Kenny Cooper Not Starting Against Sporting KC Could do Wonders for the Portland Timbers
by Geoff Gibson on Jul 1, 2011 10:11 AM PDT
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A report out of OregonLive.com yesterday evening suggests that one of the Portland Timbers' most prominent players (and most expensive) could find himself on the bench. Kenny Cooper, despite coming into the league and team with high expectations has had a lackluster season so far scoring only three goals and not making much of an impression in the final third. In fact, he's been pretty disappointing all year around.
According to Geoffrey C. Arnold, during yesterday's training it was Eddie Johnson who was training beside Jorge Perlaza not Kenny Cooper which leads him to believe that we could see the English forward starting in tomorrow's game. It's an interesting proposition that I believe could be the right move for the club at this time.
Let's take a look at the team as it is now:
Kenny Cooper is, on paper, the best striker available. We know he has the skills to compete in MLS. He did it in 2008 and, as much as the league continues to get better, it hasn't improved so radically so as to outpace Kenny Cooper's abilities. Which means there's something else wrong with Cooper. Perhaps it's mental, maybe he can't gel. Maybe he's gotten complacent in his position. I don't really know. Something is wrong though.
So why not move him out of his starting position? Give the starting role to somebody who has yet to really prove himself. Despte not having a single goal to his name in the regular season as of yet, Eddie Johnson seems as good a choice as any available at the moment, with Bright Dike still out and Brian Umony a loaner. He could be what the team is missing. We don't really know because he hasn't really been given a shot. In all he's played a total of 68 minutes in the regular season, making a scant four appearances almost always at the tail end of a match.
Despite some nagging achilles problems, Eddie Johnson says he's ready to take the starting position as well:
"I'm definitely ready (to start). I think I've worked hard the last month. He hasn't named the team that's going to start. So we'll wait and see."
Better than just seeing how Eddie Johnson would perform if given the full 90 is the simple fact that each player needs that competition for their starting position. Without it, why should they bother giving 100% during training? Why should they come early and stay late? Why should they fight for a position they know is safe?
So, yes, despite technically being our best striker (on paper) I firmly believe that sitting Kenny Cooper out of tomorrow's match could be one of the best things to happen to the club. Give him a reason to prove why he deserves that spot. Scoring 18 goals in 2008 won't cut it anymore. Score 10 goals this season and we'll talk.
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This is the best news I've heard all week
Cooper, as of now, brings nothing to the table. I know that’s not permanent, but it’s good to see Spencer realizes this too and is giving someone else a chance to show what they can do.
You guys obviously haven't seen our other "options"
Cooper is absolutely still one the two best strikers we have. His replacement, Johnson, plays EXACTLY the same game, except he isn’t 6’3, and has proven nothing at the MLS level (though I’ll conceed he’s likely a slightly better passer, but that benefit is easily overcome by the fact your using a 6’0 tall guy to be a target forward for headed flick-ons to the speedster).
The problem has never ever been with the strikers. Its had almost everything to do with the fact we never ever ever get the strikers the ball anywhere near the top of the box. Its either very wide, or a hopeful ball over the top. If Dike was healthy, I’d concede that was worth trying out, but Cooper is MILES better, and has shown he’ll run his lungs out there most of the time.
Johnson is a poacher, who had many of his USL goals come from pks. He’s not bad, but he’s no better (and I’d almost say worse) then Pore.
Subbing starting quality players out just so people perform in practice in a game that we need to win is a horrible justification. KC’s defense has stiffened, and I’d much rather have Cooper out there at least being physical with CBs, then have Johnson out there.
We need some changes, I won’t doubt that, but other then the pk fiasco and the defense on the set piece in dallas, why are people piling on Cooper so much? He’s a guy that works hard for this team and I still think is the best striker on the roster.
I'm piling on Cooper because he has contributed nothing in several games
yes, part of that is a midfield issue, but how many times does Cooper get the ball and fall over, or fall over on the way to the ball, or get the ball and stay upright and do nothing of note with it.
I don’t care how hard he works if the work doesn’t pay off, and right now it’s not paying off. Give him a game off and let me see what someone else can do.
by pdb on Jul 1, 2011 12:53 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
I agree
Most folks I know have been more down Perlaza. Kenny I think is solid, but I keep coming back to the way we get the ball to our forwards. Our offensive style of play Needs some change, that’s for sure. I would try Nagbe or Sizzo with Cooper up top to mix it up. Dike will help when he comes back. That, or switch up the formation, maybe to a 5-3-2. It’s just too easy to pressure our wingbacks a little and we’re prone to turnovers out of the back.
by BBlazer on Jul 2, 2011 12:52 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
And who on the team (and league) leader in offsides?
Perlaza….
