Photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Union
The Streak came to an end in ignominious fashion. A botched penalty and a defensive breakdown moments later let the New York Red Bulls savor their first win over the Union since 2019.
Here are the ratings.
Player Ratings
GK Andre Blake – 5
Unfortunately subbed off after a mere 28 minutes (five of which was for treatment) due to a pulled hamstring, Blake did not have much time to make an impact while on the field. His presence was missed, however, on the Red Bulls’ goal.
LB Kai Wagner – 6
A mixed night for the German left back. He created the most chances (three) of any player on the pitch, and his defending was solid as usual. Wagner had 13 passes into the final third and also took three shots all from outside the box. On the downside, his crosses and long balls were not accurate on the night, and the team suffered for it. Almost tied it late in the game with his final shot on the night.
CB Olwethu Makhanya – 6
A solid defensive night from the young center back. Makhanya won all his duels, had six successful clearances, and had eight recoveries. He was confident carrying the ball up the field and had nine passes into the final third.
CB Nathan Harriel – 5
Called upon again to play out of position as a center back, Harriel almost held his own on the night. He had six clearances and won more headers than he lost, but the one time he was dribbled past led directly to New York’s goal. It was Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting that went right by him, which is the only reason he isn’t a point lower.
RB Olivier Mbaizo – 5
Offensively his statistics were better on the night than Wagner, but that masks the fact that Mbaizo was often missing on defense, including New York’s goal.
DM Jesus Bueno – 6
The drop off from Danley Jean Jacques was not massive, and Bueno was an acceptable starter on a night that Bradley Carnell chose to rotate his line-up. He lost more tackles than he won, which he made up for with eight successful recoveries.
DM Jovan Lukić – 6
Statistically the Serbian midfielder was one of the more successful Union passers on the night (80%, from a team well below 70%), but the eye-test said otherwise as Lukić seemed to give the ball away too much with either poor passing or wishful thinking.
AM Alejandro Bedoya– 5
The drop off from Quinn Sullivan and Indiana Vassilev (who was not on the bench due to a concussion) was noticeable. Bedoya’s best use nowadays is probably coming off the bench to give a spark to the team.
AM Chris Donovan – 4
Another massive drop off from the usual rotation. Granted, he was asked to play as a winger / attacking midfielder, but other than pressing on defense Donovan did not bring much to the game.
FWD Milan Iloski– 5
Perhaps too unselfish with the ball (Iloski was 15 of 19 passing, mostly in the final third), the new striker had a quiet night. Too quiet for having played a full 90 minutes. He did look sharp finding open teammates (see passing statistic again). But he only took one shot, from well outside the box, and only created one chance on the night.
FWD Mikael Uhre – 4
Not a good night from the Dane. Much less successful in the air than usual (winning only two out of ten headers), Uhre’s face said it all – he is frustrated and doesn’t know what to do.
Substitutes:
(28’) Andrew Rick – 5
Probably made only one mistake on the night – shading to the near post on New York’s goal. Probably (hopefully?) something that improves with age and maturity. Unfortunately, it cost the Union the match.
(46’) Bruno Damiani – 4
Sure, he won the penalty. Or would have won the penalty if a hand ball wasn’t already called. And sure, sometimes a penalty can help a striker break out of a funk. (Though it didn’t after he converted one in Chicago.) But if you plead with your coach to step up, you better make it.
(61’) Quinn Sullivan- 5
Only on the field for 30 minutes plus injury time, Sullivan did not make much of an impact on the game. Barely broke 50% on passing for the night, but he was fouled twice and didn’t give the ball away (except for over-aggressive passes).
(61′) Tai Baribo – 6
Also on the field for a mere 30 minutes and injury time, Baribo was the most aggressive player on Union for that stretch. Accurate on all his passes, always looking towards goal, and winning aeriel duels, he just wasn’t given enough time to change the outcome.
(78′) Danley Jean Jacques – 5
Statistically not a bad night for the midfielder (statistically he probably warrants a score of 6), Danley was the final substitute brought on in an attempt to salvage a point. He just couldn’t help.
Geiger Counter
Ismir Pekmic – 6
Probably let New York get away with more fouls than he should have, but he did get the penalty call correct without the need for VAR.
Player of the Match – Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting
Choupo-Moting calmly dribbled past Harriel and slid a beautiful pass into the path of Dylan Nealis. Three points New York.
What’s Next…
The Union welcome mid-table Chicago Fire to Subaru Park on Saturday, August 23. (7:30 p.m. ET/ Apple TV).
