CCSG Player Ratings: Matchday 20 @ HFX Wanderers
When someone shows you who they are, believe them. This is the attitude we need to have when watching this Atlético Ottawa team for the remainder of the season. The three goals against Pacific were, frankly, a mirage to mask this team’s inability, and perhaps unwillingness, to exist with any cohesive attacking identity. Particularly given the talent that clearly exists in the final third, no one can do anything with it. Passes are all over the place, players don’t make runs into space, or just dribble into it and instead just cross the ball in, hoping and praying for some wild ricochet to end up in the back of the net. Then you get moments of brilliance at the end where a player weighs a ball perfectly and it ends up in the goal, leaving you to wonder where any of this was for the last 90+ minutes. All of this ahead of a defence that has limited chances from the last two teams they’ve faced - which would be impressive until you look at their opponents with any scrutiny and notice they haven’t done anything of note this season to make that fact impressive. To expect this team to get results is a fool’s errand when they show the level that they have over the past 10 games. That’s not to say that they won’t get them in the run in, just that the expectations need to be adjusted to match the true nature of this team.
I’ll reiterate, when someone shows you who they are, believe them. I’m not one to step on the toes of the wonderful Ben Ralph and his coverage published in the Forward Press, but I would be remiss to not provide my own take on the comments made by Carlos González in the post-match press conference. In large part, I sympathize with his sentiment. The fact that this league continues to operate with Costa Smyrniotis, brother of Forge manager Bobby Smyrniotis and former Forge executive, as the arbiter of player acquisition is a conflict of interest that should send alarm bells ringing through every sane person’s head. Much like every other sporting association in this country, however, it’s an old boys club, and the idea of sharing the power clearly doesn’t appeal to the people in charge.
That said, there is no conspiracy about why the talent on display looks unmotivated and unable to play to their potential. These comments are nothing more than a last gasp by González to get the fans and his players back onside because what he has demonstrated tactically over the last two seasons has been an abject failure, not to mention his clear deficiencies as a man manager. What we thought was a recovery in mentality with the late equaliser and winner against Halifax and Forge respectively were just outliers, as the team continues to wilt in big moments, this week conceding a goal to drop points against Halifax after Sam Salter scored in injury time. Coincidentally, this very same thing happened in the second away game against Halifax last season, only this time we still limped away with a point. Carlos González will remain as manager until the end of the season, to this roster’s detriment, because Atlético Madrid have left this team without the necessary leadership at the top to make the decision that needs to be made. Any success that this team enjoys in the final few months of the CPL season will be in spite of the manager, not because of him.
#19 Rubén Del Campo
(6.5): Let’s start with the good. The pass to play in Sam Salter for the goal was picture perfect. Weighted brilliantly, timed perfectly, and without hesitation to take advantage of a Wanderers mistake. Otherwise, though, Del Campo wasn’t himself, the biggest example of this being his 2-for-12 success rate on duels in this match. Add that to the fact that he didn’t complete a successful dribble despite having four attempts, and you can kind of see why the attack hasn’t been flourishing. The caveat that those dribbles occurred often when he was left to his own devices against multiple Halifax defenders should be noted, but it still doesn’t look good. I ultimately agree with his decision to try and chip Yann Fillion when he was through one on one in the second half, he just didn’t quite get the execution right. Ultimately, though, we’re past the point of the season where process can be preferred to results. The last few weeks have eliminated that luxury from the toolshed, and the goal contribution at the end of this game shows that Rubén is still able to get us those results, even if there really should’ve been more.
#11 Gabriel Antinoro
(5.5): Speaking of execution being paramount, Gabi Antinoro is not meeting that threshold, and hasn’t been for a while. Energy can only justify a place in this team for so long if the energy isn’t generating positive outcomes on the pitch. You certainly still notice when Gabi is on the pitch, fighting against his opposite number and trying to win the ball back in the opponent’s defensive third. Early on, it looked like he’d have that impact, but a number of misplaced passes and baffling decisions to shoot on the edge of the area, completely off balance with the ball taking a weird bounce, rather than try and work towards a feasible opportunity, made that dream fade like pipe smoke. With Sam Salter being so effective in that position recently, I’m not sure that Gabi continuing to feature in this role as anything more than a rotation piece would be conducive to success. Hopefully he can get back to the peak we’ve seen him reach at various times over the last two years, but right now, it’s not looking good.
#21 Alberto Zapater
(6.3): If Alberto Zapater is only winning two of 13 duels, it’s clear something has gone wrong. Perhaps playing a midfield two against a midfield three will lead to being overwhelmed in the middle of the park, but that doesn’t explain such a drastic drop in performance given he’s won more than half of his duels over the course of the season. While he did manage a number of defensive actions in spite of this, the control that ATO lacked in the midfield helped contribute to why this team looked anemic throughout this match. With a couple of key passes, generated as a result of successful pressing late in the second half, there’s some good to take from Alberto’s performance, but it’s not to the level we’d like to see from him. I’m saying that a lot for a lot of players on this team, and it’s tiring.
