You Be The GM: Should Fabinho Stay Or Go?

The You Be The GM series has shifted to the backups that may be arund after the MLS Expansion Draft. These are the players with cult followings and niche capabilities. Do they have enough to make the team?

By unionoscopy@JaredEYoung Dec 1, 2014, 10:00am EST

Today the GM takes a look at the Union's only left footed defender, Fabinho. The Brazilian defender appears solid when looking at individual statistics, but the view starts to get blurry when we look at the big picture. So let's start there.

Fabinho started 19 games for the Union in 2014. In the 19 games he played the Union allowed 1.68 goals per game which was a good deal higher than the 1.27 goals the team allowed when he wasn't in the lineup. Even during the Curtin era, when Fabinho was in the lineup the Union allowed 2.0 goals per game in his 7 games started.

While goals allowed should be the starting measure for any defender, the rest of Fabinho's individual statistics look very strong. He finished 10th on the team in total minutes played and led the team in whoscored rating at 7.18. That actually ranked him 34th our of 272 MLS players that played in 17 games or more. Perhaps that says more about the whoscored.com rating than anything.

Fabinho Whoscored.com Stats
	Games	Minutes	Goals	Assists	Key Passes/Gm	Pass %	Tackles/Gm	Int/Gm	Clear/Gm	Rating
2014	19	1,638	-	-	1.1	75.3	2.4	4.0	3.1	7.18
2013	14	993	1	2	1.0	76.3	2.2	1.9	1.4	6.88

Fabinho's statistics lineup well with that of Sheanon Williams and Ray Gaddis, his fullback brethren. He was 3rd on the team in tackles per game (behind Gaddis and Edu) and first on the team in interceptions. He also generated by far the most key passes per 90 minutes of any defender with 1.14. He is the clearly the best option the Union have going forward from the back. Or is he?

This is where the big picture bites Fabinho again. None of Fabinho's 21 key passes actually resulted in a goal. While individually he looks strong, the results on the offense and defensive end don't add up.

Fabinho made a base salary of $96K in 2014. While that is not a lot of money for a backup defender, the Union may be in the market for an upgrade at left back, hopefully of the left footed variety.

You be the GM: Is Fabinho part of your plans for next year?

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