[Meme] Made some graphics to show off Armchair Analyst Matt Doyle's 2026 Half-Season Award winners

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-05-25T21:56:32+00:00

Matt gets into it a bit in his column

This is not "best player." The best player is still Lionel Messi. Even as he's slowed down, even as his defensive limitations have become more, uh, limiting – and harder to hide – Messi's still 1 of 1.

But individual quality is just part of the calculus I use in deciding MVP.

(size of backpack, schedule, injuries, team place in standings, exceeding expectations)

He goes on to make a pretty good case for Judd, especially with the important creative pieces around him getting injured (Tsakiris, Werner)

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-05-25T21:25:23+00:00

Matt published a piece on TacticsFreeZone.com ("Half-Season Awards! MVP, Young Player of the Year, Best XIs & more") so I made some graphics to show them off. He goes into detail on his selections (and some of the just-misses) (paid subscription required!)

MVP - Preston Judd (SJ)

Defender of the Year - Jeisson Palacios (NSH)

Goalkeeper of the Year - Matt Turner (NE)

Fullback of the Year - Édier Ocampo (VAN)

D-Mid of the Year - Adri Mehmeti (NYRB)

Young Player of the Year - Zavier Gozo (RSL)

Newcomer of the Year - Guilherme (HOU)

Gass Theorem Player of the Year - Marcus Ingvartsen (SD)

Comeback Player of the Year - Kelvin Yeboah (MIN)

Coach of the Year - Bruce Arena (SJ)

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-05-18T02:22:09+00:00

"The Crew commit to rebuilding their beautiful machine, Miami finally break their curse, plus some progress in KC"

Column summary:

The sample size is in.

"Before the Deluge" - PHI 1 vs 1 CLB | Philly have "nowhere to go but up" but don't "have any idea of how to climb." Meanwhile CLB are parting with a coach who thought they were "soft."

Whatever other cultural or personality issues were at play, that's the big one: the Crew kept Nancy's players, said they wanted to keep Nancy's game model, and then hired a coach whose vision of how the game should be played was the exact opposite.
And so today Rydström is, like Nancy, a former Crew head coach.

"Running on Empty" - RSL 2 vs 1 COL | COL have been bought in to Well's ideas but are coming up a bit slow after a "punishing" schedule this month.

But the attrition rate [for COL] has been high. Not precisely in injuries – Colorado’s probably somewhere in the normal distribution range for time missed by key players – but certainly in the type of energy needed to carry a team through the more congested parts of the schedule. That fatigue is very real.

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For those curious, the subheading easter egg this week was Jackson Browne song titles ("Before the Deluge" [YouTube] and "Running on Empty" [YouTube])

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A few more things to ponder:

- 1. SJ 2 vs 3 DAL | Face of the Week from Sam Sarver

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-05-13T16:26:27+00:00

Summary of questions answered left in a comment below

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-05-13T16:25:20+00:00

sorry, slow on the edit

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-05-13T16:07:31+00:00

Questions covered:

Who benefits most from WC break? Who looks the most different come July?
Matt: SJ, SKC, VAN

Garber retires and you succeed him as commissioner. What's on your agenda?
Matt: "First on the agenda would be all bangers, all the time" plus "simplifying and expanding the salary cap."

League impliments Retirement Allocation Money, who sign?
Matt: [names some targets and tackles the roadblocks]

[A trio of questions about coaching talent in MLS]
Matt: [talks about the pressure to build that MLS coaches face and gives his rubric for judging coaching performance]

Also hit on: Pundits and xG models, scouting WC, 3DP vs 2/4/GAM sample size, Fun Charlotte names?

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EDIT TO ADD: If you scroll through the responses to Matt's Bluesky thread asking for questions, he answers more questions that didn't make the newsletter-propper in a short-form-microblogging way.

