I’ve seen it, you’ve seen it. A team acquires a centerback, either domestically or from abroad. There’s a sizeable dollar figure and some bromides about veteran leadership or tremendous upside. Then there’s the nitty-gritty: the numbers. And it’s like, three goals and an assist over 40 games. Or 80 games. Or 120 games.
The traditional numbers that we have just can’t do justice to what a defender does. Even when you expand it to include tackles, clearances, interceptions and other markers of defensive prowess, it fails to capture it. As Loons defender Brent Kallman once memorably told me, soccer is cruel.