Not sure if we could’ve asked for a better start than that, that was awesome. Not concerned about how we looked when we took our foot off the gas. Obviously I’d prefer us keep better control of the game, but it was fine overall. I love hearing that Neville isn’t content and constantly expects more from his team and players. A 7/10 rating is fair.
Man I love Williamson, I’m so happy he’s back. He’s really, really good and has a great game offensively but was also good defensively I thought. I expect him to be a big part of this team, and if we’re to play more like we did in the first 35 minutes then he will be key to that. I love Paredes too but he’s not nearly as good in possession.
All aboard the Antony train!! Still rough around the edges but man he’s ready! Great defensive work rate too. Not much more to say about him except I’m really excited to see more! I’ll be the first to raise my hand and say I didn’t see much from his highlights that I loved but he seems like a really great signing from Ned, perhaps the first higher profile signing from him and he’s nailed it.
It’s so good to watch this team again, I missed this feeling and I missed talking about it. Really looking forward to the rest of the season. Let’s hope Phil keeps things on track
Going into this game, without a real recognized goal threat, I was thinking Phil would set up pretty defensively and look to keep possession and break occasionally. Turns out I am an idiot. He did exactly what he should do with this roster as it's currently built - make the wings do all the work and let things happen from there. While all the usual caveats apply - one game is a small sample, it's Colorado, etc - I was very encouraged with what I saw last night.
At the end of the day, after all, this was essentially last year's team with a few additions. And they played SO MUCH BETTER. It's what we were all screaming for for the last couple years - cohesion, organization, and an actual structure that can be relied on. It was, dare I say, fun to watch!
And after watching both Ivacic and Bingham punch balls just for the sake of doing it, how good was it watching Pantemis step up and dominate his goal? He punched balls away out of danger, and never flailed at a ball. He was fantastic and I'm bummed he didn't get the clean sheet.
On to the next, and a harder test. But it's looking good so far. I really want Phil Neville to prove me wrong, and last night was a good start.
Oh and also, hat tip to the person in section 111 last night in the Messi shirt, Messi cap and Messi shoes, who got chilly late on in the game and then pulled on his Messi hoodie. MLS 4.0, baby!
I refuse to watch Inter Messi play, but knowing how to MLS Messi IS the league, I'm sure the commentary would go something like this:
Messi passes to not Messi, marked tightly by not Messi, sends it wide to someone who wishes they were Messi, looking to pass to Messi as everyone always should, and he finds Messi, whose shot is saved by someone who disrespects Messi by not allowing the ball to enter the Messi goal..
On what, exactly? I've watched Messi in his prime, playing on teams in their prime (and also PSG) for well over a decade, playing against some of the best talent this game has ever produced. I'm not sure I need to go out of my way to carve out two hours to watch him test himself against the vaunted defense of (checks notes) David Brekalo and Robin Jansson next week.
Look, Messi is one of the two greatest players to play the game in the last 50 years. That's unquestionable. But the constant, 24/7 shoving of him down our throats by the league since he got here is...a lot. It's tiresome, and it's unnecessary for a league that has a TON of other interesting players, teams, and storylines to follow. MLS was growing into a really fun league in the couple years before Messi got here, and now all the attention's on Messi, when it should be on literally everywhere else in the game. I think that's to the detriment of the league as a whole.
I've compared it in the past to a sugar high. MLS is gonna get an absolute ton of publicity, eyeballs, and money for the next two years, and I'm sure they're banking on a lot of those eyeballs, and a lot of that money, sticking around after Messi leaves. But let's be realistic - a great many of Messi's fans are just that, Messi's fans. They live in Asia, or in Europe, or in South America, all of which have countries who have their own domestic leagues people there follow.
What are the odds that a random Messi superfan who is from, say, Valencia is going to stick with Inter Miami, whose games are on in the middle of the night there, when they have a local team to follow? That's the sugar high aspect - once Messi's gone, all those bonus eyeballs and dollars are most likely gone too.
Garber & Co are maximizing their short term sugar high, but the crash in 2026 is gonna suck for them I think.
Pretty good considering they played that game with zero Designated Players. I would argue, though, that Antony played as well or better than any DP's we've had for a while.
You wold think that it could have gone very badly - no starting forward, no Evander and no starting keeper. The subs filled in admirably and Anthony was the difference, although good games from everyone.
Excited to see Anthony tear it up. That was a two way winger performance that you don't see often in this league. We've needed that so badly and you can see how it opens things up. His curler was like what you see in the EPL, and his header shows he has the killer instinct for goals. In the final third situations, I liked how it would get overloaded on Moreno's side and then it would be switched over for a 1 v 1 with Anthony. That will be very effective strategy.
