They got a lot of what they wanted, including substantial raises, which is good for them. They'll be back for this weekend; no news on whether the 2024 rule changes that were paused will be introduced this weekend as well.
I made a video of all the touches from Williamson and Evander this game since it's been a big talking point of whether these two can work together. Also, copyright (among other things, this is like my eighth time trying to upload this damn thing) got on my ass and blocked the video everywhere so I had to trim down a lot of the plays I'd normally leave in, making this much more choppy than normal. Anyways, I had several takeaways from basically rewatching this game, so I'll copy and paste them here:
- Williamson had an excellent first half. He made only one or two bad passes and never got the ball taken off him. But he was super active, getting on the ball a lot and connecting quite well with Moreno and Mosquera on the right flank. There are a few times he got the ball, and drove across the field, opening up space as well as breaking Philly’s press. In the second half he wasn’t nearly as effective. I’m not sure what changed, but his passes weren’t great, and he did not link up with Evander well.
- Evander was the weak link a lot of the game, but especially in the first half. He had two good shots, but really didn’t do much else and lost the ball a few times. Bad first half. He came to life as the second half went on as we were just causing chaos and he was able to get on the ball more though, and he was involved in a lot of our plays. Later in the game he really took the responsibility of the game on his shoulders, he was constantly looking to get on the ball and make something happen.
- I’m going to say something here that may sound crazy, but hear me out: I think we need our players to have a similar mindset about Evander as Miami players have about Messi. Miami players. Miami players (like Robert Taylor) told the media that whenever Messi gets the ball, they just run. That’s their responsibility, just run into space, because they know Messi has the quality to find them. Now Evander of course doesn’t have the quality of Messi, but goddamn he has some serious quality. And not only that, but he’s ALWAYS looking for a pass in behind he can play. I noticed that he dribbled back and forth a bunch in the second half with his head up, just waiting for someone to make a run in behind, and it rarely happened. Asprilla did it once and they created a chance (bad cross from Dairon). When Evander has the ball, our players have to make forward/diagonal runs. Like, just go. Evander has the quality, he will find that amazing pass 4/5 times.
- Defensively I didn’t really notice anything wrong this game. I had to cut out Philly’s second goal (thanks copyright) but that was definitely a moment where Williamson should’ve stepped, although I don’t entirely blame that goal on him (it was a bad pass from Moreno that gave the ball away, Williamson was trying to make a progressive play that I like). Other than that things were find besides the few bad attempted tackles here and there. However, against high possession teams fielding a better team, I do think it might be a problem. I don’t want to just assume that though because Williamson and Evander are both so talented.
- I don’t believe we have proof that these two don’t work together. It’s their third game. Now there are several times where they try to connect with each other and just aren’t on the same page, but again, I want to believe it’s just a lack of chemistry. People rightfully point out that because they’re so similar in their playstyle that means they won’t work together, but I think it’s equally possible that could be a reason they could work together in some instances. Again, “could.” I have not seen evidence one way or another, but I do want to see more.
- We basically went entirely down the right side the first half, and yes it was lopsided, but man it worked. A lot. Pretty much all of our chances came from that side. It was lopsided but it was lopsided with a purpose, and when our passing was on point, we were able to create something. When Bravo comes back I definitely want to see more down the left, but I think this was a good tactical setup for this game.
- The second half we changed, we tried to be more attacking down the left and it just didn’t work with Miller and Antony. Williamson or Evander would drop into the space left by the fullback who pushed forward, and would get on the ball to progress play there. Moreno played even more inverted, basically next to Rodriguez for much of the half, and gave Mosquera the entirety of that flank, which I’m sure was something Neville told him to do since Antony basically did the same whenever they switched flanks. All of this did not work, we did not create much of anything in the second half. Clearly Neville tried different things and some of them worked and some didn’t, and I don’t entirely mind that. I just hope this leads to growth.
- A random note: McGraw is not a ball playing center back obviously and that was a problem this game, but outside of a few plays where he was just left out to defend open space against an onrushing forward (I do not expect him or many CBs to defend that well), he actually had a pretty spotless game defensively. Dominant in the air as always.
This was an extremely frustrating game, I have a few random thoughts so we’ll see where this takes me.
I thought the first half was actually quite good, we created several great chances just couldn’t finish. Rodriguez looked absolutely electric, he made many great runs and just made his presence known up top. I’m really excited to see more from him, I think he’s going to do really well. We gave up a goal but I was still feeling ok going into the second half. The second half was much worse, we struggled to create chances as Philly sat deeper. Stupid giveaways and defensive lapses led to the second and third goals, and we never really looked like a threat. It was incredible disheartening.
