Charlotte FC Stock Up, Stock Down: Agyemang scores, Privett stands out, Dejaegere shines

By Sam Vanolinda

Patrick Agyemang celebrates his goal against Nashville SC (Photo courtesy of CJ Hellner/TopBin90)

After a surprising midweek departure by Designated Player Enzo Copetti, days after he had scored his first goal of the season against Portland, Patrick Agyemang was suddenly the lone striker in the team.

Agyemang took advantage of his opportunity this past weekend and slotted home the game-winning goal.

“I've always come in here wanting to prove that I'm good enough to play,” Agyemang said post-match, “I don’t really feel pressure, I just come in here and play my game, as long as I play my game I know I’ll get chances...”

Agyemang scored the lone goal in an intense game on Saturday night, a perfect striker’s finish into the side netting, blasting the ball into a spot that even Gianluigi Buffon in the ‘06 World Cup couldn't reach.

His stock is on the rise after a great showing, with two shots, one goal, and 5/5 successful dribbles.

Here’s the rest of the players whose stock rose or fell on Saturday:

Stock up

Andrew Privett

Privett had a great game, culminating in two straight clean sheets and double the wine for the Charlotte defenders.

He was 83% on passing, with eight into the final third, was 3/3 on tackles won, and 4/4 on ground duels won.

The defense is starting to build momentum since Adilson Malanda has returned from injury, which is key to this team’s success. 6 points and two clean sheets in two games at home is the perfect momentum builder.

Brecht Dejaegere

Dejaegere has yet to succeed at the 10 position, but he may be a better option at the wing.

He had a bounce-back game on Saturday. He is still a player with great ability, he needs to be in the right situation.

He had two shots, one chance created, was 2/2 on dribbles, and was overall a solid player for the team.

As we wait for Abadas's return, hopefully, Dejaegere will continue to produce on the right wing, trying to create chances for Kerwin Vargas and Agyemang.

Stock down

Brandt Bronico

Brandt Bronico was put into the 10 position for this game. Many questioned this decision after Nikola Petković’s MOTM performance last week.

Head Coach Dean Smith said Bronico started for tactical reasons because he wanted a more flat midfield against Nashville.

Even though technically that strategy worked and Charlotte won the game, I still think Petković needs to start there after all the momentum he had picked up against Portland. They sacrificed almost all of their chance-creating ability to stop Hany Mukhtar and co.

I would expect Petković to start in the midweek game versus Chicago.

Bronico was just not effective in that midfield position on Saturday – only 26 total passes, of which he only completed 73%, committed three fouls, and had only 31 total touches in what should be the most touch-heavy position in the team.

Hopefully, Petković does not lose his flow now that he was benched after dominating in the previous game.

Away form

Charlotte leads the East in home points with 16, which is incredible.

Home performance should be most important because it is in front of the fans, but only one point on the road this season is alarming.

To make a playoff run, the team needs to start winning road games.

If the season only counted home points, Charlotte would be the number one seed in the conference— if you flipped it and only away points counted, they would be 26th in the league.

Smith said post-match that it is “a mentality shift that we have to make,” to start picking up points on the road— the team has a chance to show that shift on Wednesday.

Summary

It's a very positive note that I've only had to include a couple of stock-downs in the past two games.

The team wasn’t beautiful to watch Saturday night, but playing attractive soccer doesn’t always mean winning.

This is the type of game Charlotte would lose last season, Smith has the team organized and disciplined this season, and even in not-so-pretty games, the team can still get three points.

That is why I think they will end up in the top six this year– a great team does not need to play amazingly offensively to win.

On Wednesday, they will look for three more points at Soldier Field in the Windy City.