Devin Pleuler has some thoughts on Expected Goals, the soccer metric that has recently made the jump from the cultish to the mainstream and has inspired new discussions about the way modern soccer is viewed.



“It’s a shit metric,” said Toronto FC’s senior manager of analytics, speaking at last week’s Rotman Sports Tech & Analytics Conference at the University of Toronto. “But it’s a really great framework.”



Pleuler is happy the general public is becoming more comfortable with the metric, but still believes it only scratches the surface in terms of what information can be gleaned from a game. It is Pleuler’s job to do more than just scratch the surface with what analytics can provide TFC.



“Do these sequences of play allow for higher quality of opportunities?” Pleuler asked. “We try to build a lot of other metrics around that.”



Four years on since Pleuler was hired by TFC,...