The Portland Thorns have officially wished their international players well in the FIFA Women’s World Cup and are embarking on the next portion of the season without their most prolific attacking threats. Portland will play six games before the international players are slated to come back at the end of August: three for the regular season and three for the Challenge Cup.
This week, we got our first glimpse at what the Thorns will be like during this next stretch of games. Without Sophia Smith, Crystal Dunn, and Hina Sugita up front, it was underwhelming to say the least.
The refereeing in both games was questionable at best and atrocious at worst, but regardless of what the officials are doing, it is the players’ job to put the ball in the back of the net.
After the sensational send off game versus the Spirit—a top of the table clash that resulted in a 4-2 Portland victory—the Thorns had a pair of disappointing 0-1 losses at home.
What happened? It is a mix of available personnel and coaching decisions that can no longer be hidden behind the individual brilliance of Sophia Smith.
Of the healthy and available players in Portland, three are goalkeepers, eight are defenders, four are midfielders, and five are forwards. Since the NWSL trade window has opened, the Thorns have only made one official signing, bringing center back Kayla Morrison into the team as a national team replacement player and adding depth to probably the only position that already had it. Morrison will join Kelli Hubly, Meaghan Nally, Emily Menges, and Gabby Provenzano—alongside Natalia Kuikka, who has slid into the position several times this season.
Against the Current, the Thorns lined up in their usual 4-3-3, with the most notable change being that Sam Coffey was able to play higher up the pitch and was given the freedom to carry the ball forward. Meghan Klingenberg and Kuikka, as the fullbacks, were asked to play incredibly high up the pitch, leaving Menges and Hubly exposed as a flat 2-back pairing. By this point in the season, it seems clear that head coach Mike Norris’ game plan is to try and instigate attacking momentum through his outside backs, as Kling and Kuikka had 40 and 47 carries, respectively. When this number is compared to midfielders Taylor Porter’s and Coffey’s carries of 18 and 28, respectively, it shows the Thorns’ lack of meaningful possession in the midfield.
When Smith is waiting up top, playing through the wings to try and send her on a one-versus-one breakaway isn’t that bad of an idea, but without her dribbling skills up top, the Thorns did not look dangerous coming out of the wide areas. Subbing Reyna Reyes on for Michelle Vasconcelos at the half to bring a more defensive-minded winger onto the pitch did not change the way in which the Thorns attacked, as Reyes did not cut inside or play as fluidly along the front line as the Thorns typically do. Granted, it was Reyes’ second time playing up top for the Thorns, and she has been having a terrific rookie season, but nonetheless her appearance did not mark a change of tactics in order to try and earn a win in the second half.
Once the Thorns were able to bring the ball into the attacking third, poor shot selection was their downfall. Portland, always a team that is able to wrack up a lot of shots over 90 minutes, had 26 against the Current, with nine on target.
Only Izzy D’Aquila and Morgan Weaver had more than 10 touches inside the Current’s penalty area throughout the game, with 12 and 13, respectively. The next highest player, Olivia Moultrie, had only six.
In previous games the Thorns have been incredibly successful inside their opponents’ box at playing dummy balls and creating space for easy tap-in goals, but over the past two games we have not seen this type of play. What we have seen, however, is players taking shots early instead of taking extra touches to get themselves around a defender or to fin a better angle. If you had to take a shot (pun intended) for every time the Thorns players gifted the ball directly to Kansas City goalkeeper Cassie Miller without challenging her to make a save, you would have had a much better time at the game.
So, what is the reason for this flat, uninspired play the Thorns have shown in both their midweek game against the Reign and the weekend’s one against the Current? While it may be a multitude of reasons, the most glaring one is the lack of changing tactics either mid-game, when the current plan isn’t working, or around the available personnel and their strengths.
For example, the Thorns’ xG in the first half against the Current was 0.75, while the second half was 0.85. The marginal difference between the two numbers is negligible, indicating that there was no real change or improvement in the attack between the two halves. Another example was the 70th-minute sub of Hannah Betfort for Porter, which shuffled D’Aquila to the wing and Kling into the midfield. D’Aquila, a prolific striker for Santa Clara, was incredibly effective with her head. Even though the Thorns had not been able to take advantage of this asset for the previous 70 minutes, they chose to bring on a player whose main advantage is her height in aerial duels. Betfort ended up not having a shot that evening.
When playing from the outside in wasn’t working, the Thorns should have tried to carry the ball through Coffey in the middle. Coffey only had 94 yards worth of progressive carries over 90 minutes, much fewer than Kuikka and Kling, who both had over 200. Coffey, playing the attacking mid position she excelled at in college, was far and away the best player on the field. Her confidence while wearing the captain’s armband was high, and she was able to float around the opposing team with ease, completing 76% of her passes. The Thorns are incredibly lucky to still have Coffey during this World Cup period, and it is in their best interest to make her the primary playmaker during this time.
Hopefully the Thorns will have signed a few more national team replacement players—Norris hinted at at least one more signing on Saturday—to bolster their sparse frontline before they go again next weekend against Gotham in New York.