season review

let the new year begin…

Posted on: January 1st, 2013 by theaxepdx@gmail.com No Comments

 

green2013

good morning and a happy new year to you all. i am certain many of you will count yourself lucky that you get my aversion of capitalization while you nurse your varied sets of hangovers. to that i say it is my pleasure to walk you through this painful morning.

my first advice is this: eat bacon. lots of bacon. drink the grease because the grease is the cure. after you have slurped it up, lick the bowl. in the days when i would suffer hangovers bacon was the source of relief. if you do not have some good, thick, streaky back-bacon, then water. as you may or may not know, hangovers are caused by dehydration. as for hangover advice to you vegetarians and vegans--if the great number of you i see smoking cigarettes actually acknowledged the joy of bacon you might live brighter, healthier lives.

speaking of hangovers, i would not be surprised that the people who misinterpreted the end of the mayan calender and the end of the world are suffering from a bit of a morning-after embarrassment similar to the embarrassment felt by the timbers last season, but greater. thank god we have a new year and new outlook towards football.

2012 ended with movements of the kind we had expected from the beginning of the year, but then that was an expectation too large for an amateurish technical director still unaware of how to work within the guidelines of the mls. however, while the learning curve was difficult, and should have resulted in another pink slip, the pains of the last year have proven to instruct our glorious leader. with the assistance and the ingenuity of the new coach, the timbers have made moves we can all get excited about. they have released much of the dross on the team and addressed many of the needs within the squad. moreover, the timbers have brought in proven talent--will johnson, ryan johnson, mikey "mo money" harrington, and milos kosic. while the move to get mobi fehr seems a move made for the future the young man does fill a couple of holes in the team--he is a central defender with well honed foot skills, who can slot into the defensive midfielder role in a pinch.

still missing within the side is the creative midfielder we have never been promised but have needed since the inception of the mls timbers. along with that player is the ever elusive right back. i will not remind you of the names we have seen in that position, the memories of their ineptitude are too painful to relive, but the fact porter and gavin took pains to get rid of each and every one of them only suggests we can expect some movement in the days to come.

we now have 19 days until pre-season training starts and 29 days until the first game of the pre-season season takes place. i have every expectation we will have a few exciting announcements before those milestones. over the waning days of 2012 we have been teased by the owner, who suggests we can look forward to a few more news conferences and designated players. obviously, those would be welcomed.

so, we have 2013 with all its hope and promise before us. as the blog moves into its second season, we will make the promise of the continued daily coverage of our common obsession. mags and i will still provide our different views of the sport and team. you can also look forward to the sporadic contributions of the resident noob, and a new, exclusive-contributor, who will provide some respectability to the blog.

so, may your new year bring everything you deserve and some glory to the timbers.

sunshine

thoughts on a controversy…

Posted on: December 30th, 2012 by theaxepdx@gmail.com 3 Comments

 

well, it sure is good to have mags and shecky back in the mix of things as i am more than certain you lot were well and truly tired of reading my posts for longer than a week straight. even so,  leave it to mags to return from his near death experience in what sounded like a casting call for next christmas season's feel good movie: anka mueller, the loving nurse of treblinka, only to stoke the grass or turf controversy. for a fella who is repulsively politically correct, he sure can step into a turd.

not even while the populations of washington and colorado were arguing over whether to legalize the fragrant foliage had i seen so much controversy over a little grass. seriously, it is grass. but as much as i prefer grass over the fake turf with rubber pellets that spray along the surface of the pitch, it is the fake stuff we play on and that is unlikely to change. all of this controversy began with the desire of northwest sides to host the us men's national team and world cup qualifiers. allow me to throw a pipe bomb out there--who cares? while it may do wonders for the stadium income and finances for the club in general, i could not care less about where qualifiers for international competitions take place. as much as i enjoyed reading john doyle's the world is a ball, i cannot find the same passion he has for the international game. so, while i prefer grass for aesthetics and overall benefits to player health, i really do not have a dog in this fight.

