stop me if you heard this one before, a coach bringing in players that they signed to other teams........ man I wish we had a little more vision
signing backup GK's before other more important moves? Like you can find a backup GK the last day of transfer for all I care why are we signing them first lol.
at least we got rid of Yimmi that's the only thing we've done right yet
doing the low hanging fruit first is fine. And it's not like these things are linear - they probably have several things in motion at any one time and sometimes deals get done quick, sometimes they don't. GK's are easy to find and plentiful, so may as well check that off the list early then focus on bigger moves.
Do you know anything about Kamal Miller other than that he used to play in Miami? He's a very good central defender, plays the ball well, and I'm pretty sure that he'll do well here. It's not a lack of vision that brought him to Portland. And if that known quantity helps Neville hit the ground running with a style he knows and wants to play, so much the better.
I mean yeah, this happens the world over -- sign a new head coach and have some holes in your roster? He/she knows a lot of people who are potential good fits and want to come work for him/her. While you are right that under Porter it seemed a little like the prerequisite was "played at Akron in college" for any signing target, Gio wasn't bringing in his former guys from NASL Cosmos or doubling down on only bringing in Venezuelans, etc.
This happens the world over not just in sport but other businesses too - because of networks and wanting to work for someone who has moved on. Miller looks like a good add. If we were signing Miami's entire deep bench from the team before Martino and Messi, when they couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag, and pretending that was a good move -- welp, yeah, I'd agree that the sort of "corporate nepotism" thing was a problem if we were doing this x 5.
We are also in a rebuild phase. The "old guard" is almost gone, save D. Chara and Mabiala. There was bound to be some signings with connections to the new coach. If they all are terrible, then we will have a complaint. One guy who we haven't seen yet how he fits into the existing team isn't really a target for complaint.
So Ivacic is obviously out, Bingham is out, right? Leaving Sulte and those two backup GKs, is it accurate to assume they'll find a proper starting GK before pre season Spring games in Coachella?
As of right now, Ivacic and Sulte are the only GK's under contract. Ivacic is not coming back, for sure, it's just a question of where he goes at this point. Bingham's a free agent, so he's indeed gone.
So yeah, right now it's those two and Sulte. I would love to think there's a more game-ready GK coming in, but at the same time in a salary constrained league, spending a ton on a GK, as Colorado just did for Zach Steffen, is a very inefficient way of filling the position, so it also wouldn't surprise me if those two were told "the job is there for one of you, go fight it out".
The last we heard was that the club was still in talks with Bingham, but at this point I would be shocked if we signed these two keepers and kept Bingham. I think Bingham would’ve been great to keep around, but it’s possible he asked for more money considering how big of a role he ended up playing last year, and if that’s the case then I’m glad we didn’t give it to him. I still fully expect us to go out and sign a starting keeper since Tom Bogert said we weren’t done at the keeper position. If we get a good starting keeper, and that USL kid is the #2, then I’ll be pretty satisfied there
I am by far an expert on the roster rules and our depth charts; however, we do need T2 keepers and Timbers seem to like having three GKs on the roster and then having one play mostly in T2. So this might not be that big of a deal as it looks like we are in line to have three after all the shuffling. And taking a risk on a lesser known entity, with potential, for T2 seems like a win.
It’s Tom Bogert, it’s real alright! Really great job on revamping our keeper group. I’m so happy we seem to be really valuing MLS experience, although I hope we do to make some strong international signings as well, I don’t want to become Nashville (not that it would be a problem to be as consistently good as they are, just their team seems to have a lower ceiling)
Neville definitely has a hand in signing all the Canadians. While they’ve been smart so far, I hope he doesn’t just sign “his guys.” It does make me slightly nervous
I mean, so far "his guys" are solid MLS talent, so I'm good with it for now. That well will run dry, though, so hopefully Ned's pipeline is wider than "played for Phil" starting this summer.
I would be absolutely stunned if Evander left after only one season. I'm sure the interest is real; that doesn't automatically mean something will happen. By all accounts, Evander's the piece Ned wants to build around; while everyone, as noted, does have their price, it would be an almost unbelievable piece of business to sell a guy for more than the team bought him for, after one season where he was good, but didn't produce nearly enough to justify such a price tag.
Ned's having a pretty good winter otherwise, though, so far anyway.
Jury is still out on Ned this off-season. Getting rid of yimmi, signing 2 non starter gk, and signing a cb that I think is half the cb zuparic is, is not good enough for me. Jury will be out on what we bring in. If we bring in pec, (which I actually like) who I actually think would be a good signing at his age. But what do we do with the other dp spot. What are we gonna do about chara? Where is his heir apparent? And the back ups, back up? Who backs up masquera? Who backs up bravo? What are we doing with mabiala? Where is our cb depth? What about striker? Who is behind mora? What are we doing about our training staff? Another year of injuries incoming. We have so many open spots that need to be filled and depending on who we bring in and at what price point, is going to be where Ned gets a pass. It's not enough to make trades if those trades hinder the salary cap and aren't worth the price tag.
yeah, I'm not saying he's done or that even what has been done is sufficient. And it's still the off-season, after all, so I would assume he's not done.
A good chunk of the squad needs to be rebuilt, as you say, but shoring up the backline with a guy like Kamal Miller shows me that Ned knows what he wants in a player, and gives me some confidence that he actually has a plan and isn't just throwing darts at a board and calling it a plan - which is what characterized a lot of GW's later moves, and is how they got into this roster mess in the first place.
I'm waaaaaaaay less worried about getting "the back ups back up" right - the Timbers don't have the luxury of being a deep enough team to have to sweat whether the third guy on a depth chart is close to being starting-quality. I honestly wouldn't expect anyone to fill YC's DP slot until the summer, even if it's Pec; if that deal gets done before the season starts, it'd be fantastic, but I think realistically that might be a summer deal. And I'm OK with leaving a DP spot on the table until summer, as long as other needs get filled in the meantime.
I'm not giving Ned a pass, or even a final grade, on January 2; all I'm saying is that, from what I've seen, I have far more confidence in him actually executing to a plan and a vision at this point then I ever did with GW. He may still let me down, but as of now, I'm cautiously optimistic that he's doing things the right way.
I think the Miller acquisition was lazy. I think it's more about zuparic wanting to leave and Neville knowing Miller from Miami and saying why don't we just go get Miller. Any cb that is slow and can't track back is not a good cb. We already got burned a lot on counters last year because we don't have the most athletic cb's. Even Mcgraw is slow. Zuparic was actually pretty good at tracking back and had decent speed for a cb. I would say a 7 out of 10 on speed for a cb. Mabiala I would give a 4. Mcgraw I would give a 6. Now we have Miller who is a 5. Not good. Especially when we have two wingbacks who are constantly caught out of position. My only hope is that zuparic decided to stay because he sees the investment in players like pec and Evander and realizes Portland does want to win. I would be more than happy to see a back 3 with zuparic, Mcgraw, and Miller. While allowing bravo and masquero more opportunities to go forward and play their natural style as wingbacks. If we are still playing a 4 back system. Miller and Mcgraw are going to absolutely screw us, Because of bravo and masquera. I really really hope zuparic stays otherwise I don't care if we sign Ronaldo, we are screwed. Out defense is going to continually get f'd on bad turnovers and quick counters. It's so blatantly obvious that to not address the issue is a fireable offense.
As for back up to the back up. We 100% have to think about that because our team consistently has ACL tears and muscle injuries almost every year. How many players have gone out injured with ACL tears for Portland over the years. Or some type of injury that required surgery. We have to be one of the most injury riddled teams in mls. So much so that we already replaced the strength and training coaches mid season before. We are one of the teams that definitely needs to be thinking about our depth.
