Abstract
PurposeWhilst some studies have comprehensively described the different features associated with the attacking process in football they have not produced a methodology of practical use for performance enhancement. This study presents a framework of comprehensive and meaningful metrics to objectively describe the attacking process so that useful performance profiles can be produced.MethodsThe attacking process was categorized into three independent situations, no advantage (stable), advantage, and unstable (potential goal scoring opportunity) situations. Operational definitions for each situation enhanced their reliability and validity. English Premier League football matches (n = 38) played by Crystal Palace Football Club in the 2017/2018 season were analyzed as an exemplar.ResultsCrystal Palace FC created a median of 53.5 advantage situations (IQR = 16.8) and 23 unstable situations (IQR = 8.8) per match. They frequently utilized wide areas (Median = 21.5, IQR = 9.8) to progress, but only 26.6% resulted in unstable situations (Median = 6.0, IQR = 3.8), the lowest rate compared to the other advantage situations.ConclusionThis classification framework, when used with contextual factors in a multi-factorial manner, including individual player contributions, will provide practically useful information for applied practice. This approach will help close the so called theory-practice gap and enable academic rigor to inform practical problems.
Highlights
Football is an invasion sport with the main aim of breaking through an opponent’s defense to score a goal
This study describes the attacking process by differentiating stable, advantage and unstable situations (Figure 1)
Only the first unstable situation was coded because the aim of the study was to identify the moment the game state changed e.g., a counter attack could result in a penalty box possession situation but the latter was deemed irrelevant as there was no game state change between the counter attack and the penalty box possession
Summary
Football is an invasion sport with the main aim of breaking through an opponent’s defense to score a goal. James (2009) made the point that unless the processes undertaken to achieve outcomes are investigated meaningful performance improvement information cannot be achieved This academic perspective is quite different from the approach taken by coaches who plan training sessions following a comprehensive analysis of factors such as the opposition’s strengths and weaknesses and attacking/defending playing patterns (Borrie et al, 2002), referred to as tactical analysis (Garganta, 2009). From the theoretical perspective, Hewitt et al (2016) suggested that identifying playing patterns (referred to as playing style), using more detailed analyses than evident in the literature, would impact training practices, and enable coaches and sport scientists to have a clearer understanding of what teams need to do in order to win This view strongly advocates the analysis of the “developmental processes” involved prior to a team having goal scoring opportunities. This approach, requires a systematic breakdown of how teams develop ball possessions into goal scoring opportunities and goals, with the added benefit that this methodology would enable recurrent patterns to be discerned, allowing the possibility of developing individual team profiles under different playing conditions
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