Match performance and physical capacity of players in the top three competitive standards of English professional soccer

Evolution of match performance parameters for various playing positions in the English Premier League

“…Thus, if the physical capacity of EPL players has remained stable across this time then these findings could be the result of players working at a higher proportion of their physical capacity in games. In support of this notion, Bradley et al (2013) reported no differences in the intermittent exercise capacity of players in the top three tiers of the English game but found that lower tier players covered more distance at high-intensity in matches compared with top tier players.…”

“…Level 2 Test has increased minimally (Bradley et al, 2011(Bradley et al, , 2013 in contrast to the substantial increases in high-intensity running distances in EPL matches across a similar time period (Barnes et al, 2014). Thus, if the physical capacity of EPL players has remained stable across this time then these findings could be the result of players working at a higher proportion of their physical capacity in games.…”

“…These observed changes were, however, within the inherent match-to-match variability for total distance covered by all positions in the EPL (Gregson et al, 2010) and as such should be treated with care. It has been reported that the distance covered at high-intensity seems a superior, more sensitive indicator of performance than total distance covered as it correlates strongly with physical capacity (Bradley et al, 2011;Krustrup, Mohr, Ellingsgaard, & Bangsbo, 2005) and is a distinguishing variable between competitive standard and gender (Andersson, Randers, Heiner-Møller, Krustrup, & Mohr, 2010;Bradley et al, 2013;Mohr, Krustrup, Andersson, Kirkendal, & Bangsbo, 2008;Mohr et al, 2003). Our findings revealed pronounced increases for high-intensity running distance for all positions (24-36%), the magnitude of these changes were greater than the inherent match-to-match variability previously reported for this variable (Gregson et al, 2010).…”

“…Although the physical and tactical aspects are central to performance (Bradley et al, 2013;Lago-Ballesteros et al, 2012), a teams technical ability has been identified as the best indicator of success (Castellano et al, 2012;Collet, 2013;Rampinini, Impellizzeri, Castagna, Coutts, & Wisløff, 2009). The number of passes performed in World Cup final matches has been shown to have increased by ~40% over four decades (Wallace & Norton, 2014), a similar increase to that observed over a seven year period in the EPL (Barnes et al, 2014).…”

Clustering seasonal performances of soccer teams based on situational score line

“…The variation in performance is due to players' conditions, such as fatigue during some matches [1], endurance [2,3], or injuries [4]. Numerous teams' performance dropped because their star players could not play the games.…”