danny mwanga

Getting Back to Business

Posted on: March 29th, 2013 by theaxepdx@gmail.com No Comments

 

Song of the Day #1

Song of the Day #2

I’m really of two minds about today and it could go either way. This is the last day of spring break for myself and Mrs. Mags. It has, I think it fair to say, been just about the lousiest spring break on record. It featured two severe colds, one ear infection, one root canal, one dental crown, the death of a close family member, and the news that our landlord is probably going to sell the house we’re living in. That’s only the headline stuff, but it gives you some impression of how fraught the last two weeks have been. I’m kind of looking forward to getting back to work, just to have something else to think about.

Another thing that I’m looking forward to is the return of football matches about which I actually care. As a matter of full disclosure, I will say that I did watch the USMNT play Mexico the other day, and while getting a point at the Azteca is an impressive achievement, I was a little surprised by all the fawning commentary about the US defense. Sure, they kept a clean sheet, but that looked to me like it had much more to do with the Mexicans fluffing chances (and with a few unaccustomedly sympathetic decisions from the officials) than with our own positive qualities.

Before going further, I want to mention that I saw a news blurb the other day saying the Jermaine Jones might be joining the Timbers. Might. In the summer. If he doesn’t sign up for Schalke again. And if he doesn’t sign somewhere else in Germany. And if Toronto (who have the pick ahead of us) pass on him. In other news, next summer I might be winning the lottery, after which I’ll be blowing myself up to 30 feet tall and covering myself in gold. Might. This is one of those funny, speculative pieces that one sees in the sporting press, but which I feel like is particularly common among football writers. Don’t get me wrong. I like Jermaine Jones as a player, and I enjoy hearing the commentators on Univision (where tend to watch USMNT matches when possible) pronouncing his name in the way that the Spanish language would dictate. But if you look at that story what you find is that, aside from a suggestion (based on no evidence whatsoever) that Jones is looking to move to the US, there is no real connection between him and us. The whole story is a kind of Rube Goldberg machine of supposition. Once again, if Jermaine Jones ends up coming here I would view that as a good thing, at the very least because this would constitute an upgrade in terms of the raw talent level of the side. But I’m not holding my breath.

I’ve been reading the Colorado fans sites looking to gauge how they are feeling about our upcoming match. The impression that I get it that they are more afraid of us than we are of them. This is a bit surprising, in particular because so far in our MLS lives, Colorado has pretty much owned us. Especially at home. Owned. They probably have to list us on their state tax forms. With the exception of our win at the end of August last season we’ve not had any joy against them, and even that win was followed by getting kicked around like a pair of old socks when we met them away in the following week.

Having said that, we do have a couple of things going for us. We’re certainly a better side than we were last year and, if we can resist the temptation to go defensive in the way that we did against the Sounders two weeks ago, this is a team that we can really pressure. Also, and perhaps more promising from our perspective, Colorado will be lacking a number of important players for this match. To read their fan blogs, you would think that the entire first team had been struck down en masse and that they were going to be facing a makeshift lineup comprising ball boys, concession hawkers, and anyone else that happened to bring their spikes to the ground. Well, it’s not as bad as all that. They will be without Drew Moor, whose rush of blood predictably earned him a one game suspension. It also looks as if they will be without Mastroeni who, if he is not the most mobile of midfielders, is a guy who does a lot to keep them organized in the middle of the park. There is, apparently, some chance that we’ll be seeing Danny Mwanga getting a run out against us. As far as I’m concerned this is all to the good for us. Two successive regimes here looked at him and decided that he didn’t have what it took to merit a regular place, and I am convinced by this that he just doesn’t reflect that much of a threat. [I’ll probably end up eating those words after he scores a hat trick and beats Mikael Silvestre unconscious using the corner flag. We’ll just have to see.]

