By history 
Alright folks, let me walk you through how I actually put together that player ratings piece after watching the Astana vs Chelsea preseason clash yesterday. Wasn’t planning on writing anything, to be honest, but some performances just demanded it.
Started with kicking back on the couch with my laptop open around 10 PM local time. Tuned into the live stream – quality was kinda potato honestly, but you make do. Grabbed my trusty old notebook and a pen that barely worked. Decided early I wouldn’t try scoring every single player, just focus on the standouts and major flops.
First half crawled by. Wrote down key moments like clockwork:
“Min 13 – Jackson scary run, final ball meh”
“Min 28 – Disasi defensive header, solid”
“Min 38 – Kepa shaky distribution again??”
Kept it simple, no fancy shorthand.
The Brainstorm Shuffle
Halftime rolled around. Took the dog out real quick, munching on leftover pizza while pacing the yard. Started grouping notes mentally:
Attackers: Who actually threatened?
Midfield: Who controlled anything?
Defense/GK: How many heart attacks did they cause?
Second half saw some younger lads come on. Scribbled furiously:
“Caicedo – bossing tackles immediately wow”
“Casadei – ghosting around midfield?”
“Burstock – energetic but wild crosses”
Whittling Down the List
After the final whistle, dumped all my scribbles onto a digital doc. Crossed out anyone who just… existed. Scanned for names repeated with good comments. Took maybe 20 minutes just staring at the list, sipping cold coffee.
Top Tier Started Emerging:
- Jackson’s pace notes kept popping up
- Caicedo’s tackles dominated my midfield section
- Disasi’s “solid” or “strong” appeared like five times
Felt a struggle rating subs with limited minutes. Almost left off Burstock entirely. Then remembered that insane run where he beat three guys – even if the cross sailed into row Z. Decided impact mattered more than time played.
Assigning the Numbers
Here’s where it got annoying. My gut said Jackson was best player easily. But giving him 9 felt too generous for a friendly against Astana? Compromised with an 8.5. Caicedo’s instant impact screamed 8. Disasi felt like a steady 7.5 after re-reading all my “no nonsense” notes.
Kepa… oh Kepa. Kept circling back to my “shaky distribution” note and that one scary moment he nearly passed to an Astana striker. Couldn’t justify more than a 6. Had to call it like I saw it.
Finally slapped the top 5 in order. Double-checked my notebook against the ratings feeling that familiar “did I miss anything?” panic. Went back through the stream highlights real quick just to be sure – yep, the ratings held up.
Hit publish around 1:30 AM. Went to bed wondering if anyone else saw Burstock’s potential under the chaos like I did.
David