Sunday’s Portland Timbers Loss Against Orlando City SC was their roughest game so far. Their midfield was sloppy with the ball. Their back line wasn’t communicating well. Their speedy forwards couldn’t provide a strong final ball. Overall, it was a very forgettable evening in central Florida, although there were a few things the team needs to learn from if they want to break this trend of poor results and navigate the difficult schedule ahead and avoid a disastrous start.
Nagbe and Valeri cannot have an off night
Think back to Sunday night and ask yourself how many times you heard the names Diego Valeri and Diego Chara? I’ll help you out, you didn’t really hear those two names at all. Two of Portland’s most important players were virtually non-existent on Sunday night and that cannot happen again. Without Chara doing his job by holding down the fort and protecting the midfield, Orlando City ran rampant. Kaka, who was making his debut on Sunday, looked like he was in midseason form. He was involved on three of the four goals, including scoring the third just after halftime. Chara’s virtual absence was what allowed Kaka to take such control of the game right from the start, even after Cyle Larin was forced out with a hamstring injury.
Diego’s poor play resulted in a very poor translation of defence to attack. Valeri gets the entire attack going after he receives a pass from Darlington Nagbe going forward. Valeri is then responsible for playing the ball off to the quick wingers and Fanendo Adi up front. Nagbe did his job on the night, he had a 92% pass success rate on 65 total passes. Valeri was the source of most of the offensive frustration. His 66% pass rate was very poor for his standards and needs to improve in order to avoid more disasters like this one.
The defense needs consistency
The Timbers have played four matches in 2016 and they have used four different back lines. Sunday’s unit of Alvas Powell, Nat Borchers, Jermaine Taylor, and Jack Barmby may have been the worst combination of the bunch. Powell got shredded all night by Kaka, Adrian Winter, and even Brek Shea, of all people. Taylor looked lost at center back. Barmby’s inexperience at left back makes everyone long for Jorge Villafana to come back, or at least for Chris Klute to return to full action. Borchers was forced to do everything by himself because of his teammates’ poor play. As great of a player as Borchers is, he is no superhero capable of keeping Kaka and company at bay.
There is still no depth up front
In the second half, when it was evident that the front three wasn’t getting anything done, manager Caleb Porter subbed everyone out. Darren Mattocks, Jack McInerney, and Ned Grabavoy all came in as subs. The result of these fresh new bodies was… a consolation goal in the penultimate minute. This cannot stand. Lucas Melano, Dairon Asprilla, and Adi will not be perfectly in sync every night and one of those three needs to step in and develop some chemistry with the starters. All three of these players are new to the team, so it’s no surprise that they are taking a while to gel, but they better get on it fast. Without reliable goal scorers off the bench, the Timbers will never be able to come back late in games without the help of their opponents picking up two yellow cards.
Portland has always had rough starts to their season. They will need consistent play from their stars, a starting back line that isn’t switching up every game, and somebody to step up on the bench if they want to avoid a collapse that will put their playoff hopes in jeopardy.
Main Photo: Chris McEniry, Overflow Productions, Inc./Getty Images