I also really liked the play where he nutmegged a defender at the top of the box and ripped a shot. It got blocked but I liked it because it showed me he’s not afraid to shoot. So many of our players have been allergic to shooting in the past, except Evander. Moreno’s also not the best shooter. Seems like Antony is gonna be a winger that can cut inside and shoot as well as take it to the end line and put a cross in. We haven’t had that in so long, he seems very goal dangerous
Alright, so let me now get down to what’s really real. Is MLS Season Pass the worst designed sports streaming interface ever? I think it gives a lot of challengers a good run for the money. Last year was year one, so whatever. They’ve now rolled out year two. The fixes are minimal. They have, thankfully, made it possible to turn off scores on websites, albeit in the narrowest possible way. The scores are off (check). But the site is still festooned with gratuitous spoiler content. There’s still no easy way to go directly to games without scrolling past things like : game highlights (spoilers); updated standings (spoilers); and needing to drill past like 3 more pages of the same, in order to get to the game page but WAIT YOU ARE NOT DONE because the default setting for watching games is that they’ll show you the highlights. If you want the **whole game** — because why would you, you subscription-paying MLS fan you—you need to go to the bottom of the page (*scrolling past still more spoilers!*) and click on a fairly anonymous looking link that will, in the end, allow you to choose between three versions of a game — and lookee, you can finally select the whole game! If you get there, go ahead and sigh a sigh of relief. From there, there are no spoilers. So, to break it down, all you have to do is like 10 steps to get past all the spoilers so you can watch a game. As opposed to the approach taken by ESPN+, which just allows you to choose a game from a list of unspoiled games.
Just a little more seriously. It’s pretty clear that the MLS Season Pass site is not optimized for watching games. It’s optimized for promoting little cliplets of MLS Season-Pass branded content — Messi’s debut goal! Look at the goal that won SEA-SKC! Check out our half time show! — rather than showing matches. Which makes me wonder: what’s the core audience for that? Who would pay for that?
I paid for it because I can't make it to all the home games, or to a pub to watch all the away games.
I think Apple just hasn't figured out how to cover sports. Hopefully with time they'll get it together, if it's gonna be the only way to watch the majority of MLS matches.
I thought the constant updating graphics showing the winning percentage chances was annoying. It must be popular because I see it in other sports too (must be the betting crowd) but a graph showing that the team that is ahead has an increased chance of winning doesn’t seem necessary to me.
I get what you’re saying, it’s obvious that the team that’s up is more likely to win. Like, duh. I will say that I’ve enjoyed them in games that involve big comebacks, and not just in soccer. I think they’re probably more fun in baseball where they can flip so fast that they’re almost pointless, but they can be fun if you’re on the winning side of a comeback.
I understand all the frustrations except one… you no longer have to scroll to the bottom of the page to watch the full replay, that was fixed like halfway through last year, at least it was for me. The “watch recap” button is the first suggestion but the whole match replays are right below that, so you don’t have to scroll through spoilers. That’s how it’s laid out on my Samsung tv and iPhone at least. Maybe you need an update?
Good catch! I was so reflexively used to skipping over everything in that danger zone that I missed seeing that. So I apologize, Apple, for about 10% of my comment. I think the rest still holds.
Although I suppose the counter argument is that ESPN's market capitalization is $22 billion, but Apple's is $2.8 *trillion*, so they could buy ESPN, strip it, burn it, and use the rest to build an awesome website.
I have noticed that if you join match in progress, it will ask you if you'd like to start from the beginning or join the game live. Sucker: no matter what you pick, it shows you the live game. So then you have to train yourself to join matches, mute and close your eyes, choose 'start from beginning,' and then frantically rewind it before you see the score box.
There are a bunch of answers on google, but it is in the settings section. You have to do it on all platforms, which is annoying as I had to keep seeing scores and turning them off. Its a pain the ass, but at least there are solutions (I can't talk to the android issue, but the windows issue was corrected between last season and this season).
That is great to hear about Windows, it means somewhere in Apple they listened to their customers, but why they won't fix it in Android is beyond me.
It's not gonna make people go buy iPhones.
And, it is impossible that there are no sports fans working for Apple... Who wants spoilers in a streaming service? What's the benefit of knowing the score of a game you're about to watch?
