Portland Timbers – (Starting 11 and LOGJAM in the Midfield)

To the Chase…
I understand that John Spencer will be running a traditional 4-4-2 in LA this Sunday. I am thinking that with injuries and players being overseas the lineup will probably flesh out like this…

Back-four (Jewsbury, Mosquera, Horst, and Chabala

Midfield – Alhassan, Chara, Nagbe, Zizzo

Strikers – Boyd and Mwanga

Notes: Smith and Futty are unavailable and Wallace has a sore ankle while Brunner appears to be working through recovery from a concussion. These fitness issues may change by Sunday.

LOGJAM in the midfield – as of now we have Zizzo, Alexander, Wallace, Palmer, Songo’o, Chara, Nagbe, and Alhassan all getting playing time for one reason or another in the midfield and we also have Jewsbury who has moved to the back-four.
All have strengths and weaknesses… as the next couple of weeks pass I will work to cover those based upon what I have seen.

For now though it’s just a hunch, but with the signing of Mwanga does that mean there may be another player move or two before the halfway point?

In-swinging corner balls are always better than out-swinging corner balls…