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I’m not surprised Berger left Chelsea, especially after whatever seemed to happen with Hayes. But I am shocked she moved to the U.S. Can’t say I’m upset tho. Will be interested to see what happens with carter
Tbh if she has any hope of playing time before the olympics it is nwsl or sweden. All the other seasons are ending.
I think this says a lot about the recent decline of Germany as a footballing hub for women
Is it funding or lack of support infrastructure? I know the German federation is still fully supporting/financing the league. How can they keep up with the NWSL, WSL and others who are rapidly growing and commercially expanding?
Every league is growing and expanding. But within Germany you don't wanna join a club that has no chances in playing champions league nor winning the title after the season. Bayern won't change their gk and just signed a new German 20 year old talent. Wolfsburg still has frohms and signed a younger one last year. And Frankfurt has the German number 3. Even Hoffenheim seems to hold onto their current one but probably lack in financial options to get a world class gk. So there's no interesting club at all. If Europe has not much else to offer nwsl is the best option especially with the salary over there.
What happened with Carter & Chelsea?
Theo Lloyd Hughes said more GKing moves are going to be made so either someone is leaving Gotham or Abby Smith is not having a good recovery
Edit: They did already have a 3rd injury replacement gk so some move has to be made I would think
Attacking Third just had an interview with Puerto Rico GK Sydney Martinez and she mentioned she’s a free agent… wonder if something could be happening there
Oh thats an interesting shout!
It would be hilarious if it was Bouhaddi to Portland.
As much as I'd love to watch Portland struggle even more, please don't let her back in the league
You have no sense of whimsy
My sense of whimsy is as lost as Bouhaddi between the sticks
Gotham released McKinney, a GK replacement player, when they signed Berger. I think Abby's recovery might be slower than expected
I wonder if the Abby Smith injury is worse than we know of.
She’s been listed as season ending injury. Hope she heals smoothly
Big picture view on why this could make sense...
Smith is the starter, but her injury might keep her out most of the year. Miller is good enough to start, be a good #2.
Betos, looks to me, to be very close to done... Her knees were bugging her in Louisville, and I can't imagine they are better now.
That leaves a very real possibility that one bad move with Miller, and you have the hope that Betos can still play at this level (keeping in mind that Gotham's keepers are the most active in the league, other than maybe SD) with IRP backing her up.
If AKB is inexpensive, I see it
Wonder what this means for Carter, if anything
I know of a team that’s just a few hour train ride away that could really use a center back…
DC? I actually feel we have very good defense
Carter for Butel would be a massive upgrade that they would take in a heartbeat
When it comes to CB’s y’all have Tara who is a converted CF who’s good, Butel who is okay, and Krueger who is much better at OB. If any three of them got injured (especially if Weisner and Morris are still out) talk would be screwed. Carter is an excellent defender who would be a really important piece for y’all
Im thinking this too. This comes as a surprise to me because I haven’t caught any wind of AKB choosing to come across the pond.
London to New York is the same level of complicated as LA to New York. Not ideal for most couples either way, but it makes it sound worse to talk about the different country of it all.
London to New York in terms of a time zone difference is much harder to communicate back n forth than the time zone difference of LA to New York.
London is 5 hours ahead of New York. New York is 3 hours ahead of PST in LA. It’s much more manageable to be in the same country if you are doing long distance, given the places you chose as an example.
It's really similarly complicated. Not ideal either way, but it's around a 6 hour flight, and 3 vs 5 hours still makes things similarly complicated timezone-wise.
Gotham playing with Monopoly money, or they’re luring these players with the glamour of Jersey living.
I had to laugh at the sarcasm of “the glamour of jersey living” 😅😆
I wouldn’t give Jersey such a hard time if people who lived there copped to it instead of pretending they live in NYC. There’s no shame in living in Hoboken or Jersey City. There’s shame in lying to cover it, though.
To be fair, it’s mostly the people in the cities closest to NYC who do this. Most NJ folks are pretty proud to be from NJ specifically. It’s a great state and hella underrated. If people could actually stop moving here that’d be great cuz we are very full ;-;
Can confirm. I live in JC (moved *FROM* NYC btw) and love it! Pretty sure KOH and Lynn are my neighbors :)
My cousins live in jersey and they tell me all the time “why did we move here?” They say it’s a wannabe New York light
There is nothing in NJ that resembles NYC whatsoever. They both just share some similar demographics, but the lifestyles are entirely different. There is no "big city" vibe in NJ. It's mostly suburban.
