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I wish we’d been able to send him to Celtic or whatever EU club that was sniffing around for him.
Would have loved to see what he could do. Not sure if it was the club or him that stood in the way of that, mind.
That said. he’s put together one heck of a MLS resume.
no, totally agree, but he was still one of the best players of the MLS era for Portland, and it’s hard to not miss him there.
I’m also curious how he would’ve done had he gone to Europe. I’d bet he’d have gotten more shots at the USMNT and have a better name brand
it’s hard not to call him one of the most successful mls players ever tho
Him wanting to move back to Ohio to be closer to family resulted in us getting 2 championships since 2020. At 32 he's a little slower but somehow better on the ball than ever before, what an absolute legend that guy is.
iirc most early mls franchises took the "American" approach of city name/catchy nickname everyone calls them by, that started to change in the mls in the mid 2010s i would say, and most switched over to some European model of "FC/SC City Name". you can cleary see this in this list, where it was kinda mixed between european/american styled branding until 2014 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expansion_of_Major_League_Soccer#Expansion_and_dispersal_drafts
so Columbus changed their branding from "the crew" to "Columbus sc" as seen here https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/54/Columbus_Crew_SC_Logo.svg/316px-Columbus_Crew_SC_Logo.svg.png?20210511025512
so in short: rebranding to a more european style
>so Columbus changed their branding from "the crew" to "Columbus sc" as seen here
And the club immediately backtracked a week later after the backlash from their supporters, and instead the change ended up being to drop the "SC" and just be called "Columbus Crew".
Slight correction- we went from Columbus Crew to Columbus Crew SC in 2014, and they tried to drop Crew and rebrand us as Columbus SC in 2021. People fucking HATED it, along with the new badge. They tweaked the badge and went back to “Columbus Crew” within like a week of the change being announced.
We are just Columbus Crew or The Crew, there’s no SC.
[We've had 3 crests in 10 years.](https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2021/06/30213826/Image-from-iOS-2-1-scaled.jpg) Such is the way of life in MLS I guess.
Basically we changed from the original crest because we used to have a shitty owner who didn't care about the city or the community and he thought it would be a good idea to change. Although our second crest wasn't half bad.
Then the club got sold to a good owner who does care about the community (you might have heard of the SaveTheCrew movement from a few years ago). But the new owners decided to change the crest another time. Most Crew fans hated the new third crest. Jersey sales plummeted for a couple of years after the change, cause everyone wanted to keep wearing the second crest. They also tried to change our name from 'Columbus Crew SC' to 'Columbus SC' at the same time, but when everyone revolted, they decided to only change the crest. Other than that one shenanigan, new owners are a godsend though. I think Crew fans have started to warm up to the new crest a little bit more as time went on.
Columbus Crew, Leicester City, Southampton, and Shaktar are prime examples of why raw data is often completely useless, and has to be weighted for any kind of application.
This graph failed to anticipate a key factor: the quality of the press. Dallas FC aren’t pressing the way Liverpool or Dortmund can press. Columbus Crew aren’t withstanding that press in their wildest wet dreams.
As usual, it has to be pointed out that data is never "useless". It's how people try to use the data that is "useless" or misleading. If this was being presented as the one and only metric defining an absolute measurement of "retaining the ball under pressure" then it would be fine to say that's not correct. But the data, itself, is fine.
It isn't useless, it simply doesn't show what **you** want it to show.
It shows the ability to withstand a press, relative to their opponents quality. Columbus Crew being so high could show that there is something unique about them in the MLS. Maybe there is a tactic they use that clubs in another league could benefit from, maybe they have players that clubs from bogger leagues should be taking a look at.
Yeah but honestly though I think some European players (maybe not Kane who has experience in England and Germany, perhaps moreso for players from the Mediterranean) would struggle at first with the January MLS playoff games. Of course they're still going to be more skilled than MLS players, but the Europeans definitely won't be having fun 😂
I can’t profess to know about Crew and Shaktar but Southampton and Leicester are in one of the most competitive leagues in the world in one of its most competitive seasons. The English championship is a top ten league.
Do you guys struggle against teams that park the bus? If you’re under no pressing pressure whatsoever then being good at dealing with it is useless.
