Rosales, not Dempsey, is the clear choice for Seattle's set-piece crosses

In Seattle’s 2-1 loss to Portland on Saturday, Clint Dempsey took all of the Sounders’ attacking set-pieces in the first half. He was impressive with his free kick shots on goal, clipping the crossbar and forcing Donovan Ricketts into multiple saves. But his corner kicks left much to be desired. Mauro Rosales subbed on in the 63rd minute and took the remainder of the set-piece crosses and created more chances. With Lamar Neagle suspended for yellow card accumulation and Seattle needing goals in leg two, Rosales seems likely to start. Requisite warning about small sample sizes aside, based off of the results in leg one, the data suggest Sigi Schmidt would be wise to let Rosales take over set-piece crossing duties in the second leg.

Here's how Dempsey’s nine corners and one free kick cross went in leg one:

3rd minute corner: To the near post, cleared by Diego Chara 6th corner: Near post, cleared by Will Johnson 20th corner: Near post, cleared by Will Johnson 25th corner: Near post, cleared by Chara 32nd corner: Near post, cleared by Chara 38th corner: Top of the six yard box, cleared by Pa-Moudou Kah 38th corner: Top of six, cleared by Kah 39th free kick: Cross from 18 yards out on the wing to the top of the six, cleared by Futty Danso 45th corner: Near post, punched clear by Ricketts

In the second half, Rosales took all three Seattle corners and two free kick crosses:

68th minute corner: To the penalty spot, shot by Djimi Traore, saved by Ricketts 69th corner: Top of six, Headed cross by Dempsey  blocked by Zemanski and eventually caught by Ricketts 82nd free kick: Cross from 38 yards in the center to the penalty spot, cleared by Danso 86th free kick: Cross from 28 yards on the wing to the edge of the penalty box, headed by Shalrie Joseph across the box 87th corner: Penalty spot, Headed shot by Dempsey off of the crossbar and out

In summary: Dempsey had 10 set-piece crosses, none of which reached a Seattle teammate. Rosales had five set-piece crosses, four of which found a teammate in the box, and three of which led to shots.

As you can tell, it was a tale of two halves. In the first, Dempsey’s crosses rarely cleared the first defender, and none found another Sounders player. In the second half, four of Rosales’ five crosses created chances, two off of the head of Dempsey himself.

If Seattle is going to win at Jeld-Wen Field on Thursday, they’ll need to do better with their crosses. Based on their chances in game one, it looks to be in the Sounders' best interest to allow Rosales to take the free kick crosses in game two. Not only did his crosses create better chances than Dempsey in game one, but Deuce seems to be more dangerous getting on the end of crosses than he is at taking them.

Show Down: Juan Agudelo vs. Diego Fagundez

During our podcast on Thursday night, a short side conversation was sparked between Drew and me. Who would you take in a situation where you are starting a new team: Juan Agudelo or Diego Fagundez. While the question and how it's presented matters (i.e. how many years of control do you have, salary cap situation, blah, blah, blah) because it gives us context, let's not go there. The discussion here is more about the general response. We've all, myself included, just generally assumed that the answer to any question between the two is: "Agudelo now, Fagundez later". But what makes us think that Fagundez isn't the better option right now? While doing our podcast I generally have between 9 and 15 browser tabs open with general bits of information. I'm sure my wife would argue that it's more like 50. Whatever. It's a lot. During that point in the podcast, I had Squawka up and quoted a total performance score of 452 for Fagundez, as opposed to Juan Agudelo and his shockingly low score of only 57.

So, the response then transforms itself from the answer that we thought we were sure of, to understanding what exactly Agudelo has done over the course of the season. Trust me, I get that numbers, especially in soccer, can't tell an entire story. But they can help see us things that our brains don't naturally keep track of.

Agudelo, in my mind, is a special case of a lot of talent doing one specific thing and being credited for far more than perhaps initially thought. I know the other side of that argument stresses his physical traits and goal-scoring ability. Sure, those are two HUGE things when it comes to this game. Speed kills and Agudelo knows how to turn it on.

Let's take a look below.

	Mins	Goals	Shots	Goals pSh	Chances Created
Fagundez	2419	13	43	0.30	27
Agudelo	1019	7	17	0.41	4

First, we can see one thing. And it's quiet amazing. Together, the two players produced 20 goals on 60 shots. Take a second to think about that because that's major. The Revolution took 37 shots and scored just one goal over their first five matches of the season. These guys get thrown into the line-up and procure 20 goals on just 60 shots. That's special.

Second, what is most obviously the difference between the two is the number of chances created. You'll see in a second that Agudelo still made a fine amount of passes. The issue isn't that he's a ball hog, or that he just wants the chances for himself. The problem is those passes did not become chances on goal. You'd hope that a guy who gets plenty of attention from the defense has the ability to find open teammates that can create goals.