Philly clogged up the middle of the field, completely taking Eryk and Evander out of the game almost entirely. I didn’t think either of them were necessarily good or bad, just ineffective. It’s just their third ever game starting together, so jury is still out as to whether they will work together. Since the had that midfield clogged up with the 4-4-2 diamond, we needed more cross field switches. We needed to spread that diamond out. But instead, we were ponderous, just passing the ball back and forth along the back line. That’s cool, but we needed to switch things up. Those passes allow the defense to shift and be set. Bigger passes and switches of play were needed, and I think we only hit one or two all game, in the second half (I forgot if it was Evander or Ayala). We need to be braver in possession instead of always going for the easy pass. I believe both Evander and Eryk are capable of doing that and do it often, but they didn’t this game, I’m not sure why. I really hope Phil isn’t instructing them to not play long.
Antony has great defensive ability actually, but besides his goals, he’s been largely ineffective on offense to start this year. The one play I thought he did well was when he was on the right side, and he was able to take his defender on, get to the end line, and put in a dangerous cross. He’s so right footed, so it’s easy to predict what he’s going to do every time. I’d like to see him more on the right side, I think he can be more dangerous there. Yes he will still be predictable, but because he’s so fast there just won’t be much defenders can do about it. The problem is they have Moreno on that side so he can tuck in and Mosquera can bomb down the wing, which makes sense. They have good chemistry and are good friends off and on the field, but I think they look for each other too much. They always look to combine with each other even if it doesn’t make sense. It comes off many times but they also lose the ball many times, and leave us exposed. I just think we need to switch things up a bit.
I think Phil let us down with the subs. 65th minute down 2-0, and he puts Antony as a left back with a gassed Mosquera on the right. I get he wanted more offense, but that was way too early to move to that formation imo. 2-0 is called the most dangerous lead in soccer for a reason, there was still plenty of time to salvage that game. Would we have? I don’t know, but we gave the game up with that plan. The foul that led to the third goal comes because Antony is too far up the field (not his fault, those were his instructions) and Zuparic had no one to pass to. A foul gets committed and the defense is all out of wack, and Philly capitalize. I thought his move to take Chara off and bring Ayala on was the right one, but taking Miller off and putting Antony at LB was the wrong call. I would’ve rather him take Mosquera off and put Antony there. I believe a team balance is necessary to scoring goals — it was too early for chaos ball.
Speaking of Ayala, he was great off the bench as he always is. Broke lines with his passing and opened up the play because he made longer passes that no one else would. I was happy to see Phil say that he’s pushing for a starting spot, because he absolutely should be. I would love to see him get a run of games out, maybe as the 8 but maybe as the 6, which is a position I think he’s much better suited for. Perhaps it’s time to give Chara a rest, I don’t know. I have my reservations about that but man I just want to see him play. It’s his third year with the team, he’s earned it.
I cannot wait to get Bravo back, I thought Miller was quite poor this game. Not entirely his fault (although I do put the blame for the second goal on him, which really killed our momentum) since he’s more defensive and not suited to progress the ball from the back which we desperately needed him to do. Badly. Bravo does that and I can’t wait. The same goes for McGraw… I love him to death and think he’s great, but he’s a good (I’d argue great) defender, not a good distributor. And definitely not good defending in space, which is all there is to defend when Mosquera is pushed so far up the field. If Phil wants us to play a more possession oriented style like this (and I understand not every team will play like Philly did), McGraw might not be the person to start. Start him vs a Houston who will take all the possession, but maybe not vs a team that will sit back and play in transition.
I want to continue to be positive on this team and I do believe Phil has made some steady improvements with this team in possession, but this game stung. A lot. A shorthanded Philly team who started the league with three draws should be an easy win at home. Instead, we got pummeled, and honestly looked like we might lose 4 or 5-0 after that third goal went in. Yes, if we make our chances in the first half we will win that game 9/10 times, but I don’t want to keep saying that. We haven’t been good enough in front of goal. Hopefully Rodriguez changes that (I mean seriously, I thought he was awesome). Phil really needs to work with this team on getting the ball into our midfielders consistently. Evander and Williamson are some of our most talented players, we can’t just allow a team to easily take them out of the game like that. It was simply not good enough. Phil has a lot to prove here
This team has fight and Phil made good subs, but just a bit too late. Rodriguez will score goals, maybe a lot of them, if he can get service.
I do think this is the first game where Phil got the selection wrong. Easy to say now in hindsight. But our first choice keeper and left-side CB were missing to international duty, along with oddly our 4th choice CB, and we have no fullback depth (if we have any fullbacks, at all) because Ned decided to waste time courting a striker he couldn't have.
I know Phil wants to be on the front foot, especially at home. But if there was ever a game to be pragmatic, this was it. It's not sexy, but it's how you accumulate points in this league. If this is how things will be whenever there are international dates, then hopefully Phil learned that with this roster pragmatism maybe has a better chance of success. If he wants to win games like this with the dark arts, then set the team up for it.
