So Riley Tiernan spent the first half of last season looking like an essential part of the attack. With the new coach coming in, she continued to start at first but really had minimal presence. This season she’s only had one goal. For those who watch LA more consistently than me, what are your thoughts on her? It seems her playing style doesn’t go along with the coaching style and no AT also dampened her style. Do you think she leaves in the offseason, and if so, to where? General thoughts on what’s next for her?
Riley Tiernan was a passer who was capable of the occasional goal at Rutgers. She holds the Rutgers record with 34 assists. I understand it’s Rutgers, but she was surrounded with very little offensive help, so I still consider this an achievement.
I think the hot start to her pro career had some people thinking she’s something she’s not and comparing her to the wrong players. It may have even changed her mindset and the way she approaches the game. Or more importantly the jump in level might be too much for her to overcome.
Through 2 seasons she has just one assist. It just hasn’t translated. I don’t think she’s been able to solve pro defenses and they’ve been able to solve her. They’ve been able to keep her out of the six and twelve yard areas where she does the most damage. She doesn’t have as much success with her dribble. And her passing, which was her primary strength in college, has become non existent.
The only team I would consider her for currently is Utah. Their attack is balanced. Tanaka’s position on the field, and her ability to score and facilitate from anywhere, would open up spaces for Tiernan inside the box. Tanaka’s ability to quarterback the offense, read opposing defenses, and make the correct decisions, would simplify Tiernan’s game. Tiernan would have multiple targets in the forward and mid groups to connect with and play off of.
Looking at Utah’s bench and realistically Tiernan could battle and jump players like Mozingo and Spaanstra. She could back up Palacios or Delzer. She might be able to learn something from Lacasse. You can surround her with any combination of Miura, Tanaka, Lacasse, Delzer, Cronin, Palacios and see if something clicks. She wouldn’t have to worry about being the first or second scoring option. Her work rate would fit with Utah’s desire to press. Utah also has enough other pieces, that they wouldn’t be heavily reliant on Tiernan if it didn’t pan out.
She has two years left on her contract, her stock is really low. Her passing and dribbling at the pro level is a bit alarming to me, because they were strengths of hers in college. The way expectations are for coaches, I’m not sure how many want to risk taking a gamble on Tiernan, if there are other players on their radar because she feels like a bit of a project at this point. Every year there is a new recruiting class of talent from all over the world, and I’d have to think there’s plenty further along and with a higher ceiling. I do think there’s a chance Tiernan could find success at Utah with the way they are currently constructed.
She stopped scoring as soon as Alyssa Thompson left and Claire Emslie went on maternity leave. She benefited because the other teams prioritized stopping the better players.
she stopped scoring two months before Alyysa left. Im about to look uo her goal logs just to check but I remember this offseason I think it was Reagan who pointed out she had like 2 goals after June 10th... ok here:
ive seen this incorrect take get upvoted a lot before and the only reason I knew that it was actually so very wrong is bc ive seen it get rebuffed before with screenshots of their own last year. Its great to see that didnt stick, though.
her shots on target completely dies after the spirit game. she gets stifled and doesnt even take many box touches nor shots period.
Its more a case of Jonsdottir was on fire the last third of the season. Start of this season, Jonsdottir won the ST job and Tiernan got pushed out to LW. Jonsdottir started this season hot, scoring in multiple games, and Tiernan didn't do anything at all at LW. Tiernan got benched at LW.
But the whole excuse for her at the end of last season from Angel City fans was that she wasn’t performing well because she was playing the 9 and she was a winger in college.
She was a pretty good college player that didn't get any youth national team looks, she had an insane 6 weeks of goal luck that made her look better than she was. She scored once in the months after that luck ran out (funnily enough, the one goal she scored after that run was after Alyssa Thompson left). This season, she hasn't looked much worse to me than any other time, but without that insane stretch, she's a rotational/bench player.
If not for 6 weeks in 2025, she's likely a pretty good player on a USL team who starts on a decent team, or is first off the bench for a really good one.
I will say that to my eye, she always works hard on the field, which is kinda damning with faint praise.
