The Timbers are on a three-game losing skid - can they stop it in Kansas City? Well… we’ll see! Grab a coffee and come chat and/or cope through it in the match thread.
The bad defense and slow starts aside, this team has improved in one key area - grit. They don’t fold. That’s Neville’s key accomplishment. Still much to improve.
PLEASE FIX THE DEFENSE!!! Wish I didn't have to shout this out loud on everyone's behalf.
But I'll take the point. And that second half was wonderful. But again, we need to start off the match on the right foot right when the whistle blows. Not wait until the half to make subs that somehow seemingly turn the match aroud.
yeah, Evander wonderstrikes and three goal rallies are fun as hell, but they're not repeatable skills and I don't want the Timbers to have to rely on them. These games are energizing and the point here is fantastic, but they do not fix the big, big problems this team has with defending and with coaching.
Rodriguez could also cut inside the box if necessary. We have to learn to get numbers in the final third. For too long, our play around the 18 just suffers because guys stand around and take long range shots. Or worse, pass the ball uselessly around the top fo the box to no avail.
That's a great road point. I hope the team learned something about itself. Still a lot to figure out, but this is a team that can be good if it does the right things.
It seems that the Timbers need a bit of time for everything to work out for the season, but they have definitely found out that on a tough day they can battle and grind and find enough good moments to score multiple goals. Figuring out how to get better on defense … and if that means new players … is the biggest problem that has to be solved.
I think we learned today that we do have at least two strikers willing to fight for goals. And who are capable of scoring. We also learned that the back line still has serious issues with attention span and ball watching.
Like Gio, he can't get the players to play from the start but can make pretty good subs so the team responds in the second half. Defense aside, Phil has a much more positive view of attacking soccer. I'll give him that much.
I think the Timbers have a culture problem. They've been soft and don't like to hustle for a looong time... He's going to have to convince them of the need to suffer.
What a comeback! Where was this team in the first half? I will give Phil credit for at least being aggressive with regard to the attack. But he really needs to pay attention fo the defense.
I think Phil sets the team up poorly to start but makes good adjustments. He’s trying to get them to do things that don’t play to their skills and strengths, because he’s committed to a system. When he changes the system to fit the game state and the players it works better. I’ll credit him with his substitutions and adjustments, though sometimes we’ve gotten bitten immediately after subs too.
Could be the coaching is bad and the players are fighting in spite of the coaching. Or the coach is not good and the players aren't necessarily great but still decent. Or both coach and players are mediocre to decent on any given day.
I think it's a lot of the first. Bad coaching and players being all "WE CAN FIGHT THROUGH THIS". But also Phil did make good adjustments so credit to him. I just wish he would get it right the first time so adjustments weren't needed.
Did Phil read the team the riot act? Pulling two back in a matter of minutes? Whatever. We must fix the defense or our strikers will need to combine for 3-4 goals every single match.
You're welcome, everyone. After the missed penalty, we stopped watching and switched to the Iowa game, and now all of a sudden the Timbers are back in this game? The hell?
This team is so poorly coached. They don't seem to know where they're supposed to be or what they're supposed to do so they're hesitant and slow. Then some of the tactical stuff has just been head scratching. Hopefully FO realizes soon what most knew months ago.
As others have said, we're probably stuck with Phil until next season. If the Army could do another revolt maybe it might lead to change. But the only real factor would be $$$. That might get Garber's attention. Or at least make MP consider selling. Otherwise, the FO isn't going to admit any mistakes.
Even if they realize it, they're not gonna do anything about it mid-season. They won't admit failure that fast. The Phil Neville Experience is here to stay for at least one full season, I'm afraid. The nice thing is he won't have a super long leash, I can't imagine; more like Spencer than Gio, I would think.
My men's college volleyball team won last night. On the road. Down our all american hitter who' sustained a season ending injury a few weeks ago. So conference rival with whom wer're fighting for a postseason berth. We lost the first game on Friday in straight sets. And won last night in 4 sets. Team looked great. I gave them about 5% chance of winning based on current play. The Timbers? I don't think I gave them at least that much...to get a draw today.
I'll just appreciate him getting the team to play from the get go. And not keep giving up multiple goals in the first half. Or not give up multiple goals every single week, period.
