For the third game in a row, New York City FC took the lead in a match they failed to close out and win. You let your displeasure be known after NYCFC’s 4-2 loss to Columbus Crew by taking pretty much the entire team to the woodshed and handing out player ratings that were mostly 5s — plus a 3.9 for Agustín Ojeda, and a 2.9 for Luis Barraza.
The 2.9 isn’t the lowest rating you gave to a player this season — that honor belongs to the 2.1 you handed Mounsef Bakrar when New York City lost to Nashville SC back in June. But it is the second-worst, and equals the 2.9 you gave to Jovan Mijatović after that same Nashville game.
Andrew Leigh
As is usually the case, FotMob was more generous than our readers. The algorithm gave the players mostly 6s and 7s, with a couple of 5s thrown in to keep things honest. But even FotMob was unimpressed by some of the performances in Columbus, and gave Barraza a brutal 4.6 on the night – which is the lowest rating from the website for any New York City player this year.
But there are some positives. No, really. Read on to see the full ratings for NYCFC’s 27th game of the regular season.
Note: FotMob ratings are in parentheses.
Alonso Martínez, off 60′ (7.2) – 7.6
Santiago Rodríguez (7.0) – 5.4
Hannes Wolf, off 73′ (7.2) – 5.0
Agustín Ojeda, off 60′ (6.5) – 3.9
Keaton Parks (5.7) – 5.4
James Sands, off 45′ (6.4) – 5.9
Tayvon Gray (6.1) – 5.3
Kevin O’Toole, off 61′ (6.2) – 4.8
Thiago Martins (6.8) – 6.0
Birk Risa (5.5) – 5.2
Matt Freese, off 12′ (6.1) – 6.6
Luis Barraza, on 12′ (4.6) – 2.9
Justin Haak, on 45′ (6.3) – 5.6
Maxi Moralez, on 60′ (6.5) – 6.1
Mounsef Bakrar, on 60′ (7.3) – 6.4
Christian McFarlane, on 61′ (6.9) – 5.9
Julián Fernández, on 73′ (4.8) – 5.1
Player Spotlight
Tayvon Gray
We’ll get to Alonso Martínez’s goal when we discuss his Player of the Match performance below. Instead, let’s take a moment to look at Tayvon Gray’s defense-splitting pass played to the feet of Martínez just outside of the top of the box.
NO PUEDE DEJAR DE MARCAR 🇨🇷 pic.twitter.com/IvL8x4a00M
— New York City FC (@newyorkcityfc) August 31, 2024
We give Gray a 10 out of 10 for situational awareness (and Hannes Wolf a 10 out of 10 for letting the ball pass behind him), and for sending a perfectly-weighted ball that beat the Columbus defenders but that was easy for Martínez to control and turn.
This is Gray’s sixth assist this year, which puts him in a four-way tie for the second-most assists for a defender in club history. It also places him in Anton Tinnerholm Country: The last time a defender provided as many assists was when Tinnerboom logged eight in 2019.
Assists by a Defender* | New York City FC
| Name | Year | Assists | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Anton Tinnerholm | 2019 | 8 |
| 2. | Tayvon Gray | 2024 | 6 |
| Anton Tinnerholm | 2018 | 6 | |
| Ben Sweat | 2017 | 6 | |
| RJ Allen | 2016 | 6 | |
| 6. | Anton Tinnerholm | 2021 | 5 |
| Ronald Matarrita | 2016 | 5 |
* MLS league games
Keep in mind, Gray provided just one assist last year, and only four in his entire senior career before this season. This year is a different beast. He now has the third-most assists on this squad in league games, behind Santiago Rodríguez (eight) and Hannes Wolf (seven).
Which makes the 5.3 you gave him feel a little harsh. It wasn’t a banner night for anybody on the team (except maybe Martínez), but Gray created two chances and made eight passes into the final third per FotMob. He provided important support to an attack that managed to score twice on a Columbus defense that is arguably the best in the league, having allowed just 22 goals in 24 games heading into this match.
A New York City defender linking up meaningfully with the attack to find a way to pull apart a tough opponent? Feels like old times.
Matthew Mangam
Nick Cushing – 4.4
To go by the sliding scale of ratings for the head coach, the 4.4 you gave Nick Cushing seems to voice some support for the gaffer. His Starting XI was the first to score in this matchup with arguably the best team in MLS right now, and then his subs found a way to even the score after falling behind.
But New York City ended up losing 4-2 despite controlling large portions of the game, and staring down a hugely talented team. NYCFC might be one of the few teams that can challenge Columbus this year, but they didn’t beat them once in three meetings.
Ted Unkle – 2.5
Where to begin?
The Man from UNKLE made questionable calls throughout the game, managing to alienate not only the New York City and Columbus players, but both of the coaching staffs, and pretty much every single fan in the stands, who watched the game on MLS Season Pass, and who read about it after. Even the Apple TV broadcast team of Keith Costigan and Maurice Edu were mystified by how Unkle officiated this match.
There were the non-calls for clear fouls, and the calls for clean tackles. There was the handball call that Columbus fans were sure they were going to get, and the baffling moment when Unkle warned Birk Risa after the defender was taken down by a charging Columbus attacker.
Finally, there was the “pick” that Cushing said Unkle set, and that led to the Crew’s go-ahead goal. It strongly echoes an incident in 2019, when Unkle blocked Luciano Acosta (then with DC United), and that allowed Columbus midfielder Will Trapp to score.
Oh well. That’s show biz.
Player of the Match
Alonso Martínez
There’s much to like about Martínez. There are the goals, certainly: Three scored in the last two league games, when he played a combined 139 minutes. But more than that, there’s the cool professionalism of the striker we like to call El Clínico.
Martínez doesn’t take flashy shots, or look to be fouled, or mess with his hair color. There are no neck tattoos, or Instagram stories of him roaming New York City with his posse. To be perfectly honest, he looks and acts more like the assistant coach on a college soccer team than one of the most in-form strikers in MLS.
But that’s exactly what Martínez is right now: The 25-year-old who was just called up to the Costa Rica national team is averaging 1.0 goals per 90 minutes according to FotMob, which puts him even with Inter Miami’s Luis Suarez for the top spot in MLS.
As for Saturday’s goal, it was another masterclass in clinical finishing. Just four minutes into the game Martínez collected the ball, took one shot, and scored. To quote Senior Editor Andrew Leigh for the second week in a row, “the goal was stunning in its quickness and efficiency.”
We promise we won’t get tired of reprinting that phrase week after week.
Hudson River Blue Staff
just a t… uhm li’l bit (prevented myself to use another word ‘T’ that’s is the unfortunate first name of the one who shall not be named) improvement in one department, Gray can be in the real Tinnerholm vicinity: “defense liability”. he (and Sands) gets often fallen into those who let the lethal blows come in and responsible for the consequences aka conceding the goals, especially in the recent wake of his contribution in the forward. speaking of which, the recent form of Gray has been tightly linking up with excellent collaboration with the Jimmy boy in the mid plank. you can just tell these two have been in the same team since K-12 by looking ‘em how they connect—more like how they find each other by telepathy in the mess. yet in more than a few of game costing concede moments, one of them—if not both—tends to get involved. loving to see how they’ve grown both in the game and in this very prominent young team, but we need a Ted 💀 bit more from them, to be able to call our home boys “elite”.