That was exactly the kind of win the Portland Timbers needed. I’ll elaborate below, but, between a late start tonight and a long commute tomorrow, I’ve got to keep this brief.
Big Picture: The Timbers attacks is...what it is this season (again, see below) and, barring a change I can’t see no matter how hard I squint, that makes the Timbers defense the key to whatever success they’ll enjoy. And the defense – writ pretty damn large, too (see below) – did a great, game-winning job tonight.
If the Timbers can follow the same script for the rest of 2022 – and this goes double given some of what’s happening above them (emphasis on “some”) – they could actually do something with a 2022 that looked poised to die out like the fire you stare at on a cold night when the tent seems too far away and the whiskey looks up for outlasting the fire. You know what that means if you’ve been there...
All that’s to say, the Timbers punched three points out of Austin FC tonight on a 2-1 win delivered, as I both see it and want to see it, by the defense. It took surviving, golly, three, four shots in the opening 10 minutes - by my count, Aljaz Ivacic, made three of his four saves three in that stretch – but it also took just one sharp, early punch to the jaw to discomfit Austin for most of the game. Bill Tuiloma delivered the blow shortly after Austin’s better moments, and with a defender’s attacking header on a set-piece that Eryk Williamson sent straight to his head, postage-paid and all. It was simple as you like, not to mention the first positive thing Portland had managed all game that wasn’t a save, but it gave the Timbers a lead and...
My main talking point for the game, or the continuation of it, is complicated. After Tuiloma’s go-ahead goal, the Timbers commenced to defending the lead and, honestly, I don’t know what to call what I saw but not so much pressing as loitering with intent on the edges of a melting line of engagement. I need to tighten up the name of the strategy, obviously, but it boils down to having a defensive player vaguely menace the opposition starting around 2/3 of the field away from goal. Sure, the Timbers had a couple moments where they did the classic press – i.e., players chasing hard at each successive passer (a great strategy when you time the releases right) – but, for the most part, it amounted to being...present as Austin tried to work the ball up the field. Time on the ball, but not enough, making every pass just a little harder, demanding that little bit more precision. Better, just when you thought you broke the line, it retreats and forces you to do it all over again. There’s something quietly brilliant in the concept, like guerilla warfare in soccer form.
Big Picture: The Timbers attacks is...what it is this season (again, see below) and, barring a change I can’t see no matter how hard I squint, that makes the Timbers defense the key to whatever success they’ll enjoy. And the defense – writ pretty damn large, too (see below) – did a great, game-winning job tonight.
If the Timbers can follow the same script for the rest of 2022 – and this goes double given some of what’s happening above them (emphasis on “some”) – they could actually do something with a 2022 that looked poised to die out like the fire you stare at on a cold night when the tent seems too far away and the whiskey looks up for outlasting the fire. You know what that means if you’ve been there...
All that’s to say, the Timbers punched three points out of Austin FC tonight on a 2-1 win delivered, as I both see it and want to see it, by the defense. It took surviving, golly, three, four shots in the opening 10 minutes - by my count, Aljaz Ivacic, made three of his four saves three in that stretch – but it also took just one sharp, early punch to the jaw to discomfit Austin for most of the game. Bill Tuiloma delivered the blow shortly after Austin’s better moments, and with a defender’s attacking header on a set-piece that Eryk Williamson sent straight to his head, postage-paid and all. It was simple as you like, not to mention the first positive thing Portland had managed all game that wasn’t a save, but it gave the Timbers a lead and...
My main talking point for the game, or the continuation of it, is complicated. After Tuiloma’s go-ahead goal, the Timbers commenced to defending the lead and, honestly, I don’t know what to call what I saw but not so much pressing as loitering with intent on the edges of a melting line of engagement. I need to tighten up the name of the strategy, obviously, but it boils down to having a defensive player vaguely menace the opposition starting around 2/3 of the field away from goal. Sure, the Timbers had a couple moments where they did the classic press – i.e., players chasing hard at each successive passer (a great strategy when you time the releases right) – but, for the most part, it amounted to being...present as Austin tried to work the ball up the field. Time on the ball, but not enough, making every pass just a little harder, demanding that little bit more precision. Better, just when you thought you broke the line, it retreats and forces you to do it all over again. There’s something quietly brilliant in the concept, like guerilla warfare in soccer form.
In sum, it worked to where Portland’s defenders, defensive midfielders and/or wide players actively and alertly cut out three promising moves for every ball that got loose enough for a shot or a cross on, toward, or in the general direction of Ivacic’s goal; better, Austin got sucked into a lot of crosses, desperate ones, too, and that’s another little win. Now, let’s flip the rock and look at what we don’t wanna...
