Post-Match Thoughts: Timbers @ Colorado

Here are some thoughts following Portland’s 1-3 loss to Colorado on Saturday night:

1) Kenny Cooper was only the Timbers player who looked even mildly comfortable—particularly in the first half. He made his runs and took his touches with confidence and purpose. For the most part, everyone else looked tentative, nervous, cautious and unsure of what to do.

2) Granted, I may have missed one or two occurrences, but I only saw John Spencer get off the bench twice the whole night. Based on what I had seen during the preseason in a couple of matches and in training—and just considering his general personality—I was expecting him to be much more vocal and visible on the sideline. Instead, he hid amongst the other coaches and players, hunkered down on the bench.

3) Jorge Perlaza was actually a bit of a bright spot on the night. He was quite active and actually looked fairly comfortable—save for one aspect: physicality. The Colorado defenders, Marvell Wynne in particular, had their way with Perlaza, bumping him and knocking him off the ball the entire night. If Perlaza can just adapt to that aspect of the MLS game and begin to want the contact and learn to love it, he definitely has the ability to score some goals. In fact, I’m almost glad he didn’t score on that shot he tried to lift over Colorado goalkeeper Matt Pickens in the 10th minute. It’s better if he learns now that simple finesse and speed won’t be enough in this league to score goals. He going to have to bang bodies and do some dirty work. Trying to knick one over the keeper didn’t work and it might just help him out in the long run.

4) Once again the Timbers relied on their opponent’s mistakes and long balls over the top to get their chances on goal. Even the two or three times they did string together passes that linked up the defense, midfield and forwards, the sequence piddled out with another long ball or unforced error. Every team needs a varied attack to be successful but right now the Timbers are ending virtually all of their possessions with long balls (when they don’t turn it over, that is). Any time a team repeats the same thing over and over it becomes easy for the other team to defend. They desperately need to get more linking between the defenders and midfielders going forward. Whether it’s Purdy/Zizzo on the right, Wallace/Hall on the left, or getting Jewsbury and Lowry the ball at their feet through the middle, the guys have got to add some balance to their attack.

5) Purdy continues to impress. Even though he didn’t get forward as much as he has been lately, he did become more active in the second half and held his own defensively.

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A Couple of other random notes:
- The Timbers Army was virtually the only thing that could be heard throughout Dick’s Sporting Goods Park—even when the Timbers were down 0-3. Every so often I would think that I was finally hearing Colorado supporters and I’d quickly turn to look and… nope. TA again.
-  Before the starters came out of the locker rooms, the coaching staff and subs made their way out onto the field. Futty was lagging behind and was the last player out onto the pitch before the starters came out. As he walked between the two sets of Colorado supporters lining the walkway, he was greeted with the chant, “Who are ya?” from the Rapids faithful. A big smile slowly stretched across his face, he looked down at his chest, and pointed to the Timbers logo. It was a great move. Then, of course, we went out and got spanked 1-3, but it was still a classic moment.
- Say what you want about The Oregonian‘s John Canzano and his articles (personally I generally don’t agree with all the negative sentiments), but at least he was at the game. He’s the top dog in The Oregonian‘s sports department and they sent him out to cover the team’s first away match. That says something. I’m guessing there are plenty of teams in the league who couldn’t say the same.

Some pictures from the game: