MLS throws up this kind of game* occasionally, and I'm just glad it wasn't a loss. Not much to take from this one except the point...on to the next.
I will say that the choice of listening to Max Bretos on the national broadcast or the RSL crew on the radio broadcast was not ideal. I ended up listening to the radio crew, because there are few things I hate in soccer more than Max Bretos, but after a while their comical badness was too much and I just turned off the sound and listened to a Husker Du record while watching. Some highlights:
- Consistently pronouncing the Y in Yimmi Chara's name as a Y and not a J
- The one time that Evander took a corner, announced by the main guy, and the color guy said that "Evander could not get his head to that ball in the area, and RSL start to break"
- The gold medal winner for me, though, wasn't a mistake as much as a lack of understanding of the Timbers and their history. There was a play where the Charas interchanged the ball, and the announcer said "Chara gets the ball, and passes it to his brother Diego" and both my wife and I basically screamed NO NO NO NO NO THE ONLY CHARA THAT GETS CALLED "CHARA" IS DIEGO, YIMMI GETS CALLED YIMMI CHARA SHOW DIEGO SOME DAMN RESPECT". So not really a mistake, just...no. "Chara" has been earned by Diego, the other one's Yimmi Chara.
Since I'm 3 hours west of Pacific time, I appreciate being able to replay the games with no blackouts. Much better than ESPN+. But will AppleTV ever get someone who can work a soundboard? The crowd noise drowns out the commentators, both home and away games.
Oh yeah, the game was better than expected. I thought with altitude and short rest, Gio would trot out a rotated side. I hope they have something in the tank for Minnesota.
When we started the feed last night, the first thing my wife said, within 5 seconds, was "damn the sound on this really sucks". And neither she nor I really ever notice these things, but it was baaaaaaaaad.
I get why they'd want to emphasize crowd noise, but someone's gotta be able to get the balance right.
This seems to be a constant issue on Apple TV+ games. I have to turn up the volume a bit at times in order to hear the announcers. And the levels seem to change during the game. It was really bad at the beginning on Wednesday.
I gave up on Apple TV+ audio for MLS games months ago.
Though it does give me some nostalgia moments from the early 1970's when my mom would move the antenna around to try to get audio to work with the picture.
What I would like is the ability to AVOID being forced to see the final Score to get to a point where you can watch the replay. In some platforms, scores can be turned off, but not in all. I find it amazing that one of those is IPADs, you are forced to see the scores. They did take those off the small window, only to have a SCREEN where the score is the largest text, that is unavoidable, before you can scroll to the place to watch the replay...
There is no reason for the score to be up on the screen. I can't think of a consumer who would want that unless they were looking for a reason not to watch the game. But I don't think Apple is staffed with sports fans making these decisions, so I provided feedback to them. Of course, there isn't an easy way to provide feedback so yet another barrier in the Apple experience.
I do want to reiterate that I like having the games on a single platform, and I will continue to stick with MLS on Apple for streaming. There are just some areas where they need to improve.
You can turn scores off ... but yes, the default should be not to show it in the first place. It is like giving away the plot of the last minute of the season finale as the summary on a streaming show.
See the open thread this week (last week?) for the instructions on turning off scores on apple TV if anyone missed it.
They yammered and yammered, delivering mostly meaningless prattle about everything but play on the pitch. I want insight into what's unfolding in the match first and foremost.
They seemed like they were normally football commenters - they kept making references to MacMath "putting his foot through the ball like a 70 yard pass downfield" and to the targets of MacMath's balls "having to be like a tight end", and there was a whole lot of artificial excitement generated by guys making passes through the midfield.
Combine that with Apple's weird camera angle choices throughout the game and the Apple MLS service, which was promised to be way better than Fox due to extra cameras and 1040p throughout every broadcast, and I'm not as impressed with the Apple service as I feel like I should be. It's fine, but it's not the massive leap forward we were promised.
The quality of the stream is fantastic vs broadcast tv, but yeah- I’m not real happy in general with their choices for announcers. Most don’t have any history of the teams they are talking about and I’m really missing the hometown announcers we had before.
