Nashville SC locked horns with Atlanta United for the first time since the home opener at Nissan Stadium in February, and the Boys in Gold were once again bested by their Georgia counterparts by a scoreline of 2-0.
Below are our player ratings for the match.
Each member of the Speedway Soccer crew gives each player that saw the pitch a rating based on their match performance. Below is a quick guideline of our evaluation process.
- A rating of 6 denotes and average performance. Each player starts out with a 6 and their performance either adds or subtracts from that rating.
- Scores are determined after re-watching the match and looking at the stats, and are the averaged total of each Speedway member’s ratings.
Joe Willis – 6.3: Willis was unable to extend his consecutive clean sheet record to three, as he got no favors from his backline in this outing. Hard for any keeper to stop Pity Martínez’s second goal, though.
Daniel Lovitz – 7.5: Pretty good outing from Lovitz, who was both excellent in his defense on the flanks and supporting runs. Did pick up a yellow card at the beginning of the second half though, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that he was Nashville’s best player on this night.
Walker Zimmerman – 5.8: Was without a doubt Zimmerman’s toughest outing since joining Nashville. He mistimed his tackle on Martinez’s first goal, and also had a poor giveaway that set up the second. Should be able to bounce back from this though, as the good has outweighed the bad by a tremendous margin since he arrived in Music City.
Dave Romney – 7: On the flipside, Romney turned in another decent performance. He continues to deliver good service out of the back, including this gem.
Jalil Anibaba – 6.3: Really had a tough time tracking Martinez throughout the match. Are the questions at the right back position once again raising their ugly heads?
Dax McCarty – 6.8: McCarty’s passing ability was on full display, providing some solid service up top and out wide.
Anibal Godoy – 6.8: We’ve mentioned that Godoy likes to push up from this defensive midfielder position, but it’s probably not a good sign when he’s leading the way in total shots in the match with six.
Alistar Johnston – 6.3: After Johnston’s man of the match performance against FC Dallas, the young winger could not replicate some of that same magic in Atlanta, later being subbed out in favor of David Accam.
Hany Mukhtar – 6.3: Mukhtar was able to deliver some decent balls on set pieces, but his overall impact on the match was a bit lacking.
Randall Leal – 6.5: Made some really good runs to put himself into dangerous positions, but only recorded one shot in the match.
Dominique Badji – 7: It’s becoming clear that Badji’s workrate is his strongest asset, and that he will constantly put any pressure on opposing backlines with his runs in to space and pressure on the ball. Unfortunately, the service directly to him hasn’t been the best, and the striker was clearly frustrated several times.
SUBS
Taylor Washington – 5.8: Washington saw minutes for the second straight match, but didn’t do too much to make an impact. Strange to see such a left-footed played subbed in at right back.
Abu Danladi – 6.3: Danladi continues to be one of Nashville SC’s regular subs as a change of pace option. No impact this match, but it should only be a matter of time before he leaves his mark on a match.
Daniel Ríos – 6.3: Rios makes his first appearance since his start against Dallas. He recorded one decent shot from outside the box, but that was it.
David Accam – 6.5: Accam’s role as a game-changing sub is proving to be effective, as he came on and made some good runs to set up a few chances.
MANAGER
Gary Smith – 6.3: Smith’s system is working in all the right spots. Defenders make it tough for the opposition to create chances, and the team is getting good looks. Unfortunately, and we’ll probably discuss this ad nauseam on the pod, but the finishing is just not there.
What say you? Do you agree or disagree with our match ratings? Feel free to reach out to us on Twitter and let us know your thoughts!
