Power Rankings, 1-30 | Matchday 6
Stability at the top but damn, it's tough to sort out the big fat middle of this league
For my Sunday column I got to dive in a little bit on Colorado (who used their altitude to their great advantage in wearing out Charlotte) and Atlanta (who tried desperately to give NYCFC an unassailable lead, but alas, still managed to claw their way back to three full points).
• Atlanta start clicking, Colorado's proof of concept & more from Matchday 6
All the rest of the usual stuff is in there, including a veeerrry brief bit on what turned out to be Peter Vermes’ final game in charge of Sporting KC, after more than 15 years. I wrote longer on Vermes’ tenure here Monday morning when Tommy Scoops broke the news that he’d been let go:
• Peter Vermes: What is his Sporting Kansas City legacy?
For folks who are new or new-ish to the league, I really think you should read this one. Vermes is one of the handful of most important people in MLS history, and that’s not hyperbole.
And so I’m pretty proud of this column – Vermes deserved more than just a “coach fired” react, and it felt good coming off the bat1. I also want to shine a light on Wiebe’s frankly pretty emotional thread (he does that) on what Vermes meant for him, and his career as a journalist.
Ok, with those columns plugged, it’s time to dive in. Here was my Power Rankings vote for the week:
Inter Miami: Looked vulnerable defensively over the final half-hour, but won anyway. I don’t think there’s much debate over who the best team in the league is.
Philadelphia Union: Gave Miami hell. Probably should’ve taken a point.
Vancouver Whitecaps: Pitch a road shutout and you don’t drop, even if it’s against Toronto.
Columbus Crew: Unbeaten through six for the first time in club history. Please, for the love of god, make a signing.
San Diego: Yeah, this team’s not going away. Especially now that Chucky’s back.
Minnesota United: Did very well against the soft part of the schedule, which now toughens up a bit.
LAFC: Not great! They’ve now lost three of four heading into their ConcaChampions date with Messi & Friends. I still think they’ll be fine in the long run but they’re staring at a gigantic week.2
Charlotte FC: The results have been better than the performances, but the underlying numbers are starting to sound a warning siren.
Chicago Fire: Points dropped. No other way to look at it.
Nashville SC: Man I love the way this team is playing. Like the Fire, though, these were points dropped.3
Orlando City: Didn’t play well but got the road win anyway. I have a lot of belief in 1) this team’s attacking talent, and 2) Oscar Pareja’s ability to figure out their defensive issues. Though I still do want to see them get aggressive with a U22 center back signing.
Colorado Rapids: They’d played like ass for a month; this was their first really good game since their CCC loss to LAFC. Bet they start climbing.
Austin FC: They’re doing well absorbing pressure, and have started to become more dangerous on the counter. It’s a good formula.
Seattle Sounders: They’ll be fine in the long run, though obviously the Jesus Ferreira-as-a-false-9 thing has not been intuitive for this team.
FC Cincinnati: Didn’t play great, but their best players got them the win, and sometimes that’s what a team needs to start cooking. I remain a bit concerned overall, though.
St. Louis: I, uh, think this team’s got some attacking issues it needs to figure out.
RBNY: They’re clearly willing to suffer through some poor performances if it makes them more comfortable with the ball in the long run. I think this would be easier for the fanbase to endure if there was any hint a high-level DP was on the way.
FC Dallas: They’ve gotten a lot of gifts, man.
NYCFC: I still can’t get over the way Thiago Martins motherfucked Matt Freese a week after Freese repeatedly bailed out the backline in Columbus. Man. Feels like it does not bode well.
Atlanta United: I want to see Jay Fortune and Aleksey Miranchuk in the double pivot with Miguel Almiron at the 10, Saba on the right wing and (gulp) Xande Silva on the left. Let’s try it from the start.
Portland Timbers: Took care of business. Four of the next five are on the road, so let’s see.
RSL: Is this too high?
San Jose Earthquakes: The defense has really fallen apart the past few weeks (don’t let the final score fool you, the Quakes were up against it the entire second half). There’s a lot that Bruce Arena needs to fix.
LA Galaxy: Is this too high?
D.C. United: Remember two weeks ago when I said they’d start losing games now that the schedule’s toughened up? Yeah. Two games, two losses since then.
New England Revolution: Elite carry job from Carles Gil but I’m still looking for some kind of coordinated off-ball movement from this group.
Toronto FC: They’re a tough, tough watch right now.
Houston Dynamo: The personnel issues are tough. Every turnover is a 5-alarm fire.
CF Montreal: Put together their best performance of the season and deserved the point.
Sporting KC: Ok, so who’s going to be calling the shots here? Is Mike Burns – a guy Vermes hired – now in charge of finding Vermes’ replacement as head coach? And who’s in charge of hiring the new CSO?
Vermes was responsible for basically EVERYTHING at this club. It’s hard to imagine unwinding all of that and divvying up responsibilities will be a smooth, quick process.
I needed that. Really felt like I’d been slumping.
They’re also staring at a very manageable upcoming league scheudle.
This is why it’s so hard to do teams, like, 7-22 in the Power Rankings every week, and why I’m hesitant to drop teams that I just think are good (like LAFC) even in the midst of a bad run of results. Basically everybody in MLS drops points all the time, so when assessing a team I always have to ask myself “Was that bullshit? Or was that not bullshit?”
I don’t want to get too optimistic about the Union.
Before the season making the playoffs I would have seen as a good goal.
I enjoyed the Vermes column. Was it ultimately, as you guys pointed out on ETR many times over the last few years, Vermes the GM letting down Vermes the coach, or was there an element of the game passing him by? I always felt the problem was more personnel than tactics with SKC. I always felt he should have gotten a little more legit consideration for the USMNT.