With news of Liam Ridgewell’s return to Portland via the broadcasting booth and Larrys Mabiala receiving a yellow card against LAFC that will see him miss the Timbers clash with Real Salt Lake, it’s fair to say the Timbers’ defense has been on my mind this week. So I thought I would quickly examine how the team has performed defensively thus far this season, the upturn in defensive output the team has shown in recent weeks, and how they will fair without Mabiala against RSL tomorrow.
I think everybody is in agreement when I say that the Timbers’ defense hasn’t been as good as they can and want to be so far in 2021.