Thorns FC: The Kindness of Strangers

This post has been difficult to write.

I’ve already sat in front of the screen and stood up again several times, frustrated because I felt like I need to get this done but I also just don’t want to say anything more about the ugly 1-1 draw in San Diego.

I can’t come up with anything better or more observant then I did moments after the final whistle:

I still hate that I felt like that. I’m supposed to be a Thorns fanatic! Love the Thorns, loathe their enemies…that’s how it’s supposed to be. I’m not supposed to feel disappointed when one of those opponents loses the duel by stabbing themselves in the head, but there it is.

Every damn thing we’ve been seeing from this squad all season we saw again in San Diego. Like what, you ask? Well, like…

Chance creation followed by crap finishing?

Yep.

FBRef was even more merciless: first half (POR xG 0.48/PSxG 0.0 – SDW xG 0.49/PSxG 0.94) and second half (POR Non-penalty(NP) xG 1.08/NP-PSxG 0.26 – SDW NPxG 0.14/NP-PSxG 0.25)

Reilyn Turner had the biggest xG of any Thorn not Jadyn Perry – 0.87 off two shots. Her actual shooting, her “post-shot xG”? Zero. Touched the first half shot wide right, blasted the second half sitter into Row ZZZ.

You can blame Ken for setting up a narrow, uncreative “attack” that produced little in the way of value until the kindness of Kennedy Wesley gave his side the player up.

But at some point the players themselves have to convert the chances they get, and outside Ice Cold Perry (and we’ll get there), they didn’t.

What else? Oh, yeah…

A moment of comedy defending ships a crap goal?

Here y’go, then; in the sixth minute Jessie Fleming overcooks a short pass to Hina Sugita, and Hina-san‘s normally impeccable touch fails her:

The Wave take possession inside the Thorns defensive third and are running at goal. Gia Corley blasts a shot that’s blocked out to Perle Morroni near the right top corner of the eighteen-yard box.

Morroni lofts a cross toward’s Bella Bixby’s back post, where Perry is 1) ballwatching and has lost track of Kimmi Ascanio, while simultaneously 2) keeping Ascanio onside.

From there it’s easy-peasy for Ascanio to dart forward under the cross and head past a stranded Bixby, 1-nil Wave.

And that was it from San Diego.

Portland? What you gonna do to answer that?

Nothing?

Nope. Seriously. Pretty much nothing. For the thirty-four minutes after the concession I tracked Portland going forward four times while the teams were at even strength;
1) an 8th minute Deyna Castellanos tackle for gain that produced a Olivia Moultrie blocked shot,
2) a 25th minute Sam Coffey-to-Hina-to-Fleming buildup that ended when Fleming’s long service was a bit too long for Isabella Obaze,
3) a 31st minute corner kick that also ended when Fleming’s hoof went over the byline, and
4) a nice 37th minute Moultrie run to the endline and drop to Fleming that was cleared by good San Diego defending.

Danger? Practically nil. Until Castellanos hoofed a long lob to a running Moultrie and…

Yeah, that’s a DOGSO.

So for the next hour or so San Diego had to sit back and take it and Portland, well, sort of didn’t really dish it out:

That’s pretty grim. Look at the length of the blue bars – that’s Sofascore rating the threat of the possession. There’s basically one spell of decent Portland pressure, between about the 53rd minute and the hour mark.

What’s another thing we’ve seen from the squad this season?

Portland possession without purpose?

Okay.

I tracked a total of five Portland attacks during that period. The results?
1) 53′ – Reyes scuffed a seventeen yard shot right to Kailen Sheridan,
2) 55′ – Substitute Caiya Hanks’ cross sailed over the byline,
3) 55′ – Moultrie forced a turnover but Castellanos overruns her cross and Sheridan comes out strong to take,
4) 57′ – Hanks lead pass finds Castellanos but San Diego defends well and clears, and
5) 60′ – The best chance of the night; long, patient buildup leads to Hanks crossing to Castellanos at the back post; Deyna heads back inside to tee up Turner for the Palmer Moonshot.

There were a couple more pretty meh efforts until the penalty, but the only one that even looked mildly threatening was a 74th minute Hanks run that ended in a shot into the side netting.