There’s just a very generic feel to the majority of the announcers. Not a fan.
If they'd expand the radio simulcast option to include both broadcast teams, I'd be more OK with it. The Timbers radio guys aren't great, but at least they're our local version of not great, so they're much more listenable than almost any of the Apple TV idiots.
I mean, I kinda get the "generic feel" thing - Apple has deprioritized local knowledge in favor of a "consistent experience" across games, which means every game is bland and uninteresting. The broadcasters, especially in a week with Wednesday games, don't have a whole lot of prep time to do anything other than surface-level research about teams they're broadcasting, so you get a whole lot of banal generalities and not much else. It's disappointing for sure.
Honestly, I never see them. I'm a STH and I'm at pretty much every game. It's rare I re-watch more than just highlights of home games, which always look fine because, well, highlights.
My problem is mostly with the generalization of the MLS broadcasting pool. Local TV team announcers, as much as I didn't like Ross Smith, are critical for giving that extra layer of nuance and color and local knowledge, based on hanging around the team at media availabilities and on flights and stuff, to the things they say, and also for cultural things specific to teams, like the Chara example I mentioned above.
When you're a broadcaster working for Apple and they say "you'll be in Salt Lake on Wed night, in Austin on Saturday, and then in Foxboro on next Saturday", there's not a whole lot of time to get deep knowledge of any of the six teams you'll be responsible for calling action for.
All the Apple TV commentators are competent at their jobs; none of them are interesting, because that's not what they're getting paid for. Even Zivin has blandified, because that's the job now.
I was probably too harsh about this broadcast. I'm all for the occasional diversion to learn more about individual players and their back stories or other interesting tidbits. But last night at least, the match itself seemed of secondary importance.
Generally, I like Apple's camera work better than what we had before. Last night, though, the closeups felt too close at the expense of what was playing out. The sound mixing problems that marred the first 20 or so minutes happen too much. I'm guessing Apple will get all of this smoothed out with experience.
It reminds me of several years ago when the Sounders announcer (Arlo White I believe) used to refer to every single free kick as a "penalty kick". He did it for game after game after game.
It amazes me how some people with no knowledge at all of the sports they are announcing are picked.
Honestly, I’m perfectly happy with the point. Weather delay, playing at altitude, fourth game in 11 days... give me a point all day. Defense was solid and we could’ve easily stolen a point if Asprilla scores that chance. Paredes and Bravo were immense, I’m happy that it seems I was right that Paredes seems to thrive more in away environments with the game a little more open and when he has less responsibility in possession. First clean sheet for Ivacic, McGraw and Zuparic look like a really good CB pairing, and even Evander still looking brighter. Go, get the point, get out, and now we hope Mosquera is okay and we can beat Minnesota at home. If we do, it’s been a fantastic week
**I have not seen minute 23-45 yet because I had a Futsal game and could only start at halftime when I got home since it was so late. So take my comments with a grain of salt until I watch it tomorrow morning
I always take your comments with a grain of salt. I take my comments with a grain of salt. One problem in this society is that not enough grains of salt are taken in our daily discourse. All salt must be funneled into processed foods.
"Paredes seems to thrive more in away environments with the game a little more open and when he has less responsibility in possession."
What do you mean by this?
Just from watching last night and seeing the horrible passing - I'd say no one thought they had "responsibility in possession."
Paredes (good passing stats btw) had the best all around game by far of all the players. He thrives in an open game (not sure the game was open until last 15 minutes or so) because he's athletic and physically imposing - tall and rangy. Because he is box to box, it looks like he's playing an open game!
The last two games, it looks like he's more supportive in back and middle thirds until they get into the final third. He's playing more as a d mid.
When they subbed, it seemed to go into a 4--3-3 with Evander and Paredes as the 8s.
I think we’re saying the exact same thing friend, Paredes thrived more because he had less responsibility in possession and the game was more open. I meant that at home when we’re on the ball a lot and dictating tempo more than usual (still not a ton) like we have the previous two games, Paredes doesn’t provide much in terms of connecting the defense and offense, which is something I felt we needed more of in those last few games. He tends to disappear from games like that when we need a little extra from our midfield. Hopefully I’m proven wrong Saturday!
