Just got back to Philly. Happy I made the trip. My ratings:
Okoli: 7 - It's a different match when we have a hold up player. He was terrific at holding up the ball. The difference between him and a starring MLS player is his finishing. He distributes well enough off of the hold up to be a serviceable CF in this league. If he could finish consistently, he's a double digit scorer in this league. I think the Club may get some calls on him this winter from around the league. He had a good match. I didn't love his pressing but I can't overstate how important his hold up play was.
Harrison: 6 - Goal aside, I don't think he was great tonight. He put in a terrific shift though defensively as Allen was consistently caught out.
Lewis: 5 - Strong defensively as well I thought. Very good positionally to help widen the field. Had a couple of good one v ones. Was outmuscled but the SKC wide players. Mediocre match.
Maxi: 7 - Good match from Maxi. I still think he needs to stay on his feet more but some of that is his size of course. Very good in distribution and very good link up play.
McNamara: 3 - I'm pretty confident that he gave up around the 60th minute. I'm
Not really kidding. What a pitiful match from. I can remember exactly two contributions he made to the match tonight. He has a cute little Cruyff Turn in the second half and then that shot where he got it on his right foot and it went wide. Atrocious defensive effort. At one point, when we were in possession offensively deep into their end, he was hanging deep with Pirlo. I thought maybe it was by design to protect against the counter attack. Well, the ball is turned over and McNamara just watches it. I was mad.
Pirlo: 8 - This may be a stretch, but I'm giving him my Man of the Match. That may have been his best game in an NYCFC kit. He was just a different player tonight. Is he slow and old? Yes. Is he nothing more than a speed bump against the counter? Sure. But he was terrific tonight. I don't know what the stats will show, but I think he absolutely dominated that match tonight. I think with having Okoli and then Shelton as a long outlet certainly relieved some of the pressure in our build-up, but he was terrific tonight.
Allen: 5 - I want to go lower but he did serve up the winning goal. He was caught out of position A LOT tonight. Harrison and even Pirlo saved his butt a couple of times. He took a smart, professional foul late in the match. That was probably an above average performance from him and we were lucky.
Sweat: 7 - Anither very good match from him. He was strong in possession, and was good positionally for the most part. He tracks inside sometimes which is weird, but he played well tonight. I thought he had a nice thing going with Maxi and Lewis.
Brillant/Callens: 7 - Both were very good. Callens slipped a little in the middle of the season but has come back. Brillant has gotten better in every match.
Johnson: 6 - He wasn't tested a lot tonight. Bumbled one save that Feilhaber should have scored on early in the Second Half. His distribution was fantastic. He pinged balls around the field like he was Manuel Neuer. Want to high press? Great. I'll put the ball on Okoli's forehead. One time he even picked out Maxi 45 yards down the field.
Shelton: 4 - Someone said he was too nice. I commented to one of the guys I sit with that he needs to be nasty. Decent hold up but not great. Was ok defensively.
Stertzer: 6 - I thought he played well for what his role was tonight. He was very active.