We’re publishing three team previews every weekday until MLS First Kick on April 16th. You can find all of them here.
Today we’re looking at three teams that are each going in very different directions.
Read MoreWe’re publishing three team previews every weekday until MLS First Kick on April 16th. You can find all of them here.
Today we’re looking at three teams that had disappointing 2020 seasons, but each for completely different reasons.
Read MoreWe’re publishing three team previews every weekday until MLS First Kick on April 16th. You can find all of them here.
Read MoreThe 2021 MLS season is nearly upon us! This is our first batch of team previews, three teams with seasons that start this week in the CONCACAF Champions League. Let’s do this.
Read MoreThis is the seventh article in a series of articles and videos in the Where Goals Come From project from Jamon Moore and Carl Carpenter.
Now that we have inundated you with progressive passing data, videos, and presentations, now comes the time where I provide examples of how to create these types of opportunities in matches by applying these attacking principles to training. This is the part which is the most important to me personally: it’s easy for us to theorize and analyze what successful teams do well and identify these as the top levels of the game, however, the goal (no pun intended) of the Where Goals Come From project is ultimately to impact clubs and coaches to incorporate this framework into their strategy and game models.
Read MoreThis is an update to last Summer’s article on the state of analytics at MLS clubs. The last few months have been a big one for MLS analytics signings. Harvard’s Laurie Shaw was hired by City Football Group, former Opta and SportLogiq employee Sam Gregory took his talents to Ft. Lauderdale, Cory Jez transferred from the Utah Jazz to Austin FC, Nikos Overheul moved to Vancouver after working for StatsBomb and Smartodds, and American Soccer Analysis’ own Sam Goldberg and Kevin Minkus were hired by New York Red Bulls and the Chicago Fire, respectively. Given this, teams are polarizing into the haves and have nots. In this update I’ve dropped the Tier 1.5 “Definitely Know What xG Is“ as teams in that tier moved up.
Last year, Kevin Minkus wrote Soccer Analytics 101 over at MLSsoccer.com where he defined analytics as “using data and statistics to better understand something.” For the purposes of deciding what MLS teams have an analytics staff member the “something” is player recruitment and tactical analysis. I’m talking about using numbers and mathematical models (e.g. xG, xA, g+) to help evaluate transfer targets and team and player performance.
Read MoreIn an effort to continue to bring you the best American soccer analysis, we have added three new leagues to the web application: USL Championship (2017 - ), USL League One (2019 - ), and the now-defunct NASL (2016 – 17). These new leagues join MLS and the NWSL in our app, representing more than 4,000 players across nearly 6,000 games. In the app, you can select which league you want to view in the upper right, and then navigate through the tabs to explore shooting, passing, and goals added (g+) statistics for players and teams.
Read MoreThis is the fifth article in a series of articles and videos in the Where Goals Come From project from Jamon Moore and Carl Carpenter.
Data providers and analysts have long talked about successful passing “into the box” and shots that come from it, however, until now, we are not aware of a framework for providing context of how to separate “good, better, and best” of these situations other than location as identified by Expected Goals (xG), particularly one that can be used at all levels of a football club. In our estimation, this does not make the information very actionable for players. Expected Goals on their own do not provide a way of telling us the situation that created a shot.
As we are demonstrating in these “Where Goals Come From” articles, situational context matters a great deal. It’s not just the type of pass, but details such as the direction of the pass, the speed of play, the number of defenders between the ball and goal, the height of the pass, the quality of the reception (first touch), the location of the goalkeeper, and much more.
Read MoreThis is the fifth article in a series of articles and videos in the Where Goals Come From project from Jamon Moore and Carl Carpenter.
By now, readers of the Where Goals Come From project will be very in tune with the benefits of progressive passing in soccer, both from a data and tactical perspective. Within these last few weeks you’ve probably noticed a trend about the scope of progressive passing and its effectiveness throughout all levels of men’s and women’s football, furthering its importance within the game as a means of scoring goals (you know...where goals come from).
However, as American Soccer Analysis, we would be remiss to not put one specific league under the microscope and take a deeper look: in this case, Major League Soccer. In doing so, I’m going to look at the various tactical schemes the “defining” teams of the past three seasons in MLS have used to find success. These teams are:
Read MoreThis is the fourth article in a series of articles and videos in the Where Goals Come From project from Jamon Moore and Carl Carpenter.
Where Goals Come From - Jamon Moore and Carl Carpenter
Where Goals Come From: Tactical Progressive Passing Movements - Carl Carpenter
Where Goals Come From: The Five Progressive Passes - Jamon Moore
