Gary Smith and Bruce Arena split the points once again, as the two sides played to a 1-1 draw Friday night at Nissan Stadium.
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 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 – 6.7: Hard for him to defend the snap-shot goal he conceded, but was still decent between the pipes.
Daniel Lovitz – 7.3: Lovitz was allowed to venture more forward in Smith’s 3-4-3 formation, which allowed for him to be busy on the offensive side to try and create chances. Additionally, he locked down his flank fairly well.
Dave Romney – 7.2: It always seems like Romney is in the right spot to block key shots throughout the match, and Friday night was no exception.
Walker Zimmerman – 8.2: Zimmerman would’ve still had a good rating from his defensive performance, but the header to give Nashville the lead certainly helped bolster his rating. With that, he’s now joint-top scorer with Daniel Rios and Hany Mukhtar.
Jalil Anibaba – 6.7: Originally playing as a centerback for the 3-4-3 formation, Anibaba had to shift over as a right back midway through the first half due to the formation change. He still faired well despite playing out of position.
Eric Miller – 5.5: Not a strong showing from Miller, who had some off target passes. Was eventually subbed off in an effort to create more chances.
Anibal Godoy – 5.8: Still looks like he’s trying to get back into match shape after a few dissapointing outings, at least by his standards, as his touch was sloppy and resulted in a few giveaways.
Brian Anunga – 6.5: Anunga was no-nonsense in his approach as always. Wasn’t the flashiest, but didn’t give up the ball a ton and made smart passes in the middle.
Alex Muyl – 6.5: Only one shot for Muyl, who had a relatively quiet night.
Randall Leal – 7.2: Whipped in a great corner that found Zimmerman’s head to give Nashville the lead, but it was also his connection with Derrick Jones that helped set up that corner.
Abu Danladi – 6.5: Had his night cut a bit short due to injury after making a few decent runs, as he was subbed off at halftime.
Subs
Daniel Rios – 7.2: The game really came alive in Nashville’s favor once Rios entered, who had a few of Nashville’s best chances on goal upon his entrance at halftime. Could we see more of him in a starting role based on the form he’s in?
Derrick Jones – 7.2: Also helped flip the game when he came on with his passing, including a link-up with Randall Leal that led to the corner for Nashville’s goal.
Jhonder Cadiz – 6.7: It’s still going to take some time before Cadiz is ready for a start, but he still looks the part. Had some good shots and made a few good near-post runs on corners that could’ve resulted in goals on another day.
Dax McCarty – 7.3: Brought on in relief for Godoy and really showed his leadership once he entered the match, bossing the midfield around and helping with the linkup play.
Taylor Washington – 6.3: Washington’s cameo this go-around was more to help preserve the draw in the dying embers of the match.
Manager
Gary Smith – 6.3: Smith’s 3-4-3 formation was not nearly as effective against New England as it was against Houston. He was able to recognize this early on and made the necessary tactical substitutions at halftime to adjust back to the normal 4-2-3-1. A draw is a fair result against a strong New England side, but you have to believe maybe things look different if Smith goes with his regular formation instead?
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!