	Mins	Pass p90	TO p90	Pass pTO	Avg Length	Dribbles	DisPos per 90
Fagundez	2419	22.17	2.08	10.65	14m	0.86	1.71
Agudelo	1019	28.52	3	9.51	13m	0.53	2.91

Alright, onto the possession-based stuff. There are some interesting thoughts here. Such as Agudelo taking less dribbles, making shorter passes, and making more of them. It's not something that I would have generally have thought of about him. I think of an individual who is looking to constantly run at defenders, but maybe that isn't the whole picture. That said, he's still losing the ball quiet a bit, and while Fagundez doesn't make as many passes, he's less error-prone and creates more pockets of space up the field with the ball at his feet.

	Mins	Fouls	Cards	Tackles	Blocks	Interceptions	Clearances
Fagundez	2419	0.81	3	1.3	0.11	0.74	0.33
Agudelo	1019	3.53	2	1.4	0.09	0.35	0.71

The biggest number that stands out to me on this page is the number of fouls committed per 90 minutes by Agudelo. There is no way he makes that many fouls and continues to only pull about 6 cards over the course of a full season. That's impossible. Outside of that, you see that each of these players is rather close to one another. One is a bit more on top of clearances while the other interceptions.

Really, that's probably due to two random factors. 1) Agudelo is in the middle of the box more often for corner kicks, and 2) Fagundez works in the midfield where errant passes are more probable.

It's important to realize these players aren't like for like. Trying to compare them as apples to apples isn't going to work and makes this work less productive. I am willing to acknowledge that. Agudelo did have some opportunities in the midfield this season, however, he was primarily featured up top in the striker role. Likewise, Fagundez had some exciting moments playing center forward, but was primarily used out wide as a left midfielder.

Because they don't occupy the same space, certain statistical attributes that we associate with these players are going to be either more or less inflated. They have different responsibilities so they aren't going to be the same player statistically. We don't have a "Wins Above Replacement" calculator, as awesome as that would be.

There is no key that unlocks all events and makes them equal, as if to say this player is better than that player, regardless of position or team. Maybe this post was a complete waste because we should be comparing these two teammates to the rest of the league, rather than to each other. What I do know is that Fagundez is less a player of the future and more of an MLS standout now, but when Agudelo leaves for Stoke, he is still going to be missed by the Revs.

How Much Difference Did Kei Kamara Make To Sporting Kansas City?

I spent some time this week riding a few planes and doing my cross-country travel thing with the family. That means a lot of distractions, which in turn leads to time reading nerdy books and listening to podcasts. I'm not sure if it was just that the Sporting KC machine was on full crisis mode or what. I happened to catch 4 different podcasts (including our own...btw what a job Drew & Matty did without me, huh? Proves I'm expendable...)  talking about Sporting and their lack of ability to facilitate a goal in the Champions League at home. Obviously that's a big deal, in part because they look to be one of the teams that will proceed on to the quarter finals next spring and continue to represent MLS. But despite them sitting pretty in the CCL and third (using points per game) in the table for the Supporter Shield, a couple of podcasts basically forecasted that they would fall a part without a "proven scorer" now that Kei Kamara has departed. Now, I have to say that I've been mildly impressed with them as a team, and their pack of forwards---featuring Claudio Bieler, Soony Saad, CJ Sapong and the recently returned Dominic Dwyer---make for an interesting four-some. That isn't including Teal Bunbury who made his return to the club after being out for a year-long rehab with a torn ACL.

My immediate reaction two weeks ago was to question the transfer the deadline deal and transfer of Kamara three weeks ago. I spent a day putting some thoughts together and then second-guessed myself that I was maybe naive. They've got quite a few weapons, and the added play of Benny Feilhaber---who admittedly I've never been a fan of---stepping into the void left by the departure of a six-foot, three-inch winger from Sierra Leone has been big. Their string of results (9 points in 3 games) made me think I was being silly.

Then today, while on the road from Atlanta, a thought crossed my mind and I decided that I would take a closer look at the numbers. I collected shot data for the matches Kamara participated in (and to the minute he was subbed in) as well as the games Sporting played without him, and I built myself a nifty little spreadsheet.

Now, before I throw these numbers at you, there is the need for a little asterisk to all this work. I'm sure it's already understood, but if not, let me make it clear: these numbers are very vague and there is still quiet a bit of noise involved. How much, I'm not sure. It's just important to recognize the difficulty of trying to measure what a team does with and without a single player, and extract the difference. I would love to quantify everything, but everything is currently unavailable. This is a very simple method in a very small sample size of a context.

To the numbers!

With Kei Kamara...

