The influence of match location, quality of opposition, and match status on technical performance in professional association football

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of match location, quality of opposition, and match status on the technical aspects of performance within a single professional British football team. Forty matches from the 2002--2003 and 2003--2004 domestic league seasons were notated post-event using a computerized notational analysis system with 13 on-the-ball behaviours and corresponding outcomes (successful or unsuccessful) assessed. Log-linear modelling procedures indicated that the incidences of all on-the-ball technical behaviours, with the exception of "set-pieces", were influenced by at least one of the three situation variables, with both independent and interactive effects found. In contrast, logit modelling suggested that there was no general influence of the situation variables on the outcomes of the on-the-ball behaviours. The findings emphasize the need for notational analysts and coaches to consider the potential independent and interactive effects of match location, quality of opposition, and match status when assessing the technical components of football performance, particularly those relating to behaviour occurrence. Future research should consider the effects of additional situation variables purported to influence the mental, physical, technical, and tactical components of football performance.

Efficacy of the Volleyball Game Actions Related to the Quality of Opposition

“…top or bottom half of the ranking, and teams were categorized as "successful" or "unsuccessful" [2], based on their progress within a particular tournament. Both of these categorizations were problematic since, in on hand, the groups could be formed by too many teams without clear differences between them, and in other hand, a team deemed to be successful may not necessarily be of high quality and vice versa [1].…”

“…However, there are scarcities of specific studies that have this possible influence as main goal. The quality of opposition was frequently dichotomized into "strong" and "weak" [1], based on the symmetric division of teams based on the final ranking, i.e. top or bottom half of the ranking, and teams were categorized as "successful" or "unsuccessful" [2], based on their progress within a particular tournament.…”

Squad management, injury and match performance in a professional soccer team over a championship‐winning season

“…Moreover, potential confounders such as the period of the season in which the data were collected, the quality of the opposition faced and match location should be accounted for in order to bring context to sample data and its subsequent conclusions which is often not the case (Mackenzie & Cushion, 2013, Taylor, Mellalieu, James, & Shearer, 2008. In the practical context, research is merited to evaluate whether during a particularly successful season for example, a team demonstrated improved performance in games against other top ranked teams, away from home, or over the latter half of the season.…”

Score-line effect on work-rate in English FA Premier League soccer

“…Situational variables, including venue, quality of opposition, period within the game, score-line and the type of competition, influence sports performance (Taylor et al, 2008;Gómez et al, 2013). In soccer, score-line has been found to influence tactics (James et al, 2002;Bloomfield et al, 2004;Lago-Peñas and Martin, 2007;Lago, 2009;Taylor et al, 2008) and the quality of execution of match events (Taylor et al, 2008).…”

“…In soccer, score-line has been found to influence tactics (James et al, 2002;Bloomfield et al, 2004;Lago-Peñas and Martin, 2007;Lago, 2009;Taylor et al, 2008) and the quality of execution of match events (Taylor et al, 2008). Soccer players have been found to spend a greater percentage of match time performing high intensity activity when the score is level than when their teams are winning or losing (Clark and O'Donoghue, 2011).…”