Hey guys, Sorry I've been pretty inactive, I haven't had much time to keep up to date with this season so far, but I will get there! We had discussed a few pieces by the Stats Zone (@thestatszone on twitter, where I found the link) with regards to last season and LA, where they looked at some bespoke data. I noticed they have just released a new piece, some more bespoke data or everyones favourite (?), Rowe. Has anyone read it yet? Any thoughts on it? Here is the article if you haven't; http://www.thestatszone.com/article...la-galaxys-goalkeepers-in-the-2016-mls-season I thought it was interesting to look at, i'm guessing the tactics Arena wanted in place, that the game plan changed to going long ball from the back when we were winning! Sure teams may have been pressing up the pitch a bit more, but to start going route one when you are trying to see a game out, surely you want to keep the ball?!
I haven't read the article yet but the frustrating (and misguided) "just hit it long" tactic to kill off games when holding a lead was Bruce's favored style. Some argued it was just the players decisions but a) if it was Bruce then he shouldn't have continued to allow it to happen, and b) at one point I heard Bruce espousing such tactics. I hated it because it meant we were always giving the ball back and saying "here, try again." And if you time the tactic it usually only burns 5 to 10 secs max before your defense is back under pressure. It also allows the opposition to push everyone up because long balls present little danger. I much preferred the pass it around to kill the clock method because it kept pressure off the defense longer and it wasn't that hard because late in the game everyone is really spread out and open pass outlets are usually easy to find if the team in possession shows composure.
Totally agree. I never understood this approach, considering we had some of the best technical players in the league. It'd make much more sense to push up and hold the ball in the middle of the field and maintain possession. If you lose the ball, we have have players behind the ball and aren't exposed to counter attacks. We certainly had the players to do it, but we just seemed to resort to long balls.
Thanks for posting this. It certainly confirms a few suspicions I had - purely from an observational standpoint - about Galaxy's approach last season. Good to see the cold hard facts though. They've done a similar piece on the opposition goalkeepers, or more specifically, how changed their defensive/offensive approach depending on the game state - http://www.thestatszone.com/article...opposition-goalkeepers-in-the-2016-mls-season