We were at the game and it was great to see the boys show so much aggression. They were the better team all night and it's great to see Evander start to come into his own.
First game I’ve been to since probably last summer and the first time I’ve sat up in the top of the newly created stands (also got front row seats because some other people took ours, it was a whole thing), and man what a view! Just stunning. And despite the fact that I felt like I could see the entire game from up there better than any other seat in the house, it still felt like Evander could see everything far better than me. His vision is incredible. He still had some sloppy moments and sometimes I think he tries to do too much, but when he’s on the ball in space you just know something magical will happen. I think we can do a better job of getting him more consistently involved, I think our central midfield has been lacking just a little in possession without Ayala or Williamson (I thought Paredes and Chara were both the two weakest starters on the field) and that has meant Evander can’t get on the ball as much since everything we do goes wide. But it’s only been two games and I trust that midfield on the road a bit more when we’re playing against the ball more.
Moreno was awesome, probably his best game of the year so far, I’ll probably do highlights for him. I thought Zuparic was an underrated hero for this game, he was amazing. Great to have McGraw back, OG and all (hell of a finish, really). Bravo was hot and cold but got us started with a great step and assist to Boli. Having Yimmi back is huge, he showed what a great player he is and how maybe while he isn’t worth the DP tag, he’s still a very valuable player for the team. The whole offense worked so well, I’m stoked to see what the Evander - Moreno combo can do, they play so well together. The second goal is the best team goal from the Timbers in a long time
Now for some negatives, Asprilla looked pretty bad when he came on. Not too worried about it but man it was tough to watch. Niezgoda had a few good touches when he came on but then disappeared (he only had 8 touches in 30 minutes!), though I don’t think most of it was his fault. Once we brought him on, we conceded much more possession. That’s not where he’s going to succeed. I actually think Niezgoda is someone who could benefit greatly from how we were playing in the first 25 minutes. However we seem to bring him on in game states that don’t play to his strengths at all. We should be bringing Nathan off the bench if that’s how we’re going to play in that time because he can cause havoc, press the opposition, stretch the defense, etc. Usually I’m the guy to get on Jaro’s case but I don’t think this was his fault (I still think he can do better of course)
Just a little afterthought, I noticed while watching back Evander’s second goal that Boli does very well do open up the shooting lane. There’s a defender coming in to try and block the shot (not sure if he would’ve actually gotten there) but Boli intentionally shields the defender and stops him, opening up a wide open space to shoot. Beautiful pick, I think Boli is turning out alright
Terrific post! Love your attention to all of the details about each player. Totally agree about Jaro-maybe better to start him and sub in Nathan as you said. I love Bravo, hot or cold. I think Evander can become a beast for us!
Hard to believe how far the team has come in just a little over a month; our game in BC on 4/8 was just awful. We only had 2 shots the whole game, and neither were on target
The first 25 min or so of that game were the best I've seen the Timbers play all season. Crisp passing that seemed to advance play, players seemed to know what they were out there to do and were sticking to doing it, and defending that wasn't 100% clownshoes. Seeing most of the first unit clicking is kinda refreshing!
There were still too many defensive facepalm moments, but fortunately, Vancouver, who are a better team than they showed last night, were in full facepalm mode all game long. A lot of the Timbers' defensive looseness will get punished against better teams, but this team doesn't look nearly as dire as they did earlier in the season.
Agree that against a better team, this could have been a different result given some of the defensive derps. But still — that was really fun. Both of Evander’s goals had some really lovely build up. And that second finish in particular was ⚡️🤩⚡️
One observation — the offense is pretty lopsided with almost every attack going down the right side. I get why that is from a player perspective. But it often developed into a really predictable scenario — get the ball down to touch outside the box on the right side, then a looping cross to the far post where Moreno was hopelessly outsized by two Vancouver defenders with almost no chance to get to the cross. Happened over and over.
That is xGioBall. I’d like to see them be able to adapt their sequences when they see things are not working.
But overall, a super fun night at the Park. A lot of great things to see, and it seems like the team is getting itself into order.
