ACFC 0-3 Orlando Pride

I’m not sure that I really have the heart to be critical of Angel City this week. Orlando is a strong team in form and once they had the lead and an insurance goal, I thought that they throttled back and played a very professional road game. I saw a few remarks saying that this was a closer game than the score indicated, but I don’t think that’s true. Orlando had 5 shots with an xG of .1 or higher, with two more at .09, while Angel City only had 1 shot that met that threshold, Leroux’s chance that went off the post in the 62’. In fact, I actually think that the scoreline was flattering to us. But like I said, I just don’t feel like I have the heart to be critical so I’m going to focus on the what was good about Angel City’s play in this game.

Madison Hammond

Hammond had one of her best passing games. She was second on the team in attempts and completions, going 37 of 46. Best of all, she was 10 of 11 on Long Passes. She also finished second on the team in Key Passes, Passes into the Final Third, and Progressive Passes. She had 1 of our 2 Through Balls, and 1 of our 3 Switches. Hammond was tied for first on the team in Shot Creating Actions, with 4, and in every case, that action was a pass to a Thompson sister. The pick of the bunch, of course, was her long ball to pick out Alyssa for a scoring chance in the 7th minute. Since the end of last season, I’ve felt like Hammond really has a good repertoire of passes, but she hasn’t gotten on the ball enough to really showcase that. In this match, she was spreading the ball all around the pitch, and I think that she’s becoming increasingly comfortable with how to distribute from a deep lying position. She’s a player that I think has continually improved in her three years at Angel City and I don’t think that we’ve found her ceiling yet. This year, compared to other NWSL midfielders per 90, she’s in the 91st percentile in Passes Attempted and Completed, but what I like the most is that she’s in the 95th percentile in Through Balls, and 97th Percentile in Switches, which I think are the two best pass types that a defensive midfielder can use to unsettle an opposing defense. She’s still only 26 and I think that she has the potential to be a top Defensive Midfielder in the league.

Claire Emslie

Emslie had a very strong defensive game. She led the team in Ball Recoveries with 9, and Blocks with 4, constituting 1 Blocked Shot and 3 Blocked Passes. And she still managed most of her traditional Emslie Offensive stats, too. She had the team lead in Crosses with 6, Progressive Carries with 4, and shared the lead in Shot Creating Actions with Hammond. There’s definitely a school of thought that says maybe someone else should be recovering loose balls, so that Emslie can already be moving up the pitch into more dangerous positions, but barring that, I’d rather see Emslie doing that work instead of nobody. But going back to her not getting into the most dangerous positions, she led the team in Touches in the Attacking Third, but had 0 Touches in the Attacking Penalty Box. But I’m trying to focus on the positives, so we’ll just say that Emslie put in a strong defensive shift, and I do think that it speaks highly of her character that she’s willing to sacrifice her personal glory by doing this kind of gritty defensive work.

The Thompson Sisters

Alyssa and Gisele Thompson are really starting to takeover the Angel City offense. They were tied for most Touches in the Attacking Penalty Box with 5 apiece. They were first and second on the team on Progressive Passes received. Alyssa was tied for the lead with 3 Shots, while Gisele also added 1 Shot. Gisele also led the team in Key Passes. As, I mentioned before, Emslie is having to pull back a little in order to give Gisele the space to overlap, and I think that they have something working, which is not true of the other areas of the attack where we see players both moving into the same space. I also mentioned in my last article that I was surprised to see the negative Goal Differential (and xG Differential) that Gisele has, but I think that this game illustrated that phenomenon. In the first goal, Gisele had pushed very high up the field, which made sense, as we had possession. But after Alyssa turns the ball over in midfield, Rodriíguez steps up to try to pressure Marta, but gets beaten cleanly. That means that Hammond has to come across to challenge Marta, so that when Adriana gets the ball, Curry, the Left Centerback, is all alone. The Left Back and the Left Defensive Midfielder are both nowhere in sight. So Curry backs off, and Adriana smashes it top corner. In essence, because of how Gisele Thompson plays, we conceded a goal, but I don’t think that it’s her fault at all.

