The influence of situational variables on defensive positioning in professional soccer

Santos, Pedro; Lago‐Peñas, Carlos; García-García, Oscar

doi:10.1080/24748668.2017.1331571

Cited by 42 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Regarding the area of ball possession in relation to the match status, Lago-Peñas (2009) and Barreira et al (2011) state that with a winning match status, teams have more possession in defensive zones, and a losing match status increases possession in the offensive third of the field. Almeida et al (2014), and Santos et al (2017) confirm that unsuccessful teams defend in more advanced areas of the field. On the other hand, the study of Casal et al (2019), differentiate between successful and unsuccessful teams in the UEFA Euro 2016, and the duration of the ball possessions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 66%

The Influence of Match Status on Ball Possession in High Performance Women’s Football

et al. 2020

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The objective of this study was to examine the effect of the situational match status variable on the ball possession of the teams that participated in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup. The 52 games played during the championship have been collected, and 3,740 ball possessions made by the teams were analyzed. The teams have been divided into successful and unsuccessful. Three types of analysis have been carried out: a univariate analysis for both groups with the categorical and continuous variables selected; a bivariate analysis, using chi-square tests and the exact Fischer test; and finally, a multivariable technique such as the decision trees was incorporated. The available results show significant differences between the two groups considered. Specifically, there are significant differences between winning and losing teams in terms of match status. The results of the post hoc test have shown that unsuccessful teams make few ball possessions with a winning match status, most of the possessions are performed when they are losing. Instead, successful teams make more possessions when they are winning than when they are losing. Also, spend more time keeping the ball in their offensive zone, and completing a greater number of passes in it. The results of the decision tree identified that the unsuccessful teams have more ball possessions in forward and middle lines with a draw during the first half, while in the second, a large percentage of possessions are made with an unfavorable match status. Instead, the successful teams have more ball possessions in the first part with a draw, while in the second it happens with a favorable match status.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 66%

The Influence of Match Status on Ball Possession in High Performance Women’s Football

et al. 2020

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“…These SoPs showed higher values than those of their rivals in %PAS and %CON for some teams (i.e., Sporting, Leganés, Málaga and Atlético), while others (i.e., Eibar and Athletic) also added superiority in %REC, %ALT and %POSr (IRi that configure component 1). The positioning of the defensive line is a factor that has already been previously studied [18], proposing a predictive model based on linear regression, through the advance of defensive and offensive lines when the team had less quality, played at home and was losing on the scoreboard [3]. This factor had been studied to compare the teams placed in the upper half of the table with respect to those in the lower half of two professional leagues of the same country [6].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most of the studies [2] have focused on the analysis of offensive variables and performance indicators such as passes, ball possession or shots on goal. Only in some cases [3] defensive behaviours were studied (i.e., positioning of the defensive line at the moment of ball recovery). A third alternative has been the proposal of a repertoire of variables and indicators of both phases of the game, offensive and defensive [4,5], which has helped to describe the variables that can tell the difference between winners and losers or between two professional leagues from the same country [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification and Preference of Game Styles in LaLiga Associated with Match Outcomes

Castellano

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2019

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The objective was to model the teams' styles of play (SoPs) in elite football and relate them to the match result. For this, the twenty Spanish first division teams in the 2016-2017 season were analysed, using nine interaction performance indicators (IRi). A principal component (PC) analysis was applied. From two PCs four SoPs were established: deep or high-pressure defending, and elaborate or direct attack. The SoPs were distributed according to average performance obtained throughout the championship. The connection between the preferred SoP and the final result was estimated. Teams with elaborate offensive styles and teams defensively minded got better results. In addition, most of the teams showed variability in their SoP. The applications of the study are (1) the IRi have served to identify SoP and can be used as a reference to optimize team performance;(2) teams should have a varied SoP repertoire, as well as being prepared to deal with different SoPs;(3) particular player profiles should be connected with the desired SoP when creating the squad and (4) clubs should develop a varied range of SoPs at their academies.

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“…Their results did not show any effect of those contextual variables on ball recovers in advanced zones but showed effects in other zones of the pitch. Nevertheless, a recent study measured the ball recovery location and the position of the defensive line to examine the effect of match conditions on defensive positioning (Santos et al, 2017). This study demonstrated that ball recovery location increased when the team was losing and the position of the defensive line decreased when playing away and facing strong opposition.…”

Section: Variable Definitionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Tactical Variables Related to Gaining the Ball in Advanced Zones of the Soccer Pitch: Analysis of Differences Among Elite Teams and the Effect of Contextual Variables

et al. 2020

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Attacking tactical variables have been commonly studied in soccer to analyze teams' performance. However, few studies investigated defensive tactical variables during match-play and the influence of contextual variables on them. The aims of the present study were (1) to examine the defensive behaviors of soccer teams when gaining the ball in advanced zones of the pitch and (2) to evaluate the effect of contextual variables on these defensive behaviors. A sample of 1,095 defensive pieces of play initiated in the opposing half of the pitch obtained from 10 matches of the season 2010/11 of La Liga and involving 13 teams was collected using the semiautomated tracking system Amisco Pro. Five defensive tactical variables, the outcome of defensive pieces of play, and contextual variables (i.e., match status, venue, quality of opposition, and match period) were recorded for every defensive piece initiated in the opposing half of the pitch. Results showed that there were significant differences among teams in the outcome of defensive pieces of play originating from the opposing half (χ 2 = 111.87, p < 0.01, ϕ c = 0.22), and in the outcome of offensive pieces of play following ball gains (χ 2 = 49.92, p < 0.001, ϕ c = 0.22). Cluster analysis revealed four groups describing different defensive behaviors from high-pressure to a defense close to their own goal. Match status (χ 2 = 25.87, p < 0.05, ϕ c = 0.11) and quality of opposition (χ 2 = 21.19, p < 0.05, ϕ c = 0.10) were the contextual variables that showed a significant effect on defensive pieces of play initiated in the opposite half of the pitch. Teams winning gained more balls in the zone close to their own goal, and losing teams gained more balls in advanced zones of the pitch. Moreover, the greater the quality of the opponent the lesser the chance of gaining the ball in advanced zones of the pitch. Neither venue or match period influenced the defensive pieces of play analyzed. Soccer teams could employ a similar analysis to improve their performance and prepare for opposition teams in competition.

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The influence of situational variables on defensive positioning in professional soccer

Cited by 42 publications

References 25 publications

The Influence of Match Status on Ball Possession in High Performance Women’s Football

The Influence of Match Status on Ball Possession in High Performance Women’s Football

Identification and Preference of Game Styles in LaLiga Associated with Match Outcomes

Tactical Variables Related to Gaining the Ball in Advanced Zones of the Soccer Pitch: Analysis of Differences Among Elite Teams and the Effect of Contextual Variables

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