The one positive is pec. If we can get him I would be very happy. Mostly because of his potential. He is only 22. His production over his pro career has not been the most impressive but he has all the attributes to be a good player.
His age and potential has been something I have been wanting to see the Timbers go for, for awhile. We have to start thinking about becoming a buying and selling team if we are ever going to keep up with the league. I still 100% believe we could be the bvb or psv/Ajax of the league. They built the brand and reputation in a small country, in a small league. Now they are considered one of the best for player development in the world. Those two clubs put the Eredivisie on the map. There is no reason Portland can't do the same.
I have seen Kamal Miller play a fair amount, and I've seen a lot of things written about him since the trade. One way I have never seen him described is "slow". He may not be a record-setting sprinter, but I have no worries about his speed, and the fact that he is always heavily involved in building play out of the back and passing into threatening areas. Plus he's strong, is good at being where he needs to be, and he plays well with the ball at his feet.
The Timbers do need to worry about depth; they don't yet need to worry about depth behind their depth, which is how I took your "backup to a backup" comment. I would love the Timbers to be 15 starting-quality guys deep, with a bench that's close to that; that, however, won't get done in one window. It took time for the Timbers to get to this point, and it'll take 2-3 windows to fix what GW did. If they start 2024 with a 12-13 strong first team of first-team capable players, I'll take that, knowing that the summer will bring more reinforcements.
I'm simply tired of rolling into another super-underwhelming off-season. New coach hire? An underperforming coach who has baggage, and baggage that is particularly alarming concerning where this organization (seems charitable to call it that!) has been. Bad clean-up job on a crappy GK sitch. Maybe an upgrade, maybe, on CB. Poor resolution on the Mabs contract. Some easy decisions on DPs that were clearly bad signings in retrospect (although I was also excited about the signings when they happened and pretty high on both Yimmi and Jaro, and to be fair, injuries took their toll). Anyhow, it seems that the rest of MLS gets treated to at least one super exciting signing, transfer whatever in the off-season and we are left to wonder why we don't. Meanwhile we get to watch our erstwhile players go to other clubs and find success that eluded them here. So deflating.
Well, Colorado just probably overpaid for someone who is basically at best a decent GK, at this point, so I guess if that's "exciting", I'll take whatever the Timbers are doing this winter?
"Meanwhile we get to watch our erstwhile players go to other clubs and find success that eluded them here"
Such as? Bill Tuiloma struggled to find minutes for 9th place Charlotte, playing in a total of 17 matches (he missed about a month with a couple injuries, but still). Something of a case could be made for Jeremy Ebobisse, who scored 10 goals for the Earthquakes last year, which would have been one more than Evander (And also 17 in his first season in SJ).
But also, Ebobisse played nearly every minute of every game, and for someone who wanted desperately to be Portland's main attacker, 10 goals in that role in a full season just isn't good enough, particularly with nobody else on the 2023 Timbers even threatening double digits. Given the state of the roster, and the fact that Gio in 2021 wasn't about to make Ebo the main guy (whether he should have or not isn't really the question - fact is he didn't) it made sense that the Timbers sold him.
I'm absolutely with you on the underwhelming coach, but the "why do they always get better when they leave" narrative just isn't there, for the most part. And I'm not sure there has yet been a resolution on Mabiala; I haven't heard/seen anything one way or the other, so I have no idea what's happening there. Still a fair chunk of off-season left, and the "winter" MLS window doesn't close until April, so there's still time.
I personally can't bash Ebo 3 seasons after being traded. He did well in 2022 after he just left us - we could have certainly used his 17 goals. You are right that 10 for a 34 game starter is not enough, but that statement is made in a vacuum. SJ was not using him in such a way that he was their "in front of the net" scorer - his shots and shots on target were half of his 2022 numbers in 2023 - because SJ, much like Gio before, fell in love with pushing him out wide and using him as a decoy. I suspect if he was on a better team (yes, SJ finished above us, but they were mediocre just like we were) and utilized as a classic 9 (by that, I mean the way PTFC utilized say Fernando Adi), he would bang in 5-10 more goals than that every year.
I'm not bashing him, I wish he could have stayed here and been a bigger contributor. But Gio's system wouldn't allow for it, so given that, and given his worth at the time, I'm not unhappy the Timbers sold high on him. But he's also shown an inability to adapt at two teams now, an inability that seems to be costing him a fair bit of production.
I will always like Jebo; I just think the Timbers did the right thing cashing in on him if they weren't going to use him to his strengths.
I dunno, I think Nags has been equally successful wherever he went, I don't think he was better in ATL or in COL. He's just consistently good. I'm still unhappy he was sold, but I get it from a financial perspective - they made a ton of money on that sale. Good call on Adi, for sure, I was sorry to see him go because I thought he got a bit of a raw deal here, but he definitely dropped off a cliff after he left.
The original contention was that after a player left, they got "better", not "more successful". My point is that he, as a player, has always been this good - he was good here, he was good in ATL, he is good in CLB. He didn't get better after he left, because he was a damn good player already when he left.
He left Portland to play for a better team in Atlanta, and won as many championships there as he did in Portland. He then went to Columbus, where he's won two championships under two different coaches (and also missed the playoffs twice). So by the measure of "trophies since he left", he's more successful, sure, but he's still as good a player now as he was when he was in Portland.
He hasn't gotten "better", but only because he hasn't really needed to.
Meh, just proves fans are fans are fans everywhere and MLS' opaque systems are difficult for all of us. Miami will replace him. Perhaps that replacement won't be as good, perhaps equivalent or better. We had our own fans here upset all of November and December that the Timbers were making no moves .... since you can't officially announce anything until after Jan 1, I don't know why this is such a surprise to so many every year (because unofficial leaks from other teams make them nervous we are doing nothing, I suppose).
Fans everywhere complain about players let go. Hell, you didn't have to go far (Timbers Facebook for example) to see fans screaming bloody murder about Y. Chara and Blanco not being brought back (which made me literally laugh out loud every time I read one of those comments). PTFC fans were also apoplectic a year ago about Tuiloma leaving (and Miller appears to be an objective upgrade over Tuiloma, to be sure).
So whether this is a better trade or not is difficult to judge by articles which are nothing more than aggregating fan comments. All you can say is that he appeared to be liked by many fans, but I can promise he will be forgotten if they use their money and international slot for something splashier.
How far have the Timbers slid down the scale of relevance in both Portland sports and MLS in general? I got an email this morning from the Timbers, offering customizable "flex packs" of 8-game ticket packages (or "flex plan plus" if you want to see SEA/LAFC/LAG). Timbers have come a long way - the wrong direction - since the mid-to-late 2010's and the years-long waiting list for season tickets.
Thanks for doing the right thing and selling the Thorns, MP. Now do the Timbers.
MP could teach a class in how to take community good will and hype and crush it. I still love the Timbers (and Thorns), have since I was a kid in the 70s - long before MP had any clue what they were, and they will always have a place in my heart. But even I had 2nd thoughts about re-upping my STs and really only did so believing there will be better days and I want those seats when they come.
There was a time when I would never miss a game, wanted to be there before warmups (which usually meant buying more concessions, etc.), but for the last couple of years it has been a struggle to even give tickets away when I can't go (and I am less inclined to make it a priority as mediocre as we have been). It is also a frustrating experience to try to sell seats because you can't even come close in most games to getting 1/17th of face value, usually closer to half, especially early in the season since the Timbers have a reputation for not really trying to win until September rolls around.
After a nearly silent December, we’ve come out of the gates SWINGING the past three days. Miller is, at this point, a pretty good, smart signing. Hard to say how he compares to Zuparic, he could be better or could be worse. I love Zuparic but we need more leadership back there, which I think Miller might do better at than Dario, plus Miller is five years younger. Zuparic is 31 and exiting his prime, I think it actually might not be a bad move to get some money for him now, both in transfer fee and salary. As I said, I love him, but the dude is making a TON of money. Too much, imo. Miller is making less than half of that. To me, if we do end up moving on from Zuparic, this is smart business and roster management. Though, if we end up keeping him, I wouldn’t be mad either.
