—by Chris Rifer
The Timbers offense is a mess. Sure, there is plenty of on-ball talent in the Timbers attack, but no amount of quality can compensate for an offense’s failure to function off the ball. Until Saturday, the only thing keeping the Timbers in games was the Timbers’ imperfect, but still solid defense.[1] Until Saturday.
Portland’s backline broke in Frisco on Saturday evening, as F.C. Dallas limped their way to a 2-1 win over Portland. And as the Timbers’ backline crumbled, so seemingly did Portland’s prospects for earning results any time soon.
The first twenty minutes looked awfully familiar to Timbers supporters. Plenty of possession, plenty of good on-ball play, and nobody doing anything off the ball to present themselves for opportunities. The Timbers weren’t short on chances, but those they created early were typically of the type that has been the staple of the Timbers’ very bland offensive diet this year.
In the 6th minute, Maxi Urruti took a ball off of Michel’s foot after the Brazilian was caught in possession,[2] and ripped a shot well wide from the top of the box under a potentially felonious challenge.
Speaking of felonious, Dallas was very lucky not to be reduced to ten men four minutes later when Jack Jewsbury won a ball from Fabian Castillo only to be “tripped” in the face by the young Colombian.[3] Having dodged that bullet, the only thing criminal about the Burn’s play two minutes later was the amount of space Dallas allowed Diego Valeri 25 yards from goal. The Argentine, however, pulled his effort wide.
It was even better from the Timbers in the 22nd minute. After Valeri and Gaston Fernadnez played a slick series of combination off of each other, Fernandez set Valeri through for a promising shot from the top of the box, but Chris Seitz saved and Urruti strayed offside to kill any opportunity of a putback.
If the first twenty minutes inspired hope, the next ten were equally disconcerting. In the 27th minute, Dallas worked the ball nicely around the edge of the final third and released Jair Benitez on the left wing after Darlington Nagbe became momentarily entranced by the ball. Benitez found Je-Vaughan Watson at the back post, who beat Pa Modou Kah and Michael Harrington in an aerial challenge, but his header looped off the top of the bar and was cleared away by Norberto Paparatto.
Two minutes later, Benitez was at pace on the wing again, this time with Jewsbury covering. Benitez sent an early cross into the box for Blas Perez, whom Paparatto had somehow let loose, but Andrew Weber came off his line well to block Perez’s shot.
An up and down game turned bizarre in the 39th minute when referee Sorin Stoica sent off both Michael Harrington and Watson for a phantom fight that no camera caught and, if postgame comments are any indication, nobody may have actually participated in.[4]
If losing Harrington was bad, however, matters got a whole lot worse for the Timbers just before halftime when Darlington Nagbe pulled his hamstring making a cleverly awkward pass. The pass was successful, but the pulled hamstring came back to haunt the Timbers almost immediately.
After Nagbe couldn’t stay with Benitez on the left wing, the temperamental left back looped a cross to Kellyn Acosta beyond the far post where Acosta squared a headed pass to Perez at the mouth for an easy finish. Norberto Paparatto was nowhere to be found in a play in which Dallas simply created numbers advantages in the box to leave Kah and Jewsbury little chance.
Despite each team playing with ten men, the second half presented a paucity of genuine chances for each side. While the Timbers squeezed the trigger on a lot of shots in the second half, none of them presented much in the way of danger.
In fact, the only thing that seriously troubled Dallas was an ill-advised pass. After Paparatto stepped up and headed to Will Johnson, the captain played to Valeri who hit and outstanding pass to play Urruti through between Stephen Keel and Matt Hedges. With Kalif Alhassan making a good run to his right that was cut off by Hedges beside Urruti, the Argentine head-scratchingly tried to hopelessly play wide to Kalif. The soccer gods had seen enough, though. They couldn’t take any more of the Timbers’ offensive impotence, perhaps best encapsulated by Urruti’s mind-numbing impossible pass to Alhassan in a situation where he clearly just needs to take his (not insignificant) chance. Out of pure frustration, the fates deflected the ball off of Hedges’ foot and looped it into the back of the net.