Total Minutes	1026
SHOT RATIO	2.171
KP RATIO	1.940
Goals per 90	1.930
Goals Allowed per 90	1.316
Points Per Match	1.67

And then again... only without him.

without Kamara
Total Minutes	1584
SHOT RATIO	1.527
KP RATIO	1.793
Goals per 90	1.193
Goals Allowed per 90	0.739
Points Per Match	1.63

You can see pretty the numbers plainly that the are overwhelmingly in the favor of Sporting being a better team with Kamara. And I don't think anyone would argue against it. However, the difference between the two teams should be questioned as it's possible the numbers are a result of the different system in which coach Peter Vermes implements with Kamara opposed to how he configures the team without his former star forward. I think the big stat that stands out to me is the number of goals allowed per 90 without Kamara in the starting XI. Which is pretty crazy, considering that the club actually surrenders less shots with Kamara in the line-up: 6.7 with vs. 7.4 without. This is what leads me to believe that A) the team plays a different style without him and B) that it may not be sustainable.

I wasn't on the crazy train with thinking that Sporting has all these problems and is going to eventually fall apart. I'm still cautious enough that I'm still waiting to see if they'll make a move towards the Supporters Shield with their remaining 5 matches in the season. Their shot ratio, even without Kamara, would still be best in all of MLS. So it's hard to simply throw crazy statements that this team is that much worse without him.

The bigger issue at hand for me is that Sporting was a force with Kamara. Without him, they're simply another good team in league filled with good teams. Both are sets of clubs (with and without Kamara) that are capable of winning silverware. That said, this really leads you to question why Vermes would sell off such a significant difference-maker overseas with a real shot at making a run for multiple cups at this point in the season.

Making Note of Interesting MLS Moves: Brandon McDonald

We're going to see a lot of people forever reference a term for finding something undervalued relative to what it provides. Such moves in sports are often spun off as "moneyball" type moves. I love the idea of finding undervalued assets, things that can have their production used in a manner which it benefits someone who actually needs it. The problem is most of the time when people refer to something as "moneyball" it's mostly just butchering the term or passing off a sale for the sake of either saving face or trying to sound semi-intelligent about an acquisition. It just seems to be an overused term in sports today and it has started to defeat the principle of the idea. And then there is this...

"The basic premise of ‘Money Ball’ is that you try to acquire undervalued assets," general manager Garth Lagerwey said. "We’ve had a long track record of picking up pieces that other people don’t want anymore and cultivating their talents, and that’s a credit to our coaching staff and the guys in our locker room who believe in our system."

Garth Lagerway, the current General Manager of Real Salt Lake, is explaining why he just worked out a deal with the worst team in the league for a player they just benched. The narrative delivered by the Salt Lake press is rather uninteresting and all together doesn't matter. What is interesting, at least to me, is the outlook for an RSL team that has sought to add depth to their weakness. While being a club that has been pretty much on par with teams like the Portland Timbers and Seattle Sounders in terms of allowing shots, they've been outstanding preventing those opportunities from turning into goals. You could of course point to Nick Rimando, but also Josh Saunders who worked a shut out of his own against FC Dallas this past weekend.

However, no amounts of Saunders and Rimando are going to help the Lakers keep up with that rate. The only way they can be assured of limiting future goals is by limiting future attempts. Enter Brandon McDonald, formerly of the last place DC United, who was owed approximately 275K at the start of this season. He's hardly a "money ball" type buy. But a couple points have been mentioned. Lagerway surrendered basically nothing very little (third-round pick (2014) and a conditional choice (2015), neither of which should have much, if any impact to the United and their chances at fielding a competitive team next season) in order to acquire someone who was instrumental in enabling his club to make a late second half run into the playoffs last season.

I'm sure our own DCU season ticket holder, Drew, and others can speak more to how well he's performed this season. The standards set by Squwaka have him ranked as the #71 overall defender (among all defenders) with a performance score an even 150, though sorted purely by defensive score he ranks 57th overall with a score of 93. Turning to the other side of the analytical coin; Whoscored ranks him as the #2 best performer with a rating of 7.02 and leading the team in defensive actions and more specifically block shots.

Okay, so comparing him to his peers, he's probably not "worthy" of being a bench guy on the last place team. But is he worth the 100+ thousand dollars that RSL will owe him this season on the rest of his contract. The answer is surprising. According to a couple of anonymous sources and general digging, it appears that Real Salt Lake may have a solid collection of allocation money saved for a rainy day and possibly used to pay down McDonald's salary. Now, we don't know much about allocation money, and the amounts that teams have are a well-guarded secret. But I was told that they planned on using a small amount on McDonald and now suddenly his salary isn't so influential on the salary cap.

