NWSL Midseason Report

I wanted to step back from the game to game perspective, and take an overall look at where the league stands at the midseason point. This should give us a snapshot of where teams are at this moment, and should prove interesting to look back on at the end of the season. We’ll look at a variety of categories and see who are the best and the worst in each, as well as where Angel City stacks up. All stats are from 13 games played and are from FBRef.

xG and G-xG

The Kansas City Current have the best xG and Non-Penalty xG (npxG), with 30.1 and 27.8 respectively. They’ve scored 33 Goals, so they’re overperforming their xG by 2.9, which is also the best rate in the league. Angel City, meanwhile, are in 10th in terms of xG with 16.3, and a npxG of 13.9, which is good for 11th. Our 13 Goals mean that we’re underperforming our xG by -3.3, which is the third worst rate in the league. Obviously Emslie’s missed penalty in Houston is a big part of that. Utah has the worst mark in the league with 10.1 xG and npxG. North Carolina has the highest rate of underperformance with only 12 Goals from an xG of 18.6. I’ve heard a rumor that they are trying to bring in Nikita Parris, but really, if they can get anyone to start converting the numerous chances they create, they’re going to start moving up the table pretty quickly.

Shots

The Current also lead in Shots with 258, which is 63 more than the 2nd place Pride. They also lead in Shots on Target (SoT) with 93, or 18 more than the 2nd Place Thorns. Interestingly, the Spirit have the highest Shot on Target Percentage (SoT%), though, with 40.5%. So not to say that KC is lacking quality, exactly, but they are scoring at the rate they are because of the sheer volume of chances that they create. The Spirit also have the best Goals per Shot ratio (.14), while the Red Stars actually have the best Goals per Shot on Target ratio (.36). Angel City is 11th in Shots (146), but 7th in Shots on Target (53), and actually is 5th in Shots on Target percentage (36.3). So when we do shoot, we’re doing a pretty good job of challenging the keeper. We’re just not generating enough chances. The Dash have the lowest number of Shots and Shots on Target, while the Courage have the worst SoT%, which goes hand in hand with how much they’re underperforming their xG. And just for some Angel City specifics, Alyssa Thompson has the most Shots on the team with 25. Leroux is second with 15, but it took until the 13th game against Lousiville for Leroux and Emslie to pass Meggie Dougherty Howard for second place, despite the fact that Dougherty Howard hasn’t played a match since April 26th, when we lost at home to the Current. Temwas Chawinga leads the league with 57 shots, for context, which is more than our top 3 players combined.

Passing

North Carolina unsurprisingly has the most Pass Attempts, with 7266, and the best Passing Percentage with 79.4%. The Reign are most likely to play long ball, leading the league in Long Passing with an even 1000. The Current have the most Passes into the Penalty Area with 127 and the Thorns have the most Progressive Passes with 557. In terms of Crosses, the Current lead the way with 243. Angel City is 7th in overall Attempts and 4th in Passing Percentage. We are actually dead last in Long Passing Attempts, which does surprise me a little bit. And we’re 11th in Passes into the Penalty Area, but 9th in Progressive Passes. So everyone that thinks Angel City is always passing backwards, well, there is some truth to that. We’re 8th in Crosses with 220, but 106 of those came from Claire Emslie, who leads the league in this stat. And maybe raises the prospect that we’re being a little too one dimensional if the cross always comes from Emslie. The Red Stars have the fewest Pass Attempts, with 4906, over 500 less than the Dash in 13th.

Possession and Take-Ons

The Courage, as is tradition, lead the way in Possession with a mark of 57.8%, which is 3.8% more than the Wave in second place. The Current have the most Touches in the Attacking Penalty Box (Att Pen), while Bay FC have the most Progressive Carries (PrgC). Angel City is actually 4th in Possession with 52.8%, 9th in Att Pen, and 8th in PrgC. The Red Stars have the worst Possession mark with 41.5%.

Moving over to Take-Ons, the Current have the most Take-Ons Attempted (287), while the Reign have the best Take-On Success Rate (49.4%). Angel City are 3rd in Take-Ons Attempted, but 13th in Success Rate (37.8%). And you can’t say that it’s because McCaskill left, because San Diego are the only team with a lower Success Rate than us. But it says a lot to me that Angel City continues to try Take-Ons, even though they don’t work out that well.

