Some amusing TFC stats
By Ben Knight
Did you know?
Since Danny Dichio’s final appearance for Toronto FC – a meaningless late-game run-out on September 5 in Denver – the remains of the TFC strike force (Barrett, Gerba, White, Pablo Who?) scored a whopping total of two goals.
White blazed one home at the supporters’ end against Colorado, and Barrett found twine in Chicago.
In the same time – over exactly the same stretch of games – young defender Nana Attakora also scored two goals.
Taking the longer view, here is how frequently TFC strikers dented net throughout the 2009 MLS regular season:
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O’Brian White – once every 220 minutes
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Danny Dichio – once every 253.3 minutes
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Chad Barrett – once every 413.8 minutes
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Ali Gerba – once every 534 minutes
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Pablo Who? – once every 825 minutes
Just for comparison purposes:
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Dwayne DeRosario – once every 222.2 minutes
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Amado Guevara – once every 399.8 minutes
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Nana Attakora – once every 826 minutes
Nobody else broke one in a thousand.
Also of note:
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MLS Golden Boot winner Jeff Cunningham (ex-TFC) – once every 112.8 minutes
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MLS Golden Boot runner-up Conor Casey (ex-TFC) – once every 130.4 minutes
Cunningham, by the way, added eight assists. Barrett-Gerba-White-Pablo Who? combined for four. Dichio had two.
Yes, I’m going somewhere with this.
Onward!
November 1st, 2009 at 10:05 am
Very interesting stats. I definitely think it was “unfortunate” that Danny didn’t get more playing time, through to the end of the season. Especially as he did other important things, in addition to scoring (holding the ball up; setting up others; drawing & screening defenders or the goalie; etc).
A few notes of caution, when comparing TFC’s players. First of all, TFC’s definition of players’ positions is pretty fluid. Barret often played wide rather than as a striker. Vitti is listed as “F-M” and probably spent more time in midfield than up front. DeRo likes to play attacking midfield, but was often positioned as a forward, and roams the field anyway. (Of course, the positions as played were partly in reaction to the lack of scoring touch of some…)
Also, I think it’s hard to compare “minutes per goal” for those playing full games, and those coming in as late-game subs. In the latter case, they’re coming in fresh & motivated when the opposing team is tired. Would OBW’s stats have looked as good this year if he had played more full games? No knock on him — hopefully after further recuperation from the injury & a full preseason with the team, we will see even more from him.
Lastly, it’s always a combination of individual player’s abilities, and coaching skills (to improve those players, but also to work with what you have at any moment and find a system that works). We definitely need a few more players, and probably some trades, but no squad is perfect for every game, especially not in MLS.
November 1st, 2009 at 10:38 am
Some fun related stats that I came up with for another discussion a week or two ago:
DeRo leads the team in shots with 78. Chad follows with 54, Amado with 45, and then Vitti with 28.
Nobody else is over 20.
Of DeRo’s 78 shots, only 34 were on target (43%). Chad had 24 on target (44%), and Amado 19 (42%). Vitti trails the pack as the only other double digit guy with 13 (46%).
Total unrelated continued aside… in theory, DeRo scores on about 1/3 of his shots on target, Chad 1/5th, and Amado 1/4. For total shots, DeRo is about 1/7 effective, Chad is 1/11, and Amado 1/9th. Give or take.
This aside has been brought to you by the number 1 and the letter C.
And with some boredom, I then compared them to 4 of the most prolific strikers in the Premier League (I only took the PL into account, nothing else), and came up with this:
These numbers are for last year and the year before. Do note that there are some cool comparisons to be drawn in here too. Gotta love it. With statistics, you can say… anything.