which brings me to something i had been pondering the last few days--controversies surrounding the timbers this last season. sure there was the trade of kenny cooper, the sacking of john spencer, the assumption of gavin wilkinson, the transfer of mike chabala, but as much as the timbers needed a fashionista train wreck, the loss of chewy was not the subject of my contemplation. looking back at the controversies of the last season, i am still mystified by the owner's explosive response regarding the distinction of being the only team to not have a penalty last season and, more specifically, the quality of the officiating in the mls.

no supporter of any team within any league will ever tell you that the officials of the league are worth their paycheck. it goes without saying that the officials are the enemy and that they are also the recipients of every supporters ire. yet as much as we like to gripe about officials, overall we would be hard-pressed to find specific moments where they so affected the outcome of a game by their decisions. but then san jose was awarded one of the softest penalties i have seen, so i would assume it would be beyond controversial for a relative footballing novice.

chris wondolowski was looking to match a 16-year-old, goal-scoring record when he arrived at the jw. this was not the first poorly awarded penalty kick, but was one that drew a response that, if the league were to follow its own guidelines, should resulted in a fine.

obviously, the decision did not sit well with horst, the team, and the supporters. neither did the lenhart penalty. in his post game interview, horst flippantly stated that he felt the san jose game was rigged, claiming

The MLS, they like things to go their way and so I probably saw that PK coming before the game started

surprisingly, he did not receive any rebuke or fine. i would think that should anyone impugned the mls and the legitimacy of the competition their complaints would have resulted in a fine, but these did not.

before we look at the response for the wondolowski penalty, it might benefit us to look at the response to the penalty awarded to dc united, when david horst was called for a handball. horst had jumped with his arms raised in an attempt to block a cross into the box from kitchen. kitchen had lobbed the ball in, which was quickly pushed out to the top of the 18 yard box. play continued until the linesman called a penalty. see, david horst was standing within the 18 yard box when he jumped with his arms raised. a poor poor decision. but the odd thing about the call is that, though it traveled near horst's outstretched left arm, the ball's trajectory was never diverted. that little bit of evidence indicated to every person in that stadium and several many pundits that the called handball was a truly poor call.

looking at it from my place in the northend, and in discussions with several of my seat neighbors, it looked a stone cold penalty. horst should not have raised his arms, but he did, and the ball went deceptively close to his arm. in replay, the ball actually appears to brush his kit--but it does not touch his arm. but the linesman did not have the benefit of multiple replays and multiple angles, nor did he have the benefit of time--he was required to make a decision on what he saw at that moment. considering the evidence, i can understand his decision. does it sit well? no. was it a reasonable decision at the time given all the attendant circumstances? likely.

however, this did not sit well with the owner. he exploded, stating:

Let’s be real…nfl replacement refs have nothing on mls primary refs. Sick of this garbage. I will happily take the fine. Its atrocious. Should balance out. Guess policy is to balance atmosphere. All season long…not a single damn pk awarded to us. Numerous cut/dry blown calls. And let’s give DC a gift for good measure.

which was followed up by this:

I don't like complaints about refs, always sounds like excuses. But this season has been unique. Literally no pks. We haven't controlled what we can control to max for sure. But also haven't had many breaks. Is what it is. From my end, I'm not making a habit of this. Owner shouldn't be part of the story. We will keep seeking to improve and eventually we will succeed.(And maybe someday I won't tweet angry).

i think we all understand and can even support merritt's frustration with the way calls went against the timbers this last season, but there are to voice your frustration and then there are appropriate ways to voice your frustration. obviously, the mls cannot have an owner impugn the legitimacy of its officials or the legitimacy of the league as a whole--and that is what merritt did.

to his credit, merritt did acknowledge the simple fact the timbers did not manage their destiny as well as they could. it goes without saying that the club was not just a shambles, but an omnishambles throughout the season. but acknowledging that the club stunk does not sufficiently atone for the simple transgression the soccer don should have instructed any owner in mls ownership 101--do not call into question the game. that is what merritt did when he stated the results were intended to nullify the jw home field advantage.

