Last year, Khano Smith famously stated that “good teams don’t lose two in a row”, and Rhode Island FC has done exactly that with a 2-1 loss to Louisville City FC on Wednesday night. I would argue Khano was actually spot on with the quote, because we are not a good team right now.

Losing at Louisville is something that happens to just about every team in the league – so I’m not terribly surprised or disappointed by the result. But it was another highly uninspired performance on an increasingly long list of them.

Sure, we had almost 60% of the ball – but it looked more like an older sibling allowing their younger sibling to play with their toy… until they decided they wanted to play with it again, and could reclaim it by force at any given moment.

Want to know just how un-threatening we were with the ball? Rhode Island FC had just eight touches in the opposition box, which is the fewest in team history.

I appreciate that Khano tried to switch things up by returning to last year’s 3-5-2 formation and making some changes to the starting lineup. However, I don’t think dropping Maxi (and, to a lesser extent, Noah Fuson) was what most of us expected when Khano said that we had to start giving other players chances.

For those who are interested in comparing these ratings to other matches this season – here is a document tracking all of my player ratings for the season so far.

Rhode Island FC Player Ratings:

Jackson Lee (GK) – 5/10

There was nothing more Jackson could’ve done on either of the Louisville goals, and he held up alright against the Louisville back pressure. He wasn’t asked to do a tremendous amount otherwise.

Grant Stoneman (D) – 4/10

Stoneman was good individually, and would generally be heaped in praise for his game-high 15 defensive actions. However, the back line overall was disorganized (as has been the case all season when we play with three central defenders – despite managing it just fine all last season), and as the veteran center back on the roster, and the captain for this match, a lot of that blame has to lie with Stoneman.

Rio Hope-Gund (D) – 4/10

Similar story to Stoneman here in Rio’s first start as a dedicated central defender for Rhode Island FC. The backline overall was disorganized and Rio had some good individual defending moments, and some bad ones. He led all players with 14 passes into the final third.

The second Louisville goal looks like a miscommunication between Rio and Mabika – as Mabika gets caught out of position and Rio fails to track Goodrum’s run into the box.

Karifa Yao (D) – 4/10

Yao returned to the starting lineup and mostly looked like his pre-injury self. Occasionally shaky, nothing ambitious in his passing game, but generally reliable defensively – chipping in with six headed clearances.

To this point… Yao is so good at getting his head to a ball in our box, it’s a bit disappointing that he was outside of the box attempting to mark the wide man for Louisville on their first goal (a second opportunity off of a corner kick).

Frank Nodarse (D) – 4/10

Frank was deployed as a right wingback in this match and it led to him being significantly less involved than usual. He was involved in the only two real goal scoring threats I can remember from Rhode Island FC in this match – a cross from Frank into the box for Chico, and a headed opportunity off of a set piece. To be fair, that’s more of an indictment on the rest of the team than it is praise for Frank.

Aiden McFadden slipped in between Holstad and Nodarse to score a headed goal to give Louisville the 1-0 lead. I don’t think Nodarse did too much wrong, but… he’s also 6″2′.

Aldair Sanchez (D) – 4/10

Unfortunately, not the first time that we’ve seen Aldair struggle in a wingback role, as opposed to his typical attacking fullback role. In theory, the two should be similar, but I think perhaps Aldair struggles to make an impact without a left-sided forward in front of him to attract defenders and make overlapping runs.

Zachary Herivaux (MF) – 4/10

As close to invisible as I can remember seeing from Herivaux.

Amos Shapiro-Thompson (MF) – 5/10

One of the few players who can hold his head high after this match – Amos played as the lone holding midfielder in this match and I thought he played admirably. He’s now essentially played three roles over the last three matches (box-to-box/central mid, wing/forward, and defensive midfielder) and excelled at all of them.

Clay Holstad (MF) – 4/10

Fourth match in a row that I think the lead story for Clay is that he looks tired. This was objectively a down performance for Clay, with low output in just about all of his usual categories (only 70% passing accuracy, just three passes into the final third, and winning just two out of six duels). He was also one of two players marking Aidan McFadden, who slipped behind him to score Louisville’s first goal.

To be fair… it looks like McFadden may have shoved Clay just enough to obstruct him from getting a head on the ball.

Joseph Brito (F) – 5/10

Probably the only other player, along with Amos, who I think can be proud of their performance on the night. I don’t think Brito was great, but he at least looked like he wanted the ball, wanted to make things happen, and wanted to win the game.

Of course, Brito’s tenacity both on and off the ball paid off in the 27th minute when he chased down a long ball from Aldair Sanchez and forced an own goal by Louisville to level the score.

Brito took the opportunity to start this match and was one of the only bright spots on the pitch for most of the night. I wouldn’t be opposed to him getting another look on Saturday.

Albert Dikwa (F) – 4/10

Very similar to last week’s performance as Dikwa had just 14 touches and four completed passes. He was better on his duels this week as he won 4/7 on the ground, and 2/4 in the air – as well as drawing four fouls – but again failed to make any impact at all on the offensive end, where we need him the most.

In fact… Dikwa had 0 touches in the opposition box. Sure, again, part of that is service – but we’ve also seen two matches in a row now a few balls crossed into the box or flashed in front of the goal mouth with Chico on the other end, unable to finish the chance.

Subs

Aime Mabika (D) – 4/10

Tough look to sub on at center back, then get cooked / be out of position not even two minutes later as Louisville City score the game winning goal.

Noah Fuson (F) – N/A

We didn’t even get the ball to him after we brought him on. He had two touches.

Maxi Rodriguez (F) – 4/10

Maxi was fine – more just hoping to see him look refreshed on Saturday, after getting a rest against Louisville.

Jojea Kwizera (MF) – 3/10

This was the opposite of the Kwizera-ssaince we saw last year after he returned from international duty. Kwizera looked sloppy in his 27 minutes played, before eventually receiving a second yellow for a needless challenge and getting sent off.

He’ll now miss Saturday’s match, leaving us without one of our only players who can provide an occasional attacking threat at the moment.

Isaac Angking (MF) – N/A

Taimu Okiyoshi (MF) – N/A

Not enough minutes or touches, but he did contribute to one promising attacking move towards the end of the game.

---

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.