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Portland tries to regroup ahead of Chivas match

Jul 17, 2012 - 6:34 PM Carson, CA (Sports Network) - The Portland Timbers would like to forget about last week as quickly as possible and move forward, beginning with a road contest against Chivas USA at The Home Depot Center on Wednesday.

The Timbers fired head coach John Spencer last week and then proceeded to lose 5-3 against the Los Angeles Galaxy in the club's first match under new boss Gavin Wilkinson.

Portland dropped into a last-place tie with FC Dallas after the defeat, and now the hope is that the club has regrouped and is ready to snap out of its current slump.

The 5-3 defeat was Portland's third in the last four games, and it saw the Timbers give up five goals in a game for the first time in its MLS existence.

"Organizationally, we should have been a lot better," Wilkinson said of the defensive breakdowns for Portland. "But I think we've been through a lot this week.

"I'll take the blame for this one, there's been a lot happening in the last week."

Wilkinson may be quick to absorb the criticism, but Portland captain Jack Jewsbury doesn't feel that the changes were the reason for his team's poor performance.

"Not at all," Jewsbury said when asked if the coaching change contributed to the defeat. "The reality is the majority of the guys in this locker room have been through changes before. Obviously it's difficult the first two days, but then you get on with it. I thought we came out and played pretty well and then the key guys that we talked about before the game, Landon [Donovan] and [Robbie] Keane and obviously [David] Beckham, when you give them space and free kicks it's going to be dangerous. And they took advantage of them tonight."

Chivas is only one point above the Timbers but has come away with five points from its last three matches.

Defensively, the Goats have been strong, but coach Robin Fraser's team has yet to hit its stride offensively, which Fraser feels is down to his side's approach.

"At the end of the day, we have to do things better to win games and certainly a big part of that is our approach and the urgency," Fraser said. "We have quality players and, in this league, so many games are won with the way that we approach a game, and you look at a lot of the teams that have been successful and it is about confidence and urgency."

Chivas has failed to score in three of its last four games and has already been held without a goal in six of its 10 home matches this season.

But Fraser knows there is quality in his team, it just needs to become more consistent.

"There are a lot of experienced professionals on this team," said Fraser, "and they know as [well] as any of us, we can talk about it until we're blue in the face. But certainly, you can do everything that you can to stress it. We have this quality in our group and we've seen it. Not as often as we'd like to see, but we've definitely seen it."

Hopefully for Chivas, that quality shows up on Wednesday.