Analyst’s View: Adam illustrates the power of visualisations

In the high-stakes world of professional football, gaining the upper hand can often come down to a profound understanding of the game’s finer details. 

For those of us who have dissected countless matches and attempted to decipher the tactical nuances of opposition teams, presenting findings quickly, efficiently and with clarity is of utmost importance.

With this new column, I’ll look to use my experience as an analyst, along with my knowledge of and passion for the Twenty3 Toolbox, to show how professional football analysts can use our product to deliver actionable insights to coaches quickly and effectively.

We kick off the first edition by illustrating the power of data visualisations and how they can help analysts unravel tactical complexities and present easy-to-digest insights to their coaching staff.

Identifying problems and finding solutions

Identifying problems and informing potential solutions is a fundamental aspect of any analyst’s role.

This can take place before a game in preparation for a specific opponent, post-match to inform future in-game and training scenarios, or during a match, solving problems and providing potential solutions in real time.

During my time as an analyst, I was regularly confronted with such scenarios, where coaches would come to me with a challenge and I would need to deliver actionable insight as quickly as possible.

With matches every few days in the modern game, speed was obviously of huge importance, but quality, accuracy and aesthetics were also critical.

Statistics and visualisations are exceptionally useful tools for identifying and solving tactical issues. In my own experience, Twenty3’s Analytics Toolbox proved an effective means of obtaining these actionable insights in minutes rather than hours, and communicating those visually to coaches or players.

For example, take this player report on one of the stars of the Premier League so far this season, Liverpool’s Dominik Szoboszlai. 

Somewhat aptly for us, it took just 23 seconds to produce and it’s already starting to give us a picture of the threat the Hungarian could pose if he was set to face your team.

Real-world examples

Let’s move now to a more in-depth example.

Last month, analysts at relevant clubs across the Premier League would no doubt have dissected Brighton and Hove Albion’s 3-1 win over Newcastle United ahead of their own clash with the Seagulls.

Casual observers of that game may have, understandably, focused on Evan Ferguson’s individual performance and subsequent hat-trick. 

However, those tasked with finding a way to stop Brighton would have wanted to dig deeper into their general in-possession structure and the phases leading up to the striker’s goals to pinpoint possible patterns. Understanding the problem posed by an opponent is the first step towards solving it, after all. If I were in the analyst’s position, the Toolbox would be my first port of call to dig a bit deeper and help identify these problems. 

With that in mind, let’s take a quick look at Brighton’s performance against Newcastle. One of the primary aspects to note in the above average on-ball positions map, is Brighton’s ‘box 4’ in the centre of the pitch. Centre-forward Evan Ferguson and supporting striker João Pedro play at the top of a ‘box’, with central midfield pairing Pascal Groß and Billy Gilmour making up the base.

This visualisation, along with the below heat maps, also reveals the slightly higher positions of wingers Solly March and Kaoru Mitoma – a crucial piece of information, particularly in the case of the latter – whose out-to-in movement from his position on the left wing played a significant role in Ferguson’s third goal.

Looking beyond the players in more advanced positions, coaches will feel it is imperative to stop the threat at source – understanding how the ball gets to these players is key to that.

These passes received maps for João Pedro and Ferguson highlight how the centre-backs – particularly Lewis Dunk – are tasked with finding Brighton’s forwards in between the units, where they can then affect the game.

Brighton’s second goal came from a similar area of the pitch – though on this occasion it was central midfielder Gilmour who had dropped deep to collect a short pass from Dunk.

He then fired the ball forward into Ferguson’s feet as the striker dropped off the front line, receiving in enough space to turn and drive before curling a superb effort into the bottom corner from distance.

Pairing graphics such as these with video analysis would be an effective method of identifying a problem posed by an upcoming opponent and, subsequently, formulating a solution to be worked on the training pitch. 

Speed and quality

As I’ve already touched on, the ability to get insights out to coaches quickly and efficiently is absolutely paramount.

You’ll often be faced with three matches in a week, and in that gap between games, an analyst may well need to produce post-match AND pre-match reports alongside ad-hoc requests, to help inform coaches on how to best prepare for their next encounter. 

Using your time wisely is therefore essential and that’s why software like the Toolbox is so invaluable – it allows you to get to the answers that matter quicker. 

Whether it’s a handful of insightful graphics, like we’ve used in this article, auto-generated in-depth player reports, or visualisations made up of bespoke team metrics, the speed at which the Toolbox works makes it a must-have tool for any analyst, especially those under significant time pressure.

In addition, the added bonus of being able to depict insights in a visually engaging manner – and in your team’s specific branding – with no extra effort leads to even more effective communication of information. 

In this article, we just offered a glimpse into some of the areas that an analyst might focus on, and the graphics we produced here took, in total, just 1 minute and 43 seconds to create. 

In the fast-paced world of football, where every second counts, the importance of that cannot be overstated.

All visualisations in this article were produced with the Twenty3 Toolbox. For more information, please get in touch below.