Alright gang. This is it. One last shot to clinch a return to the playoffs. Decision Day, against Steve Clark and the Dynamo. If you can’t get loud at Providence Park, come tap into the match thread to talk through it all.
2 years in a row we have terrible starts to the season which end in losing the final game that gets you in the playoffs. This is on the organization as a whole. A few years back we had a horrendous start to the season, people were wanting Gio out and feeling low. Paulson did an interview saying how they can turn it around and "remember 2015 when we got hot at the right moment". It's like it's actually their game plan for the season and it's total BS.
I get with GW finally getting fired they were a bit behind this offseason, but the organization waited too long to hire Ned, and then get his replacement. They need to finalize their coaching decision fast and start making moves. I don't see a lot of good talent coming here though and that starts with the head coach position.
They have to go get a DP9 locked in and then sort out the midfield. We've got Chara, Ayala, Williamson, Paredes and Evander. Williamson and Evander play a very similar role/position. Evander isn't a typical 10, but he doesn't always show much in the way of a 2 way work rate to be a solid 8. One of them should probably not be here if Ayala can come back healthy since he's 21 and was looking like one of the only bright spots early this year. I'm pretty happy with Ayala's upside and Paredes as a solid 8. I figure Acosta isn't here next year. I think they could move Erik to somewhere he'll play and I don't see anyone taking over Evander's contract so they likely need to make a move and bring in someone else here. An Evander, Chara, Williamson MF trio sounds like we want to give eaten up in transition again.
Since Evander isn't really a 10 but is more of an 8 (just like he was for his previous team [genius scouting there]) then you likely need a big attacking winger signing now that Blanco's contract is up.
They need a new keeper and another CB and they should bring in someone to push Bravo or Mosquera that can possibly play either side. That's a lot to ask. New coach, DP 9, keeper, TAM winger, 6/8, CB, and an outside back at a minimum. That's a LOT for a team where the organization is completely in limbo and is failing to bring in good outside talent to the organization. Paulson should still sell the club, but if we don't hear about signings this year before it's basically preseason get ready for another poor start with another lets hope it ends like 2015 year.
Blanco, yimmi, nieazgoda, mabiala, Loria, ivacic, thanks for your time and work but it's time to go.
Thanks Miles and staff for giving us hope to end the season, but you dropped the ball hard in the last 3 games. Not to mention you were a part of the gio catastrophe. Goodbye.
10 million for Evander. Basically a more expensive Williamson and Moreno. 9 goals 4 assists. That's tied for 28th in goals scored and tied for 60th with 30 other players with 5 assists. Who signed him? Oh that's right.....Ned. goodbye Ned. And honestly the whole FO needs to go. Along with the no ambition man baby Merritt. Your dad fucked this country once and now you are fucking up our team. Gtfo!
Mora has been a breath of fresh air but his injury history makes him a bad bet. Just like I said about nieazgoda before we signed him. He is a perfect backup but we need a true dp striker. 15 to 20 million minimum. Boli ain't the starter either.
And my biggest issue with this team is how poorly this roster has been constructed. We have two wingbacks, not outside backs. Yet we are playing a 4 back system. Our wingbacks have left our channels exposed all season. We have to run a 3 back system to give extra cover for all the space masquera and bravo leave behind them. Either that or run a mid block system. You can't press and run a high line with 7 players in the 18 yard box. Especially when our pressing has been hit and miss all season. We have been good on counter pressing, but when the opposition actually gets setup, they easily beat our press. Our midfield to front line have no idea what their responsibilities are while pressing.
Then we have wingers that can hardly ever make the correct pass, shoot on frame, or beat their markers 1v1. They also are never in a position to cover the back post. Which to me is incredibly negligent considering how many stupid crosses we make every game.
Our dp's have been a joke, which is something i said when we signed them. They proved me right. Thanks for that.
Our midfield. Ffs this area is concerning to me. Chara is a defense first midfielder. Cdm of course. Can we honestly say Moreno, Paredes, Williamson and evander are great defensively? Cause I can't. And that is a problem. We easily get shredded in the midfield. It's one pass into the channel or right up the gut and they beat our midfield because our midfield and wingers struggle to understand when and where they are supposed to step. The only one that does is chara.
And how many times can you get beat on a set piece or corner in a season, cause we hit the mark. COVER THE NEAR POST ON CORNERS! It is soccer 101. That is coaching. And we still get it wrong.
Wtf kind of team are we? High press? Counter press? Bunker? Counter attacking? Mid block? Possession? Cause when we answer those questions it tells you exactly what type of players you need and what skill sets they need. Our team is an eclectic group of players that don't fit any one system. Our scouting and recruiting team is crap
Excellent critique! I bought season tickets again for next year and I can only hope that at least some of your recommendations actually are implemented.
