Portland Timbers’ Goal Drought Becoming A Big Problem

As the former French international star Thierry Henry once said, “ Sometimes in football you have to score goals.”

Without a doubt, the Portland Timbers are currently struggling to score goals, even though they’re coming off a recent 1-0 victory over the Chicago Fire. Once again, Fanendo Adi came up big with the game-winning goal in the 48^th minute of play, netting his team-leading 10^th goal of the season in the process. Midfield maestro Diego Valeri was credited with the assist. The lone goal would add to the Timbers tally of 25 goals in 24 games – the 4^th lowest in MLS! With the win, they remain just above the playoff line in fifth position and four points clear of their sixth placed noisy neighbors – the Seattle Sounders.

The Sounders themselves raise a whole different topic, with their last win coming back in early July against D.C United at CenturyLink Field. Since then, the Sounders have lost their last five games; the most recent against the LA Galaxy. Injury and behavioral problems have been the argument surrounding the Sounders’ recent floundering [no pun intended]. From the banning of Clint Dempsey (poor on-field behavior) for four games to the injury of their top scorer last season, Obafemi Martins,  the Sounders and Timbers sing a similar song. They both lack quality in front of the goal at the moment, but luckily for the Timbers, what they lack can be achieved through chemistry and by loosening up their pockets.

To clarify about chemistry, I am referring to on-the-field chemistry as opposed to overall chemistry.  As a Timbers fan, I have seen just about every game thus far this season and I notice a few things that I’d like to share.

• I have to address the Timbers’ build up plays. A handful of times they might look dangerous as they press forward. The more I observe, the more it occurred to me that certain players do not want the ball; they are not demanding enough. The games aren’t as enjoyable if you do not have the ball and you certainly cannot score either.
• Too much focus on defending. It’s obvious that head coach Caleb Porter has done a tremendous job working on the positioning of players, especially within the Timbers’ defensive third as of late. On the road, the Timbers’ gave up a whopping 12 goals in their last four away MLS outings, only scoring one goal in the process (5-0 LA, 4-1 Dallas, 3-0 Philadelphia and 0-0 San Jose). The truth is, they didn’t concede any at San Jose, but let’s face the fact that this is also a struggling team. San Jose is one of the only teams who have fewer goals than the Timbers (23).
• There are certain moments where their game plan becomes a script and is easily read; they can be too predictable at times. They show no versatility to change things up and confuse opponents. Every team knows by now that they will look to Adi, who will battle for all aerial balls and obtain possession up front.
• Shots look more hopeful than dangerous. The Timbers are currently leading the MLS in one category – Total Shots (323) with only 109 coming on goal, a mind-numbing 34 percent.
• The Timbers currently have three DP’s: Diego Valeri, Liam Ridgewell and the recently acquired Lucas Melano. All good players without a doubt! Not meaning to get greedy or not satisfied with what we (The Army) have, but what about the David Villas, Giovani dos Santos and Sebastian Giovincos? In my search for answers, I was led to the Timbers Facebook page where franchise owner Merritt Paulson had an exclusive questions and answers session, which was posted on January 6, 2015. A fan asked, “With all of the DP signings the Timbers have made, why haven’t we ever signed a ‘name’ guy like Gerrard? Will we ever?” To paraphrase Mr. Paulson’s response: he claims that maybe somewhere down the line we might see a “big named player,” but for now his team’s philosophy does not include aged superstars [no offense to Steven Gerrard]. Although I do not agree with his philosophy, I do see his point. Investing in younger players does increase your chances of future successes. However, what the Timbers need right now are goals. A player’s age shouldn’t matter; just look at Didier Drogba, who’s now with the Montreal Impact. Here are a few more examples: New York City FC striker David Villa at age 33 with 13 goals, recent MLS-All Star MVP Kaka, and LA’s Robbie Keane. Mr. Paulson continues, “I feel no need to sign a guy for marketing. But we need to win and, now, more than ever, the right DP is a big part of that answer.” Yes, the Timbers need to win, but how can they win games if they don’t score goals?

Adi is one of my favorite strikers to watch. He leads the team with 10 goals, six more than second place Maximiliano Urruti. Take Adi from the equation and the Timbers are without a solid goal-scorer, and even he lacks consistency. He was acquired as a DP, but does not boast such status anymore after the acquisition of the Argentine forward Melano. They are both young players (23 and 22 years old, respectively) with promising goal-scoring potential. However, experience does play a big part, especially in big games. I am 100 percent a Timbers fan, but until they start signing these big players, they will live in the shadows of the more established clubs (Seattle, LA, etc.) and continue to struggle scoring goals on a regular basis.

I’ve played football all my life growing up in Jamaica. One thing that I learned is that goal-scorers aren’t made; for them it comes naturally. It’s been with them since birth.