 |
| Delighted to have found this searching for "crippling brain-fart." |
Had Sebastian Blanco failed to score his impressive goal
(which I missed in real-time; Taco Bell run…for some damn reason), Portland
Timbers fans would have little to hold onto on the attacking side of the game
besides Alvas Powell making a series of bad decisions, before making his one
clear good one - e.g., his late shot on goal. And even that decision only
looked “good” due to Powell having better control of the ball and his body than
he did on any of his other misfiring forays up field. He made a similar,
clumsier run earlier and took a shot from the tough angle and he lost good runs by Fanendo
Adi in both cases…thus we draw yet another line that divides good decisions
from a bad ones.
I’d file Diego Valeri hitting a shot in frustration from
over 30 yards out in the same binder: whatever it suffers on the decision side,
it gains from winding up as a decent shot. Still, he scores that one time in 30 attempts, and that begs the question.
Blanco buried his goal, of course, and that lead to the fairer
result because, all things considered, the 1-1 draw it ended in feels better for this game than a
Dallas win would have. There, it’s worth considering whether another referee
would have called a penalty kick on Cristhian Paredes’ late hand-ball in the Timbers
area. (Was it a handball? I don’t recall at the moment who noted the ever-increasing
complexity of what does and doesn’t constitute a handball in MLS at this point,
but I am, and will always remain, a fan of the “porn” definition of a handball
- e.g., I know it when I see it. To answer the question, yes, I would have
called that one on the grounds that who knew where the cross would have
traveled had Paredes’ arm not knocked it down. Call it the “trajectory theory”
of handball.)
Regardless, I raise that point to raise the issue of thin
margins. Because neither team could put away this game, never mind squeeze the proverbial
last hand on the bat for dominance, this game hung forever in the absence a
moment of brilliance and/or a crippling brain-fart (hmm….maybe that’s the
inspiration for the image?). Both teams had singular moments of brilliance -
e.g., Dallas’ Jacori Hayes sending Portland’s defense and midfield into retreat
by running at them before dishing to Roland Lamah for the cool finish;
Portland, meanwhile, answered with Blanco’s goal. Besides that, the game was
just so much running around.
Truth be told, I’m pretty happy about that. Portland looked
quite a bit better moving the ball forward in this outing than they have all
season. Some as yet unmeasured part of me wonders about the extent Dallas
allowed that; as noted in the preview I slipped into this post, I figured
Dallas would leave space in the channels near the top of the attacking third for
Valeri and Blanco to operate in, and they did (and, to empathize a little, I’d
be shitting myself if I were a Dallas fan). I haven’t looked at the boxscore -
and probably won’t till I wrap up the rest of this weekend’s (blessedly sparse)
games, but I doubt Portland generated a ton of shots. Then again, Dallas didn’t
either and, in the context of the 2018 season so far, that spells less relief
than release - i.e., on par with coming out on the other side of a crippling bout
of “stomach flu.”
Even after something reasonably close to a lock-down early afternoon,
I’m highly dubious on declaring “problem solved” with Portland’s defense - and
for the couple-to-several reasons that I’ll ride on the way to closing out this
post. First, and most contextualized, I don’t think the Dallas attack is all
there yet. Even in the 3-0 win they dropped on the Seattle Sounders last weekend,
the Dallas attack presented as languid, something that worked best when Seattle
gifted it mistakes too big to overlook (for what it’s worth, I’d call this Dallas’ heaviest lift of that afternoon; the Seattle back line’s failure to
hold a line was the gift in that moment). Most of that chaos followed from
isolating Michael Barrios against the opposition fullback (or the space behind
him), but Dallas didn’t have nearly as much luck with this against Portland.
And, all the times they did, Portland’s left held up well enough to make you
think the team game-planned for that go-to maneuver. That Lamah scored had a
lot more to do with the quality of his finish (e.g., real, real good) versus
Dallas creating a great opening.
The other question comes with how much Portland had to give
up in order to achieve that defensive solidity. Or, better has to give up - which is what inspired the title. That
matters, because I don’t see this issue going away in the near-term. On some
days it seems like the Timbers line up in as many formations as there are
outlets that declare the formation in which they’re playing (does that make
sense? if not, I mean, if I check three sources for the formation Portland will
play on any given day, I’ll get three different answers often as not). At any
rate (sorry), someone called it a “Christmas tree” formation (e.g., 4-3-2-1)
and that best matches what I saw on the field, and my understanding of the personnel…if
with one caveat…which I’ll get to.
