Portland Timbers player ratings versus Seattle Sounders

By Niall McCusker

One year on and not much has changed.

Last season the Timbers had a convincing 4-1 home win over Seattle on June 30th and the key points from the report on that game that remain relevant today. Back then Portland got their goals from turnovers and fast transition, an approach they have since honed and which remains their principle means of attack. The addition of Melano was key to that approach again being successful in this game.

In 2015 Seattle were missing Martins and Dempsey and looked very ordinary. We noted:
“for Seattle the missing stars represent an easy excuse, but the question they should be asking is whether their absence exposes an underlying lack of balance and depth in the squad.”
Now Martins is gone for good and Dempsey was once again missing due to indiscipline and Seattle still looked a very ordinary team. It will take a major turnaround on their part to escape the basement and make the play-offs this season.
Portland, like last season, are hovering around the red line after mixed early season results, but with Valeri now in top form and Melano finally producing they will be confident of another strong finish to the season.

 

Here are the individual ratings:

Jake Gleeson 8: The big Kiwi had a couple of first half punches that could have been better, but that’s a minor quibble given his two great saves from Roldan in the second half. It was a big vote of confidence for Portland to allow Adam Kwarasey to return to Norway after only a couple of months of assessing Gleeson as a starter. It is the nature of this position that something as innocuous as a finger injury can change two careers – the New Zealander now needs to show he is the long term solution.

Alvas Powell 7: This was the best Powell has looked since coming back from injury, it was a great response to a lackluster showing against Montreal in midweek where he had a couple of dangerous giveaways. He managed an early shot that actually hit the target and played a great ball up the right line for Valeri to set up Melano’s early chance.

A return to confident form for the young Jamaican would greatly help the end of the Timbers season. He had one major error in the second half, mis-controlling a cross to let Valdez in for a chance, but a solid enough outing.

Nat Borchers 7.5: This was a solid veteran performance from Borchers, his positioning and reading of the game, coupled with his ever excellent timing of blocks meant Seattle’s promising youngster Jordan Morris got nothing out of the afternoon (one early miss aside), save perhaps a good learning experience. The visitors were trying to find Morris on runs between the center backs, but they gave a nice class in simple channel blocking.
Sadly his one lapse was losing Marshall on a corner, allowing him to head home. That’s about the fourth time this season that the Timbers have conceded goals after losing runners in fairly standard screens.

Liam Ridgewell 7.5: The Englishman was out-jumped on one corner, but otherwise had relatively little trouble with veteran Paraguayan striker Nelson Valdez. He found the time to drift left and help out with Seattle’s most dangerous player Christian Roldan.
Portland allowed twelve corners and a good number of dangerous crosses into the box. They dealt with the open play scenarios quiet well, admittedly helped by a few Seattle misses, but the set-piece defending wasn’t too impressive.

Jermaine Taylor 7: The Jamaican gave up a couple of early fouls but held his discipline for the remainder of the game, using his physique to win a few balls both in the tackle and aerially. He did a good job on Christian Roldan in the first half, challenging for the first ball before the attacker could gain possession and run at him. He doesn’t venture forward much in attack, but can swing a nice cross-field switch, one of which found Valeri for his second goal

Substitute Aaron Kovar somewhat exposed Taylor’s lack of agility for the corner back position late in the game getting a few of dangerous crosses in, including the one that led to Gleeson’s late save from Roldan’s header, but overall a good display.

Diego Chara 8 – The Colombian has his most spectacular defensive plays when the opponent is hitting Portland on the counter. But when the Timbers don’t offer those openings he still does great work in being the second player in on tackles. As soon as a Timbers defender made an attacking player turn Chara was there on the blindside to complete the job of stripping him of the ball.

An interesting moment was 8 minutes in, after Chara had launched a counter-attack he gave Jewsbury a little wave to send him forward for a second phase as Chara retreated into the defensive slot between the two center-backs for a quick breather. This kind of easy positional understanding is a key component of a successful midfield.