Look I’m not saying he’s having a steller season. If we had a striker that could combine with Perlaza better in playing a true big target forward on the bench, I’d agree we need to try that. We don’t. I watched Johnson alot last year. I’ve watched him in reserve games. If Cooper annoys you currently, Johnson is going to be worse.
Ineffectual
Perlaza and Cooper leave a considerable amount to be desired…nothing new there.
But Cooper is the “marque” player in the discussion. As such, I don’t feel it is unreasonable to expect him to perform at a higher level…something I don’t feel he has done (which is not to say he doesn’t work hard). I’m biased…I’ve never been fond of Cooper. For my money he’s a tall player who should be a better header of the ball in offensive situations…combine that with the fact he has average speed (at best) and that’s not the makings of something special. He can be quite good with his feet, but if you give him 15+ yards to dribble he will turn the ball over. He had one good season in MLS…and I would argue that his midfield in Dallas helped him considerably in that endeavor (something lacking with the Timbers, in his defense). Cooper may run his brains out, but I’ll take a lazy forward with flair who scores on occasion over a guy who “is a hard worker” but can’t find the net.
Perlaza is fast, but certainly does not have the sort of blinding speed that consistently enables him to pull away from defenders in the long ball game the Timbers seem so fond of. Having said that I still think he exhibits the potential to be more consistently dangerous than Cooper.
Is a Perlaza/Johsnon pairing “the promised land”….likely not, but continuing to put out the same line and expect different results is a reality passed its shelf life. If the on field pairing doesn’t work, maybe it will light some fires.
Since this is a “first year” team is it better to fail with the devil you know or take some chances? How do you really know what you’ve got on the bench if you never test it?
by billyraybatesmotel on Jul 1, 2011 12:58 PM PDT reply actions
Don't agree with that at all
But give me a breakdown of the strikers on our bench, with their strengths and weaknesses….then show me how any of them are better than Cooper. If Brandon Roy isn’t playing well, taking ALL of his minutes and giving them ALL to say, Eliot Williams isn’t exactly a great idea. Sure maybe it works out, but I’ve seen all of our strikers enough to believe we’d take a significant step down with him (Cooper) on the bench.
On paper
Cooper may well be a world beater, but I’m basing my opinions on what he has done on the field. And are you implying that if soccer allowed a 10-15 minute rotation policy then subbing Cooper in-and-out would be a better option? And comparing Copper to Roy??…you jockeying for Kenny’s Christmas list? I know, it’s a “best player” analogy…which is frightening from the Timber’s side.
I’m more interested/concerned with complacency. If Spencer thinks Cooper and some one other than Perlaza are a good option, so be it. I think Cooper’s a dud…I don’t wish him to fail, quite the contrary, but if we’re getting his best right now then that’s a problem.
by billyraybatesmotel on Jul 2, 2011 6:42 AM PDT up reply actions
Wow, maybe I should have added (sarcasm).......
embarrassing for everyone involved.
Andre Miller FTW!
Tone is extremely hard to infer if you have only ever made a handful of comments
We don’t really know your sense of humor yet.
(and I stand by my assessment of the waste of time that is the ASG)
by pdb on Jul 1, 2011 3:05 PM PDT up reply actions
This we can agree on
As much as I want to see Timbers Green out there at the game, I’d much rather give those guys a chance to relax at home and watch it on tv, then make them fly out to NY to play in it.
It would leave us with a small front line
But why not throw nagby up front with perlaza. You can’t do much worse. Anytime we have a free kick we bring up the big defenders anyways. That would also allow us to have zizzo on the field with nagby. just a different idea. And Nagby is probably a better forward than any of our other options right now anyways.
All of you clamoring for Johnson, answer this.....
What about his game do you think makes him a better partner to Perlaza?
Is he as big and physical and as capable of holding off MLS defenders? (no, regardless what you think about Cooper going down too easily)
Is he as capable of holding said ball and perhaps making a play? (debatable…on one hand, is is probably a better passer (he played CAM in england some before switching to striker), but he’s smaller, less capable of winning a header, and he has little chemistry so far with Perlaza (though I think they’ve been trying to get him used to that by having him partner with Umony in reserve games)).
Why now? (Yes, Cooper hasn’t been outstanding, but really, who has in the offensive half, except for Jack on occasion/set pieces, and this KC game is a winnable game right before we host a very strong Seattle team, do we REALLY want to be heavily tinkering with players?)
Look, I’m not going to convince those of you that don’t like Cooper because of the fact he has gone down easily at times, or the pk controversy, or the lack of production. I get that he has not performed to the expectations heaped on him, but I don’t agree that we are better off without him.
