Streaks still alive: CHI - Home undefeated (7) KC - Total winless (5) POR - Total undefeated (6), Away undefeated (6) SEA - Away winless (4), Away losing(4) NJ - Away winless (7) DC - Away winless (9), Away losing (9) Streaks busted: BOS - Home undefeated (3) KC - Total losing (3) POR - Total winning (4), Away winning (4) SEA - Total winless (4), Total losing (4) DC - Total undefeated (3), Home undefeated (3) WNY - Away winless(6) Other random stuff: --2.875 total GPG so far -----Still 75% of games have 2 or more goals -----37.5% of games have featured a shutout --Home teams are 3-2-3 (1.375 PPG) with just +1GD --Two of the four teams currently in playoff position have one game in hand over the other seven teams --All teams currently in playoff position have, at most, 1 GA per game -----GF per game is much more all-over-the-map -----Every team has now scored at least one goal
Two streaks were kept alive in the Chicago/WNY match- Chicago has scored first in every NWSL match between the two teams, and LeBlanc currently has a 323 minute shutout streak against the Flash, which I believe is the longest streak for any keeper against one team.
BC's Power Rankings- Week 2 Edition: 1. Seattle Reign FC- Idle last week, but still number 1 after their dominating win. 2. Houston Dash- Showed grit and determination to come back twice and get their first win. 3. Chicago Red Stars- While they may have had a slight advantage by being able to scout their opposition and the opposition couldn't do the same, they showed promise of a better finish this year. 4. Washington Spirit- Rebounded well after a disappointing loss, but face a challenging and well rested Reign team. 5. Western New York Flash- Had to drop them after that lackluster loss to Chicago. Hoping the two week break will help get the Flash on the same page. 6. SkyBlue FC- Strong backline, anemic offense. Will they be able to get results against teams that are better at breaking down their backline? 7. Portland Thorns FC- It feels strange to rank the current league leaders so low, but they honestly don't deserve to be any higher. Although the match against SkyBlue showed some improvement, they got lucky to escape with a point. 8. FC Kansas City- I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt last week, but no longer. They looked awful against the Spirit, but maybe a trip to Portland will help. 9. Boston Breakers- What the hell was that? How do you cough up a lead twice after getting wrecked the week before? Changes need to be made on that backline, or they will be out of the postseason by mid July at the latest.
Maybe I should start quoting MRAD? The team that beat the #2 team away and tied the #6 team away is ranked #7? I guess results don't count. Go figure!
Well... that's part of the thinking behind "power rankings", honestly. There's supposed to account for the times people think the results don't accurately reflect team strengths.
Wow everyone is so sensitive these days. Anyway, here goes nothing again. 1. Chicago - Of the the 3 teams that won this weekend, they had the toughest opponent given the form of all teams this season. 2. Houston - For a young team that have being hit the hardest with injuries to get a road win is pretty impressive. 3. Washington - This may come as a shock for people but this Washington win for me was more about FCKC than anything Washington did. Sure the Spirit kept it together better than last week against WNY but FCKC was basically playing with no game plan or any fire. Good on the Spirit for taking advantage. 4. Portland/SBFC - They both were forgettable this week. 6. WNY - They will be happy to be done with this mini road trip to start the season without too much damage. 7. Boston - I can't explain how this loss happened except by attributing it to complacency and unfounded overconfidence. I also blame the coaching staff a bit for not reacting to what was happening in the match. 8. FCKC - Last week I gave Portland the side eye but I'm reserving it this week for FCKC. At some point, you can't blame all your problems on the new guys and what they are or aren't doing. Players come and go and great teams find ways to adapt.
It's my opinion, and I'm entitled to it. If Houston would have been able to finish their chances, and O'Hara doesn't eff up that PK, Portland's record would accurately reflect their level of play.
