Hello!

Miss me?

I wish I had an epic reason for the absence of “The View” over the past few weeks. Like being picked up as interim manager for Tottenham (a surefire way to get relegated), or winning the lottery, or answering the question to life, the universe, and everything.

Well we do know the answer to that. 42.

Yet in all seriousness, it was a combination of my concussion symptoms still raging, an active kid going full-on during Spring Break keeping me busy, and a frustrating loss to San Jose that kept me away from my keyboard.

But I’m back. And the Whitecaps FC are too.

So all is good again.

The View

Let’s catch up on a few things that happened since we last spoke.

Andrés Cubas picked up an injury to his quad early in the second leg against the Sounders and remains out (though reports suggest he’s progressing well.

The best centre back we now know we have, Ralph Priso, suffered a left hamstring strain in the Canada friendly against Tunisia during the international break and is out for close to two months.

And how about the other injuries? Well Ryan Gauld, Ranko Veselinović, Sam Adekugbe, and Belal Halbouni all continue to remain out of commission.

So another season where bench depth needs to be deep. Fun times.

Equally challenging is the fact the book is now out on how the Whitecaps FC attack the opposition, with both the Seattle Sounders and San Jose Earthquakes using a low block to frustrate the ‘Caps in the final third of the pitch.

Oh… and apparently the backline is vulnerable to late-half set pieces for some reason… so the opposition is gifted at least one goal per match.

Including the Portland Timbers this past weekend.

If you were to look at the final score, a 3-2 win for the Whitecaps, and not watch any of the match you’d be forgiven to think it was close.

It wasn’t.

Vancouver absolutely controlled the play for nearly 60% of the match, putting 22 shot attempts on the board to Portland’s 9 and passing up countless more opportunities than that. Heck, Vancouver’s xG was 2.6 to Portland’s 0.8.

When Édier Ocampo put the ‘Caps on the score sheet at the 6’ mark of the first half, it felt like the rout was on. Vancouver continued to pressure Portland into mistake after mistake, with only a lack of clinical finish and a profuse number of missed opportunities keeping it close.

And then Portland scored. Tie game.

And they scored again as teams have recently - a stoppage time gift of a set-piece. Portland led 2-1.

Vancouver looked somewhat rattled. At the very least frustrated.

If I were in Phil Neville’s shoes, I would’ve seen that sign and attempted to pry more joy out of it. I would’ve acknowledged that my side just weathered and absolute typhoon and came out the other side with a lead. I would’ve told my team play with courage & conviction in the second half.

The thing is, I’m not Phil Neville. Which itself is probably a good thing for the Timbers, as they parked every bus they found in Vancouver across the pitch in an effort to hold on to that lead.

I’m also not Jesper Sørensen. Thank goodness for that.

Vancouver came out of the tunnel focused on one thing. Finding the equalizer.

The Whitecaps carried the play throughout the half, averaging a PP (5min) advantage (possession percentage per 5 minutes of play) of nearly 35% with only one brief period where they dropped to only 10%.

Yet it wasn’t until a stoppage for the ‘Caps to be rewarded for that pressure with a penalty shout after a Santos handball during a spell of frantic defending.

Up stepped Thomas Müller. Tie game.

I was ecstatic. All the supporters were ecstatic. Yet as ecstatic as the Whitecaps FC were on the pitch, they didn’t waste time in getting the ball to half and attempting to get themselves that go-ahead goal in stoppage.

Bruno Caicedo, who made his debut late in the second, had a glorious cross go unrewarded. Moments later Emmanuel Sabbi, also subbed on for the second, had a solid opportunity blocked.

But after a phenomenal tackle from Sebastian Berhalter turned the play around late, we witnessed a great cross from Tate Johnson to Sabbi result in his blocked attempt landing at the foot of Berhalter and bazinga - Whitecaps lead 3-2!

I don’t think any of us had stopped cheering when the referee blew the final whistle. In fact, I don’t think any of us heard it.

Didn’t matter. Vancouver got a win and all was good.

And it remains that way today.

The Good

• Sebastian Berhalter. Adjusting his role to pick up the slack for an injured Andrés Cubas, Seba not only took care of business defensively (I don’t fault him on either Timbers goal) he had an absolute strike to win the game after already serving up a devasting stop seconds before.

• Bruno Caicedo. While we only saw Bruno for ~25’ in the second half, his entry into the match coincided with an absolute push from the Whitecaps in an effort to first tie, and then win the match. And the kid has speed. Despite knowing what Bruno was about to do every time he had the ball, the Timbers simply couldn’t stop him.

The Not So Good

• Thomas Müller. Before you grab your pitchforks and torches, hear me out. Yes he’s scored a good number from the spot. And yes I feel better with him in the Starting XI than on the bench. But he’s really looking his age and not getting involved in the play as he did last season. I expect more from the Raumdeuter.

• Giving up goals just before half. Seriously… stop it.

During this three-ish week break, I had a chance to talk to my father-in-law about the newsletter and he provided a sound suggestion:

Why not provide a player rating metric to evaluate my view of their performance for each match?

The thing is, I struggle with simple math (1+1=3) let alone the algebraic equations involved in most player rating systems. I also struggle to keep track of individual play when I’m watching from 231 - I see what I see and miss what I don’t.

Yet I think the idea has merit. Lots of merit.

While I don’t foresee the newsletter becoming all that analytical when I’m behind the keyboard, I do feel there’s a place for some “vibes-based” player ratings using some “vibes-math.”

Yes… I’m using fictional words here.

With Vancouver on the road for the entire month of May before taking a couple months off, my plan is to trial this rating system in those issues and look for your feedback to see if they hit the mark.

Until then, I’ll see you all from my usual seat in Section 231.

Oh yeah… that’s the other thing that happened during the break. I found my way back to the stadium. 😀