MLS Top Performers Through Week 9 | OneFootball

Now that we’re deeper into the MLS season it’s a good time to go back and check out our top performers. As we did in our previous article, we’ve broken it down into three categories: attacking, defending and goalkeeping. This week we threw in a few more interesting angles as well.

All this data comes from Sofascore, which is an outstanding resource for soccer and other sports data.

Top Performers: Attack

Our criteria include: goals (duh), penalties taken, big chances missed & goal completion %. The big chances is a new variable, which I threw in there because it adds a new dimension.

Top Attackers, sorted by goals scored

I am not gonna lie, but I did not think that Tai Baribo would still top this chart. He’s still riding that unreal wave of six goals in his first five matches; since then he’s only added one more. His goal conversion also dropped from 66.7% to 39% (though this is still the highest among the top attackers). Dejan Jovelijić is really close at 38%, but three of his five goals were penalties, which pumps up his average.

Our debutantes to the group are Brian White (Vancouver, #3), Diego Rossi (Columbus, #8), Josef Martínez (San Jose, #12) and Dejan Jovelijić (Kansas City, #13). We bid goodbye to Anders Dreyer, Jordan Morris, Telasco Segovia and Emil Forsberg. There are also nine players on four goals, so I expect this list to change as more games are played.

FC Cincinnati’s Evander has moved up to #2; Quakes’ Christian Arango leaps from #15 to #4. D.C. United big man Christian Benteke makes a nominal climb, but what jumps out to me are his seven missed chances. Which brings us to…

Whiffmasters

Attackers with the highest missed Big Chances

We all know that attackers miss; it’s part of the process. But this group above have excelled at whiffing the shot. A “big chance” is any attempt that has a good chance of scoring, such as a 1-on-1 with the keeper, an open header, or a penalty kick.

The biggest standout for me is Brandon Vazquez. Austin have only scored seven in nine game; he already has seven big chances missed.

Top Performers: Defense

Our variables here are: tackles, accurate pass %, clean sheets, penalties committed. Only defenders and midfielders are considered.

Top Defenders, sorted by tackles.

D.C. United’s David Schnegg still leads this category by a wide margin, but below him there was a lot of movement. Sebastian Berhalter moves up to #2, but is notable for the 3 clean sheets and 86% pass completion. The Earthquakes’ Rodrigues makes a debut at #3 (he just missed the cut in GW5). David Ayala replaces Timbers teammate Anthony Alves, and look at the Revs’ Mamadou Fofana popping in at #6 (2 clean sheets and 91% pass completion).

Defenders who Score

I promised in the last article I would get to this, and I have now fulfilled.

Defenders with two or more goals.

Top Performers: Goalkeepers

Top Keepers sorted by saves.

In our last report, we noted how many of the top keepers were on teams low in the standings. That isn’t really the case anymore, except for #5 Jonathan Sirois of Montréal and #8 Sean Johnson of Toronto. The other eight all play for teams sitting squarely in the middle of the pack.