I suspect that there will be some temptation to play the more defensive (in effect passive) lineup that we saw against Seattle. I really hope that this is not the approach that we take. With all respect to Jack Jewsbury, at this point I only want to see him out there when no one else is fit. I wouldn’t mind seeing a midfield of Nagbe, Chará, Johnson, and whoever is in the best form on the right (not Zizzo who’s injured, but maybe Zemanski in front of Ryan Miller or whoever seems like they’re going to get it done). I like Valeri playing the number 10 role behind Ryan Johnson. I think that’s where he’s been most effective so far. This is a formation that can score, and if we can resist the temptation to give up stupid goals I think it is an approach that can work. Of course, it’s Porter who’s getting paid the big bucks to make these decisions, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him with the more conservative look. On the road, and having taken only two points from nine, that wouldn’t be an illogical move. But it seems to me that we have to be a team that attacks aggressively in order to be successful. Playing a more defensive formation seems to concede that too easily.

I don’t know who will be doing the post tomorrow. sunshine is next in the rotation, but we usually organize thing such that I do the one on game day and he does that postgame. Anyway, we’ll see. As this is a road game I will be up on Farcebook for about an hour before kickoff with some music, some news, and some pregame chat. See you then.

Magadh

the timbers regular season rapidly returns…

Posted on: March 28th, 2013 by theaxepdx@gmail.com No Comments

 

as great as it has been to relive, review, and rehash that match against seattle, it was two weeks ago and i now have the itch for something other than a statistical analysis of the advantages compression socks provide when used in combination with adidas predator boots (because that is the next place this blog goes if we have to talk about seattle away for one more day). i mean it: it really is time to move on.

thankfully, two days remain until the timbers step foot in the mile-high grounds of dick's sporting goods park to play some football, and perhaps see an old face. dannymdanny mwanga will be present, but whether he plays is another issue entirely. it seems the same issues that plagued mwanga in portland have followed him to denver. to date, danny has not played a single minute for the rapids. while he did not request the geographic change i am sure he feels quite at home on the bench, reading john kabat-zinn, and pondering the profound assertion that every state is a special state, and every moment is a special moment.

my heart goes out to the kid. it does. his arrival in portland coincided with the great downfall of john spencer, where upgrades happened every hour on the hour, and everyone rode the bus for free. it was unfortunate for him that he did not see much of the pitch, because his style of play fits spennyball. it does not, however, fit porterball. but the recent excuse for danny's lack of playing time is altitude sickness. having suffered the trauma of a youth spent in the beehive state i can tell you that denver is not kilimanjaro and breathing is not that difficult. however, all indications are that danny has found his fitness. so, perhaps that means we will see him saturday afternoon--after all, the rapids are without a number of key parts to their side, which may still include edson buddle, who is rehabilitating knee and groin injuries.

buddle may no longer be a player that sends shivers down your back when the threat of his appearance looms, but he has been known to score a goal and score them in packages. remember these?

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OYlm3DVfGg?feature=player_detailpage]

it was just a couple of years ago when he led the league in scoring, but that was also when he had landon donovan and beckham supplying service. this is a different year and a different team. and the limitations of his club have grown beyond the loss of matt pickens. diego calderon is to undergo the knife, pablo mastroeni is out with a strained quadracep, while drew moor, who decided he wanted to see more color than most players care to, sits on a red card suspension. even if buddle were to regain his form of a few years ago without having stepped foot onto the pitch this season, the loss of the rapids starting central defense pairing does present some great challenges to his club. i mean, he could not out score the timbers, could he?

the timbers road woes are now legendary. but that legend was also one written by lesser men with limited talent put together by a man who had no idea how to get them to perform. things have changed. the players have changed. the mentality has changed. but most importantly, the tactics have changed. integral to the road tactics against seattle was captain emeritus, he was able to spread the ball efficiently while patrolling in front of the developing centerback partnership of mikael silvestre and andrew jean-baptiste. while the experiment placed diego chara in a position on the right he is both unfamiliar with and less adept at playing, it did solidify the back line, limiting seattle to 7 total shots. (all right, yes, i mentioned that game). i am not certain how the timbers will line up this saturday, but i imagine the tactics will be similarly poised to prevent penetration, retain possession, and look to put the unstable colorado backline off-balance.

back to road mentality. if you recall, the new captain prefers to play on the road. he is a prideful man, and he desires to stuff wins down the throats of the opposition's abusive followers.

