As I was loitering outside of the park this random guy comes up to me and asks me if I speak Spanish, fortunately I do, if very badly...
Turns out he's from Mexico, visiting Portland for the week, and randomly decided he would like to go to a Timbers game. So I bought him a last minute ticket, and as the game was gearing up I felt like I had to make a lot of excuses and apologies... Bottom of the table team, looked like a thin turn out, etc.
But then! !!
The guy was so happy, FaceTiming with his kids back in Mexico, taking pictures of the whole scene and just absolutely enchanted with everything going on.
I'm so glad we somehow managed to pull off a win, and I was genuinely proud of the team and the fans and the whole scene, and really happy that this visitor got to see something as amazing as that.
That’s next level ball-watching on Moreno’s goal. There’s two guys flat on their feet and a third mildly interested in doing something. From the stands I honestly thought the play was dead.
I think what happened is they felt sorry for Santi. It's been a tough season for him: he's not sure he wants to be here, he's had a couple knocks, it's an adjustment being so far from home. RSL has always been known as a kindhearted group.
I actually said "what a terrible cross" as it was going straight up and seemingly would go straight down where a defender or GK would easily take care of it. It was a surreal moment when Santi just ran up and nodded it in with no opposition
From the couch it honestly looked like the play was dead. I kinda mentally checked out for half of a second preparing myself for the keeper to catch the ball, someone to clear it, or the camera to cut to the ref who just blew his whistle that I didn’t hear. And then Santi comes up and nods it home and it completely caught me off guard. Truly unbelievable defending
That was fun! Is it sustainable? I kinda don't care today, because I can't even remember the last time I watched a whole Timbers game that was fun.
There are lots of long-term problems, questions, and structural issues the Timbers need to deal with. Today, I'm choosing to focus on "that game was awesome!", because it's been a while since I could say that.
Could not be happier for Mora. I really hope that he can keep in good form and we can keep him around for another season at least. He's just a joy to watch and exactly the kind of finisher the club needs to have. Given the multiple surgeries and the time it took him to get back, very curious to see if he can stay healthy.
I find it very encouraging to see the team put an emphasis on possession, that’s the biggest difference I see Joseph making on the team thus far. When you have high profile players like Evander, Williamson, and an aging Diego Chara, you want to keep the ball so those guys don’t have to defend/run as much. On several occasions we patiently played out of the back through pressure - I genuinely cannot remember the last time we’ve done that. It was really great to see. And on the ball in the first half, we felt like we had a plan to disorganize the defense and play through them. We weren’t static off the ball, players were constantly moving around and pulling defenders.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Joseph has only been in charge a week and a half, and just four days prior we looked completely lifeless on the ball. This could easily be a product of RSL resting some of their key players and being really bad. But, as RCTEyeDee said, it’s good to just enjoy the game for what it was.
Moreno was obviously fantastic, finally finding his form from last year. Again, he could revert back to how he’s been all year in the next game, who knows. But I enjoyed seeing him play with swagger and confidence. Speaking of, Mosquera also looked more engaged and combined beautifully with Moreno. Those two worked really well with Moreno cutting inside and Mosquera bombing down the line. We’ve seen that before this year but only flashes. I also really liked Boli this game, I know his touch is sometimes off but I love how mobile he is, he’s constantly making the defense work and getting on the ball as much as he can. It seems like he’s often just a touch away from getting a goal, he’s very dangerous out there. Then Mora is a bit cleaner and more clinical despite being much slower, and boy does he know how to close a game out. He’s a pro at drawing fouls. I think both of them are starting caliber, so being able to bring one off the bench is a good deal.
I think in general we saw an uptick in player performances. Paredes, Evander, Bravo, Moreno, and Mosquera are all players who performed much better than they have been previously. Again, could be a one off, but it’s good to finally see players playing well again after a steady decline in player performances over this year. I think that’s one of the biggest indictments of Gio: we saw nearly every single player regress over this year, and when every player looks bad, that’s on the coach.
Oh, and McGraw was fantastic, so good to have him back. Him and Zuparic work really, really damn well. Zac saved a few goals on his own.
Again, trying not to get ahead of myself here. This was all against a pretty terrible RSL team missing/sitting their best players, and we only squeaked out a 2-1 win at home. And even they had the upper hand for a chunk of the second half. But, after losing at home to Minnesota and Chicago, this is an improvement
Previous conjecture was that nothing would change w/ Gio out yet here were are actually rotating players in a congested week and gd that is refreshing.
