SKC-Union Player Ratings

So soon? So soon.

I'd say I'd add some major thoughts to this post, but I only really have three. The first is, for the first 20 minutes, SKC looked awful, unorganized, and uncommunicative. Coming out of preseason maybe I shouldn't be that worried, but Philadelphia should have had at least one or two more goals in the first thirty minutes, and that would have put the game out of reach. We came out looking like Toronto. We can't look like Toronto.

The second thought was that I was glad to see the response, especially the second half adjustments.

The third was, I thought Nagamura had a helluva game, even if it didn't show up in the stats.

That said, these are stats based player ratings, and given that, there's one clear Man of the Match. Here's how the numbers worked out. Same system as last year.

No surprise there. Man of the match to Zusi, who notched a goal and assist. Rosell also with a great game, and hard to say anything bad about LeToux. Philly fans will be thrilled to have him back.

So hats off to Mr. Zusi, who has probably sealed a spot on the USMNT roster if he can keep up putting up games like that.

If it wasn't an away game, why was I in Philly?

So I was stuck out in Philadelphia for this one. The fine people at P.J. Whelihan’s put the game on for me and I got to hang out with an old friend I hadn't seen in years, so good all around.

I may have had one beer too many, and I know I was chatting more than watching, so maybe I'm not the best observer for this, but it seems like a lot of local chatter was on how poorly SKC played and how they need to play better in the post season... I personally thought they looked really good. Kept a tight back line (for the most part, there were two almost breakaways I remember that I guess could have turned the game), bossed the midfield, forwards made some good runs into space. I think Philly really never had a chance.

I also noticed a lot of Philly fans complaining about how thuggish SKC is.

I'll be the first to admit a guy like Collin does thug it up. I don't think you can really argue that. But on the whole, SKC is middle of the pack of the league in terms of fouls commited, cautions issued, and ejections. SKC plays a very disruptive midfield which I think other teams don't like, and other teams fans don't like to watch, but it really is a controlled chaos, mosh-pit style of whole team defending, and I, personally, am on board with it.

Philadelphia, on the other hand, is at the bottom of the fair play table, commiting more fouls, getting more cautions, and having more players ejected than almost any team in the league. I saw one Union fan saying he'd rather see SKC win like LA or Seattle, both teams that foul more, get more cuations, and more ejections than SKC does.

I don't really wanna be that guy to Philly fans so I haven't said anything, but I do think a lot of MLS fans don't watch other teams in the league or don't have a good overall picture of what's happening within the league to warrant these comments. If any MLS team is full of thugs and hacks, the stats suggest that it's the Union, not Sporting.

Okay, off my soap box. Let's look at player ratings.



I will say Jimmy's number is inflated due to his pentalty "save" that later went in, but on the whole I think the numbers look about right. Kei with two incredible assists to seal the East for SKC which earns him man-of-the-match honors this week. Kudos, Kei!



Why do I do this to myself

So normally I'd say the less said about that game, the better, but this is one that's probably important to talk about. I'll probably throw up a bunch of links to other discussion lately. For me, I'll let the numbers do the talking, and the numbers are pretty dismal. Here's player ratings for last nights match against Philly.

Philadelphia Union
Zac MacMath	6.6
Carlos Valdes	6.6
Raymon Gaddis	5.4
Michael Farfan	6.0
Freddy Adu	4.2
Brian Carrol	5.1
Keon Daniel	4.2
Gabriel Farfan	4.8
Amobi Okugo	5.1
Michael Lahoud	4.8
Lionard Pajoy	7.8
Jack McInerney	7.5
Antoine Hoppenot	5.4
Team Average	5.7
Sporting Kansas City
Jimmy Nielsen	3.9
Aurelien Collin	4.2
Seth Sinovic	3.9
Chance Myers	4.2
Lawrence Olum	4.2
Graham Zusi	4.8
Roger Espinzoa	4.8
Julio Cesar	4.5
Jacob Peterson	4.2
Michael Thomas	4.2
Kei Kamara	4.8
CJ Sapong	4.5
Teal Bunbury	4.2
Soony Saad	4.2
Team Average	4.4

Pretty much a dominating performance by Philadelphia, though I'd argue in large part it was just poorness on SKC's part, the defending especially. Get healthy soon, Mr. Besler.

Man of the match goes to Lionard Pajoy for his goal, assist, and play on both sides of the field, while SKCs man of the match gets splitbetween Kei Kamara, Graham Zusi, and Roger Espinzoa. Hard to really award any one anything after that kind of smackdown from one of the worst teams in the league though.

The crazy thing is this sets up what could be an epic rematch in the US Open cup if both SKC and Philadelphia advance to the semi finals. Both are playing lower division sides, so it's a definite possibility, and one I'm sure fans and players on both teams would want. Let's hope Kansas City gets it done on Tuesday.