I would say some what shocking display of intentionality and ferocity from the Timbers at the beginning of the season, though it mostly lasted just for the first half. So nice to see Williamson get the first goal and Antony, with the standard brace was lovely as well. I actually thought the combination of Paredes, Williamson, and Chara was quite good. Pushing Williamson upfield into the area that Evander was going to hold seemed to work very well. He might have some inefficiencies in his ability to defend but his ability to absorb physicality, and be unflustered, feels superior to Evander from what I saw last year. Quite honestly last year, Evander generally looked uncomfortable unit he moved backward on the field in the 433 set up, we switched to at the end of the season. Knowing that Phil is putting him back at the 10 creates some question marks in my mind. Though honestly having the team perform so well, in his absence, should hopefully light a significant fire under him to prove himself. Besides, Williamson and Anthony, Mosquera felt very dynamic and dangerous on that side. The one player that I expected more from and didn’t seem to really get into a good flow was Santiago. I got the sense that Colorado was very aware of where he was on the field and moved to close him down. Antony performing as well as he did. Should put teams on notice that they can’t overload the side that Santiago is on. I’m thinking that should hopefully free him up for more activity.
Out of this whole thing easily the best part was seeing Antony show some finishing skills. If he can score, that begins to answer a lot of questions about where the scoring comes from in the first half of the season. Obviously, I'm not talking about 2 goals a game scoring. It's just good to know that he might be expected to be a threat and put one in every once in a while. Balances things out, maybe gives Moreno more of a chance to do the same.
Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the Evander-Williamson midfield combo tested defensively today. TBH, my supposition is that Paredes-Williamson or Evander-Paredes will be more effective than E-W because of the defensive liabilities of having Evander and Williamson on at the same time.
Paredes' play can't be denied - really a menace defensively, and occasionally some good offense (nice assist on the Antony goal!), but it is intriguing to think about Williamson and Evander together. If Chara can play like he did last night, then I think it will work just fine. Paredes can back up Chara or Williamson. I think we'll see Paredes first on for either Evander, Williamson or Chara, most likely Williamson if all are fit.
LAFC was toothless in the middle last year, so they brought back Atuesta. He's like a Paredes in there, but as an eight as an enforcer, and they have their six as the distributor.
If Williamson can provide enough defense, and not just 1 v 1 defending, but knowing where to be, then we should be all right.
So great to get a big win like that under the circumstances - new coach, some key players out, the uncertainty. This win was huge - doesn't matter that it was against Colorado. One big takeaway is that I think if there are players out this year, we will not see drop off like we did last year. I feel like the roster is deeper and there is more competition for spots and there will be more flexibility. I'm gonna give some kudos to Asprilla. He stepped up and while it was not perfect, he did do some really good work out there.
That was fun, no doubt. And, obviously, any early season win against anyone is so welcome. Love to see Williamson back, smiling, and scoring. Antony was a menace. Solid job from the keeper. Then I get to the but...
They didn't play the possession game that Phil says he wants. They didn't look great when they decided to sit on a lead. They got possessed, out shot, shots on target were tied, passing accuracy was worse, and they had half the expected goals of Colorado.
I'll take the win and celebrate. And maybe this is, unexpectedly, a team that is amazing at finishing and they will blow away their expected goals on the regular. We'll see how things go. They seem more engaged and coherent this early than in many years past. But the fundamentals were not great and I'm be eager to see how long it takes them to forge an identity and a full game.
Those stats started to slide down hill in the second half. We took our foot off the ball. The difference I noticed with this team was their willingness to be direct. As soon as we got on the ball it was attack, attack, attack. It wasn't absorb and counter like gio. It was get on the ball and break lines. Move into open spaces and keep driving. I don't care about possession if we are being clinical with every attack. Gio was the opposite. It was bunker, then counter, then slow down around the box and look dumbfounded at what's next, until finally we just make stupid crosses to nobody. This team with more time and a better striker will be creating goal scoring chances in bucket loads and doing it with good movement off the ball. I'm ok with that.
We had no Evander. No 2nd or 3rd dp. No bench depth to keep offensive momentum going, and we actually gave up possession and didn't give up easy goals. Beating a team so bad in the first half that you could put it on autopilot in the second half is a good problem to have. Real test next week.
I do like to think that having Evander in would have created more fluid buildup and combo play. Direct was good and there were some great through balls, especially by Williamson and Antony. Against better competition, we'll need to play in tighter spaces and that's when we really need Evander.
I can see the point about the possession but how different a possession team are the Timbers with Evander and mora? Asprilla is great but his combination play doesn’t exist. His hold up play is nowhere near mora.
What I saw was a team continuing to work hard on defense even at the end. Saw some solid kill the game off in the last 5 minutes or so. Saw stuff to build on.
Absolutely. The Timbers has folks missing, they still have two DP slots open, and a new coach trying to build a new team. There were good things to build on this game. But we were also playing Colorado, were at home, and what I'm trying to say is that I this wasn't the dominant win that you'd expect with a 4-1 score line.
This team is far from a finished product and I'm excited to see where they go, even if I'm not stoked about the coaching hire, the pace of the off-season, or MP still being owner. So we shall see where it goes and RCTID.