I don't think we're saying the same thing! Paredes IS the defense - wins the ball - and then connects. We've been getting more shots off in a good chunk of games lately and that has to do with winning the midfield and providing opportunities. I'm a bit confused by "responsibility in possession" comment. He provides a lot of key passes.
Again - midfield isn't issue here, it's solid. It's the discombobulation of the front three. And I think that comes from guys playing out of position or not the right guys playing.
According to Fotmob, Paredes was 0/1 on his tackles vs Vancouver, but was 4/6 last night. 2/2 accurate long balls and successful dribbles, 7 recoveries, 3 clearances, and interception and a block. Stats you get in a more open game when you’re playing more against the ball. So yes, he wins tackles and then connects... when he has tackles to win. He had none of those stats vs Vancouver or Austin (more vs Austin, who posed more of a challenge, but still not much), despite having more touches.
Don’t mistake me thinking Paredes had been bad the previous two home games, it’s just personal preference of what I think those games could’ve used. Part of not having as many tackles or defensive stats is due to closing up the midfield and forcing them to go around (though tbf I believe Vancouver leads the league in crosses and I think Austin is up there as well, especially without Driussi, so it’s kinda what they do regardless, but eh, I want to credit Paredes for that).
In possession, Paredes has been much better on the road than at home in providing forward or key passes imo. I don’t think he’s been as effective when the game is set and we’re passing it around the back waiting for spaces to open up or someone to get on the ball and progress the play, and he’s not usually the guy to do that. That happens when we’re at home playing with the ball, not so much on the road. It’s not an issue, just something I’ve wanted to see more of the past few games
Vancouver isn't really any good. I'm glad we mopped the floor with them. RSL is better, and organized, and a better measuring stick of all the players.
Sure Boli would want his second half chance back again, but Asprilla should have scored on his game-waning-minutes shot. He did the hard work of creating an opening, but unnecessarily went for power over placement on his shot.
Same (first choice) line-up 4 days apart, and another match in 3 days. Just a couple of positions with fresh legs would've made a world of difference (and our bench players are fully capable of grinding out that same result). Makes me wonder if Gio is playing scared and going all-in for immediate wins to buoy his own standing. Not sure what we're supposed to do Saturday without running the same players into the ground.
Gio has to try and get the wins now, we are far enough into the season that they really matter. And to be fair to Gio, the only player who is old enough to worry about is Diego Chara. I do think we will see some rotation this weekend, but with Asprilla-Y Chara and possibly Niezgoda-Boli. There are no options in the midfield, nor at CB. Also, Bravo and Mosquera need to play as well, since we don't have reasonable backups (I suppose Miller counts).
We could play rasmussen, but he is... dodgy. I reckon he'll only do well vs bad teams (ex. VAN), and he'll look ok-to-shaky vs them too. But at this point, the depth is so thin, do we play him to make sure Bravo doesn't pick up an injury?
Unfortunately I don't see improvement from Rasmussen this year. That isn't to say he can't be an effective player, but I rate him as a 15 minute player. I think he is a decent defender, but his passing needs a lot of work. With the right coaching and hard work I think he can become a rotation player, but I'm not seeing it right now.
I realize that, but Bravo not getting injured is important. So in this VERY congested schedule, I have no doubt at some point rasmussen will start at some point for the foreseeable future.
Yes we definitely need wins now, I just don't think not rotating players serves that – we essentially blew our load for 1 point. Asprilla, Loria, Niezgoda/Fogaça all had fresh legs. Use the 1st-team players as subs if the game situation calls for it. Pretty basic management stuff tbh.
Definitely no options or limited options in midfield. But there were options at attacking positions. My conclusion is that Gio has his boys and he's riding them. Yimmi was poor, Moreno wasn't that good either and Boli left a lot to be desired. Evander got some shots off, which was good, but RSL posed a stiffer test than Vancouver.
Not a thrillfest (or a particularly well-played game although Jazzy was excellent), but I'll take a short rest road point and clean sheet all day long.
