The People's Ratings: Crew SC vs. Chicago Fire

Crew SC grabs their first point of the season and that puts the panel in a selectively generous mood. The defense pitched a shutout while the offense was stymied and that was reflected in the grades. The average rating ticked up to 6.06, but the offensive personnel was rated 6 or below. Gaston Sauro was the People's Man of the Match.

GK: Steve Clark (Rating: 6.48 Standard Deviation 1.25)
A bright spot as he came up with a few key stops when Chicago was able to carry some of the game in the second half.

RB: Harrison Afful (6.15/1.20)
Wasn't tested as much with David Accam out, but still put in a solid performance as Crew SC looked to exploit the right going forward.

RCB: Michael Parkhurst (6.22/1.25)
Solid and no frills play. Questions from the voters previously whether he was still a good fit after a few uneven performances, but his 2016 has been steady.

LCB: Gaston Sauro (7.22/1.19)
He snuffs out attacks as evidenced by his Opta chalkboards and has curbed some of his physicality that was earning him quite a few yellow cards last year. He's becoming an upper tier defender in MLS.

LB: Waylon Francis (5.88/1.21)
Crew SC looked to attack right, so Francis was left with less to do. Didn't have as many chances to make an impact.

CM: Wil Trapp (6.73/1.40)
Moved the ball well while providing vital interventions when Chicago did find some possession in the second half.

CM: Tony Tchani (6.19/1.50)
An improved performance over the Union game. The Fire gave more space to work, but much of his play was linking rather that attacking passes.

RW: Ethan Finlay (5.69/1.67)
The attack came down the right side, but Finlay wasn't effective. The Fire defense corralled him by taking away his ability to play into space behind the defense.

CAM: Federico Higuain (5.96/1.64)
Wasn't incisive with his passing. Was unable to get the ball into the box and was forced to play wide rather than into dangerous positions.

LW: Justin Meram (5.92/1.73)
His first start, but like his attacking peers, he really struggled to create anything positive. The Fire were playing aggressive defense and many of Crew SC's attacks fell well short.

ST: Kei Kamara (5.00/1.52)
The worst score on the team. As usual when Kamara is silent, it's that he didn't get the ball. He never really got much service in the box. He ended up seeing more of the ball in the mid third.

SUB 1: Cedrick Mabwati (6.00/1.52)
Had little over 15 minutes to make an impact, but wasn't able to create any truly magical moments as the Fire were well drilled in keeping players deep and centrally.

SUB 2: Emil Larsen (5.36/1.52)
Only on the field for less that five minutes plus stoppages. Very little time to connect with his teammates.

Coaching: Gregg Berhalter (5.31/1.74)
The voters point some of the blame at the coach. Crew SC wasn't really threatening against a well drilled and prepared Fire defense. He was slow to change up the players to try and get matchup advantages.

Officiating Crew (6.35/1.02)
Solid and well officiated. PRO is directing crews to be more aggressive at carding players, but the referee wasn't put in a spot to make that decision.