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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 20

Real Sociedad

1 - 0

RC Celta

SAT 08.01.2022

15:15

Season 2021/2022

Reale Arena

Granada CF

1 - 1

FC Barcelona

SAT 08.01.2022

17:30

Season 2021/2022

Nuevo Los Cármenes

Real Madrid

4 - 1

Valencia CF

SAT 08.01.2022

20:00

Season 2021/2022

Estadio Santiago Bernabéu

CA Osasuna

2 - 0

Cádiz CF

SUN 09.01.2022

17:30

Season 2021/2022

Estadio El Sadar

Real Sociedad

1 - 0

RC Celta

SAT 08.01.2022

15:15

Season 2021/2022

Matchday 20

Reale Arena

La Real’s team spacing continues to reap rewards

Imanol Alguacil’s charges occupy second spot in the LaLiga Santander standings for team spacing in possession or, in other words, they have registered the second-widest convex hull when they have the ball, with the team covering a breathtaking 1,117m2. Meanwhile, the Basques also boast the best points-per-goal ratio in the division (1.43).

The San Sebastian-based outfit sit in fifth position in the standings for successful dribbles and the percentage of shots on target, whilst they are handily placed in third in terms of the percentage of recoveries made in the opposition’s half (26%). As we can clearly see from these statistics, striking that all-important balance between attacking and defensive play is one of the hallmarks of La Real’s playing style.

Meanwhile, RC Celta have earned themselves a place in the higher reaches of a number of the league’s rankings. The Galicians’ impressive fitness sees them bag third spot in the standings for distances covered at over 21km/hr, whilst they sit one spot lower in the charts for the number of sprints completed at over 24km/hr.

As if that wasn’t enough, the Vigo-based side enjoy a high percentage of possession in the opposition’s half, with their performance in this department earning them second spot in the league ranking, whilst only four sides have posted more recoveries in the opposition’s territory than Eduardo Coudet’s men.

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High-intensity powerhouses Celta break the lines

Celta’s passes beat an average of 2.89 opponents, with the team’s ability in this facet of the game illustrated in the video below. However, one of Celta’s main tools when it comes to breaking lines and posing a threat on the opposition’s goal are their carries, which are supported by the impressive speed and distance stats highlighted above. The Galicians sit proudly in second spot in the league standings for the number of carries that break the opposition’s defensive line (4.67 per game). What’s more, the Celestes lie top of the pile when it comes to distance covered after losing the ball.

As for Real Sociedad, they combine their ability to use the whole width of the pitch when in possession by occupying a reduced area in the defensive phase, where they record the fourth-narrowest team spacing in the Spanish top flight. The Basques occupy 1,117m in possession and this figure drops to 708m when the opposition have the ball.  

The Real Arena-based outfit display great intensity in their defensive transitions and lie in third spot when it comes to the distance covered after losing possession.

PLAYER FOCUS

Inch-perfect Isak is amongst leading pack for shots on target

Not only does the Swede speedster weigh in with his fair share of goals, four of which have come in open play, he also boasts a 12% shot conversion rate, which places him amongst the top 10 players in LaLiga Santander in this particular department.

Opposition defences are wary of Isak’s considerable talents and it’s little surprise that he features on the podium for La Real players who register the shortest distance to the opponent when receiving the ball, as illustrated in the video.

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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.