this point goes beyond just the legitimacy of the results--it confronts the ability of a relatively new league for a relatively unpopular sport in the states to make its way and create success. suggesting that the on field product is deficient and sub-par to the product of leagues already tainted by controversy could have potentially devastating effects to the longterm health of the mls. is what merritt said enough to topple the tower? no. but, regardless of the inferior officiating, if the league were to allow any one of its owners to suggest the results are rigged the slope towards popularity could get too slippery to climb.

which brings me back to horst's comments regarding the wondo penalty. he was not fined, but his comments were as much of an indictment of the league and the league officiating as merritt's were. so why the difference in approaches? if i knew half the things that went on in garber's head i might be a millionaire. but perhaps it was the tenor of the statement. horst made his in jest, where merritt was pointed and condeming.

eh, these are just some thoughts i had roaming through my noggin' last night. at any rate, it looks as if merritt hit the twatterverse, again.

enjoy the sunday show.

sunshine.

developing the league…

Posted on: December 22nd, 2012 by theaxepdx@gmail.com No Comments

 

imagesCA17MTFZ

between the disappointment suffered since apocalypse chose to end in a whimper and the effects of a dodgy curry (if you are going to have a last meal make it a curry), i have not felt the desire to put together too many thoughts on timbers. i could discuss the awful kits, which are not the real kits, leaked on the twatterverse, but, as the owner who snipped at me yesterday suggested, ill save you the heartache until the real ones are revealed.

the fact is the timbers related news has gone silent since the revelation via rumour that mix was no longer in the mix. if rumour and conjecture are to be believed, the timbers will be without their american international and we faithful will have to hope a plan b exists.

if true, missing out on mix was not unforeseen. he is an u-23 international with a heap of promise, currently plying his trade in europe--the place where the national manager wants his players to compete. why would he want to jeopardize his international opportunities by taking a chance on the mls? personally, i am not a fan of the international game. i will watch the competitions, pull for certain countries, but overall i find the interruptions of regular season club play an unnecessary annoyance. but i am not a young player with glory in his eyes and a sense of heroic patriotism in his heart. those kids all recognize that in order to find themselves in klinsmann's plans they need to showcase their talents against the best in the world. unfortunately, the comparatively young league is unable to provide those opportunities.

which brings me to further ponder the importance of a reserve league, or a farm system coordinated with the lower professional leagues. earlier this month, klinsmann discussed the importance of the system to the growth of american youth and the american game. the american game is at a minor crossroads--it can either continue as it is, or it can look to spread its approach in player development.

one of the curses of the american game is how quickly american supporters are willing to mythologize young american players. as an arsenal supporter, i can understand the inclination to fall in love with the hype surrounding younger players, because the current manager's philosophy is heavily weighted towards the development of a team through the youth ranks. however, as an arsenal supporter i also see the folly in that philosophy. playing youth against men is great for their development, but not for the overall success of the team.

and this is where klinsmann recently piped in. he is concerned that the inclination of american fans to lionize promising young talent affects the player's mentality and confidence.

They are very early made to be something that they are actually not yet. Our players go through emotional roller-coasters far more than in other nations, maybe they go downhill a lot for one or two years... and it's difficult to slowly balance them out. Because there is no safety net like in a European system. Where, OK, if you don't play with the first team you play in the second team. You play in the Under-23 team.

obviously, this is not an argument lost on the timbers faithful. as great of a talent darlington nagbe is, and i do believe he has all the right attributes to be a stellar performer within the mls, too many expectations have been placed on him as the timbers first number one draft pick. do draft picks come in and immediately affect the play of teams? sure. but is it realistic to place that expectation on a kid so young? no. as i wrote yesterday, these players need the opportunities to fail without pressure, to learn, to grow, and they are not getting them without the pressures of expectation. in order to avoid the risk of sounding like a european elitist, i will allow klinsmann to further make my point.