I don't know about the Williamson-Evander-Chara midfield, especially when first choice defenders are absent. Was Williamson even on the pitch? Evander and Williamson are similar players, with similar dispositions, occupying the same space... seems redundant. Think of them as Yerba or tea guys, on a team of coffee or energy drink guys... playing in front of a crowd of caffeine addicts, likely in caffeine withdraw by first kick, but now feeling the beer come on strong... I'm pretty sure there is a Law of Physics being violated here. Anyway, pairing them in front of an old Chara who only passes sideways, and who doesn't help matters when he gets a YC in the 25', ceded the center of the park to the Union.
I do appreciate Phil's candor in the pressers. It was a disappointing match. It seemed like the team played cohesively and with belief for most of the first half, creating enough chances to score at least twice. But as soon as Union scored, bad habits from last year crept in. Players started winging it, hero ball, etc., and then complete switch offs on team defending. Mentality and culture might be Phil's biggest accomplishment this year, in addition to a playoff spot, which I do think this team is capable of achieving.
I do want to see Phil take a little more responsibility for himself, as well. I think it's fine to call out players for a weak mentality and for switching off, and then conceding cheap goals. But selection and tactics matter, too.
Bigger picture, we're okay. 2W-2L-1D is about what this team is ATM given the previous two years, with injuries/absences and roster construction as it is. All and all, it's okay for now. I do want to see PP be a fortress again, though. 1-1-1 every three home games won't get it done long term. We'll learn a lot more about this team in the next 5 games.
The result is disappointing. There are some positives, or at least some differences from previous teams.
1. Possession - There was a lot of patience to work it out of the back in the first half, especially. Previous teams after one or two passes in the back would have launched one up to a forward for a 50-50 ball and hope for the best and it was usually a chaotic brand of soccer. I saw a lot of patience from the back, and that led to some good chances in the first half. I think this is part of the learning curve. It's too bad they weren't rewarded for it to get the validation.
2. Working hard the entire game - I didn't see any let up or lack of effort the entire game. They were working hard to win the ball back and attack. The subs brought a different element to the game, and it was nice to see there is depth to challenge not only the opponent, but also provide competition within the squad.
General observation - Mistakes cost the team a result. Philly basically pounced on mistakes, and they set up for a result, whereas the Timbers could actually grow from this loss a lot more than Philly will grow from a win.
tactically - Phil knows a lot more about this than I do, but with Philly's diamond compacting the middle, why not have full backs not so far up to draw the side diamond guy wide and then use the midfielder to advance, and maybe through a big switch or through to a higher wing player. They were slow to work it around in general, but they got better at it as they figured it out.
Individually - Williamson did pretty well, I thought, but he does wear down in the second half of games and Phil has a good read on when to sub him. In general he helped keep possession and break lines. He started giving some hospital balls in the second half - hence the sub. Mosquera played fairly well too. They seemed to tilt the field to the right and he got a lot of action and helped set up some good chances. Jonathan R - I love this guy! His touch and saucy flicks. Get him the ball and good things will happen.
Phil is playing a game designed for the players he wished he had instead of the ones he has. He's trying to run a modern, build out of the back in possession attack and then high pressing without the ball. He wants his fullbacks involved high in the attack. Sadly, he doesn't have Saliba and Van Dyke at centerback and he doesn't have Rodri at holding mid. He's got a couple of well meaning slugs at centerback and a 100 year old Diego Chara instead. I'm frankly astounded on how slow McGraw is. I did not remember that. It's Phil who needs to adjust. Otherwise, be prepared to suffer run throughs like last night all season long. Bunker and counter will be the gospel of playing against Portland.
I take a bit of heart from the fact that even though teams have "figured us out" by packing numbers into the midfield, we still get a significant number of good chances to score. However, at some point the team will need to figure out how to play from the back. Those first few minutes of Zuparic hanging around with nowhere to pass were a big warning sign.
Defense really let us down, but goals change games. Timbers were at a significant disadvantage once we missed twice and their half-chance went in. Philly did well to pounce on our weakness and our need to advance numbers
- creativity and movement in the final third has been the biggest improvement. This has actually made for entertaining soccer for the first time in years.
- midfield is a mixed bag. Not enough cover for our D.
- defense has not been good. P and C have had to save their bacon multiple times a game. Mosquera is a wingback not a right back. Without cover behind him, you take chances. E Miller is clearly a DC stuck out wide. How you can build a squad with no depth at DR and DL, it wobbles the mind.
- the xG…. at some point they have to start scoring more, but the chance that they make the POs giving up the chances they do…
Why does Jonathan Rodriguez look familiar to me? Have the Timbers played against him before?
