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Each week, myself, Matt Coyne, Tim Dean, Austin Fido, and you the fans will be able to rank the New York Red Bulls squad from best to worst. As you can see by the table below, the math for this is pretty simple. The four Once a Metro writers get a vote, and we add a fifth collective fan vote. We take a straight average of the votes, and rank the players accordingly. The Once a Metro staff also adds comments about each player, and I'll give some thoughts on how things shook out later in the article.
For the table, here's the initials you need to know:
- JI - Jason Iapicco
- TD - Tim dean
- MC - Matt Coyne
- AF - Austin Fido
Fan Vote from Week 8 can be found here.
Rankings
| Rank | Player | Change | JI | TD | MC | AF | Fans | Average | Comments |
| 1 | Luis Robles | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1.4 | AF - Still the busiest 'keeper in MLS. |
| 2 | Lloyd Sam | -1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2.4 | TD - Sam is looking more and more like one of the best wingers in the league. |
| 3 | Bradley Wright-Phillips | 10 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 3.4 | TD - It only took one week for BWP to go from goat to great. His partnership with Henry is looking sharp. |
| 4 | Thierry Henry | 0 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3.6 | MC - As we saw against Houston, Henry can still do it all, even on aging legs. |
| 5 | Jamison Olave | -2 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 5.4 | AF - I haven't thought this highly of a Colombian since Shakira was first brought to my attention. |
| 6 | Roy Miller | 0 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 5.6 | AF - If he hasn't won you over by now, he never will. Miller's contribution to RBNY's second goal against Houston was simply superb. |
| 7 | Eric Alexander | 0 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | MC - He was good on the right last year, iffy centrally this year, but in the games he's been deployed on the left, Alexander has shined. |
| 8 | Peguy Luyindula | -3 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 8.2 | MC - With the emergence of BWP up front, it's good Luyindula can play centrally. It'll be interesting to see where he ends up when Cahill comes back. |
| 9 | Kosuke Kimura | -1 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 9.6 | MC - Not to take anything away from Kimura, but is it fair to say Eckersley got "Wally Pipped" when he was playing THAT poorly? |
| 10 | Armando | 4 | 7 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 9.8 | JI - Armando filled in after Sekgaya got a red against the Philadelphia Union. He had two good games without any incidents. |
| 11 | Dax McCarty | -2 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | JI - Dax seems to be stuck in neutral. Hopefully he revs it up soon. |
| 12 | Ibrahim Sekagya | -2 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 16 | 13.2 | TD - Ibra is clearly Petkes #2 pick to partner with Olave at centerback. A lousy red card two weeks ago didn't do him any favors. |
| 12 | Johnny Steele | -2 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 13.2 | JI - A few weeks ago, if I told you Steele would be replaced by Alexander, I would've been called crazy. |
| 12 | Tim Cahill | 0 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 15 | 13 | 13.2 | TD - It's hard to put a number on Cahill's value, but as soon as he gets back in action, he'll be a valuable asset in the attack. |
| 15 | Ruben Bover | 1 | 15 | 15 | 18 | 14 | 7 | 13.8 | JI - Probably should've been given the goal against the Houston Dynamo, hopefully he'll get his first MLS goal soon. |
| 16 | Matt Miazga | 3 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 17 | 19 | 17 | JI - Miazga is suffering from the same problem as other young players on this squad, too much depth. |
| 17 | Bobby Convey | -2 | 19 | 17 | 15 | 18 | 18 | 17.4 | MC - We all thought ti'd be Convey vs. Steele to see who could lock down the left side of the field. It might be neither. |
| 17 | Connor Lade | 0 | 16 | 19 | 19 | 16 | 17 | 17.4 | AF - He's looking a lot like Mike Petke's third-favorite substitute at the moment (behind Steele and Bover). |
| 19 | Andre Akpan | 1 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 19 | 15 | 18.4 | AF - Out of sight, out of mind. Akpan hasn't done anything wrong this season, largely because he hasn't asked to do much of anything at all. |
| 20 | Richard Eckersley | -3 | 20 | 18 | 17 | 20 | 20 | 19 | TD - Who? |
Trends
Thoughts
- Biggest Jump: Bradley Wright-Phillips (+10)
- Biggest Drop: Peguy Luyindula & Richard Eckersley (-3)
- An obviously productive week from Wright-Phillips (4 goals) was enough to give him a huge boost among the fans (17 to 1), but the Once a Metro staff (myself included) wasn't as generous (average 11.5 to 4).
- Armando (+4) also got a nice bump this week after filling in for Sekgaya after his red card.
- Tim Cahill has held steady over the last three weeks despite his limited playing time due to injury.
- We all really want young players like Bover and Akpan to do well as their ranks have gone up despite lack of playing time.
- On the flip side, players like Convey & Eckersley are not wanted after their poor early season performances.
What do you think of how the staff voted? Think we were too harsh/lenient? Think the rankings are good or bad? Let us know in the comments.