The Timbers look to get back on track and start their quest to reclaim the Cascadia Cup In Vancouver. Can they do it with a win against the ‘Caps? Come chat through it all in the match thread!
It is becoming really difficult to justify spending my Saturday nights supporting this team. Every time we are in a position to do good things, we screw it up with bad decisions by the FO. In 2019 we could have signed two high quality dps and instead we signed yimmi and an injury prone nieazgoda. All while wasting the last few good years of Valeri and blanco. Now this season we finally had roster relief from bad contracts and finally pulled the trigger on gio. We had a LOOOONG off-season to find a top quality coach and some top quality dp's. What do we do? We signed Phil Neville. An obvious walking problem off the field and an inept coach with no proven success on the field. Then we wait all the way into the season to even find a new dp striker that's in his 30s. Not saying it was a bad move. I like Jon but it is definitely not a long term solution. Again the FO makes all the wrong decisions when we were on the cusp of greatness. That doesn't even include the big contracts and poor signing like Kamal Miller, who I think is the next mabiala. But of course over pay to get the guy your new terrible coach wants because of nepotism. It has been an infuriating 5 years. Watching our team play terrible and all the poor decisions I knew were poor decisions play out. It's maddening. Now we are going to have to sit through another X amount of years of this until mp gets the balls to admit he was wrong and fire Phil. Ffs it's anxiety to the extreme to see these failures, call them out as failures and have to sit game after game. Year after year, of this garbage. I was really hoping I was wrong about Phil. I even said I thought I was after the first game but FUUUUUU is it looking like myself and others were right about Phil. I think we have a good roster for the most part. But the way we are playing is 100% on coaching. This team looks absolutely and utterly lost in defense, offense, positioning, transitioning, pressing, attacking patterns. At least gio had a plan, it was just always a poor plan.
In football there are two types of teams. Teams that play within a structured system and teams that are heavily dependent on individual talent. This team is just that. Let's hope Evander can make something happen or someone else just pulls something out of nowhere. Forest are like that. Ac milan are like that. Chelsea and man u are like that. It's not sustainable for success.
This team is FAR better in offense and possession than we were under Gio. We had no idea what we were doing in offense under Gio, we actually have good patterns of play offensively which is how our second goal came. Gio’s offensive plan was just endless crossing and waiting for someone to do something special
I was terrorized...more like traumatized - by our defense last season. The last three matchdays have been a repeat of that experience. And tonight? I'm ready to drink up some ale to go along with dinner (supper time in Hawaii right now).
I have no nice things to say. This club is underperforming and unless they sort it out quickly, it's going to be another season dancing with the red line
Are you not aware of the fact that he has sucked ass everywhere he’s been? 6 games, 12 games, 24 games… he is not a good manager, it’s well documented. He has done fuck-all tactically different than Gio, defense is still trash despite his insistence Kamal was going to bring positives, we always look like absolute shit out of the gate meaning he’s not preparing our players properly and isn’t studying our opponents well…
while I'm not saying Neville is a good coach, he most certainly has done more tactically than Gio. The two aren't mutually inclusive they are both sub-par for our aspirations. Just like how the Miller acquisition was always a sub-par acquisition but probably better than Mabiala.
No, the replacement refs were much, MUCH worse around the league. We can’t forget that just because we don’t like PRO. Also, the refs all around the world are rough. I think people had lower standards for the replacement refs, and were willing to be ok with some bad calls. They were awful overall, so many missed calls. Chapman had a few calls both ways I would’ve done differently, but overall he did nothing wrong for me. That was absolutely not a pk at the end
Did you watch the other matches? The scabs were in over their collective head. They were saved by VAR pletny of times. That said, Chapham is not a good ref. I do wish the league had told the union that certain refs needed to retire or no agreement. Chapman is one of them. I could name several of them who should haen fired.
