

One on One with Gavin Wilkinson
By: Bob Kellett | March 24th, 2008
Portland Timbers boss Gavin Wilkinson took to the airwaves Sunday night. You can watch his interview on Fox 12 right here. There isn’t a whole lot of new information to be gleaned but there are a couple of interesting points. The first is that Wilkinson says that it is harder for a second year coach to get his message across to his players than it is during the first year. This is something I’ve been thinking about. Wilkinson came in last year and took a team and a franchise that had sunk to a new low under Chris Agnello and he basically got everyone to believe. In many ways I also think he got the team to overachieve. They did it through outworking their opponents. Can that carry over to this season? We’ll find out in due time.
The other point of interest is that he says that the Timbers hooked Bryan Jordan and Josh Wicks up with the LA Galaxy and that there is a good chance they are going to stick. Anyone else get the impression that he is sitting on news - like a possible exhibition?
Finally, I continue to read and hear that the team has been strengthened this year and that there is competition at every spot. That sure isn’t evident when you look at the current roster, which is largely made up of players from last season and which has gaping holes up front and in the back. Maybe some of the trialists are great and maybe we have some unannounced signed players who are going to help the team, but at this point in time I see a team that hasn’t found replacements for two of its best defenders (Leonard Griffin and Justin Thompson), likely has lost its keeper and best forward from last season, and has really only been improved by the addition of Chris Brown.
Subscribe
|
Print
|
Share
![]() |
Comments
-



I dont want to knock our timbers, but we played that pathetic California team like 6 times(maybe it was four?) But even still thats a lot of extra points for us compared to the rest of the league. I kind of think thats the only real reason we finished first. (I do think we where good enough for the playoffs, but not the true first place team.)
-Q
Posted from
United States

-



We had five Victory victories and finished second during the year. Your point is a good one. The schedule will be more difficult without California.
Posted from
United States

Comments are closed