Tough game to watch. The Timbers passing was really bad, they couldn’t string together passes and gave the ball away too easily. I’m glad we got the point, but I feel we could have taken all three with a better performance. We have another winnable game this weekend, let’s hope they play a lot better and give the fans a show!
"The Timbers passing was really bad, they couldn’t string together passes and gave the ball away too easily"
That's been a hallmark of late-period Gio, and it's unbelievably frustrating. Saturday was a lot better, but last night was a huge step back to that level of loose sloppy passes.
The field looked pretty bumpy to me. Maybe that factored into the sloppiness of the game overall and explains some of our bad passing?
I want grass at Providence Park but only if it's world class. Turf isn't ideal but at least passes on it roll smooth and don't take random hops and bounces out of nowhere!
I think the field was very wet and unpredictable due to the storm, though I’m now realizing that I don’t actually know if the rain was actually inside the stadium or just in the area
They showed a few clips right before the delayed kickoff and the rain was definitely hitting the stadium and area pretty badly. I think it had mostly stopped by kickoff but it got a good soaking during the delay.
I'm not a fan of complaining about the conditions. Both teams have to deal with it, and unless its like the thin air in Colorado there isn't a substantive advantage there.
Sandy is at elevation, only 700 feet lower than Commerce City, CO - 4450 feet vs 5160 feet.
Players have long said that they feel the elevation in both places, but I think a fair bit of this is psychological / media love to play this up. True high altitude training doesn't really even start until 7000 feet -- so we are talking Azteca in Mexico City and I can't think of many other places that have stadiums at significant elevations like that, definitely nowhere in MLS.
MLS throws up this kind of game* occasionally, and I'm just glad it wasn't a loss. Not much to take from this one except the point...on to the next.
I will say that the choice of listening to Max Bretos on the national broadcast or the RSL crew on the radio broadcast was not ideal. I ended up listening to the radio crew, because there are few things I hate in soccer more than Max Bretos, but after a while their comical badness was too much and I just turned off the sound and listened to a Husker Du record while watching. Some highlights:
- Consistently pronouncing the Y in Yimmi Chara's name as a Y and not a J
- The one time that Evander took a corner, announced by the main guy, and the color guy said that "Evander could not get his head to that ball in the area, and RSL start to break"
- The gold medal winner for me, though, wasn't a mistake as much as a lack of understanding of the Timbers and their history. There was a play where the Charas interchanged the ball, and the announcer said "Chara gets the ball, and passes it to his brother Diego" and both my wife and I basically screamed NO NO NO NO NO THE ONLY CHARA THAT GETS CALLED "CHARA" IS DIEGO, YIMMI GETS CALLED YIMMI CHARA SHOW DIEGO SOME DAMN RESPECT". So not really a mistake, just...no. "Chara" has been earned by Diego, the other one's Yimmi Chara.
*yes I used that wording intentionally.
Since I'm 3 hours west of Pacific time, I appreciate being able to replay the games with no blackouts. Much better than ESPN+. But will AppleTV ever get someone who can work a soundboard? The crowd noise drowns out the commentators, both home and away games.
Oh yeah, the game was better than expected. I thought with altitude and short rest, Gio would trot out a rotated side. I hope they have something in the tank for Minnesota.
When we started the feed last night, the first thing my wife said, within 5 seconds, was "damn the sound on this really sucks". And neither she nor I really ever notice these things, but it was baaaaaaaaad.
I get why they'd want to emphasize crowd noise, but someone's gotta be able to get the balance right.
This seems to be a constant issue on Apple TV+ games. I have to turn up the volume a bit at times in order to hear the announcers. And the levels seem to change during the game. It was really bad at the beginning on Wednesday.
I gave up on Apple TV+ audio for MLS games months ago.
Though it does give me some nostalgia moments from the early 1970's when my mom would move the antenna around to try to get audio to work with the picture.
What I would like is the ability to AVOID being forced to see the final Score to get to a point where you can watch the replay. In some platforms, scores can be turned off, but not in all. I find it amazing that one of those is IPADs, you are forced to see the scores. They did take those off the small window, only to have a SCREEN where the score is the largest text, that is unavoidable, before you can scroll to the place to watch the replay...