This is an interesting move and one that could go either way, good or bad. I'm not sure I would call this a "moneyball" move. But it's certainly interesting and it's something that I think you'll see more of as teams fall away from the pack. It's expensive to find players outside of the league, and many teams are in a state of transition (Seattle, for one) and do not necessarily have all the finances usually afforded them. Buying low or taking advantage of players that teams are ready to sell on---but can still be useful to your team---is always a smart business practice. I guess that kind of would qualify as a "undervalued asset".

Right there, I made my own skin crawl.

DC United Score Alain Rochart On The Cheap

Today, the Vancouver Whitecaps traded defender Alain Rochart, their starting left back, to DC United for a second-round selection in the 2015 MLS SuperDraft as well as an conditional pick in 2016. Vancouver gets a rough lottery ticket, a little bit of freed up cash and the United get a veteran defensive back.  It's not specified if Vancouver will still be on the hook for Rochart's salary, but considering the lack of return, for the basis of this work I'm going to assume that to be the case. The trade on the peripherals seems rather odd and strikes a few questions in my mind as to why this move was even made and what EXACTLY did each team acquire.

Looking at the Swede, Alain Rochat, DC United obviously get a guy who is average positionally in the league. He's not brilliant by any stretch of the imagination, but he's not bad at what he does. He's going to give you minutes; he's given the Whitecaps back-to-back seasons of nearly 2,500 minutes. While being able to provide minutes is great, the larger issue is the quality of those minutes. How does he compare to the rest of the league?

According to the site Whoscored.com they have him listed as the 9th best starting left back in MLS and is the 8th highest paid. So over all the price tag pretty much suits what  he costs, though the average cost of an outside back is roughly $100k.

Point Total	Team	Name	WhoScored Rating	Minutes	Wage
24	RSL	Chris Wingert	7.12	508	$160,000.00
11	Chicago	Gonzalo Segares	7.09	990	$155,000.00
20	LA	Todd Dunivant	7.12	608	$150,000.00
22	Portland	Michael Harrington	7	1159	$140,000.00
18	Seattle	Leo Gonzalez	7.47	882	$135,000.00
15	San Jose	Justin Morrow	6.8	1174	$130,000.00
25	New York	Roy Miller	7.07	877	$124,000.00
16	Vancouver	Alain Rochat	7.02	969	$120,000.00
11	Chivas	Wálter Vílchez	6.64	340	$117,000.00
22	Houston	Cory Ashe	6.91	1215	$101,000.00
5	DC United	Daniel Woolard	6.72	719	$100,000.00
22	Kansas City	Seth Sinovic	7.13	1270	$90,000.00
28	Dallas	Jair Benitez	6.83	1106	$90,000.00
19	New England	Chris Tierney	6.93	658	$82,000.00
26	Montreal	Jeb Brovsky	7.11	990	$80,000.00
14	Columbus	Tyson Wahl	6.88	1165	$76,000.00
8	Toronto	Ashtone Morgan	6.2	469	$60,000.00
8	Toronto	Logan Emory	6.7	238	$48,000.00
22	Philadelphia	Raymon Gaddis	6.88	1339	$47,000.00
20	Colorado	Chris Klute	7.42	956	$46,000.00

Interestingly enough, Rochart matches up pretty well with Portland Timbers left back Michael Harrington, who costs just a nudge more and is rated very similarly. Both possess the ball well and deliver smart short passes out of the back while neither are very strong at tackling.

This comparison is interesting simply because the Timbers acquired Harrington from Sporting Kansas City this past off-season. While the details of the deal aren't disclosed to the public, we know that it centered around allocation money and  a guess in the $75K range isn't crazy.

So we can say the going rate for which DC United paid for is roughly $75K in "specialized "cap space. That's on top of the money that is saved from moving the individual. DC United paid a draft pick, potentially two, depending on the circumstances--of which we have no idea. So let's just work with the understanding that they are only giving up a second round pick in two years.

This is a little tricky because of the fact that we don't necessarily know what overall pick DC United will be giving up. While this matters only for the sake of history and being able to create context based upon past experiences, it only minimally limits our understanding of the value of this pick.

In the 2013 Superdraft, a second-round pick's average contract was worth roughly 35K, and that's specifically for a young-ish sort of player that qualifies for the draft. While that potentially could be of some value, you can see players such as Chris Klute, Chris Tierney and Seth Sinovic as great examples, as it could lend itself to assisting to provide some roster flexibility. It's not nearly as lucrative as any type of allocation money.

DC United got a serviceable upgrade and helped solidify a back line that has had a gaping hole in it this past season, while paying nearly nothing for it. On the other hand, the Whitecaps presumably cleared 120,000 dollars off their roster and got a low-risk/medium-reward lottery ticket, and potentially two of them. However, they did this at the cost of downgrading one of their team's strengths.

