Portland Thorns FC – 2016 NWSL Season – Close But No Cigar
By Steve Fowler
Portland Thorns FC won the 2016 NWSL Shield award for having the most points during the regular season. This team is loaded with talent from around the world. The question becomes, why did they not win it all?
Let us pick on poor Boston Breakers once again. How many U.S. National players does Boston have? They used to have one, Whitney Engen. Hence that team is in last place. Portland has National Team players from all over the world. Here is a player list with commentary, in random order.
I have acquired about a half season’s worth of 2016 NWSL data from Alfredo Martinez, who has https://wosostats.wordpress.com and I also took the data from his report here.
Most data below will refer to his statistics, although some data is also taken from the NWSL site as well. Also, see the below glossary for some definitions of the statistics. Players are grouped by their national anthems. This is to remind everyone TO VOTE FOR THEIR CANDIDATES ON ELECTION DAY, IT IS A RIGHT THAT WE SHOULD NOT TAKE LIGHTLY!
O Canada!
- Christine Sinclair- arguably the world’s greatest female soccer player of all time. You could argue that Mia Hamm, Michelle Akers, Abby Wambach and others are better. But Sinclair is the top of my list, because she has a trait uncommon in most of today’s superstars and that is unselfishness. Maybe that is a flaw on a team like Portland, perhaps she should try to score more? .She plays the solo forward in 4-5-1 formation. The problem with that is a solo forward should be the fastest player on the field, and Sinclair is not known for her pace.
The Star Spangled Banner
Midfielders:
- Tobin Heath- no one can argue that she is one of the most technically skilled people on the planet. The problem with her is that her skill is a liability. Heath tries to dribble around 4 defenders only to lose the ball. She should be looking to pass sooner. On average, she will take on almost 14 players per game and will lose the ball over 8 times.
- Allie Long- she is the “feel good story” of the U.S. National Team. Now at age 29 , she received her first call up to the National Team this year. Long surprised me statistically the first half of the season. At the Rio Olympics, she made poor passing decisions, and seemed lost on the field. But in the NWSL, she is an above average passer with about an 87% passing efficiency, where the median for the league is less than 77%. She never crosses the ball, but is capable of splitting through balls at 55% to put the ball in play near the net. She has a decent “long ball” (get it?), as her launched ball success percentage is 54%. Her ball possession is good as she retains the ball about 50% of the time, where most players lose the ball over 60% of the time. And her defensive statistics put her a little above average.
- Lindsey Horan- a player that had a lot of hype as she became a star out of high school going to Paris St. Germain. Horan as an overall player, reminds me of a younger Long. However, Horan is below Long in some key categories, such as passing efficiency, and launched ball success rate.. Her possession rate is much worse than Tobin Heath’s as she is likely to keep the ball less than 25% of the time. But Horan is average at crossing the ball and will take the ball away from opponents better than anyone on Portland except the defensive line.
Defenders:
- Emily Sonnett- one of the new players trying to become a defender on the U.S. National team. In my opinion, Sonnett is like Whitney Engen, good, but not good enough for the National team. In fact, Engen’s numbers are better than Sonnett’s overall. Both are above average passers, with Engen better at having a more successful through ball, taking the ball away from opponents and even dribbling around opponents.
- Meghan Klingenberg-the left fullback. Klingenberg’s overall problem is lack of recovery speed to get back to defend counter-attacks. And she is an average defender as well. She is also not very good at going around defenders with the ball. But is slightly above average getting through balls, although she is an average overall passer. Years ago, she was chosen for the U.S. National team for her crossing ability. However, at the first half of the season it was a disappointing 30%, with a league average around 37%.
La Marseillaise
- Amandine Henry- member of the French National Team. She is a defensive midfielder beside Allie Long. Here I think she is miscast, and she could potentially be the attacking center midfielder instead of Horan. Henry’s passing skills seem better than Long and Horan, so this is bit puzzling. The data on her is only a few games as she arrived in June. But statistically at the midway point of the season, she was by far the best player on the team. She has a very good passing efficiency, including crosses, launched balls, but was average at through balls. She could get around opponents 50% of the time to maintain possession, but was nearly 75% of the time more likely to steal the ball from an opponent trying to get around her. It will be interesting to see if she maintained these numbers all season. At the end of the year Martinez and his team will hopefully complete the 2016 NWSL statistics.
