Normally I would have the player ratings in today’s column. But the morons who negotiated the media deal with NBC decided that when the matches are broadcast to the national audience the replay on MLS Live won’t be available for 48 hours. This is annoying to me, since I don’t have cable at the moment, but also because this is the second time this season that NBC has made the Timbers the game of the week. The 48 hour delay is particularly annoying since, as far as I can tell, NBC isn’t reaping any added value directly from the restriction.
As a consequence, I had to listen to the match on radio. Between that and the few highlights that I’ve been able to say, I have a rough idea of what went on, but I won’t really know what happened until about 11:00 tonight when they actually allow me to see the replay. As an aside, this makes me really glad that I’m not consuming NBC’s coverage of the Olympics™. As a sports fan, I put up with a lot of insults, but insisting on shifting everything into prime time and tape delaying events in which it is, as a practical matter, impossible not to find out the results (unless you’re going to post up in a cave somewhere), is simply horrific. Fortunately, I really don’t care that much about badminton, white water canoe, or the modern pentathlon. I also don’t care to watch Olympic competitions for sports the championships for which are conducted elsewhere. But if I did, you can bet I would be watching the whole thing on the BBC via Tunnelbear rather than being treated like a child by the bozos at NBC.
In any case, you now know that I have only the most general idea of what went on. I do, however know a few things, which I will enumerate for you below.
1. We actually got a point. We probably should have had more, given the general run of things, but it surpasses our total haul from the previous five matches, so at the very least it’s a step forward.
2. Frank Songo’o had another good match. From the radio broadcast it was clear that he continued with the aggressive attitude that he evinced during the Chivas match. Songo’o looks to be growing into the role of the everyday left wing. He has the desire and technical ability to take on defenders, and he seems to understand the need for service from lateral positions, at least to a greater degree than Eric Alexander does.
3. The Timbers have clearly changed their strategy, and it seems to be working. Portland had 57% of the possession, which is a good sign. It’s evidence of a rather more patient approach, as opposed to just jamming the ball up the flanks until we run into a blind alley of opposing defenders. Moreover, the more we hold on to the ball, the fewer chances will be allowed to the opposition. The glass-half-empty types among you will say that, although Dallas only had three shots on goal, they actually potted one of them. Fair enough. But in the long run this is an approach that will reap dividends. Rome wasn’t built in a day. This is a team that is finally getting its act together after a long period when it lacked identity and organization. I’d have to see a lot more futility before I’d concede that this new possession-oriented approach wasn’t working.
4. The secret of Brent Richards is out. Well, that shouldn’t come as a surprise. I’m sure that the coaching staff at FC Dallas saw the film of his performance against Chivas. He seemed to get a lot of defensive attention, if the radio commentary is anything to go by. What was clear from the commentary (because it was explicitly adverted to) was that he still has a bit of the young player’s naiveté. That will change with time, but the signs at this point are still promising.
5. Oh backside defense, where art thou? Or, more properly, where werest thou when Scott Sealy sailed unmolested into the penalty area to pot Brek Shea’s cross? The answer, in brief, is: not within about ten yards of the attacking player, at least according the highlight footage that I saw on ESPN. The failure to produce at the offensive end has meant that, of late, the standard in defense for this team is a clean sheet. That is an awful lot of pressure to put on our defensive players, especially when we are now demanding that the fullbacks chip in effectively in developing forward momentum.
6. I’m going to stick to my guns for now and say that better service will improve Kris Boyd’s return in the long run. I strongly suspect that another thing that would improve things for him would be the league switching its schedule to the winter months. Boyd really doesn’t seem to cope with the heat all that well. Actually, Smith doesn’t either. I would be willing to be that the dips in his player rating could be mapped as an inverse of the game temperature. Just a thought.
7. Zach Loyd is a turkey. He was begging to get sent off for a lot of that match, and should have gotten his walking papers rather earlier than he did.