Miller is trash. I didn't like him at Miami, and I don't like him here either. I know they took McGraw off, but that's simply because miller is paid more, they are basically the same player, and they needed Z's ability to cut out the play farther up the field.
Gio was pretty decent at subbing when he cared to switch it up. So at minimum he's sorta the same as the old guy. Guess we can fully evaluate after the season.
Well yes. But when he did so he usually made the right call. Problem is, he usually waited until the 75th min or later. Phil makes his subs earlier but he still can't get the team to perform consistenly every weekend.
It's amazing how similar this game has been to the Thorns game: give up 2 early goals, then find your offense and pull back a goal in the 52nd minute. Let's hope the Timbers can do what the Thorns did and at least grab a draw.
Yes, good pass from Parades and great strike, but enabled by horrible defense. Evander was left completely alone at the top of the box. You would think teams would try to avoid that.
Sure but too many times we;ve not taken advantage of defensive lapes. It's usually the other way around. At least on that goal, they made quicker decisions on the ball. Of course, against a team like Nashville - you barely get any. Unless you can create mismatches like LAFC or Miami, etc. But we all know the Timers aren't that kind of team.
Gio ball was terrible but this is a team that has no idea what to do in any phase of the game. That's coaching. Phil is not a proven coach. He literally is a guy you hire for his name cause he doesn't have a clue how to actually coach and implement a system.
Phil is a crap coach. How have they literally regressed every week. And how is Mcgraw continue to start for this team with how poor he has been. Like I said last year. Mcgraw is great in the box but people seriously underestimated how much zuparic covered Mcgraw ass on counters. Mcgraw looks as slow as mabiala and mabs is 10 years older. Mcgraw needs to hit the gym, and Kamal Miller is also slow AF too. So is Zack Miller. We need to find an answer and at this point I would start with benching Zac and putting in zup in the second half.
Who is Zack Miller? The probable reason McGraw continues to start is because he was so good last year. He led the whole freaking league in clearances most of the year until he got hurt late on and missed a bunch of games. I don't remember his speed being such a liability last year, but he seems to have regressed in every way as a defender this year. Zuparic should get a chance to start until Zac gets his head or body right, if he can.
He’s not regressed at all, he’s the exact same player, just the tactics around him have shifted and they don’t fit him anymore. We’re playing with more possession and higher up the field, so he gets caught on counters more. Under Gio we didn’t possess the ball and sat back for most of the game, which suits Zac perfectly. And to be clear, I don’t put either of the two goals on him. I don’t see how either of them are his fault. That being said, he’s terrible on the ball, and that’s a game changer because we desperately need center backs who are good on the ball on this system. I’d like to see Araujo or Zuparic over him
You make a good point about the new, more possession-focused system posing a problem for him to adapt to. I don't think he's the only defender struggling with this, and it's the job of the defenders and the coaching staff to adapt to it. McGraw was mostly not responsible for the first goal - he comes off his man and blocks the initial shot. That goal was more on Chara. But on the ball that's cleared off the line by JDM after hitting the crossbar, McGraw couldn't keep up with his man and they nearly concede. And you can't be serious about not blaming the second goal on him. Look at the highlights. He casually backheels a cross coming into box right onto the foot of PIcault who has an unmolested shot at the goal. If he's not to blame for that one, who is? I realize given he was running toward the goal and ball was behind him, he couldn't make a strong clearance. But he certainly could have tried to trap the ball, gain control, and then clear. Even a clumsy trap attempt wouldn't have delivered the ball so perfectly to Picault. I doubt Neville or Ridgewell gave him instructions to blindly back heel a ball in your own box when you don't know what's behind you. That's on Zach.
I don’t see it as he back heeled a ball blindly, he was just trying to get any sort of contact to keep it away from Gauld, who was directly behind him. I do not think he could’ve trapped the ball, that would’ve been much harder than clearing it, which I think he possibly could’ve done, but it’s much harder than it looks when he’s running that fast and he’s not exactly the most nimble dude on his feet. If he tried to trap it Gauld probably would’ve gotten to the ball before him. I’ve watched the highlight so many times today lol, I think he could’ve done better but I don’t think it’s the unforgivable error that many say it is, it was tough luck that it went straight to Fafa.