I like going on the road. Hostile environments are where I played some  of my best games, because it fits my personality. Fits my nature. It takes a tough warrior kind of mentality. A  guy who's not afraid to get into the nitty-gritty and really work hard.

we are now looking at the fourth game of the season, which means the members of this club have now been together for over two months. they are not only learning the ins and outs of how porter wants them to play as a team, but also how to be a team. there is a difference. porter may instruct the players that possession is good and the purpose of possession is to score, but the core group must come together and desire to fight for each other. if they do not care to fight for each other, no matter the tactics and no matter how talented the side may be, the team will not win games. thankfully, this side has two captains to bring them together.

finally, some concern surrounds the fitness of darlington nagbe. porter has remained mum about the extent of the liberian's injury, but suggestions are that it was another ankle knock. either that or he is simply training for a triathlon, spending the majority of his days on an exercise bike rather than kicking the ball around with the fellas. whatever it is, it has kept him out of regular training for the last week. perhaps a day off might do him and the team some good. i have noticed that his ability to take on defenses is rivalled only by his proficiency at going missing for long stretches of play. unfortunately, the other option is kalif.

that is about it from this fella.

sunshine

Last Minute Moves

Posted on: March 1st, 2013 by theaxepdx@gmail.com 8 Comments

 

Among the rash of communiqués that I received from sunshine last night was one saying that this was post number 365 for us. It has taken us a little more than a year to get to this point, given that there have been a couple of days of flakeage. It's been a lot of fun so far, and we're just getting started. On behalf of everybody at Axe Central, I would like to thank our readers for sticking with us, for offering lots of apposite comments, and for disagreeing with us when you thought we got it wrong. This adds immeasurably the the experience for us and we hope that we've added something to the experience for you as well. Cheers to you all.

In 48 hours or so, we’re going to get our first real indication of how far this team has come. There have been a lot of signs and a lot of moves. We have a new coach and a new philosophy. In two days we get a real progress report when the Energy Drinks come to the JW. I’m trying to keep my level of expectation low. The Drinks are a very good team, although they’ve been engaged in something of a rebuilding process of their own during this off season. So we’ll see. From now on we’re going to be playing games that matter, and it’s hard to predict what effect that’s going to have.

sunshine texted me last night to let me know that a trade and a signing were in the offing. My first thought was that this was going to be the moment at which Danso departed the stage. Instead it was Mwanga that made the move. He’s been shifted to Colorado for a first round pick in the 2015 draft. My first comment to sunshine about this was that it didn’t surprise me. Mwanga really didn’t seem like he fit into the new order here at the club. In fact, he didn’t fit very well into the old order, as evidenced by the fact that he got hardly any playing time, and mostly off the bench when he did get it. I suspect that the thinking when he was brought in was that he would be a guy who could step into the system that was meant to create chances for Kris Boyd and be effective. He’s big, and the theory seemed to be (at least going by the comments that were made by people with the team around the time that he was brought in) that he could hold up the ball and allow other players to get into the attack, and perhaps use his physical stature in the box to create chances for himself. It didn’t happen.

You could argue that one reason for this was that the organization of the team was so broadly dysfunctional that he was simply not given the sorts of opportunities that would have allowed him to thrive. Perhaps, but I thought it suspicious that he simply couldn’t crack the starting lineup. Dike got a lot more traction than Mwanga ever did, and that’s not really a selling point for any attacker with aspirations to make it in this league. However it may have been with him and the old order, after the new dawn of Caleb Porter’s hiring one had to think that Mwanga’s days were numbered. He simply doesn’t have the mobility, the skills, or the instincts to thrive in Porter’s system. Dike (his knee injury notwithstanding) is still going to be around to be the “Plan B” if we need to try to shift things around. I have a suspicion that the Timbers were ready to take pretty much any offer that came down the pike for Mwanga’s services.

