This is out of 3,553 tracked game performances. That's the top 0.5% listed above. Justin Meram and Federico Higuain are tied at 4 each in the top 20.
Showing posts with label federico higuain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label federico higuain. Show all posts
Saturday, March 21, 2020
Top Rated Crew Performances
This is out of 3,553 tracked game performances. That's the top 0.5% listed above. Justin Meram and Federico Higuain are tied at 4 each in the top 20.
Wednesday, June 5, 2019
Top Performer of '19: Santos
His performance was energetic, fast and direct - a stark contrast to Higuain's more methodical approach. Neither approach is right or wrong, per se, but you have to be incredibly good at what you do to take a more surgical approach. Santos' direct and fast approach gets attention because it is exciting! And he almost won the game for the team, to boot.
There is a dark side to the way Higuain plays, however. Slow and methodical is a close cousin to old and slow. Santos is no spring chicken either at 31 and we may not see that sort of outburst from him again now that he will likely be playing it week in / week out.
Who Scored gave him a 9.15 rating against NYCFC. That's impressive. Anything in the nines means it was a special night. No other player has recorded anything over 8.5 in Columbus.
TOP 5 RATINGS THIS SEASON
9.15 Pedro Santos (Week 16)
8.44 Zack Steffen (Week 2)
8.43 Federico Higuain (Week 12)
8.34 Robinho (Week 12)
8.29 Gaston Sauro (Week 3)
Good performances can be a little random and a little lucky so one thing I like to look at, particularly in MLS, is which players are having either really good outings or really bad ones while discounting the middle/average results. This is similar to the way a lot of survey companies look at data. It's also how some companies calculate customer satisfaction scores (or Net Promoter Scores).
The Net Promoter Score is calculated by subtracting the percentage of customers who are Detractors (or bad performances) from the percentage of customers who are Promoters (outstanding performances). For purposes of calculating a Net Promoter Score, Passives (average performances) count toward the total number of respondents, thus decreasing the percentage of detractors and promoters and pushing the net score toward 0.
What this math results in is a range from +100 to -100. Anything over +50 is great (+70 is outstanding, but no Crew players there). 0 to +50 is fine. Anything in the negative is bad.
Outstanding performances = 7.00 and up. Bad Performance is 6.00 and below.
NPS Score
+53 : Pedro Santos
+33 : Gyasi Zardes
+29 : Federico Higuain
+27 : Waylon Francis
+20 : Harrison Afful
+19 : Robinho
+15 : Artur
+13 : Wil Trapp
+11 : Josh Williams
+9 : Gastón Sauro
+7 : Héctor Jimenez
0 : Zack Steffen
0 : Connor Maloney
0 : Jon Kempin
0 : Lalas Abubakar
0 : Ricardo Clark
-11 : Justin Meram
-13 : Jonathan Mensah
-20 : David Accam
-25 : David Guzman
-33 : Eduardo Sosa
-40 : Luis Argudo
-43 : Niko Hansen
-50 : Patrick Mullins
-67 : J.J. Williams
-100 : Joe Bendik
Highlighted above are three regular starters that are performing not all that well. Interestingly enough, two of Porter's guys. I also called out Artur and Trapp. Both don't appear to be hurting the team but the interesting thing is that Artur was the one benched when maybe they should just split time. Trapp being captain (and the face of the team) prevents that, but a good benching might not be the worst thing for him right now.
One last thing about Santos. I think it is pretty remarkable that he is improving the way he is. This isn't to say he was as bad as prominent Crew fans (Twitter, Big Soccer, Reddit) would have you think. He came on to the team as a good player and played well. He's growing into the league and team. Something a lot of good/great players never seem to be able to do (or care to). I believe that a good chunk of this has to do with Federico Higuain and the culture he brings with him.
We shall see where this takes the team. They still have a ways to go this year. I'll consider a 10 goal, 10 assist year for Santos a huge win. He has it in him.
Friday, May 31, 2019
Higuain Out, TONIGHT WE DINE IN HELL
Columbus must not have thought Higuain would go down with an injury because they've never really had a true backup to him, but here the team is. Higuain out with an ACL injury for the rest of the season (and beyond, possibly).