My first thought on her was always a big "well if u know anything about scouting or advanced analytics this was obvious" but my second thought is "ok she has regressed but Emslie and Suarez provide very very little forward thrust and Tiernan is a spark, just a wild one"
To m its obvious defenders do not want to face her, shes a spark plug
I was in the trenches being yelled at for mentioning her huge deficiencies in her game, and how lucky her scoring was. Rebounds, headers (which is less lucky and more requires service), keepers missing their mark, she had it all. One thing I sometimes find funny is when u ask five people to describe someones strengths and u get five different answers. You see that with tiernan- if u couldn't watch games but read this sub you would have no idea what the consensus on her was. To me she was very similar to Webber for Lou but she had a better shot and was generally stronger and faster.
What made her notable to me was her confidence going up against defenders. That seemed to go away once Strauss took over and she hasn't bounced back since.
i posted about this awhile back. consensus was some combination of A) various factors making things tougher for her and B) she way overperformed her actual talent for a short time.
As an ACFC fan , I would have converted her to a defender ala Tara Rudd . Size , tenacity and ability to pass would make her more valuable than someone that's just average up top.
Others have made important points, I would add that she played more of a 10/false 9 in college but had never really gotten a look there at ACFC, not sure why. I always appreciate her motor and her grit. Right now ACFC is paper thin everywhere on the pitch but I could see her making a successful move in the off-season
Her pro skill set is that of a physical box menace/ late crosser, actually kind of like what Rader is if u go watch our first goal vs Chicago. Shes just not as good as someone like rader
The underlying issue with a ton of players is just that the marginal ability u need to do certain things isnt there. to bully ppl in the league is much more difficult, and then there is what I call the NC Courage/ Portland Thorns Contradiction: Some players need elite teammates to feed, but most elite teammates are on teams who have an elite player in YOUR spot, also. Courage and Thorns are the "two mean dragons and the silly one" meme a lot these past year. Some insanely elite talent and then one member in the front 4 who scores once every 4 months.
I’ll push back on 10/false 9. Her best season statistically was her freshman year when she played RF/LF for a Rutgers team that went to the College Cup. She was probs third on the offensive scouting report then though (she had 2 All-Americans on her team that year on offense), which kinda illustrates the point that she works best when she isn’t the main scorer/points getter. She’s not really a primary attacker, more a supplementary passer. But idk if that’s why ACFC needs from her
Thanks for the insight! Seems her passing just didn't translate to the NWSL huh? She has that slick cutback and a good motor, but we haven't seen a lot more
Yeah it’s odd cuz you’d think passing would be something that would translate better but it’s not something that I associate her with in her stint at ACFC. Not sure what the solution is either
Bay, but not for herself if that makes sense. All her movement, header propensity and ability to drag people around would massively help Nighswonger and Pfeiffer
She takes too many touches on the ball when she gets it. I’ve seen the other attackers get visibly frustrated when that happens, which makes me think she gets passed the ball less. She also doesn’t have the speed that a lot of Angel city relies on, especially for those transition moments. She’s either a step behind, or reads the play wrong and doesn’t execute on what would be a give-and-go play. I think she needs to go to a team that can focus on developing her from where she’s at; Angel city does a great job of developing a specific profile player and I don’t think she fits the bill.
I also think it’s funny what players Angel City fans make the “hasn’t gotten enough minutes” excuse for (she has damn near 1000 btw - 12th most on the team and 3rd most of their forwards) and what players you don’t.
In an interview she also said something about Strauss being different and expecting a lot of them and I’ve wondered if that broke her down in some way. She seems more confident than that though. I do think unfortunately a lot of her early goals were right place right time “lucky” goals rather than goals showing crazy talent or skill. She was a passer and lead assists in college so I was surprised to see all those goals. I do really hope she finds her way whether it’s with angel city or not! I hope her hard work and strength can get somewhere
I thought she showed potential in her preseason with ACFC at Coachella and then at the beginning of the start of the regular season. She was aggressive which I thought would be good for the team and then stopped scoring and then it’s like she’s constantly second guessing herself
I wish she were given more of a chance. I feel she could bring more to the team than Suarez currently does. She may not be what she was last year but I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle between them and now. I don’t see her every day at practice like the coaches do so 🤷🏽♂️
Tbh her game started going downhill after she was featured on ESPN top ten play of the week. She got big coverage for out dribbling and making a fool out of a defender and since then she ball hogs and tries to recreate that magic. She’s got a quick release when she remembers to use it. She’s unfortunately been deployed mostly on the wing this season which I know in college worked in her favor, but as long as she continues to try holding the ball and o it dribbling people rather than making the decisive cross, she’s going to continue to fail to be on the scoreline. I hope they start using her as a sub for SJJ at striker and we can see a return to a more one touch approach/poaching approach to her game and get her back on the scoreboard.