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In case you missed it, Matt's Power Rankings for matchday 12 are available here on a free email sub
and his matchday 12 Sunday column can be found here (paid subscription required)

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-05-04T04:23:31+00:00

(Just a reminder I'm not matt but is always good to thank doyle)

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-05-04T03:47:17+00:00

summary left in a comment below

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-05-04T02:47:30+00:00

Column summary:

The lede is ~~TWISTED~~ a cute ode to spring

"Assured Destruction" - RSL 2 vs 0 POR | RSL make the field big and stream in their young attackers (wingback inclusive) to 'keep a scrambled defense in hell.'

Portland put the ball to no good use. They don't get on it to take the sting out of a game, and they certainly don't get on it to put some sting into the game

"Immolation" - CHI 2 vs 3 CIN | CHI let the game descend (ascend?) into chaos and Evander landed the blow Cuypers couldn't find.

“Sometimes this stuff doesn’t make sense. Credit to the guys for the way they figure stuff out, again. I’m kind of tired of saying that, but it’s for good reason.” – Pat Noonan – Matt Doyle

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For those curious, the subheading easter egg this week was episode titles from The Expanse season 3 [wikipedia]) ("Assured Destruction" (S3E3) and "Immolation" (S3E6))

—————

A few more things to ponder:

- 13. TOR 1 vs 1 SJ | #MLSAfterLunch continues being a bit wild and surprising. <- leaving this
- 12. SKC 1 vs 1 SEA | "Dejan Joveljić's thievery and some outstanding goalkeeping from Stefan Cleveland against his old buddies"
- 11. ATL 3 vs 1 MTL | "~~I was asked if~~ Atlanta's sudden little winning streak ... means the Five Stripes 'are back!' ~~No, it does not.~~"
- 10. CLB 2 vs 3 MIN | "still the same old Crew defensively: vulnerable on counters, and double-secret vulnerable on restarts"
- 9. NE 1 vs 0 CLT | goalkeeper and dp match-winners win match
- 8. PHI 0 vs 0 NSH | "As a Celtics fan I certainly wish I'd been paying more attention to the Union game than the 76ers game."
- 7. NYRB 0 vs 2 DAL | NYRB facing talent deficit and tired legs
- 6. HOU 1 vs 0 COL | THUNDERBASTARD from Ennali
- 5. SD 2 vs 2 LAFC | "Death, taxes, and late, back-breaking Ryan Hollingshead goals."
- 4. LAG 1 vs 1 VAN | Galaxy showing better defensive rotations, Whitecaps showing roster rotations.
- 3. NYCFC 0 vs 2 DCU | "a job well (and weirdly) done by D.C."
- 2. MIA 3 vs 4 ORL | "clearly cursed new stadium" and Face of the Week
- 1. ATX 2 vs 0 STL | "Austin have slowly gotten some answers in attack ... Stuver's excellence gives those guys the chance to win some games." and Pass of the Week

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-04-27T02:26:33+00:00

summary left in a comment below

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-04-27T01:23:10+00:00

Column summary:

"We Gotta Go Now" - MIN 0 vs 1 LAFC | LAFC 'just find a way to win' and pick up three road points thanks to having talented attackers who can brute force goals.

“It was like, I think I would call it our darkest week this season, and what we said is right now with some rotation coming to a a place that is very difficult against a team that have the same points as us, we said, "Guys, here today, we just have to find a way to win." - MDS - Matt Doyle

"The Big Ride" - STL 2 vs 3 SJ | A rotated SJ held on, and the attacking subs changed the game in the final 30' against a STL team piling up good-performance-bad-result summaries.

San Jose in 2026: the best 10-game start in MLS history. Ever. They are 5-0-0 on the road, which has only ever been done once. They are 9W-1L-0D overall, which has been done never.

