Thorns FC: Up on blocks

The moment I saw the formation I groaned in a way I hadn’t when I saw the XI. Which is not to say I cheered when I saw the XI, exactly…

…but it wasn’t immediately a “What fresh Hell is this..?” thing.

Obviously three in back. But were Reyes and McKenzie (or maybe it was Obaze?) wingbacks in a 3-5-2, with Fleming or Moultrie up front alongside Castellanos? Not very much attack in there, so Ken’s going to sit in a mid block and counter? Grind it out, bring on Tordin and Turner late, try and nick the road win 0-1?

Then I saw the formation.

Oh, Christ.

A 5-4-1? Castellanos stranded alone up top, Hina-san and Moultrie as a double pivot with Moultrie and Fleming outside mids and Reyes and McKenzie as “wingbacks”. A low block with nothing but grind out the scoreless road draw?

You gotta be shittin’ me.

This club hadn’t kept a clean sheet in the eight previous matches, so playing for the scoreless draw from the whistle with a team that has firmly established the likelihood of shipping goals is not really a “plan”. It’s more like a “hope”, but as the old Army saying goes, no plan – or hope – survives contact with the enemy.

And in the 10th minute that contact happened:

Classic Thorns defensive derp; Gotham’s Mandy Freeman sent the cross in with the both Hiatt and Perry ballwatching. That allowed Purce to slide between them and head the ball past a stranded Arnold for the matchwinner.

Because the Thorns had nothing going forward.

Nothing.

Not a goddamn thing.

“Next to nothing” is being ridiculously kind. Castellanos had a cute little lob in the 4th minute that was so short that Berger – who was fifteen yards off her line! – barely had to wave to knock it down. Turner had a nice headed goal off a 62nd minute corner kick that was called back by a brilliant piece of method acting (“Long Day’s Journey Into Flop: A One-Woman Divertissement by Emily Sonnett”).

And that was it. When the original “plan” met Midge Purce’s head this club, in this match, was already in the coffin. The other two Bats goals were just nailing down the lid.

We’ll go into a bit more detail in the comments

Short Passes

Per OPTA both clubs were tidy with 81 to 82% completion between them. The difference came in the location of the passes, which we’ll get to in a moment.

Momentum? Yeah, well…

What did you think it’d look like? The little foray after halftime was the only real sign of life from Portland, and that was brief and fruitless, resulting in a soft header in the 51st minute that was an easy take.

Here’s Carlisle-sensei with the passing. Portland:

It’s worth adding that when Ken swapped out Obaze for Turner the addition of a vertical threat helped make that little post-halftime burst of blue in the plot above. Not enough, mind, but you could see the difference. But by that time the Thorns were down two and routed.

Gotham:

And as sensei points out; this Gotham midfield is on fire. There’s no shame in being outplayed by them as individuals. The shame is, as sensei also points out, setting your club out in a way that makes it easy for them to outplay you as individuals.

Turnover and over.

Here’s how things are going;

Opponent – Venue (Result)	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
Houston – Away (W)	21
Bay FC – Away (L)	No data
Washington – Home (W)	16
Chicago – Home (W)	22
Washington – Away (L)	27
Seattle – Home (W)	20
Carolina – Away (D)	26
Kansas City – Home (L)	35
Utah – Home (L)	26
Louisville – Away (W)	28
Chicago – Away (D)	27
San Diego – Home (D)	28
Gotham – Away (L)	30

Seventeen in the first half, 13 in the second, while Gotham was being tidy; eight before halftime, then five.

Mallie McKenzie was the Biggest Loser with four, but five other players turned over three times; Harbert, Arnold, Turner, Perry, and Castellanos. Kind of a team effort there.

Two were utterly appalling. Castellanos passed directly to Lavelle in the 15th minute to start a dangerous Gotham sequence that, luckily for Portland, was broken down short of goal. Hiatt’s 72nd minute turnover wasn’t as lucky; it went right to Stengal, who began the attack that ended in her first and Gotham’s third goal. Ouch.

Press!

Eighteenth 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”. If two players were involved in a press each received a half mark (for attempts) and a half credit for successes.

Clearly, Rob Gale had told his troops to sit deep but press hard.

Well, they tried.

Unfortunately for his club Gotham passed around them like the Amoros-coached tika-taka possession squad they are. On the other end Portland was pinned in their own half most of the match, between Gotham’s counter-press and their own lack of pace and slow movement. The results were predictable

Match time	Gotham presses (wins)(%)	Thorns presses (wins)(%)
0-15′	13(12) (92.3%)	25(11) (44%)
15-30′	8(5) (62.5%)	23(9) (39.1%)
30-45+2′	14(9) (64.2%)	12(6) (50%)
First half	35(26) (74.2%)	60(26) (43.3%)
45-60′	17(14) (82.3%)	5(1) (20%)
60-75′	7(4) (57.1%)	12(6) (50%)
75-90+6′	7(4) (57.1%)	24(10) (41.6%)
Second half	31(22) (70.9%)	41(17) (41.4%)
Match Total	66(48) (72.7%)	101(43) (42.5%)

