Jeff CarlisleAmerican football correspondence3 min read
Angel City FC named Becky Tweed as the club’s head coach on Thursday, rescinding the interim tag that had accompanied her since she replaced the fired Freya Coombe last June.
After Tweed took over, Angel City’s record was 2 wins, 6 draws and 3 losses. But under the leadership of this British woman, ACFC regrouped in all competitions and achieved a record of 8 wins, 1 draw and 5 losses. It incredibly advanced to the NWSL playoffs, but in the end the team was eliminated 1-0 by OL Reign.
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“I’m obviously excited and proud,” Tweed said in an exclusive interview with ESPN.
“I think we went through a lot as a team last season and are really excited to move forward. I think when we look around the team and where we are, we feel like there’s a lot of unfinished business. Obviously losing the season The post-game performance was devastating, but we know where we’ve gotten to and we know we can keep going, and that’s a really, really exciting feeling.”
Tweed was born in Bristol, England and played for Bristol City and Millwall. In the United States, she played in the lower divisions of the Women’s Super League, including Jersey Blues and Millburn Magic.
Tweed previously served as a collegiate assistant coach at Monmouth University, a professional assistant coach at New York/New Jersey Gotham FC and a youth international assistant coach for the U.S. Under-20 Women’s National Team. His only head coaching experience before Angel City was as interim head coach for Gotham for one game.
But once Tweed got the keys to Angeles City, she quickly settled into the role of manager.
She said the key to Angel City’s turnaround is creating a more competitive environment within the team where every player feels like they have a chance to get playing time. This attitude helps with the team’s preparation and fosters a “bigger than the 11 men named to start” attitude.
“Once we get that support, once we get that belief, every week someone will score the winning goal or there will be a different player in the game,” she said. “It brings the whole team together and people celebrate each other’s successes while also becoming each other’s biggest competitors.”
Tactically, Tweed opted to keep it simple, emphasizing wing play and getting balanced goals from the likes of Savannah McCaskill, Alyssa Thompson and Claire Emsley, while La Gordon and Paige Nelson kept things tight in the backfield.
“You can talk all the tactics you want in the world, but unless you do the ugly things well, unless you do the graft and the substantive things that sometimes people don’t see, you’re not going to bring yourself any luck” Weed said. “I think that’s where in the structure of our defense, we just talk about the details and own the details and work on the ugly things and do the ugly things well.”
Talking about the team’s offense, Tweed said: “We don’t mind being predictable, but we have to be very good at it, because if you are predictable but you are really good, you are still difficult to predict.” Defending. “
Angel City does have some work to do in the offseason. The team has eight players eligible for free agency, including Gordon. But Tweed feels that the team has laid a foundation. After the preseason, there will be time to expand the team’s offensive methods.
Given the star-studded ownership group led by team president Julie Uhrman – which includes Mia Hamm, Natalie Portman, Ya America Ferrera, Abby Wambach and Serena Williams – Tweed is expected to receive a ton of support.
“It’s just polishing some details,” she said. “I think we have to be more flexible tactically and we have to ask other teams a little bit more. But not outside of who we are. I think it’s two or three ways to play but it all comes down to looking back For us, as a team, we just show different spaces.”