Starting with Data Analysis in Football: From Player Insights to Post-Match Visuals
Transform raw football data into strategic insights and compelling visual stories with these expert analysis techniques.
Congratulations on taking the first big step in football data analytics—acquiring the data! With some of the richest datasets at your fingertips, you're ready to delve into the analytical side of football, transforming raw data into actionable insights. It’s time for you to walk through two fundamental analytical approaches: in-depth player and team analysis using FBRef data, and dynamic post-match visualization with Whoscored data. Let's kick off your journey into the strategic heart of football analytics.
1. Analyzing Player and Team Performance Using FBRef Data:
Understanding Percentile Ranks:
What They Are: Percentile ranks help you understand how a player or team performs relative to others in the same league. For example, a player’s passing accuracy in the 90th percentile means they perform better than 90% of players.
How to Use Them: Compare players or teams against their direct rivals or across different metrics to identify strengths and weaknesses. This can inform recruitment, tactical decisions, and training focus areas.
Step-by-Step Analysis:
Select Your Subject: Choose a player or a team to analyze. For a player, you might look at specific skill areas like shot accuracy or defensive contributions. For teams, consider overall tactics like pressing intensity or possession metrics.
Gather and Organize Data: Use the FBRef scrapper to pull the latest season stats. Organize your data in a spreadsheet or a database for easy access and manipulation.
Visualize the Data: Create charts and graphs to visualize the data. This could be bar charts for comparing percentile ranks, line graphs for tracking performance over time, or heat maps for positional data.
Draw Insights: Look for trends or outliers. Does a player consistently outperform others in certain areas? Are there unexpected weaknesses in a team’s strategy? These insights can lead to deeper investigations or actionable strategies.
2. Creating Post-Match Visualizations Using WhoScored Data:
Why Visualizations Matter:
Immediate Insights: Visualizations help fans and analysts quickly grasp the flow and dynamics of a match beyond the basic scoreline.
Engagement: Engaging content for presentations, reports, or social media can broaden your audience and foster lively discussions.
Guide to Creating Visuals:
Choose Your Focus: Decide whether to visualize passing networks, shot maps, tactical setups or even sometimes focus on a player’s role during the game.
Use the Right Tools: Employ visualization software or libraries like MplSoccer, Matplotlib, Seaborn, or even specialized software like Tableau.
Build Your Visuals: Start with simple visuals. For passing networks, plot the starting and ending points of passes. For shot maps, plot shot locations and outcomes on a field diagram.
Interpret and Share: Analyze what your visuals reveal about team strategies or player performances. Share your findings with your audience or team members to provide insights and provoke thought.
Conclusion: Armed with these analytical techniques, you're now equipped to dive deeper into football data, providing fresh perspectives on player performance and match dynamics. Remember, the goal is not just to collect data but to transform it into insights that drive better decisions on and off the field.
Call to Action:
Start by analyzing your favorite player from the top 5 leagues, or dive into the aspects of a team that intrigues you on FBRef. Pick a recent match of your favorite team/league from WhoScored that caught your eye, perhaps one where a halftime change, a substitution, a red card, or a goal dramatically shifted the game dynamics.
Create a compelling visualization and share it with our community.
Dive in, explore the data, and join the conversation about the beautiful game analyzed beautifully. Let's see what new insights you can uncover and discuss how these changes influence the game's strategy and flow.
Enjoy the content, and see you on the dugout.