Trying out something new folks: minutes after Portland’s 2-1 loss to Seattle, Sam, Alex, and Phuoc huddled around Sam’s laptop and recorded our raw unedited thoughts.
“I thought Santi Moreno had one of his worst games of the season”
I feel like I’m going insane, I feel like I’m the only person who thinks Moreno has been playing well the past few games, and this game was no different. I know a lot of what he does doesn’t come off, and he is struggling in the final third. But man, he’s the *only* player moving off the ball, which is the number one biggest problem with this team in possession. He is the *only* player who gets into really good pockets of space, turns, and drives at the defense. He is actually trying to (and succeeding to) progress the ball and combine through midfield, which our team seems allergic to doing and is like the number two biggest problem with this team in possession. He looks like he has something to prove, he’s trying to make things happen, and he’s making some decent plays but the team just kind of stands around and stares at him like they expect him to do all the work. He ends up trying to jam it down the middle and it gets shut down, but largely because no one really knows what to do
He was the only player on the field in the second half who felt like a threat. He had the most shots on the team with three (his competition for that was Evander with 2 - a bad free kick and a blocked shot; Antony with the shanked shot on the counter; Rodriguez with the corner volley; and Mora with the goal. Other than that, no shots, despite all the possession we had in that second half). I want more from the guy for sure, but he’s been our best offensive player when Evander’s been out, and I don’t think it’s been particularly close either. He’s one of the few that doesn’t look disinterested, and he’s pushing to win every single minute he’s on the field. No one is giving more effort than him
I wholeheartedly agree with you. This is not a criticism of the staff here specifically, but their comments highlight one of my irritations with a lot of modern soccer analysis, in that it all tends to be focused on end product. In short, a lot of commentary these days can be summed up as "If no goal, then no good". That's infuriatingly reductive, and it erases a lot of good work that is done by players - in this case, Moreno - who deserve credit on otherwise abysmal days.
Moreno did a lot of positive things yesterday. As you noted, most of them didn't really end up resulting in something productive, but that shouldn't take away from the fact that he did a ton of work that, on a better team or even on a day when this team was playing better, would have resulted in better outcomes, for both him and the team.
On a day, and in a season, where things are mostly trash, I think it's important to find the good things and highlight them, instead of doing nothing but yelling about how trashy the trash is.
I missed Bravo so much! If nothing else is going right, I'm mesmerized by his effort going both ways. His passing chops were sorely missed yesterday. Not saying we would have won with him out there. For me, it would at least have been a ray of light shining through a shit storm. One bright spot-we didn't give up a goal in the first five minutes and didn't let a corner kick go in. I know that's setting a very low bar for bright spots but that's all I got.
I thought Moreno was a lot better defensively than he was with the ball. None of the shots he took troubled the keeper in any capacity and the amount of turnovers he had by holding onto the ball too long was exactly what I saw against Charlotte. It’s not their sole purpose, but wingers/attacking mids are in there to score and assist and Santi doesn’t do that consistently enough to be talked about like one of the better players in MLS. For all of the time he spent on the ball it mainly resulted in dribbling into a defender or playing a short, safe pass. And it’s definitely not just a Santi thing, the whole team was complacent and unwilling to take meaningful risks going forward.
This isn’t a response to you, but I want to be clear that I’m not just giving him the “Brendan Aaronson run a lot and try hard” award. He was actually running with a purpose, and running when WE HAD THE BALL. No one else seems to understand that when we have the ball, we have to have players constantly moving around all over the field in order to create space and gaps in the defensive structure. He was constantly looking for gaps to receive the ball in and finding them consistently, and then finding passes into dangerous areas. And once he passed, he moved! And kept moving if he didn’t get the ball! And counter pressed if we lost the ball! It cannot be emphasized enough how important — and basic — all this is. Yes he loses the ball a lot, but I’ll gladly take that over more slow passes backwards and sideways. It seems like right now his brain is running at 100 MPH, he needs to slow down his brain in the final third, and get his head right before he makes a final ball. This is a problem with the entire team: because we rarely get in the box, whenever we do we panic and scramble, and we usually end up not getting a shot away because of a misplaced pass or no one gets in any place to shoot
Most of this can and should be solved with coaching. Players aren’t moving because my guess is they aren’t being told to, or at least not enough
I think Santi would make a really good 8 or even a 6. He's perfect for breaking presses and moving the ball upfield. For some reason, he seems more technical in the middle of the field than on the wing, in my opinion. He's always looking to pass, which is good, and can be counted on for assists, just don't expect him to whip in crosses on the regular. That was a problem when we had two forwards on Saturday who needed service and no one was whipping in crosses. Santi's service comes from the middle parts of the field usually. He scores a few but it is pretty rare. It would be great if he had more of a nose for goal. What he can do, though, is give a defense fits in the middle of the field, just not the final third. I saw a lot of effort on offense, not so much on defense on Saturday.
