General MLS Discussion

[gbservis]

I saw a couple of the Coachella games and one of my takeaways was that Ojeda stood out to me as looking good, looking dangerous, so I guess I’m with Doyle here. But it’s hard to say he looked much improved because we barely saw him last year

Ojeda started 11 games last season and played in 22. He was a fairly consistent starter up until the Tigres game when Nick figured out that he needed all the veterans on the pitch for the offense to be functional and he benched the young guys. There is some serious revisionist history happening in relation to how much Nick played the young guys. He clearly started to season with the intention of Ojeda being the starter and he had to give up on it because Ojeda didn't play well enough.

 

[mgarbowski]

Ojeda started 11 games last season and played in 22. He was a fairly consistent starter up until the Tigres game when Nick figured out that he needed all the veterans on the pitch for the offense to be functional and he benched the young guys. There is some serious revisionist history happening in relation to how much Nick played the young guys. He clearly started to season with the intention of Ojeda being the starter and he had to give up on it because Ojeda didn't play well enough.

Ojeda averaged 44 minutes per game over a 17 game period between April 13 and July 17. Then 14 minutes average over the final 10. He had a pedestrian 0.29 G/90 and 0 assists for the year. He had the fifth most minutes among forwards, behind Santi, Wolf, Martinez, and Bakrar. Maybe coaching failed to develop him as it should have, but that's a training issue not playing time.

There's maybe an argument Cushing should have moved on from Wolf at the end. Wolf scored 4 goals in Games in games 13-20, then just 1 over the final 14. But Wolf was 0.42 G+A/90 and Ojeda was 0.29.

The season last year was very uneven and had a couple of major break points. Jones and Martinez started playing much more around Game 11, part way through 10 games of which 8 were home. And the team killed it. Then Jones was hurt just before 8 Away games in 11. And the team suffered. And in the middle of that drought came the Tigres game you mentioned, when they looked very solid and crisp. I think Nick overreacted to that. But I'm not sure where Ojeda gets so many more minutes from. In retrospect Bakrar, but he got his minutes early and honestly, he had to. Plus those 2 are not interchangeable.

 

[moogoo]

I didn't think Ojeda looked any different in preseason than he had previously. That said he does sometimes look close to breaking out and I can see where the prediction comes from. It still seems wildly optimistic that he will be YPOY, we saw enough Matinez + Bakrar lineups in the preseason to indicate that Pascal is entertaining the idea of starting Martinez at LW with Ojeda on the bench.

i think the difference in ojeda so far is that he's more willing to take on defenders 1v1. last year he was more timid and if he wasn't sent into space with a through ball or something, it was rare to see him try to beat some one 1v1 and he would just pass it back for safety. this preseason, he seemed to square up more and try to get around a defender, which is nice to see. we need more of these types of players because it disrupts defenses and creates opportunities.
definitely not saying he's changed night and day. but if there is any difference, that was what I noticed.

 

[mgarbowski]

While writing about Bakrar and xPlace I looked at the MLS numbers generally.
Last year, Suarez led the league with +7.35 xPL and his G-xG was +7.70. No surprise and makes sense. Puig was +4.88xPL and Gil +3.16, and both had G-xG in range of those numbers.
But Messi? Messi was +2.13 xPL and +8.26 G-xG. Unfortunately FBref's xG stats only go back to 2017-18, and don't include xPL at all. Messi does usually have a positive G-xG, but I have to wonder if last year was a combination of both otherworldly skill and a decent smattering of good fortune.

 

[mgarbowski]

Can you please remind me what xPL is?

xPlace. It’s explained in the post.

 

[gbservis]

xPlace. It’s explained in the post.

@mgarbowski’s insightful explanation about xPlace yesterday sparked my curiosity about the concept. I wanted to explore the stat further using data from last night’s game, and I found this breakdown helpful—so I thought I’d share.

In an unfortunate reflection of the team’s struggles, but a convenient case study for understanding xPlace, none of our players took more than one shot last night. This allows us to see how xPlace plays out on a per-shot basis. The table below is from the ASA website.

(xPlace = Post-shot expected goal - Pre-shot expected goal)

1. Wolf and Fernández had shots from good positions but failed to hit the target. Their pre-shot expected goal (xG) was 0.13, but their post-shot xG was 0—resulting in an xPlace of -0.13.
2. Bakrar put his shot on frame but directly at the keeper. His pre-shot xG was 0.06, while his post-shot xG dropped to 0.03, giving him an xPlace of -0.03.
3. Ilenič started with a pre-shot xG of 0.20 and placed his shot so well that his post-shot xG increased to 0.35.
4. Martínez had a similar outcome, beginning with a pre-shot xG of 0.19 and finishing with a well-placed shot that raised his post-shot xG to 0.42.

 

[FootyLovin]

@mgarbowski’s insightful explanation about xPlace yesterday sparked my curiosity about the concept. I wanted to explore the stat further using data from last night’s game, and I found this breakdown helpful—so I thought I’d share.

In an unfortunate reflection of the team’s struggles, but a convenient case study for understanding xPlace, none of our players took more than one shot last night. This allows us to see how xPlace plays out on a per-shot basis. The table below is from the ASA website.

(xPlace = Post-shot expected goal - Pre-shot expected goal)

1. Wolf and Fernández had shots from good positions but failed to hit the target. Their pre-shot expected goal (xG) was 0.13, but their post-shot xG was 0—resulting in an xPlace of -0.13.
2. Bakrar put his shot on frame but directly at the keeper. His pre-shot xG was 0.06, while his post-shot xG dropped to 0.03, giving him an xPlace of -0.03.
3. Ilenič started with a pre-shot xG of 0.20 and placed his shot so well that his post-shot xG increased to 0.35.
4. Martínez had a similar outcome, beginning with a pre-shot xG of 0.19 and finishing with a well-placed shot that raised his post-shot xG to 0.42.

