Beyond Stats

Fact of the week

Passes that break lines are Verdiblanco in colour

Real Betis are LaLiga’s top-performing side when it comes to the average number of opponents beaten per pass, with the Sevillians also coming top of the class in this department in last week’s meeting with Almeria. The Andalusians offer clear evidence that it is possible to play possession football and through-balls as part of a direct playing style that seeks to break opposition lines.

Betis are winning games and doing so in convincing fashion. Not only are the Seville-based side clinical, but they are also an impressive creative force. In terms of the tempo of their game, i.e. the number of passes completed by minute, they feature amongst LaLiga’s top four teams, while they sit a place lower in the league standings in the attacking build-up stakes (passes per possession).

Remarkable Coach

El Cholo’s boys pose a threat

Atletico Madrid feature amongst LaLiga’s top four teams when it comes to the goalscoring chances created by their possessions, posting an average of four per game. Atleti’s strong ability to create chances is closely tied to the team’s intensity levels. The Rojiblancos sit fourth in the ranking for the number of actions completed at maximum intensity (28km/hr), clocking up an impressive 30 per game.

However, it is also worth shining the spotlight on the team’s defensive efforts and Diego Simeone’s side’s ability to regain possession is highly impressive. The Colchoneros claim fifth place for the number of presses applied after losing the ball and are one of the four most compact sides in the defensive phase, i.e. with the lowest convex hill when out of possession (almost 690m2).

Key Player

Kroos is the complete footballer

Toni Kroos is the undisputed LaLiga champion when it comes to the number of players beaten per pass. Meanwhile, he also performs impressively in terms of combination play, both in terms of quantity and quality. He bags sixth spot for the number of passes that result in shots and stands in fifth place for the number of crosses played into the box, while no other player amasses more attacking actions than the German midfielder.

As the above clearly illustrates, there is so much more to Kroos’ game than helping to give Real Madrid their characteristic balance in the middle third, with the midfield maestro also completing a high number of passes into the final third.

The Match up

Sampaoli’s Sevilla head to Santiago Bernabéu

The Andalusians are hardly enjoying a vintage season, but the recently appointed Jorge Sampaoli has had an instant impact and guided the team to their second victory of the season. Despite their contrasting fortunes, we wish to hone in on a number of metrics to analyse the Sevillian outfit and Real Madrid.

The Nervion-based outfit lie in fifth place for the number of players per possession, an area in which, as we can see in this video, Real Madrid are the league’s bridesmaids. Sampaoli’s charges register almost three dangerous possessions per game, compared to the second-placed Merengues’ 4.6. The metrics reflect clear differences that are apparent when watching both sides, but there is no question that the Argentine tactician has the opportunity to turn things around for a Sevilla team languishing down in 14^th spot.

Remember his name

Pere Milla & his decisive strikes

The Elche hotshot opened the scoring against Valencia and later earned the Alicante-based outfit a point. However, the striker contributes far more than just goals, with the physical effort he puts in every time he crosses the white line helping to mitigate the team’s weaknesses. He claims second spot in his side’s ranking for actions completed at over 21km/hr and is the player to complete the most passes in the final third. Meanwhile, he leads the way in the Elche standings when it comes to attacking depth, with 43% of his passes being long balls.

However, we must not overlook his contribution in the defensive phase, where he features amongst the top 15 players in the top flight for the number of recoveries in the opposition’s half.

Metric of the week

Distance gained per pass

There are an increasing number of aspects relating to a pass that we are able to analyse. Indeed, we can measure whether a pass is successful or otherwise and must also bear in mind that an individual pass can vary greatly in terms of its significance. What about if we take things a step further and look at the distance a pass travels? When we focus on this metric, we look at every pass played by each player and the direction of the passes. If the majority of a player’s passes are forward passes, they will post a positive score in this metric and conversely, if most of their passes are played towards their own goal, they could end up registering a negative score.

Beyond Stats ofrece métricas increíbles en la industria del fútbol: no se limita a recopilar los datos que se suelen usar para los análisis estándarque llegan a los aficionados, sino que va más allá, recopilando una cantidad ingente de información durante el partido, casi en tiempo real, gracias a la herramienta Mediacoach de LALIGA, que es capaz de revelar nuevas percepciones sobre el juego a un nivel más profundo permitiendo trazar patrones y obtener proyecciones de futuro.

Los datos brutos recogidos (Raw Data) son tratados para su análisis por un equipo multidisciplinar compuesto por expertos en Business Intelligence & Analytics y análisis futbolístico de LALIGA a través de procesos de Machine Learning e Inteligencia Artificial que se han hecho posibles gracias a la tecnología Azure que provee Microsoft, capaz de procesar grandes volúmenes de datos. Tras su tratamiento, se genera un algoritmo que permite la visualización de las métricas que llegan al aficionado por medio de Beyond Stats. Estas estadísticas permiten a los aficionados entender mejor por qué su equipo ha ganado un partido, lo ha perdido, o tener una visión panorámica de su rendimiento y expectativas, lo que permite una inmersión inédita en la experiencia del espectador de fútbol.

En todos los estadios de LALIGA encontramos hasta dieciséis cámaras perimetrales fijas de alta resolución para el tracking óptico que siguen en el terreno de juego la situación de jugadores, árbitros y balón, recogiendo datos físicos y técnico-tácticos a un ritmo vertiginoso de 25 veces por segundo.

“Encontramos hasta dieciséis cámaras perimetrales fijas de alta resolución para el tracking óptico”

Estos dispositivos permiten la integración, a través de la herramienta de análisis Mediacoach, de dos tecnologías: tracking y eventing. El tracking se apoya en la información de seguimiento recogida por las cámaras perimetrales del estadio, y permite elaborar métricas como las referidas a distancia recorrida, velocidad máxima y media, o número de sprints. Mediante el eventing se registran los eventos más objetivables: número de pases, córners, o faltas cometidas y recibidas. La información captada a través de tracking y eventing se integra y almacena en el sistema formando un conjunto de datos de gran volumen.