Portland Timbers vs Columbus Crew 2016 season opener

Bombers owner Merritt Paulson cheers with fans at Providence Park in Portland before the 2016 MLS season opening game between the defending champion Portland Timbers and Columbus Crew, March 6, 2016. Thomas Boyd/Staff

(Thomas Boyd)

The Portland Timbers closed out their 2016 MLS season with arguably their worst week as a franchise since entering MLS.

The Timbers were eliminated from CONCACAF Champions League midweek, before missing MLS Cup playoffs and losing out on the Cascadia Cup with a demoralizing 4-1 loss to the Vancouver Whitecaps on the road Sunday. Portland finished the year without a single MLS win away from home. To make matters worse, Timbers captain Liam Ridgewell and goalkeeper Jake Gleeson were arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence Monday night.

"Obviously, it was a week of horrors," said Timbers owner Merritt Paulson in regards to the on-field disappointments in an interview on Timbers in 30. "It certainly leaves a sour taste in your mouth."

In his Timbers in 30 interview, Paulson candidly discussed the Timbers season and what the club plans to do in the offseason to avoid the pitfalls of 2016.

Paulson admitted that the club faced some unique challenges after winning the MLS Cup in 2015 as they tried to negotiate a tighten salary cap, while still putting together a deep squad.

The club lost three key players last offseason in Jorge Villafana, Rodney Wallace and Maxi Urruti. Paulson said, even in retrospect, losing those players was unavoidable.

"With Jorge Villafana, we had him on another year of his contract, but we would have been forcing a guy to play with us -- and then losing him at no cost -- for one fourth of the salary he was being offered to go play in Mexico," Paulson said. "That would have been the wrong move with him. With Maxi Urruti, he would have hit us on over $600,000 on our cap for a guy that's not starting. You can't do that in MLS. And Rodney Wallace was out of contract and wanted a change of scenery. That was a choice he made. We wanted to bring him back."

Ahead of the final Timbers in 30 of the season, @MerrittPaulson discusses the 2016 season and looks forward: https://t.co/elq2BwOCDN #RCTID pic.twitter.com/vLqfSAxnAL — Portland Timbers (@TimbersFC) October 27, 2016

Despite losing Villafana, Wallace and Urruti, the Timbers entered 2016 believing they had made enough strategic moves in the offseason to overcome the losses.

That turned out to be wrong.

"You have to replace those guys," Paulson said. "We thought we had done a pretty good job of that. In retrospect, I think it would be accurate to say that the team wasn't nearly as deep as it needed to be and we probably failed in some ways on that front."

Another big issue that Paulson pointed to was the performance of Portland's designated players in 2016.

Winger Lucas Melano, who the Timbers acquired in 2015 with a $5 million transfer fee, had a miserable 2016 season, recording just three goals and five assists and starting just one of Portland's final six games due to his ineffectiveness.

While Portland's other designated players, Diego Valeri and Ridgewell, had better seasons than Melano, both had up and down performances and missed time due to injury. Ridgewell made just 22 starts as the Timbers gave up a Western Conference-worst 53 goals in 2016.

"We got to take a look at the DP situation and make sure that we're really comfortable that when we have DPs going into 2017, those are going to be high-performing DPs," Paulson said. "You get punished in this league when your DPs aren't playing like DPs."

Along with taking a hard look at their designated players, the Timbers are also looking at how complacency and a lack of leadership impacted the 2016 season.

Paulson said the Timbers clearly had talent in 2016, which was demonstrated by their club-record 12 wins at home. But they weren't able to carry those performances on the road, something that Paulson said raises questions about the team's leadership and the group's complacency after winning the MLS Cup.

"We do need to take a really hard look at the complacency question and the leadership question looking ahead," Paulson said. "We're going to make darn well sure we resolve that and that doesn't happen again."

As the Timbers head into the offseason, Paulson said that he, Timbers coach Caleb Porter and general manager Gavin Wilkinson are taking a hard look at what they could have done better in 2016.

Paulson said the club will continue to build around its core group of players, but will also be making some significant changes in the offseason to improve its depth, get better at key positions and start bringing players from the T2 system into the first team fold.

Paulson said the Timbers should be a playoff team every year and missing playoffs in 2016 was simply unacceptable.

"Not acceptable not to be a playoff team," Paulson said. "We strive to be a model of excellence on and off the field every year, let alone in a season where we're following an MLS Cup. And it's not that tough to make playoffs in Major League Soccer right now. We should be a playoff team every year. It's very disappointing and really unacceptable."

-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com

503-853-3761 | @jamiebgoldberg