Armchair Analyst: One big question for Portland Timbers

Doyle: One big question for Portland Timbers

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One Big Question:Will they get enough production from the wings?


Yimmi Chara and Andy Polo have never been big producers of goals and/or assists, and neither has Dairon Asprilla (until the postseason). Jeremy Ebobisse had a good year in 2019 playing most of the time on the wing, though he's very clearly a fish out of water at that spot. Sebastian Blanco has been very good-and-sometimes-excellent, but he's soon to be 32, his productivity took a step backwards last year and he's never really racked up a lot of numbers.


All of this is couched within the context of Diego Valeri and Diego Chara both turning 34 this year. Valeri finally showed signs of slippage last year (he is basically only a chance creator now), and while Chara didn't, you know it's coming. Father Time wins every battle eventually.


Taken like that, this all means that the center of gravity is going to have to shift for this team, with more emphasis likely put on the wings and center forward. That all sounds sensible, but this was already a team far too in love with crossing the ball:

They have invested heavily and I expect them to be a good, balanced team. But they need more than that to get them to the top of a conference filled with attacks like LAFC's, the Galaxy's and Seattle's.



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