I feel like it's a little funny that anything bad the Timbers are doing is #gioball right now. I think if you look at the track record, he's been one of the more adaptable coaches in the league-- certainly more so than what we've been seeing out of veterans like Greg Vanney, Bruce Arena, Bob Bradley, Peter Vermes--guys who have *A System* and stick to it the vast majority of the time. There have been times under Gio that this team *has* tried to walk the ball into the net all the time and wouldn't pull the trigger and that wouldn't come off. There are times we're crossing too much with no runners in the box. Now we're playing chipped crosses in that don't work... Except when they do, and we scored a nice one last night. I'm not a huge Gio defender, but I'll stick up for him a little because we really don't know what he's telling the guys to do and what they're doing\not doing based on the plan. Maybe some of it is giving creative freedom to the players, maybe some of it is really trying to execute attacking patterns. We do see it ebb and flow. I'd say the team has improved over the past 4 games, in no small part due to getting players back from injury. I wouldn't say that lofted short crosses are a characteristic of Gio teams that I can trace back 5 years.
Eh, I've wanted Gio gone since early 2021, so I"m not the most objective judge, but I'm not sure I'd call him "adaptable". He hasn't said it publicly in a while, but at first he was very insistent that Portland were a counterattacking team. Which they were, until they very much weren't. And now I wouldn't say they''re so much "adaptable" as "desperately seeking some sort of identity".
This season's injuries haven't helped, but throughout 2021 and 22, the Timbers would try counterattacking, get shut down (not uncommon, or unique to the Timbers, once teams figure out that's what's going on), and then they'd...have no plan B. So they will try crosses, they'll try cutbacks, they'll try most everything, and sometimes it works and often it doesn't.
One of my criticisms of Gio is in that lack of a plan B; it's fine to want to be a counterattacking team, but there has to be a coherent plan B to fall back on if that doesn't work, and the Timbers don't seem to have one. That leads to a lot of scrambling around to try to figure out what to do and how to attack/play offense, and to frequent poor play when they can't.
Combine that with the persistent defensive sloppiness that has been another hallmark of recent Gioball, and that's why, even when the Timbers play as well as they did Saturday in stretches, I'm not convinced that Gio is the long-term answer as this team (hopefully) evolves into the post-Blanco and post-Chara(s) era.
I've sometimes thought the same thing. Notoriously there was that stretch back in 2021 where we didn't score for something like 4 games and that had me begging for a backup plan.
However, its nuanced. Gio might not be able to instill an entirely different, alternate style but he has had quite a few instances of good halftime adjustments that paid off.
Rifer had a sentiment a few months back that encapsulates the problem here: MLS (and especially the timbers) really seems to prefer being secretive and not cater to us nosey folks who want to know about stuff. We don't get the inside scoop and so we have to just extrapolate
But, like, playing style is visible. We don't need inside scoop to know they were once trying to be a counterattacking team; we don't need underlying numbers to see that they can't play any other style with any coherence. We can see that play out to varying degrees of success on the pitch.
Half time adjustments are important when things aren't working, but what's more important is being able to impose your style on an opponent from the very start as much as possible. And if a team doesn't have a style that works, that'll never happen.
It always makes me laugh when any Timber puts a ball in the air like that. There are maybe two guys on this team who can outjump anyone, and yet they still try it all the damn time. It's both hilarious and infuriating that that's the way Gio wants them to play, because it just doesn't work. Ever.
This is a team who should literally be trying to walk the ball into the goal more often than not - I mean that somewhat hyperbolically, but also do wish they'd focus more on passing and movement than getting in position to get outjumped on a hopeful cross yet again.
And yes - Evander was fantastic. It's fun to watch him get more comfortable.
Meh... when tactics are working, and attacking down our right side sure was, most teams use them until they don't. Then they try something else...
Moreno and Mosquera terrorized VANs right side. Santi used the threat of Mosquera running behind to freeze defenders and pull others out of the middle, then marauded his way across the box looking for runners to slip passes to. Worked a treat much of the time.
I'm all in favor of this team leaning into what they are built for, meaning an attacking team that is going to score more goals than the opponent. I don't think the defense is going to be great, so go out there and attack the other team. Are we going to lose some game 3-2, 4-2? Sure. But it would be a lot more interesting than playing conservative and trying to eke out a win. We have a lot of attacking players, I want to unleash them and put pressure on the opposition to score to win.
