Player Ratings

Player Ratings: FC Cincinnati 1, Orlando City 0

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FC Cincinnati had a dream start on the road at Orlando City, scoring just 17 seconds after the opening whistle. Things looked even better when Rodrigo Schlegel fouled Yuya Kubo on a breakaway, gifting the Orange and Blue a man advantage. However, FCC players struggled to make their mark on the match, with no starter logging more than two shot-creating actions and only three winning more than half of their ground duels.

Let’s look at where your favorite FCC players ranked for this match.

Check out Cincinnati Soccer Talk’s post-match report HERE for more details.

RULES:

  • Each player starts off with a six as a standard rating. Six signifies an “average performance” for the match.
  • Players will receive additions or subtractions to their score based on individual moments and the overall team performance.
  • We’ll look at multiple criteria and statistics from websites like FB Ref, Who Scored and FOTMOB.
  • All statistics used will be taken from fbref.com when possible.
  • A player may receive a N/A if they are subbed on/off before any quantifiable statistics are available.

Expected Goals (xG): FC Cincinnati – 1.1, Opponent – 0.4, per fbref.com

Formation: 3-5-2

Now, onto the ratings:

Manager – Pat Noonan – 4

I want to start by submitting the prerequisite that “it’s always hard to grade managers, blah blah blah.” The truth is, even though we can’t know how much of this poor performance was Pat Noonan not having the team prepared and how much of it was the players not listening to the gaffer, it is ultimately the coaching staff’s responsibility to find a way to get their messages across. After scoring just 17 seconds into the match, it looked like FCC was bereft of ideas on how to create against a full-strength Orlando. I have a tendency to give Noonan a pass on the portion of the match after FCC was up a man due to the red card and before the halftime whistle. However, the team came out of the locker room just as lackluster and uninspiring as they went in.

What could Noonan have done? First and foremost, he could have replaced a clearly struggling DeAndre Yedlin and/or Lucho Acosta at half-time.

Second, he could have removed a central defender and put on another midfielder, attacker or changed the shape entirely to account for where the space on the field was. Lastly, and stop me if you’ve heard this one before, Pat Noonan could have made subs earlier and more often. Other than replacing Yedlin and Lucho, which I view as forced changes due to their injuries, Noonan made only one unforced sub, bringing on Kevin Kelsy for Corey Baird in a like-for-like swap.

GK – Roman Celentano – 8

Roman Celentano had me worried to start the match. He tried to punch a ball in the sixth minute and failed to get enough on it to get it clear. Then, he spilled a ball out of bounds in the ninth minute when it should have been exceedingly easy to catch, conceding an unnecessary corner. However, he seemed to settle down and look much like the netminder that we’ve grown to love and respect. Celentano was only called on to make two saves, but both of them were vital. In the 82nd minute, he tipped a shot over the bar after it took a nasty deflection off of Matt Miazga. Then, in the 88th minute, he got the slightest touch on a Nico Lodeiro header to make sure it went wide of the far post. Roman also connected with a respectable six of 14 long passes.

RWB –  DeAndre Yedlin – 6

DeAndre Yedlin played 54 minutes, apparently at 80 percent or less. Outside of his excellent assist to open the scoring – and it was excellent – he did very little to impact the match. He fell prey to the lackadaisical play that much of his teammates displayed, like in the fifth minute when he passively reached out a foot while Wilder Cartagena moved toward the ball and nearly scored with a side-footed volley. He also didn’t win any of his three ground duels, was dribbled once, and didn’t make a tackle.

Offensively, it seemed like Yedlin put his foot on the ball and slowed it down at every opportunity, even when he had tons of space to dribble into. The image below shows a play in the 51st minute where Yedlin had acres of space down the line (red) but chose to dribble inside and pass the ball to a midfielder (white).

DeAndre Yedlin ignores space down the line in favor of dribbling into pressure.

Despite being second on the team with six progressive receptions, Yedlin only managed three progressive passes and three progressive carries. He didn’t create a shot after the opening 17 seconds and didn’t complete either of his two dribbles. All of that said, he got a magnificent assist on the game’s only goal and didn’t make a mistake big enough to give one up, so he gets an average score for me.

RCB – Miles Robinson – 6.5

As the first central defender to receive a grade in this column, Miles Robinson gets to have my spiel that goes for the rest of the lads: when a team is playing with a man advantage, central defenders are going to have little to do defensively, but need to be perfect when they’re called upon, and a lot to do in possession, and need to do more than pass the ball sideways and backward.