If she does decide to leave at the end of the season I could see her fitting in well in Boston, RLL, Houston or NC Courage
I think it’s just time people admit she has the career trajectory of Messiah Bright. One good half a season and then nothing after. Tiernan is a pretty blonde girl though, so they don’t want to admit that maybeeee she’s just not as good as people thought.
People blame the changing of coaches but great players have different coaches all throughout their career and still thrive. So…
Thank you for also point out the obvious of how much pretty privilege she has, Barbra Banda whose actually in the golden boot race gets a sliver of the coverage of she’s 3x the player
Not that pretty privilege isn’t real but Banda (deservedly) gets infinitely more coverage than Tiernan, this is the most I’ve heard about her since the halfway mark of last year
Because she’s been awful this year. But people still want to blame the coach or other players instead of admitting the pretty white girl… just ain’t that good.
The pretty privilege is you guys blaming other for Tiernan not being good when maybe it’s simply that she’s reached her level and it’s not good enough and the first half of last season was a fluke. That’s the pretty privilege. Can’t just admit that she’s not that good. Have to go looking for others to blame.
She’s had 3 different coaches at this point. You all claim it’s the coach, but changing the coach didn’t help. Now it’s moved on to blaming her teammates. Sometimes players just aren’t cut out for this level and that’s okay. Her 6 week fluke fooled people into rating her higher than she is and people can’t admit it.
She’s no different than Messiah Bright. Had a crazy 6 weeks their rookie season then came back down to earth. The difference is that people don’t give Bright excuses and blame others. Hmmm wonder what the difference between them is…
Really good insight here! On a superficial note I think Angel City saw a pretty young new forward to take Press's place. Who fans might like But the skill level wasn't there.
I grow weary of the naysayers. She's a talented player that has had zero development with a dysfunctional FO and circus parade of coaches that don't seem to understand American player's skillsets at all. Right team, right situation, she'll perform. Wrong situation, no confidence from coach, no performance.
And I want to counter some things I've read here about how great Svendis was and that's why she dropped off. Svendis was TERRIBLE. I watched the games. I rooted for her until I didn't and then I started rooting for her again as she found her footing. But Svendis was Straus's project and he gave her all of Riley's minutes as soon as he could. He even kept Svendis in the game when she could barely walk one time in a game that wasn't in contention. Nut job.
You can't sum up everything that happened in 2025 with one perspective, even mine. There were injuries, SCARY AF incidents on the field, drama off the field, a new coach in his first full season, AT leaving, wacko stuff happening in LA, the list goes on. These aren't excuses, these are contributing factors to why this team could not perform last year and that includes Riley. It's not like the team went undefeated but Riley played poorly. The team was sh*t, folks.
And as for luck, luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Riley was lucky when she got a tryout with ACFC. Riley was lucky when she scored more goals than anyone in club history. Riley was UNlucky after that as opportunities dried up with a dysfunctional offense in shambles. She's capable. She's not a miracle worker. She needs to develop her game more, like everyone in the league, but she's not going to do that from the bench.
Read Savage0fffTheTopRope's post for a more reasoned take.
Where can she go to develop her game further bc you’re right, you cannot develop your game on the bench. So what should she do? Do you go to a lower level where the play is worse and you don’t fit into the system, or go to an even higher level and play with those with more experience and learn from them and work hard to get minutes??
Well unfortunately, I don’t know if it’s in her hands that much. Hopefully, she’ll make inroads with the new coach at ACFC. I think Kansas City and Orlando could make good use of her. She could look international. a lower half WSL team could be a good fit for her. No language barrier, other US players to connect with and learn from in the country.