Happy for the win. It's amazing how different we look with most of our best players out there! And Evander has, what, 3G+2A in the last 3 games, which bodes well for the future.
I had a more mixed view of Paredes. He had some good defensive interceptions to be sure. But he was nowhere to be seen just before Vancouver's goal when some VAN player passed forward to their attacking midfielder in front of our back line. It was Paredes's territory but there was no one within 10 yards of the VAN player, giving him all the time in the world to pick out a through-ball that turned into the goal. Paredes was waaaay out of position up by the forward line and was jogging back on the play, and I'd put the goal on him even more than on McGraw. Also I felt like Paredes contributed little to launching attacks, unlike his fellow d-mid Diego. So many of Paredes's passes went backwards, even when he had expanses of space in front of him. I've generally liked him in the past but I felt frustrated with him tonight.
Yeah, Paredes is a puzzle. Not bad all of the time but bad enough some of the time to make me not trust him. Goals scored against us the last two games came way too easy IMO. Bravo saved another goal by standing on the goal line and helping Ivacic out. He's done that more than once this season.
RE Vancouver's goal. I'd put that on Zup letting that guy have free pass; it was his guy. He needs to step. Maybe he didn't get the memo to play higher line. Bravo got beat on a nice pass. It happens. But blame Paredes? OK, fine, but if you are going to blame Paredes on that goal, then give him credit for Portland's first goal. SAme position and pressuring and then Bravo steps to intercept. leading to pass to Boli. Maybe they weren't all on the same page. Maybe they all need to be more aggressive like Paredes is.
Not launching attacks? Not sure that is Paredes' job, but he is more than capable of it; we've seen it. Timbers controlled the midfield and won the game, unlike the game in Vancouver. I see Paredes as a winner; he does whatever it takes.
This re Paredes 100%, Left49... He'll do whatever it takes given the needs of the game.
Gressel was VANs main threat and playing the same side of the field, plus VAN had an extra guy in midfield all night long - so Paredes HAD to stay home.
Seems like the other guys did just fine handling that offense part, didn't they?
Yes, it looks like how it should on paper is coming to fruition on the field. Two supporting mids feeding the wings and Evander. Timbers are consistently getting more shots off than they were in the first part of the season.
Paredes ain't perfect, but I think the one thing he brings that is top notch is pure athleticism and a physical presence that helps slow other teams down.
I used the local radio play-by-play announcer audio feature on the Apple stream of Timbers game for the first time. Love it! I find the national people annoying and prefer silence to them
Gotta say I was pretty disappointed with Ross Smith and partner's match call. I expected more PTFC insights from Ross, but it was essentially like listening in to VAN's home feed - and they were WAY undermiked a lot of the time to boot.
As you say, most all of the AppleTV announcers I've heard so far range from anonymous to annoying. Our local radio guys are MUCH better.
The guys looked great last night (OG notwithstanding). I'm really looking forward to seeing them at full strength and seeing what the front office does to bolster the team during the summer transfer period. Are there any stories coming up that might look into the club's plans? Just curious. I enjoyed the write-up, keep up the good work!
Footballing goals! Great work by Moreno on the second goal, even if he doesn't get the hockey assist for it. I thought he was bright, and put in a lively shift. Clever pick by Boli, on Evander's second goal... which is GOTW, his first or second?
It seems like Timbers come out swinging and go for the knockout punch, especially at home. If they don't land it, and the opponent counter-punches, then Timbers get wobbly for a spell, and hope to last 10 rounds. Helps to have more on the bench now, if playing this way, but I'm not sure it's the stuff dreams are made of in MLS. Getting the 3rd goal was big last night, but it won't happen every night.
Easily the best outing of the season. Crisp perfectly describes the passing for the 90. Crisp and accurate. It was fun to watch. My only concern is Saverese will think it was “too pretty”.