In terms of who’s to blame, well, it is Chara who loses his man again, or perhaps he was passing him off to Kamal Miller but didn’t communicate it well enough. But the one to blame, to me, is Neville. We can talk about individual mistakes all we want, but we got pulled apart wayyyyy too easily. Vancouver easily sucked us upfield and cut our left side apart with a few simple passes. It was too easy. Our defensive organization is and has been bad for too long, that’s what I blame. It’s easy to blame players for those mistakes, but the root of the problem is the defense as a whole, which our coach is responsible for improving, and he hasn’t yet. Zac made a rough play, but it was a play that shouldn’t have materialized in the first place which put him in a bad spot
And MP said our next two signings were going to make a splash. John is nice but not really a splash. And the second player? Get me Hummels or another cb - hell, cb or fb - and then maybe I'll be slightly mollified. Otherwise, I feel like firing Ned pronto.
We desperately need depth at fullback and wing. Why the hell did they keep the obviously washed Mabiala as our 5th CB rather than signing another FB? And Asprilla is our only depth at wing and I'm not really convinced that Antony or Moreno are quality MLS starters yet, but they're both young and should get better.
We've had two goals from the right side now while Eric Miller was caught going forward. Why are we overlapping Eric Miller? He has no attacking skill. And then our CBs have to try to cover the wing.
It is becoming really difficult to justify spending my Saturday nights supporting this team. Every time we are in a position to do good things, we screw it up with bad decisions by the FO. In 2019 we could have signed two high quality dps and instead we signed yimmi and an injury prone nieazgoda. All while wasting the last few good years of Valeri and blanco. Now this season we finally had roster relief from bad contracts and finally pulled the trigger on gio. We had a LOOOONG off-season to find a top quality coach and some top quality dp's. What do we do? We signed Phil Neville. An obvious walking problem off the field and an inept coach with no proven success on the field. Then we wait all the way into the season to even find a new dp striker that's in his 30s. Not saying it was a bad move. I like Jon but it is definitely not a long term solution. Again the FO makes all the wrong decisions when we were on the cusp of greatness. That doesn't even include the big contracts and poor signing like Kamal Miller, who I think is the next mabiala. But of course over pay to get the guy your new terrible coach wants because of nepotism. It has been an infuriating 5 years. Watching our team play terrible and all the poor decisions I knew were poor decisions play out. It's maddening. Now we are going to have to sit through another X amount of years of this until mp gets the balls to admit he was wrong and fire Phil. Ffs it's anxiety to the extreme to see these failures, call them out as failures and have to sit game after game. Year after year, of this garbage. I was really hoping I was wrong about Phil. I even said I thought I was after the first game but FUUUUUU is it looking like myself and others were right about Phil. I think we have a good roster for the most part. But the way we are playing is 100% on coaching. This team looks absolutely and utterly lost in defense, offense, positioning, transitioning, pressing, attacking patterns. At least gio had a plan, it was just always a poor plan.
In football there are two types of teams. Teams that play within a structured system and teams that are heavily dependent on individual talent. This team is just that. Let's hope Evander can make something happen or someone else just pulls something out of nowhere. Forest are like that. Ac milan are like that. Chelsea and man u are like that. It's not sustainable for success.
This team is FAR better in offense and possession than we were under Gio. We had no idea what we were doing in offense under Gio, we actually have good patterns of play offensively which is how our second goal came. Gio’s offensive plan was just endless crossing and waiting for someone to do something special
I agree to disagree with you.
sounds like you'd be happier if you let go of following the team. i know i would be happier if you did.
Merritt this you?
I was terrorized...more like traumatized - by our defense last season. The last three matchdays have been a repeat of that experience. And tonight? I'm ready to drink up some ale to go along with dinner (supper time in Hawaii right now).