In Europe, they have Under-23 teams playing a whole schedule through and they get games in all the time. It's a really critical age, between 18 and 23. At the same time, you say, 'OK, I guarantee an X amount of minutes in the first team.' It's only a certain amount of minutes. It doesn't solve the whole issue. You're talking about a lot of players here. They need real games. They need growing games.

so, how does this argument return to the issue of mix no longer in the mix? well, putting into place a structured farm system and reserve league increases the competition amongst players. younger players have to push their way into manager's thoughts rather than being a permanent fixture simply by their position in the draft or the hype that has surrounded them. the veteran players must concern themselves with the up and coming player. the competition for playing time becomes fierce. and that creates a competitive league where true talent shines above overhyped talent. i am not suggesting that the norwegian tippeligaen with its 16 clubs is a step above the mls, but european leagues in general do support the type of competition the mls now strives to create. but until the mls does introduce that type of system it will continue to lose the best american talent to the older and better structured leagues. we cannot dismiss this as a reason for losing out on mix, if that is indeed what happened. neither can we resent that decision--until the league matures, the mls will continue to lose out on the best talent.

in case you wanted, here is another good piece on klinsmann's philosophy. ok, i have some christmas shopping to finish. enjoy your saturday.

sunshine

a bright future?

Posted on: December 20th, 2012 by theaxepdx@gmail.com 4 Comments

 

dikeflip

well, this week has been one of the slowest weeks for timbers related news in this young silly season. we are, after all, only 18 days into the transfer season with 90+ more days to go before first kick on march 3, 2013. needless to say there will be more time for the front office to make more announcements and more time for the owner to tweet little secrets and air his disappointments.

yes, there was the early heart wrenching news that some deal that was in place fell through. and naturally, being timbers supporters, everyone jumped to the conclusion that the failed deal was mix diskerud. if true, oh well. this is the silly season and this is what happens--agents pump their clients by leveraging teams against one another. if i were to take my degree and apply it in other areas, like player representation, you best believe that is tactic i would employ. that is the purpose of an agent--to get the best possible deal for the client. footballing careers are short and unpredictable, and if an agent is not jockeying to obtain optimal financial compensation with ideal exposure for national team selection and future deals, that agent should not be employed. cutthroat as it is, that is the nature of the business. in the case of mix, if indeed true, which everything points to it being so, people seemed to assume that because papa paal was his agent and manager by demand he would be more forthright about his dealings. you know? a father's lesson...not really the case. regardless, it does little good for us to dwell on a player who has not signed with the team.

so, with the dearth of timbers related news going into the holidays, i guess we have a prime opportunity to walk down memory lane again. if there was one player forgotten over the course of our review of the dismal season that was 2012 it was bright dike. and to be honest, it his difficult for me to discuss his play fairly and objectively. for those regular readers of the blog, it should come as no surprise that i do not rate dike as a player. stellar human being, average center forward.

dike for some reason holds the hearts of many of the timbers faithful. i venture he is loved for no other reason than his ability to outlast most any player from the usl days, with perhaps the exception of futty danso. you may recall, dike was drafted by the columbus crew in the 2010 superdraft. and was quickly released.

dike is blessed not with the skills necessary to be a good footballer, but with an uncanny amount of luck that presents itself as footballing skill. arguably, dike has the first touch of a murderer and the ball control of 12 clowns fighting over the front seat of a mini cooper while juggling eggs. putting aside those judgments of the skill of his play, he did something almost every other timbers player failed to do last season--score. to me that is the most annoying trait about dike. had he not scored 5 goals for the timbers in a rather short spell of play last season there would be no justification for him to be anywhere near the first team.

dike spent the better part of the season either on loan or sitting on the pine. but as providence or luck may have it, when kris boyd had succumbed to his mysterious injury issues, dike found himself back into the plans of the interim manager. in all, dike played in a total of 12 games for the timbers. this was as surprising to me as was the fact kris boyd spent the final months of the season out in the cold. but as we know gavin is creatively limited and often sticks with his favorites when picking a side. his faith in dike paid off with goals, if not wins.