Broadly, those numbers translate to Blanco and Valeri
playing behind Adi in the attack, and with three defensive-esque midfielders
behind them doing different things. In real-time, I think this translated as
Lawrence Olum (more later) playing deep to protect the defense, Paredes
cheating a little higher to support the attack, while leaving Diego Chara free
to do his usual - e.g., solve myriad problems while running a marathon (welcome
back, son; dad missed you!). As
much as that feels good on the defensive side, it shifts still more of the weight
for not just scoring goals, but simply generating a useful attack on Blanco,
Valeri and Adi. The extent of that shift (and here’s where I pick up that
caveat), comes with what happens with Paredes as the season progresses, as
Chara returns to perfect form (he seemed in good enough form today), and when
David Guzman comes back into the team.
By all that I mean, if you’re panicked about Portland’s
midfield mix in the post Darlington Nagbe era, 1) join the club (to which I
didn’t know I belonged till I did), and 2) understand it as a work in progress.
The one thing I know so far is that I never want to see Olum paired with Guzman
one more fucking time, I swear to God on my mother. If I had to name the clearest
improvement between today and the two games prior, Chara has the legs/speed
combo to cover ground that Guzman simply doesn’t and, whatever I think of
Dallas, I do believe that played a huge role in today’s improved performance.
Chara is this team’s MVP in that regard because he makes every player on the team better,
except maybe the forwards and the ‘keeper. If Chara’s the one, true given (lo,
for He is), there’s a lot of thinking left to do on the rest of the midfield -
e.g., who fits best around Chara and doing what?
The one thing I’d argue, though, is that whatever the team
does has to goose the offense as much as possible - and till further notice or
new acquisition, given the player pool. As much as people shit on Olum, he
actually makes sense in that deep role. He’s not a great passer, he doesn’t
always make the best decisions (something he opted to highlight today), but he
gets in the way well enough and can make a safety pass well enough. More than
anything else, if he’s nearer the back for the sake of numbers, and with Chara
marauding all over the middle, that frees Portland’s best available player, who
isn’t Blanco or Valeri, to get involved in and, ideally, help direct the
attack (or...gasp, maybe even be part of it?). And with the other two players limiting his running…and when is Guzman
getting back again? In all seriousness, I don’t know who is better suited to
the role between Paredes and Guzman. On the other hand, I do know that I’ve
found Guzman disappointing since the middle of last season, and that’s indicative
of openness, if not more.
To take this one step further (at which point I’ll stop…after
just one more pit-stop), assuming Portland can’t generate more attacking
support out of the midfield “3” of that 4-3-2-1, or even a 4-3-3 with the same
dudes (or, when it goes into the attack, a 4-2-2-2, or, god forbid, a 4-1-2-3, etc.),
the fullbacks will have to step up to offer some kind of attacking quality, or,
failing that, just some freakin’ width. I think that’s what the team tried with
Alvas Powell today and, golly, if he hasn’t finally turned me off. I know he
has his critics on the defensive side, but if his speed makes up for his slips
85% of the time, I'm good. He’s damn near useless, on the other hand,
in the attack, where he forces one long-shot decision after another, and too often
poorly. I don’t think Zarek Valentin had license to roam today (and maybe that’s
how the team bottled up Barrios), so maybe he can pitch in if Portland can’t get
the midfield sorted…I don’t know. Just…outside a defensive posture that could very well neuter the team, faith in our fullbacks is very glass
half-empty just now.
I think that’s it….wait! One last thing!
I liked Bill Tuiloma out there today, he looked energetic
when I saw him, but I mostly didn’t see him and, per the cliché, that’s good.
At the same time, the Tuiloma/Larrys Mabiala central pairing had either a
steadier midfield in front of it or a lazier/more opportunist attack to manage.
To answer the obvious question, though, yes, I would give Tuiloma the next
start as well. In fairness, I’ve never cared for Liam Ridgewell, which means I’m
always sniffing after solutions, but I’m a fan of making people earn their
spots.
No comments:
Post a Comment