#34 Manny Aparicio
(5.8): Leaving Glebe Central Pub, I had a million things to say about Manny Aparicio, none of them good. I’ll leave most of that behind and just come back to the general thesis of this particular week. Manny has shown us the player he is all season, a relentless pursuer of the ball who looks to generate turnovers wherever he can on the pitch and someone who will go all out regardless of success or failure. Today, unfortunately, his style of play reared its ugly head, with a late foul on an unthreatening Andre Rampersad leading to the first penalty Atlético Ottawa have conceded in the CPL this season. In the moment, it blew my mind that a player would lunge in that way despite having another 5 bodies between the ball and the goal as well as the attacker taking a touch away from goal. Now, I realize that’s just what Manny does. For all the good the aggression provides in the attacking third, generating turnovers and disrupting teams as they look to build from the back, you’re going to end up with these things happening just as often. We’ve avoided it until now, which helps to speak to our success, but between that foul, the yellow card, and the mediocre statistical results from this game, it may be that time of year where Aparicio’s impact just isn’t as present as it once was.
#10 Ollie Bassett
(6): 13 passes might be the single lowest total Ollie Bassett has had in a start for Atlético Ottawa. He was far more isolated out on the right than he ever had been in previous setups, and as a result, he looked totally out of place. Even in being frustrated at his recent performances, Ollie has never appeared this disconnected from the game itself. He may not be able to connect with his teammates, but he still manages to get on the ball and try to impact the rest of the game. No one moment captures this more than just before his substitution, when Dani Morer dribbled past three Halifax defenders and Ollie was in acres of space to receive a pass to his right, except rather than continuing his run, he just stopped and the ball that was played for him rolled harmlessly into touch for a goal kick. The only real opportunities Ollie had to do that in this game was on set pieces, where he was predictably poor, the free kick that he sailed from a dangerous angle sticking out in my mind. His substitution for Ballou Tabla had a positive effect on the game, and I’m not sure what really to expect from Ollie in the final 8 games of this season.
#9 Samuel Salter
(7): It’s staggering how much better this team looks with Sam Salter on the left wing. Sure, he isn’t perfect, as he made a couple of baffling decisions not to put Matteo de Brienne through on goal at the edge of the penalty area, but the team looks like it can build the ball forward when he’s in attack, and seems confounded at the idea of progressing the ball in open play when he isn’t. His reward in this game was his fifth goal of the season, what everyone thought to be the winner before the usual Atlético Ottawa shenanigans kicked in. The finish itself was nothing special, but speaks to the value of being able to put a shot on target, something Atlético Ottawa only managed to do two other times in the match. Given the result against Pacific, and that he’s managed to find his shooting boots again, I don’t see how Salter doesn’t start against Vancouver on the 31st, he’s what’s making this team tick right now.
#13 Ballou Tabla
(NR): Left on the bench for the second consecutive game, Ballou Tabla only managed a 15-minute cameo in this match. With only three passes attempted, a lost duel, and an unsuccessful dribble to his name, there’s not much to say about what he provided to this team. The contest against Wes Timoteo looked like it was going to lead to something, but it ended up just being a couple of passes around the penalty area before ending up with nothing. Calling Ballou’s future uncertain, at this stage, is a wild understatement.
#22 Matteo de Brienne
(6.6): As was the case for seemingly everyone on the pitch for Atlético Ottawa, Matteo lost six of the eight duels he contested in this match. However, his four interceptions certainly made up for that defensively. The high number of interceptions he has managed to accrue can certainly be attributed to his incredible athleticism, and his nose for the ball, which has come good a number of times this season. Going forward, he was able to draw a yellow card out of Yann Fillion by capitalizing on a mishandled pass from the keeper, but otherwise wasn’t terribly involved in the attack. One would hope that the new tactical approach taken would allow Matteo a bit more freedom to go forward, but that has yet to materialize in anything concrete in the last 180 minutes.
#96 Ilias Iliadis
(6.9): Another effective game as a centre back for Ilias Iliadis makes it all the more curious as to how Jesús Del Amo will be integrated into the team once his signing is made official. Before I get to the positives, one area I was rather disappointed in from Iliadis was his passing. The long balls he was deploying felt incredibly desperate, emblematic of a team without ideas as to how to build play forward. This ended up with Iliadis having a 75% pass accuracy on the day, and it truly seemed like it. That said, his defensive work was extremely effective in comparison. He was one of the few members of the starting XI to win a majority of his duels, had as many interceptions as de Brienne, and won all three of the tackles he made. That he has grown so quickly into this role that he really never played before is remarkable to me. Does Del Amo’s presence shift him into the midfield, or out to left back to give more options to Carlos González so de Brienne isn’t run ragged?