I think you are correct on many of the issues with roster construction. We have wingers and attacking fullbacks, however we don't attack with width. We brought in a center back (Arajou) on a two year contract, who has played more for Peru than Timbers. It is like we don't have player profiles and key qualities for our positions and just recruit based on someone is available.
But yeah, we definitely need a substantial rebuild. Blanco and Yimmi should be out, those two alone put $3m on the wage bill and produced so little. If this was my decision, the only players I'd 100% keep are McGraw, Paredes and Mora. The rest I'd be open to letting them leave for the right offer.
I'd not let go of Ayala, Moreno, Asprilla, Mosquera, Bravo, and of course Chara. Yimmi will be back since he's under contract, but Blanco is gone. Big issue is getting a roster that has a cohesive playing style and can work together to play a system and style of soccer. Right now there's no vision and the roster is a hodgepodge of some talented guys, but the duct tape isn't holding things together.
I'm not against keeping Bravo and Mosquera, however they have to fit how the new coach/team wants to play.
Asprilla, I think we have to consider he will be another year older and do we want a 32 year old winger. He has offered flashes of brilliance, however there's been a lot of indifferent play.
Moreno is one you'd want to keep, however I don't know if he'd want to stay. It might be one that you'd be open to offers.
Again, it comes down to having the right type of player in a position, rather than finding a player who plays a position.
I'd keep Asprilla because he's been good. Sure he's not a game in and game out starter, but he's a physical dude who's good in the air and plays hard. You're not bringing in a better sometimes starter for the price. I agree on having an actual system in place to get player in vs talented individuals.
So there's no question that the team needs a reset. It's time for a lot of people to find new journeys in life and for the Timbers to do something new.
That said, I don't think this is time, right now, for the Timbers to go long on a $20 million dollar DP signing. The track record -- for this organization, for MLS -- for that kind of signing aren't good. We need to focus on fundamental building blocks -- look at what Cincy, St. Louis have done this year, what the Timbers did, actually, when they entered the league. We don't have a foundation for something real ambitious yet.
Teams like Portland, San Jose and SKC shouldn’t be sniffing the playoffs. Worst case scenario, this tier of teams that sucked for extended stretches of the year fights for one spot. Of course I wanted to get in. Might as well.
But I’m happy I don’t have to watch the PK shootoutathon first round. The volume of the field and the format of the playoffs are ridiculous.
Proper playoffs: home and away, tie at the end of 180’ goes to the higher regular season point total. Every round until the one game cup final.
If we can find positives from this result and failure to make play-offs, then it should be that the squad construction is a mess. We have key positions still unfilled in the front office and it shows in our recruitment.
Last season should have been a wake up call that the squad wasn't good enough. Players were retained for this year that have made little to no impact.
I think Ned owns a share of this and should either be in the hot seat to fix things or on the way out. He has brought in Araujo (who?) and a bunch of bits and pieces with no real cohesion or plan. I'm just not sure that a guy who has got us in this place needs to be given more time.
Anyway, I hope to see quick action to clear out the squad and appoint a head coach.
Has there ever been a faster heel turn than the one Steve Clark took tonight? He went from "hey welcome back to Portland Steve" to "YOU SUCK" reeeeeeeeeeally fast. I still don't know what he was doing with his shoes, but all that time wasting and shitfuckery was...rough.
I would have done the same since Portland couldn't cough up the cash to pay him. The guy is one of the best in the league and we let him go. If you want to go far in the playoffs, you have to have a guy who can man the pipes.
Given we let Clark go for a bad bet on Ivacic and brought in Bingham, who is a solid back up but not a starter, then I've no problems with Clark sticking it to us.
At the time Ivacic was outplaying Clark, and I think when he's playing at his best level and one that he ist capable Ivacic is likely a better keeper who was younger with more upside. It made sense, but there were behind the scenes stuff going on, which screwed up on field performances. Maybe they can bring in a good keeper but I doubt the team has much luck bringing in much talent.
Agree. And he made a couple of nice first half saves, kept the game scoreless and kept Houston in the game until they could get in front. How many times did he do that for us in his time here? Oh, and what, a dozen clean sheets this year. Timbers decided not to pay Clark and replace him with Ivacvic and bring in a much, much cheaper backup who is now the starter. Infuriating.
At the same time he’s being a dick to fans that were always good to him and deserve better than being collateral damage if he really was motivated by the contract tonight.
