Football is in the midst of an analytical revolution. Data and analysis are commonplace inside and outside of clubs. Clubs now employ entire departments of specialists in data collection and analysis alongside contracting out the assistance of stats companies. There is an overwhelming amount of information being churned out on the beautiful game. There has never been as much information available to coaches to aid or confound their decisions.
From a coaching perspective, I want to look at how to practically identify a potential competitive advantage edge from the analysis or data and apply that information onto the training pitch with the end result is an application in a match.
Identifying a competitive advantage
Data analysis and tactical analysis is all about one thing for a coach. That one thing is finding edges that can be used to beat an opponent. The top coaches have been instinctually applying edges for years. They stack all these edges on top of each other to give them an absolute competitive advantage each match. These edges might include talent, positioning, team spirit, pressing, set pieces, etc.
Throw-in Specialist
Recently Liverpool has been in the news for the hiring of a throw-in specialist to give them an edge. Thomas Gronnemark was brought in to improve Liverpool’s attacking set pieces via throw-ins. This has brought much discussion about the potential competitive advantages of attacking throw-ins. Within this discussion, there is a large potential edge inadvertently being discussed. Attacking throw-ins are inefficient and need a specialist because they are an excellent opportunity for the defence to win the ball back.
Defending Throw-ins as Pressing Triggers
Ted Knutson and his company Statsbomb are at the leading edge of data analysis and work privately with many clubs. Ted Knutson through articles and podcasts likes to drop little nuggets of information about what his analysis team is seeing internally with the data. Often these nuggets are enough to trigger an applicable edge for a coach. In discussing the effectiveness of attacking throw-in he mentioned that the data shows most teams take throw-ins that are “very pressable because they happen in such a congested space”. For a coach, this should provide all the information required for a coaching decision.
For coaches, the data should provide binary decisions. Coaches should not quibble whether a shot is a 3% or 6% opportunity. Even though the 6% shot is twice as good both shots are crappy. A coach doesn’t need to know percentages of pressing throw-ins. They just need to answer the question do I want to use the 10-20 opponent throw-ins as pressing triggers to intentionally win a possession. It is a simple yes or no.
Once a coach has answered whether they want to attempt to exploit the edge the next question is how. How can a coach apply the potential edge to the practice pitch and eventually a match?
How to Exploit the Edge
“Pressing is not about running and it’s not about working hard. It’s about controlling space.” – Arrigo Sacchi
Pressing throw-ins is an edge because it is in a congested space. Most teams when they do not have a clear safe open player end up throwing it down the line. Defending along the sideline is a great obvious trigger and space is limited.
The first step in pressing a throw-in will be making the throwing team predictable and getting the opponent to throw the ball down the line. This will put the defence in an optimal position to win the ball. The defence will have a spatial positional advantage.
Above shows the 2 players in blue occupying the easy short throw-in options. The predictable option is for the attacking team to throw it down the line.
