r/SanAntonioFC

Yikes. The season is in complete free fall. The tactics are stale and predictable, injuries are stacking up, and to make it worse, the players looked disinterested last night. Low energy all over the field, as if this was just a preseason friendly. We don't deserve the postseason if we're able to sneak in.

Joey Batrouni- 7.5

Joey is probably one of the few guys who can hold his head high for this season. We've been asking him to stand on his head, and he did again last night. He made 6 saves to keep us in the game for as long as possible.

Alex Crognale- 6.5

We continue to ask a lot from our backline and GK because of how poor our midfield is. Alex did a lot of things really well, but we're asking him to do too much. When you allow teams to waltz into our attacking third the way we do, there are bound to be some gaps. His passing was solid, but with no midfield and an anemic attack, it doesn't really matter.

Tiago Suarez- 7

I thought Suarez was good again. He put out a ton of fires that probably kept this thing from being 2-0 at HT. You can tell he's still a young player, though, because he occasionally gets out of position, which is what happened on their goal. He was trying to help out that midfield and Vegas was able to play right down the middle without him there. Seemed like he assumed someone would cover, and that didn't happen.

Mitch Taintor- 7

Mitch continues to anchor our backline from that LCB spot. He is the only player we have capable of picking out a pass; meanwhile, he's having to lock down an entire flank by himself because his wingback is often nonexistent. I have a feeling the Taintor Era in San Antonio is coming to an end, and if it does, it sucks that we've let him down like this. He was slightly culpable for their goal, but only because he had to dive inside because our midfield just refuses to track anything or be alert on either side of the ball. Ideally, he wins that initial ball, but it's hard to be too angry about it. He looks exhausted as he's had to play every single minute possible.

Akeem O'Connor-Ward - 5.5

Not Akeem's best game. Part of the issue is we're asking too much of him in terms of having to drop back defensively and push forward. Like Mitch, he's been asked to play way more than he should, but his position is even more physically demanding. Akeem looks real leggy. You can see the effort is there, but it felt like he was running in sand at times last night.

Mikey Maldonado- 7.5

Mikey has been forced to carry the burden of creativity with Jorge out. He created a whopping 7 chances, including 3 big ones last night. I have lots anger about the midfield, but that shouldn't take away from Mikey basically Jon Snowing his way through these games as a one-man midfield all season. It is irresponsible that we put him in this position, and I'm not really sure who deserves blame, but it isn't him. He's doing what he can, but you can see the physical wall he hits in the 2nd half. He had an xA last night of 1.17 and, shockingly, we can't find anyone to put the ball in the back of the net consistently to help him out.

Lucio Berron- 4.5

Berron's limitations are well documented, so I won't keep harping on them, but it is a shame we keep running him out there knowing how it will work. Playing a two-man midfield with one of them being terrified of the ball completely unbalances the entire team because we have to drop an attacker in to help them. It's been a tactical issue all season, and we just refuse to fix it and keep playing him.

Emil Cuello- 3

Whoof. We're playing him at LWB, but he is consistently out of position; he doesn't create chances, he rarely gets free in the opposition box, he offers very little support in the midfield, and he hardly gets on the ball at all. He does occasionally put defenses on their heels with some dribbles, but he rarely makes the right decision when he does. He's basically playing as a LW but offers next to nothing. I'd rather just play another outright attacker if we're going to do that. He has also looked increasingly disinterested as the losses pile up. He was moved into the midfield to close the game and still managed to do very little, though I do think that is closer to where he should be playing, if at all.

Nicky Hernandez- 5

Nicky lasted just 25 minutes before having to come off for an injury. In those 25 minutes, he didn't have a chance to do much. He was playing in that advanced role. As I'm sure you can tell, I am very frustrated, but I am trying to be fair to decision-makers because there is no doubt these injuries have had an impact. Losing Nicky early hurt, but it still shouldn't have been as debilitating as it ended up being.

Christian Sorto- 4

Sorto got the start at CF but then shifted over to the left when Nicky came out, and Ricol came on. He did almost nothing in his 45 minutes. He did get on the ball more, but it wasn't really impactful. Most of his passes were backwards and unthreatening. He was unable to get a shot off either.

Cristian Parano- 5

Parano's effectiveness has dipped since teams have started making him receive the ball from deeper positions. It's even less effective when he has ineffective attackers around him and a midfield that is overwhelmed behind him. He has to drop deep because we need the extra body. Jorge had been doing that when he was healthy, but now it falls to Parano. The rating is probably harsh because I don't think he did anything bad; it's just not effective.

Lilian Ricol- 3.5

Ricol had me excited when we signed him, just because I thought he had to be an improvement. He has at least looked fit, but the production has not been an improvement. At this point, I think we have enough evidence to say that the tactics are the problem. Everyone we play at CF has the same problem. Ricol should have scored in the 79th, and that is the only chance he was able to get on the end of in 65 minutes. Not good.

Luis Paredes- N/A

Paredes came on at HT for Sorto. In true SAFC fashion, he was forced off just 7 minutes later with another injury. Not fair to rate him off that, but it is fair to question the people building the squad that someone coming off a serious knee injury became crucial to our team in just a few weeks' time.

Luke Haakenson- 5

Luke came on in the 53rd for Paredes. He played off the left-hand side and was hardly noticeable. He hustles but just isn't an effective attacker. It is unfortunate that we've had to play him as much as we've had to this season.

Nelson Flores-Blanco - 4

Nelson came on for Berron in the 70th. He mostly played as a true LW. He did create a chance off a dead ball but did nothing else. Shame he came on in that situation because I think he probably should be starting at LWB.

Diogo Pacheco- 4

Pacheco came on for Parano in the 70th minute. As has been a theme among our attackers, he did very little. No spark of creativity because that isn't his game. He played underneath Ricol and tried to replicate Parano, but he doesn't have that skill set either.

Takeaways

This is bad. I am going to hold off to see how the season ends before I say something I end up regretting. What I will say is this team looks broken right now. The last few weeks have seen some good performances against good teams, but the inability to score means they've ended as draws rather than wins. Last night was a clunker (that has become a consistent theme of the Llamosa/Ferruzzi Era).

We look tired and defeated, and we look like we're out of ideas tactically. Not making the playoffs is fully on the table at this point. Meanwhile, the team is also falling apart physically with all the injuries. Llamosa is either going to have to show some flexibility in tactics/formation, or we're going to need to start playing some Academy kids.

We have just 3 games left to salvage something positive out of this season.