How to analyse the reality of a situation in a game like football can be done in many ways, but surely each of us will be closer to drawing conclusions when we can have several of them at our fingertips. We can know how much dominance a team had in a match through the number of chances, how dangerous they were or the number of corners, but just one statistic is going to be insufficient. So adding another one to that list will always be great news.
We have recently added to the match sheets on our ‘driblabPRO’ platform the option to see how much ‘field tilt’ both teams had in a match. In the recent Barcelona-Girona game there was much debate about which team dominated more, although the most important value is probably who dominated better. In any case, Barcelona accounted for 63.9 of all passes and total touches in the final third, to Girona’s 36.3%.
This functionality is based on the last 35 metres of the pitch, the area where the teams move from the build-up zone to the finishing zone, where teams change pace.
Raising this statistic in a ranking, we can find Arsenal and Manchester City as the two great territorial dominators, which certifies the sensations they transmit in each of their matches: a lot of possession, a very fluid system to progress and a lot of depth in all their possessions. By contrast, Metz and Cadiz are the two teams in the five big leagues that average the lowest percentage of total touches and passes in the final third in their matches. A new way of understanding styles of play and use of possession.
The metric, however, does not measure the percentage of touches each team makes in the final third, but the average percentage of touches in the final third in each match. That is, of the 100% of touches and passes made by both teams in a match, Arsenal average 69.7% of the total. And their opponents, the rest, 30.3%.
Founded in 2017 as a consultancy, Driblab has driven innovation through data in all aspects of professional football. Thanks to a transversal model, its database collects and models statistics in all directions. From converting matches and videos into bespoke data for training academies to developing cutting-edge technology, helping clubs, federations and representative agencies in talent scouting and transfer markets. Driblab’s smart data is used by clubs all over the world, with success stories such as Dinamo Zagreb, Real Betis and Girondins Bordeaux among others. Here you can find out more about how we work and what we offer.