Fun game to watch, and I'm hopeful this is the Timbers going forward. That includes the sketchy defense periodically throughout the game. While I think we have okay defenders, I don't feel like the whole group will ever crack the top 5 in MLS. But if the offense is humming that will be okay. I'm quite good with the team winning (and losing) games 3-2 with lots of fireworks. Evander seems to be settling in, and I don't think we have seen the best of him. He is still too passive in my opinion, and I'm looking forward to him getting more aggressive on the ball like Moreno was. I love to see Moreno playing like he is, so dangerous when he is attacking.
The weird thing is I feel like we have really good starting defenders individually, but it doesn’t come together as a group. Bravo, Zuparic, McGraw, and Mosquera should be a really great backline in theory. Im curious what main factors are playing a part in it not coming together. Ivacic doesn’t seem to be a keeper to talk a lot to his defense, but we really have no idea how much talking he does back there. McGraw feels like he’d be the main talker on the backline, though it’s only his first full season as a starter. It feels like we brought Liam in to be the guy to coach and organize the backline, but we haven’t seen that so far.
When we’re playing against the ball, Gio always has our wingers dropping super deep to defend ahead of our outside backs, which I think is good in some moments but leaves us disorganized a bit when our wingers aren’t there to defend. Our defensive organization as a whole has felt off for awhile now and I can’t quite put my finger on why. It just needs to be better
I think it starts with the keeper. Ivacic is a great shot stopper. I agree he doesn’t seem to communicate much and he is very hesitant off his line. I feel like the Timbers play a type of defense that excels with a mobile keeper. There is at least 1 or 2 balls a game that if he was more free from his line he would scoop up easily. I think his comfort level is where it is and for our defense really to gel and be at its best would require a more adventurous keeper.
I agree, there were several times on Saturday when I thought Ivacic could’ve easily come off his line to collect a ball. He could use to stand a bit further off his line and/or be more willing to come off it
I think its the communication that is lacking, followed by the wingback formation we use. If McGraw is really the leader in the back, he needs to do a better job of keeping the line organized. He is young, so he can really grow into that role but I don't think he is there yet. Also, the fact that both Bravo and Mosquera are used in the attack (a lot) can leave the defense in a rough spot when we need to track back. The reality is that this is a feature of what we do, not a failure. In my opinion, both Zuparic and McGraw need to get better, but I don't see that happening this year. McGraw has the potential, but I think Zuparic is what he is. Finally, we don't have the depth on this team. Losing Tuiloma was huge, as we now have to rely on Mabiala and Miller. Both are decent depth pieces, but I'm not super comfortable relying on them for any stretch of time. Besides, I like Miller as depth behind both Bravo and Mosqera and while he can backup all four spots on defense that isn't ideal.
McGraw having potential just shows how good he can be to me, because I think he’s already fantastic. Zuparic had also put in several really good shifts recently, him being who he is is alright with me. I don’t know if McGraw is the leader, just my guess based on personalities, but we really know nothing on how it works back there. I don’t know if there’s a language barrier there or not, each player on the backline and in goal comes from a different part of the world
I think the language thing is generally overstated by a lot of fans of a lot of teams. I mean, it's not like they're having an in-depth discussion of the nuances of Ulysses and its meaning for humanity back there (although that would be hilarious, and I want to have mics on players if that ever happens); there's a limited set of English words that are common on-pitch vernacular, like BALL and CLEAR and CARRY and a handful of others, that are used to communicate during a game.
As a professional soccer player, it doesn't take too much time to figure out what those are and what they mean, and even if English isn't your native language you can figure out that BACK means "someone's coming behind you" from context and repetition.
Yeah the easy instructions are pretty universal, but I think there are also times where more specific language is used, like communicating information on the tendencies of the attacking players and other stuff like that. I also think from a human aspect it’s probably easier to play with someone you’re more familiar with and feel comfortable talking to, but I’m sure the defense is a pretty tight group off the field and I’m definitely overstating this
We were at the game and it was great to see the boys show so much aggression. They were the better team all night and it's great to see Evander start to come into his own.
