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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 30

Valencia CF

0 - 0

Cádiz CF

DOM 03.04.2022

16:30

Season 2021/2022

Camp de Mestalla

FC Barcelona

1 - 0

Sevilla FC

DOM 03.04.2022

19:00

Season 2021/2022

Spotify Camp Nou

FC Barcelona

1 - 0

Sevilla FC

DOM 03.04.2022

19:00

Season 2021/2022

Matchday 30

Spotify Camp Nou

Barcelona focus on regaining possession in dangerous areas

This clip highlights the importance that advantageous recoveries, i.e. those that involve a numerical advantage, play in the system adopted by Xavi’s men. Indeed, 15% of Barcelona’s recoveries occur in advantageous areas, a return that places them fourth in the league standings in this department.

To gain a greater understanding of Barcelona’s blueprint and focus on the start of their defensive transitions, we note that Xavi’s side occupy the final place on the league podium for the number of players involved in the press immediately after possession is relinquished (3.17 players), whilst the Catalans rank as runners-up in the league table for the distance covered after losing the ball (an average of 15m).

In addition to the percentage of advantageous recoveries highlighted above, Barça lead the way in the top-flight charts for the average height up the pitch at which possession is recovered (40.14m on average), whilst they are top of the class for the number of recoveries in the opposition’s half (over 20 per game).

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Sevilla’s impressive width & how it compares to Xavi’s Barça

As we can see from this clip, one of Sevilla’s strengths is their positioning, with the Andalusians boasting the widest team spacing when in possession, with an average of 1,129m2. Meanwhile, their opponents in this intriguing battle occupy fifth possession in this facet with a score of 1,045m2.

A comparison between the Nervion-based outfit and their opponents in the forthcoming round of games makes for interesting reading, given that the two teams occupy similar positions in the rankings when it comes to qualitative and quantitative aspects of their build-up play. Alongside Real Madrid, the pair bag spots on the podium for the number of players involved per possession. Whilst the Catalan giants sit in second with 3.55 players per possession, Sevilla lie hot on their heels in third position with 3.26. The two teams are also evenly matched in terms of the number of passes per possession, with Barcelona’s possessions featuring 6.3 passes to Sevilla’s 5.7.

It is also worth taking a look at the key elements in these two heavyweights’ defensive transitions. During this phase of the game, they occupy the top two spots in LaLiga Santander for recovery rate, i.e. the number of recoveries per minute. In sum, the key to success is in achieving a balance between build-up play and using all of your quality to prevent the opposition from posing a threat on goal.

PLAYER FOCUS

Kounde is stellar top-10 performer

 

Jules Kounde is a vital cog in Sevilla’s system. Not only is the French stopper a strong all-round performer, he’s also effective and brings a real intensity to everything he does. We’re going to take a look at various aspects of his playing style and, as you may well have guessed from the title, he features amongst the league’s top 10 players in all of the areas we’re going to explore. The commanding centre-back takes his place amongst the top 10 in: carries that break the opposition’s midfield line, which are key to Sevilla’s tactic of playing the ball out of the back; recoveries, racking up more than eight per outing; and in the first passes following a turnover. These latest areas are also important to a team’s system and the initial elements of their build-up play.

However, Kounde’s contribution goes much further and extends to his involvement in the play, as he chalks up an average of 71 passes per game.

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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.