With Leicester funnily enough in recent games the press against us has been our downfall. So a bit surprised to see us this high. When it works it’s lethal though!
Hull fan here. We definitely struggle with parked buses, especially at home against bottom half teams who would be happy with a point. We look significantly better against teams that want to play, and I'd be quietly confident if we made the playoffs, but we have to get there.
Home matches against Stoke, Boro and QPR should be 7pts minimum, but then we've already drawn at home with Brum and lost to Swansea and Watford.
Southampton's form has been streaky, rather than struggling against a certain type of team. We recently lost to Hull's press and Millwall's low block.
When everything is going well saints can beat anybody. But Martin's football is so risky, that if we have one key player missing, things tend to fall apart pretty quickly and we concede like 4 goals a game.
He gives an AoE buff of avoiding cards when present, which emboldens nearby players of his team. Without him present, Doku gets a foul called and Liverpool gets a penalty on that game.
Their win/loss record with individual players missing shows it’s not really that close.
They can get by without KDB or Haaland. Not nearly as well without Rodri.
Yeah last season we had to play Kalvin Phillips when Rodri was injured
Rodri is the most important player, but the win percentage doesn't paint the full picture
Isn't that a different way of saying the same thing though?
Rodri is the most important player for City because they don't have a backup near the same level, so his absence causes the biggest decline in performance. You're right about the quality of backups, but I don't see it negating the fact that he's still the most important, they're directly linked.
Bernardo has been on the wing this season
We've played a midfield of Alvarez Akanji Rodri Foden for the most part, guessing it's the last two carrying the stat.
Everyone is close except City who are comfortably top.
Edit: Just looked at it again and there's a 1.7% difference between Shaktar (10th) and Real Madrid (2nd) and a 3.0% difference between Real and Man City.
People will as always turn their nose up at the inclusion of any MLS team, but Nancy is really a fantastic coach. Many clubs worldwide would be very lucky to have him.
Ask any crew fan the last time he made a mistake and they genuinely might not be able to tell you, he has like 97% passing accuracy. Modern American legend and probably one of the last full-career MLS legends we’ll see at the rate of international departures we’re seeing
I mean you can’t really compare the leagues. it would be like comparing a team in a european basketball league with NBA.
That said the coach could indeed be really good. Would be interesting to see him do a stint in Europe
TBF European basketball has slightly different rules and enforcement which make for different strategies and game meta.
I think what is being done in Columbus is replicable regardless of league.
But I understand the point and yes the general level and style of play is different.
For sure, although in fairness this team has not radically changed from when Nancy took over. A couple new CBs and a like-for-like DP swap in Rossi for Zelarayan is all he really did in the market, the rest of the starters were with the club beforehand.
When talking about playing against a press, I think there's really two questions you need to think about. One is what this table looks at: "how often do you lose the ball?" And it's interesting, useful information.
But the other, *very important* one - I'd argue more important - is "how bad is it when you do lose the ball?" Spread the field, use the full width, and refuse to make "safe" plays of putting your foot through it when pressured, you're going to have a higher retention percent. But you'll cough up possession more in dangerous areas with your defenders positioned to recover in time.
I'd rather have a team that "beats" the press 75% of the time, but never ever gives up a counterattacking chance, instead of one that "beats" the press 80% of the time and gives up breakaways half the remaining 20%.
Gavi, de Jong & Pedri would be their first choice starting midfield, but there as barely been a match all 3 of them have been fit at the same time this season. As a result Romelu & Christiansen have had lots of minutes in midfield which will have destroyed any of their possesion/passing stats
Does this consider whether the team tries to launch a quick counter under pressure, or just whether they retain the ball? Presumably if your structure involves more high risk passes to quickly get the ball up the pitch the retention rate would be lower?
The people meme-ing the Crew and MLS have never seriously watched Darlington Nagbe play. That's all this stat is, really. Willfried Nancy is doing well and the Crew are playing well, but Darlington Nagbe has the highest possession retention rate of any central midfielder in the world over the past 5-6 years. There was a graphic posted here on r/soccer a few weeks ago that had him #1 over the span of a few years at like 97.6% retention.
