#soccer things

[that-soccer-guru]

Question: what position does lindsey Horan play? I thought she was a 10 maybe an 8. But hao talked about having linds and Sam as a double pivot which would mean they both play as 6 but isn’t linds a natural 10. I also thought Sam was more of an 8 so is she a 6?

hnnnn isn't that a question

She plays 10 in Portland because they don't really have playmakers there. It's either her or Rocky making plays on the field for the strikers. So she more or less honed those skills in her home team.

But the NT doesn't really play with a 10 role. There's no playmaker because the midfield pivots really strangely? they rely a lot on one of the defenders detaching from the back and running with the mid/strikers, a lot of individual plays, and not a lot of "team" playing. So she's more of a fake 10/ closer to an 8.

I would never call Lindsey a 6 because she doesn't do recovery as her main duty on the field. She does recover a lot of balls, but the 6 is the bridge between the backline and the midfield, whereas Lindsey is almost usually either the holding mid or the bridge between the middle and the forward core. Players like Julie Ertz and Tierna Davidson are 6's. They are the midfield that supports plays but almost always are on call to get balls through and with the backline.

I'm assuming you mean the pivot from the backline to the middle/forward plays, which would make them a double 8. If we're talking about the same game, Sam and Lindsey were doing the 8 jobs with Rose as a floating 7/11 and the strikers doing their 9 jobs. The 6 is more exclusively whatever player stays behind to act as a barrier or a holding player to give the backline time to regroup, where the 8 is the player keeping the ball at the midfield and giving the forwards time to find space.

It's easy to get them confused because a pivot applies to both but the pivot for a 6 is from back to mid where a pivot for the 8 is from mid to front.

I hope that wasn't too confusing? I know this has been in my inbox FOREVER so I apologize for taking hella long to answer BUT TODAY FELT LIKE A GOOD DAY TO ANSWER THIS!

[grilledsquids]

There’s a guy on the US’s team that does the long throw!! now if only his teammates knew how to actually score 😓

[that-soccer-guru]

Soccer question! You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to! What do the different player position numbers mean? Like what’s the job of a 9? A 6? Thank you!!!

Hell yeah I'll answer this, I love this question!

So recently I found out that this isn't common knowledge and that me screaming about "a true 10" meant diddly squat to people. SO HERE WE GO.

The field numbers refer to the original positions/jersey numbers given to starting players from 1-11. Nowadays it doesn't mean much and sometimes players get numbered by what's available or their favorite numbers, but some classically given numbers are still used today. When commentators talk about the players in their positions they still refer to it by number.

So, what do the numbers mean?

1 - goalkeeper number. First in the formation because numbers go from your defending half to the attacking side.

2. RFB-RB. Right side defender (see, Kelley O'Hara and Emily Sonnett)

3. LFB-LB. Left side defender (see Crystal Dunn, ish, great LB but tbh her talents lie elsewhere)

4. LFB-CB-Sweeper. One of 2 Center defenders in a 4 backline formation, usually the last defender left behind, they "sweep" the ball. (See, captain Broon)

5. RFB-CB. Also one of 2 Center defenders in a 4 backline. The true center because the fullback/sweeper floats around behind the backline. (Dahlkemper is a good example)

6. CDM. A midfielder that stays with the backline most often. When the midfield is arranged as a diamond they're the ones closest to the backline. Usually the players in charge of stopping breakaways and recovering balls/playing the ball from the back. (See Julie Ertz)

7. OR-RW. Quick feet winger that's usually the player to fear bc they're the ones looking for spaces to score. (See, Tobin Heath)

8. M-CM-AM. Nowadays these players supply the balls, make the passes and create opportunities for the attacking mids and forwards to have more chances up top. Support for the #10s. (The Mewis sisters and Rose come to mind, actually most of the midfield in the uswnt if we're gonna be honest)

9. CF. Usually your striker, these are the ones at the top of formations when the formation calls for one striker (ie, if the formation called for a 3-4-2-1, the one is the 9). (See Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe)

10. AM. The playmaker. They're in charge of recovery, pushing the ball forward, holding the middle, creating chances, often they score their own chances too. These dudes to it all. This is the position that nowadays has kept the number convention (DVD, Messi, Neymar, Marta, Leicy Santos, James Rodriguez) and they're the players that the team is meant to hinge on, they also get shit on the most when things don't go right. I struggle to call Carli Lloyd a true 10 even at her peak, and honestly I think Lindsey Horan has more 10 potential, especially as of late, to fill those shoes.

11. LW. Speedy and quick footed like the 7s, they cross to the area, run through for weird passes, they'll feed balls to the striker and are an integral part of a good bamboozling play (valid for both wingers) (see, Christen Press)

With all of these you also get into "false (insert number here)" territory. That usually refers to, let's say, a false 9. It's a player who's not really a striker, who plays a little closer to the middle, and is more akin to a 10 or an 8. Or a false 7 who isn't a pure striker or a winger but is used as a distraction tool because of their speed.

