Portland's rotating front three struggles in coverage
The Thorns were undeniably better against a poor Angel City side than they were the week before in Kansas City, particularly in the second half where they held the visitors from LA without a shot for nearly 40 minutes and had plenty of opportunities to win the game themselves. There were noticeable bright spots: Rookie winger Caiya Hanks came off the bench at half time and was Portland's biggest threat in behind, Olivia Moultrie looks to have taken command of the Thorns offense, Hina Sugita was the best player on the field, and new CB add Sam Hiatt was mostly imperious defensively on debut, including a particularly outstanding goal saving tackle on the always-shifty Alyssa Thompson.
Major issues remain, however, with the attacking shape.....and the midfield shape, and the defensive shape, but I digress. We discussed last week how manager Rob Gale sees his front three as a free flowing, interchangeable unit instead of a structured front three within a system. He allows his front line -- Reilyn Turner, Moultrie, and Payton Linnehan on Friday night-- to switch sides based on where the state of play takes them. Turner started at striker, but frequently ended up on the wings. Moultrie started on the left wing, but often found herself floating inside. Poor Linnehan, who really struggled and picked up a knock before being yanked for Hanks at half time, looked like she had no idea where she was supposed to be at any given moment.
I outlined the issues with Gale's laissez-faire approach to attacking shape last week, but I want to focus on the defensive impacts. The most clearly observable impact Friday night was the consistent overloads Angel City had down the Thorns left, particularly in the first half. RB Gisele Thompson, through whom most of the LA's attacking impetus came, picked up a number of dangerous positions throughout the first half, frequently cutting inside to leave space for Claire Emslie on the Angel City right. A lot of this was a direct result of Portland's rotation across the front line. In theory --with exceptions, depending on the specific direction-- the left winger is meant to track the opposition's right back, but Portland's inconsistent presence on the left side meant that, well, it wasn't clear who had that responsibility and even when it was clear, the tracking wasn't happening and Thompson was comfortably winning her matchup. Let's look at a few clips:
In this first one, Linnehan simply doesn't track Gisele. Simple enough. It happens. Young player yada yada.
Here, Linnehan is caught out of the play after making a long attacking run from the right that takes her out of frame. No Thorn covers the rotation, allowing for an open switch ball to Thompson.
This one is a good example of the front line rotation issue. This is a steady-state press (i.e the shape is not impacted by the play before) where Moultrie is central, Turner is wide left, and Linnehan is wide right. This is a good ball from Alana Kennedy to beat Turner's attempt at an interception, but look at Turner's positioning! That's a striker caught in bad wing shape!
And here's the kicker: Every Thorns attacker is grouped centrally, allowing Thompson the freedom of the East side of Providence Park.
The coverage, unsurprisingly, got substantially better in the second half when Hanks came in and played as a permanent left winger with Turner staying central. For the second week in a row, I'll emphasize that Gale needs to add some structure to his attack. He hasn't established enough of a tactical identity to where players are just going to know where to be, and he doesn't have enough experience (or Sophia Wilson!) to cover up his own failings. Do better buddy!
Bonus Thorns hit: Watch out for Thorns rookie striker Pietra Tordin over the next few years. Kid oozes talent.
Angel City's aimlessness
Meanwhile, Portland's opponent on Friday night should be feeling even worse. Aside from a nice first 20 minutes where the Thompson sisters found some joy against Portland's porous defensive structure, Angel City were mostly overwhelmed iagainst a Thorns side that, well, frankly wasn't very good themselves and really hasn't overwhelmed anyone except Angel City (twice) since last May.
I'm going to give the new front office a little bit more time (and another transfer window) before making a full judgement, but I do have some very real questions about the early stages of the Parsons era:
- Even before Syd Leroux announced she'd be taking a mental health break, ACFC was heavily dependent on aging veterans up top. With all due respect to both Leroux and Christen Press, Angel City should have invested in a starting-caliber striker under the age of 30 to take some of the goal-scoring weight off Alyssa Thompson.
- I like both Julie Dufour and (especially) Miyabi Moriya as players. Even though I have some questions about Dufour's ability to deal with NWSL physicality long term, I think they'll both pan out once they adapt to the league. I do question the decisions to invest heavily in positions of relative strength while leaving the positions of weakness (central midfield and striker) barren. There's just not much going on centrally here:
via @NWSLstat on Bluesky - I covered the Alana Kennedy vs. Katie Zelem issue last week, but after Zelem didn't even step off the bench in Portland, I have to assume the former Manchester United captain is carrying a knock? Right? Right?? The ACFC midfield is simply not a functional unit right now, and it's hard for me to see a world where that wouldn't get at least a little better with Zelem in there.
Anyhow, godspeed Sam.
