Just scrawl it on the chalkboard: the Loons beat the Cosmos. That’s all we need right? Carl Craig managed to pull off what Manny Lagos hadn’t been able to muster: a win against the New York Cosmos and he did it with 10 men. So let’s take a look at just what the OPTA stats can tell us about the match.
Possession is 9/10ths of the law, but 0/10ths of winning
The Cosmos had a lot of the ball and yet in the second half, when they were up a man, they could only muster four shots, one on goal.
If you look at where they moved the ball around, the Cosmos were stuck on the left flank. In the past, this has been something of a weakness for the Loons. Damion Lowe has been hit or miss and is often tucked in behind Kevin Venegas, who is playing in an advance position. But on Saturday it was an offensive morass that would make Henry Kissinger cringe.
So who do we thank?
It’s hard to say which chalkboard will give us the magic key to explain the defensive solidity. There is no particular collection of tackles or recoveries along the Loons’ right flank. But if we look at the touch map for Venegas and Cruz on the right hand side, we can get a little sense of how the two worked together.
Danny Cruz had perhaps his best night so far in Minnesota grays. He missed three opportunities on goal that would have done his confidence wonders. But he is still not a particularly fluid part of the attack. What is very difficult to see from these static chalkboards is how much he adds to the high press of the Loons defense.
Sammy Ndjock hasn’t kept a clean sheet on his own; a squad of players keeps the opposition at bay. What the touch map shows us (and here Danny and Kevin’s touches are the same color) is that Danny tucked back to protect his fullback and also win possession.
Kallman, the Younger
Brian Kallman, the Elder, celebrated his birthday on Saturday night and tweeted out that he wanted a win and a goal from Brent Kallman, the Younger. Brent didn’t get on the board, but in my estimation he was Man of the Match (maybe I’d hear an argument for Justin Davis for that–can I say it?–bitchin’ cross).
Exhibit A:
Kallman’s clearances, tackles, recoveries
I remember seeing Brent play his first preseason game for Minnesota years ago and thinking, “oh he’s not ready. He’s not good.” I love it every time he makes me eat crow. On Saturday he had eight clearances. Sing the man some Clash, because he put the clampdown on the 18 yard box. It wasn’t a perfect night for him by any means, but who needs perfection if you keep a clean sheet and beat the Cosmos?
Speas and Thank You’s
Speas passes
I want to show this chalkboard to demonstrate the limits of doing this chalkboard analysis. If you take a look at Ben Speas’ passing, he connected 7/11 passes. That’s not a particularly good tally for a number 10. But one of these key passes was this absolutely stellar ball to the feet of Danny Cruz. Danny put the ball wide at the near post, but it was a fantastic counter from a fantastic ball forward. On a chalkboard it’s just one line, but games are not decided by aggregates of lines. They are decided by single moments of brilliance.
One Last Thing
Kranjcar’s passing
I just wanted to take a second to note Niko Kranjcar’s passing chalkboard. I’ve loved Niko since his days as a Spurs player and it was genuinely cool to see him out there. But when you look at this chalkboard, he’s all over the place. He had 85 touches compared to Minnesota’s midfielders: Ibson had 39 and Jeb[!] had 55. Kranjcar obviously adds a lot of talent to the team, but it seems like Gio Savarese may have taken his Spurs heritage into account and given him ye olde Harry Redknapp: “Just go out there and run around a bit.”
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