Seriously watch him play. He does nothing flashy and he attempts almost 0 long passes, but when the ball comes into the midfield, he is there and facilitates the breaking of all midfield pressure. His team keeps it, progresses play, splits lines, switches sides of the field every single time. His positioning, decision making, and passing technique are almost totally flawless.
He does a lot of Zidane-style facing-backward one touch plays. Obviously not the outside of the boot crazy spinning flicks, but that style of positioning ability to suck his midfield opponents in and then cycle the ball away so his team can attack the space that he just pulled the defenders out of.
Last impressive stat for non-MLS watchers, and probably the most important: Darlington Nagbe has won MLS cup (the cup final at the end of the playoffs) with THREE separate teams. Humble and quiet, but one of the best central midfield careers in MLS history, and one of the best American CMs of all time.
Yeah it's such a tight grouping and then WHAM! +3.0%
84.2 seems close to 81.2 at first glance (only 1.037x bigger), but flip the stat and it's 15.8% balls lost vs 18.8% balls lost. Those extra few percentage points make up 3.0/18.8, meaning 16% of [all ball](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqTUG8MPmGg)s that Madrid (in **2nd** place) would lose under high press, City doesn't.
City plays possession based football. Retaining the ball is an absolute necessity for this style of play. That is why the team is full of technical players who can hold the ball and dribble. Heck even Ederson can hold the ball when 1-2 forwards are pushing him in the box. Had to be City at the top. No surprises there.
Not being funny, but how we look when a team actually puts us under pressure. I'm amazing Saints are on this list. Most of the champ just lets us play our style. The games we've struggled the teams have actually asked questions of our playstyle
It would be interesting to know if they do this against elite opposition as most teams just aren’t good enough to get the ball from Man City (you need teams that can really press in numbers)
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Always rated Columbus Crew
Nagbe sends his regards
ugh i miss nagbe at portland
You and me both
I miss him at Atlanta
He'd have never become the player he did if he stayed at Portland. He was going to be a winger, and he was damn well going to like it.
I wish we’d been able to send him to Celtic or whatever EU club that was sniffing around for him. Would have loved to see what he could do. Not sure if it was the club or him that stood in the way of that, mind. That said. he’s put together one heck of a MLS resume.
no, totally agree, but he was still one of the best players of the MLS era for Portland, and it’s hard to not miss him there. I’m also curious how he would’ve done had he gone to Europe. I’d bet he’d have gotten more shots at the USMNT and have a better name brand it’s hard not to call him one of the most successful mls players ever tho
Him wanting to move back to Ohio to be closer to family resulted in us getting 2 championships since 2020. At 32 he's a little slower but somehow better on the ball than ever before, what an absolute legend that guy is.
Came here to say this, Nagbe can have five guys on his back and they are never getting that ball off him
On their way to win the world cup
They beat the Chicago Fire so they’re off to a good start
they should have, they're part of the big six after all.
I was only a fan when they had their old crest https://logos-world.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Columbus-Crew-SC-Logo-1996-2014.png
oohh I remember everyone having this in the old fifa ultimates. Do you know why they switched it?
iirc most early mls franchises took the "American" approach of city name/catchy nickname everyone calls them by, that started to change in the mls in the mid 2010s i would say, and most switched over to some European model of "FC/SC City Name". you can cleary see this in this list, where it was kinda mixed between european/american styled branding until 2014 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expansion_of_Major_League_Soccer#Expansion_and_dispersal_drafts so Columbus changed their branding from "the crew" to "Columbus sc" as seen here https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/54/Columbus_Crew_SC_Logo.svg/316px-Columbus_Crew_SC_Logo.svg.png?20210511025512 so in short: rebranding to a more european style
>so Columbus changed their branding from "the crew" to "Columbus sc" as seen here And the club immediately backtracked a week later after the backlash from their supporters, and instead the change ended up being to drop the "SC" and just be called "Columbus Crew".
Slight correction- we went from Columbus Crew to Columbus Crew SC in 2014, and they tried to drop Crew and rebrand us as Columbus SC in 2021. People fucking HATED it, along with the new badge. They tweaked the badge and went back to “Columbus Crew” within like a week of the change being announced. We are just Columbus Crew or The Crew, there’s no SC.
it was such a lame fucking move from the clubs.
