ProZone Match Analysis vs Mexico

[silverlion]

Bradley was a beast with 23 interceptions, 90% passing rate, and the most shots with 3.

Interstingly, Kljestan had the most receptions with 63 to Bradleys 50, but had a 78% passing rate. I would like to see his passing rate when he plays closer to the strikers, I bet is higher and would support my argument that he should only be play as an attacking midfielder.

One thing that did bother me was Ching getting no shots, I dont know it that's on goal or not, but if BB is gonna keep on starting him as the lone striker or centre-forward then he needs to turn around once in a while and take shot.

SUMMARY:

•7 DaMarcus Beasley had the highest pass completion percentage with 92%
•16 Sacha Kljestan received the most balls with 62
•4 Michael Bradley had the most shots with 5
•15 Heath Pearce had the most crosses with 3
•5 Oguchi Onyewu won the most headers with 16

http://www.ussoccer.com/articles/viewArticle.jsp_12681219.html

[PhillyQuakesFan]

Can you or someone else give a quick run-down of what these stat acronyms mean??

As far as I can tell:

SHTS - Shots
ATTS - ??
PCT - Pass completion %
REC - Passes Received
CROSS - Crosses delivered
HEAD - Headed balls
FK - Free kicks
ENT - ??
PEN - ??
DRB - ??
CLR - Clears
TCK - Tackles
INT - Interceptions

[Nutmeg]

Bradley's performance against Mexico is stunning. The best numbers I have ever seen from a US midfielder.

Something else worth noting - Kljestan's passing was far more aggressive. 19 passes into the final 3rd vs. Bradley's 2. So the lower completion percentage doesn't bother me. What he still needs to work on is being extremely clean on the easy passes.

Between Bradley and Kljestan - 49 takeaways. Amazing.

[silverlion]

Can you or someone else give a quick run-down of what these stat acronyms mean??

As far as I can tell:

SHTS - Shots
ATTS - ??
PCT - Pass completion %
REC - Passes Received
CROSS - Crosses delivered
HEAD - Headed balls
FK - Free kicks
ENT - ??
PEN - ??
DRB - ??
CLR - Clears
TCK - Tackles
INT - Interceptions

Legend: SHTS: Shots; ATTS: Attempted Passes; PCT: % of Successful Passes; REC: Balls Received; CROSS: Crosses; HEAD: Headers; FK: Free Kicks; ENT: Final Third Entries; PEN: Penalty Area Entries; DRB: Dribbles; CLR: Clearances; TCK: Tackles; INT: Interceptions

[KALM]

Bradley's performance against Mexico is stunning. The best numbers I have ever seen from a US midfielder.
It's pretty satisfying to compare those numbers to Pavel Pardo's. There's a guy who was a strong Bundesliga MVP candidate less than 2 years ago, and Bradley has him beat in every aspect of play.

edit: although, on second look, Pardo did attempt many more final third entries than Bradley.

[Karl K]

What's interesting to me about this prozone analysis is the grand totals...specifically how we had 1/3rd more pass attempts and ball receptions than Mexico.

Of course the reason why? The Marquez red card and our man advantage.

To me, the numbers would be more useful if we had pre- and post red card totals broken out.

Something tells me the lopsidedness in both grand totals (and in the ostensibly beastly and stunning performances of Bradley and Beasley) occurs after the red card, while before el Tri were either dominating the time on the ball or ball time was more evenly split.

[PhillyQuakesFan]

Legend: SHTS: Shots; ATTS: Attempted Passes; PCT: % of Successful Passes; REC: Balls Received; CROSS: Crosses; HEAD: Headers; FK: Free Kicks; ENT: Final Third Entries; PEN: Penalty Area Entries; DRB: Dribbles; CLR: Clearances; TCK: Tackles; INT: Interceptions

Thanks.

How exactly is the "dribbles" stat calculated?? Beasley only dribbled the ball twice and no one else did more than once?? Half the team, including Bradley, didn't at all??

[KALM]

Something tells me the lopsidedness in both grand totals (and in the ostensibly beastly and stunning performances of Bradley and Beasley) occurs after the red card, while before el Tri were either dominating the time on the ball or ball time was more evenly split.
This isn't the way I remember it at all. Actually, I thought we were better in possession before the red card.

Thanks.

How exactly is the "dribbles" stat calculated?? Beasley only dribbled the ball twice and no one else did more than once?? Half the team, including Bradley, didn't at all??
I'm guessing that means beating a man on the dribble. If you look at our numbers from most games, this is something that we rarely do. I think this game might have even been an improvement there.

[Karl K]

This isn't the way I remember it at all. Actually, I thought we were better in possession before the red card.

Could be, certainly, though I wonder how much better we were before the Marquez ejection.

A pre- and post-red card breakdown of the numbers would no doubt clarify.

[Nutmeg]

It's pretty satisfying to compare those numbers to Pavel Pardo's. There's a guy who was a strong Bundesliga MVP candidate less than 2 years ago, and Bradley has him beat in every aspect of play.

edit: although, on second look, Pardo did attempt many more final third entries than Bradley.

Yep. Compare completion percentages of the central midfields and you unravel the story of this game. The US knocked out Mexico by going after Pardo. A 65% completion percentage? Pathetic. And Leandro at 71% wasn't much better.

You want to see your central mids with 80+% passing. So Sacha simply wasn't good enough, even if he was being aggressive. Bradley at 90%? Great number, but not remarkable if he's not making aggressive passes. Overall, though, Bradley and Kljestan were far superior to their Mexican counterparts, and that's a key reason we won.

[Dr Jay]

This isn't the way I remember it at all. Actually, I thought we were better in possession before the red card.

With the exception of the first 10 minutes of the game that was my impression as well.