In the event, I think this is a pretty good bit of business. We’ve shifted Mwanga along, maybe to a place where his skills will be more relevant, in any case off our books, and we didn’t get saddled with any kind of make-weight player coming back in return. Parting with Mwanga also created a roster spot for the other move that happened yesterday: the signing of Frédéric Piquionne. I mentioned in a column a few days ago that I thought it likely that we would sign him, even on the basis of the limited look that we got at him. And voilà, he’s in. You could look at him and question why it is that the team needs a journeyman in his mid-30s. I think he’ll actually be a good fit. He’s biggish (6’2” or so) but he’s quick and he has good foot skills. The pattern with Porter’s moves has been to bring in guys who he is confident can adjust to the system that he wants to play. Piquionne has played in the top levels of French and English football, so he knows the value of moving the ball quickly and he’s experienced matches where the tempo and physical demands will have been much greater than they will be here. Like Sylvestre, he has the capacity to have a stabilizing effect on a team that last year lacked leadership and confidence at crucial times (you could say at most times). He’s not Thierry Henry and he never was, but he has the skills to play the offense that we want to play, to destabilize defenses, and to attack balls in the air. For all of these reasons I was not surprised that he was given a contract. Now if only the PA announcer at the JW could pronounce his name correctly.

In another bit of news that I missed the other day, Sylvestre seems to have got his work permit sorted and is headed back from Europe to rejoin the team (for all I know he may be back already). There was talk that he might be available on Sunday. I would be ok with this. Although he hasn’t had a huge amount of time to organize with his fellows on the back line, he’s an experienced enough player that he should be able to integrate pretty quickly.

I should probably wait until Sunday to do the following (because I’ll have a lot more information by then, but I thought I might just throw out a sketch of a starting lineup and see what people thought.

Ricketts

Miller -- Jean-Baptiste -- Sylvestre -- Harrington

Alhassan -- Chará -- W. Johnson -- Nagbe

Valeri

R. Johnson

This makes a couple of assumptions. Sylvestre might not be in frame, or they might want to start DTG anyway. I have a little trouble imagining that they would run Mosquera out there, given how out of favor he seems to be at this point and the fact he is suffering from sort of injury. I can imagine some other ways that this could go, and perhaps you can too. I’ll of course be taking another crack at it in my pregame post on Sunday, but this is how it looks to me right now.

Magadh

Since Our Last Deal With New York Worked Out So Well…

Posted on: February 12th, 2013 by theaxepdx@gmail.com 4 Comments

 

I really don’t understand MP sometimes. Or rather, I feel that I understand him all too well. He’s probably a good guy when you meet him in the flesh (I have never had the pleasure) but he simply must stay off of Twitter. There are some humans whose consciousness is simply unsuited to that particular mode of communication. I mention this because he put up a tweet the other day which seems to be a joke about Sigi Schmid’s weight, or his love of food, or whatever. As a goof it’s just not very funny. But, more importantly, much as the green slime from Sodo inspire the same kind of feelings in me as the prospect of French kissing a badger, there is just no point in this kind of thing. I’m all for saying nasty things to an opponent. I’ve certainly been chucked out of a few places for doing so. But to be effective it has to be either a) obviously very funny or b) backed up by some show of actual superiority.

Much as it was pleasant to take a little piece of the Sounders down in Tucson, that and $2 will just about get you a cup of coffee. Not only have we had rather more preseason game preparation, but it was also a match in which we played a lineup that was rather closer to what our actual regular season setup in going to be (aside from the fact that Tucker-Gagnes played right back). I know the whole issue of the tweet is a minor thing and will, in all likelihood, soon be forgotten. But one never wants to give an opponent the opportunity to deal out some comeuppance. There are those of you out there who will say that this doesn’t really merit our attention, and you’re probably right. Still, it’s just the kind of thing that one generally oughtn’t to do.