I mean she basically got kicked out of Chelsea, her fee was probably nominal and I don't think most goalkeepers are on a high wage bill? She's probably making less than $100,000.
I just don't get the point for Gotham. I don't think they're really wasting a huge amount of money but I don't understand why you would use an international spot of a goalkeeper who isn't, like, Endler, especially when you have two pretty good goalkeepers already.
It’s the Gotham of it all which is really strange to me. Cassie Miller has shown more than enough to be a starting keeper and if AKB is coming over to back her up, why? You can have a decent backup on a league minimum salary.
Exactly, some teams need keepers, and AKB isn't a bad one, but Gotham doesn't. And it takes a while to adjust to the NWSL for every player, so you're taking a risk by bringing AKB into a new league and potentially getting nothing out of her so just using an international spot for nothing.
If AKB was off to Portland, I'd get that.
Gotham has like 4 spare international spots. They aren't exactly hurting for them
And the keeper situation is interesting because they’ve had turnover and injuries there in ways that many clubs, especially successful ones, do not have.
My bet is that Smith’s injury is worse than previously reported.
New jersey is both the most densely populated state as well as being 50% forest. There are the ramapo mountains for hiking and on player off days (weekdays) transit into the city is extremely good.
I grew up in SE PA and was raised by 2 Brooklyn natives. Shitting on Jersey is in my blood.
Any chance we can get Cassie back then? Just kidding as actually I've enjoying seeing her just ball out with Gotham. I don't know Berger and I know Smith is out on injury, honestly I just hope Cassie gets to start wherever she lands long-term.
The CBS article yesterday mentioned that Gotham could potentially play a 42 game season with the additional tournaments (Liga MX + CCL + potential NWSL post season). Having two starting-caliber keepers in your squad makes a LOT of sense. Theoretically, each keeper could split the load evenly and that would be still mean starting 21 games (which is basically a full season on its own!!)
My gut reaction is that Abby’s injury recovery isn’t going well at the moment and Gotham is trying to balance supporting her vs. rushing her back before she’s ready. If I’m Gotham, it 100% makes sense to keep Betos as #3 and a team leader but to bring someone in with complementary experience to keep pushing Miller and take on some of the load. I would assume we waive our current #3 and then have Miller & Berger rotate - mostly so we also don’t run Miller into the ground
Say what you will about AKB, but a lot of the NWSL 2nd/3rd GKs have not played a ton and/or teams were probably not willing to part with them for anything less than a massive fee. Berger has a lot of experience against a variety of opponents - most notably UWCL matches.
ETA: Gotham waved McKinney, who was an SEI replacement player
I loosely follow Chelsea, but I haven’t ever heard why she hasn’t been playing for them or what happened. I had actually assumed she was injured — anybody know why Hayes wasn’t playing her?
Chelsea is Goalkeeper FC. AKB, Hampton, and Musovic are all good enough to start in the WSL. Hampton’s ceiling is probably the highest and she’s comfortable in distribution, and AKB’s form was awful in the first half of the season.
An embarrassment of riches, honestly. Thanks!
She and Musovic were fighting for no. 1 spot first half of the season, but AKB had a poor game against Arsenal (4-1 loss) and hasn’t really played since then. Hannah Hampton was given a chance in December and has pretty much slotted into a convincing no. 1 spot since January - young, high ceiling, really good distribution. Musovic has been playing as second choice keeper, and I assume AKB has been looking for a new team since then
Chelsea has 3 of some of the best in the WSL, but Hayes chooses to only play Hampton and then maybe give Musovic (an amazing GK) a spot in a small cup game. AKB was benched after the Arsenal loss and with her age & form, Hayes just hasn’t played her. Musovic needs to do the same as AKB, her potential is being wasted by Hayes. Look at Musovic in the SWE vs. USA game, where she won the game for Sweden.
Right!! Musovic was incredible in that game. My kids still call her “the stop sign” (I think her kit was red that day). I was so surprised to find out she wasn’t even a starter at Chelsea. I think you’re right, she should find a place where she’s their number 1.
Gotham FC GM sure stays busy!
As a Chelsea fan, this makes me bummed but she wasn't playing anyway and now hopefully I get to watch her in the NWSL.
If she needs a retirement plan i know many catholic schools who would hire her based on this look alone 🩵🩵🦇🦇
I’m confused?