Yimmi leaving, as much I like him, is great. If we can get a great DP I will be thrilled. Speaking of...
I have my doubts about the Gabriel Pec rumor, it’s not been confirmed and he honestly seems too good to be true. But god I hope it’s real, I know it’s not smart to get overly excited for a player based off of highlights but, uh, consider me overly excited. He looks like the real deal at only 22, I have no doubt he would be amazing in MLS, he can beat a defender off the dribble, cut in and create, and has great technical ability for passing and dribbling. Would be a perfect use of a Young DP slot and we could still go out and get another full DP with no restrictions. I hope this is real because, even if we don’t end up signing him, I think it’s a great sign that this is the type of player we’re looking at. I think he’s exactly the kind of player we need. Even if we don’t land him, I hope we can get someone similar, and I hope we’re willing to open up the checkbooks to get a player of this caliber.
And now it’s reported that we have interest in Djordje Mihailovic (among other MLS teams). Personally I don’t see this happening unless we sell Evander, which I also don’t see happening. We have enough creative quality in the middle, and while Mihailovic would definitely be a great player to have, I think it’s just too many similar players to have at a similar position. I don’t think that would be good roster management. But, if we do sell Evander, getting Mihailovic and Pec would be a hell of a replacement.
We’re rolling now, and I really hope this doesn’t slow down because there’s still a lot of work that needs to happen on this roster. But I’ve been a pretty happy Timbers fan the past few days after, honestly, a pretty nice long stretch of not thinking about them very much
I don't say this to pick on you, because I don't mean it that way and I apologize if it comes across that way, but just because it's come up a lot here and other places: I have no earthly idea where the idea the Timbers would sell Evander after only one season comes from (and I know you qualified your statement with "which I also don't see happening").
I can count on one hand, with five fingers left over, the number of times any MLS team since DP's were introduced that has sold a DP after a single season. There is far too much money invested in these players, and in their fit with their team, to flip them after only one season. It's a hacky cliche to say this in 2024, but real life soccer isn't FIFA; teams don't invest all that time and money in scouting these guys just to roll them over for this window's new shiny for the sake of it.
I'd be thrilled with Pec and Evander on the same team; I hope it happens. I'm much less interested in Mihailovic; he scored 13 goals in five seasons in MLS before going to the all-offense Eredivisie and scoring, so far, one goal in 15 appearances. So let's get Pec and pair him with Evander.
100% in alignment with everything here. I just don’t see us selling Evander, although if Flamengo offers $15 million, then... I don’t know, maybe it’s not as crazy. But I just don’t see that happening. If it works it could be seen as a stroke of genius, with us not being tied to a player we invested in and realizing that it’s better to move on sooner rather than later for a player that fits better stylistically (not saying that Mihailovic does, this is a hypothetical if that were to all happen). If it doesn’t work it could be seen as a reactionary sign of weakness, further derailing the club. No real reason to me typing this out, just the two sides I see. But again, I can’t imagine we’d sell. The only comparison I can think of right now is the Crew selling Zelerayan and getting Rossi, but that was after Zelerayan had been there for several years, is over 30, and after winning a cup.
I am currently dreaming of Evander and Pec on our team, I truly think that move alone would make us a force to be reckoned with, that has the potential to be one of the best duos in MLS. Add a DP striker on top of that? I’m struggling to contain my excitement. Mihailovic would be a great player to have, but I don’t see that making sense or it being a real game changer because of the similar type players we already have.
I’m not going to get my hopes up about Pec, it’s just one rumor from an unconfirmed source that I’m not aware the reliability of. I just hope that is the type of player we are pursuing. I do not think we need another central midfielder or winger that likes to crowd the middle
What's this hope feeling I have? Smart moves...the Timbers? Rebuilt the keeper situation. Signing the keeper I wanted. Made a move inside MLS to get a good experienced CB. When CNT calls it's gonna hurt, but we're still much better than we were 2 weeks ago. Little more cooking from Ned and the front office and there is no reason we shouldn't have a chance in every game. Very excited about the direction.
I'm really happy with the Crepeau signing too. I guess this is what having faith in Ned looks like? Maybe? Not done yet, more to do for sure, but I'm not sure they could have gotten off to a better start on a large-scale rebuild - and there's still a DP spot to play with.
Two DP slots to play with! Good moves so far but there’s lots of work to be done still. We need backups at both FB spots, a backup CB or two (assuming Dario leaves. Maybe we sign that Tyler Clegg guy from T2?), and a starting winger, DP or not. Resigning Eric Miller would help a ton imo. A DP striker would be great but with Mora it’s not a pressing need, we can go the first month or so without that.
I hope Dario stays and we play a 3 back system with Miller, Mcgraw and zuparic. But based on their salaries, I doubt it. The signing of Miller pretty much means zuparic is gone. I still hope we go to a 3 back system that benefits bravo and masquera.
I agree with what we need from a defensive standpoint.1lb, 1rb, 2cb.
We still need 2 wingers and 2 strikers. 1 dp winger, 1 dp striker. We also need a cdm to back up chara. Trusting ayala who has hardly played in 2 years is not a smart choice. Paredes is an 8. Williamson 8. Evander 8. Moreno when playing in midfield 8. Who do we have that is actually a ball winner. An Enzo Fernandez, Tyler adams, ceciedo. We have chara and that's it. We need a Tam level 6. We should honestly be looking to start shrinking chara minutes. If we do all of those changes, we will be contenders.
I know I’m way higher on Ayala than pretty much everyone, but getting a high level player to play ahead of him is terrible roster management imo. We spent over $3 million on him, how is he going to get minutes and develop in such a crowded midfield if we buy yet another player to play ahead of him? At most he’d be getting small sub appearances here and there as a defensive 8 (I mean, depends what formation we’re gonna play, which we still have no idea about) which is not his natural position. He’d be sitting on the bench for no reason, and then he’s going to get unhappy and probably seek a move back to Argentina or something for less of a fee than we got him at. At some point we gotta develop these guys on the field, and I think Ayala is more than capable of playing there, even if he may be rough around the edges. He’s a ball winner and a fantastic passer. If we want another player there, I think we should get an MLS journeyman or undervalued MLS asset like Acosta, just without Acosta’s salary (though I would not be mad if we kept him around). I see no reason not to trust Ayala as the #2. If he stinks after his ACL tear... then we can reevaluate in the summer. There are more pressing issues on the roster.
But, we also have no idea what formation Neville wants to play. Maybe we play a 3-4-3, who knows. So maybe this debate doesn’t matter. A 3 in the back makes the most sense for our fullbacks, but we would have to trust Araujo for that, or get another CB if Zuparic leaves. I don’t want him to leave either but his salary is enormous and if he’s not happy, then so be it. But man would it feel nice going into the season with a back six of Crepeau, Bravo, McGraw, Miller, Zuparic, and Mosquera. That’s a hell of a backline
I hope we resign Eric Miller, his versatility and experience is really valuable I think, and he’d be a good backup in a back three
As for ayala. He hasn't played in almost 2 years. Has had two major surgeries already and chara is one bad injury away from retirement at his age. People want to blame our cbs for our bad defense but the truth is that chara can't cover ground as a lone 6 like he used to. More important is that he doesn't have the speed and explosiveness to step to the ball and player after a turnover.
