Has anyone seen any of the pre-season games or training sessions? Are they playing a 4-4-2 or a 4-3-3? (I read they were definitely playing with 4 in the back.) Any idea who the likely starters are? I haven't seen them play at all, so this is a completely random guess. I'm going with a 4-3-3 because it seems to get our best players on the field. To get away with a 4-3-3 you have to have outside backs that know how to attack, and this lineup gives us two outside backs that have experience playing striker. Code: Arakawa Sinclair Milbrett Formiga Osborne DiMartino Wilson Buehler Dew Erika Barnhart Also, does anyone know which (if any) of the players are left-footed? It's hard to figure out left-right positions without that information.
Based on the games I saw, Cal, and Allstars, I think Robinson will start on the back line rather than Wilson. Other than that, the lineup is plausible. Not sure about right, center, or left placements though.
Interesting question . . . Bogus shoots with both feet, too -- which won't help Pride now. Grazyck might show up on the backline as an attacking defender.
Ok, so based on the above comments, it sounds like the following might be a better guess: Code: Sinclair Arakawa Milbrett Formiga Osborne DiMartino Robinson Buehler Dew Erika Barnhart One remaining question is what about Adriane? You'd think that if they bring a player all the way from Brazil they might as well start her. But as far as I can tell she isn't yet as established with the full Brazil team as the other two, so maybe she won't start right away. I guess there's really no way to know until the season starts. The other question is Chastain. Despite all the glowing interviews, I just can't bring myself to believe that she'll start. There was an article saying that she would be used as an attacking mid, so it seems like maybe she's going to be the backup to Formiga. Which actually makes sense -- if there's one position where you can get away with being slow, it's attacking mid. It all just depends on how the rest of her game is. If Chastain does start, I'd have to guess it would be in a 4-4-2. I just don't see a way to get her into a 4-3-3. If they use a box midfield the mid might look like: Code: Chastain Formiga Osborne DiMartino If they go with a diamond mid, maybe more like: Code: Formiga Chastain DiMartino Osborne Either of those options sends Milbrett to the bench -- which does not seem ideal -- and the second formation additionally I think exposes Chastain's lack of speed too much.
If someone has not seen Brandi on field, it would be easy to surmise that she is over the hill. However, after watching her play in games over the past several years with both the Pride and the Sac Storm, she is aggressive, in shape, and makes things happen. I bet they start her in the attacking mid position, to provide combos with milbrett, arakawa, and sinclair, etc. They will sub Milbrett and Chastain out at half, and bring in Formiga and DiMartino. I think that Druid has the back line about right now. Just my 2c.
Personally, I can't see DiMartino not starting... I read somewhere that Milbrett played on the right wing against Sol during preseason. That game was without Sinclair. So if we go 4-4-2, I'm gonna guess either Milbrett doesn't start and gets subbed in up top, or if she does sub in, starts out in the right attacking mid position. Just a guess. (I'm sort of surprised to see how young our two backline anchors are. I remember reading that the coach wanted to try Dew at center mid too, but I don't know how that would work.)
I only saw Adriane playing a few games with the U-20 Brazilian national team. Sometimes, she seemed too individualist for a midfielder and didn't let the game flow. But if you put her on the right wing, there's a good chance that she will beat the defender with her dribbling and create a scoring opportunity.
a coach who starts 2 players, no matter how great they are, knowing that he has to sub both out at half time, is, i dare say, not a good coach and probably should be fired.
Right on. Any coach that enters a game with a plan that 2 of his 3 subs will have to be made at half, or even 1, is crazy. I don't think you start any player who you don't think can go a full 90. I think one of the very interesting developments with this team, and the league for that matter, is how young and inexperienced coaches deal with the professional game management. Not many of these coaches have coached professionally with limited substitutions and paid athletes. It will be interesting to watch.
I agree w/ bekairos in that I assume DiMartino will start. I'd play her in the hole behind two strikers. My guess is that two of Milbrett, Chastian, Formiga will start on the bench. Do I know which two? No. Having 4 subs available helps them get on the field if they are not 90min players (but is that a known?). I also agree that if you aren't a 90min player, you shouldn't start. Arakawa could be useful as a wing player if there are no other options but I'd start her up top. Who can play the wing on this team? One of the posters mentioned Milbrett on the wing, interesting as that's a lot of defending. So, with that in mind and totally stealing from those of you who've actually, you know, seen the team, here are my completely baseless guesses. I completely hedged, too. ------Sinclair Arakawa------- ----------DiMartino------- Chastain/Formiga-------Adrianne ----------Osborne-------- Robinson Buehler Dew Erika Barnhart You know, I just noticed that Sissi is on the coaching staff. How'd I miss that!?!? And she's a foster mom! That is amazingly great.
Sorry for the double post. Emma Hayes has experience coaching in the UK w/ limited subs (4 for the WPS). She also has more US based coaching experience than I first realized. That said, I agree with you about watching the development of the coaching over the course of the season. I was surprised that Gabarra left subs on the table last week. Then again, so did LA.
