Atlanta United vs. Chicago Fire staff, community player ratings

After a second straight match where they secured a late point, Atlanta United left their fans with a memory in a 2-2 draw at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Just about every fan, though, understands that in the grand scheme of things, points are at a premium, and anything less than a win in just about every match forthcoming could truly seal the team’s playoff fate.

Will Reilly deserves major credit for scoring his first MLS goal in stoppage time, and Alexey Miranchuk does as well for a classy strike in the second half. But it’s paper over the cracks for a team that needed a much better performance from start to finish and didn’t get that.

With that said, here’s a look at our community (and staff) player ratings. Here’s the rating scale:

• 10 – world-class performance
• 9 – elite performance
• 6 – average
• 5 – slightly below average
• 3 – well below average
• 1 – poor in every level

Brad Guzan – 6.5 | Community rating: 4.5

It’s a bit debatable whether or not the first goal was his fault. The second one definitely wasn’t. But when called upon Guzan was sharp. He did well to take the near post away from Hugo Cuypers after the Chicago striker was sprung in ahead on an attack, then made a big stop after Miranchuk’s goal that kept Atlanta level (at least temporarily).

Brooks Lennon – 5 | Community rating: 4

Lennon struggled defensively at times against Andrew Gutman, who was quite active on the evening (and, to me, was allowed too much space to pass to Maren Haile-Selassie for Chicago’s second goal, though it wasn’t 100 percent Lennon’s fault).

Pedro Amador – 6 | Community rating: 5.4

A decent night for Pedro, mainly defensively. The service he exhibited when he joined the team last season is missing from his game this year, however, keeping his score from being a little higher.

Efrain Morales – 5.5 | Community rating: 5.2

The youthful mistakes were there throughout the evening, and he was also beaten 1v1 on the goal by Haile-Selassie, which knocks his score down a bit. Not a bad night, but he should have done better.

Luis Abram – 5.5 | Community rating: 5

Abram didn’t dazzle, but he (to me) didn’t make any major mistakes during the night. He was a little slow to react on the Haile-Selassie goal, however.

Alexey Miranchuk – 6.5 | Community rating: 6

Alexey gets a boost thanks to the goal, of course. Other than that, he was below standard (again) with misplaced passes and an overall lack of creation from the No. 10 spot (again). The frustrating thing about Miranchuk is that he shows flashes of what he’s capable of, but he has yet to sustain it over a long period. Without the goal, he would have been 5 out of 10 at best.

Bartosz Slisz – 6.5 | Community rating: 6.3

This sequence was a really good one from Bartek. After dispossessing Philip Zinckernagel, he takes off upfield and, rather than simply passing it to Saba Lobjanidze right in front of him, he checks his run just long enough as a pocket of space opens up behind the defenders that he eventually takes. He then spots Almiron cutting inside, Almiron holds up play long enough for Miranchuk to get there, and the rest is history.

Ronny Deila called Slisz his man of the match, and it’s hard to argue with a strong performance all evening.

Tristan Muyumba – 5.5 | Community rating: 5

One sequence that stands out to me for Tristan against Chicago was when he had the ball on his foot in the second half, and instead of passing to keep the attack going he got too cute with possession and made an unnecessary extra touch. I’m reminded of Michael Parkhurst’s comments on him during an interview with Tyler where he noted the “phenomenal talent” that can be on display one match before having an “absolute stinker” the next. It wasn’t the latter, but it certainly wasn’t the former, either.

Miguel Almiron – 6.5 | Community rating: 5.1

He wore the armband for the second night in a row and had the primary assist on Alexey Miranchuk’s goal with some smart hold-up play with Jack Elliott defending him. It was a much better second half after a decent, but not impressive, first half, and while he’s not nearly the player he was in 2017 and 2018, the flashes are there in spurts.

Latte Lath – 5 | Community rating: 5

He really didn’t affect the match that much, his only shot coming in the 20th minute as he failed to control Saba’s pass into the box and put it well off target. Another disappointing night for him, and he’s had a long list of those this year.

Saba Lobjanidze – 5.5 | Community rating: 5

Like Latte Lath, he didn’t affect the match all that much, though his pass to Latte Lath inside the box was the right idea. Beyond that, about average for a player who hasn’t put it all together this season.

Substitutes

Will Reilly – 6.5 | Community rating: 7.2 (Staff and community man of the match)

Reilly entered in the 71st minute and ultimately found the scoresheet with his first MLS goal. A solid runout for the 22-year-old, the latest young Atlanta United player to take his opportunity.

Luke Brennan – 6 | Community rating: 5.9

Brennan stepped in for Saba and was able to affect the match positively once more, making a good delivery into the box in the 76th minute that Jamal Thiare just couldn’t meet well enough with his head. With Edwin Mosquera off on loan, the 20-year-old Homegrown has been able to get a good string of matches with the first team this year.

Jamal Thiare – 6 | Community rating: 6

Thiare was the recipient of the aforementioned cross from Brennan. He’ll want that missed header back, but he positioned himself well enough to have an opportunity.

Cayman Togashi – N/A

Togashi entered in the 87th minute and didn’t have much of a measurable impact outside of being credited with a pass during his time on the pitch.

Matt Edwards – N/A

Edwards came in with Togashi in the 87th minute and, outside of a handful of touches, didn’t have much of a measurable impact.