I felt like this was the away game performance we’ve been missing all season, apart from the first 20 minutes. After that we played with energy but not too much energy to overextend ourselves. When we got on the ball we were patient and kept the game in our attacking half. If we took our chances, we could’ve won, and it would’ve been a justified result. We prevented Berhalter from being free on our left side between Rodriguez (not defending) and Kamal Miller (defending deep), which hurt us in the first 20 minutes. Paredes was quite good, I was very happy to see him start over Williamson. Moreno was awesome, but of course is less effective playing as the 10. Also how awesome was Bravo when he came on? He was electric. A tie isn’t much worth celebrating at this point in the season because of where we are in the table, but this performance and a tie on the road is a very good result generally speaking. It was what we have been missing on the road
I think as long as Paredes keeps it simple, he can be really effective due to his range and defensive prowess. If he keeps it simple on offense (i.e - 10 - 15 yard passes), which he did for the most part, and let others hit the big switch, then he's good to go and can really help.
The goal was really great to see - the buildup with Araujo who ultimately fed Moreno, who quickly got it out to Rodriguez. You get your playmakers the ball and they will deliver. I have to say it wasn't the easiest of balls from Moreno to deal with, but Rodriguez made it look easy to get a clean strike off. I thought Moreno was pretty effective as the 10 overall. His cross a moment or two earlier was sublime. I thought he was less influential as the game wore on in the second half, but he is such a threat that it seems like a luxury to have him as your backup 10.
So one wrinkle to throw into the playoff conversation: right now, the Timbers, at 9th in the West, have 45 points. Those same 45 points would put them at 5th in the East. Two teams in the East currently designated as having a playoff spot have fewer than 40 points. So on the whole, there's a lot more juice in the West this season than in the East. It's just a tougher conference, top to bottom, even if the two best teams, arguably, are in the East.
I thought the yellow seemed fair. Millers studs came through the ball and kicked upwards into the opposing players legs endangering his safety. I mean, that's the rule right?
Had to miss this game, as I'm in enemy territory (sea) and couldn't watch. I'm not sure whether I'm sad to have missed it or not. A point is good, but this defense is going to be the end of my sanity.
Hopefully reinforcements will arrive this winter, because this team is so close to being so damn good, but they're just not a complete team yet.
The good news is that all we need is for our defense to become average and we'll be a top of the table team (although to be fair I thought our D played well last night after the first 15 minutes or so). One of the major defensive flaws I have seen this year is simply the inability to clear the ball. Frequently our defenders make a good intervention but then fluff the clearance and goals come from the resulting pinball chaos.
Yeah, they're basically one good defender away from being an elite tier team, I think. I had hopes before the season that that defender would be Kamal Miller, but clearly that didn't go as planned.
Solidify that shaky defense and this could be a pretty special group.
J Rod and Maxi played their asses off. I'm not so sure I want to see our team make the playoffs bc I don't think it will end well and bc the ticket prices get jacked up. On the other hand, I always want them to win and I'll be there Wed. rooting them on. That's what sport does to one-it makes you irrational...sort of like being in love with someone does 8>)).
Missing the playoffs three years in a row, in a league where 65% of its teams make the playoffs, would be a massive embarrassment for a team that purports to be as big and historically important as the Timbers. Two is bad enough.
Even if they go one and done, they need to be in the playoffs as a building block for next season, when the team celebrates its 50th year of existence. It's gonna be a big year, and I'd love it if the team were coming off at least a decent end to this season heading into it.
max stunk. he nearly cost us two goals - one on that shanked header 40 yards out from his goal and one when he punted the ball off white's back! give me pantemis any day!
Max is aggressive. The whole team is aggressive. Everybody on the team makes glaring errors because of how fast and aggressive they play. I'll take the bad with the good. So much more fun than the boring Timbers teams of the past.
Could not disagree more. Pantemis is a good shot stopper sure. So was our previous goalie. Pantemis is also married to his line and has horrible distribution. So the shanked header that ended up being a throw in for us? Pandemis in goal leads to a 1 v 1 with the keeper or a potential card on our defender. I will take a shanked header that ends up being nothing. As last week the same header led to a goal.
uh...did you actually watch the match last night? max's distributions were horrible...two kicks straight into touch, one punt off the back of an opponent, and at least three kicks straight to the other team! the fact that his botched header ended up as our throw in was simply good fortune...it had "disaster" written all over it.
This is one thing I'd love to see an article on by STF's new stats writer: does "goalkeeper distribution" really matter, and if so, in what way? Does a more effective distribution rate lead to more goals?
People always harp on it as a Really Big Deal - and I'm not saying this to pick on you specifically, Larry, it's a very common criticism of all goalkeepers at times - but honestly, I don't know if it really is. I mean, to take the examples you cited:
Two kicks into touch: Positive impact - none. Negative impact - did turning over possession result in a Vancouver goal? If not, it's annoying to give the ball away cheaply, but I'm not sure it's a huge negative relative to any other turnover.
One punt off the back of an opponent: Positive impact - none. Negative impact - potentially some, but also was a fluke that probably won't happen in another 200 goal kicks he takes.
