Backpass: 2022 Player Reviews, Defensive Midfielders
Defensive midfielders are a critical position for any team. Colorado's d-mids were ... less than spectacular in 2022.
With the Rapids playing in some kind of formation with three central midfielders most of the year, the deepest of the central three was always serving in the critical roll of defending, harassing, or cutting lines, while also serving as a point of passing and a late arriving attack option for the team. Colorado never truly used a twin pivot of two d-mids, although fbref.com somewhat officially lists the Rapids formation as a 4-2-3-1 on eight occasions, mostly at season’s end. To my mind, Colorado used a lone d-mid in 2022, and it might have been the weakest position on the field for them.
Bryan Acosta
2084 minutes, 0 goals, 2 assists
Best Game - It’s hard to pick one, since Acosta was such a role player that he kind of blends into the background a lot. Sometimes his key role was in passing, sometimes set pieces, and sometimes defending. But I’ll pick his game March 18 against Sporting Kansas City1 . Bryan had a season-high 61 completed passes in 69 attempts for an 88.4 percent complete rate; 3 Key Passes, 11 Passes into the Final Third, and a near-season-high total passing yardage of 1242 yards. He was 10 of 12 on long passes, or passes longer than 30 yards.
Honorable Mention - Acosta had 6 Key Passes and an assist against Austin FC on July 4.
Worst Game-
Acosta’s highs are never that high, and his lows are never that low. He had a pretty dismal game against NYCFC on June 19, though. Zero tackles, 1 interception, zero blocks, a season-low 31 touches in 90 minutes, 0.0 xG, 0.0 xA, and a horrific 9/24 on passing: 37.5% pass completion, and zero progressive passes. It’s like he had the yips.
American Soccer Analysis G+ stats (Above Average, average being 0.0)-
Dribbling: -0.27 Fouling: -0.43 Interrupting: -0.26
Passing: 0.00 Receiving: -0.59 Shooting: -0.40
Total G+: -1.92
fbref -
Listen, my barometer for defensive midfielders is extraordinarily high, because it is my ‘one ring to rule them all / if all you have is a hammer’ theory of soccer.
Have a great d-mid (or two, in a defensive catenaccio-style 4-2-3-1 formation).
…
Profit
I want my d-mid to launch precision missile strikes like vintage Andrea Pirlo; to rove and destroy like in-his-prime Jermaine Jones; to clear headed balls like Maroune Fellani; to be fucking unstoppable like Ngolo Kante. I’ll take even an above-average-but-not-elite facsimile of any one of those beautiful bastards. Alexander Ring. Dax McCarty. Hell, even Junior Urso or Brandt Bronico.
Bryan Acosta is none of these. When filling in for an injured Jack Price, he didn’t pass as well as Price. When replacing the departed Kellyn Acosta, he didn’t tackle or connect like Acosta. He doesn’t rove and destroy like vintage Sam Cronin or clog lanes like Collen Warner. Hell, he doesn’t even charge the lane like Lucas Pittinari; and Pittinari sucked. That’s all anecdotal and based on what I saw.
You want numbers? Fine. Bryan Acosta had the fifth-worst G+ for any d-mid in MLS.
Wil Trapp and Uri Rosell and Franco Ibarra and Artur and Brandt Bronico were all statistically better than him, and I wouldn’t call any of those guys ‘good.’
Acosta’s fine if you don’t need him to be a midfield creator. And he’s fine if you pair him with a defensive stalwart. He’s fine for a below-average mid on a mid-table team.But if you put him on the field and expect him to *be the guy*, either the creator or the stopper, he can’t do it.
He can be productive, I think, in a good year with a different role and a different tactical setup. Case in point, he’s the key man for the Honduras National team, and they’re a very tough squad to play. But Fraser’s not getting that out of him. Or maybe he’s not giving that to the setup Fraser has created.
Grade: D
Felipe Gutiérrez
887 minutes, 0 goals, 2 assists
Best Game - On September 10 against Vancouver Whitecaps, Gutiérrez produced 0.4 xA (season high), 7 Progressive Passes (season high), an assist, 3 Tackles, 2 Interceptions, and a Block. Colorado won 3-1. His assist was pretty sweet too - deceptively difficulty ball to dish after a quick pass.
Worst Game - On October 1 against FC Dallas, Gutiérrez was somewhat less involved than usual; 1 Tackle, 0 Interceptions, 0 Blocks, only 2 Progressive Passes. But also a season-high 5 Shot Creating Actions and a pretty normal 53 Touches and 76.5 pct Passing. Gutiérrez’ highs are never that high, and his lows are never that low. Very tidy and consistent.
American Soccer Analysis G+ stats (Above Average, average being 0.0)-
Dribbling: -0.40 Fouling: -0.02 Interrupting: +0.84
Passing: +0.36 Receiving: +0.13 Shooting: +0.01
Total G+: +0.92
fbref stats-
The Rapids, had started 2022 year thinking Kellyn Acosta would be in midfield with Jack Price and Mark-Anthony Kaye. This was the plan. It was a good plan.
Then a botched contract extension talk scuttled the negotiations, and Colorado were forced to sell Acosta to LAFC, where, a few weeks ago, he won MLS Cup.
So instead, Colorado started 2022 with a midfield of Bryan Acosta, Mark-Anthony Kaye, and Jack Price. That seemed like a good plan.
