FC Kansas City vs Portland Thorns FC June 28, 2014

rank	prev.	team	points	games	wins	losses	draws	goals for	goals against	goals diff.
1	1	Seattle Reign FC	35	13	11	0	2	29	10	19
2	2	FC Kansas City	27	15	8	4	2	24	17	7
3	3	Chicago Red Stars	20	14	6	6	2	18	15	3
4	6	Portland Thorns FC	20	13	6	6	2	19	18	1
5	4	Washington Spirit	19	14	6	7	1	22	30	-6
6	5	Western New York Flash	17	14	5	7	2	23	18	5
7	8	Skyblue FC	15	15	3	6	6	16	25	-9
8	7	Houston Dash	13	13	4	8	1	16	23	-7
9	9	Boston Breakers	10	13	3	9	1	16	27	-11

Portland moves up to 4th and the Spirit slide down one spot for this week.

FC Kansas City projected roster:

Goalkeepers: Nicole Barnhart, Sara Keane
Defenders: Becky Saurbrunn, Nikki Phillips, Leigh Ann Robinson, Nia Williams, Amy LePeilbet
Midfielders: Lauren Holiday, Jen Buczkowski, Jenna Richmond, Frances Silva, Erika Tymrak, Katrina Gorry, Mandy Laddish
Forwards: Liz Bogus, Melissa Henderson, Amy Rodriguez, Morgan Marlborough, Sarah Hagen

Have to wait for the injury report.

Portland Thorns FC projected roster:

Goalkeepers: Nadine Angerer, Michelle Betos
Defenders: Rachel Van Hollebeke, Nikkie Marshall, Emily Menges, Courtney Niemiec, Stephanie Catley , Katrina Tarr, Sarah Huffman
Midfielders: Veronica Boquete, Amber Brooks, Allie Long, Tobin Heath, Angie Kerr, Meleana Shim, Sinead Farrelly, Rebecca Moros
Forwards: Alex Morgan, Christine Sinclair, Jessica McDonald, Jackie Acevado, Elisabeth Sullivan

Injury report hasn't been updated yet.

Projected Starting XI for FC Kansas City (4-2-3-1)



This probably the roster I think Kansas City will come out with. Sarah Hagen wasn't cleared to play last week since her transfer papers didn't come in. She should be ready to go and with a week practice she should start. I think Coach Andonovski will try to have both Hagen and Rodriguez on the field at the same time, so this is probably the best formation. Rodriguez can sit on the wing and use her speed, Hagen can be the target forward up top, use her height to fetch crosses and is a fantastic holding forward in her own right and should help activate players like Lauren Holiday into the attack.

Projected Starting XI for FC Kansas City (4-4-2, Diamond Midfield)



This is probably the formation that many of us do not want to see, but it has to be said that this is a good possibility. And because it is, it has to be considered since it would place both Sarah Hagen and Amy Rodriguez up top where they belong and the advantage of this is we would have a 3 front of midfielders that could include Frances Silva in it. The problem with this is how bad our defense looked when we went with this line up. Jenn Buczkowski did not look good as the only holding midfielder. She needs a partner to cover the wings and not get burnt with over the top balls.

Projected Starting XI for the Portland Thorns FC (4-3-2-1, Christmas Tree)



This is the Christmas Tree formation that Coach Riley has been using for the last few matches. Its called that for obvious reasons. With Tobin Heath available, its not a given that all these players will play at the same time, but since they are the best players for their position, expect to see most of them in the starting line up.

Match overview:

This is the second time the Blues will face the Portland Thorns this season. The previous match, the Blues lost heavily to the Thorns 3-1. But back then the Blues were experimenting with the 4-4-2 and it was soon after that shifted back to their tried and true 4-2-3-1 formation which turned their season around. And Jenna Richmond became a revelation how good she has become for the Blues.

Despite the star power on the Portland Thorns, they have struggled to link up to their forwards. Right now there are 2 minds at work with the philosophy to the offense for the Thorns. They have no problem sending over the top balls to try to free their forwards for attacks and they use quite a crosses and send them into the box which isn't a bad idea when you have players like Christine Sinclair that can attack balls there. The problem for them is how they utilize Veronica Boquete. Quite often instead of linking with Boquete in the midfield, the back field will send a ball to the sidelines or send it long. By passing Boquete and what this does is remove Boquete from play making and makes the Portland offense very one dimensional as was seen against Skyblue which Portland lost to last week. For a club that struggles to keep goals out of their net, they did a magnificent job of closing off the midfield and throttling the offense of Portland.

And this is what faces Portland when they take on Kansas City but in the Blues case, they are a dominant pressing team. They press from the middle of the pitch. The Blues are fine allowing you to play with the ball from the back line but as soon as any team tries to press forward, the Blues 2 holding midfielders close in and start cutting service to the forwards. Its a suffocating pressing pressure type of defense. The middle is denied and most teams have to build using the touchlines and this allows the Blues to isolate and in the end force turn overs from there.

The Blues will have an interesting choice in what to do with Sarah Hagen, I have no doubt she will start and it will have to be at top. What will the Blues do with Amy Rodriguez? Will she shift to the wing? Or will the Blues try going with a 4-4-2 formation? There is some fear of the Blues going to the 4-4-2 because it was very obvious that it exposed the defense to long balls, through balls and attacks right up the middle. Jenn Buczkowski just wasn't enough to patrol the middle and Lauren Holiday was forced to do a lot of defending which we don't want to see her do since she is expending too much energy on her own half. She has to play more higher and be allowed to dictate the attack from there.