What this means is we'll probably see David Guzman or Eduardo Sosa move up into that role? Guzman is a very... deliberate player. He'd sooner give you a nudge than make a great pass and he offers little to nothing in attack, but he is Porter's "guy" and his vision seems okay. Sosa is more a black box. I'm not terribly sure what to expect out of him. He can be dangerous, but that was in Gregg Berhalter's system.
Last on the list is maybe just stick ol' Ricardo Clark in there. He could hold that role down. As a matter of fact, let's just rank it:
1. Clark
2. Sosa
3. Guzman
x. Santos
Another option for Porter is to just go with a 442 with Guzman and Trapp the two in the middle and Zardes and Mullins up top. The outside backs would have to bomb forward often, so maybe not the best option. How about a 4132 with one of the three guys I mentioned in the middle.
One positive out of this is that the team will have to change radically because of the injury. Something that should have been done a while ago is now forced on them.
ERA OVER
This team has kept bits and pieces together through three investment groups. Wil Trapp, Josh Williams, Federico Higuain fall into that group, specifically. All three of them, one could say, make up a sort of moral and cultural center of the team. They've practically seen it all. Also, this is why they probably should have kept Justin Meram - precisely things like this. These guys know how to work through it because they have been through it.
Looking up and down the roster, I don't see anyone else to step up and hold this sucker together. Afful and Mensah maybe? Just nothing there. Perhaps it's an opportunity for someone to step up. Maybe it's just time for Trapp and Williams to take the team by the scruff and see this team through the rest of the season. I'd like to see that actually.
SEASON PERHAPS LOST
For all intents and purposes, it was probably over a month ago. We may never know why the team jumped the tracks and went careening down a cliff, but it has. Higuain suffering a season-ending just makes the situation much worse (like, falling off a cliff and landing in a pit of snakes). THAT SAID! Despite being a great player, it doesn't mean that someone else can't take hold of the opportunity.
If I'm Trapp or Williams I drive down to the local NBC affiliate or 10TV, pound on the door until someone answers and then shout "I'VE GOT ALOTTA GODDAMN STUFF TO SAY ABOUT HOW WE ARE GOING TO BATTLE THE REST OF THIS SEASON."
Anyhow, darkest before dawn and all of that. Ever wonder where and when that opportunity to become a legend comes from? Well, it's here. Sitting right on your face. I'd like to see intense passion from the guys. Nothing to lose.
What this means is we'll probably see David Guzman or Eduardo Sosa move up into that role? Guzman is a very... deliberate player. He'd sooner give you a nudge than make a great pass and he offers little to nothing in attack, but he is Porter's "guy" and his vision seems okay. Sosa is more a black box. I'm not terribly sure what to expect out of him. He can be dangerous, but that was in Gregg Berhalter's system.
Last on the list is maybe just stick ol' Ricardo Clark in there. He could hold that role down. As a matter of fact, let's just rank it:
1. Clark
2. Sosa
3. Guzman
x. Santos
Another option for Porter is to just go with a 442 with Guzman and Trapp the two in the middle and Zardes and Mullins up top. The outside backs would have to bomb forward often, so maybe not the best option. How about a 4132 with one of the three guys I mentioned in the middle.
One positive out of this is that the team will have to change radically because of the injury. Something that should have been done a while ago is now forced on them.
ERA OVER
This team has kept bits and pieces together through three investment groups. Wil Trapp, Josh Williams, Federico Higuain fall into that group, specifically. All three of them, one could say, make up a sort of moral and cultural center of the team. They've practically seen it all. Also, this is why they probably should have kept Justin Meram - precisely things like this. These guys know how to work through it because they have been through it.
Looking up and down the roster, I don't see anyone else to step up and hold this sucker together. Afful and Mensah maybe? Just nothing there. Perhaps it's an opportunity for someone to step up. Maybe it's just time for Trapp and Williams to take the team by the scruff and see this team through the rest of the season. I'd like to see that actually.
SEASON PERHAPS LOST
For all intents and purposes, it was probably over a month ago. We may never know why the team jumped the tracks and went careening down a cliff, but it has. Higuain suffering a season-ending just makes the situation much worse (like, falling off a cliff and landing in a pit of snakes). THAT SAID! Despite being a great player, it doesn't mean that someone else can't take hold of the opportunity.If I'm Trapp or Williams I drive down to the local NBC affiliate or 10TV, pound on the door until someone answers and then shout "I'VE GOT ALOTTA GODDAMN STUFF TO SAY ABOUT HOW WE ARE GOING TO BATTLE THE REST OF THIS SEASON."