I can't say that this was a bad move for the Vancouver, but it's an all-too-perplexing one for a team that is only sitting 4 points out of playoff position in the table. Kudos to DC United for making a cheap and smart purchase. At least they did something with their season.

New England Revolution acquires Juan Agudelo: What does that mean?

First things first before I make fun of the Revolution (and I will).  Their defense has been---excluding the New York outlier---borderline elite this season. That's possibly one of the few reasons they're still afloat and maybe the only reason to watch them (sorry, Lee Nguyen).

Tempo-free soccer has the Revs ranked 6th in dAG (defensive attempts on goals), which is how many times an opposing team has made any attempt at their goal. Add to that that we have them ranked 2nd (6.2%) in Opposing Finishing%, which is how often a team's opponents successfully convert attempts into actual goals. They're better than every team outside of Montreal in that category.

This has all culminated in only 6 goals allowed in 9 games. Something that would be overlooked if it wasn't for their horrible attack and the need for at least some positive mention.

But now the Revs have added the young (former starlett?) Juan Agudelo, someone who saw time with the US National team only 6 months ago in Russia and didn't look awful by any stretch. To be fair, he's someone that has actually come out looking very strong for Chivas earlier this season, but he's been hampered the last few weeks with hamstring issues.

It was thought that he had mended a brewing off-season situation between himself and Chivas USA head coach, El Chelis. But of late, Chelis has given a lot of credit to his now former striker. He told MLSSoccer:

"I didn’t know what I had in Agudelo, but by having him, what I asked for doesn’t matter because Agudelo is a model. He is the natural on this team. He’s a player that has many technical qualities. He’s very involved in working to improve others."

And now he's shipped off to the greater Boston area and we are with out the full detail of the acquisition being yet to be vented  in exchange the Goats received allocation money. The spice of life and magic dust that no one talks about and everyone wants. Of course for us this isn't about the details at this point.

What Juan Agudelo will bring is spectacular things and then all together frustrating things. He averages about 16 shots on goal per 1500 minutes, a number he has yet to reach in either of his stops in Chivas or New York. A team averages a goal on 9.4% of its attempts this season, and 26.9% of its shots on goal. Using that, there's a possibility that he adds a few additional goals to the line-up. Assuming he is just average at finishing.

That said Agudelo has beat the average ratio over his 3,000 minutes, scoring 11 goals in 36 shots on goal (30.6%). Scoring goals is a skill, and though we don't know how much is luck vs. his ability, I think it's very possible that he will continue to beat the league average conversion rates.

Looking at Chris Wondolowski, Kenny Cooper and Álvaro Saborío--the top 3 scorers for 2012--they all combined to beat the league average by scoring a goal on 43.9% of their shots on target. So, we can safely attribute scoring goals on shots on target as being a skill, the only problem is trying to account for luck. That's a little difficult at this stage, and so for now, we'll just mention it.

But assuming that Agudelo is consistent and continues scoring at a high rate and matches 1500 minutes. I have him for about 6 goals this season. Right now considering their goal conversion and their already abysmal offense, the Revs are on pace for 36 goals total to end the season. Considering their ability to suppress their opponent's talent and ability to score goals I have them for 26 goals allowed, assuming they continue their defensive supremacy.

Using SoccerMetricsPythagorean this comes out at about 51 points... given the asinine goal difference. Add in the additional 6 goals that Juan Agudelo brings and that brings them to a total of 56. Basically almost a full point for each goal.

Now, I'm not about to say that the Revolution have a shot at 60 points, not in your life. But in the last 3 years the only teams to have a plus goal differential AND not make the playoffs were 2011 Chicago Fire and the 2010 Kansas City Wizards. Considering a team-wide return to a league-average ability to score goals AND adding Juan Agudelo, it's very possible that New England just moved themselves within striking distance for the 4th or 5th spot in the East.

Columbus and Philly, beware.

ASA Podcast: Episode IV

It's Saturday and thus time to drop yet another American Soccer Analysis Podcast on you all. As we've been previewing this past week, we're going to talk a bit about some of the up-and-coming MLS rookies that have played a big role on their teams to this point in the season. We'll add in our thoughts on using a Plus-minus statistic for measuring individual performance, as well as our selections for game of the week. Hope you enjoy.

[audio http://americansocceranalysis.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/asa4.mp3]

MLS Rookies: Some thoughts

Tomorrow during our podcast we'll be talking a bit about rookies, some of our thoughts on their various seasons at this juncture, and how we rack and stack them. Here are a few short profiles on the ones we'll be talking about...

CARLOS ALVAREZ, MIDFIELDER - CHIVAS USA

Alvarez does a lot of things really well. He's rotated through a few different positions in the midfield for El Chelis this season and his accumulated stats kind of reflect that.

