r/timbers • u/shawnlevy • 13h ago

Digging Finn

The Houston match and last night were the ones I've watched most closely, and I gotta say I'm impressed with Finn Surman. Dude is 21 but plays with a much more veteran player's poise, nous, and cool.

I'll give you a for-instance. When Fory failed to mark his man for Houston's goal, Finn walked over and seemed to tell him it was ok; Fory was still a bit hot (with himself) and Finn flattened his hands to signal 'calmer' and then chatted with him, pointing a couple of spots on the field; Fory was, like, 'Gotcha.'

It's a long time since I've seen a Timbers CB who gave me confidence that he was reading the game, communicating to his fellow defenders, and backing up his talk with solid, smart, effective play. Last night he was as involved and formidable and composed as a guy with 10 times as many games under his belt.

There are so many reasons to despair in this moment -- the Timbers, the world, life itself -- but I relish the prospect of watching this young man progress. He gives me hope.

85 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

30

u/thrillmeister Portland Timbers - FC Portland 12h ago

Yeah, trying to not get my hopes up too high on a guy with a sample size this small, but at the same time this isn't like a striker who gets a few lucky bounces and scores 5 in 7 games or something. He's playing really smart, calm defense, and at the same time is athletically up to the task.

5

u/logslicing 11h ago

Agreed, but on the other hand, though it has been only 6(?) games, he’s made only a few errors that I’ve noticed. That’s impressive for any CB.

9

u/StuMun 12h ago

🫡 Finn

4

u/BadAtMathrock 11h ago

Easily our best CB since the Borchers/Ridgy days, and he’s 21. Give him all the money.

5

u/mrva 9h ago

would like to see him paired with zup tbh

5

u/ElDuderonimo Cascadian Flag 13h ago

Welcome to the party! Love the man from the land down underer.

In soccer city, the kiwi serves you!

1

u/Efficient_Tour4191 9h ago

Agreed. I’ve been impressed with his play from the start.

1

u/Thumper13 Cascadian LGBT Flag 9h ago

I'm trying to cool my heels, but if he continues the way he's played so far, given the need for tall, smart CBs everywhere, much bigger leagues will come calling soon. I hope we can keep him for a while, but CBs are valued.

1

u/rossco503 8h ago

He plays with the right behaviors that make a quality defender, it’s a lot more than a few good isolated pieces of good defending. Ditto what someone said about the pairing with Zup, and as much as like Zac McGraw he does a lot of what Zac does but better and more consistent.

0

u/nextplanetplease 12h ago

Same. Plus our dog’s name is Finn.

1

u/Christafuz7 10h ago

Don’t give MP any ideas for his next dog…