The blame for our performance in my mind is almost exclusively on the midfield. We have a bend, don’t break defense that was always going to get exposed without solid midfield play. We play 2 defensive midfielders, neither of whom are amazing passers, and who too often, have allowed teams to come right up the middle at us. On the outside, we have 3 young players who have up and down games, and aren’t ready or able to handle entire offense but put on their shoulders, and all three are middling, if not outright poor, defensively.
Take a look at the MLS chalkboard (click on our team, and then distribution and possession) for our last few games:
http://www.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2011-06-25-fc-dallas-vs-portland-timbers/chalkboard
http://www.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2011-06-11-portland-timbers-vs-colorado-rapids/chalkboard
Then take a look at say, RSL’s last few games:
http://www.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2011-06-25-real-salt-lake-vs-toronto-fc/chalkboard
http://www.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2011-06-18-real-salt-lake-vs-dc-united/chalkboard
I see us generally almost always having a HUGE gap of possession at the top of the box, which is directly related to the fact we have 2 cms that don’t press up near enough. Add in the fact how often do Perlaza or Cooper have any possession at the top of the box, you can see, we HAVE to either find a way to get better hold up play (and I just don’t believe Johnson is that guy), or we need to get Jack or Diego (or Nagbe) playing further up in support of the strikers. Otherwise, switching Johnson for Cooper isn’t going to change anything.
If you agree that Cooper has not performed to expectations why do you not agree that it's reasonable to try someone else?
by pdb on Jul 1, 2011 2:54 PM PDT up reply actions
Because the drop off
Between Cooper and anyone else is SOOO significant, I think the chance of us finding a spark at basically 0…while I think at almost any time Cooper could get out of his funk and hit a 20 yard volley (which I agree isn’t necessarily likely, is absolutely higher than us finding a spark).
I'm at the point with the Timbers season that I'm OK with taking that risk
One game without Cooper isn’t going to make things much worse than they are right now, so why not give it a shot?
by pdb on Jul 1, 2011 3:23 PM PDT up reply actions
I'd rather
“try” it when we have 2 games in one week, and we need to do some rotating anyway, not after a 4 game skid…too many bad memories of the 09 skid when gavin started rotating players in and out and it just went downhill fast.
you might get a spark
from cooper by not starting him. It worked wonders for Montero a couple times now.
Scoreboards, not billboards.
Regular season, not pre-season.
No one is really clamoring for Johnson here.
It’s just about getting Cooper out. I want our best 11 out there, and Cooper probably is a part of that, so mostly I agree with you.
But all we will be missing is a couple goals waved off for offsides, so I’m not too worried about it.
volatilelyle.com
by almost awesome on Jul 2, 2011 2:37 PM PDT up reply actions
Seems to me Cooper has been trying to do a little too much
He takes too many touches before he passes and maybe looks for his own shot a litte too much. Feels at times like he passes only as a last resort. Maybe watching a game from the bench would help him see how to better fit with this team. That said, I’m not so sure about just bringing on Johnson to take his place. Like Kazper, I’d rather see Nagbe moved to the withdrawn forward/ attached center midfield role in a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-4-1-1 and bring Zizzo on out wide.
It's more about the formation and tactics
I think our problem has been more about not having any sort of creativity in our plan of attack. We play a pretty rigid 4-4-2 that teams have figured out pretty quickly. If it was up to me I would look to play a 4-2-3-1 with Nagbe playing as an attacking mid in center who could be a playmaker to the wings and the man up top whether that be Cooper, Perlaza, or Johnson. I don’t think a personel change is what is going to do the trick, we need to show that we have more than simply one way to break down a defense.
On the issue of Cooper, in my mind he is trying to do way way too much, he tends to drift out onto the wings, when really he should be playing as a centre forward. How many times has he been in the middle of the box attempting to win a header on goal? not many. Part of this is the midfield, but part of it is also Cooper not staying in the middle where he is needed.
In the end this team has a lot of issues, some of it has to due with talent, some is attitude, and lastly a part of it is tactical. Hopefully we can figure it out.
I don't know about the salaries or anything,
But what about Cooper for Bunbury? Can we straight swap? I liked Bunbury everytime I’ve watched him, but he’s been benched Can he still play?
Mike Rice: "Camby nearly rejected that with his Armpit!"
Mike Barrett: "Now that would be a fragrant foul."
Cooper
I think it would be interesting to try Cooper at left back. He has the engine for it and would be available around the box on free kick sand corners. Other forwards have been successfully converted to the back line, usually late in their careers, and maybe it’s time for Cooper to make the move.
I don't really think he'd be down for it, but he does do a good defensive job on corner kicks.
I write for Stumptown Footy, SB Nation's Portland Timbers blog.
by thehemogoblin on Jul 2, 2011 2:14 PM PDT up reply actions
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