Though interesting enough, for as up-and-down as the attack is, Alvarez hasn't touched the ball as much as you think. At only 8.62% of his teams touches, he hasn't been as involved in the total care of the ball.

	CARLOS ALVAREZ, MIDFIELDER – CHIVAS USA
DISTRIBUTION	Week1	Week2	Week3	Week4	Week5	Week6	Week7	Week8	Total	Total=per90
+Pass	0	0	5	22	29	0	39	23	118	26.22
-Pass	0	0	2	16	7	0	7	13	45	10.00
Through ball	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
+ Flick on	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	3	0.67
- Flick on	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Lay off	0	0	0	1	1	0	7	2	11	2.44
Header	0	0	1	7	1	0	3	6	18	4.00
+ Cross	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
- Cross	0	0	0	0	2	0	1	1	4	0.89
Key Pass	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	3	0.67
Assist	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
SHOTS	Week1	Week2	Week3	Week4	Week5	Week6	Week7	Week8	Total	Total=per90
Goal	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.22
SonT	0	0	1	0	1	0	1	1	4	0.89
SoffT	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	1	3	0.67
blocked shot	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	3	0.67
headed SOT	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
headed SoffT	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0.22
SET PIECES	Week1	Week2	Week3	Week4	Week5	Week6	Week7	Week8	Total	Total=per90
Corners into box	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
short corners	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
freekick cross	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
direct free kick on target	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
direct freekick off target	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
+ throw in	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
- throw in	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
DEFENSIVE	Week1	Week2	Week3	Week4	Week5	Week6	Week7	Week8	Total	Total=per90
tackle won	0	0	0	1	0	0	2	2	5	1.11
tackle lost	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	1	3	0.67
defender block	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0.22
interception	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	2	4	0.89
clearance	0	0	1	3	0	0	0	1	5	1.11
blocked cross	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
recovery	0	0	1	13	8	0	9	6	37	8.22
corner conceded	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	0.44
POSSESSION	Week1	Week2	Week3	Week4	Week5	Week6	Week7	Week8	Total	Total=per90
+ dribble	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	3	7	1.56
- dribble	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	1	5	1.11
lost possession	0	0	2	20	10	0	12	16	60	13.33
fouls won	0	0	0	2	1	0	3	1	7	1.56
FOUL	Week1	Week2	Week3	Week4	Week5	Week6	Week7	Week8	Total	Total=per90
fouls conceded	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	0	3	0.67
offside	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	2	0.44
yellow card	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
red card	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Misc	Week1	Week2	Week3	Week4	Week5	Week6	Week7	Week8	Total	Total=per90
Total Touches	0	0	16	90	69	0	95	85	355	78.89
Total Team Touches	0	0	669	853	790	0	1035	773	4120	915.56
Minutes	0	0	45	90	90	0	90	90	405	57.86

TotalPass%	72.39%
Team Touch%	8.62%
PLUS	224
MINUS	131
OVERALL	93
o/p90	20.67

ANDREW FARRELL, RIGHT BACK - REVOLUTION

Farrell hasn't been as conscientious as Yedlin with taking care of the ball, as his 68% passing rating is a bit low, and even more so he hasn't been very successful with his crosses. His 2 key passes are also the least among the four-some rookies.

That said he averages 25 overall plus/minus (opm) per 90 minutes and has the highest percentage of team touches 10.9%, which shows he's involved and trusted with the development of the attack. But it  also helps that he leads all the rookies in interceptions (35) and recoveries (40), too.