But in reality, Jack Price was hobbled by injuries, getting only 1110 minutes. Meaning as the first phase of the season unfolded, the midfield was sometimes Bryan Acosta, Kaye, and 34-year-old journeyman Collen Warner. Not the plan!
With the team sitting 5-4-8 (WTL) on July 8, Pádraig Smith made a move to add youth, cash, and an international slot, selling Mark-Anthony Kaye to Toronto FC for all those things; youth in this case taking the form of Ralph Priso. So now the midfield had just Bryan Acosta and Collen Warner, and the young Priso. To accommodate, for the next three games, manager Robin Fraser dropped striker Diego Rubio into midfield. The Rapids beat LA Galaxy, lost to Seattle Sounders, and beat NYRB. Colorado still looked like a viable playoff team, albeit a weak one. But there was going to be a need to add some midfield depth.
And thus, the Colorado Rapids acquired Felipe Gutiérrez on August 4 from Universidad Católica in Chile. He’d been a regular starter with Cátolica, getting 3 goals and 1 assist in 943 minutes. He knew MLS. This was a good idea. Kaye-K.Acosta-Price and Rubio-B.Acosta-Gutiérrez make for a radically different Rapids team. They created a radically different look for this team, and I honestly was never convinced that it worked. Defensively, the Rapids midfield with Gutiérrez in it was kind of slow centrally, and not all that impressive. Offensively, everything seemed to come on long passes down the wings or big diagonal balls, both of which bypassed the midfield.
Gutiérrez was solid. He was a stabilizing influence. His advanced metrics demonstrate that he was really great at making things happen in the final third, what with xAG per 90 of 0.20 putting him in the 92nd percentile by his position, and his 5.70 Progressive Passes per 90 also sitting in the 92nd percentile. Good addition, although it was certainly too little, too late, if we’re looking at the mid-season transfer window as the last chance to form the team that will carry you to the playoffs.
Gutiérrez is good enough to be a role player or sub for most teams in MLS. The bummer for Rapids fans is that Colorado started him in 10 of 12 matches after he was acquired, which only goes to show that the Rapids were not constructed to contend seriously down the stretch in the MLS Western Conference.
Grade: B
Collen Warner
742 minutes, 1 goal, 0 assists
Best Game - This one is in full disregard of specific stats or overall performance on the day. This is pure ‘rare moment in the sun for a d-mid’ territory. Warner had a goal in the Rapids wild 5-4 road win over NYRB on August 2. It was one of only 6 career goals he’s had in a 12 year MLS career.
Worst Game - Against San Jose on May 7, the Rapids started Mark-Anthony Kaye, Bryan Acosta, and Warner in midfield. Warner was pretty uninvolved: he had the second-fewest tackles on the team that day, with 1, and the second-fewest touches on the day with 22. With 0 interceptions, 1 Block, 0 Shot Creating Actions, and 0 Dribbles, Warner just didn’t do much. He was replaced in the 51st minute by Gustavo Vallecilla. The Rapids would go on to lose this match 1-0.
American Soccer Analysis G+ stats (Above Average, average being 0.0)-
Dribbling: -0.05 Fouling: -0.07 Interrupting: +0.21
Passing: -0.31 Receiving: -0.08 Shooting: -0.06
Total G+: -0.23
fbref stats-
At some point during the 2021 year in review podcasting, I definitely mentioned that Collen Warner was better than I expected, but also not really that great, and that I don’t want to see him back with the Rapids in 2022. Well, he was back in 2022.
Warner’s lack of open field speed is his biggest liability. On the other hand, for a dude that stands 5 foot 10, he is remarkably good at winning aerial duels (1.69 per 90, in the 88th percentile.) Defensively, he’s effective as a final third defender or a low-block, stay-at-home backline shield.
His fatal flaw with the Rapids is - he will not come downfield into the attack. That one goal up above is a massive exception. Look at the fbref graph, and you’ll see he was in the 1st percentile for Progressive Passes Received with 0.28 - he just does not follow the attack and get into open space. He stays back - more than any other player at his position in MLS. As a result, he’s in just the 20th percentile for Shot Creating Actions. Whatever other numbers you see above that are offensive in nature, that’s the one that matters most.2
To my mind, for a player to be worth their minutes if we know they aren’t great in attack, they have to really provide something in defense. Warner has been pretty good - 64th percentile in Tackles and a +0.21 in Interrupting G+. He’d been a fine option for a Rapids team that didn’t have a younger, developing defensive midfielder that might grow into the job. The Rapids did not have Ollie Larraz in 2022 due to a broken leg, but in 2023, every minute Warner will get comes at the expense of the development of either Larraz, or Anthony Markanich, a young and interesting d-mid/fullback.
So for the second year in a row, Warner was just fine in limited relief at his position. But I really wish the Rapids had a better option in a pinch, because Warner isn’t good enough any more, even in relief, for a playoff-caliber club.
Grade: C-
The one that ended in the red-card-o-rama for fouls by Daniel Salloi, Lucas Esteves, and Andreú Fontas.
His Non-penalty xG is a ridiculously high 0.18, putting him the 96th percentile. But that’s per 90, and that means that the one time he got down field and scored a goal, he exploited the small sample size