My thoughts:
1) This, to me, looks like more of the “what do you do in training?” problem on the Portland coaching staff. The press was 1) aggressive, and 2) ineffective; Gotham passed out and around it with ease. Portland, as we’ve seen so often before, struggled to do the same because of an overall lack of team pace and understanding; far too often people passed to empty space, or had no one to pass to and were stripped or forced to drop. That suggests to me that the Thorns staff didn’t prepare the squad for that they’d meet in Jersey.
2) As usual, Fleming and Moultrie did most of the heavy pressing work. They were also the least successful; Fleming (13 presses, 4 wins), Moultrie (19 and 8).
3) Coffey (14 and 6), Sugita (9 and 2), and McKenzie (9 and 3) were the second line, and also less that effective. Several players, including Tordin, Harbert, Castellanos, Hiatt, Reyes, and Perry, had between 4 and 5 presses. Only two – Castellanos (5 and 4) and Perry (5 and 3) won more than half.
4) Perry was the ball-winning leader; all three of her wins also resulted in a Gotham turnover. Three other players won the ball twice; Castellanos, Hiatt, and Moultrie. Loboa, Fleming, and Coffey hawked one apiece.
5) On the receiving end, Reyes took the most punishment; 9 presses, 7 losses, including 3 turnovers, but much of the squad fared badly, as well:
Arnold was pressed 5 times and booted into touch or to a blue shirt 4 times.
Castellanos (5 presses, no wins, 2 turnovers),
Sugita (6 presses, 5 losses, 1 turnover),
Fleming (7 presses, 3 losses, 1 turnover),
Moultrie (7 presses, 5 losses, 2 turnovers),
Hiatt (3 presses, no wins, 2 turnovers),
Obaze (4 presses, 3 losses, 2 turnovers).
6) The only Thorns who came out ahead were Perry (4 presses, 3 wins, 1 turnover) and Harbert (3 presses, 2 wins). Even Sam Coffey only broke even (4 presses, 2 wins).

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%)
Houston Away (W)	27/17 (62.9%)	42/23 (54.7%)
Bay FC Away (L)	No data	No data
Washington Home (W)	31(15) (48.3%)	61(48) (78.6%)
Chicago Home (W)	31(21) (67.7%)	51(39) (76.4%)
Washington Away (L)	18(17) (94.4%)	25(12) (48%)
Seattle Home (W)	51(27) (52.8%)	42(33) (78.5%)
Carolina Away (D)	47(26) (55.3%)	59(39) (66.1%)
Kansas City Home (L)	43(23) (53.4%)	50(32) (64%)
Utah Home (L)	44(28) (63.6%)	64(29) (45.3%)
Louisville Away (W)	54(40) (74%)	46(30) (62.5%)
Chicago Away (D)	32(18) (56.2%)	67(39) (58.2%)
San Diego Home (D)	27(17) (62.9%)	87(61) (70.1%)
Gotham Away (L)	66(48) (72.7%)	101(43) (42.5%)

Corner Kicks

Five, all long. Two before the break, three after.

Time	Taker	Short/Long?	Result
38′	Moultrie	Long	Into the scrum, cleared out to Lavelle who started a counterattack!
39′	Moultrie	Long	Headed out of the scrum to the far touchline for a Portland throw.
47′	Moultrie	Long	Berger swatted away – poorly – but the ball rolled out to the touchline.
51′	Moultrie	Long	Found Turner’s head, but her soft header went right to Berger; still the best (0.54) Thorns chance of the night, except…
62′	Moultrie	Long	Turner again, only this time she potted the header! Only to have it called back for a performative “foul” by Sonnett who dragged Hiatt over on top of her.

Two headers, so 40% of the corners yielded shots. Not a bad result, though no one could foresee the Mistress of the Dark Arts that is Emily “I’m not that goofy, it’s just life being funny” Sonnett.

Player Ratings and Comments

Castellanos (84′ – +2/-3 : +2/-1 : +4/-4) You’re going to notice something across the board; really, really low plus-minus rating numbers.

Not just “low net PMR” numbers, or “low pluses”. “Low numbers” overall, like Castellanos’ total of eight; four pluses, four minuses, net zero. That’s what happens when a team just doesn’t have any of the match. With four shots, and an xG of 0.2? That’s nothing at all, and the low numbers represent that.

Carlisle sensei pretty much nailed it; without anyone to make space around her (or hold up play in front of her) Castellanos got no service and isn’t the sort of player that can create it for herself. The 4th minute chip was cute but short, and she really didn’t have anything else.

Part of that is what her skillset lacks, and part of that is KenBall. But the effect was brutal. The Thorns had little enough for an attack before Gotham, and Ken’s XI left them with nothing at all.

Loboa (6′ – +3/-3) Very young. Very Colombian (meaning she’ll cleat you and grin – oh, sorry, I didn’t see you there, Diego Chara…). We’ll see if she’s any more than that when she gets more minutes.