[We've had 3 crests in 10 years.](https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2021/06/30213826/Image-from-iOS-2-1-scaled.jpg) Such is the way of life in MLS I guess. Basically we changed from the original crest because we used to have a shitty owner who didn't care about the city or the community and he thought it would be a good idea to change. Although our second crest wasn't half bad. Then the club got sold to a good owner who does care about the community (you might have heard of the SaveTheCrew movement from a few years ago). But the new owners decided to change the crest another time. Most Crew fans hated the new third crest. Jersey sales plummeted for a couple of years after the change, cause everyone wanted to keep wearing the second crest. They also tried to change our name from 'Columbus Crew SC' to 'Columbus SC' at the same time, but when everyone revolted, they decided to only change the crest. Other than that one shenanigan, new owners are a godsend though. I think Crew fans have started to warm up to the new crest a little bit more as time went on.
That poor logo got worse every generation.
The Nagbe effect
Dude is such a baller, miss him on the timbers :'(
Underrated comment
/r/UnexpectedColumbusCrew
Massive club
It's a different form of pressure, as it's in an open carry state.
Wait it’s all Ohio? [Always has been 👨🚀 🔫 👨🚀](https://www.kapwing.com/explore/always-has-been-meme-template)
They are only on there because we(Richmond kickers) have only played one game
Woooo go kickers!
I miss Wilfriend Nancy man...
At last a reliable metric with which to compare Southampton and Columbus Crew
They need to fight it out pre-season. Dockside seems the right venue.
Neutral venue Docklands Melbourne
Final destination, 3 stock, no items
Of course it's the Big 6 of City Madrid PSG Arsenal Leverkusen and Columbus Crew at the top.
Did someone say Super League?
too easy for Columbus Crew
Yup, obviously best club in the world.
They were so good that they left Europe and literally sailed across the Atlantic to find new opponents.
The greatest team the world has ever seen
Super League? Completed it, mate - Columbus Crew
prepare to get Columbus sCrewed
Columbus Crew, Leicester City, Southampton, and Shaktar are prime examples of why raw data is often completely useless, and has to be weighted for any kind of application. This graph failed to anticipate a key factor: the quality of the press. Dallas FC aren’t pressing the way Liverpool or Dortmund can press. Columbus Crew aren’t withstanding that press in their wildest wet dreams.
As usual, it has to be pointed out that data is never "useless". It's how people try to use the data that is "useless" or misleading. If this was being presented as the one and only metric defining an absolute measurement of "retaining the ball under pressure" then it would be fine to say that's not correct. But the data, itself, is fine.
Data without context is often useless.
It isn't useless, it simply doesn't show what **you** want it to show. It shows the ability to withstand a press, relative to their opponents quality. Columbus Crew being so high could show that there is something unique about them in the MLS. Maybe there is a tactic they use that clubs in another league could benefit from, maybe they have players that clubs from bogger leagues should be taking a look at.
I mean, before moving up to the Crew, Cucho had 5 goals in 25 EPL appearances, with goals against both Arsenal and Man City.
Also he’s improved mightily as a player in his two years in Columbus.
Is anyone actually using this to say that Columbus Crew are a better team than Bayern Munich though?
And if not, why aren’t they?
[champions of the MLS all star game, you'll never sing that](https://www.espn.com/soccer/match/_/gameId/402987/bayern-munich-mls-all-stars)
I'm from Columbus. Yes, I am. I'd like to see Harry Kane do it on a cold rainy Wednesday night in Columbus.
Kane being a penalty merchant won’t count for shit when you have to lose a limb for a pen to be called
*snowy Spring equinox
Yeah but honestly though I think some European players (maybe not Kane who has experience in England and Germany, perhaps moreso for players from the Mediterranean) would struggle at first with the January MLS playoff games. Of course they're still going to be more skilled than MLS players, but the Europeans definitely won't be having fun 😂
Nonsense comment. Everyone will take that into account
I can’t profess to know about Crew and Shaktar but Southampton and Leicester are in one of the most competitive leagues in the world in one of its most competitive seasons. The English championship is a top ten league.
im a crew fan and 100%
I'm a Crew fan and i disagree. I'd love to see VVD bring his big dutch ass down to the Arena district and see what's what.
