With most of the teams in MLS having played 4 or more games, I think it’s a good time to dive into MLS Statistical Analysis for 2011 for the first time. I realize that it’s still very early to be looking at trends, but it’s enough of a sample size to start evaluating things. As usual, we start with offense, and here’s the data, with teams sorted alphabetically.
(GP = games played / G = goals / S = shots / SOG = shots on goal / FC = fouls committed / FS = fouls suffered)
With the number of games played not being equal, it’s going to be hard to tell too much from the initial set of data. The only thing that really jumps out at me is the fact that just four teams have multiple wins (Real Salt Lake, Philadelphia, Colorado, and Los Angeles.) The real interesting stuff comes out when my statistics are calculated (and then ranked), teams sorted by points per game.
(GPG = goals per game / SPG = shots per game / %SOG = percentage of shots that are on goal / %S=G = percentage of shots resulting in goals / %SOG=G = percentage of shots on goal resulting in goals / FD = foul differential, fouls suffered minus fouls committed)
New England’s -19 foul differential leads the league, and pretty much embodies what any non-Revolution fan thinks of them. I’m just going to leave that out there on its own.
Just as they did last season, Real Salt Lake has scored fairly prolifically, tallying 2 goals per game through their four matches, a number only bested by Kansas City’s 2.67 goals per game in three matches. Philadelphia and Los Angeles are scoring .75 and .83 goals per game respectively, yet they’re still 2nd and 4th in the points per game rankings. One would only think that they’ll show well when it comes to defensive statistics.
Now we get to the rankings, where again I’ve colored the top 3 in blue, and the bottom 3 in orange, or bottom two in cases when there’s a tie for a place above 16.
Standing out is New York for their terribleness. They’re 3rd in shots per game (14.50), but 17th or worse in goals per game (.50), percentage of shots on goal (31.03%), percentage of shots resulting in goals (3.45%), and percentage of shots on goal resulting in goals (11.11%). Last season they had a similar inaccuracy issue, shooting 3rd most in the league (12.17), with 14th best accuracy in relation to the goal (37.53% – which was also bottom 3 in what was then a 16 team league.) This year, their shots per game has gone up, but their accuracy has gone down. It isn’t any wonder why they have two goals in four games.
I’ve already mentioned the Kansas City offense’s league leading 2.67 goals per game, but what interests me about them is the fact that they’ve done it while having the 11th best shots on goal percentage (34.88%). When they do get it on frame, they score 53.33% of the time, tied for first with Real Salt Lake.
Vancouver average a ranking of 4.6 in the offensive categories (excepting foul differential and points per game). Their goals per game average of 1.80 is good enough for 3rd, and they don’t rank worse than 6th in any of those categories. That Jay Nolly has figured so prominently for them in goal probably has something to do with their tie for 13th in points per game, but we’ll see for sure tomorrow when we look at defense and goalkeeping.
D.C. United’s 11.00 shots per game is actually a slight statistical decline from last year’s 11.23, but there have been improvements in goals per game (1.50 over .70), shots on goal percentage (43.18% over 39.76%), percentage of shots resulting in goals (13.64% over 6.23%) and percentage of shots on goal resulting in goals (31.58% over 16.57%). Of course that is skewed by the fact that 3 of the 6 United goals came on penalties, but even without the 3 shots, shots on goal and goals, the team still shows improvements in all of those categories. If anything, that tells me just how bad United were last year. Yeah, the team is going to have to get better in open play and from dead balls to score goals and win games consistently, but at least the numbers are nice for the time being.
Tomorrow comes the defense and goalkeeping.
Filed under: DC United, Statistical Analysis
[...] and are 16th in PPG. As much as I hate to admit it, New York have come a long way since the first Statistical Analysis. They were last in three offensive categories and 17th in another after playing 4 games, but now [...]