Hey Phil…. Sup?
Classic Chapman. What a fucker.
I have no nice things to say. This club is underperforming and unless they sort it out quickly, it's going to be another season dancing with the red line
I expect it from Chapman but to have VAR agree. BS.
I think we’re learning why Neville was available.
Many of us already knew, lol
Oh did you? Piss off with this BS 6 games in.
This comment aged so well…
Are you not aware of the fact that he has sucked ass everywhere he’s been? 6 games, 12 games, 24 games… he is not a good manager, it’s well documented. He has done fuck-all tactically different than Gio, defense is still trash despite his insistence Kamal was going to bring positives, we always look like absolute shit out of the gate meaning he’s not preparing our players properly and isn’t studying our opponents well…
What the fuck else are we supposed to think?
while I'm not saying Neville is a good coach, he most certainly has done more tactically than Gio. The two aren't mutually inclusive they are both sub-par for our aspirations. Just like how the Miller acquisition was always a sub-par acquisition but probably better than Mabiala.
Eric or Kamal Miller? Because Mabiala is the only holdover along with Chara from Porter.
Better than Mabiala, of course, but not really any better than Zac or Zup on any given night.
Last year Gio ran out the 4-2-3-1 quite often in the beginning of the year, then he did a few games with 3 at the back, then it was mostly 4-3-3.
Gio also had like half a season where we literally couldn’t fill our bench.
F’in MLS.
Well there's the ref debacle we knew to expect.
Weren’t people super excited to have the regular refs back? So they can ignore penalties? Awesome. Welcome back regular refs.
No. I don’t know anyone who was excited to get these asshats back. Chapman, Unkel, Penso… they all fucking suck.
Literally, the scab refs were just as good, I was hoping they would stay just to prove that PRO absolutely is trash.
No, the replacement refs were much, MUCH worse around the league. We can’t forget that just because we don’t like PRO. Also, the refs all around the world are rough. I think people had lower standards for the replacement refs, and were willing to be ok with some bad calls. They were awful overall, so many missed calls. Chapman had a few calls both ways I would’ve done differently, but overall he did nothing wrong for me. That was absolutely not a pk at the end
Did you watch the other matches? The scabs were in over their collective head. They were saved by VAR pletny of times. That said, Chapham is not a good ref. I do wish the league had told the union that certain refs needed to retire or no agreement. Chapman is one of them. I could name several of them who should haen fired.
Fucking same
Can’t play half a game and expect to get a result
No way that isn't a pen. Absolute BS
He's gotta fight through that minimal shirt tug and take the point blank shot. Terrible play by Rodriguez.
IT ABSOLUTELY WAS
Miller is trash. I didn't like him at Miami, and I don't like him here either. I know they took McGraw off, but that's simply because miller is paid more, they are basically the same player, and they needed Z's ability to cut out the play farther up the field.
JDM really doesn't know how to close down attackers, yah? Stops just a few inches short of cutting down the angle. Repeatedly.
If we’re going to put him in a formation where we expect the RB to defend, I’d honestly rather see Eric over there after bravo is back.
I know we’d lose his offensive abilities, but we’re spoiled for offense anyway
Well I count 3 goals our CBs should have let the keeper take care of. Shit.
Gotta do better with that Crepeau
Just clinical from Evander and JMora. Again, we have to take advantage of any defensive breakdowns.
The subs have been good. I'll give Phil credit.
Gio was pretty decent at subbing when he cared to switch it up. So at minimum he's sorta the same as the old guy. Guess we can fully evaluate after the season.
Didn't everyone complain that Gio never subbed before the 75th min?
Well yes. But when he did so he usually made the right call. Problem is, he usually waited until the 75th min or later. Phil makes his subs earlier but he still can't get the team to perform consistenly every weekend.
Morrrra! Beautiful service from Evander
Starting to click up front
Mora is so frickin' automatic with his head.