First game I’ve been to since probably last summer and the first time I’ve sat up in the top of the newly created stands (also got front row seats because some other people took ours, it was a whole thing), and man what a view! Just stunning. And despite the fact that I felt like I could see the entire game from up there better than any other seat in the house, it still felt like Evander could see everything far better than me. His vision is incredible. He still had some sloppy moments and sometimes I think he tries to do too much, but when he’s on the ball in space you just know something magical will happen. I think we can do a better job of getting him more consistently involved, I think our central midfield has been lacking just a little in possession without Ayala or Williamson (I thought Paredes and Chara were both the two weakest starters on the field) and that has meant Evander can’t get on the ball as much since everything we do goes wide. But it’s only been two games and I trust that midfield on the road a bit more when we’re playing against the ball more.
Moreno was awesome, probably his best game of the year so far, I’ll probably do highlights for him. I thought Zuparic was an underrated hero for this game, he was amazing. Great to have McGraw back, OG and all (hell of a finish, really). Bravo was hot and cold but got us started with a great step and assist to Boli. Having Yimmi back is huge, he showed what a great player he is and how maybe while he isn’t worth the DP tag, he’s still a very valuable player for the team. The whole offense worked so well, I’m stoked to see what the Evander - Moreno combo can do, they play so well together. The second goal is the best team goal from the Timbers in a long time
Now for some negatives, Asprilla looked pretty bad when he came on. Not too worried about it but man it was tough to watch. Niezgoda had a few good touches when he came on but then disappeared (he only had 8 touches in 30 minutes!), though I don’t think most of it was his fault. Once we brought him on, we conceded much more possession. That’s not where he’s going to succeed. I actually think Niezgoda is someone who could benefit greatly from how we were playing in the first 25 minutes. However we seem to bring him on in game states that don’t play to his strengths at all. We should be bringing Nathan off the bench if that’s how we’re going to play in that time because he can cause havoc, press the opposition, stretch the defense, etc. Usually I’m the guy to get on Jaro’s case but I don’t think this was his fault (I still think he can do better of course)
Just a little afterthought, I noticed while watching back Evander’s second goal that Boli does very well do open up the shooting lane. There’s a defender coming in to try and block the shot (not sure if he would’ve actually gotten there) but Boli intentionally shields the defender and stops him, opening up a wide open space to shoot. Beautiful pick, I think Boli is turning out alright
Terrific post! Love your attention to all of the details about each player. Totally agree about Jaro-maybe better to start him and sub in Nathan as you said. I love Bravo, hot or cold. I think Evander can become a beast for us!
GREEN KITS AT HOME. That about sums it up...
Yes! Thanks for mentioning this. It was just so right seeing the green kits instead of the pukie pink ones. Wish they'd burn those!
Hard to believe how far the team has come in just a little over a month; our game in BC on 4/8 was just awful. We only had 2 shots the whole game, and neither were on target
The first 25 min or so of that game were the best I've seen the Timbers play all season. Crisp passing that seemed to advance play, players seemed to know what they were out there to do and were sticking to doing it, and defending that wasn't 100% clownshoes. Seeing most of the first unit clicking is kinda refreshing!
There were still too many defensive facepalm moments, but fortunately, Vancouver, who are a better team than they showed last night, were in full facepalm mode all game long. A lot of the Timbers' defensive looseness will get punished against better teams, but this team doesn't look nearly as dire as they did earlier in the season.
Agree that against a better team, this could have been a different result given some of the defensive derps. But still — that was really fun. Both of Evander’s goals had some really lovely build up. And that second finish in particular was ⚡️🤩⚡️
One observation — the offense is pretty lopsided with almost every attack going down the right side. I get why that is from a player perspective. But it often developed into a really predictable scenario — get the ball down to touch outside the box on the right side, then a looping cross to the far post where Moreno was hopelessly outsized by two Vancouver defenders with almost no chance to get to the cross. Happened over and over.
That is xGioBall. I’d like to see them be able to adapt their sequences when they see things are not working.
But overall, a super fun night at the Park. A lot of great things to see, and it seems like the team is getting itself into order.
