Raimonds Krollis is the best striker in Latvia. This articles analyzes him and illustrates his main strengths & tendencies including movement, dropping deep, and finishing, while discussing his areas to improve and his potential ability.… Read More Raimonds Krollis, Valmiera’s Talisman Captain: Player Profile & Analytic Scouting
Article by Ben Griffis We widely use chess as a metaphor for soccer tactics, and the mere idea of a person playing chess invokes a romantic air of strategy and wisdom. Recently, Louis Vuitton ran an ad featuring Messi and Ronaldo playing chess—likening their careers to that of a chess match, where each player is… Read More Shogi And Football: The Japanese Version of Chess And Its Copious Parallels to The Beautiful Game
England and the USA played to an energetic and exciting 0-0 draw in the 2nd Group Stage match of the 2022 World Cup. This article examines the USA’s effective defensive block tactics that stifled England’s buildup, diving deeper into Christian Pulisic’s asymmetrical positioning.… Read More Dissecting the USA’s Defensive Block & Pulisic’s Free Defensive Position: How the US Defended England’s Buildup
Paul Bismarck Tabinas is a young Japanese wing back who loves running with the ball and is very dangerous in the air. In this scouting report we’ll look at lots of data and videos to see who he is as a player, his strengths and weaknesses, and if the wing back position is his best fit.… Read More Paul Bismarck Tabinas: Iwate Grulla Morioka’s Raw, Attack-Minded Wing Back – Data and Video Scouting
Article by Ben Griffis What players tend to pose the most immediate danger to the opponent’s defenders and goalkeeper with their passes? This is the question I’m looking to (begin to) address with a new metric I rather non-creatively term, Passing Danger Index, or PDI for short. The idea behind this is to see which… Read More Introducing “Passing Danger Index”: Measuring The Immediate Danger A Player’s Passes Pose to Opposing Back Lines
The 2022 edition of Latvia’s top flight, the Virsliga, will be decided on the final match day. This article previews the match, offering several key data visualizations and analysis on what we could expect from both matches and what it means to the title race.… Read More Latvia’s 2022 Virsliga Comes Down to the Wire: Previewing The Title-Seeking Teams’ Matches
This article will take a look back at and visualize each Kuala Lumpur City FC and Al-Seeb Club’s data in their matches leading up to the final. It dives deep into each team and their opponents to see what we could expect from these clubs, the danger each team brings, and possible areas of weakness their opponent could exploit.… Read More AFC Cup Final 2022 Data Preview: Kuala Lumpur City vs. Al-Seeb
This article introduces and develops, with examples, a new metric for football/soccer analysis. Added Receiving Rate (ARR) attempts to determine the overall receiving rate added (or subtracted) from their teammates.… Read More Introducing “Added Receiving Rate”: Measuring Player Ability to Give Teammates Better Chances at Receiving a Pass
Over the past few years, MLS has begun to change its identity from a retirement league to a developing one. With the MLS season passing its midway point, let’s look at 3 young goalkeepers who have impressed so far and ones to look out for in the future.… Read More 3 Young Keepers To Look Out For in MLS
This article simulates the 2022/23 Serie A season, presenting information on the model itself as well as the 10 simulated league tables… Who will win?… Read More Simulating the 22/23 Serie A
This article is the first of a 3 part series looking back at the 21/22 Danish Superliga teams’ data to profile each team and preview their 22/23 campaign, including the 2 newly-promoted 1. Division sides. Part one here discusses last season’s top 4 teams.… Read More Danish Superliga 21/22 Data Review and 22/23 Preview: Last Season’s Top 4
Is it harder to generate xG against Atlético Madrid than any other La Liga team? This article uses a statistical model to answer this question. It also gives quick insight into other uses of statistical models in football data.… Read More Is it harder to generate xG against Atlético Madrid than any other La Liga team?
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