MLS and Opta recently released an interesting...

MLS and Opta recently released an interesting morsel. On average, teams are able to convert just under 20% of our their shots taken inside the box but teams are only able to put away 4.9% of their shots from outside the box. Chivas is slightly below (14.4% and 4.4%) but not too far away to be considered an outlier.

The Opta chalkboards above are the successful and unsuccessful passes of our midfield. As you can see the team is connecting very well until we hit the box. You can even see that the passes begin to break up once you hit the final third straightaway; passes do continue down the flanks of course but once you see the chalk it truly is the resistible force meeting the immovable object.

The team needs to find ways to get the ball into the box at foot level. I’m not sure if its ground passes, dribbling in or playing the long ball. As you can see from Michael Farfan’s assist to Adu last night, his penetrating dribbles are what enabled that goal.