2022 MLS Season Previews: New York Red Bulls, Philadelphia Union, Portland Timbers FC
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2021 MLS Season Previews: Columbus Crew, Portland Timbers, and Toronto FC
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The 2021 MLS season is nearly upon us! This is our first batch of team previews, three teams with seasons that start this week in the CONCACAF Champions League. Let’s do this.
Read More2020 Season Preview: Portland Timbers
/Over the last two years, Giovanni Savarese has led the Timbers to overachieve in his first year as coach and underachieve in his second. Through this, Savarese has struggled to find his best formation, play in his preferred style, and make the team his own. In his third season at the helm it looks like he may finally have a team of players that is built to fit his desired methods and approach.
Read MoreOffseason Outlook: Portland Timbers
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Whether or not we’re ready to admit it, The Diego Era in Portland is nearly at its end. Each season, even as Valeri and Chara continue to prove they are less impacted by time than the rest of us, we see the sun setting on the horizon. It may not happen in 2020, but sooner rather than later we’ll be reading about the next iteration of the Timbers.
Still, though we feel the darkness creeping in, this is not the end. We must cherish our time spent in The Diego Era, now more than ever. In a way it is easier now, knowing our time here is limited. And although the team has a Designated Player spot open, until the day of reckoning arrives, Portland’s roster will see only changes around the edges.
With that said, let’s get this out of the way…
Read MorePortland Timbers 2019 Season Preview
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The Portland Timbers in 2018 were like a well-built pickup truck. They weren’t anything special, but they were sturdy. Without ever feeling like it was the best vehicle out there, one day you looked down and saw that that baby had 250,000 miles on it and was still going strong. Similarly, the 2018 Timbers were a decidedly average team that just kept truckin’ along until they found themselves playing for the MLS Cup. To get back there in 2019, they will need their aging midfield to continue to drink from the fountain of youth, overcome some depth issues, and solidify the attack, but as long as they keep getting their oil changed every 3,000 miles, they could find themselves vying for another trophy.
Read MoreSetting the Table Week 32: Lee Nguyen's new role, the rise of Ebobisse, and Mutch ado about nothing
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Welcome to Setting the Table. Each week we take some time to focus on the best chance creators in MLS from the last weekend. If you want to see the best chances that were wasted, check out Lowered Expectations. Here we focus on chances that ended with the ball in the back of the net.
Read MoreReinventing the passing wheel: What determines a good passer?
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Directional Passes Over Expected: Where do players exceed passing expectations?
During the National League Wildcard playoff game, American Soccer Analysis contributor and Lamar Hunt US Open Cup champion, Sean Steffen tweeted about the baseball stat Directional Outs Above Average. This metric tells you about the defensive range of an outfielder, with positive values indicating a direction where the player is better than average at creating an out and negative where the player is below average. Obviously, this exact type of metric cannot be used in soccer, but it did inspire me to figure out how something like it could be used. Thus, Directional Passes Over Expected (DPOE) was born.
Read MoreLowered Expectations: Week 29
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Welcome to Lowered Expectations, week 29 edition! Each week, we go about posting chalkboards and GIFs of the weekend’s best open-play shot attempts which did not quite live up to expectations (and rarely do we update this paragraph). We look at each one and not only evaluate the results, but also the process leading to them.
Read MoreExpected Narratives: Chara's MVP Chances and Dempsey's Place In History
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Ok fine. Nothing Josef Martinez has or will do is within the jurisdiction of analysis. He is perfect in every way. He has created 28 goals from nothing. Where once there were scoreless games Josef declared “let there be goals” and he saw the goals and he saw that they were good. I cannot see how Atlanta fans will take issue with this, so I can’t wait to see the ways in which they will. I’m going to say something nice about Philadelphia now, because I’m jealous that other soccer writing people get their pull quotes immortalized in the awesome brushtip font on Twitter. So here we go:
Read MorePortland Timbers 2018 Season Preview
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On the back of humanitarian and league MVP Diego Valeri, the 2017 Timbers won the Western Conference and thought they had a chance at a second MLS Cup. Unfortunately, injuries struck at the worst time and they bowed out of the playoffs with barely a whimper. With a new coach and some shrewd offseason signings, Portland will try again to end their season with an addition to their trophy case.
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