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.

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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.

The 31st Player

Brian Bliss was hired as the Technical Director for the Chicago Fire today and with him goes most of the 'boots on the ground' player knowledge the Columbus Crew had in the midwest region of the US.

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Bliss has his hands all over the 2014 Crew roster.

The most notable moves shaping next year's roster were made right before he was let go when he dropped Aaron Horton and Matias Sanchez from the Crew roster ("Those guys are done," was the quote he gave the press).

On top of that, Bliss also orchestrated the signing of C.S. Herediano left back Waylon Francis.

If that were it, you could probably say it was busy and surprisingly well executed work by Brian Bliss in a very short period of time.

But that wasn't it. In fact, his best work is possibly the one team watchers have just found out about...

MATT WIET, THE 31st PLAYER

Reports have recently surfaced that Bliss parked Matt Wiet with the Dayton Dutch Lions of the USL Pro division last summer with the intention of putting him in a Crew uniform for 2014.

What makes this interesting is that the Crew don't have any formal relationship with Dayton and signing Wiet last summer made him the 31st player on a MLS mandated 30 player roster max.

Adam Jardy, beat writer for the Columbus Dispatch, recently confirmed that Wiet was a summer(ish) Crew signing.

"According to the league, Wiet technically signed with the Crew prior to signing with the Dutch Lions. When Berhalter discussed the signing, he said it was done before he was hired."

What this suggests is that the Crew/MLS were paying for Wiet (or at least a percentage of salary).

I've spoken with a few folks down in Dayton about this and one anonymous source has echoed the fact that Bliss did place Wiet with the Dutch Lions. I've also been told that after his ACL injury Crew representatives were in the locker room with him.

The Crew were the only team in MLS to not officially make any roster moves all season. They sat at 30 players all year long despite season ending injuries to Eddie Gaven and Glauber.

Matt Wiet signing during the summer represents the 31st roster player on a capped roster size of 30 (again, as mandated by MLS).

WINGING IT

In his recent "State of the League" address, Don Garber admitted that MLS pretty much makes it up as they go along so something like this Wiet situation isn't likely to ruffle to many feathers or make any major news. Hell, Garber's admission that the league is making up important rules and regulations didn't make news.

Why the Crew didn't wait till this offseason to sign him is up to speculation but it is likely that he had some other offer out there and the Crew had to jump on it.

All of this would have been a shrewd bit of business had Bliss not been let go by new owner Anthony Precourt after the season ended.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS

There isn't enough information out there to tell me if Matt Wiet is a good enough player to make it in MLS or not. I saw him play during the game he got injured but there wasn't much there to note other than the fact that a Crew target was starting for Dayton. At the time I thought it was Dayton being proactive or Wiet getting impatient with the Crew.

Instead it was Bliss locking down a player for a franchise he is no longer with.

What a tangled web.

Matt Wiet should be back to full training sometime in the the Spring of 2014.

Football Methods, by Tom Morrison

A Scot playing for Liverpool in 1929 recorded his thoughts on soccer tactics for the Inverness Courier. I re-posted his article over at Massive Report - and talked a little bit about Morrison's life.

Tom Morrison went by the name of Jock Anderson after he abandoned both Liverpool and Sunderland (as well as his wife and child) the night he and the Black Cats celebrated their only only League title.

"Jock" worked as a pea picker in Gamlingay. When he wasn't playing snooker at the local pub, he found time to play evening football with the locals. Gamlingay FC picked him up and with him, won every game he played in.

Game day program from around when Tom Morrison was with St. Mirren FC in the 1920s.

Tom Morrison was lost to history after his time with Gamlingay FC in 1936 but his thoughts on the game have not been.

One of the things I liked about his piece in the Inverness Courier was that it was written as if the pitch and players were right there in front of him.

Half-backs and the Attack (Massive Report).

For more on Liverpool FC history please visit http://kjellhanssen.com/

Crew Roster + Budget Snapshot

The Columbus Crew have had a busy roster move week so it's worthwhile to take a quick look at where things stand with the team.

RECENT PLAYER TRANSACTIONS

IN: Waylon Francis
IN: Matt Wiet
IN: Brad Stuver

RE-SIGNED: Josh Williams

OUT: Glauber
OUT: Matias Sanchez
OUT: Jairo Arrieta*
OUT: Eddie Gaven
OUT: Danny O'Rourke*
OUT: Dominic Oduro*
OUT: Andy Gruenebaum*
OUT: Aaron Horton
OUT: Konrad Warzycha
OUT: Kyle Hyland
OUT: Drew Beckie

*Players believed to be in contract restructuring negotiations. Players agreeing to reduced deals with existing team is a moderately rare event in MLS.

