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| In the same way this is food... |
To start with the biggest happy picture, three straight wins goes a long way toward getting a team out the hole it dug over the first half of the season. The Portland Timbers’ 2-1 home win yesterday afternoon over a winded and dizzy Atlanta United FC capped that hop, skip, jump run of games and hoisted them a little higher over the playoff line. That the Los Angeles Galaxy played two games over the past week and pissed away four points in what arguably should have been winnable games makes it a little sweeter still.
Another happy thought: the Timbers have scored two goals in each of those three wins, which bought the defense a little credit for the one goal it has inevitably given up. All that’s the say, the foundation look good, at least until you take a closer look at it.
First, and to finally get to the game, Atlanta hasn’t been good all season – i.e., they leave three-game gaps between wins and this game came in a trough – they’re crap on the road (1-9-5), and they kicked off the game under the playoff line and there they remain. So that’s at least three reasons the Timbers did no more than what they should have yesterday. And, to their credit, they looked the better team. Atlanta had a nice, crisp, organized opening period where they took the game to Portland, though in retrospect all that activity wasn’t materially different than a ‘keeper bouncing and flapping on his goal line ahead of a penalty kick...and how apt is that metaphor?
To sing a couple more bars of praise, I like the way the Timbers took over the game. Both midfielders and defenders snapped at most things played toward them – even when they had to step ahead an Atlanta player to get there first – and that did a number on the visitors’ confidence in moving the ball. When they finally started finding and prying at little seams in the channels, the three-man back line of Bill Tuiloma, Dario Zuparic, and (about damn time) Zac McGraw held the right positions to cut out the passes or generally get in the way. Atlanta’s too-late goal aside – and pour one out for the late tragedy of Josef Martinez’s great MLS career – they managed just one other clean look on goal, e.g., that clever ball over the top by Santiago Sosa to Ronaldo Cisneros. And Aljaz Ivacic got his leg in the way of that one. Moving on to the caveats...
Portland’s attack didn’t look great. Missing Eryk Williamson had something to do with that, of course...at least until you remember that, for all his utility (i.e., help us, Eryk, you’re our only hope), the Timbers’ attack hasn’t look much better when he’s there. A good way to phrase the phenomenon came to be as my attention wandered during the second half yesterday (and, lo, it went far and freely): the Timbers have arrived at place where they cause goals, as opposed to creating them. I can’t remember the last time Portland did anything particularly impressive, never mind artful, on the approach to goal; as much as I admired the indirect inventiveness of Eryk’s assist on (I think) the second goal in the win over Austin, they haven’t waltzed one in over the last three wins. It’s been a lot of free kicks and, yesterday, penalty kicks.
Walking back a little white lie above, the chaos Santiago Moreno caused in Atlanta’s area that inspired the cause/create distinction. Between having the ball/initiative and Yimmi Chara chasing the ball wherever it bounced right alongside him, Moreno flustered Atlanta’s defense until tripping him was all they could do. (And credit Moreno and Yimmi for causing similar chaos mere minutes earlier.) Moreno roofed his shot home (bold, kid; very bold) and Dairon Asprilla chipped in with a second, silkier penalty kick, but even the set up to that one involved Diego Chara stepping ahead of his defender in a chase for a half-hopeful ball into the area. The passing, the movement, just the whole kit-‘n’-kaboodle: is more effort and eagerness than art or even design.
And yet, all that running around has carried Portland through three straight wins. If I had to peg one key difference between those game and the five, season-threatening (more or less) flops that preceded them, I’d point to a real improvement in the energy and a greater willingness to get stuck in. If you can’t beat ‘em with your brains, feet and tactics, just beat ‘em. How will that go against the better teams in the Western Conference, or MLS as a whole? No idea, but we’ll find out if Portland gets into the post-season (with an assist from LA, et. al., tripping over their own feet).
I don’t have much for talking points, but I will say this: I’m sold on the 3-4-2-1 (or even a 3-4-1-2) as the best formation Portland can play for now – and I put most of that down the three-man backline. It provides a little extra cover for one of the Timbers’ bigger defensive weaknesses – i.e., fullbacks defending on an island – by keeping one centerback nearer to the channels. And, as noted last week, I like having McGraw back there for what he brings against the aerial game. It’s not a cure-all, obviously – see all the aabove – but I still stand on the theory that Portland can only win the games they can stay in.
And, beyond some odds and ends – e.g., I think Moreno has a good case for Portland’s most consistent attacking threat and I like Bill playing behind him from the channel (he’s impressively smooth on the ball, honestly) – that’s it.