Anyhow, darkest before dawn and all of that. Ever wonder where and when that opportunity to become a legend comes from? Well, it's here. Sitting right on your face. I'd like to see intense passion from the guys. Nothing to lose.
Sunday, May 8, 2016
Crew Issues are Many, Run Deep
The intensity of which events happened last night drew out the teams investor / operator, Anthony Precourt (via Twitter):
I will say this. We need to huddle up as a fan base and as a team. We need to stick together. Crew SC stands for that. Easier said then done. I'm hearing of dissent amongst supporters. We need you to figure it out. And inside the club we will do the same. We still got this!
FIRST: The team part of this is in regards to apparent trouble between his two highest paid players in Federico Higuain and Kei Kamara. The latter going far enough to say that he doesn't need Higuain and that he actively worked against him since last year. Even preventing him from getting the league's Golden Boot award.
...it has been going on since last year? Why hasn't this been addressed?
It's easy to focus on what's right in front of us but let's not forget the release of promising CB signing Amro Tarek and the ongoing spat (or whatever) between Gregg Berhalter and Tony Tchani ever since he decided to play for his home country over the USA. Not to mention normal day to day issues like with what's going on with Waylon Francis.
SECOND: You may have noticed that the banners are gone in the supporters section. You may have also noted there is a new one on the opposite side (the fact it exists is the point, size of which matters not). There is a big problem "in the stands," but it has nothing to do with what's happening with the team on the pitch. Absolutely nothing.
Want to know what's going on? Listen to one of many the podcasts here in town. Columbus Crew SC created this problem. Self-inflicted wounds. The wrong hands are all over this situation. Until they pull them off, it'll keep going.
MANAGEMENT STYLE
It's passive. Restrained. Controlled. Insulated. I've written about the "new crew" leadership approach here a few times (one particular event had me worked up). The Crew run a closed shop and the media that follows it leans more brand journalist than anything else (save for Shawn Mitchell, whose talents are being wasted in this league).
Everyone has their own way of operation. The Crew way happens to lead to things like what we saw last night. A slow burn that has turned into a raging wildfire. It happens, of course. And it can be put out. But it won't be put out via social media gifs and the like. They will have to directly address issues.
Good can come from conflict, but from Tchani to players being released, to your DPs disliking each other, you've got put the passiveness aside. Get in somebody's face and fix it. Not now. But right now.
Monday, March 30, 2015
Higuaín Off
Federico Higuaín comes from one of the far from you lands of soccer. It's a place most here in North America don't get. A place where soccer oozes from every pore, lives within every word that is spoken and moves about in every waking moment. Higuain was sent of last weekend after slamming the ball with is fist in frustration after a questionable foul. I was okay with it before it happened.
Monday, January 5, 2015
A 2,014 Yard Stare
UPDATE:
With the deal, Pipa earns the largest contract in club history: http://t.co/gNI1VrKlsV #CrewSC
— Columbus Crew SC (@ColumbusCrewSC) January 5, 2015Sunday, September 21, 2014
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Winless Streak Snapped, Higuain and Finlay Lead Crew Past Chicago
The Columbus Crew put away Chicago 2-0 in somewhat easy fashion to end a 8 game winless streak that stretched back to March.
1ST HALF (2-0)
The Crew started this one out more direct than in previous weeks, and it paid off. Federico Higuain assisted on both first half goals to Ethan Finlay and Jairo Arrieta. The direct approach seemed to catch Frank Yallop off guard so he was powerless to do much about it until the halftime whistle.
2ND HALF (0-0)
Halftime adjustments made, both sides settled into a stalemate. Chicago's finishing isn't that great and the way Gregg Berhalter setup his 18 left for plenty of rested defensive players to come on late and put this on to bed.
GAME OVER (2-0)
Without Mike Magee the Fire proved to not have much of anything. After this one it's hard not to think that they need a roster overhaul and a fresh coach. They just aren't good enough.