There is no reason for the score to be up on the screen. I can't think of a consumer who would want that unless they were looking for a reason not to watch the game. But I don't think Apple is staffed with sports fans making these decisions, so I provided feedback to them. Of course, there isn't an easy way to provide feedback so yet another barrier in the Apple experience.
I do want to reiterate that I like having the games on a single platform, and I will continue to stick with MLS on Apple for streaming. There are just some areas where they need to improve.
You can turn scores off ... but yes, the default should be not to show it in the first place. It is like giving away the plot of the last minute of the season finale as the summary on a streaming show.
See the open thread this week (last week?) for the instructions on turning off scores on apple TV if anyone missed it.
They yammered and yammered, delivering mostly meaningless prattle about everything but play on the pitch. I want insight into what's unfolding in the match first and foremost.
They seemed like they were normally football commenters - they kept making references to MacMath "putting his foot through the ball like a 70 yard pass downfield" and to the targets of MacMath's balls "having to be like a tight end", and there was a whole lot of artificial excitement generated by guys making passes through the midfield.
Combine that with Apple's weird camera angle choices throughout the game and the Apple MLS service, which was promised to be way better than Fox due to extra cameras and 1040p throughout every broadcast, and I'm not as impressed with the Apple service as I feel like I should be. It's fine, but it's not the massive leap forward we were promised.
The quality of the stream is fantastic vs broadcast tv, but yeah- I’m not real happy in general with their choices for announcers. Most don’t have any history of the teams they are talking about and I’m really missing the hometown announcers we had before.
There’s just a very generic feel to the majority of the announcers. Not a fan.
If they'd expand the radio simulcast option to include both broadcast teams, I'd be more OK with it. The Timbers radio guys aren't great, but at least they're our local version of not great, so they're much more listenable than almost any of the Apple TV idiots.
I mean, I kinda get the "generic feel" thing - Apple has deprioritized local knowledge in favor of a "consistent experience" across games, which means every game is bland and uninteresting. The broadcasters, especially in a week with Wednesday games, don't have a whole lot of prep time to do anything other than surface-level research about teams they're broadcasting, so you get a whole lot of banal generalities and not much else. It's disappointing for sure.
Have you found Timbers home game broadcasts to be different now that Apple is broadcasting?
Honestly, I never see them. I'm a STH and I'm at pretty much every game. It's rare I re-watch more than just highlights of home games, which always look fine because, well, highlights.
My problem is mostly with the generalization of the MLS broadcasting pool. Local TV team announcers, as much as I didn't like Ross Smith, are critical for giving that extra layer of nuance and color and local knowledge, based on hanging around the team at media availabilities and on flights and stuff, to the things they say, and also for cultural things specific to teams, like the Chara example I mentioned above.
When you're a broadcaster working for Apple and they say "you'll be in Salt Lake on Wed night, in Austin on Saturday, and then in Foxboro on next Saturday", there's not a whole lot of time to get deep knowledge of any of the six teams you'll be responsible for calling action for.
All the Apple TV commentators are competent at their jobs; none of them are interesting, because that's not what they're getting paid for. Even Zivin has blandified, because that's the job now.
I was probably too harsh about this broadcast. I'm all for the occasional diversion to learn more about individual players and their back stories or other interesting tidbits. But last night at least, the match itself seemed of secondary importance.
Generally, I like Apple's camera work better than what we had before. Last night, though, the closeups felt too close at the expense of what was playing out. The sound mixing problems that marred the first 20 or so minutes happen too much. I'm guessing Apple will get all of this smoothed out with experience.
It reminds me of several years ago when the Sounders announcer (Arlo White I believe) used to refer to every single free kick as a "penalty kick". He did it for game after game after game.
It amazes me how some people with no knowledge at all of the sports they are announcing are picked.
But he had a British accent, so was automatically an authority in Seattle on football.
Lol.
The most glaring error to me was when they were talking to the coach Josh Wolf about something. In my head I thought “you meant Gio right?”