CURRENT ROSTER BREAKDOWN

Budget Hit : Name, Pos 2013 Base Salary
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YES: Federico Higuaín, M 440k
YES: Chad Marshall, D 330k
YES: Tony Tchani, M 130k
YES: Agustin Viana, D 105k
YES: Wil Trapp, M 100k
YES: Waylon Francis, D 100k*
YES: Josh Williams, D 88k*
YES: Tyson Wahl, D 76k
YES: Ben Speas, M 62k
YES: Justin Meram, M 56k
YES: Ryan Finley, F 47k
YES: Ethan Finlay, M 47k
NO: Matt Wiet, D 46k*
NO: Aaron Schoenfeld, F 47k
NO: Bernardo Anor, M 47k
NO: Chad Barson, D 47k
NO: Eric Gehrig, D 47k
NO: Kevan George, M 47k
NO: Matt Lampson, GK 47k
NO: Brad Stuver, GK 47k*
NO: Daniel Withrow, GK 47k
NO: Shawn Sloan, M 47k

*Estimating new or re-signed player salaries.

Budget hit is what counts towards the league mandated "salary cap".

Only players 1-20 on each roster count towards the cap (1st team players). Teams fill those slots with players making about $80k and up with projected starters making >$100k.

Isolating the player that count to the MLS Budget along with projected 2014 wages (YOY wages, on average, increase between 10-15%):

$369k Federico Higuaín (DP)
$363k Chad Marshall
$143k Tony Tchani
$115k Agustin Viana
$110k Wil Trapp
$110k Waylon Francis
$88k Josh Williams
$83k Tyson Wahl
$68k Ben Speas
$61k Justin Meram
$52k Ethan Finlay
$51k Ryan Finley
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$1.62 million

The players above are who Gregg Berhalter and company are planning to have locked in the 18 each game day. Since there are only 12 players here that leaves about 8 more open spots for "MLS level" players (>$80k).

This fits perfectly with the roster already at 22 players.

EIGHT SLOTS TO FILL

So who and what type of player will be filling the final 8 to budget spots?

SLOTS 1,2 maybe 3: Forwards. Crew only have Schoenfeld and Finley right now (Meram should be there, but will not). They will likely be spending big here. Oduro, Arrieta are still out there, yes. Wouldn't be surprised to see new faces though.

SLOT 4: Easy one: the 4th overall draft pick in the upcoming SuperDraft (he will likely be in the 60-90k pay range).

SLOT 5,6: Midfielders. The Crew are already crawling with mids but lack solid starters. Wil Trapp and Higuain are the only two that are locks. Anor? Maybe. Personally would like to see Speas get full games. I believe Berhalter will be looking for another CDM to push Trapp (or start over him) as well. Either way, MF weakest area in '13, needs improved. They will be shopping here.

SLOT 7,8: Defenders. With Marshall the only player to be locked into the starting back line the team will be on the hunt for defenders. Heath Pearce or Brad Rusin were just released and could be options. I would expect him to be a target to play next to Marshall. On the wings I think it will be Williams on the right and Francis (or Viana) on the left.

MY BUDGET PLAY SHEET

I have a few MLS budget sheets that I mess around with, even one's for other teams. This might be blasphemy in the world of sports blogging (particularly MLS where very few step out of their own team's bubble). Never the less, I do it. Reason being: a general understanding of a team's cap position is the single most important thing in MLS. Team budgets are ever present and is behind everything.

It's not perfect but I think it gets me close enough.

Questions, comments? Feel free to email me at ljbaby654(at)gmail.com

Josh Williams, Returning for 2014

Word came down today that Williams will be playing in Columbus next season for the Crew. Big pick up for new owner Anthony Precourt and new head coach Gregg Berhalter.

Viana Tackle

Neither of these guys are winning any track meets but that is an excellent tackle on Jeremy Brockie by Agustin Viana earlier this year.

After playing off and on as a holding midfielder (more of a secondary position for him), Viana settled in very well to his LB roll this past year where he proved he has above average technical skill and excellent decision making ability in defense.

The Columbus Crew are bringing him back for 2014. It depends a bit on what type of formation new head man Gregg Berhalter wants to play but I would expect Viana to be a regular starter for the 2014 Crew.

Shawn Sloan: Part 1 of 6 !

During a damp summer Sunday Ohio morning reserve match at the Obetz training facility I joked with Fox Sports Ohio writer Rick Gethin that I was going to write a six part series about first year Crew player Shawn Sloan.

Rick rolled off a laugh as I made my case. I had seen Sloan play a couple times previous and thought he had something but the joke was that no player like him could possibly make it in a league structured like MLS. As the game progressed... I think both of us became more of a believer.

Sloan started in the back line but was moved up into the middle part of the field later on in the match. This type of thing is the hallmark of a player that is being used as filler on this less than glamorous Crew side. A competent warm body that fills the role of MLS reserve dummy. Or cone. Or what have you.