Jack Jewsbury (off in 65′) 6.5: The veteran deserved the start after a good midweek outing against Montreal. He knows how to approach a Cascadian derby and set the tone early with some hard tackles. But those cost him a couple of knocks and a yellow card and he seemed to be struggling a little in the second half before being withdrawn for Zemanski.
His yellow was one of only three is in a surprisingly civilized game.

Darlington Nagbe 7.5: The new United States international had struggled to ignite Portland’s offense in recent games in the absence of Diego Valeri. His reluctance to push into the penalty box and link with the strikers, for fear of being caught out of position, still holding him back from turning his undoubted talents into more production for his team.

But with Valeri back he could return to his supporting role and he had a decent game, forcing Evans to head a shot off the line after a set-piece in the first half. In the second he offered excellent late game energy – every time a Seattle attack broke down he was there to pick up the pieces.

Diego Valeri (off in 92′) 9: After his second goal the maestro had a decent amount of time to try to be the first Portland player to score an MLS hat-trick. It was not to be, but in truth that was probably quite far from his mind.

He has had games with better goals and more moments of exquisite skill. But this one showed how he is Portland’s undoubted leader on the field.

Some players might have statistical targets to meet during the game if the coaches have highlighted certain areas for improvement or to implement a particular game strategy. If they play their ordained part in the game some might be reasonably happy no matter the scoreline.

Not Valeri, he wants to win. The movement off the ball, link play, work rate, inspiration offered to guys like Melano and yes, the goals, all combine to make him the key man for Portland.

That frustration when things were not quite clicking for him on the field at times last season is gone. Now 30 and having spent a lot of last season in rehab he actually looks fitter than at any time in his tenure in Portland – which is perfect for their countering style.

Lucas Melano (off in 82′) 8:
He had a couple of chances on goal early in the game he should have done better with, but with the positive influence of Valeri beside him he didn’t let that deflate his game and ended up with a couple of good assists.

For Portland the upside of giving up twelve corners is that they scored from one of Seattle’s right after the visitors did – Marshall won another header, but it cleared to Melano at the edge of the box and 10 seconds later was in the Seattle net. This second assist by Melano was a full box to box run giving Seattle no recovery time. He should probably have played Adi in a little earlier, but it worked out for him in the end.

Technically his first assist might have been even better, taking down a long ball from Ridgewell and working it up very nicely with Valeri. He has had a good month now and if he keeps that up until the end of the season the naysayers (mea cupla) will need to eat humble empanada.

Fanendo Adi 8: His physical battles were often with Evans as opposed to his old adversary Marshall, he might have got a bit more out of that size advantage, but the referee applied the non-existent ‘big man rule’ allowing the defenders considerable leeway (and likely noting that Adi often gave as good as he got). He had a shout for penalties in both halves, the one versus Marshall in the second looked the most legitimate, but he had to settle for a goal from play. It looked a bit of a mis-kick, but he had done well to stay onside and it added to his impressive tally against Seattle.

 

It was another solid game from the Nigerian, his being able to play the hold-up game, take the physical attention and also function very effectively in the type of fast counters that Portland favor, represents the kind of rare versatility that is key to his success in the Rose City.

Allowing him to leave mid-season would have been a disaster for Portland and they seem have been able to turn down the transfer opportunity from Tigres without it affecting Adi’s contributions on the field. That’s easier said than done with some players.

Substitutes:

Ben Zemanski (on in 65′) 7.5: The first time they got a two goal lead the Timbers didn’t really kill off Seattle, allowing them too much of the ball. But when Adi restored their two goal lead, right after Marshall had pulled one back for the visitors, Seattle looked deflated and Portland got their game management just right, dominating possession from that point and closing out the game well.
The introduction of Zemanski had a lot to do with that, he brought his usual energy, but his passing was easy and secure, perfect for that game state.

 

Ned Grabavoy (on in 82′) 6: He had one shot over the bar near the end but will likely be looking forward to Portland starting their CCL campaign where he may see some starts.
Jack Barmby (on in 92′): Not on long enough for rating. He was only a late sub to waste some minutes, but still nice for him to see the field with his mum and dad (Nick Barmby – played for England before they were terrible) there to watch.