Look folks, Phil played for Everton and he played with Donovan back when Landn had that short loan stint - that was good for him, btw. And Howard was in hsi prime. And Leighton Baines was King. Some of you know I'm an Everton fan. So I'm saying that Phil wasn't exactly in his prime - still decent though - whe he left United for Everton. And even then, I never really pegged hime as manager material.
No Premier League team fires a coach after six games, c'mon now. I don't like Neville either, but he's not getting fired at this point, we're stuck with him.
Sell everyone on the back line. I too thought Miller would be a stabilizing force, but alas, it's worse. The bad part is it looks like player decision making. Sometimes you can't out coach stupid.
Wow, he was pretty clearly offside and affected the play even tho he didn't touch the ball, but it doesn't even matter cuz the Timbers are playing terribly!
I definitely thought that goal was going to be overruled, but not sure VAR even checked it. They didn't seem to have time to determine if Rosero was involved in the play or not. If the Timbers had to account for him on defense, that's offside. I have a feeling we might get an apology from MLS about that one.
Not that it matters. We have looked horrible today.
Obviously not. Also wondering if he's listening to agents. The Galaxy were doing that for a while. And looked where it got them. Now with a new GM, they've quit doing so. I even wondering if we even have a scouting network anymore. Or just using the league-wide system?
We have a newish head/director of scouting with a good pedigree.
This is a coaching problem. The players aren’t mentality, tactically, positional, or strategically prepared, so mistakes happen. They aren’t dummies. McGraw might not be physically fast enough. Eric Miller and Mabiala definitely aren’t. Everything else is coachable. Well, our dribbling and passing from the back might not be good enough either.
Yep. But that ship, for better or worse, has sailed. I wish Phil's job weren't safe but I'm not sure he'll get shitcanned this fast, even though I wish that were a thing.
I still think something is rotten in the front office. I had high hopes for Grabavoy - he does know actual talent as he played with the likes of Donovan, Javi Morales, Beckerman, etc. But he learned all the wrong lessons from GW. Phil sucks but I think Ned should walk the plank. And to further insulting of the supporters - MP isn't selling (we can only dream!).
Oh, I fully believe the FO is still an MP-led shitshow. He said he's "stepped back", but I don't believe that for a second. The DaBella deal was all because MP was friends with DaBella's CEO; the plug got pulled fast, which tells me Heather Davis has *some* power, but MP is clearly still running the show. And that's to the detriment of the club as a whole, because he's bad at his job .
I'm operating under the assumption that Phil's job is safe for a season, whether it should be or not. But the defensive coaching is abysmal and needs to be upgraded ASAP.
The first goal we gave up was just unfortunate deflections. That goal was from leaving Rosero unmarked. The Timbers defense has looked very sloppy today.
I thought with the additions of Crépeau and Kamal Miller our defense would get better this year. But instead our defense is even more of a mess (if that's possible).
I was so excited about this defense based on those additions, but as a whole it has been tremendously disappointing. Crepeau has been every bit as good as advertised. Miller's good too, but he's not as good as he could be as part of a good defensive unit.
I will never not be convinced Liam Ridgwell isn't a big part of the problem here.
Like other former players, doesn't coach like the way he played? You also have to blame Grabavoy, too. He's the guy who insisted the roster was "adequate".
I think "adequate" is a pretty good description of this roster, really. They're not worldbeaters, but they are better than what we're seeing. There's a decent amount of talent on this team, but neither Gio nor Phil is any good at getting them to play as a cohesive unit and unlocking what it can do. There are definitely places where upgrades are needed, but this team, on paper, isn't as bad as it's played over the last season or so.
Ned definitely has some issues, and needs to do better, but right now my anger is with Ned's coaching choice, not his roster choices. And I still think that the coaching choice was probably mostly MP's.
You suspect MP prioritized mls coaching experience? I dont' think Phil is cheap though he wanted back in so maybe cut price? Wonder who else they interviewed. We need names, darn it.
Yes, this playing one half is frustrating. But did KC only play the first half?
The bad defense and slow starts aside, this team has improved in one key area - grit. They don’t fold. That’s Neville’s key accomplishment. Still much to improve.