Like the opposite of how some players don’t celebrate goals against former teams
I sit right by the Army, low enough that I can see facial expressions of players. When Clark came out, there was a lot of affection for him - the Dodgy Keeper chant made him smile and laugh, until he put his game face on. There wasn't really vitriol in it, at least it didn't seem that way.
Then, in the..what, 10th? 15th? minute, he made a save, I think collided with someone, and went down...and then he took his shoes off, then he was talking with the ref about his shoes, and he just deliberately started wasting time. And the more boos he heard, the more he did. THAT's when the Army turned on him - it was almost literally a finger snap's worth of time between returning sorta-hero guy and "GET THIS GUY OUTTA HERE". It was amazingly fast.
I'm guessing that Clark didn't appreciate the 'dodgy keeper' chants. Clark is the kinda dude that just uses that to fuel the fire and booing him just encouraged him.
That and the "f*ck Steve Clark" chants and the booing every time he got the ball or turned up on the screen. If negative energy feeds Steve Clark the Timbers supporters definitely did their bit to motivate him.
Ben Olsen: comes on and resurrects Houston. Maybe Porter could do the same for Portland. The reason? He gets the importance of RB and LB, among other things.
Mosquera - a total disaster. Go through the games and see what I saw -- complete and utter defensive liability. The eye test the same -- two steps too late and U11 level defensive ability.
If the Timbers re-hire Caleb Porter at this point, that's a huge - absolutely, inexcusably huge - failure of imagination on their part. Caleb Porter missed the playoffs the year after winning the Cup with Portland, then went to Columbus and missed the playoffs TWICE after winning the Cup there. I'm not sure why the Timbers would want to give him another bite at that particular apple.
Have you seen the other options mentioned? I would take porter over all of them. But of course I would want a new and better coach but based on Evander, nieazgoda, yimmi, and many other stupid decisions, I don't expect our FO to actually go out and get a manager that is quality.
Depressing but fairly predictable. Houston is a much better team than we are - if that is 4th out of 8/9 playoff teams, then we had no business there.
Suspect it will be an offseason of change. The Miles Joseph bump had us all wondering if he would coach himself into a job, but the last 2 matches just showed it was too good to be true.
This team is still the mess it was at the start of the season. This off-season is HUGE for the Timbers; if they get it right, they could be one of the better teams in the league next season. If they do what the Timbers normally do, and futz around the edges without committing to anything resembling serious foundational change, we're in for several more seasons of MLS passing the Timbers by.
But if they take this chance and truly re-shape who the team is and how it is built, this could be a fun team again. I know which option I want; I also, sadly, know which option this team will probably go for.
l want Y Chara, Niezgoda, Blanco, Asprilla, Mabiala, and both goalkeepers gone. I would also listen to offers for McGraw, Mosquera, and Moreno, although those offers would have to be almost-Nagbe level amounts of money.
I don't have a specific list of names as far as targets, but the obvious places the Timbers need to improve are keeper and central defense, and if Blanco and Asprilla both go, there'll need to be someone creative brought in to provide for Mora (and either Boli or whoever replaces him).
Mostly, though, I want Ned to look at the half-empty white board that should be the Timbers roster this winter and see opportunity. I want him to see the opportunity to remake the Timbers into a consistently Shield-challenging team, a team that other teams are nervous about playing. I want the Timbers to realize that MLS as a whole is passing them by, and I want them to change that.
They teased us for that one brilliant week adn then reverted to the bad Timbers we all know and love. From actually looking up at 3rd place (they really blew that match) to 7th to 10th. One spot out of playoffs in a not too difficult Western Conference.
Probably for the best that we miss playoffs and the stupid play-in match. Now time to offload a bunch of players and hopefully bring in some new starters. I'm not holding my breath though.
International breaks do us no favors this juncture in the season. Didn't we lose in injury time last year to LAFC at home - international break - then got trounced at RSL for the nail in the coffin that time? Whatever momentum we seem to generate just gets lost on a FIFA-induced vacuum
It was a bad signing from the get go. Great if he was a TAM and could stay healthy. Terrible as a DP and he still has another year on his contract and I don't know who is dumb enough to buy a "pacey" player in their 30s with regular hamstring issues.
It's like MJ reviewed the results from a few weeks ago -9 straight points and then bloew a chance to vault into rd. Then he probably said, "This is fun! Now it's time for the return of Gio Ball!" The rest is history.
We don't have one player that can score from that angle. We needed one win in the last 3 and we couldn't get it done. now just like every other year, I sit and wait to see if the FO makes the right signings and right decisions. I highly doubt it, but it's always fun until the trash starts piling in. The announcer just said MJ has done a phenomenal job and I would have agreed 4 games ago but not getting one win in the last 3 games and against 2 bottom feeders, tells me he isn't the guy. Time to move on and get a whole new staff.
