Notable Players Not Included In My Protected IX
These are players on the roster that I would not protect. Free agents are not included for protection, but for the purposes of this exercise, I’m assuming that all these players will be back in 2024. My focus here is on the players that I would build around for 2024, thus leaving out a lot of players that I genuinely like.
FWD Christen Press - Press is still probably the biggest name on our roster. I believe that she’s our highest paid player. But I think that there are just too many unknowns regarding her knee injury. ACLs are a big deal, and the four surgeries show that this recovery has not been smooth. There is no reason to expect that she can return to being the same player that she was beforehand. Actually, I think it’s unfair to her to expect that she will be able to be that same player. Even a small loss in explosiveness, or in her ability to cut, is going to take away from how dangerous she can be. Footballers aren’t machines, and until there’s a clear sense of what she can do on the field, I think it’s a mistake to build long term plans around her. For this exact reason, also, I don’t think that Utah or Bay FC are going to go after her, thus making it even safer to leave her unprotected.
MID/FWD Savannah McCaskill - I’m going to write a whole other post on McCaskill. I don’t think there is a more polarizing figure on the pitch, and I have a lot to say on the matter.
DEF Ali Riley - So let me start by saying that I would be absolutely gutted to see Riley playing for another team. She’s clearly a key member of the squad, and a leader on and off the pitch. And I think she has good underlying stats. When compared to other fullbacks, she’s 53rd percentile in completed passes, but 84th percentile in progressive passes. 12th percentile in take-ons attempted, but 97th percentile in successful take-on percentage. 44th percentile in carries, but 84th percentile in being dispossessed. To me, this paints a picture of a player that knows exactly when to pick her moments. If she does something, it’s probably going to work. If it’s not going to work, she does something else. On top of those, she’s 83rd percentile in tackles (and led Angel City in this category.
My concern, and reason for not protecting her, is that she only started 14 games, and only completed seven of those. I’m sure that the World Cup played a factor in this, but that inability to finish games is particularly concerning, as I can’t imagine that the coach would take off the the captain, unless she really couldn’t finish the match. It’s not a coincidence to me that McClernon’s cross for OL Reign’s game winning goal in the playoffs came from Riley’s side of the pitch, six minutes after Riley came off. If these are the players I’d build around, I’d really want to see 90 minutes from fullbacks especially.
GK DiDi Haracic - I feel like I covered a lot of this in why I would protect Anderson, so I won’t rehash that here, but Anderson does seem to be the better keeper statistically, and also seems to have the trust of the coaching staff. Haracic should be a No 1, and going to Bay FC or Utah probably gives her a better chance at that. I see her leaving as a win/win.
MID Dani Weatherholt - Weatherholt doesn’t make my protected list, but I do hope that she’s with ACFC next year. 5th in minutes played on the team, and wearing the captain’s armband on several occasions. 4th on the team in tackles. She doesn’t make my list for two reasons: 1) It seemed like by the end of the season, Tweed preferred Madison Hammond as the midfield partner for Henry, and 2) While I think that Weatherholt is a quality midfielder, I think that if she were taken in the expansion draft, we could probably find a replacement of a similar profile.
MID Madison Hammond - So I just said above that Hammond seems to be the preferred partner to Henry. And actually Hammond was one of my initial picks to be in my protected IX. She had a pretty great 2023 season. 5th in total progressive passes (and the top midfielder, if we categorize McCaskill as an attacking mid, which I do). 7th in long pass completions, and 2nd in long pass completion percentage (and again, the top midfielder). She is actually in the 93rd percentile of midfielders in long pass completion percentage, compared across the top nine leagues. She showed that she can be a threat on set pieces. At the end of the day, she lost her spot in my protected IX simply because Le Bihan’s statistics were too hard to ignore. Finishing at the top or as the runner-up in multiple categories across the entire league demands that protected status to me, therefore Le Bihan took the final spot.
FWD Sydney Leroux - This will sound a lot like what I said about Press, but the injuries are a concern to me. She’s a great player when she’s on the pitch, but the pattern of getting a new injury while she was coming back to fitness is a concern for me. Injuries certainly happen to everyone, but can we expect even 1,000 minutes from her next year? If she went to Utah, but only played 1,000 minutes, would anyone at Angel City regret that? I’m guessing that she will be protected, due to her contract extension. And obviously the people making this decision have a much better idea of her health then I do. But with the information that I have, there are other players I would prioritize instead.
That concludes my thoughts on why I left these players off my Protected IX. There may be others that you feel are notable, but I didn’t feel like I could get to everyone. At a minimum, these two lists cover all the players in top 10 minutes played. I’d welcome thoughts from anyone that disagrees with me.