The Crew, on the other hand, played a style that most of the players were familiar with and one Higuain thrives in when attacking. With Finlay, Meram, Tchani, Arrieta and Higuain out there it was like that magical back half of 2012 the team had when they put themselves into a place of respectability.
Worth noting that Eric Gehrig and Tyson Wahl did well as center back replacements for missing World Cup players Michael Parkhurst and Giancarlo Gonzalez (Parkhurst is expected to return to starting role next week).
Also of note; The Crew's 13 recorded crossing attempts was the lowest total of the season. Representative of a change in philosophy to return to a more direct attack in the opposing half.
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Crew Give Up 2 Goals To Ten Man Portland, Game Ends 3-3
Difficult to know where to start and end with this game. From a Crew fan perspective it was a wild match but for the Portland Timbers... it's just another night. One that, for teams bound by philosophic commonalities, isn't yielding results in this increasingly disrupted World Cup MLS season.
1ST HALF (1-2)
Where does Portland find these players? After talented Maximiliano Urruti gets Portland off to a dream start in the first 10 minutes a player like Alvas Powell, a 19 year old Jamaican International filling in for regular Michael Harrington, fouls the hell out of Chad Barson well in the Crew half and earns a sending off.
In between those events, Federico Higuain chips Donovan Ricketts to even it up in the 14th minute.
Later, right before the stroke of half, the Crew's Giancarlo Gonzalez draws a penalty off a corner attempt. Mr. Higuain steps up to finish it putting the Crew up 1-2.
2ND HALF (2-1)
The Crew should have put this game to rest but somehow Portland found another from Will Johnson to make it even.
Columbus responded, as they should have, when sub Ethan Finlay ripped one off his left foot and got a lucky deflection for goal (fortunate for Finlay but well deserved for a player that has absolutely earned for the hard working player, considering what's he's been through the past few years).
With 3 points again in the hands of the away side that tops the league in possession, Portland finds a way. Sub for a sub Gastón Fernández (who was easily the most talented player on the evening) scored late on to even it for good at 3-3. Game.
FINAL (3-3)
What do you do with a game like this one? It should be an awesome match featuring a couple of the young and progressive coaches in the US. Instead... One: it's a very late one for a east team playing in the western time zone. Two: It's being played on a horrible surface created by aliens. Three: Portland has support that creates a circus-like sideshow atmosphere. To describe it is to give it more credit it deserves. The leadership of the organization is rotten and they (and Caleb Porter) are lemmings being lead off a cliff.
Columbus should have won this sucker and with Michael Parkhurst and Waylon Francis, I think they do. Parkhurst replacement Tyson Wahl had a bad give away on one of the Portland goals and in games like this that all it takes.
After the game ended the camera panned over to a collection of Argentine players exchanging jerseys, chatting it up. Smiles all around. Federico Higuain, Diego Valeri, Maximiliano Urruti, Gastón Fernández. All had a pep in the step this match, rightly so. Their existence in MLS is the product of a an expensive league project to mine players from South America. While what fans saw this match was exciting to watch because of that, we are also reminded that this is just a small cross section of players that make up something so much more on the opposite side of the world.
Columbus hosts Chicago next weekend.
1ST HALF (1-2)
Where does Portland find these players? After talented Maximiliano Urruti gets Portland off to a dream start in the first 10 minutes a player like Alvas Powell, a 19 year old Jamaican International filling in for regular Michael Harrington, fouls the hell out of Chad Barson well in the Crew half and earns a sending off.
In between those events, Federico Higuain chips Donovan Ricketts to even it up in the 14th minute.
Later, right before the stroke of half, the Crew's Giancarlo Gonzalez draws a penalty off a corner attempt. Mr. Higuain steps up to finish it putting the Crew up 1-2.
2ND HALF (2-1)
The Crew should have put this game to rest but somehow Portland found another from Will Johnson to make it even.
Columbus responded, as they should have, when sub Ethan Finlay ripped one off his left foot and got a lucky deflection for goal (fortunate for Finlay but well deserved for a player that has absolutely earned for the hard working player, considering what's he's been through the past few years).
With 3 points again in the hands of the away side that tops the league in possession, Portland finds a way. Sub for a sub Gastón Fernández (who was easily the most talented player on the evening) scored late on to even it for good at 3-3. Game.
