Photo courtesy of Kari Heistad
By Matt Hoffman
‘You know, it’s a tough field to play on. Obviously, New England are used to playing on it. But, it’s difficult field to play on and I thought it hurt our passing and ability to counter as well as we usually do a little bit.’ – Caleb Porter
When your coach talks about field conditions, it often means it was tough night. Indeed only one player, Jack Barmby, registered a shot on goal. The Timbers were in position to win this one until the failure to clear the ball led to a Jermaine Taylor own goal near the death.
A point on the road on the opposite coast is nothing to sneeze at, especially when it happens midweek. But it’s a pattern the Timbers would rather not reflect on as an own goal snatched points away in Carson just weeks ago.
Jake Gleeson : 5 Jake wasn’t called on for much and after some shakiness at the beginning, he soon found his groove.
Photo courtesy of Kari Heistad
Zarek Valentin : 4. Between injuries and international call-ups, Alvas Powell leaves Valentin many opportunities to play the right back position that Valentin has occupied for much of his professional career. It hasn’t really worked out yet for Valentin and Wednesday was no exception.
Jermaine Taylor: 6. For 85 minutes Taylor probably put in the best shift of the night. Own goals are “awarded” to one player, but rare is it that that designation is deserved.
Nat Borchers: 5. Borchers overcame a rather meh first half to really be a constant thorn in the Revs side as the home team built pressure in the second half. Not his best game, though surely not his worst.
Chris Klute: 4. There’s a direct correlation between the popularity of Timbers fullbacks and MLS Cups. Klute has nailed down a position that three other guys had open auditions while Klute recovered from a meniscus injury. But few tackles, not much width added and the speed not quite there yet means nobody has forgotten Jorge Villafana.
Photo courtesy of Kari Heistad
Diego Chara: 5. A pretty solid game until a pretty steep drop off in the final 15 minutes. Chara might be asked to do too much and be stretched too thin. Or the defense couldn’t hold so Chara needed to spend more time withdrawn. Regardless, the back-line needs much more protecting than it would if it had Ridgewell back and that limits what Chara is able to do.
Jack Jewsbury: 6. Steady game that gradually improved as the match came along. Jewsbury is the Timbers Mr. Reliable.
Photo courtesy of Kari Heistad
Darlington Nagbe: 6. He’s back much sooner than expected and showed the expected rust. Nagbe’s conditioning improved and he took on a much greater role in the second half as he got his legs underneath him. Oh yeah and he played on the left wing? What was up with that?
Lucas Melano: 4. Fair or not, Melano will always be looked at some (comparing salary and transfer fee) as one of the most expensive Timbers. He “getting it” as Porter will tell you, but he’s still yet to emerge as a true two-way player.
Photo courtesy of Kari Heistad
Fanendo Adi: 3, Jack McInerney: 3. Ideally it is your forwards that score the goals so it’s reasonable to want to believe a Adi (6 goals) pairing with McInerney (3) will strike gold. That didn’t happen as the starting Timbers forwards had fewer shots on goal (zero) than Jack Barmby had in 30 minutes. I guess part of it can be blamed on service but another, more likely culprit is Adi just struggles in a 4-4-2. Just think back to the pairings of him with Urruti last year.
Yes, Adi did have the hockey assist. He also had six fouls.
Photo courtesy of Kari Heistad
Jack Barmby 7: Barmby’s debut against Orlando could have gone much better. He got a spot against Dallas but Wednesday is when the Timbers fans got to see what the Englishman is capable of. His training pitch stories are becoming legendary and it’s good to see those feats migrate to the pitch.
I also found humor in the NE commentators saying that Barmby was celebrating with the away supporters who were in fact members of the Timber’s coaching staff. But whatever.
Dairon Asprilla: 5, Darron Mattocks: 5 Neither player had much time (16 and 11 minutes, respectively) and entered when the Timbers were bunkering. More importantly, each player is recovering from injury and looked a little slow but over all encouraging.