For some reason, I'm not as negative on the Timbers as I normally would be with the kind of results (or lack thereof) we've been getting so far. It seems like the pieces are there for a good team. Good to see Mora back and for better or worse, it will be good to get Bravo back, if for no other reason than the speed he brings.
I am not impressed with Kamal Miller so far. When it comes to grit and heady play, Zup still feels like the best CB we have. Zac is solid in limited space but with this system where we leave the two CB all alone in space, he looks like a tortoise trying to hang with any forward player.
With K. Miller and M. Crepeau back for this weekend, we'll be in good shape defensively. Phil has been harping on being ruthless in front of goal and I like it. I think it's just a mentality that you want to bang in goals and rip out the will of the opponent. It takes relentless attacking and never letting off the pedal. I'd like to see improvement in that area this week.
Have a defensive plan/identity, buy into it, implement it. Every forward pass we made, Philly was all over that player for the entire game. It was hard to find a pass and they contested every pass. In response, Players need to constantly move to find space and receive the ball, stop ball watching. If they don’t want the ball at their feet, then get off the field. Another blasphemous thought, Chara doesn’t offer much offensively but Ayala does. Maybe we need to get him more minutes as he seemed to add a little when he came on. Evander and Williamson/Paredes (Paredes did this when he came in) need to get on the ball and advance it to the wings or to Santi. On the back line, Zup, in my opinion, should be on the field in a 3 back. He may not be fast, can’t jump, makes the occasional mistake, but also saves goals, throws his body around and is assertive.
If the Timbers can continue to create like they did in the first 30 or so minutes of this game, I am not even remotely worried about the offense. Those were some good chances, and on another night, more of them will go in. They were patient, they moved the ball well, and everyone - including Rodriguez, he of exactly two days of work with his new team - seemed to know what they wanted to do and where they needed to be. That was encouraging.
And then there's the "defense". I honestly don't know what's going on back there. We can talk all we want about building out from the back, and attacking down the wings, and all those encouraging things, but until the defenders do what they're paid to do - DEFEND - none of the rest of that 21st century every-player-attack-all-the-time soccer stuff will matter. They fall asleep on set pieces far too often, they get crossed up under pressure a lot, and they lose their shape waaaaaaaaaaaaay too easily. I had a lot of confidence in this defense coming into the season; I didn't think they were going to be elite, best-in-MLS level, but with the two additions they made, I thought they'd be an upgrade on last year, and I thought Miller would help stabilize the back line in particular.
Based on what I've seen so far this season, I was wrong. And the worrisome thing is, I'm not even seeing incremental improvement at the back over last year, which means that it's a problem both of personnel and of coaching. I don't know how soccer coaching staffs work, if they're like the NFL where every assistant has a specific brief or if they all have a hand in everything, but whoever is primarily responsible for defensive coaching just isn't getting the job done. Not even close.
It is way too early to start calling for heads at this point, but if things don't start changing soon, by the time summer rolls around, new defensive players and probably a new assistant coach or two might be a good idea. Because this isn't sustainable.
I just don’t get it. I’m just a casual fan. I don’t know a lot about tactics. Even I can see you should not have two slow CB’s creep toward midfield trying, and failing, to ignite the attack. All it takes is one small miscue, a bad touch or a bad pass, and your CB is chasing the counter and he’s way behind. That’s what happened on the second goal. Philly knew it, and pounced. This looks like round peg, square hole from last year. Again.
First game in person and what a disappointment. Only bright spot was Rodriguez getting his first. Timbers look SO poor in the midfield. Williamson was out of sorts much of the game. Passing in midfield was so poor at least from my eye test. I haven’t looked at the stats. I was dubious when Phil pulled EM and Chara. Should have pulled Mosquera. That guy needs to leave a lesson. Learn and play some type of defense or you don’t play. I told my son it was clear Phil was betting the house and I thought that there would be a greater chance of us conceding than catching up. And easily concede is exactly what we did. “Dark Arts”!? WTF. You don’t need dark arts. Just actually learn how to play defense. Facepalm! Whole team looked out of sync. Passing was a messed much of the night. Feels quite a bit like right before Gio left. When everyone just gave up.
Duparic needs to be on the pitch. The guy throws his body around and leaves it on the pitch. 3 in the back. Blasphemous but Ayala had more to offer offensively than Chara. Williamson who did a good job as a 10 one game but did a Nagbe impression tonight. Dude, push the ball and break lines. Maybe because Evander came higher. Paredes was better
Defense, Leadership, style of play, fight, a fortress? Waiting.
