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Matchday 30

Quality recoveries & build-up play that offers guarantees

This video illustrates how recoveries can be distinguished not only in terms of their effectiveness, but also their quality. Barcelona record the fourth-most advantageous recoveries in the league, i.e. situations that involve a numerical advantage and where the side in possession has more players ahead of the ball than the opposition.

Given the importance of build-up play in the system deployed by Xavi’s troops, the team’s set-up at the start of the attacking transition is key. This video shows how the Barcelona players react in these situations. It’s worth pointing out that 15% of the Catalan giants’ recoveries put them at an advantage.

It’s your Game

Matchday 14

Real Sociedad

0 - 0

Valencia CF

DOM 21.11.2021

20:00

Season 2021/2022

Reale Arena

Rayo Vallecano

3 - 1

RCD Mallorca

LUN 22.11.2021

20:00

Season 2021/2022

Estadio de Vallecas

Granada CF

1 - 4

Real Madrid

DOM 21.11.2021

15:15

Season 2021/2022

Nuevo Los Cármenes

Atlético de Madrid

1 - 0

CA Osasuna

SÁB 20.11.2021

17:30

Season 2021/2022

Riyadh Air Metropolitano

Rayo Vallecano

3 - 1

RCD Mallorca

LUN 22.11.2021

20:00

Season 2021/2022

Matchday 14

Estadio de Vallecas

Width in possession is among keys to winning Rayo formula

Rayo Vallecano’s start to the season has all the stuff that dreams are made of. The Madrid outfit are revelling in their first season back in the big time. One of the secrets to the team’s success is their ability to make use of the full width of the pitch in the attacking phase. Indeed, the Madrilenians feature amongst the league’s top five teams with the largest convex hull in attack. The side’s width puts them in advantageous positions from which to deliver crosses and this is an area in which the boys from Vallecas are enjoying particular joy as they have established themselves as the team with the most success on crosses in the top flight. All of these elements combine to place Andoni Iraola’s troops top of the league’s shots per minute of possession standings.

Meanwhile, the visitors, RCD Mallorca, will be looking to become the first side to claim maximum points against the Rayistas in their own backyard. In their quest to secure victory, the Islanders will have to put on a solid defensive display. In this department, the fact that the Majorca-based side are amongst the top five sides in the league for clearances made would appear to bode well for them. In the attacking stakes, it’s well worth keeping an eye out for the visitors’ threat at the near post. Indeed, they feature amongst the top three sides in the league for percentage of crosses played to the front post.

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Surging runs that break the defensive line

This season has seen Luis Garcia’s Mallorca establish themselves as a side that are experts when it comes to overcoming many opponents with carries, with the likes of Dani Rodriguez, Amath Ndiaye and Lee Kang-in among the standout performers in this department. Indeed, the Bermellones have earned themselves a spot on the podium for carries that break the opposition’s midfield line, whilst they feature amongst the top five sides for carries that break the defensive line.

For their part, Rayo have shown impressive defensive solidity so far this term, with the Franjirrojos occupying a spot amongst the top five teams for efficiency in preventing opposition chances, whilst they sit amongst the division’s top five sides for the percentage of opposition shots blocked. In the fitness stakes, it’s also worth bearing in mind that the Madrilenians lie amongst the top three teams for actions completed at the highest intensity, i.e. at speeds of over 28km/hr over a distance of at least 10m.

PLAYER FOCUS

Alvaro Garcia: catch him if you can

Alvaro Garcia is proving to be an influential figure in the Rayo set-up. With four goals and an assist to his name, the speedster lies second in the side’s scoring charts and is top dog for shots taken. His electric pace is an absolute nightmare for opposition backlines and he’s the Spanish top tier’s joint-fastest player, alongside Granada CF’s Luis Suárez. He’s also sitting pretty in third spot in the league standings for distance covered at high intensity (> 21km/hr). Strategically placed on Rayo’s left flank, the Spanish wideman has also earned himself a place amongst the top 10 players in LaLiga Santander for the number of crosses into the box.

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Metric of the Week

Matchday 30

Find out the meaning of each metric

Number of players involved per possession offers clear indication of team’s style

There are a number of ways in which a team’s possession can be defined, with the number of players involved in them being one of the methods that we analyse. This criteria measures how many team members touch the ball during the course of an attacking transition. Teams whose game involves more intricate build-up play and possessions typically feature more players per possession.

As this video illustrates, Real Madrid are the LaLiga Santander champions for the number of players involved per possession, with an average of 3.67 per outing.

HOW IT'S MADE

Beyond Stats offers incredible metrics which go beyond the ordinary in the football industry: it does not limit itself to gathering the data normally used for the standard analyses that reach fans, but goes one step further, collecting a vast amount of in-match information, almost in real time, thanks to LaLiga’ s Mediacoach proprietary tool, that is capable of revealing new perspectives on the game at a deeper level, allowing patterns to be traced and future predictions to be made. 

In every LaLiga stadiums we have up to sixteen high-resolution, fixed perimeter cameras for optical tracking which follow the positions of the players, referees, and the ball on the field of play, collecting the physical and technical/tactical data at the dizzying rate of 25 times a second. These devices permit the integration, through the Mediacoach analysis tool, of two technologies: tracking and eventing. Tracking is based on the positional information collected by the stadium perimeter cameras and allows for the generation of metrics such as distance covered, top and average speeds, and number of sprints. Eventing allows more objective events to be recorded: number of passes, corners, and fouls committed and received, for example. The information captured through tracking and eventing is integrated and stored in the system forming a high-volume set of data. 

The raw data collected is processed for analysis by a multidisciplinary team composed of LaLiga experts in business intelligence & analytics and football analysis, through machine learning and artificial intelligence processes made possible thanks to the Azure technology supplied by Microsoft, which is capable of processing large volumes of data. After processing, an algorithm is generated that permits the visualisation of the metrics that reach fans through Beyond Stats. These statistics allow fans to better understand why their team has won or lost a match, or to benefit from a panoramic view of their performance and expectations, gifting football fans an unprecedented immersion in the experience.