Atlanta United at Toronto FC player ratings: Staff, community player ratings

Well, Atlanta United’s 2-0 loss to Toronto was one to forget.

While Atlanta’s backups did play with an identity and created some chances, the final touch and cutting edge was always missing. Meanwhile, Toronto created their first goal out of nothing, then got into a rhythm to see the game out from there on. It’s always tough to lose, but it was understandable with most of United’s starters away on international duty.

Before you forget and move on to next Sunday, we’re asking for you to remember Saturday’s game one last time as we review our and the community’s player ratings, which we’re comparing to see who the real geniuses are, the writer or the readers. Starting with our player ratings…

Starters

GK: Brad Guzan – 6

Guzan let in 2 goals, the first being a slow dive that he palmed but couldn’t push away and the second being an unlucky rebound after he made an incredible one-handed diving save to his right. Could he have been a little faster getting up after the first save? Yes, but that’s being harsh as there’s not much he could do in that situation, especially when the second goal could have been offside. Even with the goals, Guzan kept the game from getting out of hand numerous times. His best two saves were the reactionary save off a Toronto header near the end of the first half, sticking out his arm to stop a sure-fire goal, and the 1v1 save vs. Federico Bernardeschi in second half stoppage time. Solid performance but not good enough.

LB: Ronald Hernandez – 4

Hernandez had a solid first half where he shut down threats from Toronto’s right side, but his second half was awful. A terrible giveaway at the back and then letting Bernardeschi fly by him without much effort to put in a tackle led to the second goal, and the giveaway and lazy attempts at challenging Bernardeschi summed up what he did throughout the entire second half. This matchup was one of Hernandez’s worst in an Atlanta shirt.

CB: Noah Cobb – 6

Cobb fared well for his first appearance and start of 2024, defending for the most part patiently and being one of United’s better defenders on the ball. He also helped clear the ball plenty of times during frantic Toronto attacks. However, he loses points for getting beat on the first goal. Stepping up to the ball early was understandable, but reaching for a tackle on Toronto’s goal scorer Tyrese Spicer instead of taking a step or two then meeting him before the shot was a big mistake. Even with the mistake, this was a much better performance than previous appearances last season, so let’s hope he continues to improve.

CB: Derrick Williams – 5

Williams may not have had any extremely noticeable mistakes, but if you look closer, you can soon figure out how poorly he played. He gave the ball out of the back multiple times in dangerous positions, almost as many times as Hernandez, and on the first goal, he stopped in front of Spicer instead of stepping in to block the shot that was Toronto’s first goal. It was a disappointing performance, to say the least.

RB: Brooks Lennon – 7

Lennon had a very good game. He was Atlanta’s best defender by far, but he was so impressive when it came to his work in the attack. Atlanta didn’t have many opportunities in the final third, but when they did, it was usually because of Brooks Lennon. He’d combine with Nick Firmino or Tristan Muyumba to run down the touchline, had a brilliant first touch, and whipped in a few pinpoint crosses to Thiare and others that just didn’t go in. If Giorgos Giakoumakis was playing, Brooks would be leaving Canada with an assist or two.

CDM: Dax McCarty – 6

McCarty was forgettable. He didn’t sit as deep into the midfield as Slisz does, his passing was alright but with a few sloppy giveaways, and he did not help Atlanta transition the ball into the final third. It wasn’t a terrible performance by any means, just not good, either.

CM: Tristan Muyumba – 6

Muyumba played well in the first half, pinging the ball around well with Lennon, Firmino, and Tyler Wolff, but he was sloppy in possession in the final third and was invisible in the second half. Just like McCarty, it wasn’t a bad performance, just not noteworthy.

CAM: Nick Firmino – 6

It’s hard to write new words to describe Firmino’s performance when it was exactly like that of Muyumba and McCarty: average. He moved the ball well in the first half and showed potential going forward, but just didn’t execute on his final passes and went invisible in the second half. There’s a lot of room to grow for Firmino after this performance.