Donovan is 2-3 points too high. To be fair, trying to play him as a wide midfielder was ridiculous, but it didn’t get any better with him up top.
Be fair, he’s probably 6 points too high.
Of course everyone on the team except Blake, Danley, and Bueno are each 2 points too high.
Did Donovan play well? Not really. But he didn’t play *poorly*. See:
https://www.cbssports.com/soccer/news/soccer-player-ratings-from-0-10-explained-performances-from-erling-haaland-ali-dia-geoff-hurst-and-more/
From Turk’s cite:
A 1/10 performance asks not the question, “what went so wrong?” so much as the question, “is this individual capable of playing football to a professional standard?”
He’s a negative because we know he isn’t capable of that. Uhre, albeit frustrating, has flashes of true exceptionalism. I wouldn’t want him back next year either, but it’s not insulting to run him out there for a fifth year.
So, let me get this straight. You guys think that Donovan playing out of position was significantly worse than Uhre not doing anything while playing in position and than Damiani shitting the brick from the spot which might have the long term effect of having one of the top 4 forwards less able to finish than has already been the case?
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Whatever score Donovan gets, Chris was correct in giving Uhre and Damiani equally low scores (although I might have gone even lower for Damiani).
I do not understand the Donovan hate compared to Uhre. Donovan at $200k is a better value than Uhre’s $2.2M.
Donovan is not a MLS-caliber starter. Uhre is. You may not value him at $2.2, but he did score 13 goals in MLS last year. I don’t hate Chris Donovan. It’s not hate to say that he is never going to score 13 goals in MLS.
Uhre is sometimes good. Not enough of the time — and I don’t know why he regressed after his first year with us — but he is capable of playing at a high level sometimes. Donovan has never been capable of that. And to echo OCTinPHL, I don’t hate him. I blame Carnell for putting him out there. Now that Iloski has been signed, I’m not sure why we should see him at all.
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As for Damiani, I don’t think that was a bad PK. It was low and right in the corner. The keeper just guessed right and made a great save.
The rating for this game has nothing to do with Uhre and Damiani having a higher potential than Donovan. I don’t think anybody questions that.
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In this particular game all 3 basically did nothing significantly positive. Damiani did not convert the PK. Therefore, it was not a good PK. Compare it with the one in the Leeds game Monday where the Everton keeper guessed right and was still unable to get to it. .
For last Saturday’s game, Donovan does not deserve a lower score than Uhre and definitely does not deserve a lower one than Damiani.
Glesnes signed an extension through 2027 with an option for 2028. Now if only he could cut down on the yellow cards…
I am very surprised by this, but I’ll take it. Maybe he and Makhanya can be a solid CB pairing for us for the next few years. I wonder what they’ll do with Glavinovich now…
I think this extension spells the end for Glavinovich. I loved having 3 starters-quality CBs (Elliott, Glesnes, and Lowe), but I can’t see the Union buying Glavinovich and paying him to be a backup.
To some extent it depends on what the plan is for Glesnes. Is it a 3 CB rotation ? Is he an insurance plan for Glavinovich / Makhanya ? a Mentor ?
@SoccerDad
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With what they are paying Glesnes, plan has to be that he is a starter w/ Makhanya. Pierre will likely the backup. But Glavinovich will not be staying if he wants to be paid as a starter (he will) and his home club wants his fee to be that of a starter (they will).
It’s also possible they will keep to Glavinovich and move Makhanya.
…aaaaand no sooner do I ask this than Tannenwald reports that the Union have put Glavinovich on the Season Ending Injury list. And his purchase option after the loan is $3M. So he appears to be done with our club.
They may still keep Glavinovich. Makhanya being sold for a decent amount would not be a surprise, Kid is just scratching the surface of his potential.
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Resigning Glesnes is a good thing too, as they need a mentor for Neil Pierre who is perhaps the Union’s best prospect.
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It’s going to be an interesting off-season for sure.
No way they are going to keep Glavinovich w/ the salary they just committed to Glesnes.
P Aaronson back to MLS with Colorado.
Happy for him. Wish the Union would have considered bringing him back. I still think the Union need another CB for depth (Pierre is too young and Harriel is better at LB) and another attacking mid. Paxten would have been a nice addition. But $8m is more than the Union have paid for anyone, I think, by far.
I wonder if the Union get some of the sell on money.
The U do get some sell-on money. I think I read 20%, which isn’t too shabby.
Yeah I was bummed to hear that Pax is coming to Colorado rather than back to us, but then I saw the price the Rapids were paying…
I think the calculation is 20% after the first $4 million EF paid us, so $800K (20% x ($8M-$4M)).