	ANDREW FARRELL, RIGHT BACK – NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
DISTRIBUTION	Week1	Week2	Week3	Week4	Week5	Week6	Week7	Week8	Total	Total=per90
+Pass	0	26	31	28	31	0	20	42	178	30.23
-Pass	0	13	18	16	13	0	11	13	84	14.26
Through ball	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
+ Flick on	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
- Flick on	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0.17
Lay off	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Header	0	2	4	1	2	0	1	2	12	2.04
+ Cross	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	2	0.34
- Cross	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	2	5	0.85
Key Pass	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	2	0.34
Assist	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
SHOTS	Week1	Week2	Week3	Week4	Week5	Week6	Week7	Week2	Total	Total=per90
Goal	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
SonT	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
SoffT	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.17
blocked shot	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
headed SOT	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
headed SoffT	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
SET PIECES	Week1	Week2	Week3	Week4	Week5	Week6	Week7	Week2	Total	Total=per90
Corners into box	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
short corners	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
freekick cross	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
direct free kick on target	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
direct freekick off target	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
+ throw in	0	7	8	7	9	0	6	1	38	6.45
- throw in	0	2	4	7	1	0	3	1	18	3.06
DEFENSIVE	Week1	Week2	Week3	Week4	Week5	Week6	Week7	Week2	Total	Total=per90
tackle won	0	2	1	3	3	0	1	2	12	2.04
tackle lost	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	3	0.51
defender block	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
interception	0	7	5	4	5	0	10	4	35	5.94
clearance	0	2	5	7	5	0	3	5	27	4.58
blocked cross	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	0.34
recovery	0	10	4	6	4	0	8	8	40	6.79
corner conceded	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0.17
POSSESSION	Week1	Week2	Week3	Week4	Week5	Week6	Week7	Week2	Total	Total=per90
+ dribble	0	7	0	4	7	0	0	1	19	3.23
- dribble	0	2	1	1	2	0	0	2	8	1.36
lost possession	0	16	21	18	16	0	13	17	101	17.15
fouls won	0	2	1	0	1	0	1	0	5	0.85
FOUL	Week1	Week2	Week3	Week4	Week5	Week6	Week7	Week2	Total	Total=per90
fouls conceded	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	2	0.34
offside	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
yellow card	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
red card	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Misc	Week1	Week2	Week3	Week4	Week5	Week6	Week7	Week8	Total	Total=per90
Total Touches	0	100	107	105	102	0	79	103	596	101.21
Total Team Touches	0	856	915	995	880		826	975	5447	924.96
Minutes	0	90	80	90	90	0	90	90	530	75.71

TotalPass%	67.94%
Team Touch%	10.94%
PLUS	372
MINUS	222
OVERALL	150
o/p90	25.47

DESHORN BROWN, FORWARD - COLORADO RAPIDS

Brown is an exceptional and exciting talent. He does a lot of things to help the Rapids win, but unfortunately he also does things that aren't helpful. He's had a hard time holding on to the ball in the final third, despite scoring twice and adding an assist.

One thing that stands out for me is the fact that, despite his amount of time and general placement on the field, he has yet to get an off-sides call against him.

	DESHORN BROWN, STRIKER – COLORADO RAPIDS
DISTRIBUTION	Week1	Week2	Week3	Week4	Week5	Week6	Week7	Week8	Total	Total=per90
+Pass	14	7	10	16	14	6	11	0	78	11.78
-Pass	6	11	6	1	9	3	5	0	41	6.19
Through ball	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
+ Flick on	1	0	0	3	0	0	1	0	5	0.76
- Flick on	2	2	1	0	4	1	3	0	13	1.96
Lay off	6	1	4	0	3	0	5	0	19	2.87
Header	4	4	4	3	4	1	3	0	23	3.47
+ Cross	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	0.30
- Cross	0	3	0	0	0	1	0	0	4	0.60
Key Pass	0	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	3	0.45
Assist	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.15
SHOTS	Week1	Week2	Week3	Week4	Week5	Week6	Week7	Week8	Total	Total=per90
Goal	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	2	0.30
SonT	2	0	3	2	0	0	1	0	8	1.21
SoffT	2	3	2	0	2	0	5	0	14	2.11
blocked shot	0	1	0	0	1	0	1	0	3	0.45
headed SOT	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
headed SoffT	1	2	1	0	1	0	1	0	6	0.91
SET PIECES	Week1	Week2	Week3	Week4	Week5	Week6	Week7	Week8	Total	Total=per90
Corners into box	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
short corners	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
freekick cross	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
direct free kick on target	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
direct freekick off target	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
+ throw in	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.15
- throw in	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
DEFENSIVE	Week1	Week2	Week3	Week4	Week5	Week6	Week7	Week8	Total	Total=per90
tackle won	1	1	1	1	0	0	1	0	5	0.76
tackle lost	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
defender block	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
interception	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	0.30
clearance	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0.15
blocked cross	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0.15
recovery	0	0	2	2	0	0	4	0	8	1.21
corner conceded	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
POSSESSION	Week1	Week2	Week3	Week4	Week5	Week6	Week7	Week8	Total	Total=per90
+ dribble	1	0	1	1	0	1	2	0	6	0.91
- dribble	3	2	0	1	1	0	1	0	8	1.21
lost possession	11	18	8	4	12	5	9	0	67	10.12
fouls won	0	2	1	0	3	0	2	0	8	1.21
FOUL	Week1	Week2	Week3	Week4	Week5	Week6	Week7	Week8	Total	Total=per90
fouls conceded	2	0	2	0	0	0	4	1	9	1.36
offside	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
yellow card	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
red card	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Misc	Week1	Week2	Week3	Week4	Week5	Week6	Week7	Week8	Total	Total=per90
Total Touches	90	62	48	37	59	21	62	0	379	57.23
Total Team Touches	1094	1012	681	766	887	751	839	0	6030	910.57
Minutes	83	90	80	90	90	76	87	0	596	85.14

TotalPass%	65.55%
Team Touch%	6.29%
PLUS	172
MINUS	179
OVERALL	-7
o/p90	-1.06

DEANDRE YEDLIN, RIGHT BACK - SOUNDERS FC

Another exciting and pacey star, Yedlin doesn't do everything right, but he does more things right than wrong. While that sounds like a back-handed compliment, his speed is electric and game-changing.