They moved Asprilla to fullback! So it was more like Asprilla for Mosquera and Boli for Asprilla. Still weird. I'd suggested the possibility of converting Asprilla to a backup fullback but didn't really expect to see it, especially now.
Oh no, Timbers announcer said hope this isn't Blanco's last 32 minutes as a Timber. Beg. To. Differ. Love Blanco for what he brought to the club, but it's time to move on if club is to be more than a nostalgia act.
Is this gio ball? Like wtf happened to 4 games ago. This team has no idea how to attack centrally and consistently cross to nobody. Like wtf happen MJ? He had this team flying and playing great. Now we are back to gio ball. At this point sell the team to another owner cause like others have said, the list of potential coaches is a joke and MJ has lost all momentum good will. Ffs what happened to 2013-2015 Timbers. It's getting hard to watch a toothless Timbers year after year.
Bravo’s been an abject disaster today. It was Mosquera who got caught reaching on the second goal, but something called “Griffin Dorsey” has been getting behind Bravo all match long.
Game. set, match. This abortion of a season is over, and two straight failed seasons are in the bag. Months later than I predicted, but finally dead and buried. No, I take no satisfaction in it. At least we can anticipate some much needed (but likely not sufficient) change in the offseason. Based on the reported finalist list of head coach candidate circulating last month, I'm not terribly optimistic.
If the FO is only looking at recycled candidates, I hope they pick Torrent. Otherwise, we might be in the same spot next year still playing some weird sticky mess of kickball and modern gegenpressing.
If you have a real structure, a high line can be fine- It’s just that the Timbers play defense by guessing, rushing clearances, and stabbing in to compensate for lack of numbers. No team defense to speak of.
We've been great at almost scoring and gave up a silly goal when our "keeper" let a floating ball land right on his knuckles. After all that and still in the game. I, too, would like to see Asprilla over Yimmi.
My dad - who's gotten into soccer by way of Mess - is of course a extremely casual fan? Hanger on? And today he asked me why Messi's goal was disallowed. Now then, I was actually watching Cincy-Atl so I didn't know but asked him if Messi or one of the Miami players was offside. He didn't know which isn't a surpise. Maybe the refs need to go the middle of the pitch and explain themselves like they do in college/NFL?
2 years in a row we have terrible starts to the season which end in losing the final game that gets you in the playoffs. This is on the organization as a whole. A few years back we had a horrendous start to the season, people were wanting Gio out and feeling low. Paulson did an interview saying how they can turn it around and "remember 2015 when we got hot at the right moment". It's like it's actually their game plan for the season and it's total BS.
I get with GW finally getting fired they were a bit behind this offseason, but the organization waited too long to hire Ned, and then get his replacement. They need to finalize their coaching decision fast and start making moves. I don't see a lot of good talent coming here though and that starts with the head coach position.
They have to go get a DP9 locked in and then sort out the midfield. We've got Chara, Ayala, Williamson, Paredes and Evander. Williamson and Evander play a very similar role/position. Evander isn't a typical 10, but he doesn't always show much in the way of a 2 way work rate to be a solid 8. One of them should probably not be here if Ayala can come back healthy since he's 21 and was looking like one of the only bright spots early this year. I'm pretty happy with Ayala's upside and Paredes as a solid 8. I figure Acosta isn't here next year. I think they could move Erik to somewhere he'll play and I don't see anyone taking over Evander's contract so they likely need to make a move and bring in someone else here. An Evander, Chara, Williamson MF trio sounds like we want to give eaten up in transition again.
Since Evander isn't really a 10 but is more of an 8 (just like he was for his previous team [genius scouting there]) then you likely need a big attacking winger signing now that Blanco's contract is up.
They need a new keeper and another CB and they should bring in someone to push Bravo or Mosquera that can possibly play either side. That's a lot to ask. New coach, DP 9, keeper, TAM winger, 6/8, CB, and an outside back at a minimum. That's a LOT for a team where the organization is completely in limbo and is failing to bring in good outside talent to the organization. Paulson should still sell the club, but if we don't hear about signings this year before it's basically preseason get ready for another poor start with another lets hope it ends like 2015 year.
That was rough, we might have squeaked by with a tie...
Blanco, yimmi, nieazgoda, mabiala, Loria, ivacic, thanks for your time and work but it's time to go.
Thanks Miles and staff for giving us hope to end the season, but you dropped the ball hard in the last 3 games. Not to mention you were a part of the gio catastrophe. Goodbye.