The referee lockout is over as of today, so we can finally go back to complaining about the real refs instead of complaining about replacement refs:
https://prosoccerwire.usatoday.com/2024/03/26/mls-referee-lockout-ends-psra-new-contract/
They got a lot of what they wanted, including substantial raises, which is good for them. They'll be back for this weekend; no news on whether the 2024 rule changes that were paused will be introduced this weekend as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn2RHM3MWhU
I made a video of all the touches from Williamson and Evander this game since it's been a big talking point of whether these two can work together. Also, copyright (among other things, this is like my eighth time trying to upload this damn thing) got on my ass and blocked the video everywhere so I had to trim down a lot of the plays I'd normally leave in, making this much more choppy than normal. Anyways, I had several takeaways from basically rewatching this game, so I'll copy and paste them here:
- Williamson had an excellent first half. He made only one or two bad passes and never got the ball taken off him. But he was super active, getting on the ball a lot and connecting quite well with Moreno and Mosquera on the right flank. There are a few times he got the ball, and drove across the field, opening up space as well as breaking Philly’s press. In the second half he wasn’t nearly as effective. I’m not sure what changed, but his passes weren’t great, and he did not link up with Evander well.
- Evander was the weak link a lot of the game, but especially in the first half. He had two good shots, but really didn’t do much else and lost the ball a few times. Bad first half. He came to life as the second half went on as we were just causing chaos and he was able to get on the ball more though, and he was involved in a lot of our plays. Later in the game he really took the responsibility of the game on his shoulders, he was constantly looking to get on the ball and make something happen.
- I’m going to say something here that may sound crazy, but hear me out: I think we need our players to have a similar mindset about Evander as Miami players have about Messi. Miami players. Miami players (like Robert Taylor) told the media that whenever Messi gets the ball, they just run. That’s their responsibility, just run into space, because they know Messi has the quality to find them. Now Evander of course doesn’t have the quality of Messi, but goddamn he has some serious quality. And not only that, but he’s ALWAYS looking for a pass in behind he can play. I noticed that he dribbled back and forth a bunch in the second half with his head up, just waiting for someone to make a run in behind, and it rarely happened. Asprilla did it once and they created a chance (bad cross from Dairon). When Evander has the ball, our players have to make forward/diagonal runs. Like, just go. Evander has the quality, he will find that amazing pass 4/5 times.
- Defensively I didn’t really notice anything wrong this game. I had to cut out Philly’s second goal (thanks copyright) but that was definitely a moment where Williamson should’ve stepped, although I don’t entirely blame that goal on him (it was a bad pass from Moreno that gave the ball away, Williamson was trying to make a progressive play that I like). Other than that things were find besides the few bad attempted tackles here and there. However, against high possession teams fielding a better team, I do think it might be a problem. I don’t want to just assume that though because Williamson and Evander are both so talented.
- I don’t believe we have proof that these two don’t work together. It’s their third game. Now there are several times where they try to connect with each other and just aren’t on the same page, but again, I want to believe it’s just a lack of chemistry. People rightfully point out that because they’re so similar in their playstyle that means they won’t work together, but I think it’s equally possible that could be a reason they could work together in some instances. Again, “could.” I have not seen evidence one way or another, but I do want to see more.
- We basically went entirely down the right side the first half, and yes it was lopsided, but man it worked. A lot. Pretty much all of our chances came from that side. It was lopsided but it was lopsided with a purpose, and when our passing was on point, we were able to create something. When Bravo comes back I definitely want to see more down the left, but I think this was a good tactical setup for this game.
- The second half we changed, we tried to be more attacking down the left and it just didn’t work with Miller and Antony. Williamson or Evander would drop into the space left by the fullback who pushed forward, and would get on the ball to progress play there. Moreno played even more inverted, basically next to Rodriguez for much of the half, and gave Mosquera the entirety of that flank, which I’m sure was something Neville told him to do since Antony basically did the same whenever they switched flanks. All of this did not work, we did not create much of anything in the second half. Clearly Neville tried different things and some of them worked and some didn’t, and I don’t entirely mind that. I just hope this leads to growth.
- A random note: McGraw is not a ball playing center back obviously and that was a problem this game, but outside of a few plays where he was just left out to defend open space against an onrushing forward (I do not expect him or many CBs to defend that well), he actually had a pretty spotless game defensively. Dominant in the air as always.
This was an extremely frustrating game, I have a few random thoughts so we’ll see where this takes me.
I thought the first half was actually quite good, we created several great chances just couldn’t finish. Rodriguez looked absolutely electric, he made many great runs and just made his presence known up top. I’m really excited to see more from him, I think he’s going to do really well. We gave up a goal but I was still feeling ok going into the second half. The second half was much worse, we struggled to create chances as Philly sat deeper. Stupid giveaways and defensive lapses led to the second and third goals, and we never really looked like a threat. It was incredible disheartening.