The entire coaching staff right now is Gio's guys, so I don't think we're in for a seismic shift in playing philosophy this season. I don't think anyone thought nothing at all would change, but it was good to see Miles doing things slightly differently and hopefully that wasn't a one-off. Lots of guys around playing and coaching for jobs next year, so I'd expect a few more tweaks here and there the rest of the way.
For actual foundational change, we'll need a different coach with a new staff.
Saucy game. DC's hands to that guy's face were so fast you couldn't see it under normal speed. You actually have to go slo mo. What a legend. I'm so glad that wasn't a red because it would have ruined the game for me going down to 10.
The first goal was great with all the build up and then very nice chip from Evander to Mosquera. From there it got weird. That must be a Guiness World Record for highest and longest hang time on a cross resulting in a goal. Seriously crazy. I was catching up to the game and had heard Moreno scored a goal, and for some reason, I thought it was going to be a banger, so when I saw it, I actually started laughing. Crazy goal. I think what Evander did on that is what we expect from him - it was special work in the box.
Slow motion made the play look a lot worse than it was. But once the ref went to the monitor it really felt like he had to pull a card. But from my (unbiased?) perspective, I thought that Chara was pushing down on the arms of the player putting a forearm into his midsection. The RSL player really sold the impact, and that was probably what frustrated everyone so much.
I enjoyed this game. I was particularly impressed with their ball possession while working out from the back. Many short triangle passes got them up the field. They really looked organized for the first time this season. The Gio/Moreno situation was obviously bad for Moreno. He looks freed up. His technical ability still doesn't come close to his physical ability though. Even that headed goal was placed directly at the keeper but luckily was high enough to go straight over his head. Maybe he will now progress under a new coach.
I can't imagine a worse way to spend money in a salary cap league than having a DP goalkeeper, which is what Schmeichel would be. He currently makes $4.3M/year, which the Paulsons can afford if they want, but the cap hit of $652K for a DP is way more than the team should be spending on a GK.
The Timbers do need a new keeper, but I would be very annoyed if they committed DP money to getting one.
He’s conceded less goals I believe, and maybe there are some other stats he leads in. He’s probably better talking to the backline and organizing them. But man his distribution is so terrible, and I believe Ivacic is the superior shot stopper. In truth I’m pretty comfortable with both, I think we have a strong keeper group with them, but I’d definitely prefer to see Ivacic in goal over Bingham
I got a sense of freedom on the part of the players, as if being let out of jail. Wasn’t perfect by any means, but better and more enjoyable to watch. Did I see a combination play or two in that game…oh yeah, nice little touch from Santi to a breaking Mora. I wasn’t dreaming. Still a team highly dependent on cross-a-rama, but better.
yeah, like I said in the GT it was about 80% good and 20% bad. Which to be fair is an almost complete inversion from their recent norm, so I'm just gonna enjoy it for a day before starting to sweat this weekend.
The Moreno goal is what happens to a struggling team and RSL is struggling lately. I think our effort was a B-. We let the opponents in on the wings so the channel defense needs to be solid. Other teams press us on the wings but I was impressed how we managed that this time. Sometimes we try to be fancy with low % flick instead that turns the ball over easy and I just wish we were more patient in lookin for something better, run in behind or something. Also, crossing the ball to Boli with 4 defenders there and no other Timbers seems pointless. Hopefully, they make better choices if this thing gets better. I want to see the new guy who seems the type to make runs on the back line.
Movement off the ball, positioning, passing, purpose, energy...all were the best of the season for my money. It was almost as if there were a game plan that took advantage of the available on-field talent. What was the missing - I mean, added - ingredient, I wonder?
I’d throw out an idea that similar to my experience as a fan right now, the players are loose and going out to play a game of soccer without too much concern about expectations or big picture.
RSL was also just barely interested last night until late. One guy even forgot to fall down for several seconds when fingers came near his face.
As I was loitering outside of the park this random guy comes up to me and asks me if I speak Spanish, fortunately I do, if very badly...
Turns out he's from Mexico, visiting Portland for the week, and randomly decided he would like to go to a Timbers game. So I bought him a last minute ticket, and as the game was gearing up I felt like I had to make a lot of excuses and apologies... Bottom of the table team, looked like a thin turn out, etc.
But then! !!
