Typically, when a team in Major League Soccer misses out on the playoffs it is due to a few factors. Poor defense, poor attacking, injuries, coaching changes or just bad luck all around. In 2024, FC Dallas checked off several of those boxes, particularly with the poor defense.
I’ve been breaking down the club’s stats all season long and today we’re going to begin looking at some stats that defined this season for the club, starting with the defense. We’ll get into the attack later on this week (or early next week), followed by a look at comparing the club between the time under former manager Nico Estevez and interim manager Peter Luccin.
Let’s dive in.
The main numbers
Goals Given Up: 54 - FC Dallas wasn’t historically bad in the goals given up department (that nod goes to this year’s San Jose Earthquakes). But, they still gave up way too many goals. They ranked 20th in MLS in overall goals given up, again a great indicator as to why they failed to reach the playoffs.
Non-penalty xG allowed: 54.0 - There should be no surprise that their non-penalty xG in goals allowed was in the bottom third of the league as well. For perspective, the leaders (Seattle) allowed a non-PK xG of 37.8. Teams basically hit their shots as expected.
Shots allowed: 497 - FCD wasn’t the worst in the league in this category but they were pretty darn close. Only four clubs were worse than FC Dallas, including one playoff team (LA Galaxy).
Shots on target allowed: 183 - Only New England gave up more shots on target this season than FC Dallas. For context, on the opposite end, Seattle only gave up 120 shots on target.
Own goals: 2 - They weren’t totally unlucky (that nod goes to St. Louis and Sporting KC with four) but they still gave up more than most in the league.