10 million for Evander. Basically a more expensive Williamson and Moreno. 9 goals 4 assists. That's tied for 28th in goals scored and tied for 60th with 30 other players with 5 assists. Who signed him? Oh that's right.....Ned. goodbye Ned. And honestly the whole FO needs to go. Along with the no ambition man baby Merritt. Your dad fucked this country once and now you are fucking up our team. Gtfo!
Mora has been a breath of fresh air but his injury history makes him a bad bet. Just like I said about nieazgoda before we signed him. He is a perfect backup but we need a true dp striker. 15 to 20 million minimum. Boli ain't the starter either.
And my biggest issue with this team is how poorly this roster has been constructed. We have two wingbacks, not outside backs. Yet we are playing a 4 back system. Our wingbacks have left our channels exposed all season. We have to run a 3 back system to give extra cover for all the space masquera and bravo leave behind them. Either that or run a mid block system. You can't press and run a high line with 7 players in the 18 yard box. Especially when our pressing has been hit and miss all season. We have been good on counter pressing, but when the opposition actually gets setup, they easily beat our press. Our midfield to front line have no idea what their responsibilities are while pressing.
Then we have wingers that can hardly ever make the correct pass, shoot on frame, or beat their markers 1v1. They also are never in a position to cover the back post. Which to me is incredibly negligent considering how many stupid crosses we make every game.
Our dp's have been a joke, which is something i said when we signed them. They proved me right. Thanks for that.
Our midfield. Ffs this area is concerning to me. Chara is a defense first midfielder. Cdm of course. Can we honestly say Moreno, Paredes, Williamson and evander are great defensively? Cause I can't. And that is a problem. We easily get shredded in the midfield. It's one pass into the channel or right up the gut and they beat our midfield because our midfield and wingers struggle to understand when and where they are supposed to step. The only one that does is chara.
And how many times can you get beat on a set piece or corner in a season, cause we hit the mark. COVER THE NEAR POST ON CORNERS! It is soccer 101. That is coaching. And we still get it wrong.
Wtf kind of team are we? High press? Counter press? Bunker? Counter attacking? Mid block? Possession? Cause when we answer those questions it tells you exactly what type of players you need and what skill sets they need. Our team is an eclectic group of players that don't fit any one system. Our scouting and recruiting team is crap
Excellent critique! I bought season tickets again for next year and I can only hope that at least some of your recommendations actually are implemented.
I think you are correct on many of the issues with roster construction. We have wingers and attacking fullbacks, however we don't attack with width. We brought in a center back (Arajou) on a two year contract, who has played more for Peru than Timbers. It is like we don't have player profiles and key qualities for our positions and just recruit based on someone is available.
But yeah, we definitely need a substantial rebuild. Blanco and Yimmi should be out, those two alone put $3m on the wage bill and produced so little. If this was my decision, the only players I'd 100% keep are McGraw, Paredes and Mora. The rest I'd be open to letting them leave for the right offer.
I'd not let go of Ayala, Moreno, Asprilla, Mosquera, Bravo, and of course Chara. Yimmi will be back since he's under contract, but Blanco is gone. Big issue is getting a roster that has a cohesive playing style and can work together to play a system and style of soccer. Right now there's no vision and the roster is a hodgepodge of some talented guys, but the duct tape isn't holding things together.
Ned, I hope, will try to trade Yimmi.
I'm not against keeping Bravo and Mosquera, however they have to fit how the new coach/team wants to play.
Asprilla, I think we have to consider he will be another year older and do we want a 32 year old winger. He has offered flashes of brilliance, however there's been a lot of indifferent play.
Moreno is one you'd want to keep, however I don't know if he'd want to stay. It might be one that you'd be open to offers.
Again, it comes down to having the right type of player in a position, rather than finding a player who plays a position.
I'd keep Asprilla because he's been good. Sure he's not a game in and game out starter, but he's a physical dude who's good in the air and plays hard. You're not bringing in a better sometimes starter for the price. I agree on having an actual system in place to get player in vs talented individuals.
Please don't get rid of my favorite player (Bravo)!
So there's no question that the team needs a reset. It's time for a lot of people to find new journeys in life and for the Timbers to do something new.
That said, I don't think this is time, right now, for the Timbers to go long on a $20 million dollar DP signing. The track record -- for this organization, for MLS -- for that kind of signing aren't good. We need to focus on fundamental building blocks -- look at what Cincy, St. Louis have done this year, what the Timbers did, actually, when they entered the league. We don't have a foundation for something real ambitious yet.
Teams like Portland, San Jose and SKC shouldn’t be sniffing the playoffs. Worst case scenario, this tier of teams that sucked for extended stretches of the year fights for one spot. Of course I wanted to get in. Might as well.
