If there’s an early theme emerging in the Portland Timbers’ 2018 campaign, it’s one of change, not only in the big-picture issues like coaching and roster but also in the way the team is approaching every contest. From opening kick in Los Angeles on March 4 against the LA Galaxy to Sunday’s win at home against New York City FC, head coach Giovanni Savarese has deployed three different shapes, a seemingly constant evolution of styles, and an arc of changing results.
We’ve alluded to it before, in this space, but on the heels of another new formation, one that produced the team’s best result of the season, it’s probably worked reframing the question: What, exactly, do we know about Giovanni Savarese’s approach?