Monday, May 30, 2016

Crew SC Need a Solid Performance

One more match for Crew SC before the league takes a knee for Copa America this weekend. It's tough to say if it's coming at a good or bad time for the team.

With Saturday's result, they have climbed from 16th on the overall combined table to 14th this week - and on the form table (last 6 games) they are 9th. Pointed in the right direction, but still mid-table, and not quite good enough to get them solidly positioned in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

At this point last year, the combined table was shouting at us, telling us who stunk. In fact, it couldn't be more clear. The four Eastern teams bouncing around the bottom of the table at this point last year were never able to climb back into the playoff picture.

2015 East Table, June 9th, 2015
PPG : Team... GD (per game)
1.75 : DC United... 0.31
1.58 : Toronto FC... 0.25
1.40 : New England Rev... 0.00
1.40 : Montreal Impact... -0.20
1.31 : Columbus Crew... 0.00
1.21 : New York Red Bulls... 0.00
-----------------------------------------------
1.14 : Chicago Fire... -0.07
1.08 : Philadelphia Union... -0.23
0.94 : Orlando City... -0.44
0.79 : New York City FC... -0.43

2016 East Table, May 30th, 2015
PPG : Club... GD (per game)
1.54 : Philadelphia... 0.31
1.46 : Montreal... 0.15
1.36 : New York... 0.29
1.29 : New York City FC... -0.43
1.23 : Orlando City SC... 0.15
1.23 : D.C.... 0.00
-----------------------------------------------
1.23 : Toronto FC... -0.08
1.17 : Columbus... -0.17
1.14 : New England... -0.43
0.92 : Chicago... -0.33

The expectation is NYCFC to drop out of the position they are in. Who replaces them, though? Is it Toronto's talented group? Or how about New England. In either case, this is a spot that Columbus does not want to be.

The good news is that Anthony Precourt and Gregg Berhalter have started working on the problem. Kei Kamara has been moved (which, one could argue, is a player the Crew didn't expect on having this year) out and position battles are finally happening.

Is it enough? The severe issue we saw on display this past weekend against Real Salt Lake was a complete lack of discipline in a desirous attempt to get Ola Kamara a bucket full of goals.

After going up 4-l late in the game Crew SC were not willing to lock up the shop and take home the victory. It was a frustrating watch as attack after attack was still being made deep into the 2nd half. It exposed a makeshift defense and nearly allowed for another 3 goal comeback from a visiting team.

It was to the point at the end of this match, after RSL scored goal three, that it felt like a loss. You could even see it on the player's faces.

Columbus travels over to Philly on Wednesday to take on a flat Union side. You never want to place too much importance on a single game, but it is critically important that Crew SC have a good game. One that they control. After an out of control first dozen games, it's much needed.

Sunday, May 29, 2016

MLS 21 and Under

MLS turned 21 this year, so let's take a look at the top players 21 years and younger. What I did was take the median player rank (of all in MLS) of WhoScored.com, Squawka and my very own. Any player ranking north of 200 is doing alright.