There is simply no other explanation.
The Timbers couldn’t back their way into a second goal, however. Whenever Portland found space—which was frequently as a result of the double sending off and Dallas’s makeshift central midfield—the attacker on the ball, which more often than not was Valeri, looked up to see his teammates blinking back at him, waiting for Diego to work some magic.[5]
There was magic yet to be made, but it wasn’t the type the Timbers would like to think was real. In the 84th minute, after the Timbers cleared a Michel free kick, the ball pinged around to the feet of Paparatto. The new centerback failed to clear, however, and Mauro Diaz made the Timbers pay with a beautiful turn and strike that sealed the game.
The Timbers’ sleepy offense stayed in hibernation Saturday, as Portland failed to truly take advantage of a severely weakened Dallas central midfield and extra space generated by both teams playing down a man. But the Timbers’ real undoing in Frisco was an exposed defense that made too many mistakes to permit Portland to benefit from their good fortune.
Match Observations
Where’s Zemanski?
I was shocked Caleb Porter opted for Alvas Powell instead of Ben Zemanski at halftime. First, while Powell wasn’t disastrous, he certainly wasn’t anywhere near good. Zemanski gives you every bit of defense Powell provides with much more going forward both in situations where he is halfway forward and combining with the midfielders or when he drives to the byline.
More important, however, is putting Zemanski on the field would have poised the Timbers to make their next move without having to make a substitution. When the Timbers needed to chase a goal, Porter went to a 3-5-2 and had to withdraw one of his better crossers in Jack Jewsbury for Frederic Piquionne. If Zemanski were in the game, the Timbers could have pushed Ben to holding midfield and Will Johnson into an attacking role, accomplishing the same (and arguably better) result without having to burn a sub.
2013 Comparisons
It’s time for comparisons to 2013 to put up or shut up. Yes, the Timbers were less-than-inspiring through Week Four in 2013. But that turned around dramatically in Week Five with one of the best performances of the year.
Frankly, I think the current Timbers’ problems are very different, and arguably more fundamental. In 2013, it was a matter of tinkering with the shape and getting everybody used to their tactical roles. This year, however, the shape and identity are relatively clear. There’s a chance the Timbers just don’t have the right players to execute it.
Even as far back as preseason, Porter noted that everybody in the Timbers’ attacking four is a passer. This is exactly right. And it’s also a huge problem. The Timbers have shown a propensity to overpass at times in 2014, but that’s actually not the biggest problem.
The biggest problem is none of the Timbers’ passers seem to have any idea what they’re doing off the ball. The reality is creativity on the ball is only as good as the players off the ball getting in position not only to receive the pass, but also to generate genuine scoring chances. As Valeri can tell you from his experience on Saturday, nice passes to players who haven’t done the work to bend the backline out of shape or put themselves in good scoring positions are prettier than they are productive.
Thus, it’s this lack of movement that turns backlines of Kellyn Acosta, Matt Hedges, Stephen Keel, and Jair Benitez into impenetrable obstacles. Dallas’s backline isn’t bad, but it’s far from elite, and the Timbers really had no questions to ask of it despite Valeri playing well and the Timbers having their way with a makeshift Dallas midfield.
Which brings us back to our passers and the biggest worry for the Timbers in 2014. What if moving off the ball just isn’t these guys’ game? It’s one thing to plug a player into a slightly different role than he’s been in before or even to drill a new tactical setup. It’s another thing altogether, however, to take an on-ball specialist and ask him to be the creative force away from the play. The former takes a matter of weeks or a couple months. The latter can take years, if it ever happens at all. Unless Caleb Porter finds a way to make that light bulb go on for his passers in relatively short order, 2014 could be a very long season.
Timbers Grades
Andrew Weber, 5 Weber was solid, if far form spectacular. Neither goal was really his fault, although there is an argument there were heroics to be made on both that Weber didn’t come close to. Otherwise had a couple nice moments, but, frankly, nothing extraordinary.