Fleming (77′ – +1/-0 : +3/-0 : +4/-0) Okay, what I said about Castellanos? Fleming was all that and more; worked like a beast, and spent nearly the whole match chasing phantoms and getting nowhere. When your gaffer gets it that wrong? It’s damn nearly impossible to work hard enough to get it right. If she could have, Fleming would have said “Fuck you, Tabo, I do it myself!” and done that. She couldn’t.

Tordin (13′ – +2/-1) Too little, too late.

Sugita (61′ – +2/-1 : +0/-1 : +2/-1) Well, now we know.

I’m going to write about Hina-san at length, because she may well be the player I’ve come to love best of all the Thorns I’ve been privileged to support over the years.

But no longer. And this was perhaps the saddest farewell of any of them. A dull, muted, underwhelming outing in the ringing emptiness of Red Bull, made even more poignant because I didn’t know, as she trotted off the field, that it would be the last time I’d ever see her in Portland colors.

Had I only known, I’d have wept.

Harbert (29′ – +1/-1) No idea. Looked tall. Probably not here long enough to be invested in.

Coffey (+1/-0 : +2/-1 : +3/-1) When Sam Coffey’s PMR is a net +2? You’re fucking doing it wrong.

Moultrie (+5/-1 : +3/-2 : +8/-3) As close to a “Woman of the Match” as anyone, meaning nowhere close.

Reyes (84′ – +1/-0 : +1/-1 : +2/-1) We might as well discuss the backline here as anywhere. Let’s look at this sequence beginning in the 56th minute, with Midge Purce in possession along the near touchline. McKenzie and Reyes close down on her, leaving Lavelle (and Stengal and Bruninha) tons of space to receive Purce’s cute little backheel flick:

It goes to Lavelle who taps a little pass to Stengal, who Hiatt closes on. But now Purce and Bruninha and Lavelle have all that space if Stengal wants to find them. But…

Stengal choses to turn downfield, and…

…draws three defenders including Sugita, Hiatt, and Coffey (and has pulled Perry off Lavelle for some reason), then turns and runs into the space Hiatt has just opened up.

That’s a fucking acre of space! The Thorns defenders are now completely out of place; Fleming and Reyes too wide, Hiatt, Coffey and Reyes jammed up inside, Turner well behind the play, with Sugita and McKenzie having to cover three Bats.

Plus Stengal has the goal at her mercy if she wants to crack a shot. Who’s gonna stop her? There’s not a Doritos kit within six yards!

Luckily for Portland Stengal passes out wide to Purce (who’s lurking in the deep right corner outside the screenshot above). The Thorns defense has chosen to collapse into the box, hoping perhaps that, up two goals, the Bats will be content to pass the ball around the outside.

Instead Purce drives to the byline, skins Reyes, and bores in on goal. Fortunately for Portland her cross is cleared away for a Gotham corner.

Portland’s defense does this sort of organizational chaos occasionally. In between that there’s individual error, like the Hiatt/Perry ballwatching on the Purce goal, or the combination of poor decisionmaking (Hiatt stepping up just as Shaw slid the ball through to a running Lavelle) and lack of awareness (Perry failing to pick up Lavelle’s run) that shipped the Lavelle goal, the effect is lethal.

It’s a combination of lack of discipline, lack of clearly understood roles, and individual errors. Together, it’s murder, and in Jersey it killed the Thorns deader n’ Chuckles “Horst Wessel” Kirk. I’m not sure we really need to give the backline any more stick; we’ve pretty well summed things up with this.

Torpey (6′ – no rating) Why?

Perry (+4/-3 : +2/-2 : +6/-5)

Hiatt (+2/-3 : +1/-2 : +3/-5)

Obaze (45′ – +5/-0) The best of the backline, so of course subbed off to get more firepower after the break. WTF, Ken? What DO you do in training???

Turner (45′ – +4/-2) We mentioned the nice header. Worked her ass off, but without structure and without other support (i.e. with Moultrie and Castellanos instead of Tordin and Hanks), couldn’t do anything to really change the game state,

McKenzie (+3/-3 : +2/-0 : +5/-3)

Arnold (+0/-0 : +0/-0 : +0/-0) Might have done better with the Stengal goal, though that was a pretty piece of skill. Not at fault on the other concessions, and was solid otherwise. Distribution is still a problem, although it was as much about the field players not finding space or allowing Arnold to be pressed without outlets as it was her.

Coach Ken: What more can I say?

This hot mess dropped your club to 7th, meaning that the final four matches are suddenly nail-biters. You might luck out; two are the league sinkers (Bay FC and Orlando) and the Houston match is here on Decision Day.

But make no mistake; this one was a complete manager fail; a failure of tactics, a failure of team selection, a failure of preparation. You’re not responsible for the injuries. But everything else? That’s on you.

Well, you and your club paid the price.

Yeah, that’s a pretty shitty sort of day, hunh?