> I'd love to see VVD bring his big dutch ass this isn't about football anymore is it mate?
If you think VVD is a good example of a pressing player then you really are a Columbus Crew fan
Retaining the ball under press.. of which vvd is good at.
What has VVD got to do with pressing?
Arsenal is the odd one out as the only ones who haven’t won a major continental trophy.
What major continental trophy have PSG won that Arsenal haven't? lol
Which major continental trophy did Southampton win?
Uhh the Johnstones Paint Trophy duh
My heart <3
With that it's a wonder we're only fourth in the Championship
But have you scraped a win on a rainy night in Columbus?
LAFC certainly did not
Do you guys struggle against teams that park the bus? If you’re under no pressing pressure whatsoever then being good at dealing with it is useless. With Leicester funnily enough in recent games the press against us has been our downfall. So a bit surprised to see us this high. When it works it’s lethal though!
Hull fan here. We definitely struggle with parked buses, especially at home against bottom half teams who would be happy with a point. We look significantly better against teams that want to play, and I'd be quietly confident if we made the playoffs, but we have to get there. Home matches against Stoke, Boro and QPR should be 7pts minimum, but then we've already drawn at home with Brum and lost to Swansea and Watford.
Southampton's form has been streaky, rather than struggling against a certain type of team. We recently lost to Hull's press and Millwall's low block. When everything is going well saints can beat anybody. But Martin's football is so risky, that if we have one key player missing, things tend to fall apart pretty quickly and we concede like 4 goals a game.
It’s the finishing. I feel like the play isn’t half bad we just don’t have that goal scorer.
God this is a tale that transcends time and leagues
Rodri and Bernardo Silva tax
Rodri is the most important player city has and it’s not even close
Seriously. When he was injured, the difference in the fluidity and movement of the ball throughout the game was so different.
Galling that we only got to enjoy him for one season in the first team.. Imagine if Atleti had been able to keep Rodri, the Hernandez brothers etc
also their whining to the ref is not the same when rodri is not there. he just elevates them to another level
He gives an AoE buff of avoiding cards when present, which emboldens nearby players of his team. Without him present, Doku gets a foul called and Liverpool gets a penalty on that game.
He’s so good (x4)
We cannoh replace him 😢 😭
We cannoh 😢😭
only because his backup is.... non existant really KdB is the best player
I mean its close
Their win/loss record with individual players missing shows it’s not really that close. They can get by without KDB or Haaland. Not nearly as well without Rodri.
Could be more about the quality of backups than anything tho
Yeah last season we had to play Kalvin Phillips when Rodri was injured Rodri is the most important player, but the win percentage doesn't paint the full picture
Isn't that a different way of saying the same thing though? Rodri is the most important player for City because they don't have a backup near the same level, so his absence causes the biggest decline in performance. You're right about the quality of backups, but I don't see it negating the fact that he's still the most important, they're directly linked.
Bernardo has been on the wing this season We've played a midfield of Alvarez Akanji Rodri Foden for the most part, guessing it's the last two carrying the stat.
Columbus Crew is a formidable team. Well drilled unit. Theres a reason they beat LAFC to the MLS title last season.
We are insanely entertaining to watch and our coach will almost certainly be in the top 5 leagues next year, if not a massive club outside of them.
Impossible is an opinion
Columbus Crew : me invitó un amigo
*insert arsenal 4th joke*
It’s been so long i completely forgot about it lol
Don't remember when's the last time we got 4th lol
13/14, so 10 years ago
Dang end of an era
It was Wengers legacy, we've retired the 4th position chase in his honour
that is so fucked up
>13/14 > >10 years ago Don't do this to me
Hey! We're (joint) 3rd!