Mora!!!!!!
Gorgeous ball from Evander! GJ boys.
Well then
Don't get me wrong - the entire backline is giving cardic arrest right now - but Eric Miller is scaring me.
Poor Max. The Caps are just firing away at him and he has no back line to shield him.
It's amazing how similar this game has been to the Thorns game: give up 2 early goals, then find your offense and pull back a goal in the 52nd minute. Let's hope the Timbers can do what the Thorns did and at least grab a draw.
Unlike the Thorns, the Timbers aren't exactly overflowing with talent.
And then continue the parallel and get a new owner?
Nice start, Timbers!
Crepeau: specific Vancouver hate or just lazy fans to boo the keeper with every touch?
He played for Vancouver before LAFC
Fan favorite that asks for a trade.
Just standard hate for a player who left for bigger city, bigger club, and/or bigger paycheck.
Better ball movemen=goal. WTG, team! Now let's equalize!
Yes, good pass from Parades and great strike, but enabled by horrible defense. Evander was left completely alone at the top of the box. You would think teams would try to avoid that.
Sure but too many times we;ve not taken advantage of defensive lapes. It's usually the other way around. At least on that goal, they made quicker decisions on the ball. Of course, against a team like Nashville - you barely get any. Unless you can create mismatches like LAFC or Miami, etc. But we all know the Timers aren't that kind of team.
Well worked goal. More please!
Nice goal.....4 more please
Nice movement. Much better. Let's get it!
Nice!
Gio ball was terrible but this is a team that has no idea what to do in any phase of the game. That's coaching. Phil is not a proven coach. He literally is a guy you hire for his name cause he doesn't have a clue how to actually coach and implement a system.
We get it, you don't like him.
Portland CBs with 3 first half assists for the opposition today. 🤦
Phil is a crap coach. How have they literally regressed every week. And how is Mcgraw continue to start for this team with how poor he has been. Like I said last year. Mcgraw is great in the box but people seriously underestimated how much zuparic covered Mcgraw ass on counters. Mcgraw looks as slow as mabiala and mabs is 10 years older. Mcgraw needs to hit the gym, and Kamal Miller is also slow AF too. So is Zack Miller. We need to find an answer and at this point I would start with benching Zac and putting in zup in the second half.
Who is Zack Miller? The probable reason McGraw continues to start is because he was so good last year. He led the whole freaking league in clearances most of the year until he got hurt late on and missed a bunch of games. I don't remember his speed being such a liability last year, but he seems to have regressed in every way as a defender this year. Zuparic should get a chance to start until Zac gets his head or body right, if he can.
He’s not regressed at all, he’s the exact same player, just the tactics around him have shifted and they don’t fit him anymore. We’re playing with more possession and higher up the field, so he gets caught on counters more. Under Gio we didn’t possess the ball and sat back for most of the game, which suits Zac perfectly. And to be clear, I don’t put either of the two goals on him. I don’t see how either of them are his fault. That being said, he’s terrible on the ball, and that’s a game changer because we desperately need center backs who are good on the ball on this system. I’d like to see Araujo or Zuparic over him
You make a good point about the new, more possession-focused system posing a problem for him to adapt to. I don't think he's the only defender struggling with this, and it's the job of the defenders and the coaching staff to adapt to it. McGraw was mostly not responsible for the first goal - he comes off his man and blocks the initial shot. That goal was more on Chara. But on the ball that's cleared off the line by JDM after hitting the crossbar, McGraw couldn't keep up with his man and they nearly concede. And you can't be serious about not blaming the second goal on him. Look at the highlights. He casually backheels a cross coming into box right onto the foot of PIcault who has an unmolested shot at the goal. If he's not to blame for that one, who is? I realize given he was running toward the goal and ball was behind him, he couldn't make a strong clearance. But he certainly could have tried to trap the ball, gain control, and then clear. Even a clumsy trap attempt wouldn't have delivered the ball so perfectly to Picault. I doubt Neville or Ridgewell gave him instructions to blindly back heel a ball in your own box when you don't know what's behind you. That's on Zach.
