I noticed this as well and was surprised. We are sniffing around the goal, but not getting shots on frame somehow. My guess is that our stat somewhat reflects the fact that we've been losing for large portions of our matches, so the opposition has been sitting back more.
That would be Lennon and Rusnak crosses to the far post. I've see a number of those going to Plata. Or long balls from the defense played to Plata rather than the space ahead of him.
I'm guessing the data wouldn't be available to us, but if you could break down possession areas during certain times of the match, you'd likely be able to confirm/deny this. I feel inclined to believe this is the reason why we're in the final 3rd more often, especially later in the game when a team is leading and looking to just defend that lead.
Some interesting stats about the FCD game compared to the rest of the season: We had 21 shots, our highest of the season We had 6 shots on target, tied for the highest of the season We had 9 shots off target, highest of the season We had 16 open play shots, the highest of the season Still not a single fastbreak shot We had 7 left footed shots, the highest of the season We had 4 headed shots, the highest of the season We had 16 "key passes", the highest of the season Our dribbling success rate was 27%, lowest of the season
This doesn't surprise me in the least. Is there a stat for the % of passes made in the opposite direction of goal? How RSL wouldn't be leading in this category would be mind blowing. Also, is there a stat for amount of time holding the ball? Not possession but the average time a player dribbles the ball, looks around, dribbles backwards before finding a team mate to pass the ball? If so, RSL has this one wrapped up as well.
I'm unsure of how it stacks up against other MLS teams right now (I can look into it more) but are our numbers for backwards passes are 1358 / 135.8. That seems kinda high, IMO, but again I haven't compared to other teams yet. As for possession, no they don't have that level of detail, but something I always find interesting when I go clicking through a game is how much possession each player is attributed for. I need to get the numbers for the season on that, but for reference Albert Rusnak accounted for 7.4% of the possession of the game. The only player, on either team, close to him was Phillips at 6%. Concerning: Yura had 2%
The other players can't find Yura. When we have possession in the attacking third he is normally bracketed by two defenders. He doesn't make runs. He sort of faces the RSL player with the ball and shoots quick glances expectantly at an open area. The expectations seem to be that (1) the other RSL player is going to notice him between the 2 defenders, (2) The other RSL player will notice the open spot which he keeps glancing at, (3) The other RSL player will make a perfectly weighted EPL-like precision through-ball to said open spot, (4) Yura will actually be able to get to the ball before one of his marking defenders and the Keeper, (5) Yura will be able to control the ball, have excellent touch and (6) Yura will put the ball on-frame. The odds of even one of those things happening is quite low. All 6 happening consecutively would be something akin to winning the powerball lottery.
Even if we got the ball to Yura, nobody is around for support. In this last game, we'd do our routine long ball to nobody, and on the odd chance someone might actually get on the end of it, you could look around and see literally nobody else in support. What's the point of these long passes if there's no chance of doing anything positive with them? Compare that to Dallas, who would send it down the wing, and you could look over and typically see 1-2 players crashing the box, and another in support heading towards the top of the box. It must be nice to have 2-3 options when you send in a long ball. I haven't looked at our passing stats, but they have to be horrible. We've somehow lost the ability to even play short passes to each other. Then you add in the long balls to nobody, and it's no wonder we can't build up anything in the attack. Something stinks with this team. Hopefull Petke can right the ship.
A trend from the Cassar day's that still exists with Petke: Any kickoff we take (and we've taken plenty the last 3 games seeing as we've given up 9 goals) is played one pass back and then long into the corner in a hope that Lennon or Bofo or Plata somehow can get on the end of it. It's ugly and has never worked.
Oh it works. I've seen kids do it week after week but that is rec league stuff. Which looks vaguely familiar as I watch RSL every week. Petke probably yells the same things. "not down the middle" "Don't just stand there, move around" "Somebody make a ****ing run!" Oh and my favorite, "somebody take the back post on the corner kick."
Here are some stats to mull over: Long Balls Per Game MLS Average: 70.5 RSL: 75.5 (6th out of 22) Long Ball Completion Rate MLS Average: 48% RSL: 38.7% (21st out of 22) Crosses Per Game MLS Average: 16.9 RSL: 22.8 (2nd out of 22) Cross Completion Rate MLS Average: 24.7% RSL: 18% (22nd out of 22) Corner Kicks Per Game MLS Average: 4.9 RSL: 6.6 (1st out of 22) Corner Kick Completion Rate MLS Average: 46.2% RSL: 34.8% (20th out of 22) Basically, RSL is playing a system that creates a lot of long balls, crosses, and corner kicks. But, we are TERRIBLE at actually completing those, ranking in the bottom three on all three categories. Why do we keep doing what we are bad at? I think it's a combination of desperation defense (lots of long balls), great wingers who can create lots of crossing opportunities and corners, but no target forward to receive the long balls or get on the end of crosses. Petke has to pick which of these things he wants to pursue. Either (a) get rid of Yura and get a target forward or (b) switch systems (which is bad for Lennon). Can't have both and expect to win games.
