Yeah, we take too many chances going to ground. It's a better now that Calvo is gone, but Nathan does it also. Also, when Covelo joined one of the changes was that we were going to have the "non-attacking" FB slide into the center on counters to try to help defend them. On that first goal, it's not clear who was the "forward FB". Lopez came back into the play too late to make a difference. TT was in there trying to defend the guy on the outside. Yueill was kind of trailing the same guy and didn't pick up Loffelsend, who saw Remedii go to ground and went off to the races. TT switched to Loffelsend after Nathan took himself out of the play but didn't have the speed to catch him. Loffelsend had a full head of steam, a bit of a lead and pretty good speed.
I’m watching the Whitecraps versus Nashville. (Need an insulting moniker for them.) Vancouver suck, but they are better disciplined and more focused than us. They’re down 1 to nil at the half. Still, they are playing on short rest, after going 120 minutes and a shootout the Hosers just a couple of nights ago. They made seven changes to their lineup. They looked tired for the first twenty minutes, but then they woke up. I think they are better organized and better disciplined than us. Nashville attacked relentlessly for the first twenty minutes, and Vancouver have given up only one goal. We can aspire to that level of discipline. Also, Nashville’s announcers do not suck. Go Quakesfans!!
Heading into the MLS All-Star game, league leaders in...non-pen expected goals:1. Brandon Vazquez, 12.16 xG2. Hany Mukhtar, 11.16 xG3. Jeremy Ebobisse, 9.93 xGexpected assists:1. Lucho Acosta, 7.33 xA2. Emanuel Reynoso, 7.30 xA3. Cristian Espinoza, 7.22 xA— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) August 8, 2022
Quakes are second in ground duels won... ...and it no longer correlates to winning in MLS because every team is doing it rSq of ground duels won x ppg in @MLS over the past four seassons. 2019: .5992020: .462021: .0382022: literally zeroI have no idea what to make of this. It's truly bizarre. pic.twitter.com/wx6FIyLPyl— Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) August 13, 2022 You’d think inning duels is winning duels, even if everyone realizes it’s big. But maybe the delta between good and bad duelers has shrunk to the point of irrelevance— Jeremiah Oshan (@JeremiahOshan) August 13, 2022
If I had to bet, for such a dramatic reversal to happen it's likely to be some kind of change in measurement. I.e. defining what is a ground duel and what it means to win one, and who is deciding this.
Yeah I am skeptical about drawing grand conclusions until we see a few more years. If it was a thing for 9 years and then not so much the last few years is it really “gone” or have the last 2 years been an anomaly. Could possibly be about a kind of maturity of play. For example NYFC plays possession really well and their success is probably not all that bound to winning the ball back on defense.
Maybe a better metric is where the fuels are won on the field…a successful high pressing team vs a low block defensive team.
Yea I'd be interested in the correlation between PPG and "duels won where teams keep the ball 5 seconds after winning it"
Monteiro Which Players Pass The Ball Well Under Pressure? Major League Soccer, 2022 pic.twitter.com/GdnxNVAajz— StatsBomb (@StatsBomb) August 18, 2022
I’d like to see where Jebo is in that. An under-appreciated aspect of his game is how well he does with his holdup play - receiving the ball under pressure, making a good touch and distributing successfully. Certainly he’d be showing better than Jordan Morris there with 65% pressured pass completion.
Assville, and Nashville is a fun team to watch, good cohesion and influx of players. Austin is another team that's figured it out, North Carolina is going to have it all figured out next year as wel. Everyone has an upward trend but us.
Even Cinncy are on the upswing after years of futility. That’s what happens when your owners give a crap. Go Quakesfans!!
Cincy was the worst franchise in MLS history over their first three years in the league, finishing dead last in all three years and breaking the record for most goals allowed... their PPG was around 0.66 over all three years combined. Now just one year later they're competing for a playoff spot, with the best performing attacking trio in the whole league... which shows just how fast you can turn things around in MLS if you combine spending money with hiring the right people (Chris Albright technical director, Pat Noonan coach, both hired away from assistant roles with the Philadelphia Union), signing the right players, developing players (Vazquez), etc. They're far from being a MLS powerhouse, but they're on a good trajectory. We have the numbers to prove it. 💪 pic.twitter.com/puqSWUcLJE— FC Cincinnati (@fccincinnati) August 19, 2022
I’m not denying they’ve turned it around. But the expression “for years!” suggests a lot more than 3 to my ears.
FWIW the Quakes went from 3rd to last to one of the best ever MLS teams in 2011 -> 2012, so we know that massive turnarounds are possible in MLS year to year. I hear people say that parity holds the league back. Holds it back from what? Not from being a league where your team can go from 0 to 60 in a year. I like it.