The midfield congestion you speak of is at the 8. Not the 6. I think the real issue is the resources being spent at that position. Evander, Williamson, Paredes, and Moreno. 4 players for 1 position. (I know Moreno is a winger but he can play the 8.) I know formation matters and maybe we don't play a 4-3-3. (Which I highly doubt) but even if we did go 3 at the back that makes it even more important that those 2 midfielders in the center of a 3-4-3 be ball winners. Junkyard dogs. Paredes isn't that. Chara isn't anymore. Williamson and Evander don't know what ball winning is. You need players that know when to step to the ball and take it from the opposition. Not to play the space between the lines. That is the difference between 8s and 6's. 8s play the space defensively. 6s play the ball. They know when to step and destroy. That was our problem last year in defense. Our midfield would give up possession and more importantly space on counters. It allowed teams to bunker on us and counter while easily pushing through our midfield and into our box. We didn't have midfielders that could step on that first pass off of turnovers. Maybe 3 at the back helps on counters but how much energy does our defense save when we have a 6 that can break up that initial pass. (Like chara used to) instead our defense is running back 70 yards. I just don't have hope that a 37 year old chara will be able to go another season and an inexperienced 21 year old with two major surgeries and having only played 897 minutes out of a possible 6100 minutes in two years. We need a 6 that can cover for chara, and challenge ayala.
Ayala had knee surgery during preseason last year but was only out for two months. Are we counting that as major? He came back and looked better than he did before the injury. Then he tore his ACL. Injuries are a worry with him but he can still come back and be just fine.
I disagree with a lot here but it’s not worth debating. Interesting to not categorize Paredes as a ball winner considering he led the team in tackles last year (Ayala actually leads in tackles per 90, but that doesn’t really matter considering how little he played. But he was fantastic when he did play) and has some great defensive stats compared to midfielders. He’s not a 6 but he can do a serviceable job there in an emergency, and he’s most certainly a ball winning 8. I believe Ayala is exactly the kind of player you’re describing here, he’s a hard nosed ball winner who loves a good hard challenge, he’s great at reading the game and is a very gifted passer and dribbler. I know he just had a major surgery but he showed last year he can do a great job at that spot, and I think it’s poor roster management to drown an extremely talented U-22 initiative player in the depth chart. I get it from a “win now” perspective, but we are not a team in “win now” mode. We are rebuilding. If we want young players to come here in the future, we need to demonstrate that we give them time on the field to develop and sell them on.
If we want cover for Ayala and Chara that makes perfect sense to me, as long as Ayala is the #2 to Chara, or even the #1 if Chara moves to the bench.
Timbers actually... made another smart move within MLS? We got Crepeau! Yet another Canadian, definitely has Neville’s fingerprints all over it. He’s going with players he’s familiar with. I’ve yet to decide if that may end up burning us, but so far we’ve made some really smart signings! I’m now thrilled with our goalkeeper core. Last year he made less than Ivacic, so we may save some salary space as well. It’s been a busy offseason the last week, not a single day goes by without some news
Where did you hear that we are signing Crepeau? Nothing official yet...is it a done deal? I know he was identified on here a while back as a free agent that we might go after. Great signing if true!
I just looked it up too. Since removing all social media I have not been paying attention to rumors like I used to. Bogert reported Portland are about to sign crepeau. He doesn't report rumors. He only reports facts. So it's a pretty solid chance it's gonna get done.
Yeah, I quit Twitter or whatever it is called now, so I am late to the party (even later). That is OK, this is still good news. It has been a while since we had a clear #1 keeper (and while I would have said Ivacic was that guy going into 2023, he wasn't "top 5 GK in the league" clear and away over his backup who actually ended up playing more of the season than he did after his brain melted down.
As much as I think LAFC has done most everything right in their short existence, I will never understand chasing the big name GK when Crepeau was already in-house. Lloris is...fine? I guess? But he is definitely not PL level any more, and while he's in no way a terrible keeper just because he can't cut it at Spurs, I also can't imagine a 37 year old Lloris is going to be a long-term upgrade over the 29 YO Crepeau for them.
Tom Bogert (and the Athletic in general) is tier 1 for reporting MLS/American soccer news. Literally can’t get higher when it comes to accuracy. He says we’re finalizing a deal - not just in advanced talks with, but finalizing - which means it’s definitely happening, barring any last minute surprises of course, which is always a possibility. Basically if you want to keep up on all transfers and news within MLS, follow Tom Bogert on Twitter or subscribe to the Athletic
The player Pec from Brazil seems fast and he can dribble around which seems a valuable quality that the Timbers lack. I don't know much about the CB from Miami because I hardly watched Miami since they were so bad until Messi showed up. I saw some people from Miami were not happy about his departure. I wonder if McGraw will eventually be a leader based on where he went to school. Doesn't that place produce leaders? Do we have a logjam of eights in the middle now that Evander appears to have migrated to the eight. Acosta I believe is the only destroyer out of that group so I wonder if we'll resign him as a back up. It's been a month of in activity so I'll go back to the Neville presser or whatever that was. I was looking forward to questions about his style, his ability to connect and motivate players, young players, etc. I wanted to know what his approach to defense was since we really have played much of it over the last decade. I wanted to know if we were going to be a pressing team, a counter-attacking team. I wanted to know if we would have an offense that could score in front of goal, does he believe in teams getting off to a fast start, etc but all I got, I think, was one question and a reply that were going to play 'fast and exciting soccer." Where have I heard that one before? One thing I did find out from our amazing press
core was that there was some tweet that was made ten or more years ago or something like that. I wanted to know about the turf as well from Ned. What about the injury to Ayala, the two injuries to Williamson, the two injuries to Niezgoda and the injuries that our new players can look forward to after they get here. I would have liked to learn these things about the new coach because like I said until Messi showed up, I didn't watch Miami and Miami was bad and they had bad players. Hats off to the press. I just wait to the first game of the year.
The main thing you need to know about Phil Neville is that he's...not a very good coach. He did sorta OK with the England women's team, to which he was appointed not on merit but because he knew the right people. He then left there and went to Miami, where he really wasn't good; his first season they finished 6th, but with a GD of -9, and in his second season he "led" Miami to five wins and 10 losses before being relieved of his duties in the Messi Makeover.
"Miami was bad and they had bad players" isn't necessarily inaccurate, but like Gio here, his job there was to make the best out of a bad situation, and he didn't/couldn't do that. That's why I'm hoping Ned brings in several better players - and Miller is a good start in that regard - so maybe he won't be Gio 2.0, and can do some good here. I'm not optimistic that he can, but I'm keeping an open mind.
"I wanted to know if we were going to be a pressing team, a counter-attacking team. I wanted to know if we would have an offense that could score in front of goal, does he believe in teams getting off to a fast start, etc"
To be fair to Phil, no coach goes into that level of detail in an introductory press conference, and I wouldn't have expected him to.
Food for thought. Even Neville's illustrious manager Sir Alex Ferguson finished in the bottom half of the league 3 out of the first 4 years after joing Red Devils. What if he had never had chance to grow and prove himself?
That wasn't in a parity league, tho... And Sir Alex had win 9 cups in the Scottish league and two at the European level with Aberdeen before joining Man U and had already been made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. Don't think it's really apples to apples there. Neville has been bad pretty much everywhere he had coached. Only time he had "success" was coaching a loaded England women's national team against like Albania and such.
stop me if you heard this one before, a coach bringing in players that they signed to other teams........ man I wish we had a little more vision
signing backup GK's before other more important moves? Like you can find a backup GK the last day of transfer for all I care why are we signing them first lol.
at least we got rid of Yimmi that's the only thing we've done right yet
doing the low hanging fruit first is fine. And it's not like these things are linear - they probably have several things in motion at any one time and sometimes deals get done quick, sometimes they don't. GK's are easy to find and plentiful, so may as well check that off the list early then focus on bigger moves.
Do you know anything about Kamal Miller other than that he used to play in Miami? He's a very good central defender, plays the ball well, and I'm pretty sure that he'll do well here. It's not a lack of vision that brought him to Portland. And if that known quantity helps Neville hit the ground running with a style he knows and wants to play, so much the better.
