This wasn’t good at all. What’s already been said about Atlanta United’s 2-0 loss to the San Jose Earthquakes doesn’t need repeating. On to the staff and community player ratings.
As a reminder, here’s the ratings scale:
- 10 – world-class performance
- 9 – elite performance
- 6 – average
- 5 – slightly below average
- 3 – well below average
- 1 – poor in every level
Lucas Hoyos
A massive step back from the Atlanta keeper, who had a brutal giveaway that led to San Jose’s first goal. The effects of his leg injury were much more evident in this match than it was against Cincinnati.
Staff rating: 4.25 | Community rating: 2.48
ElÃas Báez
Báez didn’t look awful in this one. But he was brought in to help create chances from the left side, and he wasn’t able to do that. He ended the night with zero accurate crosses.
Staff rating: 5 | Community rating: 4.125
Juan Berrocal
I’m not going to be super harsh on Berrocal in this one because…he actually wasn’t terrible. This, though, should have been much better.
Staff rating: 5 | Community rating: 4.91
Enea Mihaj
See Berrocal above. (I know it’s Timo Werner, but…)
Staff rating: 5 | Community rating: 4.38
Ronald Hernandez
I said for weeks that, as much as I liked Hernández, he just doesn’t have what it takes to be a starting right back in MLS. Saturday was an example of why as Jamar Ricketts was a handful at left wing almost the entire time he was out there. Hopefully Tomás Jacob can add some needed stability there.
Staff rating: 4.5 | Community rating: 3.97
Tomás Jacob (Man of the Match)
Another strong shift for Tomás Jacob in one of his last games before he gives way to MatÃas Galarza. Jacob led both teams in defensive contributions (nine) and in successful tackles. He also had the third-most successful clearances (four).
Staff rating: 6 | Community rating: 5.04
Steven Alzate
At about the 19:40 mark of the match, Steven Alzate tried a long-ranged effort that MLS on Apple TV play-by-play commentator Christian Miles referred to as “speculative, unsure, and inconfident.” Those words could have been used for a lot of what Atlanta United did on Saturday.
Staff rating: 4.75 | Community rating: 4.5
Cooper Sanchez
Cooper Sanchez was decent in this one. I’m not sure if that says more about him or his teammates, but decent certainly was the bar against the Quakes.
Staff rating: 5.5 | Community rating: 4.16
Miguel Almiron
Staff rating: 4 | Community rating: 3.06
Saba Lobjanidze
Staff rating: 4 | Community rating: 3.08
Emmanuel Latte Lath
Staff rating: 4 | Community rating: 2.16
Grouping these together for a reason.
Tristan Muyumba (60′)
Staff rating: 5.5 | Community rating: 4.71
Alexey Miranchuk (60′)
Staff rating: 5.5 | Community rating: 4.87
Pedro Amador (70′)
Staff rating: 5.5 | Community rating: 5.06
I grouped the substitutes together because I feel like they more or less added somewhat of a spark. Amador, just minutes after coming in, laced a cross into the box that Latte Lath couldn’t get to, but at least the attempt was there. Muyumba and Miranchuk didn’t do anything to make the match worse than it was already.
Let us know what you think about the ratings in the comments.
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I think Almiron is victim of a bad team. He has a few incisive passes and began a few nice combinations but rarely is the ball returned to him to complete the sequence. Lathe and Saba were diaaaterpus shocking Saba had same ranking as Almiron
When your “Man of the Match” wins it because of the number of successful clearances….you know you are a dumpster fire…..
Why is that even a stat? I can get a U8 kid to kick the ball long out of bounds or up the field….Seriously…we record that as a stat? Just a throw back to youth soccer where a kick boots the ball up the field and all the parents scream “YEAH!!!! GOOD KICK!!!!”
That isn’t good soccer…..AT ALL….Good Grief.. Its going ot be a long season.
It’s better than trying to pass around the back and turning it over for a shot on goal like we did SOOOO much last year.
Guess the bar is a low one….
I wasn’t going to drink today, but then I saw that the MotM was rated as a 6. Have we ever had one that low? How do we keep finding a new lower bar for this organization? And what’s next? Are we the team that finally convinces Garber to implement rel/pro and we earn the honor of being the first to go down? It seems there just isn’t a rock bottom for this group, as much as we think we’ve reached it.
Why were the forwards grouped together; other than they all ate under-performing?
NVM – I got it. Not only are they under-performing; they are vastly over-paid.
for that and the X post (tweet? am I still allowed to call it that?) that he linked.