There have been times when Gisele has played as a winger, rather than a fullback, and that would seem to at least mitigate the risk, but still add her dynamicism in the attack. However, I do still like her more as a fullback. I think that a fullback jumping into the attack in this fashion can overload and unbalance an opposing defense, while it’s expected that a winger will be in these positions on the field. The key, I think, is that Angel City’s midfield and defense needs to understand these risks, and be better prepared to deal with them, e.g. on the aforementioned goal, Rodríguez needed to be sure that she wasn’t beaten cleanly by Marta. For me, that’s a spot to take a yellow card if you have to.

Both sisters received call-ups for the upcoming international break: Gisele with the U-20’s, and Alyssa as a training player with the senior team. Gisele’s spot is no surprise, but Alyssa’s is really encouraging, as I think that it says that Emma Hayes sees Alyssa as part of the USWNT future and wants to spend some time working with her. I think that’s already a positive, and I’m hoping that spending time in that environment, plus having a break from the pressure during the Olympics, will lead to a refreshed and refocused Alyssa Thompson.

Ownership News and Wild Player Speculation

There are now multiple reports that Willow Bay and Bob Iger are going to be making a $50 million investment to become the new majority owners of Angel City. There’s a lot to unpack here. For starters, this deal values Angel City at $250 million, which for comparison, the Thorns sold earlier this year for only $63 million, while the Wave’s deal is for around $120 million. It is a great sign that Bay and Iger value the club so highly. It also underscores that it’s not just Angel City fans who think that we are (or should be) the biggest club in the league. Attendance and revenue are other categories in which Angel City is at the top, but this sale says that Angel City is around 5x more valuable than the average NWSL team. This is part of why I expect so much out of the team on the field. There is so much more backing for Angel City, and consequently so few excuses for not having the best team. The flipside to this news is that neither Bay or Iger have any previous experience running a professional sports team. I don’t think that this makes them the wrong people to join the ownership group, but it would be nice to have someone that understands the ropes a little bit.

I have written before about how Angel City’s spending on players doesn’t make sense, and that we don’t seem to be maxing out the salary cap. There has been talk that there was disagreement between the ownership group on spending, and I’m wondering if there were internal constraints put on player acquisitions and salaries until a new majority owner was brought in. Honestly, I’m hoping yes, because that means that there’s an opportunity to make an impact signing in the next transfer window. On a longer term, I hope that this extra $50 million dollars will lead to Angel City finally building their own training facility. At the very least, I do think that the problems in the boardroom have been affecting the team, and this should give everyone some stability.

Bay and Iger were at the match against Orlando, so hopefully they were impressed with the sellout and the atmosphere, if not the performance on the pitch. Someone else who was at the match was Tobin Heath, which in itself is not that odd. But I have kind of a bad feeling about that. Heath has recently stated that she’s not retired and is trying to come back from injury and get back on the pitch. At this point in their lives, would Heath want to be playing in a different city than Press? There’s also the fact that Angel City traded away Nielsen and Henry to open up two roster spots. Press was always going to be one of them, but why did they need two? It implies that back in April, there was a player they thought they could bring in, and that it was worth trading away a starter. Heath publicly coming to a game adds fuel to that fire for me. So two things: 1) This is wild speculation on my part, but I’ve laid out the pieces that I think fit. 2) From a football perspective, this is not what I think Angel City needs. From a marketing perspective, it’s a slamdunk. And I do fear that marketing drives these decisions. Don’t get me wrong, during her time with the USWNT I was a huge fan of Heath. But I think that a centerback and a No 9 are much, much higher priorities, and winger is actually a position that we have some depth, especially when Press is back. I guess, my hunch is primarily rooted in the idea that signing Tobin Heath would be the most Marketing FC move ever, and that’s why I think it’s going to happen. So take that as you will. Again, this is wild speculation on my part, and I do generally like to be a little more grounded in facts, but it’s been gnawing at me, so I thought that I’d share and see if anyone agrees.

All stats in this article are from FBRef.

Angel City’s next game is Saturday July 6 vs Gotham at 7p Pacific. It’s at home at BMO and is also on Ion.