Philly clogged up the middle of the field, completely taking Eryk and Evander out of the game almost entirely. I didn’t think either of them were necessarily good or bad, just ineffective. It’s just their third ever game starting together, so jury is still out as to whether they will work together. Since the had that midfield clogged up with the 4-4-2 diamond, we needed more cross field switches. We needed to spread that diamond out. But instead, we were ponderous, just passing the ball back and forth along the back line. That’s cool, but we needed to switch things up. Those passes allow the defense to shift and be set. Bigger passes and switches of play were needed, and I think we only hit one or two all game, in the second half (I forgot if it was Evander or Ayala). We need to be braver in possession instead of always going for the easy pass. I believe both Evander and Eryk are capable of doing that and do it often, but they didn’t this game, I’m not sure why. I really hope Phil isn’t instructing them to not play long.
Antony has great defensive ability actually, but besides his goals, he’s been largely ineffective on offense to start this year. The one play I thought he did well was when he was on the right side, and he was able to take his defender on, get to the end line, and put in a dangerous cross. He’s so right footed, so it’s easy to predict what he’s going to do every time. I’d like to see him more on the right side, I think he can be more dangerous there. Yes he will still be predictable, but because he’s so fast there just won’t be much defenders can do about it. The problem is they have Moreno on that side so he can tuck in and Mosquera can bomb down the wing, which makes sense. They have good chemistry and are good friends off and on the field, but I think they look for each other too much. They always look to combine with each other even if it doesn’t make sense. It comes off many times but they also lose the ball many times, and leave us exposed. I just think we need to switch things up a bit.
I think Phil let us down with the subs. 65th minute down 2-0, and he puts Antony as a left back with a gassed Mosquera on the right. I get he wanted more offense, but that was way too early to move to that formation imo. 2-0 is called the most dangerous lead in soccer for a reason, there was still plenty of time to salvage that game. Would we have? I don’t know, but we gave the game up with that plan. The foul that led to the third goal comes because Antony is too far up the field (not his fault, those were his instructions) and Zuparic had no one to pass to. A foul gets committed and the defense is all out of wack, and Philly capitalize. I thought his move to take Chara off and bring Ayala on was the right one, but taking Miller off and putting Antony at LB was the wrong call. I would’ve rather him take Mosquera off and put Antony there. I believe a team balance is necessary to scoring goals — it was too early for chaos ball.
Speaking of Ayala, he was great off the bench as he always is. Broke lines with his passing and opened up the play because he made longer passes that no one else would. I was happy to see Phil say that he’s pushing for a starting spot, because he absolutely should be. I would love to see him get a run of games out, maybe as the 8 but maybe as the 6, which is a position I think he’s much better suited for. Perhaps it’s time to give Chara a rest, I don’t know. I have my reservations about that but man I just want to see him play. It’s his third year with the team, he’s earned it.
I cannot wait to get Bravo back, I thought Miller was quite poor this game. Not entirely his fault (although I do put the blame for the second goal on him, which really killed our momentum) since he’s more defensive and not suited to progress the ball from the back which we desperately needed him to do. Badly. Bravo does that and I can’t wait. The same goes for McGraw… I love him to death and think he’s great, but he’s a good (I’d argue great) defender, not a good distributor. And definitely not good defending in space, which is all there is to defend when Mosquera is pushed so far up the field. If Phil wants us to play a more possession oriented style like this (and I understand not every team will play like Philly did), McGraw might not be the person to start. Start him vs a Houston who will take all the possession, but maybe not vs a team that will sit back and play in transition.
I want to continue to be positive on this team and I do believe Phil has made some steady improvements with this team in possession, but this game stung. A lot. A shorthanded Philly team who started the league with three draws should be an easy win at home. Instead, we got pummeled, and honestly looked like we might lose 4 or 5-0 after that third goal went in. Yes, if we make our chances in the first half we will win that game 9/10 times, but I don’t want to keep saying that. We haven’t been good enough in front of goal. Hopefully Rodriguez changes that (I mean seriously, I thought he was awesome). Phil really needs to work with this team on getting the ball into our midfielders consistently. Evander and Williamson are some of our most talented players, we can’t just allow a team to easily take them out of the game like that. It was simply not good enough. Phil has a lot to prove here
It was a learning experience.
This team has fight and Phil made good subs, but just a bit too late. Rodriguez will score goals, maybe a lot of them, if he can get service.
I do think this is the first game where Phil got the selection wrong. Easy to say now in hindsight. But our first choice keeper and left-side CB were missing to international duty, along with oddly our 4th choice CB, and we have no fullback depth (if we have any fullbacks, at all) because Ned decided to waste time courting a striker he couldn't have.
