Not many teams can claim the honour of holding first place in their league with a negative goal differential.
Up until their 3-2 loss over the weekend, Charleston Battery did.
The recent USL Championship Eastern Conference leaders (now 2nd) have had a bizarre season. Though most matches have seen them claim hard-fought, close wins, theyve had a few head-scratchers in the mix as well, the two most prominent being a 7-0 loss to San Antonio and a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Indy 11. The loss against Indy is a perfect representation of those bizarre matches. Charlestons longtime centre-back, Leland Archer, picked up a red card 12 seconds into the match for a last-man foul that set up a penalty kick goal for the visitors. Oddly enough, those two heavy defeats also came at home.
So what are we to make of the Charleston Battery? Are they USL championship contenders or pretenders? This tactical analysis will look at some of the underlying data from the 2023 campaign and then offer a scout report of manager Ben Pirmanns tactics to gauge the qualities that will help or hinder Charlestons chances,
Looking at the numbers
For anyone unfamiliar with the Charleston Battery, the team was founded in 1993 and has a number of notable alumni. Terry Phelan, who also played for Manchester City, Chelsea and Everton, represented the Black and Yellow for four seasons. Chris Ramsey, who worked as the Head of Player Development at Tottenham Hotspur and replaced Harry Redknapp on the QPR bench during the 2014/15 EPL season managed the Battery from 2001 to 2004. Its a club with a brief history, but an impressive one considering North American soccer legends Eric Wynalda and Mark Watson also signed with the club during their playing careers. Not bad for a second-division side.
Despite some impressive names that have come through the club, they havent claimed a league title since 2012. Last season, they finished 12th out of 14 in the Eastern division and 25th overall, failing to qualify for the playoffs.
But this season brings renewed hope to the beautiful coastal city of Charleston. Through 17 matches, theyve already recorded three more points than all of last season. Pirmann, the USL Championship Coach of the Year in 2022 while managing Memphis 901, has drastically improved the squad. With 28 points in 17 matches, Charleston is overperforming their 22.2 expected points. That said, they have found a way to grind out results in close matches. Of their eight wins, six were decided by one goal. Their four draws are equally split between 0-0 and 1-1 results. This is a team thats developing a battle-harden mentality and fighting through tense moments in matches.
Looking at their goal-scoring and goals against, they currently sit with 23 and 27 respectively. Keeping in mind the 11 total goals conceded to San Antonio and Indy 11, the remaining 15 matches have seen the Battery put together 23 goals to 16 conceded, a much better tally and one more closely aligned with a table-topping team.
Turning to xG and xGA, that seventh-rated expected points tally starts to make more sense. Charleston is perfectly average for the league in both xG and xGA. There is the positive in overperforming xG, but thats coupled with the negative of an even greater underperformance in xGA.