I wouldn’t sweat it, I think if we weren’t winning by halftime we would’ve had much more possession in the second half. Definitely fair to say that we just took our foot out the gas and coasted through the rest of the game. It’s not what you want but for the first game of the season I’m totally fine with it given the players we have out. I expect the team from the first 35 minutes is the team that Phil wants us to play like, and honestly I’m very happy with how that team looked
The first half was electric, even with some shoddy moments. The 2nd half, and really from about the 35th minute on, was the defensive shell we've known for years. Still, if we can get healthy and add some pieces to fill out the roster.... Also Antony is a menace.
I’m glad, though, that the defensive shell came with a 3-goal lead and 55 minutes remaining, not a 1-goal difference with the same left in the game, as we often saw.
Cautiously optimistic. Coming into this game it was a questionable team vs a bad team, and the questionable team hit the finishing lottery in the first half. Otherwise we were out-shot, out-possessed, and out xG-ed. And outside of the goals and a few sequences, it's tough to say we played attractive or even dictated the game. I watched a lot of MLS this weekend, and there are some very impressive looking teams out there. There's work to do.
Bullish on: Antony, Williamson, Pantemis
Bearish on: our possession game, how we'll cope when we don't get 4 goals out of generating .5 xG
I watched a little bit of MLS this weekend - first half of LA vs Seattle, some of a lot of games and most of the LA v Inter Miami.
Seattle looks like they have a decent team but they are pretty limp in the offensive category, at least until their new signing came on. LAFC is better than they were last year, mainly in the midfield, but they really are lacking a striker. LA Galaxy looks fairly potent, but defensively they could be had. I think we stack up in the West, especially if we get a good DP striker. (I'm starting to get a little anxious about it, to be honest. C'mon already!).
I thought Seattle was pretty underwhelming and it hit home that Morris is at best an average and one-dimensional MLS striker and should never sniff the USMNT again. Their new kid is good though for sure. They don't have it together at the moment but they also have a competent FO and that means they'll compete.
"I watched a lot of MLS this weekend, and there are some very impressive looking teams out there."
Absolutely - and I'm not sure it's smart to think that the Timbers are going to be one of them this season. That's an unrealistic expectation to have, honestly, and if you're judging this team, or even Saturday's performance, by "the Timbers should be an impressive MLS team", you're going to be disappointed all season, I think.
This is a team in progress. It's rebuilding, not rebuilt. And given that, I think what we saw Saturday was pretty damn good. Is it the finished product? Not even close, and Phil's comments post-game said as much. Take the W, enjoy how much fun it was, and see it for what it is - a very positive first step in a long road that will have many twists and turns.
Also: single game xG is borderline useless. Way too much noise to tease out a reliable signal.
“We've done so much hard work over the last five to six weeks and we've still got so much work to do,” Neville remarked.
“I think if you look at the depth of our squad at this moment in time, it's nowhere near where it needs to be. It's a long season, it's a marathon and we're not getting carried away by today's result. We're pleased that it’s another step forward for this group.”
First half was a lot of fun. Running wild and finishing is always great.
I would imagine the halftime talk was "bunker and don't lose" based on 2nd half strategy.
Not much to take statistically from this one, despite dominating in ridiculous fashion in the first half, if you ignored the score line we were out possessed, close to even in shots and SOG, corners, etc. But one team was up 4-0 and was about to come out for 45 and manage that so of course the other was going to dominate non-scoreboard stats.
Timbers fans have complained for years about our lackluster starts to seasons. You don't win any trophies in Feb - June, but you sure as heck can take yourself completely out of the running and have to push hard for a mid-table finish. I for one prefer winning games rather than "managing a season". Time will tell if we can keep it up.
I would say "a better test". DCU was awful last year and played a man up for most of the match yesterday yet could barely break the 50% possession mark and 76% pass completion.
So next week is gonna be a big test. And it will be a good test to see what phill is made of. Benteke is a big boy and a majority of his goals are standing around the box and muscling off defenders. We aren't the biggest team so seeing how Phil adjust or doesn't is gonna be interesting. I know whatbi would do but I have a feeling we will see the same game plan as we did tonight.
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Not sure if we could’ve asked for a better start than that, that was awesome. Not concerned about how we looked when we took our foot off the gas. Obviously I’d prefer us keep better control of the game, but it was fine overall. I love hearing that Neville isn’t content and constantly expects more from his team and players. A 7/10 rating is fair.
Man I love Williamson, I’m so happy he’s back. He’s really, really good and has a great game offensively but was also good defensively I thought. I expect him to be a big part of this team, and if we’re to play more like we did in the first 35 minutes then he will be key to that. I love Paredes too but he’s not nearly as good in possession.