Miles Robinson was a mixed bag on both sides of the ball. His two tackles, two blocks and one interception are very good numbers for this match. However, he was also dribbled once. Robinson led the team with seven progressive passes and tied for the team lead with eight passes into the final third. Furthermore, when he tried to move the ball quickly with long passes, he failed more often than not. He completed just one of six long balls.

CB – Matt Miazga – 8 (Man of the Match)

When the same rules of performance apply to Matt Miazga, the veteran center back comes out smelling like roses. He was awesome defensively, winning all seven of his duels (three ground, four aerial). To my viewing, he didn’t put a foot wrong defensively in the match. In fact, in a match with 33 fouls and nine cards, he managed to stay out of the referee’s book, which might be his greatest achievement.

Offensively, like Robinson, Miazga tied for the team lead with eight passes into the final third. However, unlike his defensive counterparts, he also contributed two shots of his own. Furthermore, he completed a pretty incredible 11 of 14 long passes.

LCB – Ian Murphy – 6

The best thing I can say about Ian Murphy is that he had an unobjectionable match. Offensively, he only managed two progressive passes but completed a respectable five of nine long balls. Defensively, he wasn’t dribbled and didn’t make any big mistakes while logging a tackle and an interception. Finally, his best contribution may have been his two blocked shots.

LWB – Luca Orellano – 4.5

This tweet that I sent out pretty much encompasses my feelings about Luca Orellano in this match.

Though his second half was marginally better than his first, I still felt like Noonan should have replaced him much earlier in the match. He simply had an off night. Defensively, he won only a pitiful five of 16 ground duels. He also fell asleep on a free kick in the 68th minute, allowing Cartagena to score what might have been the game-tying goal but for a very marginal offside call. To give him some credit, he did manage four tackles, though he won possession on only one of them, and led the team with six ball recoveries.

Offensively, the young Argentinian wasn’t able to carry any of the load despite seeing a lot of the ball. He managed only one progressive pass and one progressive carry while being dispossessed five times – four more than any other FCC player – while adding two mistouches. Finally, he didn’t complete any of his three dribbles and managed to create only one shot.

DCM – Pavel Bucha – 5.5

Pavel Bucha tied for the most touches of any FCC player outside of the central defenders. However, he didn’t do enough to add value to the attack. His six progressive passes were good enough for second on the team. However, he didn’t manage a key pass and only logged one shot-creating action. He also managed just one pass into the penalty area.

DCM – Obi Nwobodo – 6

Like most of his teammates, Obi Nwobodo didn’t do much on the offensive side of the ball. He tied with Bucha, having 60 touches, though 20 of them came in the defensive third. However, Obi was also the primary ball-winner on the pitch, helping to thwart many Orlando City counterattacking attempts. The Nigerian won all four of his duels, logged two blocked shots, and led the team with four interceptions. However, he nearly had a major gaff when he trapped the ball on a cross into the box in first-half stoppage time instead of clearing it, nearly setting up Michael Halliday for a tap-in.

CAM – Luciano Acosta – 5.5

Lucho Acosta was clearly hobbled for most of this match after getting stepped on in the 31st minute. However, he is the team’s talisman and captain, and I’m not going to give him a break when he could have asked to be replaced. For me, Lucho was not good enough in this match. His nearly average rating is boosted by his fantastically taken goal in the opening seconds of the match. Outside of that, he managed only one other shot-creating action and didn’t log a key pass despite dominating the team in attacking third touches with 26.

Lucho did manage to complete all three of his long passes as well as being successful with three of four dribbles. However, this only indicates to me that he should have tried to impact the game more, taking on more players and hitting more long balls.

ST – Yuya Kubo – 5

Yuya Kubo was one of the only players who seemed to be putting in the effort to find space when FCC had the ball in the final third. However, his team largely ignored him, as he received only one pass in the penalty area and had only 10 attacking third touches. When he did get on the ball, he didn’t do enough to impact the game positively. His 68.8 percent passing rate was not good enough against a 10-man Orlando team. Furthermore, his only shot was a decent 0.3 xG chance that he blasted wide of the near post in the 71st minute.

Defensively, Yuya didn’t put enough pressure on the ball to counterpress effectively. He was dribbled once and won only three of seven ground duels. However, he did manage two interceptions.

