The impact of different standards of opponents on observed player performance in the English Premier League

Abstract

Redwood-Brown A, Bussell C, Bharaj HS. The impact of different standards of opponents on observed player performance in the English Premier League. J. Hum. Sport Exerc. Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 341-355, 2012. The purpose of the investigation was to develop an understanding of how the performance of a soccer team is affected when playing against different standards of opponents in the English Premier League. Twenty-nine Premier League matches were analysed during the 2010-2011 season for 18 selected performance indicators. Standards of opposing teams were defined as being top, middle or bottom depending on their final league position. The participating team was categorised in the 'middle' category and eighteen players from the squad were selected to take part in the study. Comparisons (mean±SD) were made between the team's performances on selected performance indicators against teams ranked as top, middle and bottom. A one-way ANOVA analysed the team's performance behaviour along with: five positional units (centre-back, full-back, centre midfield, wide midfield, centre forward); and individual player performance behaviour. At team level, successful passes (p=0.047) were significantly higher against middle (84.2%) compared with top (83.8%) and bottom standard teams (83.3%). Interceptions (p=0.016) were also significantly higher against middle (11.2±8.3) when compared with playing against top standard teams (8.4+5.2). The findings suggested the team generally performed better against middle than top or bottom standard opponents. Possession/passing was highlighted as a key factor influencing the performance at team level, although no account for game state was considered. The findings suggest that differences in individual player performance are not always evident at team or unit level which previous research has failed to address. The current study has shown that player, unit and team performance changes as a function of opposition standard but must be considered in the future in relation to game state.

Demandas físicas centradas en factores externos del futbolista profesional

“…Sin embargo, estas posiciones han mostrado requerir mejores capacidades físicas según los resultados evaluados usando los test de carrera intermitentes 5 . Además, los jugadores relativos a las posiciones de mediocentro y lateral defensivo desarrollan y completan mayor cantidad de pases comparados con otras posiciones 34 .…”

Effects of situational variables on the physical activity profiles of elite soccer players in different score line states

“…The current study was not able to present individual players data with regards to the impact of score line however previous work using a case study approach of one team has found that players differ in their approach to different score line states. 20 To achieve maximum success, it may therefore be more appropriate, that to maximize team performance, the starting eleven should be picked based on the external factors highlighted to influence player performance, for example, if playing against top opposition it may be more appropriate to select players who perform better against higher abilities, or in a negative score line states.…”

“…A secondary issue has been the technological barriers in data collection methods that have limited the ability to generalize findings for both physical and technical performance investigated. Categorizing players by position (defenders, midfielders, attackers) in relation to score line effects has been considered for activity profiles but only using very small data sets or single clubs using overall match status (winning, drawing, losing) rather than by how much the team were winning or losing by. There is however, a need to investigate score line effects on performance using a greater volume of data as well as objective and reliable methods.…”

Evolution of match performance parameters for various playing positions in the English Premier League

“…Additionally, central midfielders and full backs perform and complete more passes compared to other positions (Redwood-Brown, Bussell, & Bharaj, 2012;Taylor, Mellalieu, & James, 2004). Given the evolutionary changes highlighted previously in elite soccer match-play (Barnes et al, 2014;Wallace & Norton, 2014), it would be of interest to track longitudinal positional changes to gain insight into physical and technical requirements of modern players.…”