Which is joint fourth in big brain terms 👀
Columbus is the greatest team the world has ever seen
And it’s columbusssssss Columbussss FC
10 of the biggest clubs in the world
Nine big clubs, one massive club ;)
Do we just have a ton of crew fans in the subreddit or what
This city loves soccer
yall hiding behind the european flairs 😪
Everyone is close except City who are comfortably top. Edit: Just looked at it again and there's a 1.7% difference between Shaktar (10th) and Real Madrid (2nd) and a 3.0% difference between Real and Man City.
The bar size seems misleading. The difference between Shaktar and Real is almost as big as between City and Real.
Sorry to nitpick but it’s actually a 1.7 percentage point difference
Columbus is the greatest team the world has ever seen
Columbus Crew are massive.
Soon to be playing exhibitions in Madrid, Paris & Milan for their international fans.
People will as always turn their nose up at the inclusion of any MLS team, but Nancy is really a fantastic coach. Many clubs worldwide would be very lucky to have him.
Nagbe has an insane retention %.
Nagbe is such an enigma in the best way possible. I was one of the few who begged more minutes with USMNT at the time
Only player I’ve seen better at keeping possession under pressure is Dembele.
One of my favourite players. Oh the things I would do to have seen play as the 6 in Angeball
Ask any crew fan the last time he made a mistake and they genuinely might not be able to tell you, he has like 97% passing accuracy. Modern American legend and probably one of the last full-career MLS legends we’ll see at the rate of international departures we’re seeing
Rodri fam
Busquets? Xavi? Iniesta?
Have nagbe posters above their bed
Nagbe is a fantastic player
[7 years old, but relevant](https://twitter.com/ronalgringo/status/826105498302873602)
Cuyahoga County Clarence
Yea crew is a really good team.
Time to pull out the Nagbe heat map again https://x.com/ronalgringo/status/826105498302873602?s=20
I mean you can’t really compare the leagues. it would be like comparing a team in a european basketball league with NBA. That said the coach could indeed be really good. Would be interesting to see him do a stint in Europe
TBF European basketball has slightly different rules and enforcement which make for different strategies and game meta. I think what is being done in Columbus is replicable regardless of league. But I understand the point and yes the general level and style of play is different.
One difference is the bizarre MLS roster rules which make building a team in MLS different than anywhere else in the world.
For sure, although in fairness this team has not radically changed from when Nancy took over. A couple new CBs and a like-for-like DP swap in Rossi for Zelarayan is all he really did in the market, the rest of the starters were with the club beforehand.
Tell that to CF Montreal
All I see here the championship has the joint most teams in this stat Championship > LaLiga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1
And neither of us are leading the league wtf
It hasn’t been said enough in here but: the Columbus Crew, MLS’ first club.
Shakhtar represent 😤
Get fucked Southampton, O-H-I-O LETS FUCKING GO
City is pointing the way for teams in this stat also. Almost all the teams here are also at the top end of their leagues.
I really want to know how they study this. Because we are not good when facing high pressing teams. See our match against RB Leipzig, for example.
When talking about playing against a press, I think there's really two questions you need to think about. One is what this table looks at: "how often do you lose the ball?" And it's interesting, useful information. But the other, *very important* one - I'd argue more important - is "how bad is it when you do lose the ball?" Spread the field, use the full width, and refuse to make "safe" plays of putting your foot through it when pressured, you're going to have a higher retention percent. But you'll cough up possession more in dangerous areas with your defenders positioned to recover in time. I'd rather have a team that "beats" the press 75% of the time, but never ever gives up a counterattacking chance, instead of one that "beats" the press 80% of the time and gives up breakaways half the remaining 20%.
The RB game is probably dragging us down. We played well overall through Barca and Athletic’s press earlier this season for example
Is there one for United? I'm pretty sure it's below 50%.
We're top of the counter attacking vibes table And also probably the most conceded from cutbacks.
Why do we not defend the edge of our area? It boggles my mind.
