Beyond Stats

Fact of the week

Bellingham: the gift that keeps on giving

Just when it looked like the Englishman couldn’t surprise us any more, he goes and delivers a brace in ELCLASICO. He leads the way in the league scoring charts, with ten goals to his name and a 41% shot conversion rate. He chalks up over three high-impact attacking actions per game and only two of his Real Madrid teammates have provided more key passes than the rising star. He both scores and creates goals and is a constant thorn in opposition backlines. He lies third in the division standings in terms of attempts on target, yet he doesn’t even feature amongst the top 25 players for the number of attempts on goal. Unquestionably, Los Blancos have a highly efficient finisher on their hands.

Remarkable Coach

Simeone’s high-octane Atleti well placed in third.

Atletico Madrid sit pretty in fourth spot for the number of high-impact carries, which are defined as those that result in a goal or a goalscoring opportunity. This statistic reflects a hallmark of Diego Simeone’s side, whose game is all about possession and high intensity, with the Colchoneros posting almost three high-impact actions per match. The graphic below displays these actions. We should also highlight another of the statistics that sets Atleti apart and one that has been a feature of their play all season: the capital club are amongst the leading pack when it comes to the number of attempts required to score (4.7). A fine mix of efficiency in front of goal and high-performance football sees the Rojiblancos sit handily in third position in the league table, with 25 points to their name.

Key Player

Isco continues to stake claim.

Not only does the Malaga-born schemer score goals, he makes them too. He occupies third place in the number of passes played across the whole league. The graphic features all of these passes, while the video allows us to relive one of the Real Betis man’s key passes. As if that weren’t enough, he’s also one of LALIGA’s standout performers in terms of passes played into the box, forwards passes and successful dribbles. He is also a player who draws a lot of fouls. All in all, he’s a difference-maker who greatly enhances the Verdiblancos’ options.

The Match up

La Real’s positional play.

Width in possession is a key element when it comes to creating space, but that’s clearly not a tactical lesson that Imanol Aguacil needs to hear. His Real Sociedad side record the best width statistics in the league in possession, which greatly benefits the team’s build-up play. On average, the boys from San Sebastian cover a whopping 1,147m in the attacking phase. It’s little coincidence that La Real bag the final podium place for the number of attempts required to find the net (just 6.3). What’s more, it’s worth noting that the Basques are not amongst one of the leading teams for the number of attempts or passes completed in the final third, all of which speaks volumes of their efficiency in front of goal.

The radar chart shows the main differences with Real Sociedad’s next opponents: Barcelona.

Remember his name

Riquelme: sharpshooter & trickster by trade.

The up-and-coming Atletico star continues to earn rave reviews in the Spanish top flight. It’s no mean feat to create chances and convert them, but Roro Riquelme is doing just that. He lies third in the team ranking for the number of attempts, and he leads the way for the number of dribbles. The number of attempts on goal he manages sees him feature amongst the top 10 players in the competition in this department. The graphic shows the location of his attempts, of which he amasses an impressive 5.9 per match, while the video features him evading the attentions of a rival defender with a dribble before notching his latest goal.

Metric of the week

Number of players per possession.

Last week, we shone the spotlight on the number of passes per possession, and today we continue to explore the in-possession phase by looking at how many players are involved in each possession. As we already know, the days of possession being a simple percentage figure have long gone, and we can now look at a whole host of other related aspects in the modern game. This week our focus is on the number of players who touch the ball per possession. This metric enables us to measure how many players are involved in the possession phase. In this department, FC Barcelona lie top of the La Liga tree, with 3.7 players taking part in each possession.

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.