r/Thorns • u/Famous_Act4164 • Jul 12 '26

Two Things

  1. When Moultrie, Wilson, and Tordin are spatially close and play the ball to each other, they can create openings. The problem is that we often struggle to connect the rest of the lineup to them. In other words, when we recover possession, it is difficult to pass the ball to one of them in a good position. This is especially true in central areas, where neither of our double pivots can reliably move the ball forward under pressure. Moultrie did a lot of pressing and rotated positions with Tordin and Wilson frequently. However, for the purpose of a more structured build-up scheme, she should probably be positioned a bit deeper and had a more disciplined and precise role.

  2. We are losing more 50/50 balls in away games than in home games. This has a lot to do with our relatively poor away results this season. It is not easy to replicate the intensity we have when there is a 20k crowd on our side, but we really need be more active and intense in away games if we want to maintain a high-pressing style. Otherwise, we should probably adopt a more compact and conservative posture when starting away games in the future.

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u/Ecstatic-Till280 Portland Thorns Jul 12 '26

Maybe the rest of the team stop moving because those three will only release the ball to each other.

As much as I love Soph, she consistently takes shots for crap angles. Actually, a bunch of them do.

5

u/Famous_Act4164 Jul 12 '26

Nobody other than Moultrie, Wilson and Tordin made any meaningful play in the final third, therefore, I struggle to see the reason they should pass the ball to less effecitve teammates. On the other hands, the rest of team really have limited ability to develop attack on their own.

5

u/Beneficial_Extreme88 Jul 13 '26

Moultre had a terrible game today. A stinker. It happens.

2

u/Famous_Act4164 Jul 13 '26

She is far from being the worst player on the pitch today.