As I said last week, you can’t win games only playing one half.
PLEASE FIX THE DEFENSE!!! Wish I didn't have to shout this out loud on everyone's behalf.
But I'll take the point. And that second half was wonderful. But again, we need to start off the match on the right foot right when the whistle blows. Not wait until the half to make subs that somehow seemingly turn the match aroud.
yeah, Evander wonderstrikes and three goal rallies are fun as hell, but they're not repeatable skills and I don't want the Timbers to have to rely on them. These games are energizing and the point here is fantastic, but they do not fix the big, big problems this team has with defending and with coaching.
People keep saying they aren’t repeatable. But they seem to keep doing it.
Wouldn't you rather they didn't have to, though? Wouldn't it be better if they were set up to succeed from the first minute instead of the 81st?
What a concept! Just start and play the whole game on your front foot.
The offense is better with Mora up top and Rodriguez on the wing.
Rodriguez could also cut inside the box if necessary. We have to learn to get numbers in the final third. For too long, our play around the 18 just suffers because guys stand around and take long range shots. Or worse, pass the ball uselessly around the top fo the box to no avail.
Yes! He looked awesome on the wing today.
5-3-2-1
That's a great road point. I hope the team learned something about itself. Still a lot to figure out, but this is a team that can be good if it does the right things.
It seems that the Timbers need a bit of time for everything to work out for the season, but they have definitely found out that on a tough day they can battle and grind and find enough good moments to score multiple goals. Figuring out how to get better on defense … and if that means new players … is the biggest problem that has to be solved.
I think we learned today that we do have at least two strikers willing to fight for goals. And who are capable of scoring. We also learned that the back line still has serious issues with attention span and ball watching.
Feels like we've been saying that about the back line for 4 years. Hopefully having Bravo back will help a lot.
WTF? Gave up. Didn’t watch. Just got final notification. lol.
Second half was a complete 180 from the first. Team is still largely a defensive nightmare but they have at least figured out how to score.
10 minutes. wheeeeeeee
Shades of Austin-SJ!
Welp, Phil is a good halftime coach.
Like Gio, he can't get the players to play from the start but can make pretty good subs so the team responds in the second half. Defense aside, Phil has a much more positive view of attacking soccer. I'll give him that much.
I think the Timbers have a culture problem. They've been soft and don't like to hustle for a looong time... He's going to have to convince them of the need to suffer.
Maybe start another coach and leave him in the dressing room?
What a comeback! Where was this team in the first half? I will give Phil credit for at least being aggressive with regard to the attack. But he really needs to pay attention fo the defense.
That's the one thing I like about Phil
now don't fart it away like you did last week, Timbers
The uncalled offsides looks pretty big right now.
On a different day they could have been to 9 men with the DOGSO and foul on Evander. "Seen 'em given". Even if they were borderline.
Wow, I gotta give 'em credit.
Who had the money on Eric Miller tying it up for the Timbers today?
First goal in his entire career. Amazing
THEY DID IT!!!!
Completely different team in the 2nd half.
what did I just see
Rodriguez is fighting for the equalizer. Never saw Jaro put in this much effort. Just glad he is settling in so quickly.
At least the players have some fight.
Coaching too? or is it just coaching when bad, and players when good?
I think Phil sets the team up poorly to start but makes good adjustments. He’s trying to get them to do things that don’t play to their skills and strengths, because he’s committed to a system. When he changes the system to fit the game state and the players it works better. I’ll credit him with his substitutions and adjustments, though sometimes we’ve gotten bitten immediately after subs too.
Doesn't exactly take a genius coach to put on attackers and tell them to go score.
Fair question Jedi. Substitutions seem to have worked out and maybe he did a Ferguson hair dryer impression at half time.
Could be the coaching is bad and the players are fighting in spite of the coaching. Or the coach is not good and the players aren't necessarily great but still decent. Or both coach and players are mediocre to decent on any given day.
I think it's a lot of the first. Bad coaching and players being all "WE CAN FIGHT THROUGH THIS". But also Phil did make good adjustments so credit to him. I just wish he would get it right the first time so adjustments weren't needed.