Speaking of developments with our northern rivals, they seem to have taken Mikael Sylvestre on for a trial, now that his cuppa with us is done. I never thought that I would be uttering the following words, but I really wish that the Timbers would sign Sylvestre. It gives me only a modicum of comfort to know that sunshine and I have friends among the Seattle Arsenal mob who will feel the same sort of discomfort at his proximity that we do. However that may be, I think it’s pretty clear that he showed the requisite level of skill and ability during his brief stint in our camp. I understand that bringing him in creates a bit of a log jam at center half, but perhaps a bit of serious competition for playing time wouldn’t be such a bad thing. I have confidence in Horst and Mosquera, both individually and as a pairing. I’m less sanguine about the prospect of Jean-Baptiste getting significant time, as he would do if either of the aforementioned picked up an injury. Tucker-Gagnes could also chip in, but who among us could view the prospect of throwing someone straight out of college into the setup? Sylvestre might not be available on terms that we will work for us financially. I simply have no way of knowing. The thought of seeing him lining up in a Sounders jersey causes my gorge to rise.

Whatever it is that we decide to do in terms of personnel, we will have some extra cash with which to do it. This is a result of the fact that Eric Alexander has been shifted to the Energy Drinks for…wait for it…allocation money. Those hardy souls among you who have read what I have to say with regularity will remember that I have not exactly been the president of the Eric Alexander fan club. He’s who reminds one of those motivational posters that one sees at work about unspectacular people working unspectacularly to get a job done. You can’t fault the guy in terms of effort. But he simply is not quite good enough to assert ownership over a starting spot at left wing, and the number of times that he came off the bench to any good effect can be number on one hand. Mayhap I would have preferred to see him go somewhere besides New York. In my heart of hearts the Kenny Cooper thing still rankles. Admittedly, he was moved on when there was still some prospect of getting a reasonable return out of Kris Boyd. But Cooper went on to pot 18 goals for the Drinks, while Boyd turned out to be the footballing equivalent of a handful of magic beans.

While we’re on the subject of strikers, I would like to say that I am feeling intense guilt about the situation with Bright Dike. The other day I made some idiotic comment about the possibility that he might be able to come back from injury in a matter of weeks rather than months. I should know better than to say things like that, especially when it refers to someone who is having surgery to repair a knee injury. As it turns out he’s done until August (at least) and I have a feeling that I put the whammy on the guy. I take full responsibility for this.

Dike is another guy of whom I’ve been pretty critical. Or perhaps it would be better say that I’ve been skeptical of his ability to be the kind of guy who can carry the scoring load for a team with serious aspirations to contend. I talked a little the other day about what the loss of Dike might portend for our attack. Clearly, this is a time when other players have a chance to make their case for a more extensive role. You would think that this would be the time that Danny Mwanga would make play for more time, if only on the basis of the tools that he has. Still he hasn’t impressed, and moreover it’s not really clear to me that he represents the way forward in terms of the offensive style that Porter wants this team to play. The answer could be Ryan Johnson, who had at least a modicum of success during his time with the Quakes (less so up in Toronto). The fact that we’re now taking a look at the young Belizean striker Deon McCauley may render some clues about which direction things are going to take. He’s a player less in the Dike/Mwanga mode (big, hold up player) and more like Nagbe (small and mobile). With the improvements that have been effected in midfield this might portend a full commitment to an offense that attacks the top of the penalty area using running and through balls. To my mind this fits well with the overall attacking approach that we are building now.

Ok, I’m off. I promise to do my best not to jinx any more of our players.

Magadh

The Thinning Begins

Posted on: February 10th, 2013 by theaxepdx@gmail.com 2 Comments

 

Hello ladies and gentlemen and a happy Sunday to you all. I am currently rolling with the Megabus between Chicago and points east and if you’re reading this it means that (contrary to my expections) I’ve gotten their wi-fi working to such an extent as to be able to post this thing. If you’re not reading this, well, it doesn’t matter anyway.

I didn’t see out 3-0 victory against FC Tucson. Of course, nobody did who wasn’t actually in Tucson. I discovered later that it would have been possible to follow what was going on via Twitter, but I don’t do Twitter. sunshine is the guy who does pretty much everything on our Twitter account. For some reason that particular format has never really appealed to me. sunshine and I are a bit like Jack Sprat and his wife. I can handle no Twitter, he can handle no Facebook, but between the two of us we seem to manage to get the full measure of social media exposure. I’ll have more to say about that below. Suffice for now to say that I only have the most general idea of what went on down in Tucson, other than that we won and who scored.

