by Matt Hoffman (@mhoff)
Portland remains above the red line but could really give those hopes a positive jolt with a road win against the Houston Dynamo on Saturday (6 p.m. ROOT Sports).
Not only has Houston habitually given the Timbers problems in BBVA Compass Stadium, the team under Wade Barrett has played a tough brand of soccer. The Dynamo have collected nine points their last six matches and in those six matches which only two teams (San Jose and Seattle) are below the red line.
Portland has twice succumbed to lapses against Houston at Providence Park in the same number of years, requiring late heroics each time. At Houston, it has been a different story and Captain Comeback has not been able to heed the call.
Houston is a team in transition. The revolution promised by Owen Coyle led to Coyle returning to England and left a Dynamo team mired in last place with the hallmarks of a team in disarray: parts that did not fit together, undefined roles, and bottom of the league metrics including being winless (0-7-3) when allowing the first goal.
Alvas Powell, Steve Taylor and Fanendo Adi celebrate Portlands goal.
If the Dynamo are the movable force, then the Timbers road form is the resistable object. Only the Chicago Fire have a worse road record for the Timbers. The Fire, at least have a road win. It just took them two years to get it.
If the Timbers were merely drawing on the road, they would at least be earning a point and that could mitigate some of the damage; One would need to go back to July 10th in New Jersey for the last time the Timbers earned an away point.
Since then, the Timbers have:
- Lost 1-0 at Sporting Kansas City
- Lost 2-0 at D.C. United
- Lost 3-1 at Seattle
- Lost 3-1 at Dallas
One thing to note is the draw in New York was the last time Darren Mattocks played a road match for the Timbers. With coach Caleb Porter opting away from the 4-3-3 and back to the 4-2-3-1, Porter has been looking for an athletic, rangy, and quick player to play on the wing opposite Darlington Nagbe that can drift out when Nagbe drifts in.
The million dollar question might be how is Mattocks able to do this when Lucas Melano is not. In fairness to Melano, Mattocks has had a long relationship with Porter going back to when the pair won a national title together.
During the Timbers title run last year, Porter moved Nagbe to the middle and used two wingers out wide. It worked well but opposing teams have had an offseason to find ways of taking advantage of that system.
Porter feels the Timbers are in a good place right now. With Mattocks on the field, Porter says that the Timbers have “eleven players attacking and eleven players defending”, noting that Mattocks brings balance to the lineup as a person who can get up to play as a withdrawn striker but can also get back and play defense.
Moreover, the Timbers seem to be healthy. Following the Philadelphia match on Saturday, Porter said:
“ I told the guys that this is the first time that I’ve gone into my office and didn’t have to change the board from the last game. I usually set the lineup and talk to the staff and then we play the game and I leave and I come back and usually this year I’m swapping out five, six guys on the board. That says everything about the season that we’ve had in terms of chopping and adding, guys are in, guys are out.”
With holes like the one left by Nat Borchers filled (at least temporarily), and depth at most positions, the Timbers are in position to make another late season surge.
Houston
Portland
