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At the beginning of the year I introduced a new way for the Dynamo Theory community to be a part of Player Ratings. After matches everyone will get a chance to submit how each player did on a scale of 1 to 10 which will be averaged out in a later article. I think it’s interesting to see how we collectively felt about a player and use that as a discussion piece, but of course how we feel individually matters as well so please comment about player performances as you wish in the comments.
Quick Thoughts about the Game:
1) Road woes continue. For this team to truly enter the upper echelon of the MLS elite they will need to win games on the road. They don’t have to win every single game, although that would be great, but wins or draws away from BBVA Compass Stadium goes a long way, and right now this team just isn’t there yet. At least they’re winning at home though so all is not lost.
2) Wilmer Cabrera needs to figure out how to change his team’s style of play to more than just a counter attacking team. Houston’s usual high press was completely nullified by the pace and speed with which New England played. They were able to get the ball out of the back before our press began. Essentially, they played our brand of soccer better than us. The Dynamo were able to keep some possession, but the passing lacked purpose and never looked threatening to New England.
3) Tyler Deric has been stellar this year, but the second goal hurts to watch as he made a mess out of a punched clearance which landed perfectly for Juan Agudelo to punish Deric for the mistake. The first goal highlights the risk of playing the offside trap too high. Sometimes players are onside and are able to make dangerous runs with space.
4) The Dynamo did not look particularly invested in this game overall. It was very reminiscent of how they came out against the New York Red Bulls, except after the RBNY goal they woke up. I don’t think they played poorly, but they looked rather flat.
Rate the Players: