With the season coming to a close (one way or the other…) I’m looking back through the archives and kind of wondering…what of what I do here is of value to the fans who (assuming that’s someone other than my immediate family and whoever is responsible for surveiling soccer blogs from the Department of Homeland Security) frequent the joint.
What’s worth keeping, and what isn’t, for 2026?
Some content isn’t going away. For next season’s games I’ll still begin with a general recap of the match. I suspect I’ll have some specific observations on tactical or roster issues that came up during that particular match.
I get good information from Andre’ Carlisle’s passing plots, and from the “xG race” plots from both the Vaudevillian Cane site and from Chris Henderson’s whatever-he-calls-what-used-to-be-All-White-Kit, so those will be here so long as they’re not paywalled.
The “ratings and comment” section, obviously, will remain.
But what about the other “statistical” sections? I’m looking for either up- or downvotes; is there a strong feeling for retaining, or 86ing, the sections discussing:
- Corner kicks
- Turnovers
- Pressing
- Possession
I enjoy tracking them (although the possession data is a real chore; it means LOTS of stop-rewind-start-rewind-start again) but the more I think about that data, while it’s fun for me and often useful, it’s not as useful as it could be predominantly because I don’t really have good context.
For example, we’ve been using old EPL studies on shots and goals generated from corner kicks. But how well do those apply to the 2025 NWSL? It would be helpful – more helpful, IMO – to know how the Thorns’ corner kick production compares to their league rivals…but that means dragging the league results every week to find the shot and goal production from each and every other match.
That’s not impossible! But it would mean (in practice) that I’d have to take the time I spend working on TFC (call it “T”) which is now divided into six or eight or ten segments where there’s a fraction of that time devoted to each subtopic like corners or possession…
(And right now the “possession” segment is easily .3T or .2T where turnovers and corners and pressing are all about .1T. The ratings and comments are another .2T and so is the general introduction and tactical breakdowns. “Possession” is the single biggest time-suck.)
…and either increase the total time T, or cut into some of the other sections’ time.
So…
Are there (or is there) any of these which you the reader:
- Would like to see/read more about or in more detail, or with additional features like wider coverage of the league? or
- Don’t really have any/much interest in, so would be fine to see/read less of, or even drop entirely?
If you recall, we’ve done this “drop the study” thing twice; once with throw-ins, and, earlier, with goalkeeper distribution.
Both were studies on specific issues concerning each game action – with throw-ins, the perception that the Thorns were particularly poor at taking/getting tactical advantage from throws, with distribution, the perception that poor Thorns keeper distribution often resulted in opponent pressure on the Portland goal – and both resulted in “null sets”; that is, the data showed that the initial perceptions (let’s call them “hypotheses” to make them sound more science-y) were not supported by the data.
The Thorns were about NWSL-average in the tactical outcome of their throw-ins, and the Thorns’ keepers downfield deliveries weren’t either particularly dangerous (in generating opponent chances or dangerous attacks) or productive (in generating Thorns attacks). Once we had analyzed the data and gotten the result (and a “no evidence” result IS a result; it’s useful to know if there is evidence of absence rather than simply absence of evidence…) we stopped tracking those metrics.
One last thing
One feature I dropped during the 2024 season – partially out of my own sloth and partially because the end of that season was so dire that it no longer seemed much fun, having to pick how many goals the Thorns would lose by! – was the Prediction Game.
That was a Richard Hamje thing in particular. I enjoy(ed) it, but he was the real prediction master, and without his guidance I didn’t pursue it after 2024 or for this season.
But…it WAS fun, provided that Ken wasn’t driving the team bus off a cliff. Is there interest in bringing it back?
And on the subject of “lost things”…the podcast?
Well…I miss it. But I also lack any rudiment of podcasting skill, or the equipment, or, well, everything.
So podcast, no. It’s gone, never to return barring a miracle.
But if there’s interest we can revive the prediction game.
So..?
Let me know – hit me up in comments, or, if you’d prefer, drop me a line at jlawes@comcast.net – whether or not you’d like to see any or all of this.
Thanks.
And let’s flatten the Wave this Sunday.
C’mon, you Thorns.
- A question for the readership - November 5, 2025
- What DO you do in training..? - October 31, 2025
- Thorns FC: A time to laugh, a time to weep - October 24, 2025