But I’m happy I don’t have to watch the PK shootoutathon first round. The volume of the field and the format of the playoffs are ridiculous.
Proper playoffs: home and away, tie at the end of 180’ goes to the higher regular season point total. Every round until the one game cup final.
Big offseason.
If we can find positives from this result and failure to make play-offs, then it should be that the squad construction is a mess. We have key positions still unfilled in the front office and it shows in our recruitment.
Last season should have been a wake up call that the squad wasn't good enough. Players were retained for this year that have made little to no impact.
I think Ned owns a share of this and should either be in the hot seat to fix things or on the way out. He has brought in Araujo (who?) and a bunch of bits and pieces with no real cohesion or plan. I'm just not sure that a guy who has got us in this place needs to be given more time.
Anyway, I hope to see quick action to clear out the squad and appoint a head coach.
Has there ever been a faster heel turn than the one Steve Clark took tonight? He went from "hey welcome back to Portland Steve" to "YOU SUCK" reeeeeeeeeeally fast. I still don't know what he was doing with his shoes, but all that time wasting and shitfuckery was...rough.
There was quite a bit of ire poured on Clark from the terraces.
I would have done the same since Portland couldn't cough up the cash to pay him. The guy is one of the best in the league and we let him go. If you want to go far in the playoffs, you have to have a guy who can man the pipes.
Given we let Clark go for a bad bet on Ivacic and brought in Bingham, who is a solid back up but not a starter, then I've no problems with Clark sticking it to us.
At the time Ivacic was outplaying Clark, and I think when he's playing at his best level and one that he ist capable Ivacic is likely a better keeper who was younger with more upside. It made sense, but there were behind the scenes stuff going on, which screwed up on field performances. Maybe they can bring in a good keeper but I doubt the team has much luck bringing in much talent.
Agree. And he made a couple of nice first half saves, kept the game scoreless and kept Houston in the game until they could get in front. How many times did he do that for us in his time here? Oh, and what, a dozen clean sheets this year. Timbers decided not to pay Clark and replace him with Ivacvic and bring in a much, much cheaper backup who is now the starter. Infuriating.
It was a big FU performance.
At the same time he’s being a dick to fans that were always good to him and deserve better than being collateral damage if he really was motivated by the contract tonight.
Like the opposite of how some players don’t celebrate goals against former teams
I sit right by the Army, low enough that I can see facial expressions of players. When Clark came out, there was a lot of affection for him - the Dodgy Keeper chant made him smile and laugh, until he put his game face on. There wasn't really vitriol in it, at least it didn't seem that way.
Then, in the..what, 10th? 15th? minute, he made a save, I think collided with someone, and went down...and then he took his shoes off, then he was talking with the ref about his shoes, and he just deliberately started wasting time. And the more boos he heard, the more he did. THAT's when the Army turned on him - it was almost literally a finger snap's worth of time between returning sorta-hero guy and "GET THIS GUY OUTTA HERE". It was amazingly fast.
I'm guessing that Clark didn't appreciate the 'dodgy keeper' chants. Clark is the kinda dude that just uses that to fuel the fire and booing him just encouraged him.
That and the "f*ck Steve Clark" chants and the booing every time he got the ball or turned up on the screen. If negative energy feeds Steve Clark the Timbers supporters definitely did their bit to motivate him.
TBF he wasn't booed until he started jawing at the TA and retying his shoes. He seems really bitter about having to go play in Texas.
Ben Olsen: comes on and resurrects Houston. Maybe Porter could do the same for Portland. The reason? He gets the importance of RB and LB, among other things.
Mosquera - a total disaster. Go through the games and see what I saw -- complete and utter defensive liability. The eye test the same -- two steps too late and U11 level defensive ability.
If the Timbers re-hire Caleb Porter at this point, that's a huge - absolutely, inexcusably huge - failure of imagination on their part. Caleb Porter missed the playoffs the year after winning the Cup with Portland, then went to Columbus and missed the playoffs TWICE after winning the Cup there. I'm not sure why the Timbers would want to give him another bite at that particular apple.
Have you seen the other options mentioned? I would take porter over all of them. But of course I would want a new and better coach but based on Evander, nieazgoda, yimmi, and many other stupid decisions, I don't expect our FO to actually go out and get a manager that is quality.
Of all the names I've seen, I'd take Dome Torrent without question. Except he may not want to return to MLS.
Just saying retreads aren't the end of the world. Houston made it work with a retread.
I would doubt Porter would come back to this organization.
I get what you are saying, just want to see a coach who knows what the hell he is doing. At least Porter knew what the @#$% he was doing.
