Sporting KC
Sporting Kansas City vs Colorado Rapids: Player Ratings
Low marks for most Sporting KC Players after a disappointing home loss to Colorado Rapids
Friends, I am tired of this. We are only seven games into the season, and I am just so, so tired of it already. I don’t understand how with nearly a full-strength lineup you lose at home against one of the worst teams in the league. All that said I still think a few players looked better than others so let us go ahead and rate them.
My scale:
1 – Never Play Again. You shall be cursed to the fifth generation for your travesties.
…
5 – Your play was completely unoffensive. You are a cream wall in an office park building.
…
10 – You are the chosen one! They will forever sing of your aptitude! You are the most interesting man in the world!
Starting XI
Tim Melia – 4.5
Looked good for most of the game before looking really bad at a key moment. I partially blame Robert Castellanos for the weird defensive run he made but I still think Tim should have saved that goal.
Graham Zusi – 4.5
Struggled to provide much attacking spark and was just okay defensively.
Dany Rosero – 6
Looked lively again and would probably score higher but his wondering run up to the box led indirectly to the Colorado goal. Remi Walter and Felipe Hernadez should have covered from him but still.
Robert Castellanos – 4.5
Was defensively fine if unambitious outside of the goal where his defensive run was really weird and opened up too much of the near post to Diego Rubio.
Robert Voloder – 4
Was a black hole offensively and not as solid defensively as he was against Philly.
Remi Walter – 4
Struggled to find the right times to press throughout the game and severely mishandled the play in the leadup to Colorado’s goal.
Felipe Hernandez – 5
Felipe had a pretty good game but also gets dinged for not helping Remi on the goal. It was immediately obvious how much more ground he can cover than Roger and it definitely helped. On the other hand, it was also clear that his passing is not at Roger’s level.
Erik Thommy – 5.5
Looked better than the last game and overall was positive. Did not rise to the heights of last season or even the beginning of this season though.
Johnny Russell – 4
Was able to do typical Johnny things when lined up against defenders but still that lead to only 0.22 XA+XG for him. It’s not good enough.
Alan Pulido – 4.5
Showed calmness on the ball and a great touch but simply did not shoot enough. Maybe I am rating the attackers harshly, but at some point, the offensive players have to play offense.
Daniel Salloi – 4
Struggled again tonight while his XG+XA is better than Pulido’s or Russell’s it does not matter if the conversion is not happening.
Subs
Willy Agada – 4
Did not stretch the backline or really look dangerous at all outside of the weird offside moment where he rounded the keeper… then looked clueless about what to do next.
Marinos Tzionis – 4.5
Looked fine but did nothing to spark an attacking comeback. I still don’t think an attacking mid is really his spot [Editor: my eyes had him wide left and Salloi and Agada playing striker together].
Coach
Peter Vermes – 2.5
Peter does not seem capable of really setting this team up to succeed. And then even more frustrating to watch is the utter inability to identify ways to change a game. You are down a goal, and you leave Volder on instead of bringing in Duke for him? You take Felipe off who is actually playing pretty well instead of Salloi who struggled all night? I just don’t get it.
Conclusion
It is really starting to feel like this team is just not going to be able to pull it together this season. The Starting XI looks disjointed and utterly incapable of playing through zone 14 meaning every damn attack has to come from the wings. It is sooooo static and we don’t seem to have a coach who is capable of sorting out the reason why.
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“Did not stretch the backline or really look dangerous at all outside of the weird offside moment where he rounded the keeper… then looked clueless about what to do next.”
Was this really about Agada or did you just copy and paste from a past entry about Shelton?
“we don’t seem to have a coach who is capable of sorting out the reason why.”
Someone hinted at this in another thread, but the contrast with someone like Schmetzer is striking. The MLS site has an article fawning over how Seattle beat STL, saying that the first half was pretty even (ended 0-0) but the Sounders made adjustments in the second half and turned it on its head (ended 3-0 Sounders). I didn’t watch so I’m taking their word for it, but it sounds believable. And of course Seattle did that without RuidÃaz and Paulo, so, you know, what excuses? Whereas PV’s big tactical adjustment to not being able to score on Colorado was to take off one of the best players on the field that night (Hernandez)?
Finally, I’m continuing to love Rosero, even if he did get burned trying to play heroball. He had the most dangerous header I can remember this season and looks better at both ends that most of his teammates.
Ruidiaz actually came on in the 2nd half. Part of the adjustments. Hate to agree with MLS.com. But this time, they’re right. And yes, it’s quite frustrating to watch managers around the league change games with subs. Then watch Vermes make subs that show no faith in the players he brings on.
Thanks for the correction, I was just going off their phrasing, which made it sound like those two didn’t play at all. And if something’s obvious enough for that site to notice and get right, it’s pretty friggin’ obvious.
