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Those who aren't interested in posts with stats, look away now!
There has been much debate about how to play the game of association football over several seasons, so I thought I'd do a comparison, using data from whoscored.com to look at two Premier League seasons 10 years apart. There are some interesting figures.
There were roughly as many goals scored in each of the two seasons: 1066 in 2011/12 and 1071 in 2021/22. The percentage of goals scored in the 6 yard box has been similar, yet there's been a near 4% rise in goals scored inside the box and a reduction of over 3% in goals scored outside the box from 2011/12. Despite more goals being scored inside the box, the number of headed goals has gone down nearly 2%. Goals from open play make up 63%, up slightly, while goals from set pieces and corners have gone down 2% to 26%.
There were 9747 attempts on goal in 2021/22, down from 10891 in 2011/12. Much of the reason for this is that attempts from outside the box have gone down from just over 44% in 2011/12 to just under 36%. When you consider that attempts outside the box go in at a rate of around 4%, teams are more inclined to keep possession to look for a better opportunity. I've read the phrase possession football several times and if shots from outside the box result in goals so infrequently, keeping hold of the ball is preferable. Off target attempts have gone down as a percentage while attempts on target have gone up.
While the number of attempts was quite a bit lower than a decade before, attempts at goal have become more accurate. A goal was scored every 9 attempts last season, compared with every 10 attempts before. With more opportunities coming inside the box, over 10% of attempts from open play now find the net, compared with just under 9%.
Let's look at passing. It's probably no surprise that the number of short passes has gone up, though only by around 2% to nearly 88% of all passes. The number of accurate short passes has gone up from 71% to 75% though inaccurate short passes has only dropped by 2%. Curiously, while the number of long balls played has gone down, so has the accuracy of long balls. In terms of "key passes", long key passes are down at 16.5% (down 5.5%) while short key passes are up at 83.5%.
For those who enjoy a bit of head tennis, the number of aerial duels has risen from 8013 to 11797. Bad touches are up to 11802 from 8962 yet dispossessions are down 9528 to 6751. This may be due to some interesting tackling stats. The number of tackles was virtually the same in both seasons, yet successful tackles were at 74% in 2011/12, down to 64% last season. This might explain why there were 2500 more dribbles in 2021/22 and accuracy had risen 6% to 55%.
Lots of info there. Make of it what you will.
There has been much debate about how to play the game of association football over several seasons, so I thought I'd do a comparison, using data from whoscored.com to look at two Premier League seasons 10 years apart. There are some interesting figures.
There were roughly as many goals scored in each of the two seasons: 1066 in 2011/12 and 1071 in 2021/22. The percentage of goals scored in the 6 yard box has been similar, yet there's been a near 4% rise in goals scored inside the box and a reduction of over 3% in goals scored outside the box from 2011/12. Despite more goals being scored inside the box, the number of headed goals has gone down nearly 2%. Goals from open play make up 63%, up slightly, while goals from set pieces and corners have gone down 2% to 26%.
There were 9747 attempts on goal in 2021/22, down from 10891 in 2011/12. Much of the reason for this is that attempts from outside the box have gone down from just over 44% in 2011/12 to just under 36%. When you consider that attempts outside the box go in at a rate of around 4%, teams are more inclined to keep possession to look for a better opportunity. I've read the phrase possession football several times and if shots from outside the box result in goals so infrequently, keeping hold of the ball is preferable. Off target attempts have gone down as a percentage while attempts on target have gone up.
While the number of attempts was quite a bit lower than a decade before, attempts at goal have become more accurate. A goal was scored every 9 attempts last season, compared with every 10 attempts before. With more opportunities coming inside the box, over 10% of attempts from open play now find the net, compared with just under 9%.
Let's look at passing. It's probably no surprise that the number of short passes has gone up, though only by around 2% to nearly 88% of all passes. The number of accurate short passes has gone up from 71% to 75% though inaccurate short passes has only dropped by 2%. Curiously, while the number of long balls played has gone down, so has the accuracy of long balls. In terms of "key passes", long key passes are down at 16.5% (down 5.5%) while short key passes are up at 83.5%.
For those who enjoy a bit of head tennis, the number of aerial duels has risen from 8013 to 11797. Bad touches are up to 11802 from 8962 yet dispossessions are down 9528 to 6751. This may be due to some interesting tackling stats. The number of tackles was virtually the same in both seasons, yet successful tackles were at 74% in 2011/12, down to 64% last season. This might explain why there were 2500 more dribbles in 2021/22 and accuracy had risen 6% to 55%.
Lots of info there. Make of it what you will.
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