markstats @markrstats Twitter profile

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markstats

8 months

Season 23/24 data is now live on Discover our latest additions, including "Buildup pass completion" and "Opponent's defensive line height" metrics

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markstats

@markrstats

1 year

Best attack after 'day 2': 1. France 2-32. Others

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

Stats at updated for all leagues. Below is an example of what you can do with the data. Highest defensive line 'so far' belongs to Man City and Arsenal, lowest - Man United and Everton. Highest press intensity (PPDA) - Leeds, Chelsea, Liverpool

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markstats

@markrstats

1 year

Premier League game style evolution for the past decade ▪ passes from goal-kicks are shorter ▪ crosses are less frequent ▪ pass directness is lower ▪ less shots % from outside of penalty box ▪ more 'high turnovers' * all metrics are per team per game

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markstats

@markrstats

1 year

The best central midfielders in the Premier League for ball progression are KDB, Rodri, and Thiago. The best for ball winning are Gueye, Doucoure, and Palhinha. Above average in both categories: Thiago, Casemiro, Marc Roca

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

When Arsenal is in possession against opponents’ low block and Bukayo Saka receives the ball, a chance that within next 3 actions Arsenal will make a shot or deep completion equal to 11.5% (higher than Messi 20/21)

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markstats

@markrstats

2 months

Arsenal currently leads as the best defensive team in the big-5 leagues. Their success stems from a combination of high press efficiency and the quality of their mid/low block when needed

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markstats

@markrstats

1 year

What was Pep Guardiola’s plan to mitigate the impact of the early red card? Just ask Bernardo and Kevin to cover 2 different positions at the same time. Heroic performance #MCIFUL

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markstats

@markrstats

4 months

Arsenal's ball progression efficiency compared to the last season. While Rice is holding up high standards, the departure of Xhaka, positioned at the 78th percentile among PL central midfielders, has been succeeded by someone now at the 34th percentile

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markstats

@markrstats

6 months

Premier League 23/24 top ball carriers: Jérémy Doku . . . . . Mitoma Sterling Martinelli Kulusevski

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markstats

@markrstats

1 year

Data at updated for the first time after restart. Arsenal and Man City remain to be two Premier League sides with highest defensive lines

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markstats

@markrstats

1 year

Enzo Fernández allows Lionel Messi operating much higher up the pitch, in the zone he belongs

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

#PSGRMA A role of deep-lying creator suits Leo Messi so well at this point of his career. He used to be a solution against small teams in La Liga who park the bus and we've seen the same tonight

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markstats

@markrstats

1 year

Bruno Fernandes bypassed Messi and Modric by number of successful defensive line breaks at #WorldCup2022

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markstats

@markrstats

1 year

Smart clubs make smart transfers and Kaoru Mitoma is a prime example. As soon as he gets enough minutes on the pitch, he will be the best ball carrier in the Premier League

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markstats

@markrstats

3 years

All 21 Man City games in chronological order. Tell me when Pep switched from 4-2-3-1 to 3-3-4 in possession?

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markstats

@markrstats

5 months

Arsenal's high press totally dismantled the 'best buildup in the world'

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markstats

@markrstats

1 year

Moises Caicedo's key strengths are remarkable ability to execute precise and reliable passes even in the face of intense pressure and exceptional performance in ground duels. He could potentially replace either Xhaka or Partey in Arsenal's starting eleven

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markstats

@markrstats

11 months

Stefan Ortega made only four unsuccessful passes tonight, while David de Gea made 20 #FACupFinal

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

I can't stop admiring Bernardo Silva. Look at ball-receiving heatmaps, he was everywhere on the pitch. My favourite is when Bernardo drops back into first line to break opponent's press. Amazing player, happy he scored tonight #MCIRMA

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markstats

@markrstats

10 months

Players with the most ball progressions into deep areas via pass cross or carry from the last season: Mbappe (PSG) Salah (LIV) Júnior (RMA) Messi (PSG) Saka (ARS) Odegaard (ARS) Martinelli (ARS) KDB (MCI)

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

Manchester United faces low block less often than other big European clubs, but when they have to ‘break the bus’, Jadon Sancho is the key contributor

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

Casemiro is in a top tier of La Liga central midfielders who good at both 'ball winning' and 'ball progression'. I understand age and contract duration doubt, but I can't believe fans say 'we need someone better on the ball' 🙄

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markstats

@markrstats

1 year

Who is the most effective ball progressor among big-5 central midfielders this season?

