Match analysis on Football: Metrics to evaluate the collective behavior

Abstract

In the last few years, the collective analysis in football teams has been focused on their complex reality. This study aimed to propose 4 collective metrics based on the spatio-temporal relationship, trying to identify differences between the moments with and without ball possession. A U14 7-a-side football match was analysed. Significant differences were found between the moments with and without ball possession regarding the space covered by team A (F_{(1, 1506)}= 8.31, p= 0.004, η²= 0.005, Power= 0.82) and B (F_{(1, 1506)}= 37.66, p= 0.001, η²= 0.024, Power= 1.00), effective area of play on team A (F_{(1, 1506)}= 1343.89, p= 0.001, η²= 0.472, Power= 1.000) and B (F_{(1, 1506)}= 968.50, p= 0.001, η²= 0.391; Power= 1.00), as well as at centroid position for team A (F_{(1. 1506)}= 11.79, p= 0.001, η²= 0.008, Power= 0.93) and B (F_{(1, 1506)}= 9.43, p= 0.001, η²= 0.006, Power= 0.87). As a conclusion, it was possible to analyse the spatio-temporal relationship between teammates, identifying expansion behaviour with ball possession, as well as a centroid progression at the field with the collective metrics selected.