Still hungry and the answer doesn’t appear to be Goat Cheese…

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No statistics today – no data – just a run down on what I saw… I’d like to offer that up but not yet…  maybe when the Timbers get a clean sheet and take three points…

In the previous times these two teams played in 2013 Portland thrashed Chivas 5-nil in LA, with a draw prior to that, and then the early season romp of the 3-nil win at home.

Fast forward to this year and a mind-numbing draw where every minute of the second half looked like Chivas would score the equalizer… eventually they did with the credit of that apparently going to me based upon some feedback in twitter – hmmm, I doubt my influence up in the press box has any impact on the game, but it’s noted that the curse of the play-by-play announcer was thrown my way… not sure if thanks is appropriate there or not…???

In seeing how that goal played out some might offer that the initial cross was the un-doing; I don’t buy it and here’s why.  Throughout this entire game the strategy looked, to me, to have the Timbers fullbacks push Chivas wide and force them to get the ball past the other defenders in the box (with a cross).  I just don’t seem to recall seeing Powell or Harrington push their opponent to the inside.

Knowing that tactic,as I saw it (others may view it differently) it’s then up to Danso, Kah and Harrington (on one side) and Powell, Danso and Kah on the other side, to manage the spaces in the box knowing that each must have each others back while either Johnson or Chara would take the top half of the 18 while the other would close the near top corner on the ball side just in case the winger was able to push inside.

From what I saw that defensive approach worked – and worked to great effect until Torres scored… there is absolutely no question that both Kah and Harrington lost the plot there and simply needed to perform better in keeping that clean sheet.

I noted in my Week 6 PWP Analysis here that that’s at least two games in a row where school-boy errors have occured… school-boy errors are unacceptable…  a fire of urgency needs to be lit.  

I’m not sure how high that fire needs to be but bottom line is this, defending is THE top priority, and knowing and communicating where your teammates are in a 1-nil match is critical.

So why spend time embellishing on what might be the Capt. Obvious?  Well for starters perhaps that added media pressure might shake a players’ tree a wee bit to get them to knuckle down and simply play simple football.  I’m not one to normally offer specific (harsh) criticism on players but…

This game is not complex – when you have the ball, control the ball and work it forward, when you don’t – get it – and make sure you minimize free space when you don’t have it and the ball is elsewhere…

I’d offer up some other thoughts but instead just one critical statistic…  Chivas offered up a total of 35 crosses this past weekend (more evidence they were pushed outside and away from the box) – of which (four???) of them were successful…

The ‘other back three’ defenders on the opposite side defended 34 of them successfully (IMO)… this game was down – again – to one, just one critical mistake at the wrong time…

A mistake like that is usually about mental focus and staying engaged in the mission and the intended end-state… keep a clean sheet and get three points.

This next weekend the Timbers travel to Rio Tinto – a real hard game where they will be challenged again, almost immediately, when they possess the ball.

In looking at this overall game it was surprising to see the weight of possession fell to Chivas… Teams in 2014 are indeed not the same teams of 2013…

Next up my pre-match thoughts on that wicked hard game coming up in Rio Tinto…

All for now, Chris