I feel like it's a little funny that anything bad the Timbers are doing is #gioball right now. I think if you look at the track record, he's been one of the more adaptable coaches in the league-- certainly more so than what we've been seeing out of veterans like Greg Vanney, Bruce Arena, Bob Bradley, Peter Vermes--guys who have *A System* and stick to it the vast majority of the time. There have been times under Gio that this team *has* tried to walk the ball into the net all the time and wouldn't pull the trigger and that wouldn't come off. There are times we're crossing too much with no runners in the box. Now we're playing chipped crosses in that don't work... Except when they do, and we scored a nice one last night. I'm not a huge Gio defender, but I'll stick up for him a little because we really don't know what he's telling the guys to do and what they're doing\not doing based on the plan. Maybe some of it is giving creative freedom to the players, maybe some of it is really trying to execute attacking patterns. We do see it ebb and flow. I'd say the team has improved over the past 4 games, in no small part due to getting players back from injury. I wouldn't say that lofted short crosses are a characteristic of Gio teams that I can trace back 5 years.
Eh, I've wanted Gio gone since early 2021, so I"m not the most objective judge, but I'm not sure I'd call him "adaptable". He hasn't said it publicly in a while, but at first he was very insistent that Portland were a counterattacking team. Which they were, until they very much weren't. And now I wouldn't say they''re so much "adaptable" as "desperately seeking some sort of identity".
This season's injuries haven't helped, but throughout 2021 and 22, the Timbers would try counterattacking, get shut down (not uncommon, or unique to the Timbers, once teams figure out that's what's going on), and then they'd...have no plan B. So they will try crosses, they'll try cutbacks, they'll try most everything, and sometimes it works and often it doesn't.
One of my criticisms of Gio is in that lack of a plan B; it's fine to want to be a counterattacking team, but there has to be a coherent plan B to fall back on if that doesn't work, and the Timbers don't seem to have one. That leads to a lot of scrambling around to try to figure out what to do and how to attack/play offense, and to frequent poor play when they can't.
Combine that with the persistent defensive sloppiness that has been another hallmark of recent Gioball, and that's why, even when the Timbers play as well as they did Saturday in stretches, I'm not convinced that Gio is the long-term answer as this team (hopefully) evolves into the post-Blanco and post-Chara(s) era.
I've sometimes thought the same thing. Notoriously there was that stretch back in 2021 where we didn't score for something like 4 games and that had me begging for a backup plan.
However, its nuanced. Gio might not be able to instill an entirely different, alternate style but he has had quite a few instances of good halftime adjustments that paid off.
Rifer had a sentiment a few months back that encapsulates the problem here: MLS (and especially the timbers) really seems to prefer being secretive and not cater to us nosey folks who want to know about stuff. We don't get the inside scoop and so we have to just extrapolate
But, like, playing style is visible. We don't need inside scoop to know they were once trying to be a counterattacking team; we don't need underlying numbers to see that they can't play any other style with any coherence. We can see that play out to varying degrees of success on the pitch.
Half time adjustments are important when things aren't working, but what's more important is being able to impose your style on an opponent from the very start as much as possible. And if a team doesn't have a style that works, that'll never happen.
embrace the chaos, because you get goals like the second one. Guys just being creative.
It always makes me laugh when any Timber puts a ball in the air like that. There are maybe two guys on this team who can outjump anyone, and yet they still try it all the damn time. It's both hilarious and infuriating that that's the way Gio wants them to play, because it just doesn't work. Ever.
This is a team who should literally be trying to walk the ball into the goal more often than not - I mean that somewhat hyperbolically, but also do wish they'd focus more on passing and movement than getting in position to get outjumped on a hopeful cross yet again.
And yes - Evander was fantastic. It's fun to watch him get more comfortable.
Meh... when tactics are working, and attacking down our right side sure was, most teams use them until they don't. Then they try something else...
Moreno and Mosquera terrorized VANs right side. Santi used the threat of Mosquera running behind to freeze defenders and pull others out of the middle, then marauded his way across the box looking for runners to slip passes to. Worked a treat much of the time.
I'm all in favor of this team leaning into what they are built for, meaning an attacking team that is going to score more goals than the opponent. I don't think the defense is going to be great, so go out there and attack the other team. Are we going to lose some game 3-2, 4-2? Sure. But it would be a lot more interesting than playing conservative and trying to eke out a win. We have a lot of attacking players, I want to unleash them and put pressure on the opposition to score to win.