I don’t see it as he back heeled a ball blindly, he was just trying to get any sort of contact to keep it away from Gauld, who was directly behind him. I do not think he could’ve trapped the ball, that would’ve been much harder than clearing it, which I think he possibly could’ve done, but it’s much harder than it looks when he’s running that fast and he’s not exactly the most nimble dude on his feet. If he tried to trap it Gauld probably would’ve gotten to the ball before him. I’ve watched the highlight so many times today lol, I think he could’ve done better but I don’t think it’s the unforgivable error that many say it is, it was tough luck that it went straight to Fafa.
In terms of who’s to blame, well, it is Chara who loses his man again, or perhaps he was passing him off to Kamal Miller but didn’t communicate it well enough. But the one to blame, to me, is Neville. We can talk about individual mistakes all we want, but we got pulled apart wayyyyy too easily. Vancouver easily sucked us upfield and cut our left side apart with a few simple passes. It was too easy. Our defensive organization is and has been bad for too long, that’s what I blame. It’s easy to blame players for those mistakes, but the root of the problem is the defense as a whole, which our coach is responsible for improving, and he hasn’t yet. Zac made a rough play, but it was a play that shouldn’t have materialized in the first place which put him in a bad spot
yah he was a beast last year - wondering if he is playing hurt or something...
Benching Zac seems reasonable
Was isn’t Zuperic in for McGraw? McGraw has been shit so far this season. Why is he still playing?
Well Phil, I hope you have a great half time speech because that half was piss poor
The opponent is not having to work very hard for their goals. Seems like Chara didn’t follow his man on the first.
Yah, unlike him...
Guys, if we thought Gioball was behind us - we were dead wrong.
Moreno is getting muscled off the ball a lot lately because he holding too long. He needs to make quicker decisions.
Santi needs to watch Weah with the Nats. Fast off the ball and help create space.
not a bad sequence in the box but reaction was a bit slow. Gotta move the ball faster.
In my experience you do not score if you keep going backwards.
Well, there's always own goals...
Timbers seen to be having a lot of trouble getting past Vancouver's press
Crepeau must be wondering what he's gotten himself into.
We’re just trying to get our moneys worth. When you break it down per save it’s gonna be like $1.38 each at this rate.
Could ask the same of Lloris. Except he probably signed up for Hollywood and not presumably winning matches much less MLS Cup.
That said, Max signed up to keep starting in the league. He's probably thinking he chose the wrong club.
LAFC are going to be just fine. Giroud is coming this summer and they've got Kai Kamara to fill in the meantime. And much more talent than Timbers.
Can't blame strikers who don't get the chances
And MP said our next two signings were going to make a splash. John is nice but not really a splash. And the second player? Get me Hummels or another cb - hell, cb or fb - and then maybe I'll be slightly mollified. Otherwise, I feel like firing Ned pronto.
We desperately need depth at fullback and wing. Why the hell did they keep the obviously washed Mabiala as our 5th CB rather than signing another FB? And Asprilla is our only depth at wing and I'm not really convinced that Antony or Moreno are quality MLS starters yet, but they're both young and should get better.
Dunno what;s happened to McGraw as of late but he's not had a good season so far. And today's performance is not reassuring.
If I'm 14, I quit if you can't get me any service
We've had two goals from the right side now while Eric Miller was caught going forward. Why are we overlapping Eric Miller? He has no attacking skill. And then our CBs have to try to cover the wing.
This is going to be a long season ☹️
Twice now McGraw has passed to the goal scorer. Going to be another long night. I wonder what the team worked on this week?
McGraw just does not look fit.
Hell, the entire backline hasn't looked fit since the opener against the Rapids.
Hell of a pass by McGraw. WTH was that?
For fucks sakes McGraw