‘Measure your next opponent’: how Álvaro Cervera’s Cádiz is playing

Category: Team Analysis

Measuring the opposing team is a fundamental function in the scouts' day-to-day work. We take a closer look at Cadiz to find out how they play.

Published:13/10/2021

One of the main tasks of a club’s scouting department is to observe and analyse the next opponent, a function that we can perform from Driblab using a multitude of tools and visualisations. In this text we are going to see some graphic maps that will help us to understand how a specific team plays, in this case Cádiz, one of the most unique teams in La Liga.

Since the arrival of Álvaro Cervera on the bench of the Cadiz team, things in the south-west of Andalusia have been done in a certain way and under the same philosophy: to seek defensive excellence and minimise risks in order to achieve results. The Cádiz coach does not hide and is aware of the team’s strengths and weaknesses and what he can and cannot do. That is how he achieved promotion to the Second Division, and that is how he achieved promotion to the top flight after a long period in the lower divisions for Cádiz. In their second year in La Liga, it is clear to them that if something works, you don’t change it.

With different ways of visualising performance, we can learn all about our next opponents, in quality and in style. As we see on the team’s style radar, Cádiz do not need possession to be competitive, being the team with the lowest possession rates in La Liga, as well as one of the teams that allow the most passes to the opposition when they have the ball. In the attacking phases, Cádiz, with their direct play, are one of the teams that gain the most metres per possession at only 1.71 passes on average.

As we have mentioned before and can verify thanks to our radars, Cadiz’s strength lies in defence since Cervera’s arrival. Over the course of La Liga 21/22, they are one of the lowest defending teams and although they have a tackling efficiency of 63%, this poses risks that we see reflected in the high volume of shots against the team.

It is also worth noting that opponents are needing to generate 1.24 xG to convert their chances, which means they are a difficult side to beat. In the following maps, we will analyse where Cadiz prefer to press and cause the opposition to lose.

In this map we can see the total number of tackles made by the team, both successful and unsuccessful. We can clearly see what we were saying when we see that the percentages increase from midfield to the back. It is also worth noting that the highest percentages are found in the lateral corridors, which seems to be a directive from the bench to use the arrival of the ball in these areas as an indicator of pressure.

In this second map, we see all the team’s recoveries (whether by Tackles, interceptions etc…).

There are certain patterns and relationships with the previous map, such as the increase in the percentage of recoveries as the opponent gets closer to the Cadiz goal; the difference is that the highest percentages are no longer found on the sides, but this time we see it in the centre, which means that the team generally protects well those areas of the field aware that the goal is in that same lane, and causes the rivals to seek to do damage on the outside (areas of more tackles) as they run into a wall on the inside.

There is still a long league ahead and we will see how Cervera’s team performs, but it is clear that the team has been faithful to a style that has given them results for years and that in Cadiz things are done in a specific way where, as their coach says The Fight Is Not Negotiable.

We are Driblab, a consultancy specialized in football analytics and big data; our work is focused on advising and minimizing risk in professional football decision-making in areas related to talent detection and footballer evaluations. Our database has more than 180,000 players from more than 180 competitions, covering information from all over the world. Here you can learn more about how we work and what we offer.

Autor: Alex Pruna
For Team Analysis we also recommend you:

Young guns: Under-21 xT kings in Europe’s second tier

Is it that another international break arriving? So it’s time for a summary of the season so far. We’ve selected one metric and talked about it: who are the u21 underground xT leaders?

6 players to monitor in newly-promoted sides

On many occasions newly promoted teams are sustained on the basis of one player. This is not always the case, but we have chosen six young players with bags of potential for whom this rule is likely to apply.

Early season team stats leaders: the good and the evil

The season is now underway and with it comes the first consistent statistical samples. We have chosen a new set of metrics to talk about the teams that top both positive and negative metrics.

Kroos for Mbappé: the data that reveals a major change in Ancelotti’s plan

Kroos for Mbappé: the data that reveals a major change in Ancelotti’s plan.

Driblab, nominated for ‘Best Sportstech Startup’ by the World Football Summit Awards 2024

Driblab nominated at the World Football Summit Awards in the category ‘Best Sportstech Startup’

Driblab ELO and Difficulty Ranking: The First Stage of the 2024/25 Champions League

Driblab ELO and Difficulty Ranking: The First Stage of the 2024/25 Champions League

Five players will have a successful career in the Premier League

The 2024-25 Premier League is about to begin. In a Game of Thrones that Manchester City has dominated with great authority, many stories and new talents are gathering in what is currently the best league. We'll have time to collect all the individual and collective...

24/25: 7 potential U23 breakout stars in Central Europe

Football is back, if it ever left. Some countries have their leagues already underway and we have to look at potential breakout seasons from young players. Here our list of 7 players from Central Europe that you’ll have to keep an eye on!

Pep Guardiola’s last Premier League? Here, his two main legacies

Pep Guardiola’s last Premier League? Here, his two main legacies

Repeat the trick: will the Football League’s biggest overperformers do it again?

Goals are all that matter, right? This week we’ve worked to found the strikers who overperformed the most in the Football League so we can assess whether they can continue doing that. Will their non-expected goals help them climb the pyramid?

Driblab

Información corporativa

Somos una empresa con sede en Madrid fundada en 2017 por Salvador Carmona y Cristian Coré Ramiro. Desde nuestros inicios nuestro trabajo se ha centrado en el análisis estadístico de datos para ayudar a los clubes en la planificación deportiva. Somos una consultora big data que ofrece servicios personalizados para cada cliente y defiende un modelo de gestión mixto y una comunicación constante para acompañar el día a día de las instituciones. Nuestro punto fuerte es la más amplia cobertura disponible en número de torneos profesionales y juveniles. Para más detalles, póngase en contacto con nosotros.

Colaboramos con:

           

Hemos aparecido en: