by Graham Tooke, @chelskitooke
Starting XI
Ousted 7.0
He claimed his 9th clean sheet of the season, but much of his success has to go to the defense in front of him who allowed their shot stopper to face only two shots on target. Despite not having to deal with too much he kept those in front of him in order all game long.
Beitashour 7.0
He pulled up very early in the match and it looked like Tim Parker would be replacing him at right back. But whatever the club doctor did worked, he stretched out the problem and managed to see out the entire match defending and attacking in equal measure.
Pa-Modou Kah can’t stop scoring, how he found himself at the back post is anyone’s guess
Kah 7.0
He was worryingly poor in the opening minutes looking miles off the pace. But then before you knew he was tapping in his 3rd goal of the season. Kekuta Manneh came in from the right and his shot turned cross met Kah wide open at the back post. From then on his confidence shone as he didn’t give up much to RSL passing tidily out of the back.
Waston 7.5
He didn’t give Sandoval or Garcia a sniff all night. The team is growing into the one of the best defenses in the league with a superb understanding of each other. He picked up another booking in the second half taking his season total to 9, they may have to make do without the big man more often in the final months of the season.
Harvey 8.0
Quality attacking endeavor down the left, seen by the dangerous cross that found Techera at the back post to tap in with Attinella stranded. He hadn’t had an assist all season but doubled his tally with the knock back for Techera’s long range blast.
Laba 7.5
Does he ever have a bad game? Mistakes are not something he’s familiar with, continuing to win the ball back whenever the opponent looks to be countering and sending his side back on the offensive. Slightly overshadowed by Koffie today, but only because his influence looks to have rubbed off on the Ghanaian enough so that he’s applying the same high intensity pressure in the middle.
Koffie 8.5
Carl Robinson felt Koffie had a terrible first half enough so that he had to let the Ghanianian know about it. However, his performance was one of the most complete in recent memory. Alongside Laba he keeps growing, as he helps out with a lot of the dirty work and has kept them ticking in midfield rarely giving up possession.
Techera with the perfect 10, he was mesmerizing all night
Techera 10.0
Simply outstanding. In the first half when the Whitecaps weren’t trying to bomb down the left through Manneh, the little Uruguayan was given his chance on the right and gave Mansally fits. He was on hand to finish off Harvey’s cross at the back post and soon after he sent a laser past Attinella from the edge of the box. On top of that he attempted to chip the keeper from an acute angle twice, clipping the bar on both occasions.
Mezquida 7.5
His technique is helping the ‘Caps to plenty of set pieces these days, he’s always able to nip in and touch the ball away from the defender before being clipped in dangerous areas. He’s not nearly the through ball master like Morales but he provides a perfect foil for the likes of our big men to join in on the attack. For now he’s keeping Morales out of the lineup.
Manneh 5.5
For the amount of the ball he saw, you’d think he’d be good for a solid rating but he continually ran at Justen Glad with little to no idea what he wanted to do. He made the young right back chase him all over the pitch, but rarely did he ever actually put in a decent ball for Rivero. He forgets he needs to go round the defender rather than through ending any hope of an opportunity. We’ve seen huge improvement over the last couple of months with his decision making but it wasn’t quite there tonight.
Rivero takes a well deserved break having worked his socks off in attack
Rivero 8.0
Another goal for Rivero, but another night where he can’t score from open play. He went down early on from what looked like an innocuous trip unfortunately for the Salt Lake defender. He stepped tucked it to the left for his 9th goal of the season. His work rate is excellent along with his ability to hold the ball up in the final third, a huge part in why Techera and Manneh have been lighting it up recently.
Substitutes
Morales 7.0 (63’)
Much neater on the ball than what we saw from him on Wednesday, although the pressure was off with the side already up by three.
Teibert 6.0 (69’)
Steady and reliable when you need to close out a game. Nothing impressive about Teibert these days I’m noticing, just comes in and helps keep the ball in his own half.
Mattocks 6.0 (76’)
He climbed highest to meet Morales’ free kick late on but headed over.