I mean yeah, this happens the world over -- sign a new head coach and have some holes in your roster? He/she knows a lot of people who are potential good fits and want to come work for him/her. While you are right that under Porter it seemed a little like the prerequisite was "played at Akron in college" for any signing target, Gio wasn't bringing in his former guys from NASL Cosmos or doubling down on only bringing in Venezuelans, etc.
This happens the world over not just in sport but other businesses too - because of networks and wanting to work for someone who has moved on. Miller looks like a good add. If we were signing Miami's entire deep bench from the team before Martino and Messi, when they couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag, and pretending that was a good move -- welp, yeah, I'd agree that the sort of "corporate nepotism" thing was a problem if we were doing this x 5.
We are also in a rebuild phase. The "old guard" is almost gone, save D. Chara and Mabiala. There was bound to be some signings with connections to the new coach. If they all are terrible, then we will have a complaint. One guy who we haven't seen yet how he fits into the existing team isn't really a target for complaint.
So Ivacic is obviously out, Bingham is out, right? Leaving Sulte and those two backup GKs, is it accurate to assume they'll find a proper starting GK before pre season Spring games in Coachella?
I'll bet they do
As of right now, Ivacic and Sulte are the only GK's under contract. Ivacic is not coming back, for sure, it's just a question of where he goes at this point. Bingham's a free agent, so he's indeed gone.
So yeah, right now it's those two and Sulte. I would love to think there's a more game-ready GK coming in, but at the same time in a salary constrained league, spending a ton on a GK, as Colorado just did for Zach Steffen, is a very inefficient way of filling the position, so it also wouldn't surprise me if those two were told "the job is there for one of you, go fight it out".
The last we heard was that the club was still in talks with Bingham, but at this point I would be shocked if we signed these two keepers and kept Bingham. I think Bingham would’ve been great to keep around, but it’s possible he asked for more money considering how big of a role he ended up playing last year, and if that’s the case then I’m glad we didn’t give it to him. I still fully expect us to go out and sign a starting keeper since Tom Bogert said we weren’t done at the keeper position. If we get a good starting keeper, and that USL kid is the #2, then I’ll be pretty satisfied there
I am by far an expert on the roster rules and our depth charts; however, we do need T2 keepers and Timbers seem to like having three GKs on the roster and then having one play mostly in T2. So this might not be that big of a deal as it looks like we are in line to have three after all the shuffling. And taking a risk on a lesser known entity, with potential, for T2 seems like a win.
I think Ryan Bilichuk and Sulte will still be the main keepers at T2, maybe Muse as well but not sure yet
Now it looks like there is a Maxime Crepeau signing in the works. I love this if it's true.
Also apparently "Canadian" is the latest undervalued skillset the Timbers are going after?
It’s Tom Bogert, it’s real alright! Really great job on revamping our keeper group. I’m so happy we seem to be really valuing MLS experience, although I hope we do to make some strong international signings as well, I don’t want to become Nashville (not that it would be a problem to be as consistently good as they are, just their team seems to have a lower ceiling)
Neville definitely has a hand in signing all the Canadians. While they’ve been smart so far, I hope he doesn’t just sign “his guys.” It does make me slightly nervous
I mean, so far "his guys" are solid MLS talent, so I'm good with it for now. That well will run dry, though, so hopefully Ned's pipeline is wider than "played for Phil" starting this summer.
I would be absolutely stunned if Evander left after only one season. I'm sure the interest is real; that doesn't automatically mean something will happen. By all accounts, Evander's the piece Ned wants to build around; while everyone, as noted, does have their price, it would be an almost unbelievable piece of business to sell a guy for more than the team bought him for, after one season where he was good, but didn't produce nearly enough to justify such a price tag.
Ned's having a pretty good winter otherwise, though, so far anyway.
Jury is still out on Ned this off-season. Getting rid of yimmi, signing 2 non starter gk, and signing a cb that I think is half the cb zuparic is, is not good enough for me. Jury will be out on what we bring in. If we bring in pec, (which I actually like) who I actually think would be a good signing at his age. But what do we do with the other dp spot. What are we gonna do about chara? Where is his heir apparent? And the back ups, back up? Who backs up masquera? Who backs up bravo? What are we doing with mabiala? Where is our cb depth? What about striker? Who is behind mora? What are we doing about our training staff? Another year of injuries incoming. We have so many open spots that need to be filled and depending on who we bring in and at what price point, is going to be where Ned gets a pass. It's not enough to make trades if those trades hinder the salary cap and aren't worth the price tag.
yeah, I'm not saying he's done or that even what has been done is sufficient. And it's still the off-season, after all, so I would assume he's not done.
A good chunk of the squad needs to be rebuilt, as you say, but shoring up the backline with a guy like Kamal Miller shows me that Ned knows what he wants in a player, and gives me some confidence that he actually has a plan and isn't just throwing darts at a board and calling it a plan - which is what characterized a lot of GW's later moves, and is how they got into this roster mess in the first place.
I'm waaaaaaaay less worried about getting "the back ups back up" right - the Timbers don't have the luxury of being a deep enough team to have to sweat whether the third guy on a depth chart is close to being starting-quality. I honestly wouldn't expect anyone to fill YC's DP slot until the summer, even if it's Pec; if that deal gets done before the season starts, it'd be fantastic, but I think realistically that might be a summer deal. And I'm OK with leaving a DP spot on the table until summer, as long as other needs get filled in the meantime.
I'm not giving Ned a pass, or even a final grade, on January 2; all I'm saying is that, from what I've seen, I have far more confidence in him actually executing to a plan and a vision at this point then I ever did with GW. He may still let me down, but as of now, I'm cautiously optimistic that he's doing things the right way.
I think the Miller acquisition was lazy. I think it's more about zuparic wanting to leave and Neville knowing Miller from Miami and saying why don't we just go get Miller. Any cb that is slow and can't track back is not a good cb. We already got burned a lot on counters last year because we don't have the most athletic cb's. Even Mcgraw is slow. Zuparic was actually pretty good at tracking back and had decent speed for a cb. I would say a 7 out of 10 on speed for a cb. Mabiala I would give a 4. Mcgraw I would give a 6. Now we have Miller who is a 5. Not good. Especially when we have two wingbacks who are constantly caught out of position. My only hope is that zuparic decided to stay because he sees the investment in players like pec and Evander and realizes Portland does want to win. I would be more than happy to see a back 3 with zuparic, Mcgraw, and Miller. While allowing bravo and masquero more opportunities to go forward and play their natural style as wingbacks. If we are still playing a 4 back system. Miller and Mcgraw are going to absolutely screw us, Because of bravo and masquera. I really really hope zuparic stays otherwise I don't care if we sign Ronaldo, we are screwed. Out defense is going to continually get f'd on bad turnovers and quick counters. It's so blatantly obvious that to not address the issue is a fireable offense.
As for back up to the back up. We 100% have to think about that because our team consistently has ACL tears and muscle injuries almost every year. How many players have gone out injured with ACL tears for Portland over the years. Or some type of injury that required surgery. We have to be one of the most injury riddled teams in mls. So much so that we already replaced the strength and training coaches mid season before. We are one of the teams that definitely needs to be thinking about our depth.
The one positive is pec. If we can get him I would be very happy. Mostly because of his potential. He is only 22. His production over his pro career has not been the most impressive but he has all the attributes to be a good player.
His age and potential has been something I have been wanting to see the Timbers go for, for awhile. We have to start thinking about becoming a buying and selling team if we are ever going to keep up with the league. I still 100% believe we could be the bvb or psv/Ajax of the league. They built the brand and reputation in a small country, in a small league. Now they are considered one of the best for player development in the world. Those two clubs put the Eredivisie on the map. There is no reason Portland can't do the same.
