The Unofficial 2020 MLS MVP Finalists

The Unofficial 2020 MLS MVP Finalists

The finalists for the Landon Donovan MVP award were announced this past week. The nominees are Andre Blake, Nicolas Lodeiro, Jordan Morris, Alejandro Pozuelo, and Diego Rossi. The winner will be chosen by current MLS players, MLS club employees, and select media members. There is no set criteria for how the MVP is chosen; voters can choose whoever they think is most deserving of the award. Luckily, American Soccer Analysis developed the robust goals added (g+) metric that will add another layer to the debates. Since g+ measures every single action completed on the pitch, we can use this metric to be able to determine the most “valuable” field player. That brings us to the question: what does it mean to be most valuable? I propose five methodologies that can be used to determine the 2020 MVP using g+.

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Lowered Expectations: Superman, Super miss?

Lowered Expectations: Superman, Super miss?

Welcome to Lowered Expectations! Here we review some of the weekend’s best open-play shot attempts which did not quite live up to expectations. We break down the GIFs through the lens of our expected goal model and discuss each one evaluating both the results and the process.

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