[Maximum Optimal]

Bradley's performance against Mexico is stunning. The best numbers I have ever seen from a US midfielder.

Something else worth noting - Kljestan's passing was far more aggressive. 19 passes into the final 3rd vs. Bradley's 2. So the lower completion percentage doesn't bother me. What he still needs to work on is being extremely clean on the easy passes.

Between Bradley and Kljestan - 49 takeaways. Amazing.

Defensively, Bradley had a tremendous game, the best of the ones I've tracked for US mids. Kljestan played a fine defensive game too.

In terms of the giveaways, I think this is where it would help if ProZone distinguished between what I would call unforced errors (easy passes given away) and errors that are less troublesome (venturesome passes that don't end up being completed). Kljestan's weakness in terms of passing percentage was a little of both. I counted eight of the "unforced errors" variety versus three for Bradley. But he did attempt quite a few more venturesome passes than Bradley.

Overall, the game that Bradley-Kljestan played compared quite favorably with the Reyna-Armas pairing from four years ago. Defensively, it also compares favorably with the Reyna-JOB numbers from the US-Germany WC match that I tracked. Offensively and in terms of overall influence on the match, I would say Reyna-JOB were superior. However, there is no shame in that given that I think that was the single greatest effort that I've seen from a pair of US mids and the comparison is also not exact because we played a different formation that day.

[Rainer24]

Yep. Compare completion percentages of the central midfields and you unravel the story of this game. The US knocked out Mexico by going after Pardo. A 65% completion percentage? Pathetic. And Leandro at 71% wasn't much better.

You want to see your central mids with 80+% passing. So Sacha simply wasn't good enough, even if he was being aggressive. Bradley at 90%? Great number, but not remarkable if he's not making aggressive passes. Overall, though, Bradley and Kljestan were far superior to their Mexican counterparts, and that's a key reason we won.


But he did make some aggressive passes, with the two fantastic through balls for Beasley leaping to mind. That's what makes those numbers so impressive.

[Maximum Optimal]

What's interesting to me about this prozone analysis is the grand totals...specifically how we had 1/3rd more pass attempts and ball receptions than Mexico.

Of course the reason why? The Marquez red card and our man advantage.

To me, the numbers would be more useful if we had pre- and post red card totals broken out.

Something tells me the lopsidedness in both grand totals (and in the ostensibly beastly and stunning performances of Bradley and Beasley) occurs after the red card, while before el Tri were either dominating the time on the ball or ball time was more evenly split.

In terms of activity by Bradley and Kljestan, they were actually busier in the first half, so I would be surprised if your thesis were correct.

[silverlion]

Something tells me the lopsidedness in both grand totals (and in the ostensibly beastly and stunning performances of Bradley and Beasley) occurs after the red card, while before el Tri were either dominating the time on the ball or ball time was more evenly split.

Had Mexico played like they did in the first ten minutes for the 1st hour, I would agree with you. But every ten minutes Mexico shrank, the Marquez redcard was more about frustration than a mistake and it turned out to be the final nail in the coffin.

[Maximum Optimal]

But he did make some aggressive passes, with the two fantastic through balls for Beasley leaping to mind. That's what makes those numbers so impressive.

Those two venturesome passes were the only ones of that variety that Bradley completed the whole match. I would say that was the one blemish in an otherwise outstanding performance.

[Nutmeg]

Those two venturesome passes were the only ones of that variety that Bradley completed the whole match. I would say that was the one blemish in an otherwise outstanding performance.

I don't see it as a blemish. If one midfielder is going to be aggressive, I don't mind if the other plays it more safely. The key is balance, and Kljestan and Bradley made a good pairing because they complement each other so well.

Rainier - notice I said 90% completion isn't "remarkable" and then used the qualifier "if." Look back at earlier ProZone reports. 90+% completion isn't remarkable - our central mids routinely hit that number. That's great - a rating of 8 or 9 in possession, but overall that number alone isn't anything objectively extraordinary.

[Maximum Optimal]

I don't see it as a blemish. If one midfielder is going to be aggressive, I don't mind if the other plays it more safely. The key is balance, and Kljestan and Bradley made a good pairing because they complement each other so well.



Maybe but I doubt there is some sort of arrangement between the two that one will play it safe in terms of passes and the other will be more aggressive. There is no correct quota for venturesome versus easy passes. You take them as the opportunity presents itself. Now it could be that it just turned out to the case that fewer such opportunities presented themselves when Bradley had the ball.

[Nutmeg]

Maybe but I doubt there is some sort of arrangement between the two that one will play it safe in terms of passes and the other will be more aggressive.
Nope. A coach has to look at the pool and figure out tendencies over time, then find the players who appear to complement each other. Bradley and Kljestan do. I think Torres is an interesting wrinkle as well. He's going to be conservative 80% of the time, and then find the killer through ball. I'm not sure if he'd make a better partner to Bradley or Kljestan. The prevailing opinion is that he'd be Kljestan's replacement, but I'm not completely sold on that.

[Clint Eastwood]

I don't see it as a blemish. If one midfielder is going to be aggressive, I don't mind if the other plays it more safely. The key is balance, and Kljestan and Bradley made a good pairing because they complement each other so well.

Rainier - notice I said 90% completion isn't "remarkable" and then used the qualifier "if." Look back at earlier ProZone reports. 90+% completion isn't remarkable - our central mids routinely hit that number. That's great - a rating of 8 or 9 in possession, but overall that number alone isn't anything objectively extraordinary.

I think you're dead on.

The prozone stats confirm what my eyes told me during the game. Kljestan and Bradley had a very good game, outplying Pardo and Leandro. Considering our combination was young kids, and theirs was seasoned vets of 31-32, it was a pretty stunning performance.

Also, as we know in soccer, stats don't tell the whole story. You can amass a very good pass completion % by passing to nowhere.