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| The missing ingredient, in my mind. |
I haven’t seen much evidence of the classic Timbers counterattack fans have come to know and, for some years, expect – particularly in games against teams that like to use the ball and have an off night with it. Portland did all right on the attacking side tonight – and for the second game running (FREEEDOMM!!!) – but, my God, the number of plays that died due to bad pass by Dairon Asprilla, or Yimmi Chara’s increasingly palpable limitations as a passer. This gets to the beating heart of what I mean by the argument that, as I see it, the Timbers will go as far as the defense can carry them in 2022. Both broadly and bluntly, the Timbers don't have a great passer in the entire line-up. Sebastian Blanco has (or had) his moments, but Portland doesn’t have, say, a Carles Gil or a Maxi Moralez or a....Diego Valeri who can find that yard-plus of space and find the pass that makes a defense completely shit itself. Call it creativity, call it talent, call it vision, call it the last two (which is where I am), the Timbers arguably haven’t had that since Valeri left and what is that but what happened?
Eryk offers the loudest “yes, but” to that. I griped about his lack of energy after last weekend’s win, but I also acknowledged Williamson as the rare player who can change a game by doing nothing more than trying, whether by movement or, to paraphrase American soccer’s first great coach, just by trying shit. Williamson set up the winner/insurance goal with exactly that – i.e., a shot that he fully understood wouldn’t go in, but one that looked just as likely to cough up the rebound that Brad Stuver pushed to Zac McGraw for a tap-in. It was a really smart shot, in other words, and Eryk showed his upside by freezing a defender or two on the way to sending it in.
But that only gets back to the essential dilemma: the Timbers have a better than fair share of dribbling players and/or soloists – e.g., Eryk, Marvin Loria, Yimmi(?), Blanco(?) – and I suspect that’s why they’re relatively easy to neutralize as an attacking threat. With neither the killer pass nor the defense-breaking combination as a ready option, the Timbers have to sort of labor for shots. That took the form of set-pieces tonight, and, as noted in the game thread, the Timbers did a better job of taking them and sustaining the pressure after a first failure than they have in a while, if not all season. Mostly low-percentage stuff, in other words, hence my excitement at watching the Timbers grind out the rare game.
More, please, and until the season ends or the offense improves. Now, talking points...
1) Start Zac McGraw
I hung this argument on player development in one recent post or another, but I don’t think the team can trade what Zac gets out of aerial duels, aka, 90% of everything.
2) What was the Formation?
I though 3-5-2 when I first saw the line-up. Back in the real world, that morphed to something between a low-block 5-4-1 and straight-up two banks of five when the Timbers defended in the first half, and then that evolved to the loitering with intent mentioned above, only in the 4-2-3-1 that shows on The Mothership’s line-up, only that doesn’t match what I saw in the broadcast line-up. To answer my own question, I think the Timbers took a shape that did what it had to do. Formations are a lie, aren't they?
2a) I Don’t Object to Starting Asprilla as a Forward
That is all.
2b) Jaroslaw Niezgoda Might Be the 2nd Best Attacking Passer on the Roster
Make of that what you will.
Well, shit. That was long as usual. Again, no complaints and, yes, I see this as the Timbers most important win of 2022. Till the next one....
Eryk offers the loudest “yes, but” to that. I griped about his lack of energy after last weekend’s win, but I also acknowledged Williamson as the rare player who can change a game by doing nothing more than trying, whether by movement or, to paraphrase American soccer’s first great coach, just by trying shit. Williamson set up the winner/insurance goal with exactly that – i.e., a shot that he fully understood wouldn’t go in, but one that looked just as likely to cough up the rebound that Brad Stuver pushed to Zac McGraw for a tap-in. It was a really smart shot, in other words, and Eryk showed his upside by freezing a defender or two on the way to sending it in.
But that only gets back to the essential dilemma: the Timbers have a better than fair share of dribbling players and/or soloists – e.g., Eryk, Marvin Loria, Yimmi(?), Blanco(?) – and I suspect that’s why they’re relatively easy to neutralize as an attacking threat. With neither the killer pass nor the defense-breaking combination as a ready option, the Timbers have to sort of labor for shots. That took the form of set-pieces tonight, and, as noted in the game thread, the Timbers did a better job of taking them and sustaining the pressure after a first failure than they have in a while, if not all season. Mostly low-percentage stuff, in other words, hence my excitement at watching the Timbers grind out the rare game.
More, please, and until the season ends or the offense improves. Now, talking points...
1) Start Zac McGraw
I hung this argument on player development in one recent post or another, but I don’t think the team can trade what Zac gets out of aerial duels, aka, 90% of everything.
2) What was the Formation?
I though 3-5-2 when I first saw the line-up. Back in the real world, that morphed to something between a low-block 5-4-1 and straight-up two banks of five when the Timbers defended in the first half, and then that evolved to the loitering with intent mentioned above, only in the 4-2-3-1 that shows on The Mothership’s line-up, only that doesn’t match what I saw in the broadcast line-up. To answer my own question, I think the Timbers took a shape that did what it had to do. Formations are a lie, aren't they?
2a) I Don’t Object to Starting Asprilla as a Forward
That is all.
2b) Jaroslaw Niezgoda Might Be the 2nd Best Attacking Passer on the Roster
Make of that what you will.
Well, shit. That was long as usual. Again, no complaints and, yes, I see this as the Timbers most important win of 2022. Till the next one....
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