1 (1) SEA : the bye favored them in that their stock was not dropped, like for the other week 1 winners, and no-one shone enough to overtake the pole position. CHI is knocking, though, and if WNY has a great home debut they will be as well. 2 (3) CHI : Win over the team above you while clearly outplaying them? Yep, CHI moved up that spot in my book. Even though WNY is a tougher opponent than BOS, though, I don't think CHI's performance was as convincing as SEA's last week 3 (2) WNY : I kinda want to drop them lower after being shown up by CHI, but I still see flaws with teams 4-6 as well, so really it's a logjam, WNY staying high because I'm willing to write off the CHI game as an 'off' day for the defending shield winners. 4 (5) HOU : Last time, I only put HOU beneath POR because I said someone needs to score. HOU once again put on a spectacular show, and this time got the win - though they still gave up two to the weakest team in the league. Jury's still out. 5 (4) POR : I'm not dropping them lower just yet. Even if it's not pretty, they know how to grind out results. 6 (8) DC : Convincingly beat KC, but I'm still worried about how easily WNY dismantled them the previous week. DC seems to be very hot-and-cold at the moment, so I won't put them higher until they consistently show they've exorcised the ghosts of last season. 7 (7) NJ : They've got the defense, but like HOU last week, I worry about their offense. Still no wins yet. 8 (6) KC : Complete collapse against a team that was expected by many to be a bottom-dweller. 9 (9) BOS : Is there any argument for someone else to bottom out?
The NWSL power rankings is as follows: SEA, POR, CHI, WNY, HOU, KAN, WAS, NJ, BOS I know most people have seattle first but it's a bit difficult to evaluate when they haven't played their second match yet. I would however rank Houston higher than WNY. I'm not sure why Washington is so low in this rankings. At worst, I'll expect them to be above FCKC. Why is FCKC so high when all they manage is a draw against SBFC who are ranked lower than Washington.
NWSL brass are drunk on POR. (And I agree, KC seems a bit high, but not as big of a grievance as POR.) That's all I've got to say.
Hey, don't forget Red Stars have also played only once so far. I was super-pleased but one game is one game!
That's why the Thorns are on top the table? Code: NWSL Pts GP W L T GF GA GD 1. Portland Thorns FC 4 2 1 0 1 2 1 1 2. Seattle Reign FC 3 1 1 0 0 3 0 3 3. Western New York Flash 3 2 1 1 0 3 2 1 4. Chicago Red Stars 3 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 5. Washington Spirit 3 2 1 1 0 4 4 0 6. Houston Dash 3 2 1 1 0 3 3 0 7. Sky Blue FC 2 2 0 0 2 2 2 0 8. FC Kansas City 1 2 0 1 1 2 4 -2 9. Boston Breakers 0 2 0 2 0 2 6 -4
I can just tell this thread will be one of the funnest this season . I'm happy to just stand back and fan the flames. That is as long no one is throwing shade at my Reign
Farlley and Murray weigh in on week 2 power rankings: http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/...t-feeling-the-freedom-as-we-move-past-week-2/ http://www.soccerbyives.net/2014/04/sbi-nwsl-power-rankings-week-2.html
Why is Farley trying to start s**t with Wambach? For the life of me I'll never understand journalists. One minute they are on twitter moaning about the league not taking head injuries seriously and the next they are complaining that Wambach is not returning soon enough trying to hint at something more going on.
Okay, just because I can't stop playing with numbers, I'm going to combine the week 2 Power Rankings posted: {BlueCrimson, Blaze20(+1), STT, NWSL, Farley, Muray} 1. SEA (avg 1.00) 2. CHI (2.83) 3. HOU (4.17) 4. WNY (4.33) 5. WAS (4.50) 6. POR (5.00) 7. NJ (6.67) 8. KC (7.50) 9. BOS (8.83)
Eh, Farley is a bit of a tool at times. I do agree with him that Lloyd should have gotten sent off, but that's one of the few times I have agreed with him.
