Poch should consider switching to a back-3, given that Richards and a number of US defenders have plenty of experience playing in one. And players like Dest, Jedi, Tolkin, and McKennie have been excellent at wingback.
The best way to predict ball go in, better than past ball go in, is to look to underlying stats. Tillman has struggled to maintain his attacking impact in the CL. His teammate who plays in the exact same role he plays in has not been as affected by the higher level of competition and the tactical changes both are subject to. Gakpo, who made the jump from PSV to the top tier, maintained more of his league danger production while playing in Europe (he was on a worse PSV so it was mostly in the Europa but we could also point to international play as evidence of an ability to translate up). Malik’s CL career also sees an internal split where he does best against the lower quality CL teams. He’s a great third tier league player, but he has to grow his game if he wants to maintain his effectiveness against top tier teams. His improved defensive play is a good start.
Jeff Carlisle: Well done to Chris Richards and Crystal Palace, who win the English FA Cup 1-0 over Manchester City. Matt Turner, who was on the bench, will get a winner’s medal as well. They become the first American males to win that particular trophy since Tim Howard won it in 2004.
Keeping his spot is going to be his win. Palace are likely going to lose a different CB and we’ll see how they reinforce. Last year they bought and loaned in competition and Chelsea recalling their guy opened up more minutes.
Soccer is really difficult to quantify. Basketball, Football, and Baseball naturally break down into several observable descriptive statistics. The statistical breakdowns of soccer are warped into abstractions because the observable events are so subjective except for, basically, just goals.
Agree but he does seem to have turned a corner and is becoming the player we all thought he was going to be. Not there yet but getting closer. I think part of his problem is he's just a real nice guy and he has to learn that on the field he needs to go beast mode. He has the physique for it but we've had a lot of CF that did and never did that (Altidore, Cooper). Interestingly Indy11 posits the defense was the strength of the U20's when Dest played and Richards and McKenzie were there with him. It's possible that they are three starters at the WC (Injuries alone make it unlikely with the US injury history / luck). McKenzie being the least likely.
Richards benefited when Glasner was hired because he favored using a back three unlike Hodgson. If Glasner leaves this summer, the new manager may change things up.
For the last two games of the season at least, with Monchengladbach sitting smack dab in the middle of the table with nothing to play for. Whether that means anything, I have no idea. He's started 30 games this season, which is more than any American in a top league except for Antonee Robinson.
It looked like he had turned a corner last season, then he had a disappointing summer with us and wasn’t a clear cut starter for Palace until this next corner was turned. I think both those corners involved a 3 ATB.
Worth noting that Palace have now also qualified for the Europa League............................. But anyway, Americans starting and winning an FA Cup final aren't a regular occurrence. Something to be celebrated!! In worse news, Jonathan Klinsmann & Cesena were knocked out of the Serie B promotion playoffs. 1923788444670574781 is not a valid tweet id
It is even simpler than that. It does not make much sense to take xG (statistically assigned probability of a shot creating a goal) add it to xA (statistically assigned probability of a pass creating a goal) come up with a number. What exactly does that number really mean? Almost nothing?
It means the amount of danger a player is involved in, either by taking a shot or passing to a player who takes a shot.
Palace’s 523, are we allowed to play this way or would it be bad: https://twitter.com/betweentheposts/status/1923814067044585909?s=46&t=Tb0cWBcvtMxtruERRTB64A
The next time we debate on here about how poor the USMNT is and they can't ever breakdown a low block I already have my comment prepared. Go watch the 2025 FA Cup Final.
Hillary Clinton would be a big fan of the misuse of xG. But I created more danger. I should be President. Her and Darwin Nunez
AFC Bournemouth are 5th in the EPL in XG but won't qualify for the UCL because of some technicality about "winning games".
Ligue 1 judgement day a little good news a little bad news. Good news is Tessmann and Lyon snuck into Europa Conference. That certainly isn't going to help them much in their potential administrative relegation. The bad news is, it knocked Pefok's Reims down into the relegation playoff zone. The entire region of Lyon will burn probably if they are relegated.........and the icing on the cake is that their relegation bumps hated arch rivals St Etienne into the relegation playoffs. Something tells me that is not going to be solved quicly though, what a mess. Ligue 1 is probably going to be rooting for Reims to outright survive the playoffs so they have an obvious relegation switcheroo scenario because if it doesnt..........oh boy, that will get interesting.
Yup. Stats in soccer tell far less of the picture than sports like basketball, baseball or football. It’s not surprising Americans over rely on them given culturally they’re used to it in the other major sports.
All the best clubs are into them too and it shapes the way the game is played. It’s not just Americans who want to understand things.