FINAL (3-3)
What do you do with a game like this one? It should be an awesome match featuring a couple of the young and progressive coaches in the US. Instead... One: it's a very late one for a east team playing in the western time zone. Two: It's being played on a horrible surface created by aliens. Three: Portland has support that creates a circus-like sideshow atmosphere. To describe it is to give it more credit it deserves. The leadership of the organization is rotten and they (and Caleb Porter) are lemmings being lead off a cliff.
Columbus should have won this sucker and with Michael Parkhurst and Waylon Francis, I think they do. Parkhurst replacement Tyson Wahl had a bad give away on one of the Portland goals and in games like this that all it takes.
After the game ended the camera panned over to a collection of Argentine players exchanging jerseys, chatting it up. Smiles all around. Federico Higuain, Diego Valeri, Maximiliano Urruti, Gastón Fernández. All had a pep in the step this match, rightly so. Their existence in MLS is the product of a an expensive league project to mine players from South America. While what fans saw this match was exciting to watch because of that, we are also reminded that this is just a small cross section of players that make up something so much more on the opposite side of the world.
Columbus hosts Chicago next weekend.
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Parkhurst, Williams, Higuain Shine in Impressive Season Opening Win
A prepared Columbus Crew took down a disorganized and out of shape DC United team yesterday.
1ST HALF (0:2)
The first 30 minutes of this game were enjoyable to watch as both teams were willing to let the other maintain possession. DC, however, was giving way too much space to Hector Jimenez and Josh Williams on the right side of the attacking half and it cost them dearly.
Some good one touch passing (on the ground) set up Jairo Arrieta on the first goal in the 18th and further attacking play on the right side earned the corner that led to Perry Kitchen pulling down Micheal Parkhurst in the box for a penalty in the 27th.
2ND HALF (0:1)
The Crew came out playing much as they did in the first half and never really dropped back into a shell even with a two goal lead. They had no reason too as DC had zero ideas going forward. Eddie Johnson and Fabian Espindola were just hung out to dry most of the game.
Much less enjoyable game in the second half. Late in the game Ben Olsen pulled a defender to put in one of his favorite players in Porter. DC seemed to perk up a bit in the attack but most of the players looked gassed.
DC's fatigue showed in the finishing. The created a decent amount of chances (11 Shots, 1 on frame) but just didn't have the legs to get them on target.
Justin Meram found Higuain late on in extra time to finish the game off.
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FINAL, GAME THOUGHTS (0:3)
The opening month to a MLS season is often more of a final exam for a team's offseason than it is as a full season predictor. With that, the Crew get and A for the second year in a row and DC gets another F. Bill Hamid was terrible and for some reason looked like he had no confidence (in a season opener?) and Perry Kitchen is proving that he is not an MLS starter.
DC also have another problem in Ben Olsen. I'm hesitantly chalking this one up to early season chemistry problems but this DC version 2014, with upgrades all over the field, looked identical to DC 2013. That's on Olsen and he needs to improve. I know that team wanted to come out with a big win to wash last year out of their mouths and instead they looked a mess again.
This shouldn't discount what the Crew did, however. They played organized, coached and very well. One game far from something to draw conclusions from. We'll know a lot more about this team by the end of April.
To put the Crew performance in some perspective, here are how each MLS team did according to WhoScored.com...
SCORE : TEAM
7.67 : Houston Dynamo
7.27 : Real Salt Lake
7.16 : Vancouver Whitecaps
7.15 : FC Dallas
7.11 : Columbus Crew
7.03 : Seattle Sounders
6.90 : Montreal Impact
6.84 : LA Galaxy
6.84 : Portland Timbers
6.82 : Philadelphia Union
6.62 : Sporting KC
6.34 : NY Red Bulls
6.26 : New England Revs
6.24 : DC United
The Crew have an extra week before Philly comes to town on March 22nd.
The first 30 minutes of this game were enjoyable to watch as both teams were willing to let the other maintain possession. DC, however, was giving way too much space to Hector Jimenez and Josh Williams on the right side of the attacking half and it cost them dearly.
Some good one touch passing (on the ground) set up Jairo Arrieta on the first goal in the 18th and further attacking play on the right side earned the corner that led to Perry Kitchen pulling down Micheal Parkhurst in the box for a penalty in the 27th.
