Trade the rights to Press to Portland for Kelli Hubly and Celeste Boureille. They get a center back and a holding mid, which they need, for a forward who never will play for them.
I did not know All White Kit have these analyses. It's pretty good. I also agree about Shim and Motlhalo. They both looked much better here compared to earlier games.
Houston should have beaten North Carolina yesterday. The Dash had the game in hand but seemed to run out of gas, in the heat, down the stretch. Players were tired and standing around, not maintaining possession in the last 15 minutes, and NC, looking for the tying goal, seemed to have a bit more energy--just enough to equalize. Daly, who normally can run all day, seemed totally spent at the 60/65 minute mark and had no real impact on the game from then on, which is unusual for her. Lost opportunity but the Dash are still playing well.
I don't feel very good about yesterday game. If we can't beat them with that line-up, I don't have high hopes for us. A lot of Dash's players ran out of gas early yesterday, including Prince, Simon, Daly, Ohai but Daly and Ohai should have been subbed out first, they didn't do anything on offense nor defense half way thru the 2nd half and one of Ohai's turnovers in mid field and the defense's moment of lapses allowed the Courage to score. Ohai used to be my favorite player on the Dash but she declined noticeably from before her injury. She scored twice this season but she was lucky on both. That game should not have been played at 6 PM in Houston's heat. We were sweating on the stand in the shade. Lucky for the players, we had a lot of injury stoppage for the players to cool down.
So, trade winds r blown'. Christen Press seems to be taking the Enigma Roadshow to Utah and Chicago of all people r the facilitator of the deal. If it shakes out as predicted the Dash add Huerta and Comeau. Either fills the hole at outside back as does Elby who also seems on the move as part of the deal. Any of the three r upgrades personnel wise. Still, the whole thing has an odd ring to it. First if u plug Comeau in at OB and Huerta in Mewis' midfield spot it leaves u very offensive minded in the middle. With Hanson on the outs it may leave Brooks/Van Wyk even more exposed. Then there is the Polkinghorne question. Is she part of the deal replacing Johnson in Chicago or was she brought in to just back up across the back? Maybe Comeau is slated as the backup but that devalues ur return for Press a bit. Regardless, Houston somehow traded Lloyd, Beckie and Press without filling their glaring need at CB....amazing.
My favorite tweets of this afternoon! @KristieMewie can we get a live feed of @RachelDaly3 watching the game?— Bianca Henninger (@Beeyoncs) June 18, 2018 You can’t understand what she’s saying ...#accentthickens #languagebarrier https://t.co/NIrLAcaVm6— Kristie Mewis (@KristieMewie) June 18, 2018
So...Falknor, Murphy, ghost of Press, any hope of a #1 draft pick---> out Huerta , Comeau and more technical soccer (hopefully) ---> in
take ur techno crap back up north, it's all redneck soccer down here, baby! it's just the way we roll...........
Houston didn't have it tonight. The back line was poor in the first half and gave up two goals, including one that should have been cleared off he line but somehow managed to spin past a Houston defender. And while the Houston play was improved in the 2nd half, the Dash just couldn't break down the solid Portland defense and get balls on frame. The Dash had the ball a lot in the Portland half of the field, but the Thorn did a good job of getting back and getting bodies in the box, and Houston just couldn't find the final pass or finish. Key stat: Houston had 17 shots but only 3 on goal.
I guess it's baby steps. Much more dangerous offensive team. No longer sitting back waiting to counter. Unfortunately the cost of a more offensive mindset is the defense is much more exposed. Very troubling how many times the Thorns had good chance right at the top of the box.
Watching Ohai, I wonder if she wouldn't be more effective at center-forward than on the wing. She's good on the wing--but with her pace and physical play she reminds me of Sam Kerr and she might be able to use her body to create chances around the box in tight games in a way that Daly can't. I'm suggesting the possibility of switching Daly and Ohai. Daly has been very good this year--her work rate is amazing. She thrives in open games and struggled to make an impact tonight against a Portland team that played compact tonight and didn't give her much room. Daly has got even more pace than Ohai and so could be effective on the wing. Ohai has more size and might be more of a more natural scorer than Daly, and might be more effective up front. A thought...
I wouldn't move Ohai. Daly is better holding up play and passing back out than Ohai would be. I might consider moving Daly to the right flank and putting Simon behind Huerta in the middle.
Is Hahn still on the team? I did not notice her name in the bench line-up tonight, nor is she on the injury report.
Good grief--talk about stealing a win. Houston played what had to be the worst first half of any team all season--they were a dreadful, disorganized mess---yet were only down by 1 goal at the half (should have been two or more), kept the deficit at one in the second half and then got two massive breaks that resulted in goals late in the game and shocked Orlando 2-1.
To be fair, Houston was much better in the second half. Their defense was organized, as opposed to the disarray of the first half, and they had some good possession and put some pressure on Orlando. They had some half-chances (and gave up some decent chances to Orlando, too). The improved play of the 2H led to the Ohai goal (what looked to be a long cross went into the net (upper 90, out of reach of the keeper) that tied the game--and the Orlando handball four minutes later resulted in a Dash penalty kick that Huerta converted and an unlikely win was secured.
totally agree, watched the first half, it was it was without a doubt the worst half I've ever seen Houston play. Totally not liking Polkinhorne. seemed like Morgan owned her. I also noticed, no more the long balls for Daly? Switched over to watch the 'upset of the century' but the highlights seem to show Houston got dominated all the way till the Ohai show took over at around the 75 min. mark. Got to say; that Ohai can't make the NT is appalling, she would be the main star on just about any other NT in the world
......... in my head Clare is Slowpoke-inghorne....... Latsko should start ahead of Prince. She is a much smarter player And JJ Watt had better marry this girl before someone rich, generous, and athletic comes along and sweeps her up.
I think Pauw gets credit for doing something instead of just watching Rome burn. She repositioned Polkinghorne and Brooks, She moved Daly both back and wide. These changes seemed to help right a sinking ship and too often coaches stick to the game plan even if it turns out to be really dumb.
If someone did an NWSL on who survey on who is the most difficult to defend Ohai has to be up there. If u let get going she is like a waterbug.
Ohai is tough, and fast, but I don't think she does enough to create chances out of her good runs. Yea, she scored a key goal last night--but I think it was an errant cross that just happened to go in the net. She doesn't seem to look for Daly much--she missed a good chance to slide one through to her in the first half-- or can't find her. Daly's role in attack has diminished since the return of Ohai. If those two and Heurta can develop some chemistry, Houston will be tough--but they were extremely lucky to win this game.
About a minute before the goal Ohai penetrated into the box, beat Poliana and put the ball on Daly's foot inside the six. Daly skied it over the bar but it was a quality chance. Im not saying Ohai doesn't have flaws. Her passing accuracy hasn't been nearly as good as in past seasons and she has trouble in tight spaces. What she offers is something different and that makes her hard to guard.
she kinda of reminds of Lieke Martens, the Dutch girl that FIFA named POY, Not just in playing style but also their well rounded build, which is a sharp contrast to the string bean body type that the game tends to favor Daly's going to suffer if Pauw's intend is(with her newly acquired players) to switch over to a more midfield oriented game, Daly's strong suit were the long balls/quick outlet passes, giving her plenty of space for her to work with before the defense sets in Got the feeling Pauw's trying to switch styles off & on as to make the team look so predictable(or at least hoping so, as I do miss the long balls)
She's only made the bench like twice this year. She's last in the non-GK pecking order. Figured she'd get waived after the Huerta trade, but between Hahn, Murphy and Falknor you could have picked any 2 to be waived and it would not have made a difference.