Quotes & Notes | Portland Thorns FC 1, Western New York Flash 0 | Apr 18, 2015

Thorns FC Communications

Portland Thorns FC Quotes

Portland Thorns FC head coach Paul Riley
General thoughts on Saturday’s match…
“When you look up and see zero corner kicks it probably tells the story for us, we didn’t penetrate anywhere near like we did last week, but you can’t question the effort. The effort was unbelievable. Losing Kat [Williamson] at halftime changes a little bit. We went from thinking we were going after another goal, or two goals or three goals to thinking we don’t have another center back that’s available for selection so at that point we had to go to four at the back which threw us a little bit that first 10 minutes of the second half. We flipped a couple formations through the second half trying to get a grip of the game and I think we got a grip of the game. It was a difficult game and we thought it would be after they lost 5-1 last week. They weren’t coming here to entertain. They came here to be physical with us, knock us around, get into us. Hats off to them, I thought they played really well and made it difficult for us. I credit our group, they hung in there and it wasn’t pretty like last week. It was just down and dirty, blue collar and they did that all across the board from numbers 1-14.”

On injuries sustained during the match…
“I think Tobin [Heath] was just a cramp. Sinead [Farrelly] got cramped, too. Kat had a concussion at halftime so it was a big loss for us obviously having a leader in the back. In the first half we looked very comfortable, we didn’t play with enough tempo first half but we played well, it was good football. Tobin was flying in the first half, it was like the opposite of last week. Tobin was flying and Kendall [Johnson] was a little bit quiet in the first half. We talked about it at halftime and halfway through the halftime team talk we got news that Kat wouldn’t be going back out and we had to move pretty quickly to sort that situation out. Rhian [Wilkinson] has been with us for one practice, so you throw Rhian in and we weren’t going to go with three and we changed to four immediately with two full backs and just hung around I guess, we didn’t do too much in the second half. I didn’t think we were in jeopardy in the second half, I think we did enough still to get the result and I think we deserved the points in the end.”

On Allie Long’s play and changing formations…
“Allie seems to enjoy getting into the opponent’s box, she had a couple good chances today and took the goal. I’m not sure she knew the goalkeeper was coming. I thought that would settle us down and that did settle us down in terms of the football. In the second half we went to a 4-2-3-1 and her, Jodie [Taylor] and Tobin were just switching around when we brought Sinc [Christine Sinclair] in up front and obviously Mana [Shim] was on that left-hand side when she was in. We went with what I call the ‘Timber’ formation, they like to play in that formation, so we went back to that. We played it in preseason and it’s not a formation we would normally play, but it’s just the pieces that were left out on the field and we had to adjust to what the pieces were. As long as we kept McCall [Zerboni] and Sinead covering in front, I thought we would be all right. They threw some numbers at us the last 5-10 minutes, but I didn’t think we were ever in that much jeopardy. Nadine [Angerer] had a good game. Hats off to Emily [Menges] and Nort [Courtney Niemiec], they did a great job defensively. It was Nort’s first game so she looked a little nervous in the first 15-20 [minutes] but defensively I thought she did very well.”

On Christine Sinclair’s play…
“One of the reasons for putting Sinc in was to settle us down and get some leadership and also [manage] set pieces. They were pumping balls in and just having Sinc in there is a lifeline almost because she’s so good in the air. And then when you’re under pressure and you can throw one at Sinc and she can cover it up I think it helps us. When Sinc comes onto the field it’s a big lift to all the players to be perfectly honest with you, she certainly was tonight. I think she shows some good qualities. Sinc is still a really good player. Some people say she might be a little bit older, but I think she’s still an unbelievably good player. She’s going to lead Canada this year in the World Cup and I still think she’s got a couple good years ahead of her.”

On managing injuries to the defense…
“First thing you do is find out where everybody is tomorrow morning at practice and we go from there and start plotting the week and see what we can do. We have a couple amateurs that have been with us that we can bring in and it might be an opportunity for one of them to jump in. It might switch our formation, we might have to adapt it a little bit. We’ve talked about adapting all preseason, we’ve changed to four and gone back to three and back to four [in the back] during games so they get used to something happening like what happened today. I thought it helped us out having been through that pattern. They didn’t really get rattled. Once they got through the first 5-7 minutes in the second half, they played really well. Rachel [Van Hollebeke] has a slight hamstring strain so we’ll hope to get some strength back in it by next week and I’m hoping I’ve got a difficult job next week with four of them and we decide whether to go four or three [in the back], hopefully we will have at least four [healthy defenders] for next week.”