Look at slide 3 and tell me this isn’t school principal https://www.instagram.com/p/C58vPLeOlpe/?igsh=aW9obDA0dDJ4YXpz
Here you go... that is strong stern principal energy. 😅
If only matilda was still on broadway she could moonlight as the mean principal.
Yes!!! She could kill it as the Trunchbull!
Assuming she's a good actress bc she seems to be a good egg and kind human and very un-Trunchbull-like IRL.
jess carter has a contract with chelsea until 2025, but i wouldn’t be shocked if she transfers to the nwsl this summer
i’m confused. why?
Kind of figured there was a pretty good chance this would be Abby Smith’s last season with Gotham but this kind of confirms that.
I dunno. Smith is signed for next year, Miller is out of contact, and AKB/Betos are on an option.
I was more so thinking a trade for Smith to a team where she can be the number one starter. I also think it would be poor asset management to give up all that they did for Miller and Berger and then only get one season out of both of them. Obviously if both of their form tanks then you would look elsewhere but I don’t see that really happening.
I think Smith is the starter if she's healthy enough.
I doubt they gave up anything much to get Berger, and Cassie was I think $100k in allocation money?
Yeah, Miller wasn’t a lot but they did pay a transfer fee for Berger and I just don’t think it makes much sense to pay a transfer fee for a player and then dump them for nothing after one season unless she ends up being truly terrible, which I don’t really see happening.
ORL, ACFC, KCC, and POR all still need to upgrade their GK situations...
And have since late 2023. Puzzling af.
Thorns call dibs on Panos
Okay, but like what's the point? I don't think AKB is stunningly better than Miller or Smith and Miller and Smith both have experience in the NWSL, which means they are actually better for the goal of doing well in this league
This tells me there’s something else going on with Abby Smith. Either they’re trading her before today’s deadline, or her recovery isn’t going as well as initially expected
Sure, but they already have a starting caliber keeper. The one who's been starting for them! Miller hasn't been bad at all and she's actually an NWSL keeper rather than someone who's new to the league like AKB. You use an international spot on a keeper if you want to start them, but I don't get why you would feel such a desire to replace Miller.
This isn't even the sort of joking "greed is a sin" or like "Gotham is getting all the "good" players" thing. It's literally like, why do they want or need her. They don't.
Gotham had multiple international spots unused so there’s really no really no reason not to use it. Its just like timeouts, “you can’t take em home with you.”
They still have three international roster spots left after this signing and I can’t see a scenario where they’d run through them all this season or in the very near future, so I’m not really concerned about that.
Based off of the CBS article from a few days ago, it makes me think that Gotham want two starting caliber goalkeepers and that for one reason or another Abby Smith can’t fill that role this season.
It's not a concern, it's just kind of a strange use for it. It's a player that's pretty much useless for Gotham, who's is, at the worst, going to disrupt the team's play (if she plays) and not do as well as Miller, but Gotham could want to play her because of her stature and being an international player, or at most likely, just sit on the bench and continue to be a "why" player.
Cassie Miller isn't a liability, but surely you can see the difference between Miller and Kingsbury, Sheridan, Naeher, etc. It's sizable. Abby Smith is north of 30 now and isn't guaranteed to be great coming back from injury - look at Franch, she can barely move her feet, and Smith's athleticism was her entire brand as a goalkeeper.
AKB lost her place because of performances that were far below Kingsbury and Sheridan the past year. Thats why Chelsea have played three different keepers over the past year
That being said it makes perfect sense to get AKB. Getting better in any incremental way is what makes teams succeed
AKB isn't definitively the solution though. She'll be in a new league, she's 33, and she always has mistakes in her when I've watched her. My point is not that Miller is the best keeper in the league but that the choice they've decided on is someone with a relatively low ceiling but a high floor (Miller) and a higher ceiling but a much lower floor (AKB). That's risky and not always an understandable move to make in the position they're in.
from 3rd string to second, at best. Insurance policy.
I don't see her better than many choices for Gotham; except their current backups. They still need to replace Betos and Smith with younger players. At 33, I don't see AKB getting any minutes for Gotham.
This is some great news. Another German player in need of playtime joining the nwsl. She's an insanely strong gk and might be better than Germans number 1. Wasn't berger named wsl's best gk in last season by the guardian? Can't wait to see her in action again.
I really thought she and Jess would go to Portland
I’m confused, does Jess have some sort of anger against Hayes? I don’t pay attention to the Chelsea news & media much.