Defense

The leader in xG Allowed (xGA) is the Current, with 12.1, which is slightly surprising to me, since I don’t think of them as a defensive team. They haven’t conceded a penalty, though, which obviously helps a lot, and they also spend a lot of the game scoring goals, which does actually help out a defense. Gotham have allowed the fewest Shots with 109. In terms of actual goals, Gotham have also allowed the fewest, with only 9 Goals, while the Pride aren’t far behind at 11. Angel City is 12th in xGA with 21.6, which also surprises me, as I tend to think of our defense being generally solid. We’ve also allowed the 12th most shots (183), and the 11th most goals (20). The most shots have been conceded by Chicago with 210, and the Royals have the highest xGA with 29.5. Bay FC and the Reign are tied with most goals allowed at 25.

Goalkeeping

Gotham have the highest Save Percentage of 84.3%. Their matches have been shared by two keepers this year, so it’s worth noting that Cassie Miller has an 81.3% mark in 4 matches, while Ann-Katrin Berger has 85.7% in 9 matches. Gotham also have the the best Post Shot xG +/- (PSxG+/-) mark with 6.3. For those not familiar with this stat it compares the number of goals allowed to what we might expect based on the Post Shot xG, meaning Gotham has allowed 6.3 fewer goals than expected. So the rich get richer in terms of defense. And again, breaking that down between their two keepers, Miller has as PSxG+/- of 1.2, while Berger is at 5.1. So since San Diego have the second best PSxG+/- at 4.9, that actually means that Berger in 9 games has a better mark than any other team with 13 games. She’s maybe the steal of the season.

Angel City, of course, has also had two different keepers in goal at different points. Anderson, in 3 games, has a 72.7% Save Percentage, and a PSxG+/- of -0.7, while Haračić is at 69.8% and -0.8, but as she’s played in 10 games, that PSxG+/- is significantly better than Anderson. Together, that gives Angel City a PSxG+/- of -1.5, which puts us at 11th in the league, and a 70.8% Save Percentage, which is 7th in the league. So our goalkeeping is slightly below average, but coupled with that 12th place xG Allowed, it becomes less surprising that we’ve let in so many goals.

The worst Save Percentage (64.8%) and PSxG+/- (-2.6), both belong to the KC Current. Only two years agao, Adrianna Franch had a PSxG+/- of 5.0, so I don’t think it would be a surprise to see her get better in the second half of the season. And as the rest of the Current defense is playing well, that means that KC may actually shift up to even a higher gear, which is scary.

Other Defensive Stats

These are more curiosities to me, as I don’t think that they necessarily reflect the quality of a team’s defense, but there are aspects that are interesting. Louisville have the most Tackles + Interceptions at 474, while the Wave have the least at 349. Angel City is 11th with 398, but only one spot behind Gotham, who we’ve established has the best defense in the league. Clearances are a stat that I find a little bit more illustrative, as I think that teams that are under sustained pressure tend to clear the ball more, and also reflects an inability to turn defense into attack. Chicago has the most Clearances, with 375, but Angel City is in second place with 357. Gotham have the least Clearances at 215. And one final stat that is kind of obscure: Errors, or a mistake that leads directly to an opponents shot. The leader is Angel City with 12. The Royals are second with 7, while the Courage and Thorns are tied for least with only 1 each.

Discipline

Angel City are also the league leaders in Yellow Cards with 28. The Current have the fewest with only 14 Yellows. The Pride have 2 Red Cards and 2 Second Yellow Cards, leading in players sent off. Lousiville have the most Fouls (164), while Seattle have the least (124). I’m a little surprised that all 14 teams in the league are within 40 fouls of each other. Angel City have committed 147 Fouls. We’re actually the league leaders, though, in Fouls Drawn, with 169. Bay FC have the least, with 97.

Individual Leaders

Sophia Smith is leading the Golden Boot race with 9 Goals. Barbra Banda and Temwa Chawinga are tied for 2nd with 8. Croix Bethune has 7 Assists for the lead in that category, followed by Smith with 6 and Alyssa Thompson with 5. It should be noted that the most assists in a season for an Angel City player is 5 (Emslie 2023).

Table

At this midpoint, the Current and Pride are at the top with 29 Points. Angel City is in 9th with 15 Points, and Utah is last with 7 points. And to break down the Home and Away, Angel City is 2-1-3 at Home, with 7.0 xG and 11.4 xGA. Away, we’re 2-2-3, with 9.3 xG and 10.3 xGA. Negative xG Differential in both, but surprisingly things are significantly worse at home. If Angel City could actually turn BMO into a home advantage, that would go a long way toward turning the team around.

Conclusion

And that’s it! As I said, part of writing this was so that we had a marker in place and we can see what trends continue in the second half of the season and which ones get turned around. I’m writing this after the Bay FC game, so technically the second half is already underway, but the Olympic break should make things interesting, as it’s almost another preseason. We’ll see what the future brings.