Whether the Blues play in their traditional formation or try for the 4-4-2, they will have to be very aware that they need to focus on cutting Vero Boquete out of the offense for the Thorns. Without her, the Thorns offense becomes very one dimensional.

 

Had to go out for a dinner, so missed the match, have to catch the replays later. But glad the Blues eked out a win.

 

Finally watched the stream of the match and I have quite a few take aways from the match.

1)Nikki Phillips had a very bad first half defending. Alex Morgan was constantly abusing Phillips as she man marked Morgan. 1v1, Phillips was constantly getting wrong footed as Morgan switched the ball between her feet and got Phillips going the wrong way several times. Phillips was the last defender defending a long ball and Morgan actually outfought Phillips for the ball from behind and would get a dangerous shot off on Barnhart. Then Morgan beats Phillips on the right side inside the box, Phillips was 1v1 against Morgan and Morgan would just dribble at Phillips and get around her with her superior footwork and then get a dangerous pass into the middle of the box. Luckily there was no Portland player close by and it was cleared. Phillips would also get burnt by Boquete when she was going to the byline and Phillips was again 1v1 against her and Boquete simple used her superior speed to get by her and turn on Phillips, getting a great cross off that Morgan would get her head on and just miss the net with.

In the second half the coaching staff obviously saw this mismatch and put Becky Sauerbrunn on Alex Morgan and Sauerbrunn shut down Morgan through out the match. The problem with Phillips, is her very poor footwork. She is a pylon out there against another player that can dribble at her. Boquete and Morgan showed this very clearly. And the FCKC coaching staff saw this when in the second half Sauerbrunn was tasked in marking Morgan. They really need to have Amy LePeilbet take over at center back. Phillips can be exposed and at least LePeilbet would be a more reliable option.

2) Merrit Mattias saved a goal off a Alex Morgan header. Knocked it off the goal line on a corner kick. There is no doubt that Mattias is a great defensive player, but she is really bad at linking up in the build up of play in the attack. They need to use Frances Silva as the starter and then bring in Mattias as a defensive sub. Not use LePeilbet for that role, which is what is happening now. Right now the Blues do not create enough quality scoring chances.

3) And a good reason why they struggle to create good scoring chances is Amy Rodriguez. I have had enough of her dumb back passes. They do NOTHING in the build up of the attack, they in fact force the Blues to reset and rebuild the attack since Rodriguez insists on back passing when she should be holding up play and allowing players to make runs or not turning herself to make a run with the ball. For a very long time I wondered why Rodriguez was so insistent on these back passes and I finally figured it out when I saw one play in the second half where she back passed to another Blues player, made her own run and then got the return ball on an over the top pass that she could run on. I realized at that point that Rodriguez wants to be played over the top. She doesn't want to build through the middle. And that is frustrating. Those back passes are utterly useless in the build up but if you use a more direct approach to the offense, then they are good. Kansas City DOES not play like that and Rodriguez is the wrong fit for this club. Hugely annoyed that Rodriguez breaks up the run of play with her back passes.

4) And this is why we have Sarah Hagen. Didn't play much minutes, only 15 when she subbed in replacing Amy Rodriguez but already she is what the Blues desperately need. A bonafide target holding forward. She was constantly fighting for air balls and winning many of them. Because of her size, the Portland players had a very tough time dispossessing the ball from Hagen. Hagen was able to hold the ball up and wait for players to make runs. Because Hagen has good footwork, she also was able to make turns on her defender that was sitting on her back. Which Rodriguez rarely ever does. And in the box, She would be dangerous for the Blues. So you could sent crosses into the box with more effectiveness. She was a stud defending for corner kicks for the Blues. Got 2 clearances, one with a header and another she blocked a shot and forced the ball out. She has to replace Rodriguez up top and Rodriguez now has to play as a sub. Do not want to see Rodriguez on the pitch anymore.

Sarah also seems to be close with Erika Tymrak. Played with her ponytail in the halftime clips I saw and in the end of the match, Hagen was doing an interview with a TV reporter and Tymrak buzzed her from behind and Tymrak then scampered off. So good to see the friendships, probably made when Tymrak was with Bayren Munich with Hagen last season.

6) Lauren Holiday was a stud today. She did more defensive work then I wanted to see in the first half, but Portland was really pressing the Blues in the first half, in the second it was much better for her. She didn't have to work as hard. She started the play that got the Blues the goal and finished it. Sent a long ball to Rodriguez who would beat her defender to the ball and then Rodriguez would send a pass to Holiday who would get a nasty defection off a defender that Nadine Angerer could do nothing about and got the only goal of the match. Could of gotten a second goal but was offside on a play that was set up by Katrina Gorry who made a nice pass into the box. There was a hand ball by Nikki Marshall, but I think the ref made the right decision because it was unintentional. Marshall got hammered by the ball and there was nothing she could do but defend herself.

Holiday also got into a scuffling match with Amber Brooks in the second half when Brooks shoved Holiday into Stephanie Catley. Holiday was pretty pissed about that and Brooks got a yellow for that push.

So overall, Portland looked better in the first half, then Kansas City took control in the second with Sauerbrunn shutting down Alex Morgan. The Blues will need to think about putting Amy LePeilbet to center back because Nikki Phillips was very bad in her own end and a liability defending 1v1. I would like to see Merrit Mattias used as a defensive sub because more effort needs to be made in creating quality scoring chances and Frances Silva would be a big help in that regard. And Sarah Hagen has to start over Rodriguez, she was just superior in every category that the Blues need.