Dan Stover and Jim Prestifilippo present their infographic of Philadelphia Union player stats for July’s games and the season so far.
Author: Dan Stover and Jim Prestifilippo
When they're not tearing up Fifa '13 online play with the Kaizer Chiefs (Tshabalala for life) or trotting Morecambe FC into the EPL on Lewis Alessandra's back, Dan and Jim spend their weekends in the River End or down at the Iron Abbey cheering (sometimes grumbling} on the Union. These Lansdale natives enjoy the finer things in life - like Old Crow bourbon, cheap tattoos, and thrift store furniture. They're both currently training for their entry into next year's Supplemental Draft.
Carroll still sucks!
Standout points for me:
-Casey is still the MVP
-Surprising possession/passing stats for Farfan – better than expected.
-While Fabinho is the worst with possession/passing, that is mostly evidence of the fact that he has been trying to put in a lot of dangerous, service in the final third – expect to not connect on some of those. The quality of his defensive numbers and his +/- was much better than expected. If we remind ourselves that he came into the squad pretty quickly and is adjusting to a new league/new country, I think he’s been doing quite well overall.
-Danny Cruz’s +/- of +5 is mesmerizing. If you put any stock into that stat, it certainly supports Hack’s continual inclusion of him in the starting 11. Plus…he’s so “Philly Tough.”
– Agree that Farfan has somewhat surprising statistics for July. Glad to see it.
– Wheeler, Hoppenot, and Fabinho have great offensive productivity numbers for subs. I don’t think the offensive effectiveness of this team in the last 20 minutes should be underestimated – though its defensive lapses in that time frame are just as noteworthy.
– The numbers provide a lot of perspective on how well Casey is playing. % of shots on frame, highest offensive productivity numbers for a consistent starter, +/- rating tied for highest on the team.
+1. That was similar to my interpretation of the data. Casey is the foundation for this club.
No offense to the makers of this infographic, but Cruz’s +5 makes me skeptical of the metric rather than making me question my view of him as a player
Its a very popular metric in basketball and hockey, as I would think the fewer number of players contributing at one time would give a greater indication of one players potential contribution both offensively and defensively.
Its a bit harder to say that its as revealing with 10 outfield players running around and times when a player can almost disappear from a match entirely. Paired with Danny’s relatively low offensive productivity numbers, the argument to be made is simply that the team scores more than it concedes while he is on the pitch which could have to do with Danny stretching the defense, Danny drawing fouls and cards, and/or the extra attention Danny draws from the opposing right back. I would suspect that the timing of Danny’s substitutions out of the game might bear some relationship to the +/- numbers as well.
Casey’s much higher offensive productivity numbers and similar +/- rating to Cruz, are more what one would expect from an attacker.
the +/- is a simple metric used to demonstrate not necessarily offensive production/contribution, but the overall contribution to the team during the course of a game. The +/- factored for 90 mins. might interest you more in that it helps to balance time on the pitch for regular starters and subs.
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Prior to the DC match [top 10]:
Fabinho 2.90
Hoppenot .553
G. Farfan .288
Casey .284
Cruz .255
Le Toux .113
McInerney .116
Parke .102
Carroll .087
Okugo .087