Phillip tops our grades in a losing cause as reference ratings inflate Colorado

Donavan Phillip did not end up on the winning side, yet our index makes him the best player on the pitch: a 7.8 Pred1x Grade, clear of João Klauss's 7.3 and above his own reference rating of 7.4. In a 3-2 defeat, the Colorado striker's per-90 production outweighed everything LA Galaxy produced.

That is where we part company with the reference rating. Aaronson is one of three Colorado players we discount by 1.9 points — Miguel Navarro (5.5 vs 7.4) and Morgan Whittaker (5.4 vs 7.3) join him — while Galaxy's Justin Haak, an 8.1 in the reference book, sits at 6.4 for us. Erik Thommy's 7.5 reference mark also cools to 6.3.

The winners' grades cluster instead: Klauss at 7.3, Jakob Glesnes 6.9, and little else above 6.4. Our position-weighted, per-90 index rewards Phillip's output over the result; the reference, in our view, overpaid a beaten midfield.