There seemed to be interest in this, so I'll be updating it as we go along. Again, it's not perfect. The stats on MLSSoccer's chalkboards don't even match up with the stats from their fantasy site. But it's close and gives a general idea of strengths and weaknesses. Next update I'll try and make the table bigger.
Two things before I start squinting: You should also copy over the list of what the categories are. What does column B mean?
Column B is total minutes played divided by 90, which tells me how many full games they've played. SP=Succesful pass UP=Unsuccessful pass P%=Passing Percentage TO=Turnovers FW=Fouls Won FC=Fouls Conceded SC=Successful Cross UC=Unsuccessful Cross KP=Key Passes SoT=Shot on Target SfT=Shot of Target TW=Tackles Won TL=Tackles Lost Int=Interceptions Clr=Clearances Rec=Recoveries SD=Successful Dribbles UD=Unsuccessful Dribbles
I repped you on the other thread for the work. Thanks. What do you think are the key stats -- what jumps out at you from the numbers so far? A lot of events in soccer are rare enough that it takes a lot lot lot of games before you can say someone makes more keys passes than someone else, for instance. Score one goal or make one key pass and your numbers will look good for a long time, and have one unsuccessful dribble and you look bad at dribbling for a long time. If a .250 hitter in baseball goes 3 for 3, the effect isn't that big because he is playing every day and getting 3 or 4 at bats every day. When you play one game a week and your events with the ball (except passes maybe) are relatively rare, it is hard to have confidence that most of the stats are that meaningful. Or that's the way it seems to this English major. Someone who knows statistics want to weigh in on which of HuskyD's stats are revealing?
I don't think you can take a whole lot away from stats for guys who have played less than 5 matches, especially when comparing players. They may have played completely different competition. Simms has been everything you can ask of a DM. Great passing, though I realize he's playing a more simple passing game than the rest of our mids. Very few turnovers, wins his tackles, and mops up loose balls. We don't use the wings very well, though that much was obvious. But Guy seems to be the only one who can cross the ball with success. Benny tries, but has had little success. Tierney misplays a bunch, though his few successful balls tend to be quite dangerous. By comparison, there's about 20 MLS midfielders averaging over 2 successful crosses a game, we have no one consistently over 1 a game. And most of our players are well below that. This is a major problem with our offensive I think. It's also fairly clear that none of our players are adept at dribbling past defenders. Benny and Sene are the only ones with any success there. I'm not sure if that's a product of us not playing wide, and thus not having many 1 v 1 opportunities or if our player's are just hesitant to try. I wish the fantasy site kept those stats as I'd like to compare with other teams, but I'd have to go through individual matches and tally them. Not going to happen.
Another thing I hadn't noticed is that Shalrie isn't shooting at all. If he's supposed to be playing as a more attacking option with Simms, he needs to be more involved offensively. I think he's playing too similar a role to Simms. We don't need two guys playing as DMs, particularly in a 4-4-2. Either he needs to get more involved, or as I'd prefer, put a more attack minded player there and drop Shalrie to CB or a sub role.
A couple things jump out - in no particular order: Purdie is a tough tackler. Simms actually doesn't give the ball away much. What the stats don't show is that he isn't comfortable accelereating the tempo. Neither Soares nor McCarthy give the ball away much. Soares has way more interceptions and also way more clearances, suggesting that he is pushing to win the ball, but often can't find an outlet when he does. It sounds like a fixable coaching problem. Not surprisingly, the noobs have the worst pass completion rate. You would think that will improve. Tierney is a more effective dribbler than perhaps he has been given credit for.
Most of Guy's minutes this season have been at forward and all of Tierney's, I believe, are at defense. That makes direct comparison somewhat misleading. Neither has gotten much time at the wing, where the crossing opportunities are generally the best. Tierney's stats should be compared to Alston's, Lechner's and Barnes' and Guys' to Sene, primarily.
It wasn't my intention to be comparing our guys directly, though I guess I did to some degree. I was more looking at the stats as compared to other teams to see why our offense has been having trouble finding the net. Ryan Guy on a per 90 basis completes more crosses than all but 1 or 2 forwards in MLS. But I believe the majority of those crosses came against DC when he was playing a RM role. Tierney might lead the league in number of attempted crosses for a defender. Unfortunately I think he'd be close to the bottom in terms of completed crosses %. I'm not sure if the benefit of his high number of crossing attempts is outweighed by the # of those that lead to loss of possession in the final third.
The stats that stand out to me are: -Simms lack of turnovers. -Tierney leading the team in pass attempts per 90 mins, nearly 50% more attempts than Alston.
Well, technically Polak is leading the team in pass-attempts per 90 mins. What stands out to me? Tierney and Lechner are possession black holes. If you look at who looses the ball most often, they're way up the list. This is really bad. The back four should be the most possessive group of guys on the field (along with the CMs). Passing below 80% as a defender or a CM is unacceptable on possession oriented team. Passing below 70% in those positions could be grounds for instant personnel changes.
If Cardenas starts at RM over Rowe, I would hope for this to level off a bit. When Rowe starts, Alston has limited his ventures forward (whether that's due to a lack of a link between him and Rowe, his need to stay back to cover for defensive purposes, or something else) but versus COL, playing behind Cardenas, he seemed more involved in the offensive end. As much as I am not enamored with Tierney's skills and speed, the guy busts his tail up and down the pitch and sees a lot of the ball (a lot more than many of us may prefer). His offensive game does seem to be improving a bit and for what ever reason, opponents don't seem to try to exploit his defensive weaknesses as much as they could.
With Cardenas' quickness, ball skills and aggressiveness, he draws in a lot of defensive attention. That leaves a lot of openings for Alston (and others).
Updated stats. Column B is total minutes played divided by 90, which tells me how many full games they've played. SP=Succesful pass UP=Unsuccessful pass P%=Passing Percentage TO=Turnovers FW=Fouls Won FC=Fouls Conceded SC=Successful Cross UC=Unsuccessful Cross KP=Key Passes SoT=Shot on Target SfT=Shot of Target TW=Tackles Won TL=Tackles Lost Int=Interceptions Clr=Clearances Rec=Recoveries SD=Successful Dribbles UD=Unsuccessful Dribbles I'm missing a couple guys from the bottom of the spreadsheet, but none of them have changed since the first table. It's easier to see the stats if I cut them out.