For all you Rimando fanboys (every stinkin' RSL supporter!), the MLS website has an article about how great Rimando is. The stat that just fell out to me though was just how completely RSL has dominated "da Choppahs". Since they entered the league in 2011, the Timbers have never won at Rio Tinto and in fact are currently in an 11-game winless streak (0-9-2 in all competitions) against RSL.
Sure, MLS will say how great he is, then come time to vote for GOTY, they'll barely put him in the top five, while praising goalies that have worse stats.
Interesting game last night. Thought the midfield struggled for much of the game except for the first 10-15 minutes and then were able to put some good minutes together after the double sub. Even then there were struggles. The midfield seemed to do better when they pushed forward more insistently. Rimando won this game hands down. This game had a Portland break through written all over it. Nice to meet another BS'er. Taragui came over and introduced himself. Great guy. Sec. 25 has a few of us now.
Mulholland was the right guy off, he had become tired and was making a lot of mistakes. Velasquez looked like he was coming back up to game speed and it was ugly. Honestly as many errors as Mulholland was making, more or less. But, the difference is that Velasquez was fresh and fast enough to compensate better. I thought Cassar's subs were exactly right.
I still think overall Ned should've came off. I don't think he had that great of a game. Perhaps Gil/Seba coming on for both would've been nice. Either way it wound up paying off, so I'm fine with it.
Personally I thought the match turned in our favor when Plata and Vela came in. RSL looked much better with them on the pitch.
Thanks to MLS Live problems I didn't watch the first half, managed to get the app going on my phone at a friends bday dinner for the second half. I was among a group of Timbers fans so they were happy I was able to get the game, less happy when Grabs scored, and pissed when I was celebrating. Timbers looked a lot better than what I had seen of them previously, RSL just has their number. Both teams had chances to put a few in the back of the net, both teams hit the post/crossbar, we just happened to have Nick Rimando between the pipes. Things are getting pretty miserable in Timbers-land, lots of hipsters crying into their beers these days.
On the right lines goobx1, the midfield struggled but this forced more variety out of the team in general. I did not post after the previous two games because they were we struggled to against inferior opposition because we were too predictable, they knew exactly how we were going to play. This game was much better some by accident some by design - more long balls for the forwards to run on to, full backs playing higher than ever with a midfielder dropping to a back three [hence Ned's apparent under performance] when they [the fullbacks] were in and around the box and then my favourite of all- the low short pass straight down the pitch bypassing the defending midfielder and putting he centre backs under direct pressure [ defenders don't like the ball played straight at them]. Add all this variation to the usual controlled multi - multi passing build up and defences won't know how to line up to counter all the options. The only disappointment was Seb looking at little lost at times, has he had enough time training with the team to be used to their strengths and weaknesses and they to him? Mind you the same might be said of Garcia and Sabo. End of epistle
Sometimes it is better to be lucky (and have Nick Rimando in goal) than good. Still a bit concerned with Nat's performance this season. In games past, I seem to remember him being especially good at facing up to attackers 1-on-1 and knowing exactly when to tackle the ball away, but I didn't see that last night with Fernandez and Urruti and Valeri coming at him. Hopefully it's nothing.
This game was so weird. I honestly feel we played better at Philly, but we got all three points regardless. Sometimes it all comes down to luck I guess.
firstrow works fine. but you need to make sure you have Adblock in order to use it. otherwise there are endless pop ups.
Not the first time I've been called a BS'er, and probably not the last. Glad I didn't come off as stalker-ish, but when you explain in great detail the construction of "mega-flag", it makes you kind of easy to pick out of a crowd. BTW, it was nice to meet you too. Now, if anyone wants to point out some glaringly obvious personal detail that will let me pick them out of a crowd, I will gladly come and say hi. I figured @15 to 32 's language or porno confetti would have given him away by now, but he is keeping a remarkably low profile.
At the time I was thinking that as well. Of course, if Ned came off I don't think Gil or Mulholland would have been in that position and had the finishing touch to score the goal. Velasquez was awful. He was very lazy defensively and on two occasions Rimando was giving him an earful. He nearly cost the team three points by failing to get back and mark his man or cover for Beltran when he was pushed forward.
I hate to say it, but Nat is the kind of guy I wouldn't mind trading. It seems fairly clear that he's reached the peak, and is likely on the downward trend from hear on out. Still good enough to be of higher trade value, but if we were to take advantage of it, it'd have to be this season or next. Overall I'm fine if we keep him, but if we're looking to try and build up the squad going forward, he's a guy we could get good value out of. I also feel that between Schuler/KWS/Salcedo, I feel like we'd have a good enough rotation to not have a horrible drop off in CB quality.
