So how does the team shape up as the season is about to begin? On Friday night we all got a good look of what our starting line up would look like as Portland played seattle in the Cascadia Summit GK Perkins, RD Purdy, D Brunner, D Goldthwaite, LD Wallace, MR Zizzo, AM Jewsbury, DM Lowry (Moffat, 81), LM Hall, F Cooper, F Perlaza (Umony, 75)
Jack Jewsbury had only arrived from Kasas City on Wednesday was slotted into the team Captains role. Portland came away with a 2-0 win after Seattle had dominated play. The Timbers did well to disrupt the Seattle attack and put together a few good runs resulting in the first goal. Zizzo and Purdy work well together on the right side with some very good passing. Purdy slotted a pass from the right that found Cooper whose shot was blocked by Keller but went to Perlaza who slotted it into the Seattle goal. The second goal came off a Zizzo pass which found Cooper on the right side of goal 15 yards out who tuned and fired a blast pass a diving Keller.
On Saturday the Timbers second unit faced the Whitecaps first team. Ryan Pore was the hero able to put in Nolly save at the far post. Vancouver got there score on a Portland own goal off defender David Horst.
I was able to watch the Seattle match online and went to the Vancouver game on Saturday. The downside of the Vancouver game is I did not see most of match due to playing the drum and spending most the second half in the beer garden chatting with friends.
It still was fun being at Starfire with friends.
My take from all this and the bits of video on the web this team has been put together well. Without seeing Nagbe in action I do not know if he would be a starter or coming off the bench. The weak part of the Timbers seems to be control in the middle of the pitch. I think Spencer started the best players Jewsbury and Lowry in that space. The Timbers are said to have made a offer to a midfielder. If that offer is accepted it will be interesting when that player would start playing. The rumors the Timbers going after Marcos Flores. Another tid bit is that we heard Gavin is in Germany. Today I saw that former Timber Shaun Higgins is in Munich. So could he be working with Gavin in finding players for the Timbers?
Looking at the rest of the players the Timbers seem set on the back line with Purdy being the player that has stepped up his game from last season. Wallace needs to pick up his game on the left but the centers backs of Goldthwaite and Brunner seem solid . The keeper position is a no brainier as Perkins can distribute the ball well and protects the goal better then
Brown.
Cooper is the man on the front line and the key will be finding the second forward to play along side with him. Dike is most likely out for the season which leaves us with Johson who seems tb be having a hard time getting into a starting role. According to Merrit Paulson we signed Perlaza and Unmony who have been in camp. So will see who gets to start with Cooper.
The outside mids I really like is Sal Zizzo on the right and Ryan Pore on the left. Spencer started Hall on the left against the Sounders but it seems the Hall and Wallace combination on the left was not working.
There are many players that I have not mentioned the likes of Marcelin, Moffat, Horst, Braun, Alhassan plus the players not signed in camp. It will be interesting to see how this team does, I hope to see the Timbers having a winning season going past the first leg of the playoffs.
March 16, 2011 at 1:41 pm |
I would have loved to see the San Jose match last weekend, where Jeremy Hall shifted to left back and Ryan Pore was inserted in front of him, to see how that worked. Hall and Rod Wallace didn’t seem connected in the Seattle game the previous Friday; whether or not you want to call that the weak link in the chain is your perspective. It’s all guesswork until a few real games burn in.
Jewsbury and Lowry combined well enough in the center that my worries about that spot are… uh, not gone, but we’re not pushovers there. Can they provide good service to Cooper and company?
If you add the Vancouver game into perspective, the clear issue will be depth. Portland has a good 11, and I’d venture that center defense is alright, the left side has little dropoff, Marcelin as a 15-minute man may be good for lead protection, and the promise of Nagbe in any of several positions is enticing. Purdy has to be on his game and healthy. I think Chris Taylor isn’t ready to be thrown to the wolves. We still need another midfielder. While I’m not sure I don’t give Eddie Johnson a pass for being schooled by Jay DeMerit, I’m not sure about our finishing after Cooper.