Player Ratings: Detroit City 1-0 Birmingham Legion

This is a weird one to score the individual players on. Individually, they mostly didn’t seem too bad (they weren’t good though). But as a group they were utterly ineffective. And therein lies the problem, I suspect. So, with some trepidation, we launch into the player ratings for the game.

GK: MATT VAN OEKEL – 7. For the second straight game, Matt faced just 2 shots on goal. The save was great, and he was left out to hang out to dry by a back line that was too high upfield on the goal.

CB: THOMAS VANCAEYEZEELE – 6. Thomas was pulled after 84 minutes in a very late attempt to generate more offense. Prior to that he was 79.4% accurate on 34 passes, won 4 of 6 duels and had 1 tackle, 1 clearance and 1 interception. Got beaten badly by Maxi Rodriguez on the assist.

CB: PHANUEL KAVITA – 5.5. Connected on just 20 of 31 passes. Not good enough. Lost 5 of 8 duels. Not good enough. 6 clearances, but nothing else. Not bad. Got caught too high to intercept Rodriguez’ cross. Bad. Picked up a late yellow. Also bad.

CB: ALEX CROGNALE – 6. A lowly 20 of 30 passing. Won 6 of 9 duels, 1 tackle, 5 clearances, 1 block and 1 interception. Decent, but not great. Did not get anywhere near close enough to Antoine Hoppenot to challenge for the ball on the goal.

LWB: JONNY DEAN – 6. As with virtually every player on the pitch, Jonny’s passing was weak – just 18 of 28 passes connected. He missed a sitter that would have put the Legion in front, although it wasn’t quite as easy a score as Marlon’s miss last week. He had one other shot on target.

LM: ANDERSON ASIEDU – 7. When even Ando can’t get his passes to connect more than 70% of the time, you know the game is a stalemate in midfield. He completed 31 of 45 attempts. Staggeringly, he lost 10 of 14 duels. Of course, he nearly scored again with his head, and had two more shots off frame.

RM: ENZO MARTINEZ – 7. Probably the most active player on the team Friday. Went 69.4% on 62 passes, had 1 shot off target and sent in 6 crosses, all unsuccessfully. Bizarrely, he picked up a yellow for getting his head knocked from behind (no deduction for that). Man of the Match, but that’s honestly not saying very much.

RWB: MIKEY LOPEZ – 7. Slightly better passing stats than his left wing counterpart: 68.8% accurate on 48 passes. One shot blocked. Looked to be one of the more energetic Legion players on the field though.

LAM: MARLON SANTOS – 6. Played 73 minutes, in which he managed a paltry 17 passes, finishing just 9. 1 shot on target, 1 blocked and 1 on target. He did win 12 of 16 duels though.

RAM: PROSPER KASIM – 6. A decent 70% accuracy rate on 30 passes. 2 unsuccessful crosses, 1 shot of target, 1 shot blocked. Not a particularly good outing.

FWD: JUAN AGUDELO – 6. What does it say when your striker has the best passing accuracy of the entire starting XI? Juan connected on 80% of 20 passes in 66 minutes of playing time. However, he managed only a single shot in the entire game.

SUB:BRUNO LAPA – 6. In 17 official minutes Bruno attempted 12 passes and found his target on 8 of them. Other than that, no shots and just 2 unsuccessful crosses.

SUB: MACKY DIOP – 5. 24 official minutes. Just 8 passes, completing 4 of them, and no other attacking actions. That’s nowhere near satisfactory.

SUB: RYAN JAMES – 6. 6 official minutes isn’t much. In that time he made just 3 passes, connecting on only one, and no other real contributions to the attack.

HC: TOMMY SOEHN – 6. The game plan was probably solid, but as usual the team cannot score. That ultimately is Tommy’s responsibility. Also, bringing only 17 players was bizarre (unless someone fell ill en route or was a late training injury). And if Edi Horvat is available, not bringing him and playing Macky ahead of him makes no sense.