Yeah, part of why I rated PV so low was because I watched the STL vs Seattle game right after and just watched Seattle boss the game. The most striking thing was how often Schmetzer was sitting and writing notes, just trusting his assistant coaches to watch the game
He was even taking notes during the post-game presser after the SKC/SEA game. He struck me as a thoughtful, intelligent guy. He was funny and affable too. I’ll be interested to see how things go without Lagerway working his magic getting players, since he basically built this roster (at least from my outside perspective).
Yeah Lagerway feels special. Seems like he is doing good things at ATL so far
Anyone whose name sounds like “the way of beer” in German (lagerweh) is special.
I don’t see how the run had anything to do with Melia cheating the wrong way before the shot. That was 100% a goalkeeper decision. It’s one thing to be unsighted by a defender running through your sightline. But that doesn’t justify giving up the near post position on a right footed shooter on the left hand side of goal. If he opens up to shoot across his body, you’ll see it. Cheating that way is…bad. Revoke my card to the Keepers Union if they want it. But that’s entirely on Melia.
Also, I’ll just point out that Salloi absolutely passed on the St Louis Assist offered him by Colorado right before the breakaway. Which is probably enough to put him at a 3 for the night in my book.
Yeah that was crazy. Forgot about that moment
Yeah, I had a similar take on the Melia thing. I’m not a GK and I’m never 100% certain on their positioning, but my take was you have to protect the near post and make them work for the harder shot.
Exactly. If they put it in the far side netting, fair enough. To get beat near side, when his body shape is already screaming that way? It’s like Melia thought Rubio would pass it off, and then realized he wasn’t.
But the pass is the defender’s job. So that’s still an excuse. Not a justification.
Playing keeper for several years (not at a high level, mind you), one of the first higher order principles you learn is take away the near post. From that distance, it would have been one thing to be beaten with a chip or a far post curler, in which case you’re still likely positioned correctly, but to allow a shot on the deck that wasn’t even hit especially hard near post is all on Melia. I think his recent gaffs show he’s not adapting his game to the slower reaction speed he has at this point and until he recognizes that, I don’t see a reason to have him in net while Pulskamp is healthy
Thanks for the context. I do wonder does Pulskamp save it? And would we be having this conversation if he’s never benched after the Seattle game (which I still firmly put on defensive lapses (and being down a man). He was pretty good in all the other games this year.
This would seem to make Melia 1 of 2. Good game against Philly, but let in a bit of a howler against Colorado.
Agree with most of these except Thommy. I know he does nice things with the ball when he has it at his feet but his positioning and refusal to make the final pass is killing this team as much as anything else. He’s a huge part of the reason all of our attacks have to flow to the wings because he refuses to play like an actual midfielder, opting to act like a second striker instead. If they want to use him that way that’s fine, but they need to move him up top and put a midfielder in there who will actually play in the midfield,
Our attacks flow to the wings because that’s the system. It’s always been the system.
And Thommy isn’t playing balls into the box because no one is there to play the ball to. If he did try those passes, you’d be screaming he turned it over all the time. Hopefully, as Pulido and Russell get more fit, they’ll represent enough of a threat for teams to actually spread out and mark all 3. But right now, they clog the center and know nothing is going to threaten them as a cross.
Bonus points because Voloder can’t cross. So there’s zero width on the left side of the formation.
And it could be because of the press box view, but I’ve seen plenty of times where Thommy (and others) simply waited too long to play a pass when there were runners, and then the passing window closes. It’s of course easier to see from my elevated view, but I think there are guys, and our players aren’t making the right decisions to get them the ball.
Too slow and too much hesitation!
That hasn’t “always been the system” though. When Feilhaber was in the middle he put up MVP numbers with goals and assists. Through-balls out the wazoo. Dwyer scored more goals, few off crosses, than any SKC forward ever had. When Kinda was the 10 in the lone season where he was mostly healthy he dropped 8 assists and the winger on his side was an MVP candidate.
The team spends more time probing around the box looking for a hole than they do crossing it in. Yes, they do attempt a lot of crosses but the heatmaps and net passing graphs don’t lie.
There’s a concept you read analysts talk about which is the pass that makes the run. Feilhaber and Kljiestan were both masters of this art. Ilie was the same from a more deep-lying position, and he pulled of a beauty of one last night in CCL for Vela. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen Agada look ready to make a run in behind, or actually MAKE a run in behind, only for no ball to ever come. That little jump of frustration he does that we’ve all seen a thousand times this season has followed many of these missed opportunities.
Pulido was making those kinds of passes against Colorado. Hernandez almost got on the end of one. It was one of the best opportunities we’ve had all season. And for my money it’s what we’re missing.
5.5 for Thommy is absurd. He was a 4- at best.
I think Thommy should be lower. No one played well, so everything else feels appropriate.
I think you are probably right but I need to go back and watch it again to be sure. I still think he is one of the few players who can get the ball and really move it down the field but yeah his final ball is very lacking
5.5 for Thommy is way too high. He’s been bad. Literally turns it over every time he gets the ball.