Breaking down the Impact’s 2012 season, player by player

Our player-by-player breakdowns of Canada’s pro teams now takes us to Montreal. We have completed our looks at the Whitecaps (CLICK HERE) and Toronto FC (CLICK HERE). We applied the same methodology to the Impact. We took the 34 MLS regular season games, and looked at the entire roster. We then showed the team’s record in the games in which each player appeared in 2012. We then looked at when players came in and out of matches, and assigned a goal difference rating much like a plus-minus in hockey. A full explanation of the methodology can be found in the Whitecaps summary, the first in our series. So, what can we learn from the Impact stats? • That Sanna Nyassi had by far the worst goal difference on the team. When he was on the field, the Impact gave up 15 more goals than it scored. • The Impact won just two of 11 games in which Nyassi played 90 minutes. • The Impact were over .500 in games that saw either Collen Warner, Zarek Valentin or Patrice Bernier play a full 90 minutes. • The Impact won just six of 26 matches when Davy Arnaud played 90. He also had the second-worst goal difference on the team, at -10. • Defender Dennis Iapichino played in just seven games, but had an excellent rating of +4 in those appearances. The Impact won three out of four when he played the full 90. And, the Impact won four out of five games in which he started.