I have seen Kamal Miller play a fair amount, and I've seen a lot of things written about him since the trade. One way I have never seen him described is "slow". He may not be a record-setting sprinter, but I have no worries about his speed, and the fact that he is always heavily involved in building play out of the back and passing into threatening areas. Plus he's strong, is good at being where he needs to be, and he plays well with the ball at his feet.
The Timbers do need to worry about depth; they don't yet need to worry about depth behind their depth, which is how I took your "backup to a backup" comment. I would love the Timbers to be 15 starting-quality guys deep, with a bench that's close to that; that, however, won't get done in one window. It took time for the Timbers to get to this point, and it'll take 2-3 windows to fix what GW did. If they start 2024 with a 12-13 strong first team of first-team capable players, I'll take that, knowing that the summer will bring more reinforcements.
I'm simply tired of rolling into another super-underwhelming off-season. New coach hire? An underperforming coach who has baggage, and baggage that is particularly alarming concerning where this organization (seems charitable to call it that!) has been. Bad clean-up job on a crappy GK sitch. Maybe an upgrade, maybe, on CB. Poor resolution on the Mabs contract. Some easy decisions on DPs that were clearly bad signings in retrospect (although I was also excited about the signings when they happened and pretty high on both Yimmi and Jaro, and to be fair, injuries took their toll). Anyhow, it seems that the rest of MLS gets treated to at least one super exciting signing, transfer whatever in the off-season and we are left to wonder why we don't. Meanwhile we get to watch our erstwhile players go to other clubs and find success that eluded them here. So deflating.
Well, Colorado just probably overpaid for someone who is basically at best a decent GK, at this point, so I guess if that's "exciting", I'll take whatever the Timbers are doing this winter?
"Meanwhile we get to watch our erstwhile players go to other clubs and find success that eluded them here"
Such as? Bill Tuiloma struggled to find minutes for 9th place Charlotte, playing in a total of 17 matches (he missed about a month with a couple injuries, but still). Something of a case could be made for Jeremy Ebobisse, who scored 10 goals for the Earthquakes last year, which would have been one more than Evander (And also 17 in his first season in SJ).
But also, Ebobisse played nearly every minute of every game, and for someone who wanted desperately to be Portland's main attacker, 10 goals in that role in a full season just isn't good enough, particularly with nobody else on the 2023 Timbers even threatening double digits. Given the state of the roster, and the fact that Gio in 2021 wasn't about to make Ebo the main guy (whether he should have or not isn't really the question - fact is he didn't) it made sense that the Timbers sold him.
I'm absolutely with you on the underwhelming coach, but the "why do they always get better when they leave" narrative just isn't there, for the most part. And I'm not sure there has yet been a resolution on Mabiala; I haven't heard/seen anything one way or the other, so I have no idea what's happening there. Still a fair chunk of off-season left, and the "winter" MLS window doesn't close until April, so there's still time.
I personally can't bash Ebo 3 seasons after being traded. He did well in 2022 after he just left us - we could have certainly used his 17 goals. You are right that 10 for a 34 game starter is not enough, but that statement is made in a vacuum. SJ was not using him in such a way that he was their "in front of the net" scorer - his shots and shots on target were half of his 2022 numbers in 2023 - because SJ, much like Gio before, fell in love with pushing him out wide and using him as a decoy. I suspect if he was on a better team (yes, SJ finished above us, but they were mediocre just like we were) and utilized as a classic 9 (by that, I mean the way PTFC utilized say Fernando Adi), he would bang in 5-10 more goals than that every year.
I'm not bashing him, I wish he could have stayed here and been a bigger contributor. But Gio's system wouldn't allow for it, so given that, and given his worth at the time, I'm not unhappy the Timbers sold high on him. But he's also shown an inability to adapt at two teams now, an inability that seems to be costing him a fair bit of production.
I will always like Jebo; I just think the Timbers did the right thing cashing in on him if they weren't going to use him to his strengths.
I was thinking more of Nagbe. And to be fair we got rid of Adi at just the right time.
I dunno, I think Nags has been equally successful wherever he went, I don't think he was better in ATL or in COL. He's just consistently good. I'm still unhappy he was sold, but I get it from a financial perspective - they made a ton of money on that sale. Good call on Adi, for sure, I was sorry to see him go because I thought he got a bit of a raw deal here, but he definitely dropped off a cliff after he left.
Nagbe has 4 championships with 4 different teams that he has been a locked in starter. He hasn't bee. More successful?
The original contention was that after a player left, they got "better", not "more successful". My point is that he, as a player, has always been this good - he was good here, he was good in ATL, he is good in CLB. He didn't get better after he left, because he was a damn good player already when he left.
He left Portland to play for a better team in Atlanta, and won as many championships there as he did in Portland. He then went to Columbus, where he's won two championships under two different coaches (and also missed the playoffs twice). So by the measure of "trophies since he left", he's more successful, sure, but he's still as good a player now as he was when he was in Portland.
He hasn't gotten "better", but only because he hasn't really needed to.
Inter Miami fans are not happy: https://www.sportskeeda.com/football/news-shouldn-t-sold-him-stupid-decision-fans-slam-lionel-messi-s-inter-miami-trading-star-player-rival-mls-club. Perhaps this is an even better trade than it seems.
Meh, just proves fans are fans are fans everywhere and MLS' opaque systems are difficult for all of us. Miami will replace him. Perhaps that replacement won't be as good, perhaps equivalent or better. We had our own fans here upset all of November and December that the Timbers were making no moves .... since you can't officially announce anything until after Jan 1, I don't know why this is such a surprise to so many every year (because unofficial leaks from other teams make them nervous we are doing nothing, I suppose).
Fans everywhere complain about players let go. Hell, you didn't have to go far (Timbers Facebook for example) to see fans screaming bloody murder about Y. Chara and Blanco not being brought back (which made me literally laugh out loud every time I read one of those comments). PTFC fans were also apoplectic a year ago about Tuiloma leaving (and Miller appears to be an objective upgrade over Tuiloma, to be sure).
So whether this is a better trade or not is difficult to judge by articles which are nothing more than aggregating fan comments. All you can say is that he appeared to be liked by many fans, but I can promise he will be forgotten if they use their money and international slot for something splashier.
How far have the Timbers slid down the scale of relevance in both Portland sports and MLS in general? I got an email this morning from the Timbers, offering customizable "flex packs" of 8-game ticket packages (or "flex plan plus" if you want to see SEA/LAFC/LAG). Timbers have come a long way - the wrong direction - since the mid-to-late 2010's and the years-long waiting list for season tickets.
Thanks for doing the right thing and selling the Thorns, MP. Now do the Timbers.
MP could teach a class in how to take community good will and hype and crush it. I still love the Timbers (and Thorns), have since I was a kid in the 70s - long before MP had any clue what they were, and they will always have a place in my heart. But even I had 2nd thoughts about re-upping my STs and really only did so believing there will be better days and I want those seats when they come.
There was a time when I would never miss a game, wanted to be there before warmups (which usually meant buying more concessions, etc.), but for the last couple of years it has been a struggle to even give tickets away when I can't go (and I am less inclined to make it a priority as mediocre as we have been). It is also a frustrating experience to try to sell seats because you can't even come close in most games to getting 1/17th of face value, usually closer to half, especially early in the season since the Timbers have a reputation for not really trying to win until September rolls around.
After a nearly silent December, we’ve come out of the gates SWINGING the past three days. Miller is, at this point, a pretty good, smart signing. Hard to say how he compares to Zuparic, he could be better or could be worse. I love Zuparic but we need more leadership back there, which I think Miller might do better at than Dario, plus Miller is five years younger. Zuparic is 31 and exiting his prime, I think it actually might not be a bad move to get some money for him now, both in transfer fee and salary. As I said, I love him, but the dude is making a TON of money. Too much, imo. Miller is making less than half of that. To me, if we do end up moving on from Zuparic, this is smart business and roster management. Though, if we end up keeping him, I wouldn’t be mad either.