At least three kicks straight to the other team: Positive impact - none. Negative impact - also none, because literally every GK who takes a deep goal kick does this at least twice a game.
I would really love to see some actual deep analysis of whether "good distribution" is a thing. I'm skeptical that a meaningful difference can be quantified between a good distributing GK and a poor one, unless "good distribution" is defined as rolling the ball on the ground 5 yards to the nearest defender. That's basically the only way to ensure a near 100% successful distribution rate.
That's a great question. It seemed to be the knock on Pantemis when he was lights out during his late spring early summer stint. He was good, but his distribution is terrible, was the narrative I heard. I can't remember a Pantemis kick that led to a goal, but I can remember one from Crepeau a month or so ago. I do think distribution is a strength of Crepeau's, and he is pretty good at it. My point being is that long range passing in and of itself is riskier than the 15 yarder. It seems we try to play out of the back unless other tactics are needed - like vs Vancouver, who were playing three guys high and it would have been tough to play through that on the ground, so they went over the top, and it was more successful than not in the first half, and less so in the second half, in my opinion. It would be cool to check the stats on that, because I do believe Vancouver just did better on second balls than we did, and they were able to kill the game off and make us chase based on the success or non success of longer kicks.
RE:"Pantemis is also married to his line and has horrible distribution"
I really disagree with this. Have you seen the meme where he flies through the air to head the ball away. He was about 30 yards off his line. He plays a pretty high line, especially when we are pressing. He's also very quick off his line and from what I can see, owns the six yard box with his range. His distribution wasn't always great, but I think that is something that can improve with more playing time. His kicks have a lower trajectory, which I kinda like.
I wonder what will happen next year with Pantemis? It looks like he's under contract until the end of next year, but will some other team come a calling before then? I think he looked good when he played early spring and summer and some team may want to offer up. I'm sure he wants to play, or is he happy to be the backup here with occasional starts?
Max has been incredible recently as we go down the stretch run and the games get more important. Yes, Pants technically has the better numbers this season, but which one of them gets called up to the Canadian national team? Crepeau sometimes isn’t great in the regular season, but he is a big game player. He consistently performs very well for Canada and was incredible in the playoffs for LAFC. He’s played in MLS cup twice. The bigger the game, the better he is. That is the keeper I want going into the playoffs. Pantemis does not have that track record or experience. That header might’ve been shanked, but it still prevented a quick counter attack that our defense *SUCKS* at defending against. Crepeau is the starter and is very good
I felt like this was the away game performance we’ve been missing all season, apart from the first 20 minutes. After that we played with energy but not too much energy to overextend ourselves. When we got on the ball we were patient and kept the game in our attacking half. If we took our chances, we could’ve won, and it would’ve been a justified result. We prevented Berhalter from being free on our left side between Rodriguez (not defending) and Kamal Miller (defending deep), which hurt us in the first 20 minutes. Paredes was quite good, I was very happy to see him start over Williamson. Moreno was awesome, but of course is less effective playing as the 10. Also how awesome was Bravo when he came on? He was electric. A tie isn’t much worth celebrating at this point in the season because of where we are in the table, but this performance and a tie on the road is a very good result generally speaking. It was what we have been missing on the road
I think as long as Paredes keeps it simple, he can be really effective due to his range and defensive prowess. If he keeps it simple on offense (i.e - 10 - 15 yard passes), which he did for the most part, and let others hit the big switch, then he's good to go and can really help.
The goal was really great to see - the buildup with Araujo who ultimately fed Moreno, who quickly got it out to Rodriguez. You get your playmakers the ball and they will deliver. I have to say it wasn't the easiest of balls from Moreno to deal with, but Rodriguez made it look easy to get a clean strike off. I thought Moreno was pretty effective as the 10 overall. His cross a moment or two earlier was sublime. I thought he was less influential as the game wore on in the second half, but he is such a threat that it seems like a luxury to have him as your backup 10.
So one wrinkle to throw into the playoff conversation: right now, the Timbers, at 9th in the West, have 45 points. Those same 45 points would put them at 5th in the East. Two teams in the East currently designated as having a playoff spot have fewer than 40 points. So on the whole, there's a lot more juice in the West this season than in the East. It's just a tougher conference, top to bottom, even if the two best teams, arguably, are in the East.
I thought the yellow seemed fair. Millers studs came through the ball and kicked upwards into the opposing players legs endangering his safety. I mean, that's the rule right?
Had to miss this game, as I'm in enemy territory (sea) and couldn't watch. I'm not sure whether I'm sad to have missed it or not. A point is good, but this defense is going to be the end of my sanity.
Hopefully reinforcements will arrive this winter, because this team is so close to being so damn good, but they're just not a complete team yet.
The good news is that all we need is for our defense to become average and we'll be a top of the table team (although to be fair I thought our D played well last night after the first 15 minutes or so). One of the major defensive flaws I have seen this year is simply the inability to clear the ball. Frequently our defenders make a good intervention but then fluff the clearance and goals come from the resulting pinball chaos.