LW: Tyler Wolff – 6

Wolff, for the first 20 minutes, played fantastically and was a real threat going forward. He was making good runs inside, was skillful on the ball in 1v1 situations, and combined well with the midfield. Then, he barely touched the ball for the remainder of the time he played before being subbed out and made no impact. Wolff is an interesting player in the fact that there is lots of potential in him as a player — it’s just hard to see. Fans have only really seen a few games where Wolff takes the chance to run at defenders, and that’s when he does best. Let’s hope Pineda can figure out the Tyler Wolff enigma after a game that just added to its difficulty.

RW: Saba Lobjanizde – 5

Saba, like most players rated so far, started the match well, almost scoring off a well-hit volley inside the 18 that went slightly wide-left. But then, it was all downhill from there. Defensively, he was terrible, getting embarrassed by Bernardeschi and Lorenzo Insigne countlessly, scuffing a tackle which led to Toronto’s first goal, and was out of position the whole game. Offensively, he didn’t go completely invisible, but his first touch was way too heavy. not a great performance from someone United was supposed to be heavily relying on.

CF: Jamal Thiare – 4

Thiare was United’s worst performer of the night. With his first real chance to prove himself to Atlanta United fans in his first start, he wasted it. He couldn’t hold up the ball, single-handedly ruining parts of Atlanta United’s transition play and attacking opportunities, and he constantly dove to draw fouls that he had no chance of getting. He had one great header off a Lennon cross in the second half that forced a good save, but that was it.

Subs

LW: Xande Silva – 5

Silva, who probably should have started, didn’t play well when he came into the match. Atlanta needed him to rev up their attacking engine, and he failed to. It’s not all his fault; he barely got the ball. But, when he did have the ball, nothing positive came of it. I feel he would have done much better had he started out the match rather than sub on later, but that’s not my decision.

RW: Edwin Mosquera – 6

Mosquera provided constant energy, running at as many defenders as possible, which is what we’re accustomed to. The only problem is that he couldn’t turn his pace into anything meaningful in the final third. The moment that best showed this was when he took at least 3 or 4 touches in the box trying to beat defenders when a shot would have gone in and put Atlanta back into the game late in the second half. Sometimes, he just needs to shoot, and he needs to improve his decision making in general.

CF: Daniel Rios – 6.5

Our ratings system doesn’t allow for half points, but I had to make an exception for Rios, who didn’t get the ball enough or make a big enough impact to deserve a 7 but played very well compared to the average Atlanta midfield of all 6’s. He is a classic hold-up striker, dropping back far into space like GG to pick up the ball and play it out wide or out to Firmino (the CAM). He seems good on the ball and an accurate passer that gave Atlanta a much needed spark near the end of the match. Good debut performance and a good signing after one game.

CAM: Derrick Etienne Jr. – N/A

Coach

Gonzalo Pineda – 5

Pineda was dealt bad cards going into the match, and his Mosquera and Rios substitutions were good, but he didn’t make any noticeable tactical changes in the second half, which were needed, and he decided to bench Silva. I don’t know if that was because of Toronto’s tactics or just to have him as fresh legs off the bench, but it didn’t work and was a huge misstep on his part. It’s excusable, but not his finest moment.

Community Player Ratings

Brad Guzan: 6.55 (man of the match)

Brooks Lennon: 6.36

Noah Cobb: 5.18

Derrick Williams: 6

Ronald Hernandez: 4.52

Dax McCarty: 4.57

Tristan Muyumba: 5.32

Nick Firmino: 4.18

Tyler Wolff: 4.55

Saba Lobjanidze: 6.14

Jamal Thiare: 3.66

Subs

Edwin Mosquera: 5.38

Daniel Rios: 5.05

Xande Silva: 4.95

Derrick Etienne: 4.1

Gonzalo Pineda: 3.41