Marginal Goal Analysis - Philadelphia Union

Since I'm projecting them as an MLS Cup finalist, I thought it was time to do a marginal goal analysis for the Union.  Here are the results for their MLS matches through 7/17:

 

Player	Minutes	GS	GA	GS90	GA90	GD90	MGS90	MGA90	MGD90
Keon Daniel	756	13	5	1.548	0.595	0.952	0.286	-0.249	0.535
Danny Califf	1620	24	15	1.333	0.833	0.500	0.072	-0.011	0.083
Carlos Ruiz	1144	14	8	1.101	0.629	0.472	-0.160	-0.215	0.055
Carlos Valdes	1620	24	16	1.333	0.889	0.444	0.072	0.044	0.027
Sheanon Williams	1693	24	16	1.276	0.851	0.425	0.014	0.006	0.008
Sebastien Le Toux	1710	24	16	1.263	0.842	0.421	0.002	-0.002	0.004
Brian Carroll	1401	21	15	1.349	0.964	0.385	0.088	0.119	-0.032
Danny Mwanga	968	16	12	1.488	1.116	0.372	0.226	0.271	-0.045
Kyle Nakazawa	988	14	11	1.275	1.002	0.273	0.014	0.157	-0.144
Justin Mapp	1047	16	13	1.375	1.117	0.258	0.114	0.273	-0.159
Jordan Harvey	1241	13	13	0.943	0.943	0.000	-0.319	0.098	-0.417
	17051	239	160	1.262	0.845	0.417	0.000	0.000	0.000

I'm only listing regular or semi-regular players.  The totals at the bottom are for the entire team.

This shows that midfielder Keon Daniel is their most effective player, by far.  His marginal goal differential is almost half a goal better than his closest teammate.  Daniel's stats are somewhat inflated by his low playing time, but when he is on the pitch, Philadelphia is most effective at both scoring and preventing goals.  I suspect that if he gets more playing time the team's performance will improve.

This table also shows why Philadelphia was right to trade Jordan Harvey.  When Harvey was on the pitch, the team was least effective at scoring goals and was not very effective at preventing them.  Harvey's stats include the Union's 6-goal outburst against Toronto where he played the entire match.  Take that away and his stats are even worse.  Harvey was traded to Vancouver for allocation money.