u/Chris_RB

I see that this is the only remaining tournament match that FOX has moved to the FOX Soccer Plus network. Are there any other streaming or viewing options for this aside from FSP?

Links appreciated, TIA!

This won't be the most in-depth thing you'll ever read (I'm not trying to be Tyler) but, I thought this was interesting, given the pits of despair many of us are in after last night.

Goal Differential

This is maybe the least-useful metric due to how rare goals are, and there is some good/bad/meh news here. 2 images, first.

https://preview.redd.it/ys87ll4090fh1.png?width=752&format=png&auto=webp&s=828e786fcdaa912b96ff5ce1a9ea0aefb8ca7194

https://preview.redd.it/wt20w1s290fh1.png?width=752&format=png&auto=webp&s=e01609bc5927cccaedacfdf3f968236455726c11

As the captions say, these are a chart of our goal differentials across the season, both with and without the Vancouver 6-0 destruction. Good news: our goal differential is trending slightly upwards! Bad news: without that hyper negative result early, it's trending down. Meh news: neither of the slopes is THAT sharp, so this isn't a team falling apart quickly. Just, y'know, slowly.

xG, xGOT, and xGA

https://preview.redd.it/sb4z72xr90fh1.png?width=1934&format=png&auto=webp&s=f10df3f6c642d3cabc5a31c2f77ec0c7eb846f35

Only good and bad news here. Good news: our xGA is trending down! This is true even if you remove that BIG 6-0 loss early. Our defense is doing a better job of denying easy/lots of shots.

Bad news: our xG and xGOT trendlines are essentially flat. We have been consistently producing some but not lots of chances. And the worse news is:

https://preview.redd.it/l4yttlqsa0fh1.png?width=752&format=png&auto=webp&s=0f3b6b6abec8bbd6f5346ea932a6ed31250e89af

I will here insert a caveat I should have included early: this just isn't enough data to draw STRONG conclusions from, but it's enough to see patterns and ask if they jive with what we've seen.

In this case: the pattern is we are consistently scoring fewer goals than chances created. In fact, in only 4 games did we score more goals than chances created, and one of those (RSL) it was 1 goal scored on .94 xG, so not actually that surprising.

In short: Loons are bad at finishing chances. WHO KNEW!? (ok, we basically all knew).

Anyways: nothing life changing here, but I thought it was nice to have some data to back up what many are saying.

EDIT TO ADD: I got my xG data from Fotmob, other sites will have different xG numbers

Freeman, Weston, Richards specifically.

Couple targets Wild could take a look at, but they call out Hunter Haight, Sam Hlavaj, and Spacek as 3 guys the Wild could move in return for someone.

They do mention that if the Wild try to trade one of Gus/Wally, it would make room for Hlavaj, though I know the scuttlebutt is that he's not coming back.

Mason McTavish from the Ducks is the top-rated Center they mention.

I don’t think we need 5 identical posts about this. Not saying it’s not relevant or invalid, just don’t think it behooves the sub to have so many posts essentially making the same point.

Hints Here Mayhaps

Looking forward, the transfer window this summer is coming up in just over 2 months; July 13-Sept 2.

An early wishlist of things I think the team could use to improve and set up for success.

1. A striker.
   At the very least, someone who can back Kelvin Yeboah up, but I wouldn't hate someone who can press him for starts. Even better would be someone in a different mold so we have 2 different strikers (rather than two guys who play largely the same but are different quality).

2. Wing/wide mid.
   Our starting wide mids/wings (Pereyra, Chancalay, Duncan, Markanich) are great! Love 'em. But if they go down, pickings get real slim real fast. Bongi can cover defensively, but seems to have lost all offensive instincts. Until/unless Fitz figures stuff out and starts to pan out, we have virtually no one for the left; Gonzalez is about it and while he has promise, he isn't at a level where we can plug him and play him (yet, I do think he'll get there).

3. Attacking mid types who also defend.
   Opinions are split on James; I think he's done well with the time he's been given; with even marginally better finishing he'd have a couple assists against LAFC and he was pulling strings like a puppeteer in the open cup, but had no one to whom he could pass. BUT. He doesn't defend (1 defensive contribution against LAFC, same against Sacremento). We knew this going in. Which means our midfield depth in terms of mids who can go forward while offering defensive solidity is nonexistant. Peter Stroud, who has his own issues, is a pure defensive guy. We need someone to plug in who can at least be a poor man's Pereyra and go both ways at least a little.

4. Earlier subs
   OK, so this isn't a transfer, but even when I think Cam has made the right subs, they're 10+ minutes too late.

Additions? Specific players?