ST – Corey Baird – 2

I really don’t want to pick on Corey Baird. However, there simply isn’t anything good I can find to say about his performance in this match. In his 79 minutes of play, he managed only 13 touches. Furthermore, he turned the ball over on six of them! He had a mistouch and a dispossession and completed only 60 percent of his passes. Defensively, he wasn’t much better, winning only three of seven ground duels. He also fell asleep in the aftermath of a free kick in the 19th minute, allowing Ivan Angulo to nearly score at the back post.

SUBS

Bret Halsey (56th minute) – 1

Bret Halsey played only 23 minutes and managed to pick up two yellow cards and get sent off. He introduced himself to the match by giving Angulo the forearm shiver with his first defensive play, then kicked the ball away in frustration after a foul in the 78th minute. That alone is enough to warrant a poor rating. However, Halsey also wasn’t great while he was on the pitch. He won only two of five ground duels and completed a mere 76.9 percent of his passes. There were moments, like in the 64th minute, where he tried to play an easy pass down the line for Kubo but put it straight out of bounds. He also had a mistouch and a dispossession while failing to log a progressive action.

Gerardo Valenzuela (62nd minute) – 7.5

Dado Valenzuela led the team with five fouls despite playing only 29 minutes. However, I see that as a good thing since my biggest complaint with the FCC performance as a whole was a lack of intensity. Dado also managed to contribute a team-high three shot-creating actions and two key passes in his limited minutes. He set up Yuya Kubo for a nice chance with a lovely turn and slipped pass into the box in the 71st minute. Dado’s excellent performance begs the question as to why he wasn’t introduced to the match sooner given FCC’s man advantage.

Kevin Kelsy (62nd minute) – 5.5

Kevin Kelsy looked to me like a guy who hadn’t played in a competitive soccer match in a few months. In his 29 minutes, he received only two progressive passes and had two mistouches. He had a chance to nick the ball on the press in the 73rd minute but looked to go into the challenge a bit gingerly, allowing the Lion’s defender to win the duel easily. “Big Kev” was also nudged out of position when defending free kicks on two occasions, allowing an Orlando City attacker to beat him in the air.

However, for a first appearance, Kelsy wasn’t terrible. He may have been rusty, but battled with the Orlando center backs and managed to contribute a key pass and a shot-creating action.

Alvas Powell (80th minute) – 3.5

Alvas Powell was an emergency sub to get an outside back on the pitch after Halsey picked up his red card… and he looked like he wasn’t quite ready to play. He was torched by Angulo with a simple change of pace move in the 88th minute, giving up a very dangerous cross. He also had a mistouch and dispossession despite only having eight touches total.

Yamil Asad (87th minute) – N/A

Availability Notes: Aaron Boupendza (face)

DEFINITIONS:

  • xG – Expected goals (or xG) measures the quality of a chance by calculating the likelihood that it will be scored from a particular position on the pitch during a particular phase of play
  • xAG – Expected assisted goals (or xAG) is directly related to the xG that follows a pass that assists a shot
  • Post-Shot xG (PSxG) – Post-Shot xG is calculated after the shot has been taken, once it is known that the shot is on-target, taking into account the quality of the shot.
  • Progressive Pass – A pass that advances toward the opponent’s goal where the distance between the starting point and the next touch is:
    • at least 30 meters closer to the opponent’s goal if the starting and finishing points are within a team’s own half
    • at least 15 meters closer to the opponent’s goal if the starting and finishing points are in different halves
    • at least 10 meters closer to the opponent’s goal if the starting and finishing points are in the opponent’s half
  • Progressive Carry – Carries that move the ball toward the opponent’s goal at least 5 yards or any carry into the penalty area. Excludes carries from the defending 40% of the pitch.
  • Dribble – Moving past the opposing player while maintaining possession of the ball. When a player shields the ball or otherwise uses physical strength to maintain possession, this is not a dribble.
  • Key Pass – A pass that immediately creates a clear goal scoring opportunity for a teammate. A key pass does not have to lead to a shot, and thus is different than a shot-creating action.
  • Long Pass – Definition depends on the site being used. Typically, a pass that travels a distance greater than 30 yards.
  • Mistouch – When a player fails when trying to gain control of the ball without a defender earning a tackle or a ground duel.
  • Ground Duel – A challenge between two players to gain control of the ball, progress with the ball, or change its direction.
  • Dispossessed – The times a player loses control of the ball after a tackle from an opponent, not including attempted dribbles.
  • Recovery – Any action that ends the possession of the opponent without the ball going out of bounds. Recoveries are typically duels (44%) or interceptions (16%), but can happen without any specific action from the player doing the recovery (positioning himself correctly or simply collecting the ball).
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