Photo: Marjorie Elzey

Editor’s note: All stats in this article are courtesy fbref.com. Stats are accurate as of July 1 and do not include Sunday’s Union-Crew match.

May’s article looked at the statistics behind Philadelphia Union’s team performance in the 2022 season so far. The only individuals mentioned in it were Jim Curtin (naturally), Andre Blake (obviously) and Daniel Gazdag (of course) but it didn’t go into any depth on which players were doing what well.

This article should remedy that, looking at players who already stand out and those whose stats suggest there is perhaps more to come from them as the season progresses.

A Santos breakout?

Going straight to the business end of the pitch, the only player in Major League Soccer with more expected goals (xG) plus expected assists per 90 minutes (not including penalties) than Sergio Santos (0.81) is New York City’s (them again) Taty Castellanos (0.82).

One thing to point out here is that Santos has only played around half the minutes (608) of Castellanos (1132), though it’s not an overly small sample size and is an indication of the type of threat he offers when he’s available.

The problem at the moment is, he isn’t available, and Union are suffering due to a potentially valuable team member (all roster spots are valuable in MLS!) having visa issues.

Mikael Uhre’s numbers for the same stat are also high, and though they dropped somewhat following the loss to Chicago, his still comes in at 0.72. This puts him 8th in MLS for this stat, which you could say measures overall goal threat.

This hints there is more to come from both these players, more pertinently from Uhre as he’s actually able to play and is a new Designated Player signing who everyone wants to succeed. The stats show they are finding the right positions from which to score or contribute to goals even if the ball doesn’t always find the back of the net.

Sometimes xG could be compared to PDO in hockey which is expected to always even out at 100 over time. Soccer players with a high xG who aren’t scoring much may be expected to score more in the future, while players with a low xG scoring lots might see the goals dry up eventually.

Some players are just excellent finishers who will score from low xG shots, but the encouraging thing for the Union is that their forwards are getting high-value chances in front of goal.

Incidentally, when looking at expected assists in isolation, Santos ranks highest in MLS on a per 90 basis with 0.50. They could do with having him available for selection sooner rather than later.

Who’s creating chances?

Looking further at the chance creation side of things, Union’s creativity comes as much from their style of play as it does individual players, at least at this moment in time. They are in the top half of the league for shots that occur as a result of winning fouls or as a result of their defensive actions high up the pitch.

There’s a lack of more traditional creativity, i.e. from a playmaker or from full-backs, when compared to other teams, especially as MLS is a league that loves its No.10s.

But Kai Wagner and Gazdag do create some chances from these positions. Gazdag is perhaps more of a second striker than a playmaking No.10, but there are signs there could be more to come from him in terms of creativity.

One way to create chances, take opposition players out of the game, and get your team into good goalscoring positions is through dribbling, but this is something the Union don’t do much of at all.

The stats show they lack effective, or at least willing, dribblers. The 4-4-2 diamond formation could play a part in this, as there are no orthodox wingers in the forward line — something teams who play 4-3-3 of 3-4-3 are able to utilize more.

As a team, Union have the fewest successful dribbles in all of MLS in 2022, and the third-fewest dribbles attempted. Their leading player in this area in 2021 was Jamiro Monteiro, who is now doing his dribbling for San Jose Earthquakes.

This again ties in with their overall style which can lead to a low amount of possession and quick transition play which prioritizes moving the ball rather than players moving with the ball. The stats back this up as Union are bottom of the league for total carries and for distance carrying the ball.

Even in this article that’s supposed to be about individual players, we’ve ended up talking about the team again, but where Philadelphia Union players can really come into their own is those defensive actions high up the pitch, putting pressure on the opposition.

Even though the workload has been spread out in the forward positions, with Julian Carranza, Mikael Uhre, Sergio Santos, and Cory Burke all having played over 500 minutes this season, the player who has played the most — Carranza on 1008 minutes — is 8th in the league for total pressures in the final third.

Looking at this on a per-90-minutes basis paints a clearer picture, with Sergio Santos once again standing out. He is top of MLS for attacking third pressures per 90 minutes among players who have played over 500 minutes.

Santos is obviously the ideal Union forward, if only he were currently able to be a Union forward. That the Brazilian rates so highly in all of these underlying statistics makes his enforced absence even more frustrating.

Pressure under pressure

When it comes to pressing and applying pressure in midfield Leon Flach is the standout player in MLS. He leads the league for pressures applied to opposition players in the middle third of the pitch as well as for the total number of pressures. He’s fifth in the league for overall successful pressures.

Carranza also ranks highly for total pressures when looking at this data on a per-90-minutes basis rather than the totals.

Nathan Harriel deserves a mention here too, as he’s fourth in the league for tackles and for the number of pressures applied to the opposition in the defensive third. He’s also sixth in MLS for interceptions made.

A few more points of note in the stats for individual players:

• Mikael Uhre leads MLS for percentage of shots on target (68.8%)

• Kai Wagner tops the league for passes made from dead-ball situations ((249) corners, free-kicks, and throw-ins).

• Jose Martinez is second in the league for shots with the highest average distance from goal (29.5 yards, Tom Edwards of New York Red Bulls is first on 31 yards.)

We can’t go without giving Gazdag a mention. He leads the team in The Only Stat That Matters — goals on the board, with seven. He also has the highest total xG in the team (7.9).

This reinforces the idea that he’s a support striker rather than a No. 10 playmaker, but if he can add a bit more of the latter to his game he’ll be up there with the most productive players in the league come the end of the season.

The stats leaders is something we can revisit at the end of the 2022 campaign, and also refer to when looking at the individual elements of the team’s tactics throughout the rest of the season. In the meantime, it would be nice if Philadelphia Union could get Sergio Santos on the field.