Nashville SC lost its second consecutive match Saturday, dropping a 2-1 result against Real Salt Lake.
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 – 5.5: No saves for Willis on the night, as both shots he faced he conceded goals, though there wasn’t much he could do on the first one.
Dan Lovitz – 7.0: Lovitz shifted out to a wingback and was much more involved in the attacking portion, including hitting the woodwork on one of his four shots.
Dave Romney – 6.3: Had one lone clearance on the night and had some excellent long balls up to the front line to try and spring the Nashville attack.
Walker Zimmerman – 8: Walker Zimmerman did Walker Zimmerman things with an authoritative header on Hany Mukhtar’s curling free-kick.
Eric Miller – 6.0: Shifted over to the right-center back spot, and had some decent defensive plays. However, there seemed to be some miscommunication between him and Zimmerman on Real Salt Lake’s second goal while the ball was in the air.
Sean Davis – 7.3: Davis had some really bright and purposeful passes out of the midfield, completing 88% of his attempted passes.
Anibal Godoy – 6.4: Got dribbled by twice and had zero duels recorded, which is a bit of a surprise considering how well he’s recently performed to start the season.
Alex Muyl – 6.5: Put in a strong shift on the right wing, recording three successful tackles.
Hany Mukhtar – 7.8: Had some fantastic efforts on goal that, on another day, result in the opposition picking the ball up out of the back of the net. Did provide that wonderful free-kick that resulted in Nashville’s lone goal.
Randall Leal – 6.5: Had two key passes to set up a pair of excellent chances for Nashville. Would like to see him take more shots on goal though, as he only recorded one.
Teal Bunbury – 2.1: Really poor marking by Bunbury on the near post to allow Bobby Wood to flick the ball into the net for Real Salt Lake’s opening goal right after kickoff, and was equally as unaware defensively on the match-winner.
SUBS
CJ Sapong (on 57′) – 5.8: Sapong came in for relief of Bunbury after his dreadful first half. He did not record a shot, but did complete all seven of his pass attempts.
Dax McCarty (on 74′)– 3.0: An unnecessary and nonsensical foul by McCarty led to his red card. A player of his experience should know better than to attempt something like that, especially at the end of the match like that.
Aké Loba (on 74′) – 6.1: A much better “performance” for Loba, who registered a key pass after coming on, but still only had six total touches. If he’s going to make an impact off the bench, or become the full-time starter, he’s got to demand the ball at his feet.
MANAGER
Gary Smith – 4.5: Smith decided to tweak his formation and tactics this trip. Some of that might have to do with squad rotation, or that his previous formations have only garnered him four points in the first three matches. Either way, the decision to start Bunbury up top proved costly on both ends of the field, and the side massively underperformed its xG (2.56) in a match where the points were there for the taking. There are still a few weeks to go before the home opener on May 1st, and now Smith can use this international to reevaluate his side in the early goings of this 2022 season.
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.
