2017 RSL Stats

Some "at first glance" observations:
Almost half our shots are from long range and most of those can be classified as desparation shots.

We are terrible in the air in the opposition's box.of course, lack of service is a big factor here.

With our feet we can't hit the broadside of a barn.

We don't have the speed up top to penalize errors or to transition.

Those stats don't say it, but most of those blocked shots are due to our shooters shooting the ball right into the defender marking them. They can't create separation or space.

 

To add more color to this point, this is where RSL ranks compared to the rest of MLS in terms of % of shots taken in each area:

Inside the 6: 12th (out of 22)
Inside the box: 20th
Outside the box: 3rd

So, we take a lot of shots from outside the box, and very few from within the 18.

Even more damning is this: RSL takes on average 12.4 shots per game, ranking a respectable 9th out of 22. But, we average only 3.3 shots on target per game, ranking 21st out of 22. The only team with fewer SOG per game? The cRapids.

 

Second place where it counts, once again!

 

Not one single fast break shot, that is utterly mind blowing from a team that is supposedly playing a formation to clog the midfield and spring fast breaks. We're 9th in the league in shots per game, second to last in the league in SOG and dead last by a few percentage points in percent of shots that are on goal. The cRapids are doing their best to not actually play offense while RSL are setting a new standard for how to not play offense.

 

That was a younger, faster Yura. Didn't we also have Findlay at the time to occupy defenders because of his speed? Nicky, KB5, Javi and our right back were better through passers than what we have right now.

 

Yeah, the diamond with Yura and Findlay up front worked out really good. I'm not sold on this 4-4-3 or whatever we are currrently playing.

 

We have an extra guy and still suck!

 

I think Morales used to average something like 10 key passes/game for us alone. Now we are at 8.33/game as a team.

We obviously haven't filled his shoes adequately. The data backs it up.

 

We don't have the right players for a diamond, so there's no point in pining for the old setup. Who pairs with Yura? Plata? Ok, then you get to look forward to playing Lennon out of place in the midfield. Same thing if you swap those two. Saucedo? Also a winger. Allen? Winger. As far as the midfield goes, the only players that would likely work in the diamond is KB, Mulholland, Sunny, and Rusnak. You'd be dumping better players to the bench in order to facilitate the ones that would work better in a diamond midfield, and now you've got no quality subs that fit into those roles naturally, and no backup if anyone gets injured. If we were to go to a 4-4-2 diamond, we'd have to get ride of at least two wingers and hope to replace them with better midfielders, and you'd need to upgrade both outside backs into ones that can attack better.

So, we'd need to replace half the squad, on top of our other needs like quality CB's, in order to play a formation that had already been found out by the time we got rid of it. 4-3-3 variants are the current top formations, and I'd rather we work out the kinks in our current setup, instead of trying to revert back to old RSL ideals. We've already been doing too much of that by going back to past players like Olave, Wingert, Yura, etc, we don't need to revert back to old tactics as well.

 

Whether we play a 4-4-2 diamond or some other flavor of 4-4-2, I think it would be better than what we are currently playing. It has been mentioned many times that Yura isn't a target forward, so why keep playing him as such? He needs something up front with him to take advantage of whatever skills he has.

 

To be fair, they add this caveat:

* Strengths, weaknesses and styles are calculated from the current season statistics

 

Sounds like he has the same strengths and weaknesses as I do. When will Dear Leader start paying me the same money as Yura?

 

A PK helps that a little. He got a glancing header that was as much luck to get on target as skill. He flubbed an easy back post header in a recent game inside the 6.

 

That "1 through ball per game" seemed pretty awful to me, but is apparently slightly above average for the league, with only Atlanta having more than 1/game (at 2/game). 6 teams average 0/game.

RSL is below average on key passes with 8.3/game. The average and median are 8.78 and 8.85, respectively.

One thing that's interesting is RSL's ranking in time spent in the opposition's 3rd of the field: tied for first place with NYRB.

 

One of Plata's strengths according to the same website: heading the ball.

EDIT: Finishing, too, though he has 0 goals. Hmmm . . .