I know Phil wants to be on the front foot, especially at home. But if there was ever a game to be pragmatic, this was it. It's not sexy, but it's how you accumulate points in this league. If this is how things will be whenever there are international dates, then hopefully Phil learned that with this roster pragmatism maybe has a better chance of success. If he wants to win games like this with the dark arts, then set the team up for it.
I don't know about the Williamson-Evander-Chara midfield, especially when first choice defenders are absent. Was Williamson even on the pitch? Evander and Williamson are similar players, with similar dispositions, occupying the same space... seems redundant. Think of them as Yerba or tea guys, on a team of coffee or energy drink guys... playing in front of a crowd of caffeine addicts, likely in caffeine withdraw by first kick, but now feeling the beer come on strong... I'm pretty sure there is a Law of Physics being violated here. Anyway, pairing them in front of an old Chara who only passes sideways, and who doesn't help matters when he gets a YC in the 25', ceded the center of the park to the Union.
I do appreciate Phil's candor in the pressers. It was a disappointing match. It seemed like the team played cohesively and with belief for most of the first half, creating enough chances to score at least twice. But as soon as Union scored, bad habits from last year crept in. Players started winging it, hero ball, etc., and then complete switch offs on team defending. Mentality and culture might be Phil's biggest accomplishment this year, in addition to a playoff spot, which I do think this team is capable of achieving.
I do want to see Phil take a little more responsibility for himself, as well. I think it's fine to call out players for a weak mentality and for switching off, and then conceding cheap goals. But selection and tactics matter, too.
Bigger picture, we're okay. 2W-2L-1D is about what this team is ATM given the previous two years, with injuries/absences and roster construction as it is. All and all, it's okay for now. I do want to see PP be a fortress again, though. 1-1-1 every three home games won't get it done long term. We'll learn a lot more about this team in the next 5 games.
The result is disappointing. There are some positives, or at least some differences from previous teams.
1. Possession - There was a lot of patience to work it out of the back in the first half, especially. Previous teams after one or two passes in the back would have launched one up to a forward for a 50-50 ball and hope for the best and it was usually a chaotic brand of soccer. I saw a lot of patience from the back, and that led to some good chances in the first half. I think this is part of the learning curve. It's too bad they weren't rewarded for it to get the validation.
2. Working hard the entire game - I didn't see any let up or lack of effort the entire game. They were working hard to win the ball back and attack. The subs brought a different element to the game, and it was nice to see there is depth to challenge not only the opponent, but also provide competition within the squad.
General observation - Mistakes cost the team a result. Philly basically pounced on mistakes, and they set up for a result, whereas the Timbers could actually grow from this loss a lot more than Philly will grow from a win.
tactically - Phil knows a lot more about this than I do, but with Philly's diamond compacting the middle, why not have full backs not so far up to draw the side diamond guy wide and then use the midfielder to advance, and maybe through a big switch or through to a higher wing player. They were slow to work it around in general, but they got better at it as they figured it out.
Individually - Williamson did pretty well, I thought, but he does wear down in the second half of games and Phil has a good read on when to sub him. In general he helped keep possession and break lines. He started giving some hospital balls in the second half - hence the sub. Mosquera played fairly well too. They seemed to tilt the field to the right and he got a lot of action and helped set up some good chances. Jonathan R - I love this guy! His touch and saucy flicks. Get him the ball and good things will happen.
Phil is playing a game designed for the players he wished he had instead of the ones he has. He's trying to run a modern, build out of the back in possession attack and then high pressing without the ball. He wants his fullbacks involved high in the attack. Sadly, he doesn't have Saliba and Van Dyke at centerback and he doesn't have Rodri at holding mid. He's got a couple of well meaning slugs at centerback and a 100 year old Diego Chara instead. I'm frankly astounded on how slow McGraw is. I did not remember that. It's Phil who needs to adjust. Otherwise, be prepared to suffer run throughs like last night all season long. Bunker and counter will be the gospel of playing against Portland.
I take a bit of heart from the fact that even though teams have "figured us out" by packing numbers into the midfield, we still get a significant number of good chances to score. However, at some point the team will need to figure out how to play from the back. Those first few minutes of Zuparic hanging around with nowhere to pass were a big warning sign.
Defense really let us down, but goals change games. Timbers were at a significant disadvantage once we missed twice and their half-chance went in. Philly did well to pounce on our weakness and our need to advance numbers
- creativity and movement in the final third has been the biggest improvement. This has actually made for entertaining soccer for the first time in years.
- midfield is a mixed bag. Not enough cover for our D.
- defense has not been good. P and C have had to save their bacon multiple times a game. Mosquera is a wingback not a right back. Without cover behind him, you take chances. E Miller is clearly a DC stuck out wide. How you can build a squad with no depth at DR and DL, it wobbles the mind.
