This is the new MLS Flavors of the Week Thread. It was de-merged from the Yanks Abroad FotW thread after they had been merged accidentally. This is not a perfect fix, however. There are older MLS FotW posts that were left behind in the YA FotW thread, just because it was like super-duper hard to click all those post individually and I got tired. The YA FotW thread in question is here: https://www.bigsoccer.com/community/...avors-of-the-week-2013-2014-r.2003802/page-76 It still has some (a bunch, actually) of the MLS related posts: all those posted before Tuesday 4/22 at 6:25 PM.
Perhaps there could be a separate thread for debating various website player-rating algorithms? I think this thread reads better when it's just people reacting after they've watched MLS games.
Fangraphs was built on the premise of transparency. That was/is the whole point of the site. BP (to my knowledge) has never divulged the formulas for PECOTA (the thing that pays the bills there for the most part).
Yes, it's a very good point, and what makes it a difficult (impossible) task to get it "perfect". But I'm not asking for perfect anyway. I'm not sure why that makes them "old skool"? Is there a new school for soccer analytics (the analytics forum is dead here) that somehow incorporates movement off the ball quantitatively?
Wil Trapp is leading the league in passes completed per game at 77. His pass completion percentage of 89 is good for 9th. Of the club regulars he's one of only 3 non-defender US players in the top 20. Thinking we'll see Mr. Trapp in a US jersey early next cycle. Very early.
This thread has become almost exclusively debate about Whoscored, with a little bit of Deandre Yedlin debate thrown in for good measure.
Movement off the ball and contributions to maintaining team shape are imo the blind spot of soccer stats. Players who fail to track back properly, don't provide strong help defense, or fail to provide an attacking outlet, get let off the hook. At the same time the best US XI of the season so far largely coincides with the National Team regulars who are in MLS.
Hot off the MLS presses, our second favorite topic . . . http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2014/04/22/seattle-sounders-deandre-yedlin-still-searching-right-balance-between-attack Most of this mentions his tactical learning curb . . . Over the past three weeks, in particular, the opposition seems intent on attacking down Yedlin’s side and has seen a fair amount of success. Yedlin was also responsible for conceding a penalty against FC Dallas, and Osvaldo Alonso has often been forced to cover while he marauds forward. “There’s times when I go that I shouldn’t be going, but there are times when I don’t go when I should,” Yedlin said. “It’s finding that balance and something that I’m working on. It’s tough when the lineup switches because there’s different players who play different ways, but that’s something I need to learn and something that I’m still trying to get ahold of.” At various times, the Sounders have played a 4-2-3-1, a 4-3-3 and a 4-4-2, with Brad Evans,Marco Pappa, Kenny Cooper and Lamar Neagle all playing on the right side ahead of Yedlin. Yedlin has been tasked with providing offensive width when players like Neagle and Pappa are in, and he’s been more inclined to tuck inside when Cooper is on the pitch. All the while, Yedlin is being told to be mindful of his defensive responsibilities. It’s a lot to ask of any player, but especially one who has played fewer than 50 professional matches. “I think the coaches will sit down with him and that should be something that is ingrained in his head,” said Evans, who might be Yedlin’s ideal pairing but has been limited due to injury. “He has all the tools and now it’s just picking and choosing the moments to go forward so we don’t get ourselves countered on.” Evans pointed out that tethering Yedlin to the defensive half would be wasting a weapon few teams possess. Yedlin just needs to learn when to deploy. “Because you have the freedom doesn’t mean I can get forward every single time we get the ball,” he said. “I’d like to, but you just can’t because you can’t take that kind of risk. It is a new challenge. “The only way to get better is to push the boundaries. I’m learning every day and trying to learn every day and even in the games I’m trying to learn.”
Interesting question, albeit very tangential. Google's initial algorithms came out of graduate research at Stanford, and were thus well-documented in the academic literature. As the company achieved increasing commercial success, they appeared to abandon those initial algorithms, presumably partly so they wouldn't have to keep paying royalties to Stanford (and presumably partly because they legitimately invented better algorithms.) It's hard to even remember how bad search engine ranking algorithms were before Google came along, and to my eye, search algorithms (at Google and elsewhere) have continued to improve markedly since then. Google has one big concern that WhoScored doesn't. Search engine optimization is a huge business, and transparency about Google's algorithms could make it far too easy to game the system. In contrast, there's little chance that professional soccer players are going to modify their behavior solely to get higher WhoScored rankings.
Teams in big leagues have their own statisticians who use internal 'WhoScored's to modify players' behavior. WhoScored is for fans and media as has been pointed out numerous times.
Sure, but it's not as if Dempsey and Yedlin, down a goal, are going to take the ball into a corner and start passing it back and forth to each other as quickly as possible. "What the hell are you doing?!" "We're increasing our total passes completed and our percentage of passes completed -- it really helps our WhoScored rating!" The analogous situation in search engine optimization is, however, very much a concern in designing algorithms for search engines.
It's a real eye-opener how differently the two systems regard him. Whoscored has Yedlin as the #9 American in the league (min 3 games, regardless of position), and squawka doesn't even put him in the top 50. It's one of several obvious ways in which Squawka and whoscored diverge. For one thing, whoscored clearly loves "key passes". Ranking Americans as before, it has Brad Davis #4, Zusi #6, Feilhaber #11, and Shea Salinas #17. In contrast, Squawka has Davis #21, Zusi #24, Feilhaber #33, and Salinas #54. For its own part, Squawka loves defensive play from midfielders and has Beckerman #6, Brian Carroll #7 (!), Edu #8, Trapp #10, and Larentowicz #14. Meanwhile, whoscored has Beckerman #8, Edu #10, Trapp #19, Carroll #42, and Larentowicz outside the top 50. There are some guys that both systems really like, such as Dempsey, Rimando, Hedges, Bradley, and Farrell (along with Beckerman and Edu), but there are plenty of other noteworthy differences, too. Chris Schuler (#12 whoscored, #39 Squawka) Clarence Goodson (#12 Squawka, #38 whoscored) Mike Magee (#17 Squawka, not in whoscored top 50) Etc.
Follow Dave Zeitlin@DaveZeitlin Hackworth says Aaron Wheeler is still the first-choice center back. Andrew Wheeler is one of the amazing stories of the MLS season. He played 3 years of college soccer at Division II Lenoir Rhyne College in North Carolina, then beat around in the bushes for clubs like the Hampton Roads Piranhas, the Reading Rage, USSF Division II FC Tampa Bay and a club in Finland called FC KooTeePee . . He sat the bench one entire year for Vancouver. He has played primarily as a forward his entire life and is listed as such on the Philadelphia roster. He played a bit at central defender in the preseason for the Union and moved ahead of late addition Ethan White on the depth chart. Now, it appears that he has usurped former MLS Rookie of the Year (and who can say, why this guy has fallen so far, it was a topic in this thread's last year's edition) Austin Berry. One thing I have noticed is that MLS forwards deliver him a physical beating nearly every game and he always stands up to it. This is a fun story out of Major League soccer, so far, this season.
It will never be hard for me to remember. You could search ESPN and the actual website wouldn't show up on the first three pages.
Eric Alexander has had a pretty good run recently, culminating with a big game against Philly last week, though I've always been rather lukewarm on him. I'm guessing that he's been relegated back to the bench by a recovered Tim Cahill (and he's not taking Lloyd Sam's spot at RW any time soon), but should he get any play this week beginning tonight against Houston and again against Columbus this weekend, he's worth keeping his eye on. It's worth mentioning that he has been on Klinsmann's radar.