Folks, this is what they mean when they say there’s no such thing as an ugly three points. I know a lot of people are happy with the Rhode Island FC result and not the performance, but I think it’s being overstated.

Three points is three points, especially on the road against a Birmingham Legion FC team that, admittedly, looks awful and was down a man for the entire second half, but has a very talented roster. More importantly, it’s Rhode Island FC’s fourth game in 12 days while dealing with an injury crisis (with another match approaching on Saturday).

So yes, we all would’ve liked to see a more dominant performance and, at the very least, an insurance goal – but instead it looks like we were mostly content to sit on the ball, conserve energy, and make sure everyone stays fit and healthy for Saturday. Given the way this season has been going, I’m perfectly happy with that.

I also think we were a bit unlucky not to score that insurance goal… especially looking at this sequence:

Of course we haven’t seen the team hit anywhere near their highs from last season just yet – but it was never likely to happen on a rainy Wednesday in Birmingham during a congested run of games with six players on the injury report. Matt Hands appears to have reached similar conclusions in his post match Riptide Report

For those who are interested – here is a document tracking all player ratings for the season so far.

Rhode Island FC Player Ratings:

Koke Vegas (GK) – 6/10

Koke made a couple of good saves, but wasn’t challenged much by Birmingham. Once again, a clean sheet is a clean sheet!

Aime Mabika (D) – 6/10

In Mabika’s first start for Rhode Island FC, he continued his play from Saturday with a very comfortable defensive performance. He and Frank Nodarse kept Ronaldo Damus from getting any real dangerous chances at goal. Mabika also showed again that he can be useful in possession as he is relatively comfortable carrying the ball, and generally looking to make progressive passes.

Frank Nodarse (D) – 7/10

Frank led all players with 13 total defensive actions including 11 ball clearances (no other player had more than five). Despite being paired with a guy who is 6’6″, Frank was still first to most balls in the air as he won 5/6 aerial duels and kept us safe on several of Birmingham’s eight corner attempts.

Most importantly, Frank looked alert and switched on for the entire 90 minutes, which is more than we can say for games earlier in the season.

Rio Hope-Gund (D) – 6/10

Another very strong defensive performance for Rio Hope-Gund since joining Rhode Island FC – he deals with everything tidily, keeps his right side of the pitch very quiet, and seems to always be in the right place at the right time. He also led all players with 13 passes into the final third.

Aldair Sanchez (D) – 6/10

Aldair was a bit less involved in the attack tonight than prior matches, but he had a very solid night overall. He owned his side of the pitch – he was very hard to knock off the ball when carrying it forward, and made it very difficult for Birmingham to carry the ball up the left wing.

We were saying in our Tide Talk chat during the match, I never would’ve guessed that Aldair and Rio Hope-Gund would’ve been two of the most nailed on names at the top of the team sheet every week.

Amos Shapiro-Thompson (MF) – 5/10

Amos had his moments in this match, but I do think he needs a rest after four very high-energy shifts in the last 12 days. Despite that, I thought some of his brightest moments and most progressive passing we’ve seen from him came in the dying minutes after he shifted out to the right wingback position, where he hit some creative through balls to play in our forwards.

In the first half, Amos’s intense pressing paid off as he won the ball back in midfield and ran all the way through on goal. Honestly, the pass to Dikwa was probably the better option here but I have no problem at all with the shot.

Maxi Rodriguez (MF) – 7/10

The Rhode Island FC attack should run through Maxi now and we didn’t get him the ball enough for how well he was playing, as he had just 38 touches in 78 minutes played. The stats don’t jump off the page, but Maxi was crucial to our build up play throughout the match.

He also had four shots on target, including his goal in the 14th minute. A couple of minutes before this, he had a shot attempt very similar to the late run to the edge of the box goal that he scored against New England last week.

Clay Holstad (MF) – 5/10

Clay’s passing was as good as ever in this match as he had 95% pass accuracy, completing 71/75 passes. But these weren’t all safe, lateral passes – Clay was doing some of his best progressive, line-breaking passing that I’ve seen from him in this match. 10 of those passes were also into the final third, which was tied for the second most in the match.

Outside of this, I thought Clay had a slower night in terms of defensive impact and dribbling/ball carrying.

Joseph Brito (F) – 5/10

I was against Brito getting the start in a forward position tonight – even after his late heroics last Saturday – and didn’t see enough during the match to really change my mind on that.

He put in a good shift as always, but didn’t really create chances or support the attack in a meaningful way. His best chance came on a Dikwa cutback cross that led to a penalty shout.

Albert Dikwa (F) – 6/10

This was a much improved performance from Dikwa. It was still far from perfect, and he’s still lacking the killer instinct that you expect from a Golden Boot-winning striker – but it was much improved.

Dikwa created the most chances of all players in the match (4) – similar to last Saturday – with a first touch and explosive burst that would often get him in behind the Birmingham defense. With this ability, he also led all players with eight touches in the opposition box. The concerning part is his inability to get a shot or create a chance in many instances once he gets into those positions. His second touch and/or final third decision-making continue to let him down.

Some of his best moments, including his assist on Maxi’s goal, came from a wider position on the right wing – which was something we saw last year as well.

Noah Fuson (F) – 6/10

For the second match in a row, Fuson led all players in duels won (8) as he continues to have an impact on both ends of the field – even if he still isn’t getting on the scoresheet.

Of course, our lone goal on the night started with Noah. He made the interception, kept possession with some tidy dribbling and passing in midfield, before playing the through ball to Dikwa that would lead to Maxi’s goal.

Subs

Jojea Kwizera (F) – 5/10

It’s tough to grade the subs tonight since I think the (probably unspoken) 2nd half game plan was to hold on to the lead, nobody get hurt, and don’t run yourself ragged before another match on Saturday.

With that said, Kwizera played hard but was wasteful with his opportunities in front of goal, as he initially came on to play the central striker role in place of Albert Dikwa.

Grant Stoneman (D) – N/A

Zach Herivaux (D) – N/A

Taimu Okiyoshi (MF) – N/A

Yes – the subs had more than 10 touches which is usually the rule for a player rating. But we were largely just running out the clock for most of these touches. They were all competent, but it doesn’t merit an individual write up for each.

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Rating Scale:

• 1/10 – Abysmal. You might as well have me on the pitch.
• 2/10 – Very bad
• 3/10 – Bad
• 4/10 – Below Average
• 5/10 – Average. The player did their job.
• 6/10 – Good
• 7/10 – Very good
• 8/10 – Great
• 9/10 – Outstanding
• 10/10 – Transcendent performance. Watch out, because Real Madrid may come knocking.