2ND HALF (0:1)
The Crew came out playing much as they did in the first half and never really dropped back into a shell even with a two goal lead. They had no reason too as DC had zero ideas going forward. Eddie Johnson and Fabian Espindola were just hung out to dry most of the game.
Much less enjoyable game in the second half. Late in the game Ben Olsen pulled a defender to put in one of his favorite players in Porter. DC seemed to perk up a bit in the attack but most of the players looked gassed.
DC's fatigue showed in the finishing. The created a decent amount of chances (11 Shots, 1 on frame) but just didn't have the legs to get them on target.
Justin Meram found Higuain late on in extra time to finish the game off.
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FINAL, GAME THOUGHTS (0:3)
The opening month to a MLS season is often more of a final exam for a team's offseason than it is as a full season predictor. With that, the Crew get and A for the second year in a row and DC gets another F. Bill Hamid was terrible and for some reason looked like he had no confidence (in a season opener?) and Perry Kitchen is proving that he is not an MLS starter.
DC also have another problem in Ben Olsen. I'm hesitantly chalking this one up to early season chemistry problems but this DC version 2014, with upgrades all over the field, looked identical to DC 2013. That's on Olsen and he needs to improve. I know that team wanted to come out with a big win to wash last year out of their mouths and instead they looked a mess again.
This shouldn't discount what the Crew did, however. They played organized, coached and very well. One game far from something to draw conclusions from. We'll know a lot more about this team by the end of April.
To put the Crew performance in some perspective, here are how each MLS team did according to WhoScored.com...
SCORE : TEAM
7.67 : Houston Dynamo
7.27 : Real Salt Lake
7.16 : Vancouver Whitecaps
7.15 : FC Dallas
7.11 : Columbus Crew
7.03 : Seattle Sounders
6.90 : Montreal Impact
6.84 : LA Galaxy
6.84 : Portland Timbers
6.82 : Philadelphia Union
6.62 : Sporting KC
6.34 : NY Red Bulls
6.26 : New England Revs
6.24 : DC United
The Crew have an extra week before Philly comes to town on March 22nd.
Monday, December 9, 2013
Oduro Returning, Need Efficient Scorer
The Columbus Crew announced today that they have re-signed MLS veteran Dominic Oduro.
The specifics of his contract were not released (they never are) but we can speculate that he likely got a healthy bump over last year. My best estimate would be in the $200-250k range after out playing his $120k contract in 2013.
Picking up Oduro for anything less than a DP contract could be considered a win for the Columbus Crew. After all, there are only so many goal scorers available that you can count on to score pretty regularly in MLS.
But you can also count on Oduro to be a tad bit wasteful and inaccurate in his chance taking.
HIGUAIN's CONTRIBUTION
Oduro was the leading scorer for the Crew in 2013 with 13 goals and also bested his career best. He should have done this, however, because the league's best chance creator (by a long shot) was feeding him the ball in Federico Higuain.
Over the past two years Oduro's Goal per Shot rate of 0.13 ranks 45th out of all players that have a minimum of 30 shots (low, but enough to get general idea). For Dominic Oduro, that works out from 146 total shots and 19 goals.
What that means is that it takes him roughly 7.68 shots to hit the back of the net.
Here are some of the 45 players with a better shot rate over the last two years:
SHTS PER GOAL : NAME
4.80 : Diego Fagundez (NER)
4.88 : Alan Gordon (SJE)
5.30 : Blas Perez (FCD)
5.35 : Eddie Johnson (SEA)
5.40 : Dillon Powers (COL)
6.00 : Mauro Rosales (SEA)
...and 39 more.
If you were to take Eddie Johnson's 5.35 GpSHT rate Oduro would have had 27 goals over the past two years and not 19. This past year, Oduro's total would have been 17 goals instead of 13 if he had Grown Man's rate.
Those four goals alone put the Crew on even goal difference for the year.
It's certainly possible that Oduro's chances came from his flat out speed and that it's quite possible that Higuain benefited from leading the league in chance creation because of Oduro. This doesn't change Oduro's finishing ability, though.
His 7+ shots it takes him to find the back of the net has been a constant though out his career.