Yimmi leaving, as much I like him, is great. If we can get a great DP I will be thrilled. Speaking of...
I have my doubts about the Gabriel Pec rumor, it’s not been confirmed and he honestly seems too good to be true. But god I hope it’s real, I know it’s not smart to get overly excited for a player based off of highlights but, uh, consider me overly excited. He looks like the real deal at only 22, I have no doubt he would be amazing in MLS, he can beat a defender off the dribble, cut in and create, and has great technical ability for passing and dribbling. Would be a perfect use of a Young DP slot and we could still go out and get another full DP with no restrictions. I hope this is real because, even if we don’t end up signing him, I think it’s a great sign that this is the type of player we’re looking at. I think he’s exactly the kind of player we need. Even if we don’t land him, I hope we can get someone similar, and I hope we’re willing to open up the checkbooks to get a player of this caliber.
And now it’s reported that we have interest in Djordje Mihailovic (among other MLS teams). Personally I don’t see this happening unless we sell Evander, which I also don’t see happening. We have enough creative quality in the middle, and while Mihailovic would definitely be a great player to have, I think it’s just too many similar players to have at a similar position. I don’t think that would be good roster management. But, if we do sell Evander, getting Mihailovic and Pec would be a hell of a replacement.
We’re rolling now, and I really hope this doesn’t slow down because there’s still a lot of work that needs to happen on this roster. But I’ve been a pretty happy Timbers fan the past few days after, honestly, a pretty nice long stretch of not thinking about them very much
I don't say this to pick on you, because I don't mean it that way and I apologize if it comes across that way, but just because it's come up a lot here and other places: I have no earthly idea where the idea the Timbers would sell Evander after only one season comes from (and I know you qualified your statement with "which I also don't see happening").
I can count on one hand, with five fingers left over, the number of times any MLS team since DP's were introduced that has sold a DP after a single season. There is far too much money invested in these players, and in their fit with their team, to flip them after only one season. It's a hacky cliche to say this in 2024, but real life soccer isn't FIFA; teams don't invest all that time and money in scouting these guys just to roll them over for this window's new shiny for the sake of it.
I'd be thrilled with Pec and Evander on the same team; I hope it happens. I'm much less interested in Mihailovic; he scored 13 goals in five seasons in MLS before going to the all-offense Eredivisie and scoring, so far, one goal in 15 appearances. So let's get Pec and pair him with Evander.
100% in alignment with everything here. I just don’t see us selling Evander, although if Flamengo offers $15 million, then... I don’t know, maybe it’s not as crazy. But I just don’t see that happening. If it works it could be seen as a stroke of genius, with us not being tied to a player we invested in and realizing that it’s better to move on sooner rather than later for a player that fits better stylistically (not saying that Mihailovic does, this is a hypothetical if that were to all happen). If it doesn’t work it could be seen as a reactionary sign of weakness, further derailing the club. No real reason to me typing this out, just the two sides I see. But again, I can’t imagine we’d sell. The only comparison I can think of right now is the Crew selling Zelerayan and getting Rossi, but that was after Zelerayan had been there for several years, is over 30, and after winning a cup.
I am currently dreaming of Evander and Pec on our team, I truly think that move alone would make us a force to be reckoned with, that has the potential to be one of the best duos in MLS. Add a DP striker on top of that? I’m struggling to contain my excitement. Mihailovic would be a great player to have, but I don’t see that making sense or it being a real game changer because of the similar type players we already have.
I’m not going to get my hopes up about Pec, it’s just one rumor from an unconfirmed source that I’m not aware the reliability of. I just hope that is the type of player we are pursuing. I do not think we need another central midfielder or winger that likes to crowd the middle
Mihailovic signed with Colorado today, so that's one mistake Ned can't make....hahaha
What's this hope feeling I have? Smart moves...the Timbers? Rebuilt the keeper situation. Signing the keeper I wanted. Made a move inside MLS to get a good experienced CB. When CNT calls it's gonna hurt, but we're still much better than we were 2 weeks ago. Little more cooking from Ned and the front office and there is no reason we shouldn't have a chance in every game. Very excited about the direction.
I'm really happy with the Crepeau signing too. I guess this is what having faith in Ned looks like? Maybe? Not done yet, more to do for sure, but I'm not sure they could have gotten off to a better start on a large-scale rebuild - and there's still a DP spot to play with.
Just saw the news about cepeau. That is actually a very good signing as a starter. Happy with this one.
Two DP slots to play with! Good moves so far but there’s lots of work to be done still. We need backups at both FB spots, a backup CB or two (assuming Dario leaves. Maybe we sign that Tyler Clegg guy from T2?), and a starting winger, DP or not. Resigning Eric Miller would help a ton imo. A DP striker would be great but with Mora it’s not a pressing need, we can go the first month or so without that.
I hope Dario stays and we play a 3 back system with Miller, Mcgraw and zuparic. But based on their salaries, I doubt it. The signing of Miller pretty much means zuparic is gone. I still hope we go to a 3 back system that benefits bravo and masquera.
I agree with what we need from a defensive standpoint.1lb, 1rb, 2cb.
We still need 2 wingers and 2 strikers. 1 dp winger, 1 dp striker. We also need a cdm to back up chara. Trusting ayala who has hardly played in 2 years is not a smart choice. Paredes is an 8. Williamson 8. Evander 8. Moreno when playing in midfield 8. Who do we have that is actually a ball winner. An Enzo Fernandez, Tyler adams, ceciedo. We have chara and that's it. We need a Tam level 6. We should honestly be looking to start shrinking chara minutes. If we do all of those changes, we will be contenders.
I know I’m way higher on Ayala than pretty much everyone, but getting a high level player to play ahead of him is terrible roster management imo. We spent over $3 million on him, how is he going to get minutes and develop in such a crowded midfield if we buy yet another player to play ahead of him? At most he’d be getting small sub appearances here and there as a defensive 8 (I mean, depends what formation we’re gonna play, which we still have no idea about) which is not his natural position. He’d be sitting on the bench for no reason, and then he’s going to get unhappy and probably seek a move back to Argentina or something for less of a fee than we got him at. At some point we gotta develop these guys on the field, and I think Ayala is more than capable of playing there, even if he may be rough around the edges. He’s a ball winner and a fantastic passer. If we want another player there, I think we should get an MLS journeyman or undervalued MLS asset like Acosta, just without Acosta’s salary (though I would not be mad if we kept him around). I see no reason not to trust Ayala as the #2. If he stinks after his ACL tear... then we can reevaluate in the summer. There are more pressing issues on the roster.
But, we also have no idea what formation Neville wants to play. Maybe we play a 3-4-3, who knows. So maybe this debate doesn’t matter. A 3 in the back makes the most sense for our fullbacks, but we would have to trust Araujo for that, or get another CB if Zuparic leaves. I don’t want him to leave either but his salary is enormous and if he’s not happy, then so be it. But man would it feel nice going into the season with a back six of Crepeau, Bravo, McGraw, Miller, Zuparic, and Mosquera. That’s a hell of a backline
I hope we resign Eric Miller, his versatility and experience is really valuable I think, and he’d be a good backup in a back three
Agree with Miller. Cheap and versatile.
As for ayala. He hasn't played in almost 2 years. Has had two major surgeries already and chara is one bad injury away from retirement at his age. People want to blame our cbs for our bad defense but the truth is that chara can't cover ground as a lone 6 like he used to. More important is that he doesn't have the speed and explosiveness to step to the ball and player after a turnover.