As painful as it is, Yura is the right move. Not because he is the better player or will grow into a better player (I'd argue Lennon takes both of those) but because the chances of Lennon being with RSL in 2018 and beyond are drastically smaller than Yura's chances. Or, more interestingly, Petke can use whatever he envisions and publicly grill Waibel to get him the right pieces to make it work.
Yeah, I would love to build around Lennon, but it doesn't make sense because we can't expect him to be around. Instead, I would vote to build around Rusnak, who I think can be here long term and who can work well with Yura as well if he has the right pieces around him.
agreed. And while I know many on here (myself included) wouldn't mind if Plata was moved, I think moving to a system that didn't ask him to be a winger would be better. Originally that was the plan, but he's better paired with another forward - just like Yura. Get those two on the ball more, especially centrally, and I think you have more success. I would be Rusnak's possession numbers would go down, but that wouldn't be a terrible thing if it meant our forwards saw more of the ball
I think Lennon would be able to adapt if we changed how we played. His crossing has been great so far, but he has other skills that would still be useful in another system. Yura is at the point of his career where he's not going to be changing how he plays all that much. We either need to help play to his strong suits, or move him.
I don't even know when Movsisyan does well. Maybe if he had a sabo next to him? At which point, if we have a sabo, do we even need a mov?
If we had Sabo we wouldn't need him. I guess we'd probably have to do some kind of 4-4-2 to get the most of him. That worries me due to all the wingers we have. As much as I don't like the formation, maybe a 3-5-2 would work. But with how injured the defense is, it might not be something we could do right now.
We're over the third point of the season. Here are some stats that I found interesting. STAT (TOTAL / AVERAGE / MEDIAN) Shots (158 / 13.16 / 12) Shots on Target (44 / 3.66 / 3) Shots off Target (65 / 5.42 / 5.5) Shots Blocked (49 / 4.08 / 4.5) Shot inside 6 (10 / 0.83 / 1) Shot inside 18 (74 / 6.16 / 6) Shot outside 18 (74 / 6.16 / 6) Open Play Shot (119 / 9.92 / 10.5) Fastbreak Shot (0 / 0 / 0) Set Piece Shot (38 / 3.16 / 4) Right footed shot (107 / 8.92 / 9) Left footed shot (31 / 2.58 / 2) Headed shot (20 / 1.66 / 1.5) Possession (599% / 49.9% / 50.5%) Touches (7167 / 597.25 / 601.5) Passes (4731 / 394.25 / 400.5) Accurate Pass (3414 / 284.5 / 301.5) Pass Percentage (851% / 71% / 74%) Cross Pass (258 / 21.5 / 19.5) Corner Kick (76 / 6.33 / 6) Through Ball Pass (10 / 0.83 / 0.5) Key Pass (110 / 9.16 / 8.5) Long Pass (877 / 73 / 73) Short Pass (4505 / 375.42 / 389) Chipped Pass (751 / 62.59 / 63) Ground Pass (4631 385.92 / 391.5) Headed Pass (417 / 34.75 / 34.5) Pass with Feet (4965 / 413.75 / 425) Forward Pass (3751 / 312.58 / 316) Backward Pass (1615 / 134.58 / 140) Left Pass (2659 / 221.58 / 216.5) Right Pass (2718 / 226.5 / 228) Defensive third pass (787 / 65.58 / 67) Middle third pass (2447 / 203.92 / 207) Final third pass (2148 / 179 / 177.5) Dribbles attempted (164 / 13.67 / 14) Dribbles won (85 / 7.08 / 6) Dribbled Past (75 / 6.25 / 6.5) Dribble Success Percentage (579% / 48% / 50%) Successful Dribble (87 / 7.25 / 6) Unsuccessful Dribble (109 / 9.08 / 8.5) Aerials Won (149 / 12.42 / 12) Aerial Win Percentage (526% / 44% / 44%) Offensive Aerials (177 / 14.75 / 15.5) Defensive Aerials (161 / 13.42 / 11) Successful Tackle (219 / 18.25 / 17.5) Tackle Attempted (294 / 24.5 / 26) Tackle Success Percentage (891% / 74% / 71%) Clearances (214 / 17.83 / 17.5) Headed Clearance (98 / 8.17 / 7) Foot Clearance (116 / 9.67 / 10.5) Interception (183 / 15.25 / 16) Dispossessed (151 / 12.58 / 12.5) Turnover (178 / 14.83 / 16) Error (6 / 0.5 / 0) Fouls Committed (161 / 13.42 / 14.5) Offsides (21 / 1.75 / 1)
I'm also tracking stats since the Vancouver game as I see that as the first true Petke game. Sure, he was "coach" in Minnesota, but that was essentially a transition game. We've played 7 games with him truly as head coach. I'll start posting interesting stats and trends in data after the Texas road trip coming up.
