Game Recap: Portland's Road Woes Continue

by Ryan Gates on Jun 4, 2011 10:38 PM PDT

Quick Recap:

Portland Timbers gets plenty of chances to score from a set piece but fail to do so. Troy Perkins played amazing but still couldn't not clean up all the defensive mistakes and Chivas USA gets one by him. 1-0 Loss.

First Half:

Portland came out looking the best they have looked to start a road game, however it only lasted 5 minutes. Chivas took over from there and almost got a goal in the 8th minute with a shot from outside the box that took a deflection before getting through to Perkins. Perkins made a great reactionary save to keep the ball from going in.

More After the Jump:

When Portland finally won the ball there was such a huge gap between the midfield and the forwards that they were unable to keep the ball and thus mount an attack. Instead of actually breaking the pressure Portland immediately gave the ball back because it was always 2v4 and allowed Chivas to turn around and shove it down their throat.

This pattern continued throughout the rest of the first half until the very last 5 minutes when finally Portland found some possession but were still unable to hit the final ball to get a goal. With Portland pushed up Chivas were able to get a counter and the cross found a wide open Justin Braun who actually did something more difficult than scoring the goal, he missed the goal.

Portland goes into the half still tied at nil-nil.

Second Half:

Portland came out a little better than the first half and showed a little more patience as they moved forward. However despite the better composure on the ball Portland still lacked quality in the their crosses or in the ball behind the defense. Portland just looked out of sync in the defense with our General Eric Brunner out with an illness.

Without Brunner Chivas found a lot of space to roam and used this space to their advantage, to be honest I don't know if Brunner would have made a huge difference in this game. Chivas used the space on the wing to find a wide open Paulo Nagamura who then found an even more wide open Marco Mondaini for the easy tap in.

Portland's response to the goal was promising but still seemed like they couldn't pass the ball to save their lives. Balls went out of bounds, flew over player's heads, went straight to a Chivas Player and in general went everywhere except where it needed to go.

The two bright spots were a both shots from Jack Jewsbury however neither were able to find the back of the net. In the end Portland just didn't have enough offensive execution to score a goal tonight.

Observations:

Portland's last goal from the run of play was way back in the FC Dallas Game.
The gap between the mids and the forwards was finally plugged with Nagbe, should that happen from the start?
Portland's Wing players got killed by Chivas' wing players.
Kalif Alahassan has not produced like we need him to on the road.
If Portland's forwards are to score they need much better service than they have received.
The set-piece well has really dried up.
Congrats to Ryan Pore and his brand new boy!

What are your thoughts? Share them below.

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Comments

The depressing thing is this is just not a very good team

I had high hopes based on their start, but their true talent level is starting to emerge and it’s distressing.

by pdb on Jun 4, 2011 11:41 PM PDT reply actions

Nice writeup

Good to see someone posting about the Timbers. A few things I’ve noticed… agree or disagree, it’s all good:

- For whatever reason, set pieces are way ahead of other aspects of the team’s game. That’s not good or bad, it just means the rest needs to catch up. Kudos to the team and Spencer for leveraging their strength in the early going and earning 17 points to be right in the middle of the table, not bad for a brand new team IMHO.
- Yesterday (especially second half) was one of the first times this year that I’ve seen Charra and Jack really involved in the attack. Prior games, the strategy seemed to be to just boot it up the wings, run on the ball and try to get fouled… it’s worked! BUT… now that teams have figured out that trick, it’s time to start working the ball up with those center mids and playing good balls into Perlaza and Cooper.
- Speaking of Cooper, man does he have a future as a groundskeeper or what… poor guy has seen every patch of grass in the MLS up close this year, LOL… hey Kenny, try to stay onside and upright for once!
- Maybe it’s just me, but Jeremy Hall has been involved in quite a few of the other team’s goals this year. I count last night’s against him, he needs to mark Mondaini there.

Not the biggest soccer fan, but I have lived in both England and France and usually keep up with the EPL and Le Ligue every year. With Portland joining MLS I decided to watch our league for the first time this year. Go Timbers! Cheers…

by jaychuck on Jun 5, 2011 7:22 AM PDT reply actions

I think your second bullet is the key

Portland at this point are a one-trick pony, and their trick isn’t working any more because everyone’s figured it out. Time for a new trick or two, please.