“I thought Santi Moreno had one of his worst games of the season”
I feel like I’m going insane, I feel like I’m the only person who thinks Moreno has been playing well the past few games, and this game was no different. I know a lot of what he does doesn’t come off, and he is struggling in the final third. But man, he’s the *only* player moving off the ball, which is the number one biggest problem with this team in possession. He is the *only* player who gets into really good pockets of space, turns, and drives at the defense. He is actually trying to (and succeeding to) progress the ball and combine through midfield, which our team seems allergic to doing and is like the number two biggest problem with this team in possession. He looks like he has something to prove, he’s trying to make things happen, and he’s making some decent plays but the team just kind of stands around and stares at him like they expect him to do all the work. He ends up trying to jam it down the middle and it gets shut down, but largely because no one really knows what to do
He was the only player on the field in the second half who felt like a threat. He had the most shots on the team with three (his competition for that was Evander with 2 - a bad free kick and a blocked shot; Antony with the shanked shot on the counter; Rodriguez with the corner volley; and Mora with the goal. Other than that, no shots, despite all the possession we had in that second half). I want more from the guy for sure, but he’s been our best offensive player when Evander’s been out, and I don’t think it’s been particularly close either. He’s one of the few that doesn’t look disinterested, and he’s pushing to win every single minute he’s on the field. No one is giving more effort than him
I wholeheartedly agree with you. This is not a criticism of the staff here specifically, but their comments highlight one of my irritations with a lot of modern soccer analysis, in that it all tends to be focused on end product. In short, a lot of commentary these days can be summed up as "If no goal, then no good". That's infuriatingly reductive, and it erases a lot of good work that is done by players - in this case, Moreno - who deserve credit on otherwise abysmal days.
Moreno did a lot of positive things yesterday. As you noted, most of them didn't really end up resulting in something productive, but that shouldn't take away from the fact that he did a ton of work that, on a better team or even on a day when this team was playing better, would have resulted in better outcomes, for both him and the team.
On a day, and in a season, where things are mostly trash, I think it's important to find the good things and highlight them, instead of doing nothing but yelling about how trashy the trash is.
I missed Bravo so much! If nothing else is going right, I'm mesmerized by his effort going both ways. His passing chops were sorely missed yesterday. Not saying we would have won with him out there. For me, it would at least have been a ray of light shining through a shit storm. One bright spot-we didn't give up a goal in the first five minutes and didn't let a corner kick go in. I know that's setting a very low bar for bright spots but that's all I got.
I thought Moreno was a lot better defensively than he was with the ball. None of the shots he took troubled the keeper in any capacity and the amount of turnovers he had by holding onto the ball too long was exactly what I saw against Charlotte. It’s not their sole purpose, but wingers/attacking mids are in there to score and assist and Santi doesn’t do that consistently enough to be talked about like one of the better players in MLS. For all of the time he spent on the ball it mainly resulted in dribbling into a defender or playing a short, safe pass. And it’s definitely not just a Santi thing, the whole team was complacent and unwilling to take meaningful risks going forward.
This isn’t a response to you, but I want to be clear that I’m not just giving him the “Brendan Aaronson run a lot and try hard” award. He was actually running with a purpose, and running when WE HAD THE BALL. No one else seems to understand that when we have the ball, we have to have players constantly moving around all over the field in order to create space and gaps in the defensive structure. He was constantly looking for gaps to receive the ball in and finding them consistently, and then finding passes into dangerous areas. And once he passed, he moved! And kept moving if he didn’t get the ball! And counter pressed if we lost the ball! It cannot be emphasized enough how important — and basic — all this is. Yes he loses the ball a lot, but I’ll gladly take that over more slow passes backwards and sideways. It seems like right now his brain is running at 100 MPH, he needs to slow down his brain in the final third, and get his head right before he makes a final ball. This is a problem with the entire team: because we rarely get in the box, whenever we do we panic and scramble, and we usually end up not getting a shot away because of a misplaced pass or no one gets in any place to shoot
Most of this can and should be solved with coaching. Players aren’t moving because my guess is they aren’t being told to, or at least not enough
I think Santi would make a really good 8 or even a 6. He's perfect for breaking presses and moving the ball upfield. For some reason, he seems more technical in the middle of the field than on the wing, in my opinion. He's always looking to pass, which is good, and can be counted on for assists, just don't expect him to whip in crosses on the regular. That was a problem when we had two forwards on Saturday who needed service and no one was whipping in crosses. Santi's service comes from the middle parts of the field usually. He scores a few but it is pretty rare. It would be great if he had more of a nose for goal. What he can do, though, is give a defense fits in the middle of the field, just not the final third. I saw a lot of effort on offense, not so much on defense on Saturday.
You're not wrong.