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markstats

@markrstats

3 years

What players do next after successful dribble? Kingsley Coman attempts a shot or provides a key pass in 25.5% of cases. 2 out of 3 successful dribbles of Bryan Gil and Jadon Sancho end wither by possession loss or safe play without progression

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markstats

@markrstats

3 years

Mason Mount completed 7 progressive passes and 12(!) times returned possession to Chelsea. Look at his heatmap, incredible amount of work #LEICHE

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markstats

@markrstats

1 year

I'm really impressed by De Zerbi's work. Previously solid team, #Brighton now has reached a UCL level with improvement in *almost* every department

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

Data at updated. A new addition is 'carries into penalty box' for players. At the top right corner of the graph Premier League best ball carriers: Martinelli, Salah, Sancho, Zaha, Sterling * Saint-Maximin would be on top with enough played minutes

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

Jorginho impact into Chelsea overall performance and style is so obvious, I cannot get why some fans are so undervalue him

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markstats

@markrstats

3 months

Bayer Leverkusen is one of the best counter-pressing teams in Europe. Their ability to swiftly regain possession high up the pitch immediately after losing it is notable, enabling them to maintain relentless pressure on opponents (1/2)

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markstats

@markrstats

3 years

I've analyzed all goal-kicks played in various European leagues since 2019. The table shows outcomes of the following 15 events If you play short, your sequence ends up on average 20 meters higher up the pitch. Also your chance to retain possession twice higher

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markstats

@markrstats

1 year

The highest counter-pressing success rates in Premier League this season belong to Man United (👀), Man City and Arsenal. Chelsea rate is also pretty high, but they aren't good at converting these situations into shots or deep completions (y-axis)

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

This season we witnessed seven mid-season manager appointments in the Premier League. Six of them improved xG difference and Points Per Game of their new sides. Is the so-called “new manager bounce” a real thing? 🧵

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markstats

@markrstats

4 months

1/ No team in the top-5 degrades the quality of their opponents' buildup more than Liverpool do. Liverpool's opponents are passing with the lowest pass accuracy this season

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

Among all transfers from Germany to England happened this season only Emmanuel Dennis matched his previous Bundesliga numbers (npxG+xA). A general rule for this direction of transfers is 38% decline. Not sure if this applies if a player moves to Man City

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markstats

@markrstats

1 year

Luciano "systems no longer exist in football" Spalletti

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

Press-resistance of central midfielders. To measure the ability to beat an opponent's pressure I used two metrics: 1 Pass completion under pressure. 2 End result of all sequences where a player was under pressure (i.e. xGBuildup per sequence)

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markstats

@markrstats

1 year

Arsenal decline after World Cup continues, Brighton is the second-best team in the league

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markstats

@markrstats

2 months

Who is the most effective ball progressor via pass in Big-5 this season? Exequiel Palacios, Rodri, and Frankie de Jong make up the top 3, with Toni Kroos in a league of his own

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

I've processed 150k throw-ins from big-5 leagues trying to understand if fast throw-in makes any difference. Looks like the most optimal preparation time lays within first 8 seconds. Next, every 2 additional seconds decreases 'success rate' by 2-5 percent

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

Pep on Grealish: “We didn’t sign him for the goals or assists… it’s about what he can produce for the other ones”. When City is in possession against low block and Grealish receives the ball, a chance of making shot or deep completion within next 3 actions equal to 8.1%

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markstats

@markrstats

1 year

#WC2022 central midfielders. Bentancur is the best ball winner, Pedri is the best ball progressor