My assessment: GK: I'm really glad Rimando is as short as he is, because he probably should be playing in a better league. Defense: This was the best game I've seen from Wingert in a year and a half. I'm not sure if it was tactics but both he and Beltran were very assertive offensively. I liked it. Schuler was solid but not dominate like he can be. Borchers had a ruff game. I think we will see this from him from now on. Usually solid be a ruff one every once in a while. Hopefully the ruff aren't too common. I don't think we should look to trade Nat. I think he is good for the young CBs even if he isn't playing. I think of him as the Jamie Carragher of RSL. Soon he won't be starting but still able to put in a good showing from a time to time and very good leadership/experience. I'd like to see Nat work for RSL after he is done playing. Midfield: Overall they looked a bit off. KB was solid, but not spectacular. As was Javi. Javi really looked tired by the end of the game, and his set piece service was awful. Ned looked out of sorts for all of the first half and much of the second, but stepped it up towards the end. Muholland was the best mid in the first half but was done after that. Seba... I'm starting to wonder if he is a bust... He has a good skill set and I think he can continue to develop, but I'm just not sure he has what it takes at this level. Forwards: I think they all did well. Garcia started poorly but looked very good in stretches. Sabo did well and played with more energy than usual. I'm not sure if this is a tactical change or a change in attitude. He looked much better defensibly on set pieces and tracking back. It could be that Garcia was playing higher, but I think that Jason was content to let Sabo play "lazy" because he knew he didn't need to be heavily involved in the game to be dangerous. Maybe Cassar plays him differently. Plata was solid and a good spark, but not as spectacular as in previous games this season. Sandoval didn't really have enough time to make an impact. Also: The Grabavoy goal isn't going to get much media attention but that was a crazy good heady play by Ned. He manages to fool Nagbe in order to get away from him and then take an unlikely shot that caught Ricketts off guard. Smart, Ned is not going to outrun Nagbe, but manages to get away, and he is not going to beat Ricketts with power, but manages to get the shot in. Smart. That is why he is on the field at the end of the game and not the other "wing" mid.
I'm the only guy in section 25 that stands when the ball is in the middle of the field... that will give me away. I'm also quite literally a wall flower
I agree. He used to attack on the offensive end, much as he did Saturday, much more often. Generally, good things have happened when he does that. The other improvement from him is that he had not bad giveaways allowing counters to start. Sadly, we had several other players step up and provide those opportunities instead. The thing about Seba is that for two weeks in a row he has been instrumental in a RSL goal. Saturday, his defending was atrocious and he looked bad on several touches...but we do not get the road point last week nor do we get the three points against Timbers without him. Maybe the pros outweigh the cons at this point.
A couple thoughts for here: Wingert was practicing left-footed crosses during warmups before the game. I found it interesting as I honestly don't remember seeing him do that previously. The ironic part of it was that he never really did whip one in with his left foot. Still, practicing it was a big deal to me. More on Wingert - he was working on recovery and shape during warmups as well. He would dribble the ball up the wing and then act as though the ball was lost and track back. I think the goal against LA and the one in Philly really hit home with him on this as he was constantly doing it for the 10-15 minutes that the other players were shooting and stretching. Vela needs to learn when to have the flair and when to keep it simple. He reminds me a of a lot of the young players I coach once they learn how to do a move - they want to do it EVERYWHERE. I'm a big fan of Seba taking guys on and being creative with the ball... in the offensive third and more attacking part of the middle third. When he does it as the furthest back midfielder, though, it is scary as hell. Nicky gave him an earful in this game because of it. It's an experience thing and a humility thing. Yeah, you can beat that guy 9 times out of 10 - he's a bad defender. But that one time you dont? It causes a counter and goal - and those other 9 times are all forgotten. Want to know why Portland isn't finding results this year? Rodney Wallace. Go watch clips of their offense last year compared to this year. Wallace was a game changer that didn't get his due in media attention. Well done to the fans - I've never seen a game with that many two-sticks and just general fan involvement that wasn't a playoff game. It was awesome
Yeah, the fans rocked. My favorite moment was the second Believe chant going around the entire stadium right before the goal.
Vela had by my count three bad giveaways in the last match. All were near the midfield. The earful from Rimando came after a bad giveaway from Beckerman not Seba. I think Rimando was pissed because Seba did not close space on the attacker before his shot. I think some more time on the pitch will help get Seba back in the form he showed during last seasons playoff run.
I remember the ear-full from Rimando coming after Seba tried to dribble two guys. On TV, it looked like Rimando was screaming "Pass the ball!". Edit: Nope, I was wrong. Just saw the highlight in the SOTW video. But was Beckerman's giveaway right after Seba's? I just remember Rimando yelling at Seba.
This is correct. The opposing striker ended up with space to shoot because Seba was standing at the corner of the box sort of waiting for the guy to keep dribbling to him. I suppose he could have been holding his position in order to cover someone making a run, but Rimando felt strongly (and correctly) that he should have been helping to shut down the dribbler.