The Plus and Minus of Things- Midseason Edition

By Charles Barnard

One of the most commonly known team stats in soccer is Goal Differential or the amount of team goals scored minus the amount of team goals conceded. You will see it listed any time you look at a chart of team standings.

One stat that isn't looked at as often is player's plus/minus. This is basically goal differential on the player level. It is a stat that has been used in hockey for a long time and has recently become popular in basketball as well. Player plus/minus is another indicator of how well the team plays while a particular player is on the field. It can also tell you how well the team plays while a player is not on the field as well.

Last season RSL had a very respectable goal differential of +16. Javier Morales had the best player plus/minus at +18. Only two players on the team had a negative plus minus. RSL has finished the past 6 seasons with a positive goal differential.

Going into Wednesday's match, RSL currently has a goal differential of +5.  Below is a list for all RSL players that have played over 100 minutes. The column with the header +/- per 90 takes into account how much a player has played. The thinking behind it is that a player with a good plus/minus in limited minutes played is more impressive than a player with the same plus/minus but having played more minutes. This column shows how much a player's plus/minus is affected every 90 minutes played. The final column (+/- w/o) shows what the team's goal differential is when that player is not on the field.

	Min. Played	Player +/-	+/- per 90	+/- w/o
Beckerman	1260	11	0.79	-6
Plata	1046	9	0.77	-4
Saborio	869	7	0.72	-2
Grabavoy	1549	7	0.41	-2
Morales	1694	5	0.27	0
Beltran	1403	5	0.32	0
Schuler	1440	5	0.31	0
Wingert	1491	3	0.18	2
Borchers	1708	3	0.16	2
Velasquez	116	2	1.55	3
Mulholland	995	2	0.18	3
Maund	341	2	0.53	3
Garcia	741	1	0.12	4
Balchan	201	1	0.45	4
Mansally	385	0	N/A	5
Findley	179	-1	-0.5	6
Gil	854	-1	-0.11	6
Grossman	496	-1	-0.18	6
Sandoval	573	-2	-0.31	7
Stertzer	268	-2	-0.67	7
Salcedo	109	-2	-1.65	7

There is a lot of data above to go through but here are some of the things that stick out to me. Kyle Beckerman's numbers are outstanding. This really shows the positive effect that he has on the team. His +11 is very impressive. I think the things that stands out the most is that when is not playing the team has a goal differential of -6! 

Joao Plata's numbers are also very impressive but with the great season that he is having that is not all that surprising. With such a good plus/minus it makes you wonder how much of a positive effect does Plata have on the defensive side of the ball. That is something I might have to look into further. 

Unlike last season, RSL currently has 6 players that have a negative plus/minus. Carlos Salcedo's numbers can be attributed to coming into a tough spot against San Jose and the team giving up 2 late goals. I do have to say I am somewhat surprised about the other players with a negative plus/minus. Devon Sandoval might be the one that surprised me the most. In only 885 minutes of play last season, Sandoval was +10 (or a +1.01 +/- per 90). Not only has his overall form been off this season but the team's form has also taken a hit while he has been on the field.

Striking Up a Partnership- Midseason Report

By Charles Barnard

The loss of Alvaro Saborio has been a big blow to the offensive attack of RSL. The season started great with the offense scoring goals at a record setting pace and Saborio was a big part of that. While Saborio has been on the field this season, RSL was scoring at a rate of a goal every 45 minutes.  RSL has now played 8 league games without him. In those past 8 games RSL is scoring at a rate of a goal every 120 minutes. 

It is clear to see that no one has truly stepped up to fill Saborio's shoes. I felt that now was an applicable time to really dive in and look at each of RSL's striker stats and to see how well each striker is playing with each other. 

First let's look at how each striker is doing individually. Goals represent the amount of team goals, not the amount of goals the player has scored. MpTG (minutes per team goal) is how often the team scores when a player is either on or off the field. 

Player	Min	Goals	MpTG	Min not played	Goals	MpTG	Difference
Saborio	869	19	45.74	751	8	93.88	48.14
Findley	88	0	N/A	1532	27	56.74	N/A
Plata	866	18	48.11	754	9	83.78	35.67
Sandoval	443	7	63.29	1177	20	58.85	-4.44
Garcia	698	8	87.25	922	19	48.53	-38.72

By looking at this it is clear to see how important that both Saborio and Joao Plata has been to the team this season. Looking at the difference you can see how RSL scores much more when these two players have been on the field. 

It is also interesting to see how bad the offense has been with Garcia playing. By this point, everyone knows the slump that Garcia has been in. It has been over a calendar year since he scored his last goal. These numbers also show that the offense as a whole has not been good with Garcia on the field.

