Post-match: Portland Timbers - San Jose Earthquakes (Saturday, 7/23) postgame thread [R]

Yeah I agree, I'm actually not even sure he meant "park the bus" in the literal/traditional sense (like when you're playing a man down or something), and if he did, that was probably not the best choice of words. To me, he was simply talking about effectively trying to fend off furious and repeated pressure in an organized fashion. Not necessarily inviting that as long as we're holding the lead, but dealing with it when the momentum of the game is such that we're forced to defend constantly (possibly when players are tiring and unable to keep the ball and create some counterattacks).

 

Yep, makes sense. Covelo uses the word "suffer" for those circumstances - when you are kind of under attack. You have to learn to weather it - we're not doing it well, though we were pretty unlucky with that 1st Portland goal.

 

The unlucky tying goal was really what killed us this game. We all know (and I'm sure the team did too) that the Timbers were going to come out firing in the 2nd half and we would need to try and match their intensity while slowly calming the momentum via ball possession. The Quakes are actually good at ball possession but just do not know how to effectively "park the bus" for the first 10-15 mins of the 2nd half and thus be able to neutralize the opposition.

With Marie it is unfortunately a continuation of the past few weeks where his defensive issues just end up directly leading to goals. Even when he has good positioning to defend a cross he gets beat way too easily. TT plays a much more safe game as he is just too limited athletically and he realizes that so you see him always giving space to his opponent but tonight he just kept getting manhandled by a much bigger Asprilla. Marie is quicker that TT and plays a lot deeper into the opponents half and provides much more offensively but is also much bigger defensive liability. Lopez is not a good defender either but he's miles ahead of TT and Marie and is a "fighter" out there.

We need a good DM as much as California needs rain! Remedi's best skill is drawing fouls but that only happens when he receives a pass because he just cannot seem to be able to win balls or put himself in consistently good positions to play correct angles and intercept balls or win duels. He is able to play the ball out form time to time but has a very limited passing radius. Judson is workhorse who plays a solid to good defensive game but has no offensive ability bar a pass backwards or lateral to the closest player. We need an upgrade here badly!!

Lastly, what has Cade really shown over the past 2-3 months that he deserves to be the first sub off the bench? When you have clearly lost your spot to Benji then shouldn't you be playing with much more energy and effort when you're subbed on to show the coaching staff that you should be the starter once again!? He must be a tremendous practice player to deserve all these opportunities since his appearances over the last couple of months do not merit him getting much playing time at all. You are telling me a Bouda is going to be much worse then what we are getting from Cowell? Play the damn kids Covelo!

 

75 goals against is the record (FC Cincinnati in 2019).
43 goals against in 22 games so far.
Need 32 more goals against in 13 games left, looks like we'll miss it

 

Everyone's down on Cade, and I love to be the contrarian, so here goes. Cade hasn't been finishing his chances but he creates / gets chances every time he's in there. That's why he's there. Things will start to pick up for him. He needs a goal right now real bad.

 

We did. Remedi falls down just as convincingly as Magnus...

The first Portland goal was a fluke, but it was let all the air out of the Quakes. You could see it out on the field. We weren't trying to win anymore - we were trying not to lose. There is a distinct attitude problem, and that comes from the top. I don't know how many times this season we've gotten a lead early on and been unable to hang on. When an opponent pressure's high we fall apart, and the communication between midfield and back is obviously lacking, since the handoff frequently leaves an attacker with the ball at his feet and acres of space all around him. We seem to lack a field general or really any sort of commanding presence in the back...

 

I have a hard time blaming Marie for that goal... it was a pretty perfect cross and Asprilla had his arm on the back of Marie's neck preventing him from getting a fair challenge on it.

I'm a Remedi hater but I have to give it to him he played decent this game and didn't make his usual sloppy mistakes that cost us goals.

Really unlucky deflection goal changed the whole course of the game.

 

Nathan and Calvo used to go forward to create occasional chaos and unpredictability, but that has stopped, hasn’t it? I don’t know if that will help. But watching the Quskes advance the ball up the right side with Marie EVERY single time in the 2H was exasperating.

 

It seems like JT is going to become the new Dan Kennedy (Chivas USA)

 

Same as it ever was.

 

This entire club is a disgrace.