I feel ya buddy Washington dares Kansas City to play through the midfield
Washington's injury list defies belief at this point. The Spirit's home opener against Kansas City on Saturday saw (deep breath) ELEVEN players listed as out, including usual starters Ouleymata Sarr, Hal Hershfelt, Andi Sullivan, Croix Bethune, and Rose Kouassi. Making matters worse, Trinity Rodman still isn't quite 90 minutes fit, meaning the American branch of the Kang dynasty found itself a couple twigs short of a full tree for their title tilt against Vlatko's Current. Or something. Idk.
With Hershfelt now added to the extensive list of absences, manager Jonatan Giraldez elected to make the switch to a 3-4-3 against the Current's dangerous group of attackers. Aside from the simple need to work with the players he had available, the theory behind the switch seemed to be "force the Current to play through the middle." Kansas City notoriously wants to play fast and vertical through their wingers: Only Chicago averaged fewer passes per attacking sequence in 2024, and no team had a faster speed of attack. Call it the Temwa Chawinga effect.
via Opta Washington's 3-4-3 allowed the Spirit to put additional numbers on Chawinga, Debinha, and Michelle Cooper, closing off some of the space wide. It kind of worked: 50% of Kansas City's final balls into the Spirit box came via the wide areas compared to 64% against Portland the week prior. Similarly, we saw a lot more of the Claire Hutton/Lo Labonta midfield duo getting on the ball, and substantially less of Debinha and Cooper. No Current player played more passes into the final third than Hutton on Saturday, and Debinha saw MUCH less of the ball cutting in from the left compared to previous week.
Ultimately it didn't really matter. The Spirit fought valiantly and were unfortunate to see none of the match's three VAR decisions go their way (though all three decisions were correct), but the Current did well to adapt and easily could have won this game by more if not for a few uncharacteristic close range misses by Chawinga. Nonetheless, it was an interesting wrinkle from Giraldez, and the lesson --adapt to the players you have available-- is one that more NWSL managers should learn.
(Special shoutout to the Spirit's central midfield duo of Narumi Miura and Leicy Santos who were outnumbered all evening but still allowed the Spirit room to breathe in possession against KC's press. Really impressive stuff)
Youth movement paying off in Seattle
Rookie winger Maddie Dahlien looks like an early-career Lynn Biyendolo regen, from the elite speed and work-rate all the way down to the shaky finishing. 18 year old CB Jordyn Bugg looks every bit a future senior USWNT starter at CB, even if the Naomi Girma comps thrown out during the broadcast from the always prone-to-hyperbole Lianne Sanderson may be a tad premature. Poaching Madison Curry from Angel City in the offseason was highway robbery at the time, and looks even better now. Rookie Emily Mason, less hyped than her rookie teammates, is starting at RB.
In many ways, Seattle's win in North Carolina Saturday was a throwback Harvey performance: A mostly study, grind-it-out, physical slog with key contributions from veteran midfield trio of 38 year old Jess Fishlock, 30 year old Angharad James (who played comfortably her best game since returning to the NWSL last season) and 34 year old Ji So Yun. Seattle still has some work to do in building out this group, but four points from two matches against Gotham and North Carolina will certainly play if you're Harvey.
But please, Laura: More (any, really) Nerilia Mondesir, less Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic. I beg.
San Diego's build up sequences
Through two weeks, would you believe me if I told you that the new-look Wave are playing the prettiest stuff in the NWSL? I promise it's true! New manager Jonas Eidevall has set NWSL journeywoman Savannah McKaskill in a deep-lying double pivot next to veteran Kenza Dali, with youngster Gia Corley virtually given free reign in the ten hole in front of them. Wingers Delphine Cascarino --who has had opposing LBs in absolute hell through two weeks-- and Maria Sanchez are both supremely skilled technicians, and it's resulted in some of the prettiest attacking sequences across the entire league over two weeks.
Look at this! This is a 20 pass sequence back to front (including an absolute dime from keeper Kailen Sheridan) with teaching tape-quality triangles everywhere.
Savannah McKaskill or Aitana Bonmati? .....and here's another!
Savannah McKaskill or Aitana Bonmati Pt. II With all due respect to the erstwhile Wave manager, can you say "anti-Stoneyball?"
Utah's (mis)adventures playing out from the back, Part II
Yeah man. Remember last week? All those clips of Utah playing out from the back at whatever cost? Here's a few more, including the one that lost them the game after the Royals had fought back from a 2-0 deficit on the road in San Diego.