And oh, Kenny Cooper – I like you. I really do. But man, you gotta get some training wheels or something because there’s no excuse for how often you go down.

by pdb on Jun 5, 2011 9:39 AM PDT up reply actions

It'll come together

Just slower than us fans would like, isn’t it always the case… we gotta remember, these guys have only been together for what, 3 months?

All kidding about his recent play aside, I like Kenny too. He and Perlaza are both talented. When they start really working with the midfielders and with each other, look out.

by jaychuck on Jun 5, 2011 10:55 AM PDT up reply actions

your first point

was one sigi made after the sounder game and timbers coach and fans jumped all over him. So be careful… :)

Scoreboards, not billboards.
Regular season, not pre-season.

by lysander on Jun 5, 2011 10:51 PM PDT up reply actions

That was the first game I was bored by the Timbers.

by Dustructo on Jun 5, 2011 9:45 AM PDT reply actions

I was spending too much time being angry at them to be bored by them

by pdb on Jun 5, 2011 10:17 AM PDT up reply actions

Rodney Wallace is secretly terrible.

You don’t notice it actively, but then you look and see how many times Chivas blew open Portland’s defense on its left side, and you realize someone should be playing there, but they’re nowhere to be found.

This happens time and time again.

At least with Jeremy Hall, he’s usually around the ball, in the neighborhood to make a play. Wallace is anonymous at the best of times.

I write for Stumptown Footy, SB Nation's Portland Timbers blog.

by thehemogoblin on Jun 5, 2011 12:23 PM PDT reply actions

I don't think it's particularly secret any more, especially in the last couple games

by pdb on Jun 5, 2011 12:42 PM PDT up reply actions

Agreed

Wallace and Hall are really bad. I’d prefer our backline be Futty, Brunner, Horst, and then have Wallace/Hall challenge for that last spot as I think either of them are still a better option than Goldwaithe or Purdy, although the latter would be an interesting option.

Or if it were me, toss out the fourth defender completely and do a 3-4-2-1 so that Zizzo and Nagbe get on the field at the same time. I think our team is really well suited to a Napoli-style attack.. Bring Chara up with Perlaza as the two forwards, Cooper as striker, Jewsbury and Nagbe in the middle, with Zizzo and Alhassan on the wings to utilize their speed and aggressive passing ability. Our defense has definitely been the weak spot and this team isn’t perfectly suited for a 4-4-2 from a roster standpoint, at least from what I’m seeing. Let’s at least be a threat on the offensive side.

by vitaminx on Jun 5, 2011 2:30 PM PDT up reply actions

In fairness to Hall

he’s not really a RB. He wasn’t brought here to be a RB. Hall is clearly better at midfield and the Timbers offense was better with him there too. I’m going to give Hall some slack because at the moment there is nobody else that can play RB for the Timbers while Purdy is off on his little International fantasy. The only other option now is Braun and he isn’t ready yet.

This is more Wilkinson’s failure for (1) the Kerrea Gilbert fiasco and (2) not getting another RB once the Gilbert deal fell apart (or sooner, if you believe that the Timbers waited way too long to walk away from Gilbert).

by yepyou'reright on Jun 5, 2011 4:42 PM PDT up reply actions

This

Hall isn’t a RB, and honestly, he was one of the better players in the first half.

Wallace hasn’t been great, but then he was never a lock down defender, he was an attacking LB that was supposed to be decent going forward (ala that goal he and Kalif scored). Not only that, but while his d wasn’t great, he honestly was being CONSTANTLY pulled out of position by Kalif making a poor/bad/horrendous turnover. I put 90% of his bad performance squarely on Kalif (worst game of the year without a question from him, Nagbe coming on for him was 60 minutes too late).

Happened all night long. Hall’s a bit the same way, just Zizzo wasn’t near as bad.

by zaggy on Jun 6, 2011 8:44 AM PDT up reply actions

How much of it is there fault though, and how much of it has to do with the style they play?

