New York City FC Vs Toronto FC: Player ratings – Failure to threaten

Front Three and Substitutes

RM – Ismael Tajouri-Shradi – 4

Ismael Tajouri-Shradi received his first start of the season against Toronto. He began the match playing on the right side but switched with Jesus Medina and played centrally for long stretches. I had clamored for more of Tajouri-Shradi, but he did not make the most of this opportunity. Despite playing as the center-forward for much of the match, he did not take a single shot and created just one scoring opportunity. Tajouri-Shradi did put in four crosses, but only one found a teammate. He was also unable to threaten the opposition, while taking the majority of the team’s corner kicks. Furthermore, Tajouri-Shradi gave up possession four times due to poor touches on the ball.

LM – Alexandru Mitrita – 4

For the third-straight match, Alexandru Mitrita failed to create a single scoring chance for a teammate. That is unacceptable. Meanwhile, he has taken 16 shots in that same three-game span. Now, to be fair, maybe Mitrita feels the responsibility to shoot rests with him since they do not have a center-forward at the moment (at least we know Heber is with the team now). Even so, Mitrita needs to combine with his teammates more, and he should be looking to get into the box, not just blast it from distance when he gets a look.

CF – Jesus Medina – 4.5

Before the season began, I wrote how every team in MLS should line up. My front three for New York City FC was this exact front three, with Jesus Medina playing as a false-nine, although I did have Maxi Moralez underneath him. Strangely, Medina was asked to lead the line for NYCFC, rather than drop into midfield and act as the team’s primary playmaker. That’s a mishandling of his talent. The young Paraguayan’s greatest skill is his passing ability. Medina was slightly more successful when drifting wide to the right. I also do not understand why Medina was not the player delivering corner kicks since he provides a much better ball than Tajouri-Shradi.

SUB – Valentin Castellanos – 4 

Valentin Castellanos has had some success playing as a center-forward for New York City FC this season, and he had over 30 minutes to play there this match. However, he contributed very little, only getting 11 touches in that span. A midfielder was taken off to bring Castellanos on and New York City FC lost further control over the match after the change.

SUB – Jonathan Lewis – 5

Jonathan Lewis did one thing that I have not seen a New York City FC player do all season: he received a through-ball played to him behind the defense. It would have gotten him into a position to make a pass into the box if he was not offside. Otherwise, Lewis did not help or hurt the team after coming on. He had as many touches as Castellanos despite coming on 13 minutes later, but the match seemed out-of-reach by then.