Preseason is officially underway at Angel City. Things have changed since writing the 2024 Postmortem, but I think fans may have hoped for a slightly more lively offseason than what’s been presented so far.

In early December the club parted ways with both Head Coach Becki Tweed and General Manager Angela Hucles Mangano. Two moves I wasn’t sure the club would make, but two moves that I think were necessary for the club to move forward. I am hoping that this, along with the next move to be discussed, opens up a new chapter for Angel City on the pitch.

On January 15, Mark Parsons was announced as Angel City’s new Sporting Director. Somewhere between Parson’s introduction to the club and the release of the preseason roster on January 27, the Interim Head Coach switched from being Eleri Earnshaw to Sam Laity. Truthfully, I do not know much about either of these people. However, from cursory research, both seem to be respected in the league despite each of them falling short in their most recent appointments. Parsons appears to have played an important role in turning the Washington Spirit into a playoff team during its first couple of seasons, and had hands in bringing a lot of talent and trophies to the Portland Thorns between 2016 and 2021. Laity was an assistant at Seattle Reign for many years, including during both of Laura Harvey’s tenure. Even though his time as Head Coach at the Houston Dash turned out poorly, it seemed that the NWSL community felt he had been deserving of the job. With my limited knowledge of these two, it seems like Parsons could be the right man for the Sporting Director role and I hope that he will not be hamstrung by Urhman and just be allowed to do his thing. It is clear at this time that Laity is meant to be an interim and the search for the right Head Coach is still on. In a recent interview, Parsons implies that they are in talks with candidates who could be available as early as the end of preseason and as late as the end of the European season. In the meantime, it seems like Laity could be sufficient for the time being. Both Parsons and Laity appear to have taken 2024 off, so I hope that they come into this new team and season feeling fresh and ready to push this club in the right direction.

Back in November Angel City announced that it would be taking over the Los Angeles Rams former training facility on the California Lutheran campus. On January 23, they cut the tape on this beautiful, professional facility. The nine acre performance center is certainly an upgrade from the puny tents next door the team had been using since its inaugural season. Between bringing in Parsons and the swiftness with which new controlling owners Willow Bay and Bob Iger squared away the training center hopefully bodes well for what’s to come for Angel City.

Now for what’s going on with the roster. I think this is where the fans may be feeling a bit more antsy. We saw departures from Madison Curry, Didi Haracic, Jasmyne Spencer, Meggie Dougherty-Howard, Messiah Bright, and Katie Johnson. Of these six, I think Curry is our greatest loss. However, the arrivals of Australian international Alanna Kennedy from Manchester City and Japanese international Miyabi Moriya from INAC Kobe Leonessa make her move to Seattle Reign make a little more sense. We also welcome forward and French international Julie Dufour from Paris FC and midfielder Macey Hodge from Mississippi State. I do not know much about either of these players but I have hope that both can find their footing in the squad and make positive contributions. From what I have seen, Hodge should be an upgrade for our midfield, our most desperate need, in my opinion. Following the Coachella Valley Invitational we signed and extended defender Savy King and non-roster invitees Riley Tiernan and Hannah Johnson.

I’m looking forward to a full season of Angelina Anderson as our starting goalkeeper. Hopefully after her first senior USWNT call up this past January she is feeling confident in taking over the role. Haracic never had me convinced that she deserved the number one, and I felt like it was a waste to have Anderson on the bench all season when her career is much younger and her ceiling is much higher.

The rest of Angel City’s moves have been the re-signings of Leroux, Press, and Emslie as well as the contract extensions of Vignola, Anderson, A. Thompson, and G. Thompson. Leroux faces a lot of criticism from fans for fair enough reasons, but the deal is done and for now I just want to remember that she can come up big in important moments. However, with the departure of Messiah Bright and retirement of Katie Johnson, she and Casey Phair are our two strikers. Phair saw zero regular season minutes in 2024, and I am hoping that the coaching staff can get her to a point where they at least feel confident in having her support Leroux as a substitute if not take over her starting role. The other resignings and contract extensions I feel okay about. Their desire to stay hopefully is another signal that the future direction of this club is a positive one.

Right now, it looks like our roster is moving in the right direction. The Starting XI right now probably looks like this:

Anderson

G. Thompson - Gorden - Reid - Vignola

Hodge - Zelem - Fuller

Press - Leroux - A. Thompson

I think it’s solid and workable. If everyone is fit then we have a lot of dangerous pieces that can come off the bench, particularly in the forward line. Despite the departures, I think the bones of the team are good. If Laity can implement a style of play that’s better suited to our players and Parsons can shore up the roster with quality depth moving forward then I think Angel City should at least be playoff competitive. However, I don’t want to go into this season with too many expectations positive or negative because while I think overall these moves are generally good, I still think that the club needs to prove itself to me that they’re really taking the on-the-pitch product seriously. That will come with the quality of future moves to be made and results this upcoming season.