against better opposition dike was wholly ineffective. his two 90 minute cameos against seattle we suffered watching could only suggest the limitations of his game. without proper support from the midfield, dike is as useless as lipstick on a pig. which is the biggest complaint i have of him--his skill set prevents him from creating his own opportunities. had he the ability to dribble, or even control the ball, he could assist his cause. but he has neither skill set--if his first touch did not result in a turnover, his passing typically did. i am sure i will hear that dike nearly put the timbers ahead in the waning minutes of stoppage time when they drew with seattle in mid-september thanks to a 78 minute rodney wallace strike. and that would be true. but saving your best efforts for the final series of possession is not what is required of a starting center forward.

the years i have watched dike play (admittedly, that would include only usl home matches and the 20+ games he has appeared for the timbers in the mls because i never watched him play for the golden domers) have caused me to question just how he will be employed in porter's possession based system. in those years, and last year in particular, dike's best moments came when he was employed as a battering ram, attacking balls that have been crossed into the 18 yard box. his size and power are his weapons. which leads me to believe that if he is to have a place in future timbers teams he should be employed as a late minute substitute when defenses have been run ragged from chasing the ball. but i simply cannot see him assisting in the build up of play through deft touches and adept passing.

enjoy your thursday. i'll probably have some thoughts on the possible usl/mls reserves developmental agreement tomorrow.

sunshine

An axe exclusive: John Nyen on Kris Boyd

Posted on: December 11th, 2012 by theaxepdx@gmail.com 5 Comments

 

Kris Boyd is fat. Kris Boyd is in shape. Kris Boyd is great. Kris Boyd isn’t clutch. Kris Boyd is the worst player you have ever seen. Kris Boyd has saved the day with another stunning goal.

You are all correct in your assumptions. Boyd is all those things and more. He is enigmatic, interesting, outgoing, sullen, charming, difficult to deal with, brilliant, lazy, and driven.

Either way you phrase the statement the Scottish player is still tied to the Timbers contractually. As such, it behooves a fan to ask… what are the Timbers going to do with Kris Boyd? During the John Spencer era, Boyd was brought in to be a clinical finisher, the person who would take a ball and put it in the back of the net. The problem was that the Timbers never considered who was actually going to get the ball to Boyd. This manifested itself in the striker position looking like 2011 redux with Boyd stranded on an island wondering when he might get the ball. At times, the play of the Timbers suggested that Spencer himself didn’t quite understand the best way to get Boyd involved.

After scoring a headed goal in the opening game, the Timbers continued to try to feed Boyd scoring attempts through the air. The problem with this is that any short amount of research shows that Boyd is at his best as a poacher who collects through balls and short passes to hit home. Boyd isn’t a Peter Crouch who makes his living in the air, he is a Chris Wondolowski who appears to not be doing that much but pops up in the right spot. In many ways, Boyd is a throwback to an era in which the player required the ethos of the team to be built around him. Now this isn’t to say that Boyd is an untalented Luddite who can only play the game one way. He showed multiple times during the 2012 season his varied scoring touch and at least once (the disallowed goal against LA) his ability to create magic. The problem was the fact that Boyd frequently received absolutely nothing in the way of service in the box.  Certainly, he doesn’t really help himself out with his one way playing style and his lack of speed is evident in stretching opposing defenses. This playing style is one of the problems with Boyd, his inclusion requires the inclusion of other players to help him achieve his best.

After John Spencer was replaced with Caleb Porter (by way of Gavin Wilkinson) the new transition to a possession based offense begs the thought of what will happen to Boyd.

While much of the truth regarding Boyd is grey, the one incontrovertible truth is that Boyd has one year left on his contract. The Timbers are also in a weird position as they might think of selling Boyd, but the team performed so poorly in 2012 as to virtually destroy any trade value that Boyd had in the first place. At this time, you are asking another team to take a gamble that the player can find the spark or form that propelled him close to three years ago. The one team who might have taken such a gamble is now so far removed from the big money SPL that they can’t begin to think of acquiring heavy money talent.

