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| (Above) Diego Chara has his head in his hands just like all of us |
After a Willamette Week article coined the term "The Lost Boys" when referring to the Timbers, I immediately found it quite fitting. Compare the Timbers this season, dead last place in the Western Conference, still without an away win, conceding 5 goals in two separate games in the span of a week...and to rub salt on every Portland fans wounds, former abismal finishing forward Kenny Cooper cant seem to stop scoring goals for NY Red Bulls. Now contrast this with last season, a team that was on paper really not any different than the one we have now, for the most part same core group of players (outside of the 1.5 million addition of Boyd and a couple Colombians) and a team that was chasing the last playoff spot...where does the problem between the two seasons lie for the Timbers?
This is perhaps the hardest question for us to answer. Bloggers, newspapers, reporters, talking to the guy next to you on TriMet wearing a Timbers t-shirt, all of us can only speculate what is happening behind closed doors at Jeld Wen. When your not at practice, or in the locker room its sure hard to get a good grasp of whats going on within a team. It has however become widely known that interim coach Gavin Wilkinson accused players of "quitting" in the Dallas game, and apparently players were called out in the dressing room. My first thought after watching was that Gavin would be furious after the game. Having been coached by Gavin during my time playing with Eastside in Portland I can tell you that the New Zealander has a unique skill of verbal abuse, and in so many words, letting a player know when hes having a bad game. Getting chewed-out however is not the only answer to the Timbers problems and some changes need to be made, certainly for the long term. I'd say wholesale changes.
I'm the last person to jump the gun and call for heads but the Timbers find themselves in a position where trying the same things, and playing the same players, will not get them any further out of trouble. An unequivocally supportive Timbers fan base should be starting to feel a little short changed. Despite there being a unifying feeling when your team is playing like shit and everybody knows they're playing like shit, its still more galvanizing when goals are going in and games are being won.
While I dont have the answers, even though the last time I got a call from my season ticket rep and TIMBERS flashed across the caller I.D, I was certain they were calling to offer the head coaching position...
A simple change would be to start trying to include some younger players. Blooding some of the fringe players on the squad, is a good way to simply get match experience, set themselves up for next season, and really see if a player is down for the cause. This idea itself is nothing extreme, and as example the player that jumps to mind for me is Freddie Braun. Braun, a fantastic player during his collegiate career at Louisville and a product of one of the Timbers early PDL U-23 teams, has featured as a substitute coming in on the wings or at right back, but is naturally more of a holding midfielder. He is the type of player to cover all types of ground on the field and not leave anything in the tank after the game. Including a player like Freddie could send the message to some players on the team that if you cant do the job with passion and attitude we expect, then we'll bring in somebody who can. I'm certainly not claiming that Braun is the answer to the Timbers problems, but a change in the line-up, a change of demeanor on the field, and a change of the sheer amount of goals being let in, needs to be addressed somehow.
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