Opta Spotlight: Why Sacha Kljestan has been more influential in 2017

Since losing the most recent New York Derby at Red Bull Arena back on June 24, the New York Red Bulls have gone on a four-game winning streak in July, scoring an impressive 15 goals along the way.  A major part of this revival has been the form of Sacha Kljestan, who racked up a goal and four assists in the last month.  

On the surface, Kljestan’s performances in July look like a bit of a turning point for the player who had struggled to replicate his impressive numbers from the 2016 season -- starting with his first goal of the campaign against San Jose.

His assist numbers – although recently improved – are lower than they were last season as well, averaging more than 0.1 assists less per 90 minutes played.

Using these traditional stats it looks like Kljestan has regressed this season and that he has been involved in fewer dangerous attacking moves. However, using Opta’s sequence level data, we can take a closer look at this claim.

Sequences are defined as uninterrupted passages of play where the ball is in possession of one team; they are ended by defensive actions, stoppages in play or a shot. You can get a full breakdown at the OptaPro blog.

Looking at assists and goals, we only see the final contribution of a sequence and only for sequences that end in goals, but of course the build-up to a dangerous opportunity or goal can be just as important as – and in some cases more important than – the final actions themselves. So, to dive deeper into Kljestan’s form this season, we can look at all of the sequences he has been involved in (had a touch – pass, shot, take-on etc.) that ended in a shot.

Adjusted per 90 minutes played, Kljestan has been involved in more Red Bulls sequences that end in a shot than he was last season, suggesting he has actually been a more integral part of the Red Bulls attack this year than he was in 2016. One major factor in his larger role this season may be in making up for the departure of Dax McCarty to Chicago.

Compared with the rest of MLS, Kljestan’s shot involvement numbers were the fourth-highest in the league last season behind Sebastian Giovinco, Diego Valeri and David Villa. This season he has been involved in the third-most sequences that end in shots behind only Villa and Nicolas Lodeiro.

It is also worth noting that the Red Bulls' average number of shots per game has slightly increased from 12.97 per game in 2016 to 13.48 per game in 2017. So Kljestan was involved in sequences that made up for 49 percent of New York's total shots last season and 52 percent of their total shots this season.

Narrowing the scope to open play sequences only makes an even starker point with Kljestan’s involvement in open play sequences that end in a shot, up by more than 1.1 sequences per 90 minutes.

Looking forward to this weekend, when the Red Bulls will be facing rivals New York City FC on Sunday (6 pm ET; FS1, FOX Deportes in US | TSN2 in Canada), and beyond for Kljestan and the Red Bulls, it’s hard not to draw comparisons with last season. After all, it was last July when the Red Bulls kicked off their impressive unbeaten run which took them to the end of the season, and it has been their performances in July this season which have put them back in the discussion for the Supporters' Shield.

At 31 years old, there is little sign that age is catching up with Kljestan -- and although his traditional numbers aren’t quite what they were last season, using sequence data we can see that he has become an even more prominent fixture in what has developed into an electric Red Bulls attack.