Lady Vols Soccer ⚽️ Tennessee @ Virginia Tech 11/15 Friday 7PM Blacksburg VA ⚽️ NCAA TOURNAMENT First Round ESPN+

#5,910
#5,910
Hayes is a good coach--won a lot of WSL titles in England with Chelsea. No national team experience but she's coached a lot of top
players over the years, so knows the ropes. Her timing is good, IMO, as the NT is turning over---most of the veteran players have retired or have at most a year left (Morgan, Saurbrunn)--so she'll mostly avoid having to deal with the politics of that situation.

RE the Vols, had UCLA won its first-round match, as everyone expected of course, our team would be headed to warm Los Angeles. Now, with the Bruins shocking loss, we'd have a easier 3rd round match if we can get by Nebraska--but the bugeaters have a good team and it's likely to be cold. Let's hope it not like our 3rd round trip to Michigan two years ago when we were apparently a tired team and the weather was awful---cold and drizzly, as I recall--and a good Michigan team bossed us.
 
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#5,917
#5,917
brittannica said:
Am very curious about Jaida and her plans/goals. Seemingly if she wants to play professionally she will return next year, but our frontline also appears to be getting crowded.
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The problem would be that Thomas, Runyon and Simmonds are all natural center forwards--and that is the only position, IMO, that Thomas and Simmonds can play. Simmonds played wide this season--but she was not at all effective in that role. Lawton is much more naturally a wide player, which is why she was much more influential than Simmonds at that position. Runyon is also very definitely a center forward. She perhaps could play wide--but she'd probably be less effective. We could play a 4-4-2, which is what we played two years ago when we had so much success, and then you could play two of the three up top and they could move around in the attacking half as needed and not necessarily stay wide.

We were arguably dumb this year to play a 4-4-3 because we didn't have the wide forwards to be effective with it. Simmonds and Nelson were not effective at all. Almost nothing in terms of goals or assists from either of them. It's only when Lawton started on the left, after Runyon's injury, that we got better, as then Simmonds could move to the CF position. It's not like she's been great there, either, but she's been better there than outside. Nelson remains ineffective The fact that Kirt has started her every game at forward is evidence, to me, of Kirt's highly questionable decision-making. We'd be better off playing Greiner at that position--much faster than Nelson, very competitive, a promising player---and giving her valuable experience. She couldn't be any less effective than Nelson--and she's got upside. Giving heavy minutes to seniors who are not effective is not smart coaching. Greiner has played as a sub at CF this year, coming in late in the first half for Runyon, but she looks like a more natural wide forward to me.
 
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#5,918
#5,918
turbovol said:
The problem would be that Thomas, Runyon and Simmonds are all natural center forwards--and that is the only position, IMO, that Thomas and Simmonds can play. Simmonds played wide this season--but she was not at all effective in that role. Lawton is much more naturally a wide player, which is why she was much more influential than Simmonds at that position. Runyon is also very definitely a center forward. She perhaps could play wide--but she'd probably be less effective. We could play a 4-4-2, which is what we played two years ago when we had so much success, and then you could play two of the three up top and they could move around in the attacking half as needed and not necessarily stay wide.

We were arguably dumb this year to play a 4-4-3 because we didn't have the wide forwards to be effective with it. Simmonds and Nelson were not effective at all. Almost nothing in terms of goals or assists from either of them. It's only when Lawton started on the left, after Runyon's injury, that we got better, as then Simmonds could move to the CF position. It's not like she's been great there, either, but she's been better there than outside. Nelson remains ineffective The fact that Kirt has started her every game at forward is evidence, to me, of Kirt's highly questionable decision-making. We'd be better off playing Greiner at that position--much faster than Nelson, very competitive, a promising player---and giving her valuable experience. She couldn't be any less effective than Nelson--and she's got upside. Giving heavy minutes to seniors who are not effective is not smart coaching. Greiner has played as a sub at CF this year, coming in late in the first half for Runyon, but she looks like a more natural wide forward to me.
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Hope that someone from the UT staff is reading your comments.
 
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#5,922
#5,922
Well, I made the mistake at looking at the weather forecast for Lincoln. If we were playing tonight it would be nice--low of 49. But we're playing Friday night and the forecast is for major temp drop and low of 28. Sux. So probably low-mid 30s when the game starts, I would think. Let's be ready for it.
 
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