What the heck just happened?
By: Bob Kellett | May 27th, 2008
Man, a guy takes a couple of games off to get hitched and all hell breaks loose. After a season that started so promising, our beloved Portland Timbers have fallen off the proverbial tracks. The weekend, henceforth known as the Memorial Day Massacre, saw Portland’s 19-game regular season unbeaten streak at PGE Park come to an end with loses against the Vancouver Whitecaps and, gulp, Miami FC Blues. Heading into Friday’s game at Montreal, the Timbers (3-2-4) have:
1. Not won since April 26. That’s an entire month, my friends.
2. Not scored a goal in five of the past six games. That’s a lot of futility, my friends.
3. Picked up four points from their past six games. That ain’t going to win a championship, my friends.
While all of this has been happening, the manager has been alternating between telling us all to take another bong hit and relax, and to take a look at the players and blame them. The players have been telling us to take another bong hit and keep on waiting until the fire gets lit under their collective arses. Players and manager alike have both stated that this team is not as bad as their current form. What neither the players nor the manager have done, at least not publicly, is taken responsibility for such a poor run of play.
Someone needs to step up to the microphone and take responsibility for what y’all witnessed this past weekend. That someone is me. I was there for that 19-game unbeaten streak and I failed as a supporter this weekend by not being in attendance (and lord knows I am not going to watch the replays on USL Live). Don’t blame the manager. Don’t blame the players. Don’t blame the front office. Blame me.
And since someone needs to step up and show leadership (something that seems to be oddly lacking on such a veteran squad), I will take corrective actions to make sure this never happens again. Let the record show that I will never ever again get married on a weekend when there are Timbers’ games.
Photo: Allison Andrews/Soccer City USA
Category: Match Reports
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Comments
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The events at PGE Park this weekend were very sad-making.
Posted from
United States
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My takeaways from the rhinos game ’till now is this:
with Brown/Suzuki up top, all we tend to do is play lump and pray. I don’t know that I counted more than 3 consecutive passes by the Timbers on Saturday or the 1st half monday. The “Head flick-on to the opponent’s central defender” play has been proven ineffective at best, yet that is *what we do* 80%+ of the time that we have the two “big guys” up front.
As my “proof” of this, when Totori came in to start the 2d half Mon, the timbers suddenly played on the ground, put together runs, and generally looked like they knew how to play soccer. Guante, who was invisible in the 1st half Monday suddenly became a force. How much of that was “we’re 10 men and down and about to lose our jobs” and how much was just the difference in personnel, I can’t say. I do think that they played much better without Suzuki and Brown up front than they have with the two of them there at least over the last 5 games.
I don’t usually think that bad officiating can excuse a loss or poor play. But yesterday’s officiating went from obscene to “I AM IN CONTROL, dambit, and you will heed!” I mean, really. The penalty call was bad, but whatever–you don’t let the teams have a 20-minute council session to discuss it. Blow the whistle and get the game moving. (and how much of that PK call was directly related to that weird power struggle w/Gavin?)
That bit of fooling around at the PK *directly* led to the handbags at the kickoff. And Suzuki’s tackle afterward–yikes. It WAS an ugly tackle and likely deserved yellow, but when the ref loses the players, the players lose the ref.
Oh well. Congrats on the nuptials, and I’m sure the organization will grudgingly accept your apology for causing them such poor form.
Posted from
United States -
I’d like to take some of the blame too Bob.
I went to Bend for the weekend, hence missing two home games in a row for the first time ever.
And y’all saw what happened
Posted from
United States -
Nooooooooo clue on offense what-so-ever.
Get rid of Gavin asap.
They don’t seem like a group of players who know the tactical plan.
That has to be Gavin’s fault.
Posted from
United States -
@nick – I agree, anyone who can only go 19 games unbeaten at home to start his professional coaching career should be fired immediately.
Posted from
United States -
I hadn’t previously considered the “Bob’s marriage is responsible for this” angle, but thanks for taking the bullet. Maybe you should consider an annulment just to be safe.
Posted from
United States -
All I’m saying is the manager has to be accountable for the turgid stuff we’ve seen this season.
I don’t think he has a clue.
But that’s just my own opinion.
Posted from
United States -
I’m blaming Bob AND Dave here. I was in Bend for a concert Sat and at Bob’s wedding. I’ve watched both games and they’ve fallen into their lackluster style of play. It seems that all that fancy footwork and passing (oh, the passing!) from the first couple of home games. Let’s not panic yet. The one good change I did see was letting Suzuki take the free kicks. Gregor’s free kicks have looked like shite all season.
Posted from
United States -
We need to remember that Totori and Oka are recent adds to the team. It’s going to take a little while for the team to gel and get used to eachother. I don’t think having people trickle in like this was necessarily a good plan but I think it’s going to pay off in the end.
Posted from
United States
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