Sporting KC v LA Galaxy Observations, and Hope

Sidney Crosby will tell you. Kareem-Abdul Jabbar showed you. Josef Bican proved it to you: the closer a player or team is to goal, the more likely they are to score. It’s a simple concept.

After a 0-0 draw while visiting the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday night, Sporting Kansas City’s shooting zones after three games without a win are as follows: 5% inside the 6-yard box (21st in Major League Soccer (MLS), 40% inside 18 yard box (29th) and 55% outside 18 yard box (2nd) per whoscored.com Result (partially due) is zero goals despite 58 shots on target (1st in MLS ), 26 of them on frame (#1 in MLS) To go even deeper, Sporting’s cumulative expected goals (xG) is 3.4 according to MLSsoccer.com.

Shot Zones & xG for top 5 MLS teams

whoscored.com

It’s individually and comparatively clear that a major reason Sporting haven’t scored this season is that they don’t create quality chances in their first three games. Or high-quality opportunities.

All is no disappointment as Kansas City created chances that should have ended, could have been. Center forward Willy Agada also missed chances that he probably would have missed last season. However, as every center in hockey, every center in basketball, and every forward in soccer will tell you, a strong serve is critical to developing a consistently effective attack.

Those who score dozens of goals act as opportunistic surgeons mostly inside the 18-yard box. However, they are mostly fed by the tools of those whose skills cut through zones 13-18 to deliver the ball.

totalfootballanalysis.com

Sporty midfielder Erik Thommy currently leads MLS in key passes (total assists, in this case only passes that result in a shot) and teammate winger Daniel Salloi is fourth. Thommy and Salloi, dangerous as they can be, are not playmakers or, for that matter, exceptional passers. And they often use similar spaces on Sporting’s left flank.

A new hope shattered

Early in the 34th minute on Saturday night, Salloi scored on the left about 38 yards from Galaxy’s goal. Agada stands six yards from the front of the box in a 1-on-1 with LA center-back Jalen Neal, 19, and shoots into space near the inside left channel of the Galaxy box. Salloi rolls the ball too slowly into Agada, forcing Agada to slow down and allowing Neal to get on goal. The combination of lack of pace on the ball and the pass being no further ahead of Agada eliminated the significant threat Agada’s run posed.

But it was Thommy’s action 45 seconds later that was inexplicable. After Thommy shoved a faulty Galaxy pass to Riqui Puig past the midfielder straight into the LA half, Thommy and Agada have a 2v1 on Neal as he pulls back on his own goal.

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Thommy takes five touches before finally playing Agada (by mistake) when the advantage is now a 2v3 disadvantage and Agada has no room to work.

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A dribble and a pass is how it should have been. There were at least seven Sporting SHBs during the game (not all on Salloi and Thommy).

Part of Sporting’s deliberate overloading down the left – with every left winger scheming there on each line, often in combination with the others – is pulling opposing central midfielders and defenders (including right-wingers) off center (or away from). the right flank). However, this tactic isn’t as effective when the center and right players can’t use a switch to change the point of attack on those now-open spaces or other opportunities for that matter.

Right winger Khiry Shelton receives from right-back Graham Zusi in the inside right channel just at the 59-06 mark of Saturday’s draw. Shelton carries while Agada sprints for a clear, open space between the Galaxy centre-backs as they sprint back to their target about 34 yards away. Almost three seconds later – an eternity in football history – Shelton plays behind Agada, nullifying the very real threat the situation and Agada’s run posed.

appletv.com

Perhaps Agada’s uncharacteristic lack of movement after 36 minutes, turning away from an opportunity for a 1-on-1 after 41 minutes and oddly pointing at substitute right winger Marinos Tzionis to put himself in a dangerous position after 64 minutes Playing Thommy instead of him is the result of a lack of trust and frustration with the lack of service.

“[He] was our last hope.” “No, there is another one.”

Most readers might be thinking of Sporting striker Alan Pulido. With Sporting’s high-priced designated player set to return after missing all of 2022 with a knee injury, fans are excited. Agada’s lack of production so far in 2023 has certainly opened the door for Pulido to return as a starter sooner rather than later. But Pulido also needs service.

SKC Assist & KP Leaders 2018-2022

www.sportingkc.com

Johnny Russell – who appears in eight of the ten categories in the table above – will soon be 33 years old. His pace and ability to 1v1 beat defenders aren’t what they used to be. However, his perception and use of space, as well as his passing game on the ball (not to mention his finishing ability) remain.

In game flow, Russell is able to feed others off the wing and while driving in (or intentionally drifting). Russell even compares to Kansas City’s all-time 10th-best Benny Feilhaber. In five seasons with Kansas City, Feilhaber (who plays in a more direct game system) had 41 assists and played 258 key passes. In Russell’s five seasons (playing on a more cross-based system), he’s earned 32 assists and dished out 208 key passes.

When Russell returns – whoever the forward is – expect Sporting’s attack to step up a few notches. Unfortunately, since Russell jogs along the sidelines when he practices, it will likely be a month or so before that happens.

Perhaps another hope is midfielder (probably future No.6) Nemanja Radoja, who played a juicy through ball in his 23-minute Sporting debut on Saturday night. Along with the release of Remi Walter to play at right #8, hope can abound.

A lightsaber, not a blaster

Driving, evasive, concentrated shots from outside the penalty area have created many a legendary moment in football. No doubt.

But the close-up precision and dexterity of intimate weapons slice and dice opposing defenses on a much larger scale. In each of Kansas City’s three top-scoring seasons (2018, 20, and 21) of the past eight years, 7% of their shooting zones have been inside the 6-yard box; 53, 51, and 52% inside the 18-yard box; and 42, 41, and 41% outside the 18-yard box.

A lightsaber is a Jedi’s weapon.

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