New York City FC player ratings are determined by Hudson River Blue readers — here are your NYCFC player ratings from the miserable one-goal loss to New Jersey Red Bulls on Saturday, May 13, at Red Bull Arena.
Starting XI
Santi Rodríguez – 4.9
You’re mad, I’m mad, so let’s keep these short and sweet. Santi didn’t do much on Saturday, fans gave him a 4.9, and FotMob gave him a 6.6. Who’s next?
Talles Magno – 2.7
Ouch. Fans are running low on patience for their Brazilian Designated Player who has been a shell of what we know he’s capable of in recent weeks. In a season in which we needed him to take his game to the next level and carry this team to victory, we’ve hardly seen him threaten the opposition. The higher the price tag, the harsher the criticism – that’s the way it goes. FotMob gave him a 6.7.
Gabriel Pereira – 5.0
GP at least looked lively out there at times at Red Bull Arena, even hitting the post from distance in what would’ve been a goal of the season contender had it gone in. But, no goals = no love from the fans, especially in a loss. Fotmob had him at 6.4.
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Richy Ledzema – 4.4
Richey looked positive at times, but couldn’t dictate the game in the way he’s shown he’s capable of doing in recent weeks. Fotmob gave him a 6.2.
Keaton Parks – 4.7
Keaton gets another tough review from HRB readers, which is weirdly becoming a weekly occurrence for a player that I rate very highly. But, no one’s getting high ratings today, so this one makes more sense to me. Fotmob was more impressed, giving him a 7.1.
James Sands – 5.6
Jimmy seemed devastated with the result in the locker room post-match, voicing the need for this young squad to stick together through these tough times, and peak at the right time later in the season towards the playoffs. While the team did not perform, I did think Sands looked like his usual, capable self out there. Fotmob agreed, giving him a 7.4
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Maxime Chanot – 5.5
While he was hardly at fault for the goal, Mazime put his team under pressure a number of times with poor giveaways in his own half. While none of those were capitalized on, it wasn’t his best performance nonetheless. Fotmob gave him a 6.7.
Thiago Martins – 5.5
While I thought Thiago had a better performance than his Luxembourgish counterpart, it still wasn’t quite good enough. Yes, he cut out a lot of through balls, and broke up a few promising attacks, but he was certainly a step slow to closing down Omir Fernandez on the Red Bulls match-winner. That’s certainly enough to sink a center-back rating. Despite this, Fotmob gave him a team-high 7.5.
Kevin O’Toole (off 89′) – 5.0
Kevin got the nod over Braian Cufré on Saturday, and looked to make the most of it in a performance that earned him Man of the Match from the club’s social media pages. He’ll be happy with the honor as someone battling for game time, but I’m sure the result will sting more than anything else. Fotmob gave a 6.6.
Tayvon Gray – 3.9
Tavon’s strengths certainly lie in his defensive capabilities. No one has ever questioned that. But, in a match that so desperately needed more in the attack, it would have been pretty useful to have a fullback that could overlap their winger and join the attack to greater effect. This game was screaming out for Mitja Ilenič to me.
Plus, I think Tayvon shares a good portion of the blame for the Red Bulls goal for his nervy half-clearance that doinked the ball right back into Fernandez’s path at the top of the box. Fotmob gave him a 6.7.
Luis Barraza – 4.4
While I think Luis is a good keeper, and has had a really solid start to his season, this is one of those times I wish we had a more imposing frame back there. Barraza has great technique, good feet, and has proven pretty mistake-proof so far, but he is hardly the type to pull out the “power dive” and claw one out of the top corner. There are keepers in this league that make that save, but Luis just wasn’t one of them on the day. Fotmob gave a 6.8 to the American.
Substitutes
Andres Jasson (on 89′) – 3.5
Andres Jasson had about 10 minutes to impact the game after coming on in the 89th minute and seeing nine minutes of added time shown on the fourth official’s board. Maybe he just didn’t get enough time to influence things, as many fans were frustrated that Cushing’s only change came so late in the match. He didn’t log enough minutes for a FotMob rating.
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Player of the Match
James Sands
Not sure he’ll be putting this one up on the mantle, but congrats to James Sands for winning your vote for Player of the Match.
Head Coach
Nick Cushing – 2.3
While I don’t think Nick is on the hot seat quite yet, Twitter and HRB readers alike are fanning the flames around the gaffer these days as impatience with these road results is starting to reach a tipping point.
Cushing is stressing patience with his young side, but also showed his frustration in the post-match presser, where his usually upbeat tone was nowhere to be seen: He was pissed.
Personally, I think Cushing lacks the pieces needed to reach the club’s expectations. His reasoning for not making subs until the 89th while chasing a goal was that he “thought we had all of our offensive players on the field”. That’s the closest thing to a shot at the front office as I’ve ever heard the gaffer fire.
Ted Unkel (referee) – 3.6
Ted pisses me off. From stupid touch fouls, to head-scratching bookings, to over-ruling his linesmen to give his own calls on throw-ins, pretty much everything he does bothers me and the rest of the NYCFC faithful. Blowing the final whistle before we could take the final corner was the icing on the cake.
Jake Zivin and Taylor Twelleman (Apple TV announcers) – 4.6
Still not much love for the voices coming out of the Apple TV broadcasting booth, even if one of the announcers is the heavy-hitting Taylor Twelleman.
For once my ratings were closer to FotMob’s rather than below the actual mob’s.
Except TM. I was thisclose to giving him a 1 but he had a nice dummy that led to the GP shot, and forced that save from Coronel that was eventually canceled out for a foul.
LOL
Ted is the worst official in all of soccer. And he clearly hates NYC most.