D looks fine. Nothing to worry about.
Happy for the win. It's amazing how different we look with most of our best players out there! And Evander has, what, 3G+2A in the last 3 games, which bodes well for the future.
I had a more mixed view of Paredes. He had some good defensive interceptions to be sure. But he was nowhere to be seen just before Vancouver's goal when some VAN player passed forward to their attacking midfielder in front of our back line. It was Paredes's territory but there was no one within 10 yards of the VAN player, giving him all the time in the world to pick out a through-ball that turned into the goal. Paredes was waaaay out of position up by the forward line and was jogging back on the play, and I'd put the goal on him even more than on McGraw. Also I felt like Paredes contributed little to launching attacks, unlike his fellow d-mid Diego. So many of Paredes's passes went backwards, even when he had expanses of space in front of him. I've generally liked him in the past but I felt frustrated with him tonight.
Yeah, Paredes is a puzzle. Not bad all of the time but bad enough some of the time to make me not trust him. Goals scored against us the last two games came way too easy IMO. Bravo saved another goal by standing on the goal line and helping Ivacic out. He's done that more than once this season.
RE Vancouver's goal. I'd put that on Zup letting that guy have free pass; it was his guy. He needs to step. Maybe he didn't get the memo to play higher line. Bravo got beat on a nice pass. It happens. But blame Paredes? OK, fine, but if you are going to blame Paredes on that goal, then give him credit for Portland's first goal. SAme position and pressuring and then Bravo steps to intercept. leading to pass to Boli. Maybe they weren't all on the same page. Maybe they all need to be more aggressive like Paredes is.
Not launching attacks? Not sure that is Paredes' job, but he is more than capable of it; we've seen it. Timbers controlled the midfield and won the game, unlike the game in Vancouver. I see Paredes as a winner; he does whatever it takes.
This re Paredes 100%, Left49... He'll do whatever it takes given the needs of the game.
Gressel was VANs main threat and playing the same side of the field, plus VAN had an extra guy in midfield all night long - so Paredes HAD to stay home.
Seems like the other guys did just fine handling that offense part, didn't they?
Yes, it looks like how it should on paper is coming to fruition on the field. Two supporting mids feeding the wings and Evander. Timbers are consistently getting more shots off than they were in the first part of the season.
Paredes ain't perfect, but I think the one thing he brings that is top notch is pure athleticism and a physical presence that helps slow other teams down.
And btw - I thought Zup played really well
I used the local radio play-by-play announcer audio feature on the Apple stream of Timbers game for the first time. Love it! I find the national people annoying and prefer silence to them
Gotta say I was pretty disappointed with Ross Smith and partner's match call. I expected more PTFC insights from Ross, but it was essentially like listening in to VAN's home feed - and they were WAY undermiked a lot of the time to boot.
As you say, most all of the AppleTV announcers I've heard so far range from anonymous to annoying. Our local radio guys are MUCH better.
oh damn, i need to figure out this functionality, because yeah, the Apple Announcers drive me nuts
The guys looked great last night (OG notwithstanding). I'm really looking forward to seeing them at full strength and seeing what the front office does to bolster the team during the summer transfer period. Are there any stories coming up that might look into the club's plans? Just curious. I enjoyed the write-up, keep up the good work!
Footballing goals! Great work by Moreno on the second goal, even if he doesn't get the hockey assist for it. I thought he was bright, and put in a lively shift. Clever pick by Boli, on Evander's second goal... which is GOTW, his first or second?
It seems like Timbers come out swinging and go for the knockout punch, especially at home. If they don't land it, and the opponent counter-punches, then Timbers get wobbly for a spell, and hope to last 10 rounds. Helps to have more on the bench now, if playing this way, but I'm not sure it's the stuff dreams are made of in MLS. Getting the 3rd goal was big last night, but it won't happen every night.