And, finally,

Needing opponent errors to bail the Thorns out?

Ohhellyes, beginning at about 90+4′

We’ll get to this when we talk about pressing, but one thing that really jumped out from this one was the difference between how the Thorns appear to train on “passing out of a high press” (stand around, get pressured, look panicked, flail, turn over) and how Jonas Eidevall trains San Diego.

I’m not kidding when I say how much fun Kenza Dali was to watch, but almost all the blue shirts were with his program;
In possession, – shield the ball, look for teammates, pass crisply;
Not in possession – move quickly to space, anticipate the pass, and even before receiving look for the next outlet.

San Diego’s movement and passing made the people in Doritos shirts like like large practice cones, it was that brutal. So it wasn’t exactly shocking when, deep in second half stoppage time, Savannah McCaskill found Dali running open up the left channel, and Dali then hit a nice diagonal ball that found Adrianna Leon wide of Reina Reyes with Portland’s right deep corner wide open.

But instead of taking the ball to the corner Leon turned an plonked a worthless shot wide, turning the ball over. That was the first opponent-assist.

After which, once the goal kick had begun a buildup that, as usual, ended in a Portland dead end an a Morroni tackle-for-gain deep in San Diego’s near corner:
1) Morroni tried to meg substitute Mimi Alidou and failed, turning over to another Portland sub, Mallie McKenzie. There’s number two…

…then;
2) McKenzie squared to Moultrie, who in turn fed Coffey; Coffey’s run drew a crude foul from San Diego sub Kristin McNabb. Number three. Then;
3) Kailen Sheridan, whose prime is looking increasingly past, lazily guessed and dove wrong (number four) and Perry potted the equalizer.

So big thanks to Leon, Morroni, McNabb, and Sheridan. Literally, we couldn’t have done it without you.

Road point?

Yes. Good.

But that’s a pretty shitty way to do it.

And I hate feeling that way about it.

Short Passes

Another embarrassment from this dog? Despite playing 11 v 10 for almost an hour OPTA shows Portland being outpossessed 54% to 46%. As mentioned above, a lot of that was San Diego playing keepaway and Portland playing giveaway.

Here’s Carlisle-sensei’s passing plots. First Portland:

SKSDD (Same Ken Shit, Different Day), including the ridiculous huddle around ACM. WTF is with you and wingers, Ken? Were you frightened by a winger as a baby, or something? Keep in mind this is mostly at full strength, too (only up to minute 50); San Diego goes up a goal and can sit in, daring you to ram your team’s head into the mangle.

And you do.

Here’s the Wave:

Again, also just the first half. In the second Portland tried to press and San Diego just flowed around them like water, as we’ll see.

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
Utah – Away (W)	25
Seattle – Away (L)	34
Gotham – Home (W)	26
Louisville – Home (D)	16
Orlando – Home (W)	18
San Diego – Away (D)	32

Another embarrassment, because the numbers look worse when you compared the two halves. Portland coughed up 20 before the sending off, 12 after halftime. San Diego lost a total of only 21, 17 of which were at even strength, only four after the break.

Portland had several players who were slipshod with the ball; Moultrie turned over five-and-a-half times, Reyes, Hina, and Castellanos five each. Four players turned over twice.

For all that none were particularly awful except Reyes’ 49th minute hairball that Cascarino turned into a San Diego player-down attack, but Bixby turned Dali’s good effort over the bar.

Press!

Sixth match tracking the effect of each side’s press. I counted either a 1) turnover (either from a tackle-for-loss or a mishit forced pass), or a 2) forced retreat or drop-pass that killed off a progressive action, as a pressing “win”.

This one was utterly nuts. As Carlisle-sensei notes, San Diego is usually a high-press side. Not this time, because up-a-goal-then-down-a-player so, yeah.

Portland, though, went completely mad this game, especially after the dismissal, with…interesting results.