The guy was so happy, FaceTiming with his kids back in Mexico, taking pictures of the whole scene and just absolutely enchanted with everything going on.
I'm so glad we somehow managed to pull off a win, and I was genuinely proud of the team and the fans and the whole scene, and really happy that this visitor got to see something as amazing as that.
That’s next level ball-watching on Moreno’s goal. There’s two guys flat on their feet and a third mildly interested in doing something. From the stands I honestly thought the play was dead.
I think what happened is they felt sorry for Santi. It's been a tough season for him: he's not sure he wants to be here, he's had a couple knocks, it's an adjustment being so far from home. RSL has always been known as a kindhearted group.
"Hey, that was a nice goal. Have you heard about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints?"
Santi needs to keep his family in town. He looked so much more relaxed and enthusiastic this week. Scoring in front of his mom...awesomeness
I actually said "what a terrible cross" as it was going straight up and seemingly would go straight down where a defender or GK would easily take care of it. It was a surreal moment when Santi just ran up and nodded it in with no opposition
Moonstruck... the double-big/double-blue moon got in their eyes.
From the couch it honestly looked like the play was dead. I kinda mentally checked out for half of a second preparing myself for the keeper to catch the ball, someone to clear it, or the camera to cut to the ref who just blew his whistle that I didn’t hear. And then Santi comes up and nods it home and it completely caught me off guard. Truly unbelievable defending
Yeah, that was stunning to watch. Why nobody reacted to the ball amazed me. I'll take it, but the RSL coach has to be furious!
On RSL's part, it looked like one of those "You take it" "No you take it" "No you ... OH CRAP" goals.
I wonder if the goalie simply didn't see where the ball went, because he moved back to the line and just... waited.
That was fun! Is it sustainable? I kinda don't care today, because I can't even remember the last time I watched a whole Timbers game that was fun.
There are lots of long-term problems, questions, and structural issues the Timbers need to deal with. Today, I'm choosing to focus on "that game was awesome!", because it's been a while since I could say that.
Could not be happier for Mora. I really hope that he can keep in good form and we can keep him around for another season at least. He's just a joy to watch and exactly the kind of finisher the club needs to have. Given the multiple surgeries and the time it took him to get back, very curious to see if he can stay healthy.
I find it very encouraging to see the team put an emphasis on possession, that’s the biggest difference I see Joseph making on the team thus far. When you have high profile players like Evander, Williamson, and an aging Diego Chara, you want to keep the ball so those guys don’t have to defend/run as much. On several occasions we patiently played out of the back through pressure - I genuinely cannot remember the last time we’ve done that. It was really great to see. And on the ball in the first half, we felt like we had a plan to disorganize the defense and play through them. We weren’t static off the ball, players were constantly moving around and pulling defenders.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Joseph has only been in charge a week and a half, and just four days prior we looked completely lifeless on the ball. This could easily be a product of RSL resting some of their key players and being really bad. But, as RCTEyeDee said, it’s good to just enjoy the game for what it was.
Moreno was obviously fantastic, finally finding his form from last year. Again, he could revert back to how he’s been all year in the next game, who knows. But I enjoyed seeing him play with swagger and confidence. Speaking of, Mosquera also looked more engaged and combined beautifully with Moreno. Those two worked really well with Moreno cutting inside and Mosquera bombing down the line. We’ve seen that before this year but only flashes. I also really liked Boli this game, I know his touch is sometimes off but I love how mobile he is, he’s constantly making the defense work and getting on the ball as much as he can. It seems like he’s often just a touch away from getting a goal, he’s very dangerous out there. Then Mora is a bit cleaner and more clinical despite being much slower, and boy does he know how to close a game out. He’s a pro at drawing fouls. I think both of them are starting caliber, so being able to bring one off the bench is a good deal.
I think in general we saw an uptick in player performances. Paredes, Evander, Bravo, Moreno, and Mosquera are all players who performed much better than they have been previously. Again, could be a one off, but it’s good to finally see players playing well again after a steady decline in player performances over this year. I think that’s one of the biggest indictments of Gio: we saw nearly every single player regress over this year, and when every player looks bad, that’s on the coach.
Oh, and McGraw was fantastic, so good to have him back. Him and Zuparic work really, really damn well. Zac saved a few goals on his own.