All aboard the Antony train!! Still rough around the edges but man he’s ready! Great defensive work rate too. Not much more to say about him except I’m really excited to see more! I’ll be the first to raise my hand and say I didn’t see much from his highlights that I loved but he seems like a really great signing from Ned, perhaps the first higher profile signing from him and he’s nailed it.
It’s so good to watch this team again, I missed this feeling and I missed talking about it. Really looking forward to the rest of the season. Let’s hope Phil keeps things on track
Going into this game, without a real recognized goal threat, I was thinking Phil would set up pretty defensively and look to keep possession and break occasionally. Turns out I am an idiot. He did exactly what he should do with this roster as it's currently built - make the wings do all the work and let things happen from there. While all the usual caveats apply - one game is a small sample, it's Colorado, etc - I was very encouraged with what I saw last night.
At the end of the day, after all, this was essentially last year's team with a few additions. And they played SO MUCH BETTER. It's what we were all screaming for for the last couple years - cohesion, organization, and an actual structure that can be relied on. It was, dare I say, fun to watch!
And after watching both Ivacic and Bingham punch balls just for the sake of doing it, how good was it watching Pantemis step up and dominate his goal? He punched balls away out of danger, and never flailed at a ball. He was fantastic and I'm bummed he didn't get the clean sheet.
On to the next, and a harder test. But it's looking good so far. I really want Phil Neville to prove me wrong, and last night was a good start.
Oh and also, hat tip to the person in section 111 last night in the Messi shirt, Messi cap and Messi shoes, who got chilly late on in the game and then pulled on his Messi hoodie. MLS 4.0, baby!
Not only was it fun to watch, but it feels like the first time in a very long time where the team has played greater than the sum of its parts
Messi League Soccer
I can't wait until he retires
I refuse to watch Inter Messi play, but knowing how to MLS Messi IS the league, I'm sure the commentary would go something like this:
Messi passes to not Messi, marked tightly by not Messi, sends it wide to someone who wishes they were Messi, looking to pass to Messi as everyone always should, and he finds Messi, whose shot is saved by someone who disrespects Messi by not allowing the ball to enter the Messi goal..
Ya know, it's a trend, it'll pass.
You're missing out!
On what, exactly? I've watched Messi in his prime, playing on teams in their prime (and also PSG) for well over a decade, playing against some of the best talent this game has ever produced. I'm not sure I need to go out of my way to carve out two hours to watch him test himself against the vaunted defense of (checks notes) David Brekalo and Robin Jansson next week.
Look, Messi is one of the two greatest players to play the game in the last 50 years. That's unquestionable. But the constant, 24/7 shoving of him down our throats by the league since he got here is...a lot. It's tiresome, and it's unnecessary for a league that has a TON of other interesting players, teams, and storylines to follow. MLS was growing into a really fun league in the couple years before Messi got here, and now all the attention's on Messi, when it should be on literally everywhere else in the game. I think that's to the detriment of the league as a whole.
I've compared it in the past to a sugar high. MLS is gonna get an absolute ton of publicity, eyeballs, and money for the next two years, and I'm sure they're banking on a lot of those eyeballs, and a lot of that money, sticking around after Messi leaves. But let's be realistic - a great many of Messi's fans are just that, Messi's fans. They live in Asia, or in Europe, or in South America, all of which have countries who have their own domestic leagues people there follow.
What are the odds that a random Messi superfan who is from, say, Valencia is going to stick with Inter Miami, whose games are on in the middle of the night there, when they have a local team to follow? That's the sugar high aspect - once Messi's gone, all those bonus eyeballs and dollars are most likely gone too.
Garber & Co are maximizing their short term sugar high, but the crash in 2026 is gonna suck for them I think.
I'll enjoy my cake. I watched the game tonight vs La and it was a lot of fun.
Which is great! I'm not a complete Messi detractor. I'm a detractor of all the damn hype. It's so unnecessary.
Sideshow
Pretty good considering they played that game with zero Designated Players. I would argue, though, that Antony played as well or better than any DP's we've had for a while.
You wold think that it could have gone very badly - no starting forward, no Evander and no starting keeper. The subs filled in admirably and Anthony was the difference, although good games from everyone.
Excited to see Anthony tear it up. That was a two way winger performance that you don't see often in this league. We've needed that so badly and you can see how it opens things up. His curler was like what you see in the EPL, and his header shows he has the killer instinct for goals. In the final third situations, I liked how it would get overloaded on Moreno's side and then it would be switched over for a 1 v 1 with Anthony. That will be very effective strategy.