If you have noticed spencer has his outside mids stayed really pinched into the center. Because of that anytime the other team switches the ball the outside backs have to slide over and basically get put into a 2v1. It was kind of frustrating to watch the outside man always being open.

by Kazper on Jun 5, 2011 2:44 PM PDT up reply actions

Glass half-full perspective

Timbers actually created some run-of-play chances yesterday. Yes, the loss stinks and the defensive shape needs to improve. But if they’re ever going to improve their run-of-play offense they must continue trying to create by moving the ball on the ground. They’ll be some growing pains with this as they go through the learning curve, such as losing the possession battle or counter-attack vulnerability. But that’s better than not growing at all, and that’s what will happen if it’s nothing but long balls. Patience grasshopper, patience.

Also, they’re 5-5-2. But people are talking like they’re 0-12 just because they lost two in a row. They’re basically a .500 team. Not great, but not bad for an expansion team after only 12 games. I’m not happy with the last two games either, but let’s have some perspective. It could be better, but it could be a lot worse (see VAN, CHI, KC). Support the team, not the scoreboard or standings. It will get better.

by yepyou'reright on Jun 5, 2011 5:04 PM PDT reply actions

Now a Cooper question...

Should Nagbe and Perlaza get a chance to play forward together?

*Editing fail above: There will be some growing pains… * Ugh.

by yepyou'reright on Jun 5, 2011 5:08 PM PDT up reply actions

wait what

You’re telling me I can’t simultaneously be a fan of the Timbers and criticize how they’re playing? Seriously? I’m supposed to just say YAY TIMBERS and think everything’s great, despite watching them play like utter crap last weekend and like semi-disinterested players yesterday?

Sorry, can’t do that. If something is wrong, I’m going to point it out, mostly because I want to hear discussion about it – I’m not an expert, I only know what I see. What I see from this team right now is that they’re not playing well – and bromides like “it will get better” are pretty much meaningless, because you know what? It could also get worse.

I’m not concerned about the standings. I’m concerned about watching a team that seems to have taken two steps back after having taken three steps forward, and that’s worrisome to me. If the willingness to discuss this makes me less of a fan, so be it, but I can’t ignore the fact that this team can’t get a ball out of the midfield to save its life right now, and I would love to have an intelligent discussion about why that is and what can be done about it. Why is that a problem?

by pdb on Jun 5, 2011 8:56 PM PDT up reply actions

My comment was titled "glass half-full..."

Meaning I’m well aware of what the problems are. My comment had criticisms too. "Defensive shape needs to improve… " and then a question about Cooper’s role on this team because he hasn’t done much lately. But I chose not to focus on criticism because there is plenty of that going around at the moment, and some of it is deserved.

It wasn’t about you or your loyalty to the Timbers, which I have no doubts about. I had a different perspective, that is all.

That said, of course it could get worse. Nothing goes up in a straight line. But I think it will get better eventually. There is no right or wrong in this, just outlook and opinion. By the way, I don’t get angry or flame on these things so I’ll take your “meaningless bromides” comment as good banter.

Keeping your love of bromides in mind, I’ll wrap it up by saying we’re all pulling for the same team.

by yepyou'reright on Jun 5, 2011 11:39 PM PDT up reply actions

Nagbe isn't a forward

I think you’ll see a very very similar situation develop, where he is dropping SOOO far back, that when he gets the ball to Perlaza, he’ll turn to look for support in the box (rather than taking on 3 defenders) and see no one, which is exactly what is currently happening. Its the unfortunate byproduct of playing two deep playing central midfielders (and it should be pointed, I don’t think either were comfortable when one of them was pressed forward and asked to defend from there against Chivas…they need to be side-by-side, not in front of one another).

If you want to add some creativity (and to be honest, I’m really not sure Nagbe is fit to go even 60 minutes right now from the start), I think you have to change the formation a bit, perhaps adding Marcelin and Nagbe, and removing both Zizzo and Alhassan, then playing a 4-3-1-2, (Chara, Marcelin, Jewsbury at the back, Nagbe in front of them) with alot less width, but a bit more bite in the midfield. (that and I’m fairly certain it will take severe number of injuries/huge drops in form for Spencer to make that many moves, he’s both an English manager that prefers the 4-4-2, and he’s shown he’ll stick by his guys, almost to a fault, rather then let a bad performance or two drop them to the bench).

by zaggy on Jun 6, 2011 8:52 AM PDT up reply actions