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What a perfect natural opportunity to understand this in action! Thanks for the post.

And also, incredibly damning. 0.91 xG for a match with 70 minutes up a man? Horrible. (Probably covered in the match thread, but I haven’t gotten there yet.)

 

[ZYanksRule]

Is there any other league in the world that a team can win the championship one season, then start the next season 0-3-0?

LA Galaxy, you OK?

 

[KevinJRogers]

Is there any other league in the world that a team can win the championship one season, then start the next season 0-3-0?

LA Galaxy, you OK?

They've gotten unhooked. Wild. That last goal was a hot knife through butter.

 

[moogoo]

Is there any other league in the world that a team can win the championship one season, then start the next season 0-3-0?

LA Galaxy, you OK?

They transferred out key players and other key players are injured. The mojo and cohesiveness they had last year is not there at all. No pansil, no puig, no jovalec, no yamane. all big players for them.

 

[KevinJRogers]

They transferred out key players and other key players are injured. The mojo and cohesiveness they had last year is not there at all. No pansil, no puig, no jovalec, no yamane. all big players for them.

Yeah, they're seriously depleted. If they had Puig and Paintsil healthy and in form, it might paper over some of their other issues. Those dudes have a way of keeping opponents busy enough to relieve the pressure.

 

[Kenny]

I will forever have gratitude in my heart for that team for beating NJ in the Cup

 

[Antidote P. Smiley]

Yeah, they're seriously depleted. If they had Puig and Paintsil healthy and in form, it might paper over some of their other issues. Those dudes have a way of keeping opponents busy enough to relieve the pressure.

This (injuries)is what scares the living daylights out of me with this squad right now. We don’t even have (at I don’t think, feel free to disagree) Paintsil, Puig, Pec and we’ve sent two key players (Sands, Santi) abroad and we are relying on a 38 yo CAM. As surprised and happy I am for what Pascal is doing I feel like the sword of Damocles is hanging over this team.

 

[mgarbowski]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6185308/2025/03/10/mls-anonymous-gm-survey-messi-garber-rule-changes-usl/

Part 2 of the MLS executive Survey, with discussion of possible schedule flip, USL ambitions, club world cup, and the Messi/World Cup marketing challenge.

The CSOs were nearly unanimous that [a schedule flip] would be a positive for MLS. (There was one GM who said he was “not convinced” it’ll be good, but was “hopeful” it would be.)​

​

[Quote from Exec]: "I know there’s challenges around playing in the winter months, in cold weather environments, but it seems like the league has plans and ways to mitigate that. If you ask our commercial department, there’s less enthusiasm. So there’s kind of the separation for me between the commercial side, in terms of selling those dates in a cold-weather market, and the technical side, which — I haven’t spoken to a (sporting) executive that thinks that it wouldn’t be a good idea.”​

Interesting though not surprising about the commercial/sporting split on the issue.

 

[KevinJRogers]

This (injuries)is what scares the living daylights out of me with this squad right now. We don’t even have (at I don’t think, feel free to disagree) Paintsil, Puig, Pec and we’ve sent two key players (Sands, Santi) abroad and we are relying on a 38 yo CAM. As surprised and happy I am for what Pascal is doing I feel like the sword of Damocles is hanging over this team.

We could indeed find ourselves asking an awful lot of some awfully young players. It's possible we'll be doing that even if we stay healthy.

 

[moogoo]

random thought after seeing mgarbowski mention the schedule flip again..

if we do flip to a fall/winter schedule, will we see a return of the long sleeve jerseys!? I would enjoy that very much. I was always a big fan.

 

[Kenny]

random thought after seeing mgarbowski mention the schedule flip again..

if we do flip to a fall/winter schedule, will we see a return of the long sleeve jerseys!? I would enjoy that very much. I was always a big fan.

I'm already on Team Flip and this is a perk I hadn't thought of!

 

[moogoo]

we moved up 2 spots to #15. I have to say, Sam Jones has been slacking as of late. The power rankings used to be full of hilarious quips, but seems much more toned down now. Colorado and our blurbs start off with the exact same sentence save for the name. An attempt at humor or running out of ideas?

Power Rankings: Philadelphia Union, Vancouver Whitecaps defy expectations | MLSSoccer.com

Inter Miami CF pulled out a result despite going down to 10 men, Atlanta United sputtered in the second half, the Philadelphia Union won by multiple goals and Vancouver Whitecaps FC scored twice at home. It was truly a week unlike any other.

www.mlssoccer.com

 

[Seth]

random thought after seeing mgarbowski mention the schedule flip again..

if we do flip to a fall/winter schedule, will we see a return of the long sleeve jerseys!? I would enjoy that very much. I was always a big fan.

I'm already on Team Flip and this is a perk I hadn't thought of!

Does this mean we finally get a good stadium coat?

 

[LionNYC]

we moved up 2 spots to #15. I have to say, Sam Jones has been slacking as of late. The power rankings used to be full of hilarious quips, but seems much more toned down now. Colorado and our blurbs start off with the exact same sentence save for the name. An attempt at humor or running out of ideas?

Power Rankings: Philadelphia Union, Vancouver Whitecaps defy expectations | MLSSoccer.com

Inter Miami CF pulled out a result despite going down to 10 men, Atlanta United sputtered in the second half, the Philadelphia Union won by multiple goals and Vancouver Whitecaps FC scored twice at home. It was truly a week unlike any other.

www.mlssoccer.com

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All of MLS Digital has been gutted since the Apple deal.