#55 Amer Didic
(6.9): Getting a yellow card for being told to go on the pitch by the fourth official, without the permission of the lead official, must be near the top of frustrating things to have happen to you on a football pitch. Five of six duels won, a couple of interceptions, a clearance, and no fouls committed is a pretty substantial statistical haul for a central defender that didn’t really see much challenge from the Halifax attack. It was unfortunate that Yann Fillion was able to get down and make a good save on his towering header from a Dani Morer free kick, as Didic’s presence on set pieces is what has allowed this team to be so successful in those moments. His ability as a safety net at the back is exactly what is needed when playing with three central defenders, but I can’t help but feel his presence makes our attackers feel content playing the ball back when there are opportunities to play more progressively. None of this is Amer’s fault, to be fair, but it is reality.
#4 Tyr Walker
(6.8): It feels so good to have a consistent contributor also be adding towards the u21 minute threshold. With the 2000-minute mark nearing completion, Tyr’s place in the starting XI looks written in pen, as long as he maintains where he’s been since being thrust alongside Amer Didic. It must be said, Massimo Ferrin got the better of Tyr in the lead up to the penalty. Had Tyr been able to stand his ground, as he had done a couple of times earlier in the second half, we’d all be a lot happier in this moment. Those are the growing pains of having a young centre back in that position. On the balance of play, he was solid once again, only really having issues with the long balls over the top that found Ferrin and Wes Timoteo earlier in the second half, whose chance was sent skyward over the Atlético Ottawa goal. The 73% pass accuracy number certainly needs to improve, but with the duels he won, five of seven, and the progression he made with the ball, be it dribbling or completing half of his long balls, there is development happening in an area I thought was his biggest weakness. This time is going to be crucial for Tyr’s development, especially because each game is going to carry so much more weight than the next in this vital stretch run.
#8 Dani Morer
(6.5): I could rewatch the nutmeg Dani Morer had in this game on repeat. It opened up that sequence when he was surrounded by three Halifax defenders and could’ve really generated something if Ollie Bassett had followed through on his run. As for the rest of the game, he wasn’t involved as I would have hoped, with a number of situations where he was open along the right wing and the ball was not switched to him. As such, he only had 17 attempted passes, and 33 touches, which feels low for a player with his technical ability, even as a right wing back. Morer also only managed to go one of seven on ground duels, which does contribute a bit to the narrative that he can’t quite engage at the same physical level as his opposite numbers. The amount of grabbing he has to do to keep players tight to him is frustrating as it ends up allowing the opposing team to regain control of the game, with Halifax winning four free kicks in this game as a result of this.
#33 Abou Sissoko
(NR): In 15 minutes on the pitch, Abou Sissoko only had 9 total actions, five touches and four pass attempts. To try and offer any opinion on his involvement in the game feels moot, but his entry into the game being at right wing back does raise a question or two. Particularly, is Zach Roy now just a pure winger? He’s clearly not being trusted with the defensive responsibility we assumed he would be fulfilling at some point. Second, is taking Sissoko out of the midfield something we can afford in the long term? Iliadis might be able to step in if the rotation requires it, and if Twardek’s tiny injury is actually something bigger, but is that what’s best for this team?
#29 Nathan Ingham
(6.6): Nathan Ingham only had one shot on target to deal with, unfortunately for him, it was a penalty. Not only was it a penalty, but it was impossible to save, as Dan Nimick struck low, with power, into the side netting. Had it not come off his boot cleanly, Ingham’s dive had him in with a chance to make the save, but it wasn’t to be. The lack of action in front of his goal was an indicator of a good defensive performance, and as such, makes it impossible to really judge him on anything. Aside from that one attempt to claim the ball that kind of ricocheted off his hands when he should’ve controlled it. The ball fell to Iliadis so in the end it doesn’t really matter.
We have been shown the real Atlético Ottawa, it’s not the first nine games of this season, it’s not even the successes we’ve enjoyed since then. It is instead a malaise of talent unable to operate within a system that stifles creativity while attempting to promote it. Carlos González wants to have his cake and eat it too, and yet, everything we’ve seen suggests he’s forgotten, or never learned, how to combine the ingredients to make a remotely edible dessert. My general pessimism about the performance of my sports teams has served me well over the years to not get too disappointed, and yet this team let me have hope. None of this is about what happened in the three minutes between Sam Salter’s goal and the final whistle, it’s about the 91+ minutes that happened before. I spoke a fair bit at the beginning of the season about not being jaded by victory, and appreciating the results when they happen, regardless of how they happen. These last couple of months are exactly why I felt that way then. More often than not sports will disappoint you, especially when you put in the time, effort, and money than many of us do to lend these men our support. But what keeps us coming back isn’t the comfort of others in sorrow, it’s the whiplash towards joy that you feel when you finally reach the mountaintop. We did it once in the face of all logic and reason, why not do it again?
About Patrick
Having joined CCSG in 2022, Patrick started his footie career playing at the age of 4 and began watching the pros around the same time. While the first pro team he supported was Manchester United, as soon as Atlético Ottawa came to town, he was immediately on board. His wealth of footy knowledge has been a constant asset, along with his role as caretaker for Atléti Wikipedia pages.
