Progressive Possession: Preseason Highlights

Preseason Game Analysis:

2/17 Portland Timbers vs. San Jose Earthquakes

Portland opened a three game preseason round-robin tournament vs. last years top MLS side over the course of the leauge, San Jose Earthquakes.  MLS does crown a playoff champion as the leagues outright champion, but the regular season league winner gets a booby prize entitled The Supporter's Shield.  San Jose were the unlucky recipients of this award in 2012.  Needless to say, this match should provide a solid indicator of where Portland matches up with a quality MLS side.  Preseason results are not important, but more the progress a team is making in regards to fitness, and style of play.




The first thing you may notice is the crowd.  For a preseason match, and an American crowd, this is noteworthy.  It's not common place in MLS that a crowd can provide a true home-field advantage, let alone in preseason.  Jeld-Wen Field definitely does provide a Europeanesque atmosphere as the Timbers army raise the decibel level.

From an analysis point of view, you will notice Portland gets off to possibly the worst start possible.  Going down a goal within the first 1:30 off a soft defensive lapse resulting in a penalty is hardly the start anyone had in mind.  The commentators (who were surprisingly intelligent) referenced a few interesting pieces of information that is widely unknown about the first year boss. Porter had a short lived MLS playing career that was ended by a knee injury.  His first ever professional match was ended early as he was sent off for a rash tackle.  Ironically enough, in his first head coaching job at Akron he was sent off and his team were beaten handily 5-0.  That Akron team also did not even qualify for the NCAA post season losing the conference tournament at home.  Fast forward to his unsuccessful stint as the US U-23 Olympic team coach last year where they failed to qualify for the Olympics on home soil.  For all Porter's successes he has faced his fare share of adversity as well.  His team's always seem to rebound from these early failures, however.  A toughness or inner drive is apparent in the DNA of his teams.

Portland's mental toughness was on show over the preseason matches. Portland showed an uncanny ability to rebound superbly well from goal deficits. While it's difficult to witness on this particular video, but if you do find the full game video online, you will immediately notice that after going down a goal, Portland presses relentlessly for the next several minutes.  Even after tying the match, they immediately press San Jose on the kick off (reminiscent of Real Madrid's tactics vs. Barcelona in 2011 Classico on 12/11/11 Real Madrid pressing results in Valdes mistakes) chasing the game high forcing long errant clearances they duly pick up time after time. This is not a random occurrence;  this is a tactical decision intended to set the tone and attitude of the group. To be fair, it does seem to have the desired effect. It's a tactic I am going to be instituting at a grass roots level to experiment with. Being a goal down within 2:00 they tie the match up within the 4:00 minute mark.  Some nice play out wide thru combination of one touch passing leading to a service that was met by Ryan Johnson.  Johnson nearly pulled his run too far past the near post, but he gets the angle and weight of the header perfect sending it out of reach of the smallest GK in MLS, Jon Busch (5'9'').

On Portland's 2nd goal Darlington Nagbe shows his dynamic potential.  Nagbe initiates the attack from nothing - taking off with the ball from just behind midfield. Nagbe drives into space and shows his pace and control gliding by three players before combining with Diego Valeri who cleverly slots Ryan Johnson in behind off with a drop of the shoulder and one touch straight ball where Johnson does well to hold his run before a classy finish outside the foot finish.  Individual efforts within the team framework.  Shades of the dynamic Akron sides we saw in 2009-2011.

Ryan Johnson again shows what he brings to the table at minute 52:00.  Thru raw athleticism and composure under pressure, he combines well with Valeri to run in behind on what appears to be a rather simple goal. Breaking this play down further, there are a number of simple sequential movements  worked in unison for goal number three.  I'd recommend watching this goal a few times freezing to take full appreciation.  Johnson does very well to receive a firm ball with the inside of the foot from a deep player (Progressive Possession characteristic #1-2, 5) receiving in pressure on the turn (PP #3-4) before playing a slight diagonal ball with an extra player (PP #6-7) before receiving a quick return pass (<2 seconds; PP #1-2) from Valeri. Johnson completes his one-touch hat-trick in just under an hour.  A simple goal, yet Portland nails the Progressive Possession characteristics 1-7.  This is a great example of Portland's ideology and emphasis on a specific style of play. 

Beyond the initial Progressive Possession characteristics on show, the highlights do point to some of the other trends mentioned in our first analysis of Portland.  The attacking runs of Ryan Miller are evident early in the match.  Defensive frailty was on show several times on the night as well.

• A soft penalty from no pressure
• A nothing restart where some slack marking resulted in a San Jose player being able to slip between three Portland markers and head timidly on goal, and 
• A poor clearance on the third goal leading to a turnover before flying challenges and a poor punch from Rickets (combined with poor support from his defense leaving two players unmarked in the area to tap home).

On a positive note, conceding soft goals from restarts are the kind of mistakes that are not hard to fix. Nothing drastic needs to be done.  Offensively, Portland were able to stamp their authority on the match.  They dominated possession for large stretches of the game, had some nice one touch passing combinations, had good field spacing, and looked particularly dangerous when their game changers got on the ball. Nagbe and Valeri shared the creative burden and Johnson completed a home debut hat-trick. These three players could prove to be one of the most dangerous trio's in MLS if they can learn to play off one another, create space, and continue to build their games within the framework of the team's philosophy.

Man of the Match:
Ryan Johnson - was lethal with his chances.  Diego Valeri deserves mention as well, but Johnson was magnificent for Portland tonight taking all three opportunities with aplomb.  Johnson displayed some cultured finishing with his head and left foot on three one-touch efforts.  He did well to occupy both San Jose center-backs all night, while also drifting along the line to peel in behind to give Portland a threat in behind and provide variety in the attack.  His movement was superb and showed a level of intelligence to match his athleticism.  At times Johnson dropped deep working in great harmony off Diego Valeri.  This positional interchange with Valeri highlighted a creative attacking group where Valeria occupied the space high as Johnson came shallow before turning, and combining on a nice simple inter-play to unlock San Jose's defense for a third time.

As mentioned in our last post, in this system and style of play, without a true #9 to stretch the game in behind, the attack can become predictable and lack substance.  One could even accuse Barcelona and Spain of this at times over the last year. The gradual shift at Barcelona from Eto', Henry, Ibrahimovic to Iniesta, Fabregas, and Messi while at Spain the withdrawal (and loss of form) of Torres for 6 attack minded midfield creators leads to total dominant possession, but lacking penetration.  Caleb Porter post game press conference At minute 6:20 Porter discusses how the attack can become stale without this 'in behind' presence that Ryan Johnson brings.