Sebastian Blanco was subbed out in the 71st minute. He had an eventful walk back to the bench, firing a water bottle at one empty seat, then smacking another, before finally sitting down and staring down at his shoes.
There were no answers there for the Argentinean DP, and there were no answers on the field, yet again, for the Timbers as a whole. They lost 1-0 to their rivals from the north, the Seattle Sounders, coming short yet again at CenturyLink Field. It has not been a happy journey for the Timbers, and it's not been a happy month, either.
Portland shot out of the gates in 2017 with 10 goals and three wins in three games. They followed that up with a more sustainable six goals in their next three, going 1-1-1 in the process. Through the season's first month the consensus was that A) this was one of the best attacking teams in the league, and B) they had a shot to be one of the best attacking teams in the 21-year history of MLS.
In the seven games since then they've gone 1-4-2. They've scored six goals, have been shut out three times, and have sunk from first to fifth in the Western Conference.
And I can't put my finger on why, exactly, they appear so out-of-tune. You could make an argument that Blanco, Diego Valeri, Fanendo Adi and Darlington Nagbe – the attacking foursome – are all top-three MLS talents at their respective positions. Individually, they all have moments where they look the part. Collectively, they don't.
Timbers fans would rightly point out that the team missed Diego Chara today and David Guzman for the second half, but even so, it's not like Seattle's defense was air tight. The Sounders do not defend from the front, and that lack allowed Portland's Liam Ridgewell to stride forward, ball on foot, and dictate both the pace and tempo of the game for huge chunks of time:
So Blanco, Valeri, Nagbe et al were getting the ball in good spots. They just weren't doing enough with it.
Talent does tend to win out in the end, and there is a better than decent chance that this is just a slightly prolonged slump combined with a getting-to-know-you period with Blanco. Such instances are not unprecedented, in this league and any other.
But these aren't the Timbers fans thought they were getting, nor the Timbers that fans thought they had through 2017's first month. The well has gone dry, and with each of their next six games against Western Conference foes, the time to find answers is now.