I also really liked the play where he nutmegged a defender at the top of the box and ripped a shot. It got blocked but I liked it because it showed me he’s not afraid to shoot. So many of our players have been allergic to shooting in the past, except Evander. Moreno’s also not the best shooter. Seems like Antony is gonna be a winger that can cut inside and shoot as well as take it to the end line and put a cross in. We haven’t had that in so long, he seems very goal dangerous
Alright, so let me now get down to what’s really real. Is MLS Season Pass the worst designed sports streaming interface ever? I think it gives a lot of challengers a good run for the money. Last year was year one, so whatever. They’ve now rolled out year two. The fixes are minimal. They have, thankfully, made it possible to turn off scores on websites, albeit in the narrowest possible way. The scores are off (check). But the site is still festooned with gratuitous spoiler content. There’s still no easy way to go directly to games without scrolling past things like : game highlights (spoilers); updated standings (spoilers); and needing to drill past like 3 more pages of the same, in order to get to the game page but WAIT YOU ARE NOT DONE because the default setting for watching games is that they’ll show you the highlights. If you want the **whole game** — because why would you, you subscription-paying MLS fan you—you need to go to the bottom of the page (*scrolling past still more spoilers!*) and click on a fairly anonymous looking link that will, in the end, allow you to choose between three versions of a game — and lookee, you can finally select the whole game! If you get there, go ahead and sigh a sigh of relief. From there, there are no spoilers. So, to break it down, all you have to do is like 10 steps to get past all the spoilers so you can watch a game. As opposed to the approach taken by ESPN+, which just allows you to choose a game from a list of unspoiled games.
Just a little more seriously. It’s pretty clear that the MLS Season Pass site is not optimized for watching games. It’s optimized for promoting little cliplets of MLS Season-Pass branded content — Messi’s debut goal! Look at the goal that won SEA-SKC! Check out our half time show! — rather than showing matches. Which makes me wonder: what’s the core audience for that? Who would pay for that?
I paid for it because I can't make it to all the home games, or to a pub to watch all the away games.
I think Apple just hasn't figured out how to cover sports. Hopefully with time they'll get it together, if it's gonna be the only way to watch the majority of MLS matches.
I thought the constant updating graphics showing the winning percentage chances was annoying. It must be popular because I see it in other sports too (must be the betting crowd) but a graph showing that the team that is ahead has an increased chance of winning doesn’t seem necessary to me.
I get what you’re saying, it’s obvious that the team that’s up is more likely to win. Like, duh. I will say that I’ve enjoyed them in games that involve big comebacks, and not just in soccer. I think they’re probably more fun in baseball where they can flip so fast that they’re almost pointless, but they can be fun if you’re on the winning side of a comeback.
I understand all the frustrations except one… you no longer have to scroll to the bottom of the page to watch the full replay, that was fixed like halfway through last year, at least it was for me. The “watch recap” button is the first suggestion but the whole match replays are right below that, so you don’t have to scroll through spoilers. That’s how it’s laid out on my Samsung tv and iPhone at least. Maybe you need an update?
Good catch! I was so reflexively used to skipping over everything in that danger zone that I missed seeing that. So I apologize, Apple, for about 10% of my comment. I think the rest still holds.
ESPN is after all a sports network. Apple is not
Although I suppose the counter argument is that ESPN's market capitalization is $22 billion, but Apple's is $2.8 *trillion*, so they could buy ESPN, strip it, burn it, and use the rest to build an awesome website.
Maybe be they'll hire people away from networks like ESPN who will fix their product.
I started watching the game live on my Android phone but had to pause it ... When I came back the browser refreshed and I got the spoilers.
You can remove spoilers on all platforms except Android browsers.
Which happen to be the most used mobile browsers worldwide.
I have noticed that if you join match in progress, it will ask you if you'd like to start from the beginning or join the game live. Sucker: no matter what you pick, it shows you the live game. So then you have to train yourself to join matches, mute and close your eyes, choose 'start from beginning,' and then frantically rewind it before you see the score box.
I train friends to cue up the game for me
How do you remove the spoilers?
It cannot be done on Android, period.
Dang, that was the main one I was trying to fix. As I have my TV connected to chromecast with google TV :(. sigh...
There are a bunch of answers on google, but it is in the settings section. You have to do it on all platforms, which is annoying as I had to keep seeing scores and turning them off. Its a pain the ass, but at least there are solutions (I can't talk to the android issue, but the windows issue was corrected between last season and this season).
That is great to hear about Windows, it means somewhere in Apple they listened to their customers, but why they won't fix it in Android is beyond me.
It's not gonna make people go buy iPhones.
And, it is impossible that there are no sports fans working for Apple... Who wants spoilers in a streaming service? What's the benefit of knowing the score of a game you're about to watch?
First place! Not just in the Western Conference either, in the whole league.