Seems there was something different in Sloan, though. It wasn't uncommon to see him barking at other players, frustrated that they were not where he thought they should be. In the wrong hands this type of behavior would earn him a spot on the bench. Or worse, disapproval from teammates. I'd seen it before, but neither happened.

I've been around MLS quite a bit since the size of rosters jumped from the low twenties to the thirty it is now back in 2010. Dozens of players like Sloan are left behind to continue on to whatever career track they were on in college a year before (in Shawn's case he could probably make more money not playing soccer).

Turns out, Shawn Sloan has been picked up by the Columbus Crew for the 2014 season.

After a year in which the team saw a new owner and along with a brand new coaching staff, this is pretty remarkable. All of the non-budget/cap players the old regime picked last year (Drew Beckie, Kyle Hyland, Konrad Warzycha) were let go after just a year with the team.

The decision to keep Sloan is a good one and tells me that new head coach and director of soccer ops Gregg Berhalter isn't moving about the early off season flippantly.

What's interesting to me is that Sloan likely matches Berhalter's thinking mind the most out of anyone on the team. Excited to see what's next.

Medora

I can't quite remember where I found out about the Kickstarter campaign to get this documentary made a couple years ago, but I'm glad I did.

"Medora" is a documentary that was created under the direction of Davy Rothbart and Andrew Cohn. It is something well worth your time.

Growing up with the sport of basketball I always find myself seeking out stories about basketball in Indiana. Most basketball playing white kids growing up in the 80's were heavily affected by the movie Hoosiers. At the time of it release, the mystique of Indiana basketball was only further enhanced by Larry Bird and his legendary career and Bobby Knight's time with IU.

I've read that "Medora" is some sort of "anti-Hoosiers" movie. A film that Jeannette Catsoulis of the NY Times calls, "a mournful Midwestern ballad devoid of grace notes, “Medora” views the crumbling of small-town America through the eyes of the Hornets"

That's elegantly put but this doc only pulls the curtain back for this generation. A lot of small town Indiana crumbled almost a half century ago now after a somewhat brief industrial boom that brought in laborers from all over the country.

Larry Bird was born just a couple years after the small town team depicted in Hoosiers won the state championship and he grew up on punishing poverty. His folks split when he was a teen and his father took his own life a couple years later.

No HD cameras back in the 70s to capture Bird's legendary plight in French Lick (some of the themes can be seen in the 1979 film Breaking Away, if your are so inclined), but thankfully there are excellent documentarians in Rothbart and Cohn to capture things as they are now in Medora.

What we see with "Medora" is exactly what is left after all this time. The destitution is generations old now and it's through the prism of that hopelessness that we see the simple joy a single win can bring a lost community in a forgotten corner of the world.

It is beautifully shot and the story is masterfully crafted. Highly recommended.

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Though my contribution might have been small, I am proud to have my name listed among the many contributors to this movie in the credits.

"Medora" can be watched now through iTunes or at medorafilm.com

If you live in Columbus, Ohio you can check a screening (I'm planning to be there!) on December 10 at the Wexner Center for the Arts.

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MY INDIANA BASKETBALL STORY

On a family trip back when I was a teenager with big dreams of playing for Bobby Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers I came to Bloomington, Indiana to visit extended relatives. I'll never forget one night heading out back to play some pickup ball with cousins.

At first it was just a couple folks out there watching. Before I knew it there were well over a dozen people from around the neighborhood pulling up lawn chairs to watch a normal game of pickup between a bunch of complete strangers. As a kid from Northern Virginia this might as well have been a scene from another planet.

I went on to play basketball for a while, even some in college, and have some great memories from it. But that night in Indiana. It wasn't about the celebrity that has always seemingly dominated the sport or the skill of Larry Bird the legend of Bobby Knight.

It was about the sport itself. How it is in the blood of every Hoosier. I'll never forget it.

Final Crew Player Rankings

Summarizing an entire season in one score is unfair to any individual player but it can tell a story.

Below is how things played out for each Crew player according to the only four player rating models that I know exist. HELLTOWN (me), WHOSCORED.COM (they hammer away at Opta data), CASTROL (they go their own way), FANTASY (MLS fantasy scoring, a rating is a rating).

So, there it is. Why is this not greeted with more fanfare? Maybe a giant post at Massive Report or even petition On the Fire to do it? Because it is basically a list of top minute earners to least.

For me, personally, this is something I noticed the first year I started tracking. The better players get to play more. So much is dictated by the coaches and the league. It's not so much the players ability that is being judged here but more the player's ability to fit into the league system that the play in.

Peel back another layer and you get to the place where Major League Soccer's competitive structure can be so frustrating. In this sport, above all others, good players need other good players to truly rise above the scrapheap of mediocrity (which is sold as parity in the United States).

Food for thought and all that.