Sounders v Portland, community player ratings

The last couple games, the Seattle Sounders have shown an amazing squad depth as players have come off the bench, made a huge impact, and received high scores from Sounder at Heart readers. This week readers chose Obafemi Martins as man of the match in the 2-0 victory Sunday over the Portland Timbers.

Readers gave Martins an 8.22 rating for his 40-minute, game-changing shift. Martins did not score a goal, but his passing and his relentless attacking played a part in both Sounders goals. Given how the side played before he entered the game and after, I believe it's possible the team may have not scored without him.

Marco Pappa earned the second highest rating from fans, at 7.75, with Clint Dempsey and Chad Marshall tying for third at 7.68. The central midfield tandem of Osvaldo Alonso and Gonzalo Pineda also finished above 7 in reader balloting.

Here's the full look at the community ratings for the game. Reader scores follow the player's name, followed by my ratings in parenthesis and then the difference between those two numbers in italics.

Player: Average Fan Rating (Author Rating) Difference

Stefan Frei 6.67 (6) +0.67

DeAndre Yedlin: 6.72 (7) -0.28

Chad Marshall: 7.68 (7) +0.68

Zach Scott: 6.91 (7) -0.09

Jalil Anibaba: 6.49 (6) +0.49

Ozzie Alonso: 7.21 (6) +1.21 I think it's fair to say that Sounder at Heart readers really appreciate what Ozzie brings on the field. His passing completion rate was again over 90 percent in this one and though he had fewer tackles than Pappa and fewer passes attempted than Pineda, readers seemed very pleased with his effort. Portland really had few legitimate chances through the middle, and it seems Ozzie and Marshall both got credit for that in the ratings.

Gonzalo Pineda: 7.16 (7) +0.16

Marco Pappa: 7.75 (8) -0.25

Lamar Neagle: 6.36 (7) -0.64 Given the seemingly endless controversy over Lamar's performances and ratings, I did a little digging through the statistics at whoscored.com. Lamar is averaging just 1.6 turnovers a game. He is being dispossessed 2.8 times a game. His pass completion percentage is 74 percent. By way of comparison, Pappa is averaging 1.4 turnovers a game, is dispossessed 2.6 times a game and is completing 80 percent of his passes. Martins is averaging 1.9 turnovers, is dispossessed 2.6 times a game and is averaging 74 percent passing. Point here is that despite what some perceive, Lamar's numbers compare fine to other Sounders in the wide midfield and attack.

Chad Barrett: 5.18 (5) +0.18

Clint Dempsey: 7.68 (8) -0.32

Subs

Obafemi Martins: (51st minute): 8.22 (9) -0.78 This is the highest rating for a substitute all season. I can see why most of you stopped short of the 9 I gave Oba in this one. There were a couple comments that Oba would have had to score a goal on one of his chances for you to give a 9. Still, this score completely reflects the reality of the game that Oba was the best player on the pitch in his 40-minute stint and raised the level of all of his teammates to the point a victory became obvious.

Michael Azira (87th minute): 5.64 (incomplete) ~

Dylan Remick (91st minute) 5.39 (incomplete) ~

The key to the 1-10 scale:

1. Horrible
2. Awful 
3. Poor
4. Flawed
5. Adequate
6. Good
7. Very good
8. Great
9. Superb
10. World Class