So one thing that has bugged me about www.mlssoccer.com is how frustrating it is to find stats, especially specific player stats and things like that. The website doesnt include things like reserve matches, friendlies, international competitions, etc. in their overall stat database. So I've decided to start an excel spreadsheet to track the RSL stats, hopefully this will be useful to people here who are interested in players stats (like me). Here is what I have so far, if you have any suggestions on what else should be tracked just let me know and I'll add it to the sheet and update. I'll be updating the sheet after every game. https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc...EJEeGw0VWFVcmQwTlJlNGc&hl=en&authkey=CPSX_IEH One thing I've noticed thats frustrating is the inconsistencies with regards to stats from website to website. ESPN lists a good boxscore, but the boxscore can be wrong. I noticed that they didnt list Chris Schulers header off the bar as a shot (or SOG). I'm going to rely on memory (since I watch every game and seem to have a pretty good memory on those things), the ESPN boxscore, the mlssoccer gametracker and probably video highlights. Also, if you guys notice something wrong with the spreadsheet stats, let me know and I'll change it. Another curiosity is the multi-player assist, take for instance last weeks game, mlssoccer.com lists both Morales and Williams as assisters to saborio's goal. Then on Morales' first goal, both Williams and Espindola are listed as assisters. I think for now I am going to assign an assist to only the first person listed (thus Morales receives the assist for Sabo's goal, Williams receives the assist for Morales' first goal). Tracking multi-assists for a single goal could become frustrating and alter stats I think, personally I believe its easiest to assign 1 assist for 1 goal, if you star going over 1:1 then you get confused when you look at the team stats and see 5 bazillion assists and only 40 goals at the end of the year. I can also add formulas to track player/team stats through specific competitions (ie, a row that lists just CCL stats, just MLS stats, just USOC stats, etc etc). I'll probably do that once the season gets underway and there is something to track. Yes, I'm a stat junkie.
so the official definition of a SOG is a shot that would result in a goal if it had not be blocked or intercepted by the keeper or a player. thus a shot that actually hits the crossbar/post, without being directed there by a player/keeper, is technically NOT a shot on goal since the shot would not have resulted in a goal anyways. thus, schulers and johnsons shots were actually not SOG and are not included in the SOG statistics. if shots that hit the post/crossbar are directed there by a player/keeper i will include them in SOG, but otherwise not. EDIT: i also forgot to mention, if you click on a players name a link will come up that will take you to their page on www.realsaltlake.com if you click on it.
he is listed on the official website roster, so i am assuming yes. when i hear something about Chinn from the club, ill add him to the spreadsheet as well.
This is cool...but keep in mind that there is quite a bit of subjectivity in the keeping of stats ("offical" or otherwise). For example, a shot that gets blocked almost immediately after it leaves the foot is often counted as a shot on goal, even though we never got to see if it was truly destined for goal. Or, a shot that was so badly mis-hit that it went out the touchline instead of the byline may or may not be counted as a shot (we dealt with that several times during Yura Movsisyan's time at RSL). As well, the decision to award an assist or a 2nd assist can be highly subjective - some stat people in MLS will actually debate whether the assisting player "deserved" to be credited with an assist before awarding it. Keeping stats in soccer is definitely a case of measuring with a micrometer then cutting with a hack saw.
ya, things like shots can be subjective, im just trying to go about this as easy as possible. for the most part ill use what is officially posted by mlssoccer.com, things like goals, assists, cards, minutes and offsides will be much easier to track. in any case i hate digging through the MLS website trying to find what im looking for. the previous version of their website was much easier to use, especially for stats. its a shame they had to go all lame-ass and change everything.
I recommend using the game guides for updated stats. It also helps because sometimes what's posted on the match reports be changed after the fact (like secondary assists).
Some of the stats I've enjoyed comparing in the past are goals scored by the team when a player is on the pitch (and minutes/goal) and how many goals the team allows when a player is on the pitch (as well as the scoring rate). Comparing stats when a player starts vs. when they come off the bench is also interesting. All of these stats take A LOT more effort - I spent several hours in the past when people were debating what forward combos work better (Espy/Deuchar, Findley/Nunez, etc.) or whether Findley was better as a starter or super sub, but if it was done on a game by game basis it could be a bit easier to do and not take too much more time.
i had forgotten about that, thanks for the tip. yes, the scoring rates and player combos will be a little more difficult. i think with the forwards it will be easier since the number of combinations (at this point) is probably going to be very small. the midfield combinations will be much more difficult and comparing the midfield with the forwards will take some time. ill see what i can do and try to get a comparison.
god this is driving me nuts, i cant get an accurate stats count. freaking MLS. espn lists rimando with 5 saves and wingert with 1 save. MLS's game report (why dont they give a freaking box score?) lists rimando with 8 saves. the article on sltrib.com lists rimando with 10 saves. im going with 8 saves, there were 10 shots by SJ. the trib is wrong and ESPN is wrong. this is going to be a battle all season getting accurate stats.
ESPN's stats are frequently incorrect in any sport. Yesterday, they credited BYU's Anson Winder for making an appearance in the first half of their NCAA tourney game and getting called for a foul. Winder is a redshirt freshman that was sitting on the bench with a white shirt and tie. I didn't see anyone dressed like that playing on the court at any time. They finally fixed that one after the game finished.
I'd be hesitant with anything locally put out, too. After the game yesterday they listed the scores from around the league. Either the score was backwards (it said TFC won 4-2, for example) or it was just entirely wrong (Columbus and DC drew, according to their board). Good luck, UP... you might just have to become a statistician yourself.
Love this. Just a suggestion: you might want to add filters so that you can search by either just one player, a certain group of players, certain competitions, or specific games. If you do that, you'll want to tailor the subtotal at the bottom to correspond.
if you go to the bottom of the page you will see tabs for All Comps, MLS, and Non-MLS stats. ill see about adding more filter options.
woooo, that was a long one. but i love it, keep it up RSL! updated to include 3.26.11 MLS match against LA Galaxy.
finally got around to updating this, added 4.6.11 CCL match against Saprissa. thoughts: holy spamoly, RSL was whistled for 24 (!) fouls compared to Saprissa's 10. ya, no reffing bias there we're now on 12 goals through 6 games, which is slightly above our average last year which was 1.72 goals per game through MLS and CCL by my calculations.
That's what I was talking about. People who say the game was called fairly were not watching the same game. It was a mess. Equivalent fouls called on RSL players were ignored when committed by Saprissa players.
I think saying the game was called fairly referred more to a minimal number of cards as well as no horrible PK calls, contrary to what was expected from this official. There did not appear to be any calls that would directly affect the finals.
i think if we had seen a more equivalent calling of fouls than RSL would have greatly benefited. there were several fouls around 20-30 yards out from the Saprissa goal that RSL would have attacked with and perhaps even scored on. not calling those fouls greatly reduced our ability to use our huge advantage against them, physicality on set pieces.