Yeah, they're basically one good defender away from being an elite tier team, I think. I had hopes before the season that that defender would be Kamal Miller, but clearly that didn't go as planned.
Solidify that shaky defense and this could be a pretty special group.
J Rod and Maxi played their asses off. I'm not so sure I want to see our team make the playoffs bc I don't think it will end well and bc the ticket prices get jacked up. On the other hand, I always want them to win and I'll be there Wed. rooting them on. That's what sport does to one-it makes you irrational...sort of like being in love with someone does 8>)).
Missing the playoffs three years in a row, in a league where 65% of its teams make the playoffs, would be a massive embarrassment for a team that purports to be as big and historically important as the Timbers. Two is bad enough.
Even if they go one and done, they need to be in the playoffs as a building block for next season, when the team celebrates its 50th year of existence. It's gonna be a big year, and I'd love it if the team were coming off at least a decent end to this season heading into it.
I guess.
Excellent point.
max stunk. he nearly cost us two goals - one on that shanked header 40 yards out from his goal and one when he punted the ball off white's back! give me pantemis any day!
Max is aggressive. The whole team is aggressive. Everybody on the team makes glaring errors because of how fast and aggressive they play. I'll take the bad with the good. So much more fun than the boring Timbers teams of the past.
Could not disagree more. Pantemis is a good shot stopper sure. So was our previous goalie. Pantemis is also married to his line and has horrible distribution. So the shanked header that ended up being a throw in for us? Pandemis in goal leads to a 1 v 1 with the keeper or a potential card on our defender. I will take a shanked header that ends up being nothing. As last week the same header led to a goal.
uh...did you actually watch the match last night? max's distributions were horrible...two kicks straight into touch, one punt off the back of an opponent, and at least three kicks straight to the other team! the fact that his botched header ended up as our throw in was simply good fortune...it had "disaster" written all over it.
This is one thing I'd love to see an article on by STF's new stats writer: does "goalkeeper distribution" really matter, and if so, in what way? Does a more effective distribution rate lead to more goals?
People always harp on it as a Really Big Deal - and I'm not saying this to pick on you specifically, Larry, it's a very common criticism of all goalkeepers at times - but honestly, I don't know if it really is. I mean, to take the examples you cited:
Two kicks into touch: Positive impact - none. Negative impact - did turning over possession result in a Vancouver goal? If not, it's annoying to give the ball away cheaply, but I'm not sure it's a huge negative relative to any other turnover.
One punt off the back of an opponent: Positive impact - none. Negative impact - potentially some, but also was a fluke that probably won't happen in another 200 goal kicks he takes.
At least three kicks straight to the other team: Positive impact - none. Negative impact - also none, because literally every GK who takes a deep goal kick does this at least twice a game.
I would really love to see some actual deep analysis of whether "good distribution" is a thing. I'm skeptical that a meaningful difference can be quantified between a good distributing GK and a poor one, unless "good distribution" is defined as rolling the ball on the ground 5 yards to the nearest defender. That's basically the only way to ensure a near 100% successful distribution rate.
That's a great question. It seemed to be the knock on Pantemis when he was lights out during his late spring early summer stint. He was good, but his distribution is terrible, was the narrative I heard. I can't remember a Pantemis kick that led to a goal, but I can remember one from Crepeau a month or so ago. I do think distribution is a strength of Crepeau's, and he is pretty good at it. My point being is that long range passing in and of itself is riskier than the 15 yarder. It seems we try to play out of the back unless other tactics are needed - like vs Vancouver, who were playing three guys high and it would have been tough to play through that on the ground, so they went over the top, and it was more successful than not in the first half, and less so in the second half, in my opinion. It would be cool to check the stats on that, because I do believe Vancouver just did better on second balls than we did, and they were able to kill the game off and make us chase based on the success or non success of longer kicks.
RE:"Pantemis is also married to his line and has horrible distribution"
I really disagree with this. Have you seen the meme where he flies through the air to head the ball away. He was about 30 yards off his line. He plays a pretty high line, especially when we are pressing. He's also very quick off his line and from what I can see, owns the six yard box with his range. His distribution wasn't always great, but I think that is something that can improve with more playing time. His kicks have a lower trajectory, which I kinda like.
I wonder what will happen next year with Pantemis? It looks like he's under contract until the end of next year, but will some other team come a calling before then? I think he looked good when he played early spring and summer and some team may want to offer up. I'm sure he wants to play, or is he happy to be the backup here with occasional starts?
Max has been incredible recently as we go down the stretch run and the games get more important. Yes, Pants technically has the better numbers this season, but which one of them gets called up to the Canadian national team? Crepeau sometimes isn’t great in the regular season, but he is a big game player. He consistently performs very well for Canada and was incredible in the playoffs for LAFC. He’s played in MLS cup twice. The bigger the game, the better he is. That is the keeper I want going into the playoffs. Pantemis does not have that track record or experience. That header might’ve been shanked, but it still prevented a quick counter attack that our defense *SUCKS* at defending against. Crepeau is the starter and is very good
I thought he played well over all and covered for a bad defense. I agree about Pantemis though.