Again, trying not to get ahead of myself here. This was all against a pretty terrible RSL team missing/sitting their best players, and we only squeaked out a 2-1 win at home. And even they had the upper hand for a chunk of the second half. But, after losing at home to Minnesota and Chicago, this is an improvement
Previous conjecture was that nothing would change w/ Gio out yet here were are actually rotating players in a congested week and gd that is refreshing.
The entire coaching staff right now is Gio's guys, so I don't think we're in for a seismic shift in playing philosophy this season. I don't think anyone thought nothing at all would change, but it was good to see Miles doing things slightly differently and hopefully that wasn't a one-off. Lots of guys around playing and coaching for jobs next year, so I'd expect a few more tweaks here and there the rest of the way.
For actual foundational change, we'll need a different coach with a new staff.
Saucy game. DC's hands to that guy's face were so fast you couldn't see it under normal speed. You actually have to go slo mo. What a legend. I'm so glad that wasn't a red because it would have ruined the game for me going down to 10.
The first goal was great with all the build up and then very nice chip from Evander to Mosquera. From there it got weird. That must be a Guiness World Record for highest and longest hang time on a cross resulting in a goal. Seriously crazy. I was catching up to the game and had heard Moreno scored a goal, and for some reason, I thought it was going to be a banger, so when I saw it, I actually started laughing. Crazy goal. I think what Evander did on that is what we expect from him - it was special work in the box.
On to the next. Seattle!
Slow motion made the play look a lot worse than it was. But once the ref went to the monitor it really felt like he had to pull a card. But from my (unbiased?) perspective, I thought that Chara was pushing down on the arms of the player putting a forearm into his midsection. The RSL player really sold the impact, and that was probably what frustrated everyone so much.
I enjoyed this game. I was particularly impressed with their ball possession while working out from the back. Many short triangle passes got them up the field. They really looked organized for the first time this season. The Gio/Moreno situation was obviously bad for Moreno. He looks freed up. His technical ability still doesn't come close to his physical ability though. Even that headed goal was placed directly at the keeper but luckily was high enough to go straight over his head. Maybe he will now progress under a new coach.
> Many short triangle passes got them up the field.
Lol, Joseph said that they were going for large triangles...
Did you guys see Kasper Schmeichel is a free agent let's get him in build for next season.
I can't imagine a worse way to spend money in a salary cap league than having a DP goalkeeper, which is what Schmeichel would be. He currently makes $4.3M/year, which the Paulsons can afford if they want, but the cap hit of $652K for a DP is way more than the team should be spending on a GK.
The Timbers do need a new keeper, but I would be very annoyed if they committed DP money to getting one.
What is the argument for starting GK Bingham?
He’s conceded less goals I believe, and maybe there are some other stats he leads in. He’s probably better talking to the backline and organizing them. But man his distribution is so terrible, and I believe Ivacic is the superior shot stopper. In truth I’m pretty comfortable with both, I think we have a strong keeper group with them, but I’d definitely prefer to see Ivacic in goal over Bingham
I got a sense of freedom on the part of the players, as if being let out of jail. Wasn’t perfect by any means, but better and more enjoyable to watch. Did I see a combination play or two in that game…oh yeah, nice little touch from Santi to a breaking Mora. I wasn’t dreaming. Still a team highly dependent on cross-a-rama, but better.
yeah, like I said in the GT it was about 80% good and 20% bad. Which to be fair is an almost complete inversion from their recent norm, so I'm just gonna enjoy it for a day before starting to sweat this weekend.
The Moreno goal is what happens to a struggling team and RSL is struggling lately. I think our effort was a B-. We let the opponents in on the wings so the channel defense needs to be solid. Other teams press us on the wings but I was impressed how we managed that this time. Sometimes we try to be fancy with low % flick instead that turns the ball over easy and I just wish we were more patient in lookin for something better, run in behind or something. Also, crossing the ball to Boli with 4 defenders there and no other Timbers seems pointless. Hopefully, they make better choices if this thing gets better. I want to see the new guy who seems the type to make runs on the back line.
Movement off the ball, positioning, passing, purpose, energy...all were the best of the season for my money. It was almost as if there were a game plan that took advantage of the available on-field talent. What was the missing - I mean, added - ingredient, I wonder?
I’d throw out an idea that similar to my experience as a fan right now, the players are loose and going out to play a game of soccer without too much concern about expectations or big picture.
RSL was also just barely interested last night until late. One guy even forgot to fall down for several seconds when fingers came near his face.