Data Dump: Union Omaha v. Forward Madison

What a game last night. Statistically, we dominated in almost every category, but it didn’t feel like we dominated. I went home relieved we salvaged a point, but frustrated that we left two points on the field. Others I talked to also were frustrated with how the game played out. I will dig into the data and share some insights that might explain that frustration

1) Passing and Possession aren’t everything

We had 64.3% of the possession in this game and we made 490 passes. This is about 8% more possession and 10% more passes than our previous high for each stat. Let’s look at where our successful passes were:

Notice the lack of successful passes in the box and the final third? Here is all passes attempted in the final third.

I see a lot of successful passes away from the opposing goal and a lot of unsuccessful passes toward the goal. But wait, let’s add crosses into the mix…

To me, this begins to explain the feeling of dissatisfaction. Lots and lots of balls into the box and in attacking positions that were unsuccessful. Check out the same chart from the FC Tucson match

Overall, the direction and volume of unsuccessful passes is what I’d identify as a statistical explanation for the frustration fans are feeling.

2) Ferrety Sousa had a great shift

Last night, Ferrety played a bit of the Elma role from our first two games. All energy, all action super sub off the bench. Here is a chart of all the actions Ferrety took last night.

Compare that to Elma’s super sub appearance against North Texas that won him a starting spot.

Obviously, this is not an apples to apples comparison, but it was a successful appearance for sure for Ferrety.

3) Madison didn’t bother to attack very much.

Every single ‘mingo’s average position is either touching the midline or in their defensive half. This is the first team we’ve played who have not had multiple players in the attacking half.

I’d give credit to our league leading defense (based on shots allowed), but anyone who watched the game could see Madison wasting every second they could from the 8th minute onward.