Alvas Powell: About to Bang or Already a Bust?

Alvas Powell was an exciting, young prospect with a high ceiling when he first debuted for the Portland Timbers. That was in 2013.

Alvas Powell has not enjoyed what most would consider a great start to the season, and the last weeks have been worse, rather than better. With some fans growing restless with his perceived lack of growth and error-prone performances, Powell definitely needs to up his game.

The Need For Speed

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Powell has a lot of great attributes, he’s tenacious, young, and hungry. He can give the other team’s defense fits, and provide a spark down the flank. That said, there are holes to his game, an unsurprising reality for most young players. Arguably, one of Powell’s major issues is—bear with me—his speed.

“Surely, that’s one of his best features,” you’ll say.

Certainly, Powell is one of the fastest defenders—if not the fastest—in the league, and while that is beneficial, it can cause just as many issues as it solves.

One only needs to look at a team like Liverpool FC to see the issues that can stem from having a pacy fullback. José Enrique and Alberto Moreno both relied heavily on their swiftness and athleticism during their respective tenures at the Premier League club. This trait alone wasn’t enough, however.

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After picking up a number of injuries from that kept him out of 54 games over the course of three seasons, Enrique lost most of his pace. After his recovery, he found himself exposed to counter attacks on a regular basis.

If we’re comparing players, however, there are far more similarities with Alberto Moreno than Jose Enrique.

In Powell and Moreno, both players have flashes of brilliance in the forms of marauding runs forward, some key passes, and the occasional appearance on the score sheet.

On the other hand, one can level nearly identical complaints at both full backs. Moreno gets caught out of position. Powell gives the ball away too easily. Both just push the ball past the defender and chase it down. Neither are consistent enough.

In both players, the main hindrance to the development of their technical and cerebral game is that they’ve begun to use their athleticism as a crutch. And it makes sense that they would. The old adage is that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

The big problems for rapid players aren’t truly apparent until later in their career. Jose Enrique is a prime example of that, as he went from a very large English team to a second division Spanish side. Eventually, the legs start getting heavy, recovery sessions don’t give as much back, and minor knocks turn into lengthy layoffs.

Lies and Statistics

One of the largest complaints regarding Powell focuses on a perceived lack of growth from year to year. In order to get a better handle on that, let’s take a look at Squawka.com’s player comparison for Powell against himself since his debut. Since Squawka doesn’t have data listed for the current season, Whoscored.com’s is utilized for 2017/18. Whoscored utilizes per game stats instead of per 90 minutes, so Squaka has been adjusted to mimic that.

Defense:

Offense:

Passing:

Before people start pointing at these numbers to indicate that Powell is only marginally increasing in some areas, while obviously regressing in others I want to impress upon everyone that nothing happens in a vacuum.

For example, it’s no surprise that Powell’s defensive scores were at their best in 2015, when the Timbers only conceded 39 goals. A strong center back pairing and a stalwart keeper in Adam Kawarasey made things easier because better players help you play better.

I bring up these stats to discuss the lack of growth that many fans complain about, and on the surface, it certainly appears that Powell has regressed in many categories. Powell only had one category that reached its peak last season, which was backward passes (not pictured).

As I mentioned earlier, however, nothing happens in a vacuum, and it’s possible that the 10 games that Powell missed due to injury caused a major disruption in his form on the season. Further, with the Timbers hemorrhaging goals last season, seeing Zarek Valentin—a much less attack-minded defender—was not terribly surprising. It also meant that Powell had fewer opportunities to rectify his errors.

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It’s also not shocking that there was a clear downturn in Powell’s form last year, as he often had Timbers flop Lucas Melano in front of him on the right-wing. Just like when better players help you play better, worse players make it more difficult to play well.

It’s common for young players’ development to zig-zag, rather than a straight line. In some instances, regression does occur, and occasionally, that winds up as a good thing. If the player is in the process of unlearning some bad habits or trying new things, there is usually a period of upheaval and frustration. One can hope that’s what is going on with Alvas Powell.

Powell also isn’t the only one on the team that has been struggling. Just like last year, Powell is currently contending with a forward player that is having issues.

Dairon Asprilla has many of the same shortcomings that Powell does, and with the Timbers’ attack being short-handed now, regular right-winger Sebastian Blanco has shifted to the left side of the field. The Timbers center backs have also not shown up well this year, and if we’re honest, the defense, while arguably deep, isn’t great.

Obviously, some of the blame has to fall with Powell, but the calls for his head are premature. Perhaps he would benefit from riding the bench for a little while, either as a chance to reset or as a message from Caleb Porter. That move is premature, however, as the Timbers’ biggest problems have come in the absence of Diego Valeri and Darlington Nagbe, and (needlessly) reshuffling the deck could do more harm than good.

React and Rally

A number of Portland fans have taken a special interest in criticizing the Jamaican, and while they have the right to voice their displeasure, sometimes this does more harm than good.

In a now-deleted Instagram post, Powell posted this message of inspiration and endurance in light of his detractors’ commentary:

Alvas certainly appears to have a good attitude regarding the vocal complaints. Powell will need to have more than just a good attitude, however. He will also need to show his critics that he’s still the man for the job.

The Jamaican international has everything that he needs to kick on and become the best right back in this league: He’s as young or younger than most of the starting fullbacks in MLS with almost three seasons of experience, has a motivated coach, (who nurtured talents like Darlington Nagbe and Will Trapp during his time at Akron), and he’s in a team that can play to his strengths. All that Powell needs now is to cut out the silly mistakes in his game.

If he can do that, he’ll change from frantic fullback to dynamic defender.

Next: Sebastian Blanco: The Player Portland Wanted in Lucas Melano