Did he though? I mean, again, he took two teams to an MLS Cup and then completely missed the playoff with each of those teams the very next season.
I'm not saying he's a bad coach, but I think in 2023 the Timbers can find a better option.
Depressing but fairly predictable. Houston is a much better team than we are - if that is 4th out of 8/9 playoff teams, then we had no business there.
Suspect it will be an offseason of change. The Miles Joseph bump had us all wondering if he would coach himself into a job, but the last 2 matches just showed it was too good to be true.
Onward, Rose City!
(I didn't wonder that)
This team is still the mess it was at the start of the season. This off-season is HUGE for the Timbers; if they get it right, they could be one of the better teams in the league next season. If they do what the Timbers normally do, and futz around the edges without committing to anything resembling serious foundational change, we're in for several more seasons of MLS passing the Timbers by.
But if they take this chance and truly re-shape who the team is and how it is built, this could be a fun team again. I know which option I want; I also, sadly, know which option this team will probably go for.
What do you want? What do you think they will do?
l want Y Chara, Niezgoda, Blanco, Asprilla, Mabiala, and both goalkeepers gone. I would also listen to offers for McGraw, Mosquera, and Moreno, although those offers would have to be almost-Nagbe level amounts of money.
I don't have a specific list of names as far as targets, but the obvious places the Timbers need to improve are keeper and central defense, and if Blanco and Asprilla both go, there'll need to be someone creative brought in to provide for Mora (and either Boli or whoever replaces him).
Mostly, though, I want Ned to look at the half-empty white board that should be the Timbers roster this winter and see opportunity. I want him to see the opportunity to remake the Timbers into a consistently Shield-challenging team, a team that other teams are nervous about playing. I want the Timbers to realize that MLS as a whole is passing them by, and I want them to change that.
Knew this was going to be a tough game because Houston is a good team and think could sneak through the west.
Sucks missing the playoffs again but maybe more change is coming. Can only hope.
They teased us for that one brilliant week adn then reverted to the bad Timbers we all know and love. From actually looking up at 3rd place (they really blew that match) to 7th to 10th. One spot out of playoffs in a not too difficult Western Conference.
Probably for the best that we miss playoffs and the stupid play-in match. Now time to offload a bunch of players and hopefully bring in some new starters. I'm not holding my breath though.
Should be noted the Timbers finish out of the playoffs in a very poor western conference. Embarrassing
From 7th to 10th in one fell swoop.
Time to start the offseason work. Lot of change coming. Let's hope the right decisions are coming.
Same was said the last several seasons.
I'm over these Evander fluff corners.....waste of money
Nearly every one of his corners was put into a great area, and not a single person was there to attack it. That ain’t on Evander
Defenders LOVE those soft floaty corner kicks.
Out swingers that, at best, get to someone backpedaling for a soft header. This team is bad at corner kicks, defensively too.
International breaks do us no favors this juncture in the season. Didn't we lose in injury time last year to LAFC at home - international break - then got trounced at RSL for the nail in the coffin that time? Whatever momentum we seem to generate just gets lost on a FIFA-induced vacuum
I hope this is the last we see of Yimmi in a Timbers uniform. Operating way below his pay grade.
It was a bad signing from the get go. Great if he was a TAM and could stay healthy. Terrible as a DP and he still has another year on his contract and I don't know who is dumb enough to buy a "pacey" player in their 30s with regular hamstring issues.
Way way way way below his pay grade. Just like everyone else.
At least we didn't get shut out. Nice finish on a good ball in.
It's like MJ reviewed the results from a few weeks ago -9 straight points and then bloew a chance to vault into rd. Then he probably said, "This is fun! Now it's time for the return of Gio Ball!" The rest is history.
We don't have one player that can score from that angle. We needed one win in the last 3 and we couldn't get it done. now just like every other year, I sit and wait to see if the FO makes the right signings and right decisions. I highly doubt it, but it's always fun until the trash starts piling in. The announcer just said MJ has done a phenomenal job and I would have agreed 4 games ago but not getting one win in the last 3 games and against 2 bottom feeders, tells me he isn't the guy. Time to move on and get a whole new staff.
Timbers suck. This ref game management is pathetic. Time wasting since the 13th minute. He is pathetic for a point of emphasis.
It was a fun end to the season for a while but eventually talent wins out. There's a big gap between Portland and Houston.
8-1 goals on aggregate, yeah, I daresay they're simply a better team.
Okay, just gonna go about my day now (it's almost noon here in Sapporo). Anything's better than this.