Did Phil read the team the riot act? Pulling two back in a matter of minutes? Whatever. We must fix the defense or our strikers will need to combine for 3-4 goals every single match.
You're welcome, everyone. After the missed penalty, we stopped watching and switched to the Iowa game, and now all of a sudden the Timbers are back in this game? The hell?
OH shit. Start with this lineup next week.
Let's go!!!
Mora!!!
I'll take it. At least we know Evander can sink a PK. At leas thte shutout is avoided.
This team is so poorly coached. They don't seem to know where they're supposed to be or what they're supposed to do so they're hesitant and slow. Then some of the tactical stuff has just been head scratching. Hopefully FO realizes soon what most knew months ago.
As others have said, we're probably stuck with Phil until next season. If the Army could do another revolt maybe it might lead to change. But the only real factor would be $$$. That might get Garber's attention. Or at least make MP consider selling. Otherwise, the FO isn't going to admit any mistakes.
keep in mind that the army got us into this mess!
that sure is a take
Even if they realize it, they're not gonna do anything about it mid-season. They won't admit failure that fast. The Phil Neville Experience is here to stay for at least one full season, I'm afraid. The nice thing is he won't have a super long leash, I can't imagine; more like Spencer than Gio, I would think.
Deserved fate on a undeserved PK
hahahahahahaha I always hate elaborate stutter step runups
Oh Bravo.
HAHA...I'll take the terrible PK attempt. LOL
Bravo's back!
Bravo, just like old times
oh that's just perfect a great capper to a lovely game so far
A clear corner kick ends up a SKC goal kick. We have looked terrible today but the referees are having a bad day too.
1.6% Timbers win probability seems a bit high
My men's college volleyball team won last night. On the road. Down our all american hitter who' sustained a season ending injury a few weeks ago. So conference rival with whom wer're fighting for a postseason berth. We lost the first game on Friday in straight sets. And won last night in 4 sets. Team looked great. I gave them about 5% chance of winning based on current play. The Timbers? I don't think I gave them at least that much...to get a draw today.
That's an estimate for the rest of the year.
I know everyone wants to hate PN, but I do appreciate his aggressive subs when the need arises.
I'll just appreciate him getting the team to play from the get go. And not keep giving up multiple goals in the first half. Or not give up multiple goals every single week, period.
broken clocks, blind squirrels, etc
Look folks, Phil played for Everton and he played with Donovan back when Landn had that short loan stint - that was good for him, btw. And Howard was in hsi prime. And Leighton Baines was King. Some of you know I'm an Everton fan. So I'm saying that Phil wasn't exactly in his prime - still decent though - whe he left United for Everton. And even then, I never really pegged hime as manager material.
I haven't thought about Leighton Baines in a hot minute. Loved that dude.
Mentally lazy on both sides of the ball. No desire.
Apparently the refs and VAR too on the obvious offside. But I guess we deserve that as not going to win or draw playing this way.
So much poor play. Isolated DCs, ball watching, no system to play out of the back but continually playing out of the back.
All points to coaching…
Time to pull the plug in Neville! A Premier League would do it after this embarrassing run
No Premier League team fires a coach after six games, c'mon now. I don't like Neville either, but he's not getting fired at this point, we're stuck with him.
It's not going to happen. Focus on reality.
Yep. No way he gets canned 1st half of season. Probably not even this year. MP & NG would be admitting they hired someone even worse than Gio.
Use the Force, Jedi! Make it happen😉
Meh, that sounds hard. Get someone above average :D
The Timbers just aren't very good right now.
Sell everyone on the back line. I too thought Miller would be a stabilizing force, but alas, it's worse. The bad part is it looks like player decision making. Sometimes you can't out coach stupid.
(a good coach could)
Wow, he was pretty clearly offside and affected the play even tho he didn't touch the ball, but it doesn't even matter cuz the Timbers are playing terribly!
I definitely thought that goal was going to be overruled, but not sure VAR even checked it. They didn't seem to have time to determine if Rosero was involved in the play or not. If the Timbers had to account for him on defense, that's offside. I have a feeling we might get an apology from MLS about that one.
Not that it matters. We have looked horrible today.
They check every goal. That is just gross incompetence on both the AR/CR team and then VAR. He clearly participated.
