Player Ratings Houston Dynamo vs. the New England Revolution

In our fifth week of Rate the Players the Houston Dynamo player performances dipped by a lot compared to their last week blow out win over the New York Red Bulls. In this week’s 0-2 defeat to the New England Revolution no player scored over 6.6 based on the aggregate voting done which comes as a little surprise, but not too much. Although, it should be noted there was at least one voter that rated players a 1 across the board which, to me, was completely unfair despite an average showing on the road. Some players went a little higher than I’d like to see and others went lower such as Adolfo Machado deserving of a higher score while Jalil Anibaba and Tyler Deric could have gone lower, but that’s just my opinion.

The Top Performers:

Dylan Remick, Man of the Match, (6.6) – Dylan Remick was, to me, the man of the match and he stepped in once again to big shoes as he started over DaMarcus Beasley in the left back position. Remick has done well his past two starts which has provided rest to Beasley and depth to the position. Against New England he came up with several big clearances including winning 6 duels in the air – twice as many as the next highest player on the field. The defense was far from perfect, but what I liked about Remick was his effort to defend New England forward Kei Kamara on the first goal. It wasn’t his mistake that led to the turnover, but he was quick to get back and nearly got in front of Kamara’s second attempt on goal that would find its way into the back of the net.

Tyler Deric (6.2) – I’m conflicted about having Deric as a Top Performer here, and maybe his lower score sheds some light on the fact that there were few “top performers” for the Dynamo, but Deric’s poor punching clearance that led to Juan Agudelo’s goal to put the Revs up two stood out as a major error on his part. To defend Deric, he made a huge first stop on Kamara’s 1v1 attempt on goal. The fault there lies with poor defending by the midfield and then a unorganized offside trap that worked in Kamara’s favor, but ultimately Deric’s initial save wasn’t enough. Truthfully, the Revolution never tested Deric too much in this game and that’s why I don’t see him deserving of the 2^nd best player on the team when I would place him towards the bottom of the list.

Jalil Anibaba (5.1) – Another player that I wouldn’t quite put this high up. I get that the midfield and forward players did little and allowed added pressure on the defense – but if we’re just looking at what players did defensively, Ricardo Clark did more in the midfield and Boniek Garcia also tackled well as a defender and both would be higher in my personal ratings than Anibaba. That being said, of all the places along the back line for Anibaba to go I would prefer him at center back. He passes the ball pretty well there and doesn’t create too many errors. The offside trap wasn’t as on point – but the only consistent starter there this season was Adolfo Machado so I understand some communication errors (I understand them, but I don’t necessarily forgive all the issues). Anibaba had some good clearances inside our box as well, but I still think there were a few more deserving players than Anibaba at the 3^rd best spot.

Head Coach Wilmer Cabrera (4.1) – Following the New York Red Bulls game Cabrera said in the post game press conference that the team needs to focus on how they play rather than how their opponents play. While I agree with the sentiment to some degree, all teams must adapt in game in order to exploit weaknesses and to cover up their own weaknesses depending how their opponent came out to play. The Dynamo’s usual pressing style turned into one of their biggest weaknesses that often led to the Revolution countering with a numbers advantage in our half. Things simply didn’t look organized and while I don’t think the Dynamo played poorly by any means (seriously take away the gift goal that Deric gave the Revs and this is a 1-0 defeat which is far from the end of the world), but it was very average. The Dynamo don’t need to win every game on the road, but a point here and there means the world in a crowded and competitive Western Conference. Wilmer Cabrera’s “Plan A” of attack is masterful, but it doesn’t always work and he needs to develop another strategy to combat quick opponents (New England) and possession based opponents (Portland). All is not lost in a 2-0 defeat on the road, but there is room to grow.

The Rest of the Starters:

DEF: Adolfo Machado (4.7)

DEF: Oscar Boniek Garcia (3.9)

MID: Alex Lima (4.8)

MID: Eric Alexander (4.8)

MID: Ricardo Clark (4.8)

FW: Mauro Manotas (4.5)

FW: Erick “Cubo” Torres (3.2)

FW: Alberth Elis (4)

The Subs:

FW: Vicente Sanchez (4.5)

FW: Andrew Wenger (4.6)

MID: Memo Rodriguez (4.9)