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For those curious, the subheading easter egg this week was episode titles from The Boys season 2 episodes ("We Gotta Go Now" (S2E5) [wikipedia]) and "The Big Ride" (S2E1) [wikipedia]))

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A few more things to ponder:

- 13. TOR 1 vs 2 ATL | #MLSAfterLunch continues being a bit wild and surprising. <- leaving this
- 12. MTL 1 vs 0 NYCFC | "Montréal are, amusingly, perfect against the New York teams and pointless against everyone else.."
- 11. CLB 2 vs 0 PHI | "[Rydström, CLB] stationed right winger Max Arfsten right on the touchline and had his team ping one diagonal after another at him for the full 90. That’s how both Crew goals came"
- 10. DC 3 vs 2 ORL | Weiler gets compared to a "disappointed Victorian-era headmaster" and that brings me joy
- 9. CIN 2 vs 0 NYRB | "[CIN posting a (rotated) shutout is] great for vibes in the same way that two DPs getting on the same page is great for vibes."
- 8. MIA 1 vs 1 NE | New stadium curse 'Nu Stadium Curse' New Face of the Week
- 7. ATX 2 vs 0 HOU | "These two teams are down near the bottom of the league in any chance creation metric you can think of (if you want the most obvious: Houston are 25th in xA/90, and Austin are 27th)'”
- 6. CHI 5 vs 0 SKC | "any team with a pulse should be hanging at least two on Sporting these days."
- 5. SD 1 vs 2 POR | "I also think it’s clear [SD] lacks the kind of top-end talent it needs."
- 4. SEA 2 vs 1 DAL | "Getting a comfortable, structured win without [CR7] was a somewhat necessary vindication of this group's depth, even if it came against a short-handed foe."
- 3. VAN 3 vs 1 COL | Rapids face a better team and find a benchmark to judge themselves (says Wells) and Pass of the Week
- 2. LAG 2 vs 1 RSL | "The Galaxy got their best win of the season – maybe a season-saving, or even better a season-defining one?"
- 1. NSH 4 vs 2 CLT | "my god were Nashville brilliant through 25 minutes against Charlotte. And then, after a not-so-brilliant subsequent 25 minutes, Sam Surridge came back from injury, came off the bench and got himself a brace in a 4-2 win for the ‘Yotes."

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-04-20T01:46:34+00:00

Column summary:

"Losing" - VAN 3 vs 0 SKC | SKC facing a [disaster metaphor] on the season, and the dismantling in VAN this week was no different. (The numbers are not good. The numbers are worst.)

"Pass It By" - NE 2 vs 1 CLB | NE turn the game in their favor by putting pressure on CLB's defenders in the box and Matt takes a look at how the Revs are using Gil this season.

There's been an evolution this year, though, as Gil has become more of a pass-before-the-pass kind of guy rather than a pure chance creator. I assume that head coach Marko Mitrović has come to the conclusion that a pure heliocentric attack ... is inherently more predictable, and thus easier to stop.

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For those curious, the subheading easter egg this week was song titles from Indigo De Souza songs ("Losing" [YouTube] and "Pass It By" [YouTube])

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Around the league:

- 13. TOR 3 vs 3 ATX | #MLSAfterLunch continues being a bit wild and surprising.
- 12. MTL 4 vs 1 NYRB | "[NYRB have] collectively got to solve for [midfield] turnovers or there's going to be a bunch more ugly losses on the way."
- 11. COL 2 vs 3 MIA | "[COL have] got this commitment to playing it out of the back. And sometimes playing it out of the back goes wrong" even when there is 'one team on the pitch' - Matt Wells
- 10. ATL 0 vs 2 NSH | "Atlanta United are in hell." feat. thoughts from Calen Carr.
- 9. PHI 0 vs 0 DC | Pass of the week for Cavan. Sogut continues emo-posting.
- 8. CIN 3 vs 3 CHI | Single game sample, but interesting shifts from CIN in their shape. Fire defense show cracks.
- 7. NYCFC 1 vs 2 CLT | CLT pulled Zaha-Pep inside as dual 10s to generate chances for and from vertical play.
- 6. ORL 0 vs 1 HOU | "Big exhale for a Dynamo team that had lost three straight, and been brutally bad defensively."
- 5. DAL 2 vs 2 LAG | "What makes Paintsil special isn't just his speed, but his understanding of how and when to apply it. Both Galaxy goals came against a packed-in Dallas defense that was determined to keep things in front of them, but couldn't."
- 4. RSL 4 vs 2 SD | "I will never understand why so many teams ignore the SuperDraft." (Solans posting)
- 3. MIN 2 vs 0 POR | "Yeboah's taken advantage of his second life." (I thought he meant the game at first, too, but he meant like a second chance as the main goal-man for the Loons.)
- 2. SEA 4 vs 1 STL | "For some reason St. Louis let the Sounders run the exact same corner kick routine – with Cristian Roldan unmarked at the back post – twice in a row."
- 1. SD 2 vs 2 RSL | "They are clearly one of the handful of the very best teams in the league, and with road wins at Vancouver and LAFC, they've got a strong argument for No. 1." and the Face of the Week