With Porter taking the reins as coach, as well as his place at the personnel acquisition table, we have begun to see a reformation of the Timbers roster. While it is entirely possible, as well as very probable that the Timbers front office are shopping around Boyd they also must prepare to exist with him as a very expensive option for team selection.

With Boyd occupying around 1/4th of the teams overall salary ($1.5 million of $4.12 million), the Timbers may have to find a spot for this player in the starting 11. As Caleb Porter tries to establish his tiki-taka style in MLS, what we could see with Boyd is the continuing of his ability to lead the line of the Timbers. If Portland plays the back line further up the field than at most times last year and they acquire a dynamic attacking midfielder who can carry the water in the midfield, it could allow Boyd to play on the back shoulder with other players (like Darlington Nagbe) playing off of him pulling defenders here and there with their runs and their checks in/out of midfield.

To a certain extent this was attempted last season with John Spencer sending Darlington Nagbe up top to play with Boyd at different times during the year. Unfortunately, there was a disconnect between the center-midfield, frequently comprised of two defensive players, and the forwards. The Timbers played an empty bucket formation in the middle of the field and lacked the ability to get the ball up to the two forwards in a threatening position.

If Porter was able to obtain a player that could bridge the gap between the midfield and the forwards he could certainly take advantage of a player like Boyd. The issue here for Porter is whether Boyd shows up in shape (a common concern for much of Boyd’s playing career) and whether he can suffer Boyd not tracking back and playing any kind of defense.

The problem with the idea of keeping Boyd is the fact that, as was stated above, Boyd represents close to a quarter of the Timbers entire player wage bill on the year. Now granted only a portion of Boyd’s salary actually hits the Timbers salary cap, but in a league in which overall spending must be extremely scrutinized he represents a luxury that Portland may be unable to keep. Given the necessity of playing a certain style, with a certain group of players and a certain set up in order to have Boyd firing on all cylinders; Porter, Paulson and Wilkinson may decide that Boyd does not need to stick around.

Much of Porter’s team ethos seems to revolve around the fact that the system is king. He seems to prefer the ability of players to meld into his teams rather than building his team around one player. This seems to indicate a potential problem with a player that really only does one particular thing, score goals, well.  Certainly goals are important, but the chase for obtaining them can obscure the other systemic problems that exist within a team.

I could certainly see a situation in which Boyd plays for the Timbers and plays well, but I could also see a situation in which Boyd is sent packing to allow the Timbers to acquire a number of players. A million dollars in MLS is quite a bit of money and could represent the ability of the Timbers to obtain a deeper bench or even acquire a number a dynamic players. My own personal opinion is that Boyd would almost certainly not transfer to another team within MLS as his cost is extremely prohibitive. As such, I would guess that he stands a better chance of leaving the team during the European winter transfer window that opens in January.

It certainly seems that the Timbers front office could use the salary of Kris Boyd to allow Caleb Porter to effect his system freely, and I expect them to head in that direction. However, there is an option to integrate him into the team if Portland must keep him, and because of the 2012 season… It may come down to just that.

John

looking forward into the past…

Posted on: December 10th, 2012 by theaxepdx@gmail.com No Comments

 

in light of the recent revelation that danny mwanga and the timbers have agreed terms for the following season it is appropriate we begin the end of our review and evaluations of the timbers by discussing the forwards. several words come to mind when i look to define the timbers strike force over the last season, but that description would not include explosive, dangerous, prolific, effective, good. overall, the corps of timbers forwards was not the most dynamic crew in the mls. they scored more than 2 goals only once in 34 games, and that game was the unfortunate and crippling loss to the galaxy that saw the end of john spencer. indeed, excluding perhaps danny mwanga, the corps of forwards was reliant on others to create options, which in this team is like relying on chrysler to make a good car, or greyhound to provide a safe, felon-free, cross-country trip, or good service at denny's.