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

There is only 2 forwards in Europe who equally great* at scoring goals, generating attacking threat and linking-up play And guess what, both played yesterday against Chelsea *'great' - 90+ percentile for all 3 metrics ** domestic competitions + UCL/UEL

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markstats

@markrstats

11 months

Here is the Premier League "Team of the Season" based on ball progression effectiveness, calculated as "fields gained via pass + carry per possession lost"

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markstats

@markrstats

3 years

I am hearing some buzz about rivalry

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markstats

@markrstats

7 months

Examining pass completion 'in buildup' for European teams and their opponents this season. Those in the top right corner prioritize patient attack buildup, denying the same opportunity to their opponents

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markstats

@markrstats

3 years

To be honest I was expecting smaller margin between them, I guess I am biased

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

When the game state is "winning" Liverpool and City continue possessing the ball and concede a low amount of threat. Barca and Bayern - high possession % and high volume of conceded threat. Man United, low possession % and high threat, Atletico Madrid - dark arts

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

When #ManCity starts possession from goal kick, on average they progress the ball as far as 59.5 meters from start. Which is 6 meters further than second-best team ( #Liverpool ) and 13 meters further than third-best ( #Chelsea )

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markstats

@markrstats

1 year

Last season, Liverpool and Manchester City were the two best PL teams at preventing opponents from generating threat and shots within the first 15 seconds of their possessions. However, things have changed this year

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markstats

@markrstats

1 year

Group "B" best threat creators (via pass and carry): L. Shaw 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 A. Gholizadeh 🇮🇷 C. Pulisic 🇺🇸 R. Sterling 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

I've processed 50k corners and compared 2 strategies: short pass and cross into penbox. As efficiency metric I used xG created and conceded within next 10 events after a corner. Long corners just a bit more "risky" (chance to concede), but "reward" is higher (chance to create)

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markstats

@markrstats

1 year

"We ask goalkeepers to play long balls because we believe it is safer". However, data does not confirm this assumption. In fact, teams tend to concede more expected threat within the next 10 actions if their keepers prefer long passes over short

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markstats

@markrstats

1 year

According to data Lionel Messi walked 7+ km in the final, which breaks his previous record on the tournament 🥰

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

Only Trent, Robertson and Cancelo were better than Zinchenko by threat creation and ball progression last season. Superb signing if happens * calculated for Premier League fullbacks with 1000+ minutes, non-adjusted by team possession #Arsenal #PremierLeague

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markstats

@markrstats

3 years

Average defence line height in Premier League last season. Big gap between first two and others. Happy to see Brighton fourth in the list #PremierLeague

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

Roberto Firmino is the best threat creator from ‘zone 14’ among all Premier League strikers for the last 5 seasons. In addition to regular xT, I calculate xT-facilitated (or “assisted”). And guess what, Romelu Lukaku is by far the best facilitator

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markstats

@markrstats

1 year

After the restart, the top three Premier League teams are Brighton, Manchester City, and Arsenal, followed by Liverpool, Chelsea, and Manchester United

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

Threat creation and ball progression by #PremierLeague fullbacks (every dot is a single game) 🟡 Performance of the season belongs to Joao Cancelo against Wolves 🔵 Numbers-wise Reece James doesn't perform on top level consistently 🔴 Trent simply the best

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markstats

@markrstats

1 year

Although I already suspected that Casemiro had a significant impact, I was still surprised to learn that Manchester United concedes 0.3 xThreat and 0.8 xG more without him. And it's not just about defence

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

I’ve developed a twitter bot which will be posting post-match reports for 'popular' teams Works semi-automatically, i.e. might be some [significant] delays between final whistle and corresponding post Here is how Middlesbrough - Tottenham report looks

markstats bot

@markstatsbot

2 years

Middlesbrough - Tottenham ▪ xG: 1.96 - 1.41 ▪ xThreat: 1.63 - 2.08 ▪ Possession: 50.6% - 49.4% ▪ Field Tilt: 63.0% - 37.0% ▪ Def Line Height: 49.9 - 42.4

