Player ratings / Union

Player ratings: Montreal Impact 1-4 Philadelphia Union

Photo: Marjorie Elzey

On Sunday night the Philadelphia Union hit the road to play the Montreal Impact… at Red Bull Arena. The Union were forced to make a few changes to their lineup due to yellow card accumulation, injury, and just keeping players fresh for their next match versus Cincinnati which comes up quickly on Wednesday.

After a sloppy start, a 16th minute (and deserved) red card by the Impact’s Romell Quioto changed the complexion of the game.  Up a man and facing an opponent on short rest with tired legs, the Union eventually wore down Montreal in the second half for a comfortable 4-1 victory. 

Player Ratings

Andre Blake — 5

Blake had no chance on the free kick goal. He only faced three shots on goal so had a relatively quiet night.  There were a couple of mix-ups in the box but fortunately did not come back to haunt the team.  

Olivier Mbaizo — 4

Back at his natural position on the right wing, Mbaizo often found himself out of position on defense as he was aggressive going forward and pinching in.  This issue  seemed to be ironed out over halftime.  Some of his passes were a bit sloppy but overall brought a lot of energy to the match.

Jakob Glesnes — 5

Pretty solid game for Glesnes. His long passes were not as spot on as in the prior week versus New England, especially early in the match.  Overall for the back line, they earned an open-play shutout.

Mark McKenzie — 8

A typical, seemingly effortless defensive outing for McKenzie. He also got his first MLS assist with a perfect through ball to Aaronson enroute to the Union’s second goal.  Then later left a ball back to Fontana for the fourth goal.  But his most important play of the game was harassing and frustrating Romell Quioto while on the ball.  McKenzie earned a forearm shiver to the chin but Quioto earned a straight red thus changing the entire complexion of the game.

Matt Real — 6

Had two great crosses that led to goals.  That second one that Przybylko ultimately headed in was sublime.  As a side note  –  it was the Union’s first headed goal of the season. He has been a more than adequate fill-in for Wagner and deserves playing time on the left wing.

Warren Creavalle — 4

Creavalle was Creavalle.  He does not add much to buildup and plays OK defense.  He did seem to be further upfield than we are used to seeing.  His foul led to the goal scoring free kick.

Alejandro Bedoya — 7

A typical workmanlike effort for him and as a bonus he scored a goal and just missed another.  Was all over the field and seemed even sharper than usual within his passing.

Jamiro Monteiro — 5

Monteiro led the team with 89 touches and 67 passes with a 88% pass completion rate.  Yet despite all this activity he is not the connecting force we envisioned when brought on as a DP.  Monteiro also strayed away from the end of the wall allowing the space through which the Impact’s lone goal was scored.

Brenden Aaronson — 7

Aaronson certainly did his job as a creator.  He earned an assist and a 96% pass completion rate and just missed a goal for himself.  Every time he touched the ball good things seemed to happen.  A good night aggressively working the press too.

Kacper Przybylko —  7

The striker continues his roll of good form, this time scoring a brace including the aforementioned ethereal header.  Just a great all around performance by the big striker.

Andrew Wooten — 3

Not sure what the deal is with Wooten.  He just cannot get into any groove.  He did earn an assist on Bedoya’s goal but that should probably be chalked up to luck.  The Union don’t have too many options up top with the oft injured Santos and Ngalina unable to get on the pitch, but it may be time to move on.

Substitutes

Ilsinho — 6

Ilsihno must have smelled blood on the pitch as he has never had as much energy as we witnessed Sunday night – including an attempted header where both feet actually left the ground.  

Sergio Santos — 4

Santos did not contribute much in a short run but did stretch his legs a bit for Wednesday’s game in which he will presumably start.

Fontana – 7

Mr. Offense came in at  halftime and had a near miss followed by his third goal in just 70 minutes of playing time over the past two games.  For those of you who are curious, that extrapolates to 131 goals over a full season.  How is he not playing more? Huh?

Cole Turner, Jack de Vries – N/A

Geiger counter

Alan Kelly –6

Kudos to Kelly for going to VAR to review the elbow by Quioto and changing the initial yellow card to a red.  A well called game overall.  

Player of the game

Mark McKenzie

Difficult not to pick Przybylko after he scored a brace – but strikers are supposed to score goals, right.  McKenzie played his usual solid defense, caused a red card –  but man, that pass to Aaronson. Center backs aren’t supposed to do that.

11 Comments

  1. In Tanner We Trust says:

    Did we watch the same game? I thought Glesnes and Monteiro were wayyy better than 5s, personally. I think Monteiro being so good early last year was such a breath of fresh air that we expect too much from him. The reality is, he has BY FAR the highest floor on the team. He is always reliable, even when he’s not always flashy. And Glesnes just knows where to be and is lethal in the air, something I can’t say I’m used to seeing. And a 4 for Mbaizo feels harsh, as he was solid and his cross lead to the 4th goal. Also very impressed with what I’ve seen from Real lately.

    • I think that Monteiro’s quality snuck up on teams last year, but this year he is a known quantity that teams plan for, like with Aaronson earlier in the season vs now.

      • In Tanner We Trust says:

        Yes exactly. Towards the end of last year til now they’ve really swarmed him, and that’s opened up space for guys like Aaronson and Fontana to get more recognition.

  2. 4 might be kind for Creavalle. His foul led to Montreal’s goal, but also his turnover led to his decision to foul. The team was discombobulated with him as the 6 – seemed like the back 4 continually tried to pass around him to avoid him having to touch the ball. That was all fixed when he came out and Monteiro and Bedoya shared the D-mid responsibilities in the 2nd half; the improved possession game was indicative of the importance and skill of Monteiro who deserves at least a 6.

    • The turnover was from a poor back pass to Creavalle (from Bedoya I think). That part wasn’t Creavalle’s fault.

      • Excellent point (not mentioned elsewhere).
        However, the poor back pass was from Monteiro. In combination with his bailing from the wall to allow the goal, and (continuing) high turnover rate, the 5 awarded seems quite reasonable to me

  3. Glesnes is mad low. What Santos did to drop ratings points is beyond me, N/a perhaps for him. Monteiro is low. Blake low for no mistakes other than the wall not being correct.

  4. Monteiro has been figured out and is less lethal. I’m looking forward to how the squad shapes up post-Aarsonson.

  5. When the starting striker scores a brace and provides the required pressing without getting a red card, anything short of a 9 should be insulting.
    .
    Real has been impressive, daring, offensive. I believe his movement, defense and assist rate deserve more for the wingback.

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