Houston Dynamo player ratings at Austin FC

(image via Houston Dynamo FC)

The road struggles have returned as the Dynamo lost 3-0 away to Austin FC Saturday night. Let’s take a look at how everyone performed.

Starters

Steve Clark-5

Tough day at the office for Steve, but there was not a whole lot he could have done better. He only managed one save in this game. Maybe he could have been more aggressive on one of the goals, but he was not at fault for that performance.

Franco Escobar-5

Another game where the Dynamo went down early, so Franco struggled. Multiple times he was caught out of position too high up the field as they were chasing the game. He had a solid offensive night but not dominant on either side of the ball like we are used to seeing.

Erik Sviatchenko-3

The second game in a row where Sviatchenko failed to look like the player the Dynamo hoped for him to be. It is still early days, and he has had some great performances for the Dynamo already, it’s just getting a tiny bit worrying. What usually is a strength of his, dealing with aerial balls, he struggled massively with.

Micael-6

Good, not great, from Micael. He was not really at fault for any of the goals, he just wasn’t particularly standout in this one. While the first goal was sort of assisted by him, that was just bad luck and not much he could’ve done differently.

Daniel Steres-2

Really rough game for Daniel where he had such a hard time transitioning from defending wide to covering forwards on crosses. He was slow to pressure Sebastian Driussi for the second goal and he missed his marker for the third goal.

Artur-2

Austin clearly game planned to shut down Artur’s play that keeps the Dynamo ticking all game. He was under loads of pressure from Daniel Pereira all game. When Artur gets marked out of the game, the rest of the team completely falls apart on both sides of the ball. It shows how important Artur is to this team on his good nights.

Hector Herrera-4

Herrera really struggled in the earlier parts of this game. He was almost nonexistent for moments of the first half. When Artur struggles to do the simple aspects of the game, that really limits what Herrera can do. Late in the second half Herrera really came alive and started playing like we expected him to do. Still not good enough from the captain.

Amine Bassi-3

Like Herrera, when Artur struggles to get going so does Bassi. Bassi did not see a lot of the ball in this game and did not do much with it when he had the ball. Disappointing after such a great display in midweek.

Corey Baird-4

After some really great performances, Corey went back to playing like he did early in the season. Mostly ineffective on the ball, but always great without it. He only played the first half and that was probably the right sub to make as he looked a bit tired.

Nelson Quinones-5

Nelson definitely showed the biggest spark of the forwards in this game. He was trying his best to make things happen, but his touch kept on letting him down. He played great defensively and worked hard for the team.

Aliyu Ibrahim-3

It’s becoming a worrying trend where Aliyu can’t make the most of his time on the ball. He looked a bit tired in this game and barely impacted much of anything.

Substitutes

Thor Ulfarsson-5

Thor came in for the second half and played alright. He showed more of a spark than Corey and Ibrahim but was not particularly great either. He only looked really good in the last ten minutes when the game was all but over.

Luis Caicedo-7

Caicedo came in and really steadied the ship late in the game. The Dynamo immediately looked better when he stepped on the field. He is so calm and does all the dirty work. Caicedo is a player who should be seeing more minutes going forward.

Ivan Franco-4

Franco came in for Bassi and did more of what Bassi did. He looked very passive and almost invisible in a lot of moments. The team needs to see more of him off the bench if he wants to get back in this team.

Griffin Dorsey-6

Dorsey added a really nice spark to the team in his limited minutes. He had one nice cross on his left foot. Another player who needs to see more minutes.

Sebastian Ferreira-N/A

Sebas only got a handful of minutes and looked fairly dangerous. It was nice to see him get some minutes, but not enough to give a fair rating.

Head Coach

Ben Olsen-4

Ben openly admitted that he made some mistakes with the tactics and the lineup. He felt he should have rotated the team more and did not expect them to look that tired. Olsen felt he should have gone for more of the same approach he attacked LAFC with, but opted for a more pragmatic approach that blew up in his face. There is tons to learn from in this game and more data to approach attacking away games with.