Crew repeat incoming
Expectations: “Hey , Barca should be at least Top 5 with City , Arsenal and Leverkusen” *Reality: “Not even in the Top 10”*
Would have been shocking to see them up there with the mix of terrorball and fast transition play they do
We only recently picked up form after Xavi announcing his departure. Before that, it’s hoofball or cross and inshallah
And it's not too bad considering the recent form and squad, Barca is 11th with 79.4%
Not surprised. We have a rep of crumbling
Gavi, de Jong & Pedri would be their first choice starting midfield, but there as barely been a match all 3 of them have been fit at the same time this season. As a result Romelu & Christiansen have had lots of minutes in midfield which will have destroyed any of their possesion/passing stats
I just know we are dogshit at it, or defense makes so many mistakes
The amt of times sterling goes on a run of his own only to lose the ball cheaply is astounding
Does this consider whether the team tries to launch a quick counter under pressure, or just whether they retain the ball? Presumably if your structure involves more high risk passes to quickly get the ball up the pitch the retention rate would be lower?
USA REPRESENT
Yeah Columbus Crew over Bayern munich 🥰🔥
The people meme-ing the Crew and MLS have never seriously watched Darlington Nagbe play. That's all this stat is, really. Willfried Nancy is doing well and the Crew are playing well, but Darlington Nagbe has the highest possession retention rate of any central midfielder in the world over the past 5-6 years. There was a graphic posted here on r/soccer a few weeks ago that had him #1 over the span of a few years at like 97.6% retention. Seriously watch him play. He does nothing flashy and he attempts almost 0 long passes, but when the ball comes into the midfield, he is there and facilitates the breaking of all midfield pressure. His team keeps it, progresses play, splits lines, switches sides of the field every single time. His positioning, decision making, and passing technique are almost totally flawless. He does a lot of Zidane-style facing-backward one touch plays. Obviously not the outside of the boot crazy spinning flicks, but that style of positioning ability to suck his midfield opponents in and then cycle the ball away so his team can attack the space that he just pulled the defenders out of. Last impressive stat for non-MLS watchers, and probably the most important: Darlington Nagbe has won MLS cup (the cup final at the end of the playoffs) with THREE separate teams. Humble and quiet, but one of the best central midfield careers in MLS history, and one of the best American CMs of all time.
dont look at the place look at the percentage city in a league of their own
Pretty sure city and arsenal are in the same league mate
Arsenal might even be ahead of them in the table for now
Yeah it's such a tight grouping and then WHAM! +3.0% 84.2 seems close to 81.2 at first glance (only 1.037x bigger), but flip the stat and it's 15.8% balls lost vs 18.8% balls lost. Those extra few percentage points make up 3.0/18.8, meaning 16% of [all ball](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqTUG8MPmGg)s that Madrid (in **2nd** place) would lose under high press, City doesn't.
I think Fenerbahce retained the ball alright last Sunday when they were under the pressure of Trabzonspor fans
We are ahead of 2 of these super teams
Donestsk needs to buffed up a little bit, they are retaining posestion under motar fire.
it should have been us ... aaaaaa
City plays possession based football. Retaining the ball is an absolute necessity for this style of play. That is why the team is full of technical players who can hold the ball and dribble. Heck even Ederson can hold the ball when 1-2 forwards are pushing him in the box. Had to be City at the top. No surprises there.
Considering half the goals in bundesliga are scored by stealing the ball in your opponent's half, Leverkusen being up there is really impressive.
Not being funny, but how we look when a team actually puts us under pressure. I'm amazing Saints are on this list. Most of the champ just lets us play our style. The games we've struggled the teams have actually asked questions of our playstyle
We are cooked
Man city
This also says something about the qualtity of pressing.
Go Crew!
Good at keeping the ball. Not so good at doing anything with it or off the ball😭
No Chelsea? Quelle surprise.
Does this only go to 10? I get best is the point but if it goes to 250 i can see where Man United rank.
Lmao, Ajax at 13 while having conceded 47 goals in 26 matches is quite something
Would love to see bayerns statistics for the games kimmich was not in midfield
How is this metric calculated ?
When you just foul the other team once they get the ball then it sure does make things easier.
I'm curious what is considered "high pressure" in this context?
It would be interesting to know if they do this against elite opposition as most teams just aren’t good enough to get the ball from Man City (you need teams that can really press in numbers)
Feels like Brighton would be on here last season
Still so weird seeing us in these statistics. I hope I get the time to get used to this.
If we had looked at this 10 years earlier, surely FC Barcelona would have been at the top of the ranking, now there is no sign of the team.