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John Spencer has really put a lot of emphasis on the fact that the Portland Timbers need to get rid of the label "Can't win on the road". To do so Portland needs to not concede early and keep it's defense shape. As with most Sigi Schmid led teams Seattle does like to have possession of the ball and to pass it around, a lot like Real Salt Lake, however they were, before the injury to Steve Zakuani, a very dangerous team on the counter.
What we will most likely see is the same mentality from Portland as we have seen in the last two league games, both 1-0 wins (albeit at home). Portland will cede possession to Seattle in Seattle's defensive third and force them to try and break Portland's defense down. Meanwhile Kenny Cooper and Jorge Perlaza will do their best to put pressure on the backline of Seattle and not let them try and set up the perfect pass.
More after the jump.
Portland will allow Seattle to try and send balls through the air looking for their forwards as they feel Eric Brunner and Mamadou "Futty" Danso will be able to win any of those balls. Nate Jaqua will be the perfect counter to Brunner or Futty but he has yet to find his form, so who knows if he will be effective or not. The longer Portland holds Seattle out of the goal the better for Portland's scoring chances.
Seattle does tend to become frustrated and play tight when they are unable to score. When they do become tight they do foul and this sets up Portland to get a goal. Portland has had 12 goals on the season and of those 8 have come from a set-piece (free kick or corner kick). Portland has feasted on the set-piece.
The stat of the day is that Seattle has committed the most fouls in all of the MLS. Again not everyone has played the same amount of games but here is the fouls committed and suffered table:
Club Per game Per Game 10 152 15.2 110 11 10 148 14.8 129 12.9 10 127 12.7 122 12.2 9 125 13.888889 115 12.777778 8 119 14.875 102 12.75 LA Galaxy 11 118 10.727273 141 12.818182 8 113 14.125 98 12.25 9 112 12.444444 124 13.777778 8 110 13.75 137 17.125 9 106 11.777778 105 11.666667 8 105 13.125 88 11 D.C. United 9 95 10.555556 105 11.666667 9 94 10.444444 127 14.111111 6 90 15 79 13.166667 8 89 11.125 80 10 Portland Timbers 8 84 10.5 113 14.125 8 76 9.5 86 10.75 Real Salt Lake 6 68 11.333333 70 11.666667
As you can see Seattle is at the top of the list in total fouls and in fouls committed per game. Portland on the other hand is bottom of the league in fouls committed but near the top in fouls suffered. Now fouls don't mean a thing unless they are in a dangerous spot, so lets take a look at who is committing those fouls.
|
Player |
|||
|
M |
19 |
9 |
|
|
D |
17 |
6 |
|
|
F |
15 |
19 |
|
|
D-M |
11 |
1 |
|
|
F |
11 |
1 |
|
|
M |
10 |
7 |
|
|
F |
9 |
3 |
|
|
D |
8 |
6 |
|
|
D-F |
8 |
3 |
|
|
D |
7 |
2 |
|
|
M |
7 |
10 |
|
|
M |
6 |
13 |
|
|
M |
6 |
3 |
|
|
F |
6 |
5 |
|
|
M |
5 |
4 |
|
|
M |
4 |
1 |
|
|
D |
3 |
1 |
As you can see the player who commits the second most fouls for Seattle is one of their defenders, if this trend continues Saturday night Portland has a good chance of scoring. Not only that but 3 out of their top five in fouls committed can foul in a dangerous spot which again bodes well for Captain Jack Jewsbury.