The midfield congestion you speak of is at the 8. Not the 6. I think the real issue is the resources being spent at that position. Evander, Williamson, Paredes, and Moreno. 4 players for 1 position. (I know Moreno is a winger but he can play the 8.) I know formation matters and maybe we don't play a 4-3-3. (Which I highly doubt) but even if we did go 3 at the back that makes it even more important that those 2 midfielders in the center of a 3-4-3 be ball winners. Junkyard dogs. Paredes isn't that. Chara isn't anymore. Williamson and Evander don't know what ball winning is. You need players that know when to step to the ball and take it from the opposition. Not to play the space between the lines. That is the difference between 8s and 6's. 8s play the space defensively. 6s play the ball. They know when to step and destroy. That was our problem last year in defense. Our midfield would give up possession and more importantly space on counters. It allowed teams to bunker on us and counter while easily pushing through our midfield and into our box. We didn't have midfielders that could step on that first pass off of turnovers. Maybe 3 at the back helps on counters but how much energy does our defense save when we have a 6 that can break up that initial pass. (Like chara used to) instead our defense is running back 70 yards. I just don't have hope that a 37 year old chara will be able to go another season and an inexperienced 21 year old with two major surgeries and having only played 897 minutes out of a possible 6100 minutes in two years. We need a 6 that can cover for chara, and challenge ayala.
Ayala had knee surgery during preseason last year but was only out for two months. Are we counting that as major? He came back and looked better than he did before the injury. Then he tore his ACL. Injuries are a worry with him but he can still come back and be just fine.
I disagree with a lot here but it’s not worth debating. Interesting to not categorize Paredes as a ball winner considering he led the team in tackles last year (Ayala actually leads in tackles per 90, but that doesn’t really matter considering how little he played. But he was fantastic when he did play) and has some great defensive stats compared to midfielders. He’s not a 6 but he can do a serviceable job there in an emergency, and he’s most certainly a ball winning 8. I believe Ayala is exactly the kind of player you’re describing here, he’s a hard nosed ball winner who loves a good hard challenge, he’s great at reading the game and is a very gifted passer and dribbler. I know he just had a major surgery but he showed last year he can do a great job at that spot, and I think it’s poor roster management to drown an extremely talented U-22 initiative player in the depth chart. I get it from a “win now” perspective, but we are not a team in “win now” mode. We are rebuilding. If we want young players to come here in the future, we need to demonstrate that we give them time on the field to develop and sell them on.
If we want cover for Ayala and Chara that makes perfect sense to me, as long as Ayala is the #2 to Chara, or even the #1 if Chara moves to the bench.
Timbers actually... made another smart move within MLS? We got Crepeau! Yet another Canadian, definitely has Neville’s fingerprints all over it. He’s going with players he’s familiar with. I’ve yet to decide if that may end up burning us, but so far we’ve made some really smart signings! I’m now thrilled with our goalkeeper core. Last year he made less than Ivacic, so we may save some salary space as well. It’s been a busy offseason the last week, not a single day goes by without some news
We're slowly building The Great Wall Of Moose Jaw in defense and I'm here for it.
Where did you hear that we are signing Crepeau? Nothing official yet...is it a done deal? I know he was identified on here a while back as a free agent that we might go after. Great signing if true!
I just looked it up too. Since removing all social media I have not been paying attention to rumors like I used to. Bogert reported Portland are about to sign crepeau. He doesn't report rumors. He only reports facts. So it's a pretty solid chance it's gonna get done.
Yeah, I quit Twitter or whatever it is called now, so I am late to the party (even later). That is OK, this is still good news. It has been a while since we had a clear #1 keeper (and while I would have said Ivacic was that guy going into 2023, he wasn't "top 5 GK in the league" clear and away over his backup who actually ended up playing more of the season than he did after his brain melted down.
As much as I think LAFC has done most everything right in their short existence, I will never understand chasing the big name GK when Crepeau was already in-house. Lloris is...fine? I guess? But he is definitely not PL level any more, and while he's in no way a terrible keeper just because he can't cut it at Spurs, I also can't imagine a 37 year old Lloris is going to be a long-term upgrade over the 29 YO Crepeau for them.
Tom Bogert (and the Athletic in general) is tier 1 for reporting MLS/American soccer news. Literally can’t get higher when it comes to accuracy. He says we’re finalizing a deal - not just in advanced talks with, but finalizing - which means it’s definitely happening, barring any last minute surprises of course, which is always a possibility. Basically if you want to keep up on all transfers and news within MLS, follow Tom Bogert on Twitter or subscribe to the Athletic
So the hot stove was revving up........so who threw water on it!!!! I have no patience.
Q CC
The player Pec from Brazil seems fast and he can dribble around which seems a valuable quality that the Timbers lack. I don't know much about the CB from Miami because I hardly watched Miami since they were so bad until Messi showed up. I saw some people from Miami were not happy about his departure. I wonder if McGraw will eventually be a leader based on where he went to school. Doesn't that place produce leaders? Do we have a logjam of eights in the middle now that Evander appears to have migrated to the eight. Acosta I believe is the only destroyer out of that group so I wonder if we'll resign him as a back up. It's been a month of in activity so I'll go back to the Neville presser or whatever that was. I was looking forward to questions about his style, his ability to connect and motivate players, young players, etc. I wanted to know what his approach to defense was since we really have played much of it over the last decade. I wanted to know if we were going to be a pressing team, a counter-attacking team. I wanted to know if we would have an offense that could score in front of goal, does he believe in teams getting off to a fast start, etc but all I got, I think, was one question and a reply that were going to play 'fast and exciting soccer." Where have I heard that one before? One thing I did find out from our amazing press
core was that there was some tweet that was made ten or more years ago or something like that. I wanted to know about the turf as well from Ned. What about the injury to Ayala, the two injuries to Williamson, the two injuries to Niezgoda and the injuries that our new players can look forward to after they get here. I would have liked to learn these things about the new coach because like I said until Messi showed up, I didn't watch Miami and Miami was bad and they had bad players. Hats off to the press. I just wait to the first game of the year.
The main thing you need to know about Phil Neville is that he's...not a very good coach. He did sorta OK with the England women's team, to which he was appointed not on merit but because he knew the right people. He then left there and went to Miami, where he really wasn't good; his first season they finished 6th, but with a GD of -9, and in his second season he "led" Miami to five wins and 10 losses before being relieved of his duties in the Messi Makeover.
"Miami was bad and they had bad players" isn't necessarily inaccurate, but like Gio here, his job there was to make the best out of a bad situation, and he didn't/couldn't do that. That's why I'm hoping Ned brings in several better players - and Miller is a good start in that regard - so maybe he won't be Gio 2.0, and can do some good here. I'm not optimistic that he can, but I'm keeping an open mind.
"I wanted to know if we were going to be a pressing team, a counter-attacking team. I wanted to know if we would have an offense that could score in front of goal, does he believe in teams getting off to a fast start, etc"
To be fair to Phil, no coach goes into that level of detail in an introductory press conference, and I wouldn't have expected him to.
You forgot his actual first MLS season where they lost 17 games and finished 11th in the East with a -17 goal differential.
Food for thought. Even Neville's illustrious manager Sir Alex Ferguson finished in the bottom half of the league 3 out of the first 4 years after joing Red Devils. What if he had never had chance to grow and prove himself?
That wasn't in a parity league, tho... And Sir Alex had win 9 cups in the Scottish league and two at the European level with Aberdeen before joining Man U and had already been made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. Don't think it's really apples to apples there. Neville has been bad pretty much everywhere he had coached. Only time he had "success" was coaching a loaded England women's national team against like Albania and such.
Oh right! I didn't read back far enough. Nothing about Neville's resume makes me optimistic, but I'm trying to keep an open mind for now.