While there is a lot of value from individual numbers, I also feel we can learn a lot by looking at how well the team does when a particular partnership is up top. 

	Min	Goals	MpTG	Min not played	Goals	MpTG
Sabo/Findley	0	0	N/A	1620	27	60
Sabo/Plata	453	14	32.36	1167	13	89.77
Plata/Sandoval	305	4	76.25	1315	23	57.17
Sabo/Sandoval	46	1	46	1574	26	60.54
Findley/Plata	63	0	N/A	1557	27	57.67
Findley/Sandoval	0	0	N/A	1620	27	60
Sabo/Garcia	363	6	60.5	1239	21	59
Findley/Garcia	25	0	N/A	1595	27	59.07
Sandoval/Garcia	36	0	N/A	1584	27	58.67
Plata/Garcia	95	3	31.67	1525	24	63.54

There is a lot of data to look at here, but let me point out some of the things that stands out to me. First, the combination of Saborio and Plata this year was killer. The chemistry between those two players has been wonderful. Last season they had a similar MpTG while playing together.

The numbers for Plata/Garcia looks great so far, but those numbers might be a bit deceiving. If you remember Garcia came on late in the Chicago match and RSL played 3 forwards up top. In the handful of minutes that lineup was on the field, RSL scored twice. 

The question continues to be what partnership should start in the absence of Saborio? One pairing that looked great at the end of last season was Findley/Sandoval. But even if Findley was 90 minute fit, that pairing would take Plata off the field. Sandoval/Garcia also played well last season but with both players struggling to find the back of the net that is not ideal either. And finally, I have never been a fan of Plata/Findley together. 

That leaves either continuing with Plata/Sandoval or to give a shot to Plata/Garcia. Which partnership do you think the team should use come Saturday night?

A Midway Look at Minutes Per Team Goal

It is hard to believe that RSL has already played 15 matches this season. Since we are nearing the half way mark of the season I felt the time was right to start really looking into season statistics. By this point in the season there is a good sample size to really start to analyze the data. The first stat that I am going to look at is Minutes per Team Goal (MpTG).

For those that are unfamiliar with MpTG let me explain what it is. It is not a soccer standard stat but one that I came up with. First, I take a look at how many goals were scored by the team while a player was on the field.  Some simple math gets me a number showing how many minutes on average it takes for the team to score while the player is playing. Next I look at how many goals were scored while that player was not on the field. From that I can see how many goals per minute are scored when that player is not playing. This gives a basic look at how well the team plays with and without each player.

Let's first take a look at the forwards. Remember that the goals shown below are the amount of goals the team has scored, not that particular player. As a point of reference, the team as a whole is scoring at a rate of a goal every 54 minutes.

	Min	Goals	MpTG	Min not played	Goals	MpTG	Difference
Saborio	869	19	45.74	481	6	80.17	34.43
Findley	25	0	N/A	1325	25	53	N/A
Plata	599	16	37.44	751	9	83.44	46.01
Sandoval	353	5	70.6	997	20	49.85	-20.75
Garcia	663	8	82.88	687	17	40.41	-42.46

I don't think it is any surprise to see that the offense has been much more effective when Plata is in the match. You can really see how important he has been to the team when you look at the drop off that has happened when he has not been on the field. The numbers for Saborio are also interesting to me. Last season the team actually scored at a higher rate when he was not on the field. This year those numbers have been reversed.

It is a bit concerning about the lack of offense when looking at the numbers for Sandoval and Garcia. Most people probably have realized that neither player has a goal on the season yet. But it might be more concerning that the team is not scoring as much either when these two players have been on the field.

Here is a look at the RSL midfielders.

	Min	Goals	MpTG	Min not played	Goals	MpTG	Difference
Gil	586	9	65.11	764	16	47.75	-17.36
Grabavoy	1310	25	52.4	40	0	N/A	N/A
Morales	1245	21	59.29	105	4	26.25	-33.04
Velasquez	89	5	17.8	1261	20	63.05	45.25
Stertzer	108	1	108	1242	24	51.75	-56.25
Mulholland	843	15	56.2	507	10	50.7	-5.5
Grossman	405	6	67.5	945	19	49.74	-17.76
Beckerman	900	21	42.86	450	4	112.5	69.64

In looking at these numbers the one that jumps out has to be how poor the offense has been without Kyle Beckerman on the field. It is taking 70 minutes longer for the team to score a goal when Beckerman has not played. I think people might miss how important he truly is for RSL on the offensive side of the ball.

It is also hard not to be impressed with the amount of goals scored in the limited time that Velasquez has been on the field. Now it is true that his numbers will look better due to the fact that he has mostly been a late game sub and more goals are scored in the final 15 minutes than any other period of matches. But a goal every 18 minutes is still very impressive.