Match time	Wave presses (wins)(%)	Thorns presses (wins)(%)
0-15′	7(7) (100%)	24(14) (58.3%)
15-30′	4(4) (100%)	17(5) (29.4%)
30-45+4′	3(3) (100%)	10(3) (30%)
First half	14(14) (100%)	51(22) (43.1%)
45-60′	1(1) (100%)	18(5) (27.7%)
60-75′	2(2) (100%)	19(4) (21%)
75-90+5′	1(1) (100%)	12(5) (41.6%)
Second half	4(4) (100%)	49(14) (28.5%)
Match Total	18(18) (100%)	100(36) (36%)

My thoughts about this:
1) Wow.
2) Just fucking…wow.
3) San Diego = good at pressing. But didn’t after the goal and couldn’t after the dismissal.
4) Is that some shit from Portland, or what? And especially after the break these presses often involved multiple Doritos ganging up on a blue shirt and it was like squeezing water. The Wave would just smirk, tap the ball from foot to foot, then slide it to the easily-open teammate; rinse, repeat. Just humiliating.
5) Not sure it’s really worth breaking this down further, largely because my usual “who was good at pressing/who wasn’t/who got turned over/who didn’t” is kind of meaningless in this kind of disparity. Let’s just accept that “they were good but didn’t/couldn’t do much with it” while “we sucked comprehensively”.

Goals and sendings-off change games, and they did here. I agree with Carlisle – I wish we’d seen these clubs full-strength to the final whistle. It’d have been instructive.

Here’s the running tally:

Match (Result)	Opponent Press (Success)	Thorns Press (Success)
Utah Away (W)	28/12 (42.8%)	27/15 (55.5%)
Seattle Away (L)	32/23 (71.8%)	21/15 (71.4%)
Gotham Home (W)	28(20) (71.4%)	19(15) (78.9%)
Louisville Home (D)	34/25 (73.5%)	14/8 (57.1%)
Orlando Home (W)	28/17 (60.7%)	43/24 (55.8%)
San Diego Away (D)	18/18 (100%)	100/36 (36%)

More to come.

Corner Kicks

Three. Two first half, one second, all long.

Time	Taker	Short/Long?	Result
31′	Moultrie	Long	Into the mixer, cleared but only to Fleming. She played a 1-2 then booted it over the byline
42′	Moultrie	Long	Falls to Castellanos who tried the bike but shanked it over the bar.
88′	Moultrie	Long	Into the scrum again, cleared again, to Sugita whose floated cross drifted over the byline.

Castellanos’ bike was fun but not on frame (sounds familiar…) and the others were wasted, so nothing.

Player Ratings and Comments

Turner (70′ – +2/-1 : +1/-3 : +3/-4) Down an early goal holdup play wasn’t a need. What Portland needed was a striker, and Turner had the two best chances and shanked them both. That kind of negates everything else, including the hard work. Sorry, but goals are the coin strikers trade in.

Tordin (20′ – +1/-1) No real impact but some of that is the narrow Kenball attack ramming the squad’s collective head into the blue wall. Still, not a terrific outing.

Fleming (70′ – +6/-1 : +0/-1 : +6/-1) Disappointing; given the opportunity to exploit the opponent’s handicap Fleming did little to exploit open space or overloads but, instead, virtually disappeared in the second half.

I said I didn’t want to break down Portland pressing, but Fleming was notable for her lack of success. I tracked her attempting 23 presses (15 first half, 8 second). She succeeded 7 times (5 first half, 2 second), so less than a third of the time. Moultrie probably had the second most presses (19) but succeeded 8 times.

Linnehan (20′ – +1/-1) Same problem Tordin showed, which is why I think this one, as much as it suffered from individual finishing problems, was largely a KenBall problem. Eidevall set his squad up to shut the door to Ken’s formation, tactics, and systems, and Ken couldn’t figure out why or how to adjust. Throwing new bodies into a failing situation is why there’s a military saying: “Never reinforce failure”. All it does is infect the reinforcements (or substitutes, in this case) with the futility of the defeated.

Castellanos (79′ – +3/-6 : +3/-1 : +6/-7) Castellanos is a very frustrating player because she shows moments, flashes, of genuine skill and tactical nous, then disappears for long stretches. She makes nifty passes like the lob to Moultrie that earned the red, then throws the ball away like she has no idea where her teammates will be or are going.

