In each of their last three road games, the Portland Timbers have scored first. But in each of those matches the lead didn’t hold up.
In 1-1 draws at Los Angeles and New England and in Saturday’s 2-1 loss at Vancouver, Portland spent long stretches of the second half rooted in its defensive third, absorbing attack after attack.
Coach Caleb Porter said his team must be better at converting counter-attack chances when defending a lead, and must be better at winning and keeping possession up the field. Doing that has been a point of emphasis in preparing for Wednesday’s match at FC Dallas.
“We need to make better decisions,” Porter said. “If the counter’s on, counter (attack); if it’s not keep (the ball). That allows us to move up the pitch. That allows us to take the pressure off of us defending. The other side of it is, when we lose it can we press a little higher, win the ball higher? That allows us to keep our position up the field higher.”
With temperatures forecast to be in the 80s with high humidity — and perhaps a thunderstorm — possession will be more important Wednesday than it would be in a less-challenging climate.
“In the heat it’s very important that we don’t defend for long periods, that we use the ball to rest on the ball, and we use the ball to control the tempo and take the pressure off of us defending,” Porter said.
Taking pressure off was one reason Porter shifted Darlington Nagbe into a more defensive role for Saturday’s match at Vancouver. And while the Timbers faced 26 shots, 13 of them on goal in that loss, Porter called it Nagbe’s best game this season. Nagbe set up Nat Borchers’ tap-in goal and created several other opportunities that teammates failed to convert.
Porter said Nagbe started deeper in the formation to give support to Diego Chara, who has often been outnumbered by opponents in the center of the park. The coach would not commit to keeping Nagbe in a centrally defensive starting position for the Dallas match, but said that playing deeper can result in more time on the ball for Nagbe. That allows him to spark the attack by going forward with the ball at his feet.
“He did all the things we want him to do,” Porter said. “He kept the ball, he helped us defend, he drove out of midfield. And when he got in the final third he was aggressive in creating and penetrating.”
Porter doesn’t announce his lineups ahead of matches, but said ideally he would like continuity in his starting lineup. He said he and his staff have been discussing the value of continuity vs. putting some fresh players in the lineup given the short turnaround and travel from Vancouver.