 

Here we go again. We played a decent road game and were unlucky not to come away with a point. We are now I believe an even 5-5-4 under Covelo, which is mid-table kind of performance. And that is what we are now I think, after that horrendous start under Matias, a mid-table level team.

Next two games are at home and we have a chance to pick up points. Playoffs are still highly unlikely, of course, but if you look objectively at the performance of the team since Covelo took over, it's not a bad team. Not a good team but not a bad team either.

 

That is like saying Marie and Calvo are solid defending except they make costly mistakes leading to goals and losses.

 

Every attacking player goes thru slumps in terms of the finished product. Even Wondo did. It's just not the same as defending mistakes, sorry. When Cade stops getting shots / stops getting or creating chances, then I'll start to get concerned. But his chance / shot ratio per minute has been good and I like the Benji / Cade 1-2. Benji is working hard on both sides of the ball and can't go 90 in that mode - I believe he said something to that effect in his postgame interview. So Cade can come in and run at tired defenses. It's working fine - the results will come.

 

Yep, and likely the same outcome if it was Tommy defending it.

 

That is the difference between good teams and bad bottom dwellers. Top team doesn’t play well all the time but they find ways to win. Bad team can have decent games and still find ways to lose. We are the later.

 

We've also had decent games where we win. All of our games are close, they are all somewhat decent, some more decent than others. Under Almeyda this year we were bottom dwelling - the most bottom dwelling of bottom dwelling. Under Covelo we are 5-5-4. Ball don't lie. We have been neither a top team nor a bottom dweller under Covelo.

 

Yes, he will be better once he starts playing better. Right now he doesn't appear to have much confidence and like podrinje said, he needs to play with much more energy and effort when he is subbed in.
And not to change the subject, but, talking about the same position, I would like to see Benji take on his defender more. He is (allegedly) the fastest player on the team he should be more willing to try to beat his mark. He seems more inclined when in space the last few games to stop and cycle the ball back. I saw that enough in Fierro.

 

The problem with our defending is we defend too far away. Why can't we prevent that cross that lead to the goal against Marie? Why didn't we close down that deflected goal before it happened?

 

Cade is 3rd on the team in shots / minute. Last few games he's had runs into the box and hit decent shots. The process has been OK - the result hasn't been there. As I said, it happens with attacking players.

You complain that Benji is not taking on his defender enough, and in the same paragraph complain about Cade's confidence and yet Cade almost always takes on his defender and often more than one. Weird.

Benji has really good wheels but his 5th gear doesn't kick in unless it's a longer sprint. In tighter spaces he's got pretty good technical skills though so I agree he could be a little more aggressive with the ball, but he's been working both sides of the ball really hard and may not always have the energy for it.

 

Not weird. It's when you choose to take on a defender. My comment about Benji was that when he appears to have space I would like to see him be a bit more adventurous, and not be so quick to pull up and cycle back. And maybe Cade taking on more than one defender isn't the best idea if the situation doesn't warrant it. He doesn't have the same close control as Benji and his touch so often lets him down.

 

Part of the reason that we don't close down enough is that we lack speed and we know it. Remedi, Beas(t), Nathan, TT, even Lopez, none of our defenders are very quick except maybe for Marie but he is mistake-prone. So the tendency is to trade risk for space - stay in front to lower risk rather than close down and risk getting beaten. So if we are going to acquire help on the defense I hope it's a player or two with some quickness. First priority for me would be a solid, quick, good 1v1 defending LCB.

At the same time, you're not going to prevent every shot and you're not going to prevent every cross. So the other tack is to starve the other team of the ball as much as possible by winning it more in midfield and preventing these plays in your final 3rd. The biggest problem with the start of the 2nd half was that we couldn't get a hold of the ball.

 

Apologist.

 

Cade is our Vako analog. He's high risk, high reward. The thing is, last handful of games, Cade gets in the game, and he's running into the box and taking shots. Of course not every attempt to make a run is going to work but it's been working with pretty good frequency when you consider the high risk / high reward equation. That's what he's supposed to be doing. It's just that the shots haven't gone in. People ring their hands when he tries and loses it (what's happened to Cade! ) but it's just part of the high risk / high reward deal, and at this point, obviously the coaches are OK with it or he wouldn't be trying it anymore.

As for final ball I think he's pressing. When you are pressing you are thinking too much rather than doing what comes instinctively. A goal or two will get him to loosen up a bit. Hopefully it's coming.