Median 
MLS Rank
NAMEHBWSSqTEAMPOSITIONBIRTHPLACE
61Jordan Morris5419161SeattleForwardSeattle, Washington 
75Cyle Larin427578Orlando City SCForwardBrampton, Canada 
128Diego Fagundez84246128New EnglandMidfielderMontevideo, Uruguay 
132Ronald Matarrita13229180New York City FCMidfielderAlajuela, Costa Rica 
135Carlos Gruezo115135259FC DallasMidfielderSanto Domingo, Ecuador 
137Kellyn Acosta137279131FC DallasMidfielderPlano, Texas 
139Justen Glad13914781Real Salt LakeDefenderPasadena, California 
142Tommy Redding181142110Orlando City SCDefenderSan Diego, California 
145Kekuta Manneh116173145VancouverMidfielderBakau, Gambia 
163Cristian Roldan16319354SeattleMidfielderArtesia, California 
172Fraser Aird158172405VancouverMidfielderScarborough, Canada 
174Rafael Ramos126174388Orlando City SCForwardSanta Marinha, Portugal 
178Rodrigo178102211ChicagoDefenderJuazeiro, Brazil 
190Marco Delgado194184190Toronto FCMidfielderGlendora, California 
210Jordan Allen210249144Real Salt LakeDefenderRochester, New York 
222Tommy Thompson268222214San JoseMidfielderLoomis, California 
227Lucas Ontivero227288226MontrealMidfielderCatamarca, Argentina 
229Luciano Acosta175229387D.C.MidfielderBuenos Aires, Argentina 
285Alvas Powell285154420PortlandDefenderPortland Parish, Jamaica 
311Alex Muyl326311251New YorkForwardNew York City, New York 
312Tyler Adams405297312New YorkMidfielderWappingers Falls, New York 
317Oalex Anderson317359308SeattleForwardBarrouallie, St. Vincent & Grenad 
335Jordan Hamilton387335305Toronto FCForwardScarborough, Canada 
339Marco Bustos424339319VancouverMidfielderWinnipeg, Canada 
347Kianz Froese401347284VancouverMidfielderHavana, Cuba 
347Kyle Fisher400294347MontrealDefenderEasley, South Carolina 
351Jack Barmby369321351PortlandForwardLondon, England 
358Matheus Silva358374286San JoseMidfielderSao Paulo, Brazil 
366Ariel Lassiter383366306Los AngelesForwardTurrialba, Costa Rica 
376Sam Adekugbe407353376VancouverDefenderManchester, England 
381Jesse Gonzalez274381411FC DallasGoalkeeperEdenton, North Carolina 
390Zachary Herivaux429390318New EnglandMidfielderOsaka, Japan 
395Mauro Manotas403395349HoustonForwardSabanalarga, Colombia 
395Collin Fernandez395401316ChicagoMidfielderDowners Grove, Illinois 
396Jack Harrison427396342New York City FCMidfielderStoke-on-Trent, England 
399Bradford Jamieson IV399400358Los AngelesForwardLos Angeles, California 
416Anatole Abang372424416New YorkForwardYaounde, Cameroon 
425Deybi Flores425432381VancouverMidfielderSan Antonio, Honduras 

More basic info...

RankNAMEMINSGoalsAssistsSalary
61Jordan Morris96441$190,500
75Cyle Larin80372$177,000
128Diego Fagundez111532$165,000
132Ronald Matarrita97002$175,000
135Carlos Gruezo100000$686,500
137Kellyn Acosta86603$240,000
139Justen Glad72511$111,000
142Tommy Redding72500$102,500
145Kekuta Manneh92742$157,000
163Cristian Roldan81701$117,000
172Fraser Aird101400$58,625
174Rafael Ramos84402$96,000
178Rodrigo83000$84,000
190Marco Delgado67711$102,500
210Jordan Allen51721$110,000
222Tommy Thompson38900$155,000
227Lucas Ontivero53212$440,000
229Luciano Acosta65613$429,273
285Alvas Powell54000$103,700
311Alex Muyl19111$66,500
312Tyler Adams4500$81,042
317Oalex Anderson23400$51,504
335Jordan Hamilton3100$78,650
339Marco Bustos4500$67,350
347Kianz Froese14100$70,500
347Kyle Fisher9000$73,375
351Jack Barmby20510$73,800
358Matheus Silva9400$52,500
366Ariel Lassiter6700$51,500
376Sam Adekugbe11100$75,000
381Jesse Gonzalez45000$76,875
390Zachary Herivaux400$62,500
395Mauro Manotas10600$85,000
395Collin Fernandez800$77,000
396Jack Harrison3300$160,500
399Bradford Jamieson IV3800$63,000
416Anatole Abang13700$62,500
425Deybi Flores4500$68,385