I would say some what shocking display of intentionality and ferocity from the Timbers at the beginning of the season, though it mostly lasted just for the first half. So nice to see Williamson get the first goal and Antony, with the standard brace was lovely as well. I actually thought the combination of Paredes, Williamson, and Chara was quite good. Pushing Williamson upfield into the area that Evander was going to hold seemed to work very well. He might have some inefficiencies in his ability to defend but his ability to absorb physicality, and be unflustered, feels superior to Evander from what I saw last year. Quite honestly last year, Evander generally looked uncomfortable unit he moved backward on the field in the 433 set up, we switched to at the end of the season. Knowing that Phil is putting him back at the 10 creates some question marks in my mind. Though honestly having the team perform so well, in his absence, should hopefully light a significant fire under him to prove himself. Besides, Williamson and Anthony, Mosquera felt very dynamic and dangerous on that side. The one player that I expected more from and didn’t seem to really get into a good flow was Santiago. I got the sense that Colorado was very aware of where he was on the field and moved to close him down. Antony performing as well as he did. Should put teams on notice that they can’t overload the side that Santiago is on. I’m thinking that should hopefully free him up for more activity.
Out of this whole thing easily the best part was seeing Antony show some finishing skills. If he can score, that begins to answer a lot of questions about where the scoring comes from in the first half of the season. Obviously, I'm not talking about 2 goals a game scoring. It's just good to know that he might be expected to be a threat and put one in every once in a while. Balances things out, maybe gives Moreno more of a chance to do the same.
Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the Evander-Williamson midfield combo tested defensively today. TBH, my supposition is that Paredes-Williamson or Evander-Paredes will be more effective than E-W because of the defensive liabilities of having Evander and Williamson on at the same time.
Paredes' play can't be denied - really a menace defensively, and occasionally some good offense (nice assist on the Antony goal!), but it is intriguing to think about Williamson and Evander together. If Chara can play like he did last night, then I think it will work just fine. Paredes can back up Chara or Williamson. I think we'll see Paredes first on for either Evander, Williamson or Chara, most likely Williamson if all are fit.
I’m with you on Paredes. Going into last year wasn't too high on him, but he's won me over. That dude is a grinder. Glad he's a Timber!
LAFC was toothless in the middle last year, so they brought back Atuesta. He's like a Paredes in there, but as an eight as an enforcer, and they have their six as the distributor.
If Williamson can provide enough defense, and not just 1 v 1 defending, but knowing where to be, then we should be all right.
So great to get a big win like that under the circumstances - new coach, some key players out, the uncertainty. This win was huge - doesn't matter that it was against Colorado. One big takeaway is that I think if there are players out this year, we will not see drop off like we did last year. I feel like the roster is deeper and there is more competition for spots and there will be more flexibility. I'm gonna give some kudos to Asprilla. He stepped up and while it was not perfect, he did do some really good work out there.
That was fun, no doubt. And, obviously, any early season win against anyone is so welcome. Love to see Williamson back, smiling, and scoring. Antony was a menace. Solid job from the keeper. Then I get to the but...
They didn't play the possession game that Phil says he wants. They didn't look great when they decided to sit on a lead. They got possessed, out shot, shots on target were tied, passing accuracy was worse, and they had half the expected goals of Colorado.
I'll take the win and celebrate. And maybe this is, unexpectedly, a team that is amazing at finishing and they will blow away their expected goals on the regular. We'll see how things go. They seem more engaged and coherent this early than in many years past. But the fundamentals were not great and I'm be eager to see how long it takes them to forge an identity and a full game.
Those stats started to slide down hill in the second half. We took our foot off the ball. The difference I noticed with this team was their willingness to be direct. As soon as we got on the ball it was attack, attack, attack. It wasn't absorb and counter like gio. It was get on the ball and break lines. Move into open spaces and keep driving. I don't care about possession if we are being clinical with every attack. Gio was the opposite. It was bunker, then counter, then slow down around the box and look dumbfounded at what's next, until finally we just make stupid crosses to nobody. This team with more time and a better striker will be creating goal scoring chances in bucket loads and doing it with good movement off the ball. I'm ok with that.
We had no Evander. No 2nd or 3rd dp. No bench depth to keep offensive momentum going, and we actually gave up possession and didn't give up easy goals. Beating a team so bad in the first half that you could put it on autopilot in the second half is a good problem to have. Real test next week.
I do like to think that having Evander in would have created more fluid buildup and combo play. Direct was good and there were some great through balls, especially by Williamson and Antony. Against better competition, we'll need to play in tighter spaces and that's when we really need Evander.
I can see the point about the possession but how different a possession team are the Timbers with Evander and mora? Asprilla is great but his combination play doesn’t exist. His hold up play is nowhere near mora.
What I saw was a team continuing to work hard on defense even at the end. Saw some solid kill the game off in the last 5 minutes or so. Saw stuff to build on.