Michael Harrington, 4 Was probably hard done by the sending off, though the lack of video makes it impossible to know for sure. Otherwise, didn’t have his best game, most notably when Watson beat him for the header in the 27th.
Pa Modou Kah, 3.5 With Paparatto struggling beside him, Kah’s been asked to be the alpha man in the middle. Unfortunately, Kah tends to border on lunacy in such a role, as his stoppage time tackle demonstrated.
Norberto Paparatto, 2.5 Mistakes define defenders, and Papa made them in spades on Saturday. On the first concession, Paparatto abandoned Kah and Jewsbury to defend grass and on the second failed to clear a ball that fell to his feet. The Timbers will want to stick with Paparatto to help him adjust to the league, but at what cost? The truth is Norberto’s fingerprints are on all four concessions that have taken place with him on the field.
Jack Jewsbury, 5 The centerback problems have put the Timbers fullbacks in an impossible position. They’re being asked to pinch in to help cover the middlemen, defend the flanks, and get up and contribute to the offense. It’s simply impossible. To the naked eye, Jewsbury looked involved in both concessions, but upon closer examination, Jack was only trying to cover for his teammates’ mistakes.
Will Johnson, 4.5 Will didn’t have as bad a day as many suggested, as his distribution was right all night and helped the Timbers to quite a bit of midfield success. But his finishing was just as disastrous as it looked.
Diego Chara, 5.5 The Timbers defensive midfield was pushed deeper than usual, which resulted in six of Chara’s seven recoveries occurring within 35 yards of the Timbers’ goal. This isn’t Chara’s best defending position, as he’s much more careful about committing fouls and therefore doesn’t sidle as aggressively or effectively.
Gaston Fernandez, 3 Disappeared for extended stretches on Saturday, as he is wont to do from time to time on the wing. Had the one nice moment of combination with Valeri, but otherwise had little genuine impact. Still, I had hoped we’d see him moved up top.
Diego Valeri, 6.5 Once it went 10 v. 10 with Nagbe coming off injured, this was Valeri’s game. He looked like Valeri, just without anybody ahead of him being available for anything bona fide.
Darlington Nagbe, 5 Really unfortunate he was forced off. He would have been a disaster for the Burn with the extra space in midfield.
Maxi Urruti, 3.5 Don’t get me going again on the goal. That was the garbagest of garbage goals. In seriousness, though, Urruti is one of the Timbers’ biggest problems when he starts. Yes, it’s nice that he presses high and logs the miles. No, his runs within the offense aren’t effective, which presents a problem considering Maxi is the player primarily responsible for that.
Alvas Powell, 4 He came. He ran. He got elbowed by Blas Perez.
Kalif Alhassan, 6 Yes, there were the usual Kalif frustrations. But there is no question that after coming on, Kalif was the offensive player demonstrating the most intent.
Frederic Piquionne, 4 There really should be an opportunity for Freddie to break into the starting eleven. There really should be. His play guarantees there won’t be.
Preseason Prediction: Dallas 2, Timbers 0.
Actual Result: Dallas 2, Timbers 1.
Onward Rose City!
[1] Extremely Important Note: “Defense” does not necessarily mean back four.
[2] There was a reason many questioned whether Oscar Pareja would start Michel in central midfield despite the Burn’s slim pickings at that position. This play was pretty much that reason.
[3] Count me among those who don’t want to live in a world in which a goalkeeper is suspended two games for misplaying a rightful challenge under duress and catching an opponent with a boot in the thigh, but a field player is only yellow carded for kicking an opponent in the face after hopelessly raising his studs for a challenge he’s already lost.
[4] The worst thing about this is if there is no video footage to discredit the linesman, not only is there no genuine way to appeal the red card, but both players will likely be suspended for an additional match for violent conduct.
[5] When Kalif Alhassan coming onto the field noticeably improves your off-ball movement, you have a big, big, big problem.