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markstats

@markrstats

1 year

Can't believe how much Arsenal fell apart after Zinchenko substitution. It wasn't because of his defensive skills, not at all, all the difference made his ability to retain possession

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

I am happy to announce that we finally launched a website

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

Counter-pressing(gegenpressing) doesn’t guarantee you protection from opponent's fast-breaks Take Atlético and Brighton. Simeone’s side is ‘below average’ at counter-pressing, but much more successful at neutralizing fast-breaks than Brighton who prefer to gegenpress

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markstats

@markrstats

11 months

Enzo + Ugarte 👀

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

#Liverpool tonight had season lowest possession %, lowest field tilt %, lowest % of attacks reached final third, second-lowest threat created, second-lowest def. line height Big W for Tuchel imo as he forced one of the best PL teams play unusual football #CHELIV

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markstats

@markrstats

7 months

In this game, Manchester United recorded their lowest pass completion 'in buildup' this season, hitting just 76%, marking the first time they've fallen below 80%

markstats bot

@markstatsbot

7 months

Man Utd 2 : 3 Galatasaray ▪ Penbox shots: 10 - 11 ▪ Deep completions: 17 - 8 ▪ Buildup completion: 76.0% - 72.1% ▪ PPDA: 8.8 - 8.5 ▪ High turnovers: 7 - 5

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

Long throw-ins straight into the penalty box are more efficient than short passes Results based on xG of shots generated by team or opponent within next 3/10/20 actions after throw-in attempt (made in final third)

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markstats

@markrstats

9 months

Liverpool midfield 2023/24 😋

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markstats

@markrstats

3 years

Unique pass clusters of central midfielders. Passes that a player attempts much more often than others on the same role Toni "maestro" Kroos Youri "quarterback" Tielemans Declan "nothing special" Rice * calculated for all live pass attempts made in big-5 last season

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

A tale about Antonio Conte who switched from "Back 4" (in yellow) to "Back 3" (in blue) and then destroyed the Premier League in 2016/17. Game against Arsenal (in pink) has been pivotal in this context as introduced Marcos Alonso for the first time #PremierLeague #ChelseaFC

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markstats

@markrstats

1 year

Premier League Champions 2022-2023. All Manchester City games in one picture

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markstats

@markrstats

9 months

David Raya vs. Aaron Ramsdale

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markstats

@markrstats

8 months

Andre Onana solved #MUFC problems in the first phase of buildup. Even teams like Arsenal think twice before jumping into a high press. Now they need a few more “Onanas” in the next phases of possession

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markstats

@markrstats

16 days

There’s no right or wrong way to play football, but calling Real Madrid’s low block tonight a 'good defensive performance' seems driven by outcome bias. They allowed roughly 3 xG and conceded 40 entries into their danger zone

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

Brentford is the best team in Europe in terms of disrupting opponents buildups started by goalkicks I calculate a metric which shows how far (in meters) teams manage to progress the ball from goalkick or prevent opponent progression

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markstats

@markrstats

3 months

Arsenal's recent performance closely resembles their pre-World Cup levels from last season. The graph illustrates entries into the 'danger zone' made by Arsenal and their opponents over the past three years

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markstats

@markrstats

3 years

Manchester City, road to the #UCL final #ManCity #MCIPSG

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markstats

@markrstats

3 years

Vini Jr completed 17(!) progressive carries in a yesterday's game #RMALIV

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markstats

@markrstats

1 year

Style of play at World Cup-2022 so far is the closest to what we see in top-5 leagues: ▪ % of shots outside of the penalty box is lower ▪ defensive lines are higher ▪ goal kicks are shorter Going to monitor and check if numbers regress no "normal world cup level" later

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

My experience with "SB360". First of all, I want to thank @StatsBomb for letting us play with the dataset. For all completed passes on Euro-2020, I've calculated the number of bypassed (packed) players. The picture demonstrates how Leo Bonucci "packs" 9 Belgians

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markstats

@markrstats

11 months

Despite the decline, Liverpool is still the best Premier League side at disrupting opponents' buildup. The data at has been updated for the last time for the 22/23 season

