Positives
The new formation wasn’t the problem. The 3-5-2 formation has been a revelation since Minnesota United head coach Adrian Heath made the switch a few games ago. Houston’s 3-0 win on Saturday night didn’t disprove that. Instead, it was just an utterly poor performance from nearly every single player in a Loons jersey.
Negatives
Three games in eight days. Football is grueling on the body. Playing in the summer heat only exacerbates that and it was clear to see it greatly affected all Loons players on Saturday night. Also, set pieces continue to be United’s biggest weakness by a country mile.
Coach rating out of 10
6 — Was dealing with a squad hopelessly low on energy and his defense only allowed one goal from open play (in stoppage time in the second half). Still, he needs to stop the bleeding — it is inconceivable how poor United are at defending corner kicks and other set pieces.
Player ratings (1-10; 10 = best. Players introduced after 70 minutes get no rating)
GK Bobby Shuttleworth, 7 — It’s a consistent theme of this season: Shuttleworth makes no mistakes, makes all the saves he should make and stops a few he shouldn’t; despite this, United still managed to allow multiple goals.
CB Tyrone Mears, 5 — A neutral performance from the right back, which is decent considering he was filling in at center back for absentee captain Francisco Calvo.
CB Brent Kallman, 3 — Center backs must dominate on corner kicks. It’s as simple as that. Philippe Senderos certainly did that for Houston Dynamo on Saturday night.
CB Michael Boxall, 4 — Did little wrong in open play, but as the leader of the defense — especially with Calvo out — and as the team’s predominant winner of aerial balls, he has to take responsibility for a team that allows so many goals off of set pieces.
RWB Miguel Ibarra, 6 — It’s well known around the MLS that Houston possesses two of the most athletic wingers, their omnipresence on the flanks stifled both wingbacks throughout the evening.
LWB Alexi Gomez, 6 — Nearly an identical performance to his counterpart Ibarra, but with more errant passes.
CM Collen Warner, 5 — You ever had vanilla ice cream and wish it had more flavor? Yeah, it was kind of like that.
CM Ibson, 4 — Didn’t grab the game and make it his own. A game like this needed the Brazilian to pull the strings and orchestrate possession for his team. Instead, he was lackluster whenever he found himself on the ball.
CM Rasmus Schuller, 7 — Was one of the few Loons who could stand up and be counted on the night. He brought his defensive astuteness and has been adding more decisiveness to his passing as of late.
ST Darwin Quintero, 6 — Was effervescent in the beginning of the match but his energy and touch greatly waned as the game wore on. Hard to tell if it was fatigue or the poor performances around him or both.
ST Christian Ramirez, 4 — Saturday served as a microcosm of Christian’s season thus far: a few good runs that put him in ideal position to score, but fluffed his lines when composure and guile was needed most.
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