailed her out on the other Betfort opportunity.
I watched it several times. Arnold gets up to crossbar height only after the ball has looped over her hand. It’s something she seems to have issues with on run-of-play situations; she’s out of position (too far forward) and can’t really reach that looping header. Had it been flatter? Yes, that’d work. But it wasn’t, and didn’t.
The PK save pays a lot of freight, and Arnold made some other terrific saves as well, including the 37th minute deflection. But she still seems to have trouble tracking all the inputs from free-flowing play, and that makes her life more difficult.
If the news out of the Matilda’s camp is worse than initially reported we might see if Bixby has improved her form over 2023…
I agree with you on Fleming over Castellanos. The 4-4-2 diamond with Moultrie or Castellanos at the 10 makes more sense. Playing both means you are playing two 10s which frankly doesn’t work. The spacing is just plain bad.
I noticed the drop with Turner at 45 and wonder if a set rotation with her/Tordin makes more sense.
Spaanstra should not play over Linnehan even though I thought Linnehan played really poorly in the ACFC game
Frankly my comment was generated more by Castellanos’ poor form over the past two matches; she looked as ineffectual and soft as the derogatory review of her previous two club gigs said she is and Fleming looks more focused and in synch with her club. But your “too many 10s” is a good point (though Moultrie is putting in better work tracking back this season).
I think Turner and Tordin should be a standard rotation. Until one of the two steps up and grabs the striker position by converting, I would be fine seeing a 60/30 split between the two of them. Tordin has looked good in the limited minutes she has gotten, but Turner has been decent as well. They aren’t Wilson(Smith), but that isn’t what I am expecting right now.
Castellanos doesn’t look good right now, and that frustration foul was unnecessary and ugly. If Fleming is good to go, I would make the switch in the next game.
Frankly, my “read” on ALL these forwards is “we just don’t know enough”. Between the hot mess that is KenBall and the swarm of forwards getting patchy minutes against different opponents..? If you put a gun to my head I’d guess Turner = Tordin = Hanks > Spaanstra but that’s pure speculation.
I’d rather Ken 1) come up with some training and tactics that work better, then 2) pick starters and stick with them for a run of games. If that works, great, if not, try another player(s)…
I think we are saying similar things. I’m hoping the team goes with a Turner and Tordin rotation for the next few games, with the hope that one of the two starts to take control of one of the forward positions. For the other forward position, I’m good with Hanks, Linnehan and Spaanstra trying to figure out who can grab that position. I really have no idea who is going to step up, but that is what the games should tell us.
Okay. I wasn’t sure what you were suggesting. It sounded like “Turner for the first hour, Tordin for the final half-hour” which is the opposite of my thought, which is that we need to see one or the other play the full 90 (or whatever the starter can go…) for a stretch of matches and see how well she shapes.
Same with the other forwards. Pick Hanks or Linnehan (I really see Spaanstra as pure depth) and start her. Play her the way you’d play Wilson or Weaver.
But. The attack also needs better organization. The current mess isn’t really going to tell us much; no forward is going to have an impact playing out of that fucking junior high school recess those network diagrams depict…
Apparently Castellanos’ hefty salary was bought out by Bay FC as they were so eager to get her off their roster. To my memory this is unprecedented in the NWSL & it’s not promising. I’ve read that she has a strong niche skill set that doesn’t transfer to NWSL play, but I assume/hope we got her for a song at least. There was one point in the last game where she was alone in front of goal & I hoped her experience & skill might come into play… but nope. I think she’s a bench player. I want Tordin to start.
Ive been thinking about the salary cap – there’s gotta be a heck of a lot of room there after almost all of our priciest players were removed. The fact that they are not spending it, but are getting young & inexperienced players worries me – as does getting & keeping a demonstrably bad & inexperienced (cheap?) coach rather than the world class one we were promised. It keeps getting thrown around that we are the youngest team in the league- I don’t see this as a great thing. Are the new owners building a cheap mid-table team for the foreseeable future? Do they only care about the WNBA? Are we stuck with this terrible coach? Am I missing Paulson? Apparently this turned into a therapy session.
Out of curiosity, what is her strong but niche skill set? She looked good in our first game, not so much since then.
So in order:
1) We’re barely into the free agent era of the NWSL. We’re seeing a lot of player and contractual moves that are unprecedented.
2) The “book” on Castellanos is she’s a pure attacking MF/F, a #10 or false 9. She can’t or won’t defend, and her two previous gigs (BFC and in the WSL) her coaches tried to use her as more of a #8, where she failed. Her NCAA work and first pro gig (Atletico Madrid) she played her natural position and was quite successful.
3) Ken has largely used her as a false 9/withdrawn forward or as something like a #10. As such she looked good in Kansas City, the last two games not so much.
4) See my reply to Benno above, but a) Tordin isn’t a like-for-like swap for Castellanos, being more of a pure #9 striker, and b) I’m not sure whether she’s The Chosen One. We have too many forwards right now with too many of the same skillsets.
5) The problems I see with the roster are:
a) for the past several years there’s been no real vision from the technical box. It’s hard to build a solid roster when the HC changes every year, and
b) the existing roster contains a lot of missing “big pieces”. Why spend big money on a Wilson-replacement forward when Wilson herself may be back in ’26? Same with Weaver, Muller, etc. I’d agree on the backline; we’ve never really replaced Menges and now Sauerbrunn, and our goalkeeping is pretty meh.
As far as the ownership…look at the Timbers and tell me how a Paulson-run Thorns would be better off. Nope, nopenopenope.
That said…I just wonder if they Bhathals have good people advising them here, WNBA or otherwise. They have no soccer experience and their Paulson holdovers like Norris, Gale, and LeBlanc are not very competent people. I have no idea on Agoos, tho I’m not especially convinced by his c.v.; lot of C-suite time, not so much documented success as a GM.
I think we’re going to see more this season. We can all see the issues. What will they do about them?
Do you think there’s any chance at all that Wilson will be back? If so, that’s heartening as I assumed that, IF she stays in the NWSL, she’d go to Denver. We lost a lot of pieces by surprise right before the season started, & I see yr point about not replacing players who will return, but it’s not like we were doing great last year & couldn’t have used some good signings. Then we lost a lot of experience & leadership & are signing cheap nubes. And as I write this I see thorns just signed… “Marie-Yasmine “Mimi” Alidou, a Canadian international, from S.L. Benfica. “ ohh is this good? She’s on the Canada team
So…
1) Obviously the team needs to do whatever they can to work on keeping Wilson. If she goes, she goes…but until the moment she signs elsewhere the team HAS to do what it can, and ACT like it can, re-sign her for 2026 and beyond.
2) Again, we signed a buttload of forwards, so the FO did what they could there. Our midfield has issues but roster isn’t the big problem. In back? Yes; Hiatt, Daiane, etc. are not really the equivalent of Menges/Sauerbrunn at their peaks.
3) and, again, the late preseason injuries knocked out a LOT of players we count on. There’s no real way to anticipate those, or need to sign long-term replacements.
And, again, I can’t emphasize how much coaching plays into this.
IMO the Gale thing was a “oh fuck we just canned our 2023 gaffer now what??!!” problem. Ken was well-liked and a stand-up guy (and after the Riley Debacle let’s not underestimate how important that is!) so he was the natural interim.
The mistakes were 1) tearing off his interim tag too soon, then 2) not canning him after 2024 and initiating a real HC hunt. But recall that LeBlanc was still the GM, and it was her underqualified ass that was doing the business then, so…
I’m not rah-rah-ing for the FO. But when you look at all the internals it’s not really shocking that this shit happened…
Re: Castellanos, Andre Carlisle has posted his pass map, and there’s the same barn dance in the center circle as against LA. Castellanos needs room to work and people to pass to, and I’m withholding judgment until we see her as the 10/false 9 with a well-spaced attack. I don’t see that happening under Gale.
