Away - 6/30 Chicago
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dummyrun
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Pretty cool stat I just noticed: NYCFC is scoring 48% more goals (!) than this time last season, jumping from 1.35 G/g to 2.00. The league as a whole is up 11%. Atlanta has stayed level, 1.89 to 1.88.
Maxi's shortcoming is his ability to finish around goal. That's the difference between him and the better #10s in the league and why I complain about his salary.
No question, he has improved this season, and it appears that is due to being more confident to shoot first rather than always looking to pass.
The most interesting of the Opta stats...
- NYCFC have conceded eight headed goals this year, the most of any team in the league.
- Jo Inge Berget’s brace last weekend made him the third different NYCFC player to record one in 2018, tied for the most players with a brace on a single team.
- In 602 minutes with Ebenezer Ofori and Sebastien Ibeagha on the field at the same time this year, NYCFC are averaging 0.9 goals against per 90. In the 942 minutes that one or both have been missing from the field, that number jumps up to 1.4 goals against per 90.
Using statistics to pinpoint the reason for the difference between Home and Away results is tricky at best. I made a post in the "By The Numbers" thread but as I said there, I'm not sure what it tells us of substance as to whether the issue is more defense or offense.
With the same number of games played, at Home NYC has scored 10 more goals than away, and conceded 13 more Away. Defense is the problem.
But in our 3 losses, all Away, NYC scored a combined 1 goal, so an extreme improvement in the Away defense could not generate many more wins. Offense is the problem.
NYC has earned 4 clean sheets at Home and only 1 Away. Defense is the problem.
But NYC has scored 3 or more goals 4 times at home and never Away. Offense is the problem.
Plus I wonder whether if NYC scored just 1 goal within 10 minutes of the first goals scored by Portland and the Red Bulls, would the energy of those games change completely and make the defensive stats look better.
I'm not disagreeing with you when you say the Away defense needs improvement. But so does the offense, and it's hard to judge which is a bigger factor.
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dummyrun
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Maxi's actually outperformed his NPxG in each of his seasons with NYCFC. Almirón, Higuaín, and Lodeiro are underperforming theirs right now. But finishing is generally overrated.
What has definitely improved this season is Maxi's ability to get in goalscoring positions. His NPxG/96 has more than doubled from .14 to .29 thanks to the much more dynamic, creative attack around him. Swapping Harrison, Shelton, and Wallace for Medina, Shradi, and Berget is night and day.
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He's been a much better player this season. But stats are worthless if you can't see how it's a bad thing that he can't score on an open goal.
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dummyrun
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For me, at least, stats are valuable in part because I can see how bad it is when a guy misses a sitter, and I know that I'll let that color my opinion of him more than it probably should. Everybody flubs shots they shouldn't and everybody manages to make the highlight reel now and then. But in between the moments we remember there's a whole lot more that we don't, so I find it helpful to check the stories I tell myself about players against the numbers every once in a while to make sure I know what I think I know.
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I can remember this being an issue for Maxi last year, I can't recall this really being an issue for him this year. He is finishing quite well for the most part. Yes, he had his shot on Bono saved last game that he probably should have buried, but Villa has those moments as well. Are there any others that he absolutely should have finished this year that he hasn't?
I feel like this is a matter of he struggled with this last year, so we are going to rag on him when he misses once in a while, but conveniently forget that he is third on the team in goals (with 6 in 16 games) and leading the team in assists.
The 1 on 1 vs Guzan, where Guzan took it off his foot. Credit to Guzan, he did really well, but still
If you think Almiron is a good finisher you aren't watching enough of him. Ask any Atlanta fan and they'll tell you it's his worst quality.
Hopefully a more tactically proficient manager will do away with the zonal marking that’s led to all those headed goals of set pieces.
His worst quality has to be how one-footed he is, substantially to his detriment. It’s shocking how much it effects his play.
If Maxi were also a lethal goal scorer, he would be the best player in the league or close to it. And as someone had mentioned a while back, he would likely not be in this league. He definitely had the yips last season, especially in some crucial spots, but his output has been fine this season. And that’s just a bonus for his role. If you want to talk about the yips this season, DV is the guy.
Would argue DV has had the yips for significant portions of his career here.
He’s been a great goal scorer for us. He’s been a pretty damn terrible finisher for very long stretches.
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