Yura on a hot streak

One thing that’s been lost amid all of the drama in recent weeks, is the fact that Yura Movsisyan has seemed much more composed on the ball since the announcement in July of his impending departure to Europe to play for Randers FC in January.

It seems as if the pressure is off of Yura.  Although he’s been used somewhat sparingly (at least partially due to injuries), he has started to produce results.  Gone is the yoke of carrying the team that he undoubtedly felt entering the season.  Gone is the worry of his next contract. 

As you can see, in his last 5 appearances Yura has played 198 minutes or a little over two full matches worth of action.  He has scored 3 of his 7 goals for the season during this stretch.  

	minutes	shots	SOG	goals
last 5 appearances	198	12	5	3
rest of season	1287	44	20	4
total	1485	56	25	7

But what has been the key, has been Yura’s composure.  He has had a few anxious blasts during this period, but he’s also shown nifty cutbacks, and a much more precise finishing rate.  As you can see below he has put 25% of his shots into the net, compared to 9% for the rest of the season.  He has also reduced his minutes between goals to less than 70, a tremendous strike rate.

	min./shot	SOG %	Goal %	min/goal
last 5 appearances	17	42%	25%	66
rest of season	29	45%	9%	322
total	27	45%	13%	212

Although the stats are limited, you can almost see the weight having been removed from Yura’s shoulders.  He has been much more at ease in practice and in the locker room post-game.  While recouping from an injury he spent some time joking around with the media and RSL staff in practice, even making a bet for a latte that he could repeat a trick shot from behind the net.

After the Fire game, Yura felt that he would finally be 100% for the recent Houston match.  If RSL wants to make a final run at the playoffs, Yura may need to come up big again over these last 4 matches.  Can he repeat the magic from a year ago? 

What are your thoughts of Yura’s recent performance?