You are right that it won’t matter though. SWIWS?!!!
So much standing around, such slow decision making, Timbers may as well stay in the locker room rather than further embarrass themselves.
Isn't the scoreline on a forfeit 3-0 anyway...?
Reminder that the basketball game starts in 15
Okay, I can't watch this. I have school in five hours.
SWIWS!
We’re so shit 🤣🫠🤦♂️
Does Ned scout player's game intelligence, because I'm starting to wonder.
Obviously not. Also wondering if he's listening to agents. The Galaxy were doing that for a while. And looked where it got them. Now with a new GM, they've quit doing so. I even wondering if we even have a scouting network anymore. Or just using the league-wide system?
We have a newish head/director of scouting with a good pedigree.
This is a coaching problem. The players aren’t mentality, tactically, positional, or strategically prepared, so mistakes happen. They aren’t dummies. McGraw might not be physically fast enough. Eric Miller and Mabiala definitely aren’t. Everything else is coachable. Well, our dribbling and passing from the back might not be good enough either.
I’m not sure there is an intelligent principle guiding Ned’s scouting. What’s the plan?
Araujo seems out of position every time SKC attacks. We really need to invest in the defense next window.
Also JDM is constantly cheating and leaving space for SKC - any team every week - to go wide.
The Timbers need to invest in better defensive coaching.
Needed to invest in a better head coach who would bring in a better assistants and insist on upgrading the defensive corps.
Yep. But that ship, for better or worse, has sailed. I wish Phil's job weren't safe but I'm not sure he'll get shitcanned this fast, even though I wish that were a thing.
I still think something is rotten in the front office. I had high hopes for Grabavoy - he does know actual talent as he played with the likes of Donovan, Javi Morales, Beckerman, etc. But he learned all the wrong lessons from GW. Phil sucks but I think Ned should walk the plank. And to further insulting of the supporters - MP isn't selling (we can only dream!).
Oh, I fully believe the FO is still an MP-led shitshow. He said he's "stepped back", but I don't believe that for a second. The DaBella deal was all because MP was friends with DaBella's CEO; the plug got pulled fast, which tells me Heather Davis has *some* power, but MP is clearly still running the show. And that's to the detriment of the club as a whole, because he's bad at his job .
No need to put the word “defensive” in there 🤣
I'm operating under the assumption that Phil's job is safe for a season, whether it should be or not. But the defensive coaching is abysmal and needs to be upgraded ASAP.
I know they're separate organizations now, but the Portland pro soccer coach firing priority ain't the Timbers.
Just sayin'...
The first goal we gave up was just unfortunate deflections. That goal was from leaving Rosero unmarked. The Timbers defense has looked very sloppy today.
Today, last week, the week before, last season....etc
I thought with the additions of Crépeau and Kamal Miller our defense would get better this year. But instead our defense is even more of a mess (if that's possible).
I was so excited about this defense based on those additions, but as a whole it has been tremendously disappointing. Crepeau has been every bit as good as advertised. Miller's good too, but he's not as good as he could be as part of a good defensive unit.
I will never not be convinced Liam Ridgwell isn't a big part of the problem here.
Like other former players, doesn't coach like the way he played? You also have to blame Grabavoy, too. He's the guy who insisted the roster was "adequate".
I think "adequate" is a pretty good description of this roster, really. They're not worldbeaters, but they are better than what we're seeing. There's a decent amount of talent on this team, but neither Gio nor Phil is any good at getting them to play as a cohesive unit and unlocking what it can do. There are definitely places where upgrades are needed, but this team, on paper, isn't as bad as it's played over the last season or so.
Ned definitely has some issues, and needs to do better, but right now my anger is with Ned's coaching choice, not his roster choices. And I still think that the coaching choice was probably mostly MP's.
You suspect MP prioritized mls coaching experience? I dont' think Phil is cheap though he wanted back in so maybe cut price? Wonder who else they interviewed. We need names, darn it.
Ugly, ugly, ugly.
so much standing around by so many defenders
I'm sure Ridgy will give them a stern talking to at the half and that'll fix it
Then he'll do a ridgy roll and everyone will be like THAT GUY'S SO COOL and everyone will forget he's a shit coach
woof