Boli for mosquera is the weirdest substitution. There is no plan for the Timbers this evening
They moved Asprilla to fullback! So it was more like Asprilla for Mosquera and Boli for Asprilla. Still weird. I'd suggested the possibility of converting Asprilla to a backup fullback but didn't really expect to see it, especially now.
Burn it to the ground. Start over. This team is embarrassing. Substandard football beginning to end
Fool had 1 goal all season.
Now has brace
2nd time we've had 3 guys bunch up and collapse on 1 guy at the top of the box and leave someone wide open for the goal. Frustrating.
I think that about does it. Whatever .0001% of hope that we make a comeback just got extinguished. Just pathetic defense all around.
Can’t believe this is how the season is going to end. Gave me hope, just to take it all away
Sell the team Merritt
Oh no, Timbers announcer said hope this isn't Blanco's last 32 minutes as a Timber. Beg. To. Differ. Love Blanco for what he brought to the club, but it's time to move on if club is to be more than a nostalgia act.
Yup. I want to remember Blanco from the MLS is Back. I don’t want to remember him this year. Respect. But it’s over.
Blanco and not Asprilla?
Never mind. I see Asprilla in there now
Asprilla too.
Is this gio ball? Like wtf happened to 4 games ago. This team has no idea how to attack centrally and consistently cross to nobody. Like wtf happen MJ? He had this team flying and playing great. Now we are back to gio ball. At this point sell the team to another owner cause like others have said, the list of potential coaches is a joke and MJ has lost all momentum good will. Ffs what happened to 2013-2015 Timbers. It's getting hard to watch a toothless Timbers year after year.
Bravo’s been an abject disaster today. It was Mosquera who got caught reaching on the second goal, but something called “Griffin Dorsey” has been getting behind Bravo all match long.
He really really really doesn't want to play any more games for Portland.
Why should he want to? He doesn't fit the system and he gets worse coaching then does with the Argie u23s.
argh...so tired of these high floaty corner kicks. Put some pace on the damn ball.
I think his sad trombone olympico put an end to that
David "Near Post" Bingham, ladies and gentlemen.
Game. set, match. This abortion of a season is over, and two straight failed seasons are in the bag. Months later than I predicted, but finally dead and buried. No, I take no satisfaction in it. At least we can anticipate some much needed (but likely not sufficient) change in the offseason. Based on the reported finalist list of head coach candidate circulating last month, I'm not terribly optimistic.
If the FO is only looking at recycled candidates, I hope they pick Torrent. Otherwise, we might be in the same spot next year still playing some weird sticky mess of kickball and modern gegenpressing.
Not good at all. Guess you gotta hope Dallas loses. But it might be better to just kill the season here and now. Get the roster makeover started ASAP.
Yes, idiotic play-in game is an embarrassment and no prize to be sought.
Yet again another goal given up by Mosquera, it’s getting ridiculous at this point
LOL. OK.
Gosh, nice "defense."
Joseph has done great things going forward, but this defense may have actually gotten worse lol
Still trying to play the "high line". It's a dissease.
If you have a real structure, a high line can be fine- It’s just that the Timbers play defense by guessing, rushing clearances, and stabbing in to compensate for lack of numbers. No team defense to speak of.
They're just so nervy. No confidence.
Welp. That was pathetic.
Yimmi’s been pretty fine but I think we need Asprilla, he’s an X factor and is one of our most goal dangerous players
We've been great at almost scoring and gave up a silly goal when our "keeper" let a floating ball land right on his knuckles. After all that and still in the game. I, too, would like to see Asprilla over Yimmi.
Is Asprilla hurt? He's been in great form. One of our best. Yimmi not so much...
So set piece defending and not taking advantage of our set pieces the story in the first half.
The ref seems to not want to call much.
Right to the ankle. I'm pretty sure I know what that's supposed to be...but I think I'm too smart to be a ref.
My dad - who's gotten into soccer by way of Mess - is of course a extremely casual fan? Hanger on? And today he asked me why Messi's goal was disallowed. Now then, I was actually watching Cincy-Atl so I didn't know but asked him if Messi or one of the Miami players was offside. He didn't know which isn't a surpise. Maybe the refs need to go the middle of the pitch and explain themselves like they do in college/NFL?
Or the way refs do in rugby, probably the best-refereed team sport.
One of the best things in rugby. Mic’d refs explaining calls and the process. The players respect it too.
They should certainly have to answer reporter questions post match like players and coaches do
That’s mightyyyy close to a red
So the rest of this match is basically going to be watching Houston tie their shoes, huh?
So has Bingham ever caught a ball in life? It's like his training consisted of punch, punch, and more punch.
The good news is we're getting into the 18. Bad news is we haven't converted. And we can't figure out the killer pass.