Adi Best Player On Pitch Sunday vs. New York City FC - Timbers Player Rankings

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Abe Asher, Oregon Sports News

The Portland Timbers dropped their third straight game for the first time in the Caleb Porter era on Sunday, losing 2-1 to New York City FC at Providence Park. Here are the player ratings.

Jake Gleeson, 7 – The New Zealander continued to make his mark with several top-drawer saves, including a tremendous reflex effort on a David Villa snapshot. Was helpless on the two goals.

Jermaine Taylor, 4 – In at fullback for the first time since Opening Day, Taylor played a sound match – but his lackadaisical closeout of Khiry Shelton eventually led to McNamara’s winner.

Liam Ridgewell, 5 – It was a quiet match for the captain, who wasn’t overly involved on either side of the ball.

Nat Borchers, 5 – Borchers had a number of agonizing near-misses – he almost scored twice with his head, and was just a step slow and to both cut out RJ Allen’s assist and close down McNamara.

Zarek Valentin, 8 – It was another very good home game for Valentin, who worked extremely hard and played put Lucas Melano in a number of excellent positions going forward.

Ben Zemanski, 4 – This wasn’t Zemanski’s best effort. The Akron product was sloppy on the ball and could have been sent off for a tackle in the first half.

Jack Jewsbury, 8 – Given license to get forward with Zemanski providing cover, Jewsbury played his best game of the year. More impressive than his passing, even, was the key role he played in the Timbers’ effective first half high-press.

Darlington Nagbe, 6 – Nagbe got the assist on the goal, but failed to convert a golden chance at the beginning of the second half. Wasn’t as sharp as he was against Vancouver and Dallas.

Diego Valeri, 7 – Valeri started the game hot – six (6!) chances created in the first half – but tailed off as the game progressed.

Lucas Melano, 2 – It was a painful outing from Melano, who had a plethora of chances to make his mark and mostly dribbled them away. He continues to have no feel for the game.

Fanendo Adi, 9 – Adi was tremendous. He scored his eighth goal of the season and should have had a back-heel assist to Nagbe – but his importance was illustrated clearest by how quickly the Timbers’ attack fell away after he came off injured.

Substitutes

Jack McInerney, 3 – McInerney had a rough outing. His best minutes this year have come as a second forward or winger, and as a lone striker here, he struggled.

Jack Barmby, 3 – Barmby’s directness can be a breath of fresh air, but he needs to play smarter.

Ned Grabavoy, 5 – Was greeted warmly by David Villa upon his entrance, but had neither the time nor opportunity to affect the game against his former team.

Final Thoughts

- This game most likely settled the question of who is number two on the depth chart at CDM behind Diego Chara. It’s still Jewsbury.

-   Amobi Okugo, whose signing the Timbers made official on Monday, was at Providence Park to watch the match. It’s a low-risk/high-reward move. Okugo, like McInerney, Chris Klute, and Darren Mattocks, has been a very good player in this league in the not-so-distant past. He should compete for minutes in midfield or at center-back.
-   Dairon Asprilla is still MIA, and it’s now looking more likely than not that his time at the club is coming to an end.
-   Porter had words with Borchers during the match about the two-time MLS Cup winner’s distribution, and pulled Borchers instead of Taylor down the stretch. We’ll see who starts next weekend next to Ridgewell.
-   And David Villa gave some love to Timbers fans, calling Providence Park’s atmosphere, “so far… the best [in MLS].”

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The Portland Timbers took a 1-0 lead in the MLS Cup final on this error by the Columbus Crew goaltender Steve Clark and a goal by Diego Valeri The goal took 28 seconds to score and is the fastest in MLS Cup history.