Just came from practice. They are playing a 4-5-1, with an aggressive defense that looks to counter attack. Trouble is they seemed slow to transition. This is the way they lined up today: Ararkawa Sinclair Osborne Formiga Weimer Abegg Robinson Buehler Erika Dew Barnhart DiMatino came in for Osborne halfway through the scrimmage. Quite frankly, I'm a little worried. They seemed to have a hard time getting the ball out of their half against the 2nd team. Weimer, however, is an eye-opener. She has been injuried through most of training camp but she looked great today. I think you will all be pleasanty surprised with her, if they can get the ball to her. I'm keeping my fingers crossed but didn't like what I saw today. And I take back my comment about Formiga not having basic skills. I saw her in her first practice and I'm sure she was very nervous. Looked much better today.
wow. None of us called that line up. DiMartino and Osborne are very different types of players. Weimer had a lot of success in college. Wait, it is April 1. Abegg is a developmental player according the the Pride site. Nice try
Thanks for the scouting report. I have kind of mixed feelings about this. One of main things that was bugging be about this team is that we didn't seem to have any outside midfielders. But now it seems like they're going to use converted strikers as outside mids. Which is a great idea if they can make it work. Best case you end up something like the Earthquakes when Yallop came in (the first time) and used (I think) Russell and Mullen -- who were both converted strikers -- as outside mids. It was beautiful; I still remember the first game when they completely overran the Galaxy with wave after wave of attackers. But worst case, we're pulling our scorers away from the goal, and if they don't have the commitment to defend we could be in real trouble. Another weird thing: remember when Mezza (of local-waitress-makes-good fame) was cut? One of the Montoya's comments was that the team was just too deep at d-mid. Umm, remind me, who are all those d-mids? I thought that Osborne could be a solid starting d-mid, but after that the pickings looked pretty slim -- we were left with either people playing out of position (e.g. DiMartino) or utility players (e.g. Graczyk). But now with Osbourne used as an attacking mid, it seems like we have exactly zero d-mids on the roster. And the fact that the above lineup uses a developmental player as the starting d-mid for the first team seems to bear that out. Also, interesting that Dew is playing outside back. I could have sworn she played in the middle. I kind of had her mentally penciled in as the new Kelly Lindsey (from the CyberRays) -- an ex-Notre Dame center back who would anchor the defense.
Maybe I'm a little too optimistic, but I'm not too worried. (Unless worrying means that we will all be pleasantly surprised later on? ) Just because they played 4-5-1 today (and reportedly not very well at that) doesn't necessarily mean they'll play that formation tomorrow, or against Boston, or that this if how they will be for all of the season. I suppose I'd rather focus on the good news: that Formiga seems to be adjusting nicely and that Weimer's back on the field. And yes, Dew usually plays in the middle. Playing her as outside back and DiMartino as d-mid flies in the face of everything we assume to be their strengths.
Abegg actually looked very good as the d-mid. How they play is defensively is as a 4-5-1 and when they transition to attack the outside mids move forward, the outside backs move to mid and it becomes a 2-5-3. What it does is put a lot of pressure on the outside mids and backs to quickly transition and for the back side to rotate to cover. Yes, very much like Yallop did with Mullen and Russell. Weimer can be that type of player, don't know if Sinclair is, but, we'll see on Sun. But you can see why some cuts were made. Oakes just wasn't the type of player who fit this type of system. They will trap on defense to create turnovers so it takes a certain type of player who is tireless and hungry. Not all players fit into Yallop's system and neither will all players fit into Montoya's. The team seems to be buying into it so far. Sunday will be the true test.
Regardless of the system I don't think you cut players because you want to play a certain formation. You keep your best players and develop a formation around them. To think your formation will not change in the first year of a team/league is unwise, especially having not played a "real" game. I would have kept Oaks. Too good of a player.
Heres an article from yesterday's MercuryNews. Lots of quotes and discussions about players. http://www.mercurynews.com/othersports/ci_12060712?source=rss
As a coach you have a certain style you like to play and a certain player you like to coach. You make cuts based on how players fit into a system and how players react the coaching. Cuts are made, sometimes, because players don't accept coaching very well. As a former coach, I would rather have coachable players then a superstar who is uncoachable. Not saying that is why certain cuts were made, however, when a cut is made that doesn't seem to make sense there are usually other reasons rather than ability. As for Oaks, maybe she is a good player, but she sure didn't show it in training camp. Sorry, but I don't see that as a bad decision based on what I saw. The one the surprised me was Bogus. She looked good in camp, I thought.
I don't think Oaks looked bad in tryouts, I think she was asked to be a player she isn't -- which goes back to an earlier post about so many of this teams drafted players not making the final roster. Why draft a player that's not going to fit into your system? As for the latest line-up talk I'm a little worried about overall team speed - especially in the central midfield. We'll see.
Well, one thing you have to remember is that the Pride came on late in the process. The other 6 teams had nearly a year to prepare but the Pride only had a few months. As for drafted players and then cutting them, I can see both sides. They could have done a better job of drafting, yes, however, they didn't give the draft choices carte blanche to make the roster but made them earn it. Some did and some didn't. Those that were hungry for the job made the cut. The fact that Oakes hasn't been picked up by anyone else speaks volumes, whereas, Bogus was snapped up immediately.
As for team speed, good point. Weimer, Milbrett and DiMartino have some quickness but overall, the team doesn't. Sunday will be interesting not only as to who starts but what system they play. I'm not sure what I saw on Wednesday will be how they line-up or not. It seemed a little disjointed during the scrimmage. I would love to see a 4-4-2 such as: -------------Sinclair-----------Milbrett Arakawa--------------DiMartino--------------Wiemer ----------------------Osborne Buehler---------Abegg----------Erika-----------Dew Then you have some pace on the wings and firepower up front where it belongs
Interesting article. It seems to confirm that they're going with three central mids. (You can call that a 4-5-1 or a 4-3-3 depending on whether you consider the wide attacking players to be forwards or mids. PoTAYto poTAHto, really.) Updated prediction: Code: Sinclair Arakawa Weimer Formiga DiMartino Osborne Robinson Buehler Erika Dew BTW, too bad we have to play Boston in the first game -- they seem stacked at every position.