Is Gregg Berhalter Good? And Why Are Premier League Teams Scoring So Many Goals?
After a week off, I’ve got two for you today.
The first: My colleague Jeff Carlisle and I explored a question that lots of angry USMNT fans on the Internet seem to be quite sure of: Is Gregg Berhalter a good manager?
Under Berhalter, the pressing has increased -- massively. The number of possessions won in the attacking third per game has leapt up to 5.8. And that's been paired with a much more measured approach in possession -- the ball has moved upfield at a rate of 1.4 meters per second under Berhalter. The current USMNT coach is clearly attuned to the tactical ideas at the highest levels of the game, and we've seen this show up in how his team plays. He deserves credit for implementing some kind of stylistic shift in the international game, where stylistic shifts are quite difficult because of how little game and practice time a national team coach gets with his players.
At the same time, wouldn't we just expect some of this to happen naturally since the majority of the USMNT roster is made up of players who are playing their club ball at the highest levels of the game? These are players who are exposed to advanced pressing and possession approaches, day in and day out under their club coaches.
And the second: We’re currently on pace for there to be 200 more goals scored this season than the average over the past 15 years. What the heck is going on?
Compared to the average from the past 15 seasons, there's been a 73% increase in the amount of added time per match, but that's not the only reason additional stoppage time is causing more goals. The rate of goal scoring in added time has increased by 90%: from 0.11 goals per game to 0.21.
Why might that be? Well, not all minutes across all soccer games are created equal.
I was also on ESPN FC Live to chat about the article, Gareth Southgate and Manchester United, and Real Madrid-Manchester City — before Florentino Perez cut my Internet:
Hope you’re all well!