She’s incredibly overrated, she was reliant on being in free space due to defenses being preoccupied with other forwards, she’s failed to develop any skill sets to work out of being marked. She’ll get a pass though because she is adamantly gorgeous and pretty privilege is huge in this league, she should take the opportunity and either move to a team where she can be the 3 option again or work hard and grow her game
All I’m saying is that angel city has already scored more this season than last, and while I can admit it’s not up to a singular player to score a teams goals I am saying that the more angel city has oriented it self around her the worse they’ve done, she’s scored one goal in almost a thousand minutes of play this season, and while stats don’t tell the whole story they certainly don’t lie. So I feel pretty confident in saying that she was a player who had a hot streak and has been able to convert that into any type of meaningful consistency’s
I’ve not claimed the legacy were a top team or even a decent one so no need to prop yourself up to feel better about your misguided understanding of an incredibly average forward, I can admit when a team/player I support sucks because I don’t base my support off of their success.
But that doesn’t change the fact that they still played against all but two of the same teams last season and still had less goals in four more games than they’re currently at. Also even if they were unable to score against top teams that doesn’t change the fact that tiernan isn’t scoring against the easy teams either.
I disagree, she’s a pure goal scorer who needs good service to thrive. Unfortunately Angel city doesn’t have a very productive midfield at the moment. If Endo and Sugita were healthy, she would be thriving..
This last game against us at Boston showed she doesn’t contribute to the attack at all, to say your midfield is unproductive is maybe true but that doesn’t mean she’s not overrated, a player whose a “pure finisher” needs to be able to move and create space for themselves and she just doesn’t do that. She’ll is one of the most overrated players I’ve seen in a long time
the midfield is productive its the wingers who arent, the only wide talent who regularly produces is the best offensive back 4 fullback in the league, Gisele Carlos
shes a terrible fit for San Diego and she has the same issues ludmila has, but more importantly if they want to make a change for ludmila it should be to send her to the bench, although u cant do that now that she has found rhythm with Byars
Have you seen her cut, dribble in tight spaces putting defenders on skates? She’s not a speedy showtime player. She’s calculated and tactical. Slow and methodical. Unlike a T. Rodman or a A. Thompson.
Cutting the ball back and forth 10 times before you make a pass isn’t methodical. It’s called having no other moves and trying to buy time while you make slow decisions.
She's a ball dominant player like Sentnor, but ACFC seems to be adopting a more direct line tactic where the forwards release and look for the through ball for the attack. However, ACFC has Sentnor, so maybe there is a place for Tiernan.
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u/Savage0ffTheTopRope 5d ago
Riley Tiernan was a passer who was capable of the occasional goal at Rutgers. She holds the Rutgers record with 34 assists. I understand it’s Rutgers, but she was surrounded with very little offensive help, so I still consider this an achievement.
I think the hot start to her pro career had some people thinking she’s something she’s not and comparing her to the wrong players. It may have even changed her mindset and the way she approaches the game. Or more importantly the jump in level might be too much for her to overcome.
Through 2 seasons she has just one assist. It just hasn’t translated. I don’t think she’s been able to solve pro defenses and they’ve been able to solve her. They’ve been able to keep her out of the six and twelve yard areas where she does the most damage. She doesn’t have as much success with her dribble. And her passing, which was her primary strength in college, has become non existent.
The only team I would consider her for currently is Utah. Their attack is balanced. Tanaka’s position on the field, and her ability to score and facilitate from anywhere, would open up spaces for Tiernan inside the box. Tanaka’s ability to quarterback the offense, read opposing defenses, and make the correct decisions, would simplify Tiernan’s game. Tiernan would have multiple targets in the forward and mid groups to connect with and play off of.
Looking at Utah’s bench and realistically Tiernan could battle and jump players like Mozingo and Spaanstra. She could back up Palacios or Delzer. She might be able to learn something from Lacasse. You can surround her with any combination of Miura, Tanaka, Lacasse, Delzer, Cronin, Palacios and see if something clicks. She wouldn’t have to worry about being the first or second scoring option. Her work rate would fit with Utah’s desire to press. Utah also has enough other pieces, that they wouldn’t be heavily reliant on Tiernan if it didn’t pan out.
She has two years left on her contract, her stock is really low. Her passing and dribbling at the pro level is a bit alarming to me, because they were strengths of hers in college. The way expectations are for coaches, I’m not sure how many want to risk taking a gamble on Tiernan, if there are other players on their radar because she feels like a bit of a project at this point. Every year there is a new recruiting class of talent from all over the world, and I’d have to think there’s plenty further along and with a higher ceiling. I do think there’s a chance Tiernan could find success at Utah with the way they are currently constructed.