The raw numbers first:
Adebayor:
2007-08 32 games, 24 goals, 101 shots, 60 on target
2008-09 21 games, 10 goals, 78 shots, 25 on target
Ronaldo:
2007-08 31 games, 31 goals, 181 shots, 109 on target
2008-09 31 games, 18 goals, 181 shots, 57 on target
Rooney:
2007-08 25 games, 12 goals, 104 shots, 69 on target
2008-09 25 games, 12 goals, 123 shots, 40 on target
Torres:
2007-08 29 games, 24 goals, 93 shots, 57 on target
2008-09 20 games, 14 goals, 86 shots, 31 on target
And for the actual comparisons now.
2007-08:
Adebayor hit the target with 60% of his shots, and scored on 40% of those.
Ronaldo hit the target with 60% of his shots, and scored on 28% of those.
Rooney hit the target with 66% of his shots, and scored on 17% of those.
Torres hit the target with 61% of his shots, and scored on 42% of those.
2008-09:
Adebayor hit the target with 32% of his shots, and scored on 40% of those.
Ronaldo hit the target with 31% of his shots, and scored on 31% of those.
Rooney hit the target with 32% of his shots, and scored on 30% of those.
Torres hit the target with 36% of his shots, and scored on 45% of those.
November 1st, 2009 at 11:45 am
Both Cunningham and Casey didn’t want to stay in Toronto.
November 1st, 2009 at 12:32 pm
don’t forget Edson Buddle. many people called him useless in his 10 games with TFC. then he goes and scores 25 in 62 for LA.
which is why Gerba should be given a break until a new legit coach arrives. we keep getting new strikers to fill what is perceived as a striker problem. but it’s a coaching problem. All these strikers are basically interchangeable.
November 1st, 2009 at 2:40 pm
I know they didn’t want to stay, Damiiano. Question is — why?
November 1st, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Conor Casey wanted to come back to the league from Germany to play in his hometown of Colorado. He has family there. TFC had the top allocation and grabbed him anyways, to receive some compensation from Colorado.
Cunningham was just a flake who was hated by the coaches at Colorado (who shipped him off after a good season) and at RSL (Kreis thought Cunningham was a malcontent).
November 1st, 2009 at 7:04 pm
The fact that TFC didn’t integrate Cunningham into the squad successfuly,speaks for itself.
November 1st, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Oh gawd these stats make me sick. I was JUST getting over the debacle in NY.
November 1st, 2009 at 9:21 pm
I don’t care how much Jeff Cunningham is a baby, if you have to coddle the guy to get 15+ goals a season, i want John Carver to drive to his F’n house evey day at 11:00 pm and tuck him into bed if he has to.
I do agree this is mostly about caoching, and less about our strikers. However, it makes little sense that we continually shuffle the deck. Chad Barrett and Pablo Vitti aren’t improvements over anybody.
November 1st, 2009 at 11:43 pm
Well…Alex…
The arrogant mediocer UK “coaches” just come to NA to parasite and be “big shots”,while in their country they would be basically unemployed.
November 1st, 2009 at 11:51 pm
With Barrett there is some hope. Vitti is a lost cause and with Gerba there never was a cause. We saw EXACTLY why MK Dons did not re-sign him. A bloody “3rd Division” club in England saw exactly the same things we saw. A lazy, out of shape, “player” who could not score with any degree of reliability, and had major attitude issues.
How he scored those goals for Canada remains a mystery.
Have a look at his wikipedia entry. He has been through more teams than most of us have been through socks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Gerba
November 2nd, 2009 at 4:37 am
You tell me…I wouldn’t take the guy to a rec. game.
November 2nd, 2009 at 12:23 pm
I agree that improvement is needed in coaching where our strikers are concerned, but can you really blame that for Cunnigham’s gaffs when he was here ? The man was brutal - no-one can be blamed for his stumbles and goal-line clearances (while trying to score, mind) but him.
November 2nd, 2009 at 2:10 pm
^ Absolutely.
While the miss against Montreal is notable, Cunningham is still exactly the same player in Dallas. He’s just getting more / better chances to score. He still misses a lot.
That being said, he still finishes a lot more than Chad Barrett or Pablo Vitti.