Beyond Stats

Fact of the week

Barcelona’s dangerous possessions: plentiful in number & proportion

We very often refer to dangerous possessions as a raw number, but here we will speak of them in proportional terms and place them in a ranking.

FC Barcelona occupy second position in the league table for the team with the highest percentage of dangerous possessions relative to their overall possession statistic (6.9%), with only Real Madrid sitting ahead of them (7.4%). However, in terms of the total number of such moves per game, the Catalan giants share top spot with Los Blancos (5.8 per game).

Remarkable Coach

Ernesto Valverde’s bold approach

Our standout coach this matchday is the man in the Athletic hot seat, whose side play a high-intensity, direct and bold brand of football.

There can be no doubting the Basques’ intensity and fitness levels. The boys from Bilbao top the division’s charts for distance covered at over 28km/hr and it is therefore little coincidence that they clinch a place in the top five sides for high-impact carries (almost four per outing).

When we look at their transitions and play in the attacking phase, we discover that the San Mames-based outfit are top dogs in terms of the press after losing possession. In addition, when they regain possession, they also occupy a place on the podium for the percentage of forward passes, with their direct brand of football plain to see from the very moment they win the ball back.

Key Player

Fede Valverde earns Bernabeu ovations

When Fede Valverde struts his stuff on the Santiago Bernabeu pitch, the home fans revel in his talents and are justifiably keen to express their appreciation.

His devastating carries, which more often than not result in fine goals, place him amongst the top six players in the division in this department. He is the division’s sixth-best performer for the number of carries that break the opposition’s midfield line. However, not only does the Uruguayan schemer create goalscoring chances, he also possesses a veritable goal threat and features amongst the competition’s top 15 players when it comes to attempts on target. In addition, he bags a spot amongst the division’s top 10 aces for the number of high-impact attacking actions and passes completed in the final third.

In short, Valverde is one of those players who generates play, both with and without the ball, and also records an impressive number of shots on goal.

The Match up

Madrid derby is always special & its data is no different

As we can see from the videos, one of the facets of the game in which Real Madrid excel are in the actions that very often come immediately before an attempt on goal: high-impact carries. Los Merengues feature in the top two in the division’s ranking in this department, while Atleti are well placed in sixth position, with 5.2 and 3.4 high-impact carries per game respectively.

If we shine the spotlight on the teams’ efficiency in front of goal, i.e. how many shots are required to score, we note that Diego Simeone’s troops are the league’s bridesmaids and need just seven shots to score, while their old foes lie in fifth position in this area.

Atletico Madrid’s intensity levels are clearly a non-negotiable for El Cholo and the Rojiblancos land the final spot on the league podium for the number of high-intensity actions, i.e. those completed at over 28km/hr, while Carlo Ancelotti’s men sit in seventh place.

Remember his name

Fran Garcia: attacking ability with end product

When we enjoy watching a player in action, not only do we look at what they can do on the ball, but we also pay attention to their fitness levels. In this regard, it becomes instantly apparent that Rayo Vallecano’s Fran Garcia is a very complete footballer.

No LaLiga Santander player clocks up more distance than Garcia (almost 12.5km per game), while, as we can see in this clip, he is the league’s standout performer for the number of actions completed at over 24km/hr.

If we analyse his position in the Rayo rankings, we also find that he claims top spot in a number of areas, which only serves to reflect his importance within Andoni Iraola’s tactical system. For example, he leads the way in the side’s passing charts and generates more attacking actions than any of his teammates.

Metric of the week

Convex hull in possession

Spaces and how a team manages them is vitally important within football and the area a side occupies during the various game scenarios can make all the difference.

The convex hull refers to the area a team occupies on the field of play at different points during the course of a game. It is expressed in m² and our analysis here relates to the convex hull in possession.

This metric studies the area covered by a team when on the ball, i.e. in attacking transitions. If a side occupies a large area, it offers players a wider range of spaces and options when building up play and in terms of depth, while also making life more difficult for the defending team during the defensive phase.

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.