Alidou (11′ – +1/-1) Won the individual dual with Morroni, so, yay, Mimi Alidou! Other than that..?

Moultrie (+6/-2 : +4/-2 : +10/-4) If you put a gun to my head and forced me to pick a Thorn Woman of the Match it’d be Moultrie. Worked hard on both sides of the ball as well as forced the DOGSO, kept fighting all the way to the final whistle.

Sugita (+4/-5 : +4/-2 : +8/-7) A net +1 is a shockingly poor match from Sugita-senshu, but the entire squad just looked out of joint and flailing so probably shouldn’t be a shock. Played the last half at LWB, where Ikeda often played her for the Nadeshiko and did fine.

Coffey (+3.-0 : +7/-0 : +10/-0) The other possible WotM; same as Moultrie plus forced the PK foul.

Here’s what gets me.

In San Diego Portland’s flailing attack badly, badly needed a string-puller, a distributor, a midfield general. Coffey is brilliant at that (so is Hina-san, but we’re talking Coffey here) and playing a player up would have been the perfect opportunity to push Sam upfield from her Ken-preferred-position of deep-lying destroyer. Did Ken make that obvious move?

Not until about the fucking ninety-fucking-fifth fucking minute he didn’t.

Where she drew the foul, the PK, the equalizer, and the road point.

WTF, Ken?

Obaze (45′ – +0/-1) Gave Morroni a bit too much space (that’s the minus) but otherwise decent. Given the lack of Wave attack, not really a factor in the match.

Hanks (45′ – +6/-2) Sparky as always. Needed a better system and didn’t get it, but made her usual good trouble.

“Ice Cold” Perry (+4/-2 : +2/-0 : +6/-2) The Perry Family Reunion and Cheer Squad was just adorable.

I don’t want to take anything away from her – at three Perry has a quarter of the squad’s goals and is tied with Turner for Top Thorns Gun – but Kailen Sheridan 2025 is no longer really Peak Sheridan. Here’s the NWSL “Prevented Goals” table from before Matchday 8:

That’s barely “average”, and the weak floppy dive Sheridan made before Perry calmly passed the ball into the goal was a shadow of her ferocity and skill when Sheridan ruled the league’s keepers. She’s only 29, too! That’s just kind of saddening.

We’ve mentioned the concession and don’t need to say more; shit happens. For a true rookie, Perry is having a hell of a (as in “might be a legitimate Rookie of the Year contender’) season.

Haitt (+1/-0 : +1/-0 : +2/-0) Like all the Portland defenders, barely tested.

Reyes (70′ – +3/-2 :+3/-2 : +6/-2) Same, except made some contributions going forward.

McKenzie (20′ – No rating) Unless Reyes was gassed or nursing a knock, this substitution kind of baffles me. You’re chasing – desperately and futilely! – and you’ve already swapped on FB for a winger. Why swap a FB for FB now? Other than being involved in the Morroni turnover McKenzie was just there doing fullback things, which wasn’t really the same as Hina-san adding attacking power. So why? (shakes head ruefully)

Bixby (+1/-0 : +2/-0 : +3/-0) Had a couple of excellent moments, including the 49th minute turn-over-the-bar, but like all the Portland defense, not really challenged after the 6th minute. Not at fault on the concession.

Coach Ken: Well, there’s times you just sit back and accept the congratulations whether you earned them or not.

This is one of those times.

Got the road point. That’s pretty much where the cheering stops. This was not a well-played or well-crafted game; it showcased everything that has troubled this team all season.

Speaking of “thoughtful comments made right after the game”, long-time Friend of the Rivet David K made what I think is one of the more incisive:

Rec’d 1,000x! I’ve asked this before but this match just hammered home how I just can’t figure out “WTF do you DO in training, Ken?!?” Especially on the same pitch with Eidevall’s over-coached/little-Barca-triangles-passing-and-receiving style, the Thorns looked like a rec league side.

Now you’ve got to go to the fetid petro-swamp of Houston and beat the side that ground out a one-goal away win over Harvey Sufferball and that might just feel pret-ty cocky seeing another squad hold a player-up Portland helpless for damn near an hour.

What’you gonna do about that?