One thing that I do know about (at least to the degree that anyone outside the Timbers camp knows about these matters) is Bright Dike’s knee. According to media reports he’s just had arthroscopic surgery to repair a partially torn anterior cruciate ligament. This came as no surprise to me. As people who were following my Facebook posts during the Seattle match may remember, I said that it looked like he made a quick grab for his knee after colliding with Seattle’s keeper. It was hard to tell exactly what had happened because the camera angles were so wonky, but I definitely got the impression at the time that some sort of knee tweek had happened, and so it was. This has got to be kind of a tough blow for a guy who is only about two years removed from a ruptured Achilles tendon. Recovery time from this sort of thing can be a bit hard to predict, especially if one doesn’t have precise information about the nature of the injury. At least it wasn’t a full tear, so there is a possibility that the time frame could be weeks instead of months.

Months, yes, months. As in the case of Brent Richards who, it was announced a few days ago by the team, just had surgery to repair a torn ACL and meniscus. I really feel for the guy. He played some good minutes last year. He was raw for sure, but he had talent and looked like a guy who could add some useful dimensions to the side with the proper development. On a more selfish note, this leaves us a bit thin in attack. [I feel like there is some sort of weird harmonic convergence between the Timbers and Arsenal these days. Both seem to have a plethora of central midfielders and a shortage at other positions.] Richards was mostly used out wide last year, so his loss it not quite as worrying as Dike’s. I am on record as saying that Dike is at best a B+ grade talent. Admittedly, he is a very hard worker and has improved his game markedly over where it was when he got sent down last year. On the plus side, at least in terms of what he was bringing to the team, he really looked to be about the best thing that we had going up front.

Where does this leave us in terms of attack? The situation is a little murky, but one thing is clear. This is the moment at which Danny Mwanga needs to step up and show that he deserves a spot in the side. This is like one of those moments in a thoroughbred race where an opening appears in the pack and a horse that’s been trapped in the middle has a chance to break into the clear. Mwanga has been pretty unimpressive so far this preseason, and the lack playing time in the previous campaign seems to suggest that the coaching staff didn’t have great confidence in his ability to get it done. With the departure of Boyd and the injury to Dike there is now an opportunity for him to get an extensive run out and really show what he can do.

Another thing that occurs to me is that this might provide an opportunity to change the equation with Darlington Nagbe. He’s been shifted out wide for much of this preseason because of the overload of quality that we have in the middle of the park. This situation might provide an opportunity to move him back into a more central position, either partnering Mwanga up front or as part of a three man midfield in a 4-5-1 formation. Anyway, it’s just a thought. At this point I’m just not sure who else we could put up there. Nagbe’s pace and clever running could be effective up top, especially now that we have a guy like Valeri who really looks to pick out passes to cutters (and has the quality to do it).

I’ll return to this topic as the preseason continues. In the interim, people should feel free to offer up any suggestions that they might have about how this situation might best be addressed. Returning for a moment to the matter of social media discussed above, some of you saw that I essentially live blogged the match against Seattle the other day, at least in the sort of limited way that Facebook posts allow one to do. Some of you may remember that I did something like this in the lead up to matches last season. I am going to try to bring this back for the coming regular season, but only for road matches. It makes more sense to do it that way. Ultimately I’d like to set up a platform for real live blogging of the matches (yes I know that Stumptown Footy does something like that, but I think that there is room and processor speed for more than one outlet). Anyway, it’s all part of the plan to make The Axe a bit more interactive, so we’ll see how it goes.

Magadh

Tragedy and Beyond

Posted on: December 12th, 2012 by theaxepdx@gmail.com 11 Comments

 

First of all, I’m sure I speak for everyone here at Axe Central when I extend my condolences to the victims of the events at Clackamas Town Center yesterday and to their families. There are a lot of things that could be said about it, but that is for other times and places. I talked to sunshine last night and we were both thinking of all of the times that we’d visited that space and how jarring it was that such a thing should happen there. We wish those affected strength in their grief and peace.

