New York City FC player ratings are determined by Hudson River Blue readers: Here are your NYCFC player ratings after a too-little, too-late home loss to Minnesota United in The Bronx.
Low ratings across the board were the theme after this game. How low? Keaton Parks, who is your Player of the Match after scoring a late goal in NYCFC’s lifeless loss to Minnesota, earned a team-high 5.6 from our readers.
New York City played Minnesota in a game where the team was on the back foot in the first half, and controlled the game in the second, but it wasn’t enough. NYCFC failed to capitalize on almost all of the opportunities they created. Keaton Parks finally scored late to claw back one goal, but the team couldn’t find an equalizer.
The midfield struggled to assert a presence in the game, with the likes of Hannes Wolf and Agustín Ojeda taking their shots on respectable openings without success. Julián Fernández didn’t have much impact either. He was replaced by Mounsef Bakrar in the 40th minute – the first time Pascal Jansen has made a sub in the first half for non-injury reasons. Alonso Martínez wasn’t himself either on Sunday afternoon, hitting the woodwork off a penalty and missing an opportunity to bring NYCFC back into the game. The defense made several mistakes and allowed too many shots by Minnesota. Overall, NYCFC was lacking in all aspects of this game.
The Starting XI averaged a staggeringly poor 4.6 rating, with Birk Risa’s rating of 3.4 coming in at the lowest.
Note: FotMob ratings are in parentheses.
Andrew Leigh
Alonso Martínez (6.9) – 4.6
Hannes Wolf (6.8) – 4.9
Julián Fernández, off 40′ (6.2) – 3.5
Maxi Moralez (7.2) – 4.8
Keaton Parks (8.5) – 5.6
Justin Haak, off 66′ (6.5) – 4.6
Mitja Ilenič, off 59′ (5.5) – 4.3
Kevin O’Toole (7.1) – 4.7
Thiago Martins (7.4) – 4.8
Birk Risa, off 40′ (5.8) – 3.4
Matt Freese (6.6) – 5.3
Mounsef Bakrar, on 40′ (7.0) – 4.1
Strahinja Tanasijević, on 40′ (6.6) – 4.2
Agustín Ojeda, on 59′ (6.9) – 4.9
Jonny Shore, on 66′ (6.5) – 5.4
Player Spotlight
Matt Freese
There is a positive that can be taken from this game in Matt Freese, despite your relatively dim rating of 5.3 for the goalkeeper. He conceded two goals, but only because his defense let him down — you can’t pin those on the goalkeeper.
Minnesota was allowed to pepper Freese with shots, of which he saved seven and five of them were made inside the box.
United States men’s national team goalkeeping coach Fabian Otto was in the stands on Sunday afternoon, and you have to think he liked what he saw. Freese remained focused despite his team’s defensive mistakes, and single-handedly kept NYCFC in this game until the end.
Pascal Jansen – 5.3
It looks like the honeymoon phase is over.
A string of poor results generated only one point from three games, albeit against tough opposition. Pascal Jansen has been trying to make it work with the kids, but it’s far from a sure thing.
Still, let’s acknowledge that he’s working with a squad missing two important players that Nick Cushing had last season and is off to a better start, facing a more difficult schedule. As revealed by his first-half subs, he’s still working to develop the youth on this squad. Jansen specializes in working with a young roster, but the NYCFC coach has his work cut out for him in maturing his players and notching up wins.
Sergio Boiko – 3.9
Did Minnesota’s first goal look a little offside to you?
Player of the Match
Keaton Parks
Your highest rating of this match went to Parks, whose 5.6 would be considered mediocre in any other game. It’s well behind the 8.5 handed out by FotMob. He’s your player of the match after taking more than 41% of the vote.
Despite the loss, he put himself in the right place at the right time to score off a rebound from Martínez’s shot.
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Courtesy newyorkcityfc.com
He recovered well from his own goal against Atlanta last weekend to get on the scoresheet and remain involved all over the field. Parks is one of the few players on this squad with a commanding presence in the air, winning all four of his aerial duels. He also created chances on the ground and nearly assisted Fernández in the 19th minute and Justin Haak again in the 44th minute. He connected these passes, but the shots were either blocked or wide of the goal. He didn’t have the ball for long periods, but he knew what to do with it when it was given to him under pressure.
Parks struggled to find playing time and break into the first team when he played in Portugal for Benfica, but he has been one of the better midfielders in the league of late – and is still incredibly underrated.
To me, Thiago Martins has looked replacement level so far this season. I’ve voiced my frustration at our lack of signings, especially with our ridiculous roster flexibility, but it really puts his performances in the spotlight. How is he our only DP, especially when he’s middle of the pack? Am I crazy here?
I don’t think you’re crazy – and he didn’t seem to be a defensive help on Minnesota’s first goal – but I had a much more positive impression of his performance. Time after time he got us out of trouble in the back third. If you can, go back and watch a replay of the match – his effort was high and he saved us from danger on multiple occasions. I’m guessing that’s why his fotmob rating was so much higher than our reader ratings (let’s face it – as fans, we suffer from recency bias). But I agree that we need a veteran signing to help balance out our youth.
Certainly Martins has not looked great, but I’ve been less worried at him because we have so many glaring weaknesses elsewhere. O’Toole is a hardworking guy but is out of position and beaten defensively too often. Ilinec seems not on the page of everyone on his side, and Maxi bless his heart just is not the same.I’m trying not to overreact to the loss. Minnesota is really good at what they do. The first goal was offsides. Martinez had an uncharacteristic miss on the PK and did really well to set up Keaton for the one we got back.We need some Alex Ring level grit in the midfield. David Lee needs to get to work.
It’s troublesome that Martins and Ilenic did not coordinate well on that first goal, especially given the Loons’ approach to the game. But more worrying, in my view, is the acute lack of vertical penetration (uh, runs, diagonal or otherwise) in the attack. 2.5 xG looked right on the mark. To come away with one is just poor.