Beyond Stats

Fact of the week

Barcelona seek to profit in tight spaces.

Xavi’s charges have taken the most shots on target in the league, but when it comes to total shots it is Real Madrid who top the standings. However, the metric which we would like to shine a spotlight on this week is that FC Barcelona are top on shots under pressure, which means when their opponents are making it most difficult for them. They are a team who are accustomed to finishing off their moves in close proximity to players from the opposing side, and they still manage to take advantage of these chances successfully. To reach this endpoint, they first progress through a good build-up phase: they are the team who play the second-most forward passes and they are also the second-most successful team at executing them. What’s more, they are bridesmaids in the division for high-impact attacking actions. There is no doubt that Barcelona are still a creative force to be reckoned with, as they continue in their bid to rediscover their finest form.

Remarkable Coach

Garcia Pimienta is a stickler for possession.

Las Palmas’ predilection for building with the ball is by no means a new facet of their game this season. It is something that they have been doing since getting promoted last term. They enjoy a lot of possession, they make the LALIGA podium for total passes and stand among the top five for successfully completing them, but we can go even further and take a look at the qualitative aspects. They are among the top three for forward passes and the top two for passes under pressure. Their link-up play stats are exemplary, but what about in the defensive phase?

They are the team whose opponents need the most shots to score, with over 16 shots against them before they concede a goal. They also are the team with the second-most recoveries in the league. These figures demonstrate that we are in the presence of a great team who are operating extremely well at both ends of the pitch.

Key Player

Dovbyk continues to show his signing was an inspired decision.

Girona FC were strong and unwavering in their bid to sign this exciting player, and the reasons why keep becoming more and more apparent. The 26-year-old forward continues to raise his game in tandem with a Girona side who are battling to cling on to the top spot. Together with Jude Bellingham, the Ukrainian is the top scorer in LALIGA with 14 goals. He is also among the top five for shots and expected goals, and one of the top ten players with the highest percentage of shots ending in a goal (29%). He plays an instrumental role for Girona and is one of Michel’s top performers.

The Match up

Two creative masters to face off: Las Palmas v Real Madrid.

We already know that Garcia Pimienta’s men engage in a lot of very good link-up play, while Real Madrid are prolific in front of goal. The main differences which we can glean when directly comparing the two teams revolve around their attacks: Real Madrid shoot more, pass more in the danger zone and have a greater attacking effectiveness, needing fewer shots to score. Las Palmas stand out above Real Madrid on rapid recoveries and on the percentage of shots saved, a stat which makes perfect sense when we consider the superb season that Alvaro Valles is having. There is no question that we are in for a brilliant match!

Remember his name

Areso and the GOAL of the season.

Surely you have seen one of the most “unlikely” goals so far this season. On the last matchday, the Osasuna player Areso scored a brilliant goal following an attempted cross. The angle was narrowed to virtually nothing, he had been closed down by a defender and just getting a cross into the box was a tricky proposition. However, the ball in presumably seeking out a striker ended up flying into the back of an astonished David Soria’s net. This brilliant strike continues to cause a stir, because it had just a 0.8% chance of ending in a goal.

In addition to Areso’s goal, we can also stress that he is the player on his team with the second-highest number of shots ending in a goal (67%), is among the top two players in his team for passes into the box and the top five for total passes.

Metric of the week

Convex Hull in possession.

The Convex Hull is the area occupied by a team on the pitch in different situations and phases. We measure it in square metres and in this week’s segment we are looking at the Convex Hull in possession.

This is the number of square metres occupied by a team when they have the ball, in the attacking phase. Larger areas can be indicative of a broader range of spaces and options for building the play and a team’s penetration. Likewise, fewer square metres covered in the defensive phase can make things harder for the opponent. Real Betis are the team with the largest Convex Hull in possession, covering an area of 1146 metres on average in the attacking 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.