Honestly, I’m perfectly happy with the point. Weather delay, playing at altitude, fourth game in 11 days... give me a point all day. Defense was solid and we could’ve easily stolen a point if Asprilla scores that chance. Paredes and Bravo were immense, I’m happy that it seems I was right that Paredes seems to thrive more in away environments with the game a little more open and when he has less responsibility in possession. First clean sheet for Ivacic, McGraw and Zuparic look like a really good CB pairing, and even Evander still looking brighter. Go, get the point, get out, and now we hope Mosquera is okay and we can beat Minnesota at home. If we do, it’s been a fantastic week
**I have not seen minute 23-45 yet because I had a Futsal game and could only start at halftime when I got home since it was so late. So take my comments with a grain of salt until I watch it tomorrow morning
I always take your comments with a grain of salt. I take my comments with a grain of salt. One problem in this society is that not enough grains of salt are taken in our daily discourse. All salt must be funneled into processed foods.
Hell yeah, absolutely
"Paredes seems to thrive more in away environments with the game a little more open and when he has less responsibility in possession."
What do you mean by this?
Just from watching last night and seeing the horrible passing - I'd say no one thought they had "responsibility in possession."
Paredes (good passing stats btw) had the best all around game by far of all the players. He thrives in an open game (not sure the game was open until last 15 minutes or so) because he's athletic and physically imposing - tall and rangy. Because he is box to box, it looks like he's playing an open game!
The last two games, it looks like he's more supportive in back and middle thirds until they get into the final third. He's playing more as a d mid.
When they subbed, it seemed to go into a 4--3-3 with Evander and Paredes as the 8s.
Paredes is having his best season — by far — and it comes when the Timbers need it the most.
Really? He's playing like he usually does. He's been here what, five, six years.
To me, he solves a lot of issues, and I don't really want to focus on him.
Last night it was more about the ineptitude of the front four.
I think we’re saying the exact same thing friend, Paredes thrived more because he had less responsibility in possession and the game was more open. I meant that at home when we’re on the ball a lot and dictating tempo more than usual (still not a ton) like we have the previous two games, Paredes doesn’t provide much in terms of connecting the defense and offense, which is something I felt we needed more of in those last few games. He tends to disappear from games like that when we need a little extra from our midfield. Hopefully I’m proven wrong Saturday!
I don't think we're saying the same thing! Paredes IS the defense - wins the ball - and then connects. We've been getting more shots off in a good chunk of games lately and that has to do with winning the midfield and providing opportunities. I'm a bit confused by "responsibility in possession" comment. He provides a lot of key passes.
Again - midfield isn't issue here, it's solid. It's the discombobulation of the front three. And I think that comes from guys playing out of position or not the right guys playing.
According to Fotmob, Paredes was 0/1 on his tackles vs Vancouver, but was 4/6 last night. 2/2 accurate long balls and successful dribbles, 7 recoveries, 3 clearances, and interception and a block. Stats you get in a more open game when you’re playing more against the ball. So yes, he wins tackles and then connects... when he has tackles to win. He had none of those stats vs Vancouver or Austin (more vs Austin, who posed more of a challenge, but still not much), despite having more touches.
Don’t mistake me thinking Paredes had been bad the previous two home games, it’s just personal preference of what I think those games could’ve used. Part of not having as many tackles or defensive stats is due to closing up the midfield and forcing them to go around (though tbf I believe Vancouver leads the league in crosses and I think Austin is up there as well, especially without Driussi, so it’s kinda what they do regardless, but eh, I want to credit Paredes for that).
In possession, Paredes has been much better on the road than at home in providing forward or key passes imo. I don’t think he’s been as effective when the game is set and we’re passing it around the back waiting for spaces to open up or someone to get on the ball and progress the play, and he’s not usually the guy to do that. That happens when we’re at home playing with the ball, not so much on the road. It’s not an issue, just something I’ve wanted to see more of the past few games
Vancouver isn't really any good. I'm glad we mopped the floor with them. RSL is better, and organized, and a better measuring stick of all the players.
Sure Boli would want his second half chance back again, but Asprilla should have scored on his game-waning-minutes shot. He did the hard work of creating an opening, but unnecessarily went for power over placement on his shot.
