Nashville’s hot streak of consecutive victories continued with a 4-1 victory against Colorado Rapids Wednesday.
Below are our player ratings.
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 for our evaluation process.
- A rating of 6 denotes an 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 – 6.5: Willis had one excellent diving save during his time between the posts. Unfortunate to not get his third consecutive clean sheet, but that goal conceded wasn’t on him.
Daniel Lovitz – 7: Returned back to the starting lineup and helped create two chances. Wasn’t too accurate on his long passes though, as he only completed one-of-five.
Shaq Moore – 7: Had seven recoveries and won 80% of his ground duels. It was good to see that whatever was ailing Moore in the previous home match at Geodis Park seems to have passed.
Jack Maher – 7: Fresh off his two-goal performance, the milkman won half of his duels and had three interceptions. Squad rotation will be key down the stretch for Nashville, so the side will be encouraged by Maher’s recent form after his absence from the starting 11.
Walker Zimmerman – 6.3: Zimmerman was quite the distributer out of the back line, completing 96% of his passes, including all six of his long balls. Also was effective in his clearances with three, and blocked two shots.
Anibal Godoy – 5.8: Godoy took his space well at times dribbling forward, but only won 33% of his duels and completed 79% of his passes. He’ll have to be a bit more effective on his passing moving forward.
Sean Davis – 5.6: Surprisingly, Davis had the least amount of touches out of all Nashville outfield players (26). That’s not something you want from one of your central midfielders, but you have to imagine he’ll be more involved should his name be on the starter sheet Saturday against Austin.
Jacob Shaffelburg – 7.8: Nashville’s sweet Canadian prince is now two-for-two on the score sheet at Geodis Park, showing up at the right place to put away the rebound on Sapong’s shot. Bonus points for the well-executed knee slide after the goal as well.
Randall Leal – 8.3: Although it’s Hany Mukhtar who’s putting in the goals, Leal’s role in the offense with freedom to roam continues to be the driving force behind Nashville’s rejuvenated attack, as he seems to have the green light to do whatever option is best at the time of either dribbling at defenders, making the pass to split the defense (as was the case for his assist), or take a rip from outside the box.
CJ Sapong– 5.5: Sapong’s goal drought continues. Although his contribution isn’t necessarily needed during this recent run, it’s not encouraging either that he’s missing some good opportunities that were presented to him.
Hany Mukhtar – 10: A hattrick on the night for Mukhtar vaults him up the golden boot race. This stat from our own Ben Wright is pretty wild.
SUBS
Alex Muyl (on 64′) – 5.5: Won two duels and a couple of recoveries during his time on the pitch.
Dax McCarty (on 64’) – 6: Helped create a chance, but also drew a yellow card.
Luke Haakenson (on 80′) – 5.5: Had one shot from distance that was wayward from the target.
Ethan Zubak (on 80′) – 5.5: Had one successful dribble but didn’t win any of his aerial duels.
Eric Miller (on 88′) – 5.5: Brought up for defensive insurance and to see out the victory.
MANAGER
Gary Smith – 8.3: Smith’s side have now scored 11 goals in three matches, so so much for the whole “Gary ball” notion at this point. The offense seems to have found a new swagger with the addition of Shaffelburg, Leal and Godoy returning to full health, and Mukhtar continuing to do Mukhtar things. It’s a good time for Nashville to find some late form, as now two key home matches at Geodis Park (Austin FC and LA Galaxy) beckon, with playoff hopes hinging on those two results.
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.