He gets involved in the flow of the game and is constantly involved with the attack, as well as helping on defense to win the ball back.

	DEANDRE YEDLIN, FULLBACK – SEATTLE SOUNDERS
DISTRIBUTION	Week1	Week2	Week3	Week4	Week5	Week6	Week7	Week8	Total	Total=per90
+Pass	54	27	40	30	60	23	0	0	234	39.00
-Pass	11	13	13	12	19	11	0	0	79	13.17
Through ball	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0.17
+ Flick on	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
- Flick on	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Lay off	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	0	3	0.50
Header	4	2	4	4	1	3	0	0	18	3.00
+ Cross	1	0	2	1	1	0	0	0	5	0.83
- Cross	2	1	2	2	3	1	0	0	11	1.83
Key Pass	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	3	0.50
Assist	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
SHOTS	Week1	Week2	Week3	Week4	Week5	Week6	Week7	Week8	Total	Total=per90
Goal	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
SonT	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
SoffT	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	3	0.50
blocked shot	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
headed SOT	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
headed SoffT	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
SET PIECES	Week1	Week2	Week3	Week4	Week5	Week6	Week7	Week8	Total	Total=per90
Corners into box	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
short corners	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
freekick cross	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
direct free kick on target	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
direct freekick off target	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
+ throw in	6	5	3	4	8	7	0	0	33	5.50
- throw in	2	4	4	2	2	2	0	0	16	2.67
DEFENSIVE	Week1	Week2	Week3	Week4	Week5	Week6	Week7	Week8	Total	Total=per90
tackle won	3	2	3	5	3	4	0	0	20	3.33
tackle lost	2	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	4	0.67
defender block	1	1	0	2	0	1	0	0	5	0.83
interception	7	8	7	2	4	3	0	0	31	5.17
clearance	0	3	4	4	4	3	0	0	18	3.00
blocked cross	0	13	0	0	0	0	0	0	13	2.17
recovery	6	5	7	2	9	7	0	0	36	6.00
corner conceded	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	3	0.50
POSSESSION	Week1	Week2	Week3	Week4	Week5	Week6	Week7	Week8	Total	Total=per90
+ dribble	0	0	0	1	4	0	0	0	5	0.83
- dribble	1	1	1	5	3	2	0	0	13	2.17
lost possession	14	15	14	20	25	13	0	0	101	16.83
fouls won	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
FOUL	Week1	Week2	Week3	Week4	Week5	Week6	Week7	Week8	Total	Total=per90
fouls conceded	1	1	3	2	2	2	0	0	11	1.83
offside	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.17
yellow card	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
red card	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Misc	Week1	Week2	Week3	Week4	Week5	Week6	Week7	Week8	Total	Total=per90
Total Touches	118	92	112	101	149	83	0	0	655	109.17
Total Team Touches	1169	953	1047	876	1238	955	0	0	6238	1039.67
Minutes	90	90	90	90	90	90	0	0	540	77.14

TotalPass%	74.76%
Team Touch%	10.50%
PLUS	425
MINUS	241
OVERALL	184
o/p90	30.67

Individual Plus-minus system ideas

It's late and I have no intention of staying up past midnight for another night only to be woken by my darling, love-of-my-life, three year old at 6 o'clock wanting to play angry birds. That all said, I have been messing around with collecting various Opta data on Deshorn Brown and DeAndre Yedlin for our upcoming Saturday podcast that is going to talk specifically about limited data analysis and cross positional rankings. Without giving away too much, it gave me an idea for a plus-minus system that could potentially work if balanced correctly.

There are basic good things and bad things that occur on the pitch during the 90. Most of those things, those that involve the ball, are recorded by Opta. If you could somehow weight those events and come up with a system that associates a value to them, then you could potentially have a system that inherently grades players for how they perform on the ball across the board.

What if you associated a key pass being worth a one-third what a goal is worth, being that a third of key passes lead to goals. Maybe a clearance or block is worth---whatever that associated average is with preventing goals from being scored.

Somewhere there could be a point scale that is attributed based upon how many times those events occur on average between goal scoring events and in game states.

Matty has a nice little utility that he'll be presenting soon in regards game states. It should, to undersell it a bit, be grand and possibly allow for these events to be contextualized and valued in a more meaningful capacity.

I don't know--maybe I'm drunk with coffee and in need of sleep.