What no one addressed here, and what the biggest problem may be, is the Liam Ridgewell of it all. He asserted, on an interview with this very site a year or so ago, that he is the sole defensive coach, and all responsibility for the defense rests with him. The defense, as a unit, is TERRIBLE. It's unsettled, it's disorganized, it doesn't really understand how to deal with set pieces at all. How does he still have a job at this point?
I don't care that he's a Club Legend and that he did a funny thing after he scored a goal that one time. Nostalgia is not a way to staff a team that is trying to be good at soccer in the present day, and he's clearly not good at what he needs to be good at in 2024 and beyond.
He was good at his job in 2015 and thereabouts; he helped the Timbers win a championship. But guess what? 2015 was (checks calendar) a decade ago, and if he is what he says he is now, he's actively hindering the Timbers from being good right now, and that's a problem. I want the Timbers to exit their Uncle Rico phase and aggressively pursue being a very good team in the present day, not just in the memory banks - they've got the offensive side of the ball pretty much figured out, now it's time to turn to the defensive side of things. If they can sort that out, this team could be something special in a hurry. And I'm afraid that Liam probably can't be a part of that, on the evidence of the last couple of seasons.
And Ridgy isn’t even a Phil assistant; he’s a Gio legacy and - as you detail - has been the constant factor in a subpar defense for several years. I get why Neville didn’t clear house last season. But now? Yeah. Sorry, Ridgy; lakelife needs to be over for you, bro.
And I think the gang is letting Ned off easy, particularly for pouring fuel on the Evander fire. If a bunch of random fans are convinced that the guy’s gonna walk how many GMs are going to lowball Ned, knowing he’s boxed himself in? I’m not stanning for Evander, but Ned and Phil had choices and chose to make matters worse publicly. That’s a self-inflicted wound for a club that can’t afford many of them.
For sure, Ned is also a problem, but he's a problem that, unfortunately, is not going away any time soon. And let's face it, does anyone have any confidence that MP could and would hire anyone more competent if he were to fire Ned now?
Ned's mishandling of the Evander situation is inexcusable; he needed to be the adult in the room, but he very much was not. Now, instead of planning on how to build around one of the two best attacking threesomes in MLS, and push the Timbers into the elite tier of teams in the league, he's scrambling to plan for the departure of one of them, while also trying to figure out how to rebuild a defense. It's ridiculous.
Ned's and Phil's presser reminded me of the things about Paulson's people that never fail to piss me off. Given the opportunity to act like competent adults they - and that goes for his other mooks like Golub or Gavin - flail about sloppily doing juvenile shit, a bunch of overpaid fratbros snickering about high-school-jock nonsense.
There's too much of that nonsense in the organization not to suspect the tone is being set at the top...
The Timbers could play defense, but it came at the expense of their offense.
By Phil's admission and what is discussed a bit in this podcast, Phil sacrificed the defense to score goals. I suppose if they didn't have Evander, they would probably sit back a lot more, kinda like Gio did. Case in point, the Seattle game at the end of the season. They were much more conservative than usual and had the fullbacks not making runs and defensively hung in there, but didn't have much going forward. And they got a result. Against Vancouver, they were on the front foot, pressing away and having the better of the game and then Vancouver broke through and the Timbers were chasing and got punished even more. Playoff games you should be conservative and wait for the right moments.
As for Ridgy, I think he follows orders and I also think they just don't have players to adequately defend set pieces and corners. Zuparic shies away, Araujo isn't a commanding presence, JDM ain't going to win a header in there, Mora is all of 5-9. Bravo? c'mon. Kamal got the job done. McGraw did too, but was a liability elsewhere. It would be nice if FIFA just got rid of the corner kick. But until then, they need some more beef to defend those. I'm giving Ridgy a pass.
What no one addressed here, and what the biggest problem may be, is the Liam Ridgewell of it all. He asserted, on an interview with this very site a year or so ago, that he is the sole defensive coach, and all responsibility for the defense rests with him. The defense, as a unit, is TERRIBLE. It's unsettled, it's disorganized, it doesn't really understand how to deal with set pieces at all. How does he still have a job at this point?
I don't care that he's a Club Legend and that he did a funny thing after he scored a goal that one time. Nostalgia is not a way to staff a team that is trying to be good at soccer in the present day, and he's clearly not good at what he needs to be good at in 2024 and beyond.
He was good at his job in 2015 and thereabouts; he helped the Timbers win a championship. But guess what? 2015 was (checks calendar) a decade ago, and if he is what he says he is now, he's actively hindering the Timbers from being good right now, and that's a problem. I want the Timbers to exit their Uncle Rico phase and aggressively pursue being a very good team in the present day, not just in the memory banks - they've got the offensive side of the ball pretty much figured out, now it's time to turn to the defensive side of things. If they can sort that out, this team could be something special in a hurry. And I'm afraid that Liam probably can't be a part of that, on the evidence of the last couple of seasons.
And Ridgy isn’t even a Phil assistant; he’s a Gio legacy and - as you detail - has been the constant factor in a subpar defense for several years. I get why Neville didn’t clear house last season. But now? Yeah. Sorry, Ridgy; lakelife needs to be over for you, bro.
And I think the gang is letting Ned off easy, particularly for pouring fuel on the Evander fire. If a bunch of random fans are convinced that the guy’s gonna walk how many GMs are going to lowball Ned, knowing he’s boxed himself in? I’m not stanning for Evander, but Ned and Phil had choices and chose to make matters worse publicly. That’s a self-inflicted wound for a club that can’t afford many of them.
For sure, Ned is also a problem, but he's a problem that, unfortunately, is not going away any time soon. And let's face it, does anyone have any confidence that MP could and would hire anyone more competent if he were to fire Ned now?
Ned's mishandling of the Evander situation is inexcusable; he needed to be the adult in the room, but he very much was not. Now, instead of planning on how to build around one of the two best attacking threesomes in MLS, and push the Timbers into the elite tier of teams in the league, he's scrambling to plan for the departure of one of them, while also trying to figure out how to rebuild a defense. It's ridiculous.
Ned's and Phil's presser reminded me of the things about Paulson's people that never fail to piss me off. Given the opportunity to act like competent adults they - and that goes for his other mooks like Golub or Gavin - flail about sloppily doing juvenile shit, a bunch of overpaid fratbros snickering about high-school-jock nonsense.
There's too much of that nonsense in the organization not to suspect the tone is being set at the top...
Is anyone confident that a highly experienced and successful GM would work for Paulson? I'm not, which may explain why Grabavoy got the job.
Absolutely not. This org will be clownshoes until Henry sells or decides to fire his failson.
The Timbers could play defense, but it came at the expense of their offense.
By Phil's admission and what is discussed a bit in this podcast, Phil sacrificed the defense to score goals. I suppose if they didn't have Evander, they would probably sit back a lot more, kinda like Gio did. Case in point, the Seattle game at the end of the season. They were much more conservative than usual and had the fullbacks not making runs and defensively hung in there, but didn't have much going forward. And they got a result. Against Vancouver, they were on the front foot, pressing away and having the better of the game and then Vancouver broke through and the Timbers were chasing and got punished even more. Playoff games you should be conservative and wait for the right moments.
As for Ridgy, I think he follows orders and I also think they just don't have players to adequately defend set pieces and corners. Zuparic shies away, Araujo isn't a commanding presence, JDM ain't going to win a header in there, Mora is all of 5-9. Bravo? c'mon. Kamal got the job done. McGraw did too, but was a liability elsewhere. It would be nice if FIFA just got rid of the corner kick. But until then, they need some more beef to defend those. I'm giving Ridgy a pass.