Absolutely. The Timbers has folks missing, they still have two DP slots open, and a new coach trying to build a new team. There were good things to build on this game. But we were also playing Colorado, were at home, and what I'm trying to say is that I this wasn't the dominant win that you'd expect with a 4-1 score line.
This team is far from a finished product and I'm excited to see where they go, even if I'm not stoked about the coaching hire, the pace of the off-season, or MP still being owner. So we shall see where it goes and RCTID.
I wouldn’t sweat it, I think if we weren’t winning by halftime we would’ve had much more possession in the second half. Definitely fair to say that we just took our foot out the gas and coasted through the rest of the game. It’s not what you want but for the first game of the season I’m totally fine with it given the players we have out. I expect the team from the first 35 minutes is the team that Phil wants us to play like, and honestly I’m very happy with how that team looked
The first half was electric, even with some shoddy moments. The 2nd half, and really from about the 35th minute on, was the defensive shell we've known for years. Still, if we can get healthy and add some pieces to fill out the roster.... Also Antony is a menace.
I’m glad, though, that the defensive shell came with a 3-goal lead and 55 minutes remaining, not a 1-goal difference with the same left in the game, as we often saw.
Cautiously optimistic. Coming into this game it was a questionable team vs a bad team, and the questionable team hit the finishing lottery in the first half. Otherwise we were out-shot, out-possessed, and out xG-ed. And outside of the goals and a few sequences, it's tough to say we played attractive or even dictated the game. I watched a lot of MLS this weekend, and there are some very impressive looking teams out there. There's work to do.
Bullish on: Antony, Williamson, Pantemis
Bearish on: our possession game, how we'll cope when we don't get 4 goals out of generating .5 xG
I watched a little bit of MLS this weekend - first half of LA vs Seattle, some of a lot of games and most of the LA v Inter Miami.
Seattle looks like they have a decent team but they are pretty limp in the offensive category, at least until their new signing came on. LAFC is better than they were last year, mainly in the midfield, but they really are lacking a striker. LA Galaxy looks fairly potent, but defensively they could be had. I think we stack up in the West, especially if we get a good DP striker. (I'm starting to get a little anxious about it, to be honest. C'mon already!).
I thought Seattle was pretty underwhelming and it hit home that Morris is at best an average and one-dimensional MLS striker and should never sniff the USMNT again. Their new kid is good though for sure. They don't have it together at the moment but they also have a competent FO and that means they'll compete.
"I watched a lot of MLS this weekend, and there are some very impressive looking teams out there."
Absolutely - and I'm not sure it's smart to think that the Timbers are going to be one of them this season. That's an unrealistic expectation to have, honestly, and if you're judging this team, or even Saturday's performance, by "the Timbers should be an impressive MLS team", you're going to be disappointed all season, I think.
This is a team in progress. It's rebuilding, not rebuilt. And given that, I think what we saw Saturday was pretty damn good. Is it the finished product? Not even close, and Phil's comments post-game said as much. Take the W, enjoy how much fun it was, and see it for what it is - a very positive first step in a long road that will have many twists and turns.
Also: single game xG is borderline useless. Way too much noise to tease out a reliable signal.
“We've done so much hard work over the last five to six weeks and we've still got so much work to do,” Neville remarked.
“I think if you look at the depth of our squad at this moment in time, it's nowhere near where it needs to be. It's a long season, it's a marathon and we're not getting carried away by today's result. We're pleased that it’s another step forward for this group.”
Feel like that's a realistic statement
First half was a lot of fun. Running wild and finishing is always great.
I would imagine the halftime talk was "bunker and don't lose" based on 2nd half strategy.
Not much to take statistically from this one, despite dominating in ridiculous fashion in the first half, if you ignored the score line we were out possessed, close to even in shots and SOG, corners, etc. But one team was up 4-0 and was about to come out for 45 and manage that so of course the other was going to dominate non-scoreboard stats.
Timbers fans have complained for years about our lackluster starts to seasons. You don't win any trophies in Feb - June, but you sure as heck can take yourself completely out of the running and have to push hard for a mid-table finish. I for one prefer winning games rather than "managing a season". Time will tell if we can keep it up.
Lots also be honest, the CO defense was atrocious. next week will be a good test
I would say "a better test". DCU was awful last year and played a man up for most of the match yesterday yet could barely break the 50% possession mark and 76% pass completion.
So next week is gonna be a big test. And it will be a good test to see what phill is made of. Benteke is a big boy and a majority of his goals are standing around the box and muscling off defenders. We aren't the biggest team so seeing how Phil adjust or doesn't is gonna be interesting. I know whatbi would do but I have a feeling we will see the same game plan as we did tonight.
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This seems like big news
https://theathletic.com/5306845/2024/02/28/portland-timbers-terminate-sponsorship-dabella/