7.08 : Last Year
7.68 : Last 2 Years
7.43 : Last 4 Years
7.45 : Career
With the above, you can see the Higuain influence but it still doesn't get Oduro into any sort of elite finishing group.
CREW NEEDS
It'd be really interesting if the Crew went on the hunt for a forward that is good at finding open space and can finish efficiently.
Believe it or not, a player like Danny Koevermans (4.56 shots per goal) or aforementioned Eddie Johnson or even perhaps a chance on a hidden gem like Antoine Hoppenot (5.43 shots per goal) is probably a worthwhile search for the Crew.
Bottom line. A player like Higuain bring out goals from an efficient player. He was able to take a well known MLS quantity in Oduro and help improve his goal per shot rate by a measurable percentage.
-----------------
For deeper reading on shots take a look at Cartilage Free Captain (MCofA's work). It's excellent.
Adam Uthe also has some great thoughts on Oduro re-signing over at Global Football Today.
The specifics of his contract were not released (they never are) but we can speculate that he likely got a healthy bump over last year. My best estimate would be in the $200-250k range after out playing his $120k contract in 2013.
Picking up Oduro for anything less than a DP contract could be considered a win for the Columbus Crew. After all, there are only so many goal scorers available that you can count on to score pretty regularly in MLS.
But you can also count on Oduro to be a tad bit wasteful and inaccurate in his chance taking.
HIGUAIN's CONTRIBUTION
Oduro was the leading scorer for the Crew in 2013 with 13 goals and also bested his career best. He should have done this, however, because the league's best chance creator (by a long shot) was feeding him the ball in Federico Higuain.
Over the past two years Oduro's Goal per Shot rate of 0.13 ranks 45th out of all players that have a minimum of 30 shots (low, but enough to get general idea). For Dominic Oduro, that works out from 146 total shots and 19 goals.
What that means is that it takes him roughly 7.68 shots to hit the back of the net.
Here are some of the 45 players with a better shot rate over the last two years:
SHTS PER GOAL : NAME
4.80 : Diego Fagundez (NER)
4.88 : Alan Gordon (SJE)
5.30 : Blas Perez (FCD)
5.35 : Eddie Johnson (SEA)
5.40 : Dillon Powers (COL)
6.00 : Mauro Rosales (SEA)
...and 39 more.
If you were to take Eddie Johnson's 5.35 GpSHT rate Oduro would have had 27 goals over the past two years and not 19. This past year, Oduro's total would have been 17 goals instead of 13 if he had Grown Man's rate.
Those four goals alone put the Crew on even goal difference for the year.
It's certainly possible that Oduro's chances came from his flat out speed and that it's quite possible that Higuain benefited from leading the league in chance creation because of Oduro. This doesn't change Oduro's finishing ability, though.
His 7+ shots it takes him to find the back of the net has been a constant though out his career.
7.08 : Last Year
7.68 : Last 2 Years
7.43 : Last 4 Years
7.45 : Career
With the above, you can see the Higuain influence but it still doesn't get Oduro into any sort of elite finishing group.
CREW NEEDS
It'd be really interesting if the Crew went on the hunt for a forward that is good at finding open space and can finish efficiently.
Believe it or not, a player like Danny Koevermans (4.56 shots per goal) or aforementioned Eddie Johnson or even perhaps a chance on a hidden gem like Antoine Hoppenot (5.43 shots per goal) is probably a worthwhile search for the Crew.
Bottom line. A player like Higuain bring out goals from an efficient player. He was able to take a well known MLS quantity in Oduro and help improve his goal per shot rate by a measurable percentage.
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For deeper reading on shots take a look at Cartilage Free Captain (MCofA's work). It's excellent.
Adam Uthe also has some great thoughts on Oduro re-signing over at Global Football Today.
Friday, October 25, 2013
MR Post on Key Passes, More Info
Here's the post: Makers, Takers and The Hunt for Goals
For key passes I built it up from game by game totals instead of just looking at the cumulative Opta stats because I know that, at least for the Crew, some games are missing. To fill in I had to go to the MLS 'chalkboard'.
Anyhow, here are the top 20 performances as far as Key Passes (KPs) match to match.