Ohhh Mandy Pt. 1 Ohh Mandy Pt. II When you're trying to establish an identity with a new team, there's going to be be growing pains. Manager Jimmy Conraets has built a team of technicians and he wants to play pretty soccer. I get it. Hell, we've seen it pay off multiple times already through two weeks, including for Utah's leveler on Saturday via Mina Tanaka, which was one of the prettiest back to front team goals you'll ever see in the NWSL. Utah's match against the Wave contained --on both sides-- some of that fabled ball-playing-focused soccer I've been told only the folks across the Atlantic are capable of. The hallowed Snapdragon turf saw some legitimately gorgeous stuff Saturday night! At some point, however, Conraets is going to have to shave a little naivety off the top, even if it's as simple as instructing McGlynn to stop trying all those line breakers up the middle. The juice just ain't worth the squeeze, especially at the potential cost of your keeper's confidence on the ball.
Other than that? I'm sure it gives Utah fans a heart attack, but I love watching this team play. The results will come, and this is the kind of stuff that happens when they get it right:
It's Maggie Graham hours in Houston
Sunday's game winner in Chicago makes it two goals in two substitute appearances for the Houston rookie!
Same old issues for North Carolina
Courage manager Sean Nahas may have gotten a little lost in his own sauce this season. I'm a big Nahas fan. I like how he structures his teams. I love the zag towards ball retention in a league that tends to value speed in transition above all else. North Carolina, at their best, play some genuinely gorgeous soccer. But the issues the Courage have had --lack of dynamism on the wings, lack of literally any natural striker-- in the Nahas era have been there for a while, and it remains befuddling that they haven't even attempted to fix them. To resort to memeage:
North Carolina has been comfortably the highest possession team in the NWSL over the past three years under Nahas. They play an exceptionally narrow version of a 4-3-3 that relies on the multitude of creative midfielders on the field at any given time to open up defenses that increasingly understand that they don't have to respect North Carolina's threat on the wings. Look at where Seattle's FBs found themselves for much of the game!
Nahas has, as expected, stuck Jaedyn Shaw into the false 9 position occupied last season by either Briana Pinto or Manaka Matsukubo. North Carolina's lack of an outlet has resulted in Shaw dropping deeper and deeper to find the ball. Nahas' insistence on filling his entire lineup with technicians in the absence of the now-departed Kerolin has resulted in whatever the shape in the pass map below looks like. Seattle did a nice job at disrupting the usually fluid Courage midfield (plus the Courage are really missing the metronomic Narumi Miura's presence) but even at its best, North Carolina continues to lack an outlet. Look at where the Shaw "CF" average position dot is here. Simply ain't gonna cut it.
What's going on here Sean It's not surprising that there have been some growing pains as Nahas integrates Shaw into his heavily structured system, but North Carolina has really not helped themselves by failing to add one (1) vertical threat. Hannah Betfort isn't good enough to start, Aussie Cortnee Vine has hardly played since arriving in Cary last summer, and Brazilian Aline Gomes has been relatively ineffective in the early stages of her Courage career. I do anticipate that North Carolina will improve as the season goes on, but Nahas' unrelenting faith in his own tactical genius and unwillingness to add a few wrinkles may be what ultimately keeps this team from reaching its full potential.
Lily Reale gets a baptism of fire
Gotham manager Juan Carlos Amoros tossed rookie defender Lily Reale straight in the deep end on her full NWSL debut, starting her at left back against the defending double winning Orlando Pride and the fearsome pace of Barbra Banda and Ally Watt. Reale's versatility is one of her hallmarks. A CB by trade, she played a number of minutes at defensive midfield and left back while at UCLA. With Mandy Freeman unavailable, Amoros elected to give Reale the nod instead of starting Bruninha at RB and shifting some pieces across the back line.
Needless to say, it didn't start great for the youngster, who scored an ugly-looking own goal in third minute. After that, however, she was mostly excellent. Reale made a number of crucial tackles on Ally Watt in the first half, but if you watched any of her in college, it was her coolness on the ball and ability to read defensive sequences that stood out most. Here's one example from the second half where both of those traits shine: First, she does brilliantly to stay tight to Orlando substitute Prisca Chilufya on one of those diagonal runs Orlando loves to make, shouldering the winger out of the way before dribbling out and playing a composed cut back into midfield to start a Gotham attacking move.
I would have preferred Reale end up on another team simply because I want to see her play full 90s at CB, something unlikely to happen at Gotham assuming full health, but this was an excellent debut --Reale led Gotham in G+ despite the own goal-- nonetheless.
(For those unfamiliar with the G+ or "goals added" metric, here's a summary: https://www.americansocceranalysis.com/what-are-goals-added)
What got into NWSL players this weekend?
We're making "goal of the week" a compilation category this week simply because of the sheer volume of absolute bangers scored in Week 2.
Here's Bugg with the actual goal of the week against North Carolina:
BuggBomb ....here's Bay rookie Karlie Lema going coast to coast against Louisville:
...here's Utah's Claudia Zornoza curling in a FK against San Diego:
....and here's the best team goal of the weekend from Mina Tanaka:
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