Easily the best outing of the season. Crisp perfectly describes the passing for the 90. Crisp and accurate. It was fun to watch. My only concern is Saverese will think it was “too pretty”.
lmao it’s funny because it’s true 🤦♂️
(as a former keeper) why no link to the ivacic save in 14'? that was a game-changer!
otherwise, great recap and much thanks!
Fun game to watch, and I'm hopeful this is the Timbers going forward. That includes the sketchy defense periodically throughout the game. While I think we have okay defenders, I don't feel like the whole group will ever crack the top 5 in MLS. But if the offense is humming that will be okay. I'm quite good with the team winning (and losing) games 3-2 with lots of fireworks. Evander seems to be settling in, and I don't think we have seen the best of him. He is still too passive in my opinion, and I'm looking forward to him getting more aggressive on the ball like Moreno was. I love to see Moreno playing like he is, so dangerous when he is attacking.
The weird thing is I feel like we have really good starting defenders individually, but it doesn’t come together as a group. Bravo, Zuparic, McGraw, and Mosquera should be a really great backline in theory. Im curious what main factors are playing a part in it not coming together. Ivacic doesn’t seem to be a keeper to talk a lot to his defense, but we really have no idea how much talking he does back there. McGraw feels like he’d be the main talker on the backline, though it’s only his first full season as a starter. It feels like we brought Liam in to be the guy to coach and organize the backline, but we haven’t seen that so far.
When we’re playing against the ball, Gio always has our wingers dropping super deep to defend ahead of our outside backs, which I think is good in some moments but leaves us disorganized a bit when our wingers aren’t there to defend. Our defensive organization as a whole has felt off for awhile now and I can’t quite put my finger on why. It just needs to be better
I think it starts with the keeper. Ivacic is a great shot stopper. I agree he doesn’t seem to communicate much and he is very hesitant off his line. I feel like the Timbers play a type of defense that excels with a mobile keeper. There is at least 1 or 2 balls a game that if he was more free from his line he would scoop up easily. I think his comfort level is where it is and for our defense really to gel and be at its best would require a more adventurous keeper.
I agree, there were several times on Saturday when I thought Ivacic could’ve easily come off his line to collect a ball. He could use to stand a bit further off his line and/or be more willing to come off it
I think its the communication that is lacking, followed by the wingback formation we use. If McGraw is really the leader in the back, he needs to do a better job of keeping the line organized. He is young, so he can really grow into that role but I don't think he is there yet. Also, the fact that both Bravo and Mosquera are used in the attack (a lot) can leave the defense in a rough spot when we need to track back. The reality is that this is a feature of what we do, not a failure. In my opinion, both Zuparic and McGraw need to get better, but I don't see that happening this year. McGraw has the potential, but I think Zuparic is what he is. Finally, we don't have the depth on this team. Losing Tuiloma was huge, as we now have to rely on Mabiala and Miller. Both are decent depth pieces, but I'm not super comfortable relying on them for any stretch of time. Besides, I like Miller as depth behind both Bravo and Mosqera and while he can backup all four spots on defense that isn't ideal.
McGraw having potential just shows how good he can be to me, because I think he’s already fantastic. Zuparic had also put in several really good shifts recently, him being who he is is alright with me. I don’t know if McGraw is the leader, just my guess based on personalities, but we really know nothing on how it works back there. I don’t know if there’s a language barrier there or not, each player on the backline and in goal comes from a different part of the world
I think the language thing is generally overstated by a lot of fans of a lot of teams. I mean, it's not like they're having an in-depth discussion of the nuances of Ulysses and its meaning for humanity back there (although that would be hilarious, and I want to have mics on players if that ever happens); there's a limited set of English words that are common on-pitch vernacular, like BALL and CLEAR and CARRY and a handful of others, that are used to communicate during a game.
As a professional soccer player, it doesn't take too much time to figure out what those are and what they mean, and even if English isn't your native language you can figure out that BACK means "someone's coming behind you" from context and repetition.
Yeah the easy instructions are pretty universal, but I think there are also times where more specific language is used, like communicating information on the tendencies of the attacking players and other stuff like that. I also think from a human aspect it’s probably easier to play with someone you’re more familiar with and feel comfortable talking to, but I’m sure the defense is a pretty tight group off the field and I’m definitely overstating this