Like I said, the numbers are a little more arbitrary nowadays and players wear either whatever is available, family numbers if their parents or siblings played and they want to continue the tradition, or their favorite numbers (or if you're Ibrahimovic you wear CR7s number x3 because you're 3x the player he is). The numbers that more or less remain the same with these rules are the #1s, #10s, #7s and often the defense numbers (2-5).

Hope that helps? If you need some visuals I'm also gonna put down this pic I grabbed from the Bundesliga that more or less let's you see the field positions (without a formation though but it helps)

[that-soccer-guru]

Do you know what the xG or xA means in the game/player stats? I have no idea what they are

xG Stat means the expected goals for a team/player. All the goals of a team/player get added up and averaged. so a xG of 3.0 means that that player or team is expected to score 3 goals per game.

xA is expected Assists—same idea, how many assists a player/team is responsible for gets added up and averaged, so every player will have an expected number of assists to goals.

(fun fact: Trinity Rodman has the highest xG + xA in the league at 2.62, she is absolutely killing it, definitely the most promising and most prolific rookie this year, I can't wait to see how she evolves)

[that-soccer-guru]

This may be dumb bc I’m kinda new to all this but why have press as the 1 in the midfield? Why not just do like a 3-1-3-3 with the same back as you said in the 3-5-2 but w press, Morgan, and Heath all up top? Like I said, I’m new to this so idek if a 3-1-3-3 is even a thing lol

Also you may have said this already but is there a reason you choose Alex over Pinoe? Do you think she’s better?

Oh good question, it really just came down to the hypothetical team I put the formation against. CP is very smart and very fast. She seems like a great connection between a solid midfield and two great attackers, particularly against the hypothetical team I had them up against (the Netherlands).

THAT BEING SAID, I assume with this formation she WOULD stay up with Tobin and Alex as a 3 forward line. But it's not a secret that I like CP in the midfield, and I feel like classifying her as a forward is a bit restrictive.

The formation you're looking for does exist! tbh anything you can come up with numbers wise that ends in 11 players on the field exists. It would conventionally be a 3-4-3 though, which is very popular and really handy. It would leave Lindsey Horan behind the forwards and Julie Ertz ahead of the backline with Sam and Rose holding the wing positions in the middle.

As for Rapinoe vs Alex, tbh has very little to do with Alex and more to do with the fact that I don't like Rapinoe. I don't know if THATS not a secret but she'd be really far down in my list if I was a coach. There's no denying she's a great player, but she's too floppy and too injury prone. And I refuse to start a flopping fish in my starting XI. (Granted Alex is not always impressive but she doesn't trip and fall in the box quite as much in such dumb ways and I appreciate that in a player)

I'm ready to get my metaphorical ass kicked by Rapinoe fans, bring it on. THANKS FOR THE QUESTION THOUGH!!!!

[that-soccer-guru]

Sam anon that like yesterday joined the club of wanting the uswnt to try out new formations. Is there a formation you would suggest that would get horan mewis Ertz and lavelle on the field at the same time?

Oh okay, that's actually not impossible, and I think I've used one before? BUT since you're giving me a very basic premise, let's work with it.

I would probably have all 4 on the field (I assume you mean Sam and not Kristie for the Mewis part) for a tough on the midfield opponent, probably Netherlands? Especially if they have a fit and tip top DVD and Miedema on the field. Assuming everyone is match fit for the uswnt too I'd go with:

A 3-5 (see as a 1-3-1 for the midfield)-2

Sonnett-Sauerbrunn-Dunn

Ertz

S. Mewis-Horan-Lavelle

Press

Heath-Morgan

With possible substitutes (assuming the 5 sub rule):

KO (for Sonnett), Dahlkemper(for Dunn), Purce(for Morgan—this is MY game and I refuse to consider Midge a defender), Davidson (for Ertz) and K. Mewis (for Rose—minute limiting to prevent injury)

Hit me with your opinions on this one!

[that-soccer-guru]

Ah okay I see now (anon with the European leagues ask here) So basically all the different European countries compete within their own leagues and then the top one or two teams from each league compete for winner takes all for the champions of Europe? Damn sounds exciting I should really get more into woso outside of NWSL! Kinda makes me wish there was something similar to that over here in North/South America :/

Oh bud do I have news for you.....

South America has this. It's called Copa Libertadores Femenina. Since last year Men's teams are forbidden from playing in their version of Copa Libertadores if they don't also have a women's team. It's made up of 16 teams from the leagues of 10 CONMEBOL countries. Next edition is scheduled for March 5-21, 2021 and will be hosted by Argentina. It's the 12th edition.

Currently the 16 teams are chosen by:

The Champions of the 10 leagues in South America

Title Holders

An extra team from whatever country is hosting the competition

4 teams from the most successful countries in the competition, one from each. Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Paraguay (usually the runner ups from the league)

The fun life thing is that, when you look at literally anything the US is the odd man out, not the rest of the world.... so.... you know, good news!

The Americas are well represented in a Champions League style competition, just you know, with CONMEBOL teams.

I hope this news is good?

[itsalwaysagirl]

The rain always brings out the best and worst in us