too often this season we have discussed the service the corps of timbers forwards received, and too often little more than complaints could be made about the service received by the corps of timbers forwards. let's put this one to bed--the timbers strike force did not get any service. because of that, the corps of forwards was not the major complaint i harboured over the course of the season. after all, it was not their fault they scored the second lowest number of goals in the regular season. right? i mean, had they the ability to manufacture goals on their own they would have. right?

well, you know the answer to those questions. but in hope that we understand what the forwards had to endure it might be best to once again gloss over the midfield. frankly, the story can be told in just a few words: the midfield spent the majority of their existence on the pitch moving about in the area that best defines them--the middle of the field. we can look to that as the primary reason for the deficient returns in the final third.

but this is not a concern that we just became aware of this season. the timbers put up similar numbers in 2011 as they did in 2012. in 2011, they had 37 goals, 136 shots on goal, and 407 total shots. in 2012, they had 34 goals, 124 shots on goal, and 372 total shots. i guess if you are an optimist and tend to find silver linings in the most unlikely of trash bins you might say the 2012 numbers suggest the timbers have become more efficient in front of goal from last season. but in reality, those numbers tell a story of absence--the key ingredient missing in both sides was the link up from midfield to the attacking corps. but we have banged on about the midfield long enough to know that the midfield was and is and hopefully will not remain the largest contributor to the timbers failures. so, why not move on to briefly discuss the players in the anemic strike force.

the season did not begin with the greatest of auspices. an english forward who suffered more from injury than missed opportunities hung up his boots due to the lingering effects of a run-in with dike--a consequence that would become a metaphor for the waning months of the season. eddie johnson was a character who handed us likely one of the best team goals of 2011, scored against toronto fc. he showed all the promise of potential, a quality the timbers love to bargain on. eddie just could not get right following a series of concussions and in order to avoid future physical and mental issues he made a decision to cut his career short at 24. what ifs are never something i like to dwell on, but i am left to ponder what the timbers would have been like had he ever been healthy. in the 7 games he played for the timbers in 2011 it was clear he could make things tick.

in june, two months after losing johnson, the timbers made a trade for local boy and generation adidas player, danny mwanga. in return they sent the ever active, but frustratingly profligate jorge perlaza to philadelphia. this should have been a move that increased the timbers firepower but for whatever reason the interim  manager determined he could produce more with less. the ability to describe the system gavin put in place still evades my grasp because it was a mish-match of anti-football and the implementation of possession tactics without the knowledge of how to use possession tactics. needless to say, the ability to score did not excel the way management had intended for it to in the second half of the season. but the timbers did excel in failing to win.

eventually, the season slid so far out of reach that blame was spread around like peanut butter on wonder bread. naturally, the million dollar man received the chunky bits, because, well, he was the million dollar man and was bought to carry the hopeless offense of 2011. in place of boyd came a favorite of the timbers faithful--bright dike. while he has no first touch, is absolutely incapable of dribbling the ball, and has the passing skills of a grandmother in the fast lane, dike found some shooting boots. i do not believe he is the future answer to what ails the timbers offense, but he was the answer for the final months of 2012.

so that is a little primer for you and what we will be discussing throughout the week unless some further timbers related intrigue takes place. obviously, if that were the case, we would give you the scoop in our indelicate way.

tomorrow, in hopes to give mags some assistance with procrastination, we will begin the review of the individual players with a post from an outside source.

sunshine.

Reading the Numbers

Posted on: December 9th, 2012 by theaxepdx@gmail.com No Comments

 

I’m writing this here and now because I have another even more vexing writing project hanging fire and I need something to distract me. Yeah, today is really looking like a drag. Normally I like to write, but I have to churn out about 5000 words today and I just don’t have a lot to go on, either informationally or motivationally. You want to know how hard I was looking for distractions this morning? There was a copy of volume 2 of Marx’s Capital lying around and I started reading that to procrastinate. No, that is not a good sign.