Same (first choice) line-up 4 days apart, and another match in 3 days. Just a couple of positions with fresh legs would've made a world of difference (and our bench players are fully capable of grinding out that same result). Makes me wonder if Gio is playing scared and going all-in for immediate wins to buoy his own standing. Not sure what we're supposed to do Saturday without running the same players into the ground.
Gio has to try and get the wins now, we are far enough into the season that they really matter. And to be fair to Gio, the only player who is old enough to worry about is Diego Chara. I do think we will see some rotation this weekend, but with Asprilla-Y Chara and possibly Niezgoda-Boli. There are no options in the midfield, nor at CB. Also, Bravo and Mosquera need to play as well, since we don't have reasonable backups (I suppose Miller counts).
We could play rasmussen, but he is... dodgy. I reckon he'll only do well vs bad teams (ex. VAN), and he'll look ok-to-shaky vs them too. But at this point, the depth is so thin, do we play him to make sure Bravo doesn't pick up an injury?
Unfortunately I don't see improvement from Rasmussen this year. That isn't to say he can't be an effective player, but I rate him as a 15 minute player. I think he is a decent defender, but his passing needs a lot of work. With the right coaching and hard work I think he can become a rotation player, but I'm not seeing it right now.
I realize that, but Bravo not getting injured is important. So in this VERY congested schedule, I have no doubt at some point rasmussen will start at some point for the foreseeable future.
Yes we definitely need wins now, I just don't think not rotating players serves that – we essentially blew our load for 1 point. Asprilla, Loria, Niezgoda/Fogaça all had fresh legs. Use the 1st-team players as subs if the game situation calls for it. Pretty basic management stuff tbh.
these dogs are barking = barkdog??
if so, good to see you on the new site.
yuppers!
I agree there are no options at cb but that doesn’t mean Gio won’t roll Mabiala out there.
The announcer said that D Chara has played every minute of every game so far this season. I didn’t realize that but I wish we could give him a rest.
Definitely no options or limited options in midfield. But there were options at attacking positions. My conclusion is that Gio has his boys and he's riding them. Yimmi was poor, Moreno wasn't that good either and Boli left a lot to be desired. Evander got some shots off, which was good, but RSL posed a stiffer test than Vancouver.
Not a thrillfest (or a particularly well-played game although Jazzy was excellent), but I'll take a short rest road point and clean sheet all day long.
Snoozefest. I was kind of surprised RSL won the xG so handily 1.25 to .5.
Win this weekend and a midweek road point looks good.
Tough game to watch. The Timbers passing was really bad, they couldn’t string together passes and gave the ball away too easily. I’m glad we got the point, but I feel we could have taken all three with a better performance. We have another winnable game this weekend, let’s hope they play a lot better and give the fans a show!
"The Timbers passing was really bad, they couldn’t string together passes and gave the ball away too easily"
That's been a hallmark of late-period Gio, and it's unbelievably frustrating. Saturday was a lot better, but last night was a huge step back to that level of loose sloppy passes.
The field looked pretty bumpy to me. Maybe that factored into the sloppiness of the game overall and explains some of our bad passing?
I want grass at Providence Park but only if it's world class. Turf isn't ideal but at least passes on it roll smooth and don't take random hops and bounces out of nowhere!
I think the field was very wet and unpredictable due to the storm, though I’m now realizing that I don’t actually know if the rain was actually inside the stadium or just in the area
They showed a few clips right before the delayed kickoff and the rain was definitely hitting the stadium and area pretty badly. I think it had mostly stopped by kickoff but it got a good soaking during the delay.
I'm not a fan of complaining about the conditions. Both teams have to deal with it, and unless its like the thin air in Colorado there isn't a substantive advantage there.
Sandy is at elevation, only 700 feet lower than Commerce City, CO - 4450 feet vs 5160 feet.
Players have long said that they feel the elevation in both places, but I think a fair bit of this is psychological / media love to play this up. True high altitude training doesn't really even start until 7000 feet -- so we are talking Azteca in Mexico City and I can't think of many other places that have stadiums at significant elevations like that, definitely nowhere in MLS.