Total KPs : Name : Round : Opponent
8 : Will Trapp : 26 : SEA
7 : Federico Higuaín : 13 : HOU
7 : Federico Higuaín : 15 : MTL
7 : Federico Higuaín : 16 : CHI
7 : Federico Higuaín : 19 : PDX
7 : Federico Higuaín : 23 : NY
6 : Federico Higuaín : 10 : COL
6 : Federico Higuaín : 20 : NER
6 : Federico Higuaín : 24 : TFC
5 : Federico Higuaín : 4 : DCU
5 : Federico Higuaín : 6 : MTL
5 : Federico Higuaín : 9 : NY
5 : Federico Higuaín : 11 : TFC
5 : Federico Higuaín : 32 : SKC
4 : Jairo Arrieta : 13 : HOU
4 : Federico Higuaín : 14 : PHI
4 : Aaron Schoenfeld : 14 : PHI
4 : Justin Meram : 27 : HOU
4 : Ethan Finlay : 27 : HOU
4 : Federico Higuaín : 29 : MTL
Trapp's Seattle performance is notable but it also should be remembered as the one where the Sounders went down a man and still beat the Crew. It was a very strange match. Robert Warzycha would be let go not long after. Trapp didn't record more than 2 KPs in any other match.
Higuain shouldn't be much of a surprise but does bring to mind a conversation we had with Major League Soccer contributor Simon Borg on the Massive Report podcast. Simon mentioned sitting Higuain in order for the team to shake out of a slump they were in. There is a lot of sense to that as I don't think Higuain is a player that most coaches, technical directors or GMs in MLS quite understand. I dunno, it's complicated I guess. Larger conversation for a rainy day.
Part of me is just trying to comprehend, appreciate and downright savor the fact that a player like Federico Higuain is in Columbus.
Saturday, October 12, 2013
The North and South Difference
There were a couple of tweets by Crew beat writer Adam Jardy in the middle of summer that stuck with me all this time so I'm posting them up. Both of them included a photo of Crew players hanging out after practice. Top is three US players and the bottom is of two Argentinians.
One of the reasons these photos linger with me is because they were taken during a difficult spell for the franchise. The six games they played between June 22 and July 27 the Columbus Crew had one win and 5 losses.
Nobody is doing anything wrong in the photos as I know that the guys in the top photo have stayed after practice often to work on soccer things and are just keeping it loose.
It is just interesting to me and my simple brain and highlights differences.
One of the reasons these photos linger with me is because they were taken during a difficult spell for the franchise. The six games they played between June 22 and July 27 the Columbus Crew had one win and 5 losses.
Nobody is doing anything wrong in the photos as I know that the guys in the top photo have stayed after practice often to work on soccer things and are just keeping it loose.
It is just interesting to me and my simple brain and highlights differences.
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Crew Rd 24, Compendious Victory
1ST HALF
The pace of this game was enjoyable. Not too fast, not too slow and the Crew were creating good chances.
One such chance ended in a goal off a Chad Barson cross and Bernardo Anor shot that rebounded for Federico Higuain in the 18th minute.
Columbus kept the pressure up on Toronto from there and were successful at breaking up anything they were trying to build in the midfield.
2ND HALF
It became clear the Toronto were trying to get something going by controlling the match through possession. In fact it seemed as if they were more interesting in that then trying to create the off chance on goal through some Crew mistake.
Because of that, the game remained more fluid and enjoyable. It also finally allowed for players with superior footballing talents to shine a bit more brightly. Case in point was Federico Higuain.
Higuain was able to find yards of space around the box all evening and in the 67th minute dropped a sinker over the reach of the Toronto GK Joe Bendik.
With Danny O'Rourke having come on the the minute before, Higuain's goal sealed it for the Crew. Toronto played as a beaten team and only got off two shots from there.
GAME OVER, THOUGHTS
• That wasn't your typical Toronto team out there last night. They tried to maintain possession and they were not hacking players down every other pass (Toronto is not alone in this tactic).
• It was Columbus that was doing all the fouling (17 Crew, 7 TFC).
• Higuain has three open play goals in two games. It has been a long time since any Crew player has done that.
• With Arrieta up top and Anor in the middle, Higuain is playing more like the player Crew fans expect and more to his talent level, frankly.
• This was the most watchable Columbus Crew game of the year for me.
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