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As a big stats guy, I need to get something off my chest. Yes this is me lobbying for my guy Matt Turner. When you look at the stats that attempt measure a GKs performance (vs. ones that also rely on team defensive performance), Matt’s the best GK 2020 and it’s not that close
If you cover MLS, are a fan of MLS or just curious about this type of stuff, I highly recommend you check out @AnalysisEvolved . They do a lot of great stuff and you can learn a lot about how soccer people think about modern performance metrics. More on them coming.
GK metrics, IMHO, are some of the most pure in terms of measuring an individual’s performance. Why, because by-in-large a GK doesn’t control the saves he has to make whereas other players do have more control of their opportunities.
So when you look at G-xG (or G/xG) it really measures how well a GK performed based on the quality of shots they had to face. It isn’t close this year. https://app.americansocceranalysis.com/#!/mls/xgoals/goalkeepers
Matt has let in 7.26 fewer goals than you’d expect based on the shots he faced. The next closest is S. Johnson with 5.26, it then falls to the 3’s. That’s a big gap to 2nd best and an enormous gap to the field. Want to go with the eye test, watch the games, your eyes will agree.
You want to consider other aspects, fair enough but I think S Johnson is the only other player that can even really be in the discussion this year. There are other good keepers in our league but the stats don’t lie at least not with this type of margin in the numbers.
