Developing a two-dimensional landscape model of opportunities for penetrative passing in association football – Stage I

Abstract

This study investigated a method for modeling a landscape of opportunities for penetrative passing completed on the ground by ball carriers in association football.Analysis of video footage of competitive, professional football performance was undertaken, identifying a sample (n=20) of attacking sub-phases of game play which ended in a penetrative pass being made between defenders to a receiver. Players' relative co-positioning during performance was modelled using bi-dimensional x and y coordinates of each player recorded at 25 fps. Data on player movements during competitive interactions were captured using an automatic video tracking system, recording player co-locations emerging over time, as well as current and estimated running velocities. Results revealed that the half-spaces between the midfield and both side lines were the key locations on field providing most affordances for penetrating passes in the competitive performance sample analysed. Due to the dynamics of players' co-adaptive performance behaviours, it was expected that opportunities for penetrative passing by ball carriers would not display a homogeneous space-time spread across the entire field. Results agreed with these expectations, showing how a landscape of opportunities for penetrative passing might be specified by information emerging from continuous player interactions in competitive performance.

Off-ball behavior in association football: A data-driven model to measure changes in individual defensive pressure

“…Perhaps, the higher work rate preceding successful goal scoring opportunities discovered by Schulze et. al (2022) 2022elicits fatigue in defenders which not only impairs their motivation to intercept passes (Barte et al, 2020) but also decreases their ability to perform sprints needed to prevent penetrating passes (Passos et al, 2020).…”

Towards a contemporary player learning in development framework for sports practitioners

“…For the players "in possession of the ball", the intention to play through shines a light on opportunities for playing penetrative passes in the landscape of shared affordances to pass and receive between the defenders. 43 But for the defenders, the shared affordances perceived would relate to opportunities for pass interception and the closing of spaces for opponents to play penetrative passes.…”

How football team composition constrains emergent individual and collective tactical behaviours: Effects of player roles in creating different landscapes for shared affordances in small-sided and conditioned games

“…Such results are aligned with previous findings on passing frequency of midfielders. It has been observed that midfielders preferentially explore affordances for passing opportunities to progress up field, through the defensive lines, seeking to play penetrative passes to attackers in space (Liu et al, 2016;Passos et al, 2020).…”

“…It has been observed that midfielders preferentially explore affordances for passing opportunities to progress up field, through the defensive lines, seeking to play penetrative passes to attackers in space. 27,28 In fact, midfielder players are usually the players with higher centrality of play (i.e., the players that receive and distribute more passes to other players) inside of the network of relations of a team, assuming the main responsibility to promote the flow of passes between different team sectors. 6 In line with our previous findings, midfielders revealed, in ball possession effectiveness, a lower number of shots at goal, compared to teams of defenders.…”