Crunching the Numbers- Chivas

The season has now come to a close for Real Salt Lake. They ended on a high note defeating Chivas 2-1. With the end of the season, I will now start crunching through all the numbers, and over the course of the next few weeks will be posting many end-of-year reviews of different statistics. But, before I get too far ahead of myself let's take a look at some interesting numbers that came out of the Chivas match and some end of the year team stats:

• RSL finished the season scoring 57 goals which was 11 more than the previous club record. That averages out to a goal every 53.68 minutes.
• The team gave up 41 goals on the season or a goal every 74.63 minutes. This comes out as ranking 5th out of the club's nine year history.
• RSL scored 31 goals at home and 26 goals on the road. They gave up 16 goals at home and 25 goals on the road. The team ended with a goal differential of +16. 
• The team scored 38.60% of their goals in the first half and 61.40% of their goals in the second half. They gave up 39.02% of their goals in the first half compared to 58.54% of their goals in the second half.
• RSL was most productive in the final 15 minutes of matches scoring 19 times or 33% of all their goals. They were least productive between the 15-30 minute of matches only scoring 5 times (8.77%).
• RSL gave up the most goals during the final 15 minutes of matches, giving up 13 goals during that time (31.71%). They gave up the least amount of goals between the 15-30 minute of matches giving up 4 goals during that time (9.76%).
• This season RSL scored 51 times when Javier Morales was on the field or a goal every 44.75 minutes. When Morales did not play, RSL scored 6 goals or a goal every 129.67 minutes. 
• RSL was a +18 when Morales was on the field. This is the highest +/- on the team just edging out Tony Beltran who was a +17. 
• Nat Borchers and Chris Schuler played 900 minutes together this season. During that time RSL gave up 8 goals or a goal every 112.50 minutes. Statistically this was the best center back pairing on the season for RSL.
• Alvaro Saborio and Joao Plata played 441 minutes together this season. During that time RSL scored 13 times or a goal every 33.92 minutes. Statistically, this was the best forward pairing for RSL. 
• RSL had 8 players on the team with 4 or more goals. 

I find a lot of the above numbers fascinating. The thng that stood out to me the most were the numbers dealing with Morales. I have been pointing out the difference from when Morales plays and doesn't play for a while. The Chivas match really highlighted this. The match changed dramatically as soon as Morales came in. This match also shows why a stat like Minutes per Team Goal (MpTG) is so important. Morales did not show up on the stat sheet for either goal scored. But, everyone that watched that game knows that Morales positively effected both goals.

Although Plata is better coming off the bench than starting, I think that the starting strike partnership going into the playoffs has to be Saborio and Plata.  As noted above, when Sabo and Plata play, RSL scores every 33.92 minutes. Now lets compare that to when Sabo and Findley play together. When those two play, RSL scores every 103.80 minutes. That is a pretty big difference.