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markstats

@markrstats

3 years

From which channel #PremierLeague teams create danger? Viz shows start locations of passes into opposite penalty box or passes leading to shots

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markstats

@markrstats

10 months

Goalkeeper pass completion correlates very well with team pass completion. It is fine to have a low percentage if you play for Empoli. David De Gea doesn't look bad, he is pretty much aligned with the rest of the team. The biggest outlier in the Premier League is Ramsdale 😅

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

End of season is a perfect time to revisit old templates. Some of mine require updates but fine in general, others I will never use again, so it’s their last dance. Thread contains 10+ different visualizations for Premier League 21/22

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markstats

@markrstats

1 year

Players with the highest number of successful defensive line breaks as it stands right now: Lionel Messi - 15 Luka Modric - 14 #WC2022

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

Player contributions into breaking opponents’ "low blocks". When Neymar receives the ball, a chance that PSG will make a shot or deep completion within next 3 actions equal to 9.6% - the highest number among all PSG players [1/n]

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markstats

@markrstats

1 year

Since De Zerbi's appointment, #Brighton has become one of the best teams in the top leagues at moving the ball forward from goal kicks

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markstats

@markrstats

4 months

Compared to last season, Man United's “ball progression efficiency” indicates noticeable drop-offs in the attacking group, highlighting the absence of irreplaceable individuals like Shaw, alongside an upgrade in the goalkeeper position

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markstats

@markrstats

1 year

According to @fivethirtyeight model, #Arsenal is the top title contender over #ManCity for the first time this season #EPL

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

Roads to the UCL Final since 2016-17 Toughest opponents - Spurs 18/19, easiest - Liverpool 17/18 As a measure of ‘difficulty' I took historical Soccer Power Index (by @fivethirtyeight ) of all opponents in group stage and play-offs

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

Somewhere in parallel universe Juventus didn't sack Pirlo, didn't spend lots of money on Vlahovic and Bremer, didn't let Dybala go, gradually replaced aging fullbacks and now they play competitive press- and positional-oriented football

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markstats

@markrstats

1 year

Enzo Fernández, the best ball progressor among all Portugal League central midfielders. With an impressive 'passing under pressure' and 'ground duels winning' abilities, he would be a great addition to any PL team

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markstats

@markrstats

1 year

Jack Grealish is the most effective player in the Premier League when it comes to progressing the ball into the danger zone. To measure 'effectiveness', I take number of entries into a 20-meter radius via pass and carry and adjust it 'per possession lost'

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markstats

@markrstats

1 year

Data at has been updated for all leagues. The graph displays the best threat creators in the Premier League through their passing, crossing, and carrying ability. The top right corner features Grealish, Mitoma, Kulusevski, and Mahrez

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markstats

@markrstats

5 months

Premier League 23/24 ball progression effectiveness, measured by "fields gained via pass per possession lost": * One-sided Newcastle and Chelsea * Arsenal struggles centrally * United and Liverpool, though both direct in the first phase, showcase varying levels of effectiveness

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

An attempt to assess team performance splitting by phases of play: positional attack/defense, set-piece att/def, transitional att/def, high press, buildup The model believes Liverpool is the best PL side in terms of high press and non-set-piece attack

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

Bernardo "an extra man in every phase of possession" Silva. #ManCity player of the season so far in my humble (slightly biased) opinion

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markstats

@markrstats

2 years

Is it possible to predict team performance in future using numbers from the past? Some metrics like NPxG, xThreat or NSxG are pretty stable. If you have xThreat/90 of previous 10 games, it can explain 51% of future xThreat/90 variance for the same team

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markstats

@markrstats

3 years

Well, you spend quite amount of time on cleaning data in order to train Expected Goals On Target model (xGOT). Then you compare results of every single shot with conventional xG just to 'discover' what everyone already knows… Messi is very good at kicking the ball

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markstats

@markrstats

7 months

Data at updated for all leagues. Doku, Grealish, and Mitoma excel as top ball carriers in the Premier League

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