70 Comments
Apr 2, 2023Liked by Alex Barnes

Once they're fully fit, only Boli or Ikoba should start up top. Nathan late game sub, emergencies, rotation. Niezgoda becomes our chief cheerleader until we can get rid of him.

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Apr 2, 2023Liked by Alex Barnes

Thumbs up to Ivacic. Not only did he have a couple nice/amazing saves that kept us in the game, but his distribution is better than Bingham’s. Less high looping floaters, flatter trajectory on both goal kicks and punts makes them more dangerous.

Bravo to Bravo, McGraw and Suparic, all three had good games.

Williamson discovered there is another half to the field behind the center line. He did well back there.

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Apr 2, 2023·edited Apr 2, 2023

Toward the end of the match, prior to the Boli sub, I was thinking to myself “This is a loss that feels like a tie.” The team held on throughout the match until they finally gave one away, but they weren’t ripped open like they had been previously. They bent but didn’t look like breaking. That’s a step up in the play we’ve seen, especially given our bleak injury list and 100% lack of contribution from DPs and even TAM players. So when Boli put that goal away—not the easiest shot either!—this suddenly felt like a win. And moreover, it felt like hope for the club. He came on and, within minutes, netted to steal a point on the road during a tough run of form while morale was low. The shot was technical. A first touch with little visibility. I was skeptical about the signing but I’m now cautiously optimistic. Even joyful? If he can click with Evander and our wingers, we might start to look dangerous on attack. That danger going forward would relieve some pressure on the entire team in terms of defense and we may just salvage the season! At least becoming fun to watch. Glad I caught the match.

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Apr 2, 2023Liked by Alex Barnes

Welcome to the new site everyone.

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Apr 2, 2023Liked by Alex Barnes

Good to see a Timbers striker put his laces through it AND get it in frame

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Welcome Franck Boli! Your films do you proud sir. Hats off on an excellent assist to Darion Asprilla and a stellar performance in goal by Ivacic! Santi Moreno so close at the corner of the net, Still well done, Dallas was held in check for most of the match and that's a testament to the defense. Mosquera was a threat. Gio played all five forwards in the match and Boli subbed on in the midfield and it worked. Hopefully Franck will make others around him even better. Big job next week in Vancouver as they come off a 5-0 win. Train hard and stay healthy please!

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Not totally sure how the link will work here but I made a touch compilation for Santiago Moreno for this match

https://youtu.be/NL-ScEly9M4

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The first half felt like a dream where we actually started to possess the ball a bit and were patient. Both Moreno and Bravo took a step forward last week, and they took yet another step forward this week. McGraw was also fantastic, I’m thinking of making touch compilations for McGraw and Moreno this week. Ivacic was definitely man of the match, great to have him back and to see Gio work his magic on another frustrated player

Great to have a striker who isn’t afraid to shoot and can actually hit it on frame. Nathan isn’t afraid either (he can be too eager) but his shots are field goals. Boli might very well be a really great addition to the attack, but it’s too early to say. His goal reminded me of Moreno’s last second goal at Columbus last year, a similar sort of sliced volley from the top of the box to the bottom corner. With him, Ikoba, then Nathan, there should be no reason for Jaro to see the field much unless our style of play drastically changes, because he just doesn’t fit in

Fantastic result, really. Best we’ve played in Dallas. I don’t wanna jinx it, but... we’ve been doing better in Texas recently... never thought I’d see the day. This result with returning players will bring up the vibes among the players I’m sure, however we’re still gonna need some more convincing as fans if we’re going to believe this team will make some noise this year

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Apr 3, 2023·edited Apr 3, 2023

That goal really was special. Great long ball from Chara. Excellent touch to space from Dairon, and then a hell of a blast from Boli.

Reminds me of Adi coming in and putting one in late on his debut.

Tough stretch coming. Hopefully form can build from here and health can meet it in productive results.

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Okay everyone. Bear with me here. The team obviously has problems with injuries. This has been a frustrating problem for years. I’m not sure that we have been the worst team in the league when it comes to this, but I’m sure we are close. Does this fall on our training staff? Maybe. It could also be the fact that we invest in older players. However, I think that our turf at Providence Park is the problem. I’m sure our guys practice on the same style of turf which seems to be creating so many problems over the years. I think that it’s time for the team to invest in natural grass. It’s expensive and tough to maintain in this climate, but it’s time. If they can do it in England, we can do it here. Another plus is some players would actually think a little harder about signing with us. Just a thought, but it’s been bothering me for a few years.

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My thoughts:

1 - The good: Moreno found his form. Williamson is still sloppy defensively but put in a solid shift. Nathan and Gutierrez work hard. Boli had about as good of a debut as you could hope for. The back 4 were solid (although I was not impressed at all with Miller). Mosquera showed that he can be placed just about anywhere on the pitch and he'll make a difference. Ivacic is a true shot stopper.