8. The new approach likes Diego Chará well. Freed from the necessity of covering acres of space in the middle of the park, he is able to focus his aggression and the results have been impressive. The partnership currently forming in midfield between Chará and Nagbe is one of the most promising signs among recent developments with the team. Nagbe is a guy who needs a bit of space to let his creativity tell. With Chará playing the role of enforcer, Nagbe seems to be in a better space.
9. Perhaps the thing that I am most interested to see is how Bright Dike actually looked. From the radio commentary it seemed like he really brought a freshness and energy to the match when he came on. He’s a big fellow and he has the potential to add a lot to this team if his skills are husbanded properly.
Anyway, it seemed like a pretty good match. I’ll be constructing voodoo dolls of the league media negotiators until I watch the replay tonight. Player ratings later in the week.
Magadh
I watched the match in 3D Sweato-Vision at the JW. What you heard was a reasonable approximation, minus various caveats and nuances.
Re. your point #3, one man’s possession strategy is another man’s plodding offense, missing the incisive passing in the final phase of attack. Boydie was listless out there, but he never got a touch of the ball for the first 15 minutes.
Did Dallas enhance our possession game because they don’t have quite the kick-ass midfield that so many of our recent rivals do? (Of course, they do have the American Gareth Bale, Brek Shea.)
Point #5- Yes, we’re demanding an awful lot from our wing defenders in the new pattern. Box to box running in almost every surge up field; providing the crosses into the center, then coverage of the opponent’s quickest players as you come back. I think Kimura tries to do too much of this. Smith wil be telling his grandchildren of the terrible American summers and how the merciless tropical sun broiled his brain.
Point #6- Someone might suggest to Boyd he try short sleeves on the really hot days. Just sayin’.
Re. Richards and Dike- They both bring up the team energy level. They both look raw on the finishing/final pass side. Dike, if he were played a lot, would score a few goalmouth-scramble goals. Richards might be more likely to provide assists to goals.
And Chara- Yes, I think it’s improving his morale to be attack minded and not just providing desperation fouls to cover our team’s defensive shortcomings.
I’ve commented on the whole Boyd, long sleeves thing before. I think it\’s weird. Neither one of our Scots really likes it hot which, if you\’ve ever experienced Scotland in summer, is hardly surprising. Mark Twain once said that the coldest winter he’d ever experienced was a summer he spent in San Francisco. With the name changed, this could hold for Glasgow as well.
You could look at the passing game as plodding, and you might not be wrong. I might point out that it\’s an improvement on the profligacy in terms of possession that characterized earlier phases of the season. Total haul in terms of goals is a grand total of one, so those who would argue that this approach was not getting it done have a certain advantage in term of making their prima facie case. It seems to me that they are creating more threats to the opposing goal than they have done for most of the season. There were a number of matches this season when it looked like they could have been locked in the ground along all night without putting anything in the net. Obviously, they look more like scoring is not the same as they are scoring, to a certain extent I’m compelled to concede the point. Only time will tell whether this approach will actually bear fruit.
As far as Richards goes, I would not be opposed to staging the kind of circus that Stoke City does every time Rory Delap throws the ball in in the offensive third. Take it slow, maybe clean off the ball off a couple of times. Make it into a set piece play every time. Portland has more size than a lot of teams in this league, and slowing down the tempo of things might help to disrupt the opposition.
The team seems to be making some steps in the right direction, although real improvement would have to be getting some points on the road. And of course, addressing the team’s -17 goal differential. Given the current circumstances, any little success looks like progress.
Richards throw in is fantastic. If only he could also be on the receiving end with that remarkable verticle leap.
He has a history with Gavin, no? I would be curious to know more about that…
And Nagbe is the disappointment of the season as far as players are concerned. Maybe you heard something on the radio that I missed from the upper 210, but he just seems to be there and not doing much to me. Bit of a dead horse, I know, but his lack of production deserves our derision.
New call and response chant idea:
“Yer never gonna start…”
“If you can’t finish.”
Holy shit. Perkins has been traded.