MLS
Pressure mounting at Portland for Phil Neville
The Timbers languish at the foot of the Western Conference with just two wins all season and the English coach coming under fire.
Despite a bright start to his tenure at Providence Park with Portland Timbers with two wins in the opening three games, recent form has been poor for the Oregon side and a run of five defeats and three draws in their past eight games leaves the side propping up the Western Conference with just ten points on the board.
Upon his appointment being confirmed late in 2023 with the MLS side, Timbers fans and in particular, the Timbers Army were angry with the appointment and asked club management to reconsider the decision citing misogynistic tweets from the former Manchester United player in the early 2010s. There were also question marks surrounding his underwhelming spell in two seasons in charge of pre-Messi Inter Miami. Neville replied and described the tweets as “wrong then and wrong now” when he initially addressed them while in charge of the England women’s national team in 2019 and reiterated that again upon moving to Portland.
Derby challenge
The English coach is presented with a solid opportunity win back the flagging confidence of the Timbers faithful when the Seattle Sounders are the visitors to Portland in the latest edition of the Cascadia Derby.
The Sounders are also having an underpar start to the 2024 MLS season and sit above Portland in the table by virtue of a better goal difference.
“I see the next 14 games before the Leagues Cup as massive games for this football club, and now we need to start picking up points,” claimed Neville ahead of Sunday’s match.
A poor defence is the heart of the Timbers problems having conceded 23 goals (the second highest tally to date across MLS) with the Mancunian adding: “we need to be a team that’s ruthless enough to go on and win games of football,” Neville said. “And we haven’t seen that apart from a couple of occasions.”
He added: “derby games are bigger than just the three points because you’re playing for bragging rights, you’re playing for your supporters to have that feeling that they’ve beat their biggest rivals. And that’s our motivation for Sunday, is to make sure our supporters have the bragging rights and that they leave that stadium proud of their team.”
Portland Timbers face Seattle Sounders on 12 May with kick-off at Providence Park at 1:45 pm (PT) with the match available to watch via MLS Season Pass on Apple TV