San Jose Earthquakes 2019 Season Preview

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San Jose Earthquakes 2019 Season Preview

2018 In Review

 The “wooden spoon” award has its roots in the University of Cambridge. It would be awarded to the student who had the lowest marks but still earned a third-class degree. There are also three degrees in MLS: Those who win silverware, those who make the playoffs, and those who do not make the playoffs. Given MLS does not have relegation, obtaining (I almost said “winning” there) the Wooden Spoon just means one still gets to play the next year at the same level. In 2017, the Independent Supporters Council, who instituted the Wooden Spoon award in 2015, renamed it the Anthony Precourt Memorial Wooden Spoon.

This is not the trophy San Jose Earthquakes General Manager Jesse Fioranelli had in mind at the beginning of 2018. He attempted big splashes, signing Allsvenskan Golden Boot winner Magnus Eriksson as a designated player, a fellow Swede to go along with a “real” manager Mikael Stahre (replacing not-interim/interim first-time coach Chris Leitch), also from the Allsvenskan. In keeping the attacking core from 2017 who helped the team snatch the final playoff spot despite a -21 goal differential, plus adding Eriksson, finally getting Panamanian international Harold Cummings healthy, and adding two more young defenders, Fioranelli bet that would be enough to catapult San Jose higher in the Western Conference. It seems he underestimated the MLS talent level compared to middle-of-the-road European leagues and the ability of a foreign coach to quickly integrate a team.

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Setting the Table Week 31: Lodeiro, RSL, And the Slow Fade of NYCFC

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Setting the Table Week 31: Lodeiro, RSL, And the Slow Fade of NYCFC

Welcome to Setting the Table. Each week we take some time to focus on the best chance creators in MLS from the last weekend. If you want to see the best chances that were wasted check out Lowered Expectations. Here we focus on chances that ended with the ball in the back of the net.

#5 Nicolas Lodeiro to Raul Ruidiaz, Seattle Sounders, 22nd minute, 0.318 expected goals
Passes in sequence: 2

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Lowered Expectations: Week 25

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Lowered Expectations: Week 25

Welcome to Lowered Expectations, week 25 edition! Each week, we go about posting chalkboards and GIFs of the weekend’s best open-play shot attempts which did not quite live up to expectations (and rarely do we update this paragraph). We look at each one and not only evaluate the results, but also the process leading to them.

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Setting the Table Week 24: Replacing Ramirez in Minnesota, The TFC enigma, and Royer the Creator

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Setting the Table Week 24: Replacing Ramirez in Minnesota, The TFC enigma, and Royer the Creator

Welcome to Setting the Table. Each week we take some time to focus on the best chance creators in MLS from the last weekend. If you want to see the best chances that were wasted check out Lowered Expectations. Here we focus on chances that ended with the ball in the back of the net.

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Lowered Expectations: Week 24

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Lowered Expectations: Week 24

Welcome to Lowered Expectations, week 24 edition! Each week, we go about posting chalkboards and GIFs of the weekend’s best open-play shot attempts which did not quite live up to expectations (and rarely do we update this paragraph). We look at each one and not only evaluate the results, but also the process leading to them.

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How Every Goalkeeper Fared in 2017

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By Luke Stanke (@lukestanke)

Updated Game-by-game Expected Goals

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Updated Game-by-game Expected Goals

Starting today, if you go to our xG by Game page (also listed at the bottom of this post), you'll notice that there are now two expected goals totals for each team. That's because we have multiple xG models, and they give different results. Crazy, we know. One is called the team expected goals model, and the other the player expected goals model. There are only two simple differences between these models, but they are significant. 

  1. Penalty kicks are worth less in the team model. 
  2. Sequential shots get their value diminished in the team model.
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San Jose Earthquakes 2018 Season Preview

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San Jose Earthquakes 2018 Season Preview

San Jose made big strides in 2017 to go from the second worst team in the West to a playoff team. After adding more talent, and some youth, they’ll hope to build on that for 2018.

2017 Recap

The 2017 San Jose Earthquakes ended the season with a -21 goal differential, the worst ever of any team to make the playoffs. But, they did make the playoffs, as the 6th seed in the West. And, after missing out every year since their Supporters’ Shield winning 2012, that was rightfully cause for celebration among Quakes fans, despite bowing out to the Whitecaps 5-0 in the knockout round.

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