1 (1) SEA : Beating two teams that were coming off of wins by a combined score of 5-1? Most definitely the strongest team in the league at the moment. I was thinking that Houston's style and energetic young backline would give Seattle trouble, but it didn't happen. Who's going to be the first to take points from this squad? 2 (5) POR : They gelled MUCH better this week, and beat a KC side that also looked much better this week than they had previously. 3 (3) WNY : WNY benefits from having the bye week as their stock doesn't drop any. 4 (2) CHI : To me, it looked like CHI outplayed DC, especially considering the really bad wind in the first half. The fact that DC won is why the gap between the two drops from four places to one in my ranking, but I still think CHI would win more matches versus than not. 5 (6) DC : Once again, DC looks hot-and-cold to me - or rather warm-and-cold - with one bad loss to SEA and one tight win over CHI. 6 (4) HOU : I was expecting more from the squad in their PacNW game. Still like their energy and style, though. 7 (8) KC : They may have lost, but the Thorns were surging (as I mentioned before) and the team looked better in this match than in either of their previous games. 8 (9) BOS : They finally got their first win, so I think they'll have some confidence now. They didn't beat a particularly impressive team, though, so I can't bump them up much. 9 (7) NJ : The battle of the cellar-dwellers didn't go their way. I just don't see this team coming up with a big result when it counts. ------ Just for the record, we're now about 12% done with the season (by games played), so I went back to look at our preseason predictions. Group prediction: KC-SEA-POR-WNY-CHI-DC-HOU-NJ-BOS Actual standings: SEA-POR-DC-WNY-CHI-HOU-BOS-NJ-KC Considering DC has currently played two more games than WNY and CHI, we were pretty on the money - except for the obvious catastrophe of KC. WTF X-D
Here's mine. 1. Seattle - Did what they needed to do by holding serve. Now the real tests start for them as they go on the road and then return home to face some tough squads. 2. Washington - They won on the road in some tough conditions with one of the most consistent player on the bench. I'm just going to accept it at this point that no one is going to play pretty football at Lisle, however, they were able to grind out a win and leave the pitch with all the players standing. That's better than prior week. 3. Portland - One the first real "rivalry" match of the season. However, I ranked them behind Washington because this was a home match against an opponent that still haven't turn up this season yet. 4. Houston - This is a team that knows how to lose football games. Through out that match, you always got the feeling that they were right there and at any minute could turn the game around. This is a very good and well coached team. 5. Boston - Glad they got their first win even if it was against SBFC. 6. Chicago - This is a really big missed opportunity. They were playing a team on short rest who had gotten man handled 3 days prior. They should be winning these matches. 7. SBFC - Did not really see this match as I was watching the Seattle game but the only reason they are not last is because of their cumulative performance up to this point. 8. FCKC - Another week, another game where FCKC have a defensive blunders. People can talk all they want about the offense on this team but it is not like they are losing games 1-0 or 0-0. When you give up 6 goals in two games, you need to look at your defense. This is something we all saw last year when they had the tendency to give up late goals. This season, it has become magnified as they can't score goals. In most teams, it takes the offense a couple of games to find their rhythm, as we are seeing with most teams now, and it is up to the defense to keep teams alive.
BC's Power Rankings- Week 3 Edition: 1. Seattle Reign FC- 2 comfortable wins over 2 teams coming off wins. It's still early, but this team is looking more and more like the one to beat. 2. Portland Thorns FC- This one's more by default, since none of the other teams got results that would warrant them to be ranked ahead of Portland. Still not that impressed with them. Their match this weekend will be a big test. 3. Chicago Red Stars- Other than their finishing, this squad is much improved from last season. Even though they lost, it wasn't a blowout. 4. Washington Spirit- Had to rank them lower after that disappointing effort against Seattle, but still top 4 thanks to grinding out the win in Chicago. 5. Western New York Flash- Sitting idle didn't hurt them much. 6. Houston Dash- Disappointing performance this week. I expected more. 7. Boston Breakers- Glad to finally see them win, and I hope they've solved their CB issue. 8. SkyBlue FC- The backline, and Cutshall in particular, got torched by speed. 9. FC Kansas City- Yet another disastrous collapse. Again, it's early days, but if they can't figure out how to lock down their backline, their reinforcements will be too late.
I will be shocked that people would be impress with a team like Portland that is missing 5 of their starters and starting two rookies.
On paper that Portland team as is right now is better than Houston and yet people are impressed with Houston. We can't create power rankings on the potential of teams in June. We can only based it on what they are now.
Good one but with their inexperience about the pitch I thought Seattle would completely throttle them. 2-0 isn't that bad for the 1st outing against a juggernaut. The league isn't hard to read. Seattle is the REAL DEAL, and Houston is a young dweller. If Sydney figures out how to refine her game by the end of the season like Little, Fish, Homie, Pinoe and Goebel (not one of my favorites), then they will be truly unbeatable, because she should be the finishing touch (she still got that bad touch.) to their game. I know Sydney is only 23 or 24 but the touch thing has been going on for 3 years now. She's hot-wired that way since youth, just the rest of the NT.