Is part of this what happens when you start the young players who may not be ready for full time roles? The back line got roasted time and again by a team that clearly saw an opportunity and exploited it after half time. I've not really thought of Gio Savarese as a tactical mastermind during his coaching stints, but from the first minute of the second half Portland executed an adjustment.
Having a discussion with a friend... was that the worst half of soccer ever played by this team? Like, not in a "the players clearly gave up" way like Onalfo's last game against Dallas, but in a "these guys are trying and they just got destroyed" kind of way. Got any contenders, @Buzz Killington ?
In 2019 the game against LAFC was just awful. Awful. Like my family has not wanted to go back after sitting through that. There was at least one goal given up in the last few minutes. And we looked just outclassed all day. Perhaps I'm just having awful flashbacks, but hard for me to think of something worse than that.
The other 7-2 loss in the team's history against the Galaxy in 2019. Game was level at the half at 1-1 before LA scored 6 in the second half. The previously mentioned LAFC game where KC allowed 4 in the 2nd half. Maybe the 2001 game against the Fire that they lost 7-0, but not sure that was one bad half just a horrid 90 minutes. I'd throw the San Jose loss in 2015 out there but that was just a full game disappointment and not at the level of those 2.
I've been thinking that if we're going to play him, he should be the 20 minutes at the end guy, going against dead legs instead of leading that parade. but his game is clearly a full step slower. I have been a fan for a decade, but he needs to retire, at the latest at the end of this season. It's sad to watch him these days.
the stats breakdown from this one is maddening. SKC dominated possession, matched Portland in total shots, kicked butt on passing accuracy, forced more corners, tied in dual, blocked more shots,. etc.Portland only really dominated in goals and shots on goal. Because of that, the xG was 2.7 to 1.4, to Portland, of course. But this was the sort of match that stats really cheat on. This was a Kloppian match, they controlled the moments that mattered, we wilted on them. they created and exploited their moments, we pushed the ball around the field, pointlessly quite often. Also, it has to be said, their 36 year old was brilliant. diego Chara is an out and out baller. He destroyed us. Our midfield was a mess, we were bypassing them in the attack and getting ripped open time and again when defending. Chara was at the heart of a lot of that.
I was at the Chicago game and the second half was terrible, but first half (as I remember was fairly bad also. I was either at or watched the other blowouts. Neither game left me with as bad a feeling as the Portland game because I believed there was ability for SKC to get better. The games against Monterrey were different in that SKC played well, but the Mexican team was so far superior in talent that it was understandable the 10 or so goals SKC gave up between both games. That same Monterrey team went on to play Liverpool in the Club WC and did very well in their slim loss to LFC. The problem with the Portland game is that unlike the Dallas blowout that got Onalfo fired, is that the team kept fighting. That just means two things to me; either the coaches don't understand the ability of their players to give them a better game plan for success, or the players are just not good or maybe both. The bottom line is I just do not believe they can get better this season.
The problem we had against Monterray was that their talent was beyond ours, this is true. But it was also our approach. We went out to dominate possession, and we looked pretty decent doing it, until they scored, or scored again. At that level of talent, the SKC way was, at best, naive. Vermes is showing more willingness to be flexible in his approach this season, but he desparately wants to play a certain way. We cannot play his way with a bottom 5% 6, and a bottom 5% 8 in a midfield 3. We are playing 8 v 10 in the field, and we've got one good but not great midfielder (I like Walter, but he's not a top 10% mid in MLS, maybe not a top 20%). We can sub in Hernandez, who at this point might be top 60% MLS mid but might not. You can see it with San Jose. When the manager insisted on his principles above all else, despite the fact that he is a winning manager, great pedigree, stellar rep, etc, his team sucked. A more pragmatic approach by a lesser manager and they're a good team. Back in the days when I was wasting money at college by taking "theory of coaching" classes (hey, only 2. sorry, mom), lesson one was that there are two kinds of coaches. One coaches his system, no matter what, regardless of the talent available. the second adapts his system to the talent he has. Vermes tends toward number one. I mean, there are a lot of very successful coaches in that mold. Lombardi, Pep, Mourinho spring to mind. but in a salary cap league, those folks don't necessarily have a ton of success. Almeda, Losado, Heinze, for instance. Our problem this year is that our talent took a step backwards while the league, and just about everyone in it, took a step forward. Despite this, we try to dominate games with lesser talent. It works until it doesn't, and against Portland it worked a lot until it didn't a lot. With our talent deficit, esp in midfield, the SKC way is no longer a tactical advantage but a liability.We can either up our talent (regardless, we really need a 6) or adapt, or we can just lose a lot and not look very good doing it.
The embarrassment just keeps coming. The MLS site has a video of all the goals scored in week 11 of the season. The Portland vs SKC section takes up about a third of the entire video.