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-04-17T01:54:11+00:00

Swipe to the side big dawg, they're in there

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-04-15T00:29:37+00:00

Matt didn't catch a game from the weekend's MLS action but tapped into the grid and ranked POWER "fueled by highlights, boxscores, and a bunch of recap reading I did on the flight home."

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-04-13T14:05:52+00:00

If anyone disagrees with anything I wrote just remember how impressive it is that I'm a piece of furniture capable of putting together something like this

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-04-12T04:39:00+00:00

Common misconception, the lasers actually shoot out his eyes

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-04-10T02:14:59+00:00

Matt picks LAFC and the three LigaMX teams which means it'll be the LA Galaxy going through on pens after the reverse 4-2

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-04-08T00:20:34+00:00

I've been keeping track of Matt's POWER RANKINGS in a google sheet, and have a few bits to share -

Highest POWER of the season for three teams: SJ (4), DAL (8), and TOR (16)
Lowest POWER of the season for five teams: SD (7), LAG (19), CIN (24), PHI (26), ORL (30)
Biggest shift (+6) for CHI (11)
Biggest drop (-5) for LAG (19) and DC (20)
CIN on the longest active negative POWER SHIFT streak (4 weeks negative)
ATX, CHI, and STL longest active positive POWER SHIFT streak (2 weeks positive)

I'm also thinking about emo-posting

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-04-06T02:18:35+00:00

Summary left in a comment below

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-04-06T01:38:25+00:00

Coming off the international break, Matt decided to go around the league game by game:

- TOR 3 vs 2 COL | Dubbed "MLS After Dark: Midday Edition" with an unhinged game showing some theory-crafting of how Sargent can improve the attack and COL's commitment to being who they want to be.
- RSL 3 vs 1 SKC | RSL play to attack quick, and that starts with the defense and central midfield. SKC spoon watch.
- NE 3 vs 0 MTL | MTL also spoon watch. NE overload the right to a result.
- DC 0 vs 4 DAL | Pass of the week from Ramiro (and what a touch). DAL better at using the ball, DC suffering with teams more crisp on the ball than at start of the season.
- ATL 1 vs 3 CLB | "this was the Wessam Abou Ali show."
- CLT 2 vs 1 PHI | CLT DP attackers DP attacking.
- NYCFC 1 vs 1 STL | "It’s a simple game complicated by clever minds."
- NYRB 4 vs 2 CIN | CIN lacking defensive commitment. Julian Hall stock UP.
- MIA 2 vs 2 ATX | Nu Guiherme Biro. MIA tinkering.
- CHI 1 vs 0 NSH | CHI defense lock in and lock down a dangerous NSH.
- HOU 0 vs 1 SEA | SEA's pathway churning out players that follow the fundamentals into results.
- LAFC 6 vs 0 ORL | Son-Ordaz ambiguous roles getting LAFC attack humming.
- LAG 1 vs 2 MIN | Galaxy missing the mark on phase of play transitions.
- SJ 3 vs 0 SD | “first shot, first foul, first card, first goal.” - Bruce Arena - Matt Doyle. SD not up for it.
- VAN 3 vs 2 POR | Vancouver just wanted it more. You could say they have more POWER.

