Both teams played on the same embarrassing pitch. But only the Whitecaps are accustomed to it. The Timber finally figured out after about 20 minutes that the ball moves slowly on the shaggy turf and with a lot of little bumps. I'm sure it's hard to adjust to but any decent scouting report would have included this fact, and the players must have realized the problem during warmups. Too many of them kept waiting for passes to arrive rather than moving to the ball.
Maybe Neville and the team should have read Jeremy's match preview before kickoff. It pretty much nailed exactly what Vancouver did tactically. Also, their style of play meshes with the extra large pitch.
Good write up! One thing I noticed, and maybe it pertains a bit to what Michael Bales wrote below about the field, but we didn't get the second balls last night. Maybe that was due to luck or positioning or field or all of the above? I don't know, but they simply weren't winning the second balls and that allowed Vanc to control the ball a little more and kill the game off and make us play defense longer than we probably wanted.
Aside from that, call me a hater but the shot from White wasn't all that impressive (right at Crepeau who got megged). I think one area for improvement on him is that he doesn't get down particularly quick. I will say that he made some other good saves and kept us in the game after that. Vancouver had three guys pressing high, so there was big effort to find the guys at the next level, and I thought Crepeau did well in the first half on those balls, and then did less well as the game went on. We lost the game flow a bit midway through the second half and sometimes it was due to a long ball from Crepeau gone awry and back to defense. I'd have given him a lower score, probably a 6.5.
Moreno looked good, too, and then faded a bit in the second half, and I was happy to see him as the starter at the 10. Antony is on the verge, but at this point, his best role is coming off the bench when we have first choice.
Jeez, Left - I don't think any pro GK coach would crab at their guy for not making that save. A wide open sitter from 6 yards out is any striker's dream and White put it away expeditiously. Crepeau's only chance was for White to misshit/sky the ball, or put it right into Max's body.
It's true, I'm being a little harsh here. Just saying that the shot wasn't all that great. It wasn't hit super hard and it went right through his legs. He gets down quicker and he saves it. Perhaps it was a little unlucky in that the only spot that was open -- between his legs -- was where it went.
I wasn't too worried. I liked how we responded after that and we kept building pressure until we got the equalizer. And Crepeau played pretty well too overall, except for his awkward head clearance. That could have been disaster, but it worked out. He made a massive save on White's one v one when Zup whiffed, so credit to him.
We are just going to have to outscore teams, and I think as long as we pounce first, we'll be able to keep pressure on teams until they crack.
I like Crepeau because of his aggressiveness and distribution. That said, he needs to be more wary of getting too far from goal. He's almost been badly burned the last two matches. You just know every team is looking to chip him.
This match falls into the 'Baby Steps' category of 2024's On the Road Timbers...
- another horrible start - but this time we're only 1 goal down, playing decently after 15-20 minutes and kept it up for the rest of the game.
- Even missing Evander, we created decent chances in both halves, and Santi played the #10 very well.
- Even missing Ayala, Chara and Paredes in MF played VAN to a standoff (or better) on the night.
All in all, we are getting closer to decent on the road... Just have to wait and see, will it be too little, too late??
Both teams played on the same embarrassing pitch. But only the Whitecaps are accustomed to it. The Timber finally figured out after about 20 minutes that the ball moves slowly on the shaggy turf and with a lot of little bumps. I'm sure it's hard to adjust to but any decent scouting report would have included this fact, and the players must have realized the problem during warmups. Too many of them kept waiting for passes to arrive rather than moving to the ball.
Maybe Neville and the team should have read Jeremy's match preview before kickoff. It pretty much nailed exactly what Vancouver did tactically. Also, their style of play meshes with the extra large pitch.
Good write up! One thing I noticed, and maybe it pertains a bit to what Michael Bales wrote below about the field, but we didn't get the second balls last night. Maybe that was due to luck or positioning or field or all of the above? I don't know, but they simply weren't winning the second balls and that allowed Vanc to control the ball a little more and kill the game off and make us play defense longer than we probably wanted.
Aside from that, call me a hater but the shot from White wasn't all that impressive (right at Crepeau who got megged). I think one area for improvement on him is that he doesn't get down particularly quick. I will say that he made some other good saves and kept us in the game after that. Vancouver had three guys pressing high, so there was big effort to find the guys at the next level, and I thought Crepeau did well in the first half on those balls, and then did less well as the game went on. We lost the game flow a bit midway through the second half and sometimes it was due to a long ball from Crepeau gone awry and back to defense. I'd have given him a lower score, probably a 6.5.
Moreno looked good, too, and then faded a bit in the second half, and I was happy to see him as the starter at the 10. Antony is on the verge, but at this point, his best role is coming off the bench when we have first choice.
Jeez, Left - I don't think any pro GK coach would crab at their guy for not making that save. A wide open sitter from 6 yards out is any striker's dream and White put it away expeditiously. Crepeau's only chance was for White to misshit/sky the ball, or put it right into Max's body.
It's true, I'm being a little harsh here. Just saying that the shot wasn't all that great. It wasn't hit super hard and it went right through his legs. He gets down quicker and he saves it. Perhaps it was a little unlucky in that the only spot that was open -- between his legs -- was where it went.
I wasn't too worried. I liked how we responded after that and we kept building pressure until we got the equalizer. And Crepeau played pretty well too overall, except for his awkward head clearance. That could have been disaster, but it worked out. He made a massive save on White's one v one when Zup whiffed, so credit to him.
We are just going to have to outscore teams, and I think as long as we pounce first, we'll be able to keep pressure on teams until they crack.
I like Crepeau because of his aggressiveness and distribution. That said, he needs to be more wary of getting too far from goal. He's almost been badly burned the last two matches. You just know every team is looking to chip him.