I spent yesterday watching Heineken Cup rugby matches. I really enjoy rugby, but mostly because I played it in college. Otherwise I (like most Americans) would have a really difficult time understanding what was going on. Rugby is the quintessentially English game. It combines a system of rules of Byzantine complexity with brutal violence. This makes a certain amount of sense in the context of the British mindset. They haven’t got the Raj anymore, so it’s important to have an outlet for those impulses. Anyway, the reason that I mention this is that there is one element from rugby that I would be in favor of importing into association football. In the course of a rugby match, the only person allowed to speak to the official is the captain. Full stop. Anyone else who even addresses the referee can be sent off for the first word that they utter. I get so tired of seeing players surround the official when they've had a call go against their team, or call for opposing players to be booked. Also, technically, there’s no swearing allowed on the pitch. Ok, that wouldn't fly, but you get my point.

On to matters about which you might actually care. The first round of the reentry draft happened yesterday. Well, “happened” is an interesting term in this complex, because only one selection was actually made. After ten other teams had passed the Fire took Maicon Santos from D.C. United. Then everyone else passed. End of conference call. On to the second round, scheduled for December 14 when, unlike in yesterday’s snorefest, teams are not obliged to offer players compensation commensurate with what they got last season. You would definitely think that there would be some more action then, as this would be the time that teams would try to pick up some bargains.

The only team that really made much noise yesterday was Los Bimbos, who completed a couple of moved ex parte, so to speak. After enduring a season along much the same abysmal lines as our own, they opted to strengthen their defense by bringing in Jeff Parke from the Sodo Slime and they reacquired Sébastien Le Toux from the Energy Drinks. More power to them, I say. I was a little surprised that the Sounders were willing to shift Parke who has been a mainstay in defense for them of late. Apparently they’ve got some salary cap issues to work through. Of course, I wish them luck with that.

The good people at Stumptown Footy have gone to the trouble of downloading the passing stats for the Timbers for last season and their analysis is worth reading. Two things from that piece really jumped out at me. Diego Chará passed the ball to Nagbe and awful lot. That is as it should be, since Diego is out there to win ball in midfield and then to get it to someone who is likely to take it forward to some profitable end. On the other hand, it tells you something that just over 40% of Chará’s passes went to defenders. I’d kind of like to see what the spread it for people in his position league wide. On its face that looks to me like evidence of negative play, but it’s hard to know without points of comparison (although that’s how it looked to me as I watched the matches in real time).
The article from which he passing matrix was drawn had some further interesting data. Although the team looked pretty anemic from an attacking standpoint, this passage tells you a bit about what we were actually seeing:

Portland took almost 40 more corners this year than last. Their crossing accuracy was up across the board, albeit with slightly less frequency. Their touches on the ball increased by more than 1,500, including a bump in the final third and opponent's penalty area.
And yet the Timbers were less productive in the final third, mostly because they were slightly less polished in the penalty box. Although goals from outside the area rose from four to seven in 2012, Portland's goal percentage on attempts inside the 18-yard box dropped more than six percent. Over the course of an entire season, that's significant.
So significant, in fact, that the club saw goals inside the box drop from 36 to 27. That falls on Boyd and Co.

The impression that this was a team that lacked forward momentum and a cutting edge is strengthened by this image (also from the Opta piece) illustrating the average position of the players on the field.

Portland avg

We spent a lot of time in midfield and in our own end. The statistics suggest (and experience seems to confirm) that we simply didn’t do a good enough job of advancing the ball into the final third and putting pressure on the opposing goal. As I’ve said before, I think that this had a significant collateral effect on our defending. Clotted up in the middle of the park, we weren’t really able to keep the opposing defenders honest and this allowed them to exert added pressure on to a defensive group that didn’t have a lot of consistency in terms of personnel from week to week, and who were not really world beaters anyway. There are some defensive groups who can absorb a lot of pressure even when their attackers aren’t getting it done. Ours was not one such group. It would have helped if we would have had someone up top who could spark a break and nick one against the run of play. Sadly, Boyd was simply not fast enough to be this fill this role, and since he was the only guy up top for a lot of the Spencer era, it meant that we had the opposition up in our grille for a lot of any given match. It’s hardly surprising that the results were not optimal.

Magadh