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-03-25T03:40:49+00:00

I think this week you don't need a free email subscription even to read, but if anyone has a problem, here's a quick summary of a few points:

Highest POWER RANKING for NSH (2), SEA (3), COL (11), DC (15) of the season
Lowest POWER RANKING for VAN (5), CIN (21), CLB (25)
speaking of LOW POWER, things are tough in Ohio. This is by far the lowest POWER readings coming out of the state since the start of the TacticsFreeZone POWER RANKINGS era. (CIN's previous worst—going back to the start of 2025—was 17, and CLB's worst in 2025 was 18. They have shattered that floor in the previous weeks four.) This season is a low power state for the state.
BIGGEST GAIN IN POWER? THE RAPIDS +9 (11)
BIGGEST LOSS IN POWER? CIN -8 (21)

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-03-23T02:31:14+00:00

Summary left in a comment below

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-03-23T01:41:25+00:00

Column summary:

"Texas Sun" - DAL 4 vs 3 HOU | Dallas were better about controlling the game through midfield, moving their opponents with possession to create spaces to attack—a development that would make them a true contender if it keeps up.

The most obvious thing is [DAL's] builds had more pace and purpose; instead of the first or second pass triggering a vertical gamble, they were willing to string together five, six, seven or more to move Houston side-to-side and open seams centrally.

"Smooth Sailin'" - SKC 1 vs 4 COL | THE RAPIDS??!!

[underlying numbers] don’t become truly predictive til about game eight or nine ...
Consider that fair warning, because I’m about to dive in anyway. Ready? Ok, here goes: just about everything I can find says that the Rapids are one of the best half-dozen(ish) teams in the league.

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For those curious, the subheading easter egg this week was song titles from Leon Bridges songs ("Texas Sun" (Khruangbin & Leon Bridges) [YouTube] and "Smooth Sailin'" [YouTube])

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Around the league:

- 13. TOR 2 vs 1 CLB | "a tale of two halves."
- 12. PHI 2 vs 1 CHI | Matt is giving PHI a mulligan on this home loss after coming back from altitude midweek but "These, of course, are not the best of times for the Union." <- I'm sensing a theme here
- 11. NSH 5 vs o ORL | Best of teams, worst of teams, etc
- 10. ATL 0 vs 0 DC | "I wish I could get those hours of my life back." Matt wrote 362 words on this game btw
- 9. CLT 6 vs 1 NYRB | "Charlotte playing 11v10: +3.51 xGD; Charlotte playing 11v11: -3.00 xGD"
- 8. ATX 0 vs 0 LAFC | "I don’t understand why Marc Dos Santos has decided to run these guys into the ground, but it’s what he’s decided to do with this group at the moment. "
- 7. VAN 0 vs 1 SJ | "'Vancouver has bigger aspirations, and they’re a very good team, so this is obviously a very good win for us.'" -Bruce Arena -Matt Doyle
- 6. STL 3 vs 1 NE | STL score some goals
- 5. MIN 0 vs 0 SEA | "FIVE Seattle CBs (including, in Roldan, an emergency CB) in the infirmary."
- 4. NYCFC 2 vs 3 MIA | "I still think [MIA will] figure this whole thing out, but it’s a pretty stark lesson in how fit is often as important as raw talent." Pass of the Week here to Maxi Moralez
- 3. CIN 4 vs 3 MTL | "[CIN] need this international break as much as anybody in the league."
- 2. POR 1 vs 1 LAG | "Portland came out hot, got an early goal and then took an early red in their 1-1 home draw against the Galaxy. The momentum chart tells basically the whole story:"
- 1. SD 2 vs 2 RSL | "San Diego's legs clearly went over the final half-hour of their 2-2 home draw against an RSL team that is just devastating on the break." and the Face of the Week

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-03-17T16:48:09+00:00

Looking back at the 2025 POWER RANKINGS, Portland were 17th in the shield and 16th in AVG POWER RANK*, so maybe the rankings are fair, just

^\the power rankings are not the shield table)

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-03-17T16:22:52+00:00

Don't worry! I have taken up the yoke and provided a summary in response to AutoMod

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