- the xG…. at some point they have to start scoring more, but the chance that they make the POs giving up the chances they do…
Why does Jonathan Rodriguez look familiar to me? Have the Timbers played against him before?
For some reason, I'm not as negative on the Timbers as I normally would be with the kind of results (or lack thereof) we've been getting so far. It seems like the pieces are there for a good team. Good to see Mora back and for better or worse, it will be good to get Bravo back, if for no other reason than the speed he brings.
I am not impressed with Kamal Miller so far. When it comes to grit and heady play, Zup still feels like the best CB we have. Zac is solid in limited space but with this system where we leave the two CB all alone in space, he looks like a tortoise trying to hang with any forward player.
With K. Miller and M. Crepeau back for this weekend, we'll be in good shape defensively. Phil has been harping on being ruthless in front of goal and I like it. I think it's just a mentality that you want to bang in goals and rip out the will of the opponent. It takes relentless attacking and never letting off the pedal. I'd like to see improvement in that area this week.
Have a defensive plan/identity, buy into it, implement it. Every forward pass we made, Philly was all over that player for the entire game. It was hard to find a pass and they contested every pass. In response, Players need to constantly move to find space and receive the ball, stop ball watching. If they don’t want the ball at their feet, then get off the field. Another blasphemous thought, Chara doesn’t offer much offensively but Ayala does. Maybe we need to get him more minutes as he seemed to add a little when he came on. Evander and Williamson/Paredes (Paredes did this when he came in) need to get on the ball and advance it to the wings or to Santi. On the back line, Zup, in my opinion, should be on the field in a 3 back. He may not be fast, can’t jump, makes the occasional mistake, but also saves goals, throws his body around and is assertive.
If the Timbers can continue to create like they did in the first 30 or so minutes of this game, I am not even remotely worried about the offense. Those were some good chances, and on another night, more of them will go in. They were patient, they moved the ball well, and everyone - including Rodriguez, he of exactly two days of work with his new team - seemed to know what they wanted to do and where they needed to be. That was encouraging.
And then there's the "defense". I honestly don't know what's going on back there. We can talk all we want about building out from the back, and attacking down the wings, and all those encouraging things, but until the defenders do what they're paid to do - DEFEND - none of the rest of that 21st century every-player-attack-all-the-time soccer stuff will matter. They fall asleep on set pieces far too often, they get crossed up under pressure a lot, and they lose their shape waaaaaaaaaaaaay too easily. I had a lot of confidence in this defense coming into the season; I didn't think they were going to be elite, best-in-MLS level, but with the two additions they made, I thought they'd be an upgrade on last year, and I thought Miller would help stabilize the back line in particular.
Based on what I've seen so far this season, I was wrong. And the worrisome thing is, I'm not even seeing incremental improvement at the back over last year, which means that it's a problem both of personnel and of coaching. I don't know how soccer coaching staffs work, if they're like the NFL where every assistant has a specific brief or if they all have a hand in everything, but whoever is primarily responsible for defensive coaching just isn't getting the job done. Not even close.
It is way too early to start calling for heads at this point, but if things don't start changing soon, by the time summer rolls around, new defensive players and probably a new assistant coach or two might be a good idea. Because this isn't sustainable.
I just don’t get it. I’m just a casual fan. I don’t know a lot about tactics. Even I can see you should not have two slow CB’s creep toward midfield trying, and failing, to ignite the attack. All it takes is one small miscue, a bad touch or a bad pass, and your CB is chasing the counter and he’s way behind. That’s what happened on the second goal. Philly knew it, and pounced. This looks like round peg, square hole from last year. Again.
First game in person and what a disappointment. Only bright spot was Rodriguez getting his first. Timbers look SO poor in the midfield. Williamson was out of sorts much of the game. Passing in midfield was so poor at least from my eye test. I haven’t looked at the stats. I was dubious when Phil pulled EM and Chara. Should have pulled Mosquera. That guy needs to leave a lesson. Learn and play some type of defense or you don’t play. I told my son it was clear Phil was betting the house and I thought that there would be a greater chance of us conceding than catching up. And easily concede is exactly what we did. “Dark Arts”!? WTF. You don’t need dark arts. Just actually learn how to play defense. Facepalm! Whole team looked out of sync. Passing was a messed much of the night. Feels quite a bit like right before Gio left. When everyone just gave up.
Duparic needs to be on the pitch. The guy throws his body around and leaves it on the pitch. 3 in the back. Blasphemous but Ayala had more to offer offensively than Chara. Williamson who did a good job as a 10 one game but did a Nagbe impression tonight. Dude, push the ball and break lines. Maybe because Evander came higher. Paredes was better
Defense, Leadership, style of play, fight, a fortress? Waiting.