At this point in the season, and arguably more than in seasons past, the Portland Timbers are what they are right now. It looks good for punching their ticket to the post-season, but we’ll see. The road to the end of 2022 doesn’t exactly run downhill (v MIN, @ CLB, v LAFC, @ RSL), but, so long as they bring the bite and the energy, it’s doable.
Another happy thought: the Timbers have scored two goals in each of those three wins, which bought the defense a little credit for the one goal it has inevitably given up. All that’s the say, the foundation look good, at least until you take a closer look at it.
First, and to finally get to the game, Atlanta hasn’t been good all season – i.e., they leave three-game gaps between wins and this game came in a trough – they’re crap on the road (1-9-5), and they kicked off the game under the playoff line and there they remain. So that’s at least three reasons the Timbers did no more than what they should have yesterday. And, to their credit, they looked the better team. Atlanta had a nice, crisp, organized opening period where they took the game to Portland, though in retrospect all that activity wasn’t materially different than a ‘keeper bouncing and flapping on his goal line ahead of a penalty kick...and how apt is that metaphor?
To sing a couple more bars of praise, I like the way the Timbers took over the game. Both midfielders and defenders snapped at most things played toward them – even when they had to step ahead an Atlanta player to get there first – and that did a number on the visitors’ confidence in moving the ball. When they finally started finding and prying at little seams in the channels, the three-man back line of Bill Tuiloma, Dario Zuparic, and (about damn time) Zac McGraw held the right positions to cut out the passes or generally get in the way. Atlanta’s too-late goal aside – and pour one out for the late tragedy of Josef Martinez’s great MLS career – they managed just one other clean look on goal, e.g., that clever ball over the top by Santiago Sosa to Ronaldo Cisneros. And Aljaz Ivacic got his leg in the way of that one. Moving on to the caveats...
Portland’s attack didn’t look great. Missing Eryk Williamson had something to do with that, of course...at least until you remember that, for all his utility (i.e., help us, Eryk, you’re our only hope), the Timbers’ attack hasn’t look much better when he’s there. A good way to phrase the phenomenon came to be as my attention wandered during the second half yesterday (and, lo, it went far and freely): the Timbers have arrived at place where they cause goals, as opposed to creating them. I can’t remember the last time Portland did anything particularly impressive, never mind artful, on the approach to goal; as much as I admired the indirect inventiveness of Eryk’s assist on (I think) the second goal in the win over Austin, they haven’t waltzed one in over the last three wins. It’s been a lot of free kicks and, yesterday, penalty kicks.
Walking back a little white lie above, the chaos Santiago Moreno caused in Atlanta’s area that inspired the cause/create distinction. Between having the ball/initiative and Yimmi Chara chasing the ball wherever it bounced right alongside him, Moreno flustered Atlanta’s defense until tripping him was all they could do. (And credit Moreno and Yimmi for causing similar chaos mere minutes earlier.) Moreno roofed his shot home (bold, kid; very bold) and Dairon Asprilla chipped in with a second, silkier penalty kick, but even the set up to that one involved Diego Chara stepping ahead of his defender in a chase for a half-hopeful ball into the area. The passing, the movement, just the whole kit-‘n’-kaboodle: is more effort and eagerness than art or even design.
And yet, all that running around has carried Portland through three straight wins. If I had to peg one key difference between those game and the five, season-threatening (more or less) flops that preceded them, I’d point to a real improvement in the energy and a greater willingness to get stuck in. If you can’t beat ‘em with your brains, feet and tactics, just beat ‘em. How will that go against the better teams in the Western Conference, or MLS as a whole? No idea, but we’ll find out if Portland gets into the post-season (with an assist from LA, et. al., tripping over their own feet).
I don’t have much for talking points, but I will say this: I’m sold on the 3-4-2-1 (or even a 3-4-1-2) as the best formation Portland can play for now – and I put most of that down the three-man backline. It provides a little extra cover for one of the Timbers’ bigger defensive weaknesses – i.e., fullbacks defending on an island – by keeping one centerback nearer to the channels. And, as noted last week, I like having McGraw back there for what he brings against the aerial game. It’s not a cure-all, obviously – see all the aabove – but I still stand on the theory that Portland can only win the games they can stay in.
And, beyond some odds and ends – e.g., I think Moreno has a good case for Portland’s most consistent attacking threat and I like Bill playing behind him from the channel (he’s impressively smooth on the ball, honestly) – that’s it.
At this point in the season, and arguably more than in seasons past, the Portland Timbers are what they are right now. It looks good for punching their ticket to the post-season, but we’ll see. The road to the end of 2022 doesn’t exactly run downhill (v MIN, @ CLB, v LAFC, @ RSL), but, so long as they bring the bite and the energy, it’s doable.
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