Beyond Stats

Fact of the week

Gerard Moreno continues firing on all cylinders

The Catalan player plays a key part in the attacking effectiveness of his team. He is the Villarreal player who scores the most, shoots the most and is second in terms of shots on target. He is also the Villarreal player with the highest percentage of shots culminating in a goal, at almost 20%. However, his sublime stats do not end there. They also extend to LaLiga Santander as a whole, where he is one of the six players who produce the most shots on target.

The graphics show where he shoots from and where he places the ball, including both shots that hit the back of the net and those kept out by the keeper. The player favours the central and left areas of the goal and let us not forget that a fifth of his shots, on average, beat the goalkeeper.

Remarkable Coach

El Cholo: a good run and for many good reasons

Atletico Madrid have gone unbeaten since losing to Barcelona on 8 January. Eight league games later, they have secured five wins and three draws. Best of all, when they have conceded in these eight games, they have stopped the rot at a solitary goal. The keys to this new-look Atletico include Griezmann’s excellent form, which has improved after he took up a deeper-lying position, as well as the improved effectiveness in front of goal of players such as Depay.

In the video and the graphic, we highlight Atletico’s high-impact carries, a tactic heavily used by El Cholo’s players, who are third in the standings for this metric. It is undoubtedly one of Atletico Madrid’s key tools for creating danger.

Key Player

Memphis Depay, effectiveness personified for Atletico

It is pivotal for new signings to quickly adapt to the dynamics of their club and for this to translate into effectiveness – two areas where Depay is currently the model of success. To highlight just how well the Dutchman is performing after so few games, note that he already stands among the top five LaLiga players in terms of the percentage of shots ending in a goal. What’s more, he seems to have struck up a good partnership with Griezmann. The two goals he scored in the evisceration of Sevilla were the first two of the match, and he netted them in the space of just three minutes, a decisive contribution because it completely changed the face of the game.

The Match up

Athletic v Barcelona, two starkly contrasting veins of form come face to face

It is important to analyse the context of each team, and in the case of these two outfits they are displaying very different trends. Barcelona appear to be rediscovering their form in LaLiga, while Athletic have suffered three defeats in their last four games in all competitions.

If we compare their styles of play, we see that the directness of Valverde’s men is reflected in their crossing stats. They put in more crosses than Barcelona and also produce more shots from these crosses. However, when it comes to successful carries, shots, passes in the final third and goals after winning the ball back in the opponents’ half, Barcelona reign supreme. We can put these figures in greater context by noting that they are two of the six teams who cover the most distance, but the Basque side top the standings when it comes to distance covered at over 21 kilometres an hour.

Remember his name

Alvaro Aguado, Real Valladolid’s engine room

The midfielder is the Pucelano who has covered the most distance, and he is sixth in the LaLiga Santander standings as a whole. As we always caution, football is not just about running a lot, it is about doing it ‘well’. Which is why we need to analyse what impact he has on the ball. It turns out that he is the player involved in the most high-impact actions for his team, which are those which directly lead to taking a shot on goal.

It is worth stressing the directness and penetration that these actions add to the attacking phase of Pacheta’s team. To better understand the importance of Aguado, note where these actions take place on the field of play, as seen in the graphic and video accompanying this section. It is clear that he is one of Valladolid’s best chance creators.

Metric of the week

Carries breaking the opposition’s defensive line

These actions are moves that consist of running with the ball and going past opposing players, in this case, those in the defensive line. The aim is to produce overloads or situations more likely to end in a shooting opportunity, and possibly leading to moves where only the goalkeeper is left to beat. Players with the ability to run with the ball at speed tend to do best on these metrics.

Getting past the opposition’s defensive line is no easy feat. Many teams, with a view to breaking through the lines in an attacking transition, turn to carries as a tool for generating more and better goalscoring opportunities. Real Madrid stand out as the team who rely on these actions the most.

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.