In the first feature of our Game State series, we focused on player behaviour. We explained why Liverpool sit a little deeper after taking the lead and how this directly impacts the threat of Mohamed Salah. This time around, we’re going to take a look at how game state impacts a player’s mentality. We often…
It’s that time of the year again. With the Bundesliga now on a winter break, we’re able to review the previous 12 months to come up with the Team of the Year. However, unlike others, we’re looking to make ours as practical as possible. This isn’t about getting the most popular players into a starting XI.…
Mikel Arteta is almost a year into his reign as Arsenal manager. Many had expected a clear plan to be in place by now at the Emirates, but the team appear to be struggling with a bit of an identity crisis. The stats back this up. Using Twenty3 Advanced Metrics, we’re able to paint a…
For most promoted clubs, sitting in 14th position at Christmas would be a job well done. Leeds United should be no different, but because they have Marcelo Bielsa as their manager, expectations are somewhat skewed. The enigmatic Argentine was shortlisted for FIFA’s men’s manager of the year award and is considered by many to be…
It wasn’t that long ago that Expected Goals (xG) was the footballing equivalent of Lord Voldemort; few dared mention the phrase out loud. Some people what xG would do to the game, others feared how they’d be viewed for using it. Now, though, we see xG popping up on Sky Sports and BBC’s Match of…
We’re a third of the way through the 2020/21 LaLiga season and it’s safe to say very few people would’ve envisaged Real Sociedad vying for top spot at this stage. La Real finished sixth courtesy of goal difference last term but were closer to ninth than they were to fourth in terms of their points…
To say the 2020/21 Premier League campaign has been a strange one would be a bit of an understatement. We’re a third of the way through the season and the top four is made up of Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool, Leicester City and Southampton. Manchester City find themselves in ninth position while neighbours United are in…
How a player performs during certain game states is arguably one of the most important factors in ensuring victory, yet it’s regularly overlooked. Teams and individuals are judged and analysed on their output over the entirety of a game as a whole when it’d perhaps be far more beneficial to break it down into three…
When Romelu Lukaku left Manchester United to join Inter, parts of the English media appeared to write the then 26-year-old off as past his best. His second and final season at Old Trafford yielded just 12 Premier League goals and it was evident from the off that Ole Gunnar Solskjær didn’t think there was a…
Up until this season, Patrick Bamford’s Premier League career had yielded just one goal. That solitary strike arrived during the 2016/17 campaign when he was a Middlesbrough player. He’d drawn blanks for Crystal Palace, Norwich City and Burnley prior to that despite plundering goals at Championship level. Fast forward four years, however, and only four…