All I Really Want Is Goals

During our last home game, the 0-0 draw against Columbus, a chant started circulating slowly through the Timbers Army. It took a while to spread, as new chants tend to, but by the end of the match, it had infected most of the North End and is likely to be repeated this Sunday against Chicago. It was a combination tribute and plea, a way to mourn both the passing of rap legend MCA and our frustrating lack of offense. Now, it seems like the “Goals!” chant (to the tune of the Beastie Boys’ “Girls”) is going to stay relevant longer than any of us wanted.

A 0-0 draw in Houston, our second straight, was not a bad result on its own. It was the first point we have taken from Houston in MLS, and only the second point we have gathered in four visits to Texas. Last season, we lost just over half of our road matches (9/17), so I’m not looking a road point in the mouth too closely. What is troubling is our overall lack of offense over the past month, and what it says about the 2012 Timbers vs. our 2011 team.

We started out this season with a serious injury problem, especially at the back. David Horst and Futty Danso were out at center back, and Hanyer Mosquera was a late pick-up, so we opened our season against Philadelphia with one old reliable (Brunner) and one fresh-faced rookie (Andrew Jean-Baptiste) anchoring our defense. Luckily, that Philly team was even more riddled with holes – theirs due more to their incompetent management than injuries – and we had a successful start. 

After that first game, it might have been a good bet to predict that the 2012 Timbers would be the kind of team that concedes a lot of goals, but gets away with it by scoring even more. We had Kris Boyd, our new golden boy, who poached a goal in the opener and gave us all hope of a 15+ goal season. We had Jorge Perlaza, who was able to outrun nearly anyone in the league last season. And we had Darlington Nagbe, a year older and more experienced, ready to score us a few more Goal of the Year candidates. Surely, the goals would flow, even if the back line was a bit porous itself.

What we’ve gotten is the opposite of that scenario, a solid back and the one of the least productive offenses in the league. Nine goals in ten games, in a league that’s not generally shy on scoring, is terrible. In the west, only Chivas has a poorer tally.

There have been plenty of people more than willing to play the blame game already. Boyd certainly gets his share of credit – he was hired to do one thing and he’s not doing it. Perlaza has been totally ineffective, and has basically played his way out of the starting lineup. Nagbe has looked the best on the ball, but hasn’t translated that into many high-quality shots. When the entire unit doesn’t work, the blame naturally falls to the coach, and John Spencer has gotten his share as well.

But the reason that Kris Boyd hasn’t been effective is only about 30% down to Kris Boyd. Yes, he has missed chances, just like Kenny Cooper missed good chances last season. But for the most part, the service hasn’t been there. Our scoring woes don’t start in front of goal – they start at the center circle, with our disjointed midfield. Last season, Jack Jewsbury (despite wearing lucky number 13) was our most effective classic number 7, leading the offense and setting up our mostly steady front pair of Perlaza and Cooper. With Jack pressing forward, Diego Chara, the other half of our central midfield, was able to do what he does best – stripping and stealing the ball and generally disrupting the opposing attack.

But this season, Captain Jack looks like he has lost a step. His performances in the midfield have been dreadful, and Spencer has been forced to move him back to right back, a position he has played in the past, and where he looks far more comfortable this year. That leaves a gaping hole in central mid, and we are trying to fill that hole with Lovell Palmer. Lovell Palmer is not the man for that job, and it is costing us. Add to that the fact that one of our best wingers, Sal Zizzo, has been missing all season, and another, Eric Alexander, has been criminally underused, and the picture begins to crystallize – our midfield is not producing the chances that we need to score goals.

There is hope. Seeing Zizzo step onto the pitch in Houston did as much for my attitude about the Timbers offense as seeing Futty did in the last game for our D. He immediately started doing what we know and love Sal Zizzo for doing – beating men in the final third and delivering into the box. He created one of the best chances of the game, and along with Alexander, sparked our best and most dangerous period of play. He’s probably not ready to start, but Alexander is, and I sincerely hope we see Eric in the lineup on Sunday. We have solved our problems at the back, and we have a solid foundation. We need to use it to build forward, not just to absorb our opponent’s attack. RCTID.