It seems somewhat paltry to go on with talk of football at a time like this, but I will endeavor to do so. There are wretched individuals who can only find solace in destroying the happiness and settled lives of others. What I have to say in the following blog, and even the very fact that I am writing it, is an expression of my unwillingness to concede anything to such people.

If you go over to Newsnow.co.uk, or as I like to call it, the Lazy Blogger’s Friend, you will find that there are about 38 stories about how we resigned Danny Mwanga. So it should come as no surprise that we have actually resigned Danny Mwanga. I think this is a good thing.

Yesterday’s guest columnist offered a pretty severe critique of Kris Boyd. Frankly, a lot of it was spot on. I have a lot of sympathy for things Celtic, but the fact of the matter is that if Boyd ran into David Horst on the street it’s unlikely that they would even recognize each other. Boyd is the poster child for the British adage about horses for courses. Sometimes he’s also the answer to the frequently posed question about who ate all the pies, but that’s another matter. Boyd was successful in the SPL for two reasons. One was that, at his best, he can be a clinical finisher. The other is that the style of that league tends to deemphasize building from the back and dynamic play in the middle of the field. Success an environment was about as favorable as could be imagined for a player like Boyd to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative.

MLS is a rather different environment. That is certainly one reason why Boyd’s talents have appeared to decline. And of course he’s older. He was just never the spryest fellow on the ground, and age and injury have not made him any pacier. As a consequence, there is about one thing that he can do to be successful: he has to score on the Lineker model. That means getting the ball and kicking it into the goal with a minimum number of touches. Much as Lineker was a star in the eighties, it had to be said that each successive touch after his first one resulted in a logarithmic decline in the probability that anything positive was going to happen.

This description fits Boyd to a t. You can’t kick the ball over the top and have him chase it down. He’s not quick enough and will either get beaten to the ball by whatever defender is nearby or by the keeper if he is paying attention. One interesting result of this is that teams can actually play a higher line against us because one doesn’t have to have blistering pace to catch up with our point man. This has cascading effects for our efforts to work through midfield, but as I have battered these dead horses into submission in a dozen previous posts I will spare you further nattering. In any case, Boyd is probably making too much money to be moved easily, so I have a sneaking suspicion that he will be with us again next year.

But back to Mwanga. I didn’t see a lot of him last season. Nor did most Timbers fans as he seemed to take a while to work himself into the rotation. Even then he didn’t get a huge number of minutes. The fact that Dike was getting as much time up front as he was sort of made me wonder if there was something catastrophically wrong with Mwanga. He has a lot of promising attributes. He’s big, but reasonably quick too. Other than that it’s hard to draw firm conclusions given his paucity of on field appearances for the team. But I have to think (and perhaps this is doing a bit of an injustice) that if Bright Dike can make it in this league, Danny Mwanga can too.

Dike certainly worked hard to get himself into consideration and his time in the nether world of the developmental leagues seems to have been well spent in terms improving his touch and tactical nous. My feeling after having seen a bit of both guys is that Mwanga does pretty much everything that Dike does, but slightly better. I freely admit that this is a judgment based on rather superficial evidence. If someone from the team were to come to me and say that their respective performances on the training pitch made the choice of Dike over Mwanga a clear one I would be ready to concede the point. But it looks to me that Mwanga is both stronger than Dike as well as being better able to cope with dynamic, attacking football.

We’re all on the cusp of finding out what Caleb Porter will make of this team. From the view times that I was able to get a lot at his University of Akron side I expect that we will be moving in the direction of quicker and more rhythmic passing and more consistent development through the middle of the park. It’s hard to know whether the personnel that we have now, or any that we are likely to bring in, will be able to execute such an approach. My guess is that Mwanga can make a positive contribution to such a project, but the relevant sample size of performances is too small to draw firm conclusions.

Magadh

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.