2 - The bad: Our set piece defending is still disorganized (and the announcers called out Chara for part of it, I'm not sure they were correct though) - can anyone tell me (because I don't want to go look) if Chara was NOT the front post defender last game. He has been, but after a near miss on a set piece, he got fouled away from the post and I forgot to look at how we were set up.

2a - I thought Miller looked bad. I thought he looked very slow and got caught upfield more than a couple times. Mosquera was there to pick up the slack. Ivacic's distribution is haphazard at best. It's better than it was, but it's still noticeably below average. Gutierrez and Nathan do seem to lack the true skill needed to be MLS regulars (at this current time) but both worked super hard and I think that's going to be a wakeup call to a couple other players that want minutes.

3 - I had fun watching the game? There was a bit of dread as Dallas was setting up to score because you could see it coming, but the Timbers mostly looked threatening on offense and capable on defense.

4 - Moreno and Mosquera are freaking fast and fun to watch. Gutierrez and Nathan work hard and are somewhat fun to watch. Williamson has elite vision and is fun to watch when he's not agonizing to watch. Chara is fun to watch. Bravo is fun to watch (I still think some of you undervalue him). McGraw is becoming fun to watch. Ivacic is fun to watch until he gets the ball and then he's not as fun.

4a - I think the simple addition of Evander and takeout of Miller will make this team somewhat capable. Add in Boli instead of Nathan (Boli has to be better, right?) we'll be more than capable, fast, and dangerous.

5 - April is going to be a brutal month. I hope we survive it and some of you don't lose your flipping minds that this really is (finally) a rebuilding season and we are a midpack team at best this year.

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I'm still #GioOut, but that was a much better performance than we've seen pretty much all season, at least until it wasn't.

They looked a lot more organized, for the most part, which was nice to see, and there were only a few WTF moments, as opposed to the entire game being nothing but WTF moments. Their set piece defending is still abhorrent, and watching the supremely organized Dallas back line made me super jealous, but overall this was a much more encouraging performance than I've seen in previous weeks.

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I really thought this was Nathan's best game. Same with Moreno. Happy for both.

As for mosquera as a winger. I'm not a fan. Not that he did bad. I thought he did good but I still wouldn't put him there over others. He is a wingback. Kinda like Sergino Dest. He is very balanced between attack and defense, but not excellent at either. Dest is good going forward because of his technical skills, But his defending is suspect. Like Alexander-Arnold, but I think it's the opposite for mosquera. Good going forward but even better at defense. That makes him a desirable player. .

Tbh the reason we had a better game was because of all the second balls we were winning. Moreno was a big part of that. It seemed like him, chara and eryk were getting every second ball. It completely changes perspective of the game when you are winning those balls. Everything else could be the same. Not efficient in finishing. Sloppy passes. But flipping that switch between winning and losing second balls is the difference in how we see success or failure.

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It was a much better game than the dumpster fires of previous weeks. Our decisions around the box still keep us from scoring multiple goals (like it always has) but the team seemed like they had a swagger about them in this game. Everyone seemed up for the game. Where as nobody seemed up for the last 5.

It's good to see. This team needs to be held accountable for every game week in and week out. Mediocrity and just taking it easy until July is not acceptable. The sooner fans step up and let their frustrations be known the sooner change will happen. Being soft on expectations only makes the team and franchise complacent. Winners and the elite aren't forged that way. In anything in life. Self expectation and pressure from others are what push people to be the best versions of themselves. I feel like for years we have been too soft on the team and mp on what is acceptable.

I will say this though. It was a better game than what we have seen these past weeks. Maybe gio was feeling the pressure and he is putting it on the players. This is the first year where I remember people starting to say gio out. So maybe that had something to do with it. But one thing is for sure. My optimism is slowly moving in the right direction. Let's see what happens in April. If by the end of April we still aren't winning games I will be #gioout and a lot more vocal about it.

I don't want to hear excuses I want to see results.

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After sitting through multiple bad games, I had little hope for this one. I was only able to watch the first half live but it looked like a better organized and more engaged team than the first few weeks.

Boli gives me a little hope. Match # 6, second striker to score for us (Ikoba got the first one) and officially 4 minutes (plus stoppage) played. I have said that I don't think Nathan is the answer, but at least he works hard and takes shots. Niezgoda just does not fit this team and is a shadow of his former self. 275 minutes and has the same number of shots on frame (1) as Boli, D. Chara, Paredes and McGraw. Even if your striker isn't producing, he at least has to be shooting.

We have a difficult schedule coming up (@Van, hot Flounders team, 2 road games, but I hope that at least the more engaged play can offer some hope even if not winning until we get into May.

A draw was a good result for us. So would be a draw next week at Vancouver.

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Nope, I'm not saying that the playoffs are 'better' - or 'worse', for that matter. Never said that at all. You opened this whole can of worms, not me.

AFAI can see, crowning the 'best' team in a league constructed the way MLS is kind of a Laughable, foolish fantasy.

..." Like I said before, the salary cap keeps us all equal in mls..."

Speaking of fantasy, check what actual MLS team spending is.

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