HA! What a joke. Talk about dissecting the game to death with that nonsense. Who comes up with this shit?
I am not certain which variables that model looks at (there's no explanation in that piece). I'd be interested to know what factor clean sheets play in it. If it is only a measure of offense, then there is relevance only where you are considering offense in a vacuum or if you are trying to sort among offenses. The author quickly dismisses Dallas' league-leading Goal Differential, which very plainly states the cumulative effect of both the offensive and defensive capabilities and shows you whether or not they are complimenting each other to the degree that it gets results. Right now Dallas' complimentary system is producing results better than anyone else in MLS. However, the author predicts that Dallas will suffer a loss vs. NYCFC because his expected goals stat predicts such. So he's banking on some magic, virtually undetectable swirl of influences in the Universe to produce a storm of goals against an FCD defense who has given up exactly 3 goals from the run of play in 9 games. This is a defense with Maynor Figueroa, Matt Hedges, and Walker Zimmerman who are all exceptional players who have been with FCD and Pareja for long enough to have settled in and produce predictable results. They are predictably fantastic, not surrendering goals and making very few mistakes. That's not even mentioning Gruezo, who just destroys ball movement in transition. NYCFC plays on a tiny field. There Will Be Goals. However, this game is in Dallas. Things are probably better predicted by the way Dallas plays at home rather than how NYCFC plays on their baseball field.
He looks really useful until he slips on a banana peel and gets scored on. If you don't watch all the time you think he was unlucky. If you watch all the time you wonder how any player always finds the banana peel.
I really liked him the first few games of the season but the phrase "f uck you, Grana!" has been heard leaving my mouth far too often since.
For me, it seems that Grana's style of play has forced Barrios to adapt to a new role as provider. Whether that is good or bad, who knows? Atiba is never really a goal threat, but he plays a fast breaking game as RB and can put in a good cross or shot. Grana wants to draw a few defenders, which often leads to a giveaway or a backpass.
I just watched the game on MLS Live (wasn't live) and I thought Grana played well. His crosses were better and his passes were crisp. He did make a couple of mistakes but none of the let some one by straight to goal types. Attila is turning into a really good CB. I actually think had he played there for years he might have gone to Europe. He's still learning the position but much better than he should be in his first year at the position. If Colman starts scoring to add to Lamah's recent flourish this team becomes very dangerous. Urrutti, Diaz, Barrios, Lamah, Colman, Acosta. Lots of fire power to mix with a stellar defense and goalkeeping.
http://www.espn.com/soccer/major-le...up-failure-promotion-relegation-salaries-more Annual player survey is out per ESPN. There are some pretty interesting questions/answers. The biggest surprise to me was seeing Papi second highest in the “current coach you would least like to play for,” category. I was also surprised to see that a large majority of players believe VAR is having a positive impact.
Was also surprised about that too but also have to wonder if we've created a pro-Spanish speaking team and if you don't speak Spanish, you might be frustrated/left out but I could be totally pulling that out of my ass. We're the last team to make fun a team for "The heat, the humidity, no fans" but Houston getting called out for that is hilarious. Also a serious reminder in there about how ownership can change a fan base when you see Kansas City as the toughest place to go play at. Wasn't that long ago the Hunts had Arrowhead with like 10 people in it.
I'm pretty sure that half of what hurts Pareja in these sorts of rankings is that "playing for Óscar Pareja" also means "playing for Hunt Sports Group." I'm sure that another big part is that I understand that Pareja is a bit of a demanding coach.
Did anyone find any comments about why the OP hate? I also saw Cabrera was high on the list so maybe a cultural thing with Colombian coaches. Would like to know real reasons.
On the Max and Herc podcast, they discussed this poll and Herc mentioned first that we don't know how many Latinos took the poll since Tata Martinez didn't win the "Coach you would like to work for" poll. I suppose this suggests that non-Latinos are weary of Cabrera and Pareja because they mostly conduct their work in Spanish or have a reputation of favoring Latino players. I don't necessarily buy that, but that is what it reads between the lines. Second, he suggested that nobody wants to be employed by HSG. No surprise there. Also, Herc mentioned that both coaches, Pareja in particular, are very very demanding of their players. So, there's that.
None of that sounds troubling actually. It would be very interesting to ask ex-players of coaches what they think (after a reasonable amount of time).
Baby Davide on loan to Tulsa. https://www.bigdsoccer.com/2018/5/8/17333564/roster-update-jesus-ferreira-loan-tulsa-roughnecks-fc
Good. Now he needs to do his part and start scoring at a high rate. Make the team notice and play you. I'd move Pomykal (once healthy) and maybe Reynolds up there with him so they can become used to playing together.
He came on around the 60 minute mark for Tulsa in their game against Reno. He barely touched the ball in 30 minutes, and Tulsa looked like an absolute nightmare. I'm mixed about our guys playing there.
Maybe the club that loves to slobber all over itself over their academy should get a damn USL side already.