Lofsöngur
- Dagny Brynjarsdottir – the Icelandic Viking warrior off the bench. She has a true attacking mentality. On any other 2016 NWSL team, except Seattle, she would be a starter. However, she is not a brilliant passer, but can do well in crosses, through balls, and launched balls. She can stop opponents from going past her with the ball, but her own dribbling skills are rather poor.
Der er et yndigt land
- Nadia Nadim- the Danish footballer originally from Afghanistan. She has pace, attitude, and can score. Nadim played a wing midfielder later in the season. Why is she not the solo forward if the team plays a 4-5-1 formation? However, she is relatively average in most categories, but is good at crosses at 53%, which is the reason she is placed at the wing.
So, almost the entire starting lineup plays on a national team with the exceptions of defenders Emily Menges and Katherine Reynolds, and also goalkeeper Michelle Betos. Here are my reviews for these players, including key bench players Mallory Weber, Hayley Raso and Mana Shim.
Starters:
- Emily Menges-center back. Honestly, I think Emily Menges is a better defender than Sonnett and should have consideration for the U.S. National team. Menges’ overall statistics are better than Sonnett’s, but Engen is better than Menges defending against players trying to dribble past her and also maintaining ball possession.
- Kat Reynolds-full back. Overall, she is league average in most categories, and seems to be improving at her crossing skills.,where is successful about 55% of the time.
- Michelle Betos- goalkeeper. She is the better goalkeeper in coach Mark Parsons’ eyes as she has started more games than A.D. Franch, who has had a couple U.S. National team call ups. Franch is obviously more athletic, but Betos seems to always be at the right place at the right time to make critical saves.
Substitutes:
- Mallory Weber- backup defender. She started several games at the beginning of the year and plays when the national team players are gone. But she is an average defender, and unfortunately has poor passing skills.
- Haley Raso- None of Raso’s statistics are outstanding, so that is the reason for her substitution role. However, she is the best player on the team for launched balls.
- Mana Shim- Shim’s overall numbers are better than Raso’s. Shim is a better passer and defender. Like Brynjarsdottir, she would be a starter on almost every team in the league.
Overall, this is a very good team. Barring any bizarre major roster changes from management, this team will threaten to win the NWSL championship for many years to come.
Glossary- taken directly from https://www.whoscored.com/Glossary:
- Cross- An attempted/accurate pass from a wide position to a central attacking area.
- *Dribble (Successful Dribble)- Taking on an opponent and successfully making it past them whilst retaining the ball (see Possession below).
- *Dribbled- Being dribbled past by an opponent without winning a tackle
- Long ball or Launched ball– An attempted/accurate pass of 25 yards or more
- Pass success- Percentage of attempted passes that successfully found a teammate
- Through ball- An attempted/accurate pass between opposition players in their defensive line to find an onrushing teammate (running through on goal)
This is another definition:
- *Possession – this is defined as “Successful dribbles”/(total dribbles, including those taken away). This rough definition is paraphrased from Alfredo Martinez in one of his charts.
Videos:
This is the first game of the season. Crowd favorite Alex Morgan, now with Orlando, plays at Providence Park. Morgan had spent the 3 previous seasons at Portland.
This game might be more appropriate in my Seattle Reign review. But here is a hard-fought victory for Portland. This was during the time that the national team players were away for the Rio Olympics. This game was notable as Portland was missing most of its star players, but Seattle had most of their best players.
And finally a random game with Sky Blue:
Acknowledgements:
I want to thank Alfredo Martinez Jr. and his team at WoSoStats.Wordpress.com for making the data available to the public on the Public.Tableau.com website. I will be using his statistics for other articles that I write as well.
And to WhoScored.com for having a glossary to copy and paste definitions.
And NWSLsoccer.com as always for their statistics, videos, and information about the league.
https://public.tableau.com/profile/publish/NWSLAdvancedStats/KeyPasses#!/publish-confirm
https://wosostats.wordpress.com/
https://www.whoscored.com/Glossary
http://nwslsoccer.com/
Here are other season reviews:
Stay tuned to MLS Multiplex as we review all of the NWSL clubs this offseason.