We're 16 games into this season. It's been something. Here are some interesting stats comparing Petke to Cassar in just this season. (Cassar is credited with coaching the team through the away game at Minnesota. Meaning Petke takes over, for these stats, at home against Vancouver) Format will go like this: STAT - Petke Average Petke Median / Cassar Average, Cassar Median Goals For: 1.09, 1.00 / 0.60, 0.00 Goals Against: 2.45, 3.00 / 1.60, 2.00 Shots: 14, 14 / 11.6, 12 Shots on Target: 4.91, 5 / 3.4, 3 Shots off Target: 5.45, 6 / 4.2, 3 Shot Blocked: 3.64, 3 / 4, 4 Shot Woodwork: 0.09, 0 / 0.20, 0 Shot in 6: 0.55, 0 / 1, 1 Shot in box: 6.55, 6 / 5.8, 7 Shot outside box: 6.91, 6 / 4.8, 5 Open Play Shot: 9.91, 10 / 9.8, 11 Fastbreak Shot: 0, 0 / 0, 0 Set Piece Shot: 4, 4 / 1.8, 1 PK: 0.09, 0 / 0, 0 Right Foot Shot: 9.27, 10 / 8.2, 9 Left Foot Shot: 3, 3 / 2.4, 2 Headed Shot: 1.73, 1 / 1, 1 Possession %: 50%, 52% / 47%, 50% Touches: 585.64, 599 / 583, 554 Passes: 395.45, 390 / 371.6, 374 Accurate Pass: 296.91, 291 / 253.4, 246 Pass %:75%, 75% / 66%, 66% Cross Pass:19, 18 / 21.8, 19 Freekick Pass:13, 11 / 12.6, 11 Corner Kick: 6.27, 6 / 6.4, 6 Through Ball Pass: 0.73, 1 / 1.4, 1 Throw In Pass: 24.64, 24 / 31, 31 Key Pass: 10, 10 / 8.2, 7 Long Pass: 65, 66 / 80, 81 Short Pass: 378.64, 387 / 346.6, 328 Chipped Pass: 54.91, 52 / 64.8, 64 Ground Pass: 388.73, 390 / 361.8, 346 Headed Pass: 29.18, 29 / 38.8, 38 Feet Pass: 414.45, 410 / 387.8, 373 Forward Pass: 305.55, 310 / 302.8, 292 Backward Pass: 136.82, 142 / 122.2, 116 Left Pass: 220, 218 / 214.2, 206 Right Pass: 22.09, 220 / 213.8, 202 Defensive 3rd Pass: 67.27, 68 / 60.4, 53 Middle 3rd Pass: 202.27, 193 / 194.8, 184 Final 3rd Pass: 174.09, 180 / 171.4, 172 Dribbles Attempted: 13.09, 14 / 13.2, 11 Dribbles Won: 6.64, 7 / 6.8, 5 Dribbled past: 6.73, 7 / 5.8, 7 Dribble Success %: 72%, 71% / 79%, 81% Successful Dribble: 17.45, 17 / 20.8, 19 Unsuccessful Dribble: 9.09, 9 / 8.2, 6 Aerial Win: 10.91, 11 / 11.2, 10 Aerial Win %: 46%, 46% / 37%, 36% Offensive Aerial:12.45, 11 / 15.8, 17 Defensive Aerial: 11.09, 9 / 14.2, 11 Successful Tackle: 17.45, 17 / 20.8, 19 Tackle Attempted: 24.18, 26 / 26.6, 29 Tackle Success %: 72%, 71% / 79%, 81% Clearance: 17.09, 21 / 20.8, 20 Head Clearance: 8.36, 8 / 8.4, 8 Foot Clearance: 8.73, 10 / 12.4, 12 Interception: 14, 14 / 16.2, 15 Dispossessed: 10.91, 11 / 14.8, 15 Turnover: 12.82, 12 / 16.2, 16 Error: 0.27, 0 / 0.6, 0 Foul: 13.36, 14 / 14.4, 15 Offside: 1.73, 1 / 2, 1 Petke Improvements Cassar Team Better Wash / Stat doesn't indicate good/bad behavior
So we're scoring more, passing more accurately, turning it over less, being dispossessed less, and generating more offense under Petke but are giving up more goals (the Texas meltdown may be an outlier that moves this). I'll take it.
Assuming the Texas meltdown was an outlier and not a preview of coming attractions. Guess it depends on players' attitudes going forward