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NWSL Notebook

Metrics Modeled

Goals minus expected goals

G−xG°Modeled

An estimate from a model we built. Useful, but not a fact — every modeled stat's page says where it's weak.

Definition

Actual goals minus expected goals. Positive means finishing above the model's expectation; negative, below. The most over-read number in soccer analytics: over a single season it is mostly noise.

How much is enough

Several hundred shots — typically multiple seasons — before finishing skill separates from luck.

What it refuses to measure

It does not identify WHY a player over- or under-ran the model — hot streaks, systematic shot types the model misprices, and skill are indistinguishable here.

What would prove this wrong

If season-to-season G−xG for the same players shows no more persistence than shuffled labels, the column measures luck and should say so on its face.

Where it appears