She does do some gorgeous passes that are fun to watch. It would be great if that turns into something if/when things change for the better
Up there, as you can see.
I’m kind of with you on her in general, with the caveat that Castellanos has been downright poor on simple Soccer 101 stuff over the past two matches; losing possession, making poor choices, looking confused and indecisive.
She needs help from her HC, but she still looks poor even in the limiting circumstances.
To your point about the advice they’re getting- I really wonder why they signed Gale when they did. They described an exhaustive search to get a great, experienced coach then signed Ken during a nice new coach bounce. why didn’t they wait til the end of the season? It’s not even a hindsight 20/20 thing- even if he was great the whole season, why not wait?
As I pointed out above, it was a dumb mistake to tear the interim tag off after six wins. But, again, it’s hard to know who made that dumbass move. LeBlanc? If so, she’s out, so she can’t repeat that fuckup. If it WAS the Bhathals hopefully they’re getting an earful from Agoos about getting out of their lane.
And the club never pretended that there was an “exhaustive search” after Norris got canned. How could they? They needed a warm body – Norris had been canned but there was a game that next weekend! I wrote a whole piece about that:
https://rivetingpdx.com/2024/04/18/failing-upwards/
No, the “exhaustive search” was AFTER he got tapped, and unfortunately the club went on a tear and made Ken look like a genius if you didn’t look hard at the opponents and circumstances (and, again, LeBlanc, so…).
Still, yes, a fuckup. I remember my compa Richard Hamje just going fucking ballistic over at Stumptown when the news broke, accurately predicting how the decision was a huge mistake and how it probably would go wrong and he was dead right.
It’s also important when discussing ownership to remember the actual timeline:
1. Paulson slow-walks the sale past the end of 2022 and into early 2023.
2. Meaning when the Bhathals take control the run-up to the next season is already started.
3. Leaving them no time to replace the whole FO AND the HC (who has just resigned in disgrace…)
4. So they kind have to leave LeBlanc as GM, despite her struggles with competence, and grab one of Wilkinson’s assistants to fill in as HC.
Okay, now…
I think that 2023 SHOULD have been enough to see the backs of both of those two. Neither Norris or LeBlanc excelled that season, and the owners could and should have been actively looking for upgrades, but…
Norris HAD taken the club to the playoffs – in second, meaning automatic semi – only two points behind the Shield winners AND had been knocked out only in overtime by the eventual champs. So while I was unimpressed by his technical skills I can see why it’d have been tough to can the guy after a season like that.
And when he DID shit the bed in 2024 they were quick to yank the plug.
LeBlanc is less forgivable. They took too long to 86 her, and Agoos got handcuffed and still is with Ken because of that.
So I’d argue that the “jury is still out” on the Bhathals. If they don’t act intelligently and decisively this season, tho..?
We’ll just have to see.
Totally agree with your take. With a new GM (Goose) in place, I’m thinking the way forward is to let Ken lay an egg in the first third of the season. Thorns have a 3 week break after the May 16th game and a 6 week break after the June 21st game. I expect a new coach at one of those breaks, hopefully the first.
So the real (shrug emoji) thing for me is “where does this supercoach come from”? and how that affects the timing.
The UEFA and CONMEBOL leagues will still be playing in May. And anyone coming from there will have had to be in conversation w Agoos BEFORE then, so…kind of a tough sell. I honestly don’t know who if anyone is a) looking for a new gig and is also b) worth a lick, so…
And I’m similarly clueless on possible NCAA hires. Don’t have any idea who’s looking, and of that group who’s any good.
But if Agoos is good at his job HE should, so hopefully we will see a HC upgrade some time this season. Unfortunately we won’t know until we do, so…