On what still needs improvement…
“The one thing is consistency. We talked about it most of preseason and we talked about our process of being consistent, so in practice making sure the practices are at the same level every day and whether it’s Tuesday or Thursday that the practices are at a high level and then taking it into the games whether you’re home or away, whether you’re on a 120-by-75 field or a 60-by-90 field just to be able to have that same consistency no matter what the field type is, no matter what the weather conditions are, no matter what team we’re playing and that’s a challenge to all the players. For me it’s just a process with each individual player; the group is included. We showed a different piece tonight, a different bit of character and I’m happy with that. Last week we played really well, played some great football, and I didn’t think we let it get to our heads. I think they were really blue collar today. They got the job done. I think everyone looked at each other at halftime and said we were going to have to buckle down without Kat in the lineup and everybody buckled down. I think if we can show that side that’s always a good side. I think maybe that side was missing a little bit last year especially on the road. I think that will give us a little bit more consistency. Winning is good, it’s always good, it starts to breed among the players and we always say if you’re in the process of making a cake and there’s an ingredient missing in the cake, the cake doesn’t taste quite the same and I think when you take Kat out and there’s a missing ingredient then the process is a little bit harder and I think we showed that in the second half, but the rest of them dug in so I’m happy with that.”

Portland Thorns FC midfielder Allie Long
On her goal on Saturday…
“As soon as Sinead put her head up I made a run up behind Whitney [Engen] and I saw the goalie run forward so I just tried to flick it on her and hopefully it went on target and went in.”

On if she collided with the Flash goalkeeper…
“Not really. I felt her on my back. She was trying to go for the header but we didn’t necessarily collide. I think she was just trying to win it. The ball was so perfect I was just able to get to it first.”

On switching between forward and midfielder position…
“I really love that set up. I love being able to attack when it’s on and also when we rotate and maybe someone else can get through; I like to hold and create from the back. The No. 6 role, No. 8, or No. 10 role are all roles I really like to play in. Whatever is on and whoever is free is kind of the attacker and it’s a great set up. I really enjoy it.”

On team blending with a revolving lineup…
“I think Rhian had to come in when Kat came off and she did great. She stepped in. She’s had one practice with us so it was really great to see. Kaylyn [Kyle] came in at the end for Tobin and Sinc of course she’s been here, so she knows everyone. It’s been great and the people that needed to step up did excellent. I really didn’t feel there was any uncertainty. I think it was really fluid.”

Portland Thorns FC goalkeeper Nadine Angerer
On the defense staying composed against pressure…
“I think we played very well even if we had pressure. We were very calm, stayed calm and had a lot of confidence. We just kept the ball and that’s very positive.”

On communication in the back line…
“It was very good, but I think that’s the key. You have to talk. You have to communicate. You have to get your information. Especially here, it’s so loud but it worked very well and this is one of the key points why we won today.”

On if changes to the back line created any hiccups…
“We adapted of course but that is also very good this year. We compensate players. We can compensate them but never the less, Kat is very important for us so we were a little bit shocked when she went out but I think Nort and Emily did very well and Rhian went in and she did a great job so we are very flexible and that is also very good.”

On how practicing different formations impacts flexibility…
“That’s why we train every day. We always play in different formations and get to know each other. We know what players can do, where their weaknesses are, so we really know each other very well and you can compensate it. That’s why it’s important to train hard in different formations with different players. That’s very important.”

Notes:

Thorns FC midfielder Allie Long made her 46th career appearance for Portland on Saturday, moving into a tie for first place on the all-time career appearance list with defender Nikki Marshall.

Defender Emily Menges made her 10th consecutive start, dating back to the 2014 season.

Forward Jodie Taylor earned her first career start for Thorns FC in the match.

Defender Kat Williamson wore the captain’s armband for a second consecutive match.

Long tallied her 15th career goal, moving into a tie for first-place on the all-time Thorns FC scoring list with forward Alex Morgan.

Midfielder Sinead Farrelly tallied a point for a second straight match, recording her first career Thorns FC and NWSL assist.

For a second consecutive season, Long has scored a goal in the first two matches of the regular season.

Defender Rhian Wilkinson and midfielder Kaylyn Kyle made their Thorns FC debuts, entering the match in the second half.

Goalkeeper Nadine Angerer and forward Christine Sinclair made their first appearances of the